Human Queens
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
The Human Queens are six mortal monarchs whose shared palace by the sea holds half of the Book of Breathings. They have warded it so that a mortal queen must give it freely; if a faerie tried to steal it with magic or trickery, it would melt into ore and be lost.
The youngest queen is later said to have entered the Cauldron first and received an altered form of immortality as punishment, which frightens the other queens away from attempting the same transformation.
The surviving queens retain an undisbanded army whose continued mobilization threatens the fragile peace on the continent.
Briallyn and the other three queens no longer operate as a single bloc: the other three have scattered, while Briallyn remains alone in their palace. Vassa says that several queens acting together can perform a collective form of transport or power-working that is not faerie magic.
Relationships
Elain says that the other human queens sold the sixth queen, Vassa, to a sorcerer-lord.
Jurian says that one queen secretly aided Feyre's side and was the only member of the group he considered honorable. He says the others discovered her betrayal and handed her over to the Attor.
After Hybern's defeat, the Night Court regards the queens as an ongoing threat but avoids attacking them without provocation. Rhys and Feyre instead give Jurian and Vassa the first opportunity to deal with the queens, since direct faerie intervention could appear to be a conquest of human lands.
Important Events
Five queens attend secret negotiations at the Archeron estate and reveal that they can winnow. Already aware of the approaching war, they refuse to provide military aid or surrender their half of the Book without further proof and deliberation, regarding the human territory south of the Wall as expendable.
Only two queens return after the first negotiations, with three refusing to overlook the perceived insult from the earlier meeting. Even a truthful vision of Velaris does not secure their public cooperation, but the second half of the Book is covertly delivered with a warning not to trust the others.
During the attack on Velaris, the Attor presents a dying golden queen as "regards of the mortal queens," implicating at least part of the queens' faction in exposing the hidden city to Hybern.
The four remaining queens openly join Hybern and participate in the coercive demonstration that forces Elain and Nesta into the Cauldron. They treat the sisters' survival as proof that the Cauldron can grant immortality and compete for the chance to enter it themselves.
The Ravens report that the youngest queen entered the Cauldron first and received an altered form of immortality as punishment. The result frightens the other queens away from attempting the same transformation.