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At the end of Iron Flame, Xaden sacrifices his soul to channel from the earth and turns venin in the process. As a result, he spends the entirety of Onyx Storm fighting to control the urge to channel in order to delay his complete transformation. However, Xaden’s reason for turning sets him apart from every other dark wielder the reader has met thus far. Other initiates, such as Jack Barlowe, turned venin for power. Xaden turned for love, having only channeled at the end of Iron Flame to save Violet’s life.
Throughout Onyx Storm, Xaden’s control slips or nearly slips whenever the people he loves, such as Violet or Garrick, are in danger. Even the priestess’s prophecy about the heart that beats for Violet, which Mira incorrectly attributes to Violet in Chapter 54, confirms that Xaden did the wrong thing for the right reason when he first channeled. At the end of the text, Xaden finally gives in and channels so much power that he is no longer an initiate. Once again, however, he only does so to save the two beings he loves most—Violet and Sgaeyl. Xaden’s capacity for love, and especially his love for Violet, is so strong that he manages to stop channeling before he loses his soul entirely. Xaden clings to Violet’s love, describing it as “a silken thread of warmth,” and he “lock[s] it in place” before his new powers override his system. His efforts seem to work; Sgaeyl is able to sense enough of Xaden’s presence to not forsake him at the end of the novel and to even agree to his plan. Though the reader does not yet know what his plan entails and the text ends on a cliffhanger, Xaden’s love for Violet clearly proves there is still a Xaden left to save.
Read more about Xaden’s character development in Iron Flame.
