Rebecca Yarros’ “Onyx Storm” left readers with more questions than answers about dragon rider Violet Sorrengail’s fate.
“Onyx Storm” is the third book in Yarros’ “Empyrean” series, a romantasy full of dragons, magical battles, and steamy romance scenes. The book follows Yarros’ first two installments in the series, “Fourth Wing” and “Iron Flame,” becoming the fastest-selling adult novel in 20 years, according to The New York Times.
Yarros isn’t working on the fourth book in the series yet, which will be tough for readers since the ending of “Onyx Storm” was filled with vague information meant to keep readers on their toes.
Read on for an explanation of the ending of “Onyx Storm” and popular theories about what it might mean for Violet.
There are heavy spoilers for the “Empyrean” series ahead.
‘Onyx Storm’ features a cliffhanger ending
“Onyx Storm” culminates in a battle between venin and riders.
Xaden Riorson, Violet’s love interest, ends the battle by submitting to his venin power, channeling from the earth to wipe out the dark wielders and the wyvern they control. Meanwhile, Violet manages to kill the venin Theophanie before fainting.
The battle is described from multiple points of view, including Xaden’s. When the scene is described from his perspective, he discovers he has a new venin “brother,” a rider that turned. After he ends the battle, Xaden tells his dragon Sgaeyl he wants to ask Violet for a favor, urging her to help him.
In the last chapter, Violet awakens confused at Riorson House, Xaden’s home, with fellow rider Imogen Cardulo. Her brother Brennan informs her that she has been missing for 12 hours and that four riders, including Xaden and his best friend Garrick Tavis, are missing.
Violet also discovers she is wearing a wedding ring and holds a blessing from the head priestess of Dunne’s temple over her marriage to Xaden. On the blessing, a note from Xaden reads, “Don’t look for me. It’s yours now.”
In the book’s final lines, Violet realizes Imogen used her signet power to wipe her memory of the night’s events. When Violet asks her what she did, Imogen responds, “What you asked me to.”
The end is shocking and intentionally vague, leaving readers to stew over multiple mysteries until the fourth “Empyrean” novel is released.
Xaden’s new ‘brother’ could be multiple people
Among the ending’s mysteries is the identity of the person who turned venin. He is not named before the book ends, but it includes clues about who he might be.
When Xaden first sees his new “brother,” he describes feeling shocked, particularly because the person is someone close to him. He says he “could no more raise a blade to his throat than I could Violet.”
At an event in Denver on February 2, Yarros told readers to “pay attention to who’s missing at the end” of “Onyx Storm” and “to someone who feels like whatever they have given is not enough, which is always the case when you turn venin.”
In addition to Xaden and Garrick, there are three riders with murky whereabouts at the end of the novel: Bodhi Durran, Xaden’s cousin; Aaric Graycastle, a prince of Navarre; and Dain Aetos, Violet’s childhood best friend.
Bodhi last appears in the book in a chapter told from Imogen’s perspective, where she spots him “on his hands and knees across the town square, retching.” Xaden catches a glimpse of Dain as he gives into his venin powers, saying he tears “the heart from a wyvern who has Dain and Cath backed into a corner.” And before Violet faced off against Theophanie, Tairn spotted Aaric and his dragon bringing soldiers from Zehyllna to fight in the battle, and he wasn’t mentioned again.
Of the four possibilities, Bodhi and Garrick seem most likely to fit Xaden’s description of his new brother, as Xaden distrusts Dain and isn’t particularly close to Aaric. Likewise, both Garrick and Bodhi’s powers seem to fail them in the book’s final chapters.
When Bodhi tries to help Violet fight Theophanie, they discover his ability to counter other riders’ signet powers doesn’t work on venin, and his dragon whisks him away from the battle, not giving him the chance to help Violet.
Meanwhile, Garrick is exhausted from using his distance-wielding powers just before Xaden ends the battle. He tells Imogen that he plans to find a way to aid the riders even if his powers are depleted.
Desperation could have fueled either of them to turn, though it would be more in line with Bodhi’s character arc. Bodhi complained throughout “Onyx Storm” that Xaden wouldn’t allow him to fight for Tyrrendor, seeming frustrated by his role as first in line for the throne. Plus, Imogen may have seen Bodhi channeling power from the ground when she thought she saw him vomiting.
Violet has multiple connections to Dunne
Yarros revealed that Violet has multiple connections to the goddess Dunne, a goddess of war, throughout “Onyx Storm.”
When they visit the Isle of Dunne, Violet sees a child with silver-tipped hair, just like hers. A priestess there tells her that she must have started the process of being “dedicated” to Dunne, but Violet disregards the remark.
However, Violet later finds out from her sister Mira that her father attempted to dedicate her to Dunne, but a priestess wouldn’t complete the process because of Violet’s possible paths.
“She said the heart that beat for you — or within you — would do the wrong thing for the right reason, reach for unspeakable power, and turn dark,” Mira said. Xaden then confesses to Mira that he turned venin, saying the priestess must have spoken about him.
Aaric also tells Violet she has to protect Dunne’s temple at a battle in Aretia to succeed, and he provides her with a weapon from a high priestess of Dunne that she uses to kill Theophanie, a former priestess of Dunne herself.
A note provided with the weapon says, “A gift from one servant of Dunne to another. I must warn you — only those touched by the gods should wield their wrath. I will pray to Her that she need not use it to avoid reacquainting herself with the other who curries her favor. Her path is still not set.”
And, of course, a Dunne priestess marries Xaden and Violet. Some readers think Violet may have committed herself to Dunne in the missing hours and returned to Riorson House with silver hair, which is why Brennan’s “eyes bulge” when he first sees her.
Dunne will likely play a big role in the fourth “Empyrean” book, and many readers suspect the other god “who curries [Violet’s] favor” is Malek, the god of death. Throughout the series, Xaden repeatedly comments that he would rather “meet Malek” than lose Violet, making some think Violet may have to actually meet the god to get Xaden back.
Xaden’s goodbye note could be rife with meaning
The “it’s yours now” aspect of Xaden’s note gave many readers pause.
The note may not refer to Tyrrendor, Xaden’s dukedom, which Violet will run in his absence as his duchess. Throughout the book, Xaden refers to Tyrrendor with “she” pronouns, saying comments like, “Tyrrendor will open her borders” and “Our family just got Tyrrendor back, and we will not lose her because of your ego.”
If he doesn’t mean Tyrrendor in his note, it’s possible Xaden wanted Violet to know his soul belongs to her. Venin sacrifice pieces of their souls when channeling power from the earth, and Xaden seemed to give up all but a small part of his own in the final battle, clutching onto a piece of it through his love for Violet.
When he tells Sgaeyl he wants to ask Violet for help at the end of the book, he says, “She promised.” Earlier in the book, Violet promised Xaden she would “sound the alarm” if he used too much power.
“He’ll never go too far, never lose his soul, so I nod,” Violet responded to Xaden’s request.
Xaden may have wanted Violet to keep her promise to protect his soul, keeping it separate from his body as he descended further into his life as a venin.
Some fans think Xaden put what remained of his soul in Violet’s wedding ring, made with an emerald that matched those found on his sword, the Blade of Aretia. Others think his soul may be kept in an empty glass box he was given on the isle of Zihnal. Xaden kept the box in his and Violet’s room at Riorson House and even stored the Blade of Aretia inside it.
Violet also received a broken compass on the isle, and some readers think it may ultimately help her find Xaden.
Some fans have theories about Imogen’s signet
It’s a bombshell at the end of “Onyx Storm” when Imogen reveals she erased Violet’s memory at her request.
Violet has seen Imogen use her powers throughout the “Empyrean” series, even asking her to erase Jack Barlowe’s memories at the beginning of “Onyx Storm” to protect Xaden. However, some fans think Imogen used her powers on Violet at other points in the series without her knowledge.
For instance, in a bonus chapter from “Fourth Wing” told from Xaden’s point of view, Imogen uses her signet to deliver weapons to gryphon riders without detection. Xaden doesn’t say Imogen uses her power on Violet directly, but it opens the door to the possibility that Imogen’s signet has helped keep Violet in the dark.
Violet may not know the full extent of her relationship with Xaden if Imogen has been controlling what she knows. It’s also possible Violet has previously asked Imogen to erase her memories, but it wasn’t mentioned in the text.
Others think Imogen may have erased Violet from Xaden’s mind to protect Violet from him, which is why he said not to look for him in his goodbye note. Imogen’s power will certainly be illuminating in the next “Empyrean” novel.
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