Move over, J.K. Rowling, a new controversial fantasy author is sweeping in to steal your throne.
I kid — Rebecca Yarros isn’t nearly as bad as Rowling, but she does seem to be in the hot seat a lot these days. Far from Rowling’s transphobic rhetoric, however, Yarros’ controversy stems from a far less hateful — but still damaging — place. It all revolves around the author’s mega-popular Empyrean series of books, which released its first two parts in 2023. Both Fourth Wing and Iron Flame were sensations in the fantasy sphere, and rocketed the American author to fame.
But then, criticism started rolling in. The majority of this revolved around the use of certain names in Yarros’ books, but it soon branched off to include other missteps by the fantasy author. None of it brings her close to the likes of Rowling, and Yarros still has time to reverse her stance and win fans back over, but the clock is ticking.
Why is Rebecca Yarros considered controversial?
There’s one overarching culprit behind Rebecca Yarros’ controversial status: Her use of Gaelic in the Empyrean series. Its not uncommon for fantasy authors to weave other languages and cultures into their books, but its the way Yarros does it that’s rubbing Gaelic speakers the wrong way.
The entire situation is best described by TikTok user @ceartguleabhar, who was the first to clue me into the issue in the first place. As she explains, the very first issue comes with Yarros not even understanding which language she used throughout her books. She pronounces the language in question — Gaelic, which is a Goidelic language native to Scotland — “gay-lic” rather than “gah-lic,” which indicates that she’s not even clear on which language she’s leaning on for inspiration.
Then there’s how she uses — and more importantly, pronounces — the language in question. A number of Yarros’ dragons have Gaelic words for names, which — all on its own — is touchy territory. As stated above, many fantasy authors lean on existing languages and cultures to think up names, locations, rituals, and such for their books. What they rarely do, however, is directly lift from a culture that is not their own. Sure, many of the names in a book might sound really similar to a certain Italian word, but they’re rarely that exact word.
That’s not the case in Fourth Wing. Many of the dragons in the book boast Gaelic names that are lifted directly from the language. That’s not the main issue for Scottish readers — some of whom are even grateful to see their indigenous language more openly shared — however. The real issue comes down to how Yarros pronounces the names. Despite the fact that these names are lifted directly from an existing, and endangered, language, Yarros has thought up her own pronunciations. Which, if they were made up, would be fine. But they’re not, and that’s where the issue resides.
A number of Gaelic speakers have blasted Yarros’ flippant attitude about the pronunciations, and urged her to rethink her stance on the issue. If she so much as stepped forward with an apology, a collab with a Gaelic speaker who can clarify the correct pronunciations, and a promise to treat the existing, minority language with more respect in the future, most of those fans would forgive her. Thus far, they’ve largely looked on the issue as an embarrassing misstep on Yarros’ part — but if she digs her heels in, rather than stepping back and apologizing, all that good will is guaranteed to evaporate.
Another controversy also hit Yarros just as she was grappling with the Gaelic issue, but pretty much no one is safe from judgement when it comes to the situation in Gaza. Yarros’ statements about the Israel-Hamas war landed her in hot water, but she quickly worked to right the situation with a statement on Instagram. She stressed, in her response to the backlash, that she is against “war in every form,” and pushed back on accusations that she “supports genocide.”
That situation came and went pretty rapidly, due to Yarros’ quick action, but the issue of her use of Gaelic persists. And, until Yarros makes the moves to properly smooth things over, it’s likely to linger. Gaelic speakers aren’t pleased with her continued flippancy on the matter, and they’re making sure their voices are heard.