#kinda an elriel post but not really but also really because canon points at elriel and I’m only talking ab canon here

[gracie-rosee]

Early morning 5AM thoughts and (a LOT of) questions about Azriel’s powers. Longer post, I’m just having fun with theories.

First of all, I was inspired by @violetasteracademic and @nikachansstuff. Not by any particular post, but because they are just so cool and have very smart thoughts that got the gears turning in my head.

So I often wonder about Azriel’s shadows. We learn that his powers started to show when he was locked up by his father as a child. But did they come to him, or are they a real part of him that he was born with?

It’s just something that I’ve never been able to fully wrap my mind around. If he was born with this immense power—enough for seven siphons—why did they suddenly show up after what, 11 years?

The thing is, the power he was born with, the one that requires seven siphons, that’s the Illyrian power he got from his father. Right? That power requires seven siphons. So… his shadows have to be separate, and had to have come to him afterwards. (For now I won’t be talking about the possibility that he inherited shadowsinging powers from some long ago ancestor. This post will not be going in that direction, and instead focuses more on the powers themselves.)

So it begs the question(s) then: if they came to him, are they like, their own entity? Or are they literally just shadows and nothing more? Though the idea that they CAME to him implies that they are more than just shadow. Do they speak to him? If they came to him, could they potentially leave? Does Azriel even control them at all or do they just like… work alongside him? Do they have… thoughts? Do they have a personality? Why did they choose him?

But there’s also the elephant in the room: Elain.

Did she wield his shadows? Did Azriel send them to her? Or did the shadows find her and help her on their own?? SJM told us Elain stepped out of a shadow, when winnowing is described as a literal blink to/from a place. So she 100% came from his shadows. (Side note: this whole stepping out of shadows, and not to mention her being the only one to use TT thing, just solidifies that Elain is, and always will be intertwined with Azriel, regardless of who they end up with.)

So either 1. Elain can wield them, 2. Azriel sent them to teleport her, or 3. His shadows left him and sought Elain out, meaning she would also have to communicate with them so she knows where they’re going.

But ALSO!!!!! OF ALL PEOPLE WHY ELAIN? IF HIS SHADOWS LEFT HIM OR AZ SENT THEM TO FIND SOMEONE TO GO UP TO HYBERN AND KILL HIM? WHY ELAIN?????!!!!!!! WHY NOT AN ACTUAL SOLDIER??!

Okay but I NEEEEED an Elain POV of this more than anything. More than I want the next book. I need to know how it went down, because it would answer a lot of questions I have.

Here’s how I’ve envisioned it happening:

Option 1: Elain anxiously pacing with Truth Teller when suddenly a familiar shadow flies toward her, tells her that her sisters are in danger and whisks her away to help after she doesn’t even hesitate.

Option 2: Elain receiving a vision of Nesta and Cassian dying, then calling out to Azriel’s shadows to take her to them.

Option 3: Azriel seeing Nesta and Cassian dying, so he sends his shadows to fetch Elain so she can help.

I find option 3 VERY hard to believe, because why on earth would Azriel send Elain, with no combat experience whatsoever, to walk right into the middle of a literal killing field. He would never voluntarily put her in that danger. So it had to have been a variation of options 1 or 2. Meaning Elain and the shadows communicated in some way.

His shadows sought her out on their own. To which I ask, WHY?!

Or Elain sought the shadows out herself, to which I ask HOW?!

I’m so mad everyone just glosses over this. Do you know how many fucking times the death of Hybern was brought up? Like every damn chapter. And yet no one talks about Elain and how she suddenly wielded shadows.

Like hello? How did Nesta not even question it at all? I guess maybe she didn’t see how Elain arrived in shadows, but she still didn’t question how she arrived period. Nor did Feyre. Feyre who was narrating. And I’m assuming she showed Rhys as well as everyone else how the Hybern died afterwards. And yet. No. One. Freaking. Cared. HELOOOO??!!! I smell an intentional diversion.

Ugh. So many thoughts. So many questions. I have more questions that I’d like to pose to anyone reading this far about Azriel’s shadows themselves, but this is pretty long already. If anyone wants to know my thoughts on shadowsingers and shadow magic itself, let me know.

[lurkinggirlie]

Elain & Azriel are EndGame

Azriel’s bonus chapter: semi-essay on my thoughts

This post will be a long one. The shipwar has been going on for far too long, and there's a possiblity that we'll be getting closure soon. So, I want to put my thoughts out there. For Obvious reasons, I could be very wrong, but this is what I think based on canon text: (Ignore any errors..I haven't edited this, and I'm sure there are many posts like this that are way more articulate)

Elriel are endgame. If they’re not then Azriel is kinda pathetic and having him end-up with anyone else is bad writing and character assassination. (Which we sadly won’t put past sjm but I don’t think she would..at least I hope)

1- Elain has no other love interest. Yes, Lucien is her mate but we have hinted at a broken/rejected mating bond for the longest time when it comes to these two so having them accept it eventually is going to be quite underwhelming, repetitive and boring. Even Lucien seems to have given up/isn’t interested in bridging that gap between them, which we’re told in both acofas and acosf. Unless you want to count the longing pointed out by Cassian, although Cassian also pointed out that Lucien was also uncomfortable when he mentioned his mate. To add on, there is no sexual tension between the two, and we know how important that is for sjm’s couple. You can't keep whining "but Elain isn't giving him a chance, if only she gave him a chance, then maybe this and maybe that" Elain is not a seprate entity, she is what SJM writes, Sjm could have written that but she did not yet and I'm not sure if she will. It feels too late at this point, she had already shown us that Elain has feelings for someone else aka Azriel. The author doesn't have to spell everything out for us to understand to what's going on. Sarah usually makes it clear who's endgame. and she literally is. So, it would be very sudden and out of the blue if Lucien and Elain were to end up together when she had never shown it before. When even Azriel pointed this out “I think Lucien will never be good enough for her, and she has no interest in him, anyway” people can say Rhys killed elriel, that the bonus chapter ended them. But this line right here tells us otherwise! First we know Azriel and Elain can read each other so well that they don’t need words, and then Azriel tells us this. He’s literally telling us that Elain does not want Lucien.

We also cannot compare elucien to Feysand or Nessian in the “enemies to lovers" department, because these two seem to hardly care about each other. For obvious reasons she wouldn’t accept or reject Lucien in a book that isn’t hers. But if they do end up together I’d feel robbed that she had more sexual tension with Azriel than she did with Lucien. And we know that Nessian and Feysand had sexual tension before getting together. Most of what we got from Elain and Lucien was awkwardness, and discomfort. Not a single spark. Furthermore, it would feel like Azriel was just leading Elain own. Plus their romance (Lucien and Elain)  would not feel organic, only getting with Lucien because she felt rejected by Azriel, which doesn’t give epic romance no matter how sjm tries to spin it. It would always make Lucien seem like the second choice.

2- Azriel regifting the necklace was a dickhead move, and offensive to both girls. Anyone thinking the regifting of the necklace ended elriel or started gwynriel is delusional and clearly doesn’t know how the romance genre works. (should��ve thrown the gift in the Sidra like Cassain did) I can’t believe Rhys isn’t paying Azriel enough that he felt the need to return the necklace to the shop instead of throwing it. Senstive Illyrian baby indeed. 

3- Rhys saying stay away from Elain (can we take a moment to appreciate how sexy Rhys was for pulling rank, he really made the ship more interesting now) and Azriel actually listening to him?? When he told him you can’t order me to do that. shit would be underwhelming if Azriel actually stayed away? Hello? Secret relationship potential ? Hello? Forbidden romance potential  ??? The tropes would be epic. Sjm had never done that. And I’m not saying she will, but this is how I see it playing out. + Azriel saying it was a mistake to Elain, and Elain apologizing?? The fact she was confused/hurt and probably thought she misunderstood the whole situation? SHE IS BABYGIRL?? Regardless, Azriel saying it was a mistake and it being a mistake is NOT it. This is not how romance works most of the time. This is such a basic romantic trope, why are a lot of people misinterepting it? Elain deserves better, and sjm isn’t about to hurt Elain’s feelings without making it up to her. And she’s definitely not making Azriel end up with another girl before he fixes that shit. I will be needing a proper apology to Elain.  

4- Whenever people think of the bonus chapter they weigh in Azriel’s feelings far more than Elain’s. It’s clear that Elain and Azriel’s feelings are MUTUAL, ignore the bonus chapter and it’s right there in the actual book. I don’t think Elain got the memo that Azriel had  a conversation with another girl after he hurt her feelings which made him realize he’s in love all of a sudden. *sarcasm*  that would be very out of character for Azriel. 

5- His chest sparkling at the thought of Gwyn getting the necklace was so??? I have been saying he’s for the streets and yes this was out of pocket. So, I understand people shipping them. However it could mean anything really, you can't continue saying that Gwyn in the bonus has to mean something, and that that spark must mean somethig but continue to disreagrd every single Elriel interaction like they mean nothing. Because for it to be taken as romance we’d have to ignore the beginning of the bonus, the feysand’s bonus acosf/acomaf/acowar and acofas. + we could easily take this in a platonic way, which is how I viewed it when I read the bonus. Not everything has to be romantic. And sjm will NOT introduce a new guy to make him end up with Elain since we already established Elain doesn’t want Lucien and Lucien doesn’t want her either. 

6- I know that a lot of people have theories about Gwyn being a lightsinger and all of this happening because of her powers (While I do think this is very smart, it wasn’t something I thought of so I won’t talk about it). I do think it’s possible, and all the theories I saw were really cool but idk where sjm is going with this, so to make it simple I do think it could be because she’s his student, she went through a lot it could simply be platonic happiness that a girl who went through so much is going to be happy about something. Even if it was a secondhand necklace specifically picked with ANOTHER girl in mind PLUS I do think sjm wanted drama, and for people to doubt elriel cuz now they have all these obstacles, so Gwyn would be the easy choice, but the second choice regardless. The relationship would feel icky and I genuinely cannot see the potential gwynriels keep talking about. I would take the ship a lot more seriously if a) he didn’t regift her another girl’s necklace b) there was more to them in the actual book. c) he wasn’t still upset about it 3 days later… 

7- There’s a high possibility Gwyn never even got the necklace..

He gave it to Clotho not Gwyn, he didn’t want his name mentioned, and then said if any other girl would like it to give it to them: the aim was to get rid of Elain’s necklace. It’s sort of a parallel with Cassain throwing away Nesta’s present.

I think it’s possible that Azriel went there because he knows how much the girls in the library have suffered, especially since his mom did too, it's possible he thought "okay this is a pretty necklace, I don't want to hold onto the reminder of what could've been, so instead of throwing it let another girl be happy about it. At least it won’t go to waste”

Clotho could tell there was something wrong, like maybe she sensed the energy and decided ayeee let me keep this aside for him, he might come back and ask for it. 

The bonus did not happen at the end of the book 

If Azriel was truly in love with Gwyn now /or he wanted her/ or more between them was going to happen/ or they were mates according to some theories we could have AT LEAST gotten more after the bonus. 

We know the bonus happened after solstice.

Nesta mentions that Azriel was stone-faced and more aloof than usual, he wouldn’t even give her a smile. That was 3 days after the necklace situation. I think it would’ve been a great opportunity to highlight any attraction between Azriel and Gwyn.

Maybe he sees the necklace around her neck, maybe Nesta and Emerie compliment Gwyn’s necklace, or Gwyn telling them she doesn’t know who it’s from, maybe they tease her that someone might have a crush on her. Nesta could’ve pointed out that Azriel was looking at Gwyn’s necklace.or looking at Gwyn in some sort of way. Literally anything. 

Anyone pointing out the way Azriel and Gwyn looked at each other. A charged glance perhaps. Literally ANYTHING. We only got him looking at her with admiration which is very teacher coded. 

If sjm hadn’t made Nesta realize Azriel had a thing for Elain then maybe gwnyriel would’ve been more appealing to me. But no, Nesta noticed. This doesn’t mean nothing people.

aside from that we got nothing romantic, but a part of the fandom still acts like we need to exile Elain because she’s coming between Gwyn and Azriel’s epic love story.

Not everyone has access to the bonus.  

The Azriel chapter was only in ONE store in the US, but Feysand’s bonus chapter was in 3 stores in the US and UK. I don't know but something tells me it’s more important.  Soooo if SJM would do a love interest switch she would not do it in a bonus chapter, and wouldn’t be highlighting the Az/Elain interactions in ACOSF as much as she did. 

Feyre’s chapter focuses on Elain, it literally tells us Elain is next once we’re done helping Nesta. EASY MATH. and the Azriel bonus also focuses on elriel/Azriel’s feelings. ENDGAME MATERIAL RIGHT HERE. 

But the girls swear up and down that Gwyn and Azriel’s book is next because of a secondhand necklace. 

Let’s assume elriels are the delusional ones (like so many of them say), how do we explain these. 

Casual readers who usually read books and aren’t on the internet and aren’t looking for bonus content (wish that was me)  (lord knows I skipped every bonus chapter in throne of glass and crescent city and I wasn’t confused about anything. Not even once) so they’d expect answers for 

The Charged glance between Azriel and Elain

Azriel following the sound of Elain’s laughter. 

Elain looking away when Azriel smiled at her during family dinner, Cassian god bless him that idiot could NOT piece all of that together. BUT it was still highlighted through his POV ???

His secret to tell never hers (and we do learn of that secret in the bonus but people who didn’t read it could only guess so they’d want a confirmation) and sjm did say in one of her lives that Nesta learns of one of Azriel’s secrets (she looked all giddy about it)... and that Azriel is going through some shit right now…and we learn why from the bonus chapter. 

Cassian being confused that it seems like Azriel moved on from Mor

Nesta pointing out that Elain moved on from Graysen

Cassian wondering why Elain is lying about where she’s going. (I viewed this as her avoiding Azriel but idk) 

Azriel’s protectiveness of Elain. He gives mate behavior without the mate part. (I will hit him on the head though omg let my girl do something)

Elain willing to look for the troves even when Nesta wasn’t, the girl wants to do something  (her journey is coming next) 

Nesta wondering if Elain is training with Azriel or the twins (who are spies that were trained by Azriel !!!) 

Feyre telling Azriel that Elain got him beat for secret keeping. Sure it might sound delusional but Elain keeps being compared to Az/being a spy and maybe this could be a thing. 

Elain speaking back to her sisters about them treating her like a child?? Hello finally 

The way Elain’s mother only treated her like a pretty doll which shaped up Elain’s whole life??? I want this from Elain’s POV sooo bad 

In conclusion, we’re not pausing Elain’s story so Azriel can end up with a side character in a spinoff about an og side character, we’re sticking to our og side characters for now.

Azriel being over Mor because of Elain, and Elain moving on from Graysen because of Azriel only for Elain to get over Azriel to be with Lucien (who we got nothing from aside a mating bond..) and for Az to get over Elain and questioning fate for her…only to end up with gwyn…like I don’t think anyone could take Azriel’s feelings seriously if this happens. Shit will be too goofy.  Because if he ends up with Gwyn who says he won’t move on to the next pretty girl he sees afterwards.

To add to that, what plot would we have for Azriel and Gwyn. We'll get more Valkyries training, more healing journey so the plot would have to be paused for this. Nesta’s book was mostly about her healing journey and friendship, while it was nice I don’t want a repeat for the next book. Especially since we know the Rite took a toll on Gwyn, she went back to the library, wasn’t even sure she would make it to Nessian’s mating ceremony. This doesn’t give the protagonist of the next book to me. Or "I thought it was pretty obvious"

Elain’s healing journey had started in ACOWAR, she got her friends in ACOWAR. Now is their TIME to do something!! She is next. 

Closing thoughts on what I think would happen based off each ship happening: 

If elriel happens = new sjm couple dynamic/interesting plot. Fresh sjm protagonist that is unlike sjm's others + we don’t ignore all the foreshadowing and hints. We follow the love triangle we set up in the og trilogy + finally get a rejected mating bond. And instead of warrior training we might get spy training and instead of physical power (as far as we know) we get something more mental. Again this is very new for sjm + there’s a lot to Elain’s power that we don’t know and since Azriel was the one who found out what she was, I think it would make more sense for him to know how to help her. Imagine the sexual tension during training..yes please. I hope sjm doesn’t rob me. Elain is really mysterious, we got Nesta’s inner thoughts before her book but we still haven't gotten a peep about Elain’s inner thoughts and I’m just dying to know more. AND THE STAKES!

1) Rhys forbidding Azriel from Elain, 2) Elain’s mating bond,3) Azriel’s self doubt and how he doesn’t think he’s good enough. 4) The blood duel and the political mess we could get into. (Lucien probs won't but what if Beron would, the breeding potential, A seer must be a powerful thing she can see things others can't and I think that’s valuable. If Eris thought Nesta was valuable as cauldron made and there was no potential there, so The Autumn court probably feels even more entitled to Elain) We have high inner and outer stakes. I have a feeling SJM will fumble all this potential but a girl can dream 

If elucien happens = another successful mating bond + “enemies”  to lovers sort of but they won’t ever be mean to each other so maybe not enemies, just dislike and awkwardness to friends to lovers?  We ignore the hints about a rejected bond and in mating bonds we trust. We also ignore all the elriel hints, and their mutual feelings. We follow the love triangle set up in the og trilogy. I don’t think Lucien could train her in anything? Maybe self defense, Idk Sarah could pull something, but I don’t see Elain leaving her circle of friends but neither do I see Lucien settling in the night court and leaving his own friends. There are no stakes but Elain’s and Lucien’s awkwardness around each other + Elain’s feelings for Azriel. Elain’s and Lucien’s plot connects though so at least there’s that, SJM could ship them off on a mission together and make them get closer. Forced proximity sort of thing. 

If gwynriel happens then = we lost the whole plot, ignored the foreshadowing and hints found in the actual book. Mentor to lovers, civil with each other. Azriel has to move on from Elain first though and that could be icky. Healing journey, more Valkyries training. So we pick up from where we left off in acosf, and we’d see Azriel trying to get her to come out of the Library, or he goes to visit her there until she agrees to come out again. Maybe if Gwyn is a lightsinger then idk more training with Azriel? Again, no stakes but Gwyn’s trauma and Azriel’s self doubt oh and also his feelings for Elain. But that’s it, Gwyn as of now does not connect to the overall plot with the troves (she’s not made therefore she can’t use them) or koschei. So I don’t see us making her go on a mission like that. I’ve seen a lot of gwynriles saying Gwyn has spy potential idk where, but she could barely keep a secret for Nesta so I highly doubt she’d be keeping secrets for the IC. 

Ps: the original koschei plot is 3 sisters marrying 3 very powerful wizards and like idk 3 sisters 3 brothers…we can have a retelling ya know 

[acourtofthought]

I recently saw an Elriel post where, I guess the person was trying to have a gochta moment because they were saying things like, "If Eluciens and Gwynriels are SO confident in their ship, why do they bother trying to argue with us? It makes them look REALLY insecure."

There's arguing on both sides.

I've seen Gwynriels and Eluciens make convincing post, defending their ships and providing evidence on why they hope they're right. I've also seen Elriels come onto those posts and start arguments.

I've also seen some valid Elriel posts defending the ship and some evidence supporting it. Only for some Elucien or Gwynriel to come into the post and begin arguing.

No side in this ship war is guiltless of engaging in debates and arguments or just straight-up insulting others. Now, does everyone in this fandom do that? No, but it does happen, and it's clearly happening on all sides, so why even try acting like your side is spotless when none of us can claim that?

And honestly, from everything I've seen recently, EVERYONE is getting a little insecure in their ships, but that's kinda what happens when we're all anxiously waiting for a new book announcement. We want new content, and we're not getting it, so we're delving deeper into the fandom, and tensions are rising. That's normal when you have a large, divided fandom with nothing for us to focus on.

I agree with everything you've said. To your first points, it does go both ways. If they were so confident in their ship the other side wouldn't be sending threats to the author or Bloomsbury. They wouldn't need to theorize that Gwyn was evil, that Lucien's character will be killed off, that he's harassing Elain, etc. They wouldn't need to twist canon until it's unrecognizable if they were so confident in their ship. And they wouldn't need to send hate anons to Eluciens and Gwynriels Elucien's and Gwynriels often engage because they see certain E/riels making things up in an effort to claim their ship is happening, they see them distorting facts and spreading misinformation. To this day I still see the argument that Elain's scent is Jasmine, proof that she'll end up staying in the NC because it's a NC flower, while completely ignoring that Jasmine was first mentioned in book 1 while Feyre was in Spring. They ignore that the author said her scent was Jasmine and HONEY, a "promise of Spring". If E/riels were so confident in their ship why do they have to eliminate canon text? Why do they pick and choose and pretend the rest didn't happen? To this day I still see that Az is Elain's choice despite the fact that she returned his necklace and didn't interact with him on page for months and months after. Maybe it would be easy for Gwynriels and Eluciens to ignore some of that until the other side begins to write posts like "Elucien's and Gwynriels are delusional for thinking their ship will happen". E/riels shouldn't be calling names and throwing down challenges then act surprised when we engage. To your second point, you're 100% right on that too. I think most are not as confident as they pretend to be and I include myself in that. I debate, I present my arguments and I think I do a well enough job but I am not certain of anything. We have very little to go on and are at the mercy of SJM which means only she knows what's actually going to happen. We've all spent years writing posts and creating content and the closer we get to knowing whether we've been right or wrong all this time is creating more stress than usual.

[ae-neon]

I think the hatred stems because the fandom often puts Feyre and Nesta at war with each other. I’m mostly on the Feyre tags sphere so I do often see cases where they switch Nesta as the OG trilogy MC. While it’s honestly fine because we’re free to imagine whatever we like and it’s uncommon thing in fandoms, it got to the point wherein they are openly anti-Feyre despite claiming otherwise and exaggeratedly try to downplay her skills even though canon says otherwise. “Nesta is so smart. Feyre can’t read” “She’d solve the riddle in no time coz Feyre is stupid.” “Nesta’s so good at dancing, I bet Feyre’s a bad painter.” “She’s a better queen than Feyre.” And many other things. It went to the extent of pushing Feyre aside so they can *shudders* pair N and Rhys (even though they make zero sense) and these are all just coming from Nesta stans not Rhys stans and it’s funny ‘coz these are the same stans who hate Rhys. So these occurrences somehow sparked Feyre stans’ to conclude that there is a portion in the fandom that likes to downplay and “steal” Feyre’s journey (and actually hates Feyre even more than Rhys) and make certain scenarios that already described Feyre’s character but likes to pass it down to Nesta. So there are some content that’s like, “so…it’s basically Feyre but just a different name.” I guess it’s the reason why Feyre stans are a bit more alerted when posts similar like that swarm the tags. Like how Nesta is being vilified in the fandom (and I can say, that it’s excessive hate), Feyre’s character is also surrounded with misogynistic and ableist takes coming mostly from Nesta/Valkyrie (and Tamlin) lovers and I think each side already has a tainted impression of one another because of how often they take advantage of the character tags to post passive-aggressive posts towards the character. I’m sure that IC stans aren’t so innocent and I have seen them made a lot of toxic and harmful comments as well. So I guess the acotar fandom’s more like, “You stay on you lane and I’ll stick with mine” I think the fandom’s pretty fragile rn with the very evident divide between IC vs other characters. Paired that with the ship wars between Elriel and Gwynriel. While I’m more pro-IC and a Feyre kinnie, I still have a soft spot for the the three sisters. I agree on one reply that for your peace (and to not start another fandom war), if it’s an anti-Feysand post, it’s best not to use the Feyre and Rhysand tags. I think half of Nesta stans don’t ship Nessian so it’s a bit different for Feysand because majority/almost all Feyre and Rhys stans/whole acotar fandom have long established Feysand as the couple.

Anon, thank you for being so clear about it.

I want to be honest with you that many of those things describe stuff similar to things I've said and posted about.

But I also wanna say that I do feel like the three sisters - more so Nesta and Feyre are at the heart of my view of acotar. I think how similar yet different they are makes so many of those scenarios interesting to explore but I've never thought of just replacing Nesta with Feyre.

Eg if Nesta went to the Spring Court it would have been just as fascinating to see Feyre's journey to the wall to get Nesta back. For me the men in the series are kinda just complimentary, sorry if that sounds mean.

If I imagine N x R it's not because I want Rhys to treat Nesta like Feyre, it's just because I think they'd 8 out 10 times not work out romantically but seeing them work together would be interesting.

If I imagine Feyre as a Valkyrie it's because I miss certain aspects of Feyre's character that's unique to her, that I feel Nesta doesn't have. I personally don't see Nesta really ever working with Lucien as sjm planned or Cassian as is canon but I think it would be so easy for those characters to fall in love with Feyre because of who she is.

I dislike Rhysand, I won't lie to you. Like Cassian, I think how they treat their mates and how sjm uses the narrative for them makes real romance (in the way I see it) very difficult to imagine. In certain ways that I think he takes advantage of Feyre, I don't think he would be able to with Nesta - not cause she's better, just cause they're different.

I also am not really one of those stans who buys into Queen Nesta being literal like Queen of Hybern or Prythian or whatever. I just think that given her canon background she fits the political sphere better than Feyre does, the same way Feyre fits the action heroine and girl with a big friend group vibe better than Nesta does

I just want to be free to explore both sides of those narrative switches but it feels like the Feyre stans root her identity in her being with Rhysand. She was the saviour of Prythian, she killed the Middengard Wyrm, she trapped and befriended a Suriel - things I don't believe Nesta could do - so putting all the weight of her identity into "High Lady" the only one of her titles she owes directly to Rhysand is kinda sad and condescending to me.

Anyways that's for this open and honest dialogue

[perseusannabeth]

Hi I saw you reblogged some gwynriel stuff but you also reblog elriel stuff too. Where do you stand on the whole debate?

Hi! I think the fandom has gone to shit over this entire thing but I’ve always been a very multi-ship kind of person. Before acosf I shipped both elucien and elriel, and now I also ship gwynriel. I tag each ship as elain x lucien, elain x azriel and gwyn x azriel so if you want to blacklist a ship then go ahead, I always tag things. 

I’m not really into the ship wars or the super complex theories about things just because I feel like people get too attached to them and then are disappointed when they don’t happen in canon (we saw a lot of this in acosf regarding Nesta and the IC and I can’t be bothered with that again). 

I guess I kinda feel like eluicen and gwynriel are more likely to happen just bc I don’t see how else Sarah can do it so that Lucien isn’t just shoved off to the side? Idk Sarah said she likes Lucien and I can’t imagine him with Vassa bc she’s a human. That’s just me though, I still like elriel art and fics. I just don’t get involved in anything else. I’m here to support my fellow content creators. I have content planned for all 3 of those ships that I want to write and post at some point.