#id like to see one more book with emerie and az and eris

[infiniteetcetera]

Hot take of the day is Gwynriel has loads of chemistry and Elucien plenty of potential but I’d still rather see Elriel together for the sake of the plot…

What I mean by that is I think an Azriel/Gwyn & Elain/Lucien love story is the path of least resistance for SJM. It fits perfectly into the “everyone is mated and happy together” stereotype much more so than Elain/Az, especially if (as most people predict) Emerie and Mor also wind up together.

I love the Valkeryies and their relationship too much for them to just be absorbed by the IC and that’s exactly what I feel would happen if we get Gwyn/Az, Elain/Lucien, and Emerie/Mor. If Azriel winds up with Gwyn it’s highly likely we’ll get an “i told you so” moment from Rhys who will continue believing he is right about everything and that its totally okay to control the lives of his so called family. Nessian will remain strong and Nesta will be even further solidified in the Night Court (FREE HER) if her two closest friends become IC equivalents.

On the Elain side of things, so many people seem to imply her being with Lucien would be an escape from the Night Court but Rhys wants Elain with Lucien because it’s a way to drag Lucien further into the Night Court. He’s already using their bond to manipulate diplomacy with Lucien and no matter where Lucien ends up, if he’s mated to Elain he will be stuck with strong ties to the Night Court and so will she.

I think Elain/Azriel are the only option that could really push and fuel change for the IC. Rhys drawing a line in the sand about their relationship forces the members of the inner circle to genuinely have to pick sides and I think it would really push Feyre and Nesta to confront their own relationships with their mates and the Night Court. And honestly I’ve always found it ironic that so many people use the “Elain doesn’t belong in the Night Court” argument against Elriel because Azriel doesn’t belong in the Night Court either.

As early as ACOMAF Azriel tells Feyre he doesn’t feel like he belongs in the NC. We’ve seen countless times throughout the series he is left out, ignored, and manipulated by his so called family. People like Rhys and Mor who are the “closest” to him have admitted to being lowkey afraid of him, most of the IC admits they know little about his thoughts/feelings, and its not one of his oldest friends but Nesta who comforts him while he isolates himself during a holiday when he’s feeling like absolute trash because he feels that lonely and unworthy.

I think it would make perfect sense for Azriel to leave the Night Court with Elain, maybe even with Nesta and the Valkeryies considering both him and Nesta have been tied to the Dawn Court now and Nesta made a point of saying she is not a member of the NC. I’m not saying we’d get a full on Nessian break up (I can dream) or that Feyre is going to leave Rhys (SJM will never do this) but I do think Nesta and Feyre would both pull for their sister’s happiness. Especially for Nesta, I feel like part of why she takes how Cassian and the IC treats her is because she feels worthless and doesn’t think she deserves better, but if there’s anyone Nesta will stand up for it’s Elain and hearing that Rhys is manipulating her love life could be such a good catalyst for this girl to move on (my dream crack theory, she leaves Cas in Elains book, Lucien’s book is Autumn Court centered and we get a Nesta/Eris redemption romance arc)

Overall I think the effects that would result from Az leaving the NC with Elain however it happens has the potential for the most complex and intriguing story. I’m sure both Gwynriel and Elucien could be perfectly happy couples, if they get books I will read them and they will probably be fine because SJM knows how to write romance (tho sometimes, I have my doubts recently 👀) but these two relationships don’t have much potential to spark the big changes in the ACOTAR universe Id like to see for the Archeron sisters (and babyboys Az and Lucien). If SJM doesn’t keep doing weird things like the necklace situation, I think Elain and Azriel make perfect sense as a couple and the breaking of the status quo they symbolize is just what the world at large needs.

[edanmaia]

very intangible ideas for acotar 5 since cc3 will indefinitely flip everything around:

Despite no one wanting it (reader and rhys alike), rhys becomes high king

elriel secret romance. but how do they get together? maybe they start flirting in cc3 and really commit in acotar5. who knows, atp i dont see how the plot forces them together.

koschei looming, but he's for acotar 6

more eris cryptic riddle shit

mor/emerie relationship blooming? mor coming out at a weird time to the inner circle (...sarah giving her 13 pages in the middle of a war to come out the feyre is silly goofy)

nesta hopefully becoming a normal not sex-crazed character. can sjm un-butcher her from not her pov?

Who tf is the villain? the other 5 queens? the asteri? that was the problem with acosf. There was no villain and no story.

85% plot / 15% smut. please sarah

no butchering of azriel or elains character. i know we know nothing about them but she fucked up cassian so bad he's such an unlikable character after acosf. Please give azriel some personality and some tact 🙏🏻🙏🏻. i dont need to see his pining and yearning as 100% of his pov. i would like to see him and his intelligence. Same for elain, i want to see depth and not a caricature or someone who's only personality is gardening and trauma.

no training no training anything but training for elain. not even becoming a spy. just let elain be powerful in her soft femininity 🫶🏼

give elain the dusk court! i dont know the logistics but its hers.

i need a huge dramatic falling out between azriel and rhys. like a huge rift that takes a lot to repair. let azriel be able to trauma dump on rhys and be angry and have distance (i assume azriel doesnt wanna torture people anymore. and if rhys can read minds i dont understand why azriel has to torture info out of ppl anyways)

elain's independence. i don't necessarily care about her relationship w feyre and nesta. she told them she wasnt an object, and id like to see how that results because we didnt see shit in acosf

Story outside of elriel. It was so boring stuck in nesta and cassians "story" because we get nothing from the other characters and the only story was sex and being sad. 😑 no one wanted to read 600 pages of that

slow build up of story instead of randomly shoved in story (we know sjm cant do that but i can hope)

I wanna know about the history of seers!i want elain to be special ✨ like that

it would be awesome if lucien was happy and ready to be in a relationship with vassa or smth so we dont have to see him continue to be sad and lost when elain rejects him. I reallt cant deal with all the characters being sad all the fucking time sarah. But i just know he's gonna be so lost and so sad throughout the book, which leads him into his character arc for book 6. but imagine if elain and lucien both had their character arc in book 5. that would be awesome.

elain needs to move tf out of rhys and feyres house

retcon on the necklace. clotho never gave it to gwyn. i really cannot deal with that dumb ass storyline. + it was in a bonus chapter?? Is sarah gonna throw in a short line saying "az tried to give it to elain, they almost kissed, rhys forbade az from getting near elain, he gave it to clotho after he saw gwyn triajfnien etc etc"

I really dont want az to be like rhys, where yoy find out he's a great guy and 100% a hero. nothing gray about it.

i want azriel to be someone who tortures people, clearly doesnt like it and wants to stop, but has to for his brothers. and his story arc is ceasing to do things that bring him misery. Like, he did that. No question. and that's terrible. but he wants to become a better person and is working towards that.

sjm there's still time @sjmaas