Throughout That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon, the characters grapple with doing what feels right to them in moments of conflict. By embedding ethical dilemmas within a fantasy setting, the novel explores real-world questions about morality, justice, and how misinformation shapes behavior. As seen by how attitudes are changed as a result of demons themselves and learning the truth about Myva, the novel explores the choices inherent in doing what feels right. When Cinnamon and Fallon arrive in Wandermere and learn how demons are treated in the city, Cinnamon feels conflicted because she has learned that demons are not mindless, violent creatures. Thus, she struggles to reconcile collaring Fallon so they can accomplish their mission (doing something wrong for a good reason) and refusing to collar Fallon but risking the mission (doing what feels right but putting the task in jeopardy). Ultimately, Fallon decides that wearing a collar (a temporary injustice) to destroy the phylactery (breaking a greater injustice) is worthwhile, which shows the complex nature of right and wrong. Neither Cinnamon nor Fallon is comfortable with Fallon being forced to wear a collar that marks him as inferior when he is not. However, they both also understand that refusing to comply would have worse consequences for Fallon and potentially ruin their ability to destroy the phylactery and free demons.

While Cinnamon and Fallon’s struggles in Wandermere symbolize the challenges of doing the right thing, Usha’s character development represents how easy making the right choice can be. Prior to meeting Fallon, Usha believed demons were mindless beasts because she was raised to believe this and never received information to the contrary. While this does not excuse her support of treating demons as inferior beings, it does show how misinformation prevents Usha from doing the right thing by making it more difficult for her to question what she believes is true. In Chapter 7, upon learning Fallon possesses humanity despite being a demon, Usha immediately drops her false beliefs, which shows the power of encountering information that questions her worldview. In doing so, Usha acknowledges that demons are equal to humans, and she apologizes to Fallon for her city enslaving demons, saying: “[I]f it were me at the end of a chain, I couldn’t imagine the kind of monster that would walk past me and do nothing if they knew the truth” (109). Usha’s ability to make this decision without reservations or second-thoughts reveals how learning the truth allows the right thing to be done.

Usha and the people of Wandermere show how the suppression of truth leads to wrong-minded actions being taken toward demons. In conjunction with Myva’s greater religion, the two reveal how injustice is perpetrated by the alteration of history. After making an enemy of demons, Myva used her power to imprison them and make humanity believe demons are the enemy. In doing so, Myva misdirected human fear and loathing from herself to demons, which influenced human history against demons. Thus, it takes meeting and understanding Fallon for Cinnamon and Usha to realize they have lived lies and, more importantly, to change the course of understanding moving forward. By uncovering Myva’s misinformation, Cinnamon and Usha both do better by the demons they know and also start to create a world where future generations of demons won’t have to know the mistreatment their ancestors received. Thus, by spreading the truth, Cinnamon and Usha symbolize the lasting consequences of doing the right thing and how rightness grows over time.

In a broader sense, the novel suggests that doing what’s right is not always about grand heroic gestures but about small acts of clarity, empathy, and resistance against inherited falsehoods. Whether it’s Cinnamon buying and freeing Felix and Ambros or Fallon agreeing to wear a collar for the greater good, these moments underscore that moral action often happens in the murky middle—between belief and doubt, fear and love, comfort and courage.