as some of you might know, I‘m a sucker for the mate trope and throne of glass is a little more subtle here than acotar. we got rowaelin, obviously carrying that trope on their back. and then there‘s lorcan in that illusion telling fake-elide he thinks she might be his mate. this proves to me, like in acotar, mates are not just a fae-thing, but that while lorcan is demi-fae and elide is human, they still have this pull between them that proves they‘re more than “just” lovers. now, let me show you why in my little head, manon and dorian are mates as well. not sure if this has ever been confirmed by anyone, but it is real in my head, so here we go
mates are a thing for the witches, too
“The Crochans […] had adopted the Fae habit of selecting mates — if not a true mating bond, then in spirit.”
manon‘s parents were mates and her father refused an arranged marriage to be with his true mate; and I think it‘s really interesting how the mating bond is literally defined by musical terms in the sjm universe, as has been pointed out several times by awesome people in the fandom already, and this is just another example
“A young witch was chosen for him specifically. But he did not love her — not with your mother as his true mate, the song of his soul.”
while dorian was wearing the collar, manon was the first one to manage to get him out and fight the valg prince inside of him — which is interesting because they had absolutely no emotional connection whatsoever, and so it makes you think, why her?
Every step closer made her unbound hair shimmer like moonlight on water. But the demon began scrambling away as the sun lit up her eyes. Not too close, it said. Do not let the witchling too close. The eyes of the Valg kings —
“Hello, princeling,” she said, her voice bedroom-soft and full of glorious death. “Hello, witchling,” he said. And the words were his own. For a moment he was so stunned that he blinked. He blinked. The demon inside of him recoiled, clawing at the walls of his mind.
manon is so intrigued by dorian that she visits him in the end to check on him — something is pulling her to him and she feels already like something has changed; and he remembers her name — he can‘t remember anything from that time, but she sticks out
He could barely remember what had happened while he‘d worn that collar. He‘d turned twenty — and had no recollection of it. […] There was a massive shadow perched atop it. Dorian froze. Not a shadow, but a giant beast, its claws gripping the wall, its wings tucked into its body, shimmering faintly in the glow of the full moon. Shimmering like the white hair of the rider atop it. Even from the distance, he knew she was staring right at him […]. And through the darkness of his memories, through the pain and despair and terror he‘d tried to forget, a name echoed in his head.
She didn‘t know why she‘d bothered to go; why she‘d been curious. But there had been the prince, no collar to be seen around his neck. […] Changing winds — a changing world. Perhaps a changing Thirteen, too. And herself.
when manon and dorian meet again, instead of killing him, she tells him to flee and something ancient inside of her awakes
Face-to-face, Dorian panted as he stared down at her and breathed, “Hello, witchling.” Some ancient, predatory part of her awoke at the half smile. It sat up, cocking its ears toward him. Not a whiff of fear. Interesting. Manon purred back, “Hello, princeling.”
dorian returns the favor later, saving her impulsively + instinctively and without giving it a special thought
Dorian didn‘t feel like mentioning he‘d been the one who‘d jumped into the water. He‘d just … acted, as Manon had acted when she‘d saved him in his tower.
manon tells abraxos to find somewhere safe, and so the wyvern does
His magic felt it before he did. A sense of awareness, of warning and awakening. […] The wyvern completed its circle, sweeping lower this time, readying to land as near the boat as possible. Not to attack … but for help.
manon and dorian have a deep understanding for each other and can see the other like nobody else can or dares to
“If you find so little value in your existence that it compels you to trust this thing, then by all means, bring her along.” A challenge to look not toward Morath or the spider, but inward. She saw exactly what gnawed on his empty chest, if only because a similar beast gnawed on her own.
He wondered if the Thirteen could ever see it — that hint of self-loathing that sometimes flickered across her face.
Only with her did he not need to explain. Only with her did he not need to be a king, or anything but what he was. Only with her would there be no judgment for what‘d he done, who he‘d failed, what he might still have to do.
hear me out: as we saw in empire of storms, abraxos has a sense of awareness that tells him what is right and what isn‘t when it‘s about manon, he brought her to dorian because he knew she‘d be safe there. so when he returns from his little mission into the northern fang, and manon is restless, this happens:
It didn‘t stop her breath from escaping when Abraxos stiffened, scanning the sky. As if he heard something they couldn‘t. And it was the joy that sparked in her mount‘s eyes that told her.
mates are equals and dorian hints at wanting to shout it out into the world, to let everybody know they belong together 🥺🥺🥺
She would be his wife, his queen. She was already his equal, his match, his mirror in so many ways. And with their union, the world would know.
in conclusion: manon and dorian are mates and are destined to be together. now, where is the novella?
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