The Great Betrayal · six years before the parapet · the war that branded a generation

The Tyrrish Rebellion

“'apostasy,' he says, using the Tyrrish term for the rebellion”

Fourth Wing — Rebecca Yarros

Navarre calls it treason. Tyrrendor calls it saying the quiet part out loud. Either way it ended in dragonfire — and the reread is where you find out the traitors were the only ones telling the truth.

Fen Riorson's bid to break Tyrrendor away and fight the venin in the open: crushed at Aretia, its leaders burned in front of their own children, its 107 orphans branded, conscripted, and turned into the marked ones who'd end up winning the real war.

At a glance

When: Roughly six years before Violet crosses the parapet — the defining catastrophe of the generation just ahead of hers.
Where: Tyrrendor, the rebel province. The fighting ends at Aretia, its capital — and so does the city.
Who led it: Fen Riorson, Duke of Tyrrendor — 'the Great Betrayer' — and the separatist leaders who stood with him.
The real aim: Not just secession. To break Navarre's silence about the venin and fight them in the open, instead of pretending they don't exist.
The turn: Fen shoots Brennan Sorrengail; General Lilith Sorrengail hunts him down and captures him. Aretia burns, and the map is scrubbed clean of it.
The executions: The rebellion's leaders are executed by dragonfire, their children forced to watch. As the parents burn, the rebellion relic appears on the children's arms.
The cost: 107 orphaned children, marked by Codagh — General Melgren's dragon — and shipped to Basgiath to compete or die. The marked ones.
The irony: Iron Flame quietly confirms the traitors were right. The children Navarre punished are the ones now holding the wards up.

The generation it made

The children the fire branded — and the ones who lit it.

Swipe to meet them all

Xaden Riorson The Great Betrayer's sonXaden Riorsontook the deal for all 107Enter Xaden Riorson →

Liam Mairi Marked oneLiam Mairiorphaned by it, died for the truth of itEnter Liam Mairi →

Garrick Tavis Marked oneGarrick Tavisbranded the same dayEnter Garrick Tavis →

Imogen Cardulo Marked oneImogen Cardulorebellion to the boneEnter Imogen Cardulo →

Bodhi Durran Marked oneBodhi DurranRiorson blood, Fen's nephewEnter Bodhi Durran →

Sloane Mairi Marked oneSloane Mairiboth parents burned; fostered from her brotherEnter Sloane Mairi →

Brennan Sorrengail The mender Fen shotBrennan Sorrengailsurvived to run the RevolutionEnter Brennan Sorrengail →

Lilith Sorrengail General of NavarreLilith Sorrengailcaptured Fen; fought over the childrenEnter Lilith Sorrengail →

General Melgren General Melgrenhis fire ended itEnter General Melgren →

The long versionRead its whole storyEverything, in one place.Enter the full story

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