63 pages • 2 hours read
Rebecca YarrosIron Flame
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Medaro Pass
The treacherous journey through Medaro Pass symbolizes the tenuous alliance between riders and fliers. The path, which includes a parapet-like stretch the fliers and their gryphons must successfully cross, is representative of the parapet every rider candidate must conquer before being inducted into the Riders Quadrant. As Brennan says before they embark on the journey, “No rider will respect a cadet who hasn’t crossed the parapet” (406). Their joint journey toward Aretia serves as a way for the fliers and riders to form relationships based on mutual respect and trust, which will allow them to fight together effectively against the venin in the coming war. The fact that the gryphons must accompany their fliers on the path, which the dragons never have to do with their riders, exemplifies the heightened stakes of their alliance. For a rider candidate, there is a celebration on the other side of the parapet; for the fliers, there is former enemy territory and a dawning war.
The parapet Violet crossed in Fourth Wing symbolizes leaving her old life and family behind; once she joins the Riders Quadrant, her trust, and loyalty are placed foremost in her new squad members at Basgiath. The Medaro Pass represents the same for the gryphon riders leaving Poromiel to receive instruction and training at Aretia. Once they reach the other side, their old rivalries and allegiances must be left in the past so that they may fully embrace their partnership with the riders. Just as riders who succeed at the parapet are sorted into squads, the fliers who make the Medaro Pass are absorbed into Aretia’s existing squads.
Visions of Liam
Violet’s visions of Liam during Varrish’s torture are a motif connected to The Power of Love. Violet’s love for Liam gives her the psychological strength to endure immense physical torture that would break someone much stronger than her physically. With simple words of encouragement such as “hold steady” and “hold the line” (312-13), Liam bolsters Violet’s resolve to stay strong and remain silent. Eventually, when her days become so bleak that she worries death is just around the corner, her visions of Liam provide her the same comfort she sought to give him as he died. With him keeping her company, Violet is not afraid to die to keep her secrets.
Liam’s presence serves as a physical representation not only of the people she loves but what happens to them when someone learns the secrets she harbors. Liam’s death was a result of Dain’s betrayal, when he stole secrets from Violet’s mind which prompted Colonel Aetos to send her and Xaden’s friends to die. Liam predicts similarly dire consequences when he states, “Talking would lead to the deaths of every living thing on this Continent” (313). For days of torture, Liam never leaves her side; his unwavering support represents the love present in her life, which far outweighs any pain Varrish can inflict. When Dain is brought in and forced to take Violet’s memories, all of her secrets are given up against her will. Her apology to Liam for failing him is both an apology to everyone who will die because of the secrets Dain stole for Varrish and representative of the nature of the failure. Just as her failure to save Liam was beyond her control, so is her ability to defend against Dain’s signet in her current state, with the signet-blocking elixir preventing access to her magic.
The Archives
The Archives are vital to Violet’s pursuit of the truth and symbolize the broad scope of control official written records can have over history, culture, and belief. As Violet’s father always said, “it is the Scribes who hold all the power” even in a world of dragons and riders, because “they put out the public announcements. They keep the records. They write […] history” (14). The erasure of culture and history can happen swiftly, and it takes only one generation for entire peoples and eras of history to be wiped from existence. In Violet’s world, all it takes is a single scribe to effectively censor the truth, alter history, and sway others to believe certain things or perceive things in a certain way.
Though Violet has always seen the Archives as the greatest source of knowledge, they become useless when she realizes that it contains nothing “older than four hundred years except for the scrolls from the Unification” (97-98). She loses even more faith when she realizes that everything housed within them perpetuates a lie. Chapter 21 includes a history class discussion that goes in-depth about the loss of culture among the provinces during the Unification of Navarre. Many languages died out when a common tongue was adopted throughout the provinces, leading to the loss of oral folklore and texts, from which a few translators picked and chose what to translate and what to let fade into obscurity. Professor Devera admits she cannot “imagine the depth of what [they] lost knowledge-wise” (205), which voices what Violet has come to realize throughout her research. It is the scribes, who hold the power over languages and literature, that choose what the world becomes, from its rules to its beliefs to who holds the power.
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By Rebecca Yarros
