Empire of Storms

The Amulet of Orynth, in which Brannon Galathynius stored one of the three Wyrdkeys after his daughter Elena’s death, is a powerful symbol of knowledge. In the broadest sense, knowledge is power, and the amulet represents the information that Aelin and the others try to safeguard so that they can win the war against Erawan. In the temple in Ilium, for example, Aelin feels “the amulet between her breasts” as a “flicker of raw, ancient power” (150). In this scene, she literally holds the information about the Wyrdkey close to her chest, as Aedion does not even know for certain what is contained within the amulet. The ancient power is felt only by Aelin, as even Erawan’s presence fails to sense the Wyrdkey around her neck. She is the only one in the temple who knows the truth, and this knowledge is mirrored in Elena’s memories of the time when she sent Arobynn to find Aelin as a child. Arobynn knew that the amulet was important and knew how it connected to Aelin, so his possession of the amulet is symbolic of his possession of the truth of Aelin’s past.