I can’t be the only one who thinks that the Fourth Wing’s military recruitment makes no sense.

Summary

• The high mortality rate among Basgiath College recruits appears to reflect a brutal military program, raising questions about the motives of leaders.
• The recruitment process into the Fourth Wing raises suspicions about the control tactics of the ruling class, creating an atmosphere of a totalitarian regime.
• The Marked’s involvement in the Knights’ Quadrant reveals a dangerous power dynamic within Navarre’s military structure, with the potential for rebellion.

Fourth WingThe Army is full of contradictions. Desperate for new fighters, the academy Basgiath College paradoxically boasts a high mortality rate among its recruits.As the title of the series Empyrean implies that Navarre’s military strength is based on the dragons at the heart of the books: they want to bond with the strongest knights, so, as brutal as it is, it makes sense to eliminate the weak. The perceived limitations of Empyrean The characters Violet and Sawyer challenge this trend and provide a representation of it.

This leads me to wonder why those who fail the tests aren’t simply demoted. Given the context of the leadership hiding Venin’s existence, perhaps they simply don’t want to waste resources on cadets who can’t fly, as the greatest danger is on the ground, where Venin can drain energy. However, they could be retrained as scribes, but for reasons I believe will be explored more as the series progresses, more scribes only create more potential problems for the corrupt leadership. Until then, I find myself scratching my head Fourth WingThe confused military approach.

Sorry, the Fourth Wing’s military recruitment makes absolutely no sense.

On the surface, the premise of Graduate Or Die appears to be purely about the big stakes.

The military setup of Fourth Wing is baffling in general, but this is especially true of its recruitment process. All Quadrant Riders are volunteers, except those marked. The guardrail comes before training. Candidates must climb two hundred and fifty steps to the eighteen-inch-wide stone bridge, 200 feet above the ground. Rain or shine, they must cross the guardrail safely. If they are too afraid, if a murderous peer pushes them off, or if they are simply wearing the wrong footwear, the candidate will fall. This eliminates them before the real challenges even begin..

After that, they will have to complete a series of challenges, including the “gauntlet” – an obstacle course designed to teach cadets how to ride their dragons. Only then are they granted access. “threshing” to bond with a dragon. At this point, any dragon could burn them to a crisp on a whim. The premise of Fourth Wing AND “graduate or die”, and the mechanics of this appear to be designed to create high risk, Hunger Games environment. However, it falls short when you consider that Navarre is in the midst of a long war and needs all the soldiers it can get.

The Basgiath War College should try to keep its recruits alive in the Empyrean

The high death toll raises suspicions about the leadership’s motives

Logically, Basgiath War College should train more fighters – it’s weird that they brag about the fact that most of their recruits die before they reach their second year. It could just be a fantasy dramatization of real-life power dynamics in the military. Rebecca Yarros was born and raised in a military family and is a military spouse, so she, more than anyone, would know how some military programs deliberately make it difficult to advance, resulting in high attrition rates. However, in real life, people who didn’t make the cut for the Special Forces would likely be demoted to the regular army.

It looks like a brutal and totalitarian regime: I believe this is a deliberate choice on Yarros’ part.

This leads me, along with other readers, to wonder what the motivation might be for why the only other option is death. It reads like a brutal, totalitarian regime: I think this is a deliberate choice on Yarros’ part. Because it is hinted at throughout the book Fourth Wing and built on Iron flame that there are many hidden secrets in Navarra, it is It is difficult to say where the hardening of the cadets ends and the weakening of class consciousness begins.. It is to the advantage of the regime that the cadets are so caught up in survival that they do not question why this system exists.

The Fourth Wing’s explanation for the selection of Scorers is completely backwards

The marked are much more dangerous when they receive dragons and seals

Another shocking detail is that the marked were drafted into the Knights’ Quadrant as part of a deal when their parents rebelled. They were supposed to be punished for their parents’ crimes, but were allowed to serve instead of being killed. This seems like a terrible idea, especially since were forced to witness the executions of their parents. This is designed to instill fear in the marked, but it is also a breeding ground for resentment. Not only are they not completely stamping out the rebellion while keeping their offspring alive, but they are also giving them access to dragons and power.

On the other hand, this reveals the clear arrogance of the ruling class in Navarra. Their perspective on this is that there is a chance they will die in the quadrant. They also have rules to control them: it is illegal for more than three marked to gather. This does nothing to deter Xaden and the rest of the marked, who meet at night. I think their failure to control those with a relic of the rebellion shows how shortsighted they are in thinking they can control society with fear and oppression.

There are other clues that this fascist-adjacent regime will inevitably fall: another key tool is propaganda. Many readers complain that Violet reciting Navarrian’s history is thinly veiled world-building information, but I think it highlights how well the story has been rewritten. I think the worst is coming Onyx Stormand it is will probably explore this corruption morealong with the true purpose of various rituals and traditions. For example, I don’t think that burning the goods is a tribute to Malek, but serves the regime by destroying information.

Although Navarre is backward and a broader description of social corruption could have been established in the first bookthe series is confirmed to be five books long. Hopefully Yarros will explore the purpose of this counterintuitive system of Fourth Wing more as the series progresses, along with the implications of Xaden’s huge plot twist in Iron flame. The second book has already seen the griffon knights question Basgiath’s practices, further evidence that the college’s idiosyncrasies are intentional. I also hope to learn more about the Great War, which created the perfect Empyrean spin-off of the series.