ONCE BROKEN FAITH open thread!

You are correct [Once Broken Faith, Kindle Edition, page 17]: "...and of the cottonwood and quince signature of her magic."

Order may be significant here, however -- "cottonwood and quince" might not be the same as "quince and cottonwood", and the only times that lineage has been established is in the context of the /first/ scent being the same (I think -- you likely have better data on this than I do -- a chart showing all the scents revealed in all the books!?).

Beyond that, I rather doubt that King Gilad and Karen are related -- I'm fairly certain that King Gilad is a pure-blood Daoine Sidhe, and I know that neither of Karen's (supposed) parents have any Daoine Sidhe blood at all. It is reasonable for Toby to miss the fact that Karen is a Roane (since she has never smelled the magic of one -- which, in and of itself, is somewhat odd: the Roane in One Salt Sea /does/ See right in front of her, but no mention is made of the scent of her magic) but it seems very unlikely that she would miss Daoine Sidhe blood.

But... Who knows? :)

King Gilad was Tuatha de Dannan, same as Arden.

I like the thought of the Browns being somehow descendant of the Roan.

Most Fae and changelings that we encounter get identified by their physical features. Pointed ears, but not pointed like a Tuatha De Danan. Or the inhumanly blue eyes of the Twylith Teg.

Even Toby, who is more sensitive to magical signatures than most, had to be told that magic was indicative of your Firstborn. Toby grew up around several Fae of the same race and lineage, and never found a common denominator. In Ashes of Honor, when we first hear about this, the magic only tells which of the twins was that individual's First by a damp smell or a burnt smell, it had nothing to do with which scent was damp/burning.

For this reason, I'm butting more stock in physical appearance than magical signatures, at least until we have more information.

Toby had to be told about magical signatures because her mother had left some vital training off for her. The Luidaeg says that it was once normal for everyone to know about it.

When I sort my chart based upon magical signature (yeah, I know , I'm a really big nerd who has it on a spreadsheet), I come up with something else interesting - Heather and Fire. Heather as in Amorica and Elton's magic (Tuatha de Dannon) and Quentin. Then fire - as in Amorica and then smoke with Chelsea, Etienne, and Simon. Even Quentin's other signature is steel - a fired forged metal. I wonder if Amorica was the father of the Daoine Sidhe? They have to have one, even if they were claimed by Eira. Maybe that fire accounts for the red hair that some of the Daoine Sidhe seem to have.

I don't know if Simon is a great example - his magic had changed. Was the smoke constant (oh spreadsheet bearer?) and just the cider -> rotten oranges the change?

I have Simons listed as both. If you read the Winter Long it talks about how his magic smelled before (Smoke and Mulled Cider) and after (Candle Smoke and Rotten Oranges). I believe that he corrupted himself by having some sort of contact with Blind Michael (both Michael and Rayseline have candle in their magic signature) while looking for August.

Sorry for the delayed response. He went from smoke and mulled cider to candle smoke and rotten oranges.