u/ObjectiveStaff3333

Andarna´s Timestopping and time loops:

In short: I think the situations that happen right before Andarna stops time in FW always repeat themselves a year later.

Let's look at the situations copied below:

November 633AU (FW, Ch18) - the attack on Violet - AmberMavisgate, right before Andarna stopped time for the first time

and exactly a year later:

November 634AU - IF Ch52 - IF Nightmare No. III

In both situations -

• Violet is held in the air (by the attackers/Berwyn)
• she is being choked, feels a lack of air
• in the first case, it all ends with them putting a knife to her throat, Vi feels pain and then time stops;
• a year later, in her dream, she feels pain as Berwyn runs his fingernail across her throath and she wakes up.
• It is interesting that even in the situation in FW, there is an element of waking up from a dream right at the beginning.

FW, Chapter 18:

>“Wake before you die!” The bookshelves in the Archives tremble, and my heart jolts. “Now!
...
My dagger is kicked out of my hand with appalling ease, and my heart seizes as Oren grips my throat, yanking me toward him. I sweep out for his knees, but my bare feet make no impact as he lifts me off the ground, cutting off my air supply as I kick for purchase. No. No. No. I dig my hands into his arm, my fingernails puncturing his skin as I claw, drawing blood. He might bear my scars after this, but his grip doesn’t ease as he crushes my throat. Air. There’s no air. “He’s almost there!” Tairn promises, panic lacing his tone. He who? I can’t breathe. Can’t think. “Finish her!” one of the men yells. “He’ll only respect us if we finish her!” They’re after Tairn. Tairn’s roar of rage fills my head as Oren lowers my body, flipping me around as he curls his arm so my back is against his chest. At least my feet are on the ground, but the edge of my vision goes dark, my lungs fighting for oxygen that isn’t there. The greedy eyes of a bleeding first-year stare back into mine. “Do it!” she demands. “Your dragon is mine,” Oren hisses in my ear, and his hand falls away, replaced by a blade. Air rushes into my lungs as cold metal caresses my throat, the oxygen flooding my blood and clearing my head enough to realize this is it. I am going to die. From one heartbeat to what will probably be my last, an overwhelming sorrow seizes my chest, and I can’t help but wonder if I would have made it. Would I have been strong enough to graduate? Would I have become worthy of Tairn and Andarna? Would I have finally made my mother proud? The knife tip touches my skin

IF, Ch 52:

>
I’m suspended again over that sunburned field, the death wave a heartbeat from overtaking me once the Sage releases me from his hold, and he will. He does it every time. I recognize the scenario for what it is now—a recurring nightmare—and yet I’m still held powerless, still too slow to reach Tairn, still can’t force my consciousness to snap me awake. “I grow weary of this. Now wield,” the Sage whispers, his robes purple tonight. “Rip free. Show me the power you used to slay our forces above the trading post. Prove me right that you are a weapon worth watching, worth retrieving.” His hand hovers over mine but doesn’t touch me. “The one who watched thinks you’ll never yield, that we should kill you before you grow into your full abilities.” My stomach turns, my mouth watering with nausea as the bony hand drifts upward, pausing at my neck. “Usually, jealousy sways the tongue of young wielders.” He drags a single, long fingernail down my throat, exposing an expanse of tan arm under his robes, and I twitch, fear accelerating my heartbeat. I force my mouth to open, but no sound comes out. Touching me is new. Touching me is terrifying. “The rest turn for the power,” he whispers, coming so close I can smell a hint of something sweet on his breath. “But you will turn for something much more dangerous, much more volatile.” He wraps his hand around my throat loosely. I manage to shake my head in denial. “You will.” His dark, eyelash-less eyes narrow, and the jagged fingernails slice into my skin with an all-too-real bite of pain. ...

Now let's look at the second moment Andarna stops time

May 634AU: The War Games

What preceded the timestopping:

• Before the start of the games, Xaden secures Violet's safety by giving her a saddle.
• Violet and her team are tasked with guarding the flag; we know Imogen and Dain are on her team.
• Xaden and his team, in which we only know Garrick is present, are tasked with retrieving the egg.
• Xaden gets out of bond range and Vi cannot be in contact with him.
• Vi finds can see the egg, Xaden goes for it
• A big fight takes place between Tairn and three dragons (1st wing)
• Andarna stops time.

Have you already read the theory that this chapter is foreshadowing for the missing twelve hours at the end of OS? Unfortunately, that theory was deleted, so I cannot send a link.

What could have happened during those 12 hours according to this theory?

I remind you that this is exactly a year later, early May 634AU:

• It is probably good to remind ourselves that here, too, Xaden took care of Violet's safety - instead of a saddle, she received a ring and a title, protection by Tyrrendor, its army, and allies, just as Xaden promised during OS.
• Again we have a team where we know Vi and Imogen are present, and it can be assumed Dain is too, because he is not a new brother. They will probably defend the flag= Tyrrendor. (we don't know the other members, just like in the war games)
• Xaden is on a team with Garrick (we don't know the other members, just like in the war games) and is in charge of the dragon egg (or rather eggs).
• You have surely read theories that Tairn is asleep at the end of OS because he killed dragons, because Andarna also had to sleep after she killed Solas, and Tairn warns that next time he won't hesitate to kill a dragon if necessary. Was he fighting other dragons like at the end of the war games?
• Xaden gets out of bond range and Vi cannot be in contact with him.

Andarna stopped time once more, two months later, July 2, 634, Battle of Resson. What will happen on July 2, 635AU?

Is it just me seeing things, or is there something to it?

Is it suspicious, or am I just overthinking it?

Summary for the impatient - I think that the first rune (the different one on the Aretian wardstone) is the anti-Crovlan gryphon rune, the second is anti-Braevick, and Cygnisen gryphons were never blocked because Cygnisen was originally part of Navarre before the 2nd Cygni incursion.

We know that at the beginning of OS, Sawyer changes one rune first, which doesn't work the way they expect. That's why he removes a second one, and then it finally works - gryphon-related magic is unblocked.

The whole time I've been wondering about the fact that they first remove the rune that distinguishes the stone in Aretia from the stone in Basgiath. From that, one could logically assume, based on Lyra's epigraph, that it is a flier-related rune which allows fliers to live in Aretia. But no, it doesn't work. It only works with the second one, which by all accounts is not different from the Aretian wardstone.

So how the hell?

And my new theory - there isn't just one anti-gryphon rune, but multiple ones, and it differs by provinces - Krovla, Braevick, Cygnisen.

Cygnisen are not present in Basgiath at the beginning of OS. So we don't know if their gryphon magic works there. I've always thought there must be some plot reason for them arriving late.

When they test the gryphon magic function, they don't bring Cat with them, which would logically make sense. Instead, they have Maren for testing with them. I'm not entirely sure about Maren, but this paragraph kind of suggests that she might originally be from Zolya, meaning Braewick.

So - the first rune is Krovla gryphon-related magic. Krovla apparently always historically had close ties to Tyrrendor - there are clear signs: Cat and Xaden, Fen and Tecarus, blue dragons from Krovla and black dragons from Aretia, and the connection between Tairn and Sgaeyl. It is logical then that historically, they wanted to have the option to let Poromiel gryphons function in Aretia. So - first they remove the anti-Krovlan gryphon magic. It´t doesn unblock Maren´s magic, and they don't have Cat with them.

Then they remove the second rune, anti-Braevick gryphon magic, which unblocks Maren.

The next day, the magic of all gryphons in Basgiath is unblocked. Cygnisen don't arrive until about 3 months later. With them, a variant occurs to me that Cygnisen were part of Navarre at the time both stones were made, and their separation happened only after the second Cygni incursion. So Cygnisen was never blocked, and that's why they weren't in Basgiath at the beginning, because this secret would have been revealed to the readers.

I’m rereading Fourth Wing and right at the beginning, I was struck by how Jack sniffs Violet.

>Not today,” I respond to Jack, the hilt of my dagger solid in my hand, and I somehow manage to suppress a shudder as he leans over and breathes in. He’s scenting me like a fucking dog. ( FW Ch3)

In connection with the epigraph in IF about how venin have one of their senses heightened...

>Though there is some debate, it is greatly believed that turning venin heightens one of the dark wielder’s senses. It is this scholar’s belief that the one responsible for the death of King Grethwild developed keener eyesight. For not even the best of His Majesty’s royal fliers could see through the darkness the venin hid within to slay our beloved king. —MAJOR EDVARD TILLER’S UNACCREDITED STUDY OF THE VENIN PROPERTY OF THE LIBRARY OF CORDYN

I know Jack definitely hadn't turned before the parapet. But equally, Violet didn't have her lightning signet at that time, and we get foreshadowing right on the parapet in the form of lightning.

And then we have Hedotis- and it's still stuck in my head that they were just weird there, blue dye on an island where there is no color, blue overdyes red to purple and they have violet eyes. Like originaly red? There is the least amount of magic there. They could be venin. And now into this, the toponymy of

Vidiris - VIDI= to see

Hedotis - otis = ear

Tastes on Hedotis played a major role in the plot...

I don't quite know where it's heading, but the connection between the senses, the smell of the venin Jack, and other names derived from the senses on Hedotis seem suspicious to me.

Did you notice the incredible concentration of twins in the book?

Alic and Halden as a possible connection to Hedeon.

Twins – Maren's siblings – Maren received two orange children tunics from Zinhal.

Palta and Costa on Unbriel, the island of the goddess Dunne.

Rhiannon, described as the goddess Amari, from twins?

Two black dragons, the only black dragons to be born at the same time after a hundred years, could they be possible twins? Connected to Malek?

Generally, we know that people constantly discuss The Cure, The New Brother, Irids, what happened during the 12 hours, the Brennan and Naolin story...

However, what do YOU find extremely important in the book, and yet we haven't seen many theories addressing this issue?

For me personally, it's

• Violet and her yearning for the Archives. Because the yearning, the desire to return to Dunne's temple, is mentioned by both the High Priestess of Dunne on Umbriel and Theophanie, but Violet shows no such thing toward Dunne, though she definitely does repeatedly toward the Archives. "...and the stab of longing that’s hit me nearly every day for the past month" She explicitly describes a desire, a compulsive need to return there. There is constant speculation about her connection to Malek. But what about The Archives?
• the runes on the book cover and their clear resemblance to the description of the runes on the wardstone. (a series of circles, each fitting within the next and boasting a rune carved in along its path)

What do you find highly significant in the books that the reader community doesn't pay enough attention to?

Doesn’t it strike you as suspicious how Deaconshire is so strangely overlooked?

Daconshire could be just insignificant, but it feels like it’s being ignored on an almost intentional scale, as if that silence is supposed to tell us something.

What’s most glaring is the total lack of any mention of the Duke or Duchess of Deaconshire. While every other province has its clear representatives, here it is just radio silence. It’s like they don’t even exist, yet they must.

It’s a central province; Violet flies across it repeatedly between Basgiath and Aretia, and all we know is that there’s a trade route and a town called Ruel (not even mentioned in the book, it´s only on the map).

I can’t help but wonder if this is a classic "blind spot" on the map that the author will later use for a major plot twist. Given its central location, it could relate to Violet’s role as a "link" or a crossroads. Plus, there’s her own origin from there- Grandmother Sorrengail is buried there.

Deacon means servant of God or friend of God. It could be related to some forgotten, damned, or neglected god...

What do you think?