The whole premise of Caraval hinges on the theme of blurring the lines between fantasy and reality. The murkiness of these boundaries creates feelings of wonder and magic in participants, but if participants forget there is still in fact a boundary despite the murkiness, they can lose their minds to madness. As Tella explains it, “There’s always a bit of real mixed in with everything” (395). The twist at the end of the novel that Tella really devised this game and most events Scarlett witnessed weren’t real shouldn’t be that much of a twist, considering the warnings the actors gave participants prior to entry into the world of Caraval that the actors “will try to convince you it’s real, but all of it is a performance. A world of make-believe” (77). The actors want participants to “be careful of being swept too far away” (92). These blurred lines between fantasy and reality feature prominently as a theme at the end of the novel and in Scarlett’s relationship with Julian.

Though Scarlett learns that many of her experiences during the game were influenced by actors and some of the consequences (like Julian and Dante’s deaths) weren’t real, she also discovers that the stakes weren’t totally imaginary.