The Great Anqa

**The Great Anqa** is a classless Seelie fae, and a member of the Coalition of the Classless.

## Appearance

The Great Anqa is in human-form for their only appearance so far in the series, and has bird feathers the color of flame and a notably beaky mouth.

## Life

The Great Anqa is a classless Seelie fae. It's unknown if they were alive before Olphix and Davix created the classless as batteries, in order to gather power over time that the Mages would later take for themselves at their leisure. They are implied to be quite old, as Ondine called them 'one of the old ones'.

Since Gwyn ap Nudd requests Marika's help to ask for representatives from the Seelie classless fae as part of the Coalition of the Classless, it's likely Marika reaches out to the Great Anqa as an attendee. The Great Anqa later appears at the Coalition as one of the Seelie representatives. The Coalition decides on and imposes sanctions on both Courts to end Albion's war with the Unseelie Court, stopping them from sending their militaries against each other, outside of territorial disputes, for a decade. Albion is to stop bothering inter-alignment communities, and Gwyn is to stop assassinating Seelie Courtiers and calling in his life debts to disrupt Seelie politics. The Coalition also assigns two members of the Coalition to serve as observers at the opposing alignment's Court, to make sure they are following through with the sanctions, though Old Pete serves as the Seelie representative to the Unseelie Court.

When Olphix steals the powers of the Classless during the ice plague, it's implied that Olphix takes some or all of the Great Anqa's powers, as well, though the Great Anqa's fate is unknown.

## Folklore/Mythology

'Anqa (Arabic: عَنْقَاء‎, romanized: *ʿanqāʾ*), also spelled *'Anqa'* , or *Anka*, or *Anqa Mughrib* or *Anqa al-Mughrib* (Arabic: العَنْقَاء المُغْرِب‎) is a large mysterious or fabulous female bird in Arabian mythology. She is said to fly far away and only appear once in ages. However, it is also said that she can be found at "the place of the setting of the sun". . . . The anqa was described as "very beautiful and colorful with a long neck, human face, four pairs of wings , and some resemblance with every living being" and a "whiteness" in its neck. Zakariya al-Qazwini in this cosmological book *The Wonders of Creation* comments about the anqa as "the kin of birds that lived alone on Mount Qaf" and "a wise bird with experience gained throughout many ages and gives admonitions and moral advice". Qazwini also says that the bird lives for 1700 years, mating at 500 years of age and that the chick, after the egg breaks, stays inside and only comes out after 125 years.

It is said that Anqa eats nothing except elephants and large fish.'

## References

1. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 14 August 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/10409742. Chapter 56: Islands.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 6 September 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/37093806. Chapter 28: Like Batteries.
3. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 7 August 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/10279800. Chapter 55: Refuge.
4. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 6 February 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/7205945. Chapter 29: Classless.
5. ↑ "Anqa". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anqa. Accessed 25 May 2021.