#sjmcu

[stumbleonhometomycats]

decided that my favorite book trope is when the female love interest is in mortal peril and the male main character goes absolutely fucking feral to protect her

[silverlinedeyes]

In Their Starborn Era

(HOFAS spoilers below)

The starborn age has ended on Midgard…

…and the Archeron Starborn Era is about to begin on Prythian. LFG!!!!

The Archeron Sisters are Starborn

As @offtorivendell has theorized here, @wingedblooms has theorized here, I have theorized here and here, we think each of the Archeron sisters is starborn and has part of Theia’s (or her children’s) light.

Elain has Helena’s.

Nesta has Silene’s.

Feyre has Theia’s (or maybe her son’s if that crack theory is right lol).

Though I wonder about Nesta’s Starborn power, and if she gave some of it back to the Cauldron at the end of ACOSF…and what that might mean for her ability to use Gwydion or TT at all on her own, like Bryce can. So what does that mean?

We get hints that Elain has strong starborn power:

So will Elain at first be the one to wield Gwydion and TT as she (and Az) go on their quests? Potentially to revive Dusk, or other parts of Prythian, as @offtorivendell and @wingedblooms have theorized?

And might she in part use them to help herself? To unMake her bond with Lucien using TT to free them both of it, and to potentially Make a new bond with Az (if a bond doesn’t already exist), either using her powers, or using Gwydion?

Together They Can Activate TT and Gwydion

Only united can Theia’s starborn power activate Gwydion and TT and be used to kill the unkillable. The Asteri in Midgard. Koschei in ACOTAR?

The Sisters’ Bonds

Right now, the bonds between the sisters are somewhat fractured, particularly still between Nesta and Elain.

Those bonds will need to finally heal so that they can come together to use Gwydion and TT to save Prythian.

[irondork]

everybody shut the fuck up what if elriel ‘who did this to you?’ BUT it’s elain asking not az

[acotars]

possibly an unpopular opinion but i feel like sjm’s writing/plotting have gone downhill, which is disappointing bc i enjoyed tog so much. i actually did like the first 4 acotar books and hoeab, but her most recent work feels like she’s trying to do too much with the maasverse and it’s not well thought out (i had so many issues with the larger world plot elements of acosf and the regression on bryce’s character arc in hosab…). it feels like as she’s gotten more and more popular, whoever her current editor is doesn’t do a good job at making her ideas work best for the overall story. i’m disappointed bc the premises have so much potential but haven’t lived up to it to me :/

send me your unpopular opinions and i’ll either let you in or not

[bookofmirth]

was there any mention of aelin or anything tog related in hofas or is the sjmcu currently only incorporating cc and acotar with tog getting just the old snippet of aelin passing through the worlds?

I’m gonna put this under the cut as a hofas spoiler

So there aren’t any ToG characters present, but Lidia does have twins (!!) and she named one of them after her “ancestor” Brannon. Do with that what you will 🤭

[just-a-fangirlmore]

The only good thing about this crossover thingy SJM is making is that I might see Nesta (and hopefully Aelin eventually) again 🤧🤧🤧

[nessiansupremacy]

HOSAB SPOILERS / rant

Spoilers ahead!!!

Oh my god. Pls for the love of god CHILL TF OUT ABOUT ELRIEL VS. GWYNRIEL. Y’all have made this whole ass lovely book about 3 characters, two of which DID NOT PHYSICALLY APPEAR IN THE BOOK. It’s completely experience ruining. Like why do y’all have to be so fucking rude to each other? I am more of a Gwynriel but it’s my personal preference, I liked Elriel too before ACOSF. (I honestly lean more towards the Elain / villain plot because I love female villains and how fun would that be???) But if you ship Elriel like hell yeah! I can get onboard with that too! Just gotta see where CC3 or ACOTAR5 takes us. I’m here for the ride.

Anyways. SJM blessed us with a book full of beautiful relationships of all types: romantic, familial, friendship and found family and all you can focus on is this petty bullshit. And a compelling plot that ultimately tied together the 3 SJM series we love so dearly. Stop making it all about who Azriel ends up with.

(But for real guys… the fact that the townhouse smells like bread and roses means nothing for Elriel. It just means Elain was at the house. We have no other indication that they live together, and if they do, no indication of it being romantic. There is so much we don’t know about T/T and Gwydion, you cannot base anything off of that. Let’s just not jump to foregone conclusions.)

Just like ACOSF, these ship wars polluted the book tag & dampened the experience for me.

Additionally, if you don’t like the sjmcu. Don’t read it. It’s simple. I think the crossover is nice, I think we’ll see TOG as well. I’m excited for how these are all linking. Let’s just have fun, and be kind to one another.

[richie-is-rich]

This is my first and probably only sjm/acotar post I'll ever write so I'll make it quick.

A lot of y'all little bitches are whining and kicking your little feet about the "sjmcu" and screaming how Sarah needs to get off rhysand's dick and move on, how she's a terrible writer and it's "embarrassing" that she can't get over a few characters.

What's embarrassing is that you're spending your time and energy harassing an entire fandom over this. Sarah is the author. She can do literally whatever the fuck she wants. And you, sweet little angels, can simply put the books down. You can completely disregard that you ever read all that you read by sjm. You can grow up, go to work at your actual jobs and stop bitching on the internet about a series that does not belong to you.

And yet here you are, acting like fucking fools. Honestly, who fucking cares about your opinions?? Nobody!

[rhysands-rightknee]

since the SJMCU is happening, I get why she never published World of Throne of Glass. Something is brewing ☕️

[the-dark-swan]

WELCOME TO THE SJMCU EVERYBODY

[stumbleonhometomycats]

this was sooooo fucking savage of Rhysand tbh

[silverlinedeyes]

Pelias, Ruhn, Az, and Clotho(?)

Some theories

This post is a collection of theories @merymoonbeam and I have been kicking around for a while. Much of the credit of these goes to her—I’m just the one writing this post. But as usual with our convos, this snowballed into something much bigger than we initially anticipated 😅🤯

TW: this post discusses the lightsinger theory. If that’s not your thing or it’s triggering to you, don’t read past the break. And these are just theories (and some are crack theories at that)!

And finally, this is a crossover post and contains spoilers from CC and ACOTAR.

Was Pelias really Starborn, or was he a lightsinger?

In HOEAB, we’re told Pelias was the “first Starborn Prince.” That he “possessed what was basically an ocean of starlight at his disposal.”

We are also told that Pelias’ light was different than Theia’s.

In ACOSF, we learn that Fionn was betrayed by his queen (Theia) and his best friend and general (Pelias) who stole Gwydion (the Starsword) from him and killed him. We know from CC that Theia and Fionn (and Theia’s two daughters) then went through the Rift to Midgard, bringing Gwydion with them. It’s unclear what led to this betrayal, and why Theia “betrayed” Fionn and left with Pelias.

In HOSAB, things get interesting though. We learn that Pelias was “no true” prince. He slew Theia, stole “her” sword, forced Helena into marriage, and “corrupted” Theia’s line. He was only a “so-called first Starborn Prince” and an “imposter.”

Could Aidas (or Rigelus as Aidas) be telling us more about Pelias than he was just a traitor who didn’t deserve to be a prince? What if Pelias wasn’t actually Starborn, but something else? Something that could pretend to be Starborn? Something that could emit light but not truly activate or use the Starsword? A lightsinger?

This also would explain why Theia betrayed Fionn and left with Pelias, and also how Pelias was able to get Helena to marry him. If Pelias is a lightsinger, he might have used his lightsinging powers on them to manipulate them into it. And he also used those powers to make people see him as a prince.

Pelias, Ruhn, and the Starsword

In HOEAB, Ruhn tells Bryce, “The sword doesn’t work like that. Aside from being picky about who draws it, the sword has no power without the knife.”

This seems based both on legend and on Ruhn’s experience. By this, I mean that Pelias could no longer use the power of the Starsword after the knife (TT) was taken back to Prythian (by Theia’s second daughter???), and the Starsword also has no power when Ruhn uses it. Light “shimmers” *down* the sword when Ruhn is holding it and “glimmers” with starlight, but he cannot activate its power or use it as more than just a sword.

The use of the word “glimmer” when Ruhn is holding the sword is part of what led us to this theory. In the Azriel bonus chapter, when he first comes to the roof and finds Gwyn there, her sword is “glimmering” in the moonlight.

While this might actually just literally be caused by her sword reflecting in the moonlight, it’s also possible Gwyn is using her powers to make the sword “glimmer” here, just like the Starsword seems to “glimmer” with Ruhn’s starlight that he emits when he uses it.

[Interestingly, the priestesses’ stones also “glimmer” in the fae light at the beginning of the singing service scene. And Ianthe uses “some glimmer” of power to lull the guard to sleep in ACOWAR? Also lightsinger powers?]

Anyways, the thing is, Ruhn is wrong about the Starsword. The Starsword does have power without the knife. In HOSAB, we see Bryce actually use the Starsword for the first time:

Bryce didn’t stop to think as she unsheathed it. Starlight erupted from the black blade. Like its metal had been kindled with iridescent fire. …

The Starsword sang with light, her power flowing into it. Activating it. …

With shaking fingers, she put it back into its sheath. Dimmed its light. But the Starsword still sang, and Bryce had no idea what to make of it.

Bryce is able to activate the Starsword’s powers with her Starborn power and use it to kill things that are supposed to be unkillable.

So if Bryce is able to activate the Starsword’s powers with her Starborn power, why couldn’t Ruhn and Pelias? I guess it’s possible Ruhn can’t because he only has a small kernel of the (supposed) Starborn power, but that doesn’t explain Pelias. If Pelias was really a Starborn Prince, shouldn’t he have been able to use the Starsword without the knife?

Or…can they not activate the Starsword because they are not actually Starborn? And instead, they’re light comes from a different source—lightsinging?

Ruhn, Azriel, and Clotho (Gwyn?)

If Ruhn is a lightsinger, again, it seems like he only has a small amount of the power. Ruhn himself describes it as a “kernel.” It’s interesting, though. Unlike Bryce, who doesn’t seem to have to work hard at all to access her Starborn powers or use them, it causes Ruhn a significant amount of effort:

It ordinarily took Ruhn a good amount of concentration to summon his starlight, and it usually left him with a headache for hours afterward, but … He was intrigued enough to try.

Setting his index finger onto the crystal of the prism, Ruhn closed his eyes and focused upon his breathing. Let the clicking metal of the orrery guide him down, down, down into the black pit within himself, past the churning well of his shadows, to the little hollow beneath them. There, curled upon itself like some hibernating creature, lay the single seed of iridescent light.

He gently cupped it with a mental palm, stirring it awake as he carefully brought it upward, as if he were carrying water in his hands. Up through himself, the power shimmering with anticipation, warm and lovely and just about the only part of himself he liked.

Ruhn gets a headache when he tries to access his “Starborn” power, which is hidden deep down inside him past his shadows. It seems almost as if the powers work against each other? It might even be that Ruhn’s “light” power, whatever it is, dampens his Avallen powers, and vice versa? It does seem that Ruhn’s Avallen powers aren’t nearly as powerful as Cormac’s. Could this be why? Because his “light” power suppresses his Avallen/shadow powers?

And where Ruhn’s “light” power is and how it’s described is interesting. It’s this seed of “iridescent light” that’s buried down deep inside him.

The headaches is what @merymoonbeam first noticed—it reminded her of the headaches Az constantly gets. Maybe those headaches are related to Az using his shadowsinging powers?

But then we were talking about it more, and this scene with Ruhn finding his power made us think of the end of the bonus scene:

Something sparked in Azriel's chest, but he only nodded his thanks and left. He could picture it, though, as he ascended the stairs back to  the House proper. How Gwyn's teal eyes might light upon seeing the necklace. For whatever reason... he could see it.  

But Azriel tucked away the thought, consciously erasing the slight smile it brought to his face. Buried the image down deep, where it glowed quietly.

Something sparked in Azriel’s chest. To “spark” means:

To ignite. To start a fire essentially. Could that spark in Azriel’s chest be the ignition of power in his chest?

And then this image of gwyn come to his mind, which he buries “down deep” inside himself where it “glowed quietly,” as @merymoonbeam has written about?

Did Clotho (or maybe Gwyn) plant a seed of lightsinger power inside Az?

Could this seed of lightsinger power dampen or suppress Az’s shadowsinging abilities? And is this why his shadows are missing in HOSAB chapter 78?

Or maybe that lightsinger power isn’t suppressing his shadowsinging abilities, but is instead being used to influence and control Az’s shadows from inside him…..

[irondork]

not one single sjm male has dom energy and idk where she’s getting the idea that they do

your gonna tell me rowan ‘immediately drops to his knees to swear a blood oath in front of god and everyone’ whitethorn or azriel ‘would beg on his knees for even just the barest taste of elain’ no last name are gonna be dominant in bed??? unrealistic blockt

dorian and ruhn have switch energy so i’ll allow that and cassian deserves to get pegged he’s earned it 👏👏

rowan needs to get absolutely rawed by aelin asap tho

[acotars]

finally reading house of sky and breath bc my nosey ass wants to know what everyone’s talking about with their predictions for book 3 and ???? how have i so thoroughly avoided learning anything about the plot of this book. a fiancé????? a thunderbird????? waiting until solstice ????? and they were roommates ???? it feels like i should have known about ONE of these things by now but genuinely the only thing i know is the sjmcu so this will be interesting

[feysandfeels]

I don't know how to feel about this crossover thing. It worries me because everyone apparently thinks Sarah will ruin it and it's not good.

Ay sugar I get it :(

Normally this is how it tends to go, SJM will say something and the general reaction is that of dismay and distrust. Besides we all know that it is rare to see praise for her, people love to always highlight the aspects of her craft that could use improvement and her lows, and they do so to a degree that goes beyond "enjoying stuff critically".

Anywho, seeing how few of my friends do not care for ACOTAR but love CC or adore ACOTAR but can't do the modern vibe of CC, I understand that they feel a bit cheated because they are made to read about a whole other world they do not care for and after all why should you spend time reading something you don't want. Specially for the ACOTAR ones having to read CC to understand better what is happening in ACOTAR5 seems a bit unfair to them.

Initially I was not against the crossover, I loved both worlds and I think the interaction of vastly different cultures will be interesting and funny. However I do think that having half of CC3 happen in Velaris is excessive. I believe this will change in the final outcome and we will spend less time than she previously announced in Velaris. That being said it is clear that whatever happens in those chapters will be crucial to the ACOTAR5 plot. My hope is those chapters can be read like a novella between ACOTAR books so non-CC readers wont have to go through HOEAB, HOSAB and CC3 if they do not wish to.

Even when Sarah has taken narrative choices that are not what I would have gone with or her characters end up developing in another way that differs from where I thought they ought to go, I still end up enjoying her books and in a way seeing things from her perspective and understanding why she went the way she did. So I have that hope for this crossover.

But I won't lie to you ACOTAR and CC have vastly different objectives and rhythms. ACOTAR has always been a character exploration and deep conversations on abuse and trauma; CC has been a different kind of project that focuses on characters in another way that aims to balance it more with an outside plot. So I don't know how she will accommodate the narrative dynamic of ACOTAR to fit the pace of CC. But now that I think about it... this is not a 50-50 crossover, this is still a CC book so most likely we will get ACOTAR characters done from a CC narrative perspective and that makes sense.

I also think we are blowing it all up of proportion but that happens when news drop about things we care for as deeply as we do for her work. And it does annoy me to another world to see people who don't think Sarah has it in her to stick the landing with this project. Yes she has stated that sometimes her plans change along the way or new details emerge that she had not foreseen, but this doesn't mean that she does not have a good clear idea of where both series are going. I bet that a lot of other favorite authors do this but are less vocal about it. Sarah has always been a gardening-approach author and those do ask for a different kind of understanding of the story, as opposed to the architectural types of writing.

To me it makes a lot of sense that when she initially wrote ACOTAR she had no idea this crossover was possible, but perhaps along the way in ACOWAR when CC had more structure and bones she started to see the possibility form. Now it was clear that she could not introduce the crossover-sjmcu elements in a book that was on its final stages of publication, so she had to start introducing them in SF but that doesn't mean she did not think of how the information she already established in TAR-WAR could serve for this new idea.

For now we have no assurances of how things will go but I rather trust in the qualities I have seen from her that have made me a longtime fan of her stories.

At the end of the day most of us love her stories so lets hope we love this one too, I think it's a better approach than outright hating it even before you know how it will end up... saves up energy.

Besos besos

[nessiansupremacy]

book 19

rating: ☆☆☆☆.75

date read: 02/22/2022

spoilers

What a rollercoaster. Where do I begin??? BRYCE AND HUNT??? Endgame confirmed I would hope and fucking pray. They own my soul. And broke it. Ruhn is maybe the most precious thing to ever exist. Protect him and also Lidia??? YES. My heart broke everytime Danika was mentioned and ESPECIALLY secrets that she never told Bryce. I hope Bryce can find peace about Danika. But I love how much Danika continues to contribute to the story. All the side characters were so much fun. I am MAD we got nothing of Aidas. oh. and that ending? SCREAMING. CRYING. I love it. Idk if it’s the sjmcu. I was sobbing knowing that Nessian were in that room. Azriel meeting Bryce. I’m so excited to dive into this new leg of both these series.