History Literature / TheTestaments

* YourCheatingHeart: Infidelity is rampant in hypocritical Gilead, especially among the Commanders. [[spoiler: Both Commander Kyle and Paula cheated on their spouses]], and many Commanders have turned their Handmaids into sex slaves outside the Ceremony.

* FandomNod: Members of the terrorist resistance group Mayday now have a second password to identify themselves to each other: "June moon". This is presumably a reference to the couple of instances in the first novel where the word "June" is used in a significant context (especially the phrase "mooning and June-ing", used of Handmaids pining for their past lives), which led many readers to believe it was Offred's way of indirectly revealing her first name. (Atwood later revealed this wasn't her original intention, but she liked it enough to go with it, and it later became a case of AscendedFanon in the TV series.)

* FandomNod: Members of the terrorist resistance group Mayday now have a second password to identify themselves to each other: "June moon". This is presumably a reference to the couple of instances in the first novel where the word "June" is used in a significant context (especially the phrase "mooning and June-ing"), which led many readers to believe it was Offred's way of indirectly revealing her first name. (Atwood later revealed this wasn't her original intention, but she liked it enough to go with it, and it later became a case of AscendedFanon in the TV series.)

* NoNameGiven: The novel cleverly avoids ever having to reveal the real names of the characters from ''The Handmaid's Tale'', since the epilogue of the first novel claims them all to be pseudonyms. Aunt Lydia's real first name is never revealed (it pretty certainly wasn't Lydia, since the Aunts change their names to those of pre-Gilead beauty and household products when they join the faction); nor is the original name of Agnes (who was presumably called something else before being snatched from her birth parents and forcibly adopted within Gilead). [[spoiler:Offred, Luke, Nick, and Commander Fred are all alluded to and/or make brief appearances, but without their real names being mentioned.]]

* FandomNod: Members of the terrorist resistance group Mayday now have a second password to identify themselves to each other: "June moon". This is presumably a reference to the couple of instances in the first novel where the word "June" is used in a significant context (especially the phrase "mooning and June-ing"), which led many readers to believe it was Offred's way of indirectly revealing her first name. (Atwood later revealed this wasn't her original intention, but she liked it enough to go with it and it had already became a case of AscendedFanon in the TV series.)

* BusCrash: As alluded to in the epilogue of ''The Handmaid's Tale'', Commander Fred was killed in a purge sometime in the fifteen years between novels. It's ambiguous whether Serena Joy shared his fate; Baby Nicole is said to be wanted by her legal family within Gilead who are his "surviving relatives", but it's never elaborated on exactly who they are (or even if they're real, and not a concoction of the regime to further pressure the Canadian government to repatriate the child).

The novel, set 15 years after the Ending of ''The Handmaid's Tale'', follows three narrators, an adopted daughter of a commander, a young woman in Canada watching Gilead from afar, and a older woman, a founder and respected leader within the nation, [[DrillSergeantNasty Aunt Lydia]].

* AsTheGoodBookSays: Literature/TheBible is used to justify the treatment of the women in society. One story in particular in Judges, the Levite and his Concubine, is used in Agnes' school to teach women to be obedient.

* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler: Aunt Lydia]]

* CanonWelding: The plotline of Baby Nichole being taken to Canada originated in the [[Series/TheHandmaidsTale series]]. It also happened here ''The Testaments''. The name is spelled Nicole in the novel.

* ColorCodedCharacters: Continuing from The Handmaid's Tale, Daughters wear Pink/Plum, Marriage Ready Girls wear Spring Green, and Pearl Girls wear silver.

** The Handmaiden assigned to [[spoiler: Commander Kyle]] and his wife is essentially sacrificed so that her son could be saved.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: After a gruelling escape effort, [[spoiler:Agnes and Nicole manage to escape to Canada where they are suggested to have reunited with their mother and started families of their own.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: After a gruelling escape effort, [[spoiler:Agnes and Nicole manage to escape to Canada where they are suggested to have reunited with Offred and eventually had families of their own.]]

* ArrangedMarriage: The Daughters of Gilead can expect this. Marriages are arranged by parents and Aunts, with some "say" from the girls. [[spoiler: Averted by both Becka and Agnes as they becomes a Supplicants, a Aunts-in-Training, to escape marriage.]]

* WickedStepmother: Paula is this for Agnes, whom she sees as an unpleasant remnant of Tabitha, the previous Wife.

* {{Hypocrite}}: An infuriating example in the Gilead elites; with their pious and proper facade, are guilty of continuously committing every single sin which their precious Bible condemns. Additionally, in spite of wailing that the birth rates have plummeted to dangerous lows, they execute thousands and thousands of people (not counting the underhanded murders that the Commanders and Wives plan against their competition and spouses). Regardless of who you are in this regime, your life is cheap.