#maasverse witches

[wingedblooms]

seer. wise woman. witch.

This series builds on previous witch posts, including Secret, lovely seer witch and Passing the mantle. There are hints from the beginning that all three sisters are witches, but this series focuses primarily on Elain's connections to witches. All of these posts are situated in the Maasverse and have spoilers for all three series, so please proceed with caution.

-1- Lovely monster

-2- Seed of power

-3- Herbs she planted

-4- The Ancients

-5- Song of the wind

-6- The sense chanted

-7- Groundings

More theories, connections, and headcanons about the middle Archeron sister here.

#witch!elain #elain archeron #witchy elain #the archeron sisters #archeron witches #maiden mother crone #past present future #seers oracles mystics #shapeshifting #herbal magic #song of the wind #broomsticks #witch rituals and chants #witch mirrors #groundings #maasverse witches #tog witches #cc witches #acotar witches

[rainingriversofyou]

Manon Blackbeak x Nesta Archeron ⚔️

Artist: ssahhartt

#ssahhartt #manon blackbeak #nesta archeron #maasverse #queen of witches #lady death #sarah j maas #sjm universe #sjm multiverse #tog art #throne of glass #acotar art #acosf art #sjm fanart #tog #a court of thorns and roses #acotar #sjm #sjmaas #book art #sjm books #a court of silver flames #heir of fire #queen of shadows #kingdom of ash #empire of storms #a court of mist and fury #acomaf #comic art #acosf

[i-only-see-daylight]

Manon: All of your existences are confusing. 

The Thirteen: How so? 

Manon: Your presence is annoying, but the thought of anything bad happening to any of you upsets me.

#throne of glass #manon x dorian #sarah j maas #throne of glass series #tog fandom #tog series #the assassin’s blade #crown of midnight #heir of fire #queen of shadows #empire of storms #tower of dawn #kingdom of ash #sjmaas #sjm #manon blackbeak #manon crochan #queen of witches #abraxos #the thirteen #ironteeth witches #blackbeak #tog incorrect quotes #tog memes #sjm books #maasverse #incorrect quotes #wingleader

[offtorivendell]

What a glow up for Elain's little garden 🌿

Spoilers: CC HOFAS spoilers below the "read more."

In ACOWAR, we learnt that - after wishing to learn how to grow a vegetable garden in ACOTAR - Elain had started another little garden at the townhouse.

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. Nesta monitored him like a hawk, but kept silent as Elain took his hand, and out they went. - ACOWAR

In ACOSF, Nesta used Elain's work in her garden as a way to belittle her.

Nesta knew she’d hit her mark. She opened her mouth, but couldn’t continue. Enough. She had said enough. That fast, the power in her receded, vanishing into smoke on the wind. Leaving only exhaustion weighing her bones, her breath. “It doesn’t matter what I think. Go back to Feyre and your little garden.” - ACOSF

I have theorised before that Elain may have planted a witch's garden, and that maybe she will grow - or even Make - her own plants for baking or medicinal use. @wingedblooms has posted about Elain and her garden as well, and Elain as a healer or potions mistress ties in well with her learning to garden and cook, so...

Even the herbs were familiar—had the Fae of this world introduced them to Midgard? Or were plants like thyme and rosemary somehow universal? Strewn across space? Or maybe the Asteri had brought those herbs from their own home world and planted them on all their conquered planets. She knew it was a stupid thing to contemplate. That she had way bigger things to consider than an intergalactic garden. But she quickly lost interest in eating, and thinking about everything else was … too much. - HOFAS

Is Bryce eating food that Elain has had a hand in growing and cooking? I'd love that.

Additionally, rather than the Asteri, I love the idea of witches planting little gardens across the universe, wherever they may go. Spreading herbs that may someday help magic wielders to access deeper powers, or even defeat an old, forgotten foe if they are awoken once more. Subtly future proofing their new home worlds, leaving knowledge waiting to be found in songs and ancient tomes. Hoping for the best, but planning for the worst.

My other thought is that it could be related to Urd, with similar motivations as I outlined above. If the Cauldron has indeed been co-opted by a dark maker, could Urd be secretly using the Cauldron to spread seemingly innocuous plants throughout the galaxy, waiting for the day the right person could come along to use them, and potentially free her?

No spoilers beyond chapter 16 please, I'm slowly plodding through HOFAS as we speak. 😂

#hofas spoilers #hosab spoilers #elain archeron #elain archeron theory #elain's powers #little garden #glow up #pro elain #acotar cc tog crossover theory #maasverse #witches #witchy elain #elain's garden #elain's little garden #the archeron sisters are witches i can feel it

[khaleesikels]

I wanted to send my crazy Throne of Glass/ACOTAR/Crescent City into the universe. Enjoy!

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My Theories- Throne of Glass/ACOTAR/Crescent City:

Kingdom of Ash- Worlds Overlapping

• Mala only held out a hand. In it lay a kernel of white-hot power. A fallen star. “Take it One last gift to my bloodline.” …Chapter 98, Page 794

o This is giving Starborn? Or, at least, a hellacious coincidence to Theia’s line?

• She was falling. Falling and being thrown. The Wyrdgate sealed behind her, and yet she was not home. As it closed, all worlds overlapped… Chapter 99, Page 799

o This almost makes it sound like the worlds did not previously overlap…?

Queen of Shadows- Thoughts on the Bone Carver/ Old Gods

• “Seems like this god of truth,” Aedion called from his wall, “was more of a Sin-Eater than anything. You should read some of the things people wrote- all the horrible things they did. I think this was a place for them to be buried, and to confess on the bones of other sinners.” …Chapter 50, Page 411

o “These aren’t ordinary catacombs,” Rowan said, setting down his torch. “This was a temple.” Indeed, alters, benches, and even a dark reflection pool lay in the massive space… Chapter 50, Page 410

o “There’s writing on these bones,” Aedion said, striding down the steps and onto the bone floor. Aelin grimaced… Chapter 50, Page 411

o “It’s in every language- all in different handwriting,” Aedion marveled… Chapter 50, Page 411

A Court of Mist and Fury

• The boy’s smile (The Bone Carver) was a mockery of innocence. “Are you frightened?” “Yes,” I said. Never lie (truth telling God, anyone?)- That had been Rhy’s first command… Chapter 18, Page 196.

A Court of Wings and Ruin

• (At the Prison-Prythian) “There was life here,” Cassian said, “before the High Lords took Prythian. Old gods, we call them. They ruled the forests and the rivers and the mountains (Throne of Glass world has elemental magic, fire/ice/wind)- some were those things. Then magic shifted to the High Fae, who brought the Cauldron and Mother along with them, and though the old gods were still worshipped by a select few, most people forgot them.”

o Feyre: “The Bone Carver was an old god?”

o Cassian: “That’s what legend says.” … Chapter 22, Page 233

• “Clever, that Fae warrior. Her bloodline is long gone now- though a trace still runs through some human line.” He smiled, “No one remembers her name. But I do. She would have been my salvation, had I not made my choice long before she walked this earth.”

o (Continued, Bone Carver) “She could not kill them in the end- they were too strong. They could only be contained.” …Chapter 23, Page 239.

▪ At first, I thought of Bryce... Until I realized the Bone Carver and his siblings are not Asteri. They were old Gods. Who do we know that locked away “gods” in their story? Not kill… Locked away. Aelin.

▪ Also, Dorian and Aelin are related. Dorian has magic and is also a human. Also- Aelin has both Fae and Human forms... Magic being passed down through a human lineage.

▪ Both Dorian and Aelin are descendants of Mala and Brannon. I have a theory that Lidia is related to Aelin and Dorian through Brannon and Mala somehow.

• Aelin approached the archway of the god’s realm. To where Mala now walked across the shimmering grass, little more than a shaft of sunlight herself. The Lady of Light halted- and lifted an arm in farewell. Aelin smiled and bowed…. The gods began shouting, running towards her, as Aelin ripped open a hole in their sky. Right into a world she had only seen once. Had accidentally opened a portal into one night in a stone castle. Distant, baying howls cracked the bleak gray expanse. A portal into a hell-realm. A door now thrown open… Chapter 98, Page 796, Kingdom of Ash.

o This also becomes important later in my dissertation about who the “Mother” is and where the Cauldron came from.

Final Thoughts on Mala Fire-Bringer:

• Mala Fire-Bringer is also known as:

o Goddess of the Sun

o Lady of Light (STARBORN!?)

o Lady of Fire

o The Bright Lady (STARBORN!?)

o Formerly a god that gave up their immortality to be mortal/human to Forge the lock.

Archesian Amulet/ Witches

• Archesian Amulet described as 3 circles overlapping one another.

• Eye of Elena description (Throne of Glass): The Eye of Elena was a warped metal amulet composed of two overlapping circles inside a greater circle. The heart of the amulet was in the shape of an eye- with a blue gemstone in the middle.

o Rhiannon Crochran created the basis of the Lock: the symbol of the Three-Faced Goddess in an amulet. Rhiannon crafted a witch mirror in the middle eye, absorbing immense power. The amulet had been called the Eye of the Goddess.

This leads me into the Three-Faced Goddess which has been mentioned in all three series (ToG, ACOTAR, CC).

• Throne of Glass we know that the witch clans- all 3- are represented by the Three-Faced Goddess. The Three-Faced Goddess is symbolized as the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. We see this in Throne of Glass symbolically represented by the 3 witch clans:

o Blueblood Clan- The Maiden

o The Blackbeak Clan- The Mother

o The Yellowlegs Clan- The Crone

• In ACOTAR, we get this snippet from Amren when she is assisting Nesta with Scrying (stones and bones as she calls it): She didn’t seem to notice as she untied the small pouch and dumped out its contents. Three stones, four bones. The latter were brown and gleamed with age; the former were white as the moon and smooth as glass, each marked with a thin, reedy letter I did not recognize. “Three stones for the faces of the Mother,” Amren said upon seeing Nesta’s raised brows. “Four bones… For whatever reason the charlatans came up with that I can’t be bothered to remember.”

o The Mother has 3 faces... Where have we heard this? The Three-Faced Goddess. The Maiden, The Mother, and The Crone.

o This also leads me into a statement made by Tamlin in the first ACOTAR book. He asks Feyre, “Didn’t your mother ever tell you anything about us?” Which I always thought was weird. Why would Feyre’s mom know anything about the Fae? Who has a long enough life span to rival the Fae in the Throne of Glass series? Witches.

▪ I think Feyre, Elain, and Nesta’s mom was a witch, and by association, them as well.

• Lord Devlon in the ACOTAR series even calls Nesta a witch.

o The Three-Faced Goddess is represented by the Archeron sister’s as well:

▪ Elain- The Maiden (Also- Elain is a Seer- we know this is a gift known to Witches as well. It is mentioned in Crescent City that Witches have gifts that range from Seers to potion-making)

▪ Feyre- The Mother (Literally popped out Nyx)

▪ Nesta- The Crone (Death/ Her ability to have the Silver Flames/ Death Incarnate)

o I know Crescent City has witches, and Jesiba Roga was one, but I am not far enough along in Flame and Shadow to continue my thoughts until I finish the book.

Lastly, the Mother and the Cauldron: My crackpot theory is that the Mother is the Three-Faced Goddess and she created Prythian when Aelin banished them into their new hellscape.

In ACOTAR, Feyre sees a mural in Tamlin’s manor and describes it as: A might black cauldron held by glowing, slender female hands in a starry, endless night. Those hands tipped it over, golden sparkling liquid pouring out over the lip. No- not sparkling, but… Effervescent with small symbols, perhaps of some ancient faerie language. (Wyrdmarks, anyone? Who would know about Wyrdmarks? Someone from the Throne of Glass world).

This would also make sense why Feyre and her sisters seem “blessed” by some. They are powerful… Witches

#acotar #throne of glass #crescent city #conspiracy theories #maasverse #sarah j maas #wyrd sisters #witches #bryce quinlan #feyre archeron #nesta archeron #elain archeron #aelin ashryver galathynius #prythian #terrasen #midgardsormr

[acourtofquestions]

Anyone else get major Celaena Sardothien vibes from Elora Danan & vise versa?

Especially with the whole (I’m still reading them so I don’t fully know/no spoilers plz) Aelin Galathynius thing… heck even other Maasverse Series with ACOTAR & Feyre!

… not me turning Willow into a bunch of fan edit inspo for these books becoming cinema… IT JUST VIBES OKAY?!

#Elora Danan #Willow #Celaena Sardothien #Aelin Galathynius #Throne of Glass #Feyre Archeron #ACOTAR #Maasverse #crossover #book imagery #fan edit #tv show concept #Lillian Gordana #Dove #cinematic concepts #but the aesthetics #I need a throne of glass fashion guide #it vibes #okay I said it #isn’t danan a kind of yogurt? lol #I have lost it #fandom x fandom #fangirling #faerie #witches #wizards #aesthetics #styles #fantasy realm #magical world

[tourneys-by-me]

And Here is the Bracket!

*Round 1*

*Round 2*

*Round 3*

*vs template used*

Pyro Electro Luxo Aqua Cryo Umbra Phyto Aero Geo Ferro

Pyromancy:

Round One

Caleb Widogast (Critical Role) vs Kai (Ninjago)

Roy Mustang (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs Portgas D. Ace (One Piece)

Zuko (Avatar) vs Red Son (Monkie Kid)

Bloom (Winx) vs Agnes Montague (Magnus Archives)

Round Two

Sailor Mars (Sailor Moon) vs [Winner of Caleb vs Kai]

Fintan Pyren (KOTLC) vs Muhammad Avdol (JJBA)

Lup (Adventure Zone) vs Leo Valdez (Riordanverse)

[Winner of Roy vs Ace] vs Natsu Dragneel (Fairy Tail)

Axel (Kingdom Hearts) vs [Winner of Zuko vs Red Son]

The Pyro (TF2) vs Fireboy (Fireboy and Watergirl)

Taranee Cook (W.I.T.C.H.) vs Lavagirl (Sharkboy and Lavagirl)

[Winner of Bloom vs Agnes] vs Blaze the Cat (Sonic)

Electromancy:

Round One

Garnet (Steven Universe) vs Denki Kaminari (MHA)

Tess Ruunaser (Aurora) vs Enel (One Piece)

Yoomtah Zing (Epithet Erased) vs Pikachu (Pokemon)

Killua Zoldyck (HXH) vs Raiden Ei (Genshin)

Round Two

Urbosa (Legend of Zelda) vs [Winner of Garnet vs Kaminari]

Sailor Jupiter (Sailor Moon) vs Jiang Cheng (MDZS)

Frankie Stein (Monster High) vs Cure Milky (Precure)

[Winner of Tess vs Enel] vs Raiden (Mortal Kombat)

Cole MacGrath (inFAMOUS) vs [Winner of Yoomtah vs Pikachu]

Static (DC) vs Storm (Marvel)

Audrey Redheart (Wandersong) vs Larxene (Kingdom Hearts)

[Winner of Killua vs Ei] vs Misaka Mikoto (Toaru)

Luxomancy:

Round One

Stella (Winx) vs Glimmer (She-Ra)

Luz Noceda (The Owl House) vs Alina Starkov (Grishaverse)

Zelda (Legend of Zelda) vs Rapunzel (Tangled)

The Radiance (Hollow Knight) vs Merle Highchurch (Adventure Zone)

Round Two

Borsalino (One Piece) vs [Winner of Stella (winx) vs Glimmer]

Stella (Spiritfarer) vs Yuri (Kamen Rider Saber)

Shallan Davar (Stormlight Archives) vs The Signal (DC)

[Winner of Luz vs Alina] vs Rose Lalonde (Homestuck)

Ori (Ori) vs [Winner of Zelda vs Rapunzel]

Gabriel (ULTRAKILL) vs Apollo (Greek Mythology)

Sailor Moon (Sailor Moon) vs Iridessa (Disney Fairies)

[Winner of The Radiance vs Merle] vs Amaterasu (Okami)

Aquamancy:

Round One

Cure Mermaid (Precure) vs Demyx (Kingdom Hearts)

Undine Wells (Sleepless Domain) vs Percy Jackson (Riordanverse)

Giovanni Potage (Epithet Erased) vs Nya (Ninjago)

Katara (Avatar) vs Silvermist (Disney Fairies)

Round Two

Linh Hai Song (KOTLC) vs [Winner of Cure Mermaid vs Demyx]

Sea Fairy Cookie (Cookie Run) vs Mermista (She-Ra)

Shin Mouri (Yoroiden Samurai) vs Watergirl (Fireboy and Watergirl)

[Winner of Undine vs Percy] vs Irma Lair (W.I.T.C.H.)

Sailor Nepture (Sailor Moon) vs [Winner of Giovanni vs Nya]

Qifrey (Witch Hat Atelier) vs Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe)

Hahli (Bionicle) vs Chaos (Sonic)

[Winner of Katara vs Silvermist] vs Aquaman (DC)

Cryomancy:

Round One

Sub-Zero (Mortal Kombat) vs Aokiji (One Piece)

Ice King (Adventure Time) vs Elsa (Frozen)

Jack Frost (ROTG) vs Zane (Ninjago)

Sapphire (Steven Universe) vs Noelle Holiday (Deltarune)

Round Two

Rukia Kuchiki (Bleach) vs [Winner of Sub-Zero vs Aokiji]

Shiva (Final Fantasy) vs Mei (Overwatch)

Frozone (The Incredibles) vs Abbey Bominable (Monster High)

[Winner of Ice King vs Elsa] vs Cirno (Touhou)

Periwinkle (Disney Fairies) vs [Winner of Jack Frost vs Zane]

Leif (Bug Fables) vs Juline Dizznee (KOTLC)

Iceman (Marvel) vs Gray Fullbuster (Fairy Tail)

[Winner of Sapphire vs Noelle] vs Frosta (She-Ra)

Umbramancy:

Round One

Pride (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs Rogue Cheney (Fairy Tail)

Macaque (Monkie Kid) vs Nico di Angelo (Riordanverse)

Goro Akechi (Persona) vs Rhysand (Maasverse)

Brian Laborn (Parahumans/Wormverse) vs Roxy Lalonde (Homestuck)

Round Two

Shikamaru Nara (Naruto) vs [Winner of Pride vs Rogue]

Dr Facilier (Princess and the Frog) vs Dark Matter (Kirby)

Noob Saibot (Mortal Kombat) vs Tam Dai Song (KOTLC)

[Winner of Macaque vs Nico] vs The Knight (Hollow Knight)

The Darkling (Grishaverse) vs [Winner of Akechi vs Rhysand]

Manuela Dominguez (Magnus Archives) vs Megumi Fushiguro (JJK)

Midna (Legend of Zelda) vs Princess Luna (MLP)

[Winner of Brian vs Roxy] vs Darcy (Winx)

Phytomancy:

Round One

Keyleth (Critical Role) vs Perfuma (She-Ra)

Poison Ivy (DC) vs Willow Park (The Owl House)

Marluxia (Kingdom Hearts) vs Shiozaki Ibara (MHA)

Flora (Winx) vs Cornelia Hale (W.I.T.C.H.)

Round Two

Briar Moss (Emelan) vs [Winner of Keyleth vs Perfuma]

Cure Flora (Precure) vs Isabela Madrigal (Encanto)

En (Dorohedoro) vs Bulbasaur (Pokemon)

[Winner of Poison Ivy vs Willow] vs Kurama (Yu Yu Hakusho)

Layla Williams (Sky High) vs [Winner of Marluxia vs Ibara]

Fern the Human (Adventure Time) vs Rosetta (Disney Fairies)

Meg McCaffrey (Riordanverse) vs Venus McFlytrap (Monster High)

[Winner of Flora vs Cornelia] vs Alinua (Aurora)

Aeromancy:

Round One

Hay Lin (W.I.T.C.H.) vs Cure Earth (Precure)

Callum (Dragon Prince) vs Aang (Avatar)

Zoya Nazyalensky (Grishaverse) vs Wanderer (Genshin)

Fujin (Mortal Kombat) vs Tulin (Legend of Zelda)

Round Two

Sampo Koski (Honkai) vs [Winner of Hay Lin vs Cure Earth]

Smogmella (Yokai Watch) vs Kushala Daora (Monster Hunter)

Rashid (Street Fighter) vs Shi Qingxuan (TGCF)

[Winner of Callum vs Aang] vs Berdly (Deltarune)

Michael Crew (Magnus Archives) vs [Winner of Zoya vs Wanderer]

Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto) vs Yosuke Hanamura (Persona)

Windsinger (Flight Rising) vs The Big Bad Wolf (Fairy Tales)

[Winner of Fujin vs Tulin] vs Sage Harpuia (Mega Man Zero)

Geomancy:

Round One

Leiur Darāhim (Symphogear) vs Earthshaker (Flight Rising)

Toph Beifong (Avatar) vs Cole (Ninjago)

Zhongli (Genshin) vs Gaara (Naruto)

Sandman (ROTG) vs Boulder (Rock of Ages)

Round Two

Rika (Pokemon) vs [Winner of Leiur vs Earthshaker]

Richter (Lilo and Stitch) vs Rochelle Goyle (Monster High)

Iggy (JJBA) vs Leona Kingscholar (TWST)

[Winner of Toph vs Cole] vs Sander (Dislyte)

Pohatu (Bionicle) vs [Winner of Zhongli vs Gaara]

Isaac (Golden Sun) vs Evvy (Emelan)

Alhazred (Wizard 101) vs Tumblemon (Digimon)

[Winner of Sandman vs Boulder] vs Dino-Rang (Skylanders)

Ferromancy:

Round One

Risotto Nero (JJBA) vs Kurapika Kurta (HXH)

Vin (Mistborn) vs Magneto (Marvel)

Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs Gajeel Redfox (Fairy Tail)

Jesper Fahey (Grishaverse) vs Pyrrha Nikos (RWBY)

Round Two

Tachihara Michizou (Bungou) vs [Winner of Risotto vs Kurapika]

Scrapdragon (Paranatural) vs Daja Kisubo (Emelan)

Zoe Blecher (Sleepless Domain) vs Peridot (Steven Universe)

[Winner of Vin vs Magneto] vs Tinkaton (Pokemon)

Karl Heisenberg (Resident Evil) vs [Winner of Edward vs Gajeel]

Golden Queen (Skylanders) vs Metal Shark Player (Mega Man X)

Ramsey Murdoch (Epithet Erased) vs Rex Salazar (Generator Rex)

[Winner of Jesper vs Pyrrha] vs Millions Knives (Trigun)

#element specific character tournament #element character tourney #polls #tumblr tournament #tournament poll #tumblr bracket #tumblr polls #tournaments #rules #pyromancy #electromancy #luxomancy #aquamancy #cryomancy #umbramancy #phytomancy #aeromancy #geomancy #ferromancy

[yanny-77]

Yam's Fanfic Master List

ACOTAR

We Could Follow the Sparks: Elucien, Complete, 14,036 Words

Sweet Waters of Spring: Gwynriel, WIP (Hiatus), 12,340 words

I Love You Just The Way You Are: Elriel, Complete, 1,772 words

Crescent City

Paradise by the Dashboard Light: Tharion, Complete, 4,791

You, Me, and My Roommate: Ruhn/Flynn/Fawn, Complete, 2,861 Words

The Empyrean

The Underpants Hesit: Bodhi/Ridoc, WIP, 28,560 Words

Throne of Glass

The Ice King & The Witch Queen: Manorian, Complete, 1,685 words

Maasverse

A Tragedy of Fawns and Fate: Multiple Unhinged, WIP (Hiatus), 129,480 words

A Day to Remember: Flynn/Gwynn, Complete, 3,318 Words

[siderealxmelody]

Revamping muses!! All Witches this time!!! Have three verses so far:

Harry Potter

Grishaverse

Maasverse

#ooc post

[nanstgeorge]

MAASVERSE: Seer Edition

Throne of Glass:

“She could still smell the fires that had raged throughout her eighth and ninth years—the smoke of burning books chock-full of ancient, irreplaceable knowledge, the screams of gifted seers and healers as they’d been consumed by the flames, the storefronts and sacred places shattered and desecrated and erased from history. Many of the magic-users who hadn’t been burned wound up prisoners in Endovier—and most didn’t survive long there.” (TOG, Chapter 5)

“What had it been like to grow up in the shadow of the king who had ordered so much destruction? To have lived here when royal families were slaughtered, when seers and magic-wielders were burned alive, and the world fell into darkness and sorrow?” (TOG, Chapter 27)

“She had to end this now, before the hallucinations started. She knew they’d be powerful: seers had once used bloodbane as a drug to view spirits from other worlds.” (TOG, Chapter 48)

“I’m afraid I can’t be of service,” Mort sniffed. “If you want an instant answer, you should find yourself a seer or an oracle.” Celaena slowed her pacing. “You think if I read this to someone with the gift of clairvoyance, they might be able to… see some different meaning that I’m missing?” “Perhaps. Though as far as I know, when magic vanished, those with the gift of Sight lost it, too.” (COM)

“Especially when magic had been gone these past ten years. But Manon had heard rumors of the rituals the Bluebloods did in their forests and caves, rituals in which pain was the gateway to magic, to opening their senses. Oracles, mystics, zealots.” (HOF, Chapter 12)

“Aedion opened his mouth, no doubt to ask what had snagged her interest, but Aelin frowned at Manon. “Can your kind see the future? See it as an oracle can?” “Some,” Manon admitted. “The Bluebloods claim to.” “Can other Clans?” “They say that for the Ancients, past and present and future bleed together.” (EOS, Chapter 48)

“Seer. The word clanged through me. She’d known. She’d warned Nesta about the Ravens. And in the chaos of the attack, that little realization had slipped from me. Slipped from me as reality and dream slipped and entwined for Elain. Seer.” (ACOWAR, Chapter 33)

“They were a strange, unique group, the witches. Though they looked like humans, their considerable magic and long lives marked them as Vanir, their power mostly passed through the female line. All of them deemed civitas. The power was inherited, from some ancient source that the witches claimed was a three-faced goddess, but witches did pop up in non-magical families every now and then. Their gifts were varied, from seers to warriors to potion-makers, but healers were the most visible in Crescent City.” (HOEAB, Chapter 39)

“Yellowlegs was a fortune-teller—a powerful oracle. I bet she knew who the queen was the moment she saw her. And saw things she planned to sell to the highest bidder.” (EOS, Chapter 48)

“What about when magic disappeared for ten years?” “Our seers had a vision that it would vanish, and the flame would die. So we ignited several ordinary fires from that magic flame, and kept them burning. When magic disappeared, the flame indeed winked out. And when magic returned this spring, the flame again kindled, right in the hearth where we had last seen it.” (KOA, Chapter 15)

A Court of Thorns and Roses:

“We’re the ones who need …” Azriel trailed off. “A seer,” he said, more to himself than us. “The Cauldron made you a seer.” (ACOWAR, Chapter 32)

“Elain, too, had revealed no indication of her seer’s abilities since then.” (ACOSF, Chapter 1)

Crescent City

“The Autumn King had insisted that the visit be discreet—not saying the obvious: until the Oracle whispers of your future. What had gone down had been an unmitigated disaster not only for Bryce, but for Ruhn as well.” (HOEAB, Chapter 14)

“All Fae, male and female, made a visit to the city’s Oracle at age thirteen as one of the two Great Rites to enter adulthood: first the Oracle, and then the Ordeal—a few years or decades later.” (HOEAB, Chapter 14)

“Sphinxes were rare—only a few dozen walked the earth, and all of them had been called to the service of the gods. No one knew how old they were, and this one before him … She was so beautiful he forgot what to do with his body. The golden lioness’s form moved with fluid grace, pacing the other side of the hole, weaving in and out of the mist. Golden wings lay folded against the slender body, shimmering as if they were crafted from molten metal. And above that winged lion’s body … the golden-haired woman’s face was as flawless as Shahar’s had been.”

“No one knew her name. She was simply her title: Oracle. He wondered if she was so old that she’d forgotten her true name.”

“No one ever does. No one ever looked—not really.” A bramble of words. Her voice strained to a whisper. “He did. He saw me. He will not now.” (ACOWAR, 24)

“The sphinx blinked large brown eyes at him, lashes brushing against her light brown cheeks. “Ask me your question, and I shall tell you what the smoke whispers to me.” The words rumbled over his bones, luring him in. Not in the way he sometimes let himself be lured in by beautiful females, but in the manner that a spider might lure a fly to its web.” (HOEAB, Chapter 33)

“It was a useless gift, she’d decided as a child. It couldn’t do much at all beyond blinding people, as she’d done to her father’s men when they came after her and her mother and Randall, as had happened to the Oracle when the seer peered into her future and beheld only her blazing light, as she’d done to those asp-hole smugglers.” (HOEAB, 87)

“What blinds an Oracle? Light. Light the way the Starborn had possessed it.” (HOEAB, 88)

“I can’t think of another alternative. The Oracle only sees the future, not present. I need to know what’s going on with Connor.” (HOSAB, 38)

#elain archeron #acotar #a court of thorns and roses #elain

[wingedblooms]

The Ancients

This is a Maasverse post, and as such, there are spoilers for all Maas series. Proceed with caution.

“I’m afraid I can’t be of service,” Mort sniffed. “If you want an instant answer, you should find yourself a seer or an oracle.” 

Celaena slowed her pacing. “You think if I read this to someone with the gift of clairvoyance, they might be able to … see some different meaning that I’m missing?”

“Perhaps. Though as far as I know, when magic vanished, those with the gift of Sight lost it, too.” 

“Yes, but you’re still here.” 

“So?” Celaena looked at the stone ceiling as if she could see through it, all the way to the ground above. 

“So perhaps other ancient beings might retain some of their gifts, too.” (com)

In acowar, we learn that Elain is a seer and in the Maasverse, seer seems to be a broad term associated with the gift of Sight. Sarah sometimes uses seer interchangeably with oracle, as we see below. 

It was a useless gift, she’d decided as a child. It couldn’t do much at all beyond blinding people, as she’d done to her father’s men when they came after her and her mother and Randall, as had happened to the Oracle when the seer peered into her future and beheld only her blazing light, as she’d done to those asp-hole smugglers. (hoeab)

An oracle appears to be a type of seer; at the very least, they have similar gifts of clairvoyance. Oracles were believed to be messengers, or conduits, for gods. We see indications of this in the scene where Hunt visits the oracle sphinx in hoeab. While we don’t know the full extent of Elain’s gifts, her abilities are referred to as oracular, and she shares parallels with both oracles and mystics in the Maasverse. 

In fact, her gifts seem like they could rival the ancient beings Aelin referenced in the first quote. She tracks down Baba Yellowlegs—an Ancient—to help her unravel a mystery, and introduces us to another important method of Sight they cherish: witch mirrors.

Witch mirrors

If Yellowlegs truly was a witch, then perhaps she had the gift of Sight.

“Come to look into the mirrors?” she said, smoke spilling from her withered lips. “Done running from fate at last?” (com)

In the gloom, the caravan stretched on much wider and longer than should have been possible. A winding path had been made between the mirrors, leading into the dark—a path that Yellowlegs was now treading, as if there were anywhere to go inside this strange place.

[…]

As she strode through the forest of mirrors, her reflection shifted everywhere. In one she appeared short and fat, in another tall and impossibly thin. In another she stood upside down, and in yet another she walked sideways. It was enough to give her a headache. (com)

First, I would be remiss if I didn't point out the fact that Aelin links witches to the gift of Sight, just like in Midgard. Second, Yellowlegs’ caravan is unusual because its materials (the stones in the oven and wood in the walls) come from the ruins of the Crochan city. Combined with witch mirrors, it creates an otherworldly illusion that disorients Aelin and makes it difficult to escape Yellowlegs’ clutches. 

Later, we learn from Manon that witch mirrors can be used to see, communicate, or amplify power:  

“You can see the future, past, present. You can speak between mirrors, if someone possesses the sister-glass. And then there are the rare silvers—whose forging demands something vital from the maker.” Manon’s voice dropped low. Dorian wondered if even among the Blackbeaks, these tales had only been whispered at their campfires. “Other mirrors amplify and hold blasts of raw power, to be unleashed if the mirror is aimed at something.” (eos)

She and Aelin even enter a witch mirror to view a memory, and like I’ve discussed before, this experience might mimic Elain’s murky realm. 

Aelin had a body that was not a body. She knew only because in this void, this foggy twilight, Manon had a body. A nearly transparent, wraithlike body, but…a form nonetheless.

Manon’s teeth and nails glinted in the dim light as she surveyed the swirling gray mists. “What is this place?” The mirror had transported them to…wherever this was. 

“Your guess is as good as mine, witch.” Had time stopped beyond the mists?

[…]

The eddying fog darkened, and Manon and Aelin stepped close together, back to back. Pure night swept around them—blinding them.

Then—a murky, dim light ahead. No, not ahead. Approaching them. Manon’s bony shoulder dug into her own as they pressed tighter together, an impenetrable wall. 

But the light rippled and expanded, figures within it appearing. Solidifying. 

Aelin knew three things as the light and color enveloped them and became tangible: They were not seen, or heard, or scented by those before them. 

And this was the past. A thousand years ago, to be exact. (eos) 

@offtorivendell and I suspect there may also be witch mirrors in Prythian: 

“My sister had a collection of mirrors in her black castle,” the Carver said. We halted once more. “She admired herself day and night in those mirrors, gloating over her youth and beauty. There was one mirror—the Ouroboros, she called it. It was old even when we were young. A window to the world. All could be seen, all could be told through its dark surface. Keir possesses it—an heirloom of his household. Bring it to me. That is my price. The Ouroboros, and I am yours to wield. If you can find a way to free me.” A hateful smile. (acowar)

Stryga, which is awfully close to the word for witch (striga, strega, shtriga, etc.), used her mirrors to spy on the world. It’s possible that her black castle was Hewn City, a place of rotting darkness that is home to wicked heirlooms much like her extensive collection in the cottage. Are Stryga and her magical mirrors also somehow connected to Maeve and the Valg? And if her heirlooms are also Mor’s family heirlooms, does that mean they are distantly related to Stryga and the Valg, and therefore connected to witches? Wounds associated with the Valg are described as rotted darkness (tod), making me truly wonder about the Court of Nightmares and those who inhabit and rule it now. 

In tog, Maeve—a dark queen and world-walker like Stryga—confirms that mirrors can be used to spy, travel, and kill. She says she taught the witches how to use their enchanted mirrors. If Stryga is connected to the Valg, did she see her outward beauty in the mirror, or the displeasing form beneath (to use Maeve’s own words), no matter how many beautiful maidens she hunted and devoured? Could that unpleasant form look like the Valg princess we see in tog? 

Its true form…It was as horrific as she’d imagined. 

Smoke swirled and coiled about it, revealing glimpses of gangly limbs and talons, mostly hairless gray, slick skin, and unnaturally large dark eyes that raged as she looked upon it. [...] It hissed, revealing pointed, fish-sharp teeth. Your world shall fall. As the others have done. As all others will. (tod)

That would certainly drive someone like Stryga, who is obsessed with youth and beauty, insane. And it would make so much more sense that her true form–the rotted core of the Valg–would be capable of corrupting an enchanted mirror as scholars claim.  

Save for the Weaver in the Wood—who certainly seemed insane enough, perhaps thanks to the mirror she’d so dearly loved. Or perhaps whatever evil lurked in her had tainted the mirror, too. Some of the philosophers had suggested as much, though they hadn’t known her name—only that a dark queen had once possessed it, cherished it. Spied on the world with it—and used it to hunt down beautiful young maidens to keep her eternally young. (acowar)

Much like Baba Yellowlegs, Stryga had a habit of devouring beautiful maidens and, once confined to the Middle, lured unsuspecting beings to her cottage. @offtorivendell has wondered if the Ouroboros will make a reappearance and if so, it might make the most sense in Elain’s story. It is interesting that Clotho helped Feyre find books on the Ouroboros and is the last known person in possession of Elain’s glass amulet. I do think this amulet could be connected to witch mirrors, even if only as a symbolic hint of things to come. The phrase secret, lovely beauty is repeated, suggesting a link—or sister-glass, if you will—between two females with hidden depths (more on this in The sense chanted and Groundings). 

The Ancients 

In addition to sharing information about witch mirrors, Manon confirms that some witches—like Baba Yellowlegs—have the gift of Sight. 

Aelin murmured, “Nameless is my price.” Aedion opened his mouth, no doubt to ask what had snagged her interest, but Aelin frowned at Manon. “Can your kind see the future? See it as an oracle can?”

“Some,” Manon admitted. “The Bluebloods claim to.”

“Can other Clans?”

“They say that for the Ancients, past and present and future bleed together.” (eos)

The Blackbeak and Blueblood Matrons are also referred to as Ancients. Together, the Matrons represent the Three-Faced Goddess: Crone (Yellowlegs), Mother (Blackbeak), and Maiden (Blueblood). This goddess supposedly gave the witches their iron teeth and nails to keep them anchored to this world when magic threatened to pull them away.

Legend had it that all witches had been gifted by the Three-Faced Goddess with iron teeth and nails to keep them anchored to this world when magic threatened to pull them away. The iron crown, supposedly, was proof that the magic in the Blueblood line ran so strong that their leader needed more—needed iron and pain—to keep her tethered in this realm. 

Nonsense. Especially when magic had been gone these past ten years. But Manon had heard rumors of the rituals the Bluebloods did in their forests and caves, rituals in which pain was the gateway to magic, to opening their senses. Oracles, mystics, zealots. (hof)

Nesta and Elain—who were Made in the Cauldron (which may be connected to the Three-Faced Goddess, as one of them is called Mother)—have iron mental gates. They also both wore iron bracelets and Elain has an iron engagement ring somewhere in her trove of jewelry. Elain, the obvious choice for the Maiden aspect, also wore a blue cloak during the witch accusation in Windhaven and seems to possess the most powerful Sight. Is it possible that time bleeds together in her murky realm like it does for the Ancients, and she might need even more iron, or something else, to remain tethered to Prythian? 

“An Ancient,” Dorian mused, then murmured to Manon, “Baba Yellowlegs.” 

They all turned to him. But Manon’s fingers brushed against her collarbone—where the necklace of Aelin’s scars from Yellowlegs still ringed her neck in stark white. 

“This winter, she was at your castle,” Manon said to him. “Working as a fortune-teller.”

Manon stared the general down. “Yellowlegs was a fortune-teller—a powerful oracle. I bet she knew who the queen was the moment she saw her. And saw things she planned to sell to the highest bidder.” Dorian tried not to flinch at the memory. Aelin had butchered Yellowlegs when she’d threatened to sell his secrets. Aelin had never implied a threat against her own. Manon continued, “Yellowlegs wouldn’t have told the queen anything outright, only in veiled terms. So it’d drive the girl mad when she figured it out.” (eos) 

Does Elain also know a person’s secrets on sight like Baba Yellowlegs? Is that why she was the only one who suspected Feyre’s pregnancy, and why she hasn’t yet met a character with a secret beneath her pretty face? 

A Cauldron-blessed seer, could she even be the Eye of the Goddess incarnate, a divine guardian, as I suggested in Herbs she planted? 

A large circle—and two overlapping circles, one atop the other, within its circumference. “That is the Three-Faced Goddess,” Manon said, her voice low. “We call this …” She drew a rough line in the centermost circle, in the eye-shaped space where they overlapped. “The Eye of the Goddess. Not Elena.” She circled the exterior again. “Crone,” she said of the outermost circumference. She circled the interior top circle: “Mother.” She circled the bottom: “Maiden.” She stabbed the eye inside: “And the heart of the Darkness within her.” It was Aelin’s turn to shake her head. The others didn’t so much as blink.

“That is an Ironteeth symbol. Blueblood prophets have it tattooed over their hearts. And those who won valor in battle, when we lived in the Wastes … they were once given those. To mark our glory—our being Goddess-blessed." (eos)

What if, like a Blueblood prophet, Elain is given a bargain tattoo of the Eye of the Goddess on her heart? (Please, Sarah.) Or perhaps its floral equivalent in Prythian: a layered rose that blooms with three colors when exposed to light, revealing the heart of Darkness within? A mark of the Goddess…

The Cauldron shattered into three pieces, peeling apart like a blossoming flower—and then she came. […] I dared a step toward it. And what I beheld in those ruins of the Cauldron … It was a void. But also not a void—a growth. (acowar)

to complement the eye of the beast in her love interest’s siphon? 

I watched the light shift inside the sapphire Siphon instead, as if it were the great eye of some half-slumbering beast from a frozen wasteland. (acomaf)

or her mate’s magical eye?  

“This eye …” Lucien gestured to the metal contraption. “It can see things that others…can’t. Spells, glamours … Perhaps it can help me find her. And break her curse.” (acowar)

Only Time, or the wind, will tell what form the future might take. 

Next: Song of the wind, or how Elain might travel like a witch. 

Series: seer. wise woman. witch.

#witch elain #witchy elain #the ancients #witch mirrors #three-faced goddess #past present future #the eye of the goddess #crone mother maiden #witchy archeron sisters #acotar witches #tog witches #crescent city witches #maasverse witches #elain archeron

[houseofhurricane]

Now that To A Nightingale is complete, I wanted to give an update on what’s next for me, writing-wise.

I have four one-shots that I’m committed to posting over the next month or two. Three of them are Gwynriel and one of them is DayNight. I also have a couple of one shot ideas I’d like to tackle if I can squeeze them in.

However, at this time I don’t have plans to work on any novel-length fanfic... because I’m finally going to start working on an original novel again. 

I wanted to talk about this for a little bit, especially because I’ve talked about plans for two novel-length fanfics that I’ve really wanted to write, one being Elucien and one being DayNight. I’ve spent significant time on both figuring out the character and plot arcs, and I truly love writing novel-length fanfic, getting to delve deeper into these books I love so much and bringing beloved characters to life. I love hearing from all of you after I post a chapter, and I’m so honored and grateful to have readers who are excited about my writing. I treasure every single note. I truly hate to let you down, especially after I’d personally gotten so excited about telling these stories.

After HOSAB, though, and especially after the HOSAB spoiler chat that SJM shared a few weeks ago, I started having a weird feeling, like any further updates from SJM were going to “ruin” my fanfic. I know this is ridiculous and obviously what I signed on for when I started writing fanfic. But as I sat with the feeling for a while, what I realized was that I am ready to go back to writing where I’m the one building the world and characters. The arcs of my own novel (and even sequels!) started popping into my head, the magic system started to sing, and the characters began to speak in their own voices.

My novel is a high fantasy take on the Cuban War of Independence, with witches and vampires and prophecies, where José Martí and Antonio Maceo are recast as brilliant women (along with a spymaster whose powers have been really fun to figure out), where a racially diverse group of people stand up against two empires and defend their right to create a better world for themselves, and where I get to take advantage of the fact that this was a truly extraordinary moment in history that, for a lot of reasons, many people are not familiar with. I’ve already loved all the research I’ve done and I’m so excited to keep reading as I work on bringing this story to life.

My goal is to be traditionally published, which is a process I know could take years, if it happens at all. So it may be a while before you’re able to read any novel-length fiction from me.

My plan is to keep writing one shots, around one a month, because honestly I love writing fanfic, especially in the Maasverse. And who knows, I might get a novel-length fanfic idea that I absolutely have to write... it’s happened before. I’ll still be posting thoughts, theories, and close reads because I love them, and I’ll definitely still be active here and on Instagram. So you’re all still stuck with me for the duration.

But for now, I want to let you know that if you see a little less of my fanfic, I’m working on something exciting, and I hope you’ll be patient with me as I start on this new journey.

#writing update #gwynriel #daynight #ruhnlidia #elucien #acotar #crescent city

[rosereview]

Top 9 Favourite MaasVerse Couples

I did a favourites list of couples in the Shadowhunter universe last year that was really fun so I thought I would do one with all of the couples from Sarah J. Maas’ universe, especially after reading A Court of Silver Flames (review coming soon). Because of all that and given that Sarah J. Maas never fails to be sneaky with which guy the main character ends up with in the end, this favourites list will be full of spoilers. So like before, the top couples all are couples that for sure end up together, while the honorable mentions are couples that I like or ones that I think would be good together or who I want to be together. 

Honorable Mentions

To start off we have character couples that I love but don’t know enough about to be super invested.

Amren & Varian- from ACOTAR. I just think that they are so cute and I love Amren and I’m so happy that she has someone who is there for her. I also think Varian is an interesting character who is the perfect balance for Amren’s intensity, also at all the family gatherings with Varian there, he just feels like the typical come-home-for-christmas-with-a-guy boyfriend who the family gets to know, but also plays around with because he’s new (don’t know if that makes sense, but if you’ve ever had a sibling or cousin bring a partner home for the holidays to a joking-around type family then you’ll get it).

Kallias & Viviane- from ACOTAR. Also don’t know a lot about them, but for the few interactions we see of them, I think they are super cute! The other courts always intrigued me, but especially the Winter Court because I love snow and I also love how close Kallias, Viviane, Rhysand, and Morrigan are (especially Viviane and Mor). I just think it’s so nice that they have other friends in other courts, and again they just seem sweet. 

Juniper Andromeda & Fury Axtar- from Crescent City. We only find out that they are a couple near the end, but from the few times we see them together, I think Juniper and Fury are adorable. Fury is just that super badass bitch that I love to see vulnerable in a couple. I just like seeing that badass girls can still have a very raw and human side, especially when they are with their significant other. Also Juniper was always a favourite minor character throughout the book because she’s such a good friend to Bryce. I can’t wait to see more of them as a couple in the next books!

Next I have people who I want to end up together:

Ruhn Danaan & Hypaxia Enador- from Crescent City. I thought Ruhn and the mediwitch had a great amount of chemistry, and when it was revealed that she was actually the young Queen Hypoxia of the witches, I was so excited! I feel like her and Ruhn will end up together, and because I love Ruhn and just want to see him happy, I think that the two of them as a couple would be great!

Morrigan & Emerie- from ACOTAR (more specifically ACOSF). When Emerie saw Mor in the latest book, I giggled so hard! I think the two of them would be adorable and it’s high time that Mor got a new love interest who will make her happy. (I also really want Emerie to be happy now that I’ve gotten to know her more as a character, and I do think the two of them would work really well together!)

Elain & Lucien // Azriel & Gwyneth- from ACOTAR. This next one I won’t talk a lot about because I’m saving it for the review for ACOSF, but just so you know what side of the debate I’m on, I really do think Lucien and Elain would be good together if Elain gave him a chance, and now since reading the special edition short story about Azriel at the end of ACOSF, I ship Azriel and Gwyn together. (Although I’ll honestly be happy with whoever ends up together as long as all the characters are happy!)

Nyx & Unborn Child of Rowaelin- from ACOTAR and Throne of Glass. I saw this post one day of someone shipping Nyx (Rhys and Feyre’s son), and the unborn daughter of Rowan and Aelin, I fangirled so hard! No matter if Rowan and Aelin have a girl or boy first, I already ship them so hard with Nyx. We already know that Nyx would have been born during the time of the war at the end of Kingdom of Ash (because Aelin fell through the worlds and saw pregnant Feyre and Rhys standing during Winter Solstice) so if Aelin and Rowan had a child not long after, they would be close to the same age, and because of that moving between worlds moment, we know that’s it’s possible for the two kids to meet one day. (Also I have a theory that what happens in the Crescent City books will tie into the possibility of world jumping because it’s already talked about in there how most species in Crescent City came from different worlds, so yay!) I know that this is all just wishful thinking, but I think that would be the cutest thing Nyx being together with Rowaelin’s child! Let me believe what I want to.

9. Nesryn Faliq & Sartaq

This list was so hard to make and I’m sad that these two are so low on it, but I just couldn’t get them any higher! At any rate, I loved these two during Tower of Dawn and when they ended up together I was ecstatic! First of all, I think Sartaq would be an amazing Khagan of the Southern Continent and he’s honestly the only real good one of his siblings. Him and Nesryn leading the Southern Continent will be amazing and I love the way that they bonded over riding the ruks. I do wish that we got to see them even more, but considering all of the characters and storylines, I was still satisfied with the development of their relationship and themselves as characters (just want more content with anything from the Throne of Glass series because I know it’s over and that makes me sad!)

8. Dorian Havilliard & Manon Blackbeak

Next is another couple that I love so much but had to put lower on the list because there are just too many great couples in the Sarah J. Maas universe! I never thought that Dorian and Aelin (or Celaena at the time) would be good together, but was absolutely heartbroken when Sorsha died. BUT that death did lead to so much sexual tensions between Dorian and Manon that it was all worth it! I love these two because, again, it is so nice to see a badass female character also have a loving side, but also seems pretty “dominant” (for a lack of better word) in the relationship. I think Manon and Dorian are so great together, and their banter and cute nicknames (Princeling and Witchling) just gave me life! Even though the end of Kingdom of Ash left me completely shattered, I was very happy that Dorian and Manon still had each other, and I think the two of them will be great monarchs in their separate kingdoms, but also together.

7. Elide Lochan & Lorcan Salvaterre

Another amazing couple from the Throne of Glass series! Even though Lorcan was kind of an asshole when you first met him, when he and Elide had their whole adventure together, I fell in love with the two (especially Lorcan). I love a good “bad” boy “good” girl trope, and Lorcan and Elide were definitely that perfect fit. The way that Lorcan cared so much for Elide while they had to travel together was really cute, and I was so happy to see how Lorcan softened up and Elide became strong as well. It was nice that they still weren’t the typical weak girl, always rescued by the strong Fae. Lorcan and Elide made each other show the world their other sides as well. 

6. Nesta Archeron & Cassian

This couple I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about but most of that will be in my ACOFS review coming soon, but for now I will just say that I LOVE them! We always knew that Nesta and Cassian were probably going to end up together, but still their journey as individuals and a couple was so fantastic to read. The way that the two of them helped each other out in terms of mental health while still being the individually strong characters was so good to see. Their sexual tension was great to read, and I loved the way that their whole story arc developed through the book.

5. Chaol Westfall & Yrene Towers

Again, I loved these two so much probably because they had their own book practically dedicated to them. I loved Chaol in the first two books from the Throne of Glass series, but like most people, I lost that love as the series went on. Going into Tower of Dawn I was really worried that I wasn’t going to like it because of Chaol being the central character, but like always, Sarah J. Maas writes such good redemption and flawed character arcs that it was impossible not to love Chaol again, and the woman who brought the light back to him. Similarly, I really liked Yrene when we first met her in The Assassin’s Blade stories (The Assassin and the Healer), and I was so happy that we got to learn more about her in the whole Tower of Dawn book. The way that Chaol and Yrene went from hating each other to falling in love was done absolutely perfectly, and by Kingdom of Ash when we found out that Yrene was pregnant, I almost threw my book in happiness, I was so excited. This couple is well deserving of the number five spot!

4. Aedion Ashryver & Lysandra

Now we have another favourite couple from the Throne of Glass series (that series is just so big and full of characters, most of the people on this list are from there). I really loved the idea of Aedion and Lysandra from the beginning when we start to see Lysandra play a bigger role in the series. Again, it’s the banter between these two characters that gets me every time, and the way they make fun of each other while also flirting is just so great to read. I was a little worried about what was going to happen to their relationship in Kingdom of Ash, especially since everything was going so well in Empire of Storms and then ended so badly at the end, but knowing that they got married almost immediately after the war was exactly what I needed. Also I LOVED Aedion with Evangeline and all their interactions, which was also why I knew that Aedion had to end up with Lysandra. Every time a kid comes into the picture I feel like I ship that couple just a bit harder. The three of them make the most perfect family. 

3. Bryce Quinlan & Hunt Athalar

I know that technically we don’t know for sure if these two will be endgame, but if they aren’t I will sob and never forgive SJM! I love these two with all my heart and the only reason that they are in number three (and not higher!) is because we only have one book with them. I would not be surprised if they went up higher on my list after the next books come out. First of all, their sexual tension is fabulous. Second, I just adored how they both helped each other health through the book  and how they went through so much together emotionally. I feel like that made the strongest foundation for a relationship, and if that foundation breaks, I think I might just dig myself a hole and stay there. While both are strong characters separately, they are just so much better together! Every scene of them was like magic, and they were the whole reason I could stop reading HOEAB. I need the next books so badly, just because I need to see them together more!

2. Aelin Ashryver Galathynius & Rowan Whitethorn

Finally at the top two, and this decision was probably the hardest one I’ve ever had to make. I love both Rowaelin and Feysand so much, this was impossible to decide, but it came down to the fact that out of every SJM book, A Court of Mist and Fury is my favourite. That book is a f*cking masterpiece and the reason for that is because of Feysand. So Rowaelin is second. Aelin and Rowan are amazing characters individually, but like the reason for all of these favourite couples, the journey that they go on together and help each other through, is what makes them so special and so strong as a couple. Rowan helped Aelin in a way that Chaol or Dorian never could, and Aelin in turn helped Rowan through centuries of pain just because they understood each other so well. The best and strongest part of all these couples is that they became friends first, before going into a romantic relationship (except for Nessian a couple others, but you know what I mean). Being able to create a strong bond before anything physical is so important with these characters, especially helping them get through so much trauma, and ultimately seeing that growth on the page connects you so much more with them as a couple. Seeing these characters go through so much together was really what made me love them to this degree (which is a high degree) which is also why I’m having a hard time believing that their stories are done. I will always need more Rowaelin content. 

1. Feyre Archeron & Rhysand

And now we’re at the top. Like I just said, this was a hard decision, but it also feels so right. Feyre and Rhysand had an amazing development as a couple through the books, and A Court of Mist and Fury is definitely my favourite SJM book precisely because we see their relationship develop. I am beyond happy that we aren’t at the end of the ACOTAR world and we get to see more Feysand in the years and books to come, because I am not ready at all to say goodbye yet. Just thinking of Feyre and Rhys’ lives now (especially with Nyx) brings a smile to my face, and I think that it's amazing how an author and a book can do that. Both Feyre and Rhysand’s characters are so strong and their journeys were so heart wrenching to follow but so worth it at the same time. There is really nothing bad I can say about this couple, besides the fact that I want to thank Sarah J. Maas for writing such great characters, and I can’t wait to see more to come!

Thanks to anyone who read to the end. I know it was a long ramble again. Stay tuned for my ACOSF review coming soon as well.

Until next time!

~Rose Reviews

#sarahjmaas #throneofglass #a court of thorns and roses #crescent city #favourite maasverse couples #a court of silver flames #a court of mist and fury #a court of wings and ruin #throne of glass #house of earth and blood #feysand #rowaelin #nessian #bryce and hunt #aedion x lysandra #chaol x yrene #bryce x hunt #nesta x cassian #elide x lorcan #manon x dorian #nesryn x sartaq #feysand son x rowaelin daughter #morrigan x emerie #hypaxia x ruhn #juniper x fury #kallias x viviane #amren x varian #azriel x gwyn #elain x lucien

[wingedblooms]

Groundings

This is a Maasverse post, and as such, there are spoilers for all Maas series. Proceed with caution.

A mystic is someone who gains a heightened sense of consciousness and seeks to become one with divine beings. The word mystic derives from the Greek word to close the eyes or lips. When Elain uses powers that are reminiscent of mystics, she does this:

Elain again glanced at the map. At me. Then closed her eyes. Her eyes shifted shifted beneath her lids, the skin so delicate and colorless that the blue veins beneath were like small streams. "It moves...," she whispered. "It moves through the world like...like the breath of the western wind." (acowar)

As I mentioned in The Ancients, an oracle, which derives from the Latin word to pray or to speak, was believed to be a messenger, or conduit, for gods. In acowar, Feyre suspects that Elain hears the whisperings of the Cauldron. She is also more inclined to pray than her sisters, suggesting it to honor her father and using it when her younger sister is in mortal danger.

Had she beheld this, in whatever wanderings that new, inner sight granted her? Had the Cauldron whispered of it while we'd been away? I hadn't the heart to ask her. (acowar)

The Cauldron is connected to a divine trio (Mother, Cauldron, and Fate/Forces That Be) like the Three-Faced Goddess. Mystic and oracular powers seem to complement one another, and would suggest a deep connection with the gods. It makes sense for Elain to be able to gain higher consciousness, become one with gods, and act as a divine messenger and protector through her Sight with a combination of these gifts. I believe Nesta's interlude with the Mother was just the beginning. In The Ancients and The sense chanted, I mentioned that the Blueblood witches were known for their rituals in caverns and forests, and were considered oracles, mystics, and fanatics. The priestesses in the Night Court also have rituals in a cavern.

Gwyn huffed a soft laugh. “In part. We honor the Mother, and the Cauldron, and the Forces That Be. We have a service at dawn and at dusk, and on every holy day.” (acosf)

The dusk service helped Nesta scry with stones and bones. But what about the dawn service, a time of day Elain is repeatedly connected to?

Elain had already departed with Feyre, claiming she had to be up with the dawn to tend to an elderly faerie’s garden. Cassian didn’t exactly know why he suspected this wasn’t true. There had been some tightness in Elain’s face as she’d said it. Normally when she made such excuses, Lucien was around, but the male remained in the human lands with Jurian and Vassa. (acosf)

Elain wakes with the dawn to garden or bake, but Cassian suspects she wasn’t telling the truth in this scene. What could she have planned? This occurs after she says she can reacquaint herself with her powers, and that her family can find her when they wish to begin. It’s possible she began experimenting with her powers in earnest at this point. On winter solstice, Nesta suspects she might be training with the twins and/or spymaster, so that is one plausible option Sarah wanted to plant. Another possibility (and these can both be true, so it doesn’t have to be one or the other) is that Elain may have sought out knowledge about her gifts at the library and learned about the dawn ritual. Could the ritual the priestesses perform at dawn help Elain understand and hone at least one thread of her Sight? 

As Gwyn poured herself a glass, she said, “At the temple in Sangravah, we had a set of ancient movements that we would go through every sunrise. Not for battle training, but for calming the mind. We did cooldowns after those, too, though we called them groundings. The movements took us out of our bodies, in a way. Let us commune with the Mother. The groundings settled us back into the present world.” (acosf)

The wording here is interesting: the movements took them out of their bodies, in a way, and they used the groundings to settle back into the present world. This ritual sounds like what mystics might be able to do, and it also seems made for Elain for a few different reasons:

the time of day, as she is compared to the dawn;

the concept of drifting away to connect with the divine, as she sometimes behaves as though she isn’t entirely present;

the earthy term to remain tethered to the world, as she is a gardener and brings forth life from the ground.

What if the priestesses in the library do something similar at dawn through ancient movements rather than ancient songs (or both)? While it would make sense for this ritual to take place underground in the same cavern, there might be a reason reclusive Blueblood witches needed access to the wind. Does it help them become an unseen force, help them travel on the wind? I can imagine Elain with her eyes closed, embracing the song of the wind as the sun rises with her consciousness, her soul.

@silverdreamscape theorized about Gwyn and Elain using their powers together, and I think that’s a possibility given the presence of priestesses in the bonus. They will continue to play a part moving forward and one (or several) of them could be helpful as Elain explores her powers since they may also seek to commune with the divine. Like calls to like, after all.

Elain said to Azriel, perhaps the only two civilized ones here, “Can you truly fly?” He set down his fork, blinking. (acomaf)

She angled her head, hair shining like molten metal. “Do you sing?” He blinked. (Azriel’s bonus chapter) 

These conversations are separated by time and space, but they are eerie in their similarity. It’s like the Harp echoing Elain’s earlier words about reacquainting herself with her powers. And it inevitably brings me back to the two glass caverns: could the priestesses, and perhaps Gwyn specifically, function like sister-glass for Elain, linked in song and dreaming? What would it look like to commune with the Mother, or travel with the Cauldron? Something like this, I'd imagine:

I could not remove my hand. Could not pry my fingers away. I was being shredded apart, slowly, thoroughly. I flung my magic out, desperate for any chain to this world to save me, keep me from being devoured by the eternal, awful thing that now tried to drag me into its embrace. [...] Some tether slipped, and my mind slid closer to the Cauldron’s outstretched arms. I felt it touch me. 

And then I was half gone. Half there, standing silently next to the Cauldron, hand glued to the black rim. Half…elsewhere. (acowar)

Feyre becomes one with the Cauldron through a living bond. She is half there, half elsewhere like a mystic. This is a liminal space, like the time when services occur and the bridge where light and dark meet. It is a time of transformation. Elain's wooden rose is also placed in a liminal space next to the Mother on the mantel, giving us a big hint for her future:

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. (acosf)

Now, let's look at how the Cauldron moves through the world to imagine how Elain might move if she communes with it:

Flying through the world. Searching. The Cauldron now hunted for that power that had come so close … And now taunted it. Nesta. The Cauldron searched for her, searched for her as the king now sought her. It skimmed across the battlefield like an insect over the surface of a pond. (acowar)

-

Come, Nesta’s power seemed to sing. Come. The Cauldron caught her scent and hurtled us onward. We arrived before the king did. The Cauldron seemed to skid to a halt at the clearing. Seemed to coil and reel back, a snake poised to strike.

The Cauldron moves like a force, starting as an otherworldly bird of prey and shifting form as it moves. If this reminds you of Elain and Urd, the goddess of fate, you're tracking with me.

Time seemed to slow and warp. The dark power of the king speared toward us. Toward that clearing where I was neither seen nor heard, where I was nothing but a scrap of soul carried on a black wind. (acowar)

A scrap of soul on a black wind, she says? That sounds familiar.

But Mor scented nothing, saw nothing. The tendril of power she speared toward the woods revealed only the usual birds and small beasts. A hart drinking from a hole in an iced-over stream. Nothing, except— There, between a snarl of thorns. A patch of darkness. It did not move, did not seem to do anything but linger. And watch. Familiar and yet foreign. Something in her power whispered not to touch it, not to go near it. Even from this distance. Mor obeyed. But she still watched that darkness in the thorns, as if a shadow had fallen asleep amongst them. Not like Azriel’s shadows, twining and whispering. Something different. Something that stared back, watching her in turn. (acofas)

A patch of darkness between a snarl of thorns. Interesting. Familiar and yet foreign, like Silba’s voice. In Oorid, Nesta hears a mysterious voice and a disturbance in the thorns while she is on a mission to retrieve the mask. This voice attempts to warn her of the danger she faces, just like Elain warned Feyre in Hybern.

Run, a small voice whispered. Run and run, and do not look back. The voice was female, gentle. Wise and serene. 

-

Run. Was that voice merely all that remained of her human instincts, or something more? She gazed at her reflection as if it would tell her. 

-

Something rustled in the thorns of the island, and she snapped up her head, heart thundering as she scanned for that familiar male face and wings. But there was no sign of Cassian. And whatever was in that bramble…she should find another island to head for. (acosf)

The thorns remind Nesta of roses when she first arrives, and that patch of darkness on Mor's estate looked as though it had fallen asleep among the thorns...but it was still watchful, like the Eye of the Goddess. A dark bloom resting among the thorns, a scrap of soul on a black wind. This reminds me of Elain’s hidden movement and her mental gates, where the Cauldron made its deepest mark.

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)

Who would know about Nesta's mission in Oorid, and who would act from the shadows to help and protect her? There's a clear answer that takes us back to the the Cauldron's hunt for its stolen power.

Not again. I could not watch this play out again. Standing by, idle, while those I loved suffered. The Cauldron crept along with Nesta, a hound at her side.

A hound at her side, hmm? Now, where have I heard that recently?

...Az would have told him already if he'd wanted to share what had been hounding him enough to exercise at night, rather than in the morning with them. (acosf)

-

Elain was like a dog, loyal to whatever master kept her fed and in comfort. (acosf)

Feyre senses the Cauldron's surprise when Nesta covers Cassian with her body, just as Elain sensed its anger when power was taken from it. And when hope seems lost, Feyre begs for a divine intervention. And it comes not from the Cauldron, like she expected, but Elain.

Anything, I begged the Cauldron. Anything— 

The king’s hand began to drop. And then halted. A choking noise came out of him. For a moment, I thought the Cauldron had answered my pleas. But as a black blade broke through the king’s throat, spraying blood, I realized someone else had. Elain stepped out of a shadow behind him, and rammed Truth-Teller to the hilt through the back of the king’s neck as she snarled in his ear, “Don’t you touch my sister.” 

After hunting her down in different forms, the Cauldron creeps along Nesta like a hound at the end. Elain then appears out of shadow in its stead and snarls like a hound, fast as the wind and loyal to the end. I’ve wondered before if Elain’s Sight functions like this living bond. The Suriel comments on seeing her doe eyes from across the world, so I imagine her form may be fluid like the divine trio when she uses her Sight. Her eyes even shift beneath her lids as she hunts like the Cauldron, the blue veins compared to water.

Her eyes shifted beneath her lids, the skin so delicate and colorless that the blue veins beneath were like small streams. “It moves …,” she whispered. “It moves through the world like … like the breath of the western wind.” (acowar)

And when Mor explains the difference between faeries and witches at Nesta's request, the focus moves to Elain as she casually observes the tent. The light dances in her mass of hair as it shifts. All before her appearance is glamoured to help and protect others.

Elain silently surveyed the tent, head tipping back. Her mass of heavy brown-gold hair shifted with the movement, the faelight dancing among the silken strands. […] Elain at last slid into the chair near Mor’s, her dawn-pink dress—finer than the ones she usually wore—crinkling beneath her. “Will—will many of these soldiers die?” (acowar)

This dawn ritual, if it is in fact something similar to what priestesses did in Sangravah, might be enough to keep her grounded in most cases. But I can also imagine a scenario where Elain travels in the embrace of that eternal, ancient beast too long or too deep, and loses sight of her body and her home like the forest witch in the Hind's tale. How else might she find her way back if that happens?

"But one day, a warrior arrived in the forest. He'd heard of the monster so vicious none could kill it and live. She set out to slaughter him, but when the warrior beheld her, he was not afraid. He stared at her, and she at him, and he wept because he didn't see a thing of nightmares, but a creature of beauty. He saw her, and he was not afraid of her, and he loved her. [...] His love transformed her back into a witch, melting away all that she'd become. They dwelled in peace in the forest for the rest of their immortal lives." (hosab)

The forest witch had a warrior who found her transformation, her monstrous form and power, beautiful. His love for who she became, not who she once was grounded her. So, who is Elain's warrior? I believe it’s going to be someone who won't flee from a patch of darkness, familiar and yet foreign. Someone who acknowledges the beauty in her mighty power, and hears what she cannot say, sees the heavy burden that she bears. Someone whose gentle voice she can follow in the void, singing her home across space and time. Someone who embraces Elain in all her forms, their hand an anchor in the vast tapestry of the universe.

Series: wise woman. seer. witch.

#the last post…for now #witch elain #witchy elain #witchy archeron sisters #acotar witches #tog witches #crescent city witches #maasverse witches #groundings #dawn ritual #prythian priestesses #mother cauldron fate #eye of the goddess #oracles mystics fanatics #elain archeron

[wingedblooms]

The sense chanted

This is a Maasverse post, and as such, there are spoilers for all Maas series. Proceed with caution. 

Touch her, smell her, taste her—The instincts were a running river. He fisted his hands at his sides.

But even as shame washed through him, the words, the sense chanted, Mine. You are mine, and I am yours. Mate. (acowar)

Even the thoughts Lucien has about Elain are witchy. Though the word chant is not exclusive to Elain, Sarah uses it sparingly in the series and it caught my eye. Lucien’s mate instincts are compared to a running river and the words mine, mate, etc. are a chant in his mind. As @offtorivendell noted, Sarah’s use of the word chant might mean there is a spell tying Elain and Lucien together that acts a lot like a mating bond:

I can feel spells—like threads. Ones that can enchant feel like bindings around an individual. (acosf)

Both bonds and spells are described in terms of song and magical weaving (threads), which could lead them to be mistaken. Chant derives from the Latin word to sing, and so enchant—which means to charm, bewitch, or put under a spell—is also linked to singing. It is notable that chants are associated with sacred rituals and they often include repetition, like the refrain a thing of secret, lovely beauty. It is also possible that the bond is described as a chant because Lucien is the son of Helion Spell-Cleaver, and Elain is a witch. This chant pairs nicely with the way her scent is described: 

Her sister’s delicate scent of jasmine and honey lingered in the red-stoned hall like a promise of spring, a sparkling river that she followed to the open doors of the chamber. [...] Her sister turned toward her, glowing with health. (acosf)

All of this language related to light, water, and chants reminds me of an another chant:

The song ended, and more prayers and words flowed from Merrill, Clotho silent beside her. Then another song started—this one merrier, faster than the other. As if the songs were a progression. This one was a lilting chant, the words tumbling over each other like water dancing down a mountainside, and Nesta’s foot tapped on the ground in time to the beat.

Sparkling wave of sound, prayers and words flowed, words tumbling over each other like water dancing down, bottomless pool of sound. The music in the dusk service is repeatedly compared to water and that makes sense; priestesses are believed to act as the voice of the Cauldron, which as a dark and ancient womb is associated with water. The priestesses use a progression of ancient songs and chants to help Nesta enter a trance state and locate the Harp through an illusion, which is very similar to how Norse magic functioned. But they have something particularly witchy assisting them…

Gwyn smiled. “Oh, yes. You want to join us? I promise it’s not all religious stuff. I mean, it is, but it’s beautiful. And the cave we have the service in is beautiful, too. It was carved by the underground river that flows beneath the mountain, so the walls are smooth as glass. And it’s acoustically perfect—the shape and size of the space amplifies and clarifies each voice within.” 

“It sounds heavenly,” Nesta admitted. 

“It is.” Gwyn smiled again, eyes lighting with pride. “Some of the songs you’ll hear are so ancient they predate the written word. Some of them are so old we didn’t even have them in Sangravah. Clotho found them in books shelved below Level Seven. Hana—she’ll be the one who plays the lute—figured out how to read the music.” (acosf) 

The priestesses are singing ancient, spell-like songs in a cavern that is smooth as glass. The glass cavern walls amplify each voice (or incantation) of the priestesses. And guess what? There’s a sister-glass, an almost-twin cavern that allows them to wake the Harp in the Prison.

So Nesta drifted down and down, the harp and the voices pulsing and guiding, until she stopped before a rock. She laid a hand on it to find it was only an illusion, and she passed through it, down another long hall, beneath the mountain itself, and then she stood in a cavern, almost the twin to the one the priestesses sang in, as if they were linked in song and dreaming. (acosf)

The caverns function like witch glass. WITCH GLASS! And these underground, sister caverns naturally recall to mind the larger underground waterway that creatures of the bog use. 

“Oorid was once a sacred place,” Amren said. […] They say the water there flows to Under the Mountain, and the creatures who live in the bog have long used its underground waterways to travel through the Middle, even into the mountains of the surrounding courts.” (acosf)

And who, again, did Cassian say lives in the bog? 

“What else dwells here other than kelpies?”

“Some say witches,” he murmured, “Not the human kind,” he added when she raised a brow. “The kind that used to be something else and then their thirst for magic and power turned them into wretched creatures, banished here by various High Lords.”

[…]

Cassian went on as she scanned the bog, “There are lightsingers: lovely, ethereal beings who will lure you, appearing as friendly faces when you are lost.” (acosf) 

I won’t be going in depth about this, but it is interesting that witches and lightsingers are mentioned so close together. @offtorivendell has written about her thoughts on their connections, and I suspect they are like sister-glass, near twins: misunderstood creatures with dangerous powers who have a role to play in the series. The dusk service is full of light and water imagery, and the songs the priestesses are singing are ancient and compared to a spell while the glass around them amplifies their collective power. 

“Witches amass power beyond their natural reserve,” Mor answered with sudden seriousness. “They use spells and archaic tools to harness more power to them than the Cauldron allotted—and use it for whatever they desire, good or ill.” (acowar)

They connect to the sister cavern in the Prison through song and dreaming, where the Harp—which was Made by the Cauldron and can influence space and time—is awoken. Is this ritual harnessing powers from lightsingers (singing) and witches with Sight (dreaming), and if so, what is their intent? How did Clotho find those spells? Who is this mysterious Hana—a name with several meanings, including hope, joy, flower, glow, moon—and how did she figure out how to read those ancient spells songs? We may never find out, but I suspect Elain may have had something to do with it, especially since this happened after she spoke about wanting to help and reacquainting herself with her powers. Her activities in acosf have been a source of mystery and suspicion among characters and readers alike. It would make sense for her half-shadowed rose next to the Mother to be a hint for her secret maneuvers, and if she and the twins don't call themselves the Order of the Rose, then what's the point?

There are larger forces at play and god-like creatures who influence leaders on the wind, so I am concerned about a potential infiltration in just about every court, including the Night Court. The priestesses' sanctuary has been breached before and we know that the wind finds at least one of them through the stone walls. They conduct rituals in an underground cavern in the same book that we're told creatures of the bog—perhaps even witches and lightsingers—use underground waterways to travel to the Middle and the mountains of the surrounding courts. Back in acomaf, Sarah even planted this potential plot for priestesses:

“The High Priestesses have burrowed into a few of the courts—Dawn, Day, and Winter, mostly. They’ve entrenched themselves so thoroughly that their spies are everywhere, their followers near-fanatic with devotion. And yet, during those fifty years, they escaped. They remained hidden. I would not be surprised if Ianthe sought to establish a foothold in the Spring Court.” (acomaf)

In acosf, we learn that there is some trouble in Day. Could the trouble Helion spoke of involve his own libraries and priestesses? Perhaps it was only a matter of time for this to be an issue in the Night Court. Briallyn indicated that there are spies within the Night Court who know the identity of Nesta’s friends, which brought to mind this comment in the original trilogy. It’s possible we’ll never understand why, but it does make me wonder.

The priestess who had let them in … for whatever reason, Hybern had left her alive. She allowed Rhys into her mind to see what had happened: once the king had sundered the wards with that fleeting spell, his Ravens had appeared as two old scholars to get the priestess to open the door, then forced their way into her mind so that she’d welcome them in without being vetted. The violation of that alone…Rhys had spent hours with those priestesses yesterday. Mor, too. (acowar)

It is curious that Clotho discusses the urgency of Merrill's research before the omen of Aelin’s appearance or Bryce’s sudden arrival. How did she know the multiverse theory was pressing? Do the priestesses have access to a seer?

Gwyneth mentioned she had run into you earlier. She works for Merrill, my right hand, who is a fiercely demanding scholar. If Gwyneth's requests were abrupt, it was due to the pressing nature of the work she does. (acosf)

There are multiple hints that Elain is operating in the shadows, and she's the perfect person for others to overlook, especially in an environment when identities are already obscured. While the priestesses are connected to singing, she is connected to dreaming as someone with the gift of Sight.

“No. I … I was sleeping, but I heard …” She shook her head. Blinked at our formal attire, the dark crown atop my head—and Rhysand’s. “I didn’t hear you.”

Azriel stepped forward. “But you heard something else.” 

Elain seemed about to nod, but only backed away. “I think I was dreaming,” she murmured. “I think I’m always dreaming these days.” (acowar)

So the connection between the near-twin caverns, a connection of song and dreaming, might be another case of like calling to like: Elain’s glass amulet travels on the wind to the library through Azriel, and it is a thing of secret, lovely beauty that links two characters in song (Gwyn) and dreaming (Elain).

Thanks to the induced vision, Nesta is able to retrieve the Harp from the Prison, and its conversation with her is eerily familiar. Is it just me, or does this mimic Elain's earlier comment?

Elain said, “Then I will find it. I might require some time to…reacquaint myself with my powers, but I could start today.” (acosf)

-

It has been a long while, sister, since I played. I shall need time to remember the right combinations…(acosf) 

This echo between Elain and the Harp reminds me of Stryga's ancient song, which is described similarly to Elain’s scent and the priestesses’ songs: her honeyed voice is sweet and beautiful, like sunlight on a stream. It is a version of The Twa Sisters, which describes two (or three) sisters who watch their father's ships come in and the eldest pushes her younger sister into the water. She drowns and her body is transformed into a string instrument that reveals the truth of her actions. Quite a few have linked this song, in theory, to Gwyn and her twin sister. I believe it may actually capture Elain's transformation, which occurs later in that same book when she and Nesta are forced into the Cauldron. Not only are they the daughters of a seafaring merchant, but Elain (the younger) is also forced into the ocean-like water of the Cauldron first, and transformed into an instrument of truth as a seer. Her body is dumped onto the stone floor as though thrown by a wave, and her delicate bones are on display.

There are several versions of this folk song, and in at least a few, the younger sister is referred to as a flower and she is most often mistook for a pale creature, such as a swan or a fish. Her bones (as well as other parts of her body) are used to create a string instrument, including specifically a Harp. It's interesting how Elain's powers weave these concepts together, transcending space and time in her Sight with the ability to reveal the (sometimes ugly) truth.

In Erilea, Blueblood witches, and priestesses within specific witch clans, have rituals in caves and forests to help them worship the Three-Faced-Goddess and activate their Sight. Their rituals are deeply connected to the wind:

Of course, the Bluebloods were nowhere to be seen. The reclusive witches had arrived first and claimed the uppermost rooms in the Omega, saying they needed the mountain breeze to complete their rituals every day. Religious fanatics with their noses in the wind, was what Mother Blackbeak had always called them. But it had been their insane devotion to the Three-Faced Goddess and their vision of the Witch Kingdom under Ironteeth rule that had mustered the Clans five centuries ago—even if it had been the Blackbeak sentinels who'd won the battles for them. (hof)

The Blueblood witches prefer to be exposed to the wind, the epitome of unseen movement. Do they listen to its song, move with it at the top of the mountain? I wouldn’t be surprised if some of their rituals involved song and/or movement.

In Norse mythology, song and sight are especially intertwined. Völva (Norse wise women, seers, and later demonized as witches) sometimes used chants or substances to induce trance and prophecy if other methods (spá, which involves an inner connection to the threads of fate and Norns) did not work. Could Elain’s Sight also rely on or benefit from some kind of Singing, as @offtorivendell, @silverlinedeyes, and I have wondered? Is it the song of the wind she hears and flies on, even in her mind? And what will keep her from drifting away into the cosmos, or even time? More on that in the final post in this series, Groundings. 

Next: Groundings, or Elain's dawn ritual.

Series: seer. wise woman. witch.

#witch elain #witchy elain #witchy archeron sisters #acotar witches #tog witches #crescent city witches #maasverse witches #the sense chanted #prythian priestesses #witch mirrors #elain archeron

[wingedblooms]

Seed of power

This is a Maasverse post, and as such, there are spoilers for all Maas series. Proceed with caution.

In the tog series, we learn the art of shifting from Cyrene, a spider who weaves silk as colorful as the thread of Hope and devours dreams and life and joy. Manon calls Cyrene sister, as both share demon (Valg) blood, and the spider confirms that they are two faces of the same dark coin; sisters in spirit, if not in flesh (hof). Manon steals the silk for her wyvern and Cryene later tracks her down through scent alone in the form of a Crochan witch, which is how she finds herself at the mercy of Dorian’s curiosity. 

She’d returned to her human form, her dark hair tangled, bundled in a Crochan cloak. As if one of them had taken pity on her. Not realizing the hunger in Cyrene’s eyes wasn’t for the goat stew.

Dorian kept his stance relaxed, even as he asked again, “Where does the shifting come from inside you?”

Cyrene angled her head as if listening to something. “It was strange, mortal king, to find that I had a new place within me with the return of magic. To find that something new had taken root.” Her small hand drifted to her middle, just above her navel. “A little seed of power. I will the shift, think of what I wish to be, and the change starts within here first. Always, the heat comes from here.” The spider settled her stare on him. “If you wish to be something, king-with-no-crown, then be it. That is the secret to the shifting. Be what you wish.” (koa)

-

Dorian put a hand on his stomach, despite the layers of clothes and cloak. Only toned muscle greeted him. “Is that what you do to summon the change: first think of what you want to become?”

“With limits. I need a clear image within my mind, or else it will not work at all.”

“So you cannot change into something you have not seen.”

“I can invent certain traits—eye color, build, hair—but not the creature itself.” A hideous smile bloomed on her mouth. “Use that lovely magic of yours. Change your pretty eyes,” the spider dared. “Change their color.” (koa)

-

Cyrene chuckled. “Do not think of the eye color so much as demand it.”

“How did you learn this without instruction?”

“The power is in me now,” the spider said simply. “I listened to it.” (koa)

This conversation between Cyrene and Dorian reminded me of the line of inquiry Elain pursues with Amren in acofas.

Mor opened her mouth, laughter dancing on her face, but Elain asked, “Could you have done it? Decided to take a male form?”

The question cut through the laughter, an arrow fired between us. 

Amren studied my sister, Elain’s cheeks red from our unfiltered talk at the table. “Yes,” she said simply. “Before, in my other form, I was neither. I simply was.” 

“Then why did you pick this body?” Elain asked, the faelight of the chandelier catching in the ripples of her golden-brown braid. 

“I was more drawn to the female form,” Amren answered simply. “I thought it was more symmetrical. It pleased me.” 

[...]

And Elain asked, “And once you were in this body, you couldn’t change?” 

Amren’s eyes narrowed slightly. I straightened, glancing between them. Unusual, yes, for Elain to be so vocal, but she’d been improving. Most days she was lucid—perhaps quiet and melancholy, but aware. 

Elain, to my surprise, held Amren’s gaze. 

Amren said after a moment, “Are you asking out of curiosity for my past, or your own future?”

The question left me too stunned to even reprimand Amren. The others, too. 

Elain’s brow furrowed before I could leap in. “What do you mean?”

“There’s no going back to being human, girl,” Amren said, perhaps a tad gently. (acofas)

There’s no going back to being human unless Elain possesses the power to walk in another’s skin, to shape-shift, like Cyrene. Two key parts of Cyrene’s explanation stood out to me–she relies on her sight as inspiration for shifting and she learned the power that she received in a trade by listening to it. Curiously, those two senses are key parts of Elain’s powers: 

Elain cocked her head, as if listening to some inner voice. “Yes.”

Lucien just stared and stared at my sister, as if he’d never seen her before. (acowar)

-

Elain had been told—by Amren. She now sat at the table, more straight-backed and clear-eyed than I’d seen her. Had she beheld this, in whatever wanderings that new, inner sight granted her? Had the Cauldron whispered of it while we’d been away? I hadn’t the heart to ask her. (acowar)

Could Elain have learned how to wield her powers from the Cauldron’s whisperings? She is as curious as Dorian and often asks questions, learning without formal training. Could she even possess raw magic, the ability to shape her own magic and destiny? The Cauldron did give her such powers:

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)

And rather than referring to these powers as “Sight,” Amren is also strangely vague about the nature and extent of Elain’s powers. 

“And do not forget that Nesta herself—and Elain, with whatever powers she has—is here. Feyre is here. All three sisters blessed by fate and gifted with powers to match your own.” (acosf)

If Nesta and Amren shared otherworldly eyes, might Elain and Amren share otherworldly forms as their parallel dinner conversation suggests? Rhys conveniently draws the connection between them for us again: 

“Some were as lovely as you, Elain,” Rhys said from beside Feyre, “from the outside. But once they set foot into the arena of battle, they became as bloodthirsty as Amren.” (acosf)

We see Amren’s bloodthirsty form unleashed on the battlefield, drinking in the deaths of those who run from her.

She exploded from that mortal shell, light blinding us. Light and fire. 

She was roaring—in victory and rage and pain. And I could have sworn I saw great, burning wings, each feather a simmering ember, spread wide. Could have sworn a crown of incandescent light floated just above her flaming hair.

She spread those wings, flame and light rippling to encompass her, no more than a burning behemoth that swept down upon Hybern’s armies. They began running. 

Amren came down on them like a hammer, raining fire and brimstone.

She swept through them, burning them, drinking in their death. Some died at the mere whisper of her passing. (acowar)

Amren behaves like an otherworldly bird of prey, and since running activates a predator’s hunting instincts, Rhys tells allies not to run. Like Amren, Elain may also transform into a flying predator (owl, witch, Illyrian, sphinx…if she’s a full-powered shape-shifter, the sky is the limit…or is it? More on that in Groundings.)

@truthflower19 suggested that Elain’s powers could also be connected to Ragana, a witch in Baltic mythology with the power of Sight and shape-shifting abilities. It seems like Ragana was conflated with Laima, or Laumé, at some point, and referred to as laumé-ragana. Laumé were woodland fairies (or maybe even a benevolent deity) who were associated with pregnant women, birth, and fate; they could take different forms or change others into different forms. Laumé were also associated with domesticity and had a talent for weaving, which brings us back to shapeshifting. 

His magic could leap between one element and another, yet the ability to shift lay within something else entirely. Lay within a part of him that had always yearned for one thing above all others: to let go. To be free. As Temis, Goddess of Wild Things, was free—uncaged. As he had once wished to be, when he had been little more than a reckless, idealistic prince. 

It was the magic’s sole command: let go. Let go of who and what he’d become since that collar and emerge into something new, something different.

[...]

“What are you trying to turn into, exactly? Or who?” 

The opposite of what he was. The opposite of the man who’d overlooked Sorscha’s presence for years. And offered her only death in the end. He’d be glad to let go of it, if only the magic would allow him. 

“Nothing,” he said. Many of the Thirteen and Crochans went back to their meager meals at his dull response. “I just want to see if it’s possible, for someone with my manner of magic. To even change small features.” Not a lie, not entirely. 

Manon frowned, as if trying to work out some puzzle she couldn’t quite grasp.

 “But were you to succeed,” Glennis pressed, “who would you wish to be?” 

He didn’t know. Couldn’t conjure an image beyond empty darkness. Damaris, at his side, would have no answer, either. 

Dorian peered inward, feeling the sea of magic that roiled inside him. He traced its shape with careful, invisible hands. Followed a thread within himself not to his gut, but to his still-cracked heart. Who do you wish to be? There, like the seed of power that Cyrene had stolen, it lay—the little snarl in his magic. Not a snarl, but a knot—a knot in a tapestry. One that he might weave. 

One he might fashion into something if he dared. 

Who do you wish to be? he asked the barely woven tapestry within himself. Let the threads and knots take form, crafting the picture within his mind. Starting small. 

Glennis chuckled. “Your eyes are green now, king.” Dorian started, heart thundering. The others again halted their lunches, gaping, some leaning in to peer at him more closely. But he fed his magic into the loom within himself, adding to the emerging picture. 

“Och, golden hair does not suit you at all.” Asterin grimaced. “You look sickly.” 

Who did he wish to be? Anyone but himself. But what he’d become. (koa)

Dorian wishes to become something different. In order to change his outward appearance, he peers inward and weaves a picture in his mind. Rhysand uses similar language to consider the possibility of Elain’s transformation: 

He surveyed the study as he thought. “But I wonder if everyone has spent so long assuming Elain is sweet and innocent that she felt she had to be that way or else she’d disappoint you all.” He sighed toward the ceiling. “With time and safety, perhaps we’ll see a different side of her emerge.” (Feysand bonus) 

It’s interesting that her physical appearance is emphasized and remarked upon repeatedly, including the scene in which she is Made.

More water than seemed possible dumped out in a cascade. Black, smoke-coated water. And Elain, as if she’d been thrown by a wave, washed onto the stones facedown. 

Her legs were so pale—so delicate. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen them bare.

The queens pushed forward. Alive, she had to be alive, had to have wanted to live— 

Elain sucked in a breath, her fine-boned back rising, her wet nightgown nearly sheer. And as she rose from the ground onto her elbows, the gag in place, as she twisted to look at me— Nesta began roaring again. 

Pale skin started to glow. Her face had somehow become more beautiful—infinitely beautiful, and her ears … Elain’s ears were now pointed beneath her sodden hair. (acomaf)

Elain’s primary asset, as a proper lady, is her beauty, and it has functioned as a cage of sorts, which is why it’s interesting her mother says this: 

Elain is pleasant to look at, her mother had once mused while Nesta sat beside her dressing table, a servant silently brushing her mother’s gold-brown hair, but she has no ambition. She does not dream beyond her garden and pretty clothes. She will be an asset on the marriage market for us one day, if that beauty holds, but it will be our own maneuverings, Nesta, not hers, that win us an advantageous match. (acofas)

This statement is ominous, but it follows the ponderings of Rhys and Feyre in their bonus chapter. We will see a different side (or form?) emerge and it won’t be as innocent or sweet as expected. 

Dorian references the Goddess of Wild Things in his thoughts about shape-shifting. As @psychologynerd and I discussed, Temis is an interesting word choice on Sarah’s part. Themis is the Greek goddess of law and order, and she is associated with oracles and prophecies. Perhaps it isn’t a coincidence that many of those with Sight navigate different forms. They are connected to the gods, whose own forms are fluid. Elain’s Sight could certainly help her shape-shift, providing many images from which she can weave a new form. 

The use of weaving in Dorian’s informal lesson reminds me of Elain’s presence in the weaver scene with Feyre in acofas. She is openly curious about the weaver’s ability to create Void (darkness) and Hope (iridescent light). @silverlinedeyes wondered a long time ago if Elain could use this woven Void to shadow walk in her story, and I have a few related ideas on how it might be wielded. The first relates to shifting form, and the second involves moving like a force as Urd does (more on the latter in the Song of the wind and Groundings). If Elain can weave a new form, like the goddess of fate, how might this power manifest? Is she a full-powered shape-shifter? 

For a breath she wished for a shape-shifter’s heart so she could shed her skin and weave herself into something else, the music or the wind, and blow across the world. (hof)

Full-powered shape-shifters can replicate someone’s form, making it an incredibly powerful ability. Shape-shifters are spies and thieves and assassins. 

A sly cat’s glance in Aelin’s direction. Rowan, seated on Aedion’s right, cocked his head to the side. “Do you need an introduction?” Lysandra’s smile grew. “I like your fangs,” she said sweetly. Aelin choked on her grape. Of course Lysandra did. Rowan gave a little grin that usually sent Aelin running. “Are you studying them so you can replicate them when you take my form, shape-shifter?” Aelin’s fork froze in midair. “Bullshit,” Aedion said. All amusement had vanished from the courtesan’s face. Shape-shifter.

Holy gods. What was fire magic, or wind and ice, compared to shape-shifting? Shifters: spies and thieves and assassins able to demand any price for their services; the bane of courts across the world, so feared that they’d been hunted nearly to extinction even before Adarlan had banned magic. (qos)

Lysandra, a full-powered shape-shifter, used her gift to survive and found that things came easier to her when she wore more beautiful faces. 

“I used my abilities. Sometimes I was human; sometimes I wore the skins of other street children with high standing in their packs; sometimes I became an alley cat or a rat or a gull. And then I learned that if I made myself prettier—if I made myself beautiful—when I begged for money, it came far faster. I was wearing one of those beautiful faces the day magic fell. And I’ve been stuck in it ever since.” (qos) 

Lysandra’s loss of her true form is an echo of the Hind’s tale of a witch who loses sight of her true self and her true form. Shifting relies on an image in the mind, a memory. And if it is lost–or taken–so is one’s true form.

That was the danger of shifting—that you would forget your real form, because it’s the memory of it that guides the shifting.” (qos)

We have already seen Elain alter her appearance strategically at least once (and likely more than once, as many have theorized) to help others. As someone who is deeply connected to the land, and consistently compared to animals, it would make sense for her to weave a fanged beast form. And this beast form might still love the sun and plants, just like everyone’s favorite flower-smelling wyvern.

Next: Herbs she planted, or how herbs link Elain to witches.

Series: seer. wise woman. witch.

#witch elain #witchy elain #witchy archeron sisters #seed of power #shape-shifting witch #Valg spiders #weaving a new form #acotar witches #tog witches #crescent city witches #maasverse witches #elain archeron