| SPOILER WARNING: This article has important plot information. Caution is advised! |
| “ | I have carved the doors for every prisoner in this place, but my own remains my favorite. | ” |
–The Bone Carver, A Court of Mist and Fury | ||
The Bone Carver is a chthonic immortal being of immense power from another dimension held at the Prison that the Prythian Fae refer to as one of their Old Gods. He is the twin brother of Stryga, better known as the Weaver.
He and his siblings are referred to as death-gods because their powers allow them to eat life itself.
History[]
The Bone Carver's origins are steeped in legend, even among the Fae, but he tells some of his tale to Feyre Archeron and Rhysand when they visit him in the Prison, where he lives.
In the far distant past, in the time before "the Cauldron and the Mother" and before the Kingdom of Prythian was created, the Bone Carver had crossed dimensions from another world (he states he "fell" into their world from his own, along with his twin sister, Stryga, and his older brother, Koschei.) The three siblings, who were immensely powerful by this world's standards, were set up as 'gods' by the ancient Fae living in the world, and they were then worshiped out of fear by those ancient Fae.
Interestingly enough, the Bone Carver implied that he did not share his siblings' "delight" from such worship.
The Bone Carver claimed that of the three siblings, he was the weakest in magical strength and as a result, he feared his two siblings. It was that fear which drove him to hide away from the world. He allowed himself to be bound to the Prison by the same female Fae warrior who had first tricked his sister into "diminishing her power and becoming confined to the Middle" and later "confined and bound" his brother, Koschei "by his little lake on the continent."
In an odd twist of fate, the Bone Carver referred to that tricky female Fae with some fondness, stating that no one remembered her name all these eons later, but he did, and that he would not forget it. "She would have been my salvation, had I not made my choice long before she walked the earth", he said of her, implying that he might have been her mate (as "salvation" is a term many mated pairs use when referring to their beloved mates).
By A Court of Thorns and Roses, tens of thousands of years after his incarceration, the Bone Carver was referred to by everyone in Prythian as one of the Old Gods.
A Court of Mist and Fury[]
Feyre and Rhysand visit the Bone Carver to get information from him about what the King of Hybern is doing with the necklace and ring that contain Jurian's soul. Rhysand tells her that he will "appear as he wants to appear." He will appear to her as one thing and to him as another.
In exchange for information, Rhysand gives him the calf-bone that made the final kill when Feyre slew the Middengard Wyrm. There is no innocence or kindness in the Bone Carver's voice. Upon seeing Feyre, he remarks that "it has been an age since something new came into the word." Rhys has instructed her to only answer a question if he answers one. The Bone Carver tells Rhysand that he was always smarter than his forefathers and that he was always his favorite.
The Bone Carver asks Feyre where she went when she died. She recalls what she remembers from dying Under the Mountain. Rhysand struggles to hear what she went through. Feyre describes how she was in a different sort of dark from the Prison, but there was a thread. She yanked on it and suddenly was seeing through Rhysand's eyes. She knew she was dead and that only a tiny scrap of her spirit was all that was left and it was clinging to the thread of her bargain with Rhysand.
The Bone Carver asks her if there was anyone else there or if she saw anything else. She tells him no. When she was Made anew she followed the bond back because knew that home was on the other end of it. The Bone Carver asks if she was afraid, and she replies that all she wanted was to return to the people around her so badly that she didn't have room for fear. The worst had happened, and the darkness was calm and quiet. It didn't seem like a bad thing to fade into, but she wanted to go home.[1]
The Bone Carver tells Rhysand and Feyre about the Cauldron and how evil things were forged with it. He tells them that only with the Cauldron could Jurian be brought back to life, and that the Cauldron could be used to shatter the Wall. He also tells them about the Book of Breathings and where it can be found.
He attempts to make a bargain with Rhysand for Feyre's bones when she dies, but then revokes the offer, stating he knows Rhys would never agree to such a bargain. In order to learn who has the Cauldron, Feyre tells the Bone Carver that there was a choice in Death. She knew that she could drift away into the dark, but she chose to fight.
Feyre also tells the Bone Carver that when Amarantha made her kill those two faeries, if the third hadn't been Tamlin, who has a stone heart, she would have put the dagger in her own heart at the end. She believed there was no coming back from killing innocents, and once she knew she had broken the curse, she just wanted to die. She only decided that she wanted to live when Amarantha killed her, and she knew she had not finished whatever it was she'd been born to do.
A Court of Wings and Ruin[]
Feyre visits the Bone Carver again. She asks the Bone Carver if he would return to his old home world if he could, he stated that he believed the world he'd originated from was now just "dust drifting across a plain" and that there was no home to go back to in his case. Thus, he was totally uninterested in using the Cauldron to return him to his home world. He also had no interest in letting his siblings know of his whereabouts, as he'd claimed that although their powers were diminished over the ages, they were still considerable, and so he chose to stay in the Prison rather than fight for Feyre.
Later in the same book, when Feyre struck a bargain with him to help her save Prythian from Hybern and his army, the Bone Carver asked her to first retrieve an infamous and powerful magical object for him from Keir in the Court of Nightmares before he'd agree to serve as Feyre's soldier: the Ouroboros mirror, which was known to drive mad all who look within its reflection. After Feyre did as he'd wished and became the mistress of the mirror, she'd brought it to the Bone Carver, as requested. He'd seemed amazed that she'd actually done it, claiming the request was only a test to see if Feyre could actually succeed; his way of determining whether or not Feyre was worthy of commanding his loyalty. From his reaction to possessing the mirror at long last, however, it was implied that the Bone Carver's interest in the mirror was more personal than he'd let on. Perhaps he really did want the mirror, if only so he could look upon his true self just once (as he could not see himself as he really was, due to the nature of his magic).
During the final battle with Hybern, the Bone Carver appeared in front of the combined Fae Court armies in a Fae-bound body of an Illyrian warrior, dressed in Illyrian battle gear and wielding a large bone scimitar as his weapon of choice. When the battle started, he, Bryaxis, and his twin sister, Stryga, were first to march into Hybern's ranks. He cut a swath through the army with his scimitar, like he was "threshing wheat". The bodies of his victims were turned to dust.
At one point during that battle, Feyre had some trouble commanding him not to harm her army, only Hybern's, but her will won out and the Bone Carver obeyed, albeit reluctantly.
It is implied in the text that the Bone Carver had divined his own death sometime prior to the final battle with Hybern, as at the moment the Cauldron's intense heat wave smashed into him upon the battlefield, he turned to Feyre and smiled at her, as if saying 'goodbye'. The Cauldron burned him to ash an instant later, leaving behind his enraged and mourning sister, Stryga, to fight on against Hybern in his stead.
In the end, the Bone Carver—an outsider, a recluse, a being who lived in fear of himself, of his family, of living for tens of thousands of years, who was one of the 'greatest monsters' in Prythian history—died a hero, fighting for others in the name of goodness. And no one living ever knew his true name.
Powers and Abilities[]
The Bone Carver's primary power is to divine the future, specifically the deaths of others. He often carves those death scenes into bones brought to him by others (gifts in exchange for the knowledge he possesses).
As a result of his divination ability, the Bone Carver also has an innate power to "see" or "hear on the wind" magically what is happening in the world at all times in the present (the exception being he can't "see" the Cauldron, although he can "hear" it). This gives him a vast amount of knowledge, which others seek to possess.
Another power appears to be his ability to glamour himself, so that whoever looks upon him will see someone else (and he is aware of who it is they see, and the importance of that reflection). His true form is never revealed in the books.
- To Feyre, the Bone Carver appeared as a beautiful, dark haired child with violet-blue eyes - her future son with Rhysand.
- To Rhysand, the Bone Carver appeared as Jurian.
- Cassian has also seen the Bone Carver, but what he saw was not said.
- During the battle with Hybern in A Court of Wings and Ruin he appears to Feyre as an Illyrian warrior.
In battle, the Bone Carver has two weapons he utilizes:
- A scimitar made of bone that can be magically wielded to turn its victims into dust.
- His breath, which magically turns his enemies into dust.
References[]
- ↑ A Court of Mist and Fury: Chapter 18
| Characters | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main Characters | Feyre Archeron · Rhysand · Nesta Archeron · Cassian · Azriel · Elain Archeron · Tamlin · Lucien Vanserra · Morrigan · Amren · Amarantha · King of Hybern | |
| Supporting Characters | Alis · Andras · Beron · Bogge · Bone Carver · Bron · Cerridwen · Clare Beddor · Cresseida · Drakon · Devlon · Emerie · Eris · Graysen · Gwyneth Berdara · Feyre's Father · Hart · Helion · Ianthe · Isaac Hale · Isaac Hale's Wife · Jurian · Kallias · Keir · Koschei · Mercenary · Miryam · Mortal Queens · Mrs. Laurent · Naga · Nuala · Unnamed Summer Court Faerie · Tarquin · Suriel · Thesan · Tomas Mandray · Varian · Vassa · Weaver | |
| Mentioned Characters | Aunt Ripleigh · Dark Mother · Feyre's Mother · Mother · Rhysand's Father · Rhysand's Mother · Rhysand's Sister · Nostrus · Queen of the Black Land · See more... | |