Rebecca Yarros is still working on Book 4 of The Empyrean series, but the author revealed some critical information during Iron Flame Night with the Colorado Avalanche at the end of October.
Yarros participated in a Q&A with some lucky fans. The Fourth Wing author was asked when she knows when characters will die in The Empyrean series.
"So, I know when I begin the book and start writing the book who is going to die," Yarros said. "When I wrote Onyx (Storm), I was actually going to kill off other people at the end. And the way I had to shift the plot and the way I had to shift things so that it wouldn't feel like the other books had the same ending, it left some characters alive that should not be alive that I will have to kill in this book."
And that's when the crowd lost it! There were gasps all around. You can check out the full answer to the question, thanks to @domloves2read.
There are a few people I have in mind that Yarros could be referring to. Of course, she didn't spoil the book. That would have been super lame had she done that. And, I won't share all my theories now, but I have no idea how Jack is still alive. He's going to die soon, if he isn't already dead when Book 4 begins.
With how Onyx Storm ended, I'm very concerned about Xaden, Ridoc, Mira, and Brennan heading into Book 4. I think those are the big characters we should be concerned about given how this series has gone so far. Anyone close to Violet is basically in trouble because of how devastating those deaths would be.
Obviously, we all know that Yarros isn't scared to kill off key characters. There have been so many characters dying all over the place basically since Violet crossed the parapet in the first book. Things took a turn, for me and probably most Fourth Wing fans, was obviously Liam's death at the end of the first book. Liam's death was different, and it changed how I looked at this series. No one is safe at any moment.
It's also interesting to me that Yarros had to make some big choices to make the endings of each book different. There's no debate that Onyx Storm featured the most shocking ending to date, and that's simply because we still don't know what happened in those 12 missing hours, and neither does Violet. Surely, that will be a key mystery of Book 4, but it will be far from the only mystery. Not only do we have missing time; we also have missing characters! Will Xaden even be in Book 4? We'll have to just wait and see when it's released.
This isn't the first time Yarros has discussed the Onyx Storm ending and a few doomed characters. She also touched on it in an interview immediately after Onyx Storm was released, so this might not be new information to some fans. The point is that Yarros' plan to kill off those characters is still the plan. That's bad news for fans! We know some of the fan faves will be on the chopping block in Book 4!
We'll share more updates about Book 4 and the future of The Empyrean series from Yarros' press tours as we find out. Stay tuned for more information about the Fourth Wing TV series, as well. The latest news is more casting is happening, and production is starting soon!
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