Acacia is Blind Michael's consort and the mother of Luna Torquill. She is a daughter of Titania and the Firstborn of Dryads and Blodynbryd.
About[]
Appearance[]
"Her skin was daffodil yellow. Tendrils of brown and gold hair snaked around her cheeks, so matted and snarled that they looked almost like thin tree roots. They writhed constantly, twisting themselves into knots and curls. Her eyes were long and narrow and the color of brass from end to end; her pupils were thin silver lines visibly contracted against the light, like a cat’s, or a serpent’s. I’d never seen anything like her."[1]
"Acacia had opened her wings. They were broad moth’s wings, pale green with golden “eyes” at their tops. The edges were tattered from their long confinement, but they’d heal; anything that could last as long as she had would need to be resilient. And they were beautiful.”[1]
Personality[]
Acacia chose self-imposed exile rather than confront or live with her abusive husband, Blind Michael. Her resistance to him is passive, such as watching Luna escape the skerry or handing Toby a silver dagger to kill him with.
Once Blind Michael is dead, Acacia cares for the Hunters who are irrevocably damaged by his magic.[2][3] She reaches out to her daughters to re-establish relationships with them,[4] and helps Luna recover from poisoning.[5]
Abilities[]
As the Firstborn of several plant-based races, Acacia is deeply attuned to nature. She can sense other people's presence in her woods, and she can draw on the trees' power to heal.[1] She has also developed a poison that could transform its victim into a tree albeit slowly..
In the Series[]
An Artificial Night[]
Toby tracks Raj through Acacia's forest while being chased by the Wild Hunt. Toby is hidden by the candle, but Acacia senses her presence.
Later, Toby flees Blind Michael's clutches and seeks refuge in the wood. Acacia recognizes Spike as one of her daughter's Rose Goblins. When Toby refuses to share information about Luna, Acacia rewards her loyalty by healing and helping her. She is overjoyed at the prospect of Luna bearing a daughter, expressing amusement when she finds out Luna named her Rayseline, another way of saying rose. She opens the Rose Road for October and gives her a silver dagger to use against Blind Michael. She also gives Toby a rose to pass along to Luna.
Upon Blind Michael's death, Acacia takes leadership of his skerry realm. She intends to do her best by the children he had captured, though she knows that many cannot be returned or rehabilitated to their old homes.
After Blind Michael is killed, Acacia reaches out to her daughters Ceres and Luna.
Late Eclipses[]
She visits and helps Luna heal after Luna is poisoned and forced to revert to her Blodynbryd form. She also opens a Rose Road for Toby to visit the Luidaeg.[5]
The Brightest Fell[]
Toby visits Blind Michael's skerry a second time with Quentin Sollys and Simon Torquill. Both the remaining Hunters and the land itself are slowly blooming under her care. Acacia tells Toby that during Blind Michael's reign, August infiltrated the skerry and stole a powerful Tuatha de Dannan changeling. Acacia is amazed to learn that both August and Toby are her sister Amandine's children; the last she heard, Amandine had closed herself off from the world.
She helps Toby pick up the Tuatha changeling's scent and sends them on their way.
Relationships[]
Blind Michael[]
While Acacia and Blind Michael are technically half-siblings by Oberon, Firstborn genetics mean they are genetically unique from one another, making them far removed enough to not be related by blood.[6] Together they are the Firstborn of the Blodynbryd, a non-mammalian race of nature fae. They have a few daughters, the two currently named ones being Luna and Ceres.
Acacia watched Blind Michael descend into madness but was unable to stop him. She retreated to a forest on the edge of his realm, where she avoided him and his Hunt; however, she was still expected to be his consort during the Ride. In the modern day she provided Toby the tools to kill him.
Luna Torquill[]
After Luna fled from Blind Michael's influence, she cut off contact with Acacia for centuries. Now, Acacia is working to re-establish a relationship with her daughter. She has come to visit Luna and Ceres a few times in the mortal world.
Ceres[]
Acacia is working to re-establish relationships with her daughters. She has visited Ceres at least twice since Blind Michael's death.[4]
Trivia[]
- Acacia was not in the original outline for An Artificial Night, and adding her "completely changed everything."[7]