Rare representation in Fourth Wing: A fantasy hero with a chronic condition

Would it surprise you if the challenges a fantasy hero faced correlated with a disability? These fictional heroes are often portrayed as possessing some type of special gift; they almost never are portrayed as having a chronic condition. That’s what makes Violet Sorrengail, hero of the best-selling novel, Fourth Wing, and its succeeding books in the Empyrean series, so rare. In addition to the fantastical challenges she must overcome, she also faces real-life challenges of living with a rare disease.

Fourth Wing is set in the fantasy kingdom of Navarre, where a military academy trains dragon riders in preparation for a war raging outside its walls. Violet, who describes her body as “brittle” and her stature as “smaller than everyone else”, is forced to face numerous threats at this brutal school, where “weakness” is seen as a justifiable reason to kill a fellow cadet.

Although Violet’s condition is never named, the symptoms she describes throughout the book align with those of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome—a rare disease she shares with Rebecca Yarros, the author who created her. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a hereditary connective tissue disorder. It has 13 subtypes, each with their own combination of signs and symptoms, including but not limited to joint hypermobility, skin hyperextensibility, and tissue fragility. The most common type, hypermobile EDS (hEDS) occurs in approximately 1 in 3,100 – 5,000 people, whereas the rarest types occur in less than 1 in 1,000,000 people.[i]

Although Violet’s condition isn’t a focal point of the story, it is a prevalent part of it. For example, early in the book, Violet experiences an injury that deftly describes the pain and frustration of what life with a rare disease can be like:

“If anyone else had taken that stumble, they would have ended up with a bruise, maybe even a scrape. But me? I have to fix it so my kneecap stays where it’s supposed to. It’s not just my muscles that are weak. My ligaments that hold my joints together don’t work for shit, either.” (Fourth Wing, page 35)[ii]

Throughout the book, Violet also deals with chronic pain, frequently dislocated joints, subluxated bones, and muscle fatigue. She is constantly wrapping her knees to protect them during physical activity, mentally blocking out pain, and crafting creative ways to accomplish tasks that her condition would otherwise impede. Instead of being prevented from succeeding, Violet redefines strength, demonstrating resilience and problem-solving skills that often make her more prepared for certain challenges than some of her peers.

Likewise, her peers demonstrate what a support circle can look like. When Violet feels limited by her disability, her friends convince her to accept help from them and to overcome her reluctance to use an assistive device when needed. They remind her that the path for most is not the only path ahead; that finding ways to accommodate her disability is not “cheating” nor does it lessen her feats.

Aside from giving readers a realistic look into daily life with EDS (albeit in a fantasy setting), Fourth Wing gives readers who live with an invisible disability a chance to be seen. Fans have reached out to Yarros on social media to thank her for “putting what so many of us experience with connective tissue diseases into words,” as one person put it on Instagram. In other online communities, fans have applauded the representation of a main character with chronic illness in a fantasy novel, diving into discussions on what it means to them. “It makes me feel stronger seeing all Violet overcomes,” one person with chronic pain said on Reddit.

Because Fourth Wing never mentions EDS by name, it opens Violet’s experiences with a rare disease to a broader audience. And because Violet is described as a tenacious, clever, and even sexy character with a lot of influence over other characters, she is a reminder to those in and outside of the rare disease community that people are not defined by the chronic conditions they carry.

It’s clear that Yarros’s own experience living with EDS shines through the pages of her book with an authenticity that connects with readers. But beyond the book, Yarros has also been outspoken about what it’s like to live with EDS and to be a mother of sons with EDS. Each year on Rare Disease Day, she shares a personal Instagram post about the different challenges and comorbidities her own family faces, along with a link to educational resources encouraging people to learn more.

Yarros has also openly expressed gratitude to her husband for the role he plays in supporting their family. In the acknowledgments of Fourth Wing, Yarros thanks her husband for managing their “ups and downs” and “overwhelming calendar”, providing a glimpse of the impact a rare disease can have on entire families. It’s a reminder that caregivers, or care partners, face their own challenges throughout their family’s rare disease journey and may shoulder many responsibilities along the way.

As a best-selling author, Rebecca Yarros has used her voice to help those in the rare disease community be heard. She even went so far as to dedicate her second book in the series, Iron Flame, to those living with a rare disease: “To my fellow zebras, not all strength is physical.”[iii] Her ability to craft a story that appeals to millions of people around the world while elevating a small and often underserved population is a major step forward in spreading awareness about rare disease. Her third book, Onyx Storm, sold 2.7 million copies in its first week alone, making it the fastest-selling adult novel in 20 years.[iv] With this status in the literary world and an Amazon series in the works, Yarros will hopefully inspire more representation in mainstream media to come. Like her protagonist, she demonstrates the power of an individual to overcome challenges greater than her rare disease.

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Works Cited

[i] What is eds?. The Ehlers Danlos Society. (2024, July 23). https://www.ehlers-danlos.com/what-is-eds/?

[ii] Yarros, R. (2023a). Fourth Wing. Red Tower Books, an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

[iii] Yarros, R. (2023b). Iron Flame. Red Tower Books, an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

[iv] Alter, A. (2025, January 30). Rebecca Yarros’s “Onyx storm” is the fastest-selling adult novel in 20 Years. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/books/rebecca-yarros-onyx-storm.html