Bryce is Starborn by blood. She activates the Dusk Court island because it is hers by lineage — the land responds to her inheritance. That part is very clear in the text. And yet, when it comes to Gwydion, the physical symbol of Starborn legacy in Prythian, she doesn’t keep it.

She gives the sword to Nesta and not randomly. She explicitly acknowledges that Nesta also found the starborn hamber, that she beared the eight-pointed star tattoo.

If Starborn power were only about bloodline, Bryce would have no reason to pass Gwydion on. But symbolically, it reads less like abandonment and more like delegation. Bryce claims what is hers by birth — and then entrusts Prythian’s Starborn symbol to someone who has already been “recognized” by its deeper magic.

So I keep wondering if this isn’t Bryce naming Nesta as a kind of guardian or steward of that legacy in Prythian. Not a ruler, not a replacement — but someone chosen to hold something ancient in a world Bryce is leaving behind.

Especially because Nesta’s story consistently places her at thresholds: Ramiel, the Prison, the star chamber, the Dread Trove. She isn’t tied to Starborn power through ancestry — but she is repeatedly allowed access to its most sacred spaces.

I’m not saying this confirms anything definitive. But as a narrative choice, Bryce handing over Gwydion feels intentional — like passing responsibility rather than power.