She was tricky. Four arms and five heads posed a challenge to get right. I think it has worked out. I did know almost immediately I wanted to use Ehleks head for her. It just felt right instead of giving her five Rahkshi heads.
"My Precious Child... Look how far have you grown... Without me..."
Note: That Hero Lore of Gala (Galahad) dropped... My Precious...
. . .
Note: She didn't call Lady Merlin nor Morgan her Master... Despite They taught her magics... The One who earned that title "Master" is none other than... Future Merlin Themselves... T-T
Disclaimer - I am not a literature/folklore/history scholar. Nor am I Irish. Part of what follows comes from a ten minute internet search of non-academic sites. Anyone who can add to or correct the Irish mythology, place names, and geography, please let me know! The rest of it is just a long-winded, convoluted mess of a ToG ‘theory’. Listen. This is just for fun. I know this won’t actually happen in ToG7. The odds of me winning the lottery that I never play are better.
Let’s begin. (lol)
So, I’m sitting in on an intro to archaeology class this morning (for work, not as a student) and the professor shows part of a video about bog bodies in Ireland. One of the sites mentioned is Croghan Hill. This caught my attention because it sounded like they were pronouncing it the same way Crochan is pronounced in Throne of Glass.
Back in my office, I look up Croghan Hill and wikipedia tells me it’s in the village of... surprise Croghan (or Cruachán in Irish) in County Offaly, Ireland (Leinster Province).
Then I wondered how Cruachán is pronounced, and found this:
“Cruachán – "kruck-awn"/ "Krooakh-awn"/“kruh-hawn” , a sacred mountain in Roscommon, in province of Connacht, Western Ireland. Home to Queen Maeve and Ailill “
These are two different places. But I gave in and started down the wiki wormhole, which led me here - Rathcroghan (bolding is mine):
“...a complex of archaeological sites near Tulsk in County Roscommon, Ireland. It is identified as the site of Cruachan, the traditional capital of the Connachta, a term used to describe the prehistoric and early historic rulers of the western territory....
...It is also the location for the beginning and end of a national epic tale – an Táin Bó Cuailnge, and the royal seat of Medb (Maeve), Connacht's Warrior Queen.
...Uniquely, Rathcroghan possesses an entrance to the Otherworld, described in the medieval period as "Ireland's Gate to Hell", located at Oweynagat (the Cave of the Cats).
...According to a Dindshenchas poem, Cruachan was named after Crochen, the handmaid of Étaín, a sídhe maiden reborn as a mortal. When Étaín is brought back to the Otherworld by her original sídhe lover Midir, Crochen accompanies them and on their way to Midir's underground palace they spend some time in a mound known as Síd Sinche. Crochen is so impressed by this síd that she asks Midir if this is his palace. Because of her loyalty to Étaín and her respect to this dwelling, Midir gives it to her and names it in her honour before bringing Étaín to his palace at Bri Leith. At the end of the poem Crochen is mentioned as the mother of Medb.
...It is unclear whether what is referred to as the síd is Oweynagat or the mound of Rathcroghan itself. However, it is from Oweynagat that various destructive creatures emerged.”
Now, all of this reminded me of a ridiculous, middle-of-the-night, not-even-half-formed theory I once threw at @propshophannah (sorry @itach-i you had no internet!) about how Maeve might have some serious shit in store for Manon and the witches because we’ve never been told explicitly what the deal is with Manon’s golden, valg-king eyes.
In CoM, I always felt like Baba Yellowlegs was acting weird in the scene with Celaena. She kind of kept looking into her mirrors instead of at Celaena, acting like someone else was listening. Which is possible with witch mirrors since they could be used for communication over long distances. This is pure conjecture on my part.
In HoF, we’re told gold eyes are cherished by the Blackbeaks (but not the other clans apparently???) and Manon has never asked why. It’s implied she is the first to have pure, gold eyes. Manon can sense something off about the valg-possessed though at this point I don’t think she knows what’s wrong.
Also in HoF, when Manon meets the Stygian spiders, the spider says:
“‘Sister,’ the spider mused. ‘I suppose we are sisters, you and I. Two faces of the same dark coin, from the same dark maker. Sisters in spirit if not in flesh.’“
We’re told in this scene that Bluebloods used to worship the spiders.
In QoS, we learn Manon’s eyes are feared by the lesser valg (Erawan never seems to flinch from her though so???). Witches with any amount of gold color in their eyes are able to repel the torture visions valg-Roland uses on them. And of course, she pushed back the valg in Dorian simply by looking at him.
In EoS, Maeve tells Manon she knows her face, most likely because Maeve probably knew or had seen Rhiannon, who Manon looks like.
In ToD, we learn that the spiders, from both continents, are really valg foot soldiers serving valg queen Maeve, who presumably is possessing a fae body (though this last part is not confirmed).
Now, I’m not saying Maeve saw future Manon in her original prophecy about Aelin and deliberately created the witches by forcing some of her valg followers and fae to mate. I’m not saying she made witches to serve as her protectors (like the spiders) against the valg, giving them the ability to sense valg possession in others and an eye color that would repel/protect against lesser valg. Just like I’m not saying the matrons know this and have been working for her and not Erawan this whole time (using witch mirrors to contact her and building a giant weaponized mirror they could turn on Erawan if Maeve told them to).
I’m not saying Manon’s eyes are really the eyes of a valg queen instead of a valg king.
And I’m definitely not saying Maeve has plans to use Manon as a vessel for her valg queen form...
But... yeah.
After all that I don’t know where the Crochans fit into this LOL! Maybe they rebelled against Maeve and that’s what the Witch Wars were really about? Also, in terms of this theory, I have no clue why the Blackbeak Matron would have gone along with Erawan’s fucked up “experiments”. Other than she’s just pure evil. Which I think we can all agree on!
“Our queen,” the spider said. “We wait for Her Dark Majesty to return .”“We wait for the Queen of the Valg,” the spider purred, rubbing against the carving. “Who in this world calls herself Maeve.”
