Clotho
A spoiler-free guide to A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR).
Only showing what’s been revealed up to your current progress. Future events, identities, and relationships are hidden.
Overview
Clotho is a silent priestess who lives and works in the library beneath the House of Wind, where she guides visitors to research materials and helps manage the collection.
Her vigilance protects the sanctuary as much as her scholarship serves it: when the library comes under attack, it is Clotho who raises the alarm that brings its defenders in time.
As the library's high priestess, Clotho supervises its work, controls access to its sanctuary, and decides which outside activities are permitted for the priestesses.
Her responsibilities also include preserving ancient sacred material and sharing ceremonial authority during the priestesses' religious services.
Appearance
Clotho's tongue is missing and her hands are permanently damaged. Healing the injuries fully would require reopening them, an ordeal she cannot psychologically endure.
Personality and Behavior
Clotho has a dry, wicked sense of humor and a soothing presence, but she firmly enforces the library's rules when conduct disrupts the other priestesses.
Relationships
Clotho is Nesta's direct supervisor during her assigned service in the library, setting her work, hours, and practical expectations.
She accommodates the fears of survivors under her care, offering to change Nesta's shelving level when the library's depths distress her and allowing dangerous or frightening assignments to be reassigned.
Clotho and Morrigan are old, warm friends who greet each other with affection. She also supports Mor's work by gathering requested research materials.
After Gwyn is brought to the library following the attack on Sangravah, Clotho assigns her to work with Merrill as part of the sanctuary's structure of care and recovery.
Abilities and Skills
Unable to speak or write normally, Clotho communicates through gestures and uses magic to move books despite the damage to her hands.
A spelled pen can write Clotho's thoughts for her, allowing her to give detailed instructions and hold written conversations.
Clotho recovers extremely ancient songs from books stored in the library's deepest levels, preserving sacred music older than the surviving repertoire of Sangravah.
Important Events
A group of males once attacked Clotho, cutting out her tongue and smashing her hands while magically prolonging the assault so that she could not identify them through speech or writing. She subsequently found refuge in the library and relies on magical assistance there.
During an attack on the library, Clotho rings its spelled emergency bell, alerting the Night Court's defenders and enabling Cassian to reach the sanctuary first.