Let’s talk about Tyrrendor.

I am a firm believer that understanding the past is key to understanding the trajectory of the present, and I think I have uncovered a piece of Amaralys history many of us have brushed over. It doesn’t seem to be a secret, and it’s not the most groundbreaking theory, but I suspect this little nugget will end up having a meaningful place in the plot.

If you go back centuries, the Tyrrish royal line were riders, or at the very least, had an amicable relationship with the dragons.

For context, after I finished Onyx Storm, I did what many of us did and went back re-read the whole series with red string, newspaper cutouts, and a new conspiracy board prepped for chaos, here’s what I have pieced together from a few Iron Flame quotes.

Chapter 33 (in the royal vault of the archives) “”Healers, infantry, or even scribes could be General of the Armies until about two hundred years ago with the second Krovlan uprising. After that, the commander of the riders commanded all Navarre’s forces.” “You know that no rider has ever been named king, right?” Imogen asks through the archway. “That’s not entirely true—“ I start, opening the top drawer.”

Okay… so we’re calling out that there HAS been a rider as king, but not within the 600 year unification history the cadets are taught…so maybe it happened BEFORE unification?

Chapter 37 Epigraph “Half palace, half barracks, but entirely a fortress, Riorson House has never been breached by army. It survived countless sieges and three full-out assaults before falling under the flame of the very dragons it existed to serve. —On Tyrrish History, A Complete Accounting, Third Edition, By Captain

I always skimmed past this epigraph before, I discounted it as just being a description of an impressive fortress, when it actually calls out something quite important. Riorson House… a once royal palace…was built to serve dragons. Maybe that’s more to do with the black dragon hatching grounds next door, but still can’t believe I’ve always missed that!

Chapter 37 “The massive, empty armchair Xaden had sprawled across at our last meeting has been moved near the others. Guess they’re still waiting on someone. I glance at the high, intricately constructed back and the figure of a sleeping dragon perched on its pointed tip, then do a double take. In this lighting, I realize that one half is a rich polished walnut, and the other has a black sheen to it, as if someone polished and sealed burned firewood…as if the chair has been half burned.”

Violet describing the throne of Tyrrendor…

From here on out I am going to get a little unhinged and speculative, stop here if you only wanted the facts.

-This is important history because Tyrrendor is built on runes. -Runes were the one piece of their culture that wasn’t erased under unification. -Runes have been described as a logosyllabic language by Violet, much like Old Lucerish. Except runes hold magic. -You need to be able to channel magic to temper runes…Dragons can channel magic…so can gryphons… so can gods it seems… -Runes are the great equalizer, they make magic accessible to the greater population that isn’t bonded to dragons or gryphons. BALANCING (key theme of the series) power. -Tyrrendor has also been described as “the center of it all” by RY. -The first landmark called out when we see Aretia for the first time is the Temple of Amari, Queen of the Gods. -The continent is named Amaralys…

Okay… stay with me… do we think that runes are the language of the gods that the Tyrrish know because their kingdom was always favored/blessed by the gods, and they had some sort peaceful utopian society where dragons channeled from the right power alongside the gods and the people flourished and life was like a fantasy world hallmark movie in their “Ancient kingdom that spanned ocean to ocean” and then someone took too much power…power become corrupted…and everything fell…and the gods had to distance themselves…and the dragons had to find new ways to channel…and that made them bitter and that’s why they “pay no heed to our puny gods”…

…or something like that??? Alternate theories and speculation welcomed.