Fourth Wing Theories and Predictions . . . Part One?

Pre-Onyx Storm Theories and Predictions for The Empyrean series

The internet is abuzz about The Empyrean series, and there is no shortage of theories and guesses for the coming events in Onyx Storm and beyond. After listening to podcasts and reading a lot of comments, posts, and more on ideas and theories for the upcoming books, I’ve found myself thinking about it more and more.

Because of that, it has gotten my mind whirling on my own ideas for the upcoming events of the series, and I wanted to take a closer look at them. I reread Fourth Wing and Iron Flame with the focus of looking for hints and theory support evidence, and then I aimed to apply it to the existing theories out there as well as to some of my own.

There will be Theories [which are more-or-less “fleshed out”] and Food For Thought [things I’m convinced are important but don’t become a full theory or are theories but not fully “fleshed out”]. This post is looooooong, so you can use the shortcut links below to jump around!

Theories covered in this post: Violet’s Second Signet, The Three Brothers Tie-in Theory, Violet’s Hair – “Silver One”, Inscription Interpretation, Mystery Identities, and 200 Years of Missing History.

Food For Thought covered in this post: . . . What if resurrection is a thing??, The Battle of Aretia, Brennan’s Rune Scar, Venin Book Censorship, and Sudden Quadrant Change.

Without further ado, now that we’re 45 days from the release of Onyx Storm, let’s dive into Theories and Food For Thought!

Violet’s Second Signet

It’s hard to say which question most people are focusing on, but I think the mystery around Violet’s second signet is a big one. There are two major direct guesses and a third more vague guess floating around out there. [There are more than that, of course, but these three are the largest in number of people supporting them than the others.]

Amplifier
Some people call it different things, but many believe Violet to be an amplifier. What is an amplifier? It’s someone who essentially temporarily boosts the powers of those around them. They mainly source the momentary overcoming of Rhi’s ability to summon through walls when she’s able to summon Violet’s knife, Mira’s temporary ability to conjure a ward to protect herself and Violet during the “demonstration” against a venin, and Xaden’s power in the infamous throne scene. While I do think this theory has potential, I personally don’t see this as being a serious contender during my reread for this post. It’s mentioned that Rhi will eventually be able to able to summon through walls, and Rhi never mentions that being a fluke/not being able to do it again. For Mira, later in the story, she tells her mother she’s “now able to create her own wards”, which implies that she worked on this after that one moment with Violet, and was able to replicate it on her own, on multiple occasions. Mira wouldn’t tell her doesn’t-accept-less-than-perfection mother she was capable if it happened inconsistently and rarely. Xaden’s scene is a little less clear, but he does mutter, “‘I should not have done that.’” [Iron Flame, Chapter Forty-Eight, paragraph 71, third line] I also don’t want their moments of achievement to be written off as Violet’s doing and take those victories away from them. That doesn’t feel right for Violet.

Truth-Sayer/Knowledge
A very popular theory is that Violet has the ability to make people say the truth when they would otherwise lie and/or she can detect a lie when she hears one. I’m also lumping this theory in with the more vague “she needs knowledge/information” theory because I do think this theory has the most support.

I think something a lot of people forget is that the signet manifests as a reflection of the rider and has little-to-nothing to do with the dragon they bonded. Sure, the strength of that signet is dependent on the dragon they bond, but how the power manifests isn’t. Which implies Violet’s second signet has nothing directly to do with Andarna – aka it has nothing to do with Andarna’s rare species or her hinted at chameleon/camouflage abilities.

Violet’s need for information is mentioned a lot throughout the series. That she can handle a lot, maybe anything, so long as she has information and knowledge about the subject at hand. All that said, this is why I’m leaning towards lumping truth-sayer and a signet generally related to knowledge together: Rebecca Yarros has said in an interview that we “may be underwhelmed with Violet’s second signet”. [That’s not a verbatim quote, but it’s the general message of the words she said.]

Andarna Tie-Ins
There are three second signet theories that I’ll deem the “Andarna Tie-In” signets, because they all center around Andarna.

There’s the popular one of “gravity manipulation” because the obstacle blocking Andarna from bearing a rider is the weight restriction she’s now facing – which, of course, gravity manipulation would counteract. While this signet would also help the fight with the venin [since the venin need to be in contact with the ground to pull from the source] by making them do a sort of anti-gravity float, I just don’t see how that’s tied to anything really at Violet’s core.

There’s another that her signet is somehow tied to “time manipulation” as an echo to Andarna’s “Feathertail power” and, while this signet would definitely help with her control of her first signet, I just don’t see how or why Violet’s core self would feel the need to cater to that, especially since she’s learning control anyway through Felix. It just doesn’t make sense that we would dedicate on-page time to her learning control the traditional way if she’s just going to use a “time manipulation signet” to control the lightening anyway. But that’s a personal opinion, not a solid fact or reason.

And then there’s this one line of Tairn’s that sticks out to me, but I can’t make work: “‘You cannot mend what does not exist.’” [Iron Flame, Chapter Thirty-Eight, paragraph 45, only line] As far as I could tell while reading, there’s no moment where this seems to really manifest, and Yarros has said Violet’s second signet manifests in Iron Flame, so I think maybe this is just a potent line, and ultimately means nothing. I think part of me just wants Violet to finally get that mender-like signet she’s wanted since she accepted her fate of becoming a rider, and that’s really all the support for this one.

The Three Brother Tie-in Theory

We’ve heard the lore of the Three Brothers mentioned a not-insignificant number of times, but what relevance does this have? A lot of people have their take on this one, but here’s mine: what if the Three Brothers lore is reflected in our Sorrengail siblings by their love interests? Hear me out.

The Sorrengail siblings aren’t all boys and are all dragon riders – but you know who could be all boys and not all dragon riders? Their love interests. But, SeaFox, Violet already has her love interest, Xaden, a dragon rider, and the fandom generally acknowledges Brennan’s love interest was also a dragon rider! True, true, but the fandom also generally believes Brennan’s love interest, aka Tairn’s previous rider, is a venin.

Well, that makes two out of three of the brothers, doesn’t it? One venin, one dragon rider . . . which just leaves a Gryphon Flier. And who just joined Aretia’s population, along with a bunch of similarly-aged fliers? Mira. I don’t know if we’ll see it in Onyx Storm, but I’m guessing Mira eventually falls for a flier. I mean, there’s even already a mention of Mira and another rider in the story! “‘You’re thinking of Drake,’ Syrena says over her shoulder. ‘Same last name, but he’s our cousin, and come to think of it, you’re just his type. He likes women who might actually kill him.’” [Iron Flame, Chapter Forty-One, paragraph 121] I mean, he’s also the captain of the Nightwing Drift, which sounds really important and impressive – even “for a flier”.

But, wait, what if Naolin isn’t a venin? What if Naolin really died? Xaden just turned – would he be the venin “brother”, leaving Brennan’s new/to-be-revealed love interest the dragon rider? Or is Xaden the venin, Mira’s is the rider, and Brennan’s is the flier?

Here’s why I think Mira’s is the flier: while describing Mira, Violet says, “But more than looks, she carries the same arrogance, the unwavering conviction that she belongs in the sky.” [Chapter One, paragraph 21, line four.]

But doesn’t that just mean Mira’s is the rider? I don’t think so. The excerpt from The Fables of the Barren at the beginning of Chapter Thirty-Seven reads, “But it was the third brother, who commanded the sky to surrender its greatest power, who finally vanquished his jealous sibling at a great and terrible price.” Not only is Violet the third Sorrengail child, but she’s also the one who commands the sky. “I am the sky and the power of every storm that has ever been. I am infinite.” [Chapter Twenty-Eight, ninth- and eighth-to-last paragraph, first and only lines] It wouldn’t make sense for the brother’s love interest of the one who commands the sky to also represent the venin brother.  That means Violet’s love interest has to be the rider or the flier, and Xaden isn’t a flier.

All of these points to Violet’s being the dragon rider, Mira’s being the flier, and Brennan being the venin.

Brennan being the jealous sibling [or Naolin being the jealous one] tracks the most in my book. While Violet may have been jealous of her siblings as a child [we get that glimpse of Violet asking about being a rider like the rest of her family, which could be taken as jealousy], she definitely doesn’t seem jealous of them [outside of their better health/lack of physical struggles] when she’s forced to be a rider. She is no longer jealous of their “ability” to be riders – she’s upset that she’s forced to be one. She wants to be a scribe before her mother takes that away from her. On top of that, while Violet experiences jealousy once Cat enters the picture and we see jealousy come up regarding Xaden every now and then, sprinkled throughout the books, we see Violet more-or-less conquer her jealousy in Iron Flame, so it doesn’t make much sense that Violet or Xaden are the “jealous sibling”.

That last paragraph was a weak argument, but you know what’s curious that it seems like not many people are commenting on? While we see Violet talk about Mira flying [Mira, not just Teine] and mounting/dismounting, but we only ever see Brennan flying by referencing Marbh. Brennan, specifically, isn’t mentioned in the sky directly.

“Dragons and gryphons are the gatekeepers, and I’m sure that to someone jealous enough, ambitious enough, risking a soul would be a fair price for the ability to wield.” [Chapter Twenty-Six, sixth-to-last paragraph, line four]

Violet’s Hair – “Silver One”

We’ve always known there’s something up with Violet’s hair. It isn’t just a quirky pigment thing to make her unique as an FMC [Female Main Character], although it also has that side-effect. There are a lot of theories flying around revolving this, especially in conjunction to Tairn’s nickname for her of “Silver One” and his line of, “‘I know exactly who and what you are, Violet Sorrengail.'” [Chapter Fifteen, paragraph 19, the only line]

That line left a lot of us going, “What do you mean what she is??”

Many people thought that line [and various others] implied Violet is half-god, mainly half Malek’s, rather than being her mortal father’s daughter. I, and many others, disagree on this theory – especially the theories that say Xaden is also half-god [aka, that they’re both demigods]. Some people are upset over this theory because they feel that it would take away a lot of Violet’s credit for the strength she’s managed to gain and the badass that she is. Because she’s less impressive and badass if it’s something she’s born with rather than something she’s earned, especially since it has, up until this point, been established that she was born with a pre-conceived “weakness” – aka her joint/ligament/muscle condition [often compared to EDS]. To then have that contradicted with god blood in her veins? That doesn’t make much narrative sense, in my opinion.

But what does that leave? Another semi-popular theory – that she’s, at least partially, venin. Some people think she’s half venin, that she was conceived with one venin parent. This is another theory that implies she isn’t her mortal father’s daughter [because it would be a lot harder to pretend she’s General Sorrengail’s daughter if the general was never pregnant] or that her father turned venin before conceiving her. While I think the later has a sliver of possibility, I don’t know that I believe Violet isn’t a full-blooded sibling of Mira and Brennan – aka that they don’t share the same father. I also don’t believe he turned venin before his death – especially not with the between-the-lines implication that Violet’s father was in contact with Andarna/the dragons with his [now mysteriously missing] Feathertail research. I’m not saying I don’t think it’s possible, I’m just saying I find it highly unlikely.

But what about the, “‘I thought she only had one daughter?'” line [Fourth Wing, Chapter Two, paragraph 13, first line] that implies she isn’t the general’s? This definitely gives more plausibility to Violet not being the general’s, but I still find it hard to believe, and this seems flimsy evidence at best. Especially coupled with later scenes where the general seems to show her genuine maternal affection, though rare, and her words along the same vein. I think it’s more likely that this line is referring to how, post-attack, the general is essentially removed from the public eye to focus on trying to keep Violet’s pregnancy safe and, therefore, not many people see her carrying Violet in the pregnancy’s later months. This coupled with Violet being raised to be a scribe, and therefore not “rubbing shoulders” with other riders and rider hopefuls and the general assumption by everyone that the general would expect all her children to be riders, gives more support to Violet being the general’s daughter, even if she’s a lesser known one because of the unexpected, and then abandoned, scribe path for her.

But what does “at least partially” mean, SeaFox? Well, there’s another popular theory running around – that General Sorrengail was attacked by venin while pregnant with Violet. We see Violet get attacked by the venin with a poisoned blade. While we saw Brennan mend her from that [which means most if not all of any possible side effects from the poison were erased from Violet’s body], it’s possible that the venin poison on their blades is somehow an agent that forces the beginning “transformation” to being a venin or somehow creates a link between the venin who uses the poison to create a link to drain power. More likely, though, is that the fighting scene where we see Violet eventually stabbed gave us our first indicator as to what happened to cause Violet’s hair – that either the general was attacked – attacked as in a venin was able to start draining her – and they were able to reverse the effect for her but not Violet, as we don’t know the extent to which a mender would be able to reverse things for a fetus, or the poison does create a power-draining link, which caused Violet to undergo unusual developmental changes, aka her hair always fading to silver no matter the length it is “‘You know very well the natural pigment seems to gradually abandon it, no matter the length.'” [Fourth Wing, Chapter One, paragraph 109, first line]

But how does that make her a “what”? We don’t currently know anyone who has undergone a venin attack and walked away with lingering effects of it and lives. No one else is reportedly like Violet. No one else survived being drained by a venin. But what does that “make” Violet?

Inscription Interpretation

A lot of people have a lot [understandably] of anxiety and worry over this inscription:
“‘The following text has been faithfully transcribed from Navarrian into the modern language by Jesinia Neilwart, Curator of the Scribe Quadrant at Basgiath War College. All events are true, and names have been preserved to honor the courage of those fallen. May their souls be commended to Malek.'”

WOOF. Let’s unpack that, shall we?

Everyone reading this, especially after Fourth Wing and Iron Flame, is worried this translates to “everyone dies” or at least that, at minimum, one of our MCs dies, whether that’s Violet or Xaden.

Obviously, I have zero authority here, but after spending a lot of time stewing on this, I don’t think this is true. It’s very possible that one of them does die, but I don’t think that’s what this inscription is telling us. So, what is it saying?

We’re left with some scraps of information, but we can gather a lot of information with these scraps now. From the beginning, we’re told this is being transcribed from Navarrian into the modern language. We’re left with two ways to interpret this: that “the modern language” is literally real-life current English, or enough time has passed that “the modern language” is no longer Navarrian. If the latter is true, that implies a post-war future that Navarrian has absorbed other places [like parts or all of Poromiel] and therefore the “common tongue”, for lack of a better term, has changed from “traditional” Navarrian. However, even if it’s the former, the rest of what we can glean from this inscription can still stand.

When we first started Fourth Wing, we had no idea there’s a possibility that Basgiath War College would cease to exist. But isn’t that what’s threatened in Iron Flame? They’re fighting to keep Basgiath War College in their possession. This part of the inscription implies Basgiath War College doesn’t fall, or at least is returned to their possession. This is true as of when this is transcribed by Jesinia.

If that doesn’t tell you you can take a deep breath, let’s continue with this transcription. At the time of this transcription, Jesinia is now Curator of the Scribe Quadrant. So, not only is Basgiath War College still around, but this inscription also implies enough time has transpired that Jesinia is now the Curator of the Scribes. Is it possible this will happen because of a bunch of deaths and doesn’t actually represent a lot of time has passed? Of course! It’s war! But I imagine a lot of people would have to die for Jesinia to become curator when she’s barely starting her tenure with the Scribes. Yes, she’s implied to be the next curator, but eventually. After years, not in the short-term future.

But what about this meaning that only Jesinia survives this long? True, and definitely possible, but Jesinia strikes me as the kind of person who wouldn’t call her transcription “faithful” if she’s left bridging too many gaps to bridge on her own, if she’s left to guess at too many things. This implies at least one critical person survives long enough to help her bridge those gaps. Could this critical person be neither Violet nor Xaden with other things bridging their gaps enough? Sure. Is it likely? Not in my opinion, no. Scribes don’t like “making things up”; they like to accurately report facts, not opinions, let alone guesses.

But they list letters between Violet and Xaden as “recovered”! Doesn’t that imply these letters were found in rubble/posthumously? Not necessarily! “Recover” is defined as “to get back or regain something lost or taken away”, and, in archeology, can mean “when artefacts are recovered from the location in which they were originally deposited“. [As defined here.] All this would imply is that the letters are at some point left somewhere and then found again/gone back for. I could 100% see Violet tracking those letters down in the name of accurately recording history with Jesinia [or someone who knows and loves Violet doing so in her honor, if she really is dead, aka Xaden doing it].

TL;DR: There are enough scraps of information in this inscription to imply that critical people survive long enough for this “faithful” transcription to occur, in a far enough future that Jesinia is Curator of the Scribe Quadrant, that the modern language isn’t Navarrian, and that Basgiath War College exists in that same “far future”.

Mystery Identities

I don’t have a theory [yet] on Violet’s father’s identity, but I have thoughts on General Daramor’s identity and the maven that hunts [haunts?] Xaden and Violet.

The only identifying things we know about the three brothers is that the third one kills the venin one, but not which brother is the venin brother. That said, we’re indirectly told that venin brother is “General Daramor”. “In response to the Great War, dragons claimed the western lands and gryphons the central ones, abandoning the Barrens and the memory of General Daramor, who nearly destroyed the Continent with his army.” [Fourth Wing, Chapter Nineteen, epithet]

Translation has been a semi-present thing in this series, and my first question was, “What does Daramor mean?” Now, basically everything thus far has been Gaelic, but I couldn’t find anything there. However, in Spanish, when broken into “dar amor”, means “to give love”/”give love”. [I also need to, as an aside, say that I think Spanish was chosen here because . . . well, it’s a Romantic Language, whereas Gaelic is just considered a Celtic Language, and anything relating to love makes more sense to be represented in a Romantic Language rather than a Celtic one. Is it possible that, because it means nothing in Gaelic, it is ultimately nothing? Of course! But it’s still worth noting.]

So many ideas as to why General Daramor chose that pseudonym! I haven’t fully vetted any idea I think worth mentioning yet, but it’s brewing.

The maven self-identifies as a general, which hints at the maven being General Daramor. But General Daramor lived 600 years ago! That’s impossible! . . . But venin have been noted to age slowly, with the maven in question literally stating, “‘Fight me and die, or join me and live beyond the ages, but you will never escape me, not when I’ve waited centuries for someone with your power.’” [Iron Flame, Chapter Twenty-Twi, paragraph twelve, second line]. It’s possible that, the “deeper” into “veninhood” you get, the longer you’re able to stretch your lifespan. It’s possible that the current maven was alive with General Daramor was . . . is?

If we return to the Three Brothers for a second, we can examine the relationship between them, General Daramor, and the current maven that calls himself a general. The way I see it, there is more than one way this history with the brothers went down, but these two stick out the most to me.

Scenario one: the fable is pretty accurate [of the pieces we’ve been given], and there were three brothers. One was a flier, one was a rider, and the remaining brother was jealous and desired power of his own, so he turned venin. It’s not clearly stated if it was the rider or the flier, but we can gather it was the rider since it’s commonly known that riders have the greater amount of power, and a great amount of power was needed to “vanquish” the venin brother. The venin brother was “vanquished”, but the other two brothers either didn’t realize he wasn’t defeated, or they left him in the barren lands, thinking it would some contain him for some reason.

Now, to move onto a possibility that may really shock you . . .

Scenario two: the fable is mostly accurate but was rewritten slightly to hide a terrifying truth. There were three brothers: one flier, one rider, and one venin. The brother who commanded the sky killed the venin brother – but was forced to turn venin himself to accomplish this victory. Would that not be “a great and terrible price”? When he turned venin, the remaining brother – and The First Six – abandoned him, either seeing his decision as a betrayal or not knowing how to end the cycle and trying to contain him in the barren lands somehow.

Essentially, scenario one means the venin brother wasn’t truly killed, and the second scenario means the venin brother was killed but at the “great and terrible price” of turning venin himself. So, the maven hunting Xaden and Violet is either General Daramor . . . or the brother that defeated him.

But let’s dive into these a little more.

What does “vanquished” mean? To conquer or subdue by superior force, as in battle; to defeat in any contest or conflict; be victorious over; to overcome or overpower; along with a few similarly worded definitions. No definition uses the word kill/s. It’s very possible the Sage is the venin brother, who just managed to gain an essentially immortal [or at least very, very, very long] lifespan by being venin.

Obviously, everyone is going to assume that, “a great and terrible price” means the cost of their life, that the third brother sacrificed his own life to defeat his corrupted brother. But how has turning venin been described? “I never used to get why the villains would choose to corrupt their souls and become venin”; “a soul would be a fair price”. And we also get this little nugget: “Another talks about the dangers of wielding power from the ground instead of the skies, as one could easily start drawing magic from the earth and eventually be driven mad” [Chapter Thirty One, paragraph 42, line four]. I do think it’s possible that the “great and terrible price” is that the brother had to pull from the sky and earth to gain enough power to vanquish his brother. I also think a possible interpretation is that, because of how much power he was forced to draw from the earth to accomplish his task, he, for lack of a better term, fast-forwarded his descent into madness – so not only did he sacrifice his uncorrupted soul, he also sacrificed his sanity; essentially, he sacrifice everything about himself that made him a good, uncorrupted man. A great and terrible price indeed.

Not enough evidence? How about this – why would one of the fables be to warn riders of the dangers of their bond with the dragons turning on them if they tried to consume too much power? This implies that a dragon bonded rider had their power from their dragon turned on them – which sounds a lot like they turned venin because they reached for more power than their dragon could [or maybe was willing?] to give them.

Still not enough? You hear talk about The First Six being the first riders who survive. But why six? It’s definitely possible it’s only six, and that it’s for an arbitrary reason. But six is also the same numbers as the dragon dens that are known to the general public. What if . . . The First Six is actually The First Seven, but the “erased” rider is the third brother who ended up turning venin?

While the rest of this theory isn’t as strong, I could definitely see that also leading them to “erase” the dragon breed that rider bonded from history, but what if it’s more complicated than that? What if the seventh rider was bonded to an orange dragon, beginning the “questionable choices” reputation of that line [do we even hear any ancestral mention of the orange line like we do the black dragon line?], and that they then erased the seventh dragon den because The Empyrean requested [demanded?] that secret be lost with the rest of the knowledge? The First Six had to have known about the 7^th den. The “erased” den is critical to making successful wards – and it’s implied that den was also critical to defeating the venin, as the secret weapon that defeated them 600 years ago.

200 Years of Missing History

I don’t know how many of you caught this [it’s very glossed over by Violet, which is exactly what the Navarian government wants], but Violet talks about how the Archives cover the last 400 years of Navarrian history, but Navarre is 600 years old.

. . . So, what happened to those first 200 years?

My initial guess is that the first 200 years of that history was honest and not doctored [much], unlike our “new” history, and that, once they decided to rewrite history, there was some sort of “accident” where a large chunk of the Archives was destroyed. To support this theory, Violet talks at length about how important the Archive’s rather extensive safety system is. I think it came about because there was a fire, probably overnight, that destroyed those first 200 years.

If so, my guess is that fire was intentional, and very possibly a controlled burn, to burn what they wanted to, and likely announced something like, “Thankfully, a number of tomes from the effected section of the Archives were in the possession of Scribes diligently working on translating those texts to Navarrian to better preserve our nation’s history, and many others have already been transcribed, so minimal history has been lost.” When, in reality, they burned the history they wanted, rewrote the bits they wished to in order to begin their “new version” of that history, and framed it as a very lucky thing.

. . . What if resurrection is a thing??

Why else is it sooooooo important to burn a dead loved one’s things, especially ” for Malek”, the god of death? Because a dead loved one can be resurrected using something of theirs from when they were alive.

I think Naolin resurrected Brennan. Not saved him from the brink of death – resurrected him. Not only is it plainly stated that Brennan’s fake surname means resurrection, but this would also lead into another half-baked theory I have going on about the animosity between Brennan and General Sorrengail – but I’ll talk more about that later. For argument’s sake, let’s say Brennan was resurrected. The rules and requirements for that resurrection are still up for debate, but Violet hints that Naolin meant “something more” to Brennan, which puts him in a prime position to have something to use of Brennan’s to resurrect him.

I’ll dive a little deeper into my thoughts behind what happened between Naolin and Brennan on the battlefield later, but the important thing right now is that resurrection has theoretically occurred. And, if it has – what would be a better signet than pure power? The life connection between Violet and Xaden [and Sgaeyl and Tairn] has been a frequent topic in the series thus far, but so has Tairn essentially telling Violet that when she dies, he dies. That’s a lot of promises of death, don’t you think? We’ve also seen [both in these books and in her other books] that she’s not afraid of killing people off. Not only is this war, but it’s dragon war. Death is established as a common occurrence.

This theory isn’t fully baked yet, but we’ve seen Jack survive his dragon’s death by choosing to draw power from the source to prevent his own death. Power drawn upon your dragon’s death can stop the rider from dying – and Violet’s signet is pure power, manifesting most often as lightening. Does that not sound conveniently like a defibrillator used to shock an otherwise dead heart back to life? Would the fantasy equivalent not be Violet’s pure energy signet? Or maybe the possible second signet of “mending what doesn’t exist”? I’m not exactly sure on details, but there are too many hints at resurrection being a thing and at least one of our MCs fated to die by the end of the series for me not to think this is going to come up as some sort of heart wrenching event [which Yarros has been known to do in her other books].

The Battle of Aretia

While I understand that your mom allowing you to die to protect a lie [that covers an entire way of life] is definitely enough to piss someone off, Brennan’s hatred towards his mother feels . . . like there’s more going on.

So what else could have happened to make his hatred run so deep?

. . . Maybe her being involved with Naolin’s death?

There are a lot of questions around The Battle of Aretia, but I think the battle reports are lying. I don’t know if it’s a lie that Fen dealt Brennan his fatal blow or just that Naolin was unsuccessful at saving Brennan, but something happened here that pissed Brennan off more the his own death.

My first thought was that Naolin turned venin in the process of saving Brennan. While this would imply that General Sorrengail would then have had to know Brennan survived . . . I don’t know about that. We don’t know what happens when someone is resurrected. It could be that Brennan presented as dead – until he didn’t. And that, during that time, General Sorrengail found Venin Naolin and either took him to be interrogated, since she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to find out more about them, or she viewed killing him as a mercy kill, and Naolin died at her hand.

I don’t know about you, but if I found out my significant other did the impossible in saving my life and my mother’s response was to murder him in cold blood, I’d be deeply pissed off.

The kind of pissed off Brennan is.

Especially if it’s paired with being left with the feeling that that same mother was also willing to sacrifice my life to protect this secret that feels amoral and wrong.

But, if Naolin was either killed or taken by General Sorrengail . . . who took care of resurrected Brennan? Even if he wasn’t resurrected, only “healed” back from the brink of death, who took him to the caves that he recovered in with his dragon? Obviously, his dragon could have taken him, and that’s an easy answer – but the battle was in Aretia. And no one seems to know where Fen’s sister – aka Bodhi’s mother – went. It’s possible that she someone was involved with helping Brennan “stay dead” by removing his body from sight. And I imagine Brennan would be grateful enough for her help to keep her involvement a secret, especially if she had a reason to hide even from the surviving revolution he eventually joined.

But his dragon saving him is so much cleaner – why involve Fen’s sister at all? Of course, it’s possible it was his dragon and only his dragon, but I think it’s more plausible that someone involved in the revolution but not put to death [possibly like Fen’s sister] told him about the surviving embers of the revolution and where to find them. Especially if Brennan was now anti-Navarre and a mender. Having a mender on their side who was willing to help them rebuild a destroyed Aretia . . . that’s enough to overlook the gaping holes in his surviving story. There’s also the nugget of information that Xaden has known about Brennan since that same day, even though Brennan states he didn’t link up with the civilians of Aretia until later, after the city burned: “‘I’ve known about Brennan since his death.'” [Iron Flame, Chapter Three, paragraph 121, second line] and, “‘There are other dragons here, and they saved us, hid us in the network of caves within the valley, then later with the civilians who survived the city being scorched.'” [Iron Flame, Chapter Two, paragraph 24, eighth line] If Brennan didn’t join the civilians of Aretia until after the city burned, how would Xaden have known the same day as the battle? Either Fen is involved in the holes of this story [which means Lilith didn’t capture Fen until after the day of the Battle of Aretia] or Fen’s sister took him [maybe she was with Fen’s group, but broke off to save Brennan since she’d be easier to miss?], but there are holes in Brennan’s story, and Fen’s sister’s story at this point is missing even more information.

Brennan’s Rune Scar

There’s definitely something up with Brennan’s rune scar on his palm that Violet notes in Iron Flame. I have too many ideas for a solid theory, but here is what I’ve cooked up so far.

I think the scar is somehow related to his resurrection. We know the venin create wyvern with a rune on an onyx stone. Is it possible the rune on the onyx stone they find in the wyvern is the same as the one on Brennan’s palm – that Brennan has [or, with the rune now a scar, would that make it a had?] a wyvern-like connection to Naolin until he was able to mend himself back enough to be able to sever that bond? Is that possible wyvern connection still active and Naolin isn’t dead? If that’s the case, does Brennan know that Naolin can essentially spy on the revolution, since everything a wyvern hears and sees, the venin sees too?

But maybe the rune being a scar means that it was needed for the resurrection and, once Brennan was alive again, it faded to a scar and there’s no connection to Naolin?

Or maybe the scar is a rune lying in wait to be activated. But, if that’s the case, why is it a scar – and what does it do once activated?

There has to be some sort of lingering price for resurrection beyond the initial huge power cost. This whole thing with Brennan and Naolin feels too gap-y and leaves a ton of room for world-shaking bombs later in the story. Something is still up with this.

Venin Book Censorship

If Brennan’s resurrection/healing has nothing to do with being or being connected to venin, why is Brennan so against Violet reading the books they’re provided with venin information? Sure, he uses the security clearance excuse, which is the go-to line for a government trying to keep secrets, but Violet has proven herself the expert on all things venin, and that she wields the knowledge wisely.

. . . Is it because he was worried those books contained his secrets – that he was resurrected, that Naolin turned venin to save him, and that he’s now connected to [or at least tainted by] the venin? Is there some other venin-connected secret Brennan is keeping hidden – beyond him being venin himself? It just seems odd and too convenient for still-keeping-secrets Brennan here.

Too many questions left unanswered to call this a theory, but it all seems so, so suspicious.

Sudden Quadrant Change

If General Sorrengail knew about the venin and that secret that she wanted Violet to join the Riders before knowing herself, why would she have been “allowed” to be raised with the intent of becoming a scribe only to have that change exactly 6 months before Conscription Day?

Isn’t that a burning question for everyone? I have some thoughts here: 1) it’s mentioned that this happened after Violet passed the initial entrance exam, which could be held exactly 6 months before Conscription day or 2) she came across Violet’s father’s Feathertail research, which maybe mentioned or hints at Violet’s significance and destiny with the dragons, realizes Violet needed to be a rider to realize that destiny.  I don’t know how much stock I give to the idea that the general found her husband’s research and kept it to herself, but the exactly 6 months implies a self-imposed deadline on the general’s part or the date that the initial entrance exam is held.