#sjmcu

[stumbleonhometomycats]

decided that my favorite book trope is when the female love interest is in mortal peril and the male main character goes absolutely fucking feral to protect her

[silverlinedeyes]

In Their Starborn Era

(HOFAS spoilers below)

The starborn age has ended on Midgard…

…and the Archeron Starborn Era is about to begin on Prythian. LFG!!!!

The Archeron Sisters are Starborn

As @offtorivendell has theorized here, @wingedblooms has theorized here, I have theorized here and here, we think each of the Archeron sisters is starborn and has part of Theia’s (or her children’s) light.

Elain has Helena’s.

Nesta has Silene’s.

Feyre has Theia’s (or maybe her son’s if that crack theory is right lol).

Though I wonder about Nesta’s Starborn power, and if she gave some of it back to the Cauldron at the end of ACOSF…and what that might mean for her ability to use Gwydion or TT at all on her own, like Bryce can. So what does that mean?

We get hints that Elain has strong starborn power:

So will Elain at first be the one to wield Gwydion and TT as she (and Az) go on their quests? Potentially to revive Dusk, or other parts of Prythian, as @offtorivendell and @wingedblooms have theorized?

And might she in part use them to help herself? To unMake her bond with Lucien using TT to free them both of it, and to potentially Make a new bond with Az (if a bond doesn’t already exist), either using her powers, or using Gwydion?

Together They Can Activate TT and Gwydion

Only united can Theia’s starborn power activate Gwydion and TT and be used to kill the unkillable. The Asteri in Midgard. Koschei in ACOTAR?

The Sisters’ Bonds

Right now, the bonds between the sisters are somewhat fractured, particularly still between Nesta and Elain.

Those bonds will need to finally heal so that they can come together to use Gwydion and TT to save Prythian.

[irondork]

everybody shut the fuck up what if elriel ‘who did this to you?’ BUT it’s elain asking not az

[just-a-fangirlmore]

The only good thing about this crossover thingy SJM is making is that I might see Nesta (and hopefully Aelin eventually) again 🤧🤧🤧

[stumbleonhometomycats]

Travis is giving king Rowan

Ya'know what........seeing someone for exactly who they are and not trying to change them, but trying to uplift them and make their world better........ you are onto something my dear

[silverlinedeyes]

The Fae at the Oasis and Timelines

This post is a long time coming…like since February 6 cc @wingedblooms lol, but for some reason I never got around to making it. Might as well make it now!

When I read HOFAS, I became convinced that the shifters in Midgard descend from the fae that Chaol and Yrene saw depicted at the tomb at the Oasis in Tower of Dawn (time stamped screenshot below for proof lol):

Here is how the fae that presumably came from Erilea are described in HOFAS when Bryce sees them in Silene’s vision:

“Tall, beautiful beings” from another world. Each capable of turning into an animal, with elongated canine teeth in their humanoid bodies.

Then we have what Chaol and Yrene see at the Oasis:

“Tall, broad-shouldered warriors” with pointed ears like the fae Bryce saw in the vision. Maybe I’m just being stupid thinking the “tall” description matters, but it just stood out to me and Sarah harkening back to this scene on purpose, and giving us a clue this is who those fae are.

We also know that the fae were at the Oasis during the first demon war, before Elena and Gavin were born:

According to this, the fae depicted at the Oasis settled there during the First War, before Elena and Gavin, and before Terrasen.

I know there has been a lot of talk about how ToG might be on another timeline from Crescent City and ACOTAR, and the events of ToG took place 15,000 years before the events of SJM’s two other series.

I think this disproves that. While it’s certainly possible ToG isn’t on the same exact timeline and might have occurred at some point before the events of CC and ACOTAR, I think that’s unlikely. Not only because Aelin sees Rhys and Feyre when she’s falling through worlds, which suggests she’s on the same timeline as them (unless she fell through space AND time), but also it would be odd for SJM to write two of her series on the same timeline and then the other 15,000 years beforehand so that story can never actually crossover with the other. (As I noted back in February:

Either way, I think the fae depicted at the Oasis lived 15,000 years before the events of ToG. We know Elena and Gavin fought Erawan 1,000 years before the events of ToG, and at that time, Brannon was decades from the fading. Which means he must have been alive for thousands of years at that point. We also know from KoA that the Western Gate of Orynth has stood there “thousands of years” and not been breached. So the fae came to the Oasis before that, since they came to the Oasis before Terrasen exists.

I think all of this together means that the shifters from Midgard came from the Southern Continent thousands and thousands of years before the events of ToG, but likely 15,000 years before the events of ToG.

And finally, I think the Under-King in CC was one of the Valg during the first demon war who snuck through the rift with the fae from the Southern Continent:

Maybe the Under-King was a valg spider, or a Valg soldier. But I think he was certainly a Valg who snuck through the Rift and began working for the Asteri when he got to Midgard.

I’m really excited to eventually see what SJM does with all of this and how she connects it, and I’m excited to see how she uses this to bring us back to the ToG world and tie it completely into the crossover as I know @wingedblooms and many others think will happen.

[stumbleonhometomycats]

Rowan lets Aelin be bejeweled-your tog quote of the day.

HE DOES LET HER BEJEWELED!!!!!

[silverlinedeyes]

Pelias, Ruhn, Az, and Clotho(?)

Some theories

This post is a collection of theories @merymoonbeam and I have been kicking around for a while. Much of the credit of these goes to her—I’m just the one writing this post. But as usual with our convos, this snowballed into something much bigger than we initially anticipated 😅🤯

TW: this post discusses the lightsinger theory. If that’s not your thing or it’s triggering to you, don’t read past the break. And these are just theories (and some are crack theories at that)!

And finally, this is a crossover post and contains spoilers from CC and ACOTAR.

Was Pelias really Starborn, or was he a lightsinger?

In HOEAB, we’re told Pelias was the “first Starborn Prince.” That he “possessed what was basically an ocean of starlight at his disposal.”

We are also told that Pelias’ light was different than Theia’s.

In ACOSF, we learn that Fionn was betrayed by his queen (Theia) and his best friend and general (Pelias) who stole Gwydion (the Starsword) from him and killed him. We know from CC that Theia and Fionn (and Theia’s two daughters) then went through the Rift to Midgard, bringing Gwydion with them. It’s unclear what led to this betrayal, and why Theia “betrayed” Fionn and left with Pelias.

In HOSAB, things get interesting though. We learn that Pelias was “no true” prince. He slew Theia, stole “her” sword, forced Helena into marriage, and “corrupted” Theia’s line. He was only a “so-called first Starborn Prince” and an “imposter.”

Could Aidas (or Rigelus as Aidas) be telling us more about Pelias than he was just a traitor who didn’t deserve to be a prince? What if Pelias wasn’t actually Starborn, but something else? Something that could pretend to be Starborn? Something that could emit light but not truly activate or use the Starsword? A lightsinger?

This also would explain why Theia betrayed Fionn and left with Pelias, and also how Pelias was able to get Helena to marry him. If Pelias is a lightsinger, he might have used his lightsinging powers on them to manipulate them into it. And he also used those powers to make people see him as a prince.

Pelias, Ruhn, and the Starsword

In HOEAB, Ruhn tells Bryce, “The sword doesn’t work like that. Aside from being picky about who draws it, the sword has no power without the knife.”

This seems based both on legend and on Ruhn’s experience. By this, I mean that Pelias could no longer use the power of the Starsword after the knife (TT) was taken back to Prythian (by Theia’s second daughter???), and the Starsword also has no power when Ruhn uses it. Light “shimmers” *down* the sword when Ruhn is holding it and “glimmers” with starlight, but he cannot activate its power or use it as more than just a sword.

The use of the word “glimmer” when Ruhn is holding the sword is part of what led us to this theory. In the Azriel bonus chapter, when he first comes to the roof and finds Gwyn there, her sword is “glimmering” in the moonlight.

While this might actually just literally be caused by her sword reflecting in the moonlight, it’s also possible Gwyn is using her powers to make the sword “glimmer” here, just like the Starsword seems to “glimmer” with Ruhn’s starlight that he emits when he uses it.

[Interestingly, the priestesses’ stones also “glimmer” in the fae light at the beginning of the singing service scene. And Ianthe uses “some glimmer” of power to lull the guard to sleep in ACOWAR? Also lightsinger powers?]

Anyways, the thing is, Ruhn is wrong about the Starsword. The Starsword does have power without the knife. In HOSAB, we see Bryce actually use the Starsword for the first time:

Bryce didn’t stop to think as she unsheathed it. Starlight erupted from the black blade. Like its metal had been kindled with iridescent fire. …

The Starsword sang with light, her power flowing into it. Activating it. …

With shaking fingers, she put it back into its sheath. Dimmed its light. But the Starsword still sang, and Bryce had no idea what to make of it.

Bryce is able to activate the Starsword’s powers with her Starborn power and use it to kill things that are supposed to be unkillable.

So if Bryce is able to activate the Starsword’s powers with her Starborn power, why couldn’t Ruhn and Pelias? I guess it’s possible Ruhn can’t because he only has a small kernel of the (supposed) Starborn power, but that doesn’t explain Pelias. If Pelias was really a Starborn Prince, shouldn’t he have been able to use the Starsword without the knife?

Or…can they not activate the Starsword because they are not actually Starborn? And instead, they’re light comes from a different source—lightsinging?

Ruhn, Azriel, and Clotho (Gwyn?)

If Ruhn is a lightsinger, again, it seems like he only has a small amount of the power. Ruhn himself describes it as a “kernel.” It’s interesting, though. Unlike Bryce, who doesn’t seem to have to work hard at all to access her Starborn powers or use them, it causes Ruhn a significant amount of effort:

It ordinarily took Ruhn a good amount of concentration to summon his starlight, and it usually left him with a headache for hours afterward, but … He was intrigued enough to try.

Setting his index finger onto the crystal of the prism, Ruhn closed his eyes and focused upon his breathing. Let the clicking metal of the orrery guide him down, down, down into the black pit within himself, past the churning well of his shadows, to the little hollow beneath them. There, curled upon itself like some hibernating creature, lay the single seed of iridescent light.

He gently cupped it with a mental palm, stirring it awake as he carefully brought it upward, as if he were carrying water in his hands. Up through himself, the power shimmering with anticipation, warm and lovely and just about the only part of himself he liked.

Ruhn gets a headache when he tries to access his “Starborn” power, which is hidden deep down inside him past his shadows. It seems almost as if the powers work against each other? It might even be that Ruhn’s “light” power, whatever it is, dampens his Avallen powers, and vice versa? It does seem that Ruhn’s Avallen powers aren’t nearly as powerful as Cormac’s. Could this be why? Because his “light” power suppresses his Avallen/shadow powers?

And where Ruhn’s “light” power is and how it’s described is interesting. It’s this seed of “iridescent light” that’s buried down deep inside him.

The headaches is what @merymoonbeam first noticed—it reminded her of the headaches Az constantly gets. Maybe those headaches are related to Az using his shadowsinging powers?

But then we were talking about it more, and this scene with Ruhn finding his power made us think of the end of the bonus scene:

Something sparked in Azriel's chest, but he only nodded his thanks and left. He could picture it, though, as he ascended the stairs back to  the House proper. How Gwyn's teal eyes might light upon seeing the necklace. For whatever reason... he could see it.  

But Azriel tucked away the thought, consciously erasing the slight smile it brought to his face. Buried the image down deep, where it glowed quietly.

Something sparked in Azriel’s chest. To “spark” means:

To ignite. To start a fire essentially. Could that spark in Azriel’s chest be the ignition of power in his chest?

And then this image of gwyn come to his mind, which he buries “down deep” inside himself where it “glowed quietly,” as @merymoonbeam has written about?

Did Clotho (or maybe Gwyn) plant a seed of lightsinger power inside Az?

Could this seed of lightsinger power dampen or suppress Az’s shadowsinging abilities? And is this why his shadows are missing in HOSAB chapter 78?

Or maybe that lightsinger power isn’t suppressing his shadowsinging abilities, but is instead being used to influence and control Az’s shadows from inside him…..