#onyx storm theories

[skyfallscotland]

Ok so Rebecca did a one hour panel today in Sydney with Lynette Noni hosting, where she asked questions and then they opened it to fans. I've kind of summarised the things I haven't seen mentioned over and over, but I don't frequent the subreddit anymore or use TikTok, so there might be overlap. In any case, it's long. Settle in. I've sectioned it into plot/character relevant first, then themes and interesting facts about her and her writing. Basically, you all came with me. 💗

• In book three (and every book thereafter) we'll be going to more and more new places. She specifically worded it as "watching the map expand" whether that's significant or not, I don't know. (I was thinking Isle Kingdoms for OS, but maybe that's just my wishful thinking).

• She implied Jack will have a reason (explained) for uh...being a power-hungry prick? lol

• She's hella defensive of Dain, which I love. #DainApologistsClub 😌 Some highlights include:

"You guys give Dain so much shit for the same thing Xaden does. You really do and you're so fast to forgive Xaden and not Dain. Why? Is it because he's hot?"

And, "when push comes to shove, all Dain did—yes he violated her boundaries, as does Xaden—but all he did was trust his dad when his best friend no longer spoke to him. That's it."

"When Dain looks at her (in the interrogation chamber) and says 'if you had just told me, none of this would have happened', he's not just talking about the interrogation, he's talking about Liam, he's talking about if she had just trusted him (in Fourth Wing) it never would have happened." ����

• She was asked about Liam's appearance in the interrogation chamber and definitively put to rest any signet theories involving that. "She's so alone in that moment and...I don't read fan theories but sometimes they reach my ears; she's completely disconnected from her magic in that moment, she can't even reach out for Tairn or Andarna, which are the bonds that are actually most important to her. She can't reach out for Xaden. And that's the one person who would have prevented that from happening the last year, so it's natural that's who her mind would summon."

• She's thought about a spin-off series, but she's just trying to survive this series.

• Someone asked her if there'd be any redemption and romance for Jack Barlowe and honestly, thanks guys, I don't think she's ever coming back to this country 💀 ("Are you getting enough sleep? Uh...I mean, from his prison cell maybe? No.")

• Someone asked "what is Garrick's signet and why hasn't it been shown yet?" (shoutout to this girl, she's the real MVP) to which Rebecca said "it's very much in book three, I love it."

• Someone asked about the orange dragons and unpredictability re: Amber, Jack, Varrish and then Imogen and Brennan. Rebecca said some dragons might look for traits like their own and some look for balance because it's a partnership; and that Brennan as a strategist needed that little bit of unpredictability in his life (lol, I think he got it).

• She didn't always plan for Violet to have two dragons. Originally it was going to be one (Tairn) and the editor had hoped that she would sway towards a weaker, smaller dragon and she thought that was a little too close to Abraxos in ToG, and so they compromised and gave her both. She also went on to say she doesn't like overpowered heroines and since Tairn is extremely powerful, Andarna balanced that out. (I'm not...I'm not sure how that works out? But that's what was said.)

• We are definitely going to find out more about the original six (and Lynette asked if that was a spin-off possibility and was shushed, so she's thought about it at least, but I get the idea she's thought about a lot of possibilities 😂)

• There's no timeframe for the release of the final two books.

• Someone asked if Violet's dad was Malek to which she was kind of shocked. He's not a god, guys. And low-key I JUST WANT TO KNOW HIS NAME. 😤

• On Sgaeyl: "You do (get more of her) but holy crap is she pissed. So—I'll tell you that about Onyx Storm—she is really, really mad at Xaden and she's not exactly speaking to him at the moment. So it's hard for her to speak into that bond when she's not speaking to him." 💔

• She was asked about the Violet dated Halden theory (which was fucking hilarious because the poor girl misspoke and asked if Xaden dated the prince and we were all really confused about which TikToks the poor thing had seen (note to self: consider cam/xaden), anyway after we got to the bottom of that, Rebecca replied, "I think you should read the third book." Which I'm taking to mean, the man is making a damn appearance and we're gonna find out for ourselves 👀 Hey, if I'm lucky maybe we'll even find out his surname

• Finally she said she has EP on the Amazon series, they've all been exceptionally protective of it and that she's happy with how it's going (they're not near casting yet and she doesn't want to really comment on that ever, to leave each role open to as diverse a cast as possible). She said the production team has come to the signings in LA to meet readers and see what they love and are passionate about when it comes to the series to make sure that's honoured.

"Like I mean, I've seen certain...like what can I say without getting tackled to the ground? Let's just say they've already taken steps to make sure that what you guys love about the story is envisioned and that it's not run amok. And I'm very happy with it, they're super protective of it." Which could just be me reading into it, but the first place my brain went was the dragons 👀🐉 and the CGI or whatever.

• She was asked about where the inspiration for the universe came from and she said that when her Entangled decided they were going to do romantasy they asked her for five pitches and Fourth Wing was one of them (she won't say what the others were because she might still write them someday). She said she likes the fated mates trope but she wondered what that would look like if the dragons were the ones mated, not the humans and the humans who couldn't stand each other were forced to be around each other because of this. 

• Her first ever book was romantasy but it didn't sell

• She's never really written enemies to lovers before.

• She likes found family themes because she was raised in a military family and moved around a lot, so that makes it hard to keep in touch with your extended family, and after she married her husband and became a military wife, it was their found family that was there for her—it was her found family who helped her move her house, who sat with her when her husband was injured in Iraq, etc, so she thinks it's very important to show that your family is also the people you choose and that can be just as strong as any blood tie.

• She was asked (by Lynette) why she wanted to show death and the reality of war and she said, "I've been surrounded by it. My husband's been at war since 2003, he spent 22 years in the army, first as a 19 Delta cavalry scout and then ten years as an apache pilot and we buried our friends. And I saw what it did to him, and I saw what it did to our friends, I saw what it did to our children, to us, and I love being able to examine it from a fantasy perspective just because I think fantasy gives us a unique environment from which to critique our own world by viewing it through the lens of another. And I've always delved into those themes as to why we do this to each other and where is there hope to stop it?"

• As an author her favourite scenes in Fourth Wing were the dagger stealing scene (very important to their chemistry and romantic development—"she's the only person he's taught ever, how to actually kill him") and the first kiss scene.

In Iron Flame it was the interrogation scene and how that ends with Dain and Xaden and everything coming together.

When asked about a similar scene from Onyx Storm that elicited the same strong emotion from her she said "you're not gonna like it" and that's it 💀

• She would consider writing fantasy again after she's done with the Empyrean world, maybe one of her other pitches, but she won't truly think about it until she's survived this one.

• She spoke about the "kill your darlings" writing advice and how if you love a scene but it doesn't move the plot, you've gotta cut it, and how she did that with the final scene in Fourth Wing, which was originally 7k words of Violet POV pulling information out of Xaden.

• When asked about fan theories she actually said something I found a little sad. "I don't listen to fan theories. One, I'm not on TikTok—it's a little bit more important for me to be alive than to listen to what other people think they know about me, and two, I don't ever want fan theories to bleed into my writing."

〰️ And that's it! If anyone's going tomorrow, please voice record the whole thing and report back lmao 🙏 🫶🏼

ETA: part two is here, x

[b3anieperson]

Things I do not want but expect in Onyx Storm (also things I do want but you all have to figure that out)

Naolin comes back (or has always been and never died-) as a venin

Tairn dies

Xaden ties Violet's shoes

Colonel Aetos comes back to bite us in the ass

Someone close to Xaden dies (I'm placing bets on Bodhi, sorry)

Violet's second signet is going to be ward weaving (maybe idfk)

Bodoc happens???

We meet Drake Cordella!

One of the Cordella children dies (placing bets on Syrena)

Gamogen/Immrick happens???

We have a meeting with Venin

Mira or Brennan get severely injured in said meeting with Venin

We FINALLY get to hear about Liam wielding ice in the Battle of Resson

Viscount Tecarus dies (thank fucking god)

We get to meet the Queen of Poromiel

They drag King Tauri kicking and fucking screaming to a meeting with the Queen of Poromiel

We meet Halden

We get history on how (I hope) Halden and Vi dated

We hate Halden

Aaric hates Halden a tad bit too

Aaric x Sloane (pleaseee RY I begggg)

Sgaeyl and Tairn have eggs (maybe idfk)

Andarna can finally fly fully and we learn that she CAN support Vi while flying

We learn that Lillith Sorrengail was a Venin (see a pervious post about that theory)

Jack Barlowe is killed (PLEASE IM TIRED OF THIS FLYING RAT TURD)

Dain Aetos dies (killed by his own father, such shame)

Okay now we play a game, I'M Xaden Riorson, and YOU'RE all Violet Sorrengail, ask me what I mean (by reblogging or commenting or asking) and I'll explain what I mean. (I hope that it'll make sense because my tiny pea brain doesn't work well at midnight apparently)

[justallihere]

will you please elaborate on your bodhi will die prediction from a few weeks ago bc tbh it made me want to throw up 😭😭😭 that little angel is on like 4 pages in the whole series and I would literally die for him in his place. Is it just a feeling you have? Or did you see a theory somewhere? I need to know to talk myself down from the emotional damage I’m facing just at the thought 💔

Just in general, it's pretty much a given that someone (or someones) will die in OS, especially since we didn't really lose anyone in IF. And it's inevitably going to hurt, which means it will be someone close to Xaden and Violet. It won't be Sawyer because he just lost a leg. It's not Jesinia for obvious reasons. Personally I'd narrow it down to Bodhi, Rhiannon, or Garrick, but Rebecca LOVES Garrick. Loves that man. So Bodhi or Rhiannon. Amy convinced me that Bodhi makes more sense, in that someone is likely to kill him thinking he's Xaden. Her whole theory is linked here!

[shipmistress9]

Onyx Storm

The storm of emotions in his onyx eyes.

This is all I can think about with this title. With IF's ending, Xaden and all those close to him, are going to have to go through so much to get things right-ish again, and the emotional turmoil will be epic.

[moplayspoke]

People have been pointing out that Rebecca used the song “Take a Moment to Breathe” in the Onyx Storm trailer.

And … guys:

Y’all… I am even MORE convinced Onyx Storm will be Xaden’s book. His everything.

His past.

His mom.

Battling his demons.

Battling is inner chaos.

Battling his … iykyk…

Struggling to keep Violet at his side but also struggling to keep her away from him for safety reasons.

It’s HIS storm. He is the Onyx Storm. This is Xaden’s book.

I wonder if we will get more dual POV from him in this? Hmmm.

[meeville]

Just an add on my friend said that she believes that the rune on the cover of each book is the most powerful rune in that book

This is a theory I’ve had for I while. So in the books I always imagined runes as spirals until we got a description. Geometric shapes stacked on top of each other that get burned into things. What does that sound like to you? To me it sounds exactly like the cover of the book itself. Two geometric shapes, a square and a circle, stacked on top of each other getting burned into the cover. This is just a theory feel free to add to it or tell me how I am wrong.

[bookaddictedrose]

I very sincerely hope that Halden Tauri shows up in Onyx Storm as Violet's ex, because after all that shit Rebecca Yarros put us through with Catriona, we DESERVE revenge. And jealous Xaden, of course 😩

[somewhere-in-the-rain]

“Violet is a truth-sayer because Xaden can’t lie to her”

Yeah, whatever. Xaden has lied to her. When he told her he had no intention of falling for her over and over again. When he said she was the last person he’d want bonded to him. When he said he was perfectly in control of his emotions around her. Call them exaggerations if you like, but technically they are lies.

“Well the signet hadn’t manifested yet” Ok, well tell me why Xaden saying “I can’t lie to her” in the Fourth Wing bonus chapter is apparently foreshadowing, then? Why can the evidence suit your theory, but not my counterargument?

Don’t even get me started on the constant lying by omission. Not telling her about the venin or his second signet or the deal with her mother. He didn’t lie, but he also did not tell her the truth. The signet is called ‘truth-sayer’, not ‘lie-preventer’.

If you couldn’t tell, I am not a fan of the truth-sayer theory.

[sexypantsriorson-na]

VIOLET IS SCARED OF THE DARK! BUT WHY? WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

🚨 Spoilers for Fourth Wing and Iron Flame Below 🚨

When reading Fourth Wing one of the many times I've read it I noticed that Violet seemed scared of the dark on several occasions. However, the newest Xaden POV bonus chapter (Ch 27) solidified my crack theory that may mean nothing at all even further.

Fourth Wing:

⚡️Chapter 1: "The Captain nods and points to the open door into the turret. It looks ominously dark in there, and I fight the urge to run like hell."

-> This is the weakest evidence but I wanted to include it. Even though the majority of the fear probably stems from having to cross the parapet and going into the riders quadrant I can't help but notice how the darkness of the turret is pointed out in relation to her wanting to run away.

⚡️Chapter 19: "'Hope you're not afraid of the dark.' He pulls me inside, and suffocating darkness envelopes us as the door closes. This is fine. This is absolutely fine. 'But just incase you are,' Xaden says, his voice at full volume as he snaps. A mage light hovers above our head, Illuminating our surroundings. 'Thanks'"

-> side note: as Nicole from FFG would say ITALICS! Is this a Xaden intinsic moment or is this similar to Ch 27 where he senses her fear down their bond?

⚡️Chapter 27 from Violet's POV: "Xaden lifts a hand a few inches above the table, and shadows pour from underneath our seats, filling the room and turning it dark as midnight in a blink. My heart jumps as my sight goes black."

⚡️Chapter 27 from Xaden's POV: "I lift my palms just enough to clear the table and summon the cooling darkness of the shadows. They stream out from under the table and blanket the room in less than a heartbeat, devouring all traces of light. Panic skitters down the silver bond."

Iron Flame:

⚡️Chapter 36: "He steps forward, raises his arms, and shadows rush in from the wall at our backs, engulfing the formation - and us - in complete darkness. Theres a glimmer of a caress across my cheek, right where it's split to what feels like the bone, and more than one cadet screams."

-> The structure of the first sentence, the emphasis on 'and us' is what clued me into the fear in this chapter. And once again Xaden, who is also the source of the darkness, uses the shadows to comfort her. Based on Ch 19 and Ch 27 of Fourth Wing he likely knows she's scared of the dark at this point.

Noooowwwwww - What does all this mean? Well.... I have no idea!

As mentioned before it might mean nothing at all. Rebecca might have just thrown it in there as a quirky personality trait of Violet's. I personally just don't think that's the case.

According to a study done by John Mayer (the clinical psychologist, not the singer) only 11% of adults in the US are scared of the dark. So, its not that common of a fear. Also the amount of times it's brought up throughout the two books we've had so far makes me think it might be significant.

On July 8th Rebecca Yarros and Red Tower Books released a joint Instagram reel with a small video showing the cover of Onyx Storm for the first time. The caption has the tag line "Are you ready to BRAVE THE DARK?" written just like that with 'brave the dark' in all caps. 'Brave the Dark' is also written on the cover of the book in the same way 'Fly or Die' and 'Burn it Down' was used as a tag line of FW and IF respectively. This is another one of the most prominent reasons I think that these allusions to Violets fear of the dark are more than just a basic character trait. In each of the scenes mentioned (with the exception of chapter 1) Xaden comforts Violet in the darkness. Furthermore, if you search 'dark' in the FW ebook there are over 80 occurrences of the word and almost all of them are in relation to Xaden (I couldn't search IF because I don't have the ebook). We know that OS is going to focus on Violet trying to find a cure for Xaden. Is Xaden part of this darkness Violet is scared of?

The Empyrean Series is my current hyper fixation so I couldn't get this spiral out of my head since yesterday.

Please weigh in on what you think Violets fear of the dark means or where it comes from! I'd love to hear other peoples opinions. Also, if you know of any scenes I missed where Violet is scared of the dark please let me know.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk TairnTalk. (I stole that from someone else but I can't remember who said it first but credit to them you are hilarious).

[mattyalwayssmokesweed]

Some of my crazy, unhinged theories I have about the Empyrean series because I overthink everything a little too much:

Violet is Queen Maraya’s daughter Lilith took in as some sort of deal/barging chip with Poromiel, and Catriona accusing her of “stealing her crown” is foreshadowing for her stepping in as Queen of Poromiel and stealing the crown from Viscount Tecarus (Catriona’s uncle). Plus it explains why she looks nothing like the rest of her family

Andarna doesn’t belong to an almost extinct species of dragons; she’s the goddesses of dragons who reborns whenever a chosen one needs her to defend the Known World (a sort of Phoenix in a sense)

The Maven is Violet’s twin sister. Violet is always described as being half-something; half scribe, half rider. Half weak, half strong. Even her hair is half-half; magic needs balance, so they’re both half-something without the other (said twin sister was taken by venin as a baby)

Aaric’s dragon and Andarna will be mates

Violet’s second signet is actually all the signets; just like Andarna can morph into whatever color she wants, the signet she gives her rider will also change depending on what Violet needs/wants at the moment

Brennan’s rune in his hand is actually a sort of “notice-me-not” rune that makes people not notice anything weird about him and/or ask him a lot of questions

Papa Sorrengail discovered a prophecy about Violet and that’s why he wanted her to go to the Scribes quadrant. After his death, Lilith found it between his things and sent Violet to the Riders Quadrant to protect her from said prophecy

A rider has to have all their things burned after their death because otherwise they are stuck in the mortal world as some sort of “phantom” no one can see or feel

Feel free to ask me to elaborate on any of them because I’m a certified yapper

[litnerdwrites]

Did Jack Barlow Know? If so, who else knew and how?

Okay, so hear me out! We know this likely means that either Andarna is linked to this mysterious weapon. We don't know if means she knows where to find it/activate it, if she is the weapon, or if a rider that bonded her species of dragon was what wiped them out. Either way, it's safe to say that it all relates back to her in some way.

We also know that Jack Barlow was a Venin before he crossed the parapet, right? And in Kaori's classes, he was very interested in Tairn. Then, during Threshing, his number one goal was to kill Andarna (which isn't smart given where he was). Also, by the end of Iron Flame, he was somehow controlling Baide. Not, seemingly, dissimilar to how Varrash described influencing a dragon instead of allowing it to influence you.

His interest in Tairn is most likely because he wanted to bond a powerful dragon for the Venin to use, or for him to control. He wanted to influence Tairn the way he did Baide, maybe even syphon power from him, and by proxy, Sgaeyl.

He was also weirdly obsessed with Killing Andarna during Threshing, which, at the time, just could be attributed to arrogance, disrespectfulness and self-centredness, which was on brand for him. But now that we know what he is, and what he was doing all along, it's safe to say there could be other Venin in the wards.

There's so much speculation regarding Violet's potential Venin heritage, from either her mother or father's side. Lilith's rank and position means that she and Violet's dad had been close to the hatching grounds for a while. Violet's father specifically was researching Feathertails, and he died one or two years before the start of the book, when Violet was about 18. What else happened when Violet was 18? Andarna. She hatched when Violet was 18, possibly before her father even died.

Who's to say how many other Venin there are within the Wards. There are likely to even be a couple, like VIolet's dad, that were within a four hour flight radius to said wards. If Volet's dad felt Andarna hatch, then any other near by Venin could have too. Going back to his research for a moment, it's worth mentioning, how would he be able to study Feathertail effectively? The only way for there to be information about them in his research that isn't common knowledge, is either, a) he had access to very restricted texts (like the King's personal collection), which seems unlikely, or b) to have seen a feathertail.

If nothing else, I think Andarna knows something of the research he did. Perhaps he even met her for himself. When Varrish was questioning Violet about it, Tairn confirms that he doesn't know about it, but Andarna? The author makes a point to tell us that she went silent. Not that she wasn't there, or grew uninterested, or even went to sleep. She was there, she was listening, but she didn't respond.

By now, I think it's safe to say that she knows something. Throughout the books, Andarna drops hints to her secrets, without outright saying them, or lying about them. She prefers lying by omission, which, towards the end of the first book, Tairn points out to her, can be just as bad. It still seems to be her preferred method of secret keeping, though. Like how she's not like the other juveniles, or how she'd be the head of her own den, all indicating that she really isn't. She's a whole other species, and already the head of her own den.

I think Andarna knows something about the Venin, and about Violet's dad, in which case, it's possible he also knew, somehow, that Andarna would chose Violet. I'm not sure how likely that would be, and would depend on how much Andarna knows of this research.

However, I'm confident that she's the key to stopping the Venin in one form or the other. I also think that, somehow, the Venin knows this too. Either through Violet's dad, who may or may not have had contact with Andarna, or knew of her, at the very least, or through another Venin in Basgaith.

So, finally, going back to Jack Fucking Barlow, the root of this discussion, did he know about all of this? We know he was sent to destroy the wards, but was hellbent on killing Andarna during Threshing.

Powerful dragons can tell what a hatchlings colour will be, before they mature. Is it possible that powerful Venin can too? If there was a Venin near the wards, powerful enough, would they be able to tell as well? It's possible that a Venin inside the wards reported back to a higher rank, about Andarna's hatching, or that a Sage or General to learn about the dragon hatchlings through other Venin, or people like Violet's dad.

If they did, then they could Know what Andarna is. They'd know how she's different, how she's the key to stopping them, and perhaps even the key to their victory. Could it be that the Venin sent Jack to, not only destroy the wards, but to kill Andarna before she became a threat? If the higher ups amongst Venin didn't know, then did Jack figure it out on his own, and do it to earn The Sage's approval? Based on how desperate they are to capture Violet for The Sage, they seem pretty obsessed with proving themselves. Jack might have wanted to become a strong rider to gain the acknowledgment or promotion from The Sage, and later decided to kill Andarna while he was at it.

It's possible that that's the reason that The Sage wants Violet so badly. If you can't beat them, join them. Or have them join you by turning the love of their life into a monster, and using him to kidnap or manipulate them into joining your cause because they're the biggest threat to you and your kind. Perhaps they want her to manipulate Andarna the way Jack did with Baide or Varrish claimed to do with Solas, since it was Andarna, or her kind, that ended the war 600 years ago.

[cabinyote]

My favourite snippets from the Fourth Wing x Yaelokre animatic I'm working on 👉👈

[b3anieperson]

OH MY GOD.

I'M ON BREAK, AND I JUST THOUGHT OF SOMETHING, EITHER VERY HEARTWARMING, OR VERY GUT-WRENCHING, DEPENDING ON YOUR THOUGHTS OF MY THOUGHTS.

Uhmmm, tags, lmk if you want on or off: @siobhanbooks @yanny-77 @justallihere @itsbeenmyhonor

I think Violet might cut her hair in Onyx Storm, like, while in battle she realizes that it's going to be her downfall and she cuts it mid-flight, and as she gets off Tairn and hits solid ground, her hair turns silver at the ends, and everyone questions it.

[auraisereigh]

Black Dragons (Dubhmadinn line)

Everything we know about black dragons so far. What they're like, their original hatching grounds and a little insight about the known black dragons and their riders. 🖤

This entire page is made by me, i did my research on both the books and The Empyrean Wiki, but feel free to correct me if something is wrong or missing. Do not use without giving credit, i spend many hours on this one to perfect it. This beautiful art of Tairn is made by the amazing @bookartbysloan on instagram, make sure to check out her other pieces too!

This is part of the "aura's dragon guide" series. Find the rest on my masterlist here, i will update all of these once onyx storm is out. Every sunday i post a new part.

This one was so much fun to make. I love tairn and violet + i have an extremly soft spot for Naolin somehow so i loved putting some of him in there hehe. I loved laying this out, the black with white is something i love so much for some reason. 🖤

[justascrollingghost]

Not to be dramatic but if Rebecca Yarros gives a Violet Sorrengail a second love interest in the next book I’m not fucking reading it. You’re going to tell me that girl would turn her back on Xaden? That she’d even consider not finding a way to help him? That she wouldn’t be going out of her mind trying to find ways to fix it? That she wouldn’t chase him across the globe if he tried to run away to keep her safe? Nah.

[moplayspoke]

My onyx storm theory is that the title reflects Xaden’s eyes and the turmoil he will experience throughout book 3.