Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing (2023), the first book in the Empyrean series, has become a representative work of the recent development of “romantasy”, and this paper explores how the protagonist Violet Sorrengail in the novel represents a significant revision of the female hero in contemporary fantasy. Feminist fantasy criticism, disability studies and genre theory are employed to trace the development of Violet from a chronically ill, politically conscripted cadet to a dragon rider whose authority stems from tactical intelligence, adaptive embodiment and truth-telling, rather than inherited power or magical exceptionalism. Fourth Wing has introduced three new developments in its genre: first, fragility and chronic pain are no longer depicted as weaknesses to be overcome but as sources of knowledge and strength; second, the structure of romance has been changed to consent-based, transparent and chosen partnerships, moving away from the “fated mates” model of many paranormal and fantasy romances; third, by setting the coming-of-age story against the backdrop of institutional criticism of militarised education and state propaganda, the academy plot has been transformed from a neoliberal meritocracy fantasy into an exploration of systemic violence. The article places the novel within the larger feminist genealogy of fantasy, tracing from Joanna Russ’s analysis of the heroine’s limited scripts to contemporary disability-feminist systems, and concludes that Fourth Wing’s commercial success is not a decline in feminism but rather the mainstreaming of feminist narrative strategies in mass-market fantasy.