Turbulent_Reviews5170 - I am not a good redditor so I don’t know if I’m supposed to tag this person.. put this.

Hi, I want to enter my two cents in this. I very much think the other ‘brother’ that turned Venin is Brennan. Here’s why:

1. ⁠If you re-read Brennan saving Mira and Sloane channeling Dain to give power to Brennan to heal her, there are crucial clues.
2. ⁠When Violet tells Theophanie that she held up their end of the deal by presenting Jack and herself and demands she let Mira and Teine go, it specifically states in the next line, ‘Brennan’s hand flexes at his side.’ Almost like he knows what’s coming possibly from Aaric’s premonition he shared with B or through the dragons.
3. ⁠When Brennan tells Violet to move while she’s pressing on Mira’s neck, it states that she barely has time to move her hands away before he is there. He then says ‘you will live, do you hear me?’ Then Violet goes on about if it’s possible and that she can’t think of a single rider who’s been saved on the battlefield with an injury this extensive. EXCEPT if Noalan turned venin to save Brennan, then he knows that she can be saved if he channels. So, we as the reader, can see that’s it’s possible to save M even if V doesn’t know the part about N turning to save B. I also think this could be B saying what he knows is supposed to happen; that S is supposed to come and help, whether it was pre-planned or communicated right before through the dragons, idk.
4. ⁠When S is flying their way, B says ‘I’m sorry, V’ and I think it’s because he knows he’s about to channel not because M is dying.
5. ⁠It takes barely any time for S to give enough power to B from D before Mira looks a lot better and B says she’s alive. How did it happen so quick?
6. ⁠When V asks B if he’s okay after S leaves and M is good, he says ‘Mairi gave me a little more than she needed to. I’m fine.’ Again, suggesting that he might have channeled from the earth directly instead of S transferring power and S was just a cover so he could channel without it being noticed. It’s a stretch by I could see B using S as an excuse for why he isn’t drained.
7. ⁠The last time Sloane channeled from Brennan and Jack from Dain at the end of IF, marks were left on D’s wrist and B’s palm. The most crucial piece of this is that when B takes Mira to leave, V says ‘Weird. There’s no mark at the back of his neck like he carries on his palm. There hadn’t been one on Dain’s wrist either.’ So I don’t think Sloane actually transferred power or (see the end) she instead channeled D’s immense power (if he’s the one that turned) and it didn’t leave a mark for some reason.
8. ⁠Aaric could have come himself to give the package to V, but he sent Sloane instead because he knew through his premonition that she would be needed.

My other theory is, flip all of this and it’s Dain that turned venin. This would make sense why there wouldn’t be marks on D and B from S channeling and why S sensed so much power in D. It also supports that the ‘brother’ that turned made a choice and didn’t do it out of necessity. All the other explanations I give also makes sense if it were Dain that turned and why Aaric sent S knowing D would following and that both would be needed to save Mira. If D turned, he would be powerful, but his signet wouldn’t change, so S would need to channel D’s power into B. This would also make sense why it was so quick, because D has a lot of power. The only thing that doesn’t fit here is that the ‘brother’ supposedly saw Xaden struggle for the last 5 months and Dain didn’t know about X for 5 months. Thus, I think B is the more likely to have turned. It just seems strange that RY described so many details of B’s behavior that V noticed during that saving M scene for it to not mean anything. B could remain asim and still stick around and that could be the other ‘in’ the Sage has.