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acowat · 2 years ago

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SJM has a very clear pattern for writing ACOTAR males when it comes to their previous romantic interests and their endgame love interest

This post is pro Elriel and includes a collection of parallels between Feysand, Nessian, and Elriel. I’m making a shift away from meta to focus more on art and writing, but I’ve had this sitting in drafts and wanted to put it out there in case anyone wanted to read it!

I imagined this as three different levels and I couldn’t unsee it 😂 so I decided to break it down that way because it seemed neat and organized to me!

Meaningless ❌

All of the male leads have had previous lovers and meaningless hookups that led nowhere. Lucien’s feelings for Elain also fall under this category because his only positive feelings about her are mere instincts that “chant” to him. His actions and words suggest he seems happier away from her and is shown to be bitter and resentful when speaking about her.

Dead or Doomed 💀

The only females that are given any amount of emotional thought are impossible pairings because the females are dead or the relationship is 110% doomed for other unchangeable reasons. The feelings they have for these females are more than they have for any casual hookups, but are never anywhere near the level of feeling and need they have for their endgame love interests. Explicit sexual thoughts are NEVER included here and are reserved ONLY for their endgame love interest. Pairings in this category are:

Cassian and the Valkyrie Tanwyn (dead)

Lucien and Jesminda (dead)

Azriel and Mor (doomed due to Mor’s sexual orientation)

Cassian and Mor (doomed due to Mor’s sexual orientation)

Elain and Azriel are absolutely NOT doomed due to the mating bond with Lucien when Elain’s rejection of the bond has been so heavily foreshadowed and choice is given so much importance. It sets up an obstacle for them to overcome in Elain’s book. (There are so many possible ways this can play out, I’m not going to go into it here, and it’s irrelevant because his sexual fantasies and feelings for Elain put them firmly in the next level anyway.)

Endgame 💞

When it comes to their endgame love interests, the males experience extreme longing and desire that is stronger than anything they’ve ever felt before.

For an accurate comparison, I’m only including excerpts from before the couples were officially together (and reflecting back on the time before they became official from Rhys).

They think about their endgame LI constantly.

“I couldn’t stop being around you, and loving you, and wanting you. I still can’t stay away.” -Rhys ACOMAF

“And, Mother damn him, in the past few weeks, he’d found himself turning over every word and look he’d exchanged with her, over and over.” -Cassian Wings and Embers Bonus

Azriel looks at the gift Elain gave him (which seems to be connected to happy and meaningful memories between them) every night and thinks of her. -Azriel POV Bonus Chapter

They become jealous of other males that threaten their connection to the female they love. It pains them to imagine their endgame LI with anyone but them.

“It killed me to know he was sharing your bed. Not just because you were my mate, but because I…” (…) “I knew… I knew I was in love with you that moment I picked up the knife to kill Amarantha.” -Rhys to Feyre about Tamlin ACOMAF

Nesta asks Cassian why he cut in on her dance with Eris and he replies (roars actually) “Because I was fucking jealous!” -ACOSF

Azriel does not track Lucien and Rhys makes the connection that it’s because Azriel doesn’t want to know “when and if Lucien sought her out. What they did together.” -ACOFAS

“Because her mate had been in the family room and Azriel had needed to stay by the door the whole time because he couldn’t stand the sight of it, the scent of their mating bond, and needed to have the option of leaving if it became too much.” -Azriel POV Bonus Chapter (Nesta notices deep pain in Azriel’s eyes when she oversees this in ACOSF.)

SJM writes them having explicit sexual thoughts and fantasies of them with their endgame love interest (and no other female).

“I’ve had a long, long time to think about how and where I want you.” -Rhys ACOMAF

“Every instinct in his body came roaring to the surface, so violent he had to choke them with a brutal grip or else he’d find himself on his knees, begging her for a touch, for anything. … He tried not to think of what that hand would feel like on other parts of him. Gripping him; stroking him.” Cassian Wings and Embers

“He needed to know what the skin of her neck tasted like. What those perfect lips tasted like. Her breasts. Her sex. He needed her coming on his tongue— Azriel’s cock strained behind his pants, aching so fiercely he could hardly think. … He had only allowed himself these thoughts in the dead of night. Had only allowed his hand to fist his cock and think about her then, when even his shadows had gone to sleep. How that beautiful face might appear as he entered her, what sounds she'd make.” -Azriel POV Bonus Chapter

“Her arousal drifted up to him, and his eyes nearly rolled back in his head at the sweet scent. He’d beg on his knees for a chance to taste it.” -Azriel POV Bonus Chapter

They believe in their endgame.

Rhys tests Feyre’s power by tasking her with retrieving the ring from the Weaver. -ACOMAF

Cassian helps Nesta train to become a warrior. -ACOSF

Azriel trusts Elain with Truth Teller when he has never let anyone else touch it and shows her that he believes she can use it to protect herself. He tells her, “I won’t be using it today—so I want you to.” -ACOWAR

They are also extremely protective.

‘“I will kill anyone who harms you,” Rhys snarled. “I will kill them and take a damn long time doing it.”’ -ACOMAF (Rhys explaining his behavior to Feyre after Kier calls Feyre a whore and Rhys makes him apologize and then breaks both of his arms in multiple places, tells him not to see a healer and threatens him with death if he does.)

‘“Did someone hurt you,” he said, his voice so guttural she could barely understand it. The wrath, the utter stillness with which he stood—this was how he was when he was close to killing. Wanted to kill. … “Would it change anything if someone had? Would it make you see me differently, treat me differently?” “It’d make me hunt them down and shatter every bone in their body.”’ -Cassian and Nesta Wings and Embers Bonus

“Nesta saw the blow land, like a physical impact, in Elain’s face, her posture. No one spoke, though shadows gathered in the corners of the room, like snakes preparing to strike.” -ACOSF (Azriel using his shadows to prepare to defend Elain)

When it’s suggested that Elain scry for the trove, Azriel stiffens, which is described as “an outright sign of temper from him” and he says that he doesn’t want Elain to be exposed to the dangers of the Dread Trove. -ACOSF

Azriel cradles Elain’s body to his after she is taken by Hybern despite his own very serious injuries, only letting her go when Rhys takes her from him. Azriel’s only concern is getting the chains off of her. -ACOWAR

They understand each other without speaking and can “read” each other.

“Don’t read my thoughts.” (Feyre) “I can’t help what you sometimes shout down the bond. And besides, everything is usually written on your face.” (Rhys) -ACOMAF

“And when he’d looked at her face, he’d understood something—something that the past year and a half had shredded apart and turned cold.” Cassian ACOSF (Reflecting on realizing Nesta’s feelings during the final battle)

“He didn't need his shadows to read her tone, the slight tightening of her face.” -Azriel POV Bonus Chapter

Most importantly, the males are there for their love interests at their very lowest moment and help them to heal while fulfilling their deepest need at that time.

Rhys rescued Feyre from an abusive relationship that was destroying her. He gave Feyre power and freedom and choice and honesty that had been previously denied to her at a time when she needed it most.

Nesta’s lowest point was after the war when she turned to alcohol and sex to cope with her trauma and pushed everyone away. Cassian showed Nesta that he saw through her defenses and harsh words when she needed someone to understand what she was going through and love all parts of her.

Azriel spent time with Elain when she was heartbroken and terrified of the visions she was having. He was the only one who didn’t think she was crazy and was actively searching for answers as to what was going on with her, and then he pulled her out of her dissociated state by figuring out that she was a seer. He was also the one to realize she was missing and the one to go after her and save her from certain death at the Hybern camp. During the hardest part of her healing journey, he saw her and understood her when her innermost need is to be seen for who she is.

Lucien is set up to be that person for Vassa as well. Vassa is cursed and desperate for a way to escape Koschei, but Lucien is there to talk and laugh with her and help her make the most of her time as a human before she is turned into a Firebird. His spell-cleaving powers may even be the key to freeing her.

In addition to all of this positive buildup, SJM also created obstacles and difficulties for all of her endgame couples to work through so their development could take up an entire novel.

For Elriel, these are the mating bond between Elain and Lucien (which we have been given nothing but evidence that it is a poor match) and the possible political fallout, and the even bigger issue of Azriel’s nature to believe he is tainted and undeserving of love.

In the bonus, we also have Rhys’s order and the solstice misunderstanding, though in my opinion, it doesn’t really add anything new because we know Azriel doesn’t take orders he disagrees with. The bonus just further emphasizes their feelings for each other, Azriel’s low self-worth, and political drama related to the bond rejection.

The VAST majority of SJM’s readers are women and her books are written to appeal to women and our fantasies of being loved, wanted, and desired. We experience the story through the eyes of the female main character and we experience the perfect escapist fantasy romance when the FMC’s love interest loves, wants, and desires her MUCH MORE than anyone else. Ever. To the point that no other female has even come close to the way he feels about her.

We can relate to Feyre (a woman) falling so in love with someone who ended up being wrong for her and then finding her true match in someone else. But what woman wants to think about the person they end up with desperately longing for another woman to the point he can’t sleep, that she has made him laugh like no one has ever seen him laugh before, that he has pleasured himself to specific fantasies of himself having sex with her and that he would beg on his knees for a chance to go down on her?

If she planned to change LI’s she would’ve attempted to retcon Elriel’s obvious build up, but instead she really buckled down and made him absolutely desperate for her! And his feelings aren’t some shallow rebound. He’s been slowly getting over Mor and falling harder and harder for Elain while they lived in the same house for well over a year (possibly close to two).

If SJM was going to switch love interests, she wouldn’t have given them such pivotal moments as the Hybern rescue and Azriel discovering Elain was a seer. She wouldn’t have made Azriel’s yearning for Elain so intense that it would overshadow anything that could possibly develop with anyone else.

While Azriel’s crush on Mor was long lasting, he was able to tolerate watching and staying around while she hung all over Cassian but he can’t stand seeing Elain so much as occupying the same room as Lucien. His feelings for Mor were never so strong that he was able to let go of his own self-resentment enough to make a move like he was about to do with Elain, had they not been interrupted. He didn’t treasure any of Mor’s gifts the way he does with Elain’s gift to him. He works himself into exhaustion and barely sleeps because he’s hurting so badly when keeping his distance from her.

Azriel’s feelings for Elain are so strong and unlike anything he’s ever experienced. He loves her so much that he is suffering when keeping himself away from her. SJM isn’t going to write their sweet romantic moments, the rescue scene, and longing and pining that’s this intense and have him end up with anyone but Elain.

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