HEL (CC) & THE HOUSE OF WIND LIBRARY (ACOTAR)
Crescent City introduces the realm of Hel. Hel is comprised of seven descending levels:
Ravine - Ruled by Thanatos
Similarly, the House of Wind Library in ACOTAR has seven descending levels, also ending in a Pit.
The seventh level of the library was unnerving. -ACOSF CH15
I will note that the Library does seem to go “below Level Seven” but it is only ever referred to as “below Level Seven.”
“But they don’t list what’s below Level Seven.” -ACOSF CH23
"Clotho found them in books shelved below Level Seven." -ACOSF CH51
Past the obvious seven levels, we have parallels for where true darkness starts in both Hel and the library. Aidas makes a distinction between Levels 1-4 and Levels 5-8.
"The lesser princes do that–levels one through four. Those of us in the true dark have no need or interest in the sunlight." -HOEAB CH51
Similarly level 5 seems to be a demarcation line for true darkness in the library.
Nesta peered over the railing beside Clotho’s desk, silently counting. Five was … very far down. Not within the first ring of true darkness, but hovering in the dimness above it. -ACOSF CH9
In Chapter 15, Nesta is standing on Level Six looking at the beckoning darkness when Gwyn finds her.
“I saw darkness,” Nesta managed to say. Her heart would not calm. “Pure darkness.” The likes of which she had not seen since she’d been inside the Cauldron. Gwyn glanced between Nesta and the chasm below. “We should go higher.” -ACOSF CH15
When they reach Level Four the presence eases.
They made another loop upward, and just as they reached the fourth level, that presence—that sensation of something at their backs—eased. -ACOSF CH15
In Chapter 56, Emerie and Nesta are on Level Five and Emerie hearing things in the darkness.
Nesta says, “Let’s go up a level, where the darkness doesn’t whisper so loudly. -ACOSF CH56
In Crescent City the Pit is Level Seven of Hel. It is ruled over by the Prince of the Pit – Apollion. The Pit is the deepest and darkest of the seven levels of Hel.
In ACOTAR, the bottom of the Library, Level Seven, is also referred to as a pit.
In A Court of Wings and Ruin, the first description we get of the library and the pit is:
It was as if the base of the mountain had been hollowed out by some massive digging beast, leaving a pit descending into the dark heart of the world. -ACOWAR CH20
She said nothing, quieter and quieter as we descended, that black pit on my right seeming to grow thicker the deeper we went. -ACOWAR CH31
In A Court of Silver Flames, which was published after House of Earth and Blood where we are told about the realm of Hel and it’s seven levels, we get:
The seventh level of the library was unnerving. Standing at the stone railing on Level Six, clutching a book to be shelved, Nesta stared into the darkness mere feet from her, so thick that it hovered like a layer of fog, veiling the levels below. Books dwelled down there. She knew that, but she’d never been sent down to those dark levels. Had never seen one of the priestesses venture past the spot where she now stood, peering over the railing. Ahead of her, the darkness beckoned down the ramp. Like it was an entry into some dark pit of hell. -ACOSF CH15
SJM is deliberate with her word choice, I believe we are meant to connect the library to Hel. The language of the Pit’s darkness, is also very similar across the two series.
Apollion, Prince of the Pit claims to be “true darkness” in House of Flame and Shadow.
“I am darkness itself,” Apollion said softly. “True darkness. The kind that exists in the bowels of a black hole.” -HOFAS CH61
And yet the darkness remained. It pulsed, tendrils of shadow drifting upward. -ACOSF CH15
There was night, and there was the darkness of extinguishing a candle, and then there was this. Not only the true absence of light, but … a womb. The womb from which all life had come and would return, neither good nor evil, only dark, dark, dark. -ACOSF CH15
Both the Pit of Hel and the pit at the bottom of the library are described as "true darkness."
The darkness of the Pit is also described as “breathing” in both series.
Hunt had a feeling that the darkness in the pit before them was breathing. -HOFAS CH59
The darkness seemed to rise and fall. Like it was breathing. -ACOSF CH15
Aidas claims in House of Flame and Shadow that the Princes command nightmares.
We might command nightmares, but we are not monsters. -HOFAS CH59
Bryaxis is a creature of nightmares that resides in the pit at the botton of the House of Wind Library until the end of A Court of Wings and Ruin.
"Bryaxis remained withing the darkness roiling around it, the living tapestry it would use to reveal the nightmares of its victims." -ACOWAR CH69
Bryaxis similarly fits the bill of commanding nightmares, but not being a monster. Clotho tells Nesta in A Court of Silver Flames:
Bryaxis never harmed any of us. .... I think Bryaxis took pity on us. We saw our nightmares come true before we came here. -ACOSF CH9
The door linking the House of Wind to the Library are made out of obsidian.
Rhys stepped into a hall at the foot of the stairs, revealing a wide passageway of carved red stone and a sealed set of obsidian doors, veins of silver running throughout. Beautiful—terrifying. Like some great beast was kept behind them. -ACOWAR CH20
And we know obsidian black salt is capable of summoning a Prince of Hel.
Black salts were used for summoning demons directly—bypassing the Northern Rift entirely—or for various dark spellwork. A salt that went beyond black, a salt like the obsidian … It could summon something big. -HOEAB CH18
We also learn in House of Flame and Shadow that black salt attracts Hel.
“The black salt, in such high quantity, keeps them away. They never realized that its presence drew us as much as it repelled them,” Apollion said with satisfaction. “It has the same properties that made us immune to the thrall of their black crowns.” -HOFAS CH60
Aidas - Prince of the Ravine – often takes the shape of a white cat with unnaturally blue eyes.
In A Court of Silver Flames, the essence of the library has been likened to a cat.
A soft, warm breeze brushed past her legs, like a cat wending between them in warm greeting and farewell. -ACOSF CH13
“I can feel something. Like a cat. Small and clever and curious. It’s watching.” -ACOSF CH15
There are lots of parallels between the House of Wind Library and Hel, but why?
The library could be a thin place with Hel.
Bryaxis could potentially be a creature left in Prythian by one of the Princes of Hel, similar to the Shepard in Crescent City.
