Onyx Storm's Jack Barlowe Replacement Is Somehow Worse Than He Is

Warning: SPOILERS for Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros.

With Jack Barlowe largely out of commission after the ending of Iron Flame, Rebecca Yarros introduced his replacement in Onyx Storm and they're somehow even more insufferable. Jack Barlowe has been a thorn in Violet's side from her first day at Basgiath, when he seemingly decided she'd be his new toy and object to pick on. Even locked in a prison cell in Onyx Storm, he still found ways to antagonize Violet. Still, his role was sharply reduced, right up to Onyx Storm's ending.

With the reduction of Jack's role in Onyx Storm, other characters fill the vacuum left by the antagonist - for better or worse. Onyx Storm has plenty of characters readers don't remember thanks to them previously having been in the background or barely mentioned in the first two books. One of those is Aura Beinhaven, who suddenly temporarily steps into the spotlight in Onyx Storm as a new rival and antagonist of Violet. It's not handled all that well, making for one of the more annoying subplots in the third book.

Onyx Storm Establishes Aura Beinhaven As Jack Barlowe's Replacement At Basgiath

Aura Goes From A Background Character To A Major Antagonist

Aura's complete heel turn was rather odd, considering she'd barely been referenced before and never had any relationship with Violet. She never had a chance to, really – Xaden moved Aura to Second Wing in Fourth Wing so he could oversee Violet's squad, instead. In Iron Flame, Aura becomes the senior wingleader of the Riders Quadrant after Violet and Xaden take a large portion of Basgiath's riders to Tyrrendor as part of the revolution. She'd been angry that they rebelled, but so was half of Basgiath. That's about it.

Suddenly, though, Onyx Storm puts her front and center to act as a replacement for Jack Barlowe in terms of playing an antagonistic role at Basgiath. She's openly hostile to Violet, undermines her authority, and tries to get Violet in trouble whenever she can. When Aura is around, there's always the distinct sense that she might bury a knife in Violet's back; she seems to have adopted an "on sight" ethos where Violet is concerned, just as Jack Barlowe did from day one, and it's not entirely clear why.

Aura Beinhaven Somehow Manages To Be More Annoying Than Jack In Fourth Wing

Her Arc Is Pointless On Multiple Levels

Jack Barlowe in Fourth Wing Iron Flame Onyx Storm by MiraMirage Art

Thanks to this, Aura is seriously annoying in Onyx Storm, and not in a way that necessarily makes sense. Jack Barlowe was awful, but even before the reveal that he was venin, his personality at least made his antagonism make sense: he was cruel, vicious, and disliked being bested, so the fact that someone like Violet, who he perceived as "weak," had not only made it through Parapet, but also had the guts to stand up to him, enraged him. After it's revealed he's venin and he has lost most of his soul, his villainy makes even more sense.

Empyrean Series Book	Goodreads Rating
Fourth Wing	4.58
Iron Flame	4.37
Onyx Storm	4.50 (currently)

Aura, however, is simply a small-minded person who can't possibly accept that what she'd always believed might not be true, and she uses Violet as the outlet for her inability to cope. She had a cousin who died at the hands of fliers, so she resents Violet's attempts to integrate the gryphon riders into Basgiath. Others had lost loved ones to riders and were able to set that aside for the greater good, but Aura refuses. Aura also can't seem to forgive Violet for what she sees as her "betrayal" of Navarre, even when she's given proof that Basgiath leadership knew about the venin threat and kept it from them.

Aura seemingly appears in the book for the sole narrative purpose of creating unnecessary plot drama during the planning to find the seventh dragon breed in Onyx Storm, going above and beyond to antagonize Violet at every opportunity.

It's why her arc in Onyx Storm is so irritating, beyond it being pointless. Aura seemingly appears in the book for the sole narrative purpose of creating unnecessary plot drama during the planning to find the seventh dragon breed in Onyx Storm, going above and beyond to antagonize Violet at every opportunity. It's unrealistic. Even in a fantasy book, Aura comes across as an over-the-top bully when people simply don't act like that in those situations. Her arc ends in futility, anyway, when she and the other incompetent, temporary squadmates are killed and Violet gets to choose her own squad after all, making it that much more pointless.

Onyx Storm's Sequel Shouldn't Repeat Jack's Venin Story With Aura

It Would Be A Lazy Reveal

On one of Onyx Storm's few notable character deaths, Aura was seemingly killed for good when she is snatched up by a wyvern – it's pretty hard to bounce back from a giant wyvern talon skewering your insides and coming out the other side like a giant tree trunk through your torso. But then again, it appeared Jack Barlowe was deader than dead in Fourth Wing, as one would think having an entire mountain dropped on them would be the end of it, only for Iron Flame to reveal he'd somehow survived because he'd turned venin at some point before his apparent death.

Theoretically, the same could happen to Aura Beinhaven, but it would be a real disappointment. Jack teased Violet in Onyx Storm that there were more venin acolytes at Basgiath than she knew, and Aura is enough of a hard-minded zealot that it wouldn't be unbelievable to imagine her drawing power from the ground to get stronger. Still, though, it would be lazy to repeat a plot twist that's already been done. It would also be pointless, seeing as how Aura's entire arc has served no real purpose, anyway. Whatever the next Empyrean Series book holds, let Aura be dead and stay dead, for everybody's sake.