The Toll

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions of violence and suicide, and instances of bias against people with genderfluid identities.

While the entire Arc of a Scythe series is a meditation on the tendency of power to become corrupted, The Toll emphasizes the particular point that this tendency is age-old. Faraday, an honorable and compassionate scythe, thinks corruption in scythedom may be a recent phenomenon, but Da Vinci’s journals show that the very origins of scythedom are stained in blood. Faraday is struck by the realization that “the founding scythes—the shining paragons of all Faraday held true—had murdered one another” (547). The text thus suggests that any system where power is concentrated tends to be corrupt, implying that humans must be on constant watch for corruption even within themselves.

The nature of the characters who abdicate power, in contrast to those who desire it, explores how some can resist power’s allure. Greyson is the most powerful person on Earth in The Toll because of his connection with the Thunderhead, but he sacrifices that connection in the end for an ordinary life. Citra, a powerful symbol of hope as scythe Anastasia, swaps public life for a quiet, fresh existence with Rowan.