The Most Iconic Quotes from Lightbringer by Pierce Brown
July 30, 2025
Lightbringer by Pierce Brown was one of the best books I’ve ever read in my entire life. The book was so well thought out, and the writing felt so realistic to the point where I felt as if I was one of the characters in the story. The story was so memorable and contained some of my favorite quotes throughout the whole Red Rising series, so in honor of all the characters (especially my beloved Cassius 😭), I’ve gathered some of my favorite lines and scenes throughout the book to share. Reading these quotes is like being able to re-experience all the best moments of Lightbringer again, and each quote sends a flood of emotions over me (whether good or bad)! I will never get sick of rewatching these precious moments, and I hope you enjoy them just as much I do!
Table of Contents:
Funny QuotesLysander Hate QuotesEmotional/Memorable QuotesInspirational Quotes
WARNING: Contains Spoilers!
Click on any dropdowns to reveal either specific thoughts or the background behind some of the quotes.
Funny Quotes
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“That bloodydamn Bellona. That arrogant Peerless sh*t. I'm going to break his knee if I ever see him again.” Darrow (page 3)
As one of the first memorable quotes in Lightbringer, this hits even harder after you’ve finished the book and read through all the character development and bonding (and tragedies 😭) between Darrow and Cassius.Thoughts
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He sighs. “Darrow, this is a thirty-megaton atomic warhead.” I smile. “He has a big personality.” “Well, then Apollonius should love him.” Darrow & Cassius (page 34)
I laughed out loud when I read this scene. Cassius is absolutely hilarious (even more so than Ephraim in my opinion, fight me) and this was one of the first of many comedic scenes involving him and Darrow. I remember literally taking a picture of this quote and saving it on my phone when I first read it! We'll miss you Dominus Portobello 🫡 (but we'll always miss our Cassius more 😭)Thoughts
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“Apparently the material is one hundred times more expensive per ounce than razors are to produce,” I say. “Outfitting the Morning Star alone would have bankrupted the Republic.” “So?” “That’s what I said.” He laughs. “No wonder the Senate didn’t like you.” Darrow & Cassius (page 48)
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"You idiot. What was that?" I shout. "You said 'Move’!" "The other way!" "You didn't specify which direction!" "Who dives into a bloodydamn cell?" I snap. Darrow & Cassius (page 55)
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“I can read lips from a hundred meters, you slanderous goat rapists.” Tharsus (page 59)
This happened when Tharsus approached Lysander and Cicero to tell them of Darrow’s capture.Background
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“I had to suck water from a rusted pope, and no, that’s not a euphemism.” Cassius (page 70)
This was after Darrow & Cassius fell into the Minotaur's trap and Cassius discovered that Darrow was fed amazing food to prepare for his duel against Apollonius whilst he was uh… not quite as well fed.Background
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I thought him a bad influence on Pax. Maybe I’ve underestimated my son. Maybe he was a good influence on Vladir. Virginia (page 233)
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“Do not worry for her. Pity them." Victra's message to Mustang (page 245)
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“Well, she pissed on Sevro and lived,” Cassius manages between fits of laughter. “Name one other person who’s done that.” Cassius (page 343)
This happened when Lyria was caught trying to steal ham on the Archimedes and Sevro caught her and enveloped her in a sack.Background
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“You have a callsign already?” “Red Banshee,” I say. “It’s rude to start a friendship with lies,” he replies. “What is it really? You can be honest with me.” I grimace. “Truffle Pig.” “Oh dear.” A smile creeps across his face. “You really shouldn’t have told me that.” Cassius & Lyria (page 347)
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“Volga Fjorgan. This name ring a bell?” He snorts. I pull the sidearm I filched from the armory and set it on my knee. “Does her name ring a bell?” He chuckles. “What’s so funny?” “You are saying: ‘Does this name ring my balls.’” Lyria and Sigurd (page 457)
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“You two haven’t seen each other fight–” “Cassius?” I say. He perks up. “Yes?” “Shut up,” Diomedes says. Cassius, Darrow, and Diomedes (page 483)
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“Come, come, Darrow, am I not allowed to be the best at anything?” “Fine. You can be most despised,” I say. “Thank you, contrition at last.” Cassius and Darrow (page 483)
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“What? Did somebody compliment me?” he asks. “It's the jawline. Isn't it selfless, really. I take the pressure off everyone else. They don't have to worry about being the most handsome in the room. They can just be. Ah. Heavy is the chin that sets the bar.” Cassius (page 581)
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Volga jumps out the back of the ship and makes a beeline toward me. Her head is down under the wash of the ship’s engines. She glances at Cassius. She does a double take. He’s staring dramatically out to sea now, either thinking about Lysander or posing for a coin. She’s so captivated by him her foot clips an uneven stone. He doesn’t look over at me, but draws a finger along his jaw. Idiot. Darrow’s POV (page 582)
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“Honestly, Darrow, atomics, warlord heads. I thought our honeymoon would be more romantic.” “Honeymoon.” “Yes. Apparently we're a couple till Virginia fights me for you.” Cassius & Darrow (page 590)
Lysander Hate Quotes
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I extend a hand to him. “Au Raa. Or should I say Storm Knight? Or Legate? Or Twin Taker? You’re truly racking up the honors, goodman.” He does not take my hand. I’m shocked, embarrassed. Lysander to Diomedes (page 62)
HAHA TAKE THAT LYSANDER!!! Even though I know Diomedes ends up respecting Lysander (before that idiot bombs the Garter), I fully support any and all Lysander disrespect. If I’m going to be honest though, I never really hated Lysander until he killed Cassius. I thought his actions could be justified, as he really believed that he could reunite Rin and Core. I only started HATING, LOATHING, and DESPISING him after he betrayed Cassius for a biological weapon of mass extinction and then proceeded to cut his connections with the Rim and bomb their Garters. He either gaslit me really well, or he went through some terrible character development, but either way, I want to see him dead in Red God no matter what.Thoughts
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“... I would ask you to relay that, but I hear you don’t share her confidences, only her bed.” He looks over at Diomedes. “The Core is an odd place, is it not?” Helios (page 64)
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“What’s frustrating is that he never comes into the field of battle so Victra can just kill the little bastard and end his delusions of grandeur before he becomes a problem.” Virginia (page 139)
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“Go fuck yourself, Lysander.” Ajax (page 149)
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“He’ll pin all the evil on the Republic and on Atalantia, then take this war to the abyss so a snow-white savior can pull the worlds out into a shining dawn.” I laugh. Even the name of the ship is too rich. “Silenius the Light Bringer. Lysander the Light Bringer. That son of a bitch.” Darrow (page 485)
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I have only one thing to say. “That motherfucker’s gonna burn.” Cassius and Diomedes both turn on me. “Darrow–” “No, Cassius. I love you, but no. He is Atlas’s Good Tyrant. Don’t look at me like that. I’m gonna lather him in honey and feed him to the berserkers. I swear to Hades.” Darrow (page 603)
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At first I did not recognize the young man. War has that effect on the face and eyes. It’s reassuring that it touches even the shiniest boy on the Palatine. Darrow (page 611)
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“You used me? For that? For this?” he asks. “To cut your strings and pin it all on me. The Betrayer.” “Yes.” He sways and looks around as if mortally wounded. “Lysander… I thought we were… I… believed in you.” “You believed in your own reflection,” I say. “We’re not brothers. Let us go our separate ways. Take a nightRaptor. Fly away. Live. Escape this. I can’t. I won’t. I will be Sovereign.” Cassius & Lysander (pages 639-640)
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“Your strings are cut, Lysander. You’re free. We can take on Atalantia. Is that not enough?” “It’s time for you to go, Cassius.” He watches me for a moment. “Say I don’t?” “Then you’re choosing death.” Cassius & Lysander (page 640)
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“Lune, you are a liar. And your empty words are evil. We spoke of Atlas. You confessed his involvement–” Diomedes page 656
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“You wretched worm! Weasel,” Gaia snaps. “Foul tyrant seed. I spoke to my son Atlas. I looked in his face. I heard from his own mouth the game he has been playing.” Gaia (page 657)
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“If I ever see you again, I will kill you.” Pytha (page 666)
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“You didn’t deserve to kill that dragon. Cassius did. He was a true knight. Can I go?” Pytha (page 667)
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“Lune, Grimmus, they are trying to reclaim what they have lost: control. There is nothing sacred in that. They do not lead. They pull, they corral, they confine. Their path has only room for one.” Aurae (page 674)
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“Lune will die. He has broken Lyria’s heart.” Volga (page 674)
Emotional/Memorable Quotes
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He breaks eye contact. “They did smell like bacon, Darrow. The Howlers. I lost them all. I don’t know where Pebble and Clown are. I don’t know if Lilath and… the Abomination still have them. He said he was going to erase me. Wash out my memories. Turn me into his trained dog. Wash out my family.” Sevro (page 107)
Hearing this from Sevro absolutely broke me. I knew he was already depressed by this point in the book, but it was here that I realized how broken he really felt. His family and friends meant the world to him, and seeing him so vulnerable was heartbreaking.Thoughts
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“Can I ask something of you?” He nods. “You greeted me as your Sovereign, but–” He steps forward and wraps his arms around me, and I wrap mine around him. It is the first embrace we’ve shared where I can feel a hint of the strength his arms will one day possess. I hold him for as long as I can. He is my favorite smell, my favorite sound, my favorite sight. He will never know how much I love him because he does not remember the day Darrow and I conceived him, or the months I carried him inside me, or the minute he came into the world, the moment he said his first word or took his first step, or made me laugh for the first time. I remember all those things, and all the things about them. Where the sun lay in the sky, how his father’s eyes sparkled, what I feared in those moments, what I hoped for his life to be. That season of life is a haze to him, but when I die and reflect on my life, I know I will still believe that season was the meaning of mine. Virginia and Pax (page 145)
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“You know what I told myself out there… each time my mistakes compounded? I’d say, Darrow, next time you listen to Virginia, you jackass. If you get so lucky to see her again. You listen to her as you should have all along. I’m not saying you’re always right. But I know I tend to shut down. Sometimes for years. That’s not right. It’s not… the path I want to walk anymore. It’s lonely, and we’ve always been stronger together. After all, we made our tribe together. We made Pax together.” Darrow to Virgina (page 274)
This was during Virginia’s tightbeam with the Archimedes after she told Darrow he couldn’t return home.Background
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“And this Volga character?” I wipe tears from my eyes. “Shit. Volga woulda eaten her own gun if it put that baby back in Victra’s arms. I swear it.” Sevro & Lyria (page 462)
This happened when Sevro was asking Lyria about what happened when Ulysses died.Background
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“Go on now. Before I try to keep you.” Cassius to Lyria (page 466)
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“I thought it would be Ares's name that they shouted before death. Or Eo's name. But no. It was mine.” Darrow (page 475)
This chapter ending was so beautifully written and emotional. I honestly never thought of how the Rim handled the revelation of all of the Sons of Ares, and I never really considered the fact that each and every one of them had their own lives and families. Reading this section as well as Darrow’s speech in the following chapter (chapter 60) felt really touching, and I enjoyed watching how Darrow lifted his burden and faced his guilt.Thoughts
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Clang. Clang. Clang. “Confess.” Darrow (chapters 72-76)
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“Fá is all that protected me. The braves may revere my blood, but the jarls call me unnatural. A lab freak. They will kill me.” “Then they kill you.” She looks so afraid, but I’m spitting mad. “You don’t get to run away anymore, Volga. I’m glad you didn’t tear out my heart and throw it in a fire. Really. Thanks. I’m glad you didn’t have that in you. But you killed thirteen people before me. Thirteen, woman! What the fuck?” Volga & Lyria (page 565)
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“Really, Darrow. I don’t know many people as long as I’ve known you. I just want to say that I really appreciate you. As a person. We’ve had our spots. We really have. We brought out a lot of the bad in each other, but a lot more good. I think it’s like that because we speak a common language, you know? We’ve always understood each other deep down.” I nod. He looks out the window. “I’m not really blessed at keeping friends. But you are. I truly respect that. I know how special your friends are to you, how protective you are of them. And it means… quite a bit to me that you’ve invited me into your pack and made me feel welcome. No… it means everything, really. Without this, without your friends, I’m very much alone. You’ve put a lot of faith in me. Faith I don’t think I deserved. I just want to say… thank you, Darrow.” He looks over after I don’t say anything. “Hey, why are you crying?” he asks with a laugh. I wave for him to give me a moment. I wipe my eyes and with tears on the back of my hand, then clap his shoulder and just squeeze. Cassius & Darrow (page 591)
This interaction between Cassius and Darrow meant EVERYTHING. After years of friendship then rivalry, they finally became brothers again, just like how it should’ve been all along. Just reading this conversation makes me smile because of how wholesome it is. I’ve been waiting for this moment for SO long, and I can’t believe Pierce Brown would kill Cassius off right after he’s finally found himself. I guess this only adds to my hatred of that Palatine pixie who I hope ends up in Sevro’s hands to be picked apart bit by bit by the blade Sevro named after him. Nothing personal! 🙂Thoughts
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“You’re my brother. We let ten years slip past. Ten years we should have fought side by side. I won’t make that mistake again. Whether you like it or not, you’re with me to the end.” Darrow to Cassius (page 592)
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“But if it must be guilt that drags you down, brother, I will be your millstone” Cassius (page 640)
The second Cas said this, I knew I wasn’t gonna like it…Thoughts
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“I am Cassius Bellona, son of Tiberius, son of Julia, brother of Darrow, Morning Knight of the Solar Republic, and my honor remains.” Cassius (page 641)
NOOOO CASSIUS PLEASE NO DON’T LEAVE US IT’S TOO EARLY FOR YOU TO DIEEEEEEEE YOU JUST STARTED LIVING YOUR LIFE AND NOW… 😭 Gosh Cassius’s character development throughout the series was absolutely amazing (and now heartbreaking). I should’ve known something was going to happen to him when he had that emotional bonding scene with Darrow. UGH I love Pierce Brown’s writing, but he can be really brutal sometimes… 😢Thoughts
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My beautiful, brave friend hangs like a carcass in a butcher’s freezer. He is naked and brutalized. His arms are broken. Blood leaks from dozens of bullet holes and stab wounds. His sword hand is missing. The hand that used to reach over and squeeze my shoulder as we sat in the cockpit of his ship. The hand that used to grip my wrist to correct my blade form. The hand he drank with and would gesture with like a trained orator as he spoke. Tears pour down my face. I hurt all over. He is dead. Cassius. Darrow (page 656)
NO NO NO I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT. HE’S NOT DEAD NO NO NO NO NOThoughts
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“They give each individual tree a name... They said they sing to them and it makes the trees happy, and a happy tree produces better fruit... They said the trees were their children, and they will die with them. Then they spat on me.” He turns. He looks miserable. Cicero (page 665)
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“He was so afraid on our journey to the Core. So nervous to see you and be rejected. But when he saw you respected him, valued him, he shined like a star. His path led back to you, because you made him feel loved. That is all that matters, Darrow. When he died, he knew he was loved. So when you think of him, when you feel sad, remember that.” Aurae to Darrow about Cassius (pages 675-676)
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“He hardly looks like the same man I knew. My hand trembles as it touches his hair, the only part of him that escaped the brutality of Lysander. His hair is no less golden now that he is dead. A single sob comes out of me, followed by tears and silence. Cassius had a heart like Eo, though it took him longer to find it. I wish he’d found it sooner. I don’t know how long I stand there thinking not of the past but all the life he had yet to live now that he’d become the man I always hoped he would be.” Darrow (page 677)
Inspirational Quotes
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“In life, it is very tempting to forget the past to try and make a perfect future. But the past, and the pain we have endured… they make us who we are. Without my past, my pain, I would not be what I am. I forgot that.“ Matteo to Lyria (page 134)
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Forgetting is essential to learning, just as exhaling is essential to breathing. Breath out, then in. Find the self, then lose it once again. Thus, the path goes ever onward. The Path to the Vale tenth understanding (page 300)
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“Chains might be made by others, but we tend to them. End his pain. End your own. Who knows. Maybe you’ll find more joy in being a father than playing a god.” Darrow to Quicksilver (page 320)
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“Where do you think I’d be without you? Without our friends? Dead in a ravine, that’s where. We hold each other up. We always have. That’s not weakness. That’s the only strength we’ve got. More than anyone. You've been there for me. You’ve been my engine for half a life.” Darrow to Sevro (page 397)
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“My da was a rat,” I say toward the viewport. “He informed on people in our mine. I used to think he was perfect because he was my da. Then I hated him. Then I realized he did it for us. Now when I think of him, I think he was just a person doing his best in the world he was in. I can’t judge him for that. I can’t say I’m better or worse. But it makes me sad. He accepted his prison. He never even tried the bars. That helm… for Da, maybe he hated it. But maybe it wasn’t his prison. Maybe it was his key to get out.” Lyria to Sevro (page 463) This was when Sevro genuinely had a conversation with Lyria for the first time and Sevro started talking about why he didn’t want to be Ares.
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“I am the kneeling son. I am the broken daughter. I am the widow and her trembling fist. I am the sum of the tyrants’ debris. I am the whipped, the bent, the broken, the enslaved. I am the meek, the gentle, the humble, and all their silent rage. By taking your voice, Gold has given me mine. I am you. I am we. I am Ares, breaker of chains.” Sevro (page 488)
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“If you go in that pod, you go on your own. You’ll have no people, Volga. Not me, not the obsidians, not the Republic. I ain’t friends with rats who jump ship after they dined on all the cheese.” I point behind me as a roar of the crowd rolls in across the sea. “Or you go back. You face the fathers whose kids you kidnapped. The jarl whose some you killed. You face the stains you put on your hands. You choose accountability. You choose your people. You choose me. That’s the kinda person worthy of my friendship. Ephraim, Ragnar, Fá. Don’t pin it on all the daddies. This is it. Who are you, Volga?” Lyria (page 566)
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The passions within me war. I want this fight with Lysander. I want it more than I wanted Nero’s death, but I remember all too well the hollowness I felt when he lay dead before me slain by his own son. Nero’s death did not fill the holes torn in my life. It was his daughter who did that. From the day Virginia stayed my hand at Octavia’s gala and stopped me from killing Cassius, she kept me from falling into the shadow within myself. Darrow (page 614)
Conclusion
I’ve had so much fun collecting each and every one of these quotes, even if some of them broke me on the inside a few times. I will never forget the amazing journey Red Rising has taken me through, and I hope these quotes will remind me of it. Of course, now I’m desperately waiting for Pierce Brown to release Red God, but in the meantime, I’m writing an in-depth analysis and prediction for the events in Red God! If you’re interested (which you should be if you’ve gotten so far into this blog post), I would definitely check that post out once it’s released. I have some complex and amazing predictions that I can’t wait to share, but of course, I need to put them all into words first!
Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed reading these iconic quotes as much as I have! Let me know in the comments section below if I missed something, and as always, HAIL LIBERTAS! HAIL REAPER!
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