This is such a fascinating line, with so much to unpack.  What is this actually referring to? 

I keep having this idea that Ronan and Declan, and probably Hennessy too, are human avatars in some sort of larger supernatural battle.  Possibly a three-way battle.  With Adam, Matthew and Jordan also playing a role.

There are continuous references to the trees, as sentient beings, and there is reason to think they are using Ronan to further their ends.

There are the moderators, who are supposedly a government ops group, who want to stop dreamers, and yet they're made up of dreams. (That was a twist I never saw coming!)  So why would they want this? Who is giving them their orders?

The books say outright that Lindenmere is not just a dream, but a shape given to something that came through Ronan's dream.  So what about Bryde?  He's Ronan's dream, but at one point, he says to himself, "It's harder than I thought," Bryde said. "Being out here. I thought I knew what I wanted . . . " (MI chpt 33)  Which indicates that Bryde too is more than a dream, but something sentient, a shape given to something that came through Ronan's dreams.

And what about all the references to water.  The rivers, Great Falls, and all the references to the sea.  Like the dream given by the Dark Lady portrait. Is this simply a metaphor for energy and magic? Possibly, since it fits the existing metaphor:  Matthew is drawn to water as a source of energy, Ronan can enter it and take things out (baggie with teeth), Declan is drowning in it.  

And what about Boudicca, that trafficker of dreams.  They must have some role.  And Mór Ó Corra is part of Boudicca. 

Then, the quote above names the Lynch brothers as something uncanny.  ALL the Lynch brothers.  In Ronan's and Matthew's case, this seems obvious. They are dreamer and dream.  But Declan? He seems about as ordinary human as you can get. And yet - Niall was still his father.  Is there some recessive tendency inside him? And we know very little about Mór Ó Corra, but awhile ago @notsohiddengeek pointed out to me the connection in the name to the Morrigan.  Is there something in Declan's heritage that he's been denied?  Declan loves art, but he's referred to again and again as a storyteller, which is also an art.  Will that have a role?

Anyhow, these are just speculations and ramblings.  I'm sure the author will give us something far more interesting than I could come up with. 

I'd like to explore Ronan's relationship with truth and lies. In TDT, Ronan says he never lies. (chpts 21 & 44). In TRK, Gansey tells Adam that Ronan always tells the truth. (chpt 14)

(Spoilers)

But he does lie. Maybe not habitually, like Declan, but as much as most people.

He lies through action when he dreamed the evidence to frame Colin Greenmantle with crimes unimaginable. (BLLB chpt 31) as revenge for Niall's murder.  He lies by omission about Mathew's status as a dream. (CDTH chpt 52) He lies to Adam about having never thought about making a dream copy of Aurora, because he wants the conversation to be over (MI chpt 19). And Ronan lies when he goes to visit Aurora on the ley line, and she asks after Declan.

The funny thing is this might be factually true.  Declan is now in DC as a political intern, and probably is working.  Aurora's response ("He was always so diligent") indicates she finds it plausible.  The real lie is the implication that Ronan checked to see if Declan was available and wanted to go visit Aurora.  Judging by his friends' reaction, he didn't and they all know it. 

So why does Ronan tell himself he never lies? And why is it important to him to think this?

First, Ronan and Gansey have both confused honesty with bluntness. Bluntness is a very specific type of honesty in which you tell others about how you feel about something or someone, regardless of courtesy or kindness. (For Gansey this may have to do with his upbringing. Gansey was raised by people who did not speak directly in order to avoid unpleasantness, so Ronan's bluntness might have been a relief. At least he knows where he stands with Ronan.)

Next, it may be to distance himself from his family. Declan, for whom he has no respect, is a habitual liar. And Ronan is becoming uncomfortably aware that the life Niall had built for them was based on dreams, secrets and lies. This obviously troubles him, because he dreams

Finally, Ronan is a very powerful Dreamer with the ability to rewrite reality. Opal says,

You see this when he dreams a new Camaro into existence, which Gansey accepts without questioning, even though Ronan told him the truth about crashing the Pig. You also see it with the new, dreamed will, which Declan oddly never questions.

Later, when he dreams the portrait of the Dark Lady in front of Hennessey's girls, Jordan notes

What a frightening ability this must be for Ronan. In MI, it's revealed that Ronan's worst dream is the inability to distinguish dreams from reality. Ronan must to cling to the idea of his own truthfulness, to assure himself that he would never confuse truth and reality within his dreams. Otherwise nothing in his life can be trusted.

But in the end, Ronan is lying to himself about not lying and he creates Bryde, and the rumors surrounding him, without realizing it. Bryde seems designed both to tell Ronan all he wants to hear, and to gaslight him into believing it. And consequently, the Dream becomes stronger than the Dreamer, and Bryde remains awake, while Ronan continues to sleep.

I have to imagine that meeting Bryde is going to be the equivalent of finding porn in ur partner's search history for Adam

"Why were u searching up 'aloof ambitious ash blonde' when I was literally one room over like??"

no but genuinely i think one of the main reasons maggie cut adam povs and cut him off from all the other characters is because she needed a way to stop him from immediately figuring everything out. like she fully had to put a leash on him. because even when left to his own devices he 1. managed to figure out exactly what the dreamers were doing to the ley lines 2. figured out what the long term impact of this would be 3. hacked into a government database 4. connected dots that the moderators hadn’t even managed to connect yet and 5. figured out the cult stuff before dreamteam even had an inkling as to what was going on (and he hasn’t even MET bryde yet). like can you imagine what he could’ve done if maggie had allowed him to be in full contact with declan? if he had been given access to any of declan’s contacts and information? if he had been in contact with ronan? bryde even said it. ronan knew the real reason he kept shutting adam out was because he knew that adam would figure it all out and do something about it. he was literally too smart for this book. all he would’ve needed was the mic and a basic set of tools and he would’ve been running around sorting everything out before the book could even begin. maggie fully had to put a hand on his chest and be like oh no you don’t! get back inside! you’re going to ruin it!

cdth ch.33: ronan calling adam. adam picking up immediately. ronan telling him everything about bryde and what happened to him that day. ronan recognising that he needed to say it to adam specifically in order to feel grounded again. adam saying he doesn’t trust bryde or his motives. adam saying that he saved ronan’s life because he loved him and he was scared and he didn’t know what else to do. ronan accepting adam’s advice even though it challenges his own point of view. “tamquam” “alter idem”.

mi ch.33: ronan calling adam after weeks of no contact. adam picking up immediately. ronan withholding information about bryde and directly lying to adam. ronan feeling more and more untethered to reality and his old life. adam telling him that he’s scared of bryde. adam working with declan to try and save ronan’s life because he loves him and he’s scared and he doesn’t know what else to do. ronan rejecting adam’s pleas for rationality because it challenges his point of view. ronan hanging up when adam was still mid sentence.

ronan’s want + burning (the raven king / mister impossible)

The Bryde reveal obviously re-contextualized a lot of stuff, but I still feel like it was an attempt to manipulate Ronan. To say that, no this is literally what you want and my existence is the proof because you created me, is just so shady. Especially given that this book has spent a lot of time establishing the autonomy and agency of dreams. Im not saying that Bryde was lying, because I don’t think he is, but just because Ronan created him doesn’t mean he doesn’t have ulterior motives and his own goals. Idk. Jordan was literally created as a copy of Hennessy and they have independent motivations.

Yummy yummy delicious

i love how many of the plot twists in trc were just “ronan did it” 

the weird ass random bird? ronan

how adam’s apartment got paid? ronan

matthew? ronan

fucking cabeswater? ronan

#ronan lynch has godlike powers and he uses them to make pretty forests and nice satyr girls and hand cream for his bf #and dick around at his family farm that he loves (via disregardcanon)