First And Last Lines: Throne Of Glass

HOSAB SPOILERS

After the end of House of Sky and Breath and learning about the Asteri's breeding programs (sidenote: ick), I started wondering what the implications would be for the mating bond, both in Crescent City and in ACOTAR.

Specifically: is the mating bond something that the Asteri bred into the Fae in order to make them magically stronger? Has it been romanticized to help the Fae cope with the darker aspects of their history. Though the Under-King is talking about the afterlife, I kept thinking about this comment he makes to Bryce and Hunt: "The rituals were all invented by you. Your ancestors. To endure the horror of the offering" (HOSAB, 336). Is this what we're seeing with the mating bond?

There are signs that it's possible. In ACOWAR, Rhys tells Feyre, "And sometimes, yes -- the bond picks poorly. Sometimes, the bond is nothing more than some...preordained guesswork at who will provide the strongest offspring. At its basest level, it's perhaps only that. Some natural function, not an indication of true, paired souls" (ACOWAR, 258)

Keep in mind that Rhys is talking to his beloved mate at this point, so he's inclined to believe that, even if all mating bonds aren't great, his is a perfect one. For anyone who feels they have found their soulmate, this is a familiar feeling: while you feel as if you have chosen this incredible person, there's also a part of you that believes you were made for each other. If things had gone differently, if I hadn't met them on exactly that day or in that location, you tell yourself, we would have found our way to each other. SJM makes the "fate" part literal with the mating bonds.

But if we remove Rhys' comments from their context, the mating bond becomes something sinister, a way of arranging for powerful magic. And since the Daglan/Asteri feed on magic (HOSAB, 784), they could have simply and horribly been trying to breed the Fae into more satisfying meals.

Speaking personally, I think this is an interesting story about the ways we survive inherited trauma, the ways we seek romance, the ways that we turn biological function into something spiritual, the ways that choice sometimes doesn't feel like enough. I think SJM could write this in an extremely compelling way if she chose to. Still, it calls mating bonds into question, with big implications for ACOTAR in particular. And, looking closer at HOSAB and ACOSF in particular, I think she's trying to do something different with the mating bond.

Let's start by looking at the arc of the relationship between Bryce and Hunt. Bryce starts off disparaging the mating bond, memorably saying: "And at least he’s not some psychotic alphahole who will demand a three-day sex marathon and then call me his mate, lock me in his house, and never let me out again ” (HOEAB, 32). She doesn't romanticize mates at all in HOEAB, and if this continued in HOSAB, I would have thought that this was ultimately the direction that SJM has chosen to go in.

Instead, we see Bryce and Hunt choosing to be mates and then, as their relationship grows and deepens, they become "true mates -- the way the Fae are mates, in [their] bodies and souls" (HOSAB, 492).

Beyond the beautiful fact that they choose each other before a biological function pulls them together, Bryce and Hunt seem to have a power that, when they wield it together, could bring down the Asteri. They are incredibly powerful individually, but together? They could remake their world.

If SJM wanted to, Bryce and Hunt could have fallen in love and had these complementary powers without being mates. They could have been a symbol of a new way of loving for her characters that was purely based on choice. Instead, choice and fate and biology all bring these two together. Bryce, who is skeptical of the mating bond, becomes enthusiastic when she decides on this relationship with Hunt, freely referring to him as her mate throughout HOSAB.

We also see her use similar language between the way the mating bond feels to Bryce and Hunt, to the way that Azriel experiences Gwyn's presence (see: the Bryce and Azriel bonus chapters in HOSAB and ACOSF, respectively). If SJM were pulling away from the mating bond, I don't know that she would be introducing such a possibility, and certainly not in such romantic terms.

If the mating bond were a symbol of oppression, we likely wouldn't see her introduce Danika's mate, particularly in the romantic context its presented, let alone the romance between Ruhn and Lidia that definitely seems like a mating bond based on everything we've seen before. Instead, these mating bonds actually strengthen the characters' resistance to the Asteri, creating a stronger possibility of a better world.

After all, love and community are poor tools for any authoritarian. It's why we see dictators vilify certain people groups. People are much easier to rule when they're separated, and a strong bond that makes mates sacrifice and choose each other doesn't seem to play into the Asteri's hands. Love simply could not be bred out of the Fae.

In the end, I think that, as messy as they are, the idea that the Mother/Urd gives these mating bonds, and the Asteri simply couldn't remove it, is going to be a through-line that not only leads to the incredible romance and thrilling twists we love so much, but freedom for our favorite characters in Midgard and Prythian.

HOUSE OF SKY AND BREATH CHARACTERS AS NEW GIRL QUOTES

I’m back again 😈😈

Sophie:

Hunt:

Ruhn:

Bryce:

Ithan: (and Syrinx)

Baxian:

Flynn:

Cormac:

Do we want more??

Lidia Cervos deserves the world and I will not elaborate

Actually, yes I will

(Huge spoilers ahead. Don’t read until you’ve finished HOSAB. Also, there are spoilers in the tags)

When Lidia was still Day and I read this, two things happened. First, the thought that Day = Lidia crossed my mind because of her thing with Pollux. And two, assuming that she was indeed Lidia, my heart fucking shattered because it meant that the poor woman had been putting up with a disgusting asswhole for the sake of learning information and passing it along for the greater good. And I was right.

This is just so fucking sad. Lidia had to picture Ruhn every time she slept with Pollux because she had no other way to endure it. Yes, their sex was consensual, but to a higher more spiritual level it didn’t feel like it. My heart completely broke for her at this and I’m so happy she’s got someone as caring as Ruhn in her life now. This whole scene was so bittersweet and Ruhn was the most attentive lover.

What Ruhn says here basically confirms what I thought—Lidia put herself through all of that for the bigger cause. I’m convinced that story she told Ruhn about the witch turned monster was in fact about herself. As Day, she kept telling him how she felt authentic with him and how he reminded her that there was good in the world. This is how that story ended:

And lastly, I’m 100% sure we’ll get a scene in the next book with either Lidia or Ruhn (or both) beating the shit out of Pollux like he deserves. That’d be super hot ngl.

I wanted to put this out there because I’m sure we’ll eventually get the usual “but Lidia is evil!1!” comments and I just needed to remind you that Lidia is a victim. Just like Hunt did questionable things when he answered to others, so did Lidia. Y’all aren’t about to vilify women for the same stuff men do, and when they do it they’re just “misunderstood” and they’re considered “hot morally-grey characters”. Not on my watch.

Plus in Sarah’s most recent live, she talked about how she loves writing those morally-grey characters. She says there are good people, like Hunt, who are forced to do terrible things and live with the consequences, but they’re not villains.

I’m confident this is the case with Lidia, so protect her at all costs 🗣🗣🗣

Flynn and Ariadne giving me Nessian vibes

Nessian

my 100% brutal and honest reaction to house of sky and breath after finishing it:

that book broke my back, cured my ear infection, cleared my skin, gave me more acne, killed me with a heart attack, revived me with lightning, spit in my face, and slapped me on the ass and said "good game"

and i wouldn't have it any other way

HOSAB SPOILERS

I’ve just finished CC2 and I have so many theories I need to get off my chest.

1 - I think the Asteri are the same species as the gods are in the ToG world. The ToG gods mentioned being trapped in the ToG world and wanted to find a way back to their home world which I tick is Midgard (CC world) and that the Asteri and the gods were all part of that plot to find food (??) but got trapped when the northern rift closed.

I don’t think they are Valg as the firstlight feeding thing doesn’t match what we learned about them in ToG.

Aelin didn’t send the gods back to their homeworld but instread trapped them in a hellscape where they were destroyed, which i think is Hel and they wee killed by the princes of Hel.

2-I hope we get to see the ToG characters again (even if its a little cameo). We now know that the shifters are descendants from the same Fae that Rowan and Aelin are and I think the witches are from that world too, from back in CC1 when they mentioned worshipping a three faced goddess like the watched in ToG.

3 - I think Queen Theia is the High Queen of Prynthia that was mentioned in ACOSF and she took Gwydion and Truth-Teller with her to Midgard. She had two daughters one of which is Ruhn’s ancestor who kept the Starsword (Gwydion) in Midguard which was thought lost in ACOTAR world. Theia’s other daughter went missing, I think she travelled back to Prynthia with Truth-Teller and either she herself or one of her descendants married a High Lord of the Night Court which is why Ruhn and Rhys look so similar. Truth-Teller could if been passed through the family line until Rhys or his father gave it to Azriel.

I have a few more theories about Bryce’s tattoo being written in Wyrdmarks and maybe the holy language Amren mentioned could be what her world called Wyrdmarks

I’m just wondering about everyone else’s theories .

This is referring to ERILEA. I'm losing my mind.

Throne of Glass Series

Elide Lochan & Lorcan Salvaterre

Lorcan reached out, grasping her chin and forcing her to look at him. Hopeless, bleak eyes met his. He brushed away a stray tear with his thumb. “I made a promise to protect you. I will not break it, Elide.” “I will always find you,” he swore to her. Her throat bobbed. Lorcan whispered, “I promise.”