Amazon’s Fourth Wing TV Show Must Cut The Book’s Most Uncomfortable Moment

Warning: Minor spoilers for Fourth Wing

Fantasy novels are being handed TV adaptations left and right, and Rebecca Yarros’ ever-popular Fourth Wing is one of them. The best-selling book is nearly 500 pages long, so there is bound to be some cutting and changing of the source material when it finally gets to shine in live-action. One of the first things Fourth Wing’s TV show could remove is an uncomfortable moment that comes after Violet Sorrengail has bonded with her dragon, Tairn.

Released in April 2023, Fourth Wing made waves in the book world, achieving rapid success and capturing the hearts of readers everywhere. Mere months after it was released, Amazon MGM Studios acquired the rights to the book and its follow-up, Iron Flame. While Fourth Wing casting announcements haven’t been made, and there’s very little information regarding what will and won’t make the final cut, the TV adaptation can surely look to remove one moment entirely from the book, either replacing it with something else or advancing the central character dynamics somewhat differently without changing too much.

Amazon’s Fourth Wing Adaptation Should Lose The Book’s Most Uncomfortable Scene

Violet’s bond with Tairn allows the two to communicate telepathically. Unfortunately for Violet, it also makes her privy to Tairn’s sex life with his life mate Sgaeyl. The first time Violet experiences Tairn’s desires is shortly after they bond and her mind becomes open to his thoughts and feelings. This leads to quite an uncomfortable scene involving dragon sex and Violet having to listen in and feel what is going on between Tairn and Sgaeyl. Violet isn’t prepared for the moment when it happens, and Tairn doesn’t let her know that it could happen.

This particular Fourth Wing is disconcerting because it raises some issues with consent. Violet obviously doesn’t want to feel what Tairn is feeling while he’s in the throes of desire, even if it creates further tension between Violet and Xaden Riorsan, Fourth Wing’s wingleader. Tairn didn’t warn Violet or get her permission, which put her in a situation where she couldn’t distinguish her feelings from Tairn’s; it’s a problem that isn’t treated as such in the book, and Violet is simply told to block it out because it’ll happen again.

Fourth Wing gives some information about how dragons operate, but they can also be very secretive. Knowing that Tairn and Sgaeyl are mated and cannot be away from each other is enough to understand they have sex without Violet and Xaden needing to experience it second hand. Dragons have their way of doing things, sure, but the fact that they’re bonded to humans suggests they should be able to keep certain aspects of their lives and acts to themselves.

Fourth Wing’s Awkward Dragon Scene Doesn’t Add Anything To The Story

Crucially, Fourth Wing’s dragon scene doesn’t bring any additional depth to the story, nor does it advance anything that wasn’t already on the way to developing in its own time. It ramps up the tension between Violet and Xaden, but that existed before Violet experienced dragon sex through Tairn for the first time. To that end, the dragon scene wasn’t going to make or break their budding relationship. Violet and Xaden’s growing tension was nearing its breaking point regardless, and another scene could have easily shifted their relationship towards something more physical.

Prime Video’s version of Fourth Wing can easily nix this whole scene. The book is big enough and so much happens that it isn’t necessary to include it. Those who haven’t read the book wouldn’t know there was anything missing, and those who have may not deem it important enough to keep. Although the dragon sex scene instigates Violet and Xaden’s first kiss, there are a plethora of other ways it could happen without including Tairn and Sgaeyl’s lust for each other. The joy of fantasy novel adaptations is that unnecessary elements can be altered, hopefully to include something better.

How Amazon’s TV Show Can Improve The Dragon & Dragon Rider Relationship

Fourth Wing is grounded by the relationship between a dragon and dragon rider. While the book showcases the strength of a dragon’s mental bond with a rider, the Prime Video TV show could further explore what the dynamic entails. As an example, Tairn could be more honest with Violet regarding certain information; the ways of dragons is typically kept very private, and revealed on an as-needed basis, but perhaps Tairn could be more communicative with Violet without it becoming too expository.

The Fourth Wing series could also delve more into why dragons chose to bond with humans. It’s only briefly touched upon in the book, but the live-action adaptation could explore more of the dragons’ reasoning, as well as why they chose to bestow riders with signet power after bonding. Fourth Wing certainly centers on the dragon and dragon rider relationships, but it doesn’t spend enough time on them. Often, dragons are away from their riders, off together while Basgiath’s students go about their daily activities, but the TV adaptation could show the dragons interacting more with their riders.

Based on the novel series by Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing is an action-adventure fantasy series in development for Prime Video. Announced in 2024, Fourth Wing will follow the adventures of a young woman named Violet Sorrengail, who has been taken from her peaceful book-reading life and thrust into a world of danger when she is forced by her mother to join an elite group of dragon-riding warriors.

Seasons

1

Creator(s)

Rebecca Yarros