In The Reckoning, the structure of Fae society is built upon the corrupting influence of unchecked power. The novel argues that in the world of Solaria, magical and social dominance are instruments of subjugation, used to enforce a brutal hierarchy and terrorize the vulnerable. This dynamic is institutionalized from the highest echelons of the Celestial Council down to the classrooms of Zodiac Academy, where cruelty is disguised as tradition and abuse is framed as a necessary test of strength. Peckham and Valenti portray a world where the elite use their inherited power to preserve their status, creating a system where tormenting others is a celebrated rite of passage.

The tradition of Hell Week, a period of school-sanctioned torment of incoming freshman, epitomizes this institutionalized abuse. As the novel opens, Principal Nova officially announces the ritual, reinforcing the faculty’s support: 

WELCOME TO HELL WEEK! […] During this week you must pass the trials of your Elements before taking part in the final assessment […] To make sure you are thoroughly challenged, the rest of the student body will be throwing further tests your way at every turn and making your lives hell [to] prove how Fae you are (33). 

This institutional blessing aligns bullying with academic challenges to maintain the established order within the institution. Older students, cloaked and masked, become anonymous agents of this system, attacking freshmen with the school’s implicit approval. This ritual acts as a brutal sorting mechanism designed to weed out those who don’t conform to the Fae ideal of ruthless strength, ensuring that only those willing to endure or inflict pain can rise within the hierarchy.

This ruthlessness and desire to dominate is mirrored in the behavior of the school’s faculty, reinforcing these tendencies as inherent to Fae culture. During a Cardinal Magic class, Professor Orion magically suffocates a student, Kylie, to demonstrate a point about motivation. The demonstration acts as both a lesson and a display of his superior power and his willingness to use it with impunity against those under his charge. His declaration that the freshmen are “all bottom-feeding losers” further reinforces the idea that his role is to break rather than nurture them (50). Professor Washer openly sexually harasses the students in an attempt to establish his dominance and sense of entitlement. In this context, the classroom becomes a microcosm of Solarian society, where power is a weapon to be wielded against the less powerful.

The novel’s climax, which Lionel orchestrates, foregrounds the extreme moral and ethical compromises he’s willing to make to achieve unassailable dominance. Lionel’s fixation on obtaining the Fifth Element of shadows pushes him to threaten everyone into compliance, including his own sons and Orion. His willingness to murder the twins—and Xavier if necessary—reveals the depths to which he’s been corrupted by his quest for power. The novel prefaces this climax by establishing the pleasure that Lionel takes in cruelty, violence, and dominance early in the novel. During the interrogation of a Nymph at the Court of Solaria, Lionel “call[s] on the Dragon beneath his flesh for power and thr[ows] his fist into the Nymph’s face. Blood fl[ies] and he yell[s] out as he hit[s] it again, his powerful frame brimming with rage as he thr[ows] his fists like hammers” (511). Max, whose Siren abilities give him access to Lionel’s private emotions, observes, “[A]s I pressed a little harder with my power, I found the truth of what he was feeling beneath the mask. Joy. Exhilaration. Relief.” (512). The lives of others become disposable tools in the pursuit of his own agenda. The pleasure that Lionel takes in his brutality suggests that his addiction to power and dominance has corrupted him to the point where he craves and revels in cruelty, setting him up as a formidable antagonist for Tory and Darcy.