Threshing Day Theory Guide: 40+ Clues, Foreshadowing Details & Empyrean Book 4 Theories

Rhiannon’s story shows us that Feirge’s earlier interest at Presentation is something to actually pay attention to for how the whole dragon-choosing process works. Feirge has already clocked Rhiannon’s courage before they meet in the field for one. We kind of had an idea that dragons could call out to their selected riders, but this confirms that they make this choice sometimes before the rider even shows up to the field.

Several riders describe a tug or call leading them toward their dragon. And that muddies the water when we discuss legacy bonds, channeling, and whether a dragon has intentions we don’t really know yet. This will affect theories later on for sure.

Imogen begins receiving power way before it’s supposed to happen, aka before she and the dragon are fully “bonded”, at least by the standards set up previously. Some speculate the magic might be there before the dragon, and the dragon helps coax it out. But I’m more concerned that this might mean there is some kind of bond happening way before we’re aware. Either through family, fate, or reincarnation (I know but there are way too many clues saying it might be a thing).

Across the stories, riders bleed during Threshing and then climb onto their dragons, and they get covered. There is even specific imagery involving a sticky sap, and Yarros points out how something on the rider gets stuck to the dragon…it feels a lot like a wink, wink, nudge, nudge, scenario.

Bloodlines, wards, relics and corruption all already use blood in this series, so we know blood is very important to magic.

What does this actually mean? I’m not sure. But theories can go wild. Is bleeding needed for bonding? Does bleeding = more power during a bond? Does bleeding bind one’s life to a dragon? I guess we’ll find out.

Also, Violet does bleed before Tairn but there is no specific imagery of blood on Tairn for Fourth Wing. She also does bleed next to Andarna in the field… so it could have gotten on her. If blood is how you bond a dragon this won’t bode well for riders who want to take one by force somehow.

Ridoc notices his knee bleeding and basically shrugs and thinks that he must have hit a twig. This is probably a writer trying to make the bleeding happen on the page, but make it less obvious than a big gash. There is also the imagery of sticky chicken feathers via leaves which also gets on his dragon. A lot of “hey look, what’s on the rider is on the dragon”. This has to be a clue.

The riders practically tell us their future signets before they have them. Brennan is thinking about mending his sister, Imogen wants to take back what she said to her crush right before bonding, Xaden has a moment with shadows in his scene. So there seems to be either foreshadowing or what happens right before bonding determines powers later.

Probably both.

Some dragons talk like they already know the kind of power their rider will need.

This is way more pointed than “dragons know stuff.” And feels like a flashing neon sign of a clue.

Some examples: Chradh talks to Garrick in terms of the power he will need to pursue what he wants. Sgaeyl talks about Xaden’s potential. Thoirt speaks to Sloane like her future power has a purpose and she knows exactly what that is.

So are dragons seeing the future? Are they from the future? Is time relative? Or do they just know their rider that well. I guess we’ll see.

Sawyer was not rejected, his pairing was delayed and I want to know WHY.

For context, Sliseag tells him one half of a pair can be unavailable and the other has to wait. Everyone quite rightly went, “Aww, Sawyer was always meant for Sliseag.”

I went, “Hang on. Which one of you was unavailable? And why?” What was that dragon up to?

And the “adapt to loss” language is just mean. Sliseag rejects someone who cannot adapt to loss, then Sawyer later loses part of his leg and has to rebuild how he rides. Rebecca. Ma’am.

Glane is recorded as nineteen and previously unbonded but Imogen knows that can’t be true because she met Glane when Glane was bonded to her grandmother. Why would the dragon feel the need to lie? Could this be because they chose someone marked and want to keep them safe and unassuming or something more?

Correction: the “what is a year?” line is Chradh’s, not Glane’s.

So is Chradh just pointing out that dragons measure age differently? Is time genuinely different for them somehow?

I am not yelling TIME TRAVEL yet. But could it be that there are some time traveling twists afoot? Maybe. Maybe. At the very least, the dragon records are looking less trustworthy by the minute.

Chradh’s official history is also extremely dodgy. Tut. Tut. Tue. Chradh, we see you! Garrick goes into Threshing believing Chradh has no recorded riders, but Chradh’s language does not sound like a young dragon, we literally get that on the page, pointed out, in black and white. Plus, hello? Scars?

Garrick later develops a second signet tied to a familial dragon bond. If Chradh has bonded Garrick’s line before and simply let Navarre believe otherwise, then the dragons are capable of concealing information leadership would use to identify unusually powerful legacy riders. The only answer left is why?

This is the problem Glane and Chradh create together. Humans struggle to tell related dragons apart, riders supply names after bonding and we all just trust it, and the records only contain what humans can observe or what dragons let them know. So if Glane can be listed at the wrong age and Chradh can walk around scarred and sus with “no recorded riders,” how much of the Guide is actual dragon history? The dragons may not even need to lie. They can just…not correct us.

Why does dragon disrespect get Luca killed while Jack survives so much worse? Political? Maybe. But with Jack’s later twists I’m not so sure. This begs the question, what is the actual rule? Is it about threatening the dragon directly? Intent? Threat to the Empyrean rather than to humans? There could be some answers here.

They clearly do not care about human fairness the way humans do. So what, exactly, makes dragon justice kick in? And does it have something to do with why sometimes eye contact on the field is fine and sometimes it isn’t? How will this foreshadowing apply later? I guess, again, we will see, and the next section below jumps off this.

Violet speaking directly to Codagh has always been weird. He is the biggest, highest-ranking dragon we know, dragons are not exactly famous for tolerating disrespect, and yet Violet can address him and survive the experience. Add all the “death by fire” language and the way dragons police their own hierarchy and I think there is a rule here we have not been told. Either Codagh is tolerating Violet because of Tairn, because of what she is, or because he knows something about her place in the larger dragon mess.

The marked ones were chosen on purpose, that much is for sure. Many of them way before Threshing even. This isn’t a coincidence.

Sgaeyl chooses Xaden knowing Tairn may hate the choice because of Naolin who died saving Brennan. Sgaeyl’s take? Tairn will get over it.

We still do not know exactly what Naolin did to bring Brennan back, which I’m sure will be a twist somewhere. All we know is that he died and Brennan didn’t, and Tairn nearly did. If Naolin crossed some magical line to save Brennan then Tairn may have lost his rider in more ways than one.

That would make Sgaeyl choosing Xaden be…a choice, especially with Xaden’s later issues with sparkly red eyes. And Sgaeyl’s comment that one day she may have to live with one of Tairn’s choices has got to be foreshadowing. Somehow this probably all connects. What do you think?

Well, that might as well be the title of the series. All these little humans are standing on a board, they just can’t see what kind of game it is yet. So who can? The dragons? The Gods? Are the dragons children of the Gods? Hmmm.

Sgaeyl sees what Xaden can become. Chradh knows the kind of power Garrick will need. Cuir seems to understand Bodhi’s role around Xaden. Sliseag knows Sawyer needed to be chosen a year late and doesn’t elaborate as to why.

Literal foresight would explain this. Or time travel. But because this series is constantly coming back to choices and what you know changing them, seeing the future as a precise fixed thing wouldn’t match. It would be fun if the dragons are just trying to fix a series of events they know could happen by being very choosey about their riders.

Sgaeyl calls Xaden the grandson of Maxim Riorson. Xaden immediately corrects her, like no, Maxim is his great-uncle; Corbin is his grandfather.

And Sgaeyl basically says: Well, if your grandmother told you that…

HELLO?

So, the legacy is totally mixed up now.

The Maxim/Corbin reveal gives us one answer and immediately creates about six more stupid questions. Xaden jumps straight to Fen being the oldest twin, Bodhi looks enough like Xaden that the resemblance has been pointed out for books, and now we know at least one piece of the official genealogy is dead wrong.

I think the twin order, Fen’s actual parentage, Bodhi’s mother, and who legally should have inherited the crown are all still sitting on the board at play. And they will mean something.

If Bodhi’s mother is Corbin’s biological child while Fen is actually Maxim’s, Bodhi could have the stronger legal claim to the kingdom. If Fen and Bodhi’s mother are both Maxim’s children, then neither branch is what the official Corbin line says it is. And yes, that makes me side-eye Xaden’s marriage to Violet and what it could eventually mean for protecting Tyrrendor. Or even what it means about brotherhood.

Imogen bonded her grandmother’s dragon. So where the hell is her second signet?

If bonding a dragon that previously bonded your direct ancestor is what creates the possibility of a second signet, Imogen is one of the obvious legacy-bond cases in the entire series.

Did Threshing Day just explain why Imogen can both erase memories and wield stone? And will stone wielding come in handy for the wardstones?

“Those in my line have always favoured those in yours” is a huge bloodline clue for Liam. Many speculated Liam had two signets, farsight and maybe wielding ice. This clue confirms it as much as we’re going to get confirmation for someone who is no longer with us.

And then Sloane bonds Thoirt, Deigh’s sister. So now we have Deigh telling Liam that dragons in his line have always favoured Liam’s family, and the next Mairi sibling gets chosen by Deigh’s own sibling. That feels less like “aww, matching family dragons” and more like the Mairis have been deliberately kept inside one dragon line for a reason. Could it be connected to Gods?

Molvic says he has been drawn to Aaric’s bloodline before and was disappointed. Hello, Alic. Alic was in those woods, Molvic was there, and Alic proceeds to show exactly why a dragon might decide he is absolutely not getting picked.

My guess? Molvic clocked Alic as a possibility, watched the Garrick/Xaden disaster unfold, and went, welp, never mind. Which makes Aaric less “another prince” and more the Tauri Molvic was actually waiting for.

Now for the drama. Alic dies during Threshing, before any neat little record could necessarily be made, and Molvic has no recorded riders. If Molvic actually bonded Alic very briefly before Alic died, then Aaric suddenly has a legacy-bond to look for. BOOM.

This detail is weird as hell. Alic gives us one dead prince. Aaric is another. We are told three princes before him walked those woods and did not come back out, which means there are royal deaths we still do not have names or context for. Then we have Molvic repeatedly circling the Tauri bloodline and suddenly the royal family has a dragon-history problem nobody is talking about enough on the forums.

Molvic is supposedly a dragon with no recorded riders, yet he turns up around Xaden’s Threshing when Alic is there, is interested in Aaric’s bloodline, and later bonds with Aaric. That is a lot of Tauri-adjacent activity for a dragon with a blank résumé. Just saying.

Aaric hiding his identity may also hide dragon-bloodline history to boot. Everyone focuses on the political reason for Cam/Aaric using a false name, which obviously matters but if dragon bonds are tracked through families, hiding that a cadet is royal could also prevent people from immediately noticing when a dragon with royal-line history chooses him. So we could be looking for another second signet here.

Aaric’s certainty about his own future starts before his signet becomes obvious. Aaric is unnervingly sure about what he will and won’t make happen. This is either his signet chosen in that moment, or foreshadowing.

Bodhi’s entire role is built around keeping Xaden in balance. See, Bodhi describes himself as the person who keeps things running so Xaden can be Xaden but also the person who stops him from becoming too much Xaden.

Whatever happens to Xaden next, Bodhi might be the answer. But Bodhi is being set up for an impossible loyalty choice. He knows he doesn’t break vows, but he has made some that might clash later down the line.

And his first signet is literally countering other riders’ signets. His magic already does the same thing his character does: somebody gets too powerful, Bodhi levels the field. That is a little on the nose, Rebecca.

Cuir promises to choose Bodhi until his death or demise, Bodhi immediately notices that they should basically mean the same thing.

So there is apparently a way for a rider to reach an ending without physically dying. Liam anyone?

Or maybe it’s the venin corruption as the obvious candidate.

But Rebecca put two words there for a reason and then had Bodhi point at them for us. So, we’ll see.

If Xaden keeps going down the venin path, I think Bodhi could follow because he believes staying close is the only way to keep Xaden in balance. Cuir literally tells him that is his role. How far he follows, like red glowing eyes far? We’ll have to see.

Garrick is the stronger idea for an emotional “brother” though, think oldest chosen family, completely willing to make himself expendable, and already operating on a “whatever it takes” mental gymnastics. So, he could be our guy.

I was firmly in the Bodhi/Garrick camp after Onyx Storm. Then, of course, Rebecca gave Liam a first-person chapter where he says bonding Deigh begins the “next—and last—chapter” of his life.

Excuse me, Liam. How do YOU know that?

AND THEN? Liam and Xaden spend the chapter calling each other brother enough times that I started circling the word like a bloody lunatic. Is he the mystery brother?

Could Liam somehow have survived Resson? Could whatever happened to Brennan also tell us something about Liam? Could “dead” in this series be a much squishier category than we have been treating it?

Also, Violet never attends a Liam funeral on-page, just saying.

Asher gives Brennan the bracelet he has worn for basically forever right before Brennan walks into Threshing…and it has a black bead. Then Onyx Storm gives Mira what looks suspiciously like the same family object. And right around all of this, Asher tells Brennan not to reject a gift from Zihnal.

Excuse me while I put those three things in one giant circle. Are we ready?

Ahem…that bracelet is not just sentimental. I think Asher received it as some kind of Zihnal-linked gift, protection, or magical object and deliberately passed it to Brennan before Threshing.

But…why Brennan? What does the black bead actually do? Why does Mira later have a matching or related bracelet? Is it a wardstone like object? A rune? Can it resurrect? Ach, I need to know.

Those black beads are bothering me all by themselves. We already have black stone tied to wards, we have Asher physically rotating the black bead while talking about accepting Zihnal’s gifts to boot.

I am not calling it a literal chunk of wardstone or anything. But, I’m not, not calling it that. Have the Sorrengails have been carrying around some older piece of protection magic in plain sight?

When Brennan bonds Marbh, the dragon offers up a string of ridiculous titles for Brennan to call him and one of them is “Zihnal’s Chosen.” Which would be easy to dismiss as Marbh being dramatic. Except this is Brennan’s dragon and he’s already got a lot of Zihnal around him.

…Brennan is the Sorrengail who died and came back. His father talks about Zihnal’s gifts as well. Then, there is that weird bracelet that gets warm with the black bead. Could it be that Marbh has some actual connection to Zihnal, and Brennan’s resurrection is part of why these two ended up bonded?

Okay so…what if the dragon colours map to the gods?

Orange for Zihnal. Zihnal is luck, chance, the willingness to accept what is offered. Orange dragons are famously unpredictable. Marbh is orange. Marbh calls himself Zihnal’s Chosen. And Marbh plays a game in Brennan’s chapter that immediately made me think about the game language we get again in Onyx Storm.

Could God’s be the keepers or parents of the dragons?

Papa Sorrengail teaching Brennan herbs may be something that we see in the next book come to fruition. It just feels too much like foreshadowing to ignore it. So be on the look out for herbs and how they can connect things together.

Dain’s mother is missing…not dead. The letters simply stopped. Is she alive? And if so why? One guess? With a husband like hers, who was super against the rebellion, maybe she did it to stay safe because she joined the rebellion. Or maybe she was kidnapped by it?

Garrick’s mother also disappears, except Garrick helped her do it. Two missing mothers from opposite sides of the rebellion in one tiny companion book?

Come on.

At least one of these women is walking back into the plot with information the kids cannot get anywhere else.

They loved each other this whole time! Squee. But…then we get the memory stuff. Imogen saying something emotionally revealing and immediately wishing that she could remove the last ten minutes from Garrick’s memory is not nice. Especially when she develops exactly the kind of signet that can do that.

Rebecca. Ma’am.

I am not accusing Imogen of secretly erasing years of their relationship. But I’m not not accusing.

Dain breaking the Codex for Sloane is absolutely a romance setup, sorry not sorry. Dain is so anti-breaking rules at that point in the story there’s simply no other read.

Sloane’s Rune Master inheritance from her mom may be one of the biggest Book 4 clues in the whole novella.

Thoirt tells Sloane she inherited her mother’s power and Sloane is already a siphon. Put rune mechanics and siphoning together and suddenly Sloane might be the key to it all.

Deaconshire is bothering me. See Imogen is from there. Violet has a rider grandmother buried there.

Both women come from rider families. Both have weird identity and hair details. Imogen dyes her actual hair and then tells Violet to dye hers, so why? Is it revealing something to those in the know? Then we have the Malek stuff around them. Something fishy is afoot and I would not be surprised if Violet and Imogen are related by magic or blood.