Iron Flame

“Melgren thinks the wards are so infallible that he won’t alert the population. Or he’s afraid that telling the public will make them realize we aren’t entirely the good guys. Not anymore. Fen’s rebellion taught leadership it’s a lot easier to control happy civilians than disgruntled—or worse, terrified—ones.”

Violet makes her stance on the matter of truth and lies crystal clear. She views Melgren’s lies as the selfish self-preservation of Navarre and believes leadership finds it easier to control and manipulate ignorant citizens over informed ones. To Violet, knowledge is always preferable to ignorance, which leaves people dangerously unprepared.

“But when the lives of everyone around you depend on how well you can lie, it’s not easy to realize it’s the truth that will save you.”

Despite admitting this, Xaden continues to withhold the truth from Violet. This foreshadows the many secrets he will continue to harbor throughout the series, which will harm more than they save. If he were more forthcoming with Violet, she might have been more open with him and revealed her dreams of the venin, which could have changed the decision Xaden makes at the end of the novel.

“Brennan’s been lying to me for six years, letting me mourn his death when he’s been well-the-fuck alive the whole time. My oldest friend stole my memories and possibly sent me to die. My mother built my entire life on a lie. I’m not even sure what parts of my education are real and which are fabricated, and he thinks I’m not going to demand total, complete honesty from him?”

This is the origin point of the self-doubt and insecurity that will continue to plague Violet throughout Iron Flame. Violet has just discovered that everything she thought she knew about her world is a lie and that everyone in her life has been perpetuating it. What Violet needs is certainty and stability, but Xaden is unwilling to give this to her, further straining their relationship.

“The general pivots and, for a second, looks down at me like she’s not just my commanding officer, with worry and a touch of horror in her eyes. She looks at me like she’s just…Mom.”

Yarros uses small moments such as these to humanize General Sorrengail and highlight her relationship with her children. She specifically targets General Sorrengail’s relationship with Violet, who has always felt distanced from her mother due to their differences. By showing on the page how much General Sorrengail truly loves Violet, General Sorrengail’s ultimate sacrifice for her becomes more emotionally impactful to the narrative.

“My gut tells me I can trust her, but after Dain, I’m not sure I can depend on my intuition, and knowing isn’t safe for her, anyway.”

Everyone Violet’s chosen to trust in the past has betrayed her in some form. Because of this, she struggles to trust her own judgment and intuition regarding who to rely on. This uncertainty is made worse by Brennan and Xaden explicitly warning her away from trusting scribes, including her friend Jesinia.

“‘Glad to hear it’s accurate.’ She glances over her shoulder, as if checking to see if we’re alone, which we are. ‘The tricky thing is to capture the truth and not just an interpretation. Stories can change depending on who tells them.’”

Jesinia’s statement reveals the fallibility surrounding the work of scribes. Each scribe brings a different perspective and technique to their writing and despite their training in remaining observant and removed, it can be difficult not to insert one’s personal interpretation of events into their records. Jesinia highlights the power scribes have over how history is recorded, which can impact what’s passed down from generation to generation.

“You don’t have to freeze out everyone you can’t be completely honest with just because Riorson thinks that works for him—it doesn’t, hence all of your issues, and it damn well looks like your friend needs you, so go.”

Imogen highlights the differences in the way Violet and Xaden view the theme of The Protective Power of Lies. While lies might work for Xaden, all they have brought Violet since the very beginning is trouble. In the end, it is she who reveals the truth not only to her friends but everyone at Basgiath.

“Answers are supposed to follow questions. That’s how my life has always worked. Until now, there’s never been a question I couldn’t answer after a few hours in the Archives, and now I’m not sure I can trust any answers I do find there. Nothing makes sense.”

Violet relies most on her intellect for strength. When that, too, is as unreliable as her physical strength, she struggles to cope. When Violet continuously struggles to find information on the wards and correctly translate the ancient journals, her failures only exacerbate her self-doubt.

“Devera shifts her weight and then lifts her chin, looking up at us. Does she know? Gods, I want her not to know. I want her to be as good of a person as I think she is. What about Kaori? Emetterio? Grady? Are any of my professors actually trustworthy?”

Everyone in Violet’s life has lied to her. Back at Basgiath, she wonders if there’s anyone in control whom she can truly trust. She desperately hopes Devera is one of the good guys, but is uncertain about trusting her judgment, which failed her with Dain and with her mother.

“Of course she doesn’t believe me. I wouldn’t either. But she’s the only person in the world who absolutely, unconditionally loves me. Brennan let me believe he was dead—would still let me believe it. Mom has never seen me as anything but a liability. Xaden? I can’t even go there.”

Violet clings to Mira as the one family member who has not lied to her. Violet considers Brennan’s, General Sorrengail’s, and Xaden’s lies proof that they do not love her as much as she had thought. The fact that Mira has not lied proves to Violet that her sister loves her unconditionally. This makes it extremely difficult for Violet to keep the truth from her.

“This is what your signet is made for. You’re the first line of defense, Aetos. She could be a Poromish spy or a gryphon rider. You could save the entire kingdom by just plucking her secrets from her memory […] The truth is waiting, Wingleader Aetos, and you’re the only one who can see it.”

The theme of Loyalty Versus Moral Duty is tested on the most loyal of Basgiath students as Dain is presented with a chance to take a redemptive path. He chooses the moral option, but the only reason Violet and her friends are put in such a position with Varrish is that she has not told Dain and her friends the truth. Not doing so gives Varrish all the power to distort the truth later, when he does convince Dain to view Violet’s memories.

“Clever. He’s so fucking clever. With the leaflets collected, every cadet in the room will question the exact wording. Every cadet except the riders who know the meaning of that entire paragraph came down to the placement of the word fire.”

Markham is the leader of the scribes and heavily employs manipulation in class to cover up the existence of venin, angering Violet. His clever wordplay after confiscating all pamphlets prompts everyone to question the placement of the word “fire” within it. The pamphlet details blue fire dragons, implying that they are not blue dragons as Markham slyly claims, but rather dragons with blue fire. This color fire is emitted by wyverns belonging to a certain rank of venin. The act exemplifies not only how easy it is for leadership to cover up the truth, but also how practiced they are after years of doing so.

“Terror expands the pressure in my throat. I can’t reach Tairn or Xaden. Can’t call on my signet or even my knife skills, since my hands are bound. I’m alone and fucking defenseless […] They don’t know who, which means no one else is chained up down here. Not Xaden, or Rhiannon, or Aaric, or any of the others. It’s just me. Being alone just turned into a blessing. And I’m not defenseless. I’m still in full possession of my mind.”

Up until this point, Violet’s confidence has come from her dragon bonds and signet powers. In place of self-confidence, she has been relying on powers outside herself. In the panic of being cut off from everything, Violet temporarily forgets that she has the power of her mind, which has always been the greatest weapon of all and the reason she bonded with Tairn in the first place.

“They may have blocked me from my power, but that stems from Tairn. The control over my mind? That’s mine, and it’s all I have left. Unlike last year, I feel Dain’s presence at the edge of my mind this time, right where my shields should be, and instead of recoiling from the assault, I grab hold of that presence and throw myself into the memory, dragging Dain with me.”

Violet eventually remembers the power of her own mind and the things she can accomplish with just her intellect. She uses this to her advantage and instead of allowing Dain to pick the memories he reads, she forcefully pulls him into scenes of her choosing. Her mind overpowers his mental signet with immense strength.

“Everything I really, truly love—everyone I can’t live without—is here, and for the first time in my life, I can protect them.”

From the beginning, Violet believes that honesty is the best policy and that lies only produce ignorance which is much more dangerous. Violet feels better able to protect everyone she loves now that they all know the truth.

“I fucking hate being disadvantaged by ignorance, but it’s not like the Archives were stacked with tomes on fliers or what they’ve gone through for the last six hundred years.”

Violet has always been described as a person who thrives off knowledge. She is called a creature of logic and facts, but when the wards stump her at every turn, she becomes frustrated with her own ignorance. While she has taken initiative in her studies and prides herself on knowing as much as possible, she has been hindered by the censorship of the Archives and is unused to not being in control or coming across a problem she can’t solve.

“A strap of leather appears in front of my face. ‘Bite down,’ Maren orders over Cibbe’s cries. I can’t look at him, can’t watch his healthy body die just like Liam’s had, so I face forward and bite.”

At this moment of the story, Violet’s insecurities become most powerful, making her emotions volatile. Her inability to save Cibbe and Luella mirrors her failure to save Liam, both during attacks where Violet’s emotions are all over the place. It is not until the final battle that Violet learns to control her emotions and can save Sawyer and his dragon in a redemptive act.

“‘I think it does bother you,’ she says softly as we circle again. ‘Seeing me here, where I belong. Sleeping right down the hall. I bet it keeps you awake at night, knowing I’m a better match for him in every way, counting the seconds he tires of your frail excuse for a body and comes back to the woman who knows exactly what he likes and how he likes it.’”

Cat is intent on tearing Violet and Xaden apart by proving she knows Xaden best. She targets Violet’s biggest insecurities involving Xaden’s dishonesty and secrecy by revealing information about Xaden that Violet does not know. The uncontrollable spiral of Violet’s emotions manifests as doubts about her physical appearance, which has never been important to her before.

“It’s been a week since I’ve seen him, and he’s here. And I love him more than I hate her. […] Xaden’s arms surround me, lifting me to my feet, and I cling to the love I feel for him with my fucking fingernails to keep from letting the anger consume me.”

The Power of Love is shown on both sides of the spectrum in this scene. On one side, Violet is nearly willing to kill Cat because of her love for Xaden. On the other side, Violet can restrain herself from doing so by clinging to her love for him, which keeps Cat’s emotion-amplifying signet ability from completely consuming Violet with anger. This passage illustrates how there is always a choice in what one does for love and how it is used. It can be wielded like a weapon or as a shield.

“But the only weapons she wields are the ones you hand her. You want to keep control of your emotions? You need to have control in the first place.”

Cat uses Violet’s love for Xaden to her own advantage, weaponizing it against her and almost causing Violet to compromise her morals and take a life. At the end of the novel, the Sage does the same, using Xaden’s love for Violet as a way to turn him venin. For months, Xaden and Violet have not had control over their own relationship; their mutual distrust has allowed for miscommunication to fester, which gives the venin the opening he needs to take control using that weakness.

“Fight back like you would have done last year before I broke your trust. Stop being so scared of the answers or waiting for me to give them to you. Demand the truth!”

This passage puts into dialogue what Violet has been struggling with for months. Since her trust was broken in everyone and everything, she has been scared of searching for more answers, afraid it will dismantle her world and her relationships even further than they already are. Her demands for the truth have ceased, replaced by secret-keeping and willful ignorance. Xaden’s demand that she act like she used to is a plea for Violet to return to her former confidence.

“Because I’m starting to realize the price of imbuing this wardstone in time to save everyone I love, and it’s my life.”

The Power of Love gives Violet the strength to give her life to power the wardstone that will activate the wards. Though her attempt is interrupted, the theme is carried on by her mother, who sacrifices herself in Violet’s place. In a sense, the power of love charges the new wards erected at Basgiath.

“I pour and pour, opening my Archives door and taking on the full force of Tairn’s power, shaking with the effort to keep it controlled, focused, constructive instead of violent.”

Violet’s newfound control over her signet powers represents her character’s growth. It also signifies the emotional healing she has experienced over the past few weeks: her mending relationship with Xaden, reconciliation with her family, and being fully truthful with all her friends.