🎧 ‘War of Hearts’ by Ruelle
In preparation for Onyx Storm, I thought I’d write a little summary of what happens in Fourth Wing. I’ll answer some of the bigger questions first then dive into the full summary. Beware of spoilers, this will be diving deep into the details.
|Quick Answers|
What is Violet’s signet?
Violet can wield lighting. Technically, she can actually wield pure power that takes the form of lightning. Yarros has also teased a possible second signet for Violet that is to be reveled in Onyx Storm.
Does Liam die at the end of Fourth Wing?
I’m sorry to say that yes, Liam dies. While fighting the venin his dragon is killed, thus killing him as well.
Is Brennan alive?
Yes. At the end of the book after the battle against the venin, Brennan is reveled to be very much alive. He welcomes Violet to the revolution, implying that he has been fighting in the shadows against the venin the whole time.
|Book Summary|
Welcome to Basgiath War College, where you are trained in one of four quadrants, Riders, Healers, Scribes, and Infantry. Violet has been studying her entire life to be part or the Scribe Quadrant, like her father, and suffers from multiple health conditions. Violet is forced by her mother, a high-ranking general in the kingdom of Navarre, to enroll in the dangerous and brutal training to become an elite dragon rider at Basgiath War College. Her older sister, Mira, is a graduated dragon rider and warns Violet to stay away from Xaden Riorson, whose father was executed by their mother due to leading a rebellion 5 years ago. Their older brother Brennan died fighting against rebellion forces.
The first challenge Violet faces is entering the Riders Quadrant. First-years who want to become riders need to cross the narrow and dangerous parapet. The goal of the training and challenges set by the college are to root out the weak, with death always being a possibility. Before crossing the parapet, Violet of course meets Xaden Riorson. He immediately recognizes her but takes no action towards her. Violet manages to survive and makes a friend, Rhiannon. She also reunites with her childhood friend Dain Aetos, who is a second-year cadet and a squad leader.
Violet and Rhiannon join Dain’s squad. The Riders Quadrant is divided into four wings, which has three sections each and three squads within each section. Xaden, a 3rd year, is the wingleader of the Fourth Wing. He insists that Dain’s squad be moved into a section within his wing.
Violet and her fellow cadets take classes in battle strategy and undergo a number of challenges as part of their training. From these classes the cadets learn about recent attacks on their borders, but due to her continued research in the Scribe Quadrant library, Violent knows that there are also attacks that they are not being told about. The nearby kindgom of Poromiel has ramped up their invasion attempts and are sending out gryphon fliers to raid their supplies.
Due to her lack of training and health issues, Violet uses her knowledge of herbs to poison her opponents and get through sparring matches. Next, they have to master The Gauntlet, a dangerous climbing challenge, consisting of five ascents. Violet, while small and somewhat weak due to her health issues, is incredibly smart and comes up with a way to make it through the last two ascents to survive the Gauntlet.
Up until this point, Xaden and Violet haven’t crossed paths too much and have stayed out of one another’s way, for the most part. While walking the campus one night, she learns that he’s been leading meetings with other “marked” children (kids who were marked with relics because their parents were part of the rebellion 5 years ago), which is technically treason since it’s impermissible for three or more people with rebellion relics to assemble. However, Violet sees that he’s merely giving the younger ones advice and guidance on getting through the trainings and challenges. Xaden catches her spying and Violet promises not to tell anyone about their meetings.
It’s finally time for the Threshing, the day when the cadets will be taken to a field to approach and hopefully be selected by a dragon. The bond between a dragon and its rider imbues the rider with minor magic powers and more significantly a signet power, which is a powerful and unique magical ability. Dain’s signet power is the ability to see someone’s recent memories, while Xaden is able to control shadows.
Violet survives Threshing with two dragons — Tairn, a large black dragon, and Andarna, a small golden adolescent dragon, who she saves during threshing from other cadets who were trying to kill her for sport. This has never happened in recorded history before and the Empyrean (the dragon leadership) meets and decides that it is permissible.
Tairn is actually mated with Xaden’s dragon Sgaeyl (a gorgeous and viscous blue dragon), which creates a bond between Xaden and Violet. Once bonded, a rider will die if their dragon dies, though the same is not necessarily true for the dragon. Tairn, however, nearly died when its previous rider died, which in turn nearly killed his mate Sgaeyl. Due to their new connection, her death could weaken or kill both Tairn and Sgaeyl which could also kill Xaden in the process. This makes Xaden take a vested interest in Violet surviving, so he takes over her training and has Liam on her as protection. This new connection and closeness creates some sexual tension and feelings between Xaden and Violet.
Leading up to graduation, the squads must participate in a series of battles called War Games. In the first battle, they’re assigned to capture an egg that the First Wing is defending and to defend their own Fourth Wing flag. There is a near-death encounter for Liam, which Violet manages to prevent by using Andarna’s time-freezing gift. Violet then kills Liam’s attacker, Jack Barlowe, when she discovers and subsequently unleashes her own signet power as a lightning wielder.
Meanwhile, the sexual tension between Xaden and Violet hits a breaking point and the two end up sleeping together. Xaden is still unable to acknowledge his feelings for her though, and Violet tells him she can’t be with him until he’s able to do so. Xaden eventually relents, saying that he’s tired of fighting his feelings.
The last War Game involves a mission that each squad must complete that takes place at outposts across the kindgom. Xaden is assigned to the Fourth Wing headquarters at Athebyne an outpost that sits outside Navarre’s protective wards. He brings with him a cadre of people he trusts, and he instructs Violet and Liam to join him. When they arrive, it is completely abandoned, and Xaden realizes they’ve been sent there to die. Turns out Dain has secretly been using his power of seeing someone’s recent memories on Violet without her consent. This in turn has led him to be able to spy on Xaden and learn about his missions to this outpost.
Xaden admits to Violet that he and his friends have been giving the gryphon fliers weapons. He tells her that despite what Navarrian authorities are saying, Poromiel is not simply attacking them out of greed. They need the materials that Navarre uses to power their wards in order to fight off venin. While she has heard of the venin, people whose souls have been corrupted by channeling dark magic from the earth to perform magic and conjure wyverns, they are believed to be no more than folklore. Xaden insists they are very real though, and the Navarrian authorities have been hiding their existence.
Gryphon riders arrive to share the news that there is a trading post under attack by venin, and Xaden and the others wants to stay and defend it. Violet decides to join them as well. The ensuing fight is vicious, and Liam’s dragon is killed, which kills him too. During the fight, Violet realizes she’s able to use her lightning strikes to kill wyvern as well as venin. Once a venin dies, any wyvern conjured by it die as well. Violet is poisoned, but survives the fight. She’s taken somewhere nearby to be mended.
When she finally wakes up, Violet is greeted by her not-actually-dead brother, Brennan.
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