Pregnancy and birth recur as a motif in The Hallmarked Man, linking the protagonists’ personal journeys to their broader investigation. Rather than symbolizing renewal or joy, depictions of babies in the novel often evoke loss, trauma, or uncertainty. Through this motif, Galbraith explores the characters’ reproductive choices, expectations, and anxieties. After Robin’s ectopic pregnancy, her observation that “Babies seemed to be everywhere” (395) demonstrates how the culturally celebrated milestone of pregnancy can be a persistent reminder of grief. Robin’s “slight inner wince […] accompanying all mentions of babies and pregnancy” (611) captures the conflict between outward social norms and her private pain.

Pregnancy, for Robin, is no longer a symbol of new beginnings but another reminder of what has been taken from her. Her loss is compounded by the knowledge that her fallopian tubes were damaged by the chlamydia she contracted from her rapist years earlier. Furthermore, medical pressure to freeze her eggs forces Robin to confront questions about future motherhood that she is not yet ready to face. Strike is also drawn into this motif when he confronts the possibility that he may be the father of Bijou Jenkins’s baby. Recriminating himself, he must reexamine his assumptions about responsibility, lineage, and the character of his own biological father, Jonny Rokeby.