r/acourtofcanon

So all the High Lords are said to have a beast form. Only 3 (Tamlin, Rhys and Helion) are described in the text and they seem to be based on different mythical creatures.

Tamlin

ACOTAR ch.4

"The beast had to be as large as a horse, and while his body was somewhat feline, his head was distinctly wolfish. I didn’t know what to make of the curled, elk-like horns that protruded from his head."

Tamlin's beast form is described as a mix of different mammals. It sounds like he's meant to be a typical fairytale beast.

Rhys

ACOWAR ch.74

"The talons came first. Replacing fingers and feet. Then dark scales or perhaps feathers, I couldn’t get a look at them, covered his legs, his arms, his chest. His body contorted, bones and muscles growing and shifting. The beast form Rhys had kept hidden. Never liked to unleash. Unless it was dire enough to do so. Before the Cauldron swept me away, I beheld what happened to his head, his face. It was a thing of nightmares. Nothing human or Fae in it. It was a creature that lived in black pits and only emerged at night to hunt and feast. The face … it was those creatures that had been carved into the rock of the Court of Nightmares. That made up his throne. The throne not only a representation of his power … but of what lurked within. And with the wings …"

Rhys is described as having talons, scales and wings. He's compared to the creatures from the carvings in the Court of Nightmares.

ACOMAF ch.42

"Great, scaled black beasts were carved into those gates, all coiled together in a nest of claws and fangs

[...]

More of the serpents from the front gates were carved here—this time, wrapped around the countless columns supporting the onyx ceiling. It was so high up that gloom hid its finer details, but I knew more had been carved there, too. Great beasts to monitor the manipulations and scheming within this room. The throne itself had been fashioned out of a few of them, a head snaking around either side of the back—as if they watched over the High Lord’s shoulder."

So a serpent with claws and fangs plus wings. This sounds very dragon-like to me.

Helion

ACOWAR ch.74

"Helion beheld what happened and ran, too—but toward Rhys. Shifting as well. If Rhys was a flying terror crafted from shadows and cold moonlight, Helion was his daytime equivalent. Gold feathers and shredding claws and feathered wings—"

ACOWAR ch.75

"The High Lord of Day was bloodied, his golden fur singed and torn, but he still battled against the Hybern commander."

Helion has feathers and wings but also gold fur and claws. He has a mixture of bird and mammal features. I think he might be based on a gryphon - part eagle, part lion.

My question is: what could the other High Lords' beast forms be based on? And did anyone interpret these 3 beast forms differently?

I've been reminded multiple times about this particular Lucien dialogue that some people seem to think proves that he holds this incredible power derived from his heritage that would make him a match against other characters.

The point of this isn't to discuss his power however, but the scene itself. It surprised me that I'd forgotten myself, and that the context is so overlooked or downright ignored by a lot of people.

I was surprised every time this came up because, from what I've gathered from his descriptions he's not precisely a super powerful Fae. But allow me to bring some textual evidence before I get to my point. Let's take this quote for example:

>I’d never realized that while Lucien had been trained as a warrior, Cassian, Azriel, Mor, and Rhys were Warriors. Cassian could wipe Lucien off the face of the earth in a single blow.
ACOMAF, Ch. 47

Or this small moment at the beginning of the same book:

>(...)and Rhysand mentioning two people named Cassian and Azriel. Both of their faces had tightened at that, but they didn’t mention if they knew them, or of them.
ACOMAF, Ch. 7

Which reminds me of:

>My mate leaned against the carved archway and drawled to Lucien, “I assume Cassian or Azriel has explained that if you threaten anyone in this house, this territory, we’ll show you ways to die you’ve never even imagined.”
Indeed, the Illyrians smirked from where they lingered in the dining room threshold. Azriel was by far the more terrifying of the pair.
ACOWAR, Ch. 15

Now I bring both of these quotes together because I feel it paints a picture of what the Illyrians and Lucien's idea of each other was and the tensions there. Lucien is threatened with death twice within the same chapter, the next one being Rhysand saying he'd rip his throat out if he didn't start respecting his house, Court or mate.

Combined with what we've learned from Lucien from Feyre before, it seems he wouldn't really be able to come out victorious from a violent encounter with them if "wiped off with a single blow" is any evidence. And from Lucien's own words:

>“Well, I never want to fight in another battle as long as I live, but … yes, I’m in one piece.”
ACOWAR, Ch. 78

I can gather from this he's not a person who'd willingly put himself in the middle of a confrontation unless absolutely necessary.

So that brings me back to the "Easy scene" from Silver Flames. This scene specifically involved Cassian, as we all know, and with this context, I as a reader, come to the conclusion that:

1. Lucien would naturally avoid conflict with him
2. If conflict does happen Cassian would defeat him, in Azriel's words, "with little effort" (SF Bonus Chapter, page 7)

Regardless, Lucien intervenes against the textual evidence that he shouldn't or wouldn't in a scene that Cassian is having a moment of rage because Nesta's safety was being put into question, product of his mating bond to her, surely. So this leads me to come up with a few questions:

• Why would SJM go against her own character building of Lucien and have him show dominance over Cassian?
• Why would Lucien step in knowing he's probably at a disadvantage strength-wise?

Now for the scene in question. What prompts this exchange is the following:

>(Cassian) asked, “Which of the queens would do something this bold?”
Vassa’s golden face tightened. “Briallyn.”
(...)She’d made no secret of her hatred for Nesta. Her desire for revenge.
If Briallyn made a move against Nesta, he’d kill the queen himself.
Cassian tried to think over the bellowing beast in his head that tightened every muscle of his body until only bloody violence would appease it.
“Easy,” Lucien said.
Cassian snarled.
“Easy,” Lucien repeated, and flame sizzled in his russet eye.
The flame, the surprising dominance within it, hit Cassian like a stone to the head, knocking him from his need to kill and kill and kill whatever might threaten—
ACOSF, Ch. 7

What changes by this instance is the third person involved in this conversation: Vassa. We were told in this very book a couple chapters before how his loyalty now lies with her, the woman he now lives with and whose curse he's looking to break.

>Mor took another bite from her pastry. “Lucien can’t be entirely trusted anymore.”
Cassian started. “What?”
“Even with Elain here, he’s become close with Jurian and Vassa. He’s voluntarily living with them these days, and not just as an emissary. As their friend.”(...)“He’s spent months helping them sort out the politics of who rules Prythian’s slice of the human lands,” Cassian said slowly. “So Lucien can’t be unbiased in reporting to us on Vassa.”
ACOSF, Ch. 4

And this I think is a callback to what Feyre notices as soon as they reunite after war:

>“The human queens are still out there,” I said. Maybe I’d hunt them down.
“Not for long—not if Vassa has anything to do with it.”
“You sound like an acolyte.”
Lucien blushed(...)
ACOWAR, Ch. 78

What this tells me is, from the very beginning, Lucien has been captivated by her and her resilience and strong personality. Feyre tells us in book three and we confirm this by book five.

Going back to Chapter 7, we also have this:

>But Vassa said, “The queens require no teaching. They were well versed in treachery before they ever contacted Hybern. And have dealt with greater monsters than him.”
Cassian could have sworn flames rippled across her blue eyes.
Both Jurian and Lucien stared at her, the former’s face utterly unreadable, and the latter’s pained.

Now this is obviously up for interpretation, but that's exactly what I'm doing so, I shall: Cassian isn't exactly known for being able to pick up on exactly what's happening at the moment, but I personally think it's just a literary device for SJM to give us little nods into future plots but without downright voicing them. Take this scene for example:

>“Because of the shit with Elain?”
Azriel stilled. “What happened to Elain?”
Cassian waved a hand. “A fight with Nesta. Don’t bring it up,” he warned when Azriel’s eyes darkened. Cassian blew out a breath. “I take that as a no regarding the meeting topic, then.”
“It’s about what I discovered. Rhys said he requires you both there.”
“It’s bad, then.” Cassian surveyed the shadows gathered around Az. “You all right?”
His brother nodded. “Fine.” But shadows still swarmed him.
Cassian knew it was a lie, but didn’t push it.
ACOSF, Ch. 19

As readers, we know that Azriel is clearly angered at the idea that Elain is upset by the fight with Nesta. It's as explicit as it can be without being dumbed down for us. Yet Cassian doesn't figure it out that exact moment, what's currently happening with Azriel, even though he's known him for centuries. He "can't tell" that Az is upset because he's feeling protective over Elain. Yet for some reason, with Lucien, whom he has barely any interactions with and doesn't know nearly as much as Azriel, he can tell he feels pained about Vassa's experience with the queens and the situation she's currently at because of it.

What does this tell me? That it must be a pretty obvious sentiment Lucien is portraying at that moment. One could say wearing his heart on his sleeve, considering how many times people notice his reactions towards Vassa, to the point the IC is questioning whether Lucien can make unbiased reports anymore. That sounds like a loyal man, and Rhysand would agree:

>“You know them better than I do. But I will say that Lucien is loyal—fiercely so.”
ACOWAR, Ch. 24

Fiercely so.

So fiercely loyal that he'd step in against a man who'd probably win over him in a one to one fight, in order to protect Vassa because she's in immediate danger?

There's further textual evidence to support the theory that SJM is building an "entaglement" of sorts for these two, however that could be its own post, as this one's long enough. But I think this might be the most overlooked moment, which I find curious considering how many times this scene is brought up by people who are his passionate defenders.

Although this isn't a shipping post per se, I think it's good evidence that he does care very much about her, and would intervene in the middle of a mate's rage (which he wasn't aware was such, fair enough) to protect her. Which, and I'm open to being corrected, I'm not sure has been the case with him around other females.

Let me know your thoughts on this analysis! I always love any kind of feedback even if you disagree 💞

Hey friends! I’d recently responded (https://www.reddit.com/r/Maasverse/s/jc0jWCLaxH) to a post on Reddit where OP was basically like “I don’t plan on reading Crescent City, you can’t convince me otherwise, just please fill me in on the lore that I need before ACOTAR 6.” I gave (what I think is) a pretty good summary, which a lot of other people appreciated. I’ve decided to turn this into a 5 part series on tiktok explaining the key details for either people who read and can’t remember/don’t want to reread, or ACOTAR fans who really don’t want to read Crescent City. Technically, this will be a 10 part series since I’m also going to put together a memecut recap for each of the 5 sections lol. Anyway, part one is up now and the other 4 parts will be coming soon!

The parts will be (spoilers for CC, obviously): Midgard Crash Course, The Daglan Went WHERE???, Prison Party, Dread Trove Divas, and Prythian Problems.

Prepost edit: not sure if this goes against the advertising rules although that wasn’t my intention, so uh…. i deleted the tiktok link, and just know it’s out there lol

Hi all, new to ACOTAR and just reading ACOSF Ch. 69.

Did Eris actually betray Rhysand and the Night Court at the end, or did Briallyn capture him and spellbind him so he was under her control? I can't work out if he went to her willingly or if she snared him.

Thanks :)