Fourth Wing

Xaden Riorson is Violet’s secondary love interest and the subject of the enemies-to-lovers plotline. Initially painted as an antagonist, he gradually morphs into Violet’s teacher and lover as their emotional connection grows despite their shared traumatic history. He is dark-haired with a scar running through his eyebrow. As the son of the Great Betrayer, he—along with the other separatists’ children—is marked with a relic of the rebellion that showcases his status as a rebel’s child. It is ultimately revealed that he made a deal with the Navarre government, putting his life on the line in exchange for securing the children’s right not to be summarily executed without cause. He has thus garnered the respect of all rebel children and the distrust of all high-ranking Navarre officials. He is an exceptionally powerful shadow wielder, a signet ability that allows him to gather intelligence and cause physical changes in his environment.

Xaden, like Violet, has an intense moral alignment that dictates most of his decisions throughout the story. Unlike Violet, he disguises his moral code beneath viciousness and aloofness so that he may better accomplish his goals without interference. He becomes the one who teaches Violet how to manipulate rules to uphold ulterior motives, an act that places him in direct opposition to Dain and other members of the Navarre government. For his own survival, Xaden has learned how to navigate the complex power structures of the war college, emerging victorious even as he faces different forms of suppression.

Xaden represents another example of Psychological Strength as a Survival Trait, especially as a survivor of those who insist upon Using War to Gain Power. He is an exceptional rider despite the government’s multiple efforts to eliminate him as a threat; he compounds his physical, intellectual, and magical capabilities to become the worst possible threat to the Navarre kingdom. He does this in spite of being a victim of history, surviving the alteration of his own story. This survival allows him to challenge the power structures present in the ongoing war, instead devoting himself to the same cause his father represented. The ultimate irony in this is that the government’s decision to conscript him into the Rider Quadrant provides him with all the necessary tools to complete his father’s work, creating a cycle of violence and rebellion that is set to continue in the series’ subsequent installments.

Dain Aetos is Violet’s childhood best friend and her first love interest. He is a bearded brown-haired man who also serves as Violet’s squad leader, meaning that he is her direct supervisor. This power dynamic becomes a point of contention as Dain’s obsession with rules repeatedly comes between him and Violet; he values the rules more than her life and is highly selective about what he is willing to overlook for her survival. Dain has the rare signet of being able to access people’s recent memories when he touches them, though he hides the full extent of this ability from Violet and uses her memories to betray her and Xaden.

Dain is meant to serve as Xaden’s foil. Both men are powerful and understand the value of information; however, Dain’s dedication to the rules is a direct contrast to Xaden’s intense moral alignment. For Violet, Dain and Xaden represent two different futures and two different loyalties, complicating her fluctuating romantic feelings toward them. Dain’s actions toward Violet are particularly difficult to navigate due to their long-lasting friendship, which spans more than 15 years. The longevity of their connection makes Dain simultaneously nostalgic and protective, and his actions towards Violet thus repeatedly deny her own growing strength and competence in this new environment, just as his invasion of her memories violates her permission and consent. Dain’s dedication to the rules remains constant throughout the novel, as does his infantilization of Violet. Although Dain himself does not experience growth, his actions give Violet the impetus to contemplate her confidences and capabilities, helping her improve through a desire to prove him wrong.

Rhiannon Matthias is Violet’s peer in the Rider Quadrant and quickly becomes her closest first-year friend. She excels at hand-to-hand combat, having grown up in a small town by the kingdom’s border. She has a sister who gives birth while she is in training, which becomes a bonding point for her and Violet. Violet saves her life by trading a boot with her before crossing the parapet on Conscription Day; later, Rhiannon returns the favor by helping Violet spar in exchange for history lessons. Rhiannon becomes the first person to wholeheartedly believe in Violet despite Violet’s lack of physical strength. Rhiannon provides Violet with a secure place to develop her skills while also positively reinforcing her existing strengths; she also becomes Violet’s confidant, a mutual secret-keeper. Rhiannon becomes Violet’s defender, but not protector, a vital distinction when comparing her behavior to Dain’s. Rhiannon exists within the text to show how friendships are meant to be, allowing Violet to question the extent to which Dain attempts to exert control over her.

Jack Barlowe is the novel’s primary antagonist. He is an exceptionally large and strong recruit whose reputation for viciousness is well-established, as he kills two recruits within his first 24 hours at the college and attempts to murder Violet. Despite his physical prowess and his imposing physical presence, Jack repeatedly proves himself to be a coward who relies on his size to project a false sense of authority. On the surface, Jack has every necessary trait to be a successful dragon rider, which also makes him likely to advance in the chain of command due to those traits. His fall from grace and eventual demise, however, are the direct result of his failure to rely upon Psychological Strength as a Survival Trait. Similarly, his desire to cull Andarna from the dragon herd makes him lose standing with the dragons he most desires, resulting in a smaller, more weakened bond that comes to reflect the weakened confidence of his human counterparts.

Jack’s death is both a victory and a source of mourning for Violet. When she kills him, she successfully frees herself of the greatest human threat against her and proves herself as a rider by finally manifesting her signet. After this pivotal moment, she is able to claim her security and her autonomy, emerging from the War Games as the most powerful rider in the college. This newfound security is juxtaposed with the loss of a part of herself. She is transformed into a killer, having murdered someone for the first time—this causes a significant shift in her self-image. Jack’s death and her own lightning abilities make her realize that some part of her has always been inclined to serving as a weapon, even if it is a weapon used for defensive purposes. By processing Jack’s loss, she is once again forced to reconcile the parts of her that identify with being a scribe with the parts of her that long to be a rider. Jack’s death therefore serves as an irreversible turning point in Violet’s development, forcing her to grow and adapt. Ironically, Jack’s death harms her mental state more than he ever did in life, showing how little power he had over her despite his many murderous attempts.

Liam Mairi is a first-year rider cadet who, like Xaden, is a separatists’ child. He is blonde and very muscular; he outperforms all his peers and many second-years in fighting and physical challenges. Liam is Xaden’s foster brother and becomes Violet’s bodyguard following the attempt on her life in the dorms. Despite Violet’s initial dislike for Liam’s role in her life, the two ultimately become friends, a pivotal step for Violet’s eventual rebel-based education. By sharing stories of his life, Liam challenges Violet to compare what she has read to the lived experiences of people like him. The contradiction between what Violet believes and what Liam knows underscores The Value of Knowledge and how heavily the kingdom has manipulated its people by controlling the narrative of the rebellion. It is this distinction that allows Violet to eventually believe in the existence of venin because she understands that the government’s censorship is much more dangerous and corrupt than simply safeguarding the confidentiality of battlefield information. Thus, Liam becomes the bridge between Violet and the other marked cadets, disrupting her previous prejudice against them. Through Liam, Violet becomes an advocate for these cadets. Liam’s death likewise becomes the point of no return for Violet, marking the moment in which Navarre has taken something from her that she cannot win back. Liam’s death at the hands of the venin is an unnecessary loss, spurred by the desire to test the loyalty of rebels’ children and suppress the true conflict happening outside of the kingdom’s borders. By dying, Liam becomes a symbol for truth and knowledge; he represents everything that Violet wants to fight for, cementing her position amongst the rebels.