50 Fun Facts About Red Rising

In Red Rising, what do Darrow and the Red miners dig for deep beneath the surface of Mars?

Helium-3 is harvested as fuel in the novel, and Darrow is among the best at drilling for it. His clan out-mines every rival and is still denied its reward.

In Red Rising, what is the name of Darrow's wife, whose public hanging turns him against the Golds?

Eo is hanged in public while the event is being broadcast. Her death is what drives Darrow to accept a new body and a new name so he can live among his enemies.

What does Darrow discover about the surface of Mars after rebels rescue him in Red Rising?

It was terraformed long ago, and cities already stand on the planet. The miners below are lied to about its true condition so that they stay obedient.

Which act of defiance gets Darrow's wife hanged by the ArchGovernor of Mars in Red Rising?

Singing a forbidden song during her own public whipping costs her life. The song protests the enslavement of the Reds, and the punishment is being broadcast as she sings.

Which nickname do Darrow's classmates at the Institute give him in Red Rising?

Reaper comes from the sickle-shaped blade Darrow carries as his weapon. The name outlasts the school and follows him through the later novels.

Red Rising fans call themselves by which name, borrowed from a band of characters in the novels?

Howlers is the name readers adopted from characters in the books. Pierce Brown has singled out how warmly LGBT readers in particular have embraced the series.

Kirkus Reviews called Red Rising reminiscent of Game of Thrones and which other dystopian blockbuster?

The Hunger Games was the comparison Kirkus reached for. The review called the book a fine novel for readers who like to immerse themselves in alternative worlds.

For which illegal act is Darrow himself sentenced to hang early in Red Rising?

Burying his wife is against the law, and a grieving Darrow does it anyway. He survives the noose only because a relative drugs him to fake his death.

In Red Rising, how is Mustang related to the Jackal, a secret Darrow learns late in the Institute's war?

His twin sister is the truth Darrow hears only as the game is ending. He fears she will betray him, but she delivers her brother to him instead.

How did Pierce Brown decide which Red Rising character would die at the hands of the Jackal?

Drew a name from a hat is how Brown settled it, leaving out only Darrow and Mustang. He admitted he was tempted to put the name back, since nobody would ever have known.

Which rebel group takes in Darrow after his hanging and remakes him as a Gold in Red Rising?

Sons of Ares is the underground movement that wants the Society's hierarchy overturned. A prequel comic series later told the story of how the group was founded.

Which rebel mentor shows Darrow the truth about the Golds in Red Rising and asks him to become one?

Dancer is the mentor who first reveals the lies of the Golds to Darrow. By the sequel novels he has become a powerful senator and leads the opposition.

In Red Rising, Mickey the Carver who rebuilds Darrow's body as a Gold belongs to which Color?

Violet is the Color of Mickey, whose carving is a black market trade. He physically transforms Darrow so completely that he can pass among the ruling caste.

Under which Gold family name does the disguised Darrow enter the Institute in Red Rising?

Darrow au Andromedus is the false identity that hides his birth as a Red. He does so well in testing under it that Mars's most elite school accepts him.

Which opening trial at the Institute in Red Rising forces paired students to fight to the death?

The Passage pairs new students off and forces them to fight barehanded until one is dead. Only afterwards does the war between the school's Houses begin.

Which brother of Cassius does Darrow kill barehanded at the start of the Institute in Red Rising?

Julian was a kind boy who had befriended Darrow on the flight to the school. Darrow hides what he did, and the secret later wrecks his friendship with Cassius.

Which violent House Mars faction leader in Red Rising turns out to be a remade Red like Darrow?

Titus is another Red in a Gold body, which Darrow realizes while interrogating him as a captive. To protect his own cover, Darrow sentences him to death.

What does the Jackal cut off to escape a trap that Darrow sets for him in Red Rising?

His own hand is the price the Jackal pays to get free. The Proctors then help him counterattack and slip away from Darrow's army.

Which House does Mustang lead at the Institute when Darrow first crosses her path in Red Rising?

Minerva is the House Mustang commands, and Darrow manipulates it into defeating a rival faction inside his own House. He later enslaves it but lets her escape.

In Red Rising, which captured object lets Institute students enslave the members of a rival House?

Its standard can be used to enslave rival students, who must then obey. Darrow and Mustang later turn one to the opposite use, freeing slaves to build a loyal army.

Which Gold ruler of Mars orders the hanging of Darrow's wife in Red Rising, then later recruits him?

Nero au Augustus is ArchGovernor of the planet, and he secretly bribes the Institute's Proctors so that his own child will win the school's war game.

Which uncle drugs Darrow so that he survives his own hanging in Red Rising?

Narol fakes his nephew's death with a drug, then delivers him to the rebels. Two books later he is caught sabotaging the Jackal's satellites.

What is Darrow's dangerous job in the mines at the start of Red Rising, operating a huge drill?

Helldiver is the title for the operators of the huge drilling machines. Darrow is one of the best, and he pushes hard so that his tribe can win extra food.

Which prize of extra food is denied to Darrow's tribe in Red Rising after it out-mines its rivals?

The Laurel goes to the elite Gamma tribe instead, even though Darrow's Lambdas clearly out-produced them. The rigged contest is an early sign that the game is fixed.

The Institute's war game in Red Rising is staged in which real region of the planet Mars?

Valles Marineris holds a massive recreated medieval landscape, with a castle assigned to each House. The school's Proctors watch the fighting from afar.

What is the name of the Proctors' base that Darrow's army storms near the end of Red Rising?

Olympus falls after Darrow's army gets hold of the Proctors' own anti-gravity boots. The students free Mustang there and take the Proctors captive.

Which Proctor does an enraged Darrow kill in Red Rising after the Proctors kidnap Mustang?

Apollo is killed in answer to the kidnapping, after Darrow had already conquered the House he oversees. The Proctors had been helping the Jackal all along.

Which post, a kind of aide-de-camp, does the ArchGovernor of Mars offer Darrow at the end of Red Rising?

Lancer is the role Darrow accepts, joining the house of the man who killed his wife. In return he keeps quiet about how the school's game was rigged.

In Red Rising, which elite rank do the highest-performing students of the Institute graduate into?

Peerless Scarred graduates get the best apprenticeships and government jobs. The ArchGovernor who hangs Darrow's wife is one of them.

Which woman rules the entire Society as Sovereign during Darrow's rise in Red Rising?

Octavia au Lune governs from the Moon, and she took power by beheading her own father, a tyrant. She rules for sixty years before the rebellion reaches her.

Pierce Brown has said the Reds of Red Rising were inspired by the 19th-century plight of which group?

Irish immigrants and the disenfranchised working classes were his inspiration. Brown said he started with Darrow and shaped the whole world around him.

Which studio bought the Red Rising film rights at auction, only for the movie never to be made?

Universal Pictures won a seven-figure auction shortly after the book came out, and Brown wrote the first drafts of the script. The rights eventually reverted to him.

Pierce Brown said the makers of the planned Red Rising film pictured which classic epic "in space"?

Lawrence of Arabia is also Brown's favorite film, which made the idea terribly exciting for him. He was writing the screenplay himself at the time.

Which science fiction imprint published Red Rising and its sequels in the United States?

Del Rey Books has released every novel in the saga since January 2014. The same imprint published a Star Wars short story by Brown in a 2017 anthology.

Which comics publisher released the Red Rising prequel series written by Pierce Brown and Rik Hoskin?

Dynamite Entertainment published the comics, which show how the rebellion against the Golds was founded. Brown has said it takes place before Darrow's story begins.

Which board game publisher, known for Wingspan, turned Red Rising into a tabletop game?

Stonemaier Games announced its Red Rising game in February 2021. The game went on to earn a recommendation from the International Gamers Awards.

Where did Pierce Brown write the first Red Rising novel in the space of about two months?

Above his parents' garage in Seattle is where the book came together. By then he had written six novels and been rejected by more than 110 agents.

Before Red Rising was published, Pierce Brown worked in which American TV network's page program?

NBC employed Brown as a page in Burbank, California, when the novel came out. After college he had worked a variety of jobs in politics and startup tech companies.

Which Gold is unmasked in the Red Rising sequel Golden Son as the rebellion's secret leader?

Fitchner had overseen House Mars at the Institute while Darrow was a student there. He hides a second secret too: his late wife was a Red.

In the Red Rising saga, which loyal friend of Darrow from House Mars is nicknamed Goblin?

Sevro starts out as an antisocial outcast at the Institute and ends up as Darrow's best friend and second-in-command. His father was a Gold and his mother a Red.

Which self-styled poet betrays Darrow at a victory feast in the Red Rising sequel Golden Son?

Roque sedates Darrow at the feast and mocks him for being born a Red. He goes on to command the Sovereign's fleet against his former friend.

Which massive ally of Mustang in Red Rising shares his name with the son she and Darrow later have?

Pax is the giant warrior who sides with Mustang at the Institute. At the end of Morning Star she reveals that she secretly gave birth to a boy with the same name.

Ragnar, the warrior who pledges himself to Darrow in the Red Rising sequel Golden Son, is which Color?

Obsidian warriors are recruited by the Society as slave soldiers, and Ragnar rebels to follow Darrow instead. Darrow frees him and later hands him a razor and a command.

Which retired Rage Knight secretly trains Darrow in swordsmanship in the Red Rising sequel Golden Son?

Lorn au Arcos is on Europa when Darrow arrives to recruit him by force. He joins only reluctantly, and he does not survive the book.

What is the mass invasion of Mars that Darrow launches in the Red Rising sequel Golden Son called?

Iron Rain is the assault that takes the planet back, and it is broadcast as it happens. Years later Darrow orders another one in defiance of his own Senate.

Which tycoon, the Society's richest man, co-founded the rebellion in the Red Rising saga?

Quicksilver made his fortune from fuel refineries on Phobos and resents the Golds for stifling scientific and economic progress. He also helped build the rebels' hidden city.

Which ally of Darrow did Red Rising author Pierce Brown name his favorite character to write?

Victra is dark and broken but finds her way back, in Brown's words. He also named the Jackal, describing him as the lonely, jealous part of himself.

In the Red Rising sequel novels, what is the new government led by Mustang and Darrow called?

Solar Republic is the state born from the rebellion's victory, ten years on. Mustang serves as its elected Sovereign while Darrow commands its military.

What is the name of Darrow's home mining colony beneath Mars in the Red Rising novels?

Lykos is the underground colony where Darrow grew up. While imprisoned and tortured in Morning Star, he gives it up to the Jackal.

In Red Rising, what do the miners call the guards who catch Darrow leaving the hidden garden?

Tinpots are the government guards who police the mines. They catch Darrow and his wife coming out of the garden and take the two away separately.