Onyx Storm & The Empyrean Series Theories

 

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros | The StoryGraph

 I have been meaning to make a post about this series for a bit.  Mostly about my theories based on observations from the first 2 books but solely the first because there felt to be a lot of things set up there such as:

- Jack Barlowe's character arc... Specifically, when I first read this book, I was struck by how it reminded me of several series (but with dragons).  In my head I was screaming, "OMG THIS IS AEITA (An Ember in the Ashes) SERIES!" with a sprinkle of other novels.  Then my brain thought, "Someone fed AI a list of the hottest/fan faves with good writing and this was its output."... I digress.

- In AEITA, the Augar, Cain, tells the character Helene that she will his greatest masterpiece if only she'd allow herself to burn... or something along those lines.  Her character arc is one of the best given where she starts at the beginning of the series to where she arrives.  And for me, as I was reading FW, this seemed to be setting up for Jack Barlowe's character arc.  Some theories regarding this-1. His need/twisted empathy with killing off those that are weak. 

1.       Me suspects that someone close to him was considered too weak, lived (possibly died), and he watched them suffer.  He is cruel and perhaps merciless in this way based on an upbringing to live with 'every man for themselves' or in this regard cutting the hands of a man threatening to bring down an already full lifeboat.  Which brings me to my next theory-

2.       Jack is related to someone high up, as a first year he’s assigned a room on the third floor and also there’s the fact that he was resurrected/brought back from the brink of death due in which to him being Venin.  Initially I was thinking he might be related to Panchek but Violet’s comment about seeing Melgren as a venin since he has always creeped her out leads me to suspect the latter.  However, Panchek has his ambitions and thus there’s still part of me that leans toward him but whatever it may be, Jack Barlowe, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed scoundrel for sure has political ties

 - Dain Aetos is my other ‘reminds me of Helene’ character with the potential for a great character arc, especially considering his rule-abiding personality which was present in AEITA when it came to Helene.  Plus, with a name like Dain Aetos, I mean, there’s bound to be something more in store.  Pseudo think it would be kind of cool to have a prequel book that did look at Dain/Violet/Cam as the offspring of political figureheads and the mischief they got into

- Speaking of Dain, another theory I have revolves around the three great loves … Some might not be a fan of this theory, especially if you love Xaden but if another POV, which I suspect will happen, comes into play through the series, well ye have been warned.  On the wild end, one could speculate that third as Jack Barlowe, after all he wanted to kill Violet from jump BUT one can’t miss the ways Aaric (Cam) dropped subtle things in IF about trusting Violet and knowing she could keep a secret.  That said, that’s not to say redemption and resurrection won’t happen give… ::next theory::

- Violet/Andarna combined power into a second signet.  I can’t remember which character said this, perhaps Prof Kaori, when talking about Brennan and the Tairn’s first right, Naolin, attempt to save Brennan said something about being able to bring someone back from the dead makes you a God… And yet the full/actual story is still not known here when it comes Brennan surviving.  But I suspect the author dropped a hint regarding Violet’s ultimate power, from the way was brought into the world and perhaps some deal her father made with dragons given Andarna’s omission via silence during a scene when a question was posed… Me wonders if resurrection or perhaps some other type of time manipulation will be within Violet’s reach, but at a cost as her greying/silver hair indicates

- There were a lot ‘there hasn’t been someone with this power in centuries…” so far in the series, one of those called out was a distance walker/traveler, going to toss out a theory that this will be Aaric’s signet… I also thought this two could Violet’s signet and could be significant when it came to exploring more of the world/the isles

- Another theory comes in the form of the first five and one of them saying something came at a ‘terrible cost’; pair this with the little that’s known/hidden/lost about Tyrrish culture; I think about his gold-flecked onyx eyes and wonder about the possibility of human transformation, within this culture for select individuals, into dragons…  Perhaps an out there theory but there

- Viscount Tecarus, pretty sure the last of him hasn’t been seen but there was something lackluster when the scene came around to ‘offering’ or a deal Violet wouldn’t be able to say no to that made me think perhaps more is to come in this realm (?); it just seemed to have some buildup around him to ultimately feel like nada delivered in a few lines

- Side note/super random theory – I never finished reading all the books in the From Blood and Ash, FBAA, series, but again something about FW made me think of this series and had me wondering if these authors collaborated and if FW was low-key within the FBAA universe

 And I’se done rambling…