#Zsadist

[bdbmemes]

Do you know what this means?? It means that Saxton is so gay that even when he is doing his job with Wrath he still thinks about dick 😂

[justreallybored]

listening(again) to Lover Awakened and all I can think of is how similar elriel is to zsadist and bella.

I doubt az is as messed up as zsadist, but the self worth issues are so similar. And bella not wanting to take the gun from z, like elain with tt.

and the bed scenes- ahhh i love those soft shy pining scenes!

[duvetdaybooks]

Zsadist (Andrew Biernat) behind the scenes shots from the black dagger brotherhood

[emmitaaa4]

I cant count the number of times I've seen a gwynriel/elucien say that they were icked out by Azriel's insecurities in his PoV with Elain, claiming he puts her on a high pedestal & they'd be unhealthy together. What they don't get is that this is completely in character for a tortured man. with self-worth issues resulting from deep unaddressed trauma, in a romance novel.

Exhibit A: Zhadist

“I…I can’t get clean. I don’t want you to get dirty, too.” He lifted his wrist and blood oozed down his forearm. “See? Look at the dirt. It’s all over me. Inside of me.”

"I want you, but it’s not right. You shouldn’t be with me. You’re cleaner than that.”

"Her skin was so fine, the idea of marring it in any way froze him."

Exhibit B: Azriel

"Letting his scarred fingers touch her immaculate skin."

"She looked up at him, her face so trusting and hopeful and open that he knew she had no idea that he had done unspeakable things that sullied his hands far beyond their  scars. Such terrible things that it was a sacrilege for his fingers to skin, tainting her with his presence."

They hail his "lighthearted" interaction with Gwyn as an indication of endgame, but they're fundamentally misunderstanding his character if they think that Azriel wouldn't be insecure / have self-worth issues with whichever woman is he'd be with.

Also all this BS about Az needing someone "to handle his darkness" as if that is all there is to him. What he needs is to make peace with his demons and acknowledge that there is both darkness and light in him to be loved. He may be shadows, but he doesn't need to hide himself in them.

If you read Lover Awakened and Archangel's Storm, you know Elriel is endgame 🌸🦇

And that's in addition to 4 books of Elriel built-up in the Acotar series

Archangel's Storm, Nalini Singh (Guild Hunter Series Book #5)

Spymaster, who wields shadows, meets hopeful Princess in an enemy court, and they fall in love while investigating a murder of a character named Eris 🌄

While i could stay here all day talking about the insane amount of parallels between Jason/Mahiya and Azriel/Elain, i will just leave you with some quotes from Archangel's Storm :

That heartbreakingly young, naïve girl was long gone, but Mahiya refused to allow the poison of Neha’s hatred to infect her—she knew full well Arav had only used her as he had because he’d divined her pain would please the archangel. That was a stain against his honor and said nothing of Mahiya’s own. She would love again, and she would love with all her heart, living her life in a brilliance of hope and joy.

So much of life he spent on the sidelines—many times out of choice, sometimes because he didn’t know how to belong—

“A pretty speech. Perhaps you will prove interesting, after all.”

Lover Awakened, JR Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood Series Book #3)

A vampire with a tortured past meets a vampire aristocrat, and they fall in love, but they need to overcome the vampire warrior's feelings of worthlessness to be together 🌃

Again, i could stay all day here talking about the parallels between Zsadist/Bella and Azriel/Elain, but silverdreamscapes has a really good post about it :

Elriel x Zsadist/Bella parallels

There's a reason why Sjm is likely doing the 2 mates trope, and it's because of those 3 :

Zsadist and Bella + Phury 🥰

Fanart by drakeart

Fun fact, Sjm's favorite brother in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series is Zsadist 💙 and Sjm is a huge fan of both Nalini Singh and JR Ward ✨️

Sjm in the podcast smartbitchestrashbooks on their episode about Acosf 💞

[bright-side20]

Just a parallel of two romantic rescue scenes 🥰

Lover awakened :

ACOWAR :

[cassianandfenrysaremyboyos]

I'm reading the Black Dagger Brotherhood series and something I love about it is, these big tough male characters cry. And it's so refreshing to see these alpha male warrior characters show emotion and say how they feel. And they have their moments where they don't want to be seen as weak or want their brothers to judge them for being "sissy" or whatever. But when they do break down, their brothers are nothing but unwavering pillars of understanding and support. And anyway I love these intimidating, powerful but also sweet and kind vampire boys so much!

[offtorivendell]

So,..I’ve read two different books that are elriel coded: NALINI SINGH’S Archangel’s Storm and Black Dagger Brotherhood, Lover Awakened. Books that if I’m not mistaken are one SJM’s favorites… Have you read it? It’s interesting that the both MMC are talented singers, scarred, killer and doesnt speak much. Jason, the angel who is a spymaster, shadow daddy and “hears secrets whispered in the winds” is so Azriel. Zsadist, the vampire with PTSD, similar personality as Jason. I saw a mixed of Jason and Zsadist in Azriel.

Their love interests are princess or aristocrat, very beautiful and well etiquette. Princess Mahiya, the angel (Jason’s mate), helped Jason with spying and she has puma eyes. She loves animal and can create a glowing ball of light. Bella, the vampire aristocrat that killed her kidnapper who is obsessed with her. I felt like I was reading Elriel in both books.

If SJM keeps the inspiration from Archangel’s Storm then it would make sense with the “fanged beast” on Elain’s part. I really think Elain may become a shape-shifter like faes from TOG and could create “a ball of light”, like Yrene or because of the starborn ability? (Oh btw, I was wondering if there’s a possibility that Yrene’s powers are connected to Starborn?)

Do you think Elain’s book will be more of beast themed? Something that is connected to Dusk Court… Anyway, what do you know of the first faes on Prythian? Are Starborn faes the oldest group that founded the Dusk Court, possibly migrating from the Erilea? It sounds like TOG faes are the first generation fae and they sort of evolved in Prythian and Lunathion? SJM made Lunathion connected to Prythian and Erilea. So, I’m wondering how Erilea is connected to Prythian? I know Aelin saw Rhys and Pregnant Feyre in KOA, but that’s it.

Ugh.. sorry for so many questions.. 🫣

Hi anon, and thanks for stopping by!

Disclaimer: the following is all theoretical; while I hope at least some of it will come true, we have to wait for SJM to let us know for sure.

Spoilers for the entire Maasverse, as well as parts of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, are below.

I haven't read any Nalini Singh, though friends have recommended her to me a few times, so I really should fix that. I obviously cannot comment on any similarities - though I have heard similar rumours that SJM loves the books (but have never tried to corroborate them) - but @shitwillnotbegiven has posted a comparison of Elriel scenes with passages from 'Archangel's Storm' that is very compelling. I definitely recommend giving it a read. Of course we can't say for sure whether or not it was intentional, but yeah. There are similarities.

That being said, I have read the first five or so 'Black Dagger Brotherhood' books, and yeah. Read them for yourself of course, but there is a lot to notice. It was a couple of years ago now, so they're not fresh in my mind, but I remember being very 👀👀👀 at a lot of the similarities, especially between Zsadist, Bella and Phury with Azriel, Elain and Lucien. The lovely @silverdreamscapes has posted about many of the parallels existing between each trio, though imo it goes even further than shipping.

But first, I would like to state for the record that I do not think having an inner beast or monster makes someone bad or evil. I do think lightsingers could be a race of faeries that A) are related in some way to the shadowsingers - witches? - with whom we are all hunky dory (so no hate from me until proven otherwise), B) may in fact be facing persecution over some sort of un/intentional misunderstanding and/or rewritten history, and C) that the library actually acts as a sanctuary for these persecuted beings, in addition to any other battered women, who are both vilified and attacked for nothing but their species. Of course I could always be wrong, but I am expecting a twist that diverges from the "truth" about lightsingers that Cassian gave us in ACOSF.

But I digress. I've forgotten a lot, but I do remember that there was a character with teal eyes, who had been cursed by a goddess to carry a monster within him... if lightsingers have an inner beast* - and two of our teal-eyed priestesses have been lightsingers - you can see where I'm going (and for some fabulous rundowns on the lightsinger theory, please see posts by @silverlinedeyes and @merymoonbeam).

As I have said before, I suspect that shadowsingers and lightsingers could be more similar than we know. I wouldn't be surprised if they both have the ability to lure, and both have a beast form/some sort of inner monster or being. Because the teal-eyed character, Rhage, carries his beast in a sort of living tattoo... and whose shadows have been described as appearing like twins to the tattoos on his chest? You betcha. It's Azriel, our favourite shadowsinger.

A corner of Azriel’s mouth curled up, the shadows about him sliding over his neck like living tattoos, twins to the Illyrian ones marked beneath his leathers. Shadows different from anything my powers summoned, spoke to. Born in a lightless, airless prison meant to break him. Instead, he had learned its language. - ACOFAS, chapter 7

As for Elain's potential powers, I'm all aboard the shapeshifter train (please see @wingedblooms for some brilliant theories), and I cannot wait to see what sort of light she can wield (if any, of course, but I do think she has been tied to it in a lot of ways). Can she Sing light and dark (light) to See what she must? Or to travel someplace very far away? I also wouldn't be surprised if Elain and her light/s act as an executioner for whatever Valg-type being exists in Prythian, as Yrene did with Erawan in KOA. I suspect that the King of Hybern may have been possessed in some way, and that Elain's role in assassinating him could have purified him such that he could die, thus beginning her parallels with Yrene.

As for which Fae are the oldest, I personally suspect that the Starborn Fae did found the land that would have become the Dusk Court, and that some may have travelled to Erilea, but I haven't looked into it enough to have quotes at the ready so I'll tag in @wingedblooms and @silverlinedeyes - or anyone else who wants to join in - because they have had more thoughts on this than I have. It seems that the Starborn faeries are different to the shifter faeries from Erilea, and that both ended up in Midgard thanks to Rigelus and his machinations (but as to which is the original fae species, if any, it hasn't been explicitly stated).

Rigelus chuckled again. “We shall get to that in a moment.” He went on, “Danika realized that the shifters are Fae.” Bryce blinked. “What?” “Not your kind of Fae, of course—your breed dwelled in a lovely, verdant land, rich with magic. If it’s of any interest to you, your Starborn bloodline specifically hailed from a small isle a few miles from the mainland. And while the mainland had all manner of climes, the isle existed in beautiful, near-permanent twilight. But only a select few in the entirety of your world could shift from their humanoid forms to animal ones. The Midgard shifters were Fae from a different planet. All the Fae in that world shared their form with an animal. The mer descended from them, too. Perhaps they once shared a world with your breed of Fae, but they had been alone on their planet for long enough to develop their own gifts.” “They don’t have pointed ears.” “Oh, we bred that out of them. It was gone within a few generations.” An isle of near-permanent twilight, the home world of her breed of Fae … A land of Dusk. - HOSAB, chapter 73

A few of my friends and I - @psychologynerd, @elrieldreamer and @ladynightcourt3 - think/hope that IF we get a crossover of sorts in Elain's book it may be to Erilea, in the past. @psychologynerd has previously pointed out that a pretty faerie with raw magic (which Elain has as a Made faerie - here and here) once visited Mistward before being invited to meet Maeve in Doranelle, never to be heard from again. It's also possibly significant that Elain has been linked with owls - check out @wingedblooms Blodeuwedd and Suriel theories for starters - and Maeve had a healer trapped in owl form at her beck and call (thanks @ladynightcourt3 for your help with the quotes).

“But,” Luca chattered on, “no one here has any exciting or rare abilities. Like shape-shifting into whatever form they want, or controlling fire”—her stomach clenched at that—“or oracular sight. We did have a female wander in with raw magic two years ago—she could do anything she wanted, summon any element, and she was here a week before Maeve called her to Doranelle and we never heard from her again. A shame—she was so pretty, too. But it’s the same here as it is everywhere else: a few people with a pathetic trace of elemental powers that are really only fun for farmers.” - HOF, chapter 11

“It also explains why Aelin reported an owl at Maeve’s side when they first met,” Nesryn said, gesturing to Yrene, whose brows bunched. Then Yrene blurted, “The owl must be the Fae form of a healer. Some healer of hers that she keeps close—as a bodyguard. Has let everyone believe to be some pet …” - TOD, chapter 65

“Speak freely, Connall,” Maeve said, her faint smile remaining. The barn owl perched on the back of her throne watched with solemn, unblinking eyes. “Let your brother know these words are your own and not of my command.” - KOA, chapter 8

Some pet... as Hunt suggested he was for Bryce?

“I’m sorry,” Hunt interrupted, “but are you implying that I was made by you two assholes? As some sort of pet?” He pointed to Thanatos, then to Apollion. “Not a pet,” Apollion said darkly. “A weapon.” He nodded to Bryce. “For her, whenever she might come along.” - HOFAS, chapter 61

A weapon, just like Elain becoming "the knife in the dark" to assassinate - and potentially purify the Valg from - the King of Hybern?

I've theorised before that Elain might have plant/earth related powers - which ties in well with her reaction to the Hewn City in ACOSF, and what we learnt about Sathia/Flynn's reaction to being on Avallen in HOFAS - and many of us have long thought she may have some sort of healing magic (here and here). So was the pretty faerie Elain?

I would combust.

Anyway, I hope I answered everything, and I'm SO sorry for this response taking literal months. If you do see this, my bad.

[elrieldreamer]

I am fresh off of a reread of BDB myself, and between Lover Awakened by JR Ward and Archangel’s Storm by Nailini Singh … it’s obvious.

I know SJM said Lover Awakened was her favorite Black Dagger Brotherhood story, and really who doesn’t love this one? But I hadn’t read it in years and decided to skim through it and I…tell me if any of this sounds familiar to you. 👀

Zsadist was a former slave, locked away in a cell and tortured for years, and still bears the scars from his time there. He is filled with an icy rage and violence. He feels disgusting, tainted, and not good enough for Bella. He believes his scars and blood band slave tattoos are a physical manifestation of everything wrong within him and unworthy of Bella.

“I…I can’t get clean. I don’t want you to get dirty, too.” He lifted his wrist and blood oozed down his forearm. “See? Look at the dirt. It’s all over me. Inside of me.”

I want you, but it’s not right. You shouldn’t be with me. You’re cleaner than that.”

Bella is described several times as a lady, kind, lovely, a woman of worth.

She’d been beautiful and soft and kind, a regal, aristocratic female from a privileged background.

Phury, Zsadist’s twin, has red, gold and black hair, a prosthetic leg, is not angry like his twin, considered noble and honorable, and like Zsadist he “ended up bonded with the same female”

Holy shit, this was trouble—of the bury-your-dead variety. Two bonded males tied to the same female were a lethal combination to begin with. Make that two warriors and you had the potential for serious injury.

Phury loves Bella but she constantly rejects him and he’s angry at first because he thinks Z only wants Bella for sex.

As Bella’s eyes lifted to his, his skin got too small for his skeleton. Which was what rejection did to a male. Just shriveled you right up.

Like a total lunatic, he briefly considered going back in and fighting Zsadist for the right to lie next to her. He could see himself throwing the hand-to-hand around, having an old-fashioned cohntehst with his twin over who was allowed to have her.

And then the very next sentence is this:

But this was not the Old Country. And females had the right to choose who they sought out. Who they slept beside. Who they mated with.

At one point Zsadist rescues Bella after she’s kidnapped, cradles her to his chest, won’t put her down even after being shot in the leg and injured, and when Bella awakens she thinks this:

He had come for her. He had come for her….

He even sings to her when she’s hurt. I completely forgot he could sing lol

On the rare occasions he sang, the sounds that came out of his mouth were stunners, capable of making time grind to a halt and then slide into infinity.

THERE IS EVEN A BIT ABOUT A NECKLACE. I can’t stop laughing lol. When Z thinks he won’t see Bella again he finds her necklace in some rubble, a small tiny pendant on a fragile gold chain, and wears it as a reminder of her. (A part of me thinks Azriel may have gone back for the necklace and he actually has it now.)

“I wanted to give you back this.” He pulled her necklace out of his pocket. “I was going to leave it with you that first night, but then I thought…Well, anyway, I wore it until I couldn’t get it around my throat anymore. Now I just carry it around.”

I love you, he mouthed. She smiled back at him and pressed something into his hand. Her necklace. “You keep this on you always,” she whispered. “For good luck.”

Sarah is about to give us ACOTAR’s version of Lover Awakened, the best of the entire series. Elriel is going to serve us the Bella and Zsadist, light/dark trope we deserve. Because these parallels are…interesting.

[nikethestatue]

Do you think SJM was inspired by Bella and Zsadist when she wrote Elriel?

I haven't read Black Dagger Brotherhood but those who have say absolutely and @silverdreamscapes wrote a huge meta comparing both couples.

I recommend checking it out. Lots of examples.

[mashithamel]

Lover Eternal: JR Ward, Black Dagger Brotherhood

Ok, I take back what I said earlier about liking seeing the mind of these bad guys. It’s terrible and I’d like it to stop. O is disgusting. Rhage’s (and I’m still not over the spellings in these books) curse is a great tragedy. I like that he did something to deserve it—unlike Mary, he has some fault for it. On the other hand, the Scribe Virgin is definitely a jerk. But…once he’s told her he’s a vampire, and all the lesser stuff, why exactly does he hold back on explaining that he turns into an out of control monster and that’s why he isn’t having sex with her? I mean…does he think it’s gonna flip her out…more than she already is? Also, he has zero leg to stand on regarding Mary not being open. He claims her as basically shellan, but just won’t talk about the (literal) monster in the room with them??? I just lost someone yesterday to a blood cancer, so this was a tough read at some points, because I could really relate to her as she deals with cancer recurrence. I love how he addresses her scars and the way her illness has marked her body with reverence and adoration. Looking at that and realizing how strong she is, instead of thinking they make her weak, is a wonderful thing. Actually, I like a lot of the disability representation. Muteness, serious illness, blindness, autism. Ok, getting more about Zsadist than just scary stuff is pretty cool. Also I only just figured out who John is at the 76% mark. My heart sank so badly when I got to the bargin and realized how little was left in the book, and Rhage’s sacrifice was so painful and loving. Absolute agony. Also I would like to amend my earlier statement—the Scribe Virgin is an asshole. Like, with Rhage’s punishment that was really a punishment for all of them? I appreciate she changed her mind here, but the reason for it—something that hadn’t come up as an issue for either of them at any point, and without which she was willing to condemn Rhage to be Forever Alone—is all types of f’d up. I’ll take the happy ending! But holy cow they need a new religion.

Bottom line: I really like Mary. I love Rhage falling for her, it’s nicely angsty and super hot. I’m sucked into this series now.

Rating: five out of five unnecessarily painful rituals

[blackwater776]

To be fair to Wrath, he had refused to ascend the throne until the end of Dark Lover, so he wasn't in position to change it before then. Lover Awakened, when he actually outlawed it, wasn't that long after Dark Lover (from what I can tell of the inconsistent timeline).

But hell, you think you'd have a bucket list of Things I'd Change If I Could after being a Brother for that long in such a shitty society and "stopping the slave system that victimized my brother" would be pretty close to the top...

The only way I will be ever satisfied with the brotherhood and Zsadist relationship is when all of them (specially Wrath) offers a rythe for allowing blood slaving to happen after fighting by his side for almost 144 years and still judge his PTSD

[duvetdaybooks]

I am ridiculously excited for the black dagger brotherhood book series to become a series over on Passionflix. The cast look great

[shitwillnotbegiven]

An example of "If Elain wanted Luc*en, she would have gone after him" :

So, in Lover Awakened, we have a very interesting scene where Phury (Zsadist's twin brother who happens to be bonded with Bella which is the case for Zsadist as well) finds Bella and Zsadist in Zsadist's room after he left her in another room alone :

Like a total lunatic, he briefly considered going back in and fighting Zsadist for the right to lie next to her. He could see himself throwing the hand-to-hand around, having an old-fashioned cohntehst with his twin over who was allowed to have her.

But this was not the Old Country. And females had the right to choose who they sought out. Who they slept beside. Who they mated with.

And she had known where Phury stayed. He'd told her his room was right next door. If she had wanted to, she could have turned to him.

The "cohnteshst" reference makes me think of the Blood duel 👀 and yeah, the females do have a choice of who they mated with.

cohntehst (n.) Conflict between two males competing for the right to be a female's mate.

Elain's choice has been made, it's time for some people to catch up to that 😉.

[tlonista]

My romance reading experiment has now led me to a book whose opening three paragraphs introduce primary characters named Zsadist, Phury, and Vishous. I honestly admire the audaciousness here, but I am god's strongest soldier for making it to page 2.

[bright-side20]

What if after Elain realized the Cauldron tricked her with the illusion of Grayson coming for her, she somehow thought of Azriel, thought that he would come to save her, and he came.

[merymoonbeam]

Hi Mery, do you remember the Vampire book/series where there's a good parallel of Elriel and sjm's favorite couple in the series? Thank you!

Blackdagger brotherhood. Its bella(I think that was her name) and zsadist.