While despots like King Roan seek only to dominate their subjects, ideal leaders feel a strong sense of responsibility to perform well in their roles, and they strive to make decisions that will improve the lives of others. Throughout the tumultuous events of The Veiled Kingdom, several different characters display a complex mixture of tyranny and leadership, and their desire for power often conflicts with their responsibilities toward those under their command. King Roan is the clearest example of a leader who is at heart a despotic, power-hungry tyrant. As Dacre notes in the city in Marmoris, the king’s palace stands as a grandiose symbol of power that presents “a stark contrast to the plight of the king’s subjects” (22). Even in the novel’s beginning chapters, Holly Renee emphasizes that the palace represents King Roan’s cruelty, for his life of luxury is built upon the suffering and starvation of the citizens who must offer up what little magic they have in the tithe. The palace towers above the city and its citizens just as King Roan’s power dwarfs the limited lives of the citizens and the rebels.

As a lifelong target of her father’s abuse, Nyra understands the depths of King Roan’s greed, but joining the rebellion gives her a new measure of