In the novel “The Warded Man,” Peter V Brett employs explorers’ hopes to find the wards of old, and the relief of people when within strong wards in order to convey the Power that comes from hope and safety when times are most desperate, ultimately illustrating most people gain power when behind a force they know exists, some few others,who have potential to change the world, gain power from faith in discovery. 

There are many people in this world who are not satisfied with what we have. In The Warded Man, these people are messengers, who risk their lives beyond strong city wards. Messengers are an exclusive group of people focused on in The Warded Man. Before the title character Arlen becomes a messenger much time is spent among side characters discussing the philosophy of Arlen and his adoptive fatherly figure’s drive to become a messenger. For Arlen his drive is a need for freedom, the Wards of the city make him feel trapped, he wants to learn to fight head on, which can only be done with the wards of old, in order to live beyond wards. Because of Arlen's  reasons for becoming a messenger we can see that, for Arlen, the city wards symbolized a cage just as surely as the walls they were engraved on. The wards of old, the Fighting Wards, lost for thousands of years, symbolized a hope to fight directly and for humanity to take control of its future. Consequently, these feelings toward the known defensive wards puts Arlen at odds with most of the people in the world. Therefore, it seems that many of the people gain their strength from what they have and know, but Arlen proves that those who strive for better gain their strength from the symbols that can only be proven with faith. The fighting wards continue to be a symbol of hope throughout the book. Arlen does eventually find the Wards of Old, and the fighting magic they carry on a sacred relic in the ruins of a sacred city. Arlen was not caring for the relic itself but the wards on it, he spent his time finding new wards with new powers and the relic was only of second importance to what was written into the metal. Arlen immediately decides that everyone needs to know of these wards so anyone who wants to fight can, giving hope for people to no longer need to shelter when the sun sets. Because of this outlook the fighting wards of old are brought back and symbolize change, power, and strength. Consequently, when they are spread to the Krasian’s and every one of their elite warriors has a warded spear, the fighting wards symbolize absolute power and control over the enemy where they can dispatch them by the hundreds for every life lost. Therefore, the revival of the Fighting Wards symbolizes humanity's strength, perseverance and power over the enemy, Delivered by the one who wasn't happy with what he had and set out to change the world.

There are other wards besides the fighting wards on Arlen's world, there are defensive wards on every house and shed, around every field and city. These only protect as glass protects from the wind, an invisible barrier of magic the enemy cannot pass. Definitive wards are still powerful in their own right. Every family must be behind the wards at night when the demons, Magic filled creatures, impossibly strong, fast and hungry for anything they can bite and each with magical powers such as fire or rock, rise from the core of the earth.  Defensive Wards take these creatures' magic and form it into a barrier not allowing the demons to pass. Behind wards is the only safe place to be when night falls and the demons rise to hunt. Because of this danger in the night wards symbolize safety, wherever there are strong wards is safe, such as a large and deep engraved wards of the large cities, places with smaller or smudged wards such as rickety sheds were less safe. Since powerful people would pay extra for wards that were more flashy and brighter than necessary, the ward also became a symbol of social status and wealth. Thus, a person’s wards are a symbol of their position in society and importance, and a symbol of safety for people to gather behind at dusk. No time shows the safety that wards bring and the reliance people have on them better than when they fail. Wards fail uncommonly and when well kept usually not at all, demons cannot see the holes in ward nets so they search unintelligently by trial and error being no smarter than a dog, but a ward can be marred easily by smoke, a crack in the backer, or a bird dropping. When they fail, demons can push through causing desperate struggle to repair the hole or run for your life, you can’t fight demons without wards. When a great demon opened a hole in the wall of Fort Miln, over 50 people died before the breach could be sealed. Because of the life lost and the desperate struggle to reseal the breach, the desperation is made clear when the symbols of protection break. Consequently, when the wards break this symbol of protection and safety fails, symbolizing desperation and times that need bravery with desperate and quick thinking action. Therefore, the words serving as a symbol of protection show that when forces people rely on and trust fail, times become desperate and those same symbols are needed most. 

Overall Wards serve as multifaceted symbols, having a plethora of meanings, mainly hope, protection, safety, and strength. When the wards are lost, times become desperate and people are left unable to protect themselves, but when taken care of, wards protect, showing that a shield must be taken care of in order to protect. Ultimately the people who make the most difference are the ones who don't hide behind what they have but look for a better way to move forward. 

In the novel, The Hidden Queen, Peter V Brett gives superhuman gifts to both main characters Olive and Daren, but these gifts have great drawbacks for one physical and the other subconscious. Peter used these gifts in order to convey the drawbacks of power, ultimately illustrating power might seem great to the normal people but when not managed power can be a burden.

The first main character who is the main focus of the first book and of equal importance as Darren in this book is Olive. Who has two gifts from the same origin, magic has made her incredibly strong, resilient, quick healing, and powerful, as well as influencing her conception to make her intersex. Olive’s mother was a main character in the prior series and channeled a significant amount of magical power during pregnancy. For most people these magical powers burn away in daylight leaving you just like everyone else, but this magic changed Olive's biology before she was born, making her hold magic. She grew faster, was stronger, more resilient, and healed faster than everyone else, her senses were heightened and she was powerful, but it also made her a threat, because she had a possible claim on two thrones, her mother’s in the hallow  and her father the leader of Krasia, and her fathers people respected the strongest, so olive was a threat to every one of her half siblings. Because of this, Olive was forced to keep her power a secret, and she couldn't do anything that would give it away. During martial arts practice she would have to hold back, and during her herb gathering (healers) classes she would break reinforced clay pots on accident. Consequently she couldn't be like everyone else, which comes most into fruition in this book, when her powers are found out she is so much stronger than everyone else that her strength allows her to beat opponents with superior skill by shear strength, marketing her skill suffer and her strength more of a crutch than a power. Thus Olive possesses immense power compared to everyone else, but this comes with the burden of a target on her back and her skills suffering from it, leaving her open to an opponent that matches her strength. But tThis Power is not Olive's only gift. Olive is born into a separated society on a gender roles standpoint, the biggest enemy the demons drove humans back into and age mostly before electricity and modern weapons, leaving them with torches and blades and the views on gender resemble the time period of the technology. Women are expected to stay at home and take care of as many children as possible, men are expected to lead, take care of the home, and to fight. Olive's home is the best about this, women can fight and own property but many still choose the old ways. The magic Olive’s mother channeled while pregnant fused two twin embryo’s making Olive a full intersex both male and female. This allows her to go beyond the boxes of her society when needed. She can lead an army as a man as she does in the second book, or heal and predict the future like the women of the dama-ting (krasia’s healers and magical foreseers) this allows her to be a leader for her people in every environment. Consequently this gift also will not be accepted especially by the old wayed Krasians who have by far the tightest traits on gender, and must be hidden. Olive grows up as a girl for the best odds of escaping assassination, and stands out from society after revealing the truth. Therefore Olive has the power to be a leader who escapes the bounding boxes of society and has no limit to what they can do, but this comes at the cost of acceptance to society.

Olive is not the only gifted character in the book, the son of the other main characters of the first book is Darren who inherited some of his parents power. Darren is the other main character of the book who has the super human powers to do what he calls “going slippery” “sucking in” and “going sticky” the last being a combination of the other two. Darren’s parents ate the meat of demons which infused magic into their cells, this gave them incredible strength and more powerful versions of Olive's magic powered abilities, but the most unique was the ability to mist (which Olive does have). Daren inherits these powers from his parents, but as he says it “misting killed my da”. And because of this he refuses to let the particles of his body spread all the way to mist, insead to keep them together in what he calls “going slippery” only letting them flow apart so far, which allows him to fit through small gaps. He can also “suck in” where he pulls his particles closer together making him tougher than any other human and stronger too. By combining these he can slip parts of his skin on his fingers and palms into the smallest texture of a wall or surface and expand to fill it then suck in to lock himself, glueing himself to a wall in order to scale seemingly unclimbable surfaces. Because of these powers he has “unlimited potential” as a prophecy from a dama ting said, his limit of strength is the sky. On the downside he is burned by first daylight in the morning as unlike olive his body holds more magic than it can protect from the sun's rays, and he doesnt fit in with anyone else. Consequently darrens fear for his powers subconsciously limits them, with him feeling like he's burning alive every morning leaving him weak until nightfall, and hush whispers and remarks about his demon-like powers. Thus if Darren can unleash all of his inherited power from his parents he would easily be the most powerful character in the book, but this comes at the heavy cost of being shunned from society and seemingly light. But this is not the end of Darren's powers or their down sides. Darren even in daylight and even more so at night holds magic which heightens his far more than even olives. Darren has the ability to see magic flowing like mist during the night, he can hear a whispered conversation 3 floors below him in a busy house, he can smell everything about you, from what kind of food you've had, to how your feeling and sickness before symptoms come. He can feel every imperfection and texture in everything he touches, and tastes we don't have a name for. Beyond these 5 he’s developed more scenes from magic that have no name to us. And this is without the ones he doesn't try or haven't mastered his ability to see magic allows him to nearly read minds by seeing a person's emotions in the magic bonded to them, and he can draw magic through a person to know them better then they know themselves from memories to imperfections and injury. Because of this, Darren has the ability to know everything about someone or follow their trail like a hound dog from a sniff, or overhead a conversation from rooms or more over. Consequently all of this input can often become overwhelming especially when a lot is happening nearby and darren cannot filter it out. Which throws him into a fit almost like a panic attack often throughout the novel. Therefore Darren has powerful abilities but those abilities often backfire as often as they are useful.

Darren and Olive’s many gifts are used to great effect in the hidden queen, but their downsides are also a big hindrance that is worked with throughout this book this battle between the mitigation of the downsides and the improvement of the positives changes Darren and Olive’s characters conveying the importance of knowing one's own ability ultimately illustrating conquering the disadvantages of your power will leave you as a better person. This is shown as the characters grow throughout the book Darren's senses overwhelm him less often, leaving only their power. Olive grows into the leader she was born for no longer hiding her biology. This growth shows the character development and improvement that comes from managing the downsides of their powers.