Shadow and Starlight Podcast

Fourth Wing | 1 Way to Ride A Dragon and 5 Ways to Ride A Wingleader

• Kaina Gillespie | Mackenzie Johnson • Season 1 • Episode 14

Share episode

Welcome wonderful listeners to Episode 14 of the Shadow and Starlight Podcast | 1 Way to Ride a Dragon and 5 Ways to Ride a Wingleader!! Join Kaina & Kenzie as we dig into a murderous capture the flag battle, dragon fashion, and explosive smut.  

  • For next week, please read chapters 33-39 | pages `423-498 of Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros for your reread or to refresh your memory.
  • This episode is based on Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. Intro Music by Boomer, graphics by @reeseplantedesign. 
  • Follow us on TikTok and Instmagram @shadowandstarlightpod, watch us on YouTube, and listen to us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!
  • Email: shadowandstarlightpod@gmail.com
  • Small Buisiness Spotlight: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LumiGlassArtworks


Send your hosts a message!

Welcome. Wonderful listeners to the Shadow and Starlight podcast, where two friends deep dive into popular fantasy and romance y books. We get into the stories, characters, world building, lore, and much more. And most importantly, we'll have a damn good time while we do it. So buckle your seatbelts for this wild rollercoaster ride of emotions, magical worlds and laughs. I'm Kenzie. I'm Kena. And today we're covering chapters 27 through 32, a fourth wing by Rebecca Yaros. First and foremost, please listen carefully to our content warning. These are adult books we talk about and neither of us have a filter. So this podcast is rated R and for those 18 plus. Regarding spoilers, if you have not finished the entire Fourth Wing and Iron Flame books, please come back after you do so. While we are discussing the stretch of chapters, we will be doing so with the perspective of what happens in the rest of the books for better understanding. This will help us dive deeper into the theories and appreciate the masterful foreshadowing of Rebecca Yarrow. So going forward, all episodes on our show will contain spoilers for the whole series in question. Next, if you like what you hear today and want more, please come back next Thursday, and next Thursday, and next Thursday, and next Thursday, and every Thursday after that for a brand new episode. As a toddler podcast, we would love to hear your feedback to better ourselves and expand our book loving community. Please feel free to give us reviews, reach out to us on social media, and follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and watch us on YouTube at Shadow and Starlight Pod. Yes, the biggest thing you can do for us. If you really like our podcast is tell a friend, cause you guys are bookish crazy like us and you probably know other bookish people. So tell a friend, we just want more people to come and listen and to make this community bigger. But anyways, drink the pod. Violet inspired me last episode. So I'm drinking orange juice. Fuck you, Jack. I'm drinking hot cocoa because it's getting cold and this is my favorite time of year and I love waking up and making hot chocolate. And you're weird and you don't like coffee. That too. We are 47 days away from onyx storm. So, oh my gosh, we're going to be in the month before we know it. Yeah. To kick off our episode, we're about to cross the parapet, people. Kayla's going to lead us through her Shadow and Monserrat synopsis, aka her unhinged summary detailing these events of these chapters. With Mira as the no bullshit professor, Riddick as the class clown, Zayden and Violet as an annoying couple, and Dane as the moody teenager, class is ready to begin at Monserrat. As the group goes through a Hypothetical scenario, Zayden shocks Violet by whipping it out right there. Sorry, y'all. We're starting out in the gutter today. He does speak into her mind, leaving Violet to endure his flirting until she can figure out how to flirt back. Dane provokes Zayden and the two proceed to argue until Mama Mira lays down the law. To make her message even more clear, she holds back the three cadets after everyone is released, and Dane gets a verbal ass whipping that is so deserved it is iconic, and Mira reminds Violet not to trust Zayden or fall into his shadow during their forever entwined military careers. Suddenly, the group is alerted via dragons that a drift of griffins is headed to attack Montserrat. Despite Violet's several protests, Zayden, Dane, and Mira all insist she must go. Zayden literally has to sell her with a kiss until uber dragon shows up, but they managed to fly away before the attack begins. For two anxiety filled days, Violet awaits news of her big sister. As if Zayden couldn't be perfect enough already, he brings by some coffee while she waits outside Colonel Markham's office their attention reaches a fever pitch but is interrupted by fucking Dane after markum lets her know there were no rider casualties. Violet breathes a big sigh of relief and heads to the one person or dragon that will understand her minty bee and darna God, I wish I had a dragon to comfort me when I cry too. Aww. As spring progresses at Bazookaeth, Violet has learned what Vadins, Vadins? Who's that? For some reason in my head I was thinking about Darth Vader. Oh, why? I don't know. As spring progresses at Bezgaya, Violet has learned what Zayden's favorite snack is, but she still hasn't manifested a sickness. On the bright side, it's war games, aka capture the flag, but with dragon eggs. I want to play. Thanks to Mira, Dane actually gives his squad valid strategic advice, Violet lays her eyes on a badass umm, as Violet lays her eyes on her badass dragon, she realizes he is wearing a bold fashion statement. A saddle. Now able to focus on being a dragon rider instead of a repeated skydiver, the squad takes off for pretend battle. After a quiet first hour, they encounter dragons from First Wing who are guarding the egg and chaos ensues. Sadistic murderer Barlow tries to claim another life, but Violet and Adarna use their fancy time stopping ability to save his life. After dropping Liam off to Rhiannon, Violet is pure rage and pure power. With one mission. Making that motherfucker pay. The tempest within her reaches a breaking point and she brings down a lightning strike, ending the waste of space that is Jack Barlow. For now. For now. Despite Fourth Wing's victory and how much Jack deserved what happened to him, Violet is sick to her stomach after killing for the first time. Dumbass Stain has clearly forgotten their last conversation, coddling her and saying that she doesn't have to use her signet if she doesn't want to be Violet. Walking Truth, aka Zayden, joins the conversation and tells her exactly what she needs to hear. Feeling slightly better after a pep talk from her favorite man and her favorite dragon, Violet proceeds to continually throw her daggers to let off steam. To let off even more steam, she and Zayden proceed to bang on the desk, on the armoire, on the curtains and on the floor, all while wrecking her entire room and starting a minor forest fire. I don't know how Rebecca does it, but every spy scene is somehow hotter than the last. It must be that mind mind speaking or something. I don't know. She, she's very talented. A romantic and vulnerable Zayden not only shares the truth about the scars on his back, but also leaves her some violets before taking off in the morning. How romantic. Violet's surprised Professor Carr shows up at her door for personal wielding lessons. Up in the mountains, Violet learns that her signet is particularly hard to train, but we all know that it's the teacher, not the student. Felix, where you at, my dude? We need you. On the bright side, we have reached the infamous, should I get the wing leader line? Best line of the entire book. Later, Zayden stops by Violet's room, once again being vulnerable with Violet, mentioning a certain night away at Athbane. When he notices a particular book of not so imaginary fables, she sees a letter peeking out. It is a note from Papa Sorengale urging Violet to do the right thing when the time comes. Would it kill him to be less cryptic? Just kidding. He's already dead. R. I. P. We are almost treated to more spies, but smarty pants Violet knows that she can't do that again without us. falling head over heels and Zayden isn't quite ready to admit his feelings. Later, Zayden and Violet continue their delicious telepathic flirting until that dirty little mind causes the always composed Zayden to choke on his food. Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot. It is 10 days before graduation and also time for reunification, a. k. a. a celebration of defeating the only people with big enough balls to stand up and do what is right. It is also the anniversary of Brennan and Fen Ryerson's death, so an emotional day for our main characters. After enduring a super fucked up party, King Tari's bitch ass prejudice, and Thane's weird cupping of her face, Liam and Violet leave. Our fearless FMC is finally ready to risk her heart and crosses the parapet with confidence to reach The two both voice their feelings, Zayden speaking the truth that he has been falling since conscription day. They head back to his room, vanquishing the emotional troubles of the day with more explosive banging. After not one, not two, not three, but four orgasms, Garrick interrupts them in their pursuit of five with a message. As Gaiath is under attack. That's where it ends. Yay! Yes. I'm upset, Loki, because this is one of my questions. What? I have to change it now. How many times? How many times? Oh, of course I would remember that, bro. I was just trying to be very detailed. And of course you add it to the synopsis. It's okay. I'll think of something else by the end of this episode. You should never ask me a question about the spy scene because I've probably read it like 50 times. I was like, you probably will know this cause you listen to the audio book. So I'm pretty sure like. Why am I giving you more information to use against me? I did this last episode too. Now that we have crossed the parapet, time to head into our better brief section where we will discuss all notable things in this special chapters, including foreshadowing theories and our favorite parts. First thing, foreshadowing, I want to get into. That's kind of a little bit of theory. I talked about this on our first episode, but I just got more evidence to my theory that Dane will not make it out of the series and Kenzie's probably cheering right now. When they're preparing to flee Montserrat, Violet says this in her internal monologue quote, I'd never be able to live with myself. If something happened to Dane on my account, he may have been an ass the last few months, but that doesn't negate the years. He's been my best friend and quote. First of all, just because he's been your bestie forever doesn't negate all the terrible shit he's been doing this entire book, but I also get it. She's growing. She hasn't realized this yet, and eventually she'll dump his ass. Well, kind of, maybe, ish. But anyways, like I said previously, I'm predicting that Zane will die and maybe possibly sacrifice himself for Violet, foreshadowing her emotional trauma after that happens, if it does, obviously. Like I said, I think our first episode, I think he's probably going to die, probably going to sacrifice himself. And she's going to have to deal with the effects of that. Even though she's super pissed at him for the way he's been acting. She's already saying I could never live with myself if something happened to him. And yeah. Hmm, what do you mean? You're like, please sacrifice yourself, please. I mean, that's really the least he could do. That's the bare minimum he can do to make it up to her. So I guess not sure what else he could do because he'd be dead. That's the only thing that like, yeah. OK. All right. Now we're going to talk about Zayden's secrecy because He's been very secretive this episode. And as much as I love this shadow daddy, he does lose some cool points, the stretch and honestly for the rest of the book. So I'm going to replace my dang shit talking with. Zayden shit talking. It's going to hurt me so bad to do it, but I have to. I mean, you have to, we can't overlook the things that he did. Cause he did, he, he fucked up. So he really gets on my nerves and iron playing too. We'll get there. Yeah. So there are a few instances during this stretch of chapters where he is setting Violet up for heartbreak. And though he does warn her that he only has so much to give, he's still allowing her to enter into something that is essentially built on lies. And one thing I hate, It's a liar. I told y'all this a couple episodes ago. I hate liars. I hate lying men. It just pisses me off. And the first red flag that Rebecca held over our heads was the scene at the outpost. Mira, Violet, and Zayden were in the hall talking, and Mira questions just how much her sister knows Zayden. Because we know that Violet has instilled a lot of trust in this man. And we He barely knows anything about him, and he knows so much about her, and she's giving more than she's getting, and Mira has a point. Big sister has a point. quote, do you even know why he hates our mother so much? Why the kids like him are put on the parapet? End quote. Now, Violet emphasizes this stretch of chapters, again, how much she trusts Zayden. And, I mean, this could be a mix of her attraction for him, but, she just has to be careful because, Again, he's very secretive, very mysterious. We don't know much about him. And I think she starts to notice that he knows more about her than she does about him because, a couple of times throughout this stretch, she does ask him for something real. I need to know more about you. And he does give her a few truths, like his trips to Athabane and his responsibility for the Mark Ones. But he refuses to elaborate on either of those occasions. And we know why, but. Still, he's allowing her to put her heart in something and she doesn't know what she's getting into. So like he's literally just setting her up for heartbreak and it's It's sad. It's very sad. I know. But literally he can't stay. I'm not trying to justify what he's doing because I also think it's fucked up, but he also can't stay away from her because he's falling for her. Well, at that point, it's like, let her fall for the real you and not this like image that you set up for her. Cause omission is still on. Him only giving her surface level information about him. It's allow her to paint this picture of him that, like I said, not the real him. So if it's like, if you are falling for her and want to be with her, you need to tell her to like express yourself and tell her who you are. I don't know. I get so torn, especially in Iron Flame. Cause yes, he has these major responsibilities of being one of the leaders of the revolution and a leader of Arisha and responsible for all the Marked Ones. I get why he has to, you Be secretive about some things for now, but in iron flame, once she knows about the Venon and everything, I'm like, just tell her everything. I know that her ex best friend is the memory reader, but she can shield. Mostly. I mean, I get it because he's still up as guys, but at the same time, I'm like. I don't know their relationship is interesting, how it progresses. It's very real because a lot of the issues they're having makes sense. If they were just like happy go lucky relationship and while they're doing all this stuff, it wouldn't be realistic. I saw a lot of people that had issues with iron flame, just the way that they argue and the issues they have. But they're very valid issues, I would. Be also pissed if they did all this to me. This kind of reminds me of, ACOTAR, Feyre actually tells Reese, you can't keep doing things without telling me. His whole thing was his element of surprise. And he would make plans and missions without telling her. And she was like, listen, if we're going to be together, I'm your equal. You cannot go and do things behind my back. Like I need to know what's going on. And I feel like it's the same here because she's your girl. Tell her what's going on, like, I don't know. Yes, I don't, ugh, we'll get into it more honestly. Yes. I could talk about it for a while. Yes. But I love you, Reese, for agreeing to Feyre's request. Right. He was like, alright, awesome. I'll be honest. I haven't been on ACOTAR Tik Tok in so long. Oh, that's fair. I'm always on ACOTAR Tik Tok because I love you Cassian. I've been on like Tok like crazy right now. Oh yes. Yes. Same. That's 80 percent of my feed and then the rest is, Throne of Glass and ACOTAR. All right, we're gonna talk about Taryn's hint towards Wyvern. Just like Zayden is dropping her little hints here and there, Taryn is also dropping clues and preparing Violet for the reality outside the wards in his own way. So, ever since bonding, not only has he been taking her through advanced flight maneuvers and pushing Violet to her limits for her own good, he and Zayden also off if he takes a fire attack on his chest. To which Violet says, I don't bother pointing out that the only fire we'd be taking is from other dragons, which is a problem that doesn't exist since griffins are all beak and claw. Wyverns, Wy, Wyverns. So I know how I didn't even think of that. Oh, really? Yeah. I didn't put that together. Uh, well now you did. I know Violet feels super betrayed at the end of the book by not just Zayden, but also Taryn, since he knew about the Menin and all these things that she didn't, but I really do love Taryn more for how he's been slowly preparing her, at the end of the day, he knew that she was going to Be key to something and that she was eventually going to find out just with how close she is with Zayden and she's bonded to dragons and all that stuff. Him doing all this prep shows that he was going to tell her eventually, or she was going to find out eventually, but I just love that he prepared her to be a total bad ass. And so when she is encountering the Venon and the Wyverns at the end of the book, she's obviously not prepared because it's insane, but she's more prepared than she would have been with any other dragon. Right. Taron also lost some cool points for his omission, but I think dragons are a little bit different because dragons really don't care about the feelings of humans so I can't really be too upset with him and there are a lot of things that him and all the dragons probably know that the humans don't know. They're their own government, their own species. They don't answer to humans. Yeah. And, he knows that Dane can pull memories. So he probably didn't want to share all these secrets with her, even if it's not about dragon kind, but Venon, I guess, I don't know. And I'm sure Sigeil was like, shut the fuck up. Alright, let's continue to talk about the Venon and the backstory in the Book of Fables. So we know that Venon and Wyvern will eventually be our main antagonist in this next book, and we get some heavy foreshadowing for Iron Flame. So let's briefly discuss Papa Swergo's research. What we know so far is that he did some research on Feathertails, and he knew that Venon and Wyvern were real. Let's continue. He also most likely found out during his time as a scribe and the fables state that quote, a great evil that spread across the land as man became corrupted by dark magic and turned into creatures known as Venon who created flocks of winged creatures called Wyvern and scorched the land of all magic in the thirst for more power. Another talks about the dangers of wielding power from the ground instead of the skies as one could easily start drawing magic from the earth and eventually be driven mad end quote. That was a long quote. Sorry. No, you're fine. It's important. Yep. The fables were written to teach children the dangers of too much power. Now, Mira, she did sneak Violet's beloved book of fables to her outpost and gave it back to her. And while there was some extracurricular activities. The book fell and when Violet picked it up, she noticed a piece of paper in the spawn, which was a letter from her dad. And the letter reads as follows, quote, My Violet, by the time you find this, you'll most likely be in the scribe quadrant. Not really. Remember that folklore is passed from one generation to the next to teach us about our past. If we lose it, we lose the links to our past. It only takes one desperate generation to change history, even erase it. I know you'll make the right choice when the time comes. You have always been the best of both your mother and me. Love that. End quote. I think he left her this letter obviously because she, It's more so like him, and I think that he knew, if she figured out about the Wyvern and the Venon, she would do the right thing versus what her mother is doing, and hiding it from the rest of the Barb, but I definitely think that he had the most faith in her to do the right thing if she found out, and obviously, he probably Expected her to follow into his footsteps and be a scribe. So I think he expected her to find out in a different way than the way that she's found out now. On the reread. This scene raised a lot of flags for me because Zayden is obviously making connections between what he knows and the letter that her father has left them. And he's throwing hints out there, getting her wheels turning, the Wyvern and the Venon and, Violet actually says that her dad told her a while ago that there will be no magic left in the kingdom if they weren't careful. And, I questioned, is this the cause of the Fallen Wards? I think I asked this a couple episodes ago. You did. my theory is that the Gryphon Riders are stealing the alloy, which powers the wards. So I think that was weakening them. But I also think just based on how dire the situation is outside the wards with the Benin, like they could be channeling so much that it's just. We can in the wards, even if it's not near Navarre's borders. Yeah, but I feel like it could be both. Yeah, basically the fables were a warning about what can happen if people seek too much power. So that's the moral of the moral of the story has been in her bad, very, very bad. You'll go crazy if you take too much power, which is true in real life. Yeah. Yes. Yes. It needs to be managed. There's a balance that needs to be put in place. Checks and balances, people. Yes. I was a political science major. I am an English major. All right. Moving on we're going to talk about, Violet's, Ability to wield lightning. I don't know why I couldn't get that out. So, so last two chapters, Taryn actually channels his power to Violet. And while she's sucking Ryerson's face, something interesting happens. Quote, a flash of light burns behind my closed eyes, followed by the boom of thunder end quote. Right before this actually happens, she expresses that she lost her foothold on her power for a split second while she loses herself in her wing litter. The next day, Professor Carr tells her that they expect nothing less than an earth shattering signet from her. This is without a doubt, Rebecca Yarrow's foreshadowing, her signet to Will Lightning. During the war games, Violet manifests her signet trying to save Liam, and she strikes a tower that crushes Jack Barlow. Sadly, he's not dead. We know that Violet, she hits the tower with a light and crushes Jack Barlow. And On the first read, we think he's dead. And I saw this interesting, interview with Rebecca Yars on TikTok. She was reading predictions for the book. And one person said, Jack Brallow isn't dead. He's coming back this book. And she was like, I don't know, maybe what's his name on a death row. I never thought about that. Like they never called his name. They never called his name on death row. Well, do we get the full death roll? I don't know. But you know, usually when somebody important dies, it's like they're in formation the next day and they hear their name being called. She's reflecting on how it makes her feel to hear. Yeah. Okay. And we never get his name. Dang. I don't think I've seen anyone notice that before. Literally. Rebecca, you little meat. Who knows how much other, this is making me crazy because I'm like, if I didn't notice that, what else have I not noticed? But yeah, I thought, I just wanted to throw that in there because even though Iron Flame is already out and we know he comes back to life, that was just like, Something she gave us before iron flame came out. Dang. That's cool. So once she actually wields her Lightning Zayden says quote lightning your signet is lightning, isn't it? He looks at me with such intensity as though my answer is the key to whatever he needs in quote Now the real thing to highlight here is why everyone is so hell bent on her signet like this is very important. I thought that quote was interesting because we know at the end of the book that Zayden actually didn't know that lightning could kill Venon. But this quote, As though my answer is the key to whatever he needs, which is, it's interesting because we know that technically it is because he's looking for a way to kill the Venom and Violet can kill Venom with lightning. So that was definitely foreshadowing to what her signet is capable of. And I thought it was interesting that it was paired with Zayden, but I don't know. I guess we can talk about this next episode, but I don't think that he knew that lightning could kill Venom until she actually struck one down. Yeah. Hmm. Interesting. Yeah. We know that she's a part of Vance Gaia, which is a war college. Right after she strikes the tower and kills Jack Barlow, she has a breakdown, not only that she killed him, but the fact that her signet resembles something so violent and she's like, they're going to use me as a weapon. And I think that also kind of highlights. How powerful her signet is and how she's probably going to be expected to help with this war between the Venon and the Var. obviously at this point she doesn't know that she'll be on the side with Zayden fighting this war, but eventually she like expected to be used as a weapon because her signet is so violent. And yeah, it fits her. Well, it's interesting because in Iron Flame, we learned that it's not even just lightning in itself. It's pure power. Yeah, so I don't know. I want to learn more about her segment and I'm excited for her to learn more of how to wield it because starts to learn such different things from Felix about how to channel it straight from her hand into like little strands, but I don't know, I'm so excited just to see how she progresses over the books in terms of her power and the things that she can do with it. Right. And her second signet, whatever the fuck it is. I was just gonna say, I'm excited to see what her second signet is. Listen, I've been holding back. Rebecca keeps saying it's in, like, she, she talks about it. It's all over the paper. And I'm just like, where, bro? I have so many fucking theories. I've been holding back, but the second we hit our Iron Plane episodes, I am taking off like a rocket. I'm so paranoid though. So whatever I read, I'm like, is this, is this it? Is this it? So I can't even come up with a solid theory because there's just so many. Rebecca is just so clever. I have like probably five. I think Yeah, but we'll talk about this iron flame we keep getting ahead of ourselves Real quickly before we move on to a different topic. I wanted to touch on whenever they were at the party Mm-Hmm. the Reunification Day party, and her mom and the king. I think it was just them two that were talking to her and Liam, and he says, quote, keep your loyalties clear. You and Ryerson both have exceptional lethal power that any writer would be envious of, but together his bushy brows furrow. You would be a formidable enemy who command could simply not afford to let exist. Do you understand what I'm saying? End quote. So, I also feel as though they're still viewing her as a weapon and she's, again, going to be a very powerful source to help with this war because they actually fear. How powerful her and Ryerson both could be together. Yes, well power couple and they have two signets each and they don't even know that. Yeah. So this is Malgren saying like you're super dangerous but also he doesn't know about Zayden's intrinsic abilities and Viola hasn't developed her second signet so they're gonna be like double powerful. Yeah. Wow. That was Sometimes I say something and I'm like, you sound like a six year old child. I'm like, uh, why can't I sound more intelligent in my head? I am like completely on another level. Dude, when I'm writing, it's fine when I'm writing. It's just, when I try to think of stuff off the top of my head, I'm like words. This is not intelligent at all. All right, last thing for our foreshadowing, we're going to talk about Dane, you traitor. So we're going to talk about the moments that he actually is touching Violet and stealing her memories because he is a freaking rat. So anyways, at this point, Dane is just, he's bound to lose all of his cool points if he even still has any left. But he cups her face again this stretch and let's talk about it. So it's reunification day. Yay, not really. And everyone is celebrating, everybody is celebrating at Vesgalia. No, not everybody. The Mark Ones are definitely not celebrating, but it's a big old party celebrating the deaths of the Mark Ones parents and Brennan, but also not really because he's not dead. Anywho, Dane is complimenting Violet and cups her cheeks. Weird. Seeing as if, I don't know, his signet reads memories when he touches their face. Back off. So, Violet? Violet. I'm just like, bitch, why are you letting him cut your face so much? It's weird. Like, it's not, to me, it's not a friend thing to do. It's not. it's a romantical thing to do. For me, it's the time when, Amber Mavis, that whole scene where he's by the cup of her face and she's like, nope, back off. I would have been conscious of his, touching my face ever since then. I feel like she just let that go and he's just constantly touching her. I'm just like, girl, do you, are you not putting, you're so smart. Like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've never had a friend try and cup my face. Literally! Probably, but not a male friend. No! Have I ever cupped your face, Mackenzie? I don't know. I don't think so. I don't think so either. Well, now I'm going to. Are you reading my memories? Maybe. Ew. As I said in the last two episodes, Dane's behavior just has me thinking that he stole her memories way before this. Because earlier in the stretch, Violet actually expresses how weird Dane has been acting. Quote, Dane is acting weird AF, friendly one minute, and indifferent the next. I didn't want to say the hard F word. I feel like we say it all the time. I'm just like, that threw me off because I'm like, thinking about seeing that on the paper in Violet's perspective. Dane's acting weird AF. I don't know, it's something about the F word that just I hate saying it. Like I will say it, but sometimes I'm just like, Oh my Gosh, it's so strong. For those I've used it so much it's lost its strong. Other words that I use, but like, like this mix with mofo, like fo is hardware this thing, It's so strong self self MOFO. I actually like saying mofo more than motherfucker if you'w want to at AF. I was like, right. I was like, I'm not going to say that. I have to like naturally say it. I can't just read it. I don't know. I need to go back and count how many times like curse and this and that because it's a lot. People are probably like, my God, this woman's got a dirty mouth. I mean, we didn't give you a Yeah, we do. I said we don't have a filter. Right. So I have a few different feelings for this. I think that, yes, Zayden is acting weird, probably because, she bonded a dragon that's mated with Zayden, so they have to be super close. So he's probably just there in clear of her because she's always with Zayden and always around him. And I don't know if he really thinks he can trust her at this point or not But I don't know his actions just struck me as weird And I feel like again, he's raised memory her memories before this or I don't know It's very weird how he's been acting. I know for sure this scene is when it really clicks, but I don't know. He's weird. Suspicious. I don't like him. Alright, we're gonna get into our theories section, and I have a couple I'm excited to talk about. So, I have a theory that maybe Liam was destined to die. Again, cause with Viola's assistance, he did cheat death this episode. Quote, I can't help but wonder if somewhere on that plane of existence, Malik sits on his throne, angry that I stole a soul from his grasp. And then Violet follows that up with saying she technically gave him Jack's soul, but we actually know that's not true because it wasn't on the death roll, like Mackenzie just said. And then we also know that his soul was mended by nasty Nolan, who I hate, but don't get me started. It is said before, no power can resurrect a soul, and I feel like this is maybe similar in a way. Violet did essentially cheat death by stopping time and stopping death itself to save Liam after Jack stabbed him. Obviously, the Venon are what kills Liam via his dragon bond, but I wonder if, in some way, Malick was a part of this? if everything we have read about Malik is true, he doesn't take kindly to people treading on his territory. he who does not burn for Malik will be burned by Malik. And how it's a grave offense for people to keep belongings of. And we have also talked about another theory that Violet has a special connection to Malik, which is maybe what allowed her to cheat death in this case and keep Liam's belongings after he passes. But I don't know. In this case, Liam wouldn't have necessarily been destined to die, but Malik does let Vi get away with things that others can't. But I don't know. I just wonder, because he almost dies, and then a few chapters later, he dies. For real. So I'm like, was he always destined to die? was it unavoidable? I don't like, it's not really a super important theory. It's just a thought I had that I wanted to include. Okay, let's talk about Violet's. Signate, after manifesting a signate and committing her first murder, yay. Viole is sick about her sign And what it says about her quote. Everyone has a Signa that isn't just useful for battle. There are tools for good in the world, and what the hell am I Dayden? I'm. Fucking weapon in quotes. Oh my God. I'm a effing weapon. I was like, I'm going to be, I'm just going to be in the door. Just say it. You can say fracking. Fracking. Like the iPhones. Like, like Siri. Yes. So if her signet reflects who she is at her core, does that mean this pure power is just a reflection of how badass she is and that she's destined to do big things. We think she was given this power or the signet as a weapon to protect those that she loves because she is very adamant on making sure that people she loves are safe, that is her biggest thing, like i. e. the, battle at the outpost and they literally had to beg her to leave. She didn't want to leave Mira behind. We know that she, again, is compassionate. And even Zayden thinks so and tells her this. Quote, it's power like yours, it saves lives, end quote. I hated that she was so distraught about her segment. Because, we know it's a reflection of who they are, and she's just not looking at it in the right way, per se. But also, segments arise out of, great need for something, and she needs something to depend on. Protect her friends and she may not know Benin exists yet, but she does need something eventually to protect herself against them. Right. So I thought that was interesting how the, her signet manifested into that specific thing, even before she knew she needed it. Right. Yeah. And we were just talking about how lightning is the key to killing Benin and that's going to potentially help her save all of her loved ones. Sally not, Sally not mama's soaring girl, but the rest of the people she will try to save. Oh, and, and Liam. I also think her emotions in this scene when she kills Liam. Kills Jack Barlow. I think it's just because of the way that she first used it when it manifests and it was to knock a man down. So that probably also adds to all the emotions that she's feeling. If she would have manifested in a cool way, like, oh yeah, it's lightning, but she used it the first time to kill a man. So she's probably freaking out. Technically not, because he's not dead. You're not actually a murderer yet. Not yet. But you will be. But like, in the best way possible. Alright, my last story to talk about is Violet's original scribe destiny and Papa Sorengale's death. In Papa Sorengale's letter he left for her, he Assumes that his daughter will be in the scribe quadrant and urges her to do the thing to do the thing And urges her to do what is right aka revealing the bars lie, so he knows that she was on track to become the new curator at the Scribe Quadrant. she was Markham's little protege. And so, I think her father was hoping that when she gets to that point and learns all about this, that she'll find a way to, reveal the truth to everybody. But, my theory is that Lilith changed Violet's Quadrant destination for Well, I have a couple theories for one or more reasons. So she knew her daughter's compassionate heart and her desire to protect all and she knew that with her smarts and work ethics She would eventually be told about Venon and be executed when refusing to perpetuate this great big lie so I think what Lilith inherently knew that about her daughter and She knew that going to the scribe quadrant like yes her dad and I guess her mom raised her to do it was right But she knew that And she knows that she won't be able to go along with this lie. Or that Lilith found out that the Scribes had something to do with Papa Sorengill's death, maybe? And did not want her daughter to suffer the same fate. So this could explain why she made this drastic decision six months before conscription. Gives Violet, no time to prepare for the Rider's Quadrant. And we also know that her father became more cryptic after Brennan died. Probably getting more into his Feathertail research and Benin research, which I feel like supports this idea. So he was getting really into it and maybe leadership found out what he was researching and had him murdered possibly. So I don't know. We don't know too much about the nature of his death and. I don't know. The mystery there leads me to believe that he was murdered. And, another theory I have for why Lilith made this drastic decision is that someone, or possibly even her dragon Aemsir, foreshadowed Violet's power to Lilith and caused her, basically forced Violet into the Rider's Quadrant. Because we know from Iron Flame that Andarna heard the other dragons talking about the girl with the heart of a Rider and the mind of a scribe while she was in her little egg in the Veil. So I'm like, okay, this was being talked about there. Probably. A lot of dragons know about it. So maybe Aimser relayed to Lilith, like dragons are talking about Violet and that's why she was like, okay, you got to go to the writer's quadrant because the dragons like you or something, but I don't know. I just thought that was interesting. And I want to talk about some theories about why Lilith did this exact thing. Right. I do. I do agree. I also think that Papa Soaring Girl was murdered, his death was really fishy and the fact that he was uncovering so many secrets it just strikes as weird to me. I also think that her sending Violet to the Writer's Quadrant is a mixture of all the things you said. I do think. that she thought that Violet would discover all of the things that her father was researching while as a scribe and of course be, like you said, executed because knowing her daughter, she knew that she would do what was right. I feel as if Mama Soga sent her to the writers quadrant to prepare her and make her stronger. I don't think that her mother ever doubted that she could make it through the writer quadrant. I don't think she would've sent her. If she did it, she would die. I feel like her mom had lots of faith in her to survive and bond the dragon, especially if the dragons were talking about her and were waiting for her to join the Rotten Squadron. Well, she has insurance via Zayden because she made Zayden protect Violet. Right. So that probably gave her extra peace of mind. Yeah. So I do think that it was a combination of both knowing that she would Not to be as successful as a scribe because of things that we're hiding and also trying to prepare her for what is actually out there Mm hmm. Yeah. All right. Let's hit our favorite parts One of my first ones was Violet and her banter with her dragons I just eat up every slice of conversation that she has with her two super amazing badass dragons And I'm gonna highlight this instance in particular because every time I've read this book Which is many, many times I laugh out loud, quote, quit telling Segale about my sleep habits. I grumble at Taryn. I'm not dignifying that demand with a response. And Darna is my favorite. I love from day one, since she met Taryn, she's so sassy and authentic and just herself, and considering everything we know about dragons, I feel like. I would be like, yes, sir. Yeah, no, but she's just like, not afraid to talk to him in her own way and it gets even more unhinged as the book progresses and just, and Darna and Taryn add onto that. I just think, Terran's grumpy dad energy, plus Violet's sassiness, plus Indarna's cuteness and, of course, eventual sassiness is the best literary trio, and so entertaining as a reader. the plot in this book is so good, but it's things like that that just make me love it even more. And I also love that we bit by bit get to explore and learn the dragon's personalities as Violet communicates with them. I just think it's so, so interesting to see them unravel. Yeah. She's sassy from like the first few chapters. I didn't realize that until I was watching people's auditions for violet on tick tock. And her scene where Dane takes her up to his room, to wrap her ankle or knee, whatever was hurting at the time after crossing the parapet. That whole scene, she was just like really sassy and just like, Dane Atos, you've seen me in a swimsuit and this and that, and are you telling me it's the leathers that do it for you? And I'm like, I never picked up on that. And then her ability to just be so sassy with Zayden, him being so high up in rank, and her never cowering to him also shows that, one thing I loved about Violet from the beginning, especially in that scene, I picked up immediately how confident she was and, she's not afraid to, flirt and make it sexual and I love how she talks about sex and how she is about sex, because I do feel like it's a very healthy role model for young women nowadays, because I feel a lot of times there's a shame to it. And I also, Like in fantasy books where it's not the trope, we're like, she's a virgin. She's never had sex before. I like it that in one scene. She's like, God, I miss good sex. And she's so positive and on about it. And I really love that about her. It just makes me love her more. And I just like it when it's not like the virgin maiden trope and that's like, yeah, she's, she's fucked. She knows what she's doing. Right. Like you said, it's a lot of shame when it comes to women and talking about sex and it's just the fact that we have our own pleasures and it's not just men who's just like, Oh, I need this. I need this as a relief. Like women need that. Sometimes soon. I do. Like you said, like the violet talks about it, like it's normal. Cause I mean, it is a part of the human experience and. I also like the fact that she doesn't just do it with anybody though. I like the fact that she is very good. Yeah, I like the fact that she's like this and I'm like who she would do it with like her controlling her feelings when Taryn is like telling to her and he's with Sigil and she's like Liam is there and she's like no I can't just I can't just hop in the bed with you I need I need somebody I just I just need I need one I'm this one person I'm like Trying to get to, yes, I love her. I feel like I forgot how much I loved her until we started doing this deep dive. And now that I'm like examining every little thing, I'm like, God, she's so amazing. And like I keep saying a great role model, for young women. Yeah, Rebecca did a really good job at her character development and just building these characters. They're very complex characters. Yes, and we're only two books in, which is wild because she has so much more of her character development journey that's going to happen. All right, my next favorite part is fucking lightning wielder! I just knew on my first read that her signet was gonna be so badass and powerful and this is my first read. Probably favorite quote of the book. I know I've said that about a lot of quotes, but I keep changing my mind. I am the sky and the power of every storm that has ever been. I am infinite. Oh, chills. So badass. Tattoo this on my face. Cause I fucking love it. I could be in the middle of a desert at the peak of summer. And Reading this would still give me the chills. And the mega cherry on top of this scene for me is how proud Taryn is. I love that he roars, lightning wielder, after she buries Barlow in rubble. It just, Oh my God. That's one of the best scenes ever. Yes, and just to piggyback off that, because I also was going to talk about this, but I was like, I might as well just add to what she's saying. This scene also gave me chills. The pride that we get from Taryn is just so wholesome, and I was just like, oh my gosh, this is so cute, because he was so proud of her, and I know that he always believed in her, but when she willed it for the first time and like his roar of pride, it was just like, it was such a cute little moment. I was so like, Oh my gosh, he's so proud of her. Proud dad moment, proud dragon moment. All right. My last favorite part was. Once again, Tarn and his saddle. And I'm obsessed with this part for so many reasons. One, that Zayden took the time and risked getting roasted basically to make sure that Violet can stay on her dragon. And it was not a selfish reason, but obviously he was like, I'm shamed to you, you need to stop falling off your fucking dragon. But it was so sweet. the care and time he put into making it. And two, Taryn actually let Zayden make him one, and wears it shamelessly, even though everything we know about dragons makes that seem like Kind of crazy and three Terrence reaction when Violet first sees him wearing it, quote, I hear it's all the fashion. I just love this dragon, man. I love him so much. Yes. The biggest, baddest battle dragon that ever exists is wearing a saddle to help his riders, but it was so sweet of him and Zayden to make it happen for Violet. Cause she is stressed about so many things at this point, particularly her lack of segment and. Everyone trying to murder her, fucked up family, Jack Barlow. Oh my gosh, all of it. And I just laughed so hard because I have this picture in my head of Zayden trying to get this on Taron the whole scene. I can feel like I can just imagine it playing out and it's so funny. I want a bonus chapter of when Zayden put the saddle on Taryn for the first time. What does Taryn say? He's like, you had the gall to pinch my chest scales. Okay, I want to start off my favorite moments actually talking about my own heartbreak, especially chapters. It's an interesting, favorite part, So, okay. I'll explain it to you in a second. But yes, I feel like I'm such an empath and I always feel bad for people when I know that they're going through something and I am mentally preparing myself for Violet's heartbreak. So this is kind of just. Her projection of her heartbreak on me, basically. So, dealing with a man like Zayden, with his mysterious and secretive self, the heartbreak is inevitable and my heart was in fact broken to stretch. It was right before our deliciously long spicing, when Violet is baring her soul to Zayden, actually confesses that she's fallen in love with him. And then she proceeds to say, quote, but if we're doing this, then we're starting from a piece of complete honesty. Just knowing all the things that he held out on, like talking about her brother in the past since knowing damn well that he's still alive, and only feeding her half truths, it just all hurt so much because, A, how in the dark that she is about all this, and my heart, like I said, just broke for her. And re reading this scene after knowing everything that happens, I read that quote about her starting from a place of complete honesty, and I cut my Kindle off. Cause I got just that upset. I was like, no, and I took a two hour break from reading the book. Cause I can't go anymore. It was so sad. this is just me being an empath and it just hurt my heart so much to go through this again, knowing that what she's about to experience. Like you said, like I forgot how much I liked her as a character and I don't want to see her get hurt. That line hits extra hard. Yes. I was like, no. I also, I read it and I was like, damn. Like, no. He's lying anyways, moving on. He's a liar. Now let's talk about how much we love him. Now let's talk about how much, yes, we love him. So I want to talk about the romance because we do get a lot of romance, a lot of spice, this section. I am still upset with Aidan, let's put that out there. But I cannot deny how smooth this man is. The amount of pickup lines he had this stretch. I was like, oh my gosh, you're making it so hard. For me to be mad at you. Just like the one scene where, she came back from the party and she found him on the parapet and they're walking up to his room and she's in front of him on the stairs and he finally realized she has a slit in her dress and he's like, was that always there? And she was like, that's what you get for walking behind me. He was like, well, I can't complain about the view from the back either. And I was like, damn. Operator. It's just the things that he says and his like quick rebuttals and the banter that he gives us is strange. I, I don't know. And I also love how he is losing his grip on his control. We know that Zayden is such a controlled character. He has no issue controlling his facial expressions and his emotions, but the whole scene in the cafeteria where he's like choking on his food and then the scene where they're in class and he yells out her name. So he's definitely losing the grip on his control and it's getting harder and harder for him to deny her. And he's, the most vulnerable here and he's been all booked and it's just so much tension and romance and her going to the periphery to find her man, that whole scene. She's like, Liam, you know, I adore you. Right. It's like, Oh, that's sweet. And she's like, go away. I'm trying to find my man. And then Liam's like, no. And she's like, bitch, I could fry you right now. Well, she doesn't say that. She's like, you know, I can strike lightning, right? Yeah. But yeah, I just love how their romance develops. I love how easy going it is and how easy it is for them to fall into this place of banter and tension. It's just really cool to see their relationship grow. Yes. Lastly, I want to briefly talk about Liam because I love him so much. So much, and I really adore his loyalty, the whole scene where they went to the party for reunification, and Violet's like, I'm going to kill Zayden for making you come here. And he's like, Zayden didn't make me come. He would never make me come to something like this. And it was just literally because of his loyalty to her and Zayden. It's just so cute because he's such a wholesome character. And again, he reminds me so much of myself because I feel like Capricorns are very loyal. And once I trust you fully and I'm like completely loyal to you, like there is no going back from that unless you just really do something that just be like, yeah. But yeah. So I was like, it just reminds me so much of myself. I don't know. I love him. I love him so much. he was very present this stretch of chapters and I just loved how close we get to him to stretch. Sadly, Rebecca set us up for heartbreak, but you I feel like doing the deep dive makes me have. a deeper attachment to the characters that I had before, which I didn't think was possible, but when we get to the next episode, I'm not going to be okay. Wait, all right, folks, time to close out our battle brief and move on to the book of jesenia where we will dive into the mythology that inspired fourth wing as well as explaining a world building topic today we will be breaking down the dragon magic system so feel free to skip ahead to our mini series if you feel like you're already an expert yes so for our mythology today i decided that we're going to dig into the mythology and lore of dragons and where all these myths started So the origin of dragon mythology is notoriously difficult to pinpoint, but we're going to dive into it today and try and give you a little more information. So stories, art, and literature have the appearance of draconic creatures as far back as the Near East, Mesopotamia and India. There's a stark difference between Western dragons and Eastern dragons as far as the mythology goes. And thanks to this historian on Reddit. That has cited sources at Artful Orpheus, we will educate the masses. And I just want to preface this by saying, a lot of the information I get from mythology, I'm checking the sources because I don't want to give you guys information that's just made up by some dude on Reddit. But I promise you this guy knows what he's talking about. but before we get into the difference between the Eastern and Western dragon mythologies, there are some theories of why the origin of dragon mythology actually came about. Yes, dragons may have evolved from attempts to replicate the sound in spiraling forms of thunder and lightning. Hmm, interesting. Lightning wielder. Dragons may be. And Taryn's name means thunder. Oh, yeah, even more cool. Jaggers may be an amalgamation of many animals and weather phenomena and an embodiment of the capacity for change. Ancient humans may have encountered whale bones or other large fossils and assumed they were predatory creatures. The large predatory monitor lizards of Australia, also known as Ghanas, Go an Go anus. Go an Go anus. Sounds like Iguanas. Iguanas. I'm gonna say Iguanas, cause I feel like it's probably a descendant or like an ancestor of Iguanas. The big fucking lizards in Australia. the big lizards in Australia. may be particularly responsible for dragon myth. Yes. Which is interesting because we know bearded dragons are literally blizzards and they, the scales and the way they move and everything is similar to our mythological dragons. Yes. It's very lizard like serpentine situations. Anyways, eastern and Western Dragon Mythologies have some similarity with both viewing the mythical creature as magical, dangerous, fierce, and somewhat similar serpentine shape. East Asian Dragon Mythology has an iconography to them, and their image likely emerged from both snake and crocodile likeness. These creatures were venerated as fierce protectors and symbols of prosperity and imperial power. So that's the Eastern Dragon. The Western Dragon Mythology is almost universally associated with destruction, chaos, and fire. They are never worshipped but usually revered as far as Western Dragon Mythology goes. They're usually intelligent beings. And in Europe specifically, dragons develop The mystical powers and an intelligence beginning with fantasy literature in the Victorian era. So this is kind of cool. Cause this is the beginnings of the modern fantasy genre that we all know and love so much. So now, you know, a little bit about dragon mythology and where modern fantasy came from. Yes. I love learning about the Victorian era. It was so. It's such a cool era and being a English major, all of our literature is based on the Victorian era. Yeah. The dragon magic system, Dragons cannot use their magic solo, hence why they agreed to bond with puny humans in the first place. Other than that, dragons have the magical ability to communicate telepathically, sense rooms, share memories and of course breed brick and fire. When these massive beasts do bond with a human rider, it allows the rider to use both left or magic and a signe as a result of the the dragon's magic flowing through a relic they give to their rider via dragon fire. While the process of c channeling a dragon's magic is generally the same, the quote unquote feel of the dragon's magic within each rider differs from dragon to dragon. Viole describes Terrance power as a blazing molten stream. While ANDA's is a. Pure licent flow. There was a lot of hard to pronounce words Well, we're not even done yet. But yeah So after a dragon begins channeling power to its rider a signet will eventually develop or the magic will end up consuming the human Without an outlet to release it signets are a strong, unique ability that reflects who the rider is at their core. No two signets are alike. The capabilities a signet can produce are limited by a rider's control, so the more control a rider has over their signet, the more effective they will be in wielding it. If a rider channels too much magic at any given time, they can burn out and die. However, in the case of bonding a feather tail, the consequences of burning out actually reverse, and the dragon can risk death when channeling their version of the signet to their riders. The only way to achieve two signets that we know of is to bond two dragons, or, more commonly, for dragons to bond with a rider in the direct familial line as its previous rider. Unfortunately, when this happens, there is also an equal chance for the rider to be driven to madness instead. In a future episode, we will Do a Cygnet breakdown and talk about every Cygnet we know of at this point. Right now we're just going to talk about the magic system overall, because I think if we got into Cygnets right now, we would probably be talking for like an hour. Yes, there's a lot to unpack with Cygnets, but they're really cool. All right, moving on. Time to head to the flight field where every week, Kana and I will do two to three mini series unique to our podcast. They won't be the same every week, so keep tuning in for all the fun. Today we'll be doing fancasts. Cards Against Gaius. And then we're also going to do a small business spotlight. Yes. So let's go to the fancast. My Zayden is Jordi Webber. I came across this fancast on TikTok and ever since then, I just pictured Zayden exactly like that in my head. I can't get it out. I definitely feel like he could pull off the badass wing leader. However, I do want to, acknowledge that he is a white person and whoever is casted for the TV show, I think should actually reflect that Rebecca intended him to be a person of color. Cause I think a lot of fan art and fan cast whitewash him, and I'm not trying to do that. I'm just saying this is who I picture and I literally cannot picture anyone else. But I do really hope that they cast a person of color because that's how he's described in the book. And that's how Rebecca intended him. Violet, I cast Danielle Rose Russell, she's 5'3 so she can totally pull off the tiny but badass Violet. And she's 25, which I think is on the younger side for a lot of good actors. I feel like it's hard to find, you know. that would actually be able to pull off the role and do the acting. Right. And they're usually like 30, 30 something, but she's 25. So she's on the younger side. So I feel like she could pull off a younger pilot Dane. I, I had so much trouble casting for Dane because I was just like, I didn't want to cast one ugly, but every time I like came across someone to try and do, I was like, You don't deserve a name. But anyways, I came up with a kind of unhinged casting. So a Dacker, I don't know how we say that's name. I don't know. Dacker Montgomery, he plays Billy from stranger things. He's really hot. I just think he's so hot. Oh my god you're missing out. I just think he is so hot, I would not mind staring at him. And maybe it will distract me from Dane's horribleness. And also he played a really bad boy in Stranger Things, so it would be interesting to see him play the total opposite. And I think his acting is really good. So I think he could pull it off. Rhiannon, I want to cast Amanda Stenberg and she is actually, yes, the actress that played Rue in Hunger Games, which is one of my favorite movie series of all times. And when I was looking for my fan cast, this is the first time I actually came across her and I was like, wait, is that Rue? Like I recognized her immediately. And I was like, Oh my God, she looks so amazing. But I do think it would be cool for her to be in another fantasy esque But this time as an adult, she looks like she could totally pull off how badass and gorgeous Rhiannon is. Yeah. I want to add on to your, uh, mandala stem bird. Cause you know her from Hunger Games. I've never watched or read that series yet. I know her from the Hatred Guild, which was my favorite. I know, I'm behind, okay? I wasn't in my Hunger Games bag in middle school. I was still reading Dork Diaries. it's not even the fact that you haven't read it. You haven't watched any of them? I refuse to watch them until I read the books. I can't do it backwards. I have to read them first. If I watch the movies first, I'm not gonna read the books. I already know. So I wanna read the books first and then watch. Because if not, I'm not going to read them. I was about to say I'm gonna literally tie you down and force you to watch them all. Because it is the best movie series of all time. Especially if you're a fancy girly, you're gonna love it. I'm gonna read the books. They're not very long and they're young adults. So I should get them. I actually like the movies better than the books. That's a hot take. That's actually, I think the only ever, maybe book that I've preferred the books, you know, you just let me know. I have to read them first. I just, I can't do it any other way. Yeah. But yeah, I know a man love from the hate you give, and it was actually a book that I read, I think my freshman year of high school. And it was like police brutality. Um, I remember you talking about that in our intro episode. I love that book so much. It was like what really got me back into reading in high school. And. Then the movie came out and her role in that movie, like I cried so many times during that movie just because all the police brutality that was going on at the time anyways, and that movie was just such a good movie and her acting was amazing in that movie. So that's where I know her from. Okay. I'm gonna need to watch that movie. We gotta watch it. I have the book. I can bring it to you. Yeah, let me have it. Bring it. Give me, give me, give me. Give me, give me, give me. The book and the movie are like copy and paste of each other. They did a really good job at keeping the movie very similar to the book. I think that's why I like the Hunger Games series so much. It's because it's basically the book brought to life. Okay. I casted Violet as Josephine Lankford. People are going to hate me almost said that. I almost said that. I actually think she would play Violet too. I feel like people are going to hate it because of the role that she played in After. I feel like people hate her after that whole movie series, because it was I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna like talk down it, but it was an interesting series. But I think that she plays the damsel in distress role very well. Not saying that Violet is in need of saving it anyway, but Violet is the underdog in this first book and she's put under a lot of stress and self doubt. And I think that Josephine would play that role very, very, very well. I like that. I casted Zayden as reggae Jean Paige, which is Simon from Bridgerton. I didn't really see it at first. And actually the fantasy fangirls actually. Put this idea in my head because I was trying to find somebody that fits like a person of color that fit the role But I just I wasn't picturing anybody. It's like zayden is a very mysterious and like really strong and I don't know. He's a very complex character. I picture him very tall very muscular like Just very intense, but I couldn't find that and when I saw this one, I was like I don't know, but I sat and watched it. So this man for probably an hour straight. And then after that, I started to picture it, like seeing some of the spice scenes and his sparring scenes in Bridgerton. I was like, okay, I'm starting to picture it now. I feel like with the right costume and tattoos and hair, I could picture it. I don't know. I just wouldn't be able to get past how old he looks. Yeah. I don't know. I do find him attractive. I loved him in Bridgerton, but for some reason I hate this. I tried. I was, I was like, David was the only one that I was on fan cast. Like, That's how you picture it in your head. A lot of people agree with you. I've seen, he wasn't who I pictured either, but this was as close as I can get to trying to cast him according to this description in the book. And I was struggling because I couldn't find anybody else. Even with him, I wasn't like set there since I was like constantly looking at his face for an hour. I was like, okay I don't plan that Anywho Rhiannon I had so many ideas for her But I ended up just selling on talk to you Gabrielle and she is from the Netflix version of Sabrina the witch So I feel like she already has experience playing in those supernatural roles. She did play a witch in that series a very intense character. I feel like she would look really good in flight letters slash writer black and she's very fierce and Her character sabrina. She was really strong. So I think that she would fit this role perfectly and Dane I had a hard time casting him as well. I had a few different ideas, but I ended up selling on Zach Rorick and he's actually Matt from the Vampire Diaries. He has already played the jealous ex vibes, even though Dane's not her ex, but technically her ex best friend in a sense. So, yeah. he's already played the jealous ex bobs. He's very whiny and annoying in Vampire Diaries. He's such a hypocrite so I could definitely see him playing this role. And then I want to thank has Taryn cause I've been seeing this a lot and I feel like this is very fitting, but I feel like, it's just Elba should voice Taryn, it's pretty self explanatory. His voice, would fit perfectly with it. And he's an older guy, so I feel like he would fit the role. All right. So our next mini series is cards against Baz Gaia. So like cards against humanity, I actually made a custom version of this game. I got all the blank cards and I filled it out with all my unhinged and outrageous and immature. Okay, so our cards against Biosgaia, we'll do three different ones, so three different scenario cards and then I'll just pull some of the Answer cards, and mackenzie, let me know which one she likes the best. And comment. Reach out to our social medias. Let us know which one you think is the funniest. I'm pretty proud of this deck of cards, okay? So, the first scenario is, I had a crazy dream last night about blank. I had a crazy dream last night about solving problems with violence. Hmm. I had a crazy dream last night about a violent orange allergy. Oh, damn. I had a crazy dream last night about life changing smut chapters. I had a crazy dream last night about drunk dragon riding. Damn. That's actually kind of cool. Yeah, man, I bet it would be amazing. Can you imagine freshly garden dragon, right? I had a crazy dream last night about a really cool dragon saddle. All right. Which one's your favorite? Life changing smut chapters, because this chapter is very smutty. It's very smutty and I am not complaining. Alright, our next scenario is, My mom would freak if she found blank in my search history. My mom would freak if she found kneeing Jack Marlowe in the nuts in my search history. My mom would freak if she found fucking the wing leader in my search history. My mom would freak if she found poor life choices in my search history. It's not really a Baz Gaia themed one, but you know. The next two are really funny. My mom would freak if she found daddy Zayden in my search history. My mom would freak if she found balls in my search history. Okay. Um, I think freaking the wing leader, I would figure out, figure out the most I hope you guys are enjoying this card game. I mean, I'm very proud of it. All right. Our last scenario is sex is great. But have you ever tried blank? Sex is great, but have you ever tried getting tortured because your second dragon is taking a really long nap? Sex is great, but have you ever tried an insatiable shadow? Daddy kink Sex is great, but have you ever tried feeling a prickle on the back of your neck? Sex is great, but have you ever tried frolicking on the flight field? Sex is great, but have you ever tried extremely tight pants? Damn, I can't. This is good. I don't know. For some reason I want to say extremely tight pants. Really? But it's the most like out of pocket one. You and your pants, bro. Not frolicking on the flight field. I was going to pick that one until you said that was my favorite. All right. Well, we might do that one again in iron flame. Cause I have a whole deck of cards. So if you guys like it, let us know all right. Our last mini series is a small business spotlight. So this is a new one. We're introducing where we just want to highlight bookish small businesses that create or have products that connect to the books that we're talking about right now, because there's so many cool ones. So I want to take a time to highlight them and support small businesses. So Lumi Glass Art does bookish inspired stained glass. And I recently came across some of her Empyrean inspired products and they're so Gorgeous. She has one that's Violet and Zayden, Violet with a dagger, a dragon one. There's also a little dagger that says Violet little thing on it. And oh, so cool. And they have Akatar, Quicksilver, When the Moon Hatched, so many different ones and they're so pretty. I'm going to get one. I'm going to get one. so yeah, Quicksilver, When the Moon Hatched, or listen to our episodes about it, or just read the books, go check out those items as well, cause they're really cool. And she also has a ton of new stuff releasing all the time that are inspired by all of the most popular books on book talk. And most of them, I think are fantasy books. I think that's mostly what she does. So check it out. She might have, even if it's not one of these book series, if you have another favorite, she might have merch on it. So I will link her Etsy shop in our show notes. So go check it out. And their Instagram is at Lumi Glass Art. So check them out. It's really cool. All right, before we close out today's episode, it's time to spar. So each week, Kenzie and I will give each other and our listeners two trivia questions at the end of our fourth wing coverage, we will tally who has the most points between hosts, loser, we'll have to do something embarrassing, funny, disgusting, crazy, but the winner, or you guys as fans come up with. So please, we would love to hear your feedback ideas and participation in this section. The current score is. I have three and a half points and Kenzie has two. So it's a tight race. Okay, my first question, what month is Zayden's birthday? It's in the spring, isn't it? I don't, I don't know what month, when does spring start again? I don't know, just like generally the beginning of the year, I guess. February. Close, but not quite. What was it? March. Damn it. See, I knew it was in the spring or winter. However you want it. I don't know whether it was spring or not. Who brought up. Liam, after his parents were executed. I remember reading this. Don't remember its name though. Firebird. Out of all the things you could have said, that wasn't even a name. Oh, that started with an F? Oh, I don't know. Starts with an L. Larry. No, it wasn't Larry. You would definitely remember if it was Larry. His name was Duke Lindell. Lindell, okay. I do, I think I remember that. Okay. This is hilarious. Oh god. What month is Violet's birthday? Oh my god! I don't know! This is the summer. July. Fuck. Really? Dude. Dude. Okay. Name one of the two awards Mira Sorengel was nominated for. Regarding her heroic acts at Strithmore, or Strithmore, I don't know how to say it. Best defensive cadet. What?! I thought that was really easy because you could name one of the two, bro. Bro, I didn't even, I totally just, I skimmed that part. It was in one of the chapter headers at the beginning. Yeah. Okay. don't know what it is? No. Fuck. It's the Star of Navar or Order of the Talon. Yeah, no. I wouldn't have gotten that. That's okay. Okay, so our updated score is, I have four and a half. Shit. And Kenzie still has two. But anything can happen. Well, we have been doing three for our last episodes of a book, so we'll probably do that again. Cool. Cool. Cool. Got to give you a chance. Lock in, although this is what happens last time. I, when we did Quicksilver, I got overconfident. I got this shit in the bag and then it just totally wrecked me with some history questions. Uh, all right. That's a wrap folks. Thank you so much for tuning into our coverage of fourth wing by Rebecca. I can't believe we only have one more episode of fourth wing, but it's true. And bring your tissue box. Cause you know, obvious reasons. We cannot wait to keep digging into all the theories and continue preparing for onyx storm with you guys. Yes. Join us next Thursday to wrap up our fourth wing coverage where we will be going over chapters 33 to 39, pages 423 through 498 for your re read or to refresh your memory. Yes, it really does mean the world to both of us to hear your feedback. So please leave us a review, check out our socials, reach out to us. If you want to tell us what you liked, what you didn't, or if you want to talk about books with either of us and make sure to subscribe on YouTube and all major podcast platforms for a freshly baked episode to be delivered to you directly next week. Yes. Bye friends. See you next week. Bye friends. We'll see you guys next week. In the Hall of the Mountain King In the Hall of the Mountain King