Fourth Wing Chapters 11-15

Oh my gosh! I am so excited to write this next post! This is, in my opinion, the best set of chapters so far in the book and I had so much fun rereading them! Not only do we get the final gauntlet challenge, we get presentation, then threshing which means…Tairn and Andarna!!! It is perfection! I actually reread them a third time with the graphic audio because a friend of mine suggested I listen to that and it is spectacular!  I was legitimately dancing around in my kitchen when Tairn bonded Violet and then again when Andarna told her to say her name! It is pure beauty and I'm just going to jump right into it! 

Blame it on Imogen

Like I said in the last post, I had completely forgotten that the gauntlet even existed, which made rereading this part feel as though it was the first time. And having looked at the fan art for the gauntlet, I was truly able to envision Violet using the rope to get up the chimney and her dagger to get up the ramp. What I love the most about this scene is seeing the way Violet and her squadmates support each other. It is so endearing how everybody in their squad (well, almost everybody) is cheering each other on the entire time. At this point in the book we are still getting to know who these people really are, but we do know that they are fucking loyal to one another and they want each other to succeed. I absolutely love seeing that right off the bat here. This is a competition, but they also know that they need each other to survive and I just love watching this dynamic grow and get that much stronger throughout the rest of the books.

I had also very much forgotten about them talking at presentation about the venin and the wyvern and how they had been told these stories at bedtime almost as cautionary tales for naughty children. It was really interesting to focus on that during a reread and realize that a good majority of kids growing up in Navarre were taught about these monsters, yet they are all unaware (mostly) that they are real. That actually brought up a lot of questions for me this time around. I'm curious where these stories all came from. Because Violet's book from her dad is clearly the only one left in existence, at least as far as we know. They don't even have it in the archives. But these stories are obviously being told and have been told for a very long time, it's just been twisted into folklore. So now my wonder is why? Was it originally stemming from the truth and over generations people just believed it to be folklore? Or were these stories created as a cover-up for the truth? So people would just believe that it was folklore and laugh away the possibility of it being truth like they are now? It's really interesting to me that there's such widespread knowledge of their existence, even if that knowledge is, for lack of a better phrase, under false pretenses.

Presentation

As amazing as this section was to reread, because I did forget a lot about this one too, I don't have nearly as much to say about it as I did the gauntlet and threshing coming up. But there was something I was really curious about as I was rereading this scene. The dragons are watching all of the cadets, and listening to all of their conversations. In fact, they're even told that they should talk more as they're walking past all of these dragons because it gives the dragons a better sense of who they are and there's a correlation between bonded riders and the amount of chatter during presentation. So clearly the dragons are taking this very seriously and feeling everybody out. What I'm struggling with is how and why Jack gets through presentation. The dragons are clearly torching pretty freely. In the podcast, they actually did the math and 22 cadets were torched during presentation! So they're not exactly holding back. I don't understand how Jack survives. Or Tynan and Oren, for that matter. I have a whole section on Jack coming up, but it doesn't make sense to me because he's so open about how absolutely fucking horrible he is and how cocky and arrogant, and it just doesn't make sense to me that they let him live.

The other thing about presentation is that they describe the dragons as being 25 ft tall. And I still struggle to picture just how gigantic these dragons are. I can't wrap my head around it. So, as hard as I'm trying, and as much as I want to envision these massive monsters lined up 100 deep, I just can't. Does anyone else struggle to comprehend the sheer size of the dragons?

Threshing

Time for my favorite part of this section of chapters! Threshing takes up probably a good third of this section, and there's still a part of me that wishes there was more! And honestly, the best of it is right at the very end. It starts so slow and scary for Violet because nobody knows if she's going to bond a dragon or if she's even going to survive, though I will say, I still remember the first time reading the book and I was 100% sure she was going to bond "the black dragon” from the moment they mentioned him in dragon class. It just seemed right that this small, seemingly weak girl would bond the largest, most terrifying dragon in Navarre. But of course, he wasn't at presentation and he hadn't agreed to bond and so I really truly did not know what was going to happen at threshing. Then Jack and his posse of assholes show up talking about needing to kill the tiniest dragon and how they're dragons will wait for them because they're so sure they're going to bond. So of course Violet has to go save her, and of course I instantly changed my mind and decided she was going to bond “the little gold dragon.” But what I never expected was how that fight was going to go. I don't really know what I thought was going to happen, but I never envisioned Violet taking on these three horrible men by herself and winning. And I certainly did not expect Xaden and Sgaeyl to show up and not only watch, but help. And more than anything, the last thing I expected was for Tairn to show up and not only torch Tynan, but bond Violet right there, simply because she saved Andarna. 

When he spoke in her head for the very first time, I was shocked, like I'm sure a lot of people were. I of course loved it instantly. But when he talks to her for the very first time on a reread?? I was jumping up and down giddy! I adore Papa Tairn!! As curmudgeonly as he is, he is such a fucking teddy bear for her and I cannot get enough. And I will never be able to say enough about my love for Andarna. I think my favorite part of all is when she flies away at the end! Like, the entire time Violet is trying to save her and trying to tell her to fly away, and she just stands there all cute and golden and adorable with her little paws, and when all is said and done she flies away like nothing happened. It's so her I can't even stand it! 

Papa Tairn

I think I was giddy from that moment until the end of chapter 15! it is all so fantastic! From him telling her, "You're bleeding. Stop it.” to him kneeling in front of her so she can mount him, to her falling and he, one of the most powerful dragons in Navarre, catches her and throws her back up in the saddle, and even his "I know exactly who and what you are, Violet Sorrengail" comment. It already gives you this unbelievable picture of who Tairn is, in just a matter of pages. Yes, he is a fantastic curmudgeon and we all love him for that! But there's also something about this instant bond with Violet. And I don't just mean the actual physical bond, but there's an emotional one that feels like it's been there for a really long time. I don't want to say that he's catering to her. That’s not the right term. But he's caring for her and making accommodations for her because he already knows that she's worth all of it. And I have to wonder how he knows so much about her already. I can't imagine many of the other riders and dragons had been discussing her with Tairn. So the only thing I can figure is that he's learning about her from Xayden and Sgaeyl. It's like he already knows her at her core, but there's no way to explain that. And maybe saving Andarna was what finally cemented for him that she was deserving, but there has to be more to that. I'm really interested and hopeful that we find out more about that. 

Venin, Wyvern and Dragons, Oh My!! 

All right, it's time for me to start piecing together some information to start formulating some theories. My first one is about Lilith. As we read through these books, we obviously learn a lot more about the venin. There is also a lot that we still don't know, but after reading all of these books, and then going back, there are definitely things you start to pick up on and question that you didn't before. One of the biggest things for me is that comment about Violet being terrified as a child that her mother was a venin because she came home from a long night and her eyes were bloodshot. It even said something about her mom taking away her book of fables for a month because the outpost guards all came running and she was hiding behind Brennan and it was all a big mess. The first time I read this, I blew right past it and didn't give it another thought. When I read it the second time, initially, I thought, holy crap! Lilith is a venin! But then I thought, nah, it was just in there to show that Violet was super worried about it and I started to move on. But I couldn't get this nagging thought out of my head that it might be more. And knowing what I now know about Rebecca Yarros, it couldn't be nothing. Everything has a purpose, even if you don’t find out that purpose for several books. So, what do we know about venin’s eyes that relates to this memory? We know that, after you channel from the earth, your eyes are bloodshot. We also know that the redness eventually fades and it's only after you channel multiple times that it starts to become permanent. Then I started thinking about all of these theories floating around about Violet either being venin or being affected by the venin during her mother’s pregnancy. I can't help but wonder if something happened and Lilith actually did channel from the earth at this time. It wouldn't explain Violet's silver hair and it wouldn't explain her fragile body, unless it wasn’t the first time. But knowing everything we know about Lilith, even with how much I have forgotten about her character, we know that she's the type to do just about anything when she puts her mind to it, so I would not put it past her to have channeled for some purpose that she felt was worthy of such a transgression. My hope is that we are going to learn a lot more about this history in the coming books as we dive deeper into Papa Sorrengail’s research. Not even the research, but just some of the sketchy shit that we learned in Onyx Storm. Learned is kind of a loose term…we didn't really learn anything but we know there's a lot we need to learn about his and Lilith’s past and I'm sure we're going to get these answers eventually. I can't wait to see if I am anywhere even in the ballpark ;) 

Jack-Fucking-Barlowe

Initially, I thought about putting these thoughts up in the venin and wyvern section, with my other theories. Or beginnings of theories. But I think Jack deserves a section all his own. As much as I hate him, and I really do, he is an important character in this book…in this series. And I think he's going to continue playing a very important role in the fourth and fifth books. I believe that we are going to find out that he's been venin all along. There are not a lot of theories I would be willing to be that blunt about. There's not a lot of hills I'm going to die on here. But I am certain that he was sent to Basgiath as a venin. I said it in my first post, it does not make sense how much he hates Violet from the start. It doesn't make sense that she is his only consistent target the entire time. But now in this set of chapters, there's even more things that don't add up. When Jack, Tynan and Oren are hunting Andarna, Jack starts talking about the feathertails. Even Violet says that she doesn't know where he's getting his information because they don't know anything about feathertails. But then Rebecca, genius that she is, immediately distracts you and blows right past that comment. But it's true. No one knows anything about feathertails except that they hate violence. And he's making comments about how they refuse to bond and they refuse to fight and it's just a little bit of added information, but it still doesn't make sense that he would know any of it.

The other thing I don't understand is, not only does he survive threshing when he is that incredibly horrible, but he bonds a dragon! You would think that, while the dragons do want someone who's strong and ruthless and able to fight for Navarre, you would also think that they would want someone honorable. Maybe that's just me, but it doesn't make sense that he actively sought out Andarna to kill her, and another dragon would still willingly bond him. Why would a dragon bond someone who's trying to kill other dragons? I've thought about this a lot, because this feeling won't leave me alone. And something I thought about was that, maybe not all the dragons are good. I started remembering things that happen later in the series like Varrish’s dragon torching a bunch of riders/cadets in Iron Flame. And I also remember that his dragon is orange, as is Jack’s. It was also mentioned earlier that orange dragons are the most unpredictable and it makes them dangerous. So it got me wondering, is there sort of this internal divide in the Empyrean? Are some of the dragons bad? I don't fully understand how this would work, because you would think that the good dragons would try to do something about the bad dragons and why would they allow them to bond riders knowing that this is going to be the outcome? That we're going to have horrible people bonding dragons and getting these potentially extremely powerful signets that could rip everything apart? And if Jack really was venin from the start, like I think he was, then his dragon would have known that too. And you would think something would have come of that, but it didn't. So I just think there is so much more going on here with the Empyrean and some kind of a divide that we haven't even scratched the surface of yet.

Something else I thought about in analyzing all of this, is we now know that Andarna is the 7th breed of dragon and she is the key to firing the ward stone. And as far as anyone knows, she is the only one of her kind left. She's for sure the only one of her kind left in Navarre. We obviously know there are other Irids on the isles now, but it's very possible that at this time, in Navarre, no one else knows that. So Andarna is all they have to continue protecting the wards and fire the ward stone when the current one fails. So I'm wondering if Jack was sent in by the venin to not only spy on Basgiath, but to kill Andarna and ensure that the wards not only come down, but stay down. Which I think would mean that there has to be leadership in Basgiath who are also venin to make sure this happens. They knew about Andarna. And they knew either that she hatched or that at some point she was going to hatch and they knew they were going to have to do something about it. I know not everyone knows what she is, but someone must have. I think in the next two books we are going to get some unbelievable downloads on what has been going on behind the scenes in Basgiath because there's no way all of this is happening without at least some leadership being involved. Especially with what happens in Iron Flame and Onyx Storm. 

Should I Get the Wingleader?

I did mention in the beginning that this is by far my favorite set of chapters thus far? And, surprisingly enough, we get very little Xayden in these chapters. We get him at the end of the gauntlet, beautifully smirking at Violet as she explains how she took his advice and twisted the rules so she could succeed. Because she's fucking brilliant! And I can just hear him, in his head, "brilliant, fucking woman.” I would absolutely love to hear what was going on in his head that entire time. By then, he had to be feeling something for Violet, and I would love to know what was going through his mind as she was completing the gauntlet, because you know he was watching. He couldn’t not watch to see what happened and how she did it. But to hear what he thought when she used the rope and then used the dagger, and then was able to justify every decision she made, I am certain would have turned me into a puddle.

The only other Xayden we get in these chapters is the little bit of him during threshing. Knowing that Sgaeyl is the reason that Andarna was at threshing, would definitely lead a normal person to believe that that's why Xaden was there. But us book girlies know better. I'm certain that Sgaeyl either wanted or needed to be there for Andarna, but I also know she could have gone alone. I am ready to die on this hill too, Xayden was there because he not only needed to see what happened with Violet, but he needed to keep her safe. I truly believe that at this point he no longer wants her to die and I think it's extremely evident by the fact that he starts to walk forward to intervene right before Tairn shows up. There is no way he was going to let her die and I love seeing that from him. He is such a hard-ass. He's an outright asshole sometimes. But he also fights for the things he cares about. We know this. He will destroy himself for the people he loves. And while he may not love her at this point, he definitely knows that he can't let her die. And that's why I love him so much. 

The wingleader section would not be complete without a recount of scalp prickles. In the last set of chapters, we got so many! But in this set, I think we only get one! And it's so small that, if I wasn't actively seeking them out to point them out here, I probably would have missed it. It's at the very end of chapter 13. Violet is facing off against our three most hated assholes, and she hears Xayden speak from behind her. Her scalp prickles as she turns to face him, and he's oh so perfect just leaned up against a tree like it's nothing. But again, right after that, Rebecca distracts us with everything else that's going on and we forget that it even happened. I am curious what he was trying to figure out from her. Because her intention to save Andarna was evident. You wouldn’t need to read her intentions to figure that out. So I'm wondering what else he was looking for. Or if he just wanted to know how she was feeling in that moment, or how she intended to do it? It's kind of an interesting place for the scalp prickle, but I do love seeing how often it happens in this book when I never even gave it a second thought the first time because I didn't know what he was capable of. I'm so glad I’m rereading this book! 

The Podcast 

After I read the chapters and listened to the podcast, I have to say, I was really proud of myself because there were so many things that Lexi and Nicole brought up that I had already written down and thought about myself. But there were still other things that they dug into and noticed that I hadn't even considered.

One big question that I thought was really interesting was about Luca and Pryor being torched at presentation. It seemed to me like they were torched because Pryor lacked confidence and probably conviction, and Luca was insufferable. But they asked a really interesting question that I hadn't even considered. Luca was torched after all of her non-believing comments about the venin and the wyvern and how ridiculous that whole idea was. They wondered if Luca got roasted because she didn't believe in them and was dissing Violet for her belief in them. Almost as though the dragon that torched her knew the truth and knew that they would need people to fight against them and it didn't think that she ever would or could. It's also possible that that's why the green dragons were so interested in Violet. Yes, she was wearing Teine’s scales, but maybe they were also interested in her knowledge and belief in these “folklore” creatures. 

Something else that they started doing was looking into the Gaelic meanings behind the dragon's names, and analyzing a little bit more what we know about the dragons. and I thought the information was really cool and in some cases, shows us things that we already know, but in other ways could be things that might help us have a better understanding later. So that was something I wanted to share before ending this post today:

Dragons:

• Tairn (Violet) - Thunder

• Sgaeyl (Xaden) - Shadows

• Codah (Melgren) - War

• Aimsir (Lilith) - Weather

• Deigh (Liam) - Ice

• Andarna (VIolet) - The Second Honor 

Dragon Tail Types:

• Morningstartail (Mix of dagger and club)

• Daggertail

• Swordtail

• Clubtail

• Scorpiontail

• Feathertail (baby dragon)

Dragon Colors:

• Black - Most powerful, smartest, most cunning

• Blue - Known for their size, most vicious

• Brown - Never show fear around them 

• Green - Very smart, most rational

• Red - Quickest to temper

• Orange - Unpredictable, don’t look them in the eye 

• Gold - ***They didn’t know this yet…but these are the babies! And the 7th breed is Irid. 

Until Next Time 

Well, that brings me to the end of this post! I can't believe we’ve already made it this far. As always, if you enjoyed what you read, or you have your own thoughts or comments, please share them with me! I would love to hear your thoughts on anything and everything! Next time I will be analyzing chapters 16-20, and I hope you will join me again for all the fantasy feels!!