I’m just thinkin’ ‘bout books

[justthinkinboutbooks]

I am 1000% Elriel. However, I think when we get a synopsis it's not going to definitively say who Elain will end up with because that will defeat the purpose of her story. If the crux of her love story is about breaking a mating bond and choosing someone else, the synopsis is going to be along the lines of, "who will she choose? her mate, or the man she loves?" The podcast certainly didn't help the E/ucien case, but I think there has to be some level of exploration of their bond before it's rejected, and the synopsis will capitalize on that. We won't know for sure who is end game until we have the second book imo

[justthinkinboutbooks]

man...the gw/nriels must feel really good from all that stretching they've done today

[justthinkinboutbooks]

SJM could have written Lucien rescuing Elain but she chose not to.

No, he wasn’t there at the time nor was he away she’d been captured. But SJM could have gotten him there.

He could have gone ahead of the army only to show up that night to find his mate in the hands of the enemy. He could have declared that he was getting her back and that she was, indeed, worth fighting for. It would have been a poignant moment that called back to what he’d said earlier in the book.

But SJM didn’t write that. Lucien, Elain’s confirmed mate, wasn’t mentioned once during that whole ordeal.

Why?

Why direct our attention to Azriel and keep it there?

Red herring? Maybe. Until we get an official confirmation we can’t say that isn’t a possibility.

But what’s the alternative to that?

I different romance. One that has been called back to again and again across multiple books that has called into question not only the quality of the bond between Elain and Azriel but the Cauldron itself, the very thing holding the world together.

I cannot be convinced that the latter is not just the more likely of the two, but also the most interesting

[justthinkinboutbooks]

Things that have brought me comfort recently:

Elriel is the only current pairing that wants each other. Neither Elain nor Lucien wants the other, they're stuck together because of the bond. Neither Azriel nor Gwyn have showen the slightest romantic interest in the other

Elriel is the only potential pairing credible news and media sites have discussed. Elriel has TIME, GA has ScreenRant at best. That's what happens when you have canon evidence

The pipeline of having a character questioning the Cauldron, then that character being present to find out that the Cauldron was indeed corrupted in the author's following book, then that author saying that they're interested in exploring what happens when the powers that be put you with the wrong person is pretty fucking clear

SJM hasn't talked about EL once since ACOWAR came out. They're a confirmed mated pair. If they're endgame, why the silence?

ACOTAR is the only SJM world where bonds can be poorly chosen. We now know why. What was the point of deepening that part of the lore if it wasn't going to be explored as a main story? What was the point of pairing Elain and Lucien together when it's clear that neither wants the other? What was the point of multiple characters questioning their bond? Find me a single piece of evidence that Lucien's desire for Elain is anything beyond the biological tug of the bond.

Elriels literally have nothing to fear. If you're feeling doubt, then the EL/GA gaslighting is working, and I encourage you to come back to this post and remember that Elriel is undoubtedly where the story is going <3

[justthinkinboutbooks]

Hey all! Hope you've all had a great summer. I wanted to share something I've realized this summer as I took a bit of a break from this fandom nonsense:

It's Elriel.

It's absolutely Elriel.

Gwynriel exists on the internet and the internet alone, certainly not in the books. No one gives a shit about it. Least of all SJM.

She's not even active on socials to see all the GA shippers bitch, moan, and gaslight.

The team at BB doesn't care either. I mean, I'm sure they see it and they love it because of how much engagement it creates but what would they gain by forcing their biggest author to change the trajectory of the story she's so obviously been setting up?

The next book will isolate readers no matter what and making it GA would isolate more (therefore they would lose money in the longrun) because it would make no sense to the majority of readers. Gwynriels are the minority.

I'm glad I took a step back from arguing with people on the internet. It gave me better perspective and clarity on this whole situation and how we literally have nothing to worry about :)

[lovemyromance]

"Elain hates violence she will never love Azriel he tortured people"

First of all - nobody loves violence.

Everyone in the IC does what they do to avoid conflict, avoid war, avoid chaos. None of them inherently are violent creatures intent on destruction. They are warriors out of necessity, not out of a need to conquer and loot and just a general bloodlust.

And out of necessity, even Elain is capable of violence. *cough* Hybern *cough* kicking away those hounds

Nobody is out there excited to destroy lives. Not Elain. Not Rhys. Not Feyre. Not Azriel. Not Cassian. Not Nesta. Not Mor. Maybe... maybe Amren tho lol

Second of all - Azriel's job as the Spymaster of the NC does not make him inherently a bad person. Torturing information out of enemies and traitors and threats to stability does not make someone evil. Getting his hands dirty to protect his court doesn't make Azriel a bad person.

Elain has already seen the damage he, Cassian, and Rhys can inflict. She's seen Nesta literally finish sawing the head off the King. She watched Rhys literally misting armies. She was at the war with Hybern. She knows perfectly well what her family is capable of.

Also the utter hypocrisy of saying Elain couldn't stomach Azriel's job - but then using Lucien "panting and bloodied" as a way to prove what a good mate he is, claiming that he slaughtered his way across a battlefield to get to Elain (this was never said in the text btw, but a lot of ELs like to pretend Lulu did some heroic act by SHOWING UP with blood on his clothes and panting and that implies he killed his way across to get to Elain).... like weren't y'all the ones claiming she hates violence...? So why are you then claiming Lucien is also violent in his need to get to Elain? I thought she didn't like that 😠

It's almost like... that's literally mate behavior ...? But it's only bad if Azriel shows that behavior toward Elain. Apparently.

[justthinkinboutbooks]

Yeah, I've truly never understood this take.

Like, let's assume Elain doesn't know the full extent of Azriel's job (which is very likely given his thoughts in the BC). What reason have we been given in text that it would push Elain away? Sure, she's not going to be ever be the person who starts a fight, but we've seen that she will be violent when it's necessary. Is it not possible that she would be able to see Azriel's violence as a necessity as well?

Better yet, what evidence do we have that Gwyn would be able to handle Azriel's violence "better" Elain? Gwyn, like Elain, has been exposed to incredibly violent behavior. She trains now, not because she's a violent person, but because her trauma around violence is more acute than Elain's and she wants to be able to protect herself. But like Elain, she's not an inherently violent person.

Antis seem to refuse to acknowledge that Elain saw war. She was captured by the enemy, who were torturing humans for amusement. She walked through a battlefield. She stabbed a king. She now lives amongst warriors and spies.

Elain might not like violence per se, but she doesn't hide from or shun it either. If she judged the people in her life for their violent actions she would be a hypocrite.

[flowersandshadows112]

When I made a joke on Twitter about Lucien not showing mate behavior, like Azriel and somehow they found by tweet and apparently I can’t read and stupid😂😂😂 I’m so humbled😆

[fantaxzia]

We're talking in terms of doylist perspective while they're trying to justify it through watsonian perspective.

SJM deliberately wrote these situations where Lucien had to be away from Elain and Azriel was closer to her. One can keep arguing about how Lucien couldn't fly or winnow across the continent to rescue Elain, but it's still an in-world argument.

Why the hell would SJM not write it so that Elain was rescued by her mate is what should be the focus. She created these situations, because she doesn't want Lucien to be with Elain. Because she's making elriel endgame. She made Elain and Lucien mates, yes, but it was never meant to be an accepted bond.

[flowersandshadows112]

Thank you!!!! In that specific situation, SJM could’ve easily included Lucien but she didn't, who did all the work? Azriel, because she is doing all of this as a build-up for their relationship!!! 🥹

[justthinkinboutbooks]

Yes! I’m actually not a fan of the take that Lucien’s not rescuing Elain is a reflection of his character. I don’t think that it is at all. He very likely had no idea. Yes, Rhys felt Feyre in Spring in WaR but their bond was fully accepted at that point and we have every reason to believe that changes how acutely a mated pair feels each other on a metaphysical level.

However, if SJM wanted us to root for Elucien, she would have found a way for him to find out, get there, and rescue her. But she had Azriel do it.

The antis are asking the wrong questions. If Elucien were endgame, why would SJM have Azriel rescue Elain? What narrative purpose does that serve?

[justthinkinboutbooks]

"Elriels always talk about how Elain and Azriel are already in love, but that it happened off-page. I like my romances to happen on-page."

This is a super common GA argument I see and I don't think it applies to the majority of Elriels, to be honest. I, for one, don't think they are in love yet. On that path? 100%. But there's work to be done first.

Because think about it, what would have happened off-page between them? Clearly not much since they haven't even kissed yet (and we know they're attracted to each other). They're not off having secret rendezvous...yet. That's what would happen in their book, but it's not happening at this point.

And we know that because we've already been privy to the vast majority of their interactions. The only one we haven't seen was the second time Azriel took her out to the garden, but we can assume it was much the same as the first since, at that point, Elain was still unwell.

And then in ACOSF, we're told that he's living up at the HoW for some reason.

That reason was confirmed for us in the BC, that he's avoiding Elain because of his feelings for her.

But no, besides the "occasional brush of their fingers" we've been privy to all of their interactions thus far. What else would we have missed if they haven't even kissed yet?

And we know they have feelings for each other, but the romance has yet to to begin.

Because, we too, like our romance to be on-page.

[silverflameataraxia]

There's certain aspects of ACOSF that don't make sense to me.

The IC practically have Nesta locked up in the HoW, but Elain can't even be bothered to ask for Nesta's permission before coming up for a visit? If Nesta can't go anywhere, she should be able to control who she wants to come visit (if anyone).

The sisters fight and then Elain cries to Rhysand about how Nesta isn't even trying, which is total BS, considering she's doing exactly what they asked her to: training in the morning and working in the afternoon. Gwyn has even practically become her friend at this point (not that that's any of the IC's business). Plus, who is Elain to judge Nesta's progress after a five minute conversation? The only person who can judge Nesta's progress is Cassian, since he sees her every day. And Elain cries to Rhysand about Nesta not trying, knowing full well what will happen to Nesta if she doesn't try: dumping her in the human lands, where she will probably be hunted and killed. But yet Elain has the nerve to say they're doing this because they love Nesta?

And this is after it took Elain months to overcome her trauma. Feyre took months to get over her trauma. Cassian took ten years to come to terms with his trauma. But Nesta has been given two weeks before Rhysand is threatening to obliterate her or throw her in the human lands? And she's doing exactly what they asked her to.

On top of all that, Nesta's a very private person. She has twenty years worth of trauma that no one knows about. That's going to take a lot longer than two weeks to come to terms with and overcome.

[justthinkinboutbooks]

Hello! This popped up on my feed randomly and as someone who relates to Elain more than Nesta, I thought I'd share my perspective on this scene.

Elain did give Nesta space. Months of it. The entire IC did. It was what Nesta wanted, but when she continued to engage in harmful behavior, they essentially staged an intervention. As someone who has had to do this for a loved one, I never once questioned the IC's methods in SF.

But back to Elain.

She's a character who has been described as someone who dares to hope. After hearing from Cassian that the training was helping Nesta, she hoped a good time to see her had finally arrived. Was she wrong? 100%. She completely misjudged the amount of time it would take for Nesta to heal, and I don't think she realized that Nesta needed to heal completely separate from both of her sisters, not just Feyre.

In terms of her saying that Nesta wasn't even trying to get better: what other conclusion was she meant to come to in that very emotional moment? Nesta didn't want to share any of her progress with Elain because she was too angry. Elain, expecting to talk to a Nesta on the mend, spoke to one who just wanted to hurt her, which isn't exactly conducive to healing. It was a shock and I doubt Elain would be able to think logically in that moment.

That said, after that visit, we never see Elain drop in again. She listened and didn't impose on Nesta's healing anymore.

Elain was naive and jumped the gun a bit, but it's because she was hopeful. She missed her sister. Making a mistake out of love and hope doesn't make someone a bad person.

Anyway that's my ramble. Have a lovely day!

[justthinkinboutbooks]

Elain in black theory

Back for a quick moment after I was inspired by an argument I saw in another acotar group literally as I was leaving it lol

People on the other side of the ship war just looooove to say that Elain not looking good in black is foreshadowing that she'll leave the NC.

(we on the Elriel side tend to diminish this moment as "Cassian's fashion opinion" but in all fairness, Nesta did also say in her POV that the black dress was ill-suited for Elain. Considering that opinion have from from 2 POVs, we should take it seriously)

I want to look as a particular part of Cassian's analysis of her dress:

"Elain in black was ridiculous. Yes, she was beautiful, but the color of her long-sleeved, modest gown leeched the brightness from her face. It wore her, rather than the other way around. [...] He'd never once in the two years he'd known her found Elain to be plain, but wearing black, no matter how much she claimed to be part of this court... It sucked the life from her."

First, this was the point, was it not? If there's one thing we know about Eris, it's that he likes to fuck with people. How much fun for him would it be to dance with his brother's mate? A person he himself called a beauty at one point. Keeping his eye on Nesta was imperative to the whole plan, so they had to downplay Elain's beauty.

But if we want to think about what this could hint at if its purpose was foreshadowing, then I have an alternative to the "Elain leaves the NC" theory:

I think Elain looking bad in black could be another hint at her becoming a spy.

What do spies want to avoid at all times?

Attention.

Elain, as a very beautiful woman, attracts attention. That would be her downfall as a spy. We know she's stealthy, an excellent secret-keeper, and a seer. Those are all great qualities for spying, but how useful are they really if she's devastatingly beautiful and turning heads wherever she goes?

But now we know that there is a way to diminish her presence. To make her plain. To make her fade into the background should the occasion call for it.

If Eris can ignore her in black, anyone can, no?

Anyway, crawling back into my cave to hibernate until an announcement.

[justthinkinboutbooks]

Now that Elriel Month is ending and we're definitely not getting an announcement anytime soon, I'm gonna log off for at least the summer (I have a sneaky suspicion we'll get an autumn announcement lol).

Have a great and safe summer, Elriels! <3

[youkoeyes]

Is the way Azriel perceives women and romantic relationships problematic?

No and I'm Elriel

No and I'm Gwynriel

No and I'm Elucien

Yes and I'm Elucien

Yes but he gains a much healthier perspective when he's Elain

Yes but he gains a much healthier perspective when he is with Gwyn

He's too disturbed to be with anyone

Yes, because he should be in a same sex relationship with Eris

Voting ended onJun 6, 2024

[justthinkinboutbooks]

This is fascinating and further reinforces what I've been saying about how Elriel Azriel and Gwynriel Azriel are not the same character. We have such vastly different interpretations of the shadowsinger that it's no wonder we can't agree on anything.

[justthinkinboutbooks]

How do you feel about Azris as a compromise in this shipwar?

100% down

No, it's gross

I don't feel any kind of way about Azris

Voting ended onJun 6, 2024

(yes, I understand this would never happen in a million years because SJM doesn't have the balls let's be honest but it's a top-tier crackship)

[justthinkinboutbooks]

I'm convinced that GA shippers don't even like Azriel.

Like, they have such horrible things to say about him. Calling him an incel, making his lust for Elain a negative, saying he's creepy and entitled.

Why are you shipping him with sweet Gwyn, then? If he's all of those things with Elain, what's to stop him from being any better with Gwyn?

It doesn't make sense.

I feel like they hate their canon interpretation of Azriel but love their fanon version of him. And they are not the same Azriel.

[justthinkinboutbooks]

When EL shippers say, "Elain feels the mating bond, she's just scared of it," I think they have a point.

But not because I think she's going to eventually succumb to the bond.

Elain definitely feels the bond. It's there, it's real. We saw it in that scene where Lucien was trying to figure out what was wrong with her. He tugged on the bond and it freaked Elain out.

So yeah, she definitely feels something. I don't think most Elriels would deny that.

However, I think whatever feelings she has surrounding the bond freak her out because she knows how it feels to be in love, and that's not what she's experiencing with it.

I actually think this is something that Elain and Lucien could bond over. It could also lead to a possible mutual rejection of the bond.

Both of them have been in love with others. They know how it feels to love and be loved in return.

When Lucien first spends time with Elain, he almost immediately compares her to Jesminda. I don't think it was meant to be malicious or ill-intentioned on Lucien's part. I think he was unconsciously comparing what it was like to be in love to whatever magical/instinctual pull he and Elain have with each other.

I think it's very possible we'll see that come up again in the next book. It would be really cool to see a conversation where they compare real love to a loveless mating bond.

[justthinkinboutbooks]

A potential romantic pairing can't be ended in a bonus chapter.

It just can't. Because BCs are not required reading.

Every time I see people say, "Elriel ended in the BC!" I roll my eyes because by saying that, you admit that Elriel is a confirmed romantic pairing that was set up in the books.

Whether or not you like Elriel is irrelevant. And look, I can acknowledge that there's a possibility they might not be endgame. But even if they're not, that ship has to come to an end in the books.

And no, it didn't end in ACOSF. The last time we see them together "something charged" goes between them. That's where they've left off.

Endgame or not, they have to be acknowledged in the next book. No other romantic pairings can move forward without it.

[elrielbliss]

this paragraph is still so insane to me because wdym azriel gaze was utterly neutral, but yet there still managed to be a charge between him and elain??? "between them" being it's own sentence too, emphasizing the charge they experienced.

elain's breath catching slightly, obviously feeling that charge too???

nesta also sensing the charge between them???

[justthinkinboutbooks]

This is also the last interaction they have in SF.

So how are people out here saying Elriel ended in that book??

And at this point, the GA ship is entirely one-sided. Gwyn hasn’t expressed romantic interest in anyone.

Yet these two are BOTH interested in each other.

Why is this so hard?? 😩