I had to give up and use the generator but...onto the examples.
If you have watched the movie "pirates of the Carribean," you see the character Jack Sparrow. He is on a sinking boat and that also serves as a metaphor which foreshadows the fact that he will be on many "sinking boats" in this story, it shows the darker aspect of his character when he sees the hung fellow pirates and shows how flippant and comedic his character is by his interaction with the dock master. Boom! You know what you're getting into with this character and it remains consistent through the five movies.
Also, when the promise is down, there is the matter of Progress. Yes, you hinted that we are following a character that is maybe too rigid and it will hinder him from doing a particular thing and maybe he will change by the end but we need to see progress on that. We need to know "okay, here is one step towards that direction," it can be both positive and negative but promises are what keeps the middle of the story solid. This is part of what made the middle of "Game of thrones" very gripping (though the payoff was not it at all)
As a writer, it is important to make promises in the beginning of your book, show the progress and give a payoff that is consistent with the promises made.