From the first chapter of Fourth Wing, the virtues of psychological strength are often presented as transcending the advantages of physical strength. Ultimately, cunning and mental toughness provide the backbone of the Rider Quadrant’s values. Within the confines of the college, strength in its most traditional iterations is seen as a necessity for survival, but Violet’s use of cleverness to overcome her own physical limitations challenges this assumption as she thrives amongst the riders. Through Violet’s experience, Rebecca Yarros presents alternate views of what it means to be strong and survive.

Violet begins the novel with a nihilistic perspective, believing that her own untimely death is inevitable due to her physical limitations. Having grown up in the dual shadow of the war college and a family of successful riders, she upholds a traditional view of strength and initially sees herself as lacking. This ideology becomes disrupted when Violet survives physical challenges that her conventionally stronger peers do not, highlighting that strength is much more fluid than initially described. Violet’s psychological strength manifests in her ability to mentally overcome physical obstacles like pain, as well as her ability to put herself into situations where she can use her intellectual talents most effectively.