Legends & Lattes lauds the idea that, no matter one’s past, one always has the option to change their path. This theme is developed primarily through Viv and her internal conflict regarding her violent past. Other characters, like Tandri, Pendry, and the Madrigal also contribute to this theme. At the beginning of the novel, Viv is a brutish warrior, wielding a great sword, Blackblood, against her foes. However, at the end of the Prologue, she decides, “After twenty-two years of adventuring, Viv had reached her limit of blood and mud and bullshit” (3). She instead chooses to live a life in contrast with her nomadic, bloody one. Viv establishes her new life in the peaceful Thune as a coffee shop owner, a longtime dream—but relics and reminders of her former life remain. When she posts a “Help Wanted” advertisement in town square, she observes postings for “beast hunts, bounties, and battles,” remembering how she’s “torn down five score of those sheets herself” (47). This life is never far behind.

When Viv learns of the Madrigal and the dues she’s expected to pay each month, the temptation to return to the brutish warrior she was grows.