#do i just keep this tagged as elriel? lol

[unlikelysaintdelele]

I am 63% of the way through Part 1 of ACOSF on the graphic audio (it's 32% in the full ebook). I just got past the scene where Nesta snaps at Elain and says something along the lines of "You're finally becoming interesting." I don't know if I just don't remember this being mentioned before or if it has genuinely been glossed over in the fandom but... Elain offered to find the dread trove? She just came in and said she'd do it? There was no hesitation from her.

I don't recall hearing about this and I feel like this alone is so telling of her character and her future that surely someone would have pointed it out already. I mostly see people posting about her response to Nesta, calling her sister out, but not about the fact that she said she'd look for the dread trove. Actually, it seems like Elain was determined to track it down before Nesta even stepped into the meeting, based on Feyre's response.

Elain has grown so much since being made. How do people find her boring? She wants to be an active part of the Night Court and the world around her. Better yet, she is not backing down from Nesta's wrath, she is holding her ground. She is not weak just because she is soft. Her willingness to fight, in her own way, tells me of her strength, and of the potential for her to be a main character.

I am so excited for her book, I want to tear my skin off.

[deathsweetblossoms]

Elain, like Elide, Uses Appearance to Make People See What She Wants them to See

I've been playing with this idea for awhile and as soon as I started reading TOG for Elide & Lorcan, it really pulled the whole theory together. Elide is able to borrow the personas of people she knows to get people to do what she wants. Similarly, she knows how to change her appearance (and even Lorcan's) to get people to give her information or do what she needs them to. She knows how to play a role. And Elain? "Elain can convince anyone to do anything with a few smiles".

In Feyre’s bonus chapter in ACOSF, Rhys suggests Elain “felt she had to be (sweet and innocent) or else she’d disappoint (everyone).” My personal headcanon is that almost every article of clothing she wears plays exactly into this sentiment. In my theory, she is very similar to Elide, in a way that guarantees a future in espionage. For Elide this was a survival tactic, for Elain she was almost compelled to play into the roles expected of her so as not to disappoint those she cares about. Both motivations for their manipulations play into each woman's journey to self empowerment. It's not seen as "evil" or "bad", it's simply a tool in their arsenal.

The infamous black dress in Hewn City. "Both sisters wore black. Both walked behind Rhys and Feyre...they'd planned it that way, wanting Eris to see for himself how valuable Nesta was." "Elain in black was ridiculous....the color of her long-sleeved, modest gown leeched the brightness from her face....Elain had let her golden-brown hair down tonight*, and pinned it back with twin combs of pearl." Elain is canonically the most beautiful sister. Knowing that, she and everyone knew the political game required all curious eyes to avoid her and to gravitate towards Nesta. The best way to do this is to dress so far down that none of the members of Hewn City would even look twice at her -- which she achieved. Cassian mentions that "he knew the cruelty of the Hewn City troubled (Elain)", but that she'd squared her shoulders and insisted she was a part of the Night Court anyway. That she would do what needed to be done. Knowing that, I think Cassian played right into how she intentionally dressed herself for this event. When Elain wants to feel beautiful, she braids her hair or adds adornments to her body (*see my next point to further prove this), but she purposefully avoided doing that to the extreme. Cassian played right into what she wanted him to see, in the same way that Lorcan played right into Elide's ploy to come across as a naive girl. (Until she isn't anymore and he starts to see who she truly is).

In ACOWAR, when Feyre returns from the Spring Court and comments: “Her hair was down — not even braided. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen it unbound. She wore a moon-white silk dressing gown.” Elain was obviously in crisis mode here, but it says a lot that Feyre can’t remember seeing Elain’s hair unbound — so even when they were starving, even when she had visited her in ACOTAR and ACOMAF, Elain always puts some effort into her hair. * Furthermore, in ACOFAS when Elain sees Azriel in the potato scene, she immediately excuses herself to remove her apron and "rebraid her hair". Canonically, she returned with her hair rebraided. For Azriel. Because she wanted to look pretty for him. Only when Elain was in basically a deep depression was she unable to care enough about her appearance to leave her hair completely unbound. Keeping this into consideration, it casts the scene in Hewn City in a different, curious light in that she put very minimal effort into making her hair look presentable (unbound and simply pinned back with the pearl clips? The girl didn't want ANYONE to notice her).

In ACOTAR, Feyre says this about Elain: “my sister was beaming, content — prettier than I’d ever seen her, even in her simple muslin gardening dress. Her cheeks were flushed beneath her large, floppy hat.” This quote is what inspired this whole theory. I have always wondered if this was Elain's "natural" state, when she felt most comfortable, when she was happy, when she wasn't putting on a show was when she was wearing her simple, muslin gardening dress. In this scene, she was talking about her passions and showing Feyre the garden she grew with her own efforts. She didn't need to put on a show for queens, or neighbors, etc. She was simply with her sisters.

So, what does this all mean? Personally, I think we will see the inner workings of Elain's penchant for intentional fashion in her upcoming POV and we will finally see what it looks like when she isn't playing into the "sweet and innocent" role. Like Elide, I believe she will continue to use appearances and charm as a tool to protect herself and to assist the IC. I also wouldn't be surprised if it assisted with a particular skill set required for gleaning information from rival courts to bring down the bad guys. A few people have expressed that they wish to see Elain wear THE SLUTTIEST DRESS OF ALL TIME when she revisits the Hewn City, and I fully believe she will. It will play into her journey of self discovery and self empowerment; a way to express herself that is still her but with a little more kick to it.

[feyrescourt]

This is a long and rambly discussion post for elriel nation btw so strap in

I want to preface this by kindly asking the elriel hive to not use any tags of #those ships if reblogged. I want to keep this in the elriel echo chamber. Please and thank u!

A huge part of fandom culture is to ship canonically compliant characters and crack ships. Everyone’s got them, and it’s totally normal, and it’s usually fun to engage with.

The majority of the time I have no issue with this (I am a wolfstar shipper and even though there is canonical evidence of them in the original HP books, they’re widely accepted online and balked at IRL usually due to homophobia and #that nasty, nasty woman’s bigotry), but over the last few years a certain group of crack shippers have taken it upon themselves to fly a little too close to the sun, and want to make it our (elriels) problem. I am talking about the Glees.

It’s late and this just popped into my head so I want to rant about it.

My friend who got me into ACOTAR gave me a breakdown of the ships (bc I read ToG first and went in blind. I became a doraelin shipper very early on and remained one halfway through QoS, it was a whole thing when I realized they were not end game lol), bc I asked her to after my ToG experience. She told me all the characters names and then told me about feysand and nessian endgames but didn’t mention az or elain’s situation. I asked her about it and she told me that she didn’t want to mention much about Az because “by the end of the series azriel has two options for how his story could go, elain or another way”. She shared some anti elain sentiment with me because she’s “boring and doesn’t do anything”. That went in one ear and out the other with me tbh.

When I started acowar, and feyre returned to the night court, I saw how elain and azriel were interacting and I concluded that mor was the second LI of az bc of acomaf. I was not apart of the fandom online at this point, so I was genuinely in the dark about everything around these two. I was just reading and talking to my friend about what I read. I also want to add that I still liked L*cien at this point in the series (it changed in acofas, I became apathetic towards him rather quickly when I finished reading that whiny ass convo with feyre…..I don’t play when it comes to her) but wasn’t sold on eluce because they had like one interaction and it wasn’t a great intro to a ship.

However this first meeting in acomaf….. :)

‘Can you truly fly?’ He set down his fork, blinking. I might have even called him self-conscious. He said, ‘Yes. Cassian and I hail from a race of faeries called Illyrians. We’re born hearing the song of the wind.’ ‘That’s very beautiful,’

“Rhys chuckled, Cassian’s wrath slipping enough that he grinned, and Elain, noticing Azriel’s ease as proof that things weren’t indeed about to go badly, offered one of her own as well.”

Well imagine my surprise when I finished acowar and it turns out mor (the person az has crushed on for 500 years) comes out to feyre before the book ends and she explains that she can never love az the way he loves her. After three books, and everything that happens in acowar it was clear to me that elain and azriel were being set up as each others love interests, despite the mating bond with l*cien.

After Acofas I was officially on the elriel train. I mean…

“Azriel strode to the lone window at the end of the room and peered into the garden below.”

“Azriel emerged from the sitting room, a glass of wine in hand and wings tucked back to reveal his fine, yet simple black jacket and pants. I felt, more than saw, my sister go still as he approached. Her throat bobbed.”

“But Azriel only took Elain’s heavy dish of potatoes from her hands, his voice soft as night as he said, ‘Sit. I’ll take care of it.’ Elain’s hands remained in midair, as if the ghost of the dish remained between them. With a blink, she lowered them, and noticed her apron. ‘I—I’ll be right back,’ she murmured, and hurried down the hall before I could explain that no one cared if she showed up to dinner covered in flour and that she should just sit.”

“Elain swept in, apron gone and hair rebraided. ‘Please don’t wait on my account,’ she said, taking the seat at the head of the table.”

“He [Azriel] was the portrait of relaxed, an arm braced against the carved mantel, his wings tucked in loosely, a faint grin on his face and a glass of wine in his hand. He slid his hazel eyes toward my sister without him moving an inch.”

“Azriel and Elain remained in the sitting room, my sister showing him the plans she’d sketched to expand the garden in the back of the town house, using the seeds and tools my family had given her tonight. Whether he cared about such things, I had no idea.”

(Damn the more I read elriel’s acofas moments the more I can’t help but conclude that they just hate/don’t understand introverts 😭)

Before I started SF, I decided to look at the online fandom and bitch……my jaw hit the floor with all the elain/elriel hate I saw on TT. And everyone was talking about a newer character in SF, and I was seeing the glee fan art and was like oh shit ok maybe elriel isn’t endgame.

Fast forward to SF……

‘What happened to Elain?’

“Nesta saw the blow land, like a physical impact, in Elain’s face, her posture. No one spoke, though shadows gathered in the corners of the room, like snakes preparing to strike. Elain’s eyes brightened with pain.”

……and I’m thinking ok, az obviously likes her. Then comes az’s BC. When I finished the elriel portion of the BC I was actually crying bc I was like oh fuck I really love these two….I knew it was over for me, and I was freaked out bc I thought I was going to get got with this “new ship” involving az. Plus I was thinking about elain being left alone in the dark without any explanation and feeling like an idiot for finally showing her true feelings towards him😭. It was like 3AM when I read it so I was hyper emotional lol. But then I read the rest of the BC and was still confused because I didn’t see any romantic subtext with g/wyn. I read it and saw a hurt male who couldn’t stand what he had done to elain the night before, was pissed at his brother for stopping it and making him feel bad when he was finally willing to voice what he’s been feeling for the past year or so and hating that he was shut down because we know he never voices his emotions, and couldn’t bear keeping a gift he picked out specifically for her. A necklace…..for solstice……Then I finished SF as a whole, and still, was confused as to why glee is a ship. Nearly all of their conversations were centered around training, and Sarah didn’t use any descriptors in their encounters that elude to any romance or mutual interest. (Btw I have a whole take on rhys’ part in that BC and I think a lot of ppl are dense and don’t understand what he was going through in that book but I can save that for another time)

Cassian and Feyre have more chemistry than those too lol.

I then talked to my friend about the these ships (elriel, eluce, and glee) ((i didn’t talk about eluce much in this post but that’s a lifeless ship too. I mean…..she can’t stand that red head anyway soooo)), and I said “I’m an elriel through and through. Idc that eluce are claimed to be mates you can tell she does not like him. also glee makes no sense to me.” Not verbatim but you get the point. My friend is very sensible so by the end of our convo, she told me that she’ll accept whatever way Sarah goes and that she’ll give elain a chance when her book comes out.

But isn’t that what all of this shit is about in the end: unjustified dislike/distain/hate for elain? That’s certainly how is appears to me. You cannot look me in the eyes and tell me that you love elain if you ship her with a male whom she has expressed, on multiple occasions, zero interest in AND becomes a shell of herself when he’s around because she just doesn’t want to interact with him. (I want to reiterate that I don’t hate L, I don’t think he’s awful or anything. elain just doesn’t want to know him. And that’s her right.) The glees don’t like her bc she doesn’t fit their stereotype for what they want in an FMC and therefore, for azriel. Which is why they have been chirping that the next book will be azriel’s. Not elain’s….WHAT??? You sound fucking crazy. The eluces (even though they claim they like her) dislike her so much that they go on and on about how she needs to grovel and apologize to the male they like because HE deserves to be happy……the same male who she associates with one of the most traumatic days of her life. Who also has not apologized to her for the part he played in that day, but I digress.

I say all that to point out that Glee specifically is in the crack ship category. No canonical evidence in the text can be used to claim they are ‘mates’ or endgame or anything more than acquaintances. And that’s fine, but don’t act as though they’re to be taken seriously as a canon ship when there’s no evidence to support it. Don’t boldly claim that azriel “has two love interests” when he literally doesn’t. He can’t sleep because of elain. He can’t stop thinking about her. He’s short with his family and others around him the days and weeks following solstice. His shadows threaten to strike nesta when she hurts elain and causes her pain. He doesn’t assign his spies to watch L*cien in acofas because he doesn’t want to know if he’s trying to court elain. He goes full lethal when he hears she may have been hurt. He follows the sound of her laugh to see what caused it. He goes on a suicide mission to save her. They communicate through looks alone when their family is around. Have you read an SJM book before? This is how she sets up her relationships. Like, holy fuck.

You cannot claim elriel is a crack ship because they have had background build up that both FMCs in their respective books have noticed and commented on. Cassian has noticed it too DESPITE not being hyper aware of what’s going on with az in SF. (referencing the scene in SF where elain tells everyone at family dinner about nesta’s love for dancing and the ball story from when they were human).

This ship war shit is fucking crazy because really this should only be between elriel nation and the eluces. Anyway, I’m over dealing with the fever dream brigade and their hallucinations. They’re going to come crashing down like Icarus when the elriel bible release day arrives and all our suffering will finally come to an end.

Then after that I’ll need to defeat the tamlin redemption arch threats, bc that is not a claim, that’s a fuckin threat and I won’t stand for it. But let’s tackle one problem at a time.

Pink: side notes/thoughts that give more context to my points

Blue italics: convos I’ve had being referenced

Purple: elriel moments <3

[mycadences]

That side: "Lucien and Vassa will carry book 6, the final ACOTAR book! Vassien FTW! Vassien has so many shippers! It's a major ship!"

^ They're literally called a lesser known ship (I blocked out the accounts of the other two just in case any enraged Elriel tries to identify them... but if you search the Vassien tag you'll find the original posts). Vassien was competing against the other rare pairs (aka no real major ships like Feysand/Nessian/Gwynriel/Elucien and yes even Elriel (I'll admit Elriel is a major ship... BUT VASSIEN ISN'T)).

I know posts like this may seem like I'm mocking Vassien shippers, but I'm actually calling out the Elriels who disguise themselves as Vassien shippers and try to paint some strange narrative where Vassien and Elriels are the top two shipping fandoms like they are not lmao.

It is fine to ship rare pairs. In fact, it's great because it introduces more pairing diversity into the fandom! If you are a true Vassien shipper reading this then I hope you continue doing what you like! What is not fine is pretending to be fans of a rare pair and acting like you're making some 3000 IQ move when you're just clowning yourself.

I've always been of the opinion that it's insulting and beyond rude to act like you're a fan of a ship you're not for your own hidden motive.

Bonus:

Ah yes, the ship you love so much that you don't even know its name... Thanks for shipping Jurian and Vassa! (This was an angry Elriel post ranting about Gwynriel that I stumbled across. I'm not going to share the name of this poster since, again, I don't want anyone to identify them and hunt them down. But I just thought it was kinda funny lol, I've seen so many Vassien "shippers" (cough ELRIELS cough) misspell their own ship name.)

Anyway the whole point of this post is to show that if there are two full-length novels left AND each book will follow one main couple with alternating POVs, then the only way the math adds up is if the next two books are Gwynriel/Elucien in any order.

Because if it's Elriel, who will take the last and presumably most important final book??

I keep seeing them say either Vassien will take it (but they have almost no fans ;-; and at the end of the day I'm here for the romance, I'm not going to read a book about a couple I don't support...) or the final book will be about the three Archeron sisters but... SJM literally said it's going to follow one main couple??? Or are you telling me the Archeron sisters are endgame (yikes)...

[acourtofquestions]

Welcome page/post thx 2 A Court of Questions by @lavendarneverlands

This is my (secondary/“side”) blog for my #FirstRead (& adoration of) the Maasverse! — But take this as a heads up: I mix up the two pages frequently😅😂 sorry in advance for any confusion! — Think of this page like Potterless (except probably not half as cohesive & good as the podcast lol😂). I love enjoying the series with the fandom so please feel free to reach out to #ReadAlong or #ReadWithMe (it’s why I’m on Tumblr; no one I know reads these). 🫶

LET’S FANDOM ABOUT IT

This is a Maasverse related blog, thus it does discuss the series & spoilers (depending on where you are in the books) HOWEVER I try to keep up to date with spoiler warnings (often in the form of: #tags, red, 🚨, or what I call the “more” bar of safety) & I hope it makes it accessible for all readers! I also really try to keep this blog inclusive & friendly for everyone (any character, any ship, any reader, any person… or fae I suppose too :-) & use proper content warnings (as I greatly appreciate that in others too) … so thank you!!

As I am unfortunately human here’s a lil up-to-date guide for what is & is not discussed thus far (& as I also try to avoid spoilers for the books I haven’t gotten to yet)

— I have read ALL of ACOTAR,

— I have read ALL of Throne of Glass,

— None of CC (but I just got the book & am starting it ASAP).

Be warned: I’m a rambler of posts & content posting, and autocorrect is my true enemy😂🤣 p.s. I’m new here & always trying to learn!😊 I do my best to do my due-diligence and properly credit. And use TW whenever I can (as I need it in my life too <3

I leave most “reaction” posts up from my first reads. Opinions of course change over time! I try to edit & update (& or re-tag) but some stay old.

Currently my favorites and majority are:

ACOTAR

I love the Archeron sisters (Feyre is dear to me, I think Nesta is an important kind of character, and I look forward to more Elain in what I’m calling ACOTAR 5&1/2)

THE Valkyrie (Gwyn esp.)

I can go any which way with the Elriel/Elucien/Gwynriel/Gwynlain/etc. “debate” (like I said though I’m here for all fans and prefer to keep it generally positive/friendly; we’re all just enjoying stories & art😊).

I love Feysand (sry Tam-Tam😅 I struggle with him)

If you want to go give some ship love @gwynlain you can also find me there :-) 💕 because yes I am that fandom obsessed I have a side page for the side blog😂

TOG

I adore Celaena & Aelin (for posts on both I tend to call her “Aelin Sardothien” cause I love ❤️‍🔥 fireheart ;-)

Rowaelin is my fav ship (though you will find it was not an immediate love for “bird-boy”😂 from page 1😅) the “Team Chaol” force was once strong long ago (I don’t hate him now, I just like them as friends) though I’ve also shipped all the ships at some point🤣 (I like a lot of fandoms and have a very “SQUIRREL!” personality😅😂 so I do make a lot of references, despite this being my Maasverse page) there was a time for Dorlaena & of course Samlaena too

and Sam Cortland always deserves more (I love him & am still sad😅). My beloved "Assassins of Adarlan"

As will Dorian ALWAYS be beloved as a character,

I think in another life I’d like to be Yrene

Lysandra is a favorite.

Manon and the 13 are everything to me… till darkness claim us & beyond…

I still want a spin off with the cadre

I could make this list really really long because these books are one of my all time favorites

— Abraxos & Fleetfoot (TOG) & “The House” (ACOSF) as characters hold a candle to no other. —

I know little about “CC” Crescent City (other than some positive reputations, kick-ass red heads, and intriguing covers! Cute fan art for animal creatures, good friendship, and werewolves?) … + a possible crossover (I hope)?!?

Currently on page 1

Thank YOU “fellow dreamers” for welcoming ME! into your feed & Maasverse!

& to my fellow “first time readers” Welcome to you too! 💕

+ All you old-timers THANK YOU for your loving guide notes & support (for ALL THE FANDOM FEELS😂)!

… And yeah… Hi! Much love❤️💚🩷🩵🧡 all are welcome!!! This blog does NOT discriminate & is a safe place to enjoy fandoms (because it’s about enjoying stories!) regardless of race, nationality, ability/disability, gender, sexuality, belief, age, etc. Feel free to message & tag😊 + if it helps in the matter of communicating: I identify as she/her (please always feel free to tell me your pronouns if you like :-) if you wanna call me by something other than my blog name/names you can call me Lila (short for Delilah), I’m a Zillenial. I primarily speak English. & I look forward to enjoying stories with you!

And there’s nothing left to say but…

— LET’S FANDOM ABOUT IT —

[offtorivendell]

Just wanted to tell you that I love your account ❤️ and I was curious how you manage to stay so positive in the middle of this ship war

Aww thank you so much! 💜

I'm definitely not perfect, but I mainly try to trust my own judgement and reading comprehension, and keep to my fandom bubble when possible.

I can compartmentalise almost to a fault, so while I know there's always a chance that I'm wrong about Elriel (and more than a chance that I'm wrong about my theories, as they can get very crackish/specific lol), I don't let it take anything from the enjoyment I get chatting about theories with my fandom friends. That's what I'm here for, the rest I just do my best to either laugh about or ignore.

At this point my Tumblr feed is (mostly) Elain and Elriel based positivity, at least with regards to SJM. I've curated my bubble, filtered out any tags I don't want to see, try to avoid the drama, and chill. If we get Elain's book next, then brilliant, but if not, I'm pretty much at the point where my enjoyment comes from my friends and theorising with them rather than the source material itself (I think that's about as negative as I'll get, because I do find the fandom negativity exhausting, hence I typically stick to private chats with friends, with the occasional foray into the subreddit - doing this has allowed me to separate the books from a lot of the extraneous bullshit). Also, I'm very lucky in that, while I've always loved/will love reading, fandom is more of a nice little bonus to my life; I don't rely on it too much in the grand scheme of things. If I "get my way" with Elriel then great, but my happiness isn't contingent on that.

So yeah - and not to be too "00s self help wisdom" - the enjoyment I experience from my current level of fandom participation is more about the journey than the destination. Don't get me wrong, I do hope I'm right about at least some things (thankfully HOFAS suggested that I may be on a few of the right tracks, so fingers crossed), but if I'm not then I am well and truly past the point where I don't care all that much. There's no point in stressing too much about what SJM will or won't write, because it's not going to change the end result. So why do that to yourself? Just have fun with your fandom friends (whether that be theorising, making art, whatever) and let others do the same, vent in private if necessary, be kind, and hope for Elriel the best. 😉✌🏻

Thanks for stopping by anon! Have a brilliant rest of your week.

[lovemyromance]

I have a little rant lol.

In general, the entire acotar fandom is immature and toxic (I honestly think its gotten so bad since nesta's book came out). Most of these people are grown women and men arguing back and forth about characters and ships. It's bad enough that its been going on for years that its sad. "I'll laugh at the elriels or gwnyriels or the eluciens if their ship isnt endgame" Do the people who say that realize how embarrassing they are? Many people are going to have good and terrible theories but bashing people and harassing people over fictional characters is just immature. I also hate when they say "its that [insert ship] the one who is being the most toxic and weird" NO. its all of you. None of us know who is going to be endgame no matter the theories you have or anything. YOU DONT KNOW. So, please, can we stop this already? its getting annoying and weird. This fandom has made it incredibly difficult to know who the next book is going to be about when its right in front of their eyes. Sarah has not made it impossible to know who the next will be about and I think thats why shes been so quiet about because everyone is being so aggressive about this ship war. I just know the moment she announces the couple, she'll get a ton of hate when its not even her fault because people love to twist her words on paper and thinks she's probably doing that but it could mean a whole other thing. Yall have let theories get to your head and twisted words so much that I think it's incredibly unhealthy for all of you to be acting this way. Stick with who you ship or love and of course, you can have beautiful theories, but toxicity is not necessary. No need to go back and forth about who is the real "endgame".

I mean yeah this fandom is insane. Sometimes as I'm aggressively typing out a reply to an anon who calls me a delusional psychotic bitch bc I made an Elriel post they didn't like, I genuinely just blink and think what the fuck am I doing?

It's partly why I didn't want get involved. At all.

I still try to keep to myself. Only even entertain the antis if they come to my posts. I stick to my own tags.

But there are people - and you're right they are from both sides, as I have also said multiple times on my blog -that go out of their way to start a fight on posts they know aren't meant for them.

These are the people that are making this fandom so toxic. Like I understand, no one person can be responsible for a fandom's collective behavior, but you can be responsible for yourself at the very least.

I have always made it clear what i believe acceptable behavior for discourse in this fandom is and isn't. It's not something I can personally enforce for others, but I can follow myself.

It really is crazy how out of hand this fandom has gotten because other people can't control themselves. If I see an anti Elriel post I don't like (and I don't follow any tags, actually, so I see ALL the ships posting), I have the self control to ignore it and keep scrolling.

This fandom has been overrun by childish adults, intent on being louder than the rest. It's crazy how many disgusting things have been said over just fictional characters, it makes me wonder what these people are like in real life.

At the end of the day - there's going to be a book and one side is going to be proven right. It's not worth all these vitriol that's been spewed across all sides just to "be right". I at least, would be perfectly fine to read an Elucien book. If Elriel does happen, I'm certainly not going to lord it over anyone's head and laugh.

Not worth my time. Not worth my energy.

[nikethestatue]

Hi!! I have read all your elriel fics and I absolutely love them, thank you so much for feeding us more content!! I’m fairly new to the fandom itself but I was instantly hooked on the soft girl x emo boy trope lol and I just love the way you write them!! I didn’t even know there was this much contention over ships with azriel since this man has said maybe like 5 sentences total across the entire series but lol ok… I remember seeing ships of him and Gwyn online before I finished the books and once she was introduced in acosf I was so excited lowkey for him to get ANY love interest… only to get like maybe 3 barely friendly interactions between them?? Gwyn is great - do not get me wrong - but I’m sorry I just don’t see any scrap of relationship between them and I cannot believe this is the hill people are dying on.

I am just waiting for elriel to happen because god they’re so adorable!! I can only read ffics until their book comes next but I feel like so betrayed by even ffics lately because there have been so many new fics I’ve started that have Elriel has the main relationship tag but then 17 chapters in they decide to have Az go after gwyn or god forbid Eris randomly and I just cannot….. like why have a fic have the first pairing as elriel if you’re gonna do that?? Anyways sorry that turned into a mini rant but ugh just please keep writing I love your writing style and your updates are always the highlight of my day!

Thank you so much! This has made my day.

I am so happy that you are enjoying my little stories and takes on my favourite couple. I do agree--they are so adorable. You are so right, I love how soft and gentle they are with each other, especially Azriel, who is so seemingly tough and inscrutable being all 'omg, take my hand, let me take you to the garden!'

I love it. I love them together. I think they are such a departure for SJM and my biggest fear is that she won't do them justice and will write them badly. That everything that makes them special will be given up for some ridiculous training or some such nonsense that nobody needs anymore.

Yeah, it was pretty quiet on Azriel front until ACOSF, until he was randomly paired with a random character and then suddenly all hell broke loose.

Well, I aint ever gonna be a Gwynriel. So no worries. THough I like to keep everyone on edge from time to time. :)

[demarogue]

Fandom New Years Resolutions for 2023

I don’t want to do any of the Year In Review things because...well, it was a really intense, difficult year and I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked. However! I thought it might be fun to lay out my plans for 2023, keep them reasonable (keep them safe) and try to hype myself up to finish. 

Without further ado, my list that is likely to shift and change:

DRAGON AGE

Fics

Finish Letters to the Dead

Continue You’re Bad but You’re Mine (maybe even finish!? Who knows!)

Finish and post Something Unholy, a Morgon one-shot that was supposed to be for Satinalia but will now be for a random Andrastian holiday because I vastly overestimated the length of December

Solavellan stuff (DA4 has me in a deathgrip)

Some one-shots: Blackwall + Josephine, Comedy of Errors stuff, 

Art

Banners/cover pages for all my fics

Catch up on all commissions/gifts

Finally color my lovely Niva linearts from @dreadfutures

Morgon Tarot card (three guesses which one lol)

Morgon, Niva and Alethea portraits for pfps

ACOTAR

Fics

Finish All of Me Belongs to You (ASAP/early Jan)

Finish A Lily on Thy Brow

Nyx craziness

Past Loves, Lives collection (Young Bats, Amren being Made, Mor’s first time falling for a woman, I’m working on more ideas and for sure would take prompts, hit up my asks!)

A one-shot per month. Probably mostly Elriel but I’m planning to branch out, too

Art

Finish Elriel AU piece for @azrielslight (ASAP/early Jan)

Finish Elriel in the garden piece

Banners/cover pages for all my fics

Feyre slaying the worm

Feyre and her monsters

Buzzcuts in the Illyrian camp/battlefield hairstyle incidents

Some smutty Elriel stuff

18th/19th-century style Portraits of the sisters

RINGS OF POWER/LOTR

Art (Only art because I am not enough of a Tolkein scholar to dare to write stuff)

ALL THE WOMEN. Binders full of em!

also Aragorn and Halbrand. Maybe even together ;)

Lastly, I just want to read more fic. My TBR is so long – if you’re a longfic writer and I started reading and then disappeared into the hills, please know I didn’t lose interest!! I just had A Year, is all. I am excited to return to reading regularly and letting you all know how much I adore you and how unspeakably talented I think you are.

And just for funsies, with NO pressure to join in, I’d love to hear anyone’s fandom resolutions! I’m not going to tag specific folks because I don’t want to be pushy OR leave anyone out so suffice to say, if you can see this I am tagging you in spirit.

[viridianevergarden]

Since you put this in the Elriel tag, I’m taking the initiative to respond to this from my Elriel perspective.

I think you’re debunking things without all of the facts to aim for your narrative which is fine but let me write this out and explain from my own.

This will be extremely long.

First, regarding the art of foreshadowing:

Foreshadowing is the instance where one makes subtle hints toward the future or toward future events.

Foreshadowing is meant to be something that is looked at and that makes you go “huh”, at first.

Then you read further and realize what’s happening. And in this instance, if you read back to the initial details that have been sprinkled in, it is something that’s meant to make you go “OH” in that realization.

Because why wasn’t it so obvious to you before?

Foreshadowing is meant to be subtle but when you realize what is happening, what those small details aimed for, it is painfully obvious. Everything adds up to this, to that conclusion.

So I think you’re merely half right when it comes to whether or not foreshadowing is meant to be subtle of obvious. In totality, it IS obvious. It’s something that makes you question how the heck you haven’t picked up on it before when the hints were there all along.

That’s the art of it. Subtle to the naked eye, obvious to the experienced one.

Moving on…

ACOTAR

Where our story begins. Indeed, there has not been a singular interaction between Elriel in this book as Azriel was never introduced and Elain was back in the Human Lands. Nothing has been set into motion here just yet.

I personally don’t count this book as a part of the tension building. Obviously. I don’t think the other elriels here do either.

Feyre had indeed surmised that she’d love Spring because of the flowers. And that’s true. Elain does love flowers.

People use that blind thought from Feyre as a means to say that Elain will find her place in Spring, amongst all other crazy theories I’ve seen some of you say. But this fact will be debunked later on.

ACOMAF

Where the seeds of the true story, Elriel’s story, has been sown into the soil.

When the 2 Illyrians met the 2 sisters, both males stilled. Not one, both. Pretty odd, considering that if it was just Cassian stilling toward Nesta, nobody would bat an eye.

And it was Cassian and Nesta who ended up being an endgame couple. Now who else stilled? Oh, right, Azriel. And who else remains? Elain.

On that day, Elain was wearing cobalt blue. Yes, it is the signature color that her lover at the time, Graysen had for his family.

But no one can deny that it is the same exact color of Azriel’s siphons.

Then at the dinner. Azriel smiled at Elain, who was clenching her fork when Cass sat beside her.

Tension raised between Cassian and Nesta, who were borderline arguing. Cass had let down bombs upon bombs of razor sharp facts that cast unease across everyone at the table.

Elain’s voice wobbled when she spoke up, saying that the general hatred that humans had for Fae was molded into them. That they were raised that way.

And it was Azriel, no one else, who empathized with her. Who spoke and said “I can imagine.” with a smile on his face.

His words allowed her to reinforce herself, to sit up and continue speaking about how Feyre was the one who helped them. How Nesta and Elain herself alone were to blame for not taking responsibility as the older siblings.

Then after Feyre pleaded with Nesta to start over and move on, Elain was the one to keep a conversation going.

“Can you truly fly?”

Mr. “I don’t need to resort to poetry” over here, resorted to poetry in explaining that they can fly. That they are born hearing the song of wind. And I swear, if somebody says that such words aren’t poetry— lol.

ACOMAF does highlight how in love Az is with Mor, no one I’ve seen has denied it. No one I’ve seen has said that Az had immediately flipped the switch and fell in love with her here. But the simple fact that Az not only stilled beside Cassian for the sisters, that he was the one to provide her comfort at the dinner table with a smile and showing his own empathy, to us, or to me, something has taken root.

We can see that Azriel and Elain, right off the bat, have some form of understanding on a vague and small basis. And don’t forget that Feyre noted that Elain would most likely take to Azriel for some peace and quiet.

So again, nothing drastic here. But seeds have been sown. No budding yet, no blooming, but let it grow.

ACOWAR

This book was jam packed full of growth for that seed in the soil.

Upon Feyre’s return, she does discover that Elain had been in an extremely depressive and murky state. She’d refused to leave her room, refused to eat, refused to speak. And when she did speak, it was in utter riddles. Everyone thought she was going clinically insane. She was actively thinning from the fact that she wasn’t taking care of herself.

Lucien merely claimed that she needed sunlight, to go outside, to do something. I think that’s what any person would say about someone going through the things that Elain was. He didn’t try to do anything with her, aside from being forced to speak with her. Except I believe on one occasion where Elain was talking to him about him betraying “us”. Betraying everyone.

Lucien’s arrival didn’t do crap to help her. Nothing.

After Madja herself said that “If anyone can sense what’s amiss, it’s a mate”.

And Lucien didn’t truly sense anything. Do we forget the fact that he stumbled over these words? ⬇️

“Should we—does she need …?”

But who cut him off?

Azriel last name Shadowsinger, with “She doesn’t need anything.”

His words called Elain’s gaze to him, and when he said that the Cauldron had made her into a seer, all of the sudden she started to speak normally toward Mor, asking if that was true.

No one has ever said that naming her ability is curing trauma. Because that’s not what this is.

Then this line was coined by Feyre:

It made sense, I supposed, that Azriel alone had listened to her. The male who heard things others could not … Perhaps he, too, had suffered as Elain had before he understood what gift he possessed.

Azriel continued to question Elain about what she saw, and when everyone understood, when Azriel and Elain herself understood what she was saying and seeing, all the sudden her eyes had been freed from that “murky realm”, Feyre called it.

Lucien left after that— To find Vassa because no one else could. Rhys had specifically said that he needed his Inner Circle to remain in the Night Court.

After that whole thing, later in the book we find that Elain was doing something. Baking with the wraith twins in the kitchen.

Countless times in ACOWAR had Azriel shown initiation in taking Elain to the gardens, carrying her through thresholds, merely having silent alone time with each other, etc. and what’s more?

Feyre began making note of the absence of his shadows when he was with her and the fact that he’d slowly been paying less attention to Mor and more to Elain.

Now I’m assuming that we all have in our right minds, an understanding of those shadows. That they only disappear when there’s overwhelming amounts of light and when he is surrounded by people that he is truly happy and comfortable around. This has been shown around Cassian, around Mor, around Elain.

I’ll address more about them later since they’re so controversial for the entire fandom.

Then there’s the war camp rescue. Azriel avidly saying with cold rage that he’d go get Elain. Even when Nesta herself said he’d die? When Rhysand and Cassian were leaning towards going later as a group?

Azriel effectively and mentally said “hell no” and went with Feyre on his own accord, against everyone else’s instruction to get her instantly. Dont forget that he was the one to notice her absence. Not her sisters, not Nesta, not Feyre. I don’t know what else to say to you here because this is mate esc behavior.

Then Elain did kiss him on the cheek as thanks. Regardless of him bleeding out, regardless of him stumbling and worrying not for himself but worrying about getting harmless chains off of her? Peak mate esc behavior again.

That is romantic chemistry being built right before your eyes.

Then we have the Truth-Teller scene that people commonly downplay. Where Elain turned down Cassian’s knife, only to accept Azriel’s. Hesitant she was to take TT, his words to her had convinced her about taking that blade.

“It has never failed me once,” the shadowsinger said, the midday sun devoured by the dark blade. “Some people say it is magic and will always strike true.” He gently took her hand and pressed the hilt of the legendary blade into it. “It will serve you well.”

Even when she claimed she didn’t know how to use it. Even after Feyre herself claimed that she won’t have to use that blade.

Don’t forget that it’s foreshadowing enough that Feyre painted the image in her mind of them holding that blade together. The two so at odds and so different, life to death hand in hand with that knife.

Then we have her returning it. Elain went to clean TT and give it back to Azriel because it’s his. Not hers. Why would she keep it? Wordlessly pushing it into his hands and walking away is not a tell tale sign of her having some form of rejection for him or the knife in general. She’d just killed a man for the first time for crying out loud. Give this girl a break.

All of this happened in one book. One. Book. You can’t downplay it all as just regular development with no clear cut chemistry.

ACOFAS

That seed has sprouted and begun to bloom.

I keep seeing people say that this book indeed was meant to do many things.

Bridging the gap between the trilogy to make way for the new portion of the series.

To establish Nessian’s drastic development.

To set up a love triangle between Elain, Azriel, and Lucien.

Now I am going to, with my full chest, say that there won’t be a love triangle.

What love triangle is there to have???

Lucien doesn’t love her, from what we’ve seen. From what Feyre has given us.

That male has more chemistry with Vassa than he does Elain, funnily enough.

Lucien, the male who compared her to his dead ex lover, who really didn’t know anything of what she needed, who didn’t even initiate much of anything with her because it was clear that she didn’t want him around. Unless he was forced by Feyre of course. Who also searches for any reason to avoid Elain just as she does him?

That Lucien?

Lmao.

The only possible thing right now with the current textual evidence that would ever warrant a “love triangle” is the fact that Lucien would only ever want to try for Elain because she’s been thrown at him as a mate. Obligation and instinct. No love, no other feelings.

So that’s pretty damn one sided if you ask me.

I also have absolutely no recollection of Azriel being gravitated towards Elain because of his mother? Where is that from? What chapter? What’s the context?

Then we have that god forsaken solstice situation.

Rhysand quite literally told the bat boys not to gift anything to Nesta and Elain. Thats why Azriel didn’t get anything for her.

Lucien gave Elain gloves that she entirely disregarded and didn’t even look at twice. She didn’t want them. Feyre made note later on about it, that she prefers hard work without magical gloves.

Goes to show how everyone in the Inner Circle really doesn’t know Elain. Not even her sisters. Feyre had marveled at the fact that she’s showing parts of herself that they’ve never seen before.

Showing grit and baring her fangs to Nesta, casually coming in with thorns in her hands, refusing to use those gloves, showing initiative and openly saying “find me when you wish to begin” back in ACOWAR. No one has an understanding of Elain like Az has.

Then Elain’s gag gift to Azriel. I know you like to make it seem like it’s super unimportant and just a joke but if we’re talking about the possibility and sheer chemistry of Elriel as a ship, this is big.

Everyone was suprised that Azriel laughed at her gag gift. The gag gift that was seemingly so unimportant on the surface but holds so much value to Azriel.

The very male who said “this will be invaluable.” And invaluable it is to him, since he looks at it and keeps it close every night.

Then we have Azriel and Elain staying up until at least 3 am alone together. To talk together. We don’t know when they went to bed since we were in Feyre’s head, she of whom went upstairs at around 3 am.

No chemistry between Elriel still? Okay.

ACOSF

Your favorite book. The book that ended the Elriel ship, as you and many others say.

Pre-BC:

Yes, Azriel and Elain still talked and had some form of communication. Obviously. Because there’s nothing between them that would cause a mandatory cleft.

Quite easy to contemplate, I think.

The BC:

The seed sprout has fully bloomed into something now. All it needs is more nurturing, something that it’s being deprived of.

Do we not recall that Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court, forbade Azriel himself from being around Elain???

Babes, I’m gonna hold your hand when I say this. That alone just created the forbbiden love trope.

Let me say it again.

Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court, forbade Azriel from being around Elain.

“You are to stay away from her.”

Ringing no bells? Thats somehow not a forbidden love trope? Okay. I digress.

Post-BC:

Of course Azriel isn’t talking to her. So much happened in that short time span, in one night. He’s painfully heeding his orders.

Don’t forget that Azriel was so pissed off about it that he put rocks in snowballs and lost his 299 year winning streak for that annual snowball fight.

He was pissed.

I’m not going to go all the way down the rabbit hole that is addressing the infamous claim “He only lusted after Elain anyway”.

To say such a thing is quite insensitive and disrespectful to his character. Goes to show how so many people really misunderstand him.

And as if Cassian wasn’t so down bad for Nesta too. Just like Rhys was for Feyre. But when Az does it for Elain, all the sudden it’s a crime.

Don’t forget that Elain reciprocated and actually initiated. It was because of her that he even made any move that night.

This bring me to the critical point that I’ve asked myself all the time.

Why the hell would Azriel Shadowsinger plan to seduce Elain, to get with her in general when he hates himself so much, when he feels undeserving of her, when he knew that his words about the almost kiss had hurt her, when Rhys pulled rank and ordered him away from her, and when Fate is already spun against him seeing as she has a mate???

The entire deck of cards is quite literally stacked against him.

He has no reason to believe that he has a chance with Elain. Hence why he isn’t fighting for his love for her. Hence why he didn’t tell Rhysand how he feels.

Regarding his shadows and the presence of Gwyn:

HOFAS, CC3’s bonus chapter that featured Nesta and Az, has effectively and further debunked that whole “Azriel’s shadows love Gwyn because they sang in answer to her breath or voice.” claim.

Allow me to elaborate.

Azriel’s shadows recoil and react to stimuli, whether that stimuli be magical or reflect off of who they know he’s safe around.

Az’s shadows danced to Bryce’s music in that bonus chapter.

And Gwyn is literally overflowing with siren imagery. When she sings in ACOSF, Nesta is drawn to her voice and lured in. Gwyn’s hair glows when she sings and Nesta made note that she wasn’t certain whether Gwyn herself knew that or not.

And for the love of god, the “you’re the new ribbon Az.” line:

Tell me you can’t discern the difference between platonic and romantic banter without telling me you can’t discern the difference between platonic and romantic banter.

Every single instance in ACOSF that involves Azriel being around Gwyn for training, for example Gwyn’s loud laugh, is quite obviously platonic.

Her laughing loud enough to briefly gain the attention of absolutely everyone in the room? Come on now. That is a natural reaction to look over in the direction of a loud noise.

Regarding the BC and the sparky sparky glow glow thing in his chest, I always interpreted it as Azriel being happy that someone, anyone, in this case Gwyn, could have that necklace without any emotional baggage.

Better to give it away to someone who could enjoy such an anonymous gift rather than take it back to where he bought it from.

This necklace that caused so much harm in so little time, Azriel wanted to get rid of. You may ask “well why didn’t he just take it back to where he got it from?”

Why do that when first, out of convenience, he could just go down stairs and give it away. And second, the possibility of Az being lured down to the library being present?

Gwyn and her oblivious luring abilities, remember?

This doesn’t make her evil either. I see so many people on the other side saying we as Elriels think she’ll be evil or that she is evil. Thats not the case. We think she’s unaware.

Anyways.

He “found himself” going down there with the intent to give that necklace away to anyone who would take it.

“Well, he named Gwyn.”

Logically speaking, of course he would. She was the first person that he ran into after the shitshow that was the night before.

And then there were two:

The Dusk Court and Koschei. I’m sorry, what could Gwyn possibly do that could legit combat something like Koschei?

You’d think that Dusk and Koschei together would have hurdles that involved the requirement of abilities of a Made being. Such as, dare I say, Elain Archeron the Kingslayer herself.

I’m not saying that Gwyn won’t have presence in the next book because I’m certain that she will. But to be Azriel’s partner and lover and mate? Doubtful. Very doubtful. There’s just not enough evidence in the current text to come to that conclusion logically vs what’s going on with Elriel together.

Why can he smell elucien’s bond when no one else can?

Why does such a thing physically hurt and sicken him to sense?

Why does he agonize so much over Elain to the point where he can hardly take care of himself?

Why is he always so instinctively protective over Elain? And yes, I am bringing up the “shadows poised as snakes, ready to strike” against Nesta.

Azriel was willing and waiting to scrap it out with Nesta over Elain. Let’s be real now.

I could continue, but I think I’ve said enough. This post is long enough as is.

My lovely Conclusion:

Kindly, remain in denial about all of this as you like. To blatantly say there is absolutely nothing, no foreshadowing, no chemistry, no tension, no forbidden love tropes, no miscommunication tropes, and that Elriel as a whole has sunk from one bonus chapter that isn’t even available to casual readers especially outside of the US, is painfully and laughably ignorant.

We’ll see soon enough what’s going to happen. But I think the texts that SJM has given us is more than enough of a tell tale sign for what’s to come. She has given us everything we need.

Oh and by the way. The foreshadowing is obvious because that’s how it should be. Peak linear writing, my friend. 🤍

ELUCIEN | GWYNRIEL — MAASVERSE SPOILERS

I tend to see posts and videos from a multitude of people who seem to be reluctant to accept foreshadowing in the ACOTAR books—specifically regarding the endgame couples to finish out the overall series. As this post is simply beating a dead horse down, I find that it is very much needed as a specific group of people lack the capacity to understand the books.

Foreshadowing is not meant to be obvious. There are, of course, cases where it is relatively obvious, but only within the parameters of back-to-back scenes. Foreshadowing is meant to be picked up on, but to be fully understand later on in the story when everything comes to fruition. Examples of foreshadowing include color descriptions, specific use of language, emphasis on certain scenes, emphasis surrounding specific objects, et cetera. If something happens obviously and you can read the scene as-is, it is not foreshadowing.

I see many people who ship Elriel claim that there is buildup across the entire series that foreshadows why they will be endgame. As the books do not support that claim, it is outlandish and a spread of misinformation. Allow me to disprove this theory using the books alone:

— 🌸 ACOTAR: Zero interactions between Elain and Azriel as Azriel had not been introduced as a character yet. This book highlighted Feyre surmising that Elain would thrive within the Spring Court, that her sister enjoyed typical emissary work, and instead introduced Lucien as a character.

— 🦢 ACOMAF: This is the first book where Elain and Azriel met, as is this is where many Elriels like to claim that the Elriel build-up begins. However, this book says otherwise. Elain and Azriel’s first meeting is neutral, quiet conversation to ease a tense situation as Nesta/Feyre/Cassian/Rhys were creating an uncomfortable atmosphere and Elain meant to ease it. This book highlighted how in love Azriel was with Mor and how Elain was engaged to Grayson. Many Elriels also claim that the color of Elain’s dress in this first meeting—being cobalt—is indicative of endgame between she and Azriel. However, cobalt is also the signature color of Grayson’s family crest. Their interactions die out after that first meeting and instead focus on Feysand again. The throne room scene in Hybern also showed the beginning of Elucien and their mate bond, while Azriel was on the floor reaching for Mor. (I go more into this on my Tik Tok page: @oristian)

— 🔥 ACOWAR: When Feyre returns to the Night Court after her month in Spring, she finds that Elain has been within a catatonic state for the entirety of that month and has shown no signs of recovering—that is, until Lucien came along. Elain began eating and moving around once he came and after tugging on the mating bond, her visions first started showing. themselves. Everyone likes to credit Azriel for most of this, but all that Azriel did (take her to the garden) was suggested previously by Lucien. Lucien, who was not able to be alone with her due to Nesta and Feyre. Next, everyone tends to say that Azriel “saw” Elain when he named her power. “What we need is …” Contradicts such a thing. Naming a power does not cure someone of their trauma. Lucien is also canonically the first character to take Elain’s visions seriously and went in search of Vassa, ultimately finding Papa Archeron and creating an even deeper connection into the Koschei plot arc with Elain. This is also where we get the iconic half-step on the stair scene.

Elain is now kidnapped by the cauldron portraying itself as Graysen—Elain wanting so badly to be with her previous lover. This is a scene where many Elriels claim that it is supportive of Elriel being endgame. However, it is within character for Azriel to save someone, especially people close to him. Certainly, Elain being appreciative of being saved and kissing him on the cheek is cute, but that is not enough “foreshadowing” for an endgame. Next, Azriel hands her Truth Teller after Elain refused other weapons. Elain is hesitant and only agrees to take it once Feyre chimes in that she will not have to use it. Juxtapose this with Elain immediately giving it back after the battle is over, not saying a word, and instead falling into conversation with Lucien. Lucien, who is canonically the only character to credit her for assisting with ending the King of Hybern.

— 🌨️ ACOFAS: This is the buffer book that was meant to do two things: Establish Nessian as the next couple for the following book, and establish a clear love triangle between Azriel/Elain/Lucien. Elriels use this book to drive the idea of an Elriel endgame. While this book has scenes between Elain and Azriel, there is unfortunately no foreshadowing present enough to support that claim. This novella emphasizes, from a conversation between Rhys and Feyre, that Azriel may be inclined towards Elain due to her having traits that may remind him of his mother (Freud). We also have Solstice where Lucien brings Elain a gift—a gift that fully reflects her interests—Elain brings Azriel a gift, but Azriel does not bring Elain a gift. Azriel even questioning beforehand if he has to get the sisters a gift at all. Elain’s gift being superficial and more of a joke than anything truly meaningful to them as a relationship.

— 🗡️ ACOSF: The book that ended Elriel. We have this book set up as PRE-BONUS CHAPTER | BONUS CHAPTER | POST BONUS CHAPTER. In the pre-bonus chapter, we have a few scenes between Elain and Azriel that is a glance, or a very small interaction. The infamous scene that Elriels like to use to “prove” that his shadows actually like Elain is the scene where Cassian says that Nesta upset Elain and his shadows seemed poised to strike. His shadows reacted to his anger, not to Elain. Next, the Solstice scene where Azriel refused to be within the room due to the mating bond between Elain and Lucien and Nesta seeing that he was interested in Elain—which is never brought up again, however we do get a scene post bonus chapter of Nesta encouraging Gwyn and Azriel by calling him the “new ribbon.”

The bonus chapter ended Elriel officially as endgame. The chapter is told from Azriel’s POV and documents his lustful thoughts of Elain and how he wants a mate, hurt and confused why his brothers had two of the Archeron sisters and the third was given away to another male. Rhysand even asking Azriel what his plans are after seducing Elain and Azriel having none “past the fantasies he pleasures himself to.” This is also a chapter where Elriels like to claim that Elriel is a forbidden romance. ACOWAR Rhys clearly objects to this being the case. (I have a video on my Tik Tok going over this @oristian) The bonus chapter then moves to Azriel finding Gwyn, his shadows not warning him of her presence at the HoW. His shadows are curious about her and dance with her breath. Azriel then finds out that Elain rejected his necklace—the only Solstice gift that he has gotten her, and one he expressed as “nothing extraordinary”—and the next morning finds him re-gifting such to Gwyn. Azriel can picture her eyes lighting up at the gift and he smiles—this is also where mate language is used to describe the spark in his chest at the thought of her and the glow of the thought. “A thing of secret, lovely beauty.” A line that was used twice—one to describe the necklace, and another time to describe the thought of Gwyn.

Post bonus chapter has zero interactions between Elain and Azriel. The interactions between Azriel and Gwyn are charged and witty. Energetic. This is also where we see Azriel’s siphons glowing darker at the thought of the Valkyries in the Great Rite—the first instance that this has happened.

Next, we go into the last two remaining plot arcs: Koschei and Dusk Court. Both ACOSF and HOFAS have set Nesta up as the driver for the Dusk Court arc, with Azriel as the character to follow. With SJM’s Bloomsbury contract slating her to have two more main books with dual POV romantic interests, the Dusk Court arc book would only make sense having Gwyn and Azriel as the FMC and MMC of that arc. The Koschei arc has been carefully crafted for Elain and Lucien to be the FMC and MMC of that book, with both of them being set up for this since ACOWAR. Elain with her visions of Vassa, the lake, and Koschei’s black box, and Lucien being tied to Papa Archeron and Vassa and the mortals. (I have a video on my Tik Tok that goes more in depth with this @oristian)

— SUMMARY: Elain and Azriel do not have multiple books of foreshadowing, a Gwynriel and Elucien endgame is not fanservice, and the remaining two plot arcs do not support an Elriel endgame. If you have any problems with that, take it up with SJM.

[captainninej]

How do you feel about the ship war/discourse that appear on that anti tag?

The whole pro/anti elriel and pro/anti gwynriel thing.

hey!

honestly, i couldn't care less lol

i think ship wars in any fandom get far more intense and ugly than they have any right to be. but with these two, it's both funny and fascinating to me how passionate people are about ships we literally have nothing about. like. to the point they're bullying and harassing people over them.

i think people like to project themselves onto characters like azriel and gwyn and elain, because these characters (with perhaps the exception of gwyn) are so underdeveloped it's laughable. it's been five books with elain and four with azriel and we still barely know anything about them. we don't know what their motivations are, we don't know their goals, their dreams, their growth - so there's literal crumbs to go on to decide whether or not they would be good for each other in a relationship.

i could not give a single fuck who azriel ends up with because really i don't care for his character, especially after that bonus chapter in acosf. if anything, after that i want to keep all women away from them because the way he thinks about them is so disgusting.

i do find it irritating that the ship wars leak over into the anti tag just because sometimes they get so petty and stupid, but i do think most of that comes from the immaturity of the source material both ships come from and the knowledge that no matter the 'hints' people find for either relationship, sjm will ultimately go for the most boring, toxic route which imo will likely be elriel since cassian is with nesta and rhysand is with feyre.

again, stans and antis being more creative than the author lol

[talkfantasytome]

People need to stop tagging:

Purely Elain or Archeron Sister art as "Elriel"

Purely Gwyn or Valkyrie art as "Gwynriel"

Purely Azriel art as "Elriel" or "Gwynriel"

Purely Lucien art as "Elucien" or "Vassien"

Purely Vassa art as "Vassien" or "Jassa" (? Jursa? idk their ship name 👀)

Please, stop putting ship tags in art and content that is not about the ship. Not all elriels hate Gwyn and/or Lucien. Not all gwynriels hate Elain. Not all eluciens hate Az.

Yes, people have ship preferences. And because of those preferences they may block certain tags. But they shouldn't be penalized or not get to see pretty fan art that has nothing to do with a ship they dislike just because the artist or someone who reblogged the art likes that ship. I know people think that the tag might help it get more view, but it is not relevant.

If it's a pretty fan art of Elain gardening, why does it need to be tagged elriel or elucien? Or both, as I've seen in various scenarios. The art is about Elain and only Elain. If it's a piece about Gwyn hanging out with Emerie and Nesta, gwynriel does not belong in the tag. If it's just Az in training or sparring with Cassian, neither Elain nor Gwyn have anything to do with it. If we're getting another stoic pic of Lucien looking over his shoulder (idk why that popped in my mind, but I know I've seen it and loved it every time lol), then it has nothing to do with elucien. Etc.

The whole point of being able to block tags is to control the content you see, but it becomes pointless if people overuse the tags and we have to view the post anyway. The amount of GORGEOUS fan art about one sole character that I almost missed because it was blocked is ridiculous. All because I don't want to see posts that are snarky about a ship I prefer. Yes, I often take the risk if it comes across my dash, because I know who I follow. But I'm sure there's plenty I miss in Discover.

I know people think that by adding the tags it might get more views, but that's why we should be reblogging. And PLEASE don't add in your ship's tag if you are reblogging. If the artist chooses to do that, then at least they're the one risking some people not seeing it because of tag blocks. But if you're adding the tag in a reblog, you actually could be hurting the artist more than helping.

So please, let's just use tags appropriately. I am always in favor of tagging the shit out of stuff, but only to the extent that it's accurate. Don't take away the chance for some to see the art work by adding in the extra tags. Don't make it harder for some to take in something gorgeous just because they're trying to keep their experience on here enjoyable for them. Instead, let's all share in the amazing creations made by people 100000% more talented than me (I can draw stick figures? there's a reason I write...). And we can do this by respecting and appreciating that people block tags, and targeting our tags to ensure everyone who truly might be interested can see it without needing to feel like it's a risk. 🙂

[sunshinebingo]

Thank you for tagging me darling!! <3

1) What’s your favourite SJM book?

In my tops (no particular order) are Heir of Fire, Empire of Storms, Kingdom of Ash, Tower of Dawn, A Court of Silver Flames

2) Which is your favourite series (tog, acotar or cc)

Throne of Glass is one of my favourite series ever!

3) Who is your favourite character? (And why?)

Gwyneth Berdara. I fell in love with her at the first fanart I saw. That love only got stronger after i read acosf. And i keep loving her more with every fic I read and write

4) Do you have a favourite quote from one of the books?

Acosf chapter 59 - "I wish for us to have the courage to go out into the world when we are ready, but to always be able to find our way back to each other. No matter what."

5) Favourite ship?

My top 3 sjm ships are Gwynriel, Elorcan and Ruhnlidia

6) Elriel or Gwynriel? Or neither?

Hardcore Gwynriel

7) Who’s the most underrated SJM character?

Tarquin. Declan. Sartaq. Nesryn. Gavriel. Asterin's wyvern Narene. Luca. etc

8) Which character do you wish to learn more about?

Gwyn. More specifically her family tree

9) Are there any characters you don’t like?

Feyre. Rhys. Mor. Danika, Bryce, Hunt, Tharion.

10) Favourite bat boy?

Azriel

11) Favourite court?/ Which one would you most like to live in?

My mind always goes towards Summer first because it's my favourite season. If I lived in Prythian though I would like to travel and live in a different court at different periods. Just so I can experience all of them. Although I'm almost certain Winter would kill me faster than any poison could.

12) Favourite SJM villain?

Maeve. Not only my favourite villain but one of my favourite characters in TOG. I love her!

13) If you could change one thing in any of the books what would it be?

High five @moonlightazriel because that war camp sex was just gross. The whole birth thing was also a wtf moment.

14) Favourite SJM theory?

That Gwyn is related to the Vanserras. Is it obvious that i am obsessed with her lol

15) Favourite Archeron sister?

Nesta Archeron

16) A character you feel is over-hated/ underrated:

Is it overHated or overRated? If it's overHated then Aedion and Chaol. OverRated then I'd say Amren (just my opinion so plz don't think I hate people who love her lol)

I already gave my list of underrated above

17) Aelin, Bryce, or Feyre?

Running straight to Aelin

18) What’s your favourite character from each series?

Gwyn, Ruhn, Lorcan (hard to choose for TOG but for now I'll go with him)

19) If you wrote an acotar book what would you call it?

No clue. It's hard enough to find a title for my fics

20) Who is your favourite acotar blogger?

There are so many I love. It's impossible to pick a favourite

21) What fics would you recommend to people who love the series?

Crescent city - Vérzavar Ház by @hlizr50 Acotar - A Court of Whispers and Song by @mystical_blaise ToG - Through the stone marshes by Anna_Graham

All of them are on Ao3

Questions for writers

22) Easiest character to write for?

Gwyn. One reason being because I've done it so many times that my version of her just comes naturally to me. She lives in my head is a better answer I think

23) Hardest character to write for?

Choosing between the characters that I have already written for, I'd say the ones that gave me the hardest time were Helion and LoA

24) What’s a character you’d like to write for but haven’t yet?

Nesta

25) What’s a court you’d like to write about more?

More of everything that isn't Night. Especially those I haven't written about yet because I want to try everything at least once

26) What’s a character you won’t write for and why?

Probably Feyre because I'm not the biggest fan of her. But I won't say never ever. I like to experiment sometimes so maaaaybe someday

27) If you could only write for one character ever again, who would you pick?

Gwyn!

28) Whats your favourite trope to write about when it comes to Azriel?

Being an idiot in love. Although I did have fun torturing him sometimes (ok fine a lot of fun at times)

29) What do you think is the best/favourite acotar fic you’ve written?

Even Lovers Drown has its own special place in my heart

30) Who are your favourite friendships to write about?

I adore the Valkyries. I also love to write about the Bat boys

31) For first time readers to your blog, which three fics would you recommend they read?

For Elorcan fans - I Almost Lost You For Crescent City and crackship fans - Recollection of Us (A Gwyn/Ithan fic set in Lunathion) For the Acotar fans who want more characters to swoon over other than the BatBoys - A Pearl For Luck (a Summer Court fic with Gwyn/Tarquin)

SJM Ask Game

Thank you for the tag @daydreaming-nerd !! 💙💙 (I do want to hear those redacted answers for where you put tharion lol) I feel like it's been so long since I've been on tumblr or even done one of these but I'm excited💙

1) What’s your favourite SJM book?

Hmmmm I'm gonna say ACOMAF because that's when I was first introduced to Azzy and the obsession began 💙😈

2) Which is your favourite series (tog, acotar or cc)

If you don't know me, CC is one of the worst books I've ever read. It's hard to choose between ACOTAR and TOG tho because they were both really good....

3) Who is your favourite character? (And why?)

Hehehehehehehehe. Az obviously 🥰

4) Do you have a favourite quote from one of the books?

Hmmmm...tbh not really...the ones that stay stuck in my head are the cringey ones...BUT, let's go with "Cassian shot him a glare. 'I don't see you spouting poetry, brother.' Azriel crossed his arms, still smiling faintly, 'I don't need to resort to it.'" THAT'S GODDAMN RIGHT BBY YOU DONT 💙💙 legs spread for mah boi

5) Favourite ship?

Azris frfr

6) Elriel or Gwynriel? Or neither?

Azris frfr

7) Who’s the most underrated SJM character?

Oooof there's so many. Fenrys. I've never gotten enough of him.

8) Which character do you wish to learn more about?

Azris frfr. I want both of their backstories rn

9) Are there any characters you don’t like?

Bryce Quinlan and Danika Fendyr

10) Favourite bat boy?

My king azriel 💙💙

11) Favourite court?/ Which one would you most like to live in?

Honestly I'd probably either live in Autumn or Night tbh.

12) Favourite SJM villain?

Does Tamlin count? lol.

13) If you could change one thing in any of the books what would it be?

That CC never happened

14) Favourite SJM theory?

Azris frfr

15) Favourite Archeron sister?

Prob Ness

16) A character you feel is over-hated/ underrated:

over-rated: bryce quinlan

under-rated: chaol 💙

17) Aelin, Bryce, or Feyre?

Aelin!!

18) What’s your favourite character from each series?

Fenrys, Azriel, Ruhn

19) If you wrote an acotar book what would you call it?

A Court of Smoke and Cinders? (azris frfr)

20) Who is your favourite acotar blogger?

nah there's literally too many to choose from

21)What fics would you recommend to people who love the series?

The Serpent and the Wings of Night

Questions for writers

22) Easiest character to write for?

Azzy because i built him brick by brick

23) Hardest character to write for?

LUCIEN. IDK WHY

24) What’s a character you’d like to write for but haven’t yet?

lol who haven't i written for? hmmmm...maybe fenrys, aedion, or hunt?

25) What’s a court you’d like to write about more?

Dawn!

26) What’s a character you won’t write for and why?

hmmm...idk I'd like to say that I'd try anything once...

27) If you could only write for one character ever again, who would you pick?

azzy. nobody compares to him

28) Whats your favourite trope to write about when it comes to Azriel?

right now i think modern aus...in any sort. or anything that involves angst i love putting everyone thru some shit

29) What do you think is the best/favourite acotar fic you’ve written?

hmmmm...i feel like this is impossible to choose

30) Who are your favourite friendships to write about?

eris x anyone because this man needs a friend

31) For first time readers to your blog, which three fics would you recommend they read?

LMAO ummm...I'll list at least one for. every character

Az: Cupid's Chokehold or Midnight Muse

Cass: In Storm or Dial Drunk or Better Men Have Hit Their Knees and Bigger Men Have Died

Eris: You Know I Always Liked Playing with Fire or Hide

Rhys: Clandestine Love or Dioxazine

Lucien: The Other Woman or My Happy Ending

or literally any poly can't go wrong with those tbh

No pressure tags: @writingsbychlo @acourtofwhatthefuck @i-am-a-lost-girl16 @azrielhours @a-frog-with-a-laptop or anyone else who wants to participate!

[casuallivi]

girl you can’t keep doing this to me, why do i only find out about your writing at random and by chance only if i see a mutual reblog it? tattoo my name onto your tag list if you have one or just let me know cause your fic posts never show up for me but everything else does. unacceptable. have me missing out on literary brilliance, get outta here.

tumblr trying to stop me from world domination through elriel random chapter of different fics, how dare they °^° lol, i do not have a tag list, I'll try to tag you from now on (i may forget sometimes, my memory is shitty) but i have a masterlist! I'll tag you in it 🥰❤️🥰

[gwyns]

lol u gleeriels fucked up once again with that tiktok video thats why evrybody making fun of u and hate u bc u don't really care about gwyn and her traumas u just want her with azriel because u hate elain so u ready to force her into relationship she's not ready yet you are so fucking disgustng elriels has all the rights to calling u out on shit u doing

1. literally all of us agree that what that gwynriel did wasn't right

2. idk why y'all think i represent the entirety of the gwynriel fandom bc i don't even have tik tok nor have i ever once visited your ship's tag (something i know y'all can't say)

3. pls..... get some new material. this whole we all hate elain thing is stale. you gotta switch things up to keep our relationship fresh and exciting anon! xo

[lovemyromance]

It's fine if you're confused with what Elriels are trying to say! I didn't tag you and therefore I have no obligation to make an argument that's been simplified enough for your personal understanding. I'm not arguing anything on behalf of Elriels, nor am I or any one person representative of an entire group of people.

Also I don't really analyze line by line. I see people saying "Elain and Azriel have no romantic interactions" and then I post a screenshot proving that statement is false, here are receipts of them having romantic interactions. I don't think bringing up physical screenshots from the books requires any interpretation or deeper analysis.

But if that's what you consider "deep analysis" lol then sure?

And again- I am going to say it one last time so your ~literally expert~ self understands:

There is nothing wrong with analysis. But saying your analysis of SJM books is "more correct" or "accurate" than others because you have an English degree is ridiculous.

I've seen so many Elucien or Gwynriel posts with the most outrageous theories. Never had a problem with any of them. I appreciate discourse and like participating in debates. What I do not appreciate is someone trying to make it seem like they have any authority in books made for the masses and that others are wrong in their opinions or interpretations, just because they have a degree. These books are made for everyone.

Yet, you seem to have a tendency for thinking it's all about you - so carry on, I suppose. This post wasn't for you nor was it about you. But keep arguing about something literally nobody is talking about while purposefully ignoring the main point I was trying to make 🤷🏻‍♀️

Just saying, you don't need a masters degree in English literature to read SJM books.

If you did, she wouldn't be anywhere near as popular as she is today. She makes romantasy to peddle to the masses, not your traditional English Lit professors or typical highbrow scholar.

Her writing is not deep, whatsoever. The idea that one would need any sort of advanced degree to read fairie smut is honestly just laughable?

SJM is producing entertainment for the masses. ACOTAR is not some soul-crushing memoir or display of staggering wit.

Which means her writing-and everything in it- is very surface level. What you see on the page, is what you get.

There is simply no need to analyze anything in ACOTAR because it's simply not complex writing that requires such efforts? Readers are easily able to understand her writing, whether they have a degree in 14th century English language and composition, or if they just picked up ACOTAR because they saw it on BookTok.

It's easily digestible. That's why it's so popular.

It's why I always am so utterly perplexed anytime I see a PowerPoint presentation or line by line analysis of scenes from these books. It's not that deep? The message of her books is easily understood.

The people diving into her pages, posting line by line analyses and adding their personal interpretation, claiming it as law are so crazy. I've seen so many posts in this ship war saying "oh welllll I have a degree so therefore I know exactly what SJM truly meant to say" are absolutely delusional at this point. Because honestly, how are you going to say you have a degree in English lit and not understand only the author's interpretation and intent is the true authority?

TLDR: stop trying to claim you are some kind of expert or have any shred of credibility regarding a stupid ship war because you have a degree smh it's weird as hell... go read some Tolstoy or something and leave the fae smut be