I want my page to be a space for new readers and old readers to traverse freely, so that even if someone has yet to pick up the first book - and / or is just a slow reader - they'll be able to consume content without worry of ruining the series for themselves. My general rule of thumb for the posts that will be marked with spoiler warnings - is anything beyond Threshing in the first book, because before then, there aren't any major reveals - or things that won't be easy to figure out while reading.
No AI, or stolen art.
No matter how much I love fan art outside of Tumblr, I will refrain from posting art if I can't find the artist to give credit - or if it's blatantly AI... Like most of the images you'll find on Pinterest if you search a specific character.
Most art posted on this page will most-likely be my own renditions of how I envision the characters.
No Booktok
I started reading this series before Booktok got a hold of it, and even then I don't have Tiktok and found out through a friend that it has lain claim to the Empyrean. And from what I've heard, it's mostly just talking about character deaths and the sex within the books... Which I believe does this story a disservice.
Respect
As for anyone who views this page, please be respectful! I may have different views than you, and other people might as well - please just be chill about it. Books will be interpreted differently when each person reads it. Try to keep that in mind before trying to tell someone they're wrong, or that their ideas are wrong. (Not without evidence, keep discussions civil)
Guys, I can't anymore. I need more Brennan content, I am literally dying on the inside. I am so fucking gay for that undead prick it's not even funny- I was literally gay for him before we even knew that he was alive. Like I literally made a note on one of the addendums from the book of Brennan saying "man I wish he was alive so that we could see more of him"...
BUT NOO, he's off doing important leadership stuff. And Violet is busy destroying Navarre from the inside out with information, and breaking every law known to man - only seeing Brennan when she's dying.
The Empyrean Dragon Chart; With all known dragons, tails, ancestral line, riders and their signets. Made by me (auraisereigh). I hope you like it <3
This is fully made by me (except the background paper, credit goes to pintrest) . i put the time and effort in it. If you see a mistake please tell me!
Masterlist ☆ Dragon guide ☆ Star's story ☆ Empyrean guide ☆ Support me
Currently going through the process of drawing as many of the Empyrean characters as my body allows, started off with Sawyer... And now I need to finish drawing him digitally - whish me luck.
I am gods awful when it comes to drawing, as in ACTUALLY drawing. So, here's the progress on our boy Sawyer! Because I am fighting tooth and nail with myself to actually finish it!
(proceed with caution if you haven't finished the series, I don't know how much exactly I'm spoiling)
Let's talk about Signets.
One, to start off, I'd like to say that I find Signets almost as fascinating as the history within the books themselves. And I like seeing the development of signets, and how signet specific burn out affects certain riders.
Like, we all know that Violet overheats, and occasionally gets blisters from the lightning... But wouldn't it be cool if the lightning itself left marks on her? I find scars from electricity to be really cool! And it would make her Signet make a little more sense, instead of JUST commanding and creating lightning - she is a conduit. Which would explain how she was able to stretch her power between herself and the conduit when training with Felix.
Also, there're different kinds of lightning (Felix already mentioned that to Violet), but I think the different kinds of lightning could make for some very interesting developments of skills. Like what if different colours meant different things - like if dragons were unable to properly communicate with each other, whether it be a risk of distracting them - or distance. Her normal white lightning is obviously for attacking, but what if the different colours were signals?
Like maybe red/orange would be a distress signal, meaning that Violet or someone near her is in urgent need of backup or assistance. And maybe purple could be a signal that she had completed her task, or that the area is clear. Maybe blue could signal that there are blue fire wyvern approaching, and green could be for green fire wyvern. And maybe the number of branches, location, and or shape of the lightning could hold meaning too! It could be like signet sign language - which would be cool to see Violet working with maybe Jesinia to come up with the signals (since Jesinia would want to keep a record anyways, but also because I'd love to see more of her in the story).
And what about other signets? There are clearly limitations in place, depending on the dragon's age, size, rank, and magic power - and the rider's own physical capabilities, along with mental prowess.
What if you could develop your Signet further by researching it? Not just as a Signet and how past wielders used it, but how it works in nature without magic - especially with elemental signets. Even then, there's gotta be different classifications and branches of elemental signets - we've already seen it with Lilith's signet, and Violet's signet; with Violet's signet being born from her mother's in nature.
Not to mention, the different levels of mastery; like when Ridoc mentions that most ice wielders can't pull water from the air to manifest ice. There's so many little details about Signets that are legit so cool, like the wind wielder that General Melgren brought with him to meet with the Rebellion; they are able to pull the air from another humans lungs- which is... Scary to say the least. And of course, we find out in the third book that Ridoc can freeze the moisture within objects - first with an orange, then with a FUCKING WYVERN.
Anyways... I just think that signets are neat, and I'm basically just screaming into the void about it. Thank you for reading a mad man's ramblings.
Okay, so hear me out. I already had a theory that Brennan and Naolin were together before Naolin died saving him - but I wanna add onto that.
In the battle of OS, after Sloane siphons magic from Dain into Brennan - Violet notices that there isn't a rune on Dain's wrist, or the back of Brennan's neck. Unlike the rune on the palm of Brennan's hand.
We currently don't know much about runes, but we know that there are runestones in the Wyvern's spines that allow them to reanimate if the stones aren't broken or taken out.
So, what if the rune on Brennan's palm is the same as the ones in Wyvern? He did actually die, but when Naolin realized that channeling his own power into Brennan wasn't enough - he channeled from the ground to gain more power, just to create the rune in a desperate attempt to save Brennan.
I know there have been some people thinking that the major plot twist was going to be that Asher didn't die - and is actually the "him" Theophaine mentioned... But what if it's Naolin? Because both Brennan and Naolin reportedly died, but Brennan is alive - and he stated that he remembers waking up alone with Marbh, where unbonded dragons helped them both to Aretia. There could be a chance that he just didn't mention Naolin, because waking up next to a dead man isn't exactly fun - but he didn't mention Naolin at all in that conversation if I remember correctly. (I don't have my book to double check sorry)
Even if it isn't at all right or cannon... I still like the idea, and think it's a little cute - and 100% heartbreaking.
If I had a nickel for every time a Sorrengail got involved in a homoerotic rivalry with someone from enemy territory I would have… an alarming number of nickels
Lilith and Theophanie
Asher and Faris
Mira and Syrena
Violet and Cat? No examples necessary
And before someone disagrees, Theophanie was secretly hoping Mira (Lilith’s copy) was the lightening wielder so she could be her “teacher”, and when that wasn’t the case she very normally decided that dead was better than alive and away from her
Asher specifically wrote about Farsi’s eyes and the moment Violet stepped on that island the man was immediately taken by how pretty her eyes (that she apparently got from her dad) were. Later on he was possessed that not only he was outsmarted by someone again (presumably the first time was by Asher) but that it was Asher’s daughter who did it.
I'm not even gonna lie... I've had this idea since the first book. But hear me out.
What if Brennan and Naolin were together? And Naolin sacrificed everything to save Brennan - and that's why Brennan hasn't really been in relationships - because he's still not over the fact that Naolin literally died for him (as far as we know, I have more theories but that's for another time)
Okay but I really want to see your review of Onyx Storm though because I can’t help but feel like this one was a lot safer in terms it’s themes regarding misinformation and propaganda than the last two books. Idk how to explain it properly. It just feels hollow
I don’t blame you for thinking the book is shallow and builds nothing on the series’s supposed themes of propaganda and misinformation-- Onyx Storm says nothing about it. Both Fourth Wing and Iron Flame had major plot points centered around uncovering some truth that had been obscured by the government. At best, Onyx Storm has a plotline about Violet’s dad being cryptic as hell. It’s a stretch to call it propaganda or whatever.
We’ve already exhausted the existing misinformation plot line in Navarre. Yarros has to take it a step further. The natural progression from “there’s a secret war beyond our borders” is “the dehumanized enemy beyond our borders is human and possibly morally correct.” After we went out of our way to meet Theophanie, I was certain this was where we were going to go. Hell, Xaden was slowly turning into one! What an easy albeit cliche way to complicate the war.
But, no. The story refuses to evolve. The venin are still horrific freaks of nature, and it is still right and just to kill them. They’re evil, and we’re good. I won’t put it past Yarros to wait until the last minute to pull this move, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if she never does it at all.
Onyx Storm’s biggest problem is that it spends the bulk of its time on world building that ultimately does not matter. We spend hundreds of pages going to islands that’s not even on the inside cover's map, learning about their cultures, and getting nothing of value from it. The world building is shallow, painting their cultures in cartoonishly broad strokes. Here’s the warrior nation, here’s the smart people, here’s the partygoers-- these are really basic ideas! Where’s the substance?
The most valuable world building we get is more on how the gods work in this world, but it never quite feels like it’s important. Yes, one of the big plot points at the end of the book involves one of the gods. But until now, when has religion mattered to any of the main characters? There’s a scene where our main cast sits in a tavern (drinking lavender lemonade, of all things) and compares the religious differences between Navarre and Poromiel. Why am I learning about this through a table discussion? This could have been developed organically through the characters’ behaviors. But it’s not because, despite what a hearty lemonade-fueled debate would imply, none of them have been any shade of religious up until this moment.
I harp on the religion point a lot because it’s the most thorough world building Yarros has to offer. When it comes to the cross-isle adventure, it’s the point she falls back onto again and again. Here’s a new country, here is the god they worship, and here is how that religion colors our entire cultural understanding of these people. None are more egregious than the last nation we make contact with. They worship some luck god, and our entire experience with them is more or less just a gameshow performance for a crowd. This is the only nation we make a meaningful political alliance with. That their soldiers are present in the final battle is vital. We only know these people through a weird lottery game. That’s it.
There are smaller world building points she throws in as well, but none have as much thought dedicated to them as the religion. For example, it seems like all of these isles have a native language with some important people knowing the common tongue. Great. So... what is the common tongue? Navarre doesn’t seem to have a native language, so is their language the common tongue? If so, why? They’ve been isolationists for hundreds of years. Why would anyone need to know their language? If they have their own language, then why does Violet and all of her friends know the common tongue when, again, they’re from an isolationist nation?
Why is there a common language? When it appears in fantasy works, it’s less because the author appreciates pidgin languages and the worldbuilding they require, and more because they do not want to deal with the logistics of characters of multiple cultural backgrounds being unable to understand each other. That’s fine. I am more than happy to accept a common tongue the same way I accept potatoes in a European-based fantasy.
But Yarros clearly establishes Dain as the group translator. His entire purpose in our little quest squad is to translate.You have a translator. You don’t need a common tongue. But you do, so all of the effort you went through to build Dain up as a polyglot is wasted. He never gets to do any translational work. Why are you offering two solutions to the same problem? You did twice the work for no reason.
(Put a pin in Dain-- I will have more to say about him later.)
What stings the most is that we know that all of this effort is for nothing. None of these extra island nations matter. We will never go to them again, and what importance they have will never justify the number of pages dedicated to them. This is a waste of time.
Why are we spending so much time world building these nations when we still have very little idea about Navarre and Poromiel? Does anyone actually know what life is like for the average citizen of either country? How do they dress? What jobs are available to them? What do they do for fun? I barely have a grasp of the level of technology in this world. In fact, I keep forgetting that this is in a fantasy world and not some urban fantasy story.
Yarros’s characters don’t really mesh with the setting either. From the very first novel, the main cast has been a little too-aware that they are characters in a book-- they know they are in a fantasy story, and they think this is all very, very cool.
Any suggestion of a situation being dangerous is undercut by a character’s sense that this is really cool or, conversely, really annoying. Unlike the earlier books, everyone in Onyx Storm quips like they’re in a Marvel movie. Every conversation is bloated by a barrage of jokes. No one takes the setting seriously, which means that I don’t quite believe in the world we’re in.
Moreso, some of Violet’s narration is... you know what? Just look at this:
Xaden’s hand tightens around mine, and he leans down to brush his lips against my ear. “The shadows here are not mine. I know your skill with a dagger. I’m not discounting your ability to protect yourself, but for the good of my sanity while I try to get Halden out of whatever mess he’s created, will you please stay by my side?”
I nod. How can I not? He’s not asking me to hide behind him, nor did he leave me with Tairn to keep me safe. He’s just asking me to stay close. (226)
Are you serious? Why would you say this unless you know you’re in a romantasy novel written and published for BookTok? Why would a character reassure herself that she is still a strong independent female protagonist? Why is the fourth wall paper thin?
Here’s another example:
“Nope.” I brush a kiss across his lips, knowing I wont need to use the weapons. “It wouldn’t be the first time I raised a blade to you.”
He stares, utterly bewildered, then flashes a grin. “I’m not sure what that says about us.”
Is it toxic? Maybe. Is it us? Absolutely. (408)
This one manages to replicate the feeling of spotting a SEO valuable word, but in print. Yarros, you’re just lying to the audience now. We all know Violet and Xaden aren’t toxic because every time something outside the bounds of the modern Hays Code happens, you pad it with reassurances to the reader that, truly, this is a very healthy relationship.
I’m putting “toxic relationship” on a shelf, and I’m not giving it back until people absolve characters of the responsibility of being role models and they get to be the fucked up little freaks I crave.
Beyond annoying quips and self-aware narration, a lot of plot armor is endowed onto the main cast by virtue of them being the main cast. On three different occasions, Violet and company disobey military orders and risk being court-martial. Every time, they avoid suffering the consequences of their actions. Why? Because Violet is too important to arrest (she’s not), or she uses a clever loophole to absolve herself of blame (the law does not work like that).
It’s staggering how much the main cast breaks military law, and how little they suffer for it. General Aetos is supposed to be a villain, but honestly, I’m on his side; I too would be pissed if these bozos kept on endangering themselves and their comrades out of some stupid belief that they are more important than everyone else.
This is such a weird trend when the previous books were really clear about the stakes of insubordination and the consequences of rebellion. Violet was tortured in Iron Flame. Where did that energy go? If Yarros let Violet suffer the consequences of her actions, she could have had something to pad out the plot between the end of the island quest and the beginning of the final act. As is, there’s a hundred-plus page slump where nothing of importance really happens.
But Violet and company are the heroes, so the narrative will bend over backwards and comply with irrational logic to allow them to continue to do cool heroic things like breaking the rules and stuff.
The strangest instance of the book’s self awareness is how the narrative treats Dain.
As previously established, I think Dain is the most reasonable character in the series. Did he mess up in the first book? Sure, but given what he knew, it was the correct decision. He has continued to be a bastion of sanity since. And, because everyone kinda hates him, I’ve made it my mission to go up to bat for him.
Dain is never out of character. He’s still the reasonable one. But god, the narrative sure likes to make him look like a loser. His contributions to the quest are negated both by the common tongue and by another character, Aaric, being a better polyglot than him. In a ritualistic fight, he’s the first person to be knocked out; and I assume the post-fight scene features him prone on the ground and bleeding out because he’s not mentioned past it. During the gameshow scene, he’s bitchslapped-- a “gift” far more humiliating than what everyone else receives.
At one point, the cast cracked jokes about Dain being no help and his presence ultimately being pointless. Yeah, Dain doesn’t have to be here. He serves so little purpose that he can be written out of the storyline. But he’s here to be mocked because Yarros knows the reader wants to see the loser second male lead humiliated.
I’m not even offended as much as baffled by it. I don’t think Yarros hates Dain. If she did, his treatment would be far more egregious. Instead, every joke made at his expense feels like a wink at the audience, like we’re collectively making fun of our ex-boyfriend. The narrative has to commit to Dain being the reasonable one, but it still wants to play into a fandom joke.
Stop winking! The fourth wall should not be this transparent. Respect your narrative, your world building, and your characters! I begging you, on my knees, to be sincere for more than two seconds. If the book can’t ascribe to its own premise, how can I suspend my disbelief?
I don’t think this is so much of a symptom of Yarros not giving a shit or being a bad writer. I think Yarros can write, and I think she cares about composing a good story. I also think she is influenced by the goals of her publishing house, Red Tower Books. While every publishing house is ultimately a capitalist cog, Red Tower Books was engineered to prioritized marketing above all else. The New Yorker’s profile on the Tracy Wolf plagiarism case provides some context as to how Red Tower Books operates. (Site note: what gives software engineers the audacity to think they can “revolutionize” everything but software engineering?)
All Yarros wants is to sell you a good time. That means not complicating your premise with sticky moral quandaries. It means abstaining from rigorous, thoughtful world building. And it means prioritizing a figment of fun over plot coherence. She never tries to sell us anything else. We should stop asking for more.
What stings the most is that we know that all of this effort is for nothing. None of these extra island nations matter. We will never go to them again, and what importance they have will never justify the number of pages dedicated to them. This is a waste of time.
This! Thanks for expressing this. OS was such a disappointment for me. I didn’t know (and still don’t honestly) where Yarros wants to go with the plot. What’s the big picture here? Venins are bad? The power of love and friendship? Politics? Dragons’ politics? What is it???
I read FW and IF thinking it’d be this complex political matter while people are being corrupted by power in the background (which ngl they are bad, but are they really? why so?) I don’t have better repertoire on literature, but until OS The Empyrean Series was giving me a sort of Divergent vibes. Now it’s just ?¿ a big W H A T ? I believe it was supposed to be 3 books, but alas, we are now expecting 5. And it didn’t do much good to the series
I love the series, and the lore - and while I do like the expansion of the world (mostly because I'm a sucker for religion, and learning how different people interpret it). The third book started off... Flat, and slow - I remember zoning out while reading through the first 100 pages. The descriptions felt lackluster, and therefore made some of the very well written characters feel flat.
It feels like the third book was adapted to make the Booktok influencers happy, because a lot of them just talk about the sex, and how much dain sucks.
As a writer- for the love of all the is holy... STOP CHANGING THE STORY BECAUSE OF PEOPLE WHO DONT READ BETWEEN THE LINES.
It does a massive disservice to those who take the time to study your work, pick it apart, and understand the deeper meanings.
(Those of you who haven't finished Onyx Storm, be warned of spoilers up ahead)
So much more could have been explored within the islands, especially since I've seen some people housing the theory that Irids live within the water - and with the Heodetist fearing the water, Violet and the others could have tried to dig deeper - figure out why they were being so irrational about water.
Or maybe, there could have been more journals and documentation hidden in the archives, stuff on Irids that haven't been translated, or more hidden secrets that could paint General Aetos as a proper antagonist - and not a Scooby Doo villain.
What about the lures? Why did we forget about those? Why didn't anyone think to study the lures Jack placed in order to see what it was that drew in venin? Because it clearly isn't just magic - otherwise the Venin would have been more drawn to Samara, but they skipped over it to get to Basgiath. Not to mention, if it were magic - Garrick's dragon wouldn't be the only one sensitive to it, especially if it was so concentrated that it drew Venin in from miles away.
And what about the wards? The runes that protect Navarre, that Violet risked destroying without knowing exactly what they protect against. Why not dig deeper into the runes? Try to figure out what they meant? It isn't like Violet to throw all caution to the wind. She takes risks, yes. And while that was a risk - it was an out of character risk. And even if she didn't realize at first what kind of risk it was - why not spend some time trying to figure out what protection you just ripped away from the wards?
There were so many routes that could have been taken, so much unanswered when it comes to Violet's decisions - all in the name of "saving Xaden".
I keep seeing stuff of people joking that Ridoc wandered around during Threshing - just screaming "marco" until Aotrom replied with "polo"... And as a writer, I'd like to bless you all with Ridoc's Threshing pov.
Rhi said she felt a connection to one of those greens that were smelling Violet like a fresh turkey dinner, and Sawyer mentioned in passing that one of the reds had caught his eye - but if I were to be completely honest... I don't remember what color dragon I felt a pull too. Was it red? Orange? I don't know, how does this shit even work?
A sigh of exasperation escapes me, hands resting on my hips as my steps falter. A glance around at the golden leaves around me gives me exactly what I expected. Nothing. I've seen a few dragons around but I wasn't exactly sure if they were the ones, and I wasn't about to get scorched all because I can't remember the damn color of the dragon that took interest in me.
Did a dragon even take interest in me, or am I just delusional? It's starting to feel that way. I've already seen a handful of cadets - now riders - up in the sky, soaring above the clouds. It's almost hard to imagine how it would feel, to be completely weightless.
"Fuck man..." Running a hand through my hair, an idea forms within my head - the others would probably say it's stupid, and maybe it is - but I'm completely out of my league here in "find my dragon, or maybe be burned alive" class. Taking a deep breath, I suck in as much air as my lungs can hold - then clasp my hands around my mouth.
"MARCO!"
A few birds startle, the sound of my own voice echoing a bit. That was cool. For a moment I'm more entertained by the echo than my original goal of not flunking and repeating like Sawyer - not that it's a bad thing, Sawyer's a certified badass... I would just... Rather not go through all of that again.
I continue walking aimlessly, catching sight of a few oranges prowling around twenty yards out. Or was it the leaves? Shit, it's hard to tell out here. I decided to try again, maybe that orange - or maybe just leaves - is mine?
"Marco!"
There's a distant chuff, but no melodramatic voice in my head - or fire. So, guess that dragon isn't mine. Or maybe it is? And it just changed its mind?
"This is impossible." I wonder if Violet is having any better luck, she didn't have any connection with any of them - not even that cute little feathertail. Not that the feathertail would bond her just because it's small.
For Dunne's-sake. I've been thinking too much, and now I'm accidentally insulting my friends... Whoops.
"Gods damn it- MARCO!" I yell again, why the hell did I think that it would work to begin with-
"Polo..." A deeper voice rattles my skull, a hint of amusement lingering within the word. Shit, was that a dragon? Or am I just going crazy?
"Maybe both, Loud One." The earth shakes, causing my stomach to sink. I spin around on my heels, being met with a pair of golden eyes and brown scales.
"... Marco?" I whisper, as if that would give any more clarification on whether or not the massive brown staring me down was mine or not.
"Polo. Now shut up and get on before another roasts you."
Okay so, I know this is kinda crazy... Because it's fucking Berton Varrish, BUT- I have a theory.
We all know that Signets are formed based on what the rider needs most, Xaden keeps secrets, Violet needs to do the absolute most to protect those that she loves, etc.
Since Varrish's signet is Weakness Reading, that already says a lot about his character - and I believe it could go two ways.
1. He is a sociopath, genuinely doesn't feel or understand emotions beyond psychology textbooks - and with how brutal Navarians tend to be, it makes sense that he leaned into the violence, since he felt no guilt for it. The weakness reading gave him an upper hand, which many sociopaths wind up wanting - in the name of self-preservation. Which is a cool concept, to think that certain disabilities and mental illnesses could reflect on someone's Signets. Like Jeremiah, who was intinsic - which could easily be linked with feeling a sense of insecurity, anxiety, or self-consciousness.
2. Assuming he's like many decorated riders - joining the quadrant due to family ties - his parents could have very well been a lot like General Sorrengail. Well masked, refraining from displaying emotions, hard-headed, and a little cruel. If he was raised by older riders, who believe emotions to be weaknesses due to their time in the Wings - then their beliefs would have rubbed off on him.
He was described as being smaller than Colonel Aetos, who was only a little taller than Dain - so around 5'10-6'0. And while being shorter than 5'10 isn't exactly an issue, with him being a little on the thin side after years in the service - it would be understandable to assume that Varrish wasn't the strongest cadet when he attended Basgiath. The fear of showing emotions, and having weaknesses - along with not being the strongest - could have led him to developing Weakness Reading just for a better chance of survival.
It's honestly cool that even without being directly told, us as readers can develop even more understanding and depth for smaller characters - just based on the rules of the universe.
Currently going through the process of drawing as many of the Empyrean characters as my body allows, started off with Sawyer... And now I need to finish drawing him digitally - whish me luck.
I'm sure others have noticed this, but in chapter 23, page 296 of Fourth Wing. While Violet is fighting Jack during challenges - she notices his eyes. (I believe the first time I read it, I marked it as an interesting detail on portraying how feral and deranged he was - and in a sense I was right.)
"The sadistic grin and the red rim around his eyes are all I can see as he forces power into me." Is the first line of the page, but I have two ideas surrounding it.
1. Violet was easily mistaking Jack channeling from her as him using his Signet, because it burned when he was grabbing onto her. It was never described if her skin looked grey or pale, and no other characters seemed to notice something else. There's also no mention of burns, just that she woke up in the Healer's quadrant.
Or
2. He was channeling from her by complete accident, while also using his Signet. Based on the burning sensation described, many already assumed that he was a fire wielder - which would make sense for his personality, and because he bonded Baide, who isn't considerably strong.
This could have easily been his first time channeling, and he might not have meant it - because at this point Violet was channeling and didn't realize that she had already presented her Signet, meaning there was a build up of excess magic within her. With how much Jack craved more power, he might have accidentally opened his senses - and felt her power and took it. If he was a fire wielder and wound up burning her in the process, it would make sense that Xaden didn't notice that she was drained - since her skin would be red from irritation.
