The Vale
A spoiler-free guide to Fourth Wing, Iron Flame & Onyx Storm (The Empyrean).
Only showing what’s been revealed up to your current progress. Future events, identities, and relationships are hidden.
Overview
The Vale is the valley behind Basgiath that dragons call home. Its protection is one reason dragons maintain their partnership with human riders against gryphons.
The Vale contains the dragon nursery site and the wardstone that anchors Navarre's border protections.
Important Events
When the attack on Samara begins to look like a diversion, Violet and Xaden identify Basgiath and the Vale as the likely true targets because the hatching grounds are vulnerable there. Andarna is ordered to hide in the Vale among dragonkind and protect the feathertails if the wards fall.
During the defense of Basgiath, Jack’s lures lead up the path toward the Vale, and defenders assign forces to the Vale side with unbonded dragons in the area. First Wing, Second Wing, and every unbonded dragon defend it while the riders work to stop any breakthrough toward the hatching grounds.
Location and Access
The Vale lies beyond the ridge and cliff between Basgiath’s citadel and dragon territory. The Gauntlet is built on the cliff that guards it, and cadets approaching the unbonded dragons through the gorge would be killed before reaching them.
A path runs from Basgiath toward the Vale, close enough to the college defenses that threats placed along that route can endanger both the school and dragon territory.
Layout and Features
The Vale includes sacred ground that dragons treat as a place to protect above ordinary military concerns.
Caves in the Vale shelter young dragons during Dreamless Sleep. That protected shelter is presented as the normal place for younglings to remain while they mature.
The wardstone in the Vale stands at the dragon nursery site, making the area both a place for young dragons and a magical anchor for Navarre.
Function and Rules
Dragon power radiates from the Vale to sustain Navarre's border protections, but that protection has a limited range. The range limit helps shape Navarre's borders and makes failures near the edges especially dangerous.
Outpost alloy stores help boost and extend the ward power that originates near Basgiath and the Vale.
Hatchlings and juveniles are kept hidden and safe inside the Vale until after Dreamless Sleep. That secrecy prevents humans from recognizing young dragons such as Andarna for what they are.
Residents and Affiliations
Feathertails are associated with the Vale so strongly that seeing one outside it is unusual.
Tairn is one of the Vale’s most celebrated dragons, and other dragons show him visible deference when he appears among them.
Andarna is kept in the Vale as a warm, protected refuge while Violet and Tairn patrol outside Basgiath, though she resents being confined there instead of practicing flight.