These events are hinted at earlier in the book by Bevis's foster mother Ancret, a descendant of the original inhabitants; the theme of continuation is common in Sutcliff's work.

Another which appears here is the idea of emotional ties that sit alongside legal duties, such as the feudal obligations of knighthood; these bonds are often more powerful and important, since they apply to any time period, whether Bronze Age Britain or the Normans in the 11th century.

'[2] As with Sutcliff's other novels, the underlying plot and major figures are historically accurate while reflecting a theme common in her writing, the continuity of the links between the land and those who live on it.

Here, there are several explicit connections between Knight's Fee and Warrior Scarlet; Aquila, the central character in Eagle of the Ninth, also takes up a land grant to farm in the same area of the Downs.

[6] The novel was influenced by Sutcliff's reading of the essay "The Arrow and the Sword" (1947) by Hugh Ross Williamson, which argued that William Rufus was covertly an adherent of a pre-Christian religion.