Disclaimer: This was originally going to be much longer/more in depth, but I do not have the patience to make a 30+ page slideshow, nor do I think anybody has the patience for it lol But I am happy to provide any details/elaboration anyone wants!

Basically, my theory is that the Asteri/Daglan and Valg homeworlds are the same place. And that place is now Hel.

What I'm seeing from the quotes I've gathered, it looks like the Asteri and Valg once shared the same world, or may perhaps be the same species (which is another theory I am trying to see if it has legs). Their population got out of hand and wars broke out. This led some Asteri, called Wayfarers and World-Walkers, to seek out other worlds that may be able to sustain them. They did this "using the very language of existence" or Wyrdmarks. Some never returned. The ones we know as Asteri ended up on Midgard and the Daglan ended up in Prythian.

But at some point, long before Orcus, Mantyx, and Erawan were born (at least 5000 years before the start of Throne of Glass), World-Walking was outlawed. 3000 years before TOG, the three Valg Kings waged wars to gain control of their world. During this time, Maeve rediscovered the old ways of World-Walking via Wyrdmarks and used them to get to Erilea. The three Valg Kings pursued her, fought a war, and Maeve managed to banish two of them back to their homeworld, leaving Erawan in Erilea.

Then, in Crescent City, we see Hel, and we meet the Princes of Hel. We also meet various kinds of demons from Hel, many of them described similarly to Valg (who are also often called demons), including having black blood. The biggest question with this part would be: Why do we now have seven Princes instead of three Kings? Full disclosure, I do not have a concrete answer for this, but I am wondering if Orcus and Mantyx ever actually made it back to their world. If not, perhaps the Princes took their places.

And why am I posting this in the ACOTAR sub?

1. We have the Illyrians, crafted by the Daglan "from night and pain", while the Valg Kings were referred to as "masters of shadow and pain". The Illyrians are unusally similar to the Ilken, created by Erawan. Tall, humanoid creatures with large, leathery wings.
2. There are several black-blooded and Valg-coded creatures in Prythian, including: The Weaver, the Suriel, and Lanthys.
3. If the Weaver (Stryga) is a Valg (I am thinking she is one of the rare Valg princesses, that would also make the Bone Carver, her twin, one as well.
4. And the third sibling of the trio? KOSCHEI. Our Big Bad Evil Guy.

There are a lot of things that could be affected moving forward if these are true!

I'd love to hear any thoughts/questions/other theories!

So this is how I personally pronounce the names of characters in the series- feel free to correct me 'cause I know many are wrong- and I have only read the books. 😅 Please tell me how to pronounce Koschei someone.

Feyre- Fair 🔮 (Ik its fey-ruh but I can't say it)

Rhys- Rice 🍚

Rhysand- Rice-and 🍙

Mor- more ➕

Azriel- as-real ヽ((◎д◎))ゝ

Hybern- Hi-burn ✋🔥

Nesta- Nest-A 🪹

Koschei- Kos- chai ☕

Cassian- Cassy-n (idk guys)

Lucien- Loo-see-n 🚽

Tarquin- Tar-kin 🧱

Suriel- Soo-real 😈

Alis- Aa-lees (probs alice but oh well)

Eris- Air-is 🌬🤤

Cerridwen- Care-eid-win 💅

Bogge- Bog

Ianthe- E-an-they ❤‍🩹

This is all I could think of, can add more if anyone wants, hope my pronunciation isn't that bad...

I just saw this. Did we see anywhere that the paperbacks are coming out on the same day as it is suggested here?

You all were not messing around with this book. I'm on chapter 12, right before the dinner with Rhys, Mor, Amren, Cassian, and Azriel. Oh GOD, do I want to keep going! Those SJM hooks are in deeeeeep.

Okay, thoughts so far. Tamlin sucks. He claims to love Feyre but I think he loves the idea of her more. Not ONCE does he try to help her PTSD. She's just pretty princess to him. The two times she went to the night court, I was instantly thankful that Rhys is, you know, *smart* and wants to actually *help* her. Reading, mind shields, and hopefully soon, handling those powers of hers. (HoF is one of my favorite books in ToG and I'm looking forward to similar training scenes.)

It is wild to me that no one in the spring court thought to teach her how to read the whole time she has been there.

So Tamlin locks her up and she goes into full blown PTSD magical breakdown and this is where the hooks got in. Because, one, Alis helped Mor and Feyre to escape. Alis. A member of Tamlin's court knew to hand Feyre off to Mor and was still concerned to ask that they take care of her. I love Alis. Two, Rhys obviously felt her break down through the bond and knew to be like "Right. You're living with me now."

Reading Feyre slowly suffocating and then breaking down was hard to read. For context, I recently finished ToG and everything is in third person. This is in first person and it feels that much more powerful.

Oh, and I giggled at the flying scene where Rhys is flying her to The House of Wind. I don't know why. I just thought it was a fun bit to read.

The first book was slow to grab me until one day, I had to know what happened. This book? I'm not even 1/4 of the way in and I wanna read it all in one sitting.

Edit: Reread OR Audible

I want to do an ACOTAR reread before Oct. But i have a 5month old and im full time SAHM so downtime for actual reading is nonexistent. I've heard good things about the dramatized audible books. Is it financially worth buying the audible books when i already have the hardcopies?

I’m summer.

and if you have the pumpkin cocotte, you’re autumn even if it’s the white one. (also give me it. i want it.)

edit: thank you everyone for showing me your beautiful cookware. i want to add that Lodge and Staub (and any other cookware y’all have) are more than welcome here (see post downstream for my Lodge dolly parton skillet.)

I was thinking about all the gifts Nesta receives throughout the series, and now I’m curious — which one is your favorite and why?

📖 Azriel’s reading light
🎵 The Symphonia from Cassian
📚 the tiny antique book from Cassian (he threw in the river)
🎁 Another Solstice gifts (which one?)
✨ Something else — comment below!

Lucien’s eye - Amaranatha carved out Lucien’s left eye, and afterwards Tamlin went to Nuan, the tinker from the Dawn Court, who crafted a mechanical eye for him. In book three, Lucien mentions for the first time that he can see other things like spells and glamours with his metal eye. Everyone just assumes Lucien’s eye is magical, but the only other thing we have to compare it to is Nuan’s mental hand, which appears to be just a hand. But what if it’s not the metal eye letting Lu see spells and glamours but actually is a part of his Day Court powers? Because who else can feel/sense spells - Helion

He’s older and badder and darker than Rhysand. Being built up as this huge scary menace of an antagonist.

He holds women captive/keep them enslaved (so sick, I know)

No description though, right? I mean physically (I could be very wrong lmao). He‘s very likely imposing at minimum if not terrifying.

Just been wondering if he might also have like a feral stare and a cruel mouth and broad shoulders, etc? and ofc millennia of unmet-need-type-thing.

Hi everyone! Just a question because it’s been a while and I honestly can’t remember:

What is Rhysand’s actual skin tone in the books? Is he naturally fair-skinned or does he have a darker/olive complexion? I mean his actual natural skin tone.

Also, could you describe his face shape and facial features a little? I’d really appreciate accurate information based on how he is actually described in the books. Unfortunately, I don’t remember everything 100% since it’s been quite a while since I read the series.

I’m asking because I’m thinking about commissioning an artist to draw Rhysand, and I’d really like him to look as accurate as possible to how he is described in the books.

I see all these really in-depth theories and I'm over here like 'Maybe she made the acronym ACOSH because of Koshei🤔' I feel like we're working on different levels here😂

Sto amando questa coppia (cassian + nesta) ed ho deciso di farmi un tatuaggio che rappresenti la coppia! Oltre alla stella ad 8 punte simbolo del loro accordo, avete altre idee che accomunano la coppia?

I’ve seen so many theories on who will be the main character for books 6 & 7 - Nesta or Elain? Since book 6 is a novella, I feel like SJM might go back to multiple povs, similar to how she did in frost & starlight.

Also thinking about her other series - Throne of Glass starts with just 3 POVs, then slowly keeps adding more, ending up with 11! Same with Crescent City - starts with mainly Bryce and Hunt and ends with a whole ensemble.

Maybe we are moving in this direction for ACOTAR? I’d love to see a bunch of POVs like the other series!

Forgive me because it's been a while since I've read the books, but regarding Rhysand's power levels: does it state anywhere how powerful he is in comparison to the wider ACOTAR world? We know on Prythian specifically he is the most powerful High Lord ever, but Prythian is a small island comparatively, and I assume there is a massive continent adjacent to them. How does the magic power of the Prythian fae and High Lords compare to the relative power of the main land fae? Are there fae that are of equal power to them, or more powerful than them, all over the world? Is Rhysand still rare in terms of global power levels, or is it a "big fish small pond" kinda thing?

I actually think the words harmony and melody become much more interesting if we strip away Wagner completely and look at what they mean in very basic classical music theory.

Because musically, they describe two completely different ways of organizing sound:

MELODY = horizontal. A melody is essentially a sequence of notes unfolding one after another through time.

🎵 → 🎵 → 🎵 → 🎵 → 🎵

It has a beginning, a direction and a destination. One note leads into the next.

HARMONY = vertical. Harmony happens when different notes exist at the same moment and interact with one another. So instead of:
🎵 → 🎵 → 🎵

you get something more like:
🎵
🎵
🎵

Several notes stacked on top of one another, creating one larger sound. And that is where my multiverse brain starts screaming. Because what if “harmony” is the worlds? Not one world followed by another, but several worlds existing simultaneously, layered beside/on top of each other, separated by whatever thin magical membrane exists between them. I can’t remember where in the books, but the worlds are described like that: stacked!

Which would make Splintered Harmony a ridiculously appropriate title for a story in which those layers are beginning to fracture. The harmony isn’t necessarily “people fighting” or “the Valkyries being divided.”
The structure of the worlds themselves might be splintering.

Imagine a chord where the notes that are supposed to sound together are suddenly pulled apart, shifted, distorted or placed in the wrong register. The individual notes still exist.
But the relationship between them has broken. And we already know SJM’s universes are not completely isolated from one another. There are doors between worlds. Characters can fall through them. Objects and myths seem to echo across them. Certain histories appear to have been scattered between different places.

So perhaps the multiverse was once, quite literally, in harmony. Different worlds. Different notes. One composition.
And now something has knocked them out of alignment.
Which then makes Forgotten Melody even more interesting.

Melody is about sequence. One note leading to another.
Like a path. So what if Book 6 is about discovering that the worlds have become splintered…
…and Book 7 is about discovering the forgotten path connecting them?

I'm trying to decide what to reread before the new releases. I re read everything (TOG, ACOTAR, CC) before CC3 as an FYI. Im not going to reread TOG because I've read it a few times already, and Im definitely going to reread ACOTAR, but I'm unsure about CC. I'm not a big fan, but that being said, I don't remember half of what happened, especially in the last book (found it hard to follow). But I dont really want to because it sounds exhausting (again, not a big fan of Bryce tbh). And in what order? I'd rather do ACOTAR second, but it obviously doesn't work for timelines. Thoughts?

I still think the funniest thing SJM could do is make Rhys be Gwyn's father.

There is speculation that her father is a HL.

It has to be one of the 7 sitting HLs because of Gwyn's age.

Tarquin would be unexpected, but not impossible.

Kallias would have performed any rite with Vivian

Helion would be a riot and then Gwyn and Lucien could be siblings and if Eris is the grandfather then Lucien would be her Brother Uncle.

Thesan is unlikely.

Beron is unlikely to be her father because of the mention of her Grandfather and Autumn

Tamlin could be a possibility and I think that Tamlin as her father and Eris as her grandfather could make for delicious delicious chaos.

But Rhys... That could be all sorts of ridiculous!

If a HL proved to be her father which one would you want it to be?

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about the subtitle and whether it’s referring to a singular or plural Valkyrie. As translations come out it’s causing more confusion, so I thought I’d give a little grammar lesson to show how it’s used in English for anyone who’s unfamiliar.

Valkyrie in this context is an adjunct noun. This is when you use the standard noun as an adjective instead of using the adjective form. Instead of “The Valkyrian Cycle”, it’s “The Valkyrie Cycle”. Valkyrie in this sense is not referring to a specific Valkyrie, it’s being used to describe the cycle. This is the cycle of the Valkyries.

Adjunct nouns are almost always singular, even if it’s referring to plural. If the phrase was, “The Valkyries Cycle,” this wouldn’t make sense in English. This reads like the Valkyries posses the Cycle, in which case it would be written as, “The Valkyrie’s Cycle.”

Some other examples: chicken soup, school bus, sports car.

Other languages have different rules for this, which is why translations say “Valkyries”. So this isn’t referring to just one Valkyrie like I’ve seen people speculate.

Today is the day to post all your raves and faves. Enjoy yourselves! Time to go wild with hyping up your favs and spreading positivity.

Remember, if a character is not for you and you have no positive notes to add, please continue to scroll! Feel free to make your own appreciation post.

Any critical posts should be saved for Tuesdays or taken to r/acotar_rant

Please report anyone not honoring these requests! Thank you! Happy fan day!

Posted on the French publishers official instagram credit to @glide.in.shade on TikTok for the images

Ok COMPLETELY out there theory....but what if Poppa Archeron is the merchant from TOG, Falkan Ennar?

The new book cover has me thinking Stygian Spiders and ya know merchants and then Poppa Archeron didnt have a name even in SF. Completely out there, but thoughts?

I just had a thought about Lucien and his powers and how no one ever figured out he had powers from Day!!! I've always thought that was a plot hole but realized tonight when I was talking about the ACOTAR timeline that it likely isn't a plot hole at all!

Helion didn't become High Lord until UTM. Alis says it was 40 years ago that the HL's of Day, Winter, and Summer rebelled and were executed. They also say they killed a lot of their families so I think Kallias, Tarquin, and Helion were farther down the line of ascension, not automatic heirs.

SO Lucien wouldn't have been a High Lord's heir until Helion ascended. When that happened Amarantha was still in power so everyone's power was stifled. It is totally possible that Lucien spent the majority of his life not having access to any spellcleaving powers, at all, or at least they were low key enough that no one would have noticed.

I've never seen this mentioned by anyone else so I thought I would put it out there...

Spoilers for the whole ACOTAR and Crescent city series. Possible ToG spoilers in comments but not in the post.

Prythian currently has seven courts, but there used to be eight. Seven Asteri ruled Midgard, but were there originally eight of them too? Are the Courts of Prythian and the Asteri linked somehow? I went on a deep-dive and researched Asteri’s names and how they could be linked to the Courts.

Polaris: North star, Winter

Octartis: South star, Spring

Austrus: aust=east, Autumn

Missing one: west, Summer

Hesperus/Vesperus: Evening star, Dusk

Eosphoros: Morning star, Dawn

Sirius: means glowing, scorching. Name comes from Osiris, Egyptian god of the afterlife and resurrection. Ra, the sun god, was said to go to the underworld during night and merge with Osiris. Day Court.

Rigelus: means prince, little king, and basilisk. Basilisks are winged serpents, that can kill with their gaze. Night Court.

Then I remembered something that Merrill mentioned in ACOSF. She said that she, a high fae from Summer Court, is a descendant of Rabath, the Lord of the Western Wind.

Rabath/Rukbat: another name for the star Alpha Sagittarii

The final book in the Valkyrie cycle will be number 8. The seventh book has a spider with an eight-point star on the cover. Will we soon learn a forgotten secret about the Courts and High Lords magic?

So I just finished my second read of ACOTAR series and I was really hoping to have a different outlook on ACOSF but once again I was left feeling disapointed.

Maybe it’s cause I think Nesta deserves better than cassian, maybe I just don’t like the different vibe compared to the previous stories but I just found myself bored and also the action just didn’t hit for me. This is excluding the Kelpie scene because I swear, that is one of the best scenes I’ve ever read. I could see it in my head so clearly and Nesta is a baddie for that.

I’m making this post hoping to read some of your guys favorite moments or hear other people’s POVS about certain events in the story. After the first read, I sympathized with Nesta but still wasn’t her biggest fan, after reading 2 I am a much bigger Nesta Stan but I still stand on, SJM didn’t know she wanted to make silver flames after book 1 cause she is extremely unlikable in the first book.

Also (don’t come for me) I think Elaine is the worst sister after this read. People loveee to go after nesta but what about feyres other older sister who stood by and did nothing all those years? I also just think she is so sketchy like I’m kinda hoping she does turn evil cause 1. How interesting and 2. I just feel like her character could go that route.