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Xaden Riorson, Fourth Wing: Description, quotes & fan art

Esta Pinto

Fourth Wing is one of the biggest hit fantasy books of 2023, and one of the reasons is because of the characters, strong-willed and strong-minded female main character, Violet Sorrengail, and main love interest, Xaden Riorson.

Without a doubt, Xaden in Fourth Wing is many people’s book boyfriend, and for good reason. Rebecca Yarros has quite a talent for writing hot mysterious guys. 

In this guide, we talk about all things Xaden Riorson from Fourth Wing, so keep reading.'

If you haven’t read Fourth Wing yet, I would advise against reading this article as it might spoil some elements for you.

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Xaden Riorson description.

Here are direct quotes from Fourth Wing about our the physical description of our main man Xaden.

  • “He’s tall, with windblown black hair and dark brows. The line of his jaw is strong and covered by warm tawny skin and dark stubble, and when he folds his arms across his torso, the muscles in his chest and arms ripple, moving in a way that makes me swallow. And his eyes… His eyes are the shade of gold-flecked onyx. The contrast is startling, jaw-dropping even—everything about him is. His features are so harsh that they look carved, and yet they’re astonishingly perfect, like an artist worked a lifetime sculpting him, and at least a year of that was spent on his mouth.”

  • “Even the diagonal scar that bisects his left eyebrow and marks the top corner of his cheek only makes him hotter.”

  • “The black-haired rider snaps his gaze to mine, turning fully toward me, and my heart thunders for all the wrong reasons. A rebellion relic, curving in dips and swirls, starts at his bare left wrist, then disappears under his black uniform to appear again at his collar, where it stretches and swirls up his neck, stopping at his jawline.”

  • “Good gods. I don’t even reach his collarbone. He’s massive. He has to be more than four inches over six feet tall.”

  • “A corner of Xaden’s mouth rises in a smirk, and the gold flecks in his eyes seem to dance.”

  • “I can make out every speck of gold in his onyx eyes, every bump and ridge of his scar.”

Get Fourth Wing on Amazon here.

Xaden Riorson fan art.

Okay — can we get one thing straight? Fan artists, please stop whitewashing Xaden Riorson! He is a POC and he is described as having dark skin. 

This has been confirmed from Rebecca Yarros herself, which you can view in the TikTok comments here. “May I ask if Xaden is a POC?…” asks a fan — “Oh he definitely is. Every time I see him whitewashed in fancasting I always hear that Schmidt scene, “a white man? No!” play in my head,” writes Yarros. So there you have it straight from the horse’s mouth. Furthermore, she’s tweeted the following:

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Now with that all said and done, huge thanks to Rebecca for including a BIPOC main love interest and championing diversity, what a legend. Representation matters. You’ll see that Rebecca only shares Xaden Riorson fanart where he’s depicted as a POC here. And me personally? I love @paintfaery’s depiction of him.

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Xaden Riorson quotes.

  • “Fascinating. You look all frail and breakable, but you're really a violent little thing, aren't you?'“

  • “Killing you wouldn’t be any trouble Violence. It’s leaving you alive that seems to cause the majority of my trouble.”

  • “Hope is a fickle dangerous thing. It steals your focus and aims it toward the possibilities instead of keeping it where belongs--on the probabilities.”

  • “You want to know why you’re still alive? Because you’re the scale I currently judge myself against every night. Every day I let you live, I get to convince myself that there’s still a part of me that’s a decent person. So if you want to quit, then please, spare me the temptation and fucking quit. But if you want to do something, then do it.”

  • “She is not a child. She's a full-grown woman. A rider. Start treating her like one and at least have the decency to give her the truth.”

  • "There's nowhere in existence you could go that I wouldn't find you, Violence.”

  • "People die, it's going to happen over and over again. It's the nature of what happens here. What makes you a rider is what you do after people die."

FAQs.

Who is Xaden’s dragon?

Xaden’s dragon is a Blue Daggertail, the rarest of the blues, named Sgaeyl. According to Professor Kaori: “Ruthless does not begin to describe her, nor does she abide by what we assume to be what the dragons consider law.”

What is the pronunciation of Xaden?

Xaden is pronounced Zay-den.

What is Xaden’s signet/power?

Xaden is a shadow wielder.

  • “…Xaden can wield shadows—shadows that can yank daggers out of trees, shadows that can probably throw those same daggers.”

  • “Shadows, remember? They hear everything, see everything, conceal everything.”

Want more Fourth Wing? Read the complete Fourth Wing guide to characters, dragons, and signets here.

Already read Fourth Wing? Read the complete guide to Iron Flame here.

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