#gwyn stan

[silverflameataraxia]

Feyre says that very few people like Nesta. Mor says that she's a wicked monster who would thrive in the CoN, and doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. Cassian says that everyone hates her.

Meanwhile, Nesta is out here making friends like nobody's business: Gwyn, Emerie, the Valkyries, Clotho (really it feels like Nesta's befriended all the priestesses except Merrill), Bryce, Ember, Randall.

And then, of course, there's Eris, who wants to marry her after only three dances.

The IC are really the only ones who can't see how amazing Nesta is.

[bonecarversbestie]

Messy emo gwynriel blobs to spice up ur day

@zenkindoflove made me do it.

[elainsgirl]

no cause im actually getting annoyed.

gwyn this. gwyn that. like please shut up. we barely know anything about this girl and you're talking about her being an auntie? her saving the world? not to mention they always block out emerie which is very weird.

Hey anon 🫶

Lmfao, you’re feelings are so valid & relatable.

The only reason Gwyn Berdara has become so huge is the fact she is used as a self-insert LI for Azriel. That is the root of her mainstream popularity. And its sad how much of her character has become interwined with Azriels when this poor girl has shown 0 romantic interest in him. She’s being thust into a “love triangle” when she hasn’t even shown any interest in the guy- it just goes to show how her “stans” love her for the fact she can replace Elain.

Gwyn was your standard side character. We got her backstory like with Emerie. Both helped Nesta in her journey, both had focus on them - the difference being Gwyn had magic and Emerie doesn’t. but why has Emerie been so overshadowed by Gwyn? Bcs Gwyn is linked to a man. Sad isn’t it. and thats just the ugly truth.

this isn’t me saying the *only* reason Gwyn is so liked is due to her being Azriel’s theorised mate. People loved her strength, bravery, vulnerability, the openness in which she accepted Nesta etc etc. She would have had the same level of popularity as other side characters,

Yet she’s quite literally shoved down everyones’ throats all because she is shipped with Azriel. Its come to the fact - this whole gwynriel propaganda has overshadowed the point and focus of the story - which has always been the archeron sisters.

Gwyn will wield Gwydion. She will help with the prison - not Elain who is literally is linked with life and regrowth, who has used TT right - nope. Its Gwyn. Gwyn will become Rhysands bestie, Gwyn will be the new IC member, Gwyn will help Nesta rule etc etc. And its all so sadly funny,

All this just bcs they:

. Dont like elriel, Elain and the direction the series is going in.

before anyone says im bitter, im not. Its to be expected bcs Gwyn Berdara is perfect. She has no flaws. She has a general, popular fun, quirky “we can do this guys!” “Go us!”, personality. Yet still a blank slate for her “stans” to place any characteristic, theory or HC on her that they like. She has some interactions with the cool, mysterious Azriel and thats all you need for gwynriel. Thats all you need for G to become centre staged. It would have happened with any other fc that wouldve interacted with Azriel.

Whilst it is annoying and the meaning of the series has truly been lost to that side of the fandom, I think frustration comes from downplaying Elains role & giving it to Gwyn. Unfortunately, there’s nothing to be done. Popularity in the end will never matter. Sjm loves writing about polarising, flawed characters which Elain is and Gwyn isn’t. Clearly, Gwyn was never meant to be play a big role otherwise Mass - an author who loves foreshadowing- would have been introduced in person earlier. Its nice to remember: Elain was the focus of two bonuses. Elain has her book confirmed. Mass said SF left hints for Elains story. Not gwyn. Not Azriel. But Elain Archeron. At least the love for her is more genuine then I’ve seen from some Gwyn stans.

[theshadowsingersraven]

To be quite clear and disrespectful if needed, if you "can't remember"/ "had to Google to recall" the existence of a secondary character frequently involved with a main character to the point that they were mentioned 565 times in the most recent book, then it sounds like you don't pay nearly enough attention in narratives, and completely undermine the validity of your own opinions. And if I were SJM, I'd never want you to touch a single one of my books again if you were going to be dismissive of my character work--especially in favor of a lackluster ship I'd only created for the purpose of each character to have a rebound before their endgame.

Maybe take notes or something before burdening us all with your "hot takes".

[etchedjade]

Nesta Archeron's birthday in Autumn! With her besties ofc!

Left to right: Emerie, Gwyneth Berdara, Eris Vanserra, Nesta Archeron, Azriel, Bryce Quinlan, Hunt Athalar.

This is mine own fanon/headcanon with all my favorite characters. If you disagree with a ship/grouping... keep it to yourself please and thank you!

[nesta-attorney]

‼️ CC3 SPOILERS AHEAD ‼️

You know what, after all these CC3 leaks, it’s so good to be:

1. A Nesta stan. We’re eating good. I’m gobbling it all up. I will need days to process this book. I love this woman so much. 🗡️🔥

2. A Hunt/Quinlar Stan. I love my unhinged and unapologetic fae princess and her winged mate. They’re like crack to me. Bryceriel is so dead and Quinlar is once again on TOP BABEY. Fuck away with all the Hunt hate, cuz you won’t find it on this page, hoes. 🪽🌙

3. A Gwynriel Stan. I don’t care what anybody else says. The FACT, THE CANON MATERIAL literally states Azriel has no romantic interest. Bye Elain—you’re finally freed of the Elriel agenda, be free~ 💀🫶🏻

[ladydeatharcheron]

Some of y’all love to say the bonus chapter in acosf DiDn’T mEaN aNyThInG but if your ship is so threatened by said meaningless chapter, how come you feel the need to tear down the most unproblematic female character in acotar over it?

[shadowsxgwynriel]

[gwandas]

so much of gwynriel vs. elr*el becomes nonsense when you remember Gwyn currently doesn’t give a fuck about Elain or Azriel

[gwyn-nesta-emerie]

I will never understand how the intervention scene was good for Nesta. All it did was show how the IC DID NOT CARE about her and her needs. All they cared about was their precious image and that isn't a good enough excuse for what they did.

They didn't really give her a good choice... it was either the HOW or the Human Lands and they threatened her with banishment to the human lands which was practically a death sentence given the mistrust and hatred of the fae by the humans.

Amren made up a law that wasn't even upholdable given Nesta still had a job she never abdicated from.

Feyre pulled High Lady status and told Nesta that money was the issue and that if they couldn't be seen to control Nesta, Nesta would learn to control herself and they'd tie her up and take her to HOW even if Nesta chose differently.

Rhysand made his dislike and hatred for Nesta known. Really, why was he even there? He didn't do jack to help and was an antagonistic party.

Cassian just let it all happen.

Elain wasn't even there because she was packing up Nesta apartment....even though Nesta stood by her side while she was basically a vegetable for months on end.

The apartment got tore down to force Nesta into the HOW even though it was disguised as an effort to rebuild for the war refugees/veterans, which ironically is exactly what Nesta was.

The only good thing that came out of that intervention was Nesta found friends in Gwyn and Emerie who truly helped her heal.

[silverflameataraxia]

Nesta very much gives off the same energy that she receives. She's never been mean to anyone who hasn't also been mean to her.

"If Nesta treated Gwyn and Emerie the way she treated the IC..."

Ahh, no. If the IC treated Nesta the way that Gwyn and Emerie treated her, maybe things would be different. The IC hated Nesta before they even met her, all because she "let" Feyre hunt. They've never once cared about Nesta as a person or what trauma she might have gone through as a child. All they care about is Feyre's trauma. Nesta sees and hears everything. The second she opened the door to the IC, she knew they hated her and she acted accordingly.

The big difference being Azriel. Az has never once said a bad word about Nesta, and Nesta has never been mean to him. He treats her like a normal person, and she reciprocates. Personally, I think this is because Az is the only one who can see that Nesta is like him. Both may have been raised by the same parents as their siblings, but both of them were the only ones to endure years of abuse.

When it comes to Nesta's friends, or at least those she is nice to (Emerie, Gwyn, the Valkyries, Clotho, the other priestesses, Eris, Helion, Bryce, Ember, Randall) none of their worlds revolve around Feyre. Some of them may be be aware that Feyre did the hunting, but they don't hold it against Nesta that she didn't. They see Nesta from a fresh perspective and Nesta responds accordingly.

When it comes to Emerie and Gwyn, they are what each other needed so desperately. Emerie needed someone like Nesta, a female who wasn't impressed with the male warriors in Windhaven, and a female who wasn't obsessed with marriage and baby-making. Nesta found in Emerie someone who sided with her against Rhysand (at least somewhat): "If you're cold out there, you shouldn't suffer...No matter what the High Lord may think." And someone who didn't fear her, someone who gave her naked approval of her spectacular beheading of the King of Hybern.

With Gwyn, Nesta taught her to stand up for herself, that she didn't deserve a tongue-lashing for her supposed failure, that she was someone worth defending. Gwyn taught Nesta that even in the midst of trauma, she could find joy and happiness, she could smile and laugh, dance and sing.

Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie found in each other unconditional love and acceptance. The ability to be vulnerable, to share their deepest secrets and scars. To open up about their "failures". What they gained was the knowledge that none of them have failed anyone. That they have each other's backs. That they're the rocks against which the surf crashes. Nothing can break them.

[azrielsbxtch]

I’ve had more time to sit with HOFAS so here are things I loved and things that bugged me.

THINGS I LOVED

AZRIEL AND NESTA - Where to even begin. Their relationship and friendship is EVERYTHING. I'm so glad SJM chose to highlight both of them for the ACOTAR part because their chemistry is everything. I can't wait for more in ACOTAR 5

AZRIEL - Every new thing we learned about Azriel had me screeching. It's so clear SJM is setting him up for the next book. Every scene he appeared in I was obsessed! Finding out about truthteller, him being protective of his mom, him interacting with music, him being all hot and threatening....this bat has me in a chokehold I swear.

THE LORE - All the new information we got about Prythian and Midgard is so interesting. I wish I was a theories person because there's so much to theorize about!

RUHNLIDIA - They served in this book omg. When Ruhn was like "this is my first mission with my girlfriend I want to impress her" I almost threw my phone I'm not even kidding. They are so cute🥹✨✨

HUNT - I still feel like I need more Hunt. He's such a sweetheart and was truly a highlight for me in this book. I love him so much and I was totally rooting for him to fry Celestina.

THINGS THAT BUGGED ME

Ruhn and Lidia’s mate announcement. I knew Ruhn and Lidia would be mates from HOSAB so I was only waiting for confirmation but the way it was written threw me off. Ruhn just said it out of nowhere and to…of all people…Pollux….like what? Why? Idk it could have been more emotional.

Ariadne- I don’t understand the point of introducing this new character only to do NOTHING with her. I shipped her and Flynn sooo much. The way she was introduced in the beginning of the book had me so hyped only for her to disappear. Like imagine a dragon marching with the armies of Hel when they fought the Asteri…

Sigrid - That entire plotline felt useless to me. She was set up to be this hope for the wolves and it all amounted to nothing. So why did we waste so much time on her. I enjoyed Ithan’s chapters because I really like him. But from an objective point of view…most of what SJM made him do didn’t make sense. If she wanted him to become Prime (which I loved btw) she didn’t need to waste all that time on Sigrid and her resurrection only for her to join Sabine the person she’s supposed to hate and then disappear.

Tharion and Sathia - No…just no…..

Bryce ignoring Hunt’s trauma - She did it in HOSAB but again and on a larger scale in HOFAS. Everytime Hunt brought up his fears (understandable because he has now faced the Asteri twice and suffered insane consequences) Bryce just got angry and put him in such a bad position. She made it look like he didn’t want to support her when he has very valid reasons to be afraid. After what he went through the first time in the Asteri dungeons for years and then again! I’m surprised he didn’t break down even more tbh. His feelings were so valid.

Bryce - SJM tried to do the “Aelin is always two steps ahead” thing with Bryce but honestly it didn’t work. A lot of the times I was side eyeing and was like “that’s convenient” Bryce was guessing a lot of times so that whole thing just didn’t work.

The plot was all over the place. The book really didn’t flow well.

[elainsgirl]

HELP, because im literally dead laughing.

Why did an anti say in the bonus chapter that azriel is only upset because of his brothers having mates and not him. they also mentioned he wanted elain to be his mate because his brothers got two sisters... so thats why he gets the third sister?? then they kept saying over and over he just wants a mate? but, the part that really made me laugh was "if he and elain got together and he found his mate, hE wOuLd lEaVe eLaIn, nO hEsiTaTioN. elAin wOuLd giVe uP hEr mAtE, bUt aZriEl wOulDnT. " do they hear themselves right now? WHAT ARE THEY EVEN READING, for real? they lack reading comprehension so bad!!

Hey anon 🫶

GA stans will never beat the allegations they don’t actually understand Azriel’s character outside of whatever they can twist for their ship.

If Azriel’s whole sadness simply stemmed from the fact he solely wanted a mate - his whole character arc surrounding the fact he believes he deserves and should have a mate, there was no need for Sjm to bring Elain into it. Elain wouldn’t have needed to even be mentioned in the bonus. Rhys theorised that Azriel was waiting for the bond to snap between him and Mor - THAT would have been the focus.

According to GA logic you’d get the same result. Azriel could have gone to Rhys and whined about how it wasn’t fair his brothers had mates & he didn’t, him wondering why the bond hasn’t snapped between him & Mor -> You get the same “Az only wants a mate!” Rhetoric that GA stans love to push. Gwynriel’s clearly must then believe Az is stupid and dumb. Why else would he complain over not having Elain as his mate when he knows you can only have one mating bond? Its useless. He knows elain cannot be his mate so why is he being counterproductive and wanting her to be his mate? He should still be pining and obsessing over Mor being his fated mate. It potrays Az as being illogical and childish - which ig is how GA stans show him as.

There was no need to mention Elain, the cauldron or pointing out the oddity it is to have 2/3 brothers mated to 2/3 sisters. There was no need to make Elriel attracted to each other. These are not complex romances. There is no multiple Lis or relationships. If Gwynriel is endgame- Elriel will not happen in any capacity. Yet Mass chose to include Elain. Chose to confirm that Elriel are attracted to each other, brought up the cauldron being wrong once again in the context of elucien.

“"if he and elain got together and he found his mate, hE wOuLd lEaVe eLaIn, nO hEsiTaTioN. elAin wOuLd giVe uP hEr mAtE, bUt aZriEl wOulDnT. "

What kind of Li would he be? That destroys Azriels character completely to the point of no redemption. Elain and him finally being together only for him to leave her bcs “Oh look! I have my mate now!” - Basically using Elain, discarding her the first chance he gets when his mate shows up ? The fact gwynriels genuinely believe this tells me they don’t understand Sjm’s way of writing her male Lis nor do they understand Azriel’s character- it literally makes him look superficial and fickle. Why would you want Azriel to be potrayed like that!? Its not giving romance. Its not giving sjm. This is what I expect your sterotypical misogynistic man to come up with. Men who do not care about women’s feelings. Men who see women as objects that they can use to fill the void before discarding them as if they meant nothing. Its so sad to see women coming up with these takes, Why would you want Elain to go through such heart break? Do they think Gwyn will find it romantic? Their twisted fanon Gwyn might but I’ll tell you now, If canon Gwyn ever found out Azriel broke another womans’ heart to be with her, she’d clock him in the face twice. Do they think Nesta/Feyre will Support or understand Azriel dumping their darling sister bcs “oh well he’s found his mate now so its all good” basically according to gwynriels, If Gwyn wasn’t his mate - she’d too be thrown away. The only reason Az would go after Gwyn is because she’s his mate - is this what they find romantic? Bcs it just gives me the ick. Thank God Mass would never do such a thing. Say what you want about Sjm; she values Love & choice, female empowerment & friendship above all else even a mating bond.

Gwynriels do not understand these characters and a good romance story, if this take is anything to go by. Everyone deserves better from the way GA/EL stans treat them.

This just makes me glad im on the right side of this ship war because most elriels will never ruin these characters for our ship. It also reaffirms my belief in elriel.

[highladyofterrasen7]

I’m Gwynriel and therefore elucien adjacent

[stargirlfeyre]

“Don’t get mad at us for Emerie not getting as much attention as Gwyn, get mad at Sjm for it because she’s the one who put more focus on Gwyn than Emerie”

Okay we can be mad at the both of you. Trust there is a lot to say about Sjm’s treatment of her poc characters and how Emerie being a woman of color who is also part of the Lgbtq + community is why she’s an afterthought for both this fandom and it’s author however that does not change that her self proclaimed fans do play a part in her erasure compared to her white counterparts.

I’m not going to deny that Sjm gave Gwyn more focus than Emerie because that literally proves our point. Though Emerie should be on equal standing as Gwyn, she is done a disservice by both “her” fandom and her author. I don’t know if Sarah fell into the “trio curse” when writing Acosf but each member of the Valkyries are not given the same level of importance even though they should be. Emerie should have as many important scenes with Nesta as Gwyn. Emerie should have paragraphs about her beauty the way Nesta or Gwyn do. Emerie should be given so much credit for how strong she’s had to be before she met the Valkyries and after. But for some reason she rarely is and it makes you wonder what is it about her that causes Sjm to do her such a disservice *cough cough*.

And onto the way her fandom treats her. You cannot deny that she is often pushed aside when it comes to the Valkyrie trio and trying to blame Sjm for all of it is crazy. Sarah isn’t the one forcing y’all to give an Illyrian plot that would fit Emerie to her white besties, Sarah isn’t the one forcing y’all to white wash her, Sarah isn’t the one forcing y’all to theorize that she’ll end up with a man simply because you don’t like the woman that she’s shown interest in, Sarah isn’t the one forcing y’all to treat Emerie as an after thought.

Compare how much Valkyrie fans talk about Nesta or Gwyn individually to how much they talk about Emerie individually…now I’m not going to sit here and tell you what to post on your account or that you have to like all the Valkyries equally but I’m also not going to sit here and let y’all play in people’s faces when they say “hmm it’s a little weird that the only woman of color in the group isn’t treated as important as her friends”.

You can sit here and call us “token fans” but all that does is tell everyone that you have no actual argument to justify the blatant Emerie erasure. If anything it’s us “token fans” that are actually concerned with how much she’s pushed aside when it should be you. But no you’re just too busy giving storylines that would fit her to the white women.

[jmoonjones]

I did another version of my sweet baby angels ... who are still here to fuck shit up. I love them.