The jealous first-year built like a bull · Jack Barlowe's friend · the one Xaden said she should have killed at Threshing
Oren Seifert
A big, brawny, unbonded cadet who decided Violet was a weakling endangering the wing and made it his whole personality. No dragon, no signet, no plan beyond resentment — he throws in with the plot to kill Andarna at Threshing, tries again in the night with a knife, and finds out exactly how that ends.
A First Wing rider cadet in Violet's first year, fed by his friendship with Jack Barlowe and by rumours from a sister in the Healer Quadrant. Genuinely minor — a jealous human, not a mastermind — and honestly, that's the whole card.
The jealous one
Brawn, prejudice, and not much else.
Oren is exactly what he looks like: a big cadet who mistook resentment for a principle. He fixates on Violet as the 'weakling' who'll get people killed, works himself up on Jack Barlowe's poison and a sister's gossip about how often the general's daughter breaks, and never develops past that. There's no hidden depth here and we won't invent one — he's the ordinary, human ugliness Basgiath breeds, the kind of danger that isn't a signet, just a boy who decided you don't deserve to live.
How it ends
He brought a knife. It went badly.
He signs on to murder Andarna at Threshing and misses his chance, then comes for Violet in the night with a band of unbonded cadets, let in with Amber Mavis's help. It doesn't work: Violet uses Andarna's time-stopping power to slip his blade, Xaden's shadows take the others, and Oren dies with one of Violet's own daggers at his throat — Xaden noting she should have finished him the first time. He's in the story to show how close the ordinary danger got. Nothing more, and nothing supernatural.
His people
Who he came for, and who ended him.
Swipe to meet them all
The File
- Series
- Fourth Wing — The Empyrean
- Role
- First-year rider cadet, First Wing.
- Power
- None. Unbonded — no dragon, no signet. Just size and resentment.
- Why he hates her
- Decided Violet's fragility endangered the wing; egged on by Jack Barlowe and a sister in the Healers Quadrant.
- What he did
- Joined the Threshing plot against the golden feathertail, then led a knife attack on Violet's room.
- How it ended
- Xaden slit his throat with one of Violet's own daggers. Should have killed him at Threshing, he said.
- Status
- Dead — early, and entirely of his own making.
We're Caffeine and Curses. The Library started as my design research — so we keep the notes here where everyone can use them. The pages are fan-made, not official; the licensed designs are in the shop.
Officially licensed
Become a member
Join the Library.
Admit one obsessive reader.
You're on the list — welcome to the Library. ✦
For library updates and new releases.
Made by fans who never left.
These pages are fan-made. For officially licensed merch, see our shop.
The Empyrean, ©2023-2025, Rebecca Yarros.