As of: March 26, 2024, 5:10 p.m
By: Laura Hindelang
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The “Fourth Wing” series has found thousands of fans who share the saga on TikTok.
You may not have known these five facts.
Rebecca Yarros achieved meteoric success with “Fourth Wing”.
The start of the “Empyrean” book series about the dragon rider Violet Sorrengail stormed the bestseller lists and sold millions of copies worldwide.
The successor “Iron Flame” was released just six months later.
In the USA, many bookstores even celebrated release parties where fans could buy the fantasy novel promptly at midnight.
The success is largely due to social networks, especially TikTok.
“Fourth Wing” fans get lost in theories and speculation
Thanks to Booktok, a phenomenon that is fundamentally changing the book market, “Fourth Wing” has found a huge following who exchange ideas about the fantasy series and sometimes share wild theories and speculations about the further course of the story.
They often analyze every single word of certain chapters in minute detail.
But the author and her personal relationship to the story are also discussed.
Here are five amazing facts about the fantasy series that you probably didn't know.
The first two books in the “Fourth Wing” series thrilled millions of readers worldwide.
© Panthermedia/Imago/dtv (montage)
1. The outcome of the story is already clear
Rebecca Yarros already knows how the saga ends.
The author was asked about this several times in interviews, for example with
Variety
and
Weltbild
, and she confirmed several times that she had already planned out all the actions.
She knows exactly what will happen in each subsequent book and how the story will end.
The saga will therefore consist of five novels.
The individual titles have not yet been decided, said the writer in an interview with
Variety
.
In addition to the books, a series adaptation of “Fourth Wing” is also planned, which will appear on Amazon in the next few years.
2. Protagonist Violet suffers from a chronic illness
Violet Sorrengail, the main character of the book series, had been preparing to become a scribe all her life.
But then her mother, a tough general, orders her to take part in the dragon rider selection process.
Violet is not suitable for the deadly training because she is smaller and weaker than all other dragon riders.
Their bones seem to break particularly quickly.
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There is an illness behind this that is never directly discussed in the book, but was consciously chosen by the author.
Like her protagonist, Rebecca Yarros suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
“Basically, our body does not produce collagen properly, which leads, among other things, to weak connective tissue, joints and bones,” explained the writer in an interview with
Weltbild
.
When she was growing up, there were no heroines with chronic illnesses in fantasy novels.
The author wanted to change that.
3. Taylor Swift also plays a role
Rebecca Yarros is a fan of Taylor Swift.
She revealed to the Popverse
portal
that she wrote large parts of the first book for the songs “Miss Americana” and “The Heartbreak Prince”.
In the author's opinion, these songs are based on many political themes that fit Navarre - the fantasy empire created by Yarros.
Entire Taylor Swift albums were assigned to the characters in her saga: “Folklore” goes with Violet in volume one, and a mix of “Midnight” and “Red” in volume two.
She assigned the record “Reputation” to Violet’s friend Xaden.
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4. Rebecca Yarros can't pronounce some names herself
Rebecca Yarros has Scottish ancestry.
“My great-grandmother was born in Glasgow,” she told
Variety
.
In her books she wanted to weave “Gaelic words as a love letter to my mother, her family and my ancestors”.
However, if she had known at the beginning how extensive the saga would be, she would have made a different choice.
Because not only her fans, but also the author herself cannot pronounce some of the Gaelic words correctly.
That's why the writer is now taking lessons from a Gaelic teacher.
5. Violet and Violence
TikToker @ nessabooklove
reveals an interesting detail about the saga
in one of her videos: Rebecca Yarros chose the protagonist's name very deliberately.
She chose Violet because it is close to the English “violence”.
“Violcence” is the intimate nickname given to the main character by her boyfriend Xaden.
So Violet is only called Violet so her boyfriend can call her “Violence.”