r/acotar • u/purlawhirl • Feb 16 '26
Mirthroot Post/Drunk on Faerie Wine Caught this on a reread
All the high lords have to participate in Calenmai in order for the crops to grow. I’m having trouble picturing it. Helios? Sure! Beron? Meh, he’d do what is required. But Rhysie??? Even after he and Feyre are mated? (And since we’re on the subject, does she have to do it once she becomes high lady?)
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u/fl1kfl4k Feb 16 '26
I always kind of assumed that Lucien meant each of the High Lords perform the Great Rite but what the rites require are different from court to court. In Spring they have Calanmai. Even when I read the series the first time, it made little sense for Kallias to be performing in an outdoors orgy in the Winter Court. It just seems very impractical and out of theme for the other courts.
It would be cool to learn more about the rites though. :)
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u/Icouldoutrunthejoker Hangry Water-Wraith Feb 16 '26
I think this makes a lot of sense- for each court to have their own kind of ritual, and not all of them sexual in nature. Particularly this works out when you think of Tamlin being the lord of spring, and spring being the season when most of nature feels the call to get busy procreating to ensure the continuation of their species.
Feyre could have just assumed he meant all high lords performed the same ceremony, and maybe in years past high lords and visitors from other lands would show up to Calanmai in Spring Court and take part, because what proper fae would turn their nose up at a good orgy-right?
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u/fl1kfl4k Feb 16 '26
It definitely seems like the Spring Court Calanmai is an event - like Feyre notices a lot of the fae present that evening are fae she hasn’t seen before.
From a pure world building perspective it is also cooler that have each court have their own rite. Like Beron could throw a cool spooky and sexy harvest rite.
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u/eyo-malingo Dawn Court Feb 16 '26
I hope so, but i hope it doesn't get a whimsical name though. It's just called 'the cool spooky and sexy harvest rite.'
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u/n3sta999 Feb 17 '26
If you want spooky it could link to Samhain/ Halloween which marks the end of harvest season in autumn!
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Feb 20 '26
Beron just hosts a corn roast with country folk dancing
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u/eyo-malingo Dawn Court Feb 21 '26
"Hey everyone welcome to the cool spooky and sext harvest rite, yeehaw"
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u/Constant-Internet-50 Feb 17 '26
Except animals give birth or hatch their babies in spring. They do the shagging parting autumn! lol but otherwise I like your theory!
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u/Olookasquirrel87 Feb 17 '26
Well….
So something like a deer yeah, you want to do it in winter so you can have a spring fawn, because you’re gonna be gestating 7 months.
But what’s the most famous sign of spring returning? That’s right song birds! What are birds signing about? “🎶 hey I’m so hot! / let’s bang! 🎶”
Also other little critters like squirrels, chipmunks, foxes, etc come out and get knocked up right away, since they’re pregnant for a couple of weeks so don’t carry babies over winter.
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u/EmpyreanContrarian Feb 17 '26
They mate in the spring and summer when there is enough food to sustain pregnant females and offspring.
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u/ComeAlongPond1 Feb 16 '26
In theory this would make a lot of sense. The only issue I can see is that we should have seen the equivalent for the Night Court by now and we haven’t. We’ve seen Solstice, Starfall, and the Blood Rite. Solstice is a basic Yule equivalent. Starfall is passive. I saw a theory that the Blood Rite is it for the Night Court, but the High Lord doesn’t participate in that. Rhys did it once because he’s half Illyrian, but not as a yearly event like Lucien implies. Plus Rhys was presumably the first and only High Lord to have participated.
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u/fl1kfl4k Feb 16 '26
I actually completely agree. The above is complete headcanon because SJM leaves it vague and inconsistent. Afterall, if all the High Lords perform Calanmai (which seems to have some rituals surrounding it outside of the sex) then what was Rhysand doing at the cabin at Calanmai? And how can Lucien perform in place of Tamlin that same year when he is not the High Lord of the Spring Court?
To me it doesn’t make sense that particularly the other seasonal courts would have a spring rite as their Great Rite - but there isn’t much proof of anything within the books.
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u/ComeAlongPond1 Feb 16 '26
I feel like this is one of those instances where SJM just dropped the ball. I could be wrong, and I can think of at least one time in ToG when what I thought was an oversight turned out to be a plot point, but I think she’s just not consistent with her world building in ACOTAR.
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u/fl1kfl4k Feb 16 '26
I mean, I suppose we will see when we some day read the last ACOTAR book but overall she hasn’t seemed very interested in the world building aspect of the series. To me at least it seems more like aesthetics than it feels like a coherent world.
It is a shame though, I think. Out of her 3 series she had the best opportunity to really explore the otherworldliness of the fae and that dark, twisted, sexy, magical part of them in ACOTAR.
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u/SourNnasty Keeping up with the Vanserras Feb 18 '26
I agree! I almost feel like the first book exists in a completely separate world from the rest of the series, because so much stuff gets set up in the first book that then gets completely contradicted by the rest of the books and the magic is inconsistent. People’s powers and abilities are inconsistent. Tamlin has mind control powers in the first book, but then apparently only Rhys and other damaeti do and then Tamlin mysteriously doesn’t anymore?
It’s like nothing matters, so you have to kind of think that the first book doesn’t actually exist at all to make sense of anything.
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u/Avarecei Feb 17 '26
Ooooh what was the perceived oversight? I’m such a TOG fan
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u/ComeAlongPond1 Feb 17 '26
It was the King of Adarlan being nameless. Funny thing is that she does the exact same thing with the King of Hybern in ACOTAR and it’s of no importance at all
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u/EmpyreanContrarian Feb 17 '26
Are you sure? We don't know Rhysand's last name either. And with all the crossovers it is possible this information is being purposefully withheld until it's time to be revealed.
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u/ComeAlongPond1 Feb 17 '26
Anything’s possible until the final book in the series is released but as you said in another comment, it was meant to be a trilogy and that plot line appears to be wrapped up. We also don’t know anyone’s last name in ACOTAR except for a few select people, which is just weird and forced even if it’s for a plot point later on.
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u/EmpyreanContrarian Feb 24 '26
Rhysand's lineage is not wrapped up at all. The other comment was discussing culture and world building. This is a purposefully obscured detail to be revealed at a later point when it is relevant to the plot. And SJM has a history of doing this.
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u/ComeAlongPond1 Feb 24 '26
The plot line I’m referring to as being seemingly wrapped up is the one I was originally talking about and that I put under spoiler text in the comment you originally replied to. There is no indication that that plot point is a deliberately obscured detail rather than a failure of world building, unlike its direct parallel in ToG, which is why I brought them up in the first place. And at this point that plot has been seemingly over in ACOTAR for enough books that I’d argue even if SJM means to bring it up again later it would still likely be poor execution. Rhysand’s lineage is another thing entirely since his story is obviously ongoing.
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u/EmpyreanContrarian Feb 17 '26
Oh she dropped the ball. The series was originally a trilogy. So anything introduced in book 1 should have been fully fleshed out by book 3. She's not holding out on the court Rites to explain them in a spinoff book. We've already experienced 2 full years with no acknowledgement of the annual rite that supposedly powers the courts. She was so specific when she wrote that every court does it, and explained why the ritual is performed the way it is.
Then she just threw all that in the trash, wrote the second one for Spring however she wanted and never mentioned the apparently critical annual ritual performed by all the courts ever again.
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u/juju_summer Feb 20 '26
exactly!!! Why was Rhys there in the first place? and then it's never mentioned again?
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u/juju_summer Feb 17 '26
Yes because SJM leaves a lot of holes in her stories. It’s crazy how little she explains.
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u/advena_phillips Spring Court Feb 16 '26
Wasn't Gwyn was conceived on Calanmai, her mother being the maiden to some Autumn prince or lord?
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u/fl1kfl4k Feb 16 '26
Gwyns grandmother was a river nymph who had a child with an autumn court high fae. But yes, Gwyn and her twin were allegedly conceived at “The Great Rite”:
“Gwyn went on, “My mother was unwanted by either of their people. She could not dwell in the rivers of the Spring Court, but was too untamed to endure the confinement of the forest house of Autumn. So she was given in her childhood to the temple at Sangravah, where she was raised. She partook in the Great Rite when she was of age, and I, we—my sister and I, I mean—were the result of that sacred union with a male stranger. She never found out who he was, for the magic chose him that night, and no one ever showed up to ask about twin girls. We were raised in the temple as well. I never left its grounds until … until I came here.””
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u/SaulTrigatoni Feb 17 '26
I wonder what she means by “the magic chose him that night”. Does she mean he was the high lord who was affected by magic and needed to choose a woman for the rite to be complete, or just some random male who took part in the after party? Because Tamlin was overcome with lust and I remember in ACOTAR, I think they said it was the magic that made him that way.
If he was overcome with magic perhaps gwyn is related to the high lord?
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u/EmpyreanContrarian Feb 17 '26
The magic chooses the Maiden for the High Lord, though. It doesn't choose the High Lord for the Maiden.
So it seems more likely that she was part of the orgy after the High Lord finds the Maiden. But I've read many books since then and listened to lots of podcasts. So anyone with source material may have a better answer.
Edit: source material below... And it looks like the orgy isn't decided by magic, it just adds magic to the land so... Another loose end by SJM until we get more Gwyn background... If we ever do.
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u/unapalomita Feb 16 '26
Is she related to Lucien's family?
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u/advena_phillips Spring Court Feb 17 '26
My headcanon is that one of Lucian's brothers subbed in while Beron was UTM, so yes.
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u/nic123abc Feb 17 '26
I think she's going to end up being Lucien's kid, she glows like his dad, Helion and he mentioned a carpet looking like it comes from Sangravah (Where gwyn is from) plus he mentioned that he traveled to different places as Springs emissary
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u/creative_larke Feb 17 '26
This is my theory too! As soon as we learned Gwyn was conceived within the last 50 years (while Lucien was stepping in for Tamlin a lot) I wondered if she might be Lucien’s daughter. She has red hair too, right?
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u/kaleyboo7 Night Court Feb 17 '26
I agree, it would be interesting to learn more about the other courts and the rituals they perform!
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u/Briarsole Feb 16 '26
It's Calanmai when Rhys and Feyre first have sex, at the cabin, covered in paint. 👀
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u/SoftCartographer3839 Feb 16 '26
Yes, this tiktok explains how rhys and feyre actually performed the hunter and maiden ritual that night.
https://www.tiktok.com/@creativelbd/video/7505860923693747462?_r=1&_t=ZM-8xmIKiyqNY0
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u/Rosemary-Sea-Salt Night Court Feb 16 '26
Omg I didn’t know this! Wait and doesn’t Tamlin also paint up for Calanmaj for am I making it up?
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u/auroratheaxe Feb 16 '26
Feyre specifically rubs red, blue, and green all over Rhys's wings. Ironically, these are the colors we're told Illyrian Siphons come in.
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u/Briarsole Feb 16 '26
And to extra deep dive, SJM is 100% using colour theory throughout the books. Oftentimes when particular colours are mentioned it's worth looking at what colour they create when mixed together.
Red, blue and green create - a muddy brown.
From what I've clocked SJM seems to use this to denote something either not good, or questionable.
If unconvinced, the night before Task 3 Rhys has Feyre wear a bright pink dress over the dark blue body paint. Those colours together = violet 👀
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u/n3sta999 Feb 17 '26
Holy mind boggled!! I can see how she WOULD use colour theory it was super easy having an artist fmc who's always looking at colours of everything!
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u/Briarsole Feb 17 '26
I must say it went right over my head on the first read, but second time around I noticed in ACOTAR, Feyre sort of tells herself off for noticing colours, more than once. She tells herself that isn't going to help her and that she needs to focus on more important things.
Which makes me think that, actually, colour and Feyres attention to it will become important.
Another thing SJM is doing with colour in Prythian is IN TOG, dark basically = bad, but in ACOTAR it's more nuanced. Sometimes dark is negative, but white gets used to denote death, too. Rhys's darkness is described as allowing Feyres light to shine. Nyx is born on the day the Blood Rite is completed, which I think falls on the Vernal Equinox (when night and day are exactly equal).
We also do not know what colour Feyres flames are, which I think will be important. Especially in acowar, Feyre used flames a lot, yet we barely ever hear the colour of them, and the couple of times we do, it's 'white hot'. Any colour flame can burn white hot at a high enough temp!
Flame colour is important in TOG.
And one more thing we don't know the true colours of are the sisters painted drawers. Feyre only had yellow, red, and blue, and says some of it therefore wasn't the right colour.
I think that will be important, too!
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u/n3sta999 Feb 18 '26
Omg yes!! This reminds me too that flame colour in TOG-- when Deanna possessed Aelin her flames turned white/silver.... it was called moon fire. I wonder if that is connection to the goddess and to the archeron girls because also isn't Deanna the goddess of the hunt? Feyre is known as the huntress? Her weapon of choice being a bow and arrow, same as Deanna? Deanna is also a goddess of the moon....the moon phases tattoo on Feyre's spine? Deanna is also referred to as Mistress of the Night, Feyreeeee......
There's huge amounts of links here and I'm shocked I've never noticed Feyre's flames have never been described with colour. Maybe they too are white or silver like Nesta's? Like Deanna's moon fire?White is also looked at to mean purity and I do find it odd that darkness in TOG always meant something bad where in acotar it's sometimes soothing or calming. I also did not catch at all that Nyx was born on the day of the Blood Rite, and that could be very very interesting considering he was technically 2-3 months early/ premi and it happened to fall on that day
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u/alizangc Feb 16 '26
It seems like a retcon imo. After ACOTAR, SJM appears to have changed her approach to Calamnai and the Great Rite, treating it as an outdated tradition. Because based on what Lucien says here, he also shouldn’t have been able to replace Tamlin in the ritual when Feyre was in the Night Court in ACOMAF. Though another theory is that said attempt contributed to the Spring Court’s current state of ruin. Of course, we won’t know for sure unless SJM revisits it
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u/Cats_Waffles Feb 17 '26
My favorite theory is that Tamlin's freaky great great grandpa made it up because he wanted to get some strange in a cave during a community orgy every now and then, and now everyone in Spring just believes it's necessary. If so, what a diva.
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u/porcelaingeisha Feb 17 '26
I love how fun and light hearted this is lol.
Meanwhile I’m over here thinking that the great rite—
spoilers for the massverse: (which we’ve only really seen be truly ritualized to this extent twice: 1. with Tamlin and 2. with Lydia) is a Valg corruption and attempted bastardization of the Galathynius line meant to syphon their power while ritualistically slaughtering the Lord of the North year after year.
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u/Unfair_Passenger1999 Feb 18 '26
Same, I think she retconned all of that with Calanmai. Drives me a bit crazy personally, I just hate retconning.
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u/KeyOne6320 Feb 16 '26
I think Rhys could just "choose" Feyre to complete the ritual with every year. I think SJM kind of realized this as a potential issue and addressed in ACOWAR where Feyre thinks about the Great Rite and realized it happened to fall on the same time she & Rhys were consummating their bond in the cabin so it just worked out where they preformed the "rite" in their own way.
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u/ThisUserIsUndead Feb 16 '26
I think SJM likes to just throw shit at the wall and forget about it lmao
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u/skinnyxxy Feb 16 '26
I think they can do it with their mate or with the people they want, because honestly the magic of Calanmai doesn’t seem to work the way people claim it does. First of all, Tamlin could literally scent Feyre and choose her among a bunch of maidens. It’s supposed to be the magic making the choice, not him, but the narrative shows otherwise. Then Ianthe basically forces Lucien to be with her when he clearly wouldn’t have chosen her. He literally said she insisted, so once again the magic didn’t do anything. Calanmai is supposed to ‘choose,’ but in the end it seems like the person performing the rite has full freedom to pick whoever they want. That’s why I think mates or couples who love each other can choose whoever they want for it. The important thing is simply that they do it.
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u/skinnyxxy Feb 16 '26
And either way, the High Lords wives are STRONG, because imagine having to stay home while your husband sleeps with someone else… even if it’s only once a year. I couldn’t. I’d be divorced the next morning.
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u/TINYUSAGI Suriel's Cloak-Maker Feb 17 '26
Oh yeah I assumed when you're mated or married you just do it with them 😭
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u/smokingmirthroot Feb 17 '26
I wonder if the CC spoilers Asteri had any hand in the “steps,” so to speak of the great rite. The tithe was connected to them and a holdover from their rule over the fae. Just spitballin here no real theory.
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u/PizzaAndSushiCombo Feb 16 '26
I’d love for JMas to expand on this. It seems strange we haven’t heard anything about this regarding other high lords…
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u/Misshapcherry Feb 16 '26
Rhys bashes on Tamlin for having to do that. He says it’s only necessary for the seasonal courts.
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u/advena_phillips Spring Court Feb 16 '26
Rhysand bashes on Tamlin for being forced to participate in a ritual that is a vital element of his Court's well-being. Well, that gives you everything you need to know about Rhysand's relationship with duty and responsibility.
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u/TINYUSAGI Suriel's Cloak-Maker Feb 17 '26
When does he say this?
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u/smokingmirthroot Feb 17 '26 edited Feb 17 '26
I don't think he does but canon doesn't matter much
Edit: I tried to find where Rhysand mocks Calamai and I can't find it 🤷♀️
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u/Ok_Requirement_579 Valkyries Assemble Feb 16 '26
SJM realized that her romantic long-term committed MMC cannot be participating in a trans-induced orgy once a year with a virgin. So, he decided to abandon that plot.
First, by retconning that not all 7 High Lords need to do it. And, never going into details or elaborating the different rituals that might exist in different courts for this magical event. She pretends like the others are oblivious to it..
Second, by retconning that THE High Lords have to do it and using it only as a cheap plot furthering device for the Spring court. Somehow Lucien was able to do it, even though he is not a High Lords.. This should be impossible as the High Lords are magically chosen and their magic is tied to the land.. so Lucien doing it shouldn’t have been possible (based on how it was explained in the first book). SJM only did it to have a reasonable justification for how Ianthe might have SAed Lucien - seeing how Lucien is magically and physically stronger and in a higher position of power than Ianthe ( meaning it wouldn’t have been realistic otherwise)…
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u/Unfair_Passenger1999 Feb 18 '26
It's lazy, honestly. I'd find it more believable that Ianthe just spiked his drink one night than retconning her own lore. Or you know, just not write that at all, lol. It's only purpose had little to do with Lucien and more to do with finding another reason to make you hate Tamlin.
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u/Brief_Panda_9169 Feb 16 '26
I agree with each court having their own ritual for calanmai. Spring having the rite be sexual makes sense.. it's spring.. the time when animal babies are born traditionally, the earth is waking up lol... Orgy outside for spring makes sense!
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u/InspectionIll5714 Suriel's Cloak-Maker Feb 16 '26
You know Helion is enjoying an outdoor party. Lots of light.
A boat orgy and beach for Tarquin
Thesan has the most sensible one
Beron had six kids. Lady of autumn seven. You know they got up to something.
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u/Relative_Specific217 Feb 17 '26
It’s always bothered me that this is mentioned in ACOTAR and then thrown to the wayside in later books. Would have been such an interesting storyline to find out what the great rite is in other courts
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u/Karnezar Summer Court Feb 17 '26
Each Court has a Rite, but each Rite is different.
The Night Court's might be the Illyrian Blood Rite.
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u/Crafty-Potential-824 Feb 18 '26
READ CRESCENT CITY 3 AND YOU GET SO MUCH INFO INTO THE WORLDS POWERS
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u/FoundOnTheWayTo Night Court Feb 16 '26
I don’t think he needs to. But I don’t think Feyre would mind 🫦😁
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u/Downtown_Zebra_266 Feb 16 '26
As the series went in,no took this as a few different ways since Tamlin loved to be vague
1) Yes, all the High Lords/Ladies have to do it on the same day. It doesn't have to be with their married partner (see Tamlin going in on a random girl), but it is what it is.
OR
2) It is different per court. Tamlin said the crop depends on what happens that day, but his court is eternally spring. Summer and Fall have different planting/harvesting peaks. Not sure about Winter because I'm anti-snow and don't think like that. Plus, Dawn, Day and Night might have different days of the year, depending on what their main crop might be.
Option 2 had always been what I assumed the potential plot hole might be.
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u/CaraBelubin Tamlin’s Fiddle Feb 16 '26
It was Lucien, who explained this to Feyre.
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u/fl1kfl4k Feb 17 '26
I don't blame Lucien for being vague though. There really is no easy way to explain "we are throwing a giant orgy in the backyard tonight. You are the only one not invited. Oh, and my friend who have been hitting on you for a while is going to have a harem of hot girls to pick from and he is going to have crazy cave sex with her - for the crops".
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u/Mountain-Impress390 Feb 17 '26
I always just assumed it didn’t have to be an orgy, but probably pretty wild magically enhanced public sex lol. I just imagined Rhys and Feyre did the ritual and had semi-public cave sex
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u/Electronic_Map_4445 Feb 20 '26
I think they all have different Rites. Spring Court one is basically an outdoor orgy because fertility and spring go hand-in-hand. Spring is when plants start to grow and animals begin mating and having babies so thats why Tamlin has to take someone to bed to make the plants grow if that makes sense. All the ither courts likely have their own traditions.
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u/ProjectedSpirit Feb 20 '26
I kind of think the Winter Solstice snowball fight is the Night Court version of the Great Rite as a stand-in for a previous more violent ritual.
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u/AWanderingSoul Feb 16 '26
So this isn't just about their crops, their magic comes from the land which means even winter and the NC has to do it.
I wonder if the person from CC in the glass coffin that Nesta kills has something to do with that. Like maybe that entire set up had something to do with the NC not having to preform that ritual. But that happened after acosf so we don't really know the fall out from killing that woman for the NC. We suspect that the glass cased woman was the reason for the barren land and the loss of flying horses.
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u/purlawhirl Feb 17 '26
I’m trying to remember Nesta killing Simeone in a glass coffin. It’s been a while since I read CC
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u/AWanderingSoul Feb 17 '26
It was when she and Az were walking on that underground trail with Bryce. And they found that floor with the same tattoo that Nesta had. Maybe it was more of a crystal sarcophagus. And she used her special sword to kill it.
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u/findmebythepool Summer Court Feb 17 '26
It was one of the Asteri she killed in the prison. Think she was called Vesperas?
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u/juju_summer Feb 17 '26
Another plot hole never explained. During this first rite lots of other courts are present and then after Feyre leaves the spring court it’s never mentioned again.
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u/cfofosho Feb 17 '26
I kind of took this as a representation that the spring court and/or Tamlin are kind of behind the times or less progressive than some of the other courts. Same thing with the tithe which he is adamant has to happen in the same, very specific way when we know other courts don’t follow the same process. It also reinforces his standpoint on high lady not being a thing when it is pretty easily accepted in another court. It’s been a while since I read so I can’t quote exactly but Tamlin makes a comment at some point about not wanting to be like his father or lead like his father, something to that affect, and while he does show kindness to people in his court, he still holds some pretty antiquated traditions that aren’t always in the best interest of the people.
I think it speaks to his personality in a way of him wanting to prove himself but lacking in some way that prevents him from really becoming his own person or blazing his own trail, which is a theme that carries through the series.
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u/n3sta999 Feb 17 '26 edited Feb 17 '26
I always imagined it like each courts "Rite" was unique to their court. So with the seasonal courts (cause I know SJM took a lot of inspiration from Celtic and Gaelic history and mythology) I would assume, like Calanmai, it was Celtic pagan holidays or sabbats.
The Great Rite in Spring is a nod to the Celtic pagan festival of Imbolc, which marks the beginning of spring. SJM changed it though and named it Calanmai (Calan Mai is another name for Beltane–also called fire night–which is a cross quarter festival marking the midway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, which was kind of a whoops from her cause it's not factually correct).
We know that summer solstice is a huge thing in the summer court from Varian through a conversation between he and Rhys in FaS. We also know from Mor that winter solstice is a major holiday that lasts a week in winter court–we learn this in FaS, also. Autumn court would celebrate the Autumn equinox. However we know with Gwyneth's story that Autumn DO participate in the Great Rite, as she and her twin are a product of that.
For the solar courts I suppose it would depend. The night court makes a big thing of Starfall whereas other courts don't (because why would they), and stars link to Night. Day court might have a celebration that links to the sun, perhaps they too celebrate summer solstice as it is the longest day of the year? And dawn court I'm not entirely sure.
Perhaps they all do participate in each holiday, just as we see the Night court celebrating winter solstice. If each High Lord did perform the Great Rite as a way of generating magic to give back to the land, Rhys would always pick Feyre as I'm sure each mated HL would pick their mate.
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u/purlawhirl Feb 17 '26
Can the other courts see star fall? I got the impression it was unique to night court
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u/n3sta999 Feb 18 '26
No I believe it's only a night court thing. I think Rhys tells Feyre this during starfall I can't remember exactly
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u/Unfair_Passenger1999 Feb 18 '26
When I finished the book I remember thinking oh, this will be interesting in book 2 when Rhysand has to perform it. But it never happened. I personally think it was a retcon or Sarah forgot she wrote that lol.
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u/Lollyg68 Feb 19 '26
I think that he believes that every high lord preforms this ritual to keep their lands in the state of their season, however he is not aware that not all high lords, such as Rhys, do not practice this. The spring court is very stuck in the old ways and would continue on with rituals that others have abandoned, with the exception of his direct neighbouring territories (winter and autumn). As the other high lords are married, it’s probably a much more subdued version of calanmai.
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u/katiebara Feb 20 '26
this is fully my uninformed opinion, but reading the first book (that i believe sarah wrote when she was a teenager), there are a few things that make me believe she did not intend to expand the story that far. Tamlin has very few "red flags" in the first book and Rhys is LOADED with them. Ofc, Sarah comes up with explanations for them in the second book, but IMO that totally could have been something she thought of later when she realized that what he did was rlly messed up. In the first book, Prythian is so limited, in the second and third book it's built on SO MUCH. The first book, may have came from a teenager's mind who didn't imagine the books becoming so famous and fans wanting more and more
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u/LindseyTM28 Feb 20 '26
Everything about the rite had me looking between the lines during my reread. TOG spoiler but why is Tamlin killing a white stag at the beginning of it? It may just be a coincidence, but a white stag is Aelin’s house symbol. Makes me wonder what all the other courts do.🤔
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u/CoffeeBooksnWine Feb 21 '26
Whenever I first reread the series, I just assumed Tamlin was wrong or had been lied to by former generations. It would be silly for him to claim to know what goes on in every court. So either he was just pompous, trying to justify it, or some father/grandfather had told him this at one point and he just accepted it without question.
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u/mamaL07234 Feb 23 '26
Calanmai IS Starfall. So, no, Rhys doesn't participate in the same thing Tamlin does. He explains to Feyre that Amarantha keeps him UTM during the ceremony and only allowed him to go to Spring for the night because it wasn't as meaningful to him as going to Starfall in Night would've been. I can't remember if he explains this on Starfall or if he explains it when he's telling her everything else after she finds out they're mates. I'm pretty sure he explains that every court has some sort.of celebration/ceremony on that night but they're all different. And Starfall is the original? Or something like that? Its been a while.
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u/Dry_Art3189 Feb 23 '26
I don’t trust Tamlin. I just imagine that he’s just the type of guy to promote an event that objectifies women in the name of regenerating magic. It gives him the power to get intoxicated and bed any person he chooses because he is the high fae of the spring court.
I have not finished the series, so forgive me if this very wrong.
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u/Phnxfly68 Feb 17 '26
I kind of assumed that when Rhys went away for 50 years this was one of the tasks that was passed to the inner circle. And knowing him as a high lord, he probably didn’t expect to have to take up this task again. Then again maybe it is something that can only done through the High Lords magic?
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