In preparation for Iron Flame releasing November 7th, here is a detailed, chapter by chapter summary of Fourth Wing.
Quick Timeline:
Prior to Conscription:
⁃ 5 years ago Brennan dies in Tyrrish rebellion at Tyrrish Capital Aretia
⁃ ~1 year ago Mr Sorrengail dies (after a history of heart issues that started around the time Brennan died)
⁃ 6 months ago, Violet starts training with Major Gillstead for the Rider’s Quadrant
Post Conscription:
⁃ Parapet (summer time)
⁃ 2 months after parapet = Gauntlet (vertical obstacle course): to ensure regains keep coming to threshing, called the gauntlet because it takes place on the cliff that guards the vale (the dragon’s home)
⁃ 5 ascents: balance, strength, stamina
⁃ Threshing is October first
⁃ November: sawyer gets his signet, violet is attacked in her sleep, Liam assigned as guard
⁃ December: challenges resume after solstice, Violet gets her channeling powers, Violet and Xaden endure the mating frenzy and kiss
⁃ January: Violet learns basic magics, last week of the month, Violet is scheduled to fight Jack, Xaden takes over her training, gives her the Tyrrish blades
⁃ February: training continues
⁃ March: 3 months without Violet manifesting a signet, weeks away from Squad Battle
⁃ April: Squad Battle (flight, fighting, strategy), they steal the map and win the Squad Battles. They go on a week long tour (mid April). There is a gryphon attack at the base Mira is stationed.
⁃ Middle of May: when final War Games happen. Violet hasn’t manifested a signet yet.
⁃ During the War Games, Violet wields lightning and gets her signet
⁃ Later that night, she has sex with Xaden for the first time
⁃ July: the first of July is Reunification Day, celebrating the ending of the Tyrrish rebellion
⁃ Immediately after the party for Reunification Day is the last of the War Games, where squads are sent to outposts outside of Basgiath
⁃ The crew heads to their outpost but it’s a trap / loyalty test after Dain betrayed Violet and stole her memories
⁃ Violet is poisoned in a Venin attack and taken to Aretia where she is mended by Brennan, who isn’t dead after all. Violet and Xaden end on questionable terms.
Detailed Summary:
Chapters 1 & 2:
⁃ Violet is forced into the rider’s quadrant by her mother, General Sorrengail, even after she trained to be a Scribe like her father.
– Mira, Violet’s sister, tells her to stay away from Xaden Riorson and to find Dain Aetos.
⁃ She passes the parapet after sharing her boots with Rhiannon
⁃ We meet Rhiannon, Jack, and Xaden
⁃ Violet makes an enemy of Jack
Chapters 3 & 4:
⁃ Violet meets Xaden’s dragon, Sgaeyl, when he addresses the Cadets after they pass the Parapet.
⁃ Dain spends the entire time trying to get Violet to leave the riders quadrant
⁃ Dain tells violet about his signet (he can see people’s memories) and also that Xaden wants her dead
Chapters 5 & 6:
⁃ The cadets have a hand-to-hand assessment and Violet gets her ass handed to her by Imogen and breaks her arm
⁃ Dain tires to convince get to not have it mended so she can leave the riders, but Violet refuses to leave
⁃ Violet receives the book of Brennan from Mira and learns that the fighting schedules are picked a week in advanced and she can find where they are posted
Chapters 7 & 8:
⁃ Violet gathers poison
⁃ She catches Xaden having a meeting with the children of the Separatists off grounds. She agrees to not tell anyone about his meeting.
⁃ Violet gets on breakfast duty in order to more easily poison her opponents
⁃ In her Dragon class she learns about Brennan’s death and Tairn’s former rider (and how Naolin sacrificed himself to try and revive Brennan)
⁃ Violet successfully begins her campaign of poisoning her sparring partners
Chapter 9 & 10:
⁃ Xaden and Violet spar – Xaden reveals that he knows she’s been poisoning her opponents and they have a very steamy encounter on the mat
⁃ 4 weeks from threshing
⁃ Dain tries to get her to secretly join the the scribes (again)
⁃ Violet tries the Gauntlet (American Ninja Warrior but vertical, on a cliff) and does her first practice run, during which one of their squad members dies
⁃ Violet and Xaden have a heated moment in an alcove after Violet burns her dead squadmate’s belongings. Xaden tells her to pick herself up and either give up or show up. “The right way isn’t the only way” page 131.
Chapter 11 & 12:
⁃ Gauntlet day: Dain begs violet to not go through with it.
Dain: what changed between the parapet and now? Violet: me.
⁃ Violet makes is through the gauntlet using a rope for the chimney portion and her dagger for the vertical wall.
⁃ Amber tries to say she cheated, but violet quotes the codex, claiming that her dagger is technically part of her person since she brought it over the parapet.
⁃ They go through Presentation: the feathertail is present, two more squad members die and they’re now down to 6 first years
Chapter 13 & 14:
⁃ Threshing on October 1st (2 days after Gauntlet)
⁃ Jack and his band of shitheads decide they’re going to hunt down and kill the feathertail
⁃ Violet tries to warn the feathertail to run, but it doesn’t, so Violet puts herself in front of it to protect it
⁃ Xaden shows up with Sgaeyl but they cannot interfere
⁃ Violet manages to throw a dagger into Jack’s shoulder and he runs away like a lil bitch
⁃ Violet is about to be killed, Xaden ready to step in (although it’s forbidden for him to do so), when Tairn comes to the rescue
– Tairn decides he’s going to bond Violet because of her bravery
⁃ Violet climbs aboard and immediately falls off during flight
Chapter 15 & 16
⁃ Violet flies to the training field on Tairn to record their names together. Everyone is shook that he bonded, let alone with Violet. But everyone is gagged when Violet reveals that she is also bonded to Andarna (the golden feathertail).
⁃ The dragon Empyrean meets to discuss the bonding, while Dain tries to convince Violet to choose Andarna and reject Tairn
⁃ Violet learns that Tairn and Sgaeyl (Xaden’s dragon) are a mated pair, the strongest bonded pair in centuries
⁃ Dain accuses Xaden of interfering with Threshing but Xaden reminds him that it was Sgaeyl’s doing and says that he’d rather be chained to anyone else besides Violet
⁃ Dain admits he wouldn’t have interfered with Violet’s death on the field if pressed
⁃ Xaden reveals to Violet that they are now intrinsically tied together, and that if she dies, a chain reaction might be set off that ultimately ends in Xaden’s death too
⁃ Violet realizes that the unbonded cadets are going to be trying to kill her to take Tairn’s bond
⁃ The Empyrean agrees to allow the dual bond and the new riders get their relics from their dragons
⁃ Dain kisses Violet
Chapter 17 & 18:
⁃ Violet gets her first patches, including one for Iron Squad, because her squad had the most surviving members
⁃ At breakfast, Imogen explains that she will be seeing to Violets physical conditioning training (on order of Xaden)
⁃ Violet has her first flight training and insists that Tairn not use his magic to hold her in place, so she spends the day falling off of him
⁃ Dain corners Violet and tells her that their kiss should have ever happened because he doesn’t want to break the rules – while she’s thinking it shouldn’t have happened because it was uncomfortable
⁃ Imogen rescues her for training
⁃ Next we see violet in the archives, speaking with Jesinia (the scribe who wrote the opening foreword). They speak a little about their new lives in their respective quadrants. Violet asks if they have a copy of The Fables of the Barren, the folklore book that her father gave her, but Jesinia says they don’t. Violet remarks in her head that the archives have literally everything unless it’s forbidden.
⁃ At breakfast, Sawyer announces he’s developed his signet, metallurgy. Imogen then tells them they have about 6 months to conduct power because the relics they received from their dragons act as conduits for their power, and if they aren’t used (think, emptied) within a certain amount of time, bad things happen
⁃ At flight training, Tairn eludes to the fact that he can tell Violet is into Xaden, and jokes that he should call her Violence too
⁃ Dain storms over and yells at Violet about how she can’t keep her seat and they get into a huge fight and Violet tells him to bugger off
⁃ As Violet marches away, a rider suddenly starts hearing everyone’s thoughts – he’s become a inntinnsic – a forbidden signet. The rider is executed immediately.
⁃ That night, Violet is woken from sleep to find seven unbonded cadets in her room. She fights them off best she can, but gets caught and is on the brink of dying when Andarna flushes Violet with power and she stops time in her room, allowing her to escape
Chapter 19 & 20:
⁃ Xaden enters her room like an avenging angel *swoon* and kills all the would-be assassins
⁃ Xaden’s marked ones crew comes and cleans up the bodies while he inspects Violet for injuries, “I know my way around a corset”
⁃ Xaden takes Violet off grounds so they can speak with Tairn: Andarna explains that feathertails aren’t supposed to bond because they can accidentally gift their powers to their bonded – not channel but gift. But their magic is unstable and unpredictable. Andarna admits that she’s only two, as well, therefore only a juvenile.
⁃ Andarna tells them that she can stop time in small increments, and therefore Violet can too, but Violet must be careful not to drain Andarna – another reason they do not typically bond.
⁃ Xaden and Violet leave, after all agreeing to keep this a secret. Xaden wonders how the cadets managed to break into Violet’s room. Violet says a rider let them in.
⁃ At formation, Xaden brings Amber to attention, for her crimes against Violet, but Dain doesn’t believe her, and attempts to steal her memories by force – but Violet cannot allow that because he’ll see she stopped time.
⁃ Violet begs Tairn to share the memory among the dragons, so he does, and Dain realizes that Violet is telling the truth. The wingleaders unanimously vote Amber guilty and Tairn incinerates her.
Chapter 21 & 22:
⁃ Liam is put on bodyguard duty
⁃ Liam and Violet read a scroll that has info about an attack on the southern border, that never gets brought up in battle brief, which is shocking
⁃ Violet learns that Xaden warded her room
⁃ During squad training, Violet sees Xaden fighting shirtless
⁃ Violet and Xaden share heated words on the mat but she doesn’t lose her cool and her dragons decide she’s ready to channel
⁃ Violet starts channeling, and is immediately hit with uncontrollable lust – which she realizes is Tairn’s
⁃ Trying to get away from Liam before she does something impulsive, she goes to the courtyard where she finds Xaden smoking churam. Xaden is jealous when he thinks Violet slept with Liam. Xaden teaches Violet how to block Tairn (“grounding”). “‘Ask me nicely Violence,’ he whispers. ‘Or I’m gone.”
⁃ “Kissing you would be a cataclysmic mistake.” “Calamitous.” “Fuck it.” Page 278. They kiss and thunder cracks, but Xaden stops it, because he doesn’t trust it’s Violet’s emotions / consent.
Chapter 23 & 24:
⁃ Dain tries to apologize / gaslight Violet about how he’s upset with her because she didn’t tell him about Amber and the attack
⁃ Rhiannon helps Violet calm down while she’s freaking out about what her and Xaden are going to do after he graduates and their dragons want to be together “he’s not the most powerful rider of our generation. You are.” Page 289
⁃ Violet is finally called to fight Jack on the mats in January. She begs Liam not to tell Xaden, and he doesn’t. In the fight, Jack illegally throws his knife and uses his powers but Violet manages to poison him with oranges
⁃ Xaden is pissed that Violet went though with the fight and didn’t kill Jack. So he decides to take over her training himself.
⁃ Xaden gives Violet the Tyrrish blades he had made specifically for her and tells her he had a dozen made, she just has to take them from his body.
⁃ As it fades to March, Violet spends all her free time training and strengthening
⁃ Xaden and Violet run into General Sorrengail and Xaden sees how strained their relationship is
Chapter 25 & 26:
⁃ Squad battles have begun, they’ve already done two events and Violet’s squad ranks 7th out of 24, but they shoot to 3rd when Liam wins in the physical fights.
⁃ Commander Panchek announces that they are doing the final part of Squad Battles that evening – “find and acquire, by any means necessary, the one things that would be most advantageous to our enemies regarding the war effort.”
⁃ They break into General Sorrengail’s office and Violet finds info about how bad the southern border really is as well as political unrest in Tyrrendor
⁃ Violet sees the up to date map of their outposts, troops, etc, and steals the map. They win.
⁃ “There is no stronger bond than between two mated dragons. It goes beyond the depth of human love and adoration to a primal, undeniable requirement for proximity. One cannot survive without the other.” Page 323
⁃ They win and go on a week long tour where they end up at Mira’s stationed base (Montserrat). Mira helps Violet and Rhiannon sneak out of base to visit Rhiannon’s family.
⁃ Xaden shows up because 3 days is the max Tairn and Sgyeal can be separated
Chapter 27 & 28:
⁃ Xaden speaks in Violet’s head for the first time
⁃ Mira has them practice strategy, with Dain in charge. We find out just how strong Xaden’s shadow wielding is.
⁃ Mira pulls Dain, Xaden and Violet aside and gets on their case about how dysfunctional they are. Mira thinks that Xaden is going to purposefully hold Violet back. Xaden admits that Tarin is dominant to Sgaeyl – so he’ll be the one sacrificing
⁃ Then there is a Gryphon attack and the group on tour leaves while Mira and the riders there battle it out.
⁃ Three days later, Violet is able to learn that Mira survived the attack.
⁃ Tairn: “He cares for you. That’s already hard enough for him.” Violet: “He cares about keeping me alive. There’s a difference.” Tairn: “Not for him there isn’t.”
⁃ Now middle of May and War Games are here. Violet still hasn’t manifested a signet.
⁃ They must capture an egg from a defense fortress while protecting their own flag.
⁃ Xaden gives Violet a saddle
⁃ During the war games, Jack unseats Liam and Violet uses Andarna’s power to slow time so Tarin can catch him.
⁃ Then she unleashes her signet for the first time: “I am the sky and the power of every storm that has ever been. I am infinite.” Page 362 – lightning wielder.
Chapter 29 & 30
⁃ Jack is dead.
⁃ Violet is distraught about taking a life. Dain is an enabler and treats her like a child. Xaden instead tells her all the ways she made the world a better place.
⁃ Xaden comes to her room that night and Violet explains that she’s conflicted because her father always told her her place wasn’t with the riders, and now her signet is the deadliest, the most weapon-like.
⁃ Violet kisses him. And then they smash each other so hard that they destroy the room.
⁃ Violet asks Xaden about his scars again and he tells her he has 107, one for each of the marked ones. Xaden took responsibility for the loyalty of the kids left behind and in turn they’re allowed to fight for their lives in the rider’s quadrant instead of being put to death.
⁃ Xaden warns her not to fall for him. But then says he knew she was a lightning wielder when she accidentally did it the first time he kissed her
⁃ When Violet wakes she’s immediately taken by Professor Carr who takes her and Tairn to a safe place to practice wielding her lightning
⁃ Professor Carr tells Violet that there’s a correlation of sorts that keeps a system of checks on power. He claims that Violet’s check is her body.
⁃ Carr warns Violet to keep her loyalties apparent because she and Xaden are now the most coveted pair of riders in the kingdom; being seen as a threat would mean a death sentence
⁃ Carr tells Violet to recreate her emotions to help with wielding; Tairn: “should I get the Wingleader?”
⁃ Xaden feels her thinking about him and he floods her mind with images of them having sex, which helps her wield lighting
Chapter 31 & 32
⁃ Violet finds a letter from her dad in the folklore book – a warning about information and who wields it
⁃ Xaden and Violet fight over having feelings for each other and decide they won’t be having sex again
⁃ One month later & 10 days from graduation is July 1: anniversary of the battle of Aretia aka Reunification Day
⁃ Violet is escorted by Liam to Reunification Day where they must deal with meeting the king. Everyone treats Liam like he’s a leper because he’s a marked one. Dain helps them to slip away.
⁃ Violet goes looking for Xaden, knowing he’s hurting and finds him on the parapet.
⁃ They have a tender moment in which Violet tells him she’s all in with them and he agrees so she takes him back to his room
⁃ In his room, she tells him she’s in love with him and then they have more hot, destructive sex
⁃ While Violet is chasing her fifth orgasm, Garrick comes to the door and says they are under attack and full squadron has been called to action
Chapter 33 & 34:
⁃ When they get to formation, it turns out they were just being called to the final War Game
⁃ Xaden gets assigned to go to Athebyne (outside of the wards, where he has been on secret missions before)
⁃ As Violet is getting ready to leave with Dain, Xaden comes over and takes her, Liam, and Imogen for his base
⁃ Dain loses his shit and says that Xaden is going to get Violet killed but she insists that she should go with Xaden. Dain realizes that they are a couple and is devastated. They fly off.
⁃ They stop at a lake near the outpost to give the dragon’s a break and for everyone to hydrate
⁃ Xaden and Violet are sharing a tender moment when gryphon fliers show up and everyone starts trying to contain Violet, then Xaden says, “you’re fucking early.”
Chapter 35 & 36:
⁃ It becomes obvious to Violet that everyone knows what’s going on but her. Xaden is in cahoots with these gryphon fliers and she thinks he has betrayed her and their kingdom.
⁃ The fliers speak of venin attacking a nearby village and Violet almost has a heart attack
⁃ Xaden explains that he’s been giving the fliers weapons to fight the venin
⁃ Violet realizes that Poromiel is being attacked by venin and no one talks about it or does anything
⁃ The raids in Narvarre are because gryphon fliers are looking for the material Narvarre uses to make their wards. Xaden has a special venin killing dagger (same as General Sorrengail)
⁃ Violet is forced to believe the truth. That venin exist and they’re terrorizing Poromiel.
⁃ They make it to Athebyne but it’s abandoned. Xaden realizes that they’ve been set up and asks Violet if she ever told anyone. She says no. They realize that Dain stole her memories.
⁃ They find a note from General Aetos that says their objective is to survive.
⁃ They must choose to either abandon the village of Resson (Poromiel) to be taken by venin and go to the next Navarre outpost – or admit to being traitors by staying and defending the village
⁃ The gryphon riders return to tell them to run, that 4 Venin is a death sentence when 2 of them took down a whole city
⁃ They can either live as cowards or die as riders. Violet realizes that the marked’s families died to try and do the right thing while her family scarified her brother to hide the truth
⁃ They decide to try and protect the innocent people and then they see wyvern for the first time
⁃ The venin are looking for something in the outpost- the dragons can all feel it
⁃ While fighting the venin, they see a building that had a crate with Liam’s family crest on it
⁃ In battle, Liam sacrifices his position to save Violet and Tairn, but it separates him from Deigh – and Deigh is getting eviscerated by a wyvern. The wyvern takes Deigh down to the ground and Deigh doesn’t move – he’s dead. Liam starts to die after Deigh’s death. Liam asks Violet to take care of his sister Sloane. Xaden comes and carries Liam to Deigh where he dies.
⁃ Violet realizes she’s the only one who can take out the wyvern so she and Tairn take to the sky again and she fries them in revenge, but they don’t see the one coming before it’s too late.
Chapter 37 & 38:
⁃ A wyvern rider attacks Violet and Tairn in air. Violet breaks her arm. She gets a dagger in her side, and the wound burns. Green poison.
⁃ The venin says “you could command the sky to surrender all its power, and I bet you don’t know what to do with it, do you?” 👀👀👀
⁃ Violet kills her and then riderless wyvern begin to fall from the sky; when a Venin dies, so does all the wyvern it created
⁃ Violet flies to destroy the strongest rider, but is approaching burn out. Andarna offers her some additional power and Violet unleashes everything while slowing time. She then releases time and guides a giant lightning bolt toward the rider, striking true. Half of all the wyvern fall. Violet then loses consciousness and slips from Tairn’s back.
⁃ Andarna stops time to slow Violet’s descent and flies under her to stop her, but they’re both falling because Andarna cannot keep her up. When time returns, Violet is scooped by Xaden. Violet is paralyzed both physically and magically by the poison on the dagger.
⁃ Violet slips in and out of consciousness as she hears snippets: Violet’s blood has turned black, they can’t make it to Nolon at Basgiath because it’s 12 hours away, they are going somewhere else. When they land she hears a familiar voice, but can’t place it.
Chapter 38: Xaden’s POV
⁃ Three days Violet has been unconscious
⁃ Tairn is pissed that Xaden didn’t tell Violet about the Venin until he was forced to
⁃ Violet wakes and is a little discombobulated
⁃ Andarna has grown and has lost her time manipulation gift
⁃ They are in Aretia (rebuilt) Xaden explains they aren’t hiding the rebuild, no one cares enough to notice
⁃ Violet kicks out Xaden so she can get dressed before they talk
⁃ Xaden asks Violet if she’s in – if she’s willing to fight with the marked ones and she says yes. He’s relived. Knocking at the door keeps interrupting them.
⁃ Violet decides she cannot trust Xaden enough to be with him and Xaden admits that he loves her and is willing to fight for them. Violet is very unsure where they stand.
⁃ The knocking at the door finally stops as Brennan enters the room, “welcome to the revolution, Violet.”
So There’s This Book 