Biggest Questions After Reading ‘a Court of Splintered Harmony’

“ACOTAR” followers, assemble.

On Tuesday, Bloomsbury printed “A Court of Splintered Harmony,” the sixth ebook in Sarah J. Maas‘ “A Court docket of Thorns and Roses” sequence. The ebook is a component one in every of “The Valkyrie Cycle,” which is able to proceed with elements two and three in “A Court docket of Forgotten Melody,” popping out on January 12, 2027. Maas has but to announce a title or launch date for half 4.

Since “ACOSH” was only the start of a bigger story, virtually no conflicts had been resolved by the top, leaving beloved characters like Feyre, Rhysand, Nesta, and Azriel in turmoil.

Maas will seemingly tie up a few of these plots in ebook seven or eight, however followers must ponder their favourite characters’ fates whereas they anticipate the next book.

Within the meantime, take a look at a few of the largest questions “ACOTAR” fans could have after ending “A Court docket of Splintered Concord” — and potential solutions from Maas’ different sequence, “Crescent Metropolis” and “Throne of Glass.”

Spoilers for all three of Maas’ sequence forward.

Why is Bryaxis totally different?

In one of the crucial dramatic scenes in “ACOSH,” the massive unhealthy monster Bryaxis returns to Velaris. She crashes Feyre and Rhysand’s son Nyx’s naming day ceremony, tormenting the attendees with visions of their worst fears.

Bryaxis has at all times been terrifying to the fae, as she feeds on folks’s fears, however after the assault, Rhys remarks that she appears “totally different than when she escaped after the conflict. Darker.”

It is arduous to not see what he is saying. In “A Court of Wings and Ruin,” Bryaxis helped Feyre when she realized she was Excessive Girl of the Evening Court docket, seeming to really feel some affinity to the courtroom, however in “ACOSH,” she preyed on Feyre and her buddies gleefully.

Rhysand provides that he thinks Koschei’s emergence could also be associated to Bryaxis’ change, although he gives no proof. Is Koschei or another being influencing her? Or is Bryaxis totally different just because she’s seen the world exterior the library?

What did everybody see when Bryaxis attacked?

Maas solely exhibits Bryaxis’ assault from Feyre, Azriel, and Nesta’s views, and their fears are fairly ghastly.

Feyre is afraid of Nyx being tortured or taken from her, whereas Azriel sees himself hurting everybody he loves. Nesta’s tormented with every thing from the Cauldron to Cassian rejecting her earlier than she will be able to pull herself out of Bryaxis’ maintain.

These fears provide perception into what every character goes by means of, so it is intriguing that Maas retains the visions Bryaxis exhibits Rhysand, Cassian, Amren, Mor, Elain, Lucien, and Emerie a thriller.

After all, followers can hazard a guess at what a few of these characters could have seen. Emerie could possibly be having visions of her father clipping her wings, whereas Rhysand has made clear Feyre and Nyx are his precedence all through the novel. Amren is heard whispering to herself, “You survived it; you bought by means of it,” suggesting she noticed visions of the jail or the Cauldron. The Cauldron might have been a concern for Elain too.

The thriller leaves us with an excellent larger query: What is going to these characters do to maintain these fears from coming true?

What’s Feyre’s plan?

Bryaxis’ assault has already pushed one character into motion: Feyre, who says the incident was “a present,” as she “knew now what I needed to do. And I didn’t concern it in any respect.”

Bryaxis’ return helped the Excessive Girl hatch a plan for the way to deal with the demise god Koschei and defend the people within the fae realms, two issues she and Rhysand had been at a loss for the way to clear up after their allies declined to assist them. Feyre even asks her mate to make himself Excessive King as an answer, a proposition he soundly rejects.

Feyre does not reveal any particulars about her new plan earlier than the ebook ends, although it could have one thing to do with the sword Gwydion.

After Nesta tries to present it to her, Feyre tells her sister to maintain it “till the blood actually wants to start spilling,” pondering to herself, “Till I did exactly what I wanted to do.”

Perhaps she thinks her plan will result in violence. Contemplating she tried to storm the library to kill Bryaxis, it appears she’ll do absolutely anything to guard Nyx.

Who’s the fae warrior who trapped Koschei?

The demise god Koschei does not seem on web page in the novel, and it is unclear what creatures or characters he could also be controlling, from Bryaxis to the royals from different fae realms.

Most intriguing of the mysteries surrounding him, although, will be the id of the fae warrior who trapped him. The Bone Carver first revealed that his brother was contained within the lake by an historic fae warrior in “A Court docket of Wings and Destroy,” saying the warrior’s id had been forgotten by historical past however that her bloodline continues to be current in some human households.

And in “ACOSH,” Vassa revealed that she and the opposite girls Koschei has trapped with him are all descendants of that warrior.

“Throne of Glass” could provide clues about who that fae warrior is. The Bone Carver informed Feyre that he and his siblings are from one other world, and there simply so occurs to be a world-walking creature trapped in a lake in “Inheritor of Fireplace.” Is Maas organising new connections within the Maasiverse?

What’s the extent of Elain’s powers?

If you happen to spent the 5 years between “ACOTAR” releases dreaming of studying extra about Elain, you are going to must dream just a little longer.

Maas kept Elain’s inside ideas a thriller in “ACOSH,” so the reader does not understand how she feels about Azriel, Lucien, or her place within the Evening Court docket.

In addition they know little or no about Elain’s Seer powers, which she gained in “A Court docket of Mist and Fury” and confirmed she nonetheless has in “ACOSH.” We by no means truly see her use them, although, making the powers all of the extra obscure.

However Elain could have hinted she had a imaginative and prescient within the ebook. After her disastrous tryst with Azriel, she tells her sisters, “I assumed I might discovered my place, thought I had a future with Azriel, however…” She is likely to be uncertain how she feels about Azriel, however the remark may additionally imply she had a imaginative and prescient exhibiting her that she and the shadowsinger wouldn’t be collectively.

And with Elain repeatedly saying phrases like “I am not speculated to be right here” and “I can not be right here” concerning the Evening Court docket, it is arduous to not suppose she is aware of extra concerning the future than she’s letting on.

What is the cope with Azriel’s shadows?

Readers study so much about Azriel’s shadows in “ACOSH,” from how they discovered him as a baby to their weather-detecting talents (sounds useful in a world with out climate apps). Nonetheless, a few of their behaviors stay a thriller, like why they repeatedly keep away from Elain.

In the book, Azriel’s shadows refuse to be in the identical room as Elain. Azriel sees their absence as “a present,” although he winds up in hassle due to their absence twice within the novel: throughout Bryaxis’ assault on the naming day ceremony and when Lucien catches him and Elain collectively.

His shadows additionally keep away from Erebos, a shadowy humanoid who pledged his service to Azriel due to his shadowsinger talents. Many followers are suspicious of Erebos, who’s described as having “golden eyes that simmered like sizzling coals.” You is likely to be further suspicious in case you’ve learn “Empire of Storms” within the “TOG” sequence, through which one other character’s “golden eyes simmered like sizzling coals” (yep, simmering coals once more): the Valg King Erawan. After all, the phrase could possibly be a coincidence, or it could possibly be one other signal of the Maasiverse increasing.

Erebos could also be related to “Crescent Metropolis,” too. He tells Azriel that he might hear his blade, Fact-Teller, sing, as Bryce Quinlan might in “House of Flame and Shadow.”

Again to the shadows, although. Azriel appears to see it as an indication of Erebos’ darkness that his shadows cringe from the creature, at the same time as he views their avoidance of Elain as a constructive.

In the meantime, Azriel’s shadows are drawn to the priestess and Valkyrie warrior Gwyn within the textual content. They race towards her after they hear her singing within the Home of Wind and “lingered at her toes, peering up at her” till Azriel summons them again to himself. What do Azriel’s shadows actually know concerning the folks round him?

We additionally study within the ebook that Azriel has by no means let his shadows use his full energy out of concern of what they might do, so even he does not know what they’re actually able to.

What’s Nesta’s connection to the misplaced Nightfall Court docket?

On the finish of “ACOSH,” Nesta winnows to the jail with the sword Gwydion at Amren’s behest, however the scene leaves the reader with extra questions than solutions about Nesta’s future.

First, when she arrives on the jail, Nesta asks herself, “Had the bone gates at all times towered so excessive? Had the darkness inside at all times been so thick?” It is seemingly the house appears to be like barely totally different to her as a result of she’s afraid, however some followers suppose it is potential Nesta world-walked unintentionally.

Likewise, after Nesta enters the gate, Gwydion lights up — after which disappears. Nesta does not know the place it went or why earlier than the book ends, however once more, “Crescent Metropolis” could provide clues.

Gwydion was on Midgard, the place it was generally known as the Starsword, for 15,000 years earlier than Bryce gave it to Nesta on the finish of “HOFAS.” To bear the Starsword, Starborn Fae on Midgard historically enter the Cave of Princes on a misty island referred to as Avallen and try and retrieve it (Bryce says the tunnels within the cave are almost equivalent to these in Prythian). It is potential Gwydion is placing Nesta by means of the identical trial, disappearing till she proves herself worthy of wielding it.

All these questions additionally relate to the revelation that the jail was as soon as the Nightfall Court docket, an eighth courtroom in Prythian. Bryce started to awaken its former life earlier than she returned to Midgard in “HOFAS,” although it nonetheless appears to be like just like the jail at first of “ACOSH.” Will Nesta end reviving the courtroom? And did Amren sense that it was Nesta’s path when she inspired her to go inside it with Gwydion?

“ACOSH” additionally did not present any closure on the Made merchandise within the sea in entrance of the jail that referred to as “discover me” to Nesta (and seemingly Rhysand).

Is there spidersilk in Prythian?

In the novel, the Excessive Priestess Clotho makes and presents Rhysand and Feyre “a braided, silvery piece of material” to bind them to Nyx throughout his naming day ceremony. Nesta describes the material as glistening and delicate, and Clotho says it is one in every of a sort. It additionally retains Rhys and Feyre tethered to their son all through the assault, indicating its energy.

Later, Lucien notices the “extraordinary silver thread” in a tapestry that hangs in Feyre’s residence, including that “it grew to become a river of sunshine” when he checked out it by means of his magical eye.

Each descriptions of the silver material are much like these of the spidersilk that seems in the “Throne of Glass” series. Made by the huge Stygian spiders — who’re Valg handmaidens and foot troopers — the silk is described “as delicate as gossamer, lovelier than silk, and stronger than metal” in “The Murderer’s Blade.”

Plus, the quilt of “A Court docket of Forgotten Melody” encompasses a spider with a spool of material under it. That imagery might characterize a Stygian spider, and fae and different magical creatures from “Throne of Glass” could also be influencing the occasions of “ACOTAR.”

It would not be a complete shock if Maas additional integrated “TOG” into the world of “ACOTAR.” Characters associated to each sequence seem in “Crescent Metropolis,” and a personality from “TOG” briefly falls by means of the sky in Prythian throughout the occasions of “A Court docket of Silver Flames.”

We’ll have to attend till January 2027 to see what Maas has deliberate.