#pro elriel

[fanged-beast33]

Death and his lovely fawn

🎨: anawinarts

[batboys-batboys]

I’ll die on the hill that this is Elriel. A love that is chosen.

[ater-love]

The fact that Azriel didn’t need his shadows because he could read Elain perfectly.

But at the same time, Elain knew why he had moved to the HOW and why he hadn’t come at dinners.

They know each other perfectly and come to understandings without even communicating

She knew why he had been avoiding dinners but she didn’t say anything

She knew why he hadn’t given his gift to her in front of everyone, but she didn’t say anything

He knew she had lied about forgetting to put his gift with the other, but he didn’t say anything

He knew why she hadn’t gifted anything to her mate, but he didn’t say anything

Mutual understanding, without even talking to each other

[lovelyfawnxx]

Meet me in the garden..

🎨 art by sirenaariant

[nikachansstuff]

You know what’s a bucket of cold water?

The first and only time we have access to Lucien’s inner monologue, he recognizes Elain as the most beautiful female he ever saw still he can’t help but compare Elain to Jesminda.

Didn’t your alarm bells went off while reading this? Mine sure did. That’s your mate, my guy, and you still thinking about your ex…?

“The instincts were a running river.” Another super interesting point: he blames the instincts for his desire to taste, feel and kiss Elain.

Makes me think… what if the Cauldron was wrong?

[acourtoflight]

Before I started reading the series I had already gotten massively spoiled, but I still thought it was a finished series so for me ACOSF was the last book. I remember seeing jessdraw.s fanarts of Feysand, Nessian and Elriel and I completely fell in love with Elriel (I hadn’t even started the books lol). Then I started seeing a lot of gwynriel fanarts and I got kinda sad because I thought every sister was supposed to end up with a bat boy, it just made so much sense, so I started reading. I payed attention to the clues even more because I wanted to see if it was obvious from the beginning who was going to end up with who, and Nessian were obvious from the moment they met, Elriel were cute but I feel like SJM didn’t point much out in ACOMAF. I started ACOWAR and I already hated Elain and Lucien being mates, so I was rooting for Azriel even though they hadn’t interacted much yet, but then they started spending time together and Feyre and Rhys had the conversation about mates and my mind was made up. Because I thought the series was finished I thought Elriel were somehow gonna get together in the last book (I didn’t know it was Nessian’s then lol). Then ACOFAS just further convinced me about Elriel, they had too many romantic coded moments to not end up together. Come ACOSF, I was waiting for Gwyn and Azriel to have something, since everyone was rooting so hard for them, but they didn’t actually interact much, whilst Elriel had a few moments in the book, that were even more obvious than in previous books, so I was surprised that people thought they were not gonna end up together. Then I read the bonus chapter and I got so happy because it basically confirmed what I had been thinking, that Elain and Azriel really had a thing for each other, imagine my surprise coming online and finding out that people hated Elriel and wanted Gwynriel because of said bonus chapter, where he literally wanted to get on his knees to eat Elain out and says he hasn’t slept and is avoiding her because he can’t control his feelings for her.

Everyone please share your experiences too, I’m so curious.

[lovemyromance]

Firmly stand by the belief that if Lucien was to be with Elain, SJM wouldn't have written another male rescuing Elain. She wouldn't have written another male giving Elain his treasured weapon. She wouldn't have written Elain wanting to kiss another male WHILE her mate slept upstairs.

If Lucien & Elain were endgame - all those scenes would've featured Lucien instead of Azriel.

[rizzoreads88]

“The Azriel/Elain Hybern scene is not romantic at all!!!”

✨Meanwhile SJM wrote✨

But Azriel asked softly, “What about Elain?”

Azriel stalked to my side, right into the tent where Nesta had now come to her feet. He tucked his wings in tightly as he squeezed through the narrow space, ignoring Nesta’s snarl of warning, and knelt at the cot. He ran a scarred hand over the rumpled blankets. “They’re still warm.”

From the shadows near the entrance to the tent, Azriel said, as if in answer to some unspoken debate, “I’m getting her back.” Nesta slid her gaze to the shadowsinger. Azriel’s hazel eyes glowed golden in the shadows. Nesta said, “Then you will die.” Azriel only repeated, rage glazing that stare, “I’m getting her back.”

I stood. Met Azriel’s wrathful stare.“I’m going with you,” I said. Azriel only nodded.

Azriel slid back the curtain— Elain was in her nightgown. Gagged, wrists wrapped in steel that glowed violet. Her eyes went wide as she saw us—Azriel and me— I shifted my face back into my own, raising a hand to my lips as Azriel knelt before her. I kept up my litany of praying, beseeching the Cauldron to make my womb fruitful, on and on— Azriel gently removed the gag from her mouth. “Are you hurt?” She shook her head, devouring the sight of him as if not quite believing it. “You came for me.” The shadowsinger only inclined his head.

The girl screamed, but Elain moved. As Azriel battled to keep them airborne, keep his grip on them, my sister sent a fierce kick into the beast’s face. Its eye. Another. Another. It bellowed, and Elain slammed her bare, muddy foot into its face again. The blow struck home. With a yelp of pain, it released its claws—and plunged into the ravine.

Azriel’s power gave out on the outskirts of our camp. The girl, despite the burns and lashings on her moon-white skin, was able to walk. The gray light of morning had broken over the world, mist clinging to our ankles as we headed into that camp, Azriel still cradling Elain to his chest. He dripped blood behind him the entire time—a trickle compared to the torrent that should be leaking out. Contained only by the patches of power he’d slapped on it. Help—he needed a healer immediately.

She let out a sob at the sight of Elain, still in Azriel’s arms. I’d never heard a sound like that from her. Not once.

Rhys lunged for Azriel, taking Elain from him and gently setting my sister down. Azriel rasped, swaying on his feet, “We need Helion to get these chains off her.” Yet Elain didn’t seem to notice them as she rose up on her toes and kissed the shadowsinger’s cheek. And then walked to me and Nesta, who pulled back long enough to survey Elain’s clean face, her clear eyes. “We need to get you to Thesan,” Rhys said to Azriel. “Right now.”

✨Me everytime I read this scene✨

[jasmineandcedar]

The bigger picture | the poorly picked bonds

I’ve been memeing for days, so I wanted to write about something a little more serious. One of the main reasons why I'm excited for Elain's book is it's implications for the agency of the females of Prythian.

Sometimes I think our obsessive love for individual characters in the fandom leads us to not see the forest because we are so obsessed with the trees. But this can turn things a little smaller than they are sometimes, and we narrow down the stories to such small concepts as vibes between certain characters, maybe even individual lines or scenes. I for one am quite obsessed with Elain and Azriel’s dynamics and sigh dreamily at their individual scenes and lines.

Nothing wrong with that, fandom is the space for vibes. And the trees can be very nice. But I want to zoom out and look at the bigger implications of Elain and Azriel's love story, and why this is the story it seems SJM has been wanting to tell for years, has been carefully setting up, and which needs to be told (and why I’m excited to hear it told). The story about the poorly picked bonds.

Female empowerment is an overarching theme in ACOTAR. SJM has said as much, and we can see it in the books. Focusing on the spinoffs, Nesta's book opened up the title of warrior to females, in a social context where they had been excluded from it, despite their competence and willingness. Elain, the quiet dreamer and hopeless romantic, has been set up to grapple with the issue of females' choice in love in her book. 

The ugly side of the coin that is mating bonds

This has probably been pointed out before but since I'm still quite new here I hope you can forgive me if I'm beating a dead horse. The importance of telling the story of a rejected mating bond stretches far beyond just setting up a thrilling forbidden romance trope for Elriel. SJM has framed the rejection of a bond within the context of mated females being seen as the male's possession in Prythian, with the Autumn Court being seemingly the worst (as confirmed in Azriel's BC).

[Rhys, about mating bond rejections] 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. (ACOWAR)

[…] On the continent, there are territories that believe the females literally belong to their mate. (ACOWAR)

The last we heard of the mating bonds was SJM depicting Elain as losing her boldness around Lucien, and Azriel pointing out how the bond in Elain's case has given her to a male she does not want, asking, ‘what if the Cauldron was wrong?’ In doing so, SJM reminded us of what Rhys and Feyre said in ACOWAR in relation to Elain, Azriel, and Lucien: ‘Sometimes the bond picks poorly’, ‘Is there no free will’, ‘Why not make them mates?’

We have seen two stories told about mating bonds that worked out. But we’ve known since ACOWAR that isn't always the case. Yet we still haven't heard of a rejected mating bond. Certainly not a high stake one like Elain and Lucien’s. Rejecting a mating bond has therefore implications for every female in Prythian. Whether it is simply rejected by Elain, or if she, through her nature of being Made, finds a way to not just reject but actually break the unbreakable bond. 

A (high stake) mating bond rejection has implications for females like Rhys and Tamlin’s mothers, shackled to bad men because of the cultural and religious importance of the mating bond. It has implications for females like Elain, shackled to a male they never chose and do not want (regardless of if we might find the male to be good, because females owe nothing to males simply because they're nice and good). For females like Mor and others who are queer, and more/exclusively into women, and might still be shackled to a male. It has implications for all the females threatened with carrying the responsibility of driving a male they never chose mad should they reject him and refuse to succumb to being his possession. For females mated to Autumn Court males, threatened with the responsibility of their true love's death should he/she be forced to take part in the Blood Duel and fail. This is the ugly side of the coin that is the mating bonds of Prythian. The side which story hasn’t yet been told. The side which story SJM has set up across four books. About the poorly picked bonds.

The power of Elain's choice

As it appears, we are getting Elain and Azriel’s POV for the next book, and not Lucien's (as the spinoffs are dual POV of the love interests). Given Prythian's history and customs, I think there's a narrative strength in centering the female and her choice when telling the story of their rejected mating bond. Elain's POV, and the POV of her love interest, not because he is Azriel but because he is who she has chosen. And he has chosen her too, despite her being 'given to another' according to the customs of Prythian, a fact even Rhys and Feyre (however reluctantly) are using to their advantage when navigating court politics and try to maintain peace. Azriel is not wrong to question that this is how the mating bond is viewed in Prythian.

Aside from the minor detail we haven't gotten to Elain's actual story yet, it is understandable why SJM hasn't made Elain simply casually reject the bond yet. It is understandable why Azriel has been staying away even though it ruins him. SJM doesn’t have Elain and Azriel just playing forbidden romance for the thrill. And there aren't just short-term political implications of them pursuing each other, potentially resulting in the longer term loss of fragile peace. A rejected mating bond grapples with philosophical questions of agency and fate, as SJM pointed out in her TODAY interview. And as we see in the books, SJM has given it major social and political implications. This is the stuff for a long book. Because it's so much bigger than Elain. Her reclaiming her agency is also reclaiming the agency of the females of Prythian. That's the power of Elain's choice.

And it makes sense it should be the notoriously defiant Azriel who, at her side, defies fate and tradition over his love for Elain regardless of who fate has given her to, which could result in females as a whole gaining freedom from the poorly picked bonds. Azriel, who SJM so clearly has depicted as not only defiant but as uniquely supporting and standing up for the females in his life, and as hating backwards traditions and customs. SJM has tied this story to Elain and Azriel, weaved it into their arcs across several books so seamlessly and with such forethought it is sometimes missed. Because you really have to read all books to see this overarching bigger picture clearly. But when you do, I think it is very clear. 

I think this is the immense potential of Elain's book and Elriel's forbidden love story. It isn't just Elain going "ew, swipe left" in a paragraph. It is about the females of Prythian getting their freedom and agency back. It is about the other side of the coin that is mating bonds. About the poorly picked bonds. And I very much look forward to hearing this story told.

(and Lucien will very likely be just fine!)

[judesknight]

when gw*nriels comment on Elriel's fanarts like who asked ?? get back to your side of the fandom, i just want to have a good time looking at Elriel and then boom it's one of them parasites in the comments

[elainsgirl]

[bright-side20]

Imagine Elain in Valahan, having dinner with the royal family. The Crown Prince is all smiles, leaning in to ask if she’d like a private tour of the palace gardens. Across the table, Azriel’s grip tightens around his glass, his jaw clenched as the prince gets a little too close. “Her safety isn’t up for negotiation,” he says, his voice cold, no longer caring about that damn treaty. Elain shoots him a quick look, her foot nudging his under the table, whether by accident or not, she doesn’t move it. And neither does he.

Then they’ll have an intense confrontation in private.

[pinkrasberryfish]

If you’d like a festive binge read for the holidays, The Pointe of Love is waiting for you! A ballet AU for Elriel and Nessian set in a dance company where prima ballerinas Nesta and Elain encounter the new sexy choreographers. All will come to a climax at the annual solstice show! 🩷🌟☕️🌙🎄🧁🩰📯🎼 Enjoy!

[acourtofquietdreamers]

If you can’t see the difference between this:

I dreamed of Lord Graysen-so mortal and young-standing at the edge of the camp, beckoning to Elain. Telling her he'd come for her. To come home with him. That he'd found a way to undo what had been done to her-to make her human again.

But Azriel asked softly, "What about Elain?" Something cold went through me. Nesta was just staring at Azriel. Staring and staring.

Nesta was already moving, sprinting for where we'd heard that voice. Luring Elain out. I knew how it had done it. I'd dreamed of it. Graysen standing on the edge of camp, calling to her, promising her love and healing.

From the shadows near the entrance to the tent, Azriel said, as if in answer to some unspoken debate, "I'm getting her back." Nesta slid her gaze to the shadowsinger. Azriel's hazel eyes glowed golden in the shadows. Nesta said, "Then you will die." Azriel only repeated, rage glazing that stare, "I'm getting her back."

My mouth went dry as that scream sounded again. I couldn't bear it - to let it go on, to see what was being done - Azriel's shadow-hand grasped my own, tugging me closer. His rage rippled off his invisible form.

Azriel slid back the curtain—Elain was in her nightgown. Gagged, wrists wrapped in steel that glowed violet. Her eyes went wide as she saw us—Azriel and me— I shifted my face back into my own, raising a hand to my lips as Azriel knelt before her. I kept up my litany of praying, beseeching the Cauldron to make my womb fruitful, on and on—Azriel gently removed the gag from her mouth. "Are you hurt?" She shook her head, devouring the sight of him as if not quite believing it. "You came for me." The shadowsinger only inclined his head.

The screaming and shouting began. Azriel scooped up Elain, looping her bound arms around his neck. "Hold tight," he ordered her, "and don't make a sound."

"Grab onto him!" Elain ordered the wide-eyed human girl as Azriel thundered toward her. The girl looked like a doe about to be run down by a wolf. The girl did not open her arms as they neared. Elain screamed at her, "If you want to live, do it now!" The girl dropped her cloak, opened her arms wide. Her black hair streamed behind Azriel, catching amongst his wings as he practically tackled her into the sky. But I saw, even as I ran, Elain's pale hands lurch-gripping the girl by her neck, holding her as tightly as she could. And just in time.

Azriel's roar echoed off the rocks as the hound slammed into him, dragging those shredding talons down his spine, his wings— The girl screamed, but Elain moved. As Azriel battled to keep them airborne, keep his grip on them, my sister sent a fierce kick into the beast's face. Its eye. Another. Another. It bellowed, and Elain slammed her bare, muddy foot into its face again. The blow struck home.

Azriel's power gave out on the outskirts of our camp. The girl, despite the burns and lashings on her moon-white skin, was able to walk. The gray light of morning had broken over the world, mist clinging to our ankles as we headed into that camp, Azriel still cradling Elain to his chest. He dripped blood behind him the entire time a trickle compared to the torrent that should be leaking out. Contained only by the patches of power he'd slapped on it. Help—he needed a healer immediately.

She let out a sob at the sight of Elain, still in Azriel's arms. I'd never heard a sound like that from her. Not once. She isn't hurt, I said to her, into that chamber in her mind.

Rhys lunged for Azriel, taking Elain from him and gently setting my sister down. Azriel rasped, swaying on his feet, "We need Helion to get these chains off her." Yet Elain didn't seem to notice them as she rose up on her toes and kissed the shadowsinger's cheek. And then walked to me and Nesta, who pulled back long enough to survey Elain's clean face, her clear eyes.

And this (Trigger Warning: SA mentioned):

I truly don’t know what to tell you, but I’ll try anyways.

One is a romantically coded rescue scene with many parallels to other SJM couples. See here, here, here, here, here, and here. Az’s rage once he realizes Elain is in trouble, rescuing her even if it means he could die, “you came for me”, “devouring the sight of him”, Az doesn’t put her down even though he’s gravely hurt and Elain is uninjured, ends with a kiss on the cheek. This scene also shows Elain and Az working together beautifully to save Briar and get rid of the hounds. Elain ends the scene with clear eyes.

The other is a woman retelling the most traumatic day of her life. It’s a heartbreaking story and it seriously concerns me if you read that story and your take away is “Az rescued Gwyn! He slaughtered them all and covered her with his cloak!! Soo romantic, they must be mates!” ANYONE in the IC would’ve reacted this way in the face of such a horrific scene.

And this behavior comes from people who claim to love Gwyn, yet make the most traumatic moment of her life about a man. It’s icky.

These two scenes are not comparable. Elriels using “Hold tight and don’t make a sound” as a NSFW prompt (when the same verbiage has been used during spicy scenes in SJM books) is not the same as people romanticizing Gwyn’s trauma and changing her story so Azriel is the one that carried her out. Just stop.

[lovelyfawnxx]

Death & the Lovely Fawn

🎨 art by bookishaveril

[nikachansstuff]

Changing books and fandom to better analyze the whole medias pointing to Elriel

Imagine if before Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, several medias would publish something in line with “Many fans speculate that Hermione and Draco will develop their love story in the coming book.” Can you imagine this happening? No? Why?

Because there’s nothing in the books supporting that. What you would probably see would be in lines with “Many fans speculate that Hermione and Ron will develop their love story,” if an article was made. Because all points to this direction.

Medias claiming and engaging with Elriel content is further confirmation of what’s obvious in the books. All to say: ELRIEL IS COMING TO TOWNNN 🎉