As Maggie has so kindly reminded me, it’s The Raven King official release day tomorrow, so we have come to the predictions day in the countdown.
I think I’ve said my piece on what I actually think might happen, with textual evidence (see here for theories about the third sleeper, here for parallels with the welsh / arthurian quartet, here for henry cheng, the camelot scenes, the ley line and grail quests and here for gansey’s death) so here is a combination of THIS THEORY IS COMPLETE NONSENSE / I COULDN’T FIT IT IN ANYWHERE ELSE post.
No, seriously, hear me out. I have reasons! So, with Glendower sleeping on the ley line there’s this obvious parallel to Arthur right, who is the original sleeping king? One of the myths about Arthur is that he turned into a bird, probably a raven, and he still flies among other birds.* And aside from the rather obvious assertion that Glendower is The Raven King, capable of communing with birds, there’s something else a little off about Chainsaw: “Right then, it was impossible to forget that she was actually a dream creature, not a true raven, and that the workings of her mind were the same mysterious stuff of Ronan Lynch, or of Cabeswater.”
There’s also the following: “She didn’t care for anything large and black, including herself, and so she kept her distance from the corpse [of the night terror]… But she adored Ronan above all things.” Who else is described as large, black, and scary? The Third Sleeper, heavily implied to be Glendower’s enemy. Add to that Ronan’s constant comparisons to being a “raven boy” and his own parallels with Glendower, and this is rather striking.
... Or Chainsaw could just be weird because she’s a product of Ronan and Cabeswater. I honestly don’t know anymore.
THE GRAY MAN HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE THIRD SLEEPER
Remember when the Gray Man comes to the barns and takes Ronan’s translation box under the supposition of it being the Greywaren? In that scene, previously, Ronan and Matthew are hiding from one of Ronan’s night terrors. when they suddenly disperse and in their place is the Gray Man: “This was a handsome, wiry man all dressed in gray. Ronan had never seen him before.”
There’s also the odd obsession with Anglo-Saxon poetry, and his feud with his brother. I’ve sort of been very dubious towards anyone carrying serious thoughts about Iolo Goch being the third sleeper ** BUT the idea of it being someone from Glendower’s court, someone close, a brother like figure -- that bears fruit, I think? Or it being someone with an older and more ancient power. But both could be read as manifestations of the Third Sleeper.
Also, there’s this lovely titbit, related to the above: “I don’t care for birds” said as the Gray Man looks at Chainsaw.
PIPER GREENMANTLE IS GOING TO BE A SERIOUS PROBLEM
If the ending of Blue Lily Lily Blue didn’t convince you that Piper was bad news, I’m not sure what will. But I’ll reiterate: Piper Greenmantle is VERY BAD NEWS.
Even her own husband seems to be concerned about her: “[Colin Greenmantle] still preferred his artefacts to be mildly atmospheric. Piper liked hers dark.” Add to that that she’s possibly communing with the Third Sleeper even before she ends up in Jesse Dittley’s cave: “She was in the hall bathroom staring at herself, ad she didn’t answer when he called her names… a tarot card - the three of swords - [was] sitting on the edge of the bathroom sink.” reaks of possession of some sort, and we’re consistently shown that the Sleepers have to power of possession (as the Third Sleeper did to Neeve, and Gwenllian did to Noah & Chainsaw).
Also, on the subject of Neeve, who is also pretty much bad news: while Neeve is curious about the Third Sleeper, she’s not nearly as reckless. Neeve finds him by accident: Piper is looking. Neeve, at least is taking the basic precaution of a protection charm: she’s burning asafetida, which in addition to being a good protection spell, also destroys manifestations of spirits when burnt.
If the Third Sleeper owes Piper a favour, we should prepare for serious damage.
IF THE THIRD SLEEPER IS ONE OF GLENDOWER’S CONTEMPORARIES, IT’S GOING TO BE GRUFFUDD LLWYD NOT IOLO GOCH
Can you tell I’m really really bitter about the Iolo Goch thing yet?????? Anyway, when Gansey’s discussing Glendower’s contemporaries, he says this: “Of course, Iolo Goch would make sense as a companion… Him or Grufudd Llwyd, I suppose. But - no it’s impossible. He died in Wales.” And Malory replies: “But are we sure? Do we know where he was buried? That he was buried?” And I think they’re mainly referring to Goch, who is certainly more famously related to Glendower.
However, doing a little bit of research on Gruffudd Llwyd reveals him to be a much more likely companion: he was a poet, like Goch, and part of Glendower’s court. His dates are approximately 1380-1410 [source] whilst Goch’s are 1320 - 1398; if we accept that Glendower can’t have been moved to Virginia before 1412, than who is more likely -- the man in his thirties, or the man in his nineties?
Okay, that’s about it: there’s a couple more theory post in my trcmeta tag, and if you want to chat, my askbox is always open. Enjoy The Raven King release people!
* There’s three main myths to what happened to Arthur after his death. The first is that he was born away to Avalon in a boat; the second is that he lies sleeping in a cave; the third is that he became a raven. This is sourced from Geoffrey Ashe’s Mythology of the British Isles, which in turn cites Geoffrey of Monmouth, Loomis’s Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, Westwood’s Albion: a Guide to Legendary Britain, and Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain.
** HE’S REALLY REALLY REALLY DEAD PEOPLE. LIKE, DIED IN 1398 DEAD. stiefvater for the sake of my sanity please don’t let it be iolo goch
