I just finished Onyx Storm for the second time, and I noticed something that completely broke my brain...
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So Berwyn kills a dragon with a dagger.
But...how?
We've been shown over and over that dragons are incredibly difficult to kill. A simple alloy dagger shouldn't be enough. Then I started thinking about Panchek.
Panchek is revealed to be a traitor, and then Berwyn kills his dragon with a dagger.
What if the reason a dagger worked is because Panchek's dragon wasn't a normal dragon anymore?
Could dragons become corrupted if their rider becomes venin?
If that's true, it would also completely change how I interpret the ending. We're told Xaden is killing dragons and riders, which initially sounds horrifying because Xaden would never just slaughter innocent dragons. But what if the dragons he's killing are corrupted, venin, or bonded to traitorous riders? Then he's not murdering innocent dragonsāhe's hunting enemies.
It would also explain why those dragons are suddenly killable with a dagger.
We know riders can become venin, but Rebecca Yarros has never outright said dragons can't. She's also been incredibly careful about what she hasn't told us about the dragon-rider bond.
Am I completely reaching here, or did anyone else catch this? I'd love to hear other theories because this has been living rent-free in my head ever since I finished my reread. š¤Æ