The Western Wastes · The full story
A kingdom won and cursed
The Ironteeth conquered this whole kingdom five hundred years ago and never once got to keep it — the dying Crochan queen made sure of that with her last breath.
The place
The kingdom you can win but never keep.
The Western Wastes are a wide flatland in western Erilea, south of the Frozen Wastes and bordering Adarlan, from Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass — once the Witch Kingdom, and by the series' present a place of ruined towers and soured fields. Brannon Galathynius gave this land to the Crochan witches after the first war against Erawan, and they built a beautiful country here and held it for over a thousand years. Then, five centuries before the main story, the three Ironteeth clans united, overthrew House Crochan, and took it — and found they'd won a kingdom that would not have them. Wind, ruin, and a curse worked into the soil.
What happened here
Everything turns on Rhiannon's curse.
Before Baba Yellowlegs cut her down, the last Crochan queen Rhiannon held the gates for three days and then cursed the land she was losing: the Ironteeth could win the war but never the ground — crops would fail, animals wither, waters turn to mud for any Ironteeth who tried to live here, while it stayed fertile for the humans in their place. That's why the Witch Kingdom became 'the Wastes,' and why the Ironteeth were exiled to the Ferian Gap. Five hundred years later, Manon Blackbeak crossed this flatland hunting the Crochans, was led to her great-grandmother Glennis, and learned she was the bridge the curse had been waiting for.
What it means
The home Manon was cursed out of before she was born.
The Wastes are the home Manon was cursed out of before she was born. She spent a lifetime as a weapon, told the way back to this land ran through obedience and slaughter — and the truth was the opposite. Half-Ironteeth and half-Crochan, she was blood to blood, the one person who could undo what Rhiannon bound. When she took the Yellowlegs Matron and a crown of starlight appeared, and when the Thirteen melted the last witch-tower and the iron finally gave, the curse broke. Two peoples who'd hunted each other for five centuries went home to rebuild it as one.
The history
A kingdom won and cursed
A thousand years of beauty, five hundred of barren wind, and one homecoming — in order.
Brannon's gift
After the first war against Erawan, Brannon Galathynius gives the Western Wastes to the Crochan witches, who take after their Fae blood more than their demon. They build the Witch Kingdom.
A thousand years of House Crochan
The Crochans rule a beautiful country here for over a thousand years — the seat of the witch queens, before the iron came for it.
The Ironteeth conquest
Five hundred years before the story, the three Ironteeth clans unite and overthrow House Crochan, seizing the kingdom in the witch wars.
Rhiannon's curse
Holding the gates three days, the last Crochan queen Rhiannon curses the land before Baba Yellowlegs kills her: the Ironteeth will win the war but never the ground.
Five hundred years of exile
The land sours for its conquerors — barren fields, dying herds, muddy water — and the Ironteeth are driven to the Ferian Gap while they hunt the one Crochan who could lift it.
Manon finds the Crochans
A Stygian spider disguised as a bear leads Manon across the Wastes to Glennis's camp — her great-grandmother — and her cousin Bronwen, and the truth of her blood.
The starlight crown
When Manon defeats the Yellowlegs Matron, a crown of starlight appears: half-Ironteeth, half-Crochan, she is the last Crochan Queen and the bridge the curse named.
The curse breaks, the witches go home
The Thirteen's Yielding melts the last witch-tower — iron melting, as foretold — and the curse lifts. Ironteeth and Crochans return together to rebuild the Witch Kingdom as one people.
Landmarks
What's left of the Witch Kingdom
A ruined country and the crown that was owed it.
- The ruined towersWhat's left of the thousand-year Witch Kingdom — Crochan towers standing broken over fields that would grow nothing for their conquerors.
- The starlight crownThe Crochan Queen's crown that manifests over Manon when she wins her people — proof the bridge had come at last.
- The soured landFields that failed, herds that withered, waters gone to mud — Rhiannon's curse, worked into the ground for five hundred years.
When iron melts, when flowers spring from fields of blood — let the land be witness, and return home.
We're Caffeine and Curses. The Library started as my design research — I can't put Manon on a shirt without knowing which way the iron teeth snap — so we keep the notes here where everyone can use them. The pages are fan-made, not official; the licensed designs are in the shop.
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Throne of Glass, ©2012-2018, Sarah J. Maas.