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Across the violent western sea, there is another faerie kingdom called Hybern, ruled by a wicked, powerful king.

–The Suriel, A Court of Thorns and Roses

Hybern (pronounced: Hi-burn[1]) is a faerie kingdom island located west of Prythian.

Geography and Inhabitants[]

Hybern's geography is varied. The map of it shows pictures of mountain ranges and clusters. Closer to the King of Hybern's castle, there were tall bone-white cliffs high above the waves. Their tops were flat and grassy, leading to a terrain of sloping, barren hills. Feyre described it as having an overwhelming sense of nothingness and no animal life beside faeries has been identified as living there.

The faeries that do live there include High Fae and various Lesser Fae species. Many of its High Fae inhabitants are described as having pale or ruddy skin, as well as black eyes. Their eyes appear soulless and cold from centuries of indulging in cruelty, even those of the nameless courtiers who reside at the King of Hybern's castle.

No humans reside in Hybern, as it is fully north of the Wall. Its real-life counterpart is Ireland.

Politics[]

The political power was focused on one king instead of being split between several High Lords. The king had a number of Commanders, which included Amarantha, Prince Dagdan, and Princess Brannagh. Two of his elite hunters were the Ravens, a pair of High Fae who would be sent to retrieve things the King of Hybern wanted.

The symbol of Hybern is unknown but a picture of Hybern showed a small crown in the center. As the same map showed Prythian's courts and included their symbols, this may be Hybern's.

Armies[]

Hybern soldiers wore grey jackets with bone white thread. The jackets had Hybern's coat of arms on their upper right shoulder.

Hybern had many deposits of faebane, which Hybern regularly used. Their army made great use of faebane in battle, spreading it as a fine mist like chemical gas, lacing the food with powdered faebane to slowly defeat the magic of those who happened to eat it, tipping their arrows with faebane stones so they could pierce magical shields, and even shackling enemies with faebane to contain them.

Hybern's army consisted of both a High Fae ground force and an aerial legion of faerie from the same species as the Attor. When attacking Velaris, they launched a two-pronged attack from the sea. The aerial legion flew in to the city, most of them carrying a single Hybern ground soldier. When they reached Velaris, the Attor-like faeries swooped down to the ground, put the ground soldier on their feet, and then flew off to attack while the ground army also invaded.

History[]

Both Hybern and Prythian are territories where faeries live. When mortals were slaves of the faerie, the King of Hybern had many of them in his territory. When the War between mortals and faeries began, the King appointed Amarantha as the main commander of his army and allied himself with the then High Lord of the Spring Court, Tamlin's father, to prevent mortals from freeing themselves, this being one of the kingdoms loyalists to slavery.

During the war, Hybern fought with the faeries against the humans, seeking to keep their slaves. They considered humans their property. When the war was about to end and after their defeat, the Prythian Courts forced the King of Hybern to sign the Treaty guaranteeing that faeries would no longer enslave mortals. Still, they killed every human in their lands rather than free them. They were isolated by other faerie countries and the King of Hybern did not attempt to open new trade routes, letting his people sink into poverty and decay to strengthen their resentment at their conditions. Isolated, growing poorer, with no slaves to do their labor, their anger at the war's outcome grew. Hybern's people came to see the days before the war as a golden era and the centuries since as a dark age, one to be rectified and the Wall to be broken as soon as possible.

Around 500 years after the war, Hybern sent Amarantha as an emissary to each court of Prythian, spreading peaceful tidings. She convinced the High Lords to have more communication, sharing of assets, and more trading between each country. Not long after, Amarantha stole the power of the High Lords through trickery and enslaved them to her, proclaiming herself the High Queen of Prythian.

A Court of Mist and Fury[]

The King of Hybern spends a long time desperately searching for the Book of Breathings so that he can restore the Cauldron and thus destroy the wall to enslave mortals once more. When he achieves his mission he allies with Jurian and the Mortal Queens, who want to be turned into High Fae, and to demonstrate the power of the Cauldron he Made Nesta and Elain Archeron, Feyre Archeron's sisters, into High Fae, thanks to Ianthe, High Priestess of the Spring Court. She kidnaps them and also convinces Tamlin, the High Lord of the Spring Court, to join Hybern in the new war and allow his armies to pass to the wall through his territories.

A Court of Wings and Ruin[]

The King of Hybern's nephew twins, Dagdan and Brannagh, go to the Spring Court accompanied by Jurian to inspect the wall's weaknesses. After they attempt to kill Feyre and Lucien Vanserra, the adopted son of Beron Vanserra, the High Lord of the Autumn Court, they are killed by him and Feyre, but not before they reveal that Hybern has an army of over one hundred thousand men and that number could be doubled if they are joined by legions from other Faerie kingdoms such as Vallahan, Montesere and Rask.

Later the King of Hybern manages to use the Cauldron to destroy the wall and attack the Mortal Lands but in the final battle he is killed thanks to the joint work of the Archeron sister, Nesta and Elain as revenge for having kidnapped them and turning them into High Fae against their will.

It is unknown who rules Hybern since the death of their king, prince, and princess.

Trivia[]

  • Hybern's geography closely resembles that of Ireland, while Prythian resembles Britain. Sarah J. Maas took inspiration from both countries to create the two locations.
  • No humans are reported to live in Hybern, and any who do are not supposed to be there.

References[]


Faerie Realms
Black Land · Cretea · Hybern · Lapplund · Montesere · Prythian · Rask · Ravennia · Vallahan · Xian
Hybern
Characters King of Hybern † · Amarantha(former) · Clythia † · Attor † · Jurian (former) · Brannagh † · Dagdan † · Ravens † · Naga-hounds
Locations King of Hybern's Castle
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