Prythian is ruled by seven High Lords, each governing one of the seven courts: Night, Spring, Autumn, Summer, Winter, Dawn, and Day.
High Lords of Prythian — Quick Answers
What is a High Lord in Prythian?
A High Lord is the ruler of one of Prythian’s seven courts, wielding immense magical power tied directly to their land.
How many High Lords are there?
There are seven High Lords, one for each court: Night, Spring, Autumn, Summer, Winter, Dawn, and Day.
Is Rhysand the most powerful High Lord?
Rhysand is repeatedly described as one of the most powerful High Lords in Prythian. While the series strongly positions him at the top tier, it does not provide an official ranking of High Lords by power.
How is a High Lord chosen?
A High Lord is chosen by the land itself. Power often passes through bloodlines, but inheritance is not guaranteed.
Are High Lords immortal?
High Lords are extremely long-lived but not immortal. They can be killed, though doing so is rare.
Who are the current High Lords of Prythian?
Rhysand (Night), Tamlin (Spring), Beron (Autumn), Tarquin (Summer), Kallias (Winter), Thesan (Dawn), and Helion (Day).
Unlike other fae territories, Prythian has no single monarch; instead, power is divided among these High Lords, whose magic is bound directly to their lands.
Each High Lord rules independently, inheriting immense magical power tied to their court. Succession does not follow simple bloodlines; rather, the land itself chooses its ruler.
Below is a complete guide to every High Lord of Prythian.
| Name | Court | Powers |
|---|---|---|
| Rhysand | Night Court | Daemati mind control; shadow manipulation; winnowing; misting; flight (Illyrian wings); High Lord magic; beast form |
| Tamlin | Spring Court | Shapeshifting (self and others); glamour magic; immense physical strength; wind magic; winnowing; High Lord magic; beast form |
| Beron Vanserra | Autumn Court | Fire manipulation; winnowing; High Lord magic; beast form |
| Tarquin | Summer Court | Water manipulation; tidal control; winnowing; High Lord magic; beast form |
| Kallias | Winter Court | Ice and cold manipulation; winnowing; High Lord magic; beast form |
| Thesan | Dawn Court | Advanced healing magic; light and air magic; winnowing; High Lord magic; beast form |
| Helion | Day Court | Spell-cleaving light; advanced spellwork; winnowing; High Lord magic; beast form |
Who Is the High Lord of the Night Court?
The High Lord of the Night Court is Rhysand, one of the most powerful High Lords in Prythian. He governs both the Court of Nightmares beneath the mountain and the hidden city of Velaris, a place long believed to be a myth.
Introduced in A Court of Thorns and Roses, Rhysand is known throughout Prythian for his ruthless reputation — a persona he deliberately cultivates to protect his court. Beneath that mask, he rules with calculated restraint, prioritizing secrecy, loyalty, and the safety of his people above all else.
What Are Rhysand’s Powers?
Rhysand is one of the most powerful High Lords in Prythian, with abilities that far exceed those of most high fae. His magic is tied directly to the Night Court and manifests in both mental and physical forms.
His known powers include:
- Daemati abilities, allowing him to enter and manipulate minds
- Shadow manipulation and darkness-based magic
- Flight, aided by his Illyrian wings
- Raw High Lord magic, capable of overwhelming other powerful fae
This mix of mental dominance and destructive power makes Rhysand a uniquely dangerous political and magical force in Prythian.
What Is Rhysand’s Beast Form?
When transformed, Rhysand takes on a monstrous beast form. In his beast form, Rhysand has black scales, elongated canines, talons, massive wings, and a face shaped by nightmare imagery. This form represents the most physically destructive manifestation of his High Lord power.
How Is the Night Court Ruled?
The Night Court is ruled through a deliberately divided system. While the Court of Nightmares serves as the Night Court’s visible seat of power, true governance takes place in Velaris – in the Court of Dreams.
As High Lord, Rhysand maintains this split to control Prythian’s perception of the Night Court and protect his people — a ruling strategy that sets him apart from every other High Lord.
What Is the Court of Nightmares?
The Court of Nightmares is the public seat of the Night Court. It is located in the Hewn City, a subterranean city beneath the Moonstone Palace. The Court of Nightmares is the part of the Night Court most of Prythian is aware of and is associated with displays of cruelty, excess, and strict hierarchy.
Who Is the High Lord of the Spring Court?
Tamlin holds the title of High Lord of the Spring Court, having inherited it after the deaths of his father and brothers.
As High Lord, Tamlin controls the Spring Court’s lands, borders, and magical wards from his estate within the court’s territory. During Amarantha’s reign Under the Mountain, he is one of the High Lords stripped of his power and forced into silence, a condition that directly shapes the curse placed upon the Spring Court and its people.
Following Amarantha’s defeat, Tamlin regains his High Lord powers and resumes rule over the Spring Court, though the court suffers long-term damage to its population, infrastructure, and political standing.
What Are Tamlin’s Powers?
As High Lord of the Spring Court, Tamlin possesses immense High Fae magic tied to physical strength, shapeshifting, and elemental force. His power manifests most clearly through brute strength, transformation, and territorial magic rather than mental domination or illusion.
Tamlin demonstrates the core abilities common to High Lords, including enhanced strength, speed, durability, rapid healing, and longevity, as well as winnowing, allowing him to travel instantly across distances.
One of Tamlin’s most notable abilities is shapeshifting. He can fully transform into a massive beast form combining ursine and lupine traits, complete with antlers, claws, and fangs. He is also capable of partial shifts, manifesting claws or fangs without fully transforming, and has demonstrated the ability to shift others, most notably turning members of his court into wolves during Amarantha’s curse.
In addition to transformation, Tamlin wields powerful glamour magic, capable of altering perception, memory, and appearance. He also shows control over wind-based magic and raw magical force, particularly during the events of A Court of Wings and Ruin. His healing abilities are strong enough to mend severe injuries, though Amarantha’s curse limits this power for much of the series.
What Is Tamlin’s Beast Form?
Tamlin can fully shift into a monstrous beast form. The transformation combines multiple animal traits, including a bear-like body with immense strength, a lupine head, massive antlers that later curl into horn-like shapes, razor-sharp claws, and long yellow fangs. His green, gold-flecked eyes remain unchanged between forms.
Who Is the High Lord of the Day Court?
Helion holds the title of High Lord of the Day Court. He inherits the position through the traditional transfer of High Lord power and rules from the Day Court’s seat. The Day Court is known for its vast libraries, spell repositories, and scholarly institutions.
Helion appears later in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series and becomes a key political and military ally during the conflict with Hybern.
What Are Helion’s Powers?
As High Lord of the Day Court, Helion commands powerful light-based High Fae magic. His abilities manifest primarily through daylight, illumination, and spell-breaking force rather than brute strength or mental domination.
Helion demonstrates spell-cleaving light, a rare and highly destructive form of magic capable of breaking or neutralizing powerful enchantments. He can generate concentrated daylight strong enough to counter dark magic and disrupt wards, making him particularly effective against magical constructs and cursed objects.
Like other High Lords, Helion possesses enhanced strength, speed, durability, rapid healing, longevity, and winnowing. He also maintains extensive magical knowledge, reinforced by the Day Court’s libraries, which house some of Prythian’s most dangerous and ancient spells.
What Is Helion’s Beast Form?
When transformed, Helion takes on a radiant beast form composed of light. Helion’s beast form is a creature of golden feathers, with broad, feathered wings, shredding claws, and a body formed of sunlight and brilliance.
ACOWAR presents this beast form as the counterpart to Rhysand’s beast form, directly contrasting Rhysand’s dark, nightmarish transformation with a manifestation of light tied to the Day Court.
Helion and Lucien
Helion is the biological father of Lucien Vanserra, though Lucien remains unaware of this. The Autumn Court publicly recognizes Lucien as the youngest son of Beron, High Lord of the Autumn Court, because his mother conceals his true parentage through her marriage.
Helion and Lucien’s mother, the Lady of the Autumn Court, share a long-standing relationship that predates Lucien’s birth. To protect both herself and her child from Beron, Lucien’s parentage is hidden through deception and political silence. As a result, Lucien grows up in the Autumn Court unaware of his Day Court heritage.
Who Is the High Lord of the Autumn Court?
Beron Vanserra holds the title of High Lord of the Autumn Court. He inherits the position through the traditional transfer of High Lord power and maintains control over the court throughout the events of the A Court of Thorns and Roses series.
Beron rules the Autumn Court alongside the Lady of the Autumn Court and fathers multiple sons, including Eris and Lucien. He enforces a rigid hierarchy, demands strict loyalty, and cultivates a reputation for brutality that shapes both the Autumn Court’s internal structure and its standing among the other courts.
What Are Beron’s Powers?
As High Lord of the Autumn Court, Beron wields powerful High Fae magic tied to fire, heat, and destructive force. His abilities manifest primarily through elemental attacks and raw magical output rather than finesse or illusion.
Beron demonstrates the core High Lord attributes, including enhanced strength, speed, durability, rapid healing, longevity, and winnowing. His elemental magic allows him to generate and manipulate fire.
Who Is the High Lord of the Summer Court?
Tarquin holds the title of High Lord of the Summer Court. He inherits the position following the death of his predecessor during Amarantha’s rule and becomes one of the youngest High Lords in Prythian by the time of A Court of Mist and Fury.
Tarquin rules from the Summer Court’s coastal seat and oversees a court defined by maritime trade and strong naval defenses. After Amarantha’s defeat, he works to rebuild the Summer Court’s population and political influence.
What Are Tarquin’s Powers?
As High Lord of the Summer Court, Tarquin wields High Fae magic closely tied to water, tide, and coastal force. His power manifests through both elemental control and raw High Lord strength.
Tarquin demonstrates the standard abilities shared by High Lords, including enhanced strength, speed, durability, rapid healing, longevity, and winnowing. In addition, he can manipulate water, generating waves, controlling currents, and wielding water offensively and defensively during combat.
His magic proves particularly effective in naval and coastal engagements, where the Summer Court’s geography amplifies his elemental abilities.
Who Is the High Lord of the Winter Court?
Kallias holds the title of High Lord of the Winter Court. He rules alongside Viviane, his mate and consort, and maintains authority over the Winter Court throughout the events of the A Court of Thorns and Roses series.
Kallias emerges as an active political figure after Amarantha’s defeat and participates in inter-court diplomacy and military planning during the conflict with Hybern. He represents the Winter Court at High Lord meetings and contributes forces to the united Prythian effort.
What Are Kallias’s Powers?
As High Lord of the Winter Court, Kallias wields High Fae magic associated with cold, ice, and winter conditions. His abilities manifest through elemental control and the baseline powers common to all High Lords.
Kallias demonstrates enhanced strength, speed, durability, rapid healing, longevity, and winnowing. His elemental magic allows him to generate and manipulate ice and extreme cold, which he can deploy defensively through barriers or offensively during combat.
Kallias and Viviane
Kallias and Viviane are married and are confirmed mates. Their relationship predates Amarantha’s rule, though it remained unacknowledged for many years.
Before Amarantha’s occupation, Kallias deliberately kept Viviane away from court politics and stationed her on border duty to protect her from internal intrigue. He concealed his feelings and did not allow her to go Under the Mountain, nor did he reveal their bond to anyone. Viviane was unaware of his love for her during this time.
When Amarantha stripped Kallias of his power and imprisoned him Under the Mountain, he used the last remnants of his magic to warn Viviane and to tell her he loved her. He also charged her with protecting their people. Viviane assumed responsibility for the Winter Court in his absence, shielding and governing the court throughout Amarantha’s reign and maintaining its survival.
During this period, Viviane came to recognize her own feelings for Kallias. Upon his return after Amarantha’s defeat, Kallias winnowed directly to her. Viviane kissed him before he could speak, and he immediately asked her to marry him. They traveled to a temple and were wed shortly afterward. That same night, the mating bond between them snapped fully into place.
Who Is the High Lord of the Dawn Court?
Thesan holds the title of High Lord of the Dawn Court. He rules from the Dawn Court’s mountainous territory, which is known for its advanced healing practices, aerial cities, and emphasis on knowledge and medicine.
Thesan becomes politically visible after Amarantha’s defeat and participates in High Lord meetings and inter-court alliances during the conflict with Hybern. He aligns the Dawn Court with the unified Prythian effort and contributes both resources and specialized support.
What Are Thesan’s Powers?
As High Lord of the Dawn Court, Thesan wields High Fae magic associated with light, air, and healing. His abilities manifest through elemental control and restorative magic rather than brute force or destructive power.
Thesan demonstrates the baseline High Lord abilities, including enhanced strength, speed, durability, rapid healing, longevity, and winnowing.
Thesan and His Lover
Thesan’s lover is a Peregryn male from the Dawn Court who rose to the rank of captain. Their relationship began before Amarantha’s rule, but Thesan did not openly acknowledge their bond at that time.
During Amarantha’s occupation of Prythian, Thesan concealed the relationship out of concern for his lover’s safety. After Amarantha’s defeat, Thesan publicly claimed their bond. The series does not provide the lover’s name or further details beyond his rank, species, and role within the Dawn Court.
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