u/cassidy_taylor

🎨 @Jrtart_, @Fefeiry, @Shinkxart 🙂‍↕️⚔️💖

“What if there’s a knife out there for me?”

Bryce said, “Yoink!”

“…on behalf of all the Starborn Princes before me. This is yours.”

“No words had ever sounded so right. Nor had anything felt so right as when Bryce took the Starsword from him, a formal claiming, and weighed it in her hands.”

“Ruhn watched his sister glance between the Starsword and Truth-Teller, one blade blazing with starlight, the other with darkness.”

“‘But you know …’ She patted Truth-Teller’s hilt. ‘Some things might be different these days.’ Hunt could have sworn the Starsword hummed faintly, as if in answer.” 🙂‍↔️

“…they lack Theia’s connection to the weapons. Since the Starsword and the knife were both Made by Theia at the same moment, their bond has always linked them.”

Bryce: “…the light of the true Starborn Queen.”

Just like Dusk: “Alone. It was so alone—it had been waiting all this time.“ (For the Queen to return! 🌄)

It’s Cinderella’s slipper: That’s why Azriel isn’t seen asking about Truth-Teller in the Ember and Randall bonus. This is so much bigger than “just” Bryce and Azriel’s bonded weapons… “It felt like…like an answer.”

“Bryce is a stranger! Bryce is an ‘alien!’ Bryce has nothing to do with ACOTAR! Wrong franchise!” …

Oh man, Bryce haters are going to be so caught off guard 🙈✴️

“…that star will lead us back to [Prythian].”

Show vs tell (every time!)

“Quinlar and Athalar are mates. She will return to this world because of that bond. And when she does, she will go straight to him.”

“…the portal had opened to Aidas that day, that it was because they were mates—their souls had found each other across galaxies, linking them that fateful day, as if the mating bond between them was indeed some physical thing.”

“And then the light from Nesta’s silver flame winked out as the gate shut above Bryce, nothing but darkness surrounding her as she plunged deeper and deeper into the pit. Toward home.”

“…to come here, to play this game, rather than to will the portal to take her right to Hunt.”

When does Bryce unintentionally (just like the last High Queen searching for help against the Asteri!) cross galaxies?? Going straight to your mate, when world-walking? Imagine…

“With the Starsword in hand, she’d gone right to Truth-Teller, landing on that lawn mere feet away from Azriel and the dagger. Bryce winced down at the blades.”

Bryce’s first word to Azriel: “Aidas.”

“She told me once, when I marveled at our luck that the portal had opened to Aidas that day…”

Aidas: “Make the Drop, Bryce Quinlan…and come find me when you’re done.”

Part One of HOFAS: The Drop

“Only the dagger—and Azriel wielding it—had been there.“

“An answer.”

“The King of Avallen was still blazing with hate when Bryce slid Truth-Teller into his heart.”

“And as she rose to her feet, it was a Fae Queen who stood before Ruhn, wreathed in starlight, unflinching before her enemies.”

🎨 Art by @Gonzalom.art 🌟⚔️

Bryce is The Chosen One, but she’ll always need her guardians (as much as they need her): She’s the leader [the ultimate source of power in the universe] and shining beacon of Hope, and they’re the defenders of the Solar System [their destinies are inextricably linked!!]

We’re still uncovering history from 15,000+ years ago, but it’s clear Theia didn’t have the, “Badass Female” group Bryce is currently putting together!! That’s why the “unfinished game,” will be different this time around!!

⚔️ Girls will save the world ⚔️

Elain: “I hope they all burn in hell.”

Mor: “A ray of sunshine…even the darkness seemed to slither away.”

Vassa: “She’s got a foul temper and a fouler mouth.”

Emerie: “Emerie had drifted a few feet away, her back straight, chin upraised. He’d seen Nesta in that particular pose, too. He called it her I Will Slay My Enemies pose.”

Gwyn: “Your story is worth telling, you know.”

Amren: “That’s the key, isn’t it? To know the darkness will always remain, but how you choose to face it, handle it … that’s the important part. To not let it consume. To focus upon the good, the things that fill you with wonder.”

Bryce: “…had been to Urd’s Temple in Moonwood all of one time since moving to Crescent City years ago. She and Juniper had drunkenly taken a cab over here one night during college to make an offering to the goddess of fate to make sure their destinies were epic. Literally, that was what she’d said.” ✨✨

“And though she knew it was dumb to open up, to show any vulnerability…” (…Continues to connect with Azriel through some of their deepest trauma!!) ✨

🎨 Art!! @Aiphos.s, @Mftfernandez, @Celestarly, @Moon.Soffi, @Madschofield, @Dovepuke, @Yuhimebarbara, (last slide, artist unknown!) ✨✨

Bryce possesses a scar over her heart caused by the light within…

Azriel possesses scars on his hands created in a “lightless, airless” prison…

The sword of light, and the knife in the dark (“Alpha and Omega”) 🌟🦇

“…it was a day of balance between the light and dark, when the veil between the living and dead was thinnest.”

“Male and female, dark and light, above and below … and the power that lies in the place where they meet.”

“Such light and darkness—the power lay in the meeting of the two of them. [Bryce] understood it now…”

“Light and darkness. Life and death. Where do I fit in?”

Twilight: “Nightfall…That liminal space between light and dark, when one force yielded to another. When she would open the portal…”

“She’d seen them during their first encounter on that misty riverbank, but had forgotten until now. She’d never seen such extensive burn scars.”

“He reached for her hand, her starlight washing over the golden skin of his own hands … and the scars there. Covering every inch.”

“May it be a light [Eärendil’s star; Bryce is a Silmaril] to you in dark places, when all other lights go out." — J.R.R. Tolkien

🌠 “The eight-pointed star…Midgard.” ✨

🌠 “The eight-pointed star…the very heart…” ✨

🌠 “That star on her chest” 🌟

🎨 Art!! @Renoodle_studio, @S.w.e.n.n, @TinyHoomanArt, Manhwa: Secret Lady 🔥

Wait, is this fucking play about us?

Bryce’s power being based off “Prima Materia” in alchemy (pretty clear from the sheer number of alchemy pins saved in SJM’s old Pinterest) — World Soul — was first spotted by u/bellire!! 💗

“That there abides in nature a certain pure matter, which, being discovered and brought by art to perfection, converts to itself proportionally all imperfect bodies that it touches." (Firstlight!!)

Synth (synthetic): “It’s synthetic magic…It started off as an aid for healing, but someone apparently realized that in super-concentrated doses, it can give humans strength greater than most Vanir. For short bursts, but it’s potent. They’ve tried to make it for centuries, but it seemed impossible. Most people thought it was akin to alchemy—just as unlikely as turning something into gold. But apparently modern science made it work this time.”

“Synth will make you feel like a god…” (huge hint about the nature of Bryce’s power!)

“But Bryce gets her power from an Asteri!” 🧐🧐 Let’s see:

“Light met light and yet—Rigelus’s starlight wasn’t light at all. It was power, yes. But it was firstlight. It was the power of Midgard. Of the people.”

“His light was not his own. His light had been stolen from the people of Midgard.”

“Without the firstlight, without the people of Midgard and every other planet they’d bled dry … without the power of the people, these Asteri fuckers were nothing.”

“The Asteri claim their powers are from holy stars inside themselves, but they can physically manipulate things with that light. Kill and destroy. Is starlight that can shatter rock actually light? Everything they’ve told us is basically a lie, so it’s possible they don’t have stars inside them at all—that it’s merely bright magic that looks like a star, and they called it a holy star to wow everyone.”

(Bryce’s magic by birthright is Theia’s starlight; she has magic of her own; the Daglan are alien leeches who do not have magic of their own — they ruled for thousands and thousands of years through lies meant to subjugate and demoralize the magical populace!!) 🥴

Like u/soft_bookworm explains, it’s an ancient (godly) power enemies believed was permanently extinguished millennia ago!!

🌈 “The light of the true Starborn Queen” (Midgard is the symbolic Glass Coffin, where everyone thought Theia’s power died…except it was only “asleep,” and now, Bryce has awoken it) 🌈

“…the soul of this world.”

“…the island had a soul that now blossomed under her care.”

“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…”

“The heart of all things Starborn…”

Theia’s story carved in “Bryce’s mountain” spirals toward one point — Bryce is still at the heart of this narrative!! Nesta and Cassian no longer have their temporary tattoos; only Bryce’s star (“Theia’s whole power”) remains… ✴️

“To the heart of that beautiful, living map”

Midgard is the Middle, the center, the “melting pot,” …the fun’s just started 😏😏

“You are the Chosen One — you alone can stop them.”

Destiny? Who? What? I don’t know her (Buffy is so Bryce) 💀

“…[Hunt’s] face was stony, dark eyes wary.”

“Don’t we all need something to laugh about?”

“Bryce didn’t want to think about it…so she tucked it away, along with all the other thoughts that plagued her about what had gone down this fall.”

“‘Where’d you go?’ Hunt asked, Bryce blinked. ‘Huh?’”

(Redirect) “Bryce snorted and lifted a baby-one bawling from inside a pea pod — and dangled it in front of Hunt’s face.”

ACOTAR ends with the “happy ending;” Feyre survives, and Tamlin “her home’s” curse is broken; Prythian is free!! But what follows… it’s the same picture 📸

“Hello, Feyre darling.”

“Where is Bryce?” 🦇

“That sword is going to show me the way home.”

I know the Bryceriel baddies will love and appreciate this film so much — and stay until after the credits (all of them!!).

SJM often saved She-Ra images in her Twilight of the Gods Pinterest and reblogged Skeletor on her old Tumblr, so we know she’s a fan of this universe!!

Now when you get to the end of the movie, try and imagine He-Man handing his sword to Teela and going back to Earth to live out the rest of his life as an HR manager.

Right? Right.

I hope SJM’s fangirling as much as we are!! ✴️

“Here, where she’d instantly encountered a dagger that made the Starsword sing.”

“The male dropped the dagger to the plush carpet. All of them retreated as it flared with dark light, as if in answer. Alpha and Omega.”

“It was the most shock Bryce had seen him display.”

“Those were your shadows against my light…?”

“Azriel extended a scarred hand to Bryce, panting hard.” (Keep reaching out your hand 😭😭)

🎨 @Emiscape ✴️

Playing Cards of the Night Court (for Chronicle Books!! Released in Barnes, Waterstones and Chronicle Books, October 6) 🌟

“Ramiel rose higher still, a shard of stone piercing the gray sky. Beautiful and lonely. Eternal and ageless. No wonder that first ruler of the Night Court had made this his insignia. Along with the three stars that only appeared for a brief window each year, framing the uppermost peak of Ramiel like a crown.”

“…the insignia of this court, the three stars crowning a mountain peak.”

“The insignia, however, had been rendered in silver thread—no, not silver. A sort of iridescent thread that shifted with sparks of color. Like woven starlight.”

“Indeed, three stars faintly glowed in the twilight skies above the peak. It was a near-perfect, real-life rendering of the Night Court’s insignia.”

“It indeed showed a giant cauldron, perched atop what seemed to be a barren mountain peak with three stars above it.”

“Bryce’s voice echoed too loudly in the otherwise silent cave from where she sat against the tunnel wall, a carving of three dancing Fae females above her.”

“Nesta nodded to the three dancing Fae figures above Bryce.”

“Nesta peered up at the images: the three dancing Fae in the foreground, the stars overhead…”

“Might have felt a mantle settle on her shoulders, a train of starlight in her wake. Might have felt something like a crown settle upon her head. Guiding her into the dark.”

“…your ancestor who also bore that star on her chest.”

“Her starlight…brought some color and spark to this realm of eternal night.”

🌠 “Koschei may very well know…” ✨

🎨 Art!! Konstantin_atelier, Elenakukanova_art, Janarunneck, Karolina.shepherd ✨✨

The Harp: “What wonders it spins. Everything pays fealty to that Harp: seasons, kingdoms, the order of time and worlds. These are of no consequence to it. And its last string …Even Death bows to that string.”

“The Harp can open any door, physical or otherwise.”

“Nesta counted the strings. Twenty-six.”

“The small strings are for games—light movement and leaping—but the longer, the final ones … Such deep wonders and horrors…”

The Mask: “The Mask can raise the dead…Wear it, and you may may summon the dead to you, command them to march at your will.”

“Most of those who have worn it could never remove it. In order to sever it, they had to be beheaded. It’s the cost of the power: you can raise an army of the dead to conquer the world, but you can never be free of the Mask.”

The Crown: “The Crown can influence anyone, even piercing through the mightiest of mental shields. Its only flaw is that it requires close physical proximity to initially sink its claws into a victim’s mind. But wear the Crown, and you could make your enemies do your bidding.”

“Information from your spies—any spies—can’t be trusted with the Crown in play.”

The Horn: “It is a symbol—and symbols will always wield power of their own.”

“To open the doorway between worlds…They wish to use the Horn to reopen the Northern Rift. The Horn’s purpose wasn’t merely to close doors—it opens them, too. It depends on what the bearer wishes.”

“To fill the tattoo—to fill you—with power is, in essence, to blow the Horn.”

“It sounds like you guys just want me to open a gods-damned door for you…”

“…ancient lore whispers of other worlds that exist that would bow to a power like mine—and bow to the Horn…The one who possesses the Horn at full power can do anything.”

“…to open a portal to another world.”

You know that carving of Theia wearing/holding all four Dread Trove items, surrounded by Pegasi?

Foreshadowing 💖💖

🎨 @Tangerine.Eileen ✨✨

“…some sort of Badass Females Only social group” 💫🌙 (“Gods help everyone when they finally managed to make it happen” 😉)

Story time!! A year or so ago now, we stumbled across an IG exchange with a King (we miss you!!) telling influencers to stop acting like some kind of SJM authority — how realistically, they have no more answers than anyone else (we’re all in the same boat!!). Henri went on to stand up against haters within the thread, saying, even us gays can see it’s Bryce. My phone completely maxed out of storage at the time, but I had a screenshot before I had to wipe/clear space 😭😭 If I still had this screenshot, I would add it to our “receipt” folder, immediately.

“Even us gays can see it’s Bryce, stop pretending like your ship is done and confirmed!”💀😍

He was so funny in all his responses, but he vanished afterwards 🥲 I’m not sure what you’re up to now King, but I hope you have a wonderful month and always!! 🌄🌙✨

“Bravery is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to face it head-on.”

🎨 Cosmic Hope, @Zookie_art ✨✨

So I rewatched Project Hail Mary, and the feels!!! (The soundtrack 😩🤧)

“I just want to go home…”

“So come home, said the stars.”

“A shout bounced off the rocks behind her. Not one of pursuit, but of pain. Azriel. She glanced over a shoulder just as his blue light went out.”

“She had to keep going. They were seasoned warriors. They were fine.”

“But that silence…”

“Maybe she’d regret it. She knew Hunt would have yelled at her for setting a trap only to go help the people she’d ensnared.”

Same picture: “…you fear a certain High Lord’s reaction.”

“Tamlin. I could already see his face going pale, his lips becoming thin as the claws came out. I could almost hear the growl he’d emit when he asked me what I had been thinking.”

“…Bryce began running again, hurtling through the cave. Back toward Nesta and Azriel. And prayed there was something left for her to save.” 🥹🥹

“It only made sense that you’d have a guilty conscience to go with that soft heart.”

“‘Same reason you came running back to see if we were alive,’ Azriel said coolly.”

“Find. She’d exposed herself with that one. So she said to Azriel…”

“In this world, at least, the Fae weren’t so bad…It was uncomfortable, really Bryce had always prided herself on resenting any and all Fae…what she’d pieced together about the people around…”

“Urd had sent her there to see, even in the small fraction of their world that she’d witnessed, that Fae existed who were kind and brave.”

“You will miss me, question?”

“I will miss you.”

“How do you say goodbye back home?”

“We don’t.”

🌟 “Maybe we’ll meet again” 🌟

(Emphasis on we’re not alone and connection is possible across impossible distances — Bryce and Az represent a bridge being built where none should exist; cosmic hope ✴️)

“A true wolf.”

“Nesta is a wolf who has been locked in a cage her whole life.”

“Look who decided to grow claws after all [Elain]…”

“One wolf [Bryce] remains in the Old Square…a wolf…a true wolf.”

“I [Feyre] was not prey any longer…And I was not a mouse. I was a wolf.”

CLUE

By @Juliaheitzman on TikTok 🤣🤣🦅

“The wand of light will be the first star you see each night.”

“It’s only hopeless if you give up. Come on…we can do it together.”

Any Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus fans?? 💖🥹

🎨 Art by @Sugarmints on IG 🌄

“If Bryce could reach out, if Bryce could open her heart to it…[Dusk] might sing again.”

“Maybe…maybe…I woke up the land.”

“Only one way to find out, I guess.” (Heavy foreshadowing Bryce will be going back!!)

Party at Dusk!! 💫

Restoring light and music…

To the darkness that shapes the light (Twilight!! 💕💕 “What did it mean?…Bryce buried the questions.”) 🌌

“…we need to summon Lucien…”

“We need to tell him the news, and permanently station him at the Spring Court…”

“To be our eyes and ears” 🦇

🎨 @Artofviccolatte 🔥

Sharing here under our Maasverse flair because I really think Lucien will surprise us these next few books!! And Bryce’s plot in Prythian directly ties to the plots at the end of ACOSF — The Autumn Court Fae followed Theia to Midgard.

“Perhaps that’s why the Autumn Court soldiers were in Oorid: she can’t yet risk setting foot here…”

In SF, the IC can’t figure out why Briallyn had Autumn Court soldiers stationed in the Bog of Oorid.

Feyre: “But Briallyn has to be stupid…if she thinks those soldiers would be enough to overpower any of us.”

“Why Briallyn and Koschei took Eris’s soldiers is something I still haven’t figured out.”

“What’s the motive?”

Given there’s no Bryce/Starborn Fae left in Prythian…Koschei likely told Briallyn to go after some Autumn Court soldiers and use them to hunt for the Trove (Theia was the former wielder; Koschei probably knows the Starborn and Autumn Fae followed Theia to Midgard — like calls to like!!).

Lucien, Eris, Beron, Koschei, the human queens — these plots aren’t separate from Dusk, Crescent City and the crossover; It’s all connected.