| “ | I will not die today. | ” |
–Violet, Fourth Wing | ||
Violet Sorrengail is a dragon rider who is bonded to both Tairn and Andarna.
Biography
Early Life
Born July 613 AU, Violet was the youngest daughter of General Lilith Sorrengail and her scribe husband, with two older siblings Brennan and Mira. Due to a fever her mother contracted while being pregnant, Violet was born with a rare condition, causing the ends of her hair to turn silver-grey and her ligaments and joints to subluxate frequently. This led to her father sequestering her in the Archives while they lived at Basgiath War College.[1] Because of her father's influence, Violet spent her entire life training to become a Scribe like him. After his untimely death Professor Markham took over her studies and considered her his star pupil. Growing up she became friends with Dain Aetos in 619 AU when she was five, and he was six, as his father, Colonel Aetos, worked as her mother's most trusted aide. Violet and Dain spent most of their time together finding places to swim and climb,[2] and subsequently led Violet to become familiar with Nolon and his healer wife Winifred when she was injured. [3]
In 628 AU, at 14 years old, Violet last saw her oldest brother Brennan prior to the Battle of Aretia, leaving her to mourn her brother once news spread that he had been killed by Fen Riorson with a crossbolt. His death led to their father developing heart complications which ultimately led to his untimely death a year or so before the events of Fourth Wing.
Fourth Wing
The morning of Conscription Day, Violet sees her mother and sister in her mother's office. Her sister, Mira, argued with their mother that Violet shouldn't go to the Riders Quadrant because she won't survive, but their mother will not change her mind. Mira then repacks Violet's rucksack for her and gives her rider boots so she has better grip on the parapet and a vest made out of dragon scales as armor.
She meets Rhiannon before crossing the Parapet and they swap left shoes so that both of them will have one shoe with good grip. She meets Xaden at the top of the turret and while crossing, the candidate crossing behind her, Jack Barlowe, attempts to kill her, but she survives.
At Basgiath, Violet is unlike the majority of the volunteers there. She is much smaller than her peers and her fragility causes her to receive harsher injuries than others, while her smaller body and lack or training puts her at a disadvantage during challenges, completing the Gauntlet, or while riding her dragon. In order to stay alive, she chooses to be one of the cadets that helps prepare and serve breakfast so that she can poison her opponents, leading her to win the five challenges before Threshing. In order to complete the Gauntlet, she took Xaden's advice and was able to think of a unique method since she was too short to complete it in the expected way.
Violet is full of dread as Xaden forces her to spar against him. He gradually disarms her while also repeatedly offering her insights into how best to use her small stature as an advantage. That night Dain smuggles Violet into his room and gives her a massage while they discuss how dragons can read the minds of their riders. Dain confesses that he reported Xaden, Jack, and another cadet to Colonel Markham for harassing Violet and wanting to kill her. He again asks her to join the scribes, and Violet lashes out at him. He tries to convince her by describing the horrors of Threshing, but Violet remain resolute.
During Threshing, she overhears three of her fellow cadets planning to murder a smaller dragon so she beats them to the dragon and defends the dragon from them. She was able to disable one, Jack, and makes him flee, while she fights against the other two and knocks Oren unconscious, and Tairn kills the third, Tynan, when he runs away. During the events of Threshing, she manages to bond to two dragons: Tairn and Andarna. After Threshing, she and Dain kiss, only for her to realize she felt nothing from it, and losing interest in her crush on him.
Now that she’s officially a dragon rider, Violet gets to move into a private room. The next morning, she and Rhiannon walk together, and after some light teasing, Violet admits that she felt no spark when Dain kissed her. They meet with Ridoc and go to breakfast where the other first-year cadets are suddenly treating Violet with kindness. The rest of Flame Squad joins them for breakfast, including Imogen, who explains that Tairn’s presence has caused a significant power shift among cadets. The squad gossips and Imogen informs Violet that she must meet her later for strength training. Violet realizes that her new connection to Xaden is not a secret.
Violet and her squad attend flight training. Tairn arrives, but Andarna stay away because she is too small to carry Violet. While they fly together, Violet and Tairn banter telepathically. Violet insists that Tairn not use his magic to keep her on his back, but she repeatedly falls off, making it necessary for him to dive to catch her. They realize something must be done. Xaden surprises her by getting a custom harness for Tairn to wear that she can strap herself into.
After some time, Violet is attacked while she slept, by six unbonded cadets, hoping to kill her and claim her bond to Tairn. Thanks to Andarna's power, she was able to stop time and get past them, right before Xaden arrived and killed all the assailants. Despite her concerns of her claims being disregarded, she told Xaden that it was a wingleader who helped the attackers gain access to her room, and he made a former inquiry, leading to the offender's death.
After her attack, Xaden had first year cadet, Liam Mairi, transfered to the squad and help protect Violet. Despite her resentment of the extra protection, she soon became friends with Liam.
Violet’s squad cheers Liam on as he wrestles during the Squad Battle. After he wins, Commandant Panchek announces that the third stage of the Squad Battle is to take place immediately. He commands the squads to find and acquire “the one thing that would be most advantage to their enemies regarding the war effort.”[4] They must present their object to leadership within the next three hours. Their leading cadets have been sequestered, making each squad responsible for their own planning.
Imogen takes command of their squad, and they brainstorm what to steal. Liam suggests information, and Violet gets the idea to break into her mother’s office. Two hours later, the squad sneaks into General Sorrengail’s office. Quinn astral-projects to distract the guard, while Nadine unweaves the wards surrounding the office. Violet and the remaining cadets enter the office, with Liam serving as lookout. Violet reads some of her mother’s letters which make her realize that they should steal the map on her wall which shows detailed information about outposts and supply routes. Rhiannon manages to teleport the map away while Imogen uses her signet to wipe the recent memories of the guard.
During the War Games, Jack seriously injured Liam, and soon, Violet first unleashed her signet ability of lightning, killing Jack and destroying the structure he was in. When Xaden went to see her, as she was reeling from her first kill, the two finally gave into their desire for one another.
Violet and Xaden scramble to get dressed and join formation. Xaden gives Violet his jacket. When she joins her squad, Rhiannon immediately identifies the jacket. In the courtyard, Xaden telepathically informs Violet that there is not an attack, it’s the last event of the War Games. Rhiannon helps Violet hide the jacket from Dain while instructions are given by leadership. Colonel Aetos gives orders to each wingleader. Xaden is ordered to select riders to be stationed with him outside the borders of Navarre’s wards, where they will remain for five days. Dain is assigned to a different outpost.
Everyone quickly packs and prepares for the long flight. Liam is unusually tense. Violet sees Andarna and grows concerned with her ability to keep up and hide during fights to come. Then she sees a harness she is wearing that can hook to Tairn’s harness for Violet, allowing him to carry Andarna easily. Xanden approaches and claims Liam and Violet for his team despite Dain’s resistance.
TBC
Iron Flame
TBA
Physical Description
Body
Violet is self-described as too small and too fragile. Her exact height and weight are not given, but she is shorter than 5'4" based on Xaden's comments (she’s assumed to be 5’2" or 5’3"). At the start of the series she weighs no more than 115 pounds. Due to a connective tissue disorder, she bruises, dislocates joints, and breaks bones easily. According to Mira, Violet had already broken her arm prior to the events of Fourth Wing and sprains some joint every other week.[1] She uses cloth wraps with metal clasps given to her by Major Gilstead to wrap her joints and prevent them from dislocating or being further injured. [2] Prior to any sparring match, Violet makes sure to wrap her joints to prevent them from dislocating or tearing.[5]
Violet Sorrengail by Leah Croft
She is mentioned by her mother to have "pale skin, pale eyes and pale hair" due to a sickness her mother caught during pregnancy. According to Violet she has two shades; pale and burned.[2] Her hair is brown and starts to slowly fade around her shoulders to a steely, metallic silver by the ends. The natural pigment seems to gradually abandon it no matter the length so cutting it short wouldn't remove the metallic ends. To stay agile in sparring and in battle, she keeps her hair braided in a crown around her head so it can't be grabbed easily. Violet's eyes are a light hazel of varying blues and ambers. She wears size 7 boots, and carries a sheathed dagger in her right boot as well as three other daggers sheathed on her ribs across Parapet. [2] She has a dragon relic on her back of a black dragon mid-flight that stretches from shoulder to shoulder with a silhouette of a golden, shimmering dragon in the center.[6]
Outfits
Conscription Day
She swaps a cream colored tunic and belt for a tight fitted black shirt that covers her arms and breezy pants for leather ones, with sheaths on her thighs, that hug every curve.
Dragonscale Corset
Mira gifts her a vest-styled corset to wear over the shirt that covers her from collarbone to just below her waist wrapping around her breasts and crossing up and over her shoulders. The vest was specially crafted using Teine's scales which were shrunken so that they could be sewn in to protect her. Hidden sheaths are sewn diagonally along the ribcage of the vest. [1] Violet notes that the vest shimmers slightly as she moves due to the scales catching the light under a camouflaging mesh that covers them. [7]
Flight Gear
All riders, when attending flight lessons, or are in the air, are provided with flight jackets that bear no name-tag besides the rank. There are also flight goggles to prevent eyes stinging and watering in the air from the wind.
Summer Uniform
Light weight black top with slits down the front that give her direct access to the daggers sheathed along her ribs in the dragonscale corset. [8]
Formal Wear
During her visit to Cordyn, Violet wears a ball gown. The bodice plummets into a deep V down to the base of her ribs, features black leaves woven together smaller than the size of her palm that narrow above her breasts to single vines that drape tiny leaves up over her shoulders and down the sides of her back. The design left the majority of her spine and all of her dragon relic exposed. The skirt was Deverelli silk, a soft nearly transparent black fabric (so sheer that only one layer would be see-through) that fell from her waist to the floor in a multitude of layers. A slit runs up the fabric to her thigh where she strapped a sheath for one of her daggers.
Personality
| “ | Brennan was a spectacular rider and a good man. Mira is shrewd and gifted in the seat when it comes to riding."... "But you're smarter than both of them."..."From what I've seen of you helping your friends study in the commons every night, it seems you might be more compassionate, too. Don't forget that. | ” |
–Professor Kaori, Fourth Wing, Chapter 8 | ||
Violet is extremely smart, confident, selfless, and stubborn. She cares deeply for her friends and older siblings, and she'll easily stand up for herself and those who need it. Despite Xaden's nickname for her, "Violence," she's actually very opposed to killing, often showing mercy for her opponents, despite the possibility of them retaliating and trying to kill her in the future. Violet also shows extreme emotional intelligence when it comes to her romantic relationships, refusing to settle for hiding her feelings. Her inner strength and courage made Tairn choose her.
Violet loves nights where storms beat against the window of her room, both illuminating and throwing shadows over the book she's usually curled up reading. [9] Violet notes that prior to the events of Fourth Wing she only had two relationships. [1]
Mentally Violet is capable of building a mental wall around the pain and then telling herself the pain only exists in that box inside her mind when she suffers an injury. [7]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Lesser Magic
As a rider whose dragon is channeling through them, Violet is capable of performing lesser magic. With this channeling, Violet is able to do things like locking and unlocking doors without touching them, moving with preternatural speed, manipulate mage lights, and power ink pens. Lesser magic also allows Violet to place runes.
Time Manipulation
Also known as Andarna's Feathertail Gift. Due to her bond with Andarna, Violet was briefly able to stop the flow of time. However, since Andarna is a feathertail the magic channeled through her is slightly different than that of a fully-grown dragon, and so Andarna could die if Violet channeled too much through her. Violet's extended use of Andarna's gift during Resson caused the dragon to be unable to fully form her wing during the dreamless sleep and is therefore directly responsible for Andarna's inability to carry a rider. They both lost the ability to manipulate time once Andarna entered the dreamless sleep.
Dragon-Sight
Due to her bond with Tairn, Violet is able to briefly see through his eyes during battles. An ability that everyone is capable of with their own dragons.
Imbuing
A process of leaving a riders power in stasis within an object[10], not a skill that many riders have as it only comes naturally to a handful of signets. [11]
Signets
Lightning Wielding
Due to her bond with Tairn, Violet developed the signet of being able to wield lightning. She was one of the last of the first-years to start channelling power through her dragon and to manifest a signet. Her signet manifested during a War Games battle when she used it to kill Jack in a fit of rage. Her signet reacts with strong emotions and therefore is still learning to control and direct this power.
| “ | You wield pure power that takes the form of lightning because that's what you're most comfortable shaping it as. | ” |
Second Signet
Has not been revealed yet.
Abilities
Languages
- Sign Language
- Tyrrish, learned from her father[12]
- can read Old Lucerish[13][14], used it as secret code with Dain as children.[15]
- Krovlish, although not as fluently as other languages.[16]
Tactician
Violet is an expert in learning to adapt during combat, making split second decisions with her logical thought process while using a multitude of objects, weapons or magic to defeat her opponents.
Despite that she prefers to fight with daggers, showing remarkable aim when she throws them, and her close combat style uses her small size and speed to her advantage. She moves quickly to dodge blows having trained with Rhiannon, Sawyer, Imogen, and Xaden. However Violet is adverse to killing if it can be avoided, preferring to disable and disarm her opponents as long as they don't endanger the people she loves.
Weapons
- Daggers
- Four brought across parapet (three on her ribs, one in her boot) [2]
- one of the ones she wears at her ribs is the one she damaged while climbing the final ascent in the gauntlet. [17]
- one dagger (heavier and longer than the others, sheathed on her left thigh) from Oren Seifert. [5]
- one dagger from unnamed first wing girl during sparring challenge[5]
- one dagger from unnamed tall third wing boy during sparring challenge[5]
- one dagger from unnamed buxom cadet[5]
- one dagger (pretty ruby hilt) from third squad, claw section, third wing cadet
- twelve custom made daggers from Xaden engraved with runes[18]
- three imbued daggers from Xaden (venin daggers)[19] [20]
- Hand-held crossbow
- courtesy of Maren, strapped to her right thigh[21]
Poisons Master
Thanks to her training as a scribe, Violet has access to a book about poisons and it is the only book that she brings with her to the riders quadrant. She uses poisons delivered in her opponents food or drinks to disable them before the challenge match.
Relationships
Xaden Riorson
**for more insight on their relationship please check out the Riorgail page.
Before going to Basgiath, Violet is warned to stay away from Xaden because he will kill her since Violet's mother is the one that killed Xaden's father. She was attracted to Xaden from the first time that she saw him on the parapet but even though she was worried that he would kill her, she continued to challenge him. She slowly gained respect for him when she learned that he was trying to help the first-year marked kids survive in the Riders Quadrant and agreed to keep that secret. As their relationship progressed she began to compare him with her childhood best friend, Dain, which only served to fuel her interest in Xaden.
Her life became attached to his when she bonded with Tairn, who is mated to Xaden's dragon, Sgaeyl, thus keeping Violet alive became Xaden's top priority. They first kissed when they were influenced by their mated dragons' strong emotions. Eventually they stopped denying their feelings for each other and they had sex a couple times. However, by the end of the events of Fourth Wing, Violet felt betrayed by Xaden because of several secrets, which she discovered he had been keeping from her.
Dain Aetos
| “ | You do mean something to me. | ” |
–Dain, Fourth Wing, Chapter 6 | ||
snowarox (IG)
Violet and Dain have known each other since they were five and six. They are best friends and Violet had a bit of a crush on him. After their reunion at Basgiath, Dain tries to change Violet's mind on becoming a rider in fear her of not surviving till Threshing. He offers multiple times to help her to switch to the Scribe Quadrant, often have conversations that revolve solely around convincing her to go to the scribes. Violet is displeased with the way Dain sees her as weak and that he has no faith in her, causing both of them to split apart even further. Though arguably the biggest rift in their friendship is caused when she keeps Xaden's midnight meetings a secret from Dain. The first secret she's ever kept from him.[5] She also loses respect for him when he tells her that even though he likes her, they can't have a relationship because it's frowned upon to have a relationship with anyone in their chain of command and he wants to be a wingleader as a third-year. She initially feels betrayed by him after realizing that he was using his signet on her the entire time.
Tairn
by artsiidaisy
During Threshing, Violet protects a small golden feathertail dragon, Andarna, from a group of three of cadets that were attempting to kill it for being weak. Tairn shows up as she is about to lose the fight to Tynan, and he kills Tynan with dragonfire. Tairn bonds with Violet because he knew that she was smart and cunning and most of all, because she defended Andarna from the group trying to kill her. Tairn thinks that strength of courage is more important than physical strength. "I know exactly who and what you are, Violet Sorrengail."
Andarna
During the Threshing, Violet went to defend the small dragon from cadets who wished to kill it. Andarna had chosen to bond with Violet around the same time as Tairn, making Violet the first human to bond with more than one dragon. Unlike Tairn, the little dragon does not order or advise Violet of her actions. Violet once mockingly told Tairn she liked Andarna better. Also, since Andarna is not a mate of Sgaeyl, Xaden cannot hear the dragon's communication, unlike Tairn.
Lillith Sorrengail
She's envious of the relationship her older siblings have with their mother, as she mentions that Lilith respects Mira and loves Brennan but only tolerates her. She notes that Lilith rarely listens to her when she tries to argue.
| “ | You'll find that being General Sorrengail's daughter means that others will do just about anything to keep you alive, even pleased, not because they love your mother but because they either fear her or want her favor. | ” |
–Professor Kaori, Fourth Wing, Chapter 8 | ||
Mira Sorrengail
Violet and Mira grew up together, with Mira being overprotective over Violet and being against their mother's decision to sent her little sister to the Riders Quadrant. She makes sure that despite her disadvantages, she will stay safe, such as advising her to at least keep her hair braided for combat and to wear the vest-shaped corset made out of her dragon's scales, that is able to withstand knives and daggers. She tells Violet to stay away from Xaden, as he will try to kill her at any cost to avenge his family. Even after claiming Tairn and Andarna, Mira makes sure that Violet will be safe from any harm.
Brennan Sorrengail
TBA
Rhiannon Matthias
by meiflowersketches (IG)
Violet made fast friends with Rhiannon on their first meeting. Before crossing the parapet, Violet traded one of her rubber-bottomed shoes with Rhiannon, so Rhiannon could have a better chance of surviving the crossing. Since that day, they were best friends through the first year, as well as squadmates. Rhiannon helps train Violet in sparring, while Violet helped Riannon in history. However, Violet did keep a few secrets from her friend, such as Xaden meeting with others marked with the rebellion relic, or Andara's sharing her gift to stop time.
Their relationship became more tense during their second year, when Violet had to keep even more secrets from her friend. Rhiannon could clearly see that both Violet was keeping secrets and that it was causing emotional stress.
| “ | Even if it makes me a target to know all of this, you put your own life at risk and shared your boot with me at Parapet when we were complete strangers. How can you think I wouldn't want to share this risk with you now that you're my best friend? | ” |
–Rhiannon Matthias to Violet, Iron Flame Chapter 30 | ||
Jesinia Neilwart
Jesinia spent the year before Conscription Day studying with Violet to pass the scribe entrance exam and she attributes her success on the exam to that year of studying with her.
Liam Mairi
At first, Violet feels resentment towards Liam because she believes he's only protecting her because of Xaden. But as they spend more time together, Violet and Liam begin to become true friends. She trusts him and he helps her lighten her mood.
HmmrArt
Sloane Mairi
Despite Sloane's initial visible hatred for Violet, Violet decides to honor Liam's dying wish in protecting his younger sister any way that she can. During Conscription Day, Violet convinces Dain to call a favor in and transfer Sloane into their Fourth Wing Squad so that she can continue to keep an eye on her. Two weeks later Violet helps Sloane win her first sparring challenge by drugging her opponent, Dasha Fabrren, and then blackmails Sloane into accepting Imogen's help by promising to give Sloane one of Liam's 50 letters he wrote to her for each week she trained. [22]
Imogen Cardulo
TBA
Catriona Cordella
Catriona does not like Violet because Violet is in the way of her goal, while Violet is jealous about her previous relationship with Xaden. With every comment towards Violet, she aims to discredit her relationship with Xaden. She was aware of Violet before Violet was aware of her, and uses this to get under Violet's skin. This almost succeeds, with Violet having to make a noticeable effort to control her signet power, so she does not kill her.
During her challenge with Violet, she constantly taunts her about her previous relationship with Xaden, referring specifically to the times where they had sexual relations. When Violet gains the upper hand and begins to choke her out, she would rather die than tap out. They are forced to work together after Catriona's drift is assigned to Violet's squad to make the climb through the Medaro Pass. She blames Violet for failing to save one of her friends, Luella, who failed to make the jump across. She vows to kill Violet for this. Although both despise each other, they have a moment of truce each day during morning formation, when the names of those who died are read out. They understand each other's worry for their siblings, who are fighting on the frontlines. After they fight together against the venin, they continue to develop respect and less antagonism towards each other.
Quotes
- "I will not die today."[23]- Violet
- But I will not run. I wouldn't be standing here if I'd quit every time something seemed impossible to overcome.[2]- Violet
- ''The reason we'll never be anything more than friends isn't because of your rules. It's because you have no faith in me.'' - Violet to Dain
- "Conformity is for the Infantry."- Violet about Riders Quadrant uniforms[2]
- "Not all strength is physical, Violet." - Professor Kaori to Violet[5]
Gallery
See more here.
Trivia
- Because she gets injured easily and often suffers from bruises and dislocated joints, it is widely believed that she has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
- Rebecca pictured Dove Cameron and Florence Pugh while writing Violet.[24]
- The first time Violet states her full name on the parapet, thunder cracks above her that she finds oddly comforting.[9]
- Her favorite target when throwing daggers is the shoulder.
- At the end of Fourth Wing Violet has 24 daggers. She brought 4 across the Parapet with her, earned 19, and had 1 left over from the battle against the venin.
- Violet was ranked amongst the top 25% for speed and agility during her entrance exam for Basgiath War College.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Fourth Wing, Chapter 1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Fourth Wing, Chapter 3
- ↑ Fourth Wing, Chapter 4
- ↑ Fourth Wing: Chapter 25
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Fourth Wing, Chapter 8
- ↑ Yarros, Rebecca. “Chapter 16.” Fourth Wing, Entangled Publishing, Shrewsbury, PA, 2023, pg. 191
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Fourth Wing, Chap 5
- ↑ Iron Flame, Chapter 14
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Fourth Wing, Chapter 2
- ↑ Iron Flame, Chapter 12
- ↑ Iron Flame, Chapter 53
- ↑ Iron Flame, Chapter 2
- ↑ Iron Flame, Chapter 45
- ↑ Iron Flame, Chapter 11
- ↑ Iron Flame, Chapter 46
- ↑ Iron Flame, Chapater 49
- ↑ Fourth Wing, Chapter 11
- ↑ Fourth wing chapter 24
- ↑ Fourth Wing chapter 35
- ↑ Fourth Wing chapter 36
- ↑ Iron Flame, Chapter 61
- ↑ Iron Flame, Chapter 16
- ↑ Fourth Wing, Chap 1, Pg 10
- ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@rebeccayarros