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Elucien DOES NOT ruin the three x three symmetry, actually, and here's why:

This is a variation of the Death of Koschei the Deathless, in which three sisters marry three kings, one of the Moon, the Wind, and the Sun.

Considering Rhys is the High Lord of the Night Court, and owns the Moonstone Palace, it seems pretty apparent to me that Rhys is the Moon King. And his mate is Feyre.

Cassian is an Illyrian who is born hearing the song of the wind, loves Illyrian culture per ACOFAS, is called the Prince of Bastards, and lives at the House of Wind, it's safe to say that he's the Wind King. And his mate is Nesta.

And Azriel is...

Oh. Wait.

So it's not three brothers three sisters, and yet it still maintains the three symmetry.

Because Lucien means light, he's the son of the High Lord of the Day Court, presumably the heir as his only son, and likely will have access to whatever palace Helion resides in once his heritage is revealed. And his mate is Elain, whose name also means light, who craved sunshine in her darkest moment, and who is often represented by flowers, which benefit from sunlight.

Hmm.

Intreresting.

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i was rereading acosf and the fact that when gwyn sings nesta sees “mossy earth and golden sun,clear rivers and the deep shadows” tell me mossy earth and golden sun aren’t elucien and clear rivers and deep shadows aren’t gwynriel?? can sjm make it any more obvious?? also the fact people twist this to say gwyn is an evil lightsinger when sjm explicitly stated if her character likes music they can’t be evil😭😭

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so glad to be seeing people talking about the clothing choices of artists when they put nesta in revealing clothing because she is CANONICALLY a modest character. and i love that someone brought up the female fatale archetype that gets pushed onto female characters when theyre "bitchy" and how that "bitchiness" has to be paralleled with the oversexualization of said character

and yall can say its not that deep but it quite literally is when we, as a patriarchal world, all struggle with some form of internalized misogyny, and i see that soooo profoundly and loudly in the way some of yall not only talk about nesta but the way you choose to depict her in various forms of media as well.

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Something I don't see people talk about is how even though Azriel saves Elain from Hybern's Camp, he can't break her shackles-- only Helion, sunlight personified, can (and theoretically anyone with his powers). It's such a random thing to throw in. It doesn't add tension or anything because it's resolved about two sentences later. There is no reason to add this detail except, like, maybe foreshadowing how while Azriel might be able to save Elain from danger, he can't free her from her shackles. She'll never truly be free with him-- and we see this in SF when he actively works against her desire for something beyond her garden. Sure he might be able to save her and protect her but as long as that extends to the degree of being overprotective she will never be able to actually be free.

Meanwhile, the magical gloves Lucien gives her seems to serve the same purpose on the surface, but he is literally gifting her something that will allow her to embrace danger with precaution. He's basically saying "if you want to plant and tend to roses even though they might prick you, that's fine-- just be as safe as possible while you do it." Because Lucien knows better than anyone that the best way to protect someone you love is by giving them the means to do it themselves.

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This is what it actually means to be "Guilty as Sin" (not necessarily who TS was personally singing about but the act of lusting for someone while in a relationship). Girl was engaged during every one of these lines but could not stop staring at her mate.

But Elain was staring over Nesta’s shoulder. At Lucien—

Her eyes were the brown of a fawn’s coat. And he could have sworn something sparked in them as she met his gaze.

Elain only stared at him for a long moment.

Elain now watched Lucien.

Pale and thin, Elain stood atop the stairs. Their gazes locked and held.

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Very often I think about that quote in the first book that Alis says about Lucien-- and I can't find the exact quote so I'm gonna paraphrase-- "don't be afraid to talk back to him, he needs to be taken down a peg."

I think this will come back in full force for the Elucien book for both Elain and Lucien. We've already seen Elain show a bit of bite indirectly to Lucien in FaS (telling Feyre she is not obligated to give him her time and saying she doesn't want a mate). As for Elain, she's currently stuck in a situation where she feels constantly coddled and overlooked-- just the "pleasant sister." She actively wants someone to challenge her treat her like she's not someone who will shatter at the slightest pressure (as seen when she laughs at Nesta cursing at her).

It would be great for Elain to have someone call her out on her tendency to avoid/ignore her problems, and we all know Lucien doesn't let anything slide. One thing I find frustrating about the fandom is when they paint Elain hiding her feelings as a good thing. Her secrecy is a flaw the same way Nesta's hostility is, something that should be addressed with kindness but also not just letting it slide. While Nesta's flaw stemmed from her mother's abuse, Elain's stemmed from always being put on a pedestal. She's always felt like she has to be perfect and hide her feelings, but SF hints to a future breakdown where she'll finally snap. I don't see the IC approaching her breakdown in a way that actually shows they understand and see her, since none of them DO seem to understand or see her. Feyre and Nesta still treat her like a damsel in distress, a "loyal dog." In Azriel's bc he did not acknowledge a single thing about Elain herself, just his own self worth issues and what he wants to do to her. Rhys is actively going against her own wishes. In Lucien's pov, he shows absolute understanding and empathy for Elain, and his own struggles he relates directly to Elain's.

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Probably my most controversial acotar opinion is that I like most of the characters I'm supposed to like and think that Tamlin is a terrible person but an amazing character.

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Honesty my favorite dynamic throughout the series is Feyre and Lucien because the way they clock each other is just so lethal... true in-laws right there.

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I ship Elucien because Lucien is the better option for her

These are the rather disjointed points I have on why Lucien is the best guy for Elain, based on him respecting her, being incredibly compatible with her, and having deeper subtext that he and Elain will heal together-- all using canon to support my points.

Firstly, I find it interesting that the main point E/riels use is that you hate Elain if you don’t ship their couple, but for me it is almost always the opposite. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a post on why Azriel is good for Elain, but they always talk about how she’s his sunshine, that she will heal his self esteem issues, that she’ll be his soft damsel in distress to his brooding violence. Their biggest argument (and from what I’ve seen, their only argument) for why Azriel is good for Elain is: “It’s Elain’s choice, and she chose Azriel.” There are, however, very deep holes in this logic for me. The biggest problem with this is that while Elain is clearly struggling with not having agency at the Night Court, Azriel is a part of that. Azriel advocates against Elain’s desire to help with the trove because it’s “too dark of her.” Then, in the bonus chapter although Rhys is obviously the one pushing them apart not only does Azriel barely push back, his arguments are:

Fate chose the wrong person

Lucien doesn’t deserve her

He could easily kill Lucien anyway

None of these points revolve around Elain’s right to choose. He does not say, “who cares about her mate, she chose me.” Elain and Azriel being mates would ALSO be fate deciding her life for her, and from everything we know about her she would detest the Blood Duel (and as far as we know about Lucien, he would never enact it). And on top of this, Azriel obeys the order and has not spoken to her since. So I don’t understand how people can fantasize about Elain finally snapping at the IC after finding all of this out and not realize that anger is also going to be directed at Azriel for not advocating for her. Meanwhile, Lucien (who also didn’t choose to be bonded with her) is ironically the only one respecting her autonomy. Also her not accepting the bond or not breaking it is her making a choice; she doesn’t have to choose Azriel for her choice to mean something. And, of course, you can’t forget this book series literally started with Feyre being positive that the Spring Court was her home and Tamlin was her mate, so I don’t think it’s crazy to assume that Elain will also come to a similar conclusion (which she kind of already has after rejecting Azriel in the bc). Afterall, wouldn’t it be fitting for the book that closes out the Archeron sisters’ love lives to do a full circle: Feyre thinks she loves Tamlin, but he betrays her so she leaves the Spring Court for the Night Court; Elain thinks she belongs at the Night Court, but they betray her so she finds a home at the Spring Court.

Elain is NOT sunshine/light. She is constantly seeking out sunshine. Both Azriel and Elain need light. There have been no implications that Elain needs shadows or that Azriel needs flowers. In this metaphor Azriel’s light is Gwyn and Elain’s sunshine is Lucien. I get this seems like a strange point to rely on metaphors but it’s a bit silly to dismiss it with how ingrained it is in not only Azriel and Elain’s characters but most of sjm’s couples and how they interact (Nessian= death and war walk hand and hand, Feyrand= night and the stars that shine within).

Elain’s problem is the bond NOT Lucien. This is incredibly important because it would be incredibly lame for a love triangle in a romance novel to end with “I choose him, not because he’s better or anything I just didn’t have to be tied to him.” In real life, a woman choosing to not engage with a guy is completely okay and her choice, but this is a book and it would be a very unsatisfying narrative conclusion for her to not at least get to know Lucien. It would also be unsatisfying for Elain to have already come to terms with her trauma off page. Sjm did not include a scene in FaS in which Elain is alluding to looking to be human again only for her book to open with “yeah, anyway, life is great now.” I mention this because Lucien is the representation of her Fae life, of being tied to fate, so she will have to deal with him face to face to deal with her trauma. Sjm also did not have Elucien being on incredibly good -- dare I say, a bit flirty-- terms at the end of WaR only to do a complete 180 in the next book for seemingly no reason and NOT eventually address why it changed. So that is already two important conversations that they need to have for Elain’s healing journey.

Finally, Lucien and Elain are incredibly compatible (yes, even after the Cauldron). While E/riel is secretive, quiet, and cunning, you could pretty much argue so is Elucien. Lucien is a fox, of course he knows how to trick and withhold to his benefit (Feyre and Rhys note this in WaR), of course that also comes with being cunning, and he certainly knows how to be sneaky, as shown when he and Feyre snuck out of camp and led the Bogg to the twins in WaR. Obviously he’s not going to be a spy, but I wonder if Elain will be or if these traits will simply be a part of her courtier role (which she is clearly more tied to than being a spy). But none of that is enough to base an entire relationship on. Good thing we know that Elain and Lucien a ton other things in common: both share trauma in being torn away from their homes and lovers, both love to help wherever they can, have an aversion to violence but will enact it to protect the people they love, are snarky and humorous, loves the outdoors and maybe travelling, are drawn to domestic activities, live to be mediators and make connections, are incredibly caring and compassionate, care about their appearances but don’t mind getting their hands dirty, and have powers centered around insight. 

This is sort of revising one of my past posts that I had written more emotionally than I would have liked to. I could honestly write more on why I personally ship Elucien and lean towards them being endgame, how there’s more foreshadowing to their relationship, and their powers might be tied (and not in a random ass “Elain can suddenly travel through shadows” way), but I know I already wrote too much and most people already aren’t going to read this entire thing so I’ll leave it there.

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Hey just so everyone knows, disagreeing with someone's opinion does not equal a lack of kindness. Someone is not "disrespecting" your ship and ignoring canon when they simply just had a different takeaway from said canon. Disagreeing and discussion is actually super healthy when done politely, and encourages critical thinking and seeing others perspectives which is literally the opposite of lack of kindness. I will admit I struggle with this too, but if we're going to be delusional then let's do it honestly and acknowledging our bias.

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“Elain’s story is about fate vs choice”

Who's going to tell them that Azriel (the guy whose self worth is in the ground and is desperate for love) only started showing interest in Elain when he noticed she was fawning over him (and was literally drawing straws to avoid her like a few weeks beforehand-- left her to wither away in her room for months)? And how his biggest defense for why he should be with her is because “the cauldron could be wrong,” showing that he does indeed value the mating bond, is fighting for a MATE not Elain-- and that it goes against the entire point of a rejected storyline, which is that Elain’s life ISN’T tied to fate.

If E/riels really cared about Elain’s choice they’d want her to actually go out and explore the world instead of thinking her having a crush on one of the three male faes she knows is “true love.” They care so much for Elain that they don’t think Elain’s insight or POV will matter and that she has actually completely healed/accepted her new life off page.

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We’ve all been fools thinking Dr. Strange was gonna be the disappointed mom friend at Loki, Sylvie, and Wanda for breaking reality when really he was the dad friend joining in on the chaos

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YouTube Recommendations

So I recently started watching Teen Wolf (I’m three episodes in) and I’m really enjoying it, but upset I never got the community aspect of it while it was airing. I was wondering if anyone had any YouTube channel recommendations that they watched while the show was on, so I could go all the way back and watch along. It can be anything really, from reviews to theories to ramblings, I’m really not picky.

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So basically what we’ve learned is that Adrien’s entire family has some serious fucking issues.

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My world has turned so cold but I won't cry Cause icicles don't soften when they die So why should I? 

(based off of Icicles by the Scary Jokes)

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I want the cut of IT chapter one and two without the CGI so it looks like the Loser’s Club are hysterically screaming at nothing for five hours.

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Honestly, I liked the flip. I hate the cliche that the feminine boy is gay, and I feel like the movie did a good job at switching the Eddie/Adrian parallel to Richie/Don. I completely agree with Eddie just being Jack though. Jack’s an amazing actor and I thought he did good in it 2017, but Eddie and Richie were really different in ch 2 for some reason (Eddie was so high strung and Richie was surprisingly calm and subdued).

Book Eddie is the best Eddie: A Rant

I love Eddie Kaspbrak, and both movie adaptations of him are great on their own, but book Eddie is honestly the best.

I had a problem with 2017/19 Eddie. He was too chaotic as a kid (sometimes he seemed more jack than Eddie) and as an adult he was so paralyzed with fear (and imo, he said fuck way too much). Book Eddie, on the other hand, is brave. As kids when it takes the form of the eye Eddie fights (using his aspirator and broken arm!!) the hardest, yelling at Bill and Richie to fight it too. I just wish they made him more authentic to his book counterpart. I also think the main reason that 2019 Eddie bothers me is that they get so many other things from the book right (Adrian, Mrs Kersh, Paul Bunyan coming to life, Bev fighting Tom etc) but they changed Eddie so drastically. His reintroduction as an adult also felt incredibly short and I didn’t like that either. Oh and while Eddie’s death in 2019 made me cry, his last words really ticked me off. “I fucked your mom” is a Richie thing to say. Also it’s Eddie’s sexuality that stressed in the book the most, not Richie’s, and that flip bothered me the most. Like.. Adrian at the beginning is meant to be a parallel to Eddie, but they changed the way Eddie died and never really went into his sexuality so it felt strange to me. Am I the only one bothered by this or am I alone in this weird dislike of movie Eddie?