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I do like shoutouts, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say they amuse me, but they can also illuminate. Sometimes they're overt, as with the Scarlet Pimpernel references or even that rickety bridge, but they can be illuminating when they involve shared themes.
I find a lot of overlap between the characters of Estraven from Left Hand of Darkness both as whistleblowers and as those who had a more idealized or hopeful view of society than currently obtained. The other thing they perhaps had in common as it's open-ended here, is martyrdom. Estraven actively chose it; I wonder if Toby had seen that as a potential end, and not just as the possible torpedoing of his career, he would have pursued his course? Ultimately, he relied on a deep-rooted sense of fairplay and justice, it seems to me, despite the evidence that it didn't always apply. Could he have conceived that he might have been silenced, rather than marginalized? By the time Jeb was eliminated he was mostly committed morally and emotionally, even though Crispin offered him an out. But had he known sooner? Could he have compromised his conscience to the extent of, "Keep your head down and do what good you can at the margins"?
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