A Court Of Wings Of Ruin

My completed Heir of Fire (and one of my favorite stagings as well!!) has finally been photographed!  I have to say, this one might be my favorite defacing for TOG, at least so far.  I still need to finalize designs for the remaining books, but I really love how this one turned out.  I’ll be doing The Assassin’s Blade next, so stay tuned for that, as well as the timelapse for Heir of Fire (which should be up soon). 

OK SO did anyone else re-read the part in ACOWAR after reading the excerpt? Ya know the one where Cassian and Feyre are talking to the Carver?

Like YALL I think the Gods play a bigger role in KOA than any of us really think.

Hear me out here. In EOS when Aelin and Manon see the past after going through the mirror in EOS and they see the gods and how all of this is so they can be sent home, and in ACOWAR The Carver talks about falling into this world with his siblings and how they were worshipped (possibly like gods?? wait yes he says they are death gods but) by the ancient Fae? Like how the southern continent has all those gods? Possibly?

And the Carver says “Do you think I let them trap me without good reason?” . TRAP to me is an important word because I think that’s how Aelin and crew would have to be able to defeat them (the gods/ Erawan/ Maeve) because it’s said that even Erawan can’t be defeated only trapped or “contained”, maybe that is also how Aelin figures out how to save the world, or get out of the whole “the one who was promised” shin dig, by trapping/ tricking the gods into diminishing their power (carver says “contained and diminished as they are” (AND MAYBE THAT’S WHY THEY ARE ABLE TO DIE IN ACOWAR BECAUSE THEIR GOD POWERS ARE DIMENISHED BY AELIN??) (p240))? The carver also says “that long-ago Fae warrior trick [ed] Stryga into diminishing her power and becoming confined to the middle” (238-9).

The carver also calls the person “clever” which yah we all know Aelin is. But he also says that her “bloodline is long gone now–though a trace stills runs through some human line” (p239) and then he smiles sadly SO LIKE LOL WHAT DOES THAT MEAN IDK BUT TO ME IT MEANS THE ENDING OF KOA CAN’T BE ALL HAPPY. Like I’m missing a piece of the puzzle here for this part.

BUT OK LOL HERE IS THIS the carver says no one remembers her name so UHHHHH nameless (is my price), also we all know Sarah is a sllllyyyy little writer and she has Feyre think this “I waited and waited and waited” (Us waiting for KOA) “picking apart the story he laid out” (again Sarah @ing us and our crack theories) “like crumbs of bread” (239) and WELL LADIES THE CRACK IS REAL GOOD TONIGHT, because what if this part in ACOWAR is Sarah laying out the crumbs of bread to the ending or solution in KOA??

IDK y’all I need ur thots, and ur ops on this and if this made sense?? Like during TOD I just kept thinking that the Gods that are asking for the price to be paid HAVE to be important to the final arc and HAVE to play some role. Especially Mala.

Maybe this CRACK post will help my other TOG fan crackheads to fix up or add to this theory for KOA (if this is even a theory I didn’t even really guess an ending I guess I think I just rambled)

But I mean if anything is more damning in ACOWAR about it possibly containing spoilers or hints for KOA it would be the Carver tracing “three overlapping, INTERLOCKED, circles in the dirt” (p238) AKA THE EYE OF ELENA AKA THE LOCK THAT IS TO BE USED TO SEAL AND LOCK AND BRING THE GODS BACK????!!!!!!

So, with the recent release of the cover and back cover of KOA, it has me thinking. For Aelin to forge the lock, she has to sacrifice herself, that much we know. But… in Heir of Fire it was mentioned she also has a drop of WATER MAGIC that is meant to be SELF PRESERVING. I’m thinking that Aelin will somehow lose her fire magic in order to forge the lock, be on the brink of death, but is able to save herself using the water magic, which she will be left with. She also might lose her extended Fae life and be stuck in her human form, but I can’t really think of concrete evidence for it.

Let’s take a look at the front cover, shall we 🧐Specifically the sash

Here we see on the sash accentuating Arlin’s armor, the main motif of the color blue, with bits of gold, which are clearly not the colors of Terrasen. I believe it’s meant to signify the mixture of her magic (blue=water, gold=embers/fire).

And on the back cover, we see a seafoam green dress, and if you look close enough, what seems to be dark blue embroidery. This dress looks flowy and it’s silhouette reminiscent of the movement of water or waves. It’s possible it could just be a coincidence, but I also think it’s worth considering.

Each time I read The Assassin’s Blade, I fall more deeply and irrevocably in love with Sam Cortland. I am already moved to tears as I finish The Assassin and the Pirate Lord. In my heart, I truly believe Sam and Celaena/Aelin were mates. SJM said early on that it is possible to have more than one mate. Regardless of Maeve’s glimpse into the would-be future of Aelin and Rowan, I think Aelin would have lived a truly happy, human-length life with her Sam. Had the war ended and the two faced Erawan and emerged victorious, then Sam would have made a great King. He would have ruled beside Aelin with compassion and kindness and mercy.

While we’ve been informed that Sam is well and truly dead, SJM didn’t specifically say we wouldn’t see him in the afterlife. I hope that Aelin dies (temporarily) in Kingdom of Ash, or somehow finds her way into the afterlife. She never truly had her chance to say goodbye to Sam. It would be so wonderful if her spirit and his were to meet in whatever life is next…if Aelin could see him one last time…if Sam gave her his blessing…if he had only a moment to tell her how much he loved her, and that he is so proud of all she has done. Aelin deserves to gaze into those brown eyes, burrow her fingers in that tousled hair and breath in the scent of safety and home, even as Sam leans down to bury his face against her neck and hold her as if he’d never let go. I need that closure. Letting Sam go only gets harder each time I visit his story.

You have my heart, Sam Cortland.

Something I haven’t seen people talk about much is what could happen to Aelin herself. Like, yeah, we’re all terrified she’ll die to forge the Lock, or that Rowan will, or that Dorian or Manon or anyone will – but I’m not even worried about that part. I’m worried about Aelin’s mental state.

Y’all. She was whipped ninety times. That’s four times the amount of lashes in Endovier, if I’m remembering correctly. We know how that affected her mentally. We know she still has nightmares about the lightless cells in the mines, and now she’s trapped in a coffin made of darkness with barely enough space to breathe, drifting through thought and memory and pain pain pain, having made a plan to save everyone except herself. Rowan and Aedion said it themselves, she did not think anyone was coming for her. She did everything, everything, to save her kingdom – her burning Kingdom of Ash, except save herself. I actually have full confidence that the crew’s gonna come out relatively unscathed. Aelin will burn Maeve and Erawan and all the rest to the ground, and when it’s all said and done, she’ll walk away. But with an immeasurable amount of fresh scars haunting her each and every move. 

OK look, mala firebringer turned mortal in order to marry a mortal right? Aelin is Demi fae. She’s half mortal. So my theory is this: Since Sarah will probably not participate in an actual massacre of the readers (us) by killing aelin, I think that Aelin will burn away her mortal self. In Empire of Storms, at the end, Maeve said that Aelin was a few years from the Settling, and let’s be real, Sarah would NEVER mention the Settling or the Yielding if they weren’t crucial to the plot. So Aelin will burn away her mortal life, IN HER ANIMAL FORM WHICH IS A HUMAN, but she will return as completely fae.

Aelin felt a pull towards Manon and Yrene - could this possibly mean they will both have big parts to play in helping Aelin set the lock? 

All three women have goddesses right behind their backs. 

Aelin = Mala

Manon = The Three Faced Goddess 

Yrene = Silba

Everyone: *watches everything go horribly horribly wrong*

Aelin:

I feel like if SJM decides to kill off Aelin she will be doing herself and her fans such a disservice. Both she and her readers have devoted literal years to this series and to Aelin/Celaena. SJM’s work has literally saved my life when I have been in the darkest times I have ever experienced, and I know for a fact that SJM and Aelin have saved other people too. If Sarah decides to kill off Aelin the loss of such a life changing character would literally be devastating.

I’m not talking about feeling sad about the loss of a character, but I’m talking actual devastation. Not to be dramatic, but when I was sitting on the floor of my room praying for someone to rescue me from the abuse of my parents, it wasn’t a person that saved me. It was SJM’s writing, specifically how she wrote Aelin.

It was the message that I could survive anything if I fought like hell. It was the message that I needed to stop just surviving and start living again. It was the message that innocence lost doesn’t mean the end.

DORIAN’S MOTHER COULD BE THE DEATH THAT SAVES US ALL FAM. HOW HAD I NOT THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE. FORGET AELIN DYING, HELL NO, NOT HOLLIN, I GUESS IT’S UNETHICAL TO KILL A CHILD EVEN IF THEY’RE A BRAT, AND NO WAY IN HELL CAN DORIAN DIE. 

“The deafening crowd echoed through the pale stone corridors of the royal castle of Orynth. They ­were chanting her name, almost wailing it. Aelin. A two-­beat pulse that sounded through each step she made up the darkened stairwell. Goldryn was heavy at her back, its ruby smoldering in the light of the sun trickling from the landing above. Her tunic was beautiful yet simple, though her steel gauntlets—­armed with hidden blades—­were as ornate as they ­were deadly.

She reached the landing and stalked down it, past the towering, muscled warriors who lurked in the shadows just beyond the open archway. Not just warriors—her warriors. Her court. Aedion was there, and a few others whose faces were obscured by shadow, but their teeth gleamed faintly as they gave her feral grins. A court to change the world.

The chanting increased, and the amulet bounced between her breasts with each step. She kept her eyes ahead, a half smile on her face as she emerged at last onto the balcony and the cries grew frantic, as overpowering as the frenzied crowd outside the palace, in the streets, thousands gathered and chanting her name. In the courtyard, young priestesses of Mala danced to each pulse of her name, worshipping, fanatic.

With this power—­with the keys she’d attained—­what she had created for them, the armies she had made to drive out their enemies, the crops she had grown, the shadows she had chased away … these things ­were nothing short of a miracle. She was more than human, more than queen.

Aelin.

Beloved. Immortal. Blessed.

Aelin.

Aelin of the Wildfire. Aelin Fireheart. Aelin Light-­Bringer.

Aelin.

She raised her arms, tipping back her head to the sunlight, and their cries made the entirety of the White Palace tremble. On her brow, a mark—­the sacred mark of Brannon’s line—­glowed blue. She smiled at the crowd, at her people, at her world, so ripe for the taking.” -Sarah J Maas, Heir of Fire

Now, I personally forgot all about this vision, but let’s look at it again.

“She reached the landing and stalked down it, past the towering, muscled warriors who lurked in the shadows just beyond the open archway. Not just warriors—her warriors.”

This, to me, is in direct reference to the Cadre. The usage of the phrase “her warriors” leads me to believe that the Cadre were freed from their Blood Oaths to Maeve, and then did exactly what Rowan had done – turned right around and swore a Blood Oath to Aelin.

“Aedion was there, and a few others whose faces were obscured by shadow, but their teeth gleamed faintly as they gave her feral grins. A court to change the world.”

So here, we see Aedion, which means he has to survive. But there’s something else, something I hadn’t thought of. “…faces were obscured by shadow, but their teeth gleamed faintly as they gave her feral grins.”

Guys. That sounds an awful lot like the Ironteeth. Aelin goes on to refer to them as “her court”, which seems to imply that perhaps Manon and her Thirteen yielded the Wastes to Ansel, and joined Aelin’s court. A kingdom within a kingdom.

And then… then there’s this.

“Beloved. Immortal. Blessed.”

This is the single most important part – the part that refers to Aelin as immortal. Which means not only does she survive, she Settles, and becomes immortal.

Guys. Aelin is going to survive. She’s going to get free of Maeve. And she’s going to survive forging the Lock. She’s going to go home, and she is going to rule her Kingdom of Ash.