Iron Flame | Fate, Fire, & F*cking Barlowe

Welcome wonderful listeners to Episode 21 of the Shadow and Starlight Podcast | Fate, Fire, & F*cking Barlowe! With Onyx Storm right around the corner, time to wrap up our Iron Flame deep dive discussing the shocking reveals, drama, and badassery of the last 8 chapters…which tragically end with a Jack F*cking Barlowe line and our man going to the dark side. Great. 

• Reminder to check out our Onyx Storm Prediction & Second Signet Discussion Episode that releases Friday, January 17th!
• Our Onyx Storm Reaction episode will be released January 27th! With a spoiler free for those still reading and a spoiler heavy section for those who smashed it in less than one week. 
• This episode is based on Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. Intro Music by Boomer, graphics by @reeseplantedesign. 
• Follow us on TikTok and Instagram @shadowandstarlightpod, watch us on YouTube, and listen to us wherever you get your podcasts!
• Email: shadowandstarlightpod@gmail.com

Transcript

0:24

Welcome wonderful listeners to the shadow and starlight podcast We're two friends dive deep into popular fantasy and romance ebooks We get into the stories characters world building lore and so buckle your seatbelts for this viral coaster round of emotions magical worlds in Laughs, I'm Kinsey. I'm insane recovering chapters 59 366 of iron plan by Rebecca yarrow's First and foremost, please listen carefully to our content warning. These are adult books we're covering and neither of us have a filter. So this podcast is definitely 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 covering a certain stretch of chapters, we will be doing so with the knowledge of what happens in both books, uh, That way we can really dive deeper into the theories and appreciate the foreshadowing of Rebecca Yaros. So going forward, all episodes on our show will contain spoilers for the whole series in question. Next, if you like what you hit today and want more, please come back next Thursday and next Thursday and next Thursday and every Thursday after that for a brand new episode as a taller podcast, we'd love to hear your feedback to better ourselves and expand our book loving community. Please feel free to give us a views, reach out to us on social media and follow us on Tik TOK Instagram and watch us on YouTube at shadow and starlight pod. Yeah, and come back tomorrow, Friday, for our bonus episode on Onyx Storm predictions and Second Signet theories. It's gonna be good. Yes! Yay! So, exciting news, we had a TikTok go sort of viral. I don't know what's considered viral, but we did get like, 36, 000 views and 5, 000 something likes, that's the most we've gotten so far. So if you're following along on our little journey, we just hit a milestone. Yay! We're excited about it. Yes. drinking the pot. I'm just drinking water. Cause I'm dehydrated. That's pretty cool. I got some lemonade cause it's been so long since I've had some. Okay. The Onyx Storm countdown. Yo, five days. Crazy. I cannot believe it. it's not five days for us cause we filmed this early, so I'm not as excited as I will be when this releases, but I am excited. Trust. Yes. Yes. Yes. Super excited. A big reminder, tune in to our Instagram over the Onyx Storm release. We're going to be posting a lot of stuff. I'm going to be going to a midnight release party at a bookstore, and we're probably going to be releasing some stuff as we're reading. Nothing spoilers, but There will be stuff. So go check out our social media at shadow and starlight pod, and then be on the lookout for our initial Onyx storm reaction episode, which is going to be releasing Monday, January 27th. So we're going to smash this book, have a reaction episode for you with a spoiler free and a spoiler heavy section. And then three days after that, our very first deep dive will be coming out. I am also going to try to go to a midnight release party. I'm just going to take a nap when I get off and then go. And then, yeah, just pray that I am sane the next day at work. I didn't get to go to a midnight release party for Iron Flame. I don't know what I was doing, but I worked the midnight release party for Iron Flame Oh yeah, I do remember that. It was crazy. Yeah. All right. Time to cross the parapet canon's gonna lead us across the parapet as she goes through her shadow and salt synopsis. AKA Her Unhinged summary On the events of these chapters,

Kaina G: 3:51

the riot and riders take off to Bez Eth, despite Brandon and the council's protests that it's the worst idea in history. I mean, it is, but Miss. Violet Lightning Wielder Sorengale, will an innocent die if she can do something about it. She heads straight to square up with Mummy, Mean Face, and Backstabber Nolan to let them know the wards are in danger. Since everyone else is at Samara and they're basically defenseless, they agree to double check the ward stone. Good thing they checked, because the guards? DFO. Done fell out. They did. And guess who else is here? Frickin Justice Beaver, Jack Dushkanu Barlow and Stank Breath Bade. In a chaotic 30 seconds or so, Jack does the unthinkable, slays his own dragon. The wards have fallen. Is it time to panic yet? The sweet idea that Jack will follow his dragon to the grave is snapped a page later when this dude is still chilling and of course, bragging about how he can control dragons and also that he's still salty. Violet bonded the biggest, baddest black battle dragon. Might I suggest getting over it like an adult? Thanks to Zayden style interrogation. This boy pretending to be a man sings like a bird. Bad news is that the wards don't block all power, and there's probably a shit ton of other undercover venant at Bezgaia. Dane finally steals someone else's memories aside from Violet, and just before Jack can drain him, he's knocked unconscious. The ten hour clock on their impending death starts ticking, making it perfect time for a battle brief. This time, not filled with propaganda and lies. The plan, hunt down the Venon lures that Jack so kindly placed freaking everywhere and work within squads and sectors to take down the enemy. Riddick and Sawyer place bets on how long they will last and if Ola Bazgayeth retires to try to sleep. Or in Zayden and Violet's case, a bang bang, bangity bang before they start on round 17 or whatever. Big Brother knocks on the door. Guess he decided to stop being a poor leader and join the fight, along with the fliers and some of the remaining cadets from Aratia. With Brennan, they have a slim chance of a miracle, mending the Wardstone. Dawn approaches, and with it, the promise of an epic battle and most certain death. Despite Violet's protests, Andarna refuses to flee this time. And thank Malak, she doesn't. An astounding number of Wyvern approach, and with a cloud assist from Mom, Violet releases some killer lightning strikes. Chaos ensues, and we get to see Taryn and Violet in their full battle badassery. This is an exercise in control for Violet, but she is lowkey killin it and killin Wyvern. This dynamic duo quickly makes themselves a target and are pursued by multiple enemies. An Acem taunts Violet, but Rhiannon understands the assignment. Protect your best friend when she's stuck in her saddle. After that close call, there is no time to catch a breath before Riddick is in danger next. The Iron Squad rushes to defend him and is successful, but Sawyer comes out of the scrape looking like Hiccup from Hunter Trainer Dragon, at least in my brain. Refusing to lose anyone she loves, Violet slices her saddle strap and yeets herself onto Eotrom. Breaking the cardinal rule of don't talk to dragons you aren't bonded to, she teams up with Slee Sleek, Slee Seek, I don't know how to say this word. Slee Seek to reach Sawyer and they swan dive into the sky. Great catch, Taryn. Terrible communication, Violet. Maren comes with Kat to get one legged Sawyer to the healers. Taryn rushes to aid Sigail, temporarily leaving Violet on the ground. No big deal, except her nightmare, aka a Dark Wielder, is coming to life right behind her. She doesn't have to face this Venon alone because Kat's mom didn't raise no bitch. She uses her mind work To make Creepy Evil Girl heightened in her greed for delivering Violet, another Venon stalks from the shadows, delivering a blow to Kat while Violet takes out the initial Venon with a precise lightning strike. As soon as that is done, she is suspended in midair, powerless, her worst nightmare in the flesh. That is, until the boulder behind the Venon starts moving. Not a boulder! A camo dragon. After becoming a Venon Slayer, a sassy but nonchalant Andarna announces, I breathe fire. Yes, bitch, you do. I'm proud. Taryn's proud. Violet may be speechless, but she is proud too. Taking a moment to work towards a miracle, Jessenia offers her thoughts on the journal translations, and Violet stumbles physically and mentally over a shocking revelation forming in her mind. Before joining Zayden's argument, to no one's surprise, cowardly Noir leadership, aka Milgrim, is planning on abandoning Bezgayath to save the Vale, to which Violet and Zayden say, Hold my beer, please. After Violet confronts Koda to confirm her suspicions and Zayden buys her Precious time facing off against the sage, mom and daughter head down to the wardstone chambers. Already approaching burnout, Violet pours her power into the stone and gets ready to confront another dragon, this time her own. After ordering Andarna into the chamber, Violet takes educated guesses and her dragon confirms. She is the seventh rate of dragon, head of her own den, and she's waited an astounding 650 years to hatch for Violet. Burnout becoming more tangible, Violet continues begging her dragons to live on without her. Through her haze, she watches her mom come and kick her away from the Wardstone. After a quick mending, she realizes Lilith is trying to make Sloane angry. Possible reason, you ask? Ah yes, to make sure that she siphons her life and that of her dragon into the Wardstone. With the realization that Zayden is dying above, as the final push, Sloane does what is necessary. Mira bursts into the room seconds later, just as life leaves her mother. As the Sorengale siblings grapple with losing their last living parent, Indarna breathes fire on the warstone, leaving an iron flame burning atop it. Everything a blur, Violet and siblings emerge to the sounds of victory. after a quick hug from her bestie, our FMC fights through the shock to lay eyes on her dragon and her man. Satan's back is to her. Hmm, how strange. And the two recap the shitshow of the last few minutes to each other. Zayden is suspiciously avoiding eye contact and we find out why a couple paragraphs later. Our man has gone to the dark side. The only bright side is that he will probably be hotter than ever in his villain era. Just like in Fourth Wing, we are treated to a lovely glimpse inside of Zayden's head after having our hearts ripped out and tears staining the pages. Gee, thanks Rebecca, it's the least you could do. Reliving the moment when he became his own worst enemy, Zayden awakes in a panic next to Violet. They're both catching up on some much needed rest after the battle. Sleep evading him, he heads to the only person who might have answers about Venon, Jack freaking Barlow, who welcomes him to the Venon Brotherhood. The end. Why does this book have to end with the Jack freaking Barlow line? Die for real. That was a big chunk a lot happened in what seven chapters Yeah, I looked at the page count. I was like, oh, this will be a breeze and then I was writing the synopsis I was like, oh my god. Oh my god Yeah, no a lot happened the last little bit For sure. So now that we've crossed the parapet, it's time to head into our battle brief section where we will discuss all things notable in this chapter, including foreshadowing, theories, and our favorite parts. this section isn't as long as it usually is, because this is the end of the book and we're going to talk a lot about predictions for next book and all things on next storm later. So, this will be kind of brief, but the first thing we are going to talk about is the, Hint towards more Venon and Vansgalia and Jack's Venon reputation so earlier in our fourth wing coverage We discussed how power hungry Jack was and he actually confirmed that this stretch that when he noticed how powerful Violet was Becoming is when he lost all hope and actually became Venon and thanks to Jack's huge freaking mouth We get a lot of info drops after he takes down the war stone quote, make no mistake. We are already among you and now we're free end quote. We also talked about this as well. The Venon have been posing as scribes and there were a couple of scenes in this book where Violet actually pointed out a scribe with their face hidden and she was Just noting like, oh, I can't really see their face. yeah. And then the next quote from the scene that kind of stood out to us was quote, they don't need a map. Not when I showed them the way, while you were busy smuggling weapons out, we were busy smuggling them in. And we know that this refers to the rooms that actually lure the women, which was the same kind of lure that was used at resin so really quickly, let's talk about all the information that Jack knows. So. Jack and his, Wardstone mission and how he was responsible for helping smuggle venom in points to the fact that he might have a bigger reputation among the venom than we previously thought. And to be trusted with such a high stake mission and for him to apparently, quote, show them the way, this is just screaming that he's important and he'll probably be in most of our next book. he'll be in most of Onyx Storm. Which is like unfortunate, but you know, he is spilling all the tea. So that is not confusing me, but I just feel that it's very strange that someone who just became a Venon and he's not even high up in their ranks because I think he's still considered an initiate at this point, but he was trusted to bring the Wardstone down. There's no other Venonibus Gaia who could do that. Weird, I don't know. He's the only one that was willing to kill his own dragon, maybe? Well, we know how power hungry he was, so I'm pretty sure if they came to him with the idea, he wasn't at all opposed to it. he probably volunteered himself to be the one to do it. I think I saw on TikTok or somewhere about an interview with Rebecca Yaros, and it's not confirmed, at least by me, so take this with a grain of salt, but she said that Jack Peralta isn't going to have a huge part to play in the next book, which I find kind of interesting because Iron Flame literally ends with one of his lines and him giving us all the All this information, so I'm curious to see how that plays out and how many interactions we'll have. Yeah, because we, the one of the snippets we did get was a conversation between Zayden and Jack. So they're obviously going to interact at least a few times, but it's going to be a shit show. All right, the next piece of foreshadowing we're going to talk about is Lilith's master plan. Before her death, Lilith speaks to Violet one last time. Quote, there's nothing I wouldn't do to keep you safe. Do you understand? Everything was to get you to this moment when you'd be strong enough. Hmm. Very point that she gets cut off at the end, but this is giving me foreshadowing that there's more to this plan And I think we'll learn a lot more in Onyx Storm that Lilith had a Giant master plan to help her children survive the inevitable war against the Venom that we have no clue about. And speaking of Lilith, Rebecca actually posted a teaser on her social media for Onyx Storm that has to do with her. And it seems that Violet will get her hands on Captain Lilith's journal in Onyx So before she even becomes general, we're gonna get to see glimpses of Lilith and maybe her Plan that she had and she was working on with violet's dad maybe And I think this is great not only because it'll give us more information but I think this will also help violet grieve her mother's loss and feel like she maybe gets to connect with her mother in a Way that she didn't get to previously So we'll see. I don't know and also i'm really excited to get into our mini series our flight field today Because we're going to be doing a fan theory spotlight and I am convinced that Lilith is a Venon now You And we'll get into that later, but just a little peek. I actually want to talk about, Violet's family's. Secrets and plans in our predictions episode have a really big theory that I've been cooking up. All right, next we're going to talk about Andarna, you little minx. We finally learn who and what she is. There's still a lot of questions. But she is a camo dragon, head of her own den, was hibernating for centuries, and she can breathe fire that kills venom. Okay. Quote, I waited 650 years to hatch, waited until your 18th summer when I heard our elders talk of the weakling daughter of the general. The girl forecasted to become the head of the scribes and I knew you would have the mind of a scribe and the heart of a writer. You would be mine. You are as unique as I am. There's a lot to unpack there. And we don't really get a chance to ask Sandorna more questions because, you know, there's a whole, there's battle and all that happening. But the fact that Indarna waited so many centuries just for Violet is speaking volumes and it's also raising questions. Is it Violet specifically or is Indarna looking for someone that had the mind of a scribe, heart of a writer? I do think that it's Violet specifically and that she will either develop an ability to defeat the Venon or there's something special about her. Maybe she has an antidote to the Venon or immune to turning Venon. Or I think Andarna could possibly be the weapon to defeat the Wyvern and she needs a rider that she trusts and is capable of saving the world with her. But regardless. Andarna seems very possessive of Violet, which makes me think Violet herself is the weapon. When she is trying to sacrifice herself, Andarna says, quote, You are mine. I can't let you die. So it seems like Andarna needs her for something, and not just because she's attached. At least that's how it's coming across to me. And last little thing about Andarna, so when Violet asks her if she will breathe fire on the Wardstone, and Donna replies, quote, It's why I was left behind, at least from what I remember. It has been centuries. So, where did her kind go? I think it's the Isle Kingdoms, but I also had a thought that maybe her kind is extinct now, and she's The last one, which would mean that they can only have one set of wards, which would suck. Yeah. But I think we may find out in Onyx Storm more about the seven breed of dragons, It makes me really sad she doesn't have any family and no one understands her. She said she feels so different from the other dragons. Adolescent and I'm like, yeah, you probably do. Yeah. That's sad. Yeah, there's a lot to unpack with. And Donna, I'm pretty sure they could only have once of wards because her and Zaden were trying to choose between best guy at the era and he was like, well, we're here. Mm-hmm Like we're fighting. Might as well choose best. Gaia. Then he was like, this is where you're safer. So I think that they can only have one set and. If the timelines match up, then I'm pretty sure that she was probably left behind for that reason. I don't know what happened to the rest of her time, but if the wars have already been up. they would have had to have another dragon from the seven DNA at some point to get the ward. And they had a journal about how to. Step towards it. So the fact that she says I was left behind implies that her kind went somewhere else. I'm like, yeah, we'll see. All right. Let's talk about Zayden's new power and, him and Seguil's drama. So After Zayden goes to the dark side, Zayden reflects after waking, quote, I don't bother reaching for Sigel. she's been eerily silent since the battle ended, end quote. So apparently becoming Venon doesn't completely sever the bond between human and dragon. And our example is obviously Jack Barlow, because he still had his dragon and still Bunyan and somehow controlling his dragon. But we also know that dragons are very opposed to Venon, but the Empyrean isn't very open To certain secrets as well. So, this kind of makes me question, like, how many writers are Benin or are associated with Benin and are keeping it a secret. Cough, cough, bearish. another quote is, quote, I slip my unnoticed thanks to the increase in my signet or whatever this is, end quote, so obviously he has another power source that's heightening his powers he already has, his signets, and we wanna know the most is how. Powerful will they didn't actually be on a storm and he was already the most powerful Pretty much at best Gaia and for him to finally meet his match against the sage or the general whatever he preferred himself to be It means he has to be pretty dang powerful for him to have this extra power source Quote he wore me down for fun. I was never a match for him. None of us are in quotes like we stated last episode, I think this will put a time crunch on Violet, because obviously the Venom are stronger and there aren't really many known defense strategies and with Violet having to actually go out and find allies, it seems very time consuming. So like, how are they going to grow in strength to defeat the Venom, especially the Maidens and Generals? And will it require more of the revolution to turn the Venom? This is kind of unlikely, but I mean it would be wild and we're still convinced that Violet needs to figure out the weapon that killed off the rest of the Benin hundreds of years ago. Because this is key information to figure out how to do it again. How to defeat them again. Because we're struggling. I definitely agree with the time crunch, for sure. I think she's gonna be racing against the clock to save him. Ugh, so interesting, I don't know. Well, we know how badass Zayden was. And he still couldn't defeat the Maven, the General, whatever. And then he did it, kinda, not easily, but once he turned Ven in, he was able to do it, like, a little bit. And so I'm like, wow, how powerful is this dude going to be? And is that going to make the Venon want him to rise in the ranks faster? I'm guessing so. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. he's not how Jack was saying. It's only a matter of time before you can't control it. And you're going to have to feed from the source. I think like the amount of power that he holds is going to make his hunger Even worse, because he has so much power he has to feed. Yeah, I can see that. Dang, you're stressing me out. All right, we're going to talk briefly before we get into theories about Violet, Zayden, and Malik. So before battle time, Zayden says to Violet, quote, Even Malik himself couldn't keep me from you. Foreshadowing people foreshadowing, I think if you've been following along our other episodes, you know, we have theories about Zayden possibly dying and him being resurrected by Violet or something along those lines. I can definitely see this happening. I think it will require something very drastic for Violet to cure or save Zayden maybe even death itself. And I'm mostly convinced Violet has a special connection to Malik and this and or her unique abilities will save Zayden from the grave. And then again, in the midst of the battle, Violet thinks, quote, You can't have him, I tell Malik, shifting to Neel in the scarlet snow. You took Liam, you may not have Sawyer. And then she proceeds to save Sawyer. Hmm. How convenient. Maybe Malik did listen to her? Maybe she's connected him and she'll be able to resurrect Zayden when he dies and he'll come back, not Velen, I don't know. I feel like it's very important to note how much she actually communicates with Malak and how much his name is mentioned in the actual book. Way more than the other characters, for sure. It's very suspicious. It is so suspicious to me that the Bay of Malak is right next to the Barrens, which is where the Velen have drained the gravity. That's giving some suspicion. Oh my gosh, what if Violet has to travel to the Barrens? I wouldn't be surprised if she had to. I was so convinced it was the Isle of Kingdom that I actually didn't think of that before now, but That could be interesting, because that's where a lot of the Venon are, so maybe she has to go undercover to find the weapon. Or So many years ago, maybe we'll finally get some more Zayden point of views and he has to travel to the barrens. I would love that. I feel like we need it because if you think about it, Zayden is also going through a big change, this book too. And he's also going through a transition. It would be nice to be like a firsthand account of that journey. Cause Vi was going to be out trying to save him. So we're not going to be able to get an in depth view on. How he, you know, is telling it. I don't know. I feel like we need his point of view. I really hope we get some. If we at least get like five chapters throughout the book, I'll be happy. Like, it's just, I mean, I honestly highly doubt it, but it would be nice. Yeah. the excerpt we get of him talking to Jack is from Violet overhearing it, which I mean, but, dang it, this book would drive me insane in the best way possible if it was dual Pov, it would be so good, cause she writes really well from Zayden's Pov, I love reading all the bonus chapters and all that, anyways, maybe we'll at least get a bonus chapter, hopefully, alright, theory time, let's go, okay, I wanna talk about. The theory that Venon can maybe control dragons and my mind is boggled by this, but I'm trying to work out what exactly went down between Jack and his dragon Bade from the Wardstone scene. At least to me, it appeared that he was somehow controlling his dragon. Quote, Bey lowers her head and I get a single glimpse of her eyes, opaque instead of golden. So, maybe this is actually an ability that we didn't know about prior to this, or the magic Jack is channeling from the source as replacing the magic from his dragon and limiting Bade's access to him. That's really my only idea as to how and why. I think it's definitely possible that they can control dragons somehow and also while Jack is going on his egotistical rampage. He says, quote, they have us thinking we're the inferior species, but did you see how easily I controlled her? How easily the energy she bonded with us is replaced, which is what is making me think that they can replace the energy from their bond to dim it. But, that still doesn't answer questions for how this all works. I thought maybe Bade was evil and was in on Jack's plan, but now it seems like Bade was under his control, and I don't think Bade would have willingly let Jack slay her. How? I don't know. Jack must have had ironclad mental shields to keep Bade from realizing what his plan was with the Wardstone. Or maybe, yes, Bade was really evil but he controlled her just to murder her. I don't know. There's a lot of gray area here and it's driving me crazy. It is. But I don't like the idea that they can somehow control their dragons they're battling with. Cause that might have implications for Zayden and Sigail and for a lot of other dragons and I don't want any other dragons to do that. Yeah. I don't know. It's a lot of questions there. And it still baffles me that Jack Ball isn't supposed to have a super sufficient role in this next book, but he's the reason why we have all these questions. But I do, I thank you, Jack, for giving us information. The little bit that you gave us, thank you. Your big mouth, it's very helpful. Yes. Next theory, we're going to talk about Violet possibly maybe being the master of time. aside from the truth sayer theories, this is another theory that I'm like a big stand for, is her still having the ability to stop time. Um, and. We actually get a mention of this when Violet is loving on Zayden before they're and she savors the moment, quote, like I still have Indorna's ability to stop time, end quote. We just want to know, like, do you? Do you not?, Another thing that kind of raises flags in this regard is, quote, they'll be on us in seconds, but it has to be the right second. And then also on page 584, Byleth describes the events that are unfolding in a series of 10 seconds. And she actually does this a lot throughout the book. She Recounts a lot of, the things that happen in the book as heartbeats. and it's pretty much in every battle or battle, like seeing this book. And the one that stuck out to me was the best guy. I think it was called in one heartbeat, the closest Wyvern opens his jaw. And the second, it blasts green fire across slits, slip. How did you say earlier? What is his name? That's such a silly name, I don't know how to spell it. We're gonna just say, it in the second, it blasts green fire across Sawyer's dragon and Sawyer dials backer out of the seat and early avoiding being burned to death and roll it down his dragon spine with a smoking boot. You're a coward. I said it earlier. But yeah, just to reiterate my theory was the fact that and Dorana, feathertails don't bond for the simple fact that they can accidentally gift their powers to, their humans. And, and Darna, the last time she let Violet use her ability to stop Tom, she couldn't do it anymore. So my theory was that she probably, gave Violet the ability. And we get a lot of those Tom stamps in this book. They're very questionable. Yeah. It's interesting. I think this might be one of my top three segment theories, but, With a asterisk. I think that maybe she doesn't have the ability to stop time directly, but I think her second segment might be time manipulation. So closely related. And I think she may not even realize it, but she's slowing time, like ever so slightly. And that's why she's counting things in seconds and heartbeats. And I think this could actually be a very useful tool for her power because she's able to like pick strands and. Make them go wherever she wants. So she was able to slow time. She can make each of those strands of her lightning or her pure power, like, have more control over them. I don't know. This might be in one of my top three, but it's very interesting. I'm excited to see where her second second is. Yeah, all right. We're gonna talk about Violet and Dragonkind. More than once in this stretch of chapters, Violet speaks and works with dragons that she ain't bonded to, which goes against everything we know about Dragonkind at this point. In the midst of saving Sawyer, Violet communicates with Slease y g, quote, breaking the cardinal rule of all riders. The red swivels its head toward me, pinning me with a furious golden glare. Later, Violet breaks the cardinal rule once again. This time to talk to the biggest dragon on the continent, Kodaa. And then proceeds to have a whole conversation with him. Well, he doesn't say anything, but he eventually does. To confirm the secret of Indarna. And even Taryn asks after she does this, quote, you court death. Reinforcing the fact that this is crazy behavior. Violet, you should be roasted and the dragons glare at her too. Obviously reinforcing again that this is crazy behavior, but I think she has a connection to dragon kind. Maybe she's part, dragon has dragon in her blood, or she's a dragon shifter as a second sleeper. Wild, wild, wild theory, which I don't think is true, but I love it and I'm actually going to talk about it in our Onyx Storm prediction episode, but I think the dragons might know Violet is special or they at least acknowledge that her bond with Indarna is key to defeating the Venon long term, hence why she isn't dead for being ballsy. All right, next. This is probably the most important thing we're going to talk about in Battle Preview, relating to Onyx Storm. Who do the Venon want? Mystery is driving me crazy, but we're going to break this down into two different sections. Evidence pointing towards Violet being the one they really want versus Zayden. So the Acem that lands on Terran says to Violet, quote, you're the one he wants. And then the Venon that Violet fights with Kat says in recognition, quote, the lightning wielder, I'm under orders not to kill you. You'll be so much fun for him to wield. And then this asshole Venon goes on to say that he will be the teacher's pet for delivering Violet, basically, and may even be given the veil once this is over. And considering that we know that the veil could feed the Venon for centuries, that speaks volume about how much she is worth to the Sage, so. Lots of evidence pointing to Violet, but now it's Zayden's turn, my dude. After Zayden mysteriously tells Violet that Venon thought they would be at Samara and not to ask why, she says a little bit later, quote, I have a million questions as to why you think they're coming for you. You and me both, Violet! Makes me think that maybe Zayden bred the intentions of the sage at some point, or he actually had an interaction with the sage that us and Violet don't know about yet. I think that's very possible. And then Zayden's pub is really where things get murky. Seems that Zayden has the same venom nightmares that Violet has, and is told the same thing during these horror dreams confirmed by the Maven. Quill, I told you once that you'd turn for love. Turn. It's the only way to save her. So, is the Venon saying this to Zayden and Violet is hearing the same thing having the same dream because of their bond That's what I'm thinking. On my first read I was confident that the Venon want Violet more but actually I think my final answer is Zayden. But I want to hear what you think, Ken. That's interesting. Cause with my final, hypothesis and I think the Venom actually want Violet more. And I'll tell you why. All right. Well, So when Violet faces off with Venom during the battle, he states, like Kenna said, you're the one that he wants. So. First off, we're going to get off track here First off, who the heck is he? I have theories on this too. And then we'll talk about this in our predictions episode. Second, this kind of makes more sense to me because Violet is the one weapon that can easily take down hundreds of Wyvern at once and kill the Venom with one strike. And throughout this book, Violet's biggest weakness has been pointed out on various accounts, which is the love for the people that are closest to her. And her heart has gotten her into some serious trouble throughout this whole book. And like Kana said last episode, I think that she'll do just about anything for the people that she loves. So I think it is totally rational that the Venom targeted Zayden to get to Violet, and I feel like it's a win win situation for both of them. And if the Vampire Diaries didn't teach me anything, it taught me about the importance of leverage. And Zayden is their leverage to lure Violet. it makes perfect sense because Zayden is one of the most powerful riders there is. So they already got him on their team and they knew that he would most definitely turn to save her because obviously he's been talking about how he would do anything to keep her alive. He couldn't live without her. So they knew that that was also his weakness. So they targeted him first and they also know that Violet would probably be Do anything to save him. So Not only do they have one of the most powerful writers on their side already have been in, but they have the most powerful writer that can kill them at their mercy. Their leverage is Zayden. I think they took Zayden to get to Violet. You almost convinced me that I'm sticking with my story out of pure spite. I don't know, dude. I think it may be the reverse, but I can see it going either way. It's just so confusing to me about the nightmare the fact they're both having it and that the Venon is saying the same thing in the dream. I was also on the verge about who it could be, but I think I was more convinced this stretch when we got all the dialogue. Between her and the venom that's funny because that's what happened to me except for I think the opposite I don't know we'll see As you guys will see we're very competitive so we'll see who's right I'm glad that we actually got opposing opinions though. I do too. That's all yeah All right time to get into our favorite and notable moments So my first favorite moment was rihanna And the fact that she was probably just born to fight and be in war. Like she was super awesome. From chapter one of fourth wing, Rihanna was like raving about how she had been waiting on the moment to cross the parapet, which is pretty insane. Cause like. Why? But her, her ability to grow as a writer throughout these books and the her ability to grow in rank just proves that this girl was born for battle. And I cannot get over the scene during the battle at Best Value when she jumps off of Terran's back after saving Violet. So it's like how much more can she do to prove that she's a writer at heart? Not only did she jump on Terran's back to save her best friend, but then she jumps off his back to go finish fighting Bennett. It's just like, bro. Pretty badass. Yeah. She is. I could see her being the general of Azergaijan one day or something like that. I'm here for it. I would put in my vote for Riannon for general. my next, well, I want to give JB his villain moment because as much as we dislike him, he wears the villain hat pretty well, except for the part where he literally spills all the tea. But, I mean. This man went undetected for months. The fact that he was very consistent at fooling everybody and while they were trying to find a cure for him and he was like giving them hope that he could be cured and he was the lead villain the whole time. And I'm just curious as to why, again, if leadership knew that there was a venom on the grounds at Bezgalia, why wasn't he the obvious person to look out for? They were so caught up in trying to point fingers at Zayden that they just overlooked the actual villain. I just don't understand. I bet you in leadership. There's definitely interventing complicit that's pointing them in the wrong direction. So yeah, all the other clues for sure. Yeah. My last favorite moment is, about Androna, but I feel like, Androna actually kind of scares me a little bit. It's a little scary. I've loved watching her grow throughout these books, and I love the special bond that her and Byleth have, and the special, moment they have during the battle. But this chick is feisty, and she actually scares me. I think she scares me a little bit more than Sigil does, because, I don't know, she's just an adolescent, and she's already, like, Real feisty. And my favorite quote from the scene was quote, you are as unique as I am. We want the same things. And quote, this was just so cute. Cause they're both very different and they just, they're just so cute. I love the brun. I could see her and Sigal becoming drag questies. And their one hobby is making tan masks. Okay, my favorite moments. I don't know why I turn British every time I do this. Or Australian, I don't know, I'm really bad at accents. One of the two. my first favorite moment was the Iron Squad. Badasses. So obviously Rihanna and Slayden, but them as a whole, I just really appreciated seeing the bond that they have together, the stretch of chapters, before they head to a ratio, I love when Zayden is like, yeah, Violet's coming with me, Rhee interrupts him and she's like, With all due respect, unlike war games, second squad, flame section, fourth wing will remain intact, though. You're welcome to join us. And then Violet looks at me and she's like, yeah, you can come with us. We're staying together. And I was like, yes, iron squad. I have been waiting two whole books to see the squad dominate and actual battle. I'm not just best guy, you know? Yeah. Whatever they do. That's guys. And then to see them execute with teamwork and efficiency and. save each other's lives with Rianna saving Violet and then Violet saving Sawyer and Riddick too, was just so cool and it was so satisfying. I love reading battle scenes and especially when I am so attached to this particular group of friends. I just love them all together. I also loved Violet doing her thing. A lot of this book has been focused on her journey to improve her endurance and her skills and also get control of her powers in her emotions since they're so closely intertwined. And I feel like we finally get to see her hard work pay off, like with her training with Imogen, training her powers, and working so hard to keep her emotions in check. Quote, I've run like I've been running for it since Wreson. I've run because I couldn't save Liam, couldn't save Solail, but I can save the rest of them. I can save him. And she does! With the exception of Zayden, but I mean, he did that to himself. It was lovely to see her hard work come together at the end, and I think it's even sweeter because she's been doubting herself. And the majority of the book and struggling so hard and to see it all come together and her have these moments where she's just a total badass, just gives me chills. And this quote is probably one of my favorites of the entirety of Iron Flame quote, I no longer feel like I direct the storm. I am the storm. Yes, I've loved watching them grow. I don't know, I feel like I'm a part of The squad I just feel it's so crazy how attached we can get to Fictional characters and how much we can see fictional characters grow. It's really weird, but I like it. That's why I love reading so much Yeah, same It gets real personal So i'm gonna close out the battle brief section and move on to the book of decennia where we would dive into the mythology of the Wen and Benon and go over the Imperion timeline. Feel free to skip ahead to the flight field if you feel like you're already an expert. Woo woo. Let's get into the mythology. Shall we? So Let's talk about the wyvern first because it kind of ties together. So wyvern are a type of mythical dragon with two legs instead of four and it only has two wings. Cause some dragons in mythology have multiple sets of wings. And it also has a pointed tail. Their origin it traces back to ancient European folklore and they're used as symbols for strength, power, and protection. And they're often associated with great battles, which is very interesting because it ties into our lovely book. Ironflame. Venon. So I couldn't really find any concrete historical facts about Venon related to mythology, only related to Brachiosaurus. I don't know if she like came up with this or what kind of research you did to get info on venom, but I couldn't find it. So, we're gonna just go over briefly the origin in terms of the book. well, I did find one thing interesting while I was doing some research, is the fact that venom is believed to stem from the word venom, which basically is like poison, and we know that this could Can be related to the Venom because of their eyes and their veins and the fact that they literally drain life out of stuff. So I found that very interesting. Now in terms of the book, Venom, they stem from a folklore story about three brothers in which the jealous brother channeled magic directly from the earth, losing his soul and becoming a Venom. And the first account of Venom in the book was documented About over 600 years ago, if I'm not mistaken, and they're able to create Wyvern and it's basically their form of a dragon. Okay, to get everything organized in our brains before Onyx Storm, we're just going to do a quick review of the timeline prior to the beginning of Fourth Wing. Because I think we all understand the timeline and everything that happens in the books. Probably a little too well at this point. And this information was collected by the Empyrean Wiki website, and I was able to fact check the majority of it, and it looks like it's all in line with what is said in the book. So, just before we begin, a reminder that AU stands for After Unification of Namar, and BU stands for Before Unification. Let's talk in terms of historical events first. BU, before unification, there was the great war against General Deremoire, which we assume at this point is a Venon. 1AU was when Navarre unified. 1 2AU was the migration of the first year before they closed their borders. 233 AU was the beginning of the war with Peromial. 328 AU was the second Cygni incursion, Signon absorbed into Perial, and then at an unknown date there was the trade agreement of resin. This essentially insured the exchange of goods between Navar and Perial four times a year at the outpost of aba. And then 4 34 au is the second Lin uprising. And this is actually really interesting and could be really important Because notably this uprising is mentioned by Colonel Atos, Dane's father, who we think is a Venom, when discussing the scribe's investigation into the archives regarding the power of Feathertails, and Violet's father was also researching this event, and we know he was researching the Feathertails, so I think we may learn more about this uprising in Onyx Storm in future books. And then 627 AU was the beginning of the Tyrish Rebellion, and then July 1st, 628 AU was the Battle of Arisha, end of the Tyrish Rebellion. in terms of pre fourth wing character timelines, so all the important dates for our characters, 17 AU, so 17 years after unification is when Andarna's egg was laid, 618 AU, Violet meets Dane as children, 621 AU, Zayden's mother leaves her political marriage after filling the requirements. 627 AU, Mira joins the Writers Quadrant and Brennan graduates to become a lieutenant. 628 AU, Violet last sees Brennan prior to the Battle of Aresha and the Caldeir executions take place. So that's when Fenn Ryerson and all the other parents of the Rebellion kids died. 629 AU is when Father Sorengale began having heart problems and 630 AU is when he dies. And then 631 AU is when Zayden enters the Writers Quadrant. 633 AU is when Violet begins training for the Writers Quadrant. And also Conscription Day, bringing us to the top of fourth wing later that year. So just a brief reminder of all these important historical events and dates for our characters. I feel like I'm in history class. There's a lot of dates. I was like, how can I make this fun? Moving on time to head to the flight field where every weekend and I would do two to three mini series, unique to our podcast. It won't be the same every week. So please keep tuning in for all the fun this week. We're going to do song association. We're going to do unhinged fan theory, spotlights, the song I chose was Monsters by Ruel. I'm a big fan of her. She makes a lot of alternative pop indie music. And I find a lot of her songs fit the vibe for listening to fantasy books, especially battle. So I love her and I think her song monsters captures Zayden becoming a Venom and how his relationship with Violet is going to change. I'm feeling like a villain. Got a hunger inside one look in my eyes and you're running. Cause I'm coming going to eat you alive. At the end of our claim, Zayden is speaking like Violet is going to be, or should be scared of him. And rightfully so. I don't really think so. I feel like she will be unless he does something drastic, but he is now the enemy. She's fighting so hard to stop. So obviously the dynamics are going to shift, but the lyrics are just too perfect. Speaking about hunger for more power and looking in the eyes. I was like, Ooh, this is crazy. It fits so good, but it's actually a really good song too. I find it funny that you chose a real song because I also chose one. I know this song too, So I actually chose War of Hearts, which I think is also the perfect depiction of Xavier and Violet's, push and pull theme they have in this book. the lyrics that really, sold me were, quote, I can't help but love you even though I try not to. I know I'd die without you. at the end of Fourth Wing, Violet pretty much denied Zayden any type of physical relationship until she got some answers, and she also threatened to fall in love with him, in which Zayden responded that he had already tried and it did not work. It was a big fail. So, Violet, throughout Iron Flame, tried her best to ignore her feelings to get what she had been begging for all this time, which is answers. But in the end, she folded, like. Any one of us would when it comes to Zayden Ryerson. And we all know Zayden's infamous line, You'll be the death of me. And I also think that this song also highlights maybe their relationship. They'll have an onyx storm because we know that there are a lot of instances where a ball has been slapped in the face. It's by Zayden, like metaphorically, with the information that she gets. And I feel like him being Venon and the things that he might have to do as a Venon will maybe rep her the wrong way and she'll have to try to fight her love for him to find answers. So I just think that this is again, they're pushing full on themes they have going on. They're really so toxic. Super toxic. That's why we love it. God. Okay. Let's Unhinged Fan Theory Spotlight. Okay. It's. unhinged, but I have actually convinced myself thanks to at bookish b r y on TikTok. she's convinced me that the series very possibly real. while I was making the outline, I actually had a thought. When I was doing my section on Lilith, that maybe she turned Venon after reading the quote, There is nothing I wouldn't do to keep you safe. Say less. Would you turn Venon? So let's outline this theory from our girl Brianna on TikTok. Violet used to think her mom was a Venon as a child because of her red eyes, to which her dad said, nah, she's just super tired. Well, we know that Jack passed as a normal dude for a long time at Bezgaioth, so this could definitely be possible. They have slightly red eyes and they're not as strong within the wards. Evidence number two, there's a missive from Nolan to Lilith that reads, We have tried every known method as you requested. There is no cure, only control. Referring to Venon. And at this point, we know Nolan and Lilith are very close, or at least they've worked closely together for probably many years. I'm thinking she commissioned Nolan to try and find a cure, and maybe taking that a step further, Nolan took it upon himself to try mending Jack. And if Nolan is so sure that Jack can, quote, choose to be good that implies, possibly, that he knows someone else that has made that decision, and I'm thinking maybe it's Lilith. And we also know Lilith is a very controlled, calculated person, and she is probably the only person I could think of that could manage Venon and not lose control. And another interesting thing is that Lilith had the antidote on hand to remedy the Signet Blocking Serum, which we learn at the end of Iron Flame was created to cut Venon off from their power within the wards. So maybe she has it on hand because she actually has to take the serum to control her urges to channel from the Source. I think that might be something there. And lastly, the silver hair. I think, and Brianna from TikTok also thinks that Mama S turned Venon while or before she was pregnant with Violet. And the silver hair is because Lilith was having to channel in small amounts, even while pregnant, which could have caused a discoloration of her hair. And it could also possibly explain Violet's physical weaknesses. And why Lilith always looks at Violet's hair with. Disdain and maybe Violet and we were misreading that and she was looking at it with a sense of shame because she knows that she's the cause of her daughter's silver hair. But I'm even more convinced after reading this theory and the excerpt because we know that there's a silver haired Venon so now in my brain silver hair connects to Venon and this makes this theory even more tangible for me. I'm very convinced I'm also convinced because even in chapter one of fourth wing, when we were getting little character description, the one thing that was said about her eyes, they were red. one of our first introductions of Lilith was the fact that her eyes are red. So I definitely think that this could be possible. Because I also have a similar theory that I'm going to talk about later. But yeah, I stand this theory. Maybe it could be revealed in her captain's journal. Maybe we're gonna find out. She's journaling about being a Venom and maybe that'll help Violet understand Zayden if I'm wrong about every prediction I've had, I just, yeah, I feel like at some point we got to be right. Cause then it would defeat the whole purpose of foreshadowing. Cause then that means she didn't know foreshadowing. But I know Rebecca puts things in there to throw you off. So I'm like, what if my whole theories are based off of things that she just put in there to get us distracted. Hmm. You're right. I don't know. Time will tell. So my unhinged fan theory actually comes straight from Rebecca Yarles. this didn't come from a specific fan or like from somebody on, TikTok, but one of the interviews that always stick with me was the interview that Rebecca Yarles did with Seriously. And she was reading fan theories and Commenting on them, answering some, giving us hints on others. And one of the theories being that Imogen had been erasing Violet's memories from the beginning. And Rebecca Yarbrough responded by saying that she wouldn't say neither yes or no. And she said that she wouldn't say no could be possible in certain areas. And, hmm, this got me thinking. Because this isn't super in depth because I don't really have any concrete reasons as to why Imogen would be erasing her memories. It's very interesting. I think the only reason why Imogen would erase Bob's memories would be to protect Zayden in the revolution. But why would she want to erase her memories? I don't know. What do you think? I've seen this too, and I can't wrap my head around it, but it would be a major plot twist. I just keep going back and thinking through all the situations with Imogen. And I also love Imogen now. So I don't like that theory because I don't want Imogen to have broken Violet's trust like that. I think it's possible, but it would open a whole can of worms that would. Just be wild. So first off Rebecca Yarles, I know she loves to throw us off, but in the interview, she was denying some concrete stuff. And then in this particular three, she did not deny it whatsoever. She didn't say yes or no, but she didn't deny it. I'm like, this is something very important to note. But this kind of got me thinking because Imogen suddenly close Like they like built this weird understanding of each other. So I don't know. We know that Zayden would do anything to protect her and that he would do anything to protect himself. And if that means keeping secrets from Violet, like we see him do it. And this is probably the same for most marked ones. And we know that he was more outright with sending Liam to protect and watch over Violet. But I think maybe Imogen was the second reinforcement I don't know. But she did kind of pop out of nowhere, that's important though, too. She did. I think if she did erase anything, it would be something from Ressen that Violet or Imogen or all the marked ones didn't want Violet to see. Yeah. But I can't wrap my head around what that would be. I know. I don't know. Man, Rebecca, I'm so confused. It would be cool. If that wasn't be a plot twist because it is to be another reason why I would relate. This is the vampire diaries because they can, they also have the ability to erase memories. It's taught me a lot though, because it has me. Thinking about certain stuff, shall we? Yes. Well, good answer because each week, Mackenzie and I will give each other and our listeners to, or in this case, three trivia questions at the end of our iron flame coverage, which is a today. We will tally up who has the most points and loser will have to do something embarrassing, funny, nasty, crazy that the winner or you guys as fans suggest. So please, we'd love to hear your feedback ideas and participation in this section. Let us know if you got all the questions right or all the questions wrong. I'm scared. Okay, I'm kind of nervous. Wait, what's her, totals? Oh, currently, I have six and a half points and Kenzie is four. Okay. Because I whooped her ass last episode. Alright. Question one. What was the name of the the Venon that Violet encountered during the battle? The scene with her and Kat. He's got a name? Yeah. Asin? No. I'll give you a hint. It's a female. It was two different ones. I don't remember her saying her name. That's crazy. Did I actually get you on a name question? No. I just knew you were going to know this one because you're so good with names. Damn. No, I don't recall any Venon name at all. It was Ven. Because the other dude came up and he was like, that's a no, Ven. Oh, yeah, that's right. Dang. Okay, well, that was a good question. You got me. I'm shocked. I'm shooketh. I just knew you were going to get that. Okay. Name at least one of the two dragons in the mated pair mentioned in chapter 59. I don't know. Wait, let me see. I feel like I was going to get you on this question. Yep, dope. Okay. Grime, Grime, and Maze. I don't remember whose dragons they were, but I think one of them was at Samara, and one of them was at Buzzgaoth, and they were communicating. And Violet was asking Taryn, how long until you and Sigail can communicate in instances like that. I do remember that scene now, but I don't remember their names, so I was not paying attention to that. Okay. What was the name of the king that sparked suspicion that turning Ben heightens one of the Dark Willer's senses? Oh crap, this was in chapter header wasn't it? King of Navar? What was his name? I know, I was, I don't know the question. I'm just hoping you'd answer. I don't know. It doesn't say. King Funky King King Brnah. No. What's the next part? Why did that come to my head? I don't know. I give up. It's King Grithwild. Oh, shit. Okay. Very interesting. Okay. What color and tail, so you get a half point if you get one or the other, is Garak's dragon Shadrak? Shara Sha sounds like, I wanna say Chad, but there's an R and h and so I wanna say it. Chad Sharad who is highly sensitive to rooms. Garrick. Interesting. Okay. I wanna say this is probably way off, but I'm just gonna guess green arrowtail, I don't know what that's a thing. A what? A what tail? I don't know, I don't know. Arrowtail. Arrowtail, girl! you were wrong on both counts, it was a brown scorpion tail. Interesting. Hmm. Not looking too hot. Let's not. But I'm confident you'll get my last question. You'll see why in a second. Last question. How far is the flight from Oratia to Baskaya? 12 hours? No, it's 18 hours. No. I was just playing. It's 18. Oh. Well, do I get it? That wasn't my first answer. I always give it to you on the second. Okay. Alright, yeah, at some point in history, Avedon killed the king of Corden. What was his majesty's name? Oh, King Grithwyrm. Is that why you said that? Yeah, when you asked me the name of the King, I was like, I bet it's the same one, but I couldn't remember the answer to my own question. Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. I knew we would probably have the same answer because there's so many names. But. Well, I lost again. What am I going to have you do? My two points is always like right there. I got real nervous when we got tied. I was like, oh crap, she's going to make me drink another quiche, milkshakers, man. Sick of losing. You know what? Onyx storm is going down. Just wait. My revenge. I've always been good at my comeback though. Oh yeah. Which one did you win? You won? I think so. Yeah. Of course, Kingfisher. I mean, who's keeping track, but it's 3 1. So yeah, we need to do a mega challenge. At the end of season one, we'll see what the big score is. And that's how many pushups you have to do. The difference. Wow. So many pushups. Oh yeah, that sounds like a pretty lame consequence. All right. That is a wrap folks. Bye. More, we cannot wait to talk about onyx storm with you guys. So, so, so soon, but thank you for tuning in to our last deep dive episode of iron. Yes. And join us tomorrow, Friday, January the 17th, as we dive into our predictions for onyx storm and a discussion on second signet theories and on the flip side of book three, we will see you guys for our reaction episode releasing January the 27th. Yes. And we are growing quite a bit right now because of the onyx storm release and we would love to capitalize on that. So it would mean the world to both of us to hear feedback from you guys. If you can take the time to leave us a review, follow us on our social media, especially since our tech talk might get banned. I'm really hoping not. But we do have an Instagram where we post pretty much all the same content. Go check it out at shadow and starlight pod, and then make sure to subscribe on YouTube and all major podcast platforms for a freshly baked episodes. We deliver to you next week. Bye friends. See you next week. Bye friends. We'll see you next week or tomorrow. We'll see ya.