Symbols A Study in Drowning Ava Reid

The Hag Stones Symbol in A Study in Drowning

What Are Hag Stones?

Hag stones are ordinary-looking rocks with a natural hole bored through the center. In the folklore of Llyr, they act as a counter-charm against the Fairy King’s glamour—a supernatural deception that lets him appear as something he is not. The stones function like a lens: looking through the hole strips away illusion and reveals the Fairy King’s true form. They are physically unremarkable, often resembling pebbles washed up on a beach, but their power is rooted in the region’s old beliefs about the Fairy King’s control over perception.

Gift of hag stones first appears when a shepherd on the road to Saltney stops Effy and warns her about the Fairy King. He reaches into his pocket and gives her “a bevy of stones, white and gray and rust-colored, like the pebbles on the beach. Each one had a small hollow in its center” (chapter 5). The shepherd explains that the Fairy King has “many clever disguises” and that looking through the stones will let Effy “see him coming, in his true form.” The episode grounds the symbol in local superstition and gives Effy a tangible defense.

Where the Hag Stones Recur

The symbol appears at key moments in the narrative, always in connection with the Fairy King’s presence.

  • Chapter 5: Gift from the shepherd – Effy receives the hag stones immediately after arriving in the Bottom Hundred. The shepherd’s warning marks the stones as protection against the supernatural danger lurking in the landscape.

  • Chapter 15: Preliminary testing – After deciding to trust the stones, Effy uses one to check whether a figure she sees on the path is the Fairy King. The stone confirms that the antlered apparition is real, not a hallucination, though she does not yet deploy it against the Fairy King himself.

  • Chapter 16: The confrontation with Ianto – When Ianto reveals himself as the Fairy King and kisses Effy, she reaches for the hag stones she has hidden on her person. “Using hidden hag stones, Effy sees his true form” (outline). The stones expose his decayed, inhuman appearance—silver hair, sagging skin, crumbling bones—and she is able to destroy him with a mirror shard, using the clear sight the stones gave her.

  • After the Fairy King’s death – Effy raises a hag stone a final time to confirm that the Fairy King is truly gone. She sees “all was the same” through the hole (chapter 16). The stones become a tool of verification.

How the Meaning of Hag Stones Changes

Initially, hag stones represent passive folklore—a curiosity Effy receives from a stranger. She doubts them immediately, peering through one on the road only to see “the sheep staring back at her, unblinking and frozen” (chapter 5). At this point, she treats the stones as a foolish superstition, an echo of the “ramblings of some strange old man.”

The meaning shifts as Effy accepts the supernatural reality of Hiraeth. By chapter 15, she no longer dismisses the stones. She carries them deliberately, and when the Fairy King appears on the path, she uses a hag stone to confirm that what she sees is not a figment of her panic. The stones become an instrument of discernment, separating genuine supernatural threat from her own trauma-induced fears.

In the climax (chapter 16), hag stones transform into a weapon of truth. Effy uses them not just to see, but to act: the clear sight they grant allows her to hold up a mirror shard that reflects the Fairy King’s true image, killing him. The stones shift from folk protection to active revelation. Afterward, they serve as a test of proof—Effy raises the stone one last time to ensure the Fairy King has not simply changed his disguise.

Character Connections

Effy Sayre

Effy is the primary user of the hag stones. Her arc moves from skepticism to reliance on them. The stones represent her growing ability to trust her own perceptions—a crucial step in a novel where institutional and personal gaslighting have undermined her sense of reality. Effy’s traumatic past with Master Corbenic has taught her to doubt herself (“she couldn’t tell right from wrong, safe from unsafe,” chapter 6). The hag stones give her an external anchor for truth, but she must learn to wield them herself. By the end, she no longer needs the stones; she has internalized their lesson.

The Fairy King / Ianto Myrddin

The Fairy King is the target of the hag stones’ power. He relies on glamour to appear as a handsome, human man; the stones strip that away. His death is caused directly by Effy using the stones to see through his disguise, then reflecting his own image back at him—a mirror that, as the epigraph states, the Fairy King “refuse[s].” The stones symbolically nullify his control over perception.

Preston Héloury

Preston never uses the hag stones directly, but he plays a role in Effy’s trust in them. His rational, academic skepticism contrasts with Effy’s growing acceptance of the supernatural. When Effy returns from the flooded basement with the metal box, Preston’s willingness to believe her account helps solidify her faith in what the stones revealed.

Angharad Myrddin

Angharad, as the true author of the Myrddin canon and the one who waged a quiet war against the Fairy King, embodies the kind of hidden truth that hag stones uncover. Her entire life is a deception imposed by men—Emrys, her father, the publisher—and the hag stones metaphorically tear away that false narrative. She maintained iron traps at Hiraeth, and the stones function as a portable version of that same principle.

Theme Connections

The Drowning as Metaphor for Silencing Women

Hag stones provide a way to see through the drowning—the gradual erasure of truth. Effy’s visual clarity parallels the novel’s argument that women’s stories have been submerged by patriarchal institutions. The hole in the stone is like a cleared space in the floodwaters.

Literary Forgery and the Erasure of Female Authorship

The stones let Effy see through the forged identity of Emrys Myrddin. Just as the stones reveal the Fairy King’s true face, they help Effy and Preston uncover Angharad’s authorship. The hag stones are an investigative tool in a story about textual truth.

Trauma and Healing Through Trust

Effy’s journey with the hag stones mirrors her journey toward trusting herself. Initially she distrusts the shepherd’s gift, just as she distrusts her own mind after Corbenic’s abuse. Using the stones successfully rebuilds her confidence. The stones are external validators that eventually become internalized.

Institutional Sexism and Academic Gatekeeping

The hag stones are a folk remedy, not an academic tool—they represent knowledge that lies outside the university’s approved methods. Effy’s reliance on the stones over her architectural training mirrors the novel’s critique of institutions that dismiss female practitioners.

The Power of Stories to Shape Reality

The Fairy King’s glamour is itself a story he tells about his appearance. Hag stones are the reader’s equivalent of a critical lens—they break the enchantment of a false narrative. The stones demonstrate that stories can be countered with other kinds of seeing.

4 Study Questions with Answers

1. Why does Effy initially distrust the hag stones?
Effy distrusts the stones because she has been conditioned by the medical establishment (pink pills, her doctor) and by Caer-Isel’s rationalist culture to disbelieve in supernatural explanations. When the shepherd gives her the stones, she feels “foolish” and attributes his words to “fairy tales” (chapter 5). Her trauma with Master Corbenic has also made her doubt her own senses—she cannot afford to believe in things that might be hallucinations.

2. How does Effy’s use of the hag stones change between chapters 5 and 16?
In chapter 5, Effy peeps through a stone on the road to test it but sees only a sheep, dismissing it. By chapter 16, she has hidden the stones on her person specifically to use against the Fairy King. She raises a stone to verify his true form during the kiss, then uses that knowledge to destroy him. The shift is from passive curiosity to active, life-saving application.

3. What does the Fairy King’s reaction to seeing his own reflection through the hag stone reveal about his power?
When Effy holds up the mirror shard after seeing through the hag stone, the Fairy King withers to dust. This proves that his power depends entirely on not being seen truly. His refusal of mirrors—stated in the epigraph—is a tactical weakness. The hag stones expose the vulnerability at the heart of his glamour: he cannot survive clear sight.

4. In what way do the hag stones connect to the theme of erased female authorship?
The hag stones allow Effy to see past the surface story—the Fairy King’s handsome mask—just as the investigation into Myrddin’s texts reveals Angharad’s authorship beneath Emrys’s name. Both the Fairy King and Emrys Myrddin are false frontages; the stones represent the critical perception needed to uncover the silenced female truth underneath.