The Valkyries were an ancient order of female warriors who existed for millennia before most of them were killed during the war five hundred years ago. In A Court of Silver Flames, their lost training traditions begin to return when Nesta, Gwyn, Emerie and the priestesses start incorporating surviving Valkyrie techniques into their own training. Rather than simply recreating the old order, they combine those methods with Illyrian techniques and begin shaping a new generation of Valkyries.
That alone makes the Valkyries important. But with ACOTAR 6 officially carrying the subtitle The Valkyrie Cycle, Movement I, their history has become even more relevant to the future of the series.
So who were the original Valkyries, what happened to them, and how closely do Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie actually follow in their footsteps?
Contents
Who were the Valkyries in ACOTAR?
The original Valkyries were an ancient order of female warriors who came from a territory outside the Night Court. Unlike the Illyrians, they were not a separate race. “Valkyrie” was a title, and females from different kinds of Fae could become one.
Many were recruited from birth or early childhood, and becoming a Valkyrie was considered one of the highest honors in their homeland. Their reputation was formidable. According to the surviving accounts in A Court of Silver Flames, they were considered even better fighters than the Illyrians.
The Valkyries existed for thousands of years, but their own territory eventually disappeared and was absorbed into surrounding lands. Their order did not survive either.
What happened to the original Valkyries?
Most of the Valkyries were killed during the war five hundred years before the main ACOTAR story. The decisive loss came at the Battle of Meinir Pass, where they entered a fight they apparently knew they were unlikely to survive.
The few Valkyries who lived through the war were already old. According to the legends Gwyn finds, they died not long afterward. Some accounts even claim that they allowed themselves to fade because they could not bear the shame of surviving when so many of their sisters had fallen.
By the time of A Court of Silver Flames, there are therefore no living members of the old order left. What remains is a fragmented history preserved through scattered writings, a few precious scrolls, and second-hand accounts.
That lack of surviving material is important, because the Valkyries did not leave behind a neatly preserved military tradition. Much of their history and training had been passed down orally, so centuries later only pieces survived.
The Battle of Meinir Pass
The Battle of Meinir Pass is the defining event in the destruction of the Valkyries.
Cassian had already fought beside them in five battles before Meinir Pass, and his memories make it clear that he respected them deeply. When the Valkyries prepared to fight at the pass, however, the Illyrians refused to support them.
Cassian argued with his own superiors and tried to convince them to help. Instead, they beat him unconscious, chained him to a supply wagon, and left him there. By the time he woke, the battle was over and the Valkyries had been slaughtered.
What makes Meinir Pass especially tragic is that the Valkyries appear to have known how dangerous the battle would be and fought anyway. Cassian later admits that he was never told the political reasoning behind the decision.
Amren also places part of the blame on the Valkyries’ own king. She says that, although she liked the Valkyries themselves, their king was as much to blame for their deaths as the Illyrians who walked away from the battle.
The exact circumstances that led the Valkyries to Meinir Pass remain unclear, but the outcome is not: the battle brought the ancient order to an end.
Cassian’s connection to the Valkyries
For Cassian, the loss of the Valkyries was more than just a military defeat. He had friends among their ranks, and he had developed a much more personal relationship with at least one of them.
His first lover outside the Night Court was a Valkyrie named Tanwyn. She is described as bold-hearted and rode into the Battle of Meinir Pass at the head of the Valkyries. She never came back.
Cassian never returned to the pass after the battle. Rumour has it that the rocks there remain barren, as if the land itself continues to mourn the women who died there.
His personal history with the Valkyries also gives their return added weight. Cassian knew the original warriors personally, fought beside them in several battles, and lost friends among their ranks.
How did Valkyrie training work?
Gwyn discovers much of what is known about Valkyrie training through the research being collected by Merrill.
Because the Valkyries relied heavily on oral tradition, their training system survives only in fragments. Historians, philosophers, travelers and other writers recorded pieces of it over the centuries, and Merrill begins compiling those scattered references into a single work.
From those records, Gwyn learns that Valkyrie training had three stages: Novice, Blade and finally Valkyrie. The final stage was not simply a title handed out after enough training. A warrior had to prove that she was ready for battle. That proof came through the ribbon test.
What is the Valkyrie ribbon test?
To complete Valkyrie training, a warrior had to cut a hanging ribbon cleanly in half with her sword.
At first, the task sounds almost absurdly simple. In practice, it requires far more control than striking a solid target. A ribbon is light, moves easily and gives almost no resistance, so cutting through it demands precision, timing and complete control over the blade.
That is why the ribbon becomes such an important symbol for Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie. It is not just another training exercise. It represents the point at which they have reached the standard once expected of the original Valkyries.
When they finally succeed, they are no longer simply training in the style of the Valkyries. They have completed the test that once marked a warrior as battle-ready.
How did the Valkyries fight?
One of the clearest things we learn about Valkyrie combat is how heavily they relied on shields.
The shields were not simply defensive tools. The Valkyries trained to use them aggressively, striking opponents, knocking them off balance, and creating openings for their swords.
Gwyn quickly realizes how physically demanding this style must have been. The shields themselves are heavy, and using them effectively as weapons would have required exceptional strength through the arms, shoulders and upper body.
That gives the Valkyries a fighting style that feels distinct from the Illyrian techniques we see throughout the series. Their approach was built around combining blade work with powerful shield combat rather than treating the shield as something passive.
Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie bring the Valkyries back
The return of the Valkyries begins almost accidentally in A Court of Silver Flames. Nesta first starts training with Cassian, Gwyn later joins her, and Emerie eventually becomes part of the group as well. But the training does not remain limited to the three of them. More of the priestesses from the library begin joining the sessions, turning what started as Nesta’s personal training into a much larger group of females learning to fight together.
As Gwyn uncovers more about the original Valkyries, their training also starts to change. They begin incorporating surviving Valkyrie methods, including shield work and coordinated formations, while Nesta suggests combining those techniques with Illyrian training rather than trying to recreate the ancient order exactly as it once existed.
Each of the three plays a different role in that revival. Nesta becomes the driving force behind the group, Gwyn helps recover the lost Valkyrie tradition through her research, and Emerie brings an important Illyrian perspective into the new order.
The result is something new: a fighting tradition built from the pieces that survived, but reshaped by the females bringing it back. “Something old becoming something new” is therefore at the heart of the reborn Valkyries.
The Valkyries and the Blood Rite
The Blood Rite becomes the clearest test of how far Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie have come. Forced into the Rite without preparation, they rely on the skills they developed through their combined Valkyrie and Illyrian training. Gwyn and Emerie continue toward Ramiel while Nesta stays behind to defend the pass, and Emerie ultimately reaches the summit.
For the reborn Valkyries, the importance of the Blood Rite is less about the Illyrian ranking itself and more about what it proves: their training works under real combat conditions.
Why the Valkyries matter for ACOTAR 6
The Valkyries already looked important at the end of A Court of Silver Flames. Now there is an even stronger reason to pay attention to them.
ACOTAR 6 is officially titled A Court of Splintered Harmony: The Valkyrie Cycle, Movement I.
That changes the way the ending of Silver Flames looks in retrospect. Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie reviving the Valkyries no longer feels like something confined to Nesta’s personal story. The name is now attached to the next major phase of the series.
Exactly what that means is still unclear.
The title does not automatically confirm that Nesta, Gwyn or Emerie will be the main point-of-view characters, and it does not tell us what role the Valkyries will play in the coming conflict.
But it does confirm one thing: the Valkyrie concept is central enough to the future of ACOTAR that it now defines the cycle itself.
That makes their forgotten history much more important than it first appeared.
No comments