#magic blades

[princessofmerchants]

Ataraxia is lit

Nesta considered all Lanthys had said. “And what is Narben?”

“Lanthys asked about it?”

“He said my sword isn’t Narben. He sounded surprised.”

Rhys studied her blade. “Narben is a death-sword. It’s lost, possibly destroyed, but stories say it can slay even monsters like Lanthys.”

“So can Nesta’s sword, apparently,” Feyre said, studying the blade as well.

“Beheading him with it killed him,” Rhys mused.

“A slice from it seemed to bind him into a physical form,” Nesta corrected. “Cassian’s dagger struck true only after Lanthys had been forced to give up his mist.”

“Interesting,” Rhys murmured.

I am seriously not usually attached to enchanted, magical objects in the stories I read.

But this sword, Ataraxia, is just so freaking cool.

Not a death sword folks, but a sword that takes an immortal being and binds it to a state of mortality.

All my spidey senses are saying this subtle difference is 1) essential, and 2) because it was our girl Nesta who made it.

It's an extension of her, I believe—of Nesta and her intention. They belong together 🗡❤️

[princessofmerchants]

Well. So, Nesta's power? From the Cauldron -- her death power?

It's not actually gone y'all:

Cassian forced himself to sit perfectly still as Rhys dragged a hand through his black hair. “Once, the High Fae were more elemental, more given to reading the stars and crafting masterpieces of art and jewelry and weaponry. Their gifts were rawer, more connected to nature, and they could imbue objects with that power.”

Cassian instantly knew where this was headed. “Nesta put her power in those swords?”

“No one has been able to create a magic sword in more than ten thousand years,” Amren said.

Then:

She nodded toward the great sword. “This is something new.”

Azriel said, “Nesta created a new magic sword.”

“Yes,” Amren said. “Only the Great Powers could do that—Gwydion was given its powers when the High Priestess Oleanna dipped it into the Cauldron during its crafting.”

I mean it's almost subtle because it's so blatant and obvious, there in plain sight right in the freaking text. But Ataraxia still bears her power.

She may have given up the power that still dwelt inside her as a bargain to save Feyre, Nyx, and Rhys's lives, but her power is not gone.

And we all know Ataraxia is hers. Folks can theorize about where the High King plot is heading until the pagasuses come home, but this book left no doubt that the great sword Nesta Made, trained to wield and then did so in the Pass of Enalius, belongs to her.

(And let me say that even if her death power were completely gone from the world where she wouldn't be able to access it in any form, that would still make sense to me given my beliefs about power as a theme in this story. But catching on my reread the above mention that her power is now in the blades, literally, including the great sword Ataraxia, feels like a hit over the head in terms of how magic is coming and going between characters and objects in this part of the series arc.)