| Warning! This article contains spoilers from House of Flame and Shadow. |
| “ | "The Starsword is Made, as you called it. (...) The knife can Unmake things. Made and Unmade. Matter and antimatter. With the right influx of power - a command from the one destined to wield them - they can be merged. And they can create a place where no life, no light exists. A place that is nothing. Nowhere." | ” |
–Chapter 36, House of Flame and Shadow | ||
Gwydion, also known as Starsword, is the last of the magic swords. It was taken to Midgard by Queen Theia and later used by Bryce Quinlan. It shares a bond with the Truth-Teller, and they call to each other.
Description[]
It is described to be as dark and beautiful as the night itself. Gwydion's power is described as holy, savior's light.[1]
The sword has a dark blade with a black hilt, and is made of iridium mined from a meteorite.[2] It's the twin of Truth-Teller, the sword glowing with white light, starlight, while Truth-Teller glows with dark light.[3]
History[]
It was dipped into the Cauldron by Fionn who was accompanied by two other figures, one of which we know to be Theia. Gwydion, as well as the Truth-Teller, were Made with the Cauldron's warped powers and became the only weapons capable of defeating and overthrowing the Daglan.
It is said by Amren that Gwydion has been gone for millennia, disappeared around the time the last of the Dread Trove went missing. Theia, the former High Queen of Prythian, had taken the two blades, the Horn and the Harp with her on her quest to conquer and colonise Midgard. While the Truth-Teller and the Harp returned to Prythian with Silene, Gwydion remained with Theia and would later be stolen by Pelias and kept in his bloodline until Byrce Quinlan, as Theia's female heir, managed to use it and later return it to the Night Court.
Powers[]
- Gwydion is the last known Cauldron-Made sword.[1] It is capable of killing the unkillable. When it's close to its twin, the Truth-Teller, it glows with white light in response to the dagger's dark light.
- When used with the Truth-Teller - and if wielded by those destined to wield them - these two blades open a portal to nowhere - a black hole.
- Only someone with Starlight powers can trigger its powers due to the blade being keyed to Theia's powers.
House of Sky and Breath[]
- The following section contains details and spoilers for the Crescent City series
After Bryce Quinlan manages to escape the Asteri by opening a gate to travel through the worlds to reach Hel in order to request aid from the Princes, she accidentally lands somewhere in Velaris near the Sidra River instead, carrying with her the Starsword. Azriel finds her, blindfolds her, and flies her to the River House, carrying her to the living room.
A moment later, the doors to the foyer open and Amren, Cassian and Nesta appear. Bryce sees Amren first, then has the idea to try to communicate with them in the only other language she knew, the ancient language of the Fae, of the Starborn. Amren stagers back, surprised to hear her speak the language as no one has spoken it in their world for fifteen thousand years, and the others gape. Amren notices the Starsword and nods to Azriel's knife, Truth-Teller, at his side. The knife is the twin to the sword as it glimmers with dark light in answer to the sword's white light. Amren whispers that the Starsword is actually Gwydion.[3]
House of Flame and Shadow[]
The following section contains details and spoilers for the Crescent City series
Bryce is taken to the dungeons where she's questioned by Rhysand, Amren and Azriel. They ask her why she came to be in the possession of Gwydion to which Bryce replies that it's a family heirloom.[4] She explains that it was brought to her world fifteen thousand years ago by Queen Theia. Amren reacts to that name, saying no one has said it in a very long time. She explains that when she left the Prison that there were rumours mentioning a great number of people vanishing but that it wasn't exactly clear what happened.
It is later revealed that the reason why Bryce ended up in Velaris and not in Hel was because Gwydion's will to find its twin, the Truth-Teller, was stronger than Bryce's untrained will to find Aidas.
Rhysand then gives Bryce a translation pill so they can all understand her but the pill ends up revealing the tattoo on her back - the Horn tattooed with a quote from the Book of Breathings. Due to Bryce's lack of cooperation, Rhys leaves Bryce in the dungeons until she'll reveal more about her intentions. When Bryce asks Azriel where her sword is, he says "somewhere safe" and that they'll return it to her if she gives them a good reason to.
Eventually, Bryce manages to escape the dungeons and following the star on her chest, she starts walking through the tunnels that lead from Hewn City to the Prison. Nesta and Azriel end up following her and joining her as she tries to find whatever it is that seems to call to her. Gwydion is carried by Azriel as well as the Truth-Teller and Bryce notices that their presence seem to bother him. Later, Bryce wonders if Azriel is Starborn considering he can also wield Gwydion.
In the tunnels under the Prison, A.K.A. the former Dusk Court, Bryce, Azriel and Nesta find a hologram of Silene where she explains that Gwydion was dipped in the Cauldron by Fionn in the presence of Theia and another unknown figure. They used Gwydion and the Truth-Teller to defeat the Daglan and reign Prythian as High King and High Queen. Theia, wanting the power to herself, later kills Fionn and starts planning on conquering another planet, to where she takes Gwydion, the Truth-Teller and two items of the Dread Trove. Gwydion then becomes lost to the history of Prythian, for it remains in Midgard for over fifteen thousands of years.
Bryce ends up opening one of the cells of the Prison, where she finds one of the Daglan sleeping in a crystal sarcophagus - Vesperus. When she wakes up, she seems to think the Fae are still her slaves and orders them to obey her. Bryce asks Azriel to give her Gwydion in order to kill Vesperus, but Azriel refuses, wary of Bryce's intentions. Bryce, however, using the information she had learned from Silene's story, manages to summon both Gwydion and the Truth-Teller into her hands, using them to weaken Vesperus and allowing Nesta to behead her with Ataraxia.
Bryce, unable to get the answers she needed and now with Gwydion and the Truth-Teller in hand, opens a portal between worlds again and jumps back to Midgard, taking Gwydion with her.
In the end of HOFAS, Bryce returns to Velaris to give Gwydion back to Nesta and the Night Court, telling her to take it and figure out why she had an eight-pointed star tattooed on her back.
Trivia[]
- There is a Fae prophecy from Midgard that says: "When knife and sword are reunited, so shall our people be", referring to Gwydion and Truth-Teller.[2]
- Iridium is one of the rarest elements in the earth's crust.[5]
- Carrying both Gwydion and the Truth-Teller is something that brings visible discomfort to Azriel.[4]
- It is said that Gywdion can kill the unkillable.