Hi Shop, there's a scene early in book 3 of Crown of Stars where Liath just wishes for peace and the space to pursue her own interests.
Obviously lots of adventurers in fantasy have similar thoughts, but many are trapped by prophecy, or oowerful objects like The Ring, or their duty/status (it is so hard to be a prince! If only I could be a humble freeholder).
Liars is trapped by the interest of a powerful predatory man, the duties of the only position she can find to protect herself from him...
... and the fact that her interests (magic, sitting in peace) are somewhat orthogonal to the court she's been made a part of. In some ways, an obstacle is simply that she doesn't want to participate in the world the way it wants her to.
I'm trying to think of other examples (esp in epic fantasy) that constrain the main character this way. Thoughts?
@Jsuttonmorse My first thought is The Split Worlds Series by Emma Newman. If you haven't read it, it's a great series and I've reviewed it here so you may check if it's what you're looking for: http://www.themiddleshelf.org/reviews/emma-newman-the-split-worlds