payment page
Hope is a fickle, dangerous thing. It steals your focus and aims it toward the possibilities instead of keeping it where it belongs—on the probabilities.
In this quote from Chapter 10, Violet reflects on the tension that she and all the other cadets must constantly live with: hope strains against realism. By calling hope “fickle” and “dangerous,” she suggests that hopefulness is likely to mislead the fools who rely on it. She personifies “hope” as if it had agency of its own and could maliciously “pull” people’s attention toward potential outcomes that may never come to pass. Because of her scholarly background and her military upbringing, Violet believes in focusing on probabilities—the likely outcomes based on facts—rather than uncertain possibilities. However, she can’t abandon hope, even as she forces herself to strategize. This perspective illustrates her struggle with accepting her fate in the strictly regimented world she lives in.
But I will not run. I wouldn't be standing here if I'd quit every time something seemed impossible to overcome. I will not die today.
Here in Chapter 3, as Violet steels herself for the Parapet trial, she expresses her determination to face challenges head-on. The repeated use of “I will not” shows the reader that she’s trying to talk herself into acting as bravely as she knows she must. She’s constructing a refusal to surrender from a base of terror and uncertainty. It’s one of the first moments in the book where readers see how resilient and unflappable Violet is at her core. This quote highlights Violet’s resolve to defy destiny if she has to in order to succeed. Even if it seems overwhelmingly likely that she will “die today,” she refuses to let an obstacle that seems “impossible to overcome” crush her. Rather than giving up, she tells herself it isn’t an option. This is one of many moments where Violet frames survival as an act of willpower and choice, rather than as a predetermined outcome decided by destiny.
Deigh lies a couple of dozen feet away, his body folded at an unnatural angle. This isn’t fair. This isn’t right. Not Deigh. Not…Liam. They’re the strongest of our year. They’re the best of us.
In this passage from chapter 36, Violet is disoriented and horrified at the brutal, sudden deaths of Liam and his dragon Deigh after the battle with the venin at Aethbyne. Violet’s description of Deigh’s “unnatural” position, a magical creature of the air crumpled into an undignified heap on the ground, reveals how unjust and unbelievable this awful outcome is. It’s not Violet’s first brush with death by any means, but Liam was a beloved friend. He was also a notably talented rider (Xaden calls him” objectively the strongest first-year cadet” earlier in the novel) and besides that, a just and honest person who put the good of others before his own. Fate is certainly not always fair in Fourth Wing, and in this quotation, Violet is literally railing against the injustice of Liam and Deigh dying in the same battle as the vicious and unscrupulous venin. Despite their struggles, moments like this imply that even the most capable people can’t always avoid negative outcomes. This loss challenges Violet’s belief in forging a path forward through sheer determination and intelligence. Some outcomes, it seems, remain in fate’s uncaring hands.
