The Treaty
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 Treaty is a five-hundred-year-old settlement forged by six mortal queens to end the War between mortals and faeries.
What first appears to be a Treaty rule requiring blood payment for a slain faerie is later exposed as part of Amarantha's curse. The Treaty itself did not allow humans to be taken across the Wall automatically for killing a faerie.
By the end of the renewed war with Hybern, the Treaty has become a subject of active reconstruction rather than only an old settlement. Feyre convenes a mixed assembly of humans and faeries to begin discussing how it should be renegotiated.
Mechanics
The terms invoked against Feyre impose a human life-debt for an unprovoked attack on a faerie. The faerie claiming payment says that debt can be satisfied either by killing the responsible human or by taking that person across the Wall to live permanently in Prythian.
The Treaty has active magical enforcement capable of summoning a faerie to the human responsible for an offense and guiding that faerie directly to the offender.
Tamlin assumes responsibility for Feyre's supposed life-debt and releases her from the claim that had kept her in Prythian.
The supposed blood-payment rule and its magical claim on Feyre are revealed to be parts of Amarantha's curse rather than genuine Treaty provisions. Killing a faerie does not automatically allow the responsible human to be taken across the Wall.
Uses
The settlement created the Wall separating the faerie North from the mortal South. Human villagers rely on that border for protection because their poor territories cannot support an effective military defense against Prythian.
The Treaty prohibits the enslavement of humans and compelled Hybern to release his mortal slaves when the War ended.
Limitations
The Treaty does not prohibit faeries from entering mortal territory, nor does it prevent them from destroying the Wall if they choose. It is therefore not a broad guarantee of noninterference or a military defense in its own right.
Important Incidents
The King of Hybern never accepted being forced to sign the Treaty, free his mortal slaves, and confine his rule to his island kingdom.
Hybern targets Prythian in part because its courts were among the Treaty’s fiercest defenders and negotiators. Support for Hybern beyond Prythian includes factions that want to dismantle the political order the Treaty established.
After the renewed war with Hybern, Feyre convenes a mixed assembly of humans and faeries to begin discussing a renegotiation of the Treaty.