I mean this SO kindly: if the release stuff is genuinely causing you stress, I highly recommend taking as much of a step back from it as you can. The book(s) are written/mostly written/written enough to be set for publication in a handful of months. There is no changing the contents. BB and SJM are going to be releasing information when they feel it's going to be most impactful to interest in and sale of the books (and as they have it, since I'm going on the assumption that titles/covers likely aren't even finalized behind the scenes just yet). This fandom has been wild for years, and it's only going to be more so leading up to October.
If you need to step back from tumblr, step back from tumblr. Set it up so you get an alert when SJM posts on Instagram if you're really worried about missing something. Reread the existing books if you want to.
The release of a fictional novel should NOT be causing mental stress/harm/etc in any real way. If you're just having fun clowning, great!! Stick around online!! But please I am begging you take care of yourself, first.
I just reread A Court of Frost and Starlight, and if you ever need reassurance that Elain and Azriel are endgame, go back and read every scene involving Elain and every scene involving Azriel—whether they’re together or separate.
That book is basically loading bullet after bullet into the Elriel plot gun… and then the bonus chapter didn’t even give us a kiss. That gun is just sitting there loaded!!!!
If people think an author is going to waste that much setup on a bonus chapter that a large portion of the fandom hasn’t even read, they probably don’t understand how romance stories are written.
There are so many moments in that book showing the groundwork for their story: the way they interact, how considerate they are of each other and others, how they observe people around them, how they mirror each other in their interactions with friends and family. The dynamic is already there.
In my opinion, Frost and Starlight ❄️✨is underrated because people dismiss it as “fluff.” But if you’re looking for foreshadowing, that book is basically pointing straight toward Elriel endgame.
Fandom taking over Nesta’s words: “Elain is boring/useless.” Meaning? Let’s underestimate her. ➡️ Watch Elain come into her power.
Fandom taking over Rhys’ words: “Azriel is entitled/lustful.” Meaning? How dare he desire someone else’s ‘claim’. ➡️ Watch Azriel’s feelings be right/pure while growing out of his worthlessness to want something for ONCE.
Fandom taking over Feyre’s words: “Elain should give Lucien a chance.” Meaning? Her no means ‘not yet’. ➡️ Watch Elain reject that bond, preserving her autonomy.
Forget screens and algorithms. My attention has been stolen by Death and the Lovely Fawn for the past eight years of my life. Without pause. No respite. I am totally unable to get them out of my mind. I’ve tried. I’ve really tried, but I can’t. I know they’re just letters on a page. They’re ink and cellulose fibres and yet, they’re absolutely not, and I just can’t get them out of my mind. I’m like Azriel, fighting with myself to get them out of my mind, but still I come back to them like they’re my headache powder on a makeshift shrine. I would honestly have been a more productive member of society if I’d never learnt of them, because I’m spending my time writing Elriel poetry when I should be a proper academic, but fuck it. Call me mad, but I think I’m fine with that.
After having listened to Sarah’s CHD interview, and hearing her finally speak openly about Elain and her agency, I am thinking about offer and permission. Of free will and consent. Which seems extra fitting today, on International Women's Day.
…
Would you like me to show you the garden?
…
Others think her mad.
Mad. Elain might very well have gone mad.
A bramble of words.
But to him, it is what did you see?
He speaks to her in questions, instead of declarations.
When others speak for her like she’s not even there - like she is already lost - this one equally erased being looks her in the eye and asks: “would you like …”, like he doesn’t just see her as capable of knowing what she wants but he wants to know it. And what does she do? Suddenly, she does not balk, does not shy away. She nods. Once. And he offers his hand. That “scarred hand”, that “brutalised hand”. Except to her, that hand is just…
Beautiful.
He asks and she answers. He offers, she permits.
And he alone listens.
...
(Sarah, why did you do this to me? I can’t get them out of my mind.)
…
She lets him take her to the garden.
Him, in his dark, brutal armour in that beautiful garden of life and bloom. Her, this fragile creature, alive only by the beating of her heart. Yet despite that fragility, she sits in total peace with him in his dark, brutal armour as he suns his wings. Despite the visual paradox of them, there is a sense of perfect harmony. Of peace and quiet. It is so undeniably beautiful and harmonious, that Feyre feels compelled to ask what if that is what she needs? and why not make them mates?
She witnesses “the brutal, beautiful armor so at odds with the lovely garden” and her sister within it, and yet - having experienced the beauty of her own bond with her true love - her reaction is not one of discomfort but of thinking the equivalent of, why are their souls not bound together by divine decree?
…
(Again, I just have to ask, why did you do this to me, Sarah?)
…
What is it about them? Why did Feyre look at them and think: souls in connection?
…
I think of where Elain relaxes. I think of where her peace and quiet is. I think of where she doesn’t hide. Where she doesn’t shrink but initiates.
It’s with the one who asks and listens. Are you hurt? Would you like me to show you…? He listens to her plans, he kneels before her, offers his arm, sketches a bow, extends his hand, inclines his head. He asks in all the verbal and non-verbal ways you can ask a person for their consent. And she offers her permission.
…
To me, they are the most deeply felt depiction of love and connection in the series. There is not one ounce of performance, in this genre of grand declarations. There is just this desperate overflowing of quiet care for the other, expressed through actions and attentiveness but suppressed by social and political forces. Until it is forced to exist only in glances and brushing fingers, and actions untethered from words. It’s the devastating hope that in the end there will be choice. That even nature will bend its knee to will. That the question will reign over the declaration. That permission has to be preceded by an offer or there’s no permission to speak of.
That’s my Elriel. That’s the thing I can’t get out of my mind. That’s where I’ve built my makeshift shrine.
It’s how would you like me to show you the garden? turned into offer and permission. How it started with a question, asking for consent when others spoke for her. With another saying take her to some garden, when what she needed was would you like me to…
is that female character really that uninteresting and irrelevant and lacking personality or do you just choose not to read any of her scenes as deeply as you would with a male character
Anyone else got the feeling that when SJM was talking about sex being normal, and a huge part of any romantic relationship, and the culmination but also the start of all couples' love stories, she was speaking directly to the 'Azriel is a lustful incel' crowd?
Like she was openly saying, no, this is normal, this is healthy, this is how characters behave, this is the fundamental part of all my couples. Sexual attraction and sexual desire is what I like to write and what they all have. They have to want each other. They have to desire one another.
I was thinking about Elain’s possible storyline and I remembered the pin of the goddess Blodeuwedd that sjm commented “Elain”.
This one
So I searched something about her story and I found this.
Let me translate it for you:
“Blodeuwedd is also a spirit of love and beauty. Invoking her allows you to choose your lovers, not to be forced into marriage or other relationships”.
Sound familiar?
“A thing of secret, lovely beauty”
The second part is literally Elain’s story: she will choose between Azriel or Lucien and eventually she will not be forced into the mating bond.
Then I also found this.
The translation of this one is:
“Its transformation into an owl, a night bird, is therefore to indicate a marginalized creature, who lives in the darkness of the night, outcast who refused to live according to a pattern established by others. Who did not take into account what might have been her will”.
I’m not gonna comment the fact that in the myth Blodeuwedd is turned into an owl, which is a night bird, not a spring bird, or a summer bird… a NIGHT bird… if you know what I mean.
But let’s focus on the highlighted part.
In the legend Blodeuwedd refused to live by following others’ wants, who didn’t care what she really wants. Now Elain’s life has always been decided by others: first her mother (with the whole speech with Nesta about choosing Elain’s future husband because she couldn’t decide by herself) and then the cauldron (and Rhysand) with Lucien.
None of them really cared or just asked Elain what she wants, they decided for her, and she spended all her life without choosing for herself. So, yes, I think Elain’s book is about choices and, for me, the story of Blodeuwedd confirm that storyline for her. I can’t see in any other way.
I know others, who are better at making theories than me, have already spoken about Blodeuwedd, but I wanted to say my opinion.
Repopping in the world to say we (elriels) knew from the beginning Elain’s story would be about choices and free will.
Also, what the fuck is wrong with people saying she will return to GRAYSEN, who broke her heart refusing her and hate what she is now, just to fit their narrative. It’s misogynistic. And if after what Sarah said in CHD podcast about women going to her to talk about their past abusive relationships and thank her, you think this then you are the problem.
It’s ok to ship whatever you want, really, but you cannot be so detached from reality and not recognizing objective facts.
That said, I'm happy to have received another confirmation from Sarah and may be a little’ more active in the fandom again.
"You'll get more Elain in the nex--I'm not going to promise anything. You'll get more of her in some form in the next book, I haven't written the thing yet. So, you'll see. That's all I will say: you will see."
-SJM, ACOSF Paperback Live 9.8.22
Just putting this out there so its on the record, lol.
Can I say that certain people of that part of the fandom are obsessed with Elriels??
I’m on twitter and I almost never interact with others because people can do whatever they want with their profiles and honestly I can’t care less. But, seriously, on my tl I see more g* stans than elriels talking about the ship or about Elain. I mean… if you don’t ship it or don’t like the character it’s okay… but generally if I don’t like a thing I don’t talk about it. But they’re always talking about how G is better than Elain and blah blah blah… It’s not a competition.
Seriously, sometimes I feel like they’re trying to convince themselves that they don’t like Elain or Elriels.
The day people stop hating Elain for the stupidest things will be a great day.
Listen I never fight with anyone, not even in real life, I’m for the living and let live, but when it’s too much is too much.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m tired of people who blame Elain for not helping Feyre when they were humans and do not give the same treatment to Nesta.
I don’t justify Elain for what she did to Feyre, but I hate when people blame only her because “sHE dIdn’T GrOW VeGetaBlEs!1!1!1!1!!!”, well… Feyre taught Nesta how to archery, she could have hunted with her sister, but she didn’t. The past is past, and it can’t change, at least Elain apologized. Nesta was a bitchy til the end. I know this might sound like I hate Nesta but I really don’t, she isn’t my favourite character but I understand her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m tired of people calling Elain a bitch because she doesn’t give a chance to Lucien, when she owes him nothing.
There is one thing I wanna tell to these people: Next time someone hits on you, you should give them a chance, because they might deserve it, no matter if it makes you uncomfortable, it could be a good person.
Now if this reasoning has made you crawl, know that it is the same that you are applying to Elain. She is not stupid because she is refusing Lucien, she’s just protecting herself by walking away from the person that makes her uncomfortable.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m tired of people calling Elain “UsEleSs” when the war was won mainly thanks to her.
She warned her sisters of the arrival of the crows, she said to go to find Vassa because she could help during the war, she found a way to protect the humans using Greysen’s house, and saved everyone’s asses by killing the king of Hybern. And I’m probably forgetting something.
I was thinking about Elain’s possible storyline and I remembered the pin of the goddess Blodeuwedd that sjm commented “Elain”.
This one
So I searched something about her story and I found this.
Let me translate it for you:
“Blodeuwedd is also a spirit of love and beauty. Invoking her allows you to choose your lovers, not to be forced into marriage or other relationships”.
Sound familiar?
“A thing of secret, lovely beauty”
The second part is literally Elain’s story: she will choose between Azriel or Lucien and eventually she will not be forced into the mating bond.
Then I also found this.
The translation of this one is:
“Its transformation into an owl, a night bird, is therefore to indicate a marginalized creature, who lives in the darkness of the night, outcast who refused to live according to a pattern established by others. Who did not take into account what might have been her will”.
I’m not gonna comment the fact that in the myth Blodeuwedd is turned into an owl, which is a night bird, not a spring bird, or a summer bird… a NIGHT bird… if you know what I mean.
But let’s focus on the highlighted part.
In the legend Blodeuwedd refused to live by following others’ wants, who didn’t care what she really wants. Now Elain’s life has always been decided by others: first her mother (with the whole speech with Nesta about choosing Elain’s future husband because she couldn’t decide by herself) and then the cauldron (and Rhysand) with Lucien.
None of them really cared or just asked Elain what she wants, they decided for her, and she spended all her life without choosing for herself. So, yes, I think Elain’s book is about choices and, for me, the story of Blodeuwedd confirm that storyline for her. I can’t see in any other way.
I know others, who are better at making theories than me, have already spoken about Blodeuwedd, but I wanted to say my opinion.
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