This lore breakdown is a helpful resource for understanding the A Court of Thorns and Roses series! This lore guide includes spoilers, so please read AFTER you’ve finished the ACOTAR series.
Includes info from A Court of Silver Flames, so this guide is spoiler in nature for the ACOTAR series.
Crescent City series spoilers are available here, but hidden in a drop-down at the bottom of this page.
If you would like to listen to this lore dive, check out the Suriel Tea Time section here.
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What is the Dread Trove?
The Dread Trove consists of the last three remaining Made objects of great power.
The Daglan used the Cauldron to Make multiple powerful magical objects tens of thousands of years ago. Anything Made from the Cauldron with some of its power imbued in it is extra powerful in this world and doesn’t necessarily abide by the standard laws of magic. The Daglan used these instruments for conquest, but then they went unused since the Daglan argued over which of them should control these powerful objects, and this eventually resulted in their downfall.
Amren went into the prison more than 16,000 years ago and at that time, there were three of these Made objects left that hadn’t been lost to history and war. Although, some claimed there were four or that the fourth object had been Unmade. According to Rhysand, those who possessed the Dread Trove grew careless. This caused the Trove to be lost in ancient wars, or to treachery, or simply because they were misplaced and forgotten.
Because the Trove is Made, someone who is also Made can track down the objects of the Trove. Once the Dread Trove is united, the potency of their combined Made essence can be used to track the Cauldron; no matter where it is or how well it is concealed.
NOTE: This is why Briallyn wants the Trove so badly, as she hopes to get her youth back from the Cauldron that turned her into an old crone.
Nesta is particularly unique when it comes to the Trove, because the power she took from the Cauldron allows her to be able to summon these Made objects to her, no matter the wards on them. No one really knows the full scope of the Trove’s powers, but it is assumed that the greater power of all three combined is unfathomable.
Koschei especially wants the Trove, which is why he’s working with Briallyn to obtain it, because the objects will have the power to free him from his lake. But being an ancient death god, he may very well know something about the Trove that no one else in the world knows.
Later in Silver Flames, Nesta is able to use all three objects to stop time and save Feyre, Rhysand, and baby Nyx during Feyre’s fatal labor and delivery. There’s more to it with Nesta bargaining with the Cauldron to save them and she’ll give the power back. This leads both Feyre and Nesta’s bodies to alter so that they can bear Illyrian children.
According to Amren, The Dread Trove objects have a sentience. Made objects, back when wild magic still roamed free, tended to gain their own self-awareness and desires – meaning, the Trove only allows someone to remember the objects if they want them to know.
The Trove uses a glamour so the objects are forgotten by pretty much everyone in the world. Made people are an exception, since they all come from the same Cauldron and the glamour is removed. For example, Merrill is able to break through the glamour and remember. Amren has the hypothesis that once one learns of the Trove, like Azriel did, the glamour spell is broken. Or maybe, now the Dread Trove believes it’s time for certain people to know about it for its own dark reason, it purposefully removes the forgetful glamour.
Objects of the Dread Trove
The Mask
It is a golden death mask molded from the face of a long-forgotten king. It is primitive in appearance and embossed with ancient whorls and patterns.
FUN FACT: It’s also on the cover of A Court of Silver Flames!
The wearer of the Mask has the power over Death, meaning it has the ability to summon and command the dead. This is not the same as resurrection. The Mask is literally raising the dead and the dead are in the wearer’s control.
It is said that most who have worn the mask could never remove it. The only way to sever the bond is to behead the wearer. Nesta is the exception because it’s hypothesized that only someone Made from the same dark source can wear it and not be ruled by it.
When Nesta wears the Mask, any human feelings of terror, anger or desperation vanish and she does not understand hate or love or fear or grief. She becomes something that does not need air to breathe.
FUN FACT: Helion feels a more intense feeling than the others while in proximity of the Mask. He feels like cold claws are raking down his senses and wonders if it’s because an ancestor of his once used the Mask, and the warning of its cost is imprinted upon his blood.
The Mask was lost in the Bog of Oorid (the marshlands of The Middle) and Nesta tracked it down while scrying.
The Harp
It’s a small, golden harp with 26 silver strings. 26 strings for 26 dimensions!
The Harp can open any door, physical or otherwise (including breaking through wards like at the prison). It’s capable of opening portals to different locations and realities, transferring objects, as well as altering an environment.
The small strings are for light movement and leaping. For example: The first string can move Nesta within the prison, while three strings at once can transport Nesta and Cassian from the prison to Feyre and Rhys’s river house.
The longer, final strings bring about great and monstrous magic. The 26th string is time itself, “that even Death bowed to the final string. That time was of no consequence to the Harp.” It can stop time.
The Harp doesn’t just move its bearer through the world, it can also move things like magic from one soul to another. When Nesta touches the Harp, it opens a mental pathway between her and Briallyn while she’s wearing the Crown. This creates a pathway between their minds and eyes, enabling Briallyn to learn everything she needs to about Nesta, her life, and those she loves.
The Harp was hidden beneath the prison.
The Crown
It’s a large crown made out of golden spikes. It can influence anyone, even piercing through powerful mental shields.
The wearer controls the minds of others, so they do the wearer’s biddings. For instance, it could make a parent slaughter their child, aware of the horror but unable to stop themselves. However, the Crown requires close physical proximity to initially sink its claws into a victim’s mind.
Being in possession of another Made object, like Nesta’s dagger, can protect someone from the influence of the Crown.
When someone is under the influence of the Crown, it’s as if a fog is wrapped around their mind swaying them. It’s described as a mist or fog with “nothing to grasp on to, nothing tangible to break, yet it was there.”
Briallyn has recently been in possession of the Crown, though it is unknown where she retrieved it from.
The Lost Fourth Object
From Lanthys, Nesta is shown a vision of how they could rule together with the help of the Dread Trove. This vision includes a fourth object veiled in shadow. Unfortunately, she can’t make out more than a gleam of age-worn bone.
Crescent City Spoilers
We find out in Crescent City that the fourth Dread Trove object is Luna’s Horn. The Horn, made of ancient bone, is able to open the rifts between worlds and serve as a bridge between realms.
More than 15,000 years ago when the Horn was on its home planet (where ACOTAR is) and the Asteri/Daglan were defeated, Queen Theia used the Horn and the Harp to open a portal into Midgard and lead her people (plus some from the Autumn Court) to this seemingly welcoming planet.
Her daughters, Helena and Silene, would later use the Horn and Harp to open up a portal back into Prythian, but only Silene, the Harp, and Truth-Teller made it back. Both Helena and the Horn stayed behind in Midgard.
After this, and the battle with Theia where she was killed, Pelias, the first Starborn prince, took the Horn (as well as the Starsword) and started crafting his own story.
Ultimately, the Horn broke – the Fae and Asteri tried to renew it through magic and spells, but no luck. It was then given a place of honor in the Asteri Archives, before it was transferred to Lunathion (Luna’s Temple) after the city’s establishment.
Danika stole the Horn, ground it up into powder and tattooed it to Bryce Quinlan’s back with witch ink. This made Bryce unknowingly the bearer of the Horn, and since she is Starborn Fae, she is the only one who can wield it.
More about the Dread Trove history…
Rhys is wrong when he relays how the Dread Trove was lost. Fionn and Theia spearheaded the defeat of the Daglan, using their own weapons against them. This includes Truth-Teller and the Starsword.
After defeating High King Fionn, Theia took the Trove for herself and had unchecked, limitless power. She wanted more than what the Fae Homeland could offer. Fast forward to Silene returning with the Harp, she hid the Harp in the Prison.
Also, there are others who can wear the Mask and take it off. Bryce, who has a Made object tattooed on her, is able to wear the mask in the final battle and so is Hunt. He is not Made, but can slip on the Mask to escape death. It basically rips apart his soul to wear it, but he is able to take it off and live to tell the tale, because he and Bryce had magical Made sex the night before.
Need More?
We’ve got 100+ hours of podcast episodes deep diving the entire ACOTAR series with a segment at the end of episode where we dive into EVERY Maasverse connection – but don’t worry, we give a massive spoiler warning before this final segment. So if you haven’t read Throne of Glass or Crescent City, you can still listen to our ACOTAR coverage!
