You know, I think Nesta is possibly the only character who could change the way the Inner Circle functions if only for the fact that she is so contentiously regarded. She messes everything up, everything they have learned to live around. It makes so much sense that the Inner circle doesn’t accept her–or don’t really try to get to know her or to understand her. Because realistically, she brings up things they don’t want to deal with.
When Nesta is hurting and depressed, she’s the only one who isn’t ignoring the trauma and moving on. She reminds them that all isn’t right in the Court of Dreams. If Nesta shows feelings for Cassian, she’s messing up the weird loveless triangle that Cassian, Mor, and Azriel have going on. If she doesn’t show love to Cassian, Cassian is forced to face his own insecurities about being worthy of love and being born a bastard and so he ignores her constantly because what else would you do if you can potentially be rejected.
If she doesn’t do a job that Rhysand assign’s her, not only does he not have her in his arsenal when the potential of her powers is extreme and he’s lost the powers of his second in command, he also faces the fact that Feyre isn’t completely content and he’s dealing with insecurity about Feyre and her possible resentment towards him in the future. Not to mention that Nesta could potentially remind Rhysand of his own traumas, since they both mirror each other in personality and background. Elain, too, loses her foundation because Nesta isn’t there and “taking care” of her happiness so to speak. If Nesta doesn’t heal, than Feyre cannot forgive herself, because she still blames herself for being the cause of this whole situation.
All of this puts Nesta in the middle, so I am so glad that SJM decided to make this continued series. Her POV was a sliver of the book and yet there she was always being talked about–spending their money, not going to events, drinking, moving to the “slums” of Velaris, not talking to Cassian, not speaking to her sisters. She was spoken about more than she was probably in the book. And Nesta is generally regarded as the outsider looking in. Never interacting, but examining, judging. She’s there, but not really. This is the reason why I actually loved ACOFAS so much, because even though Nesta was barely in that book, she overshadowed everything. A prodding stick in their side that’s telling all of them “something is off here.” A haunting of a sort, something dreadful coming even if they want to close their eyes and pretend it’s all a dream.
Because let’s not forget we have the queens to deal with and Nesta wants them dead as she’s said before. Nesta is going to Illyria so that puts her in the center of that conflict, and she still has so much untapped power that it puts her in the center of almost every conflict, especially the one that probably has to do with Koschei being a death god. She is cauldron incarnate, so the potential for her character to be world-changing is amazing and oh my god I can’t wait for this book!!
