A Court of Frost and Starlight

A Court of Frost and Starlight demonstrates both the painful difficulty of healing after trauma and loss and the sense of hope that can grow in the aftermath of trauma and loss. At the beginning of the novel, several months after the end of the war with Hybern and perhaps a year out from the traumatic events under Amarantha’s power, most of the characters rely on the power of work and busyness to push through the effects of their painful experiences. Feyre notes that working on rebuilding Velaris and building more lasting peace has helped both her and Rhys and that she sometimes “dread[s] the quiet, idle days when all those thoughts snare[] [her] at last […] Perhaps one day, even the work wo[]n’t be a battlement to keep the memories out” (3-4). Feyre, Rhys, and their closest friends understand that work will not keep their trauma at bay forever, especially since they’re all still haunted by memories of what they have endured. Feyre admits that such memories “[d]r[a]w [her] from sleep; dr[a]w [her] from a conversation, a painting, a meal” (3), and Azriel experiences his own sudden trigger when Cassian rushing to eat before Elain joins the table reminds Azriel of how his mother was mistreated. Rhys and Feyre’s chosen family members all suffer from such reminders and sudden flashbacks, whether to the recent war with Hybern, the conflict with Amarantha, or the traumas of their own childhoods and early adulthood. Mor particularly struggles with her own trauma response, berating herself for falling into flashbacks and seeming weak when she cannot speak up in front of her father and Eris, the two men who so brutally abused her.

The losses of the war impacted more than just Rhys’s band of compatriots; all of their city, Velaris, and all of the fae courts were affected. The entire city is littered with the remains of Hybern’s destruction, providing constant reminders of what they endured, and the characters all know friends or acquaintances who suffer in some way, whether from injury, loss of family and friends, or loss of their homes. The inhabitants of Velaris use these losses and their centuries-old sense of community to rebuild their lives and come closer together. For some, however, the losses create deeper rifts and anger. The Illyrians, Rhys’s winged fighters, are one group threatening to tear themselves and their court apart with their anger. Rhys notes that “with the Illyrians isolated and idle up here, that loss [i]s starting to shape itself into something ugly. Dangerous” (12-13). Many in the camps resent their losses and blame Rhys and his fellow leaders, even though their culture is defined by their status as warriors and they spent their lives training for war. A Court of Frost and Starlight sets up the Illyrians’ discontent as a future conflict that Rhys, Azriel, and Cassian must face.

Despite the pains of trauma and loss, and the continuous grief that is a natural part of the heal process, many of the characters find a sense of hope and progress on their healing journey. Cassian, Rhys, and Azriel see a measure of hope in the fact that one of the major Illyrian camp leaders is finally allowing women to learn to fight. Rhys sees Mor’s restlessness and struggles with her own past and offers her a chance to get away and spread her wings, which gives Mor hope for her own future. Elain still struggles with losing the man she loved as a result of her transformation into a fae, but she has clearly begun the healing process by the time of this novel. She no longer speaks in riddles, and she is more active, baking with the beloved servants of the townhouse and gardening. Nesta resists healing; she appears outwardly to simply dislike Feyre’s friends and to want to be alone, but she suffers from emotional wounds following the war and her transformation into a fae. This worries Feyre, and Nesta remains an unanswered question by the end of A Court of Frost and Starlight. Nonetheless, Feyre finds her own hope and recognizes that she is finally happy. Inspired by the weaver who made the Void tapestry, by how the woman had created “[s]omething extraordinary” from her sorrow and loss (133), Feyre returns to painting and opens a studio to help others (especially children) process and heal from their trauma with the power of creative expression. Despite the pains and the ache of loss that traverses the entire novel, the characters discover the power of hope to help them heal from their inner wounds.