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vic-the-bookdragon · 2 years

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Violets-Ianthe. Ocyrhoe. Persephone. A crack theory and how Koschei might be able to trick Azriel.

Disclaimer : Everything in this post is just a reflection of my thoughts and opinions. I don not claim anything as a fact when I theorize. Also, I am certain others have commented on those things as well, but I just wanted to add my own interpretation. Keep in mind, when I discuss different mythologies I just do it because it's fun to try and guess where SJM might have been inspired from, since we know she uses mythology and legends in her books.

This a very long post, I'm sorry. I hope everything makes sense.

Violets, their symbolism and Ianthe.

We all know that Feyre drew something on the drawer they shared, to represent each sister. The night and stars for her, flames for Nesta, and flowers for Elain. I've seen theories that claim that each drawing represents a sister and her potential love interest, and while I do believe that, I mostly agree with the theories that suspect that there might a deeper meaning. That the symbolism behind them reflects the journey/story of each sister.

I won't get into detail about Feyre and Nesta's drawers, because their stories have already been told and there are other amazing posts out there that analyze them perfectly. I won't get into great detail about Elain either, because, like I said it's been done before. But, I want to point out that the description we get about Elain's drawer is ever-changing and I want to give you the reason why I believe it's a representation of her journey.

ACOTAR

I slung off my outer clothes onto the sagging dresser - frowning at the violets and roses I'd painted around the knobs of Elain's drawer...

What I want to talk about is the violets.

They are said to represent "innocence, everlasting love, modesty, spiritual wisdom, faithfulness, mysticism, and remembrance."

What stuck out to me in particular is innocence and then something clicked in my brain, because in the next book Elain's drawer was mentioned violets were gone :

ACOMAF

I painted flowers for Elain on her drawer. [...] Little roses and begonias and irises.

Now, I know that in the beginning Sarah didn't intend for Feyre's sister to have a major role, but in ACOMAF things started to change and I wonder if she paid closer attention to things associated with Nesta and Elain. Sarah is known for her foreshadowing, which sometimes is truly good and other times terribly obvious. And that brings me to the violets, Ianthe and Elain's innocence.

At first I had assumed the 'innocence' thing was associated with Elain being a virgin and then losing her virginity with Greysen and that's why the violets where gone in ACOMAF.

But then I remebered Ianthe and what her name means.

In Greek mythology, Ianthe was one of the 3.000 Oceanids (water nymph, naiad) and, also one of Persephone's companions. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and her name means "violet flower" (it also means "she who delights").

That made me believe that the virginal innocence wasn't the reason violets weren't mentioned again, but Elain's innocece as a whole.

Ianthe was the one who sold them out to King of Hybern, she was responsible for the sisters going into the Cauldron and being made into High Fae.

Elain's innocence died that day. After that she was forced to see a new side of the world, a darker side. From that moment forward, after her autonomy was violated, she couldn't be as she was before. She was "forced" (not really, it was her choice, but essentially turning into high fae sort of forced her) to participate and play a great role in a war. No one comes out unscathed from something like that and the price Elain paid was her innocence.

Violets are also a symbol of untimely death in the young (Elain's human body died that day) and melancholy (in ACOWAR Elain is struggling and is described as catatonic) and are identified with the natural cycle of life, death and rebirth and as a catalyst to transition. They are also among the flowers Persephone was said to have been picking when Hades kidnapped her.

All of these things make me believe Elain's flowers depict what will come to pass in her life and it's also quite symbolice if you think about it, since she is a seer.

2. Ocyrhoe.

Ocyrhoe was another Oceanid in greek mythology, her name means "swift-flowing" and she, too, was one of Persephone's companions/playmates.

“All we were playing in a lovely meadow, Leucippe and Phaeno and Electra and Ianthe, Melita also and Iache with Rhodea and Callirhoe [420] and Melobosis and Tyche and Ocyrhoe, fair as a flower, [...] we were playing and gathering sweet flowers” - Homeric Hymn to Demeter.

There are 5 characters she refers to :

One of the 3.000 Oceanides.

Chiron's daughter.

Daughter of Imbrasus (a river god) and Chesias (a maiden).

Mother of Caicus, son of Hermes.

Mother of Hippomedon (defender of Troy).

As I was scrolling absentmindedly through the internet looking at this and that, I came across Ocyrhoe and her story might have inspired Elain's character. (I repeat, it's not canon. Just my opinion)

In the story as Imbrasus and Chesias's daughter, Ocyrhoe became Apollo's object of desire, and while trying to flee from him she asked for help from a seafarer and an old friend of her father, Pompilus. He took her on his ship, but eventually Apollo reached them. Apollo took Ocyrhoe and turned the ship into stone and Pompilus into a fish.

In one version of the story where she is Chiron's daughter, she was a centaur and she had the power to see the things concealed by the Fates. One day, she revealed Chiron's fate to him (that he would give up his immortality to be spared the agonizing pain of a serpent's poison). For that transgression the gods punished her by taking her voice and turning her into a mare.

"...became Apollo's object of desire..." Elain has become L/cien's "object of desire" in a sense. I don't think he truly wants to be with her. I believe it's just the bond forcing these feelings on him.

"...trying to flee from him..." She wants nothing romantic to do with him and avoids him as much as she can.

"...she had the power to see the things concealed by the Fates..." She is a seer.

"...turning her into a mare..." She'd shown curiosity about whether Amren could've chosen a different form and we speculate that shapeshifting of some kind might be one of her powers.

What led me to research the possible connection between the two, was the fact that Ocyrhoe was present when Persephone was kidnapped to the Underworld, just like Elain was present when Feyre (the og Persephone in the ACOTAR series, but I believe Elain is also associated with her, and not just because of the flowers) was taken to Prythian. Ocyrhoe was also referred to as "fair as a flower" in Homer's Hymn to Demeter. It's not much, but...I thought it was interesting.

Also, as Chiron's daughter her mother was Chariclo. In another myth Chariclo was a nymph and Tiresias's mother. Tiresias became blind when he saw the goddess Athena naked. His mother begged her to lift her curse, but she couldn't. Instead she gave him the gift of sight. He is often portrayed as Apollo's oracle. And that made me think "What blinds an oracle?" and that Athena, the goddess of wisdom, is often depicted with an owl - Elain is shown to have owl like mannerisms.

Then we have Apollo who was said to be the god of "divine distance, who sent or threatened from afar; the god who made men aware of their own guilt and purified them of it; who presided over religious law and the constitutions of cities; and who communicated with mortals through prophets and oracles his knowledge of the future and the will of his father, Zeus."

3. Persephone.

I've seen a lot of posts claiming that Elain and Persephone have nothing in common except flowers.

Well, I beg to differ.

I know that Rhysand and Feyre are a loose retelling of Hades x Persephone, but I think Elain and Azriel are one too, only more heavy on the light/dark theme.

So, there are two versions of the myth.

In one version - the one I think Feysand got - Hades is said to have fallen in love when he first saw her in one of his rare visits from the Underworld and decided to form a plan and take her away. - Rhysand met Feyre when he crashed Calanmai and it was rare for him to be able to leave UtM. Even though he wasn't in love with her yet, he felt a connection.

Zeus helped him with his plan. When she was out picking flowers with her friends, the naiads, they made the ground split beneath her. She fell and Hades took her to the Underworld and made her his wife. - Mor helped Rhys free Feyre, when Tamlin had locked in the mansion. He took her to NC and the two slowly started getting to know each other.

At first Persephone was sad and unhappy, but after a long while she eventually fell in love with Hades and was able to live happily with him in the Otherworld. - After Feyre was surrounded by people who didn't suppress her and cared about her mental state and trauma, she slowly begun to heal, along with Rhys. The two fell in love, Rhysand made her his High Lady and they lived happily ever after in the NC.

The other version has Demeter in it and Persephone was lured away from naiad friends by a narcisuss flower, planted by Gaia who was following Zeus's orders. The earth opened as she pulled the flower and that's how Hades was able to abduct her.

In the Az's bonus chapter, we could say that Rhys had taken the role of Demeter by commanding Azriel to stay away from Elain (Not because he doesn't want them together or values L/cien's happiness more than his brother's, but because of the consequences. I also do not think Rhys will keep that stance forever. I believe many people who will be against Elriel will take the role of Demeter or even the difficulties the couple will face will represent her). In the myth Demeter in her despair and desperate search for her daughter abandoned her duties, starvation reigned and people died. - Elain and Azriel coming together while she's still L/cien's mate could either cause L/ucien demand the Blood Duel or a civil war between the courts, since tensions are high already.

Hades agreed to let Persephone leave once a year for six months and live with her mother, but the rest of the year she would stay with him (although Persephone ate only 4 pomegranate seeds) - I believe, and hope mostly, that's the reason why SJM mentioned that Azriel owns a place called Rosehall and his mother lives there. I think they will split their time between Rosehall and the NC.

Also, the flower narcissus (daffodil) represents rebirth and new beginnings.

Fun fact : In the myth, Demeter was the one who turned all the naiads into sirens because they lost her daughter.

Ok, and now it's time...

4. A crack theory.

Papa Archeron promised Koschei to give him Elain and Nesta.

The Archerons' father didn't give Koschei his soul or spirit in exchange for Vassa, but instead gave him his two remaining mortal daughters. This possibility is something I've been pondering for quite a while.

“Where is Briallyn?” Azriel demanded, Siphons flaring like cobalt flame.

“I spend so many months preparing for you,” Koschei crooned, “and you don’t even wish to speak to me?”

This quote right here suggests that there is indeed a connection between Azriel and Koschei.

If we assume that some theories out there are correct, about how Az's shadows could be made somehow, that Az could have an even deeper connection to him and that Koschei has a connection to the Cauldron, I think Koschei knows how powerful Azriel really is and what a fine weapon he would make in an upcoming war. I don't think he wants him to find the 4th Trove. Better yet, I don't think he wants him just for that.

“Certainly.” Vassa peered at her hands, fingers flexing. “I fear what may happen if he ever gets free of the lake. If he sees this world on the cusp of disaster and knows he could strike, and strike hard, and make himself its master. As he once tried to do, long ago.”

We know Azriel is very powerful and he can "winnow", something not many powerful fae can - although, I believe this ability has to do with him being able to control shadows. We also know that he is the only known living shadowsinger and that they are very rare. Also, we don't know very much about his past in general.

What if Koschei was the first shadowsinger or had the ability to control shadows as a death God? What if Azriel is his descendant and some that's were his shadows come from? What if Koschei's essence lives inside of Azriel, but not enough to control him completely? What if now Koschei has found a way to overcome that problem? - I'll circle back to that because I think there may be some truth there. And I know that's a lot of what ifs, but this is a crack theory.

In the original tale, Koschei using spells has hidden his soul inside nested objects to protect it. It may be hidden "in the needle that is hidden inside the egg, the egg is in the duck, the duck is in the hare, the hare is in the chest, the chest is buried or chained up on a far island."

Couldn't Koschei in ACOTAR, who is also a sorcerer, do the same? But instead of keeping it in nested objects, he split it in two, kept one piece inside the onyx box - which I suspect might be wyrdstone - and hid the other in the Cauldron?

It is said that "It (the Cauldron) fell into the wrong hands and great and horrible things were done with it". Could it have fallen to Koschei's hands? Could he be the one who created the original Dread Trove, and so parts of his soul are in these objects? And that's why people can't remember it, because he spelled it to keep it safe? But now that he found a way to be free from the lake he wants it back, to be complete?

The Cauldron is, also, called The Bowl of Life and Death, but is there a chance that at one point it was just The Bowl of Life, since it gave life to Prythian, and the death part was added later, when Koschei meddled with it? Koschei, being as powerful as he is described to be, could have manipulated everyone into thinking that if something happens to it then all life would end, to ensure that no one would try to destroy it, and by extension him, completely.

Let's talk about the Book of Breathings for a second, because it might seem like plot hole in this scenario. The Book of Breathings was created from the last of the molten ore used to forge the Cauldron, not in the Cauldron, therefore not by the Cauldron itself. So, the way I see it, it could still cause damage to the Cauldron and Koschei himself, if part of his soul was indeed there

Everything I'll talk about from now on are based on the assumption that Koschei's soul is in the Cauldron and in the objects of the Dread Trove and he is somehow Azriel's predecessor or that his shadows contain Koschei's essence.

What Vassa suspected is true. The death-lord Koschei has been whispering in Briallyn’s ear. He remains trapped at his lake, but his words carry on the wind to her. He is ancient, his depth of knowledge fathomless. He pointed Briallyn toward the Dread Trove—not for her sake, but for his own ends. He wishes to use it to free himself from his lake.

From this quote we know that Koschei has the ability to communicate with people, even though his trapped at a lake. That leads me to assume the wind whispers back (and maybe it does in canon, but I don't remember). If that is so, then he heard about Feyre, the human girl who died and then was reborn made into High Fae. He must've also heard that when the 7 High Lords brought her back to life, a piece of them, a piece of their power, transferred to her, making her as powerful as Rhysand.

And he thought he could do the same, if he pulled all the strings right...

He manipulated Papa Archeron to travel to the continent to meet with him and trade away both himself and his daughters. And He manipulated the King of Hybern to have them thrown in the Cauldron...

...to be made into weapons - Amren had mentioned that the sisters might be as powerful as Rhysand after being Made, just as Azriel might be on the same level of power as Rhys - and to bear a part of his soul so he can get it back.

We later learn that the sisters accumulated power/powers from the Cauldron. Nesta took hers forcibly, while Elain's was a gift. And I believe there's a reason for it.

The Cauldron/Koschei sensed Nesta's resilience and that she could not be easily fooled, - remember how she broke through Tamlin's glamour in book 1? - but she stole from it nontheless.

Elain, though, the gentler, kinder, more naive of the two, was perfect. We know that she became a seer, but we don't know what else. I think, Elain is immensly powerful, even though we haven't seen it yet. I think she is more powerful than Nesta was, before she gave her power away.

And that leads me to what I speculate Elain's other power might be. Being associated with dawn is not a coincidence, not just for the Dusk Court theory, but also about her hidden power. A meeting of light and shadow. Beside the shapeshifting - which is not a sure thing, but it might have been foreshadowed - I think Elain has shadowfire, like Kaltain Rompier in ToG, or more accurately shadowlight and that power was triggered when Azriel offered her Truth Teller and she accepted it. When she touched TT she tapped into it and that's one of the reasons Feyre highlights that scene between them. Light. And dark. A bridge of connection. I'll cricle back to that because there's something more I want to add.

I also believe that the Cauldron/Koschei thinking Elain would be more easily manipulated was not the only reason it gave her gifts and purred in her presence.

The Bone Carver mentions :

"...Had I been braver, I might have bided my time—waited for their power to fade, for that long-ago Fae warrior to trick Stryga into diminishing her power and becoming confined to the Middle. Koschei, too—confined and bound by his little lake on the continent. All before Prythian, before the land was carved up and any High Lord was crowned.” Cassian and I waited, not daring to interrupt. “Clever, that Fae warrior. Her bloodline is long gone now—though a trace still runs through some human line.”

That human bloodline could potentially be Vassa's. But what if there's another one though in the Archeron line? And that's why the Cauldron/Koschei has shown so much interest in her? Because that trace runs stronger in her blood and she could be made into a more lethal weapon and not just because she is beautiful? That also makes me consider the fact that Elain being a seer has nothing to do with her going into the Cauldron. That it's just simply the dormant magic in her blood being activated and that she can't sleep because a type of "bond" was created between her and Koschei and he's messing with her, not in a fun kind of way. I think he's preparing her, just like he said he did with Azriel.

Now, let's move on to parts Koschei's soul/essence-heritage (in Azriel's case) being inside Elain, Az and other objects.

“No one really knows the full scope of the Trove’s powers. Beyond freeing him from his lake, Koschei may very well know something about the Trove that we don’t—some greater power that manifests when all three are united.”

What Koschei might know, that other's don't, is that the Trove is in its core him, and that with it he will be truly unstoppable, a real God of Death, with his full powers and maybe something extra, since the objects were created in the Cauldron, thus restoring his soul in his body he will be some type of Made too.

It is said that the Trove has been used by Fae rulers as a way for them to establish and secure their rule (this seems like a plot hole to me in SJM's books actually or I wonder if it's actually misinformation started by Koschei and he was the only "ruler" who used them and none of the fae were made, at least, if they were it is not mentioned. Koschei, though, could be able to use them since part of his soul was in them, but not fully. Now, I'll continue building on the fact that they were indeed used by other fae rulers). What I suspect is that even though they were able to use these objects, they couldn't unlock their full potential, and neither does/will Koschei, because none of them are made. He might be able to access more of their power because his soul is in them, but he will still need someone Made.

Someone like Elain or Nesta.

In my line of thinking, Koschei needed people to go into the Cauldron, to be changed, made into something that combines both him and it, in order for them wield the Trove succesfully and free him from the lake. He may have tried it in the past with other humans, but was not successful, because in order to survive the person would need to already have magic in his blood. Maybe that's why Briallyn was turned into a crone, because she didn't possess magic.

I suspect that when Nesta gave back her power in order to save Feyre, the piece of Koschei's soul was guided back to him by the wind, or at least a large part of it. The same goes for Bryallin, but the whole part went back to Koschei because she died. And I do believe someone has to be dead, for him to get it all, and not leave behind a sliver.

Amren is also someone who went into the Cauldron, but I don't think she counts as something made, because she went as something other than human inside and gave up her own power instead of something she took/recieved from it. I could be wrong though. (In my mind, that scene with Amren is literally life, death, rebirth.)

Azriel, too, can only wield some part of the Trove and not the Trove as a whole thing, because he is not Cauldron-made.

*Again, this is just based on the assumption that there is a connection between him and Koschei. And that Elain has and the Trove have parts of his soul. I do not believe either Azriel or Elain are evil or will turn evil. So if someone who doesn't like Elriel and reads this, please don't twist my words out of context.*

The only one that remains is Elain.

She can locate the 4th Trove and wield it to its full power. She is the only one who can help Koschei and that's why he will target her and may have already started.

As for the objects, I think they have to be destroyed in order for Koschei to get his soul back. But maybe he doesn't want the soul back inside him, he just wants to have it back, hide it and control it to come back to his god-like status.

A thing that needs clearing up is what is L/cien's deal in all of this. Is really Elain's mate? I do not think so.

I think that Koschei manifactured the mating bond with L/cien to keep Elain and Azriel away from each other. I think he knew or could somehow sense that Az and Elain are mates, true mates, soulmates, and that if they accepted it, their bond would be stronger than his magic. What I didn't highlight before is that Feyre's mention of the Elriel painting makes me believe they're carranam. That scene is too significant to either be nothing at all or something of little importance.

Also, the Cauldron's power in the battlefield when it almost blasted Cassian in ACOWAR is described as "burning-light". That also factored into thinking that Elain has shadowfire/shadowlight.

And finally, what I think is the reason Koschei found a way to manipulate/trick Azriel.

From ACOWAR :

"Again, the Cauldron sang its siren song."

"You hear it?"

A shake of the head. "No - but the shadows, the wind...They recoil."

Did you read that? If that's not foreshadowing, I honest to god will scream my lungs out.

Azriel's shadows reacted to the Cauldron's song. Something that only those who are Made can hear. There might be some truth after all that a deeper connection between Azriel and Koschei exists.

Siren song. Siren. Song.

What new species were we introduced to in ACOSF? Lightsingers.

Who, for all intents and purposes, are described as what? As the modernized version of SIRENS.

Who do we know that has a strong, strong, strong assossiation with lovely singing, that puts people in a trance? And lures them in? Made people? People who one way or another Koschei wants to use? Who blabbed to Merill about the Trove? You guessed it! Gw/n.

This might be nothing, but it can also be everyhting.

It's not that farfetched to imagine Koschei having something to do with the Cauldron. Not what I said, but anything. And it's also not farfetched to say that G/wn is a lightsinger and Koshei is manipulating her (I actually believe that).

I claimed that there might be a part of Koschei's soul in the Cauldron, but he might be connected to it in some other way. It doesn't really matter right now. Let's continue with the assumption that indeed he controls it, where was one of the Cauldron's three feet hidden? At a temple in Sangravah. Who else was there? Gw/n.

If there is a link between Koschei and Cauldron, he's been whispering in Gw/n's ear since she was at the Temple. Otherwise, Merill is acting like a mediator or he found her another way. Her singing, that canonically put Nesta in a trance-like state, might be what Koschei uses to trick Azriel.

“I spend so many months preparing for you,” Koschei crooned, “and you don’t even wish to speak to me?”

He spent months preparing him? How? What is the one thing that changed in Azriel's life when we read about him? He started training Nesta and her friends. Maybe Gw/n was supposed to do something to him. Maybe she already did it. Maybe she has his shadows in dazed and hazy state. Or she will.

“Eyes can be blinded,” Nesta said.

“Not the ones under my command,” Azriel said with soft menace.

Was that quote Sarah telling us that his shadows - his eyes - will be outsmarted and fooled? And that he will find a way to break whatever "curse"/"spell" that is?

Before anyone asks : No, I don't hate Gw/n. No, I don't think she will be evil. Yes, I do believe she's a lightsinger. Yes, I do think Koschei is using her. No, I don't have to hate her to think that. Yes, I actually like Gw/n, canon Gw/n, not the other one that lives on Tumblr, Twitter, IG, and Goodreads.

For the antis out there : the Cauldron sings too, maybe that's Azriel's mate, because you know...singing...

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earlgreyandanime · 1 year

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My Elain Theory

I think Azriel and Elain are going to become a couple but I don’t think they are going to be endgame.

Personally, I believe that Azriel and Gwyn could be mates and I think SJM might be setting us up for a love triangle based off Lancelot, Guinevere and Elaine.

I’m not an expert in this Arthurian legend, so someone please correct me if I’m wrong but from my understanding one version of the story is that Lancelot and Guinevere are in love but can’t be together because she’s married to Arthur. So Lancelot ends up leaving Camelot and marries Elaine, a Lady who has always loved him. Eventually though, Lancelot can’t stand to be away from Guinevere anymore, so he returns to Camelot and leaves Elaine behind in their home where she dies of a broken heart.

Again, I think that Azriel and Gwyn could be mates but due to them both processing/recovering from past trauma, denial/feeling unworthy and Azriel’s attraction to Elain are things that’s going to keep them from getting together right away. So, I think Elain and Azriel absolutely will begin a relationship with each other but over time, Azriel will slowly realize he may also have feelings for Gwyn. Thus, ending his relationship with Elain to pursue her instead.

This, obviously, is going to cause some drama and heartbreak but I think it could be a push that Elain needs.

I think a lot of people have experienced a breakup that made them want to change things and completely reinvent themselves and I would like to see this happen with Elain. When she and Azriel break up, I want her to have a moment where she decides she’s done. She refuses to wallow in heartbreak and she refuses to sit in silence while she watches her ex pursue his mate. I want her to leave Velaris. I want her to go to Feyre and say, “I wanted to see the continent and that is exactly what I’m going to do.” And then she sets off on her own journey of healing, self discovery, and just plain traveling and I want her to do it alone.

I want Elain to have a chance to figure out who she is without a love interest or her family around her. I want her to figure out who she is without any expectations. Maybe she’s gone for a few months, maybe she’s gone for a few years but I want her to have a chance to be on her own and grow.

When it comes to Lucien and the whole blood duel thing, I don’t think it’s as big a problem as Rhys thinks. I believe the threat of it is very real but I really don’t think Lucien would actually act on his right to enforce it. Would Lucien like the idea of Elain being with Azriel? Absolutely not. But remember when Lucien found out Elain was engaged? He wasn’t happy about it but he was fairly ready to accept it because it was what Elain wanted. So, I highly doubt he would change that mindset and suddenly challenge Azriel to a fight to the death when it would cause Elain pain.

I believe that Elain will eventually accept the mating bond with Lucien but I want their relationship to be more slow burn. I want her to complete her journey of self discovery first and then maybe she and Lucien run into each other but I want them to be friends first. I want them to slowly build a strong friendship, possibly over the course of several years, without any expectations on either side where they get to know and become comfortable with each other and then I want Elain to be the one to bring up the possibility of a romantic relationship. And when they do get into a romantic relationship, I don’t want her to accept the bond right away. I want them to have a discussion where Lucien tells her, “Being romantically involved with me doesn’t mean you’re obligated to accept the bond. We can take our time and see if this works and then when and if you’re ready, you accept the bond.”

As always, these are just my thoughts, opinions and desires for the story and no one else has to agree with me.

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cassianfanclub · 8 months

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“This time, you sent the trembling fawn to find me. I did not expect to see those doe-eyes peering at me from across the world.”

Happy Elain Archeron Week Day 6: Fanged Beast

One of my absolute favorite theories in this fandom is that Elain will be able to traverse the murky realm, like the Mystics in HOSAB. @wingedblooms incredible mind connects details in a way most only dream of and has helped to further my excitement for Elain’s book and journey. You can find the two main theories that inspired this piece here and here.

The first time we see Elain peer across the world, she is doing so as a trembling fawn, but my hope is that, she will peer across worlds on her way to becoming a fanged beast and embrace that side of her in her own book.

In this piece, Elain has left behind Az and Bryce in Velaris, and stepped into the murky realm, only to be greeted by a waiting Apollion, mirroring Az. Apollion’s black eyes, deep and dark as the Pit in which he dwells- a telltale sign that his relaxed posture is nothing more than a trick to give a false sense of calm. But I have confidence Elain’s fangs and claws will get her back home.

A massive thank you to @luxury_banshee on IG for creating this piece for me💕

You can find this art on IG here

Please do not repost

@elainarcheronweek

#elain archeron week 2023 #pro elain #elain acheron #azriel shadowsinger #elriel #bryce quinlan #hofas theory #crescent city #acotar 5 #acotar fanart #fan art #acotar #maasverse #sarah j maas #seer #mystic #pro elriel #house of sky and breath

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dawneternal · 2 months

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What did Azriel whisper in Eris's ear???

Where is Elain going so early in the morning???

Why is Rhys being so extra???

What did Eris trade to keep Keir out of Velaris???

What are Eris hounds named???

Eris Eris Eris???

#acotar #a court of thorns and roses #a court of wings and ruin #a court of silver flames #a court of frost and starlight #acowar #acosf #acofas #acotar theory #eris #azriel #rhysand #elain archeron #eris vanserra

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pinklayla123 · 2 months

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Is it a coincidence that three seemingly normal human sisters are now Fae? Is it a coincidence that one of them is mated to and is the High Lady of the most powerful High Lord the land has ever seen, and rivals him in power? Is it a coincidence that one of the sisters stole from the Cauldron, the bowl of Life and Death, and was then blessed by the Mother herself? Is it a coincidence that she is mated to one of the most fearsome warriors the land has ever seen, who is often likened to one of the original heroes who gave his life defending his people against the Daglan? Is it a coincidence that the third sister, blessed by the Cauldron despite its corruption, is able to wield the knife of that long-ago warrior? Is it a coincidence that the male who now bears that knife, a mighty warrior in his own right, has powers resembling those of the Fae who fought against the Daglan, and is unable to stay away from the third sister? Is it a coincidence that the Dread Trove of the Daglan has resurfaced and is in the hands of one of the sisters, who can wield it with little effort? Is it a coincidence that Gwydion, lost for fifteen thousand years, has been returned and is now in close proximity to its dark twin, Narben, both Made in the Cauldron? Is it a coincidence that the history of the Fae who originally took a stand against the Daglan has been rediscovered after being forgotten for millennia? Is it a coincidence that three Illyrian boys, born around the same time despite their long life spans, ended up growing and training in the same war-camp, forming an unbreakable unit the likes of which the world has never seen? Is it a coincidence that each has been inexplicably drawn to one of the once-human sisters since the beginning? Is it a coincidence that there are three sacred sister peaks in the land, barren because of the darkness tainting them, to match the three sisters? Is it a coincidence that the world seems poised on the brink of something that will send ripples across the cosmos? Is anything a coincidence?

#acotar #acotar theory #the archeron sisters #feysand #nessian #elriel #feyre #nesta #elain #rhys #rhysand #cassian #azriel #mine

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emilystheories · 1 year

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Aelin Galathynius created Prythian. She is the Mother.

This theory contains TOG, ACOTAR and (slight) CC SPOILERS!

Many, many thousands of years ago, Amren recalled that a huge "rip in the sky" appeared in her home world. Out of curiosity, Amren flew through this rip, and landed in Prythian.

This perfectly aligns with Aelin ripping a hole in the sky of the God's realm. This is the most concrete piece of evidence that Throne of Glass took place in the past (something I have already theorised about).

However, and most interestingly, it is suggested that Amren entered Prythian when it was being made - when the world itself was beginning to form.

If Aelin indeed created the "rip" in the sky that Amren went into - the timing suggests that Aelin's actions led to the creation of Prythian.

And, although subtle, we actually have proof of this.

Recall that Wyrd was described as the thing that "keeps the realms apart:"

But, when Aelin shut the gates between worlds at the end of Kingdom of Ash, we have this VERY important (and often overlooked) clue:

Aelin caused for all worlds to overlap.

I believe this is how Prythian was born.

The Cauldron.

According to the mural that Feyre observes, Prythian was created by a female with "glowing, slender hands," who tipped a fluid with "strange symbols" (wyrdmarks), from the Cauldron, onto the land.

I believe this was Aelin - perhaps not literally, but metaphorically.

But this begs the question; what exactly is the Cauldron?

For starters, we know that the Cauldron has 3 "legs". These legs provide most of its power (and this is an important clue!)

This is very similar to the 3 wyrdkeys in TOG; the very 3 wyrdkeys that Aelin embedded into her arm (and subsequently her blood) when she sealed the gates.

Aelin then gave over the 3 wyrdkeys, and all of her fire power to forge the new lock. It is this very power that is the essence of the Cauldron.

As evidence of this, when we see the Cauldron's power in ACOWAR, it presents as Aelin's own power; "raw fire power," capable of burning an entire army to ash within seconds.

The Dread Trove.

The Cauldron also created the Dread Trove - and this is another very important clue.

The Crown.

The Crown can control and influence people - just like the wyrdkeys (and subsequent wyrdcollars and rings controlled people in TOG).

The Mask.

The Mask can control the dead - just like the wyrdkeys could create armies of dead people; a power Erawan desperately wanted.

The Harp.

The Harp can open portals to different locations, and potentially different worlds and realms. This is one of the key features of the wyrdkeys.

In fact, it was said the 3 wyrdkeys were needed to create a wyrdgate.

The Cauldron has 3 legs (that I believe are the 3 wyrdkeys Aelin yielded to seal the lock).

Thus, the Cauldron *IS* a wyrdgate.

Cauldron = Wyrdgate.

As further proof of this, to "nullify" the Cauldron, Amren had to:

give up her current body,

forget about those she loved,

and unleash her power of "light and flame."

Which is just like Mala Fire-Bringer; who also had to:

give up her current body,

forget about those she loved, (in fact, both her and Amren both warned that they will no longer "remember" their loved ones),

and unleash her power of "light and flame", in order to forge the lock, and shut the wyrdgate.

But, recall that when Mala's plan didn't work, Aelin (and Dorian) had to give all of their power to reforge a new lock, in order to seal and shut the wyrdgate once more.

This is just like Rhys in ACOWAR; in order to re-seal the Cauldron, he had to give over every inch of his power.

In fact, when Aelin and Dorian's power were used together, and in combination with the wyrdkeys, it was described as "creation and destruction," and the "beginning and the ending."

These are the exact same terms used to describe the Cauldron - and I'd argue the exact same *power* of the Cauldron (but more on that later).

And, as a side note - at one point, the Cauldron's power was even described as "fire and ice"... (ring any bells?)

The Lock.

Further, when Aelin and Dorian were sealing the wyrdgate shut, they had to make a "lock."

The lock they made was the Eye of Elena. This is perhaps the most important clue in this theory; that this very symbol and mechanism allowed for the creation of the Cauldron.

However, we learn in later TOG books that this symbol isn't just known as the Eye of Elena, but also as the "Eye of the Goddess." This is because it was first a sacred witch symbol, created by Rhiannon Crochan.

Crochan means Cauldron.

Additionally, the Eye of the Goddess was named as such, as it is said to represent the Three Faced Goddess (that the witches worshipped), and her three counterparts;

The Maiden

The Mother

The Crone.

It's for this reason that I believe the Cauldron was created from the Eye of Elena, or the Eye of the Goddess lock, as it too follows the principles of Maiden, Mother, and Crone.

We see clear evidence of this when Elain, Nesta and Briallyn were thrown into the Cauldron.

Elain was made into the Maiden.

The Maiden often symbolises innocence, beauty and blossoming.

In TOG, the Maiden was represented by the Blueblood witches, who were the "oracles, mystics, and zealots."

Elain was made into a Seer.

The Bluebloods also required more iron (as it was said that they were the most powerful), and it is rather interesting that Elain (presumably) wears an iron ring.

Nesta was made into the Mother.

The Mother often symbolises maturity, responsibility, and power.

In TOG, the Mother was represented by the Blackbeak witches, who were the warriors - known for their "obedience, discipline, and brutality."

Considering the multiple references to Nesta making a fine General in an army, as well as the parallels between Manon's thirteen, and Nesta's Valkyries - it makes perfect sense.

Briallyn was made into the Crone.

She was, quite literally, turned into an old woman by the Cauldron.

Creation and Destruction.

Knowing that that the Cauldron was made from the Eye of Elena/Eye of the Goddess, as well as the 3 wyrdkeys, as well as Aelin's own power that she donated to forge the lock, and seal the gate - this can explain Nesta's own power.

Nesta's power manifested as "cold" flame, one that seemingly burned without a trace.

We have already seen this before;

Aelin's moon-fire,

and Kaltain's shadow-fire.

The commonality between these two? Both women were in possession of the wyrdkeys.

The same wyrdkeys that the Cauldron now possess; the same power that Nesta stole.

And, all in all, this makes perfect sense. The Cauldron is a wyrdgate. Wyrd is the "language of the universe," it is the power of both creation and destruction, life and death.

Nesta's power symbolises one half - Death.

And, it's for this reason that I believe that Elain's powers (that are yet to be revealed), will symbolise the other half - Life. Creation. (And, I also have an inkling that she will be the one to rebuild the Dusk Court with this very power).

We also know that the Cauldron loved Elain. If the Cauldron was indeed created by Aelin - that she is it's Mother - then perhaps it's no coincidence that "Elain" is an anagram for "Aelin"....?

A portal too?

If the Cauldron is indeed a wyrdgate - then recall that Feyre threw the Book of Breathings into it.

Now, Jesiba Roga possesses that exact book.

Does this tell us that the Cauldron is in fact a wyrdgate to Lunathion, and the Crescent City world...?

Knowing all the connections between the Cauldron and the witches - and Jesiba being a witch herself, it makes sense...

#acotar #acotar theory #throne of glass #sjm theory #sjm multiverse #sjm #sjm universe #sarah j maas #aelin ashryver galathynius #aelin galathynius #tog #crescent city theory #crescent city #elain archeron #nesta archeron #pro elain #pro nesta #manon blackbeak

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meldarkthrop · 1 month

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Schedule of the antis:

Monday: "Elain will reject her mate and choose Azriel"

Tuesday: "Elain has two mates actually and she'll pick Az"

Wednesday: "Az is the only true mate of elain"

Thursday: "There's a cauldron mate, mother mate, classmate—"

Friday: "Elain will duel Lucien and save Az"

Saturday and Sunday: Repeat it all. And add "By the way, Gwyn is an evil lightsinger."

Them, internally: Haha we theorized every possibility, we can't be wrong teehee.

After Elucien, the canon fated mate pair, is endgame in a book written by a fated mates author:

#elucien #pro elucien #anti e/riel #lucien vanserra #elain x lucien #did i miss any other crack theory?#elain archeron

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hopelesslyhopeful11 · 2 months

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The Future Betrayer of ACOTAR

*I already know this is going to definitely make people mad, but be kind y’all, this character isn’t you and has no reflection on who you are as a person*

The Hint of a Future Betrayal:

In ACOSF, we get this quote from Briallyn (who was working very closely with Koschei) that they are aware that there are members in the night court that can be persuaded to help them with the right motivation.

The Right Incentive and Motive

Like any crime and suspects, we must look at who has motive and who is desperate enough to commit said crime. That being said: who has been hinted since ACOWAR to want something very desperately to the point of delusion? I favor Elain and here is why I think so:

Here are three separate occasions across two books that we have Elains storyline heavily showing her desires and wishes to be human. To the point where she followed something into enemy camp away from her loved ones because she was that desperate to be human again. That is definitely foreshadowing especially when we see it across two books and with what we learn in ACOSF in regard to Elain.

The Evidence in Elain’s Storyline in ACOSF

The next part of placing a suspect is gathering the evidence to suggest your suspect is guilty and ACOSF has pretty good evidence.

Above is only one instance (had to cut out the others bc tumblr does like more than 10 photos per post), but there are multiple instances showing that Elain and Elains storyline is suspect. Like Elain is noticeably absent from the pages in ACOSF which was shocking in and of itself, but what’s even more shocking is that the scenes we do get show us she is sneaking around/lying/and not acting as she normally does (and p.s. we know Azriel isn’t the one teaching her to be sneaky since from his own thoughts we know he hadn’t been alone with her since ACOFAS). This all is just very suspicious.

So who is she working for/sneaking around to?

We get this from ACOSF that Koschei is doing anything he can to free himself and even further drives the point that Koschei knows he can manipulate someone in the IC. So it is reasonable to theorize given everything we know from above that Elain may be influenced to help Koschei under the delusion that he can help her be human again.

To Conclude,

Maybe all of this is just a coincidence. Maybe it is nothing at all. Or maybe it’s everything. I’ll leave you with two last photos that further drive the connection between Elain and Koschei with this line in ACOWAR of Elains mind and this picture saved from SJMs deleted pinterest.

Surely looks to me like SJM was trying to paint a picture of who’s entangled with Elains story and specifically her mind and with all we know from ACOSF, it’s not hard to believe that Elain is going to have a part in freeing koschei with the promise of being human again.

I am once again rewriting to implore you to remember that this is just a theory that I believe is very sound based on everything I posted above with textual evidence and SJMs pinterest. It does not mean I think Elain or people who relate to Elain are evil and underserving of good things. If you cannot debate like you are a human capable of empathy, please see yourself away from my page.

~~Live, laugh, SJM~~

#acotar #acosf #acowar #elain archeron #acosf theory #koschei #koschei the deathless #sjm theory #not an evil Elain post #Elain is just going through it

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offtorivendell · 4 months

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Knife and Sword

Spoilers: ACOTAR and Crescent City series to date

What if we've all been misinterpreting the following prophecy:

When knife and sword are reunited, so shall our people be. You have the Starsword. What if … I don’t know. What if there’s a knife out there for me? - HOSAB, chapter 23

Some of us have previously theorised that, long term, Truth-Teller won't belong to Azriel, but - just as Ruhn claimed the Starsword/Gwydion in a trial, and wielded it physically until Bryce was able to use it magically - it may be meant for Elain instead. That, essentially, Azriel had his own sword in the stone moment with his infamous dagger, but was always fated to pass it on to Elain, who could either wield its powers or charge it with her own light? And perhaps she did, shadow walking to save Nesta and Cassian in ACOWAR?

Mor even hinted, back in ACOFAS, that Azriel may give Truth-Teller to Elain once more.

I've wondered before whether Elain could be "the shadowsinger's knife" to which Gwyn was referring, indirectly or not, in ACOSF.

There are significant links between Bryce and Elain, namely that Bryce has Theia's light, and Elain may have her Sight.

Bryce and the Archeron sisters may even be (very distantly) related.

What if it's not meant to be Bryce and Azriel fulfilling the prophecy as sword and knife, but Elain Archeron instead? This would be a massive twist.

Elain "I don't want a mate, I don't want a male" Archeron and Bryce Quinlan... do we have a new ship? 😂

Crazy? Absolutely. It's pure crack, especially as Elain hasn't had her own book yet. But who knows?

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nikethestatue · 3 months

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I wrote about this before, and I am thinking it needs revisiting.

We know that when Rhys was shot out of the sky, when Feyre found him after that, he was wearing gorsian chains, to stifle his magic.

In HOFAS, we learn that Ruhn was forced to wear them as well, by his father the Autumn King, to stifle his magic.

One other, curious person who was put in such chains was...Elain Archeron. The blue chains that the King placed on her when she showed up at his camp, lured by the Cauldron.

Why is that that the King felt that little Elain who was just Made a couple of months ago in front of him needed gorsian chains on her? Especially when he dumped her in his tent, right by the Cauldron.

What was it about her that concerned him so much, that he felt the need to put something so powerful on her? She's just been lured, she is barefoot and wearing only her nightgown (kind of similar to how she was presented to him initially). What is it that he is so afraid of in sweet little Elain that he doesn't feel secure enough in the knowledge that the Cauldron would be able to keep her in place. He puts her in chains, next to the Cauldron, with additional guards outside the tents, in the middle of his camp, with thousands of his soldiers and where you cannot winnow.

What powers does little Elain have that the King of Hybern needs to stifle them with gorsian chains?

And why did Azriel's first request, while he was bleeding and stumbling, as he carried her in his arms, was 'get Helion to take those chains off her!'

Chains so powerful, they needed a spell cleaver High Lord to wrestle them off of her and even he struggled.

What IS Elain? And what IS her magic?

#elain archeron #elain #elain theory #pro elain archeron

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vic-the-bookdragon · 2 years

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“They’d spent more time with Elain than even I had. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙨, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙙."

Is Elain a new kind of Shadowsinger? And are Nuala and Cerridwen her shadows?

As we know, the twins are half shadow-wraiths. Wraiths are incorporeal faeries. They can pass through solid objects such as walls and blend into shadows and often serve as good spies.

According to Amren it is not known how Fae can procreate with wraiths. That makes me think that it might not be by the normal baby-making way, but rather some type of spell or magic or magical object is used.

We don't know for sure how Nuala and Cerridwen came to be, where they come from and who are their parents.

Also, Elain's friendship with the twins started when she was in a sense lost. Azriel's shadows came to him when he too was at his lowest, when he was all alone and scared and abused and traumatized.

And we also know that his shadows are sentient.

I know this is not a complete theory and I might have missed something, but it is interesting to think about.

#elain theory #half theory #elain archeron #elain archeron theory #pro elain archeron #pro elain #elain x azriel #elain and azriel #azriel and elain #azriel x elain #elriel #pro elriel

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sadiegirl2021 · 3 months

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Interesting juxtaposition used when Nesta is listening to the priestesses singing -

She saw what the song spoke of: mossy earth (Elain) and golden sun (Lucien), clear rivers (Gwyn) and the deep shadows of an ancient forest. (Azriel)

Hints for the future?

#gwynriel #pro gwynriel #elucien #pro elucien #post acosf #acotar theory #acosf #lucien vanserra #pro lucien vanserra #elain archeron #pro elain archeron #azriel shadowsinger #pro azriel #gwyneth berdara #pro gwyneth berdara

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wingedblooms · 3 months

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Blooming dreams

Gardeners, I think, dream bigger dreams than emperors. (Mary Cantwell)

This meta is a continuation of my thoughts over the years, but especially the ones expressed in the following links. Please be aware that there are major hofas spoilers in this post and avoid if needed.

Secret, lovely seer / Forbidden secrets

A rose in the thorns / The flower of life

Seer, wise woman, witch / Three sisters witches / Starborn light

Since my first meta, I have been fixated on Elain’s connection to the Mother, Cauldron, and Fate (let's call her Wyrd) and her potential powers, including sight, shapeshifting, and healing. They are all related when you’re talking about Wyrd, though I am not here to say what I have written is what Sarah has planned. This post is more a love letter to Sarah’s mystical and earthy depiction of Elain and what I would love to see in her story based on all the seeds she’s planted (and if there is an actual magical bean seed involved, I’ll love her all the more for it). Thanks especially to @psychologynerd for previewing this fever dream of a post.

I gazed again at that sad, dark house—the place that had been a prison. Elain had said she missed it, and I wondered what she saw when she looked at the cottage. If she beheld not a prison but a shelter—a shelter from a world that had possessed so little good, but she tried to find it anyway, even if it had seemed foolish and useless to me. She had looked at that cottage with hope; I had looked at it with nothing but hatred. And I knew which one of us had been stronger. (acotar)

From the first book in the series, Feyre recognizes that Elain views things differently. She views things that are sad and dark with hope, and that’s why Sarah has called her the quiet dreamer. It’s a strength that sets her apart. I like to think that’s also what the Cauldron—though warped by the Asteri—saw when she was forced into its womb.

The Cauldron seemed to realize what she’d done, too, as his head thumped onto the mossy ground. That Elain…Elain had defended this thief. Elain, who it had gifted with such powers, found her so lovely it had wanted to give her something…It would not harm Elain, even in its hunt to reclaim what had been taken. (acowar)

@silverlinedeyes and I wondered if it may have recognized Elain as a kindred spirit, some echo of its Mother form. A creator, life-bringer. Were the waters of the Cauldron more like Silba’s Womb—a darkness of creation, sweet and lovely—when Elain was immersed? Or is it possible that when Elain entered its dark womb she viewed it differently than her sister? Did she see a wounded creator to help rather than an enemy to combat?

Elain’s hopeful perspective might be why it gifted her with such powers, powers that we know allow her to see differently than others. And since it may have enhanced her unique perception, I wonder if it also enhanced her ability to bring life and beauty into the world. As a gardener, Elain is well acquainted with the task of envisioning her garden and then getting her hands dirty to make that vision a reality. Dream and reality are entwined in gardening, just like her Sight.

“She loves to garden. Always loved growing things. Even when we were destitute, she managed to tend a little garden in the warmer months. And when–when our fortune returned, she took to tending and planting the most beautiful gardens you’ve ever seen. Even in Prythian. It drove the servants mad, because they were supposed to do the work and ladies were only meant to clip a rose here and there, but Elain would put on a hat and gloves and kneel in the dirt, weeding. She acted like a purebred lady in every regard but that.” (acowar) If Elain was a blooming flower in this army camp, then Nesta…she was a freshly forged sword, waiting to draw blood. [...] Nesta stared them all down. Elain kept her focus on the dry, rocky ground. (acowar) She had no mental shields, no barriers. The gates to her mind…Solid iron, covered in vines of flowers–or it would have been. The blossoms were all sealed, sleeping buds tucked into tangles of leaves and thorns. (acowar) If Elain’s mental gates were those of a sleeping garden, Nesta’s…They belonged to an ancient fortress, sharp and brutal. The sort I imagined they once impaled people upon. (acowar) “What now?” Elain mused, at last answering my question from moments ago as her attention drifted to the windows facing the sunny street. That smile grew, bright enough that it lit up even Azriel’s shadows across the room. “I would like to build a garden,” she declared. “After all of this…I think the world needs more gardens.” (acowar)

As we saw in acosf for Nesta—a new type of warrior who forges magical swords and retrieves the Harp from an ancient fortress (the Prison) connected to the Starborn—these descriptions are clearly meant to foreshadow what occurs in the sisters’ stories. While Nesta is a freshly forged sword, Elain is blooming life in Illyria. And what do we learn in hofas?

“The Cauldron,” Nesta said hours later, pointing to yet another carving on the wall. It indeed showed a giant cauldron, perched atop what seemed to be a barren mountain peak with three stars above it. Azriel halted, angling his head. “That’s Ramiel.” At Bryce’s questioning look, he explained, “A mountain sacred to the Illyrians.” Bryce nodded to the carving. “What’s the big deal about a cauldron?” [...] “All life came and comes from it,” Azriel said with something like reverence. “The Mother poured it into this world, and from it, life blossomed.” (hofas)

We receive confirmation that the Cauldron is associated with the sister peaks, as I suspected, and Ramiel in particular as @merymoonbeam has previously suggested.

Before Bryce could contemplate this further, Silene went on, But my mother and father knew they needed the most valuable of all the Daglan’s weapons. Bryce tensed. This had to be the thing that had given them the edge— The snows around Ramiel parted, revealing a massive bowl of iron at the foot of the monolith. Even through the vision, its presence leaked into the world, a heavy, ominous thing. “The Cauldron,” Nesta said, dread lacing her voice. […] “The Cauldron was of our world, our heritage. But upon arriving here, the Daglan captured it and used their powers to warp it. To turn it from what it had been into something deadlier. No longer just a tool of creation, but of destruction. And the horrors it produced…those, too, my parents would turn to their advantage.” [...] “They fought the Daglan and won, she went on. Using the Daglan’s own weapons, they destroyed them. Yet my parents did not think to learn the Daglan’s other secrets—they were too weary, too eager to leave the past behind.” (hofas)

In Forbidden secrets, I theorized that Elain’s powers might allow her to map the secrets of the land in order to heal it and @offtorivendell discussed magical mounds in her theory on reviving dusk. It seems like the Asteri did indeed leave secrets behind, which might explain why certain places continue to be forbidden and barren. But we are given hope that they do not need to remain that way. In hofas, Bryce wakes and wields the land belonging to her Starborn ancestors on the Prison island:

And precisely as Theia had gifted her own power to Silene … perhaps Silene had in turn left that same power here, to be claimed by a future scion. One by one, rapid as shooting stars, the thoughts raced through Bryce. More on instinct than anything else, she dropped to her knees and slammed her hand atop the eight-pointed star. Bryce reached with her mind, through layers of rock and earth—and there it was. Slumbering beneath her. Not firstlight, not as she knew it on Midgard—but raw Fae power from a time before the Drop. The power ascended toward her through the stone, like a glimmering arrow fired into the dark— [...] Like a small sun emerging from the stone itself, a ball of light burst from the floor. A star, twin to the one in Bryce’s chest. Her starlight at last awoke again, as if reaching with shining fingers for that star hovering inches away. With trembling hands, Bryce guided the star to the one gleaming on her chest. Into her body. White light erupted everywhere. Power, uncut and ancient, scorched through her veins. The hair on her head rose. Debris floated upward. She was everywhere and nowhere. She was the evening star and the last rays of color before the dark. Azriel had nearly reached the tunnel. Another flap of his wings and he’d be swallowed by its dark mouth. But at a mere thought from Bryce, stalactites and stalagmites formed, closing in on him. The room became a wolf, its jaws snapping for the winged warrior— The rock had moved for her, as it had for Silene. “Stop him,” she said in a voice that was more like her father’s than anything she’d ever heard come out of her mouth. Azriel swept for the tunnel archway—and slammed into a wall of stone. The exit had sealed. Slowly, he turned, wings rustling. Blood trickled out of his nose from his face-first collision with the rock now in his path. He spread his wings, bracing for a fight. The mountain shook, the chamber with it. Debris fell from the ceiling. Walls began shifting, rock groaning against rock. As if the place this had once been was fighting to emerge from the stone. [...] From far away, she could sense it: the things lurking within the mountain, her mountain. Twisted, wretched creatures. Some had been here since Silene had trapped them. Had been contemplating their escape and revenge all this time. She’d let them out if she restored the mountain to its former glory. And in that moment, the mountain—the island—spoke to her. Alone. It was so alone—it had been waiting all this time. Cold and adrift in this thrashing gray sea. If she could reach out, if she could open her heart to it…it might sing again. Awaken. There was a beating, vibrant heart locked away, far beneath them. If she freed it, the land would rise from its slumber, and such wonders would spring again from its earth— (hofas)

The mountain–Bryce’s mountain–speaks to her, asking her to open her heart to it so it can finally rise from its slumber. Cue internal screaming, my friends, because this language was intentional and it might finally explain Elain’s conversation in this scene:

She looked away—toward the windows. “I can hear your heart,” she said quietly. He wasn’t sure how to respond, so he said nothing, and drained his tea, even as it burned his mouth. “When I sleep,” she murmured, “I can hear your heart beating through the stone.” She angled her head, as if the city view held some answer. “Can you hear mine?” He wasn’t sure if she truly meant to address him, but he said, “No, lady. I cannot.” (acowar)

Elain’s hearing is a source of concern after she is Made because it is unusually heightened; she hears so many things, usually connected to the nature around her as @silverlinedeyes theorized. Like calls to like, and so she might be able to hear the beating heart of the land around her, even as it slumbers. Perhaps that is why her eyes were drawn to the barren ground in Illyria.

Vesperus, an Asteri trapped in a glass coffin below the Prison, tells us more about the connection between the Cauldron and the land:

“I am the Evening Star,” Vesperus seethed. Bryce rolled her eyes. “Fine, we’ll call you the Evening Star, too. Happy?” “Is it not fitting?” A wave of long fingers capped in sharp nails. “I drank from the land’s magic, and the land’s magic drank from me.” [...] Vesperus folded her hands in her lap. “A planet that was once green, as this one is.” “And that wasn’t good enough?” “We grew too populous. Wars broke out between the various beings on our world. Some of us saw the changes in the land beginning—rivers run dry, clouds so thick the sun could not pierce them—and left. Our brightest minds found ways to bend the fabric of worlds. To travel between them. Wayfarers, we called them. World-walkers.” [...] “Once we left our home world, our powers began to dim. Too late, we realized that we had been dependent on our land’s inherent magic. The magic in other worlds was not potent enough. Yet we could not find the way back home. Those of us who ventured here found ways to amplify that power, thanks to the gifts of the land. We pooled our power, and imbued those gifts into the Cauldron so that it would work our will. We Made the Trove from it. And then bound the very essence of the Cauldron to the soul of this world.” Solas. “So destroy the Cauldron…” “And you destroy this world. One cannot exist without the other.”

This should come as no surprise because we saw this play out in acowar, but the Cauldron is tied to the soul of their world. The term soul is intentional, and we will return to it in a bit, but I started to wonder in Forbidden secrets about that connection. The influence of Wyrd is especially clear in the sacred peaks, where the Asteri left behind their secrets. Could Elain unravel the Asteri’s magic from the slumbering heart of the earth, and unbind the Cauldron as a result? Or will she need to go to Cretea to retrieve and purify the magic of the Asteri from the Cauldron like a healer would, in body and in spirit? (Hello, Nephelle celebrations, let’s go.) Nothing feels more right than seeing our strong-willed gardener get her hands dirty as she rips out the Asteri from the root, or beating heart, of their world. Sarah may have even hinted at this role for Elain as she describes getting into her mind for her book:

“There was literally ivy everywhere: in the garden beds, wrapped around the trees, crawling up the sides of the house. So I went into this obsessive, I-need-to-rip-out-every-last-strand-of-ivy-before-I-have-this-baby mode. And I remember the entire time I was ripping out the ivy, and trying to get some semblance of order into the garden beds, I just slipped into Elain’s head. Elain is a gardener, and everything I did during those weeks became research for her book. I’m not even joking. Elain’s now going to have dreams about ripping ivy out and the ivy creeping in through the windows to strangle her at night, because let me tell you, that ivy does not want to go.” (Sarah’s interview in acofas)

English ivy is an aggressive invader and its hosts decline over time before they die. That’s exactly what the Asteri are: aggressive invaders that feed off of their hosts, warping the power of the land for their sole benefit, until it begins to wither away. In hofas, we learn that the Asteri hid their power throughout the land, including at the root of sacred mountains:

Vesperus backed up a half step, hissing at the gleaming weapon. “We hid pockets of our power throughout the lands, in case the vermin should cause … problems. It seems our wisdom did not fail us.”

“There are no such places,” Azriel countered coldly.

“Are there not?” Vesperus grinned broadly, showing all of her too-white teeth. “Have you looked beneath every sacred mountain? At their very roots? The magic draws all sorts of creatures. I can sense them even now, slithering about, gnawing on the magic. My magic. They’re as much vermin as the rest of you.” (hofas)

And we see the moment Bryce discovers that Vesperus has hidden her power in the root of the Prison mountain, which is what sustains her and weakens the land:

Bryce clutched the Starsword tighter. Its power thudded into her palms like a heartbeat. “But why store your power here? It’s an island—not exactly an easy pit stop.” “There are certain places, girl, that are better suited to hold power than others. Places where the veil between worlds is thin, and magic naturally abounds. Our light thrives in such environments, sustained by the regenerative magic of the land.” She gestured around them. “This island is a thin place—the mists around it declare it so.” […] “Every world has at least one thin place,” Vesperus drawled. “And there are always certain people more suited to exploit it—to claim its powers, to travel through them to other worlds.” […] “Theia had the gift,” Vesperus said, “but did not understand how to claim the light. I made sure never to reveal how during her training—how she might light up entire worlds, if she wished, if she seized the power to amplify her own. But you, Light-Stealer…She must have passed the gift down to you. And it seems you have learned what she did not.” Vesperus peered at her bare feet, the rock beneath. “Theia never learned how to access the power I cached beneath my palace. She had no choice but to leave it there, buried in the veins of this mountain. Her loss—and my gain.” Oh gods. There was a fucking firstlight core here, far beneath their feet— (hofas)

These thin places are where ley lines—highways for magic and communication—overlap, allowing travel for those who are suited to it (wayfarers). Starborn and Asteri alike seem to be suited to these places, and have used them to store their power, causing the land around it to wither.

“Ley lines,” Bryce breathed. Aidas nodded. “These lines are capable of moving magic, but also carrying communications across great distances.” Like those between the Gates of Crescent City, the way she’d spoken to Danika the day she’d made the Drop. “There are ley lines across the whole of the universe. And the planets—like Midgard, like Hel, like the home world of the Fae—atop those lines are joined by time and space and the Void itself. It thins the veils separating us. The Asteri have long chosen worlds that are on the ley lines for that exact purpose. It made it easier to move between them, to colonize those planets. There are certain places on each of these worlds where the most ley lines overlap, and thus the barrier between worlds is at its weakest.” Everything slotted together. “Thin places,” Bryce said with sudden certainty. “Precisely,” Apollion answered for Aidas with an approving nod. “The Northern Rift, the Southern Rift—both lie atop a tremendous knot of ley lines. And while those under Avallen are not as strong, the island is unique as a thin place thanks to the presence of black salt—which ties it to Hel.” “And the mists?” Hunt asked. “What’s the deal with them?” “The mists are a result of the ley lines’ power,” Aidas said. “They’re an indication of a thin place. Hoping to find a ley line strong enough to help her transfer and hide Theia’s power, Helena sent a fleet of Fae with earth magic to scour every misty place they could find on Midgard. When they told her of a place wreathed in mists so thick they could not pierce them, Helena went to investigate. The mists parted for her—as if they had been waiting. She found the small network of caves on Avallen … and the black salt beneath the surface.”

All of the sister peaks thrum with power and are at odds with the land around them. Barren. They might all be thin places, interconnected through ley lines...and hiding a cache of magic in the root (heart) of their souls.

Bryce’s ancestors, separated by the Void, planted clues for those with the gifts and vision to see it.

What had looked like etched seas or rivers of stars now filled in with starlight, became … alive. Moving, cascading, coursing. A secret illustration, only for those with the gifts and vision to see it. (hofas)

A secret carved in stone. What secrets remain under other sacred mountains, such as Ramiel? Is it any coincidence that Enalius, who defended Ramiel, was the owner of Truth-Teller? Or that the Cauldron is depicted there? Who would be equipped with the gifts and vision to uncover those secrets and finally set the soul of the land free, like Bryce?

“Light blasted up through the blades into her hands, her arms, her heart. Bryce could hear it through her feet, through the stone. The song of the land beneath her. Quiet and old and forgotten, but there. She heard how Avallen had yielded its joy, its bright green lands and skies and flowers, so it might hold the power as it was bid, waiting all this time for someone to unleash it. To free it. […] Helena had bound the soul of this land in magical chains. No more. No more would Bryce allow the Fae to lay claim over anything. “You’re free,” Bryce whispered to Avallen, to the land and the pure, inherent magic beneath it. “Be free.” And it was. (hofas)

Helena bound the soul of Avallen in magical chains. Doesn't that sound like what the Asteri did with the Cauldron and the land? There are so many hints that Elain is set up to address this plot, but the one I find the most compelling is given by the Under-King when he confirms who Urd (Wyrd) is:

The Under-King lounged on a throne beneath a behemoth statue of a figure holding a black metal bowl between her upraised hands. Symbols were carved all over the bowl, continuing down her fingers, her arms, her body. Ithan could only assume it was meant to represent Urd. No other temples ever depicted the goddess, no one even dared—most people claimed that fate was impossible to portray in any one form. But it seemed that the dead, unlike the living, had a vision of her. And those symbols running from the bowl onto her skin…they were like tattoos.” […] “And she,” the Under-King went on, gesturing to that unusual depiction of Urd towering above him, “was not a goddess, but a force that governed worlds. A cauldron of life, brimming with the language of creation. Urd, they call her here—a bastardized version of her true name. Wyrd, we called her in that old world.” (hofas)

Now, doesn't that sound familiar?

Her gaze shifted to the carved wooden rose she’d placed upon the mantel, half-hidden in the shadows beside a figurine of a supple-bodied female, her upraised arms clasping a full moon between them. Some sort of primal goddess—perhaps even the Mother herself. Nesta hadn’t let herself dwell on why she’d felt the need to set the rose there. Why she hadn’t just thrown it in a drawer. (acosf)

The statues are essentially the same and Wyrd has already been described in terms that evoke the Mother, Cauldron, and Fate (Forces That Be). And Nesta just happened to feel the need (fateful tug?) to place Elain’s rose—a symbol of life and joy and beauty—right next to Urd, and drew our attention to it again in the final scene of her story. What do you want to bet that Wyrd, the Stone Mother, gave her favorite gardener the gifts and vision she needs to make her dream of building more gardens, of breathing life and beauty into the land, a reality?

Sarah has confirmed that the main female characters in her books are helped by others, usually a love interest and friends. So who might be foreshadowed to help Elain?

I dragged a hand over my face before going to Elain and touching her too-bony shoulder. “Can I set you up in the garden? The herbs you planted are coming in nicely.” “I can help her,” said Azriel, stepping to the table as Elain silently rose. No shadows at his ear, no darkness ringing his fingers as he extended a hand. (acowar) - “I’ll help you,” Nesta offered. But Elain shook her head. “Nuala and Cerridwen will help me.” Then she was gone–shoulders a little squarer. - It was three by the time the others went to bed. [...] Azriel and Elain remained in the sitting room, my sister showing him the plans she’d sketched to expand the garden in the back of the town house, using the seeds and tools my family had given her tonight. (acofas)

It’s no coincidence that the characters closest to Elain possess unique powers that complement her own and relate specifically to the elements of Stone Mother. Azriel learned to speak the language of shadow and wind and stone, while the half-wraith twins are nothing but shadow and mist, able to walk through walls, stone as @psychee92 discusses here. Their magic likely thrives in thin parts of the world. It also isn't a coincidence that Nesta noticed and wondered this:

“You came,” Elain said behind her, and Nesta started, not having heard her sister approach. She scanned Elain from head to toe, wondering if she’d been taking lessons in stealth either from Azriel or the two half-wraiths she called friends. (acosf)

Their beautiful, wraith-like team has the gifts necessary to traverse the slumbering heart of the earth as easily as foreign courts, which is a hard combination to find and is uniquely suited for Elain’s mission to release the Cauldron and land from the magical chains of the Asteri. Especially since we learn that Bryce uses both blades of the Starborn to free Avallen from its magical chains:

On an exhale, she plunged the weapons into the slits in the eight-pointed star. The small one for the knife. The larger one for the sword.

And like a key turning in a lock, they released what lay beneath. (hofas)

They even help Bryce rid the land of the Asteri and their core of power, creating a larger void to devour the one the Asteri set in place. Back in acowar, as many have noticed, Sarah already planted this moment between Azriel and Elain:

I saw the painting in my mind: the lovely fawn, blooming spring vibrant behind her. Standing before Death, shadows and terrors lurking over his shoulder. Light and dark, the space between their bodies a blend of the two. The only bridge of connection…that knife. (acowar)

She and Azriel seem to represent the balance of light and dark in the Starsword and Truth-Teller, as @merymoonbeam theorized. The Starborn blade—the one belonging to Enalius—is a bridge of connection between them. Bryce leaves the Starsword (Gwydion) and Truth-Teller with Nesta, encouraging her to learn about her connection to the Starborn (eight-pointed star). That might mean the Archeron Starborn connection may happen after all. I could see Elain wielding those blades when needed, activating their magic as she seemed to do with Truth-Teller, to release the land from its magical chains. It would also be interesting if Elain and Azriel functioned like the Made blades themselves, releasing the Asteri’s chains with their own blend of raw magic, and watching joyously as life blooms in earnest again.

Once they remove the magical chains of the Asteri—on the land and their sacred Cauldron—perhaps we’ll also discover what exists between Elain and Azriel at last:

Elain sat silently at one of the wrought-iron tables, a cup of tea before her. Azriel was sprawled on the chaise longue across the gray stones, sunning his wings and reading what looked to be a stack of reports–likely information on the Autumn Court that he planned to present to Rhys once he’d sorted through it all. Already dressed for the Hewn City–the brutal, beautiful armor so at odds with the lovely garden. And my sister sitting within it.

“Why not make them mates?” I mused. “Why Lucien?”

“I’d keep that question from Lucien.”

“I’m serious.” I turned toward him and crossed my arms. “What decides it? Who decides it?”

Rhys straightened his lapels before plucking an invisible piece of lint from them. “Fate, the Mother, the Cauldron’s swirling eddies…” (acowar)

@silverlinedeyes, @offtorivendell, @elriell and others have written extensively about mating bonds, so I won’t discuss that in depth here. Essentially, Feysand and Nessian appear to have bonds that are true in spirit, and they are described as living threads of pure golden light between their souls.

Thread after thread of pure golden light flowed into him, and he met it with his own. Where those threads wove together, life glowed like starfire, and she had never seen anything more beautiful, felt anything more beautiful. (acosf)

This living light reminds me of the dawn, which is associated with healing and new beginnings. When Feysand and Nessian bind their souls together in these scenes, the dawn is invoked each time:

Feysand

…I was his and he was mine, and we were the beginning and middle and end. We were a song that had been sung from the very first ember of light in the world. (acomaf)

Nessian

Cassian roared as he came, and the sound was the summons of a hunt, a symphony, a single clear horn playing as dawn broke over the world. (acosf)

And when Azriel first sees Elain in his bonus chapter, her hair is unbound and she appears like the dawn, gilded in living light on the longest night of the year.

Soft steps padded from under the stair archway, and there she was.

The Faelights gilded Elain’s unbound hair, making her glow like the sun at dawn. (Azriel’s bonus chapter)

Is it possible that, with Elain’s connection to Wyrd and the land, her own threads of life are similarly chained, or warped? Perhaps when Elain clears away the Asteri’s power, we will finally see the truth blooming between them: threads of golden light twining together in an endless, earthy melody.

#hofas spoilers #hofas #acotar #crossover theories #elain archeron #azriel #nuala and cerridwen #urd goddess #stone mother #mother cauldron fate #forbidden secrets follow up #healing the land #she has the gifts and vision #elriel #elain x azriel #this was written like a fever dream #i may need to reblog more later

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