Fourth Wing: Chapter Summary and Spoilers (Chapters 16-21)

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Chapter Summary & Spoilers (Chapters 16-21)

The Bite-Sized Version

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail basically becomes the talk of Basgiath War College after pulling off the unthinkable – bonding with not one but TWO dragons (talk about overachieving!). She’s got Tairn, this large black dragon with attitude for days, and Andarna, an adorably powerful golden feathertail who’s secretly just a toddler. But of course, being special comes with a price – some jealous unbonded fellow cadets try to off her in her sleep (rude!). Luckily, Andarna whips out this crazy time-freezing power, and Xaden swoops in looking like a midnight snack to handle the would-be assassins. We learn that Tairn and Xaden’s dragon Sgaeyl are basically the dragon equivalent of a power couple. Which means Violet and Xaden Riorson are now stuck together. Drama alert: Xaden publicly calls out Wingleader Amber Mavis for masterminding the attack, and let’s just say Amber’s meeting with Tairn doesn’t end well.

Meanwhile, Violet’s trying to figure out how to actually stay ON her dragon during flying lessons while juggling all sorts of relationship drama. There’s this whole thing with Xaden Riorson, who she’s definitely NOT developing feelings for (sure, girl), plus she has to friend-zone poor Dain Aetos. Oh, and now she’s stuck with this hunky bodyguard named Liam who she pretends to hate but actually kind of likes. Through Liam, we get all this juicy backstory about how he and Xaden ended up in the Riders Quadrant (spoiler: it involves murdered rebel parents – dark!). The cherry on top? Violet and Liam stumble onto some suspicious info about recent attacks at the border that someone’s trying to keep hush-hush, all while they’re racing against time to manifest their signet power before, you know, potentially combusting. Just another day at Basgiath War College!

The Bit-Sized Version

CHAPTER 16

This bit shows the aftershock as Violet bonds with two dragons, Tairn, a large black dragon, and Andarna, a golden feathertail – a first-ever in the dragon world. While dealing with squadmate Trina’s death, she discovers Tairn is mates with Xaden’s dragon Sgaeyl, tangling their already slow burn relationship. The dragon bigwigs eventually give her setup the green light and now all of the jealous fellow cadets want to take her out to steal her dragons. Plus, poor Dain Aetos tries to kiss her but gets friend-zoned, anyone surprised?

• Violet just made dragon-riding history by bonding with not one, but TWO dragons! The generals are losing their minds over this unprecedented duo-bond situation, probably needing some serious antacids right about now.
• Speaking of bonds, Violet gets a heartfelt reunion with her squad survivors and best friends – Rhiannon, Ridoc, and Sawyer (group hug moment!). But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, as they learn that Trina didn’t make it through Threshing. Pour one out for our fallen friend.
• Now here’s where it gets spicy – turns out Tairn and Xaden’s dragon Sgaeyl are basically the dragon equivalent of a power couple. Which means Violet and Xaden Riorson are now stuck together, whether they like it or not. Xaden, being his charming self, drops another bombshell: Violet’s now basically wearing a “Please assassinate me!” sign thanks to some jealous unbonded fellow cadets who might want to swoop in and claim Tairn for themselves. 
• The Empyrean, showing some surprising flexibility for a bunch of dragon bureaucrats, actually gives Violet the green light to keep both dragons even though there were fewer dragons than cadets. Meanwhile, Dain Aetos is playing the concerned friend card, trying to convince Violet to pick sweet golden dragon Andarna and ditch Tairn for her own safety.
• Violet reaches a turning point and commemorates this whole “chosen one” thing, Violet gets a magical tattoo – a large black dragon (that’s Tairn) with a golden dragon silhouette (hello, Andarna) across her back. It’s basically the fantasy equivalent of getting matching best friend necklaces, but way more permanent, hope you guys like each other!
• And because this story needed just a smidge more drama, love interest Dain goes in for a kiss… only to find out Violet’s feelings have changed. Guess having two badass dragons really puts your love life in perspective!

CHAPTER 17

This bit finds our main character Violet catapulted up the social food chain after bonding her dragon, Tairn. But, her joy at her 15 seconds of fame is short lived when she realizes she’s physically incapable of keeping her seat on Tairn’s back during training exercise. Always check yourself before you wreck yourself. – Ice Cube & The BBC

• Following Threshing, Violet is promoted to her own room right across from best friend Rhiannon in the first year dorms. Turns out, her BFF was doing some late night celebrating with their friend Sawyer as Violet catches him mid-walk of shame in the morning. ~Spicy chapters loading~
• They head to breakfast after the cringey encounter and Violet catches her first ever whiff of popularity as the other cadets are either like, “don’t make eye contact so you don’t get torched” or like, “mad respect”. Bonding one of the most powerful dragons has its perks. 
• Violet even captures the hearts of her former attempted murderers, as Imogen and Quinn sit with her and her friends, and Imogen offers to help train Violet to be less weak. Violet is rightfully confused by this, but realizes this is probably coming from frenemy Xaden Riorson’s newly vested interest in keeping her alive.
• We then learn that only 92 riders ended up bonding with dragons, meaning 41 riders were left with no final rose. Apparently these unbonded riders aren’t going down without a fight, and are ready to take any bonded rider down for a shot at their “pick me, choose me, love me” moment.
• First flying lesson? More like “How Many Times Can Violet Fall Off a Dragon?” The answer: a lot. Curmudgeon Tairn gets frustrated and tries to use his power to keep her seated, but Violet insists on learning how to ride on her own. The lesson quickly turns into a riveting game of fetch and Violet finally starts to realize she might have some physical challenges to deal with as a rider.
• Dain Aetos and Violet have The Talk™ about their kiss and to no one’s surprise it’s awko taco. Dain’s like, “maybe if I wasn’t a big shot rider and a rule following brown noser we could be together” and Violet’s for some reason disappointed in this and loses respect for him as if she didn’t feel like she was kissing her cousin last night.
• Cut to Violet’s first training exercise with Imogen, and her workout program consists only of thigh blasters to help Violet stay seated when flying with Tairn. In the span of a day, Violet goes from “What, like it’s hard?” to “oh, people actually die doing this” after she learns that a rider fell to their death during a practice session.
• As she goes through this reckoning, she also has two dragons in her head jazzing up her inner dialogue. No one is surprised that Tairn has zero sass filter, but turns out Andarna is a bit quieter.
• We wrap this chapter up with some ZEST as Violet realizes she might be jealous of how loyal Imogen is to Xaden, but she of course tries to trick her untrickable brain into denial. We feel you, girl.

CHAPTER 18

This bit starts as a nostalgic visit to Violet’s old job in the Scribe Quadrant at the Archives and takes a dark turn when a student is executed for developing mind-reading powers. Meanwhile, our girl’s struggling with flight practice, arguing with Dain about her abilities, and discovering her friend Sawyer’s cool new metal-bending powers. But there is a real wrench in the day when seven jealous fellow cadets try to murder Violet in her sleep to steal her dragon Tairn, only to be frozen in their tracks by Andarna’s surprise power, the pause button. 

• Our main character kicks things off with a nostalgic visit to her old workplace, the Archives, where her Bestina Jesinia is living that scribe quiet life. Plot twist: Violet’s actually digging the whole Riders Quadrant gig, despite the whole “might die any second” thing.
• Back at Basigiath, lunch gets interesting when Sawyer casually drops the bombshell that his signet power manifested and he can now bend metal like a mini Magneto. Everyone’s trying to play it cool and act unphased, but there’s this six-month deadline looming over them like a ticking time bomb. If you don’t manifest your signet power soon, OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!
• Meanwhile, Violet’s still doing her best rodeo impression on the flight field. She and her dragon Tairn have this whole sitcom dynamic going – complete with witty comebacks and eye-rolls. But the fun gets dialed down when squad leader Dain Aetos shows up for a classic “you’re not trying hard enough” speech, which lands about as well as you would expect.
• Then things take a sharp turn into dark territory. Remember how in X-Men, being a telepath makes you cool? Well, not here! Poor Jeremiah manifests as a mind-reader and Professor Carr goes full “off with his head” faster than you can say “mental privacy violation.”
• Just when you think things can’t get more intense, Violet has a weird dream about her dad in the Archives. But before we can psychoanalyze those daddy issues, Tairn crashes her REM cycle with the mental equivalent of a panic button. SURPRISE! Seven wannabe dragon riders decided midnight was the perfect time for some light murder, led by Oren (who clearly needs a hobby that isn’t attempted homicide).
• Violet goes all Katniss Everdeen on them, but turns out jammies aren’t great battle armor.. Just when it’s looking like game over, Andarna pulls the ultimate “HOLD MY BEER” moment and freezes everyone except Violet with some next-level psychic power. I am going to have to say we didn’t see that coming, huh?

CHAPTER 19

This bit finds Violet’s attempted murderers frozen in place in her room, and she realizes that our sweet golden dragon Andarna has the power to momentarily stop time. After Xaden Riorson shows up like a knight in dragon scales armor and kills the traitors in one swoop, they meet with their dragons to figure out WTF just happened and make a pact to keep it hush hush. The first rule of Fight Club, people.

• Andarna becomes a quick MVP by freezing all of the haters in Violet’s room in place, alerting Violet that she needs to get moving but also giving enough time for Xaden to arrive looking like a midnight snack with death in his eyes. We also learn that the man literally sleeps in dragon scales armor and with a sword. Go off paranoid prince.
• All of the attackers unfreeze just in time to have Xaden immediately kill them with his shadows. Ciao, Oren! A couple of Fourth Wing cadets, Garrick and Bodhi, enter as clean up squad and remove the bodies from the room.  
• Xaden wastes no time and checks Violet for injuries, and realizes she’s a paranoid princess as he notices her dragon scales armor she was wearing under her nightgown. He helps her get dressed (Violet doesn’t miss that he knows his way around a corset) and then sneaks her out through a secret tunnel to go have a chat with their dragons. 
• Tairn, Xaden’s dragon Sgaeyl, and Andarna are already waiting for this debrief on the flight field and we (us and Violet) learn that Xaden can communicate with both Tairn and Sgaeyl as well. One big, mind reading scary family. 
• But here’s the real plot twist – Andarna is only two years old and now Violet has an old curmudgeon and a toddler as dragons. Turns out, Andarna’s parents died before she hatched (sad), but she’s one of very few young golden feathertails to bond with a rider (happy), but her toddler power is also very unpredictable (scary).
• The secrets are spilling out of her at this point, and she reveals that she gifted Violet her power to briefly stop time, but it’s deadly to Andarna if it’s overused. 
• Xaden makes them all stg they won’t say a word about this new power and fake that Andarna isn’t a two year old golden dragon because it would put them in danger. Quick pivot from murdering a bunch of people to rational thinking.
• Let’s not forget the mystery traitor who let all of Violet’s haters into her room. Violet isn’t too keen on sharing yet another thing in this debrief but Xaden gets her to confess there was a female rider who unlocked her door, but ran away before the shadow killa got there. 
• Throughout all of the drama, Violet and Xaden are giving off enough sexual tension to make us think, “just do it already.”

CHAPTER 20

This bit starts with the morning’s death roll dropping like a bombshell entering the villa – RIP Oren and crew! While Violet’s nursing her battle bruises, Xaden Riorson goes full protective mode and assigns her a beefy bodyguard (Liam Mairi). Things took a wild turn when Xaden dropped the bomb that Wingleader Amber Mavis was behind the whole attack! The dragons swoop in for a supernatural jury duty, and after seeing Violet’s memories, they gave Amber the guilty verdict. Even though Violet tried to pump the brakes at the last second, Tairn went full dracarys on Amber, leaving her dragon Claidh absolutely losing it at the end.

• So we’re at morning formation, and poor Violet’s rocking some nasty bruises from last night’s attack while everyone’s listening to the death roll (RIP Oren, we hardly knew ye).
• Our bad boy Xaden, being the overprotective hottie he is, swoops in and assigns Violet, a hulk of a man named Liam as her personal bodyguard in case of any more invasion attempts. Violet struggles with this and is like “absolutely not” but Xaden’s basically like “that’s cute, he’s moving in next door.” The guy even gets put in every single one of her classes! Shadow boy aint playin.
• But wait, it gets better! Commandant Panchek (who never shows up for these things) crashes formation, and Xaden suddenly takes center stage to drop the mother of all bombs – not only does he publicly admit to executing six people who tried to murder Violet (casual), but he also accuses Wingleader Amber Mavis of masterminding the whole thing. Dain Aetos is having a full on meltdown because his precious wingleader Amber would NEVER. (All of us: She would.)
• The dragons show up like they’re making a dramatic entrance in a music video. Tairn’s leading this squad of scaled justice, and through some dragon memory-sharing magic, everyone sees the receipts on Amber. Despite Violet having a last-minute attack of conscience and begging for mercy (too pure for this world, honestly), Amber gets the ultimate punishment – death by dragon fire, courtesy of Tairn. Amber’s dragon Claidh’s heartbreaking scream at the end? Absolutely devastating.

CHAPTER 21

This bit follows Violet and Liam, her new golden retriever bodyguard, as she tries and fails to hate him. We also get some piping hot tea on the whole rebellion thing and a classified report on an attack on the southern border that’s conveniently left out of battle brief. 

• Violet is of course annoyed by her not so little, and very attractive shadow Liam with cute dimples, but also kind of likes that he’s helpful and he’s constantly whittling things. Make up your MIND Violet.
• For the first time we get some juicy backstory on the rebellion out of this forced friendship. Turns out, Liam and Xaden were foster brothers after both of their rebel parents were murdered (Liam’s dad was killed in his own home, to Violet’s surprise). There are 107 kids just like them, who were forced to enter the Riders Quadrant and take their chances at survival if they wanted to keep their lives. Zero chill in Basgiath War College.
• Violet’s not only playing hot-and-cold with Liam, but also with Xaden. She’s flipping him off one minute after finding out he warded her bedroom door for protection and getting all tingly when he uses his shadow powers the next. She admits to herself that she might have judged him before knowing him. He did threaten to kill you, honey.
• That time stopping power of Andarna’s was super cool, but turns out it knocks the poor toddler out for days. Talk about a power nap.
• Liam and Violet panic at the disco about not manifesting their signet powers yet, and fear they might (literally) combust if it doesn’t happen soon. They also spend some time together in The Archives and stumble upon some info about attacks on the southern border of the kingdom of navarre.
• The gang gets together in Battle Brief class where their professors announce the grand prize for winning the Squad Battle: getting to shadow an active wing. Everyone’s like, “ooh la la.” Liam and Violet expect the recent attacks to get covered, but instead the class focuses on a 600-year-old battle. 
• The chapter ends with Violet and Liam trying to gaslight themselves into believing that they didn’t just stumble upon some major cover-up. Spoiler alert: They did.