ONCE BROKEN FAITH open thread!

Seanan has specifically said that a child of Oberon and a human would be a pureblood First (aka, not a changeling). So Amandine's mother could indeed have been human, and not have had to change her own blood to be pureblood.

That said, in Late Eclipses, the Luidaeg stated that Toby was back to where she'd started before Amandine's meddling. It may have been more than 50% fae (given Amandine was First) but we should remember that Toby's weakness in the first 3 books was due to Amandine's meddling, not Toby's natural state.

You are right, of course, about Amandine being fully fae in a sense. On the other hand, Amandine was definitely behaving like someone ashamed of her heritage -- pretending to be Daoine Sidhe and not Firstborn. So maybe I haven't got it fully right -- I certainly hope not, tbh! -- but we'll see where these themes go.

Weirdly enough, it seems like the changeling (or, at least, mixed) state is one of the more powerful advantages that a member of the Dochas Sidhe can hold. Toby gets a lot of mileage out of shifting her own blood one way or the other. So I do wonder if Amandine, as the Dochas Sidhe Firstborn, could still have accessed some of those advantages even as she was less affected by their downsides...

I don't think Amandine is ashamed of her heritage, she's afraid of it. While the full facts regarding the Dochas Sidhe have yet to be revealed, it's pretty clear Oberon created them for a purpose, and there are powerful Fae that don't want to see that purpose fulfilled.

Well, given that we've seen Toby act like a living hope chest (changing Chelsea to a pureblood and Gillian to a full human, not to mention what she was able to do for the changelings of the Silences), shift her own blood under the influence of goblin fruit, and actually remove entire pieces of mixed-bloods' heritage (the false Queen and Rayseline). And that's as a changeling! Imagine what she could do as a pureblood - and there's foreshadowing that indicates she will eventually have to turn herself pureblood - and hell, imagine what Amandine could potentially do as a Firstborn. It's hard to blame her for being afraid of what she is; her race is actually quite frightening. It's no wonder that there are folks who don't want the Dochas Sidhe around (and they obviously don't, look what's going on with the few known to exist).

August's disappearance, Oberon and the Queens' disappearance, Amandine's absence, whether it's due to instability or whatever - I'm sure it's all connected, and I'd put money on Evening being heavily involved in like, all of it.

I love this series.

You're right, Amandine can't be blamed for being afraid. I'm assuming she knows exactly what Oberon's intentions were in creating the Dochas Sidhe, and when he disappeared she was left to carry that burden alone. Unfortunately it appears she is ill suited to that task; she thought she could protect Toby by making her more human, but all she really did was make her terribly vulnerable, with absolutely no clue as to what she really is.

Evening is certainly at the center of it all. She can't harm Toby directly, but her power over the Daoine Sidhe gives her an army of minions she can use, including Sylvester. Imagine what would happen if she used her influence to convince him Toby had to be killed? Toby would be at a huge disadvantage based solely on the vast difference in their combat abilities, but the biggest issue would be having to face the man that's essentially been a second father to her. Quentin is Daoine Sidhe too, and there is absolutely no way Toby could harm him, not even to save her own life.

Really the best move for Toby is what she threatened to do, get back to where they left Evening with iron and silver and, to borrow a phrase from Heavy Metal, tear her into little bitsy pieces and bury her alive. But she won't do that, because she's a hero.