The Hope Chests are twelve magical artifacts originally created by Oberon. They are able to shift the balance of a mixed-blood or changeling's fae heritage, much like the ability of the Dóchas Sidhe, although their creation predates the Dóchas Sidhe Firstborn.
Though once fairly common knowledge, hope chests have disappeared into obscurity. In the 1700s, only the locations of two were generally known: one in Londinium, and one in the High Kingdom.[1] By the late 1900s, they become the stuff of bedtime stories.[2] Imitations are known to exist.[citation needed] Due to all this, some information about the chests be contradictory or later prove false.
Origins[]
The chests were carved with knives of water and air.[3] According to both legend and the Luidaeg, all are made from the interlocking four sacred woods of Faerie: "oak and ash for bracing and balance, rowan and thorn for pattern and protection."[2][3] Additionally, the Luidaeg cites apple, rosewood, willow, and pine as common wood components.[4]
Oberon crafted the hope chests after seeing changelings struggle within fae society. He intended the chests to allow changelings to shift their blood to pure fae and be accepted among their immortal relatives, therefore maintaining balance within Faerie.[4]
Oberon created the first chest himself as gift to Titania as a tool to adjust the bloodlines of her Court. Titania passed it along to "the first of her half-blood children."[3]
According to some legends, Oberon made all the chests.[1] In truth, the rest were made later, their creators lost to history; even the Luidaeg does not know who made them. Oberon gave five chests to "the best" of the Firstborn and five to "the worst." Among these Firstborn were Antigone of Albany and Eira Rosynhwyr, chosen to balance one another out.[4] Another was given to the Tylwyth Teg Firstborn Dewydd.[1]
Abilities[]
Legends say that the hope chests hold secrets, or stars, or nothing at all; that the Heart of Faerie is hidden in one and the others are decoys, or that they hold a map that would lead the fae to their missing Kings and Queens. Some say the chests hold the keys to the deeper lands of Faerie. It is most quietly whispered that they hold the key to immortality: that they can shift a changeling to pureblood or pure human.[2]
Only the latter rumor appears to be true. Genuine chests can indeed shift the balance of a mixed-blood or changeling. They cannot introduce that which does not exist, or restore a bloodline that has been fully removed. Although the hope chests' powers resemble that of a Dóchas Sidhe, they is in some ways weaker: a hope chest cannot transform Selkies back into Roane.[5]
Toby says the hope chest whispers to her, offering promises if she were to use it.[2] In retrospect, she believes Goldengreen shifted her blood slightly while it was in her possession, even without opening it.[citation needed] She notes that after holding it, her fingers tingled and burned, the chest encouraging her to use it, and her headache disappeared.[6]
The balance of Cailin's blood was shifted from half-and-half to pureblood just from cracking the lid.[7] It is unclear how her family made certain it shifted her to Cait Sidhe rather than Daoine Sidhe.
Goblin fruit may impede the visions a hope chest conveys to its user, particularly if that person is a changeling.[8]
Hope chests may have some latent magic that has led to them being forgotten: although he encountered at least two hope chests during his time in Europa, Tybalt insists that they aren't real when Toby entrusts him with Goldengreen.[6][9][1]
Known Chests[]
Goldengreen[]
Not to be confused with the County of Goldengreen.
Goldengreen was the seventh hope chest created. It was carved by anywhere from seven to thirteen hands. It is the only hope chest with no trace of apple, rosewood, willow, or pine. The wood was soaked in blood before it was lain into place, and the hope chest itself does not sit easy in the hands, making some suspect the crafters died in the making of it."[4] The chest appears as a plain, unassuming wooden box that nonetheless radiates immense power.[10]
Goldengreen was originally entrusted to Eira Rosynhwyr, who named her knowe after the chest. Eira passes the chest to October Daye when faking "Evening's" death. Toby gives it to Tybalt to courier to the Queen of the Mists for safekeeping, where the chest remains for several years. After the false Queen is deposed, Arden Windermere takes possession of the chest, where it currently remains.
To the Luidaeg's knowledge, Goldengreen is the only hope chest in the Kingdom in the Mists.[11]
Toby uses the chest several times: Unwittingly, her blood is shifted toward fae the first time she handles it; she uses it after an encounter with goblin-fruit leaves her nearly human; she borrows it again after August Torquill forcibly shifts her blood too far human.
Others[]
The following are not necessarily each unique hope chests, as the lines of possession are unclear and there may be some crossover between them.
- Titania passed her chest down to "her half-blood children."[3] As the Three always beget Firstborn children,[12] this may refer to Titania's descendants.
- The Luidaeg appears to have lost access to her original chest, as she tells Toby she doesn't know where to find any besides Goldengreen.[11] It is said that she was the first one to remove her chest from common use, saying that it was necessary.[13]
- The Sollys royal family possesses a hope chest, located in the Westlands. They used it to shift Maida Sollys from changeling to pureblood before she was permitted to marry the heir to the throne.[14]
- The Torquills possessed a chest for at least two generations. Septimius Torquill was originally a changeling, as were his children Sylvester and Simon. All three were shifted into pureblood Daoine Sidhe. They were persuaded to give their chest to the monarchs of Londinium. If they didn't, the monarchs threatened to expose their changeling origins to fae society.[15]
- King Heydon and Queen Lettice of Londinium still possess the Torquill's hope chest in the early 1700s. They order its use on their own half-Daoine, half-Cait Sidhe granddaughter Cailin to turn her fully Cait Sidhe. They wish to ensure she cannot make a claim to their throne. The chest does not remove the Daoine Sidhe appearance of her eyes or the illusion magic in her blood.[16][9]
- This is potentially one of the early ones mentioned as being given by Tatiana? Unsure of the timeline.
- A hope chest exists in the North Kingdom that changes hands among the fae nobility every few decades and is known to cause instability in the region.[1]
- King Alban of Leuatia was believed to possess the hope chest called Quickbeam (or Heathswail—a naming discrepancy exists in the Patreon shorts), originally given to the Firstborn Dewydd. Tybalt and Morane are surprised to learn he has it, as it is not one of the two hope chests known to be in Europa.[1] This chest turned out to be a counterfeit, as the genuine chest “had been surrendered to the tide in his grieving” by Dewydd.[17]
In the Series[]
Rosemary and Rue[]
Evening's hope chest - Goldengreen - was the primary motivation for Devin's attempt at murdering her. Evening hid the key leading to it in the hands of a sprite before Devin "killed" her, and Toby manages to locate it. The hope chest immediately works its magic on Toby, shifting her blood very minutely to help her cope with magic burn and improve her Fae night vision. Toby requests Tybalt to hold the hope chest for her, and after Devin is killed, the hope chest is surrendered to the False Queen.[18]
Chimes at Midnight[]
Toby uses the hope chest the False Queen held to shift her blood balance after a goblin fruit addiction renders her almost mortal. Because of the goblin fruit's highly addictive nature, the hope chest's magic is torn between shifting Toby to either human or Fae, offering her two knives, one of iron and one of silver, that could shift her either way. Toby however grabs both of them and impales herself with them, the silver one implied to be the deepest one, and pushes herself closer to her Fae nature than before the goblin fruit assault. The hope chest is surrendered to Arden Windermere before her coronation.
Once Broken Faith[]
Maida Sollys and Aethlin Sollys reveal to Toby that Maida was required to shift her lineage from changeling to pureblood using the hope chest in the Sollys family's possession before she could get permission to marry the then-Crown Prince of the Westlands.
The Brightest Fell[]
After August Torquill shifts Toby's blood to near-merlin levels, Arden offers the hope chest to Toby. Because Toby isn't affected by goblin fruit this time around, she is able to shift back to what she originally was before August shifted her blood.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Mean and Mighty
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Rosemary and Rue, ch. 9
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Rosemary and Rue Ch. 23
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Chimes at Midnight, ch. 14
- ↑ The Unkindest Tide
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Rosemary and Rue, ch. 10
- ↑ Stage of Fools
- ↑ Chimes at Midnight
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Instruments of Darkness
- ↑ Chimes at Midnight Ch. 24
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chimes at Midnight Ch. 16
- ↑ https://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/633862.html
- ↑ Mean and Mighty
- ↑ Once Broken Faith Ch. 4
- ↑ Wishes and Tears
- ↑ Stage of Fools
- ↑ Fanes That Lie
- ↑ Rosemary and Rue, ch. 27
External References[]
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