The characters in Bradley's historical fiction are usually tragic, or thwarted individuals, whose personal fulfillment and positive contributions are thwarted or denied in their lifetime, vindicated only as history unfolds. Eilan and Gaius are of this type — positive, even superior individuals, blessed with the most their bicultural environment can offer, they are yet kept from their own happiness, either in personal relationships or professional success, by a contradictory and denial-oriented set of external circumstances. These characters have a dual vision which could sustain them, but because of their own ambivalence or hesitancy, are kept from realizing their vision fully, are realizing it as instruments, not as actors. In her Epilogue, Caillean says that Eilan was "the greatest High Priestess and, some would say, the great traitor to her people of all. But through Eilan the blood of the Dragon and the Eagle [Celt and Roman] have mingled...