payment page
Summary
Chapters 5-8
Chapter 5
Violet begins to attend classes. In her first Battle Brief, Violet listens as Professor Devera explains a recent attack by Braevi gryphons on the Eastern Wing of Navarre’s army. Devera encourages cadets to question the details of the attack in order to deduce the gryphon riders’ strategy. Violet uses her Scribe training in geography and science to suggests that the gryphons’ rapid arrival at the village was suspicious. She points out that it’s odd that gryphons, who aren’t strong at high altitudes, would choose to attack there unless they knew that Navarre’s magical wards were failing. Jack Barlowe mocks her, but Devera responds that Violet is correct, and that a dragon sensed a faltering ward, allowing riders to get there and fight back. Xaden chimes in, suggesting the gryphons were searching for something specific, which makes everyone question what their motives could have been. Later during a sparring session with Professor Emetterio, Violet and Rhiannon agree to study together. Across the room, Jack violently kills another first-year in the ring. When Violet is called to enter it, her opponent tells her that Violet’s mother had her entire family killed. This cadet, a pink-hired girl named Imogen, breaks Violet’s arm and dislocates her shoulder even after Violet yields the fight.
Chapter 6
Dain takes Violet to the Healer’s Quadrant, where the healers quickly deduce that Violet needs magical help to fix her would. They summon a “Mender” named Nolon, a rider whose signet power is healing magic. Violet knows him from childhood, and also knows that Mending is extremely painful. Dain argues that instead of Mending her, Violet should be allowed to switch to the Scribe Quadrant. The healers give her a sedative, and Violet finds out from Dain that like Xaden, Imogen’s family were rebels whom her mother’s army killed. That night, Violet returns to the barracks, in pain and worrying about the impression her quick defeat has given the other cadets. Rhiannon offers help with her mat training and gives her a note from Mira along with a book her brother Brennan wrote to help Mira at Basgiath. It’s an instruction manual on how to survive.
Chapter 7
Wandering around near Basgiath at night, Violet climbs a tree to pick poisonous berries. She freezes, however, as she overhears Xaden, Imogen, and several other first-years gathering below, apparently to discuss tactics for training. She realizes they are all “marked ones” (children of Rebel parents), who are technically prohibited by Navarrian law from gathering in groups. She’s even more alarmed when she hears several of them talking about killing her, and Xaden proclaiming that he will do so himself.
When Xaden’s group disperses, Violet sneaks down from the tree, only for Xaden to confront her. He reveals his signet ability by trapping Violet in the shadows that surround her; he is a shadow wielder, a rare and dangerous signet. Violet tries to fight back but fails. Instead of killing her, Xaden returns her weapons, asking if she plans to report the meeting. Violet promises she won’t.
Chapter 8
The following morning, Dain escorts Violet to duty, teasing her about her lack of a sex life. His friendliness makes her feel bad about keeping the gathering of the marked cadets a secret. She has hatched a plan to win at sparring; at breakfast, she sprinkles the powdered poison berries she picked the previous night into the food of the person she is slated to fight, a cadet named Oren Siefert. In class that day Professor Kaori discusses dragons and their history, including the faltering magical wards protecting Navarre. He introduces Sgaeyl, the blue dragon Xaden rides, and then starts to talk about black dragons. Kaori reveals that Tairn, an ancient and powerful black dragon, has famously refused to bond since the death of his rider Naoli. Because he’s so powerful, the signet he would grant a rider would also presumably be very strong, Kaori explains. Afterward, Violet privately confirms with Kaori that Naolin died after he attempted to resurrect Brennan, channeling too much power and causing his own demise. During their later sparring session, Violet faces Oren, who’s sickened from the berry powder she fed him and loses the match. Time speeds up and the reader learns that Violet poisons almost everyone she fights against in the weeks that follow. She’s foiled, however, when one of her opponents is too sick to fight, and Xaden steps in.
Analysis
Chapters 5-8 of Fourth Wing see Violet come to grips with the intense physical and psychological challenges of Basgiath War College. The realities of life as one of the lowest-ranking members of an ancient and violent institution have quickly caught up with her. She’s having to adapt to an environment which is the polar opposite of her peaceful life as a Scribe. Although she’s seen her mother, sister and brother succeed in their roles as riders, she’s now learning that it’s even harder than it looks.
Although the physical challenges of training are grueling and unfamiliar, Violet finds that her extensive knowledge of history and geography offers her an unexpected opportunity to shine at Basgiath. She participates in her first Battle Brief with Professor Devera, and it becomes clear that she must learn not just to fight opponents but also to think critically about combat strategy. When the professor encourages the cadets to analyze the circumstances of an attack by Braevi gryphons, Violet’s questions impress her. Violet proves that she is capable of dispassionate, analytical thinking—traits that are critical to her survival and success. Violet begins to think that it might be possible for her to survive using her wits rather than her fists.
These moments of hope and confidence are comparatively few and far between at this early point in the novel, however. During the sparring session that follows her first class, Violet must again face the brutal, merciless realities of her new life and the disadvantages of her small stature. Jack Barlowe’s brutal killing of a first-year in front of everyone illustrates just how draconian the rules at Basgiath are. While she’s a rider cadet, it would be perfectly legal for any of her fellow cadets to kill Violet in circumstances that happen almost every day. The War College is a place where survival depends not only on the ability to out-fight and out-think others, but also to do so consistently and at a moment’s notice. When Violet fights Imogen and ends up with a broken arm and dislocated shoulder, she realizes that her vulnerabilities could easily lead to her doom if she does not quickly adapt and grow stronger. This chapter surfaces the sacrifices she must make—sacrifices of comfort, physical well-being, and many parts of her identity—to meet the unyielding demands of rider life. She has to give up the calm, soothing existence of the mind that a Scribe lives, and learn to transform her body into a weapon, using it in new and frightening ways.
Not all vestiges of her old life have disappeared, however; Dain is there to remind Violet of her past in ways that both help and hurt her. Dain's insistence that Violet should still switch to the Scribe Quadrant is both comforting and destabilizing. He struggles to reconcile her current situation with the Violet he once knew, trying to frighten her with tales of the cruel fate that awaits a shy, retiring girl behind the War College’s stony walls. Violet’s choice to return to the barracks instead of taking Dain’s advice points to her determination to shape her own fate, regardless of any doubt Dain might feel. Even at this early point, Violet is beginning to resent Dain’s constant commentary on how she cannot possibly survive as a rider.
The clandestine meeting between the marked cadets provides further insight into the complicated interpersonal politics within the Riders Quadrant. The fact that Xaden and his marked companions are meeting secretly is enough to concern Violet, because doing so is a direct violation of the anti-treason laws. When she hears them talking about killing her in revenge for what her mother’s army did to their families, she’s understandably even more alarmed. Even though she finds Xaden very attractive, she’s also disconcerted to learn that he’s not only literally marked and scarred by the Rebellion relics, but also clearly emotionally wounded from the Rebellion’s aftereffects. The mixture of pity and fear she feels for him at this moment is the beginning of her acceptance that he might be more than just a ferocious killing machine; even when he tells the other cadets that if anyone’s going to murder Violet, it’ll be him. It becomes clear that Xaden’s hostility toward Violet may involve more than personal animosity—it’s really a symptom of the deep political prejudices that influence their world.
