[Spoilers?] Blue and Orange Morality: Adapting the Faerie Courts

[Johnny1A.2]

It's not strictly necessary that we see the Sidhe as being organized into Summer and Winter. That's one traditional view, and it's the pattern used in tThe Dresden Files, which is sort of the source text for the OP first post.

But other legends exist, and it could also be that the Summer/Winter dichotomy is a function of mortal misperception. For example, suppose that the reason we think of the Sidhe as being Summer/Winter is that Western countries' stories of them mostly derive from Europe.

In actuality, suppose the Sidhe are divided, not into Summer/Winter, but actually into North/South. That is, the northern and southern hemispheres of the planet. To the Medieval Europeans, that looked like Summer/Winter, because when they encountered Sidhe in the summertime (northern summer), the Northern Sidhe would be 'Summer' and the Southern Sidhe would be 'Winter'.

But what the Medievals didn't understand, for lack of the necessary astronomical/meteorological perspective, is that both Courts are basically similar, but operate on opposite time cycles. The North Sidhe that you meet in Europe in July is 'Summer Sidhe', but if you met that same Sidhe in January, he would be 'Winter Sidhe'. The 'Winter Sidhe' you met in July would be 'Summer Sidhe' in January, because January is summer time in the southern hemisphere.

This would make the Sidhe more 'natural', rooted in the basic cycles of the planet, but give mortals the illusion of two opposite groups when in fact they are simply cycling, trading places as the year passes.

Which might also help to explain another trait common to the Fae in legend, their capricious unpredictability. The Sidhe you meet in January might behave totally differently in April, and totally different again in July, then cycle back to act like he acted in January, when January came around again. If a mortal only occasionally encountered him, and didn't understand the Cycle, the creature would seem intelligent but psychotically unpredictable. What bought good will, or tolerance, in July might get you killed in January with the same being, and vice versa.

It might also go along with the traditional warnings about the danger of friendships or romances with a Sidhe. Someone 'in the know' might well warn a naïve mortal: "Yeah, she's loving and kind and passionate right now. It's June. She'll be different in October. Very different. It won't be fun anymore in October. Not for you, not for your family and friends. Break it off while you can!"