#post acosf headcanon

[vidalinav]

I really like the thought of Nesta and Cassian doing the whole move in thing when they already live together inside the House. Especially since they had for a while that whole ordeal where they were only banging in each other’s rooms and went their separate ways. Who’s room do they stay in? Who’s moving who’s things? Cassian’s weapons, Nesta’s books, their clothes, their toiletries. Acosf made me feel that even though Cassian and Nesta have known each other for a while by the time everything happens, it still feels like they don’t know shit about each other. This might as well be an arranged marriage or like a marriage that happens after knowing someone for three months. So I think it’s hilarious to think about the fact that they now live together-live together. Cassian’s waking up at 5 in the morning my dudes, is Nesta okay with this??? 

[gwynrieldreams]

After the Blood Rite, the Valkyries recount to Cassian and Azriel what happened. Azriel hears about Gwyn spying the camp, observing the beasts' habits and leading the beasts to their camp just in the right moment. Once again, Cassian observes that Azriel is looking at her proudly with admiration shining in his eyes.

[sadiegirl2021]

Theory time!

In the next book, Nesta gives Gwydion to Gwyn.

Azriel already knows Truthteller and Gwydion have a pull towards each other, so he assumes that's why he feels so drawn to Gwyn and wants to be around her more.

But it's actually their mating bond he's feeling!

Azriel: Wow, I want to be around Gwyn all the time now! Silly Truthteller.

Shadows: Yes... that's why...

[venusin-aries]

Gentle reminder anyone shaming a person/character for wanting to explore their sexuality after SA can burn in hell 🥰 they feel enough guilt and confusion learning how to love their body again 🥰 they don’t need your gross ass control forced on their body because you don’t like the ship 🥰 🖕🏻 ✌🏻 do not demonize SJM if she wants to go down that road and have Gwyn discover how fun and safe and pleasured she can feel with another person 😚 do not demonize fanfic/fan art creators for depicting her in a CONSENSUAL, LOVING and SEXY sex life 😌

“It’s dIsREspEcTfuL.” “It’s rOmANticIZing her SA and savior.” And I think you should eat shit. Is that disrespectful and romanticizing enough? 

We already know Gwyn is curious about sex. LET HER BE CURIOUS. Let her heal and have fun, okay? Okay.

[bookishlilcorner]

I don’t know why we all thought Azriel would be an amazing singer instantly when we read the acosf bonus chapter, because what if he’s actually awful? What if Sarah writes a scene where he’s singing to Gwyn and she just stares at how terrible he is (but she smiles tenderly because terrible or not, she loves him regardless)

[amusingmyselfsblog]

I have a fanfic idea. It’s Nesta and Eris focused but I wouldn’t call it a Neris romance fic cause Nesta is with Cassian. It’s canon compliant and it’s what I think could happen in the next acotar book. It’s not a completed story and since I don’t have it in me to write this out, I’m posting it here as a free for all. Spoilers for CC3.

Basically, Nesta starts getting the markers. It’s for Dusk Court of course. Is she Bryce’s heir or Rhys’ heir? Don’t know, still deciding because honestly, who’s in charge of a dead land. The one who currently is ruling the dead land, or the relative from another world that can raise it to life again? Anyways, Nesta starts worrying cause why the fuck are her powers getting stronger? Didn’t she just give it away like a year ago???

Anyways, she starts researching in the library and she learns how high lord heirs are identified. Her first order of business is glamours because she needs to hide this. She cannot be found out. She just got forgiven for handing Bryce the Mask. The last thing she needs is to be on Rhys’s shit list so soon. Give her a fucking break. But her research makes people very chatty. So by the time she’s on glamours, someone comes asking questions. Nesta’s fed up with all the busybodies but she just explains it away as ooh when we were human, Tamlin glamoured our family but it didn’t work on me. So I was researching it because I just remembered how that happened to me haha why don’t you go fall off a cliff and leave me alone haha.

Her next course of action is to find a teacher who can help her. She’d approach Gwyn or perhaps Feyre for advice, but she doesn’t want them caught up in this mess just yet. From what she gathered, there’s no way out of being an heir except death. And she’s doesn’t want to die just yet. And soon or later, everyone would be caught up in this mess, and she’s doesn’t want them to be accused of aiding her.

She’s about to approach Lucien but she remembers how easily Feyre entered his mind in acowar, so she refrains. She wants to hold on to this secret for a long long time. She wants to approach Helion, but she knows he’s friendly with Rhys. She doesn’t know if he’ll keep her secret. She doesn’t know any of the other high lords that well. She could try to find Tamlin she supposes, but that would bring attention to her because the NC was surveilling Tamlin and Spring. So, with a sigh, she returns to the one name she kept dismissing. Eris Vanserra.

Eris Vanserra, as a person, is a problem. Getting in contact with Eris Vanserra is a problem. And asking Eris Vanserra for help is a problem. For one, he’s not happy with the NC. That includes her for playing him a fool. That’s making her nervous. The only place he’s seen in lately, is the manor visiting Lucien sorry Vassa. Other than that, Eris is quiet. He and Mor ran into each other in the human lands once, and he said absolutely nothing to her. That freaked Mor out. One day, Cassian came to the manor when Eris was already visiting, and Eris didn’t even look in his direction. That is making everyone nervous. The chatterbox who can’t help but taunt and make sly remarks is silent? Panic.

Some of these things work in Nesta’s favor. Because if Eris can hide what he’s up to from Azriel and Rhys’s probes and intel gathering, then he can keep her secret (if she can find the right price or bargain to get him to keep it quiet that is). So she hatches up a plan.

Eris shows up in the human lands in about regular intervals. So, Nesta, who at this point has learned to winnow, starts volunteering to go with Az and Cassian on these little trips. That works. But she needs to be careful. Give Eris a look with Cassian watching her, and she’d have her mate thinking she was in love with Eris. Give Eris a look with Azriel paying attention and, well, she doesn’t want to think about that. She just wants to be in the same room as Eris. She’ll figure out how to talk to him about her situation another time.

But Eris isn’t giving her the time of day. He isn’t responding to her greeting. He isn’t answering any benign questions. He isn’t even looking in her direction. It’s like she’s invisible to him. She’s counting on his (unoffered) help so she decides to do confront about this.

She needs to time this correctly of course. And she needs a solid plan. She doesn’t buy the whole Lucien and Eris are not close story. She has two sisters, she knows even when they are fighting, they’re not truly enemies. So she devises a plan and hopes that these two Vanserra brothers are the same.

Lucien needs to have vital information. Information he’d want to share with Eris as soon as possible. She’d have to be the one to feed Lucien this information directly. This would complicate matters since she doesn’t trust Lucien’s ability to hide his thoughts from daemati. But she has a defense plan should anyone come asking questions. For this to work, it’d have to be a day Lucien was spending in his Velaris apartment. It would have to be a day when she would be free, and have enough time to walk down the ten thousand steps. It would also mean a day when Azriel was not in town. She loved him but she did not want him snuffing her out. Naturally, that day would have to Solstice.

She informs Lucien she needs to speak to him about his mating bond and she’d come meet him the day after Solstice in his apartment. An hour after the batboys leave, she heads to his apartment. They start talking about Elain and what Lucien plans to do about it, if anything. Nesta palms a few items of his items when he’s not looking and “accidentally” give his vital information about the NC plans for Autumn. She gasps and does the whole charade. Don’t you dare tell this to anyone Lucien whilst shaking her finger at him. Then she leaves to go to the townhouse. Her sisters are in the Riverhouse. She needs total privacy. And she does not have time to do this in the HoW because she’s sure Lucien is already sprinting to share this “vital piece of information” with Eris before he’s given the gag order by Rhys or Feyre. She goes to the townhouse and scrys for Lucien’s location with his personal items after 45 minutes. Finds him in the Middle. Goes after him there. Finds him in conversation with Eris. Step one: success!

Here’s where things get muddy. Nesta wants to talk to Eris one on one. She does not want Lucien there. Her secret is too big to share with him when he’s so tied so closely to the NC. She knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that if he has to choose between divulging Nesta’s secrets or his brother’s secret to the NC, he’d throw Nesta to the wolves. Naturally, she starts accusing him to being a traitor to the NC and pretends she’s there to confront him. They have a tiff and start arguing with each other. Before it can get too messy, Nesta sends Lucien away and says she’ll deal with him later at the Manor. That shes going to question Eris first and when she questions Lucien later, he’d better give her the same answers or she’ll take this up to Rhysand. Lucien leaves. But not without giving her one long, suspicious look before he lets out a small defeated laugh and nods his head slowly. That makes Nesta nervous. What was he laughing at? What realization did he come to?

Eris is watching the whole exchange silent. He never says a word to defend Lucien or take any action against Nesta for Lucien’s sake. So, when Nesta sends Lucien away and turns her attention to him, it’s his turn to let out a low derisive laugh. She narrows her eyes at him and just gives her a slow, mocking applause and says something that freezes her soul.

———— and scene!! ————

I have no idea how to write this into a story or how this story unfolds. But here it is. I really think Nesta starts to get the markers for Dusk Court. I do not think she can rely on anyone in Night to help her deal with it on her terms. I do think she can trust Helion. But thinking about him in this regard is difficult. He would do anything for his Court, as any decent High Lord would. But he does have an alliance with Rhysand. Eris seems a realistic choice. Especially after the way NC screwed him over.

[lgnite-me]

can’t stop thinking about another high lords meeting where they all have somehow found out that Nesta has these crazy death powers and it has not been communicated that she basically lost all of it so they all think she’s a threat and/or a weapon. so one of the highlords (probably beron) decided he wants to take her so he has a surprise sneak attack and shoots her in the stomach and winnows her back to his court. then cassian and the rest of the courts go ballistic. idek just thoughts

[mt-jupiter]

eris hair length poll !

just to get some opinions:

[ecce-felix]

Who’s this clown in the nesta deserves better tag who alternates between licking rhys’ boots and being mad some nesta fans think an ooc villain ending would’ve been better than her ending in ACOSF

[kopfkino-o]

it's been a minute since i did some theory rambling and i've got a long train ride ahead of me so let's get at it! this is more of a general elain post but there is some pro elriel thinking sprinkled in. thanks for reading!!

was Elain blessed by the Mother so she might cure the corrupted Cauldron? are there two primordial forces warring within it? does Elain have the power of Life? bear with me while i ramble about all this.

warning: the following thoughts probably aren't cohesive lol.

okay but does anyone else think that there's a small part of the Mother, the original creator, left within the Cauldron and that's what recognized and loved Elain? Like a part of me thinks that some aspect of the Mother remains locked away or maybe weakened by what the Asteri did to the Cauldron that recognized the inherent goodness in Elain and that's why she was "blessed."

What if the last lingering ember of the Mother's will recognized Elain's gentle heart, her brave soul, and gifted her with the power to break the corruption and restore the order of things?

"Her gaze shifted to the carved wooden rose she’d placed upon the mantel, half-hidden in the shadows beside a figurine of a supple-bodied female, her upraised arms clasping a full moon between them. Some sort of primal goddess—perhaps even the Mother herself. Nesta hadn’t let herself dwell on why she’d felt the need to set the rose there." - ACOSF, as told from Nesta's point of view.

SARAH, GIRL I SEE YOU!!!

We know that Elain is associated with roses from the description of her drawer, her love of gardening, from Feyre telling us that Elain would trim the roses without gloves and get thorns in her hands, amongst other associations. Nesta placing a symbol associated with Elain next to this primordial goddess figurine, PERHAPS EVEN THE MOTHER HERSELF, feels just so...prophetic. It's like Nesta is almost passing the mantle of being the storyteller or the FMC on to Elain. And maybe even hinting at what's to come.

BLESSID. BELOVED. BENEVOLENT.

Okay. So back to the Cauldron, the Mother, all that. We know Nesta took something from the Cauldron (but this is a post for another day) and that Elain was given something. We know that Elain is a seer, blessed with the gift of foresight and clairvoyance, though we don't exactly know what the innerworkings of this sort of magic are.

But what if Sight wasn't the only gift Elain was given?

My theory is that Elain was given the gift of Life by the remaining aspect of the Mother to counter/compliment the power of Death Nesta stole from the corrupted aspect of the Cauldron--or the power of the Asteri, which I think might also be the power of Deanna from the Throne of Glass World (but again, that's a post for another day). And I can't help but think that, for the gentler grower of things, this theorized "Life magic" would manifest in the form of earth/soil/plant manipulation. We saw this in HOFAS with the official introduction of earth based magic and it has me thinking!!

And with that thinking, I'm wondering if the lingering essence of the Mother might have blessed Elain with these powers in the hopes that she would be able to master them, in the same way the Nesta mastered the power she claimed, and help finally banish the corruption from the force of the Cauldron. I've got a little headcanon that all three sisters will have some role in this but it needs to stew a bit more lol. And what if Elain's bond has some roll in all of this?

A THREAD TIDED TO A RIB

I don't want to speak for everyone, but to me there's something off about Lucien and Elain's bond. He is able to live far away from her with seemingly no issue. She shrinks into herself when he's around. Lucien just seems...sad whenever the bond is mentioned. Could this be the result of the same awkward/push-pull tension that we saw between Nessian and Feysand? Maybe.

But what if it's because SJM Is using them to show us what a "Cauldron-given bond" looks like? Rhys theorizes about the bonds in ACOWAR and brings up a very interesting comment:

"There is choice. And sometimes, yes—the bond picks poorly. Sometimes, the bond is nothing more than some … preordained guesswork at who will provide the strongest offspring. At its basest level, it’s perhaps only that. Some natural function, not an indication of true, paired souls.” A smile at me—at the rareness, perhaps, of what we had. “Even so,” Rhys went on, “there will always be a … tug. For the females, it is usually easier to ignore, but the males … It can drive them mad. It is their burden to fight through, but some believe they are entitled to the female. Even after the bond is rejected, they see her as belonging to them. Sometimes they return to challenge the male she chooses for herself. Sometimes it ends in death. It is savage, and it is ugly, and it mercifully does not happen often, but … Many mated pairs will try to make it work, believing the Cauldron selected them for a reason. Only years later will they realize that perhaps the pairing was not ideal in spirit.”

IM SORRY BUT IS THAT NOT SARAH SCREAMING AT US?

Sometimes the bond picks poorly! She gives us TWO examples of this with Rhys's and Tam's parents. Two bonds that I think were CAULDRON GIVEN bonds. Then, as a foil to this, she gives us Nessian and Feysand. Vivienne and Kallias. Three bonds gifted by the Mother--the primordial being, the gentle creator of things. Could this be Silba from the TOG world? Kythona from Crescent City? Is she Wyrd? And could the Mother have given both Elain and Lucien other bonds--blessed bonds--that are currently being surpressed by the corrupted bonds bestowed on them by the Cauldron?

Personally (and especially after HOFAS) I think the Cauldron's corruption needs to be addressed. And I think Elain is the one to do it. Her entire character is steeped in themes of choice, fate vs freewill, destiny vs self-actualization, and gods, the set up for an AMAZING story is right there.

TO CLOSE THIS MADNESS OUT

I can't say what SJM will do in the end. But I can theorize based on the last few books and the foreshadowing she's lain. And for me, I see the angsty, unprecedented chosen love story she's building between Elain and Azriel with a rejected mating bond incorporated into the heart of their love story. Could she change the direction of her books and abandon this? Absolutely. But I think the story would be so much worse for it. The crumbs for something amazing are there. The crumbs for something that has the potential to be genre-defying is there. And based on what Sarah commented to the Times, I can't help but she's knows this and can't help but write it.

ok bye thanks for reading!! i'd love to talk more about this to anyone else who is down to yap! dms are always open.

[olenvasynyt]

Hi, here’s some more Autumn Court headcanons an excuse to make posts based on my Pinterest boards

In ACOSF, it’s described that the Autumn Court has hair that vary from red to brown. And I know for sure the hair in Autumn has to be so diverse and colorful! We got:

Honey ginger and and carrot ginger

A super bright copper that has hints of pink. Idk if there’s an actual name for this hair color but I’m feeling a rich peach or something

The classic scarlet and ruby red

This super pretty dark red that’s almost purple. I believe it’s called chocolate cherry but I also like purple maple for the tree, because its leaves have a super similar color!

And the super pretty chestnut / mahogany that’s brown with red undertones

[sserrafeim]

People that are mad Feyre had a child will always be weird to me.

“She said she didn’t want a child!”

Yeah. And she changed her mind. It’s something people do but judging by how most of you behave in this fandom I’m confident you believe that something like that can’t happen and it should be punishable by law.

“Her whole arc in acomaf was about how she didn’t want to be a breeding mare for Tamlin only to become Rhysand’s in the end.”

I need you pro-Tamlins and anti-Rhysands to step back for a moment. She had one child. ONE. If she had stayed with Tamlin in Spring, having kids & hosting parties would be all that she would be able to do. Look at Lady of Autumn who had seven (six, technically) kids with Beron and tell me that that wouldn’t be Feyre’s fate with Tamlin - you can’t. She chose to have a child after thinking about it and having a conversation with Rhys. It wasn’t seen as her “wife duties” or her “duty to her court and husband”. It was her choice through and through.

I understand that you wanted her to remain a one-dimensional badass female warrior and you’re upset that she made her own decision to have a baby but bffr.

“She was sidelined because she was pregnant/had a baby.”

We learn in acosf that her pregnancy is already dangerous due to the baby having wings and yet you wanted her to go search for the trove and put herself and her baby in even more danger? The IC hiding the severity of the situation from her wasn’t a good idea, yes, but it wasn’t an unreasonable decision to make on their part and we’re literally told why they did it - you just love to hate them and turn them into the bad guys every chance you get.

Hofas takes place, what, 3 months after acosf? Five? Nyx isn’t even one year old and you wanted Feyre and Rhys to leave him with a nanny so they could deal with the girl that fell from the sky? What if they died? They’d leave a baby behind all alone. But you don’t care about that. You don’t want to realise that they aren’t just rulers now, they are parents too and they went through an ordeal not that long ago. Of course they’re going to send two of their most powerful people to deal with the problem instead of going themselves - it’s what rulers do.

I love that we’re treating child-free people with more respect and kindness as a society but that doesn’t mean that we should hate and shit on people that choose to have kids. Calling a fictional character a breeding mule because she had a kid… what kind of message does that give to young women in this fandom who are also mothers? You’re supposed to be a grown adult, act like it.

Also, we’ve seen so many posts and headcanons about how great of a dad Rhys would be but Feyre gets all this hate and criticism? It’s reeking of double standards and misogyny in here.

[nessiandefenseattorney]

honestly fuck all you anti idiots out there

it’s not even a fucking joke anymore, like why in the name of the father, the son and the holy ghost are all of you so fucking lifeless that the only thing you do is spread hate all over the media surrounding acotar?!

“I aM AnTi RhYs He iS aN AbUsEr”

“I Am aNTi NeStA ShE iS a BiTch AnD sHe ABuSed FeYrE”

“I aM aNtI CaSsiAn hE DiDnt DeFenD HiS mAtE”

“I Am anTI FeyRe ShE bEcaMe RhYs’s BrEeDiNG mAchIN”

“I aM AnTI InNer CiRcLe ThEy aRe HyPoCritS BeCaUse NeStA wASn’T GiVen A cHoIcE iN ThE bEgiNnInG oF AcOsF”

Respectfully Shut. The. Fuck. Up. the only goddamn thing you do is yap and yap nonsense that doesn’t even make sense to those of us with functioning brains. I came on this app to hear wholesome theories about my favorite couple and post my own hc but to my surprise all I found was just hate towards anybody with an opinion.

Why do you think ppl hate the acotar fanbase? let’s work our brains for a second (I know that to you idiot haters that’s a foreign concept) Ohh Ohh! I know! because you all suck! everybody is so fucking caught up in their own little bubble of hate and stupidity that they forgot the entire point of a FANDOM, so let me explain very easily so even you dumb dumb idiots can understand.

A fandom is a community of people who ENJOY a piece of media and they are gathered on a certain platform of social media to discuss and celebrate the thing that they are fans of.

A fandom is NOT supposed to be a place where everyone is shitting on other ppl for which characters they enjoy. A fandom is NOT a place where you have to FEAR to post your headcanons because some asshole out there might send you DEATH THREATS. A fandom is NOT supposed to be a place of toxicity and blind hatred.

A fandom is supposed to be something sacred shared between people who enjoy the same thing, a place where you can express yourself through fanwork dedicated to characters who bring you comfort.

So now that we have established the concept of why we are posting what we post can we start to actually ENJOY acotar and not shit on the series and author we claim to love? because if all you do is spread hate towards the characters that make this series what it is then what is even the point of you being a part of this fanbase?

In conclusion anti fucks please go out of your room for once in your life and touch some grass and maybe who knows you might even make a friend that’s as delusional and insane as you are.

[hlizr50]

I was shown a post this morning (I think it was from Tumblr, but I'm not 100% sure) where someone asked if maybe something was LOST IN TRANSLATION because so many Gwynriel shippers aren't native English speakers.

Now...

I'm going to give this person the benefit of the doubt and believe that they truly don't mean anything negative by the question, even though the implications are... harmful to say the least.

Here's the deal, guys.

There are Gwynriel shippers all around the world because there are ACOTAR readers all around the world. The ship is not localized to a region or a language.

When people read books, the words on the page send a message. Sometimes, if we're super casual readers, the messaging is limited or we don't read a ton into it. For other readers who choose to delve deep into how the author writes to try to understand what might come next, it is obviously a bigger investment.

But at the end of the day, we all read the SAME BOOK (and bonus content) and those words made us all feel different ways. Made us want or predict different things. And that's all well and good. The problem comes up when we try to explain why we feel the way that we do.

I'm an engineer. Even though I enjoy creative writing and art, my brain is practical. I like having evidence. I like being able to identify trends and make an educated prediction based on them. As someone who ships Gwynriel, I have never denied that there are canonical moments where Azriel and Elain have some level of... something. On page. It would be ignorant of me to say that those moments don't exist. However, for the most part FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN, when a Gwynriel shipper tries to use canonical evidence to support their ship -- WHICH EXISTS -- it's a constant barrage of 'that's not what that means' or 'how could you read that romantically?' or 'Gwyn is just a side character'. And then there are the blatant hypocrisies, like how Azriel saving Elain from Hybern is romantic but Azriel saving Gwyn at Sangravah should never be mentioned ever again.

I guess what this long-winded ramble is trying to say is that there's nothing lost in translation. We've read the same story, and we believe Gwynriel makes sense. We lean on canon and trends in the author's style to support the ship, and then we headcanon the hell out of it, because fandom is supposed to be fun like that. Some people read the story and believe that Elriel makes sense, and that's perfectly fine. But don't come at a Gwynriel shipper, attacking their textual evidence with your headcanon that Elain was barely existed in ACOSF bc she was apparently training to be a spy and she and Azriel were falling in love completely off-page with nothing to show for it.

And don't you dare make an implication so blatantly out of bounds like blaming it on some strange translation error that somehow miraculously makes Gwynriel makes sense, but only if it's not in English. Like... give me a break. And... think about what you're saying. For A SINGLE MOMENT.

[glossamerfaerie]

Gwyn = future High Priestess?

This is an out-there theory, one that I’m only mildly attached to. But we’re going to wait a long time for the book, so why not indulge in wild speculation, haha. This was inspired by a headcanon I saw about Gwyn and Az being the reincarnation of High Priestess Oleanna (who dipped Gwydion into the Cauldron and gave it to Fionn to overthrow the Daglan) and Enalius (Illyrian warrior who possibly fought the Daglan at Ramiel; original wielder of TruthTeller). It’s a fun crack theory, but Oleanna got me thinking about High Priestesses. We learned a lot about them in ACOMAF due to Ianthe, but they’ve been a non-entity since ACOFAS.

Let’s review the facts. Spoilers for the entire series under the cut. It’s a long post, sorry!

There were 12 High Priestesses before Ianthe died. I don’t know how succession works or if that’s the maximum number possible. I’m inclined to think 12 total slots because it’s a nice round number. I doubt it’s tied to court lineage since they seem to operate independently (if occasionally collaborating with the High Lords). It’s unclear how they gain the position; we know that Ianthe (Tamlin’s childhood friend and a nobleman’s daughter) was the youngest High Priestess and lived in the Spring Court before Aramantha. She fled to Vallahan during the 50 years of tyranny.

Among the High Fae, the priestesses oversaw their ceremonies and rituals, recorded their histories and legends, and advised their lords and ladies in matters great and trivial… […] … Priestesses could marry, bear children, and dally as they would. It would dishonor the Cauldron’s gift of fertility to lock up their instincts, their inherent female magic in bearing life, Ianthe had once told me. So while the seven High Lords ruled Prythian from thrones, the twelve High Priestesses reigned from the altars, their children as powerful and respected as any lord’s offspring. — Feyre’s thoughts in ACOMAF

We later learn that Rhys dislikes Ianthe (for good reasons). But!! His dislike isn’t limited to her. He has an issue with all High Priestesses.

“I find the High Priestesses to be a perversion of what they once were—once promised to be. Ianthe among the worst of them.”

[…]

“The High Priestesses have burrowed into a few of the courts—Dawn, Day, and Winter, mostly. They’ve entrenched themselves so thoroughly that their spies are everywhere, their followers near-fanatic with devotion. And yet, during those fifty years, they escaped. They remained hidden. I would not be surprised if Ianthe sought to establish a foothold in the Spring Court.”

“You mean to tell me they’re all black-hearted villains?”

“No. Some, yes. Some are compassionate and selfless and wise. But there are some who are merely self-righteous … Though those are the ones that always seem the most dangerous to me.”— Feyre and Rhys in ACOMAF

Notice how Rhys talks about the High Priestesses. A perversion. They’re corrupt — he’s implying that they don’t serve the Mother’s will with good intentions.

The High Priestesses hid and escaped Aramantha’s wrath while the High Lords suffered. Like most organized religions, these High Priestesses seem power-hungry and selfish. It sounds like SJM was inspired by Dune’s Bene Gesserit. Their motivations have changed from the High Priestesses of Oleanna’s time. Rhys’s cynicism was warranted: we later learn that Ianthe was resentful of bowing down to the High Lords, allying herself with Hybern to gain influence.

But!!! Not all of them. Rhys himself says that some are compassionate. I wonder who he’s talking about?

“You speak rather informally of your high priestess.”

“Clotho does not enforce rank. She encourages us to use her name.” — Nesta and Gwyn in ACOSF

While we meet Clotho in ACOWAR, she is NOT referred to as a High Priestess. To be fair, Feyre is briefly introduced to her so she wouldn’t know unless someone said so. In Silver Flames, the High Priestess status is linked to Clotho’s name at least five times in the text. I presume that Clotho was a High Priestess before the attack that led her to live in the Library. The text implies that Clotho — along with Rhys and Mor — is the person who created the sanctuary.

Five days later, Cassian sat before the desk of the library’s high priestess and watched her enchanted pen move. He’d met Clotho a few times over the centuries—found she had a dry, wicked sense of humor and a soothing presence. He’d made a point not to stare at her hands, or at the face he’d only seen once, when Mor had brought her in so long ago. It had been so battered and bloody it hadn’t looked like a face at all. He had no idea how it had healed beneath the hood. If Madja had been able to save it in a way she hadn’t been able to save Clotho’s hands. He it didn’t matter what she looked like, not when she had accomplished and built so much with Rhys and Mor within this library. A sanctuary for females who’d endured such unspeakable horrors that he was always happy to carry out justice on their behalf. — Cassian in ACOSF

IMO, Clotho doesn’t have much communication or power over the High Priestesses or temple governance. They might know she lives in a Night Court Library with many vulnerable priestesses, but they likely don’t know the details or precise location (after all, the existence of Velaris was secret until recently). Clotho seems wholly focused on the Library and not the outside world.

Remember what Rhys said to Feyre?

“Some are compassionate and selfless and wise.”

Rhys is likely talking about Clotho, the anthesis of Ianthe’s character. He has to be. What other High Priestess is Rhys acquainted with where he can make that assessment? By his own account, they stick to Winter, Dawn, and Day. None of them were imprisoned Under the Mountain because they hid, so he wouldn’t have met them there.

Which brings me to this:

“At the Court of Nightmares. I allowed her to visit after she’d begged for years, insisting she wanted to build ties between the Night Court and the priestesses. I’d heard rumors about her nature, but she was young and untried, and I hoped that perhaps a new High Priestess might indeed be the change her order needed. It turned out that she was already well trained by some of her less-benevolent sisters.” — Rhys in ACOMAF

Before Aramantha, Rhys was interested in fostering a connection between the Night Court and the High Priestesses. He hoped that a brand-new High Priestess could change the organization. It didn’t go well. I’m not going to quote the entire passage (Chapter 21 in ACOMAF) because it’s a long flashback, but Ianthe shows up naked in Rhys’s bed, attempting to grab his genitalia without his consent. He doesn’t kill her because he doesn’t want to deal with the High Priestesses, but he uses his power to threaten her.

She’d hounded him relentlessly—stalked the other males, too. Azriel had left last night because of it.

[…]

Rhys leaned close to breathe into her ear, “Don’t ever touch me. Don’t ever touch another male in my court.” His power snapped bones and tendons, and she screamed again. “Your hand will heal,” he said, stepping back. “The next time you touch me or anyone in my lands, you will find that the rest of you will not fare so well.” — Rhys flashback in ACOMAF

We know that Ianthe is a grade-A bitch, for many other reasons I didn’t mention (poor Lucien). But you know what’s interesting about Ianthe now?

Ianthe is DEAD. Unless the High Priestesses appointed someone else to the twelfth position off-page, there are currently ELEVEN High Priestesses in Prythia. One spot is potentially open.

And… I wonder who can possibly take on that role? Someone pure of heart and devoted to the Mother. Someone who would mark a return to what High Priestesses OUGHT to be for the Fae. Someone who already has positive ties to the Night Court. Someone who would encourage Rhys to develop a relationship between the Night Court and the High Priestesses, something he wanted to do centuries ago. Maybe a certain teal-eyed Valkyrie priestess that we met in ACOSF.

Gwyneth Berdara

I know what you’re thinking: but Gwyn is already a Valkyrie and researcher at the Library?! She’s helping train the other priestesses! She might have relevancy in the Illyrian rebellion storyline with Emerie and Az! She doesn’t have the TIME to become a High Priestess!!

To which I say… excellent point, lol. It does seem like a lot of responsibility to shoulder. But I’m uncertain whether the High Priestess position needs to be a 24/7 gig. Clotho is at the Library and seemingly not that concerned with the outside world. To be honest, I’m unsure if the High Priestesses are even in frequent communication with each other post-Ianthe’s death. They might be scrambling with the High Lords back in power and unable to exploit the power vacuum anymore. Remember that Hybern attacked the temples and killed priestesses in order to steal the Cauldron parts; I imagine the High Priestesses are still grieving and recovering from that loss. They might be a perversion, but none outside Ianthe allied with Hybern. The High Priestesses aren’t a lost cause just yet. They simply might need someone (Gwyn) to set their priorities straight and refocus their goals in aiding Prythian and worshiping the Mother.

Clotho is compassionate and wise, but seems uninterested in untangling High Priestess politics. She can’t even control Merrill in her own library. I adore Clotho, but I don’t really see her confronting the other High Priestesses and enacting social reforms. Clotho will support Gwyn, but she won’t be the one to initiate change.

“Only Clotho can really make her fall in line, but Clotho lets her have her way, mostly because Merrill throws those windy tantrums that can send everyone’s manuscripts scattering.”— Gwyn in ACOSF

And honestly, maybe the High Priestess responsibilities are light for Gwyn. Maybe she just chills in the Night Court and oversees ceremonies/holidays for Rhys. That’s basically what Ianthe was doing for Tamlin’s Spring Court in ACOMAF/ACOWAR.

I also think it’s OK for the Valkyries to have other responsibilities. I see Nesta as a diplomat or emissary in other lands and courts. Emerie might take a central role back at home, training and helping Illyrian women. Just because they’re Valkyries first doesn’t erase their other identities.

Gwyn has been training as a priestess for her entire life. She’s experienced discrimination due to her nymph heritage, from Merrill and probably other priestesses in Sangravah. I believe Gwyn can enact real social change within the High Priestesses, advocating for species inclusivity and a return to their original duties (like in Oleanna’s time). No more power-hungry political schemes — the Mother and citizen wellbeing should be their #1 priority.

Aside from her personality, Gwyn is a good candidate for two reasons. First, Gwyn is foreshadowed to have strong magic (she glows while singing!). Gwyn’s voice inspires Nesta to have a vision of the Harp. Maybe Gwyn has fire magic from her Autumn grandfather. Maybe she has abilities from her nymph grandmother. Maybe she’s starborn. The possibilities are endless. The point is, Gwyn is magically powerful enough for the role of High Priestess.

Second, I suspect that she’s related to the Autumn Court and Eris. As a High Priestess, Gwyn would have the trust of two High Lords: Rhys and Eris (let’s assume Beron dies soon, lol). Per Rhys, the High Priestesses have mostly entrenched themselves in Winter, Day, and Dawn. That means Autumn (Eris) and Night (Rhys) currently have no connection to the High Priestesses. Gwyn would bridge that gap.

Assuming that Gwyn is Lucien’s grandniece or some other relation, Gwyn also has ties to the Day Court and Helion. I’m very sure that Gwyn and Helion will be fast friends over their love for pegasi. 😉 Having the ear of three High Lords would cement Gwyn’s status as a High Priestess.

***

Anyway… I wrote all this and now I’m not sure at all. 😅 What do you think about my theory? Too out there or a genuine possibility in the Gwynriel book?

[oristian]

Hello! I adore your posts. I was wondering what do you think about this take "Many say his reaction at Sangravah two years prior = a mating bond reaction. Even more often say the last paragraph of the BC = a mating bond. Yet, there’s zero mate behavior following these interactions — including when she’s thrown in mortal danger, nothing after the fact, and then he’s even frequently holding hands with another, grunting when he gets too close to her because they both feel a pull, confirmed he’s been visiting pleasure halls, and that’s he’s interested in the same woman’s relationship status…The instincts are always there. Az references Gwyn’s trauma in the BC — no reaction that matches Cassian’s in his BC just thinking of Nesta’s trauma."

The difference is that Azriel is not Cassian, and no two mating bonds are experienced exactly the same. SJM would not place all of her cards on the table before the book that would narrate the journey of Azriel and Gwyn exploring their bond. While I would love the bond to have snapped in Sangravah, I do believe that SJM is waiting to have their bond be known after they choose each other. Azriel has spent so long believing that the Mother has forgotten him, only to both find love and his mate at the same time—seemingly without looking.

ACOSF was told through Nesta and Cassian’s POV and was focused moreso on their interactions and monologues regarding each other—why would either be harping on Azriel and Gwyn? Besides the scenes during training where both noticed the looks and body language of Azriel and Gwyn towards one another, it would not make any sense for either one to suddenly be projecting mating instincts outside of their POV and before the reader knows about the mating bond. Hints to lay the path for foreshadowing? Certainly.

I assume the quote you sent is a post from somewhere on here, but they’ve contradicted themselves. If it is confirmed that Azriel is still frequenting pleasure halls, would that not also apply to his other potential love interest, as well? He is also not “frequently holding hands with another,” that is misinformation and some sort of headcanon.

The point of the bonus chapter was to set up Azriel to be the MMC of his own book, establish the tension that would require healing in his POV, and to demonstrate to the reader that Gwyn is more than likely his fated mate based on consistent language usage—HOFAS further cemented the first two points.

The Nessian bonus chapter is wildly different from Azriel’s bonus chapter—titled and a split POV between both Cassian and Nesta, compared to untitled and a single POV from Azriel. It was no surprise that Nesta and Cassian would be endgame as there was no one else for either of them. The current soft love triangle-ish was generated as a marketing tactic and was further ended in Azriel’s bonus chapter.