Secrets buried in the land: Forbidden secrets of the sacred sisters • Blooming dreams • Bright as the dawn • Ramiel: Heart of the Night Court • The healing land: secret, slumbering • Summoning magic • Rot and bloom and bone
Weaving Wyrd: Stone Mother • Her language of creation • Some tapestry of fate • The flower of life • All the world is a song • Through love, all is possible • No gods, no fates • Stones and bones
Three sisters (Archerons, peaks, caves)
Peak parallels: Three sisters for the faces of the Mother • Three stones and three sisters • The third sacred sister peak (Ramiel and Elain)
Witches and witch glass: Three sisters witches • Sister caves
Immortal light and weapons: Marked by Wyrd • Dreams that are answered • Forms of light • Starborn light
The third sister (seer, wise woman, witch)
Roses: Rose symbolism • Hidden depths • A rose in the thorns
Dreams: A quiet dreamer in Velaris • Blodeuwedd • A new kind of Suriel • Owlish Elain
Rebirth: Life itself, Life herself • A promise of spring • Like a moth to a flame • Blooming hope part 1 and 2 • Lovely darkness • Such powers
Witches, oracles, mystics, and priestesses: Witches • Oracles and mystics • Using the high lord’s orrery • More priestess than warrior
Travel: Space between • Peering into a pit of Hel • River to Hel
Shifting: Shifting forms of fate • Balthazar • Wraithlike • Wraiths wear bodies • Glamour me
Spying: Spy and courtier and ambassador • A different strength • The Hind and the Fawn
Seeds Sarah planted for Elain: Seeds Sarah planted for Elain in acosf • Elriel’s cover art • My favorite predictions for Elain’s story (bingo) • Elain’s unique perspective
Bound together (with love)
Court of Dreams: Rhysand and Elain
Secret, lovely beauty: A thing of secret, lovely beauty • The absolute poetry of Elain and Azriel • Gilded with the dawn • Lingering looks • Quiet understanding • Get each other • Forbidden oracle
Where light and dark meet: Void and Chaos • Flame and shadow • Dawn and dusk • Two sides of the same coin • Twining souls • Perfect blend
Newfound boldness: They rescue each other • Newfound boldness • Why I ship Elain and Azriel
Tortured poet: Guilty as sin? • Elain is a member of the TTPD
Important: Maasverse spoilers abound in essentially every post, so please avoid if you do not want to be spoiled.
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i dream of seer Elain, eyes cloudy and lips budding with the secrets of the Cauldron.
a voice that was male and female, young and old, haunting and alluring
humming a silent melody as she wanders across the solar system, her garden. stars and wind and darkness in full bloom.
a song and an invitation, its siren song
promising hope and healing as vines twine tightly in death’s sweet embrace. her power a thing of secret, lovely beauty.
•
the seer’s song
i am super excited to see Elain’s sight [oracular, mystic, and more] at work. i suspect it functions like the Cauldron itself, especially the siren song it uses to find and influence others through dreams. in CC, the oracle lures Hunt and her voice slithers [like the Cauldron’s power] when she is using her sight. as i have said before, sight and song often twine together in Norse mythology. völva [witches, seers, wise women] used song to see and influence Wyrd [fate]. since we know Sarah draws from this mythology, it would be fitting for Elain’s gift to include both sight and song, which might also explain why she and Azriel are intertwined. it also doesn’t hurt that this floral dress, titled silent melody, used to be on Sarah’s ACOTAR Pinterest board. because we are mind twins, @offtorivendell has theorized about her sight as Singing. she also wondered if the first part of the scene below is from Elain’s dreams [Feyre’s mind drawn into her sister’s while she slept through her daemati powers], surfacing in brief flashes of light and color that include the mighty Cauldron’s illusion.
•
My dreams were a tangled garden, thorns snagging on me as I stumbled through them. I dreamed of the Suriel, bleeding out and smiling. I dreamed of the Weaver’s open mouth ripping into Ianthe while she still screamed. I dreamed of Lord Graysen—so mortal and young—standing at the edge of the camp, beckoning to Elain. Telling her he’d come for her. To come home with him. That he’d found a way to undo what had been done to her—to make her human again.
I dreamed of that Cauldron in the King of Hybern’s war-tent, so dark and slumbering … Awakening as Nesta and I stood there, invisible and unseen.
How it had watched back. Known us.
I could feel it watching me, even then. In my dreams. Feel it extend an ancient, black tendril toward me—
I jolted awake.
[…]
Amren’s bare feet were splattered in mud and grass. “It came here—its power. I can feel it—slithering around. Looking.”
“The Cauldron,” Varian said, brows narrowing. “But—it’s aware?”
“We pried too deep,” Amren said. “Battle aside, it knows where we are as much as we now know its location.”
Nesta raised a hand. “Listen.”
And I heard it then. It was a song and invitation, a cluster of notes sung by a voice that was male and female, young and old, haunting and alluring and—
“I can’t hear anything,” Rhys said.
“You were not Made,” Amren snapped. But we were. The three of us …
Again, the Cauldron sang its siren song.
My very bones recoiled. “What does it want?”
I felt it pulling away—felt it sliding off into the night.
Azriel stepped out of a shadow. “What is that,” he hissed.
My brows rose. “You hear it?”
A shake of the head. “No—but the shadows, the wind…They recoil.”
The Cauldron sang again. Distant—withdrawing.
“I think it’s leaving,” I whispered. Cassian stumbled and staggered for us a moment later, a hand braced on his chest, Mor on his heels. She did not so much as look at me, nor I her, as Rhys told them. Standing together in the dead of night—
The Cauldron sang one final note—then went silent.
The presence, the weight … vanished.
Amren loosed a sigh. “Hybern knows where we are by now. The Cauldron likely wanted to have a look for itself. After we taunted it.”
I rubbed at my face. “Let’s pray that’s the last we see of it.”
Varian angled his head. “So you three … because you were Made, you can hear it? Sense it?”
“It would appear so,” Amren said, looking inclined to tug him back to wherever they’d been, to finish what they’d no doubt still been in the middle of doing.
But Azriel asked softly, “What about Elain?”
•
what about Elain? can she find and influence others in her murky realm where dream and reality entwine? does she ensnare them with a promise of spring the future, sparkling with light and color amidst mist and shadow? a vision of hope shining in the tapestry of void.
Coming back to this years later and it’s still so interesting to me how Sarah linked the Cauldron’s silent melody with Stone Mother in hofas. Nesta and Azriel listened to a song they could sense (hear, feel) but not understand. It was in a language they could not access:
“Stone Mother” began playing, its rolling, thumping drums offsetting the wild, yet mellow, guitars. And then Josie’s voice filled the tunnel, sharp and yet soaring, accented by Laurel’s sweet, clear backups. The sound was foreign, earthy – haunting. In the span of a few notes, Bryce was back in her childhood bedroom in Nidaros, sprawled on the carpet, letting the sound of the music run over her for the first time.
Then she was in the dry hills of Valbara, surrounded by olive trees. Then the palm-lined quay along the Istros. Then with Danika. Then alone.
Then with Hunt.
This song had carried her through it all – through the years of pain and emptiness and rebuilding. It had carried her from light into darkness and then back to light.
The wraith-like harmonies echoed off the stones, until the rock sounded as if it was singing.
And when it was done, silence resumed. Nesta’s eyes were wide. “That was beautiful,” she said eventually. “I couldn’t understand a word of it, but I felt it.”
•
No more music. No more pictures of Hunt.
But the music seemed to linger, like a ghostly echo through the caves.
And with each mile onward, she could hear Azriel humming to himself. The rolling, wild melody of “Stone Mother” softly flowed off his lips, and she could have sworn even the shadows danced at the sound.
But perhaps a Cauldron-blessed seer was gifted the right magic to access that secret language. The one Stone Mother’s song called to, produced a vision for.
And one more thing—both @offtorivendell and I noticed the feathers mixed into the blooms in this art. It’s giving Blodeuwedd vibes. And the blooming paradise on the dress is like the land when it is awakened. The land’s song that is quiet and old and forgotten.
i dream of seer Elain, eyes cloudy and lips budding with the secrets of the Cauldron.
a voice that was male and female, young and old, haunting and alluring
humming a silent melody as she wanders across the solar system, her garden. stars and wind and darkness in full bloom.
a song and an invitation, its siren song
promising hope and healing as vines twine tightly in death’s sweet embrace. her power a thing of secret, lovely beauty.
•
the seer’s song
i am super excited to see Elain’s sight [oracular, mystic, and more] at work. i suspect it functions like the Cauldron itself, especially the siren song it uses to find and influence others through dreams. in CC, the oracle lures Hunt and her voice slithers [like the Cauldron’s power] when she is using her sight. as i have said before, sight and song often twine together in Norse mythology. völva [witches, seers, wise women] used song to see and influence Wyrd [fate]. since we know Sarah draws from this mythology, it would be fitting for Elain’s gift to include both sight and song, which might also explain why she and Azriel are intertwined. it also doesn’t hurt that this floral dress, titled silent melody, used to be on Sarah’s ACOTAR Pinterest board. because we are mind twins, @offtorivendell has theorized about her sight as Singing. she also wondered if the first part of the scene below is from Elain’s dreams [Feyre’s mind drawn into her sister’s while she slept through her daemati powers], surfacing in brief flashes of light and color that include the mighty Cauldron’s illusion.
•
My dreams were a tangled garden, thorns snagging on me as I stumbled through them. I dreamed of the Suriel, bleeding out and smiling. I dreamed of the Weaver’s open mouth ripping into Ianthe while she still screamed. I dreamed of Lord Graysen—so mortal and young—standing at the edge of the camp, beckoning to Elain. Telling her he’d come for her. To come home with him. That he’d found a way to undo what had been done to her—to make her human again.
I dreamed of that Cauldron in the King of Hybern’s war-tent, so dark and slumbering … Awakening as Nesta and I stood there, invisible and unseen.
How it had watched back. Known us.
I could feel it watching me, even then. In my dreams. Feel it extend an ancient, black tendril toward me—
I jolted awake.
[…]
Amren’s bare feet were splattered in mud and grass. “It came here—its power. I can feel it—slithering around. Looking.”
“The Cauldron,” Varian said, brows narrowing. “But—it’s aware?”
“We pried too deep,” Amren said. “Battle aside, it knows where we are as much as we now know its location.”
Nesta raised a hand. “Listen.”
And I heard it then. It was a song and invitation, a cluster of notes sung by a voice that was male and female, young and old, haunting and alluring and—
“I can’t hear anything,” Rhys said.
“You were not Made,” Amren snapped. But we were. The three of us …
Again, the Cauldron sang its siren song.
My very bones recoiled. “What does it want?”
I felt it pulling away—felt it sliding off into the night.
Azriel stepped out of a shadow. “What is that,” he hissed.
My brows rose. “You hear it?”
A shake of the head. “No—but the shadows, the wind…They recoil.”
The Cauldron sang again. Distant—withdrawing.
“I think it’s leaving,” I whispered. Cassian stumbled and staggered for us a moment later, a hand braced on his chest, Mor on his heels. She did not so much as look at me, nor I her, as Rhys told them. Standing together in the dead of night—
The Cauldron sang one final note—then went silent.
The presence, the weight … vanished.
Amren loosed a sigh. “Hybern knows where we are by now. The Cauldron likely wanted to have a look for itself. After we taunted it.”
I rubbed at my face. “Let’s pray that’s the last we see of it.”
Varian angled his head. “So you three … because you were Made, you can hear it? Sense it?”
“It would appear so,” Amren said, looking inclined to tug him back to wherever they’d been, to finish what they’d no doubt still been in the middle of doing.
But Azriel asked softly, “What about Elain?”
•
what about Elain? can she find and influence others in her murky realm where dream and reality entwine? does she ensnare them with a promise of spring the future, sparkling with light and color amidst mist and shadow? a vision of hope shining in the tapestry of void.
Coming back to this years later and it’s still so interesting to me how Sarah linked the Cauldron’s silent melody with Stone Mother in hofas. Nesta and Azriel listened to a song they could sense (hear, feel) but not understand. It was in a language they could not access:
“Stone Mother” began playing, its rolling, thumping drums offsetting the wild, yet mellow, guitars. And then Josie’s voice filled the tunnel, sharp and yet soaring, accented by Laurel’s sweet, clear backups. The sound was foreign, earthy – haunting. In the span of a few notes, Bryce was back in her childhood bedroom in Nidaros, sprawled on the carpet, letting the sound of the music run over her for the first time.
Then she was in the dry hills of Valbara, surrounded by olive trees. Then the palm-lined quay along the Istros. Then with Danika. Then alone.
Then with Hunt.
This song had carried her through it all – through the years of pain and emptiness and rebuilding. It had carried her from light into darkness and then back to light.
The wraith-like harmonies echoed off the stones, until the rock sounded as if it was singing.
And when it was done, silence resumed. Nesta’s eyes were wide. “That was beautiful,” she said eventually. “I couldn’t understand a word of it, but I felt it.”
•
No more music. No more pictures of Hunt.
But the music seemed to linger, like a ghostly echo through the caves.
And with each mile onward, she could hear Azriel humming to himself. The rolling, wild melody of “Stone Mother” softly flowed off his lips, and she could have sworn even the shadows danced at the sound.
But perhaps a Cauldron-blessed seer was gifted the right magic to access that secret language. The one Stone Mother’s song called to, produced a vision for.
Look closer, friends. Not only does this acotar merch have an eye and bat wings together, but the lyre accompanying it looks like a flower bud among leaves. Yet another connection between music and blooming (the language of creation).
@shadowyfawn talked about the eye and wings connection between merch, which is so interesting.
While I was caught up in the blooming form of the instrument, @offtorivendell pointed out a few incredible connections:
The instrument looks more like a lyre and the lyre is connected to divine music, poetry, and harmony;
The lyre is tied specifically to Orpheus, and @offtorivendell has wondered if the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice might inspire Elriel’s story. I could absolutely see that in a variety of potential plot threads: going beneath Ramiel, traveling to Hel, Elain going too deep into the Void and Azriel’s voice calling her back, grounding her in their world, and/or working together to release a soul that is trapped through a bargain or curse, like Papa Archeron or even Fionn.
It also looks like a cauldron and she reminded me how I suggested the Cauldron is Sarah’s flower of life, which is still one of my favorite posts.
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“You can’t tell us whose pov it’s from?” “Um, no, and that was one of the surprising things for me and what came out of me, it’s—you get a lot of like insight into various things.”
Insight into various things? Almost like a…
“It’s just the story that was finally ready to come out of me was big, really, really, really big. And as I started writing this in like this, like Montana, like energy vortex, like it came outta me in a way that surprised me. And by the time I reached, you know, I like to do like parts like part one part two, part three, by the time I gotta end of part one it was, like, 400 pages long. There’s a certain reality to books like ‘Kingdom of Ash’ had to be, like, two because the glue will not hold books together, but like what I was writing felt right? Like that was what the story that needed to be told. And so I decided I wasn’t gonna approach this project from a, you know, traditional format of a book. And what if this story, like, what if this book was really long? Like, what if it took me more than a thousand pages to tell the story that needed to be told, the arc that I wanted to create from start to finish. What if that took a long time? Like, what if that took me on the constraints of a single volume and what does that look like? How do I tell that story? And so part one was this huge, huge thing. And then I realized it was gonna be four parts. A book told in four parts. So then I wrote part two and part three. And those were really fucking long. And so, like, and then part four has yet to be written because right now I’m trying to just get part one, which is out in October. And then parts two and three to be out in January is like one combined thing. So it’s basically gonna be three physical volumes, but it’s like one thing altogether that like no amount of glue in like any publisher’s factory could ever like hold this. So it’s meant to be read ideally as one massive, massive story as opposed to a trilogy. It’s not a trilogy. Like arcs aren’t wrapped up. It's like if you expand it all of part one, all of part two, all parts, like all part, like it would be huge like that. And so I just decided like, I’ve never told a story that way. This is how it wants to come out.”
Almost like it was divine inspiration, am I right?
When it was ready to come out, when I was re—, when it was ready to come out—like when this right story hit me, it hit me hard. And I had a vision from the start, of like what it would be and how I would deliver it to you guys, and like that’s what I want to do, and getting to be in the driver’s seat and decide like this is how I want to tell stories, and if I want to adapt it for every new book or just like arc, I can do that, like I can do that, like why not? Why do we have to stick to these boxes? Like this is how you tell a story from A to B, I’m like no, what if we do something different.”
Could this be multi-pov? Yes, absolutely. My dream is to read all three Archeron points-of-view together, but also, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Sarah needed more space to do justice to a seer’s arc—someone with extraordinary insight, whose powers could provide an avenue for a different type of story. What she is talking about is having the flexibility to adapt her approach based on the arc she wants to tell.
“I'm telling it in a way that's exciting to me and like gives me like the space that the story demanded and the characters demanded.” (CHD interview)
•
“But I wonder if everyone has spent so long assuming Elain is sweet and innocent that she felt she had to be that way or else she’d disappoint you all.” He sighed toward the ceiling. “With time and safety, perhaps we’ll see a different side of her emerge.”
“That sounds dangerously close to what Nesta said about Elain finally becoming interesting.”
“Sometimes, Nesta isn’t wrong.”
I glowered at Rhys. “You think Elain’s boring?”
“I think she’s kind, and I’ll take kindness over nastiness any day. But I also think we haven’t yet seen all she has to offer.” A corner of his mouth tugged upward. “Don’t forget that gardening often results in something pretty, but it involves getting one’s hands dirty along the way.” (Feysand bonus)
This story demanded space because Elain’s arc and romantic journey demanded it. I cannot wait to see what she becomes.
When I first saw pictures of the Alex + Ani Elain bracelet and looked closely at the watering can, I thought it was saw what might be a music note (purple) and the bottom curl of a treble clef without the line through it or a bass clef (cobalt), and @offtorivendell and I both also saw what looks like a bass clef on the other side (pink), and @offtorivendell and @psychologynerd saw these too and confirmed I was not crazy 🤣:
And then look at the handle of the watering can—is that shaped like part of a treble clef (upside down) without the line through again?!?
Are these intentional musical references on the watering can charm on Elain’s bracelet? Is it possible this is a hint that Elain is a Singer like I theorized here and @wingedblooms and @offtorivendell theorized here? Or is this possibly a hint at Elain’s future use of the Harp? Has @wingedblooms been right all along about Elain’s connection to song??
Whatever it’s hinting at, I think we have been on the right path all along 🥰🎶🎼🎵🎤
And not just Singing/the music of the land, but if the musical note is intentionally a quaver, which is an eighth note, could it tie, thematically, into the symbolism of the eight pointed star, Wyrd, and how, possibly, eight of them may need to come together to unchain and heal the land, as you and @wingedblooms have posted?
And the fact that musical notes appear on a watering can, could @lovelydreamlight be correct in that water nymphs and Singers are related? And what does it mean for other forms of water, like Prythian's underground waterways? Does the rushing music of that water source help to fuel the Song and magic of land? And the pool of starlight in Spring, what of that? Will the Archeron sisters and their bat boys sail the Void to free their world? Is the watering can actually a gardener's Cauldron, evoking the art Feyre saw back in book one?
So many questions! I need to stop word vomiting.
But mainly, I just love how the imagery that appears to be present seems to confirm that Elain being a gardener is not accidental, and could actually be central to the plot.
I would love for this potential seed to come full circle in Elain’s story. This is crack (meant to be fun), but there are only two references to quaver in the entire series, and Elain’s voice is one of them:
I do think we’ll see more of Elain’s quiet voice and strength in the next story.
She’s so connected to the land, and the land is full of magic. It has its own natural symphony:
All the world is a song. In the crossover, we learn the slumbering land’s awakening is compared to song:
Love me, touch me, sing me.
In acosf, Nesta Makes her own trove of swords, the act of creation accompanied by a song only she could hear. Feyre’s words in the original series foreshadowed this moment:
It’s a matter of months until we see what this means for Elain’s own acts of creation, but if I had to guess based on all the clues, it’s connected to awakening the land and making it sing—bloom—again.
The word twine or twining is used to refer to things that are woven together—two things that combine into one. Sarah uses this word to describe powers, vines and flowers, serpentine beasts, and romantic pairings. Is it possible she will weave these elements together in the next book through Elain x Azriel? Let’s take a look, shall we?
Azriel’s shadows twine around him, as Mor and Rhysand note below. They also behave like serpents, ready to strike when threatened.
Much like Elain’s vines of flowers twine on her dresser…
Or her Sight twines dream and reality, forging a connection between the two.
The carvings in Hewn City blend these elements together—serpentine beasts twine and devour one another as vines of flowers flow between them. A beautiful balance of life and death.
Like the serpentine beasts, the souls of mates entwine when they accept the bond. The threads of their bond weave together and their scents merge, or blend, to create something at once ancient and new. Something harmonious.
And so, perhaps this iconic scene is truly prophetic: there is already a bridge of connection between Elain and Azriel, one where life meets and merges with death.
It seems it’s only a matter of time until we see blooms of spring twining with Death’s slithering shadows, creating something both ancient and new. Light and dark endlessly devouring one another. A beautiful balance where they meet.
Like the second half of the Book of Breathings sang:
Life and death and rebirth
Sun and moon and dark
Rot and bloom and bone
•
Love me, touch me, sing me.
•
And as Feyre concluded, this was Chaos. The force the Princes of Hel would never defile with violence.
The Starsword and Truth-Teller unlocked the land’s ley lines and unleashed its pure, inherent magic. Like other parts of nature, it communicates through song: a symphony of life and joy and beauty. The stones bones of the earth move in perfect harmony with that earthly music, and its skin blooms with life once again.
The official Illyrian jewelry reminded me of Nephelle again and one of my theories and headcanons (1, 2) related to earthen magic for the next story.
Nephelle was dismissed and forgotten due to her small frame and wings, so she made herself indispensable as a cartographer. She found the geographical advantages in their battles (and her small frame and wings were exactly what was needed to save Miriam, outrace death).
Two years ago, that reminded me of how those with earthen magic are used to find the best geographical (and magical) locations because they could sense ley lines.
Does Nephelle have earthen magic, and does that magic make her invaluable as a cartographer? Could she help Elain hone her earthen magic, if she also has the gift? And is that why she is so affected by another place that is dead and rotting, as @offtorivendell (here) and @deathsweetblossoms (here) theorized?
I would love for Elain’s journey to come full circle and ultimately lead to Cretea (where the Cauldron is hidden), and for this moment in the text to reinforce the Night Court’s Nephelle philosophy:
What we think to be our greatest weakness can sometimes be our biggest strength.
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When Nesta uses scrying—an ancient form of divination—to locate the Cauldron, we learn the stones symbolize the three faces of the Mother, and we’re left to wonder what the four bones mean. Some of us have theorized the Mother may go by other names, such as Chaos and Cthona, and Chaos in particular gives us a clue about what complementary force the bones might channel. Apollion refers to Chaos as his dam (translation: mother) and this seems to be the same force that speaks in threes as the second half of the Book of Breathings. Her magical counterpart is Void (nothing, darkness), and we’re told this force existed in the beginning. Before.
So, I believe that after Amren says, “Three stones for the faces of the Mother,” it should be followed by, “and four bones for…the Father.”
Or even better, because these seem to be witchy tools, and different creatures have different terms for the same forces, “and four bones for…her heart of Darkness.” A nod to the Eye of the Goddess sacred to witches in Erilea.
Invoking those opposing forces (Void and Chaos) creates the necessary balance to access the place where they meet:
The space between, where reality and dream entwine.
•
Accessed through real and invisible doors and pathways. In Erilea, they are called Wyrdgates and they can be summoned and accessed through a secret language called Wyrdmarks.
•
These pathways in the Wyrd are also called Ley Lines. Wyrdgates, the black spaces where life can pass through (where Void and Chaos meet), are known as Thin Places.
Those with powerful sight seem to access these pathways and places, as I (here), @offtorivendell (here), and @merymoonbeam (here) have suggested, and they are connected to the Cauldron.
Wyrd.
She is many things: a mother to all, a force winding between worlds that constantly shifts form, a language of creation, and a cauldron brimming with life.
The Cauldron is older than the Suriel and they are ancient. The Suriel tells us they are older than Prythian, older than even the bones of this world.
•
But Silene said the Cauldron was of the fae’s world, their heritage—is this simply a retcon from hofas, or did the Cauldron come from an even older world of fae? While it wasn’t known broadly in Midgard (Bryce had never heard of it), the Under-King knew what Wyrd was and described it in the various terms I mentioned above, including a cauldron of life. He also just happens to be from what he refers to as the old world (Erilea). Did the Cauldron come from Erilea or an even older world, like the realm of the gods? Is that why the Asteri/Daglan (near gods), feared it and sought to warp it to their advantage?
I cannot wait to learn more about this hidden history in Elain and Azriel’s story.
Cassian was near death and Nesta was sprawled over him, shielding him from that killing blow, and Elain—Elain—had taken up Azriel’s dagger and killed the King of Hybern instead.
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“My father was the Void, the Being That Existed Before. Chaos was his bride and my dam. It is to them that we shall all one day return, and their mighty powers that run in my blood.” (Apollion, hosab)
When these words spilled from Apollion, my first thought was of the Cauldron and Book of Breathings. Higher beings like Void and Chaos are forces—and might be part of the Forces That Be. Their union is described like a cosmic marriage, reminding me of another romantic scene:
I saw the painting in my mind: the lovely fawn, blooming spring vibrant behind her. Standing before Death, shadows and terrors lurking over his shoulder. Light and dark, the space between their bodies a blend of the two. The only bridge of connection…that knife. (acowar)
@offtorivendell (here), @psychologynerd (here) and I have discussed how Elain and Azriel are opposing forces coming together in this scene (and let’s be honest, every scene they share together; it’s an established pattern). Throughout the Maasverse, when opposing forces meet in the space between, they create balance and harness power as @silverlinedeyes reminds us here. Azriel and Elain (and the three brothers + three sisters) represent cosmic balance when they come together, and are poised to help restore the current cosmic imbalance impacting their world.
Nothing (Void) into something (Chaos)
In acomaf, both halves of the Book of Breathings (and other Made weapons, namely the Mask 👀) repeat the same cycle that involves Void and Chaos, with pointed differences:
Unmade and Made; Made and Unmade—that is the cycle. Like calls to like. (acomaf, the first half—void)
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Not as the voice of the second and final piece of the Book filled the room, sang to me.
Life and death and rebirth
Sun and moon and dark
Rot and bloom and bones
Hello, sweet thing. Hello, lady of night, princess of decay. Hello, fanged beast and trembling fawn. Love me, touch me, sing me.
Madness. Where the first half had been cold cunning, this box…this was chaos, and disorder, and lawlessness, joy and despair. (acomaf, the second half—chaos)
They express the same cycle but begin and end differently: Void begins and ends with unmade, and Chaos begins with life and ends with rebirth, which aligns with their roles in creation.
Ultimately, what we learn from these quotes, is that creation, or what Rhysand calls the chaos of Forming (acomaf), involves both nothing (Void) and something (Chaos). The mural in Spring reflects this union in vibrant color:
It began with a cauldron. A mighty black cauldron held by glowing, slender female hands in a starry, endless night. Those hands tipped it over, golden sparkling liquid pouring out over the lip. No—not sparkling, but … effervescent with small symbols, perhaps of some ancient faerie language. Whatever was written there, whatever it was, the contents of the cauldron were dumped into the void below, pooling on the earth to form our world… (acotar)
So does the Night Court insignia.
"The silver thread," Elain asked. "What is that called?"
The weaver paused the loom again, the colorful strings vibrating. She held my sister's gaze. No attempt at a smile this time. "I call it Hope."
My throat became unbearably tight, my eyes stinging enough that I had to turn away, to walk back toward that extraordinary tapestry.
The weave explained to my sister, "I made it after I mastered Void."
I stared and stared at the black fabric that was like peering into a pit of hell. And then stared at the iridescent, living silver thread that cut through it, bright despite the darkness that devoured all other light and color. (acofas)
And so do Azriel and Elain.
Void, icy and devouring darkness
People often made the mistake of assuming Cassian was the wilder one; the one who couldn’t be tamed. But Cassian was all hot temper—temper that could be used to forge and weld. There was an icy rage in Azriel I had never been able to thaw. In the centuries I’d known him, he’d said little about his life, those years in his father’s keep, locked in darkness. Perhaps the shadowsinger gift had come to him then, perhaps he’d taught himself the language of shadow and wind and stone. (acomaf)
Azriel’s black hair seemed to gobble up the blinding sunlight. (acowar)
Azriel silently faded into blackness—until he was my own shadow and nothing more. (acowar)
Azriel tucked in his wings and left without another word, stalking through the house and onto the front lawn to sit in the frigid starlight. To let the frost in his veins match the air around him. Until he felt nothing. Was again nothing at all. (Azriel’s bonus chapter)
The pain that last quote delivers is so brutal every time. But it reinforces Azriel’s connection to Void, and it brings us to Elain. The person who makes him feel awake and alive and hopeful, to ask sacrilegious questions he has never dared to utter before. He is not nothing in her presence—he is more, he is something.
Chaos, blooming light and life
She loves to garden. Always loved growing things. Even when we were destitute, she managed to tend a little garden in the warmer months. And when–when our fortune returned, she took to tending and planting the most beautiful gardens you’ve ever seen. Even in Prythian. It drove the servants mad, because they were supposed to do the work and ladies were only meant to clip a rose here and there, but Elain would put on a hat and gloves and kneel in the dirt, weeding. She acted like a purebred lady in every regard but that.” (acotar)
The gates to her mind…Solid iron, covered in vines of flowers—or it would have been. The blossoms were all sealed, sleeping buds tucked into tangles of leaves and thorns. (acowar)
If Elain was a blooming flower in this army camp, then Nesta…she was a freshly forged sword, waiting to draw blood. (acowar)
The Cauldron seemed to realize what she’d done, too, as his head thumped onto the mossy ground. That Elain…Elain had defended this thief. Elain, who it had gifted with such powers, found her so lovely it had wanted to give her something…It would not harm Elain, even in its hunt to reclaim what had been taken. (acowar)
Her sister’s delicate scent of jasmine and honey lingered in the red-stoned hall like a promise of spring, a sparkling river that she followed to the open doors of the chamber. (acosf)
Soft steps padded from under the stair archway, and there she was. The Faelights gilded Elain’s unbound hair, making her glow like the sun at dawn. (Azriel’s bonus chapter)
It was Elain who was gifted something by the Cauldron in the chaos of her own (re)Forming. And now that their fortune has returned—ie, they’ve been blessed by Fate—Elain may garden on a far grander scale. And she’ll have the help of her love interest and friends (and maybe her entire family).
Which brings us back to the beginning, to the Cauldron and Book of Breathings. In his bonus chapter, Azriel wondered if the Cauldron was wrong and he learns in hofas that it was, in fact, warped. But how was it warped, and for what purpose?
Rhysand said, “I heard a legend that it was written in a tongue of mighty beings who feared the Cauldron’s power and made the Book to combat it. Mighty beings who were here … and then vanished. You are the only one who can uncode it.” (acomaf, Rhysand to Amren)
As @merymoonbeam and I have mentioned before, the Asteri created the Book of Breathings to control the Cauldron. The Cauldron was sacred to the Fae, and it likely gave them power the Asteri could not initially control. It made them a threat. Remember, the Cauldron is Wyrd, and Wyrd governs the forces of creation (Void and Chaos). She is a Mother to all, a Cauldron brimming with life, and a weaver of Fate, according to the Under-King.
Mother, Cauldron, Fate.
She is not an actual goddess, but a force. And certain beings, like the Archeron sisters, are bearers or vessels of her magic and can wield it when needed.
When the Asteri claimed the power of Wyrd through the Book of Breathings, they were able to gain control over life and fate. And they used that control to feed their insatiable appetite for power. They twisted the natural cycle—life and death and rebirth—into one that served them.
In hofas, Azriel and Nesta learn that this control was never wholly uncovered or addressed. The Asteri’s secrets were buried in the land, forgotten. And so it is fitting for us to return to the beginning with Azriel and Elain, to unearth the remaining secrets and unravel the Asteri’s control over life and fate. To truly change fate, though, their union cannot just be one of magic, it must also harness the strongest force:
Through love, all is possible. It was an ancient saying, dating back to some god he couldn’t remember. Cthona, probably—what with all the mother-goddess stuff she presided over. Hunt had long since stopped visiting temples, or paying much attention to the overzealous priestesses who popped up on the morning talk shows every now and then. None of the five gods had ever helped him—or anyone he cared about. Urd, especially, had fucked him over often enough. (hoeab)
Love. It’s possible their union was always meant to alter life and fate through love, as so many (@icedflames, @elriell, @silverlinedeyes, and @offtorivendell) have theorized. Together, they might be able to swear something between their bodies and hearts and souls, binding the threads of gold that control their very fate, and make the impossible, possible. A cosmic love that restores balance and honors the joy and beauty Void and Chaos created when they first came together and formed the world.
Life and death and rebirth.
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Thank you for reading my rambling love notes about cosmic forces and Elain and Azriel. Happy Elriel Month, friends! 🌸🦇
Like the second half of the Book of Breathings sang:
Life and death and rebirth
Sun and moon and dark
Rot and bloom and bone
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Love me, touch me, sing me.
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And as Feyre concluded, this was Chaos. The force the Princes of Hel would never defile with violence.
The Starsword and Truth-Teller unlocked the land’s ley lines and unleashed its pure, inherent magic. Like other parts of nature, it communicates through song: a symphony of life and joy and beauty. The stones bones of the earth move in perfect harmony with that earthly music, and its skin blooms with life once again.
