Hi I saw some theories of Elain going to Vallahan, do you have any takes on this? I was like to hear your input 🤗
Naturally, I got wayy carried away here. There’s just SO much information regarding this, but I couldn’t put in more in this post than I already did. And I also may have cracked a bit of the code with rot and bloom and bones so I’m happy I looked more into this! Thank you for the question.
(HOFAS spoilers) I’m making a separate post about the Cauldron and a bit about the Dusk Court that will kind of tie into this a bit, too.
• Even wasted away by grief and despair, Elain's beauty was remarkable. Hers was a face that could bring kings to their knees. And yet there was no joy in it. No light. No life.
• The Cauldron purred in Elain's presence as the King of Hybern slumped to his knees, clawing at the knife jutting through his throat. Elain backed away a step.
• "What role Vallahan's hot-tempered king and proud people would play in this new world of theirs was yet to be decided, though much of its fate seemed to depend upon Mor's now-frequent presence at their court as Rhys's emissary."
"Indeed, Mor's eyes shuttered. "They don't want to sign the new treaty."/My sister Elain can convince anyone to do anything with a few smiles.
“I've spent weeks in that blasted court," Mor said, poking at the flaky pastry beside her teacup, "freezing my ass off, trying to kiss their cold asses, and their king and queen refused the treaty. I came home on the earlier side today because I knew any more last-minute pushing from me would be unwelcome. My time there was supposed to be a friendly visit, after all."
Elain pushed, "We keep it secret —we send the servants away. With the spring approaching, they'll be glad to go home. And if Feyre needs to be in and out for meetings, she'll send word ahead, and we'll clear them out. Make up excuses to send them on holidays. Father won't be back until the summer, anyway. No one will know."
It took hours for Elain to work her charm on the staff to swiftly pack their bags and leave, each with a purse of money to hasten the process. Mrs. Laurent, though the last to depart, promised to keep what she’d seen to herself.
There’s plenty more examples of Elain being a great candidate for spying for the NC, but this is to show Elain is not only good at convincing people, she’s good at lying. She also lies when they go to Grayson’s manor. Is glamoured and everything to not appear Fae until she can explain.
"Because those stupid human queens are stirring— their army still isn't disbanded. The Queen of Vallahan even asked me what the point of a peace treaty would be when another war, this time against the humans, might redraw the territory lines far below the wall.”
"I do not think," I said, "that it was mere coincidence that the Cauldron let us find each other on the eve of war returning between our two peoples."
"The Cauldron? And two peoples?" The golden one toyed with a ruby ring on her finger. "Our people do not invoke a Cauldron; our people do not have magic. The way I see it, there are your people—and ours."
"There's literally a prophecy in my world about my sword and a dagger reuniting our people. When knife and sword are reunited, so shall our people be."
And Urd had sent her here —here, not Hel. Here, where she'd instantly encountered a dagger that made the Starsword sing.
Only the dagger—and Azriel wielding it—had been there. Like that was where she'd needed to be. "When knife and sword are reunited, so shall our people be"
From which the Starsword had come, and where its knife had been waiting. If Urd had some intention in sending her here...
She hadn't gone to that other world only because of the sword and knife, (..) Urd had sent her there to see, even in the small fraction of their world that she'd witnessed, that Fae existed who were kind and brave.
There’s no one in the IC more tied to the humans than Elain. No one better to advocate and bridge the gap between peoples. Nesta and Feyre have completely left that life, and while Elain has made a home for herself and “just needed time to adjust,” I still think she has some loose ends and needs closure in some form or another. In my post coming soon about the Cauldron I think she will go back into it at the end of the book, be given the choice to turn back to being human, and choose to remain Fae. It fits in well with her plot being tied to the humans and the Fae. And Elain is the symbol of hope. If she could bring them together…
“I don't think Vallahan is interested in peace. Or allying with us."
I also wonder if Grayson will be in the midst if not just a little bit. He is in the human lands, still hating the Fae but willing to work with them. Again— I think she will be given the option to go back to her human life, and what better option than to give her the chance to go back to Grayson? And for a chance to also be Lucien’s vicinity briefly as well, glimpsing him and Vassa together, be faced with Grayson, Lucien, and Azriel? I’d love that. Getting off topic a little here but:
Again that rage. Not from jealousy, or any threat, but—“He’s as fine a prick as any I’ve ever encountered.” Lucien had encountered him, I realized. Somehow, in living with Jurian and Vassa at that manor, he’d run into Elain’s former betrothed. And managed to leave the human lord breathing.
He leaned his arms on the table. "Lucien is living with Vassa. And Jurian. He's supposed to be our emissary to the human lands. Let him deal with it."
Mor took another bite from her pastry. "Lucien can't be entirely trusted anymore."
"Even with Elain here, he's become close with Jurian and Vassa. He's voluntarily living with them these days, and not just as an emissary. As their friend."
(…) "He's spent months helping them sort out the politics of who rules Prythian's slice of the human lands," Cassian said slowly. "So Lucien can't be unbiased in reporting to us on Vassa."
Mor nodded gravely. "Lucien might mean well, but any reports would be skewed—even if he isn't aware of it—in their favor. We need someone outside of their little bubble to collect information and report." She finished off her pastry. "Which would be you."
So Cassian is made courtier and goes to collect information from them, but it still means that they will need a new human emissary now that Lucien can no longer be theirs. I think Elain could be given that role, and not only be in Vallahan, but going several places to gain intel in different ways. Charming people and spying and sowing good relations across peoples.
But the war had impacted us all, and with the rebuilding, with the human territories crawling out to meet us, with other Fae kingdoms looking toward a wall-less world and wondering what they could get away with…
“But perhaps more pressing,” I went on, jabbing a finger on the sprawling continent, “is the fact that the human queens have not returned to their own territories. They linger in that joint palace of theirs. Beyond that, Hybern’s general populace is not too thrilled to have lost this war. And with the wall gone, who knows what other Fae territories might make a grab for human lands?” My jaw tightened at that last one. “This peace is tenuous.”
“I know that,” Az said at last.
(…) Az ran a thumb down Truth-Teller’s black hilt, the silver runes on the dark scabbard shimmering in the light. “What about the human queens?”
“We continue to watch. You continue to watch.”
“Vassa and Jurian are still with Graysen. Do we loop them in?”
A strange gathering, down in the human lands. With no queen ever having been appointed to the slice of territory at the base of Prythian, only a council of wealthy lords and merchants, Jurian had somehow stepped in to lead. Using Graysen’s family estate as his seat of command.
(…) “Vassa knows that the Queens of the Realm will be a threat until they are dealt with,” I said at last. Another tidbit that Lucien had told us. Well, Az and me at least. “But unless the queens step out of line, it’s not for us to face. If we sweep in, even to stop them from triggering another war, we’ll be seen as conquerors, not heroes. We need the humans in other territories to trust us, if we can ever hope to achieve lasting peace.”
“Then perhaps Jurian and Vassa should deal with them. While Vassa is free to do so.” I’d contemplated it. Feyre and I had discussed it long into the night. Several times. “The humans must be given a chance to rule themselves. Decide for themselves. Even our allies.”
“Send Lucien, then. As our human emissary.” I studied the tenseness in Azriel’s shoulders, the shadows veiling half of him from the sunlight. (A conversation about Az’s aversion to Lucien because of Elain follows.)
(…)she’d spent years traveling to other lands, other territories, to learn what they knew. Which was precisely why I said, “Not with Keir and the Hewn City, not with holding the peace long enough for things to stabilize.” She crossed her arms, waiting. “Az can infiltrate most courts, most lands. But I might need you to win those lands over.” Because the pieces that were now strewn on the table … “Treaty negotiations are dragging on too long.”
“They’re not happening at all.” Truth. With the rebuilding, too many tentative allies had claimed they were busy and would reconvene in the spring to discuss the new terms.
“You wouldn’t need to be gone for months. Just visits here and there. Casual.”
“Casual, but make the kingdoms and territories realize that if they push too far or enter into human lands, we’ll obliterate them?”
I huffed a laugh. “Something like that. Az has lists of the kingdoms most likely to cross the line.”
Lucien considered my question. "Vassa and Jurian are two sides of the same coin. Mercifully, their vision for the future of the human territories is mostly aligned. But the methods on how to attain that..." A frown to Elain, then a wince at me. “This isn’t very Solstice talk.”
She wasn’t stupid—she knew there had been unrest, both in Prythian and on the continent, since the war had ended. Knew some Fae territories were pushing their new limits on what they could get away with in terms of territory claims and how they treated humans.
(Bonus chapter) "I'll defeat him with little effort." Pure arrogance laced every word, but it was true.
“I know." Rhys's eyes flickered. "And your doing so will rip apart any fragile peace and alliances we have, not only with the Autumn Court but also with the Spring Court and Jurian and Vassa." Rhys bared his teeth. "So you will leave Elain alone(…)”
There’s a lot of times Lucien talks about giving information “to the shadowsinger.” He reports directly to him from acowar-acosf. So does Eris. It brings the conflict of that forbidden romance into play if they are to actively deal with them in the next book. Even the very first time Lucien talks to Elain, he thinks:
He hadn't expected her to be here. The other sister-the viper-was a possibility, but one he was willing to risk. Aside from talking to the shadowsinger yesterday—which had been just about as unnerving as he'd expected, though Azriel seemed like a decent enough male— (….) And a whole lot of nothing. He'd told the shadowsinger all he knew-
Nesta’s gaze drifted toward the open interior doors of the dining room. As if she could see all the way to Elain. “What happened to the human queens?”
I blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Were they made immortal?” This question went to Azriel.
Azriel’s Siphons smoldered. “Reports have been murky and inconsistent. Some say yes, others say no.”
But Mor tried again. “There is a reason why Elain is seeing these things. She was right about the other queen turning old, about the Ravens’ attack—why is she being sent this image? Why is she hearing this queen? It must be vital. If we ignore it, perhaps we’ll deserve to fail.”
Silence. I surveyed them all. Vital. Each of them was vital here. But me … I sucked in a breath.
“I’ll go.” Lucien was staring at Elain as he spoke.
What if Elain begins to have visions about Vallahan? And needs to be there as an active asset in the conflict. And the tie-in with Lucien and Vassa…
More talk of the territories and continent and Azriel’s involvement with truth and lies:
Those are only a few exerpts from Chapter 16 in ACOWAR. There’s so much more information. But the IC has had a hand in all of it and are now very entangled with trying to right everything. The Book of Breathings is also muttering things in that chapter. I take it as a reminder of it saying this about presumably Elain:
"Perhaps we did them a disservice," Mor mused, "in not sharing enough of our wealth, our territory. Perhaps we are to blame for allowing some of this to rot and fester."
I’ve always taken “rot” in the Book of Breathings to mean Elain allowing feelings to fester and rot inside her, pushing things down and ignoring them to plaster a smile on her face at times and seem “perfect.” And rot as in plant rot. But this adds a whole other aspect now.
“Our territory, our wealth.” Dusk? Dusk is under their jurisdiction. I’ve wondered if when the Dusk Court is revived, with the swords and whatever role the Cauldron plays, humans might live there, too. And Prythian starts to exist like how they used to, united with humans— and how Myriam and Drakon live on their island. When the court is revived, who else will live there? There was a human-Fae alliance before the war, and from Hybern's doing many High Fae resent the humans beyond the wall—Montesere, Rask, and Vallahan. I wonder if Dusk may be the key to some unrest.
(Acomaf) Azriel continued his attempt to infiltrate the human queens’ courts, his network of spies now seeking a foothold to get inside. That he hadn’t managed to do so yet had made him quieter than usual—colder.
I think his ire is mentioned again but I can’t find it. He couldn’t infiltrate the human queens’s court. If needed in the future, Elain being a Seer could help do what he sometimes can’t.
So many options!! I’d be excited if any of these things come to fruition. Vallahan was just mentioned so many times in Acosf, and territories/human queens as far back as Acomaf, and more again in Acofas— the book meant to bridge the spinoff storylines. So is the possibility of Elain spying, her mate bond crumbling with Lucien, her friendship with two spies, and her love interest being the NC’s spymaster. Obviously this is all just theory. Sjm added so much information in acosf that the plots can go in so many directions, and also means a whole lot more information is likely to be presented in the next book. The options for Elain are endless, really. But Vallahan/the humans conflict is still very much unsolved, with Mor unable to make headway and now seemingly unwelcome back in Vallahan. And as for love interests… Mor, Grayson, Lucien, and Vassa could all be involved if it goes in this direction. And Azriel and Elain in the middle of it all, wanting to be together and having to keep it on the low so as not to disturb any relations. (And, ahem, Vallahan is out of daemati range.)
But then there’s the matter of world-walking, too. Koschei, the Cauldron, Fae/human unrest, Dusk. It’s crazy to think some people aren’t excited that the next book is Azriel and Elain’s. So many possible things to cram into one book. But we can at least agree that spying will be one of them— so, yes, I think to Vallahan it is!
"Azriel said quietly, "We are weakened-all seven courts. Even more at odds with each other and with the rest of the world since the war. If Montesere and Vallahan march on us, if Rask joins with them, we will not withstand it. Not with Beron already turned against us and allied with Briallyn."
"Koschei remains in play, and Beron might very well be stupid enough to establish an alliance with him, too. I hope that whatever Morrigan is doing in Vallahan will counteract the damage my father will unleash."
(…) Eris rose, tucking his book under an arm. “Who cares what my father does to me? He believed my story about the shadowsinger’s spies(…)”
(…) Eris was still their ally. Was willing to be tortured to keep their secrets. And Cassian didn’t need to be a courtier to know his next words would slice deep, but it would be a necessary wound. Perhaps it would be enough to push things in the right direction.
(Eris has to have a bigger role in the next book. He’s so much more involved in acosf and always talking about Azriel and his spies.)
But Nesta smoothed his bunched brow, as if she could see those worries there. “Later,” she promised. “We’ll deal with all that later.” Including the remaining queens, Koschei, and a still-looming war.
“Later,” he agreed, and she slid her arms around his neck.
Later, as in the next book. Elain’s.
