A Court of Thorns and Roses
by Sarah J. Maas

Alis Character Analysis

Alis is a lesser faerie from the Summer Court who has been working as a servant in the Spring Court for about 50 years. She fled from the Summer Court with her nephews after her sister and her sister’s mate were murdered, apparently by Amarantha or her cronies. Alis has bark-textured skin in her true form, but for much of the novel, Tamlin casts a glamour that makes her look like a squat human woman in a brown dress. Like Feyre, Alis is pragmatic and attempts to be unemotional. She gives Feyre some of the most useful advice in the novel, such as telling her to listen and not always trust her senses. Alis is eventually the one to tell Feyre the truth about the curse and show her how to get Under the Mountain.

Alis Quotes in A Court of Thorns and Roses

The A Court of Thorns and Roses quotes below are all either spoken by Alis or refer to Alis . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Love and Pain Theme Icon
).

Chapter 6 Quotes

The few stories I’d heard had been wrong—or five hundred years of separation had muddled them. Yes, I was still prey, born weak and useless compared to them, but this place was…peaceful. Calm. Unless that was an illusion, too, and the loophole in the Treaty was a lie—a trick to set me at ease before they destroyed me. The High Fae liked to play with their food.

Related Characters: Feyre (speaker), Lucien , Alis , Tamlin/the Beast
Page Number and Citation: 55
Explanation and Analysis:

Chapter 32 Quotes

“She was the King of Hybern’s most lethal general […] But she had a younger sister, Clythia, who fought at her side, as vicious and wretched as she…until Clythia fell in love with a mortal warrior. Jurian.” Alis loosed a shaking sigh. “Jurian commanded mighty human armies, but Clythia still secretly sought him out, still loved him with an unrelenting madness. She was too blind to realize that Jurian was using her for information about Amarantha’s forces. Amarantha suspected, but could not persuade Clythia to leave him—and could not bring herself to kill him, not when it would cause her sister such pain.”

Related Characters: Alis (speaker), Feyre , Amarantha , Clythia , Jurian , The King of Hybern
Related Symbols: Masks
Page Number and Citation: 278-79
Explanation and Analysis:

“He thought that if the human girl loved true, then bringing her here to free him was another form of slavery. And he thought that if he did indeed fall in love with her, Amarantha would do everything she could to destroy her, as her sister had been destroyed. So he spent decades refusing to do it, to even risk it. But this winter, with months to go, he just…snapped. He sent the last of his men out, one by one. And they were willing—they had begged him to go, all these years. Tamlin was desperate to save his people, desperate enough to risk the lives of his men, risk that human girl’s life to save us. Three days in, Andras finally ran into a human girl in a clearing—and you killed him with hate in your heart.”

But I had failed them. And in so doing, I had damned them all.

Related Characters: Alis (speaker), Feyre (speaker), Tamlin/the Beast , Andras/the Wolf
Related Symbols: Masks
Page Number and Citation: 286
Explanation and Analysis:
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Alis Character Timeline in A Court of Thorns and Roses

The timeline below shows where the character Alis appears in A Court of Thorns and Roses. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
Art, Beauty, and Poverty Theme Icon
...Andras. Calling the faerie Lucien, the beast tells him to behave and tells Feyre that Alis will show her to her room for a bath. A squat woman, also in a... (full context)
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
Art, Beauty, and Poverty Theme Icon
Alis steers Feyre to a bedroom where she and two other servants bathe Feyre. It’s terrifying—especially... (full context)
Love and Pain Theme Icon
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
Responsibility and Sacrifice Theme Icon
Art, Beauty, and Poverty Theme Icon
Alis returns with Feyre’s clothes, which are falling apart. Feyre stays silent, and eventually, Alis fetches... (full context)
Chapter 7
Love and Pain Theme Icon
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
...thinks of Tamlin. He’s awkward, but he doesn’t seem so evil. A scream interrupts Feyre’s thoughts—Alis entered the room and got caught in Feyre’s booby trap. Alis scolds Feyre: a booby... (full context)
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
Art, Beauty, and Poverty Theme Icon
Feyre dresses in a purple tunic, the color of which greatly impresses her. As Alis braids Feyre’s hair, Feyre studies her reflection—she looks too much like her mother and Nesta... (full context)
Chapter 8
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
...true that she’s safer here for now. Still, she needs an ally. Thinking of what Alis said about Lucien needing someone to “snap[] at him,” Feyre decides to target him—after all,... (full context)
Chapter 10
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
Responsibility and Sacrifice Theme Icon
...to have fought in the War) and Feyre insults him. He seems to enjoy it, though—Alis was right. (full context)
Chapter 16
Love and Pain Theme Icon
After a long, relaxing bath, Feyre sits by the fire while Alis brushes her hair. Feyre breaks the comfortable silence by asking if there’s going to be... (full context)
Chapter 19
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
Art, Beauty, and Poverty Theme Icon
...intense emotion. Feyre spends the morning in the gallery, and the afternoon in the studio Alis shows her to. For the next several weeks, Feyre immerses herself in painting. She spends... (full context)
Chapter 20
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
Art, Beauty, and Poverty Theme Icon
...teeth. The painting is so frightening she has to put it away and go ask Alis if she can help in the kitchens with Fire Night preparations. Fire Night arrives the... (full context)
Chapter 22
Love and Pain Theme Icon
Art, Beauty, and Poverty Theme Icon
The next night, Feyre asks Alis to help her put on a dress and do her hair. When Feyre enters the... (full context)
Chapter 24
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
Responsibility and Sacrifice Theme Icon
...the morning, but a strange faerie with bark-like skin is there, too. Feyre asks where Alis is—and the faerie says she is Alis. Realizing that Tamlin must’ve glamoured everyone at the... (full context)
Chapter 25
Love and Pain Theme Icon
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
Art, Beauty, and Poverty Theme Icon
...When Feyre wakes up the following morning, the garden is decorated for a party, and Alis explains that this is the celebration for the start of summer—and this time, Feyre can... (full context)
Chapter 26
Love and Pain Theme Icon
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
Responsibility and Sacrifice Theme Icon
...bad news from the Winter Court: the blight killed 24 of their young. Given what Alis told Feyre about faerie children, Feyre understands how devastating this is. As Tamlin begins to... (full context)
Chapter 28
Love and Pain Theme Icon
Responsibility and Sacrifice Theme Icon
In the morning, Alis dresses Feyre in a frilly pink gown. Neither woman likes goodbyes, so their parting is... (full context)
Chapter 32
Love and Pain Theme Icon
...the sound, her knife out. She spots a figure, but it turns out to be Alis. Feyre demands to hear what happened, and Alis drags her to the kitchen. Alis confirms... (full context)
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
Alis elaborates: Amarantha became the High Queen of Prythian a hundred years ago, after she arrived... (full context)
Love and Pain Theme Icon
Responsibility and Sacrifice Theme Icon
As she packs a satchel, Alis continues her story. Amarantha convinced High Lords to believe that she’d changed. But really, Amarantha... (full context)
Love and Pain Theme Icon
Responsibility and Sacrifice Theme Icon
Alis continues. Tamlin used to send men daily, but he stopped when there were only 12... (full context)
Love and Pain Theme Icon
Responsibility and Sacrifice Theme Icon
Alis says that Amarantha is also offering safety to the frightening faeries and creatures, like the... (full context)
Chapter 33
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
After taking abandoned weapons from the house, Feyre follows Alis. She thinks about what the Suriel said—had she listened and been willing to admit her... (full context)
Chapter 39
Love and Pain Theme Icon
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
Art, Beauty, and Poverty Theme Icon
...Feyre to the refreshment table, hands her wine, and tells her to drink. Feyre remembers Alis’s warning but has no choice. (full context)
Chapter 41
Love and Pain Theme Icon
Responsibility and Sacrifice Theme Icon
Art, Beauty, and Poverty Theme Icon
...the other creature notes that the king can take away her powers. Feyre flashes on Alis’s warning not to trust her senses as the creatures disappear. She realizes the servants are... (full context)
Chapter 43
Love and Pain Theme Icon
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
Responsibility and Sacrifice Theme Icon
...Amarantha taunts Feyre, and Feyre feels there’s no way to win. But she thinks of Alis telling her to listen. She thinks back carefully to all the times that, in retrospect,... (full context)
Chapter 46
Love and Pain Theme Icon
Compassion, Respect, and Difference  Theme Icon
Art, Beauty, and Poverty Theme Icon
...smells the flowers and realizes that finally, she’s home. She hears children laughing and spots Alis and her nephews playing. Feyre kisses Tamlin and suggests they go home. (full context)