shadowsingerswife

[shadowsingerswife]

Exactly HOW are we so easily brushing off the change in Elain after Azriel recognizes what she is?!?

After he basically releases her from the burden she bares from her misunderstood visions, after he proves that he SEES, he OBSERVES, he is PAYING ATTENTION TO HER:

“We are the ones who need… A Seer…the Cauldron has made YOU a seer” (can we please recognize how beautiful it is that he addresses her specifically?)

She befriends Nuala and Cherridwen,

She regains her appetite,

She gets out of her room,

She engages with other people,

She is again interested in life (wanting to learn how to cook),

Her eyes are alive (“there was a slight sparkles in her brown eyes as if she’d been enjoying herself with them”)

How can we just not recognize what he did for her? How he understood her needs? How he was the ONLY one who listened? Do we really think that happened because he was just being kind?

[shadowsingerswife]

[shadowsingerswife]

Elriel is FUN. They actually have stakes. They are both part of the IC. They’re both the prettiest. Shadowsinger and Seer. Dark and light. Relevant to the overarching plot. Romantic tension. Sexual tension. Friends to lovers. Stolen glances. Shy touches. Everything.

Why would I ship anyone else? Because Elriel is too cliché? Bet. This is a fantasy romance series, if you don’t like cliché go read contemporary or lit fic.

[shadowsingerswife]

The fact Azriel said

“What if the Cauldron was wrong”

RIGHT BEFORE we find out the cauldron was in fact CORRUPT is like???

I thought it was obvious

[shadowsingerswife]

“Elain is a gentle gardener. She’s too soft to [insert bad take here].”

Let us not forget the Book of Breathings foretold of ROT and bloom and BONE.

Gardening and tending the land isn’t just about growing things and cultivating life. It’s about reaping from the land, taking from it, too. It’s about deciding when to cut back old growth to let new life bloom. It’s about rooting out the rot and the decay and accepting that death is a natural part of the cycle. Things die, only to grow back stronger, harder, more beautiful.

And I think this duality represented within gardening, this cultivation of the life cycle, death included, perfectly describes who Elain Archeron truly is. She is both the gentle grower of things and the reaper who sees where the rot takes hold and clears it away. The trembled fawn AND the fanged beast. Lovely and beautiful, but deadly beneath the surface.

Persephone was both the Goddess of Spring and the Queen of the Underworld, after all.

[shadowsingerswife]

🤣

So someone like AZ has spent the last two years risking his life, lending out his favorite weapon, and talking about garden plans for hours just to get laid?

[shadowsingerswife]

Azriel x Elain Bonus Chapter vs. Nesta x Cassian Bonus Chapter

Hello friends! What a lovely day for another text based side by side comparison. Today we are focusing on the parallels between Nesta and Cassian in their bonus chapter and Azriel and Elain in Az's bonus chapter.

The Nesta and Cassian bonus chapter has been published by Bloomsbury and easily found with a quick google search! It is called Wings and Embers.

This is in response to a comment I received on my TikTok video where I shared the same slides as my previous post comparing Mor and Az to Elain and Az, which is that Azriel only lusts after Elain. I could write a dissertation on the depth and slow development of their friendship and deep connection (Azriel staying up until three am listening to her plans for the garden, Azriel body checking Feyre out of the way so he could be the first to wish Elain a Happy Solstice, Azriel helping her with those cute potatoes and setting the table for dinner, his shadows preparing to strike when Elain's character is insulted and called boring [lol it's almost as if Sarah hears the negative things readers say about a character she loves] and so on.) but the easiest way to tackle the *lust* issue is to take a peek at the bonus chapters side by side.

Wings and Embers:

That is a h*rny man. Violently h*rny.

Nesta, in response to her own h*rniness, literally thinks Cassian has used faerie magic on her to make her feel things. Teehee. Cassian is also worried over how insane he is acting, how making a move on Nesta could disrupt the delicate balance of the inner circle.

There are reasons to not move forward with this mutual pull they feel to literally rip each other's clothes off in that exact moment, and it ends without them giving in to the desire to kiss.

Now let's compare to Azriel and Elain:

Breath catching, hands shaking, secret gifts exchanged in the dead of night.

They are going farther than they have ever gone after more than a year of brushing fingers and exchanging looks.

He is having some steamy thoughts, and her arousal drifts up to him. It is 100% mutual!

Both bat boys are described in their respective bonus chapters as thinking it was wrong or stupid to be making a move on one of the Archeron sisters, and not caring:

And both are described as being willing to beg on their knees:

I think what we are seeing here is an indication of the theme and tone for the upcoming romance. Cassian and Nesta are fiery fighters, with a million reasons why they should avoid their feelings. Azriel and Elain are full of quiet dreaming and angst and pining, with a million obstacles in their way.

But every character, in their own way, is struggling to control their desire.

Ultimately, bonus chapters are just that: bonuses. You don't have to read Cassian and Nesta's bonus to get an understanding of the relationship between them and the tone of their romance, nor is a bonus needed to understand the dynamic between Azriel and Elain.

I love Gwyn and am not discounting her presence in the bonus, of course I think most of us on the Elriel side simply perceive it is an additional show of her hidden powers. I am NOT team evil Gwyn, but we have already seen Koschei use Eris to lure Cassian and Azriel near to the crown to gain control over them. If Gwyn does have hidden lightsinger powers and she were to be put under the control of the Crown, she is a perfect character for Koschei to get his hands on as well to be used for luring purposes. This is reflected outside of the bonus chapters as well, with Nesta's powers having a reaction to Gwyn. It is not only seen in the BC, it's an *extra* moment. Gwyn is going to play a role in something, I have no doubt!

Gwyn also was in proximity to a piece of the cauldron for many years of her life, and only characters who are made or bearing made objects (Nesta and Azriel) are having these reactions to her. I think that will prove relevant.

I hope you all enjoy, and happy waiting patiently (or impatiently) for the book announcement!

[shadowsingerswife]

🌸Azriel Bonus Chapter: Tangled Edition 🦇

When you think about it, the Azriel bonus almost kiss scene+Rhys interruption is so similar to the Tangled almost kiss scene in the boat 🤭 So I decided to draw an Elriel version, lol

[shadowsingerswife]

Azriel & Morrigan vs. Azriel & Elain

Azriel around Morrigan:

Azriel around Elain:

*titters and explodes*

My man CANNOT keep it together.

I need this angst and pining.

There is a lot to unpack about Azriel and Morrigan. I think there is more to it than he's had a crush on her for 500 years but never made a move because he considers himself unworthy. It's important to note that is *Morrigans* interpretation of his actions, but these two obviously don't communicate and the inner circle is largely oblivious about Azriel's inner thoughts.

I also think the biggest possible plothole in all of the SJMverse would be for Azriel, the only person whom Nesta trusted to keep eyes on Elain while she scryed again, does not know our babygirl is queer. If Sarah comes out and says explicity: Azriel had no idea Morrigan was interested in women! I would say: Sarah, respectfully, you are lying. I have a theory on Mor and Az, but it is one I've heard has gotten other posters bullied off the internet. I'll see if I'm brave enough after a few more posts!

However, with all this supposed pining for Mor, it has never interrupted family dinners or his ability to be around Mor and work together. Less than two years around Elain Archeron and our little solstice and family dinner loving Bat Boy cannot even stand to show up at Solstice and stays by the door in case he has to leave.

Just rip my heart out and stomp on it, why don't you?

[shadowsingerswife]

I sincerely hope we will get flash backs into the moments of elriel that were mentioned by the others through Elain or Az’s eyes. I’m sure we will but…

I need to know what they were talking about, if they bantered and joked.

I need to know what they talked about until 3 in the morning aside from those gardening plans.

I need to know about those subtle brushes of fingers and more about those glances.

I need to know just how many times they may have met or stumbled upon one another outside of the prying eyes of the inner circle.

I need to know if Azriel selflessly and instinctually offered to help her even more than we’ve seen. Wordlessly, even.

They understand each other through their eyes alone. I want to see more of that.

They have so much potential to have the cutest, softest, and most precious love out of the 3:3 to me. Friends to lovers is a new approach in acotar.

Feysand has that unwavering, everlasting love.

Nessian has that powerful, passionate love.

Elriel has that quiet, precious love.

[shadowsingerswife]

Nessian, Elriel and Feysand - A Court of Thorns and Roses

Artist: @snowarox / @devnw

[shadowsingerswife]

Elain and Azriel - A Court of Thorns and Roses

Artist: @chelzd_art

[shadowsingerswife]

"Elain needs to leave the Night Court because--"

Okay, but does Elain WANT to leave the Night Court? Does she want to leave her sisters and friends to go live somewhere new? Has anything in her characterization or actions in the story indicated that she's just itching to get away from Velaris?

Because, so far, the text seems to suggest otherwise. Like, in ACOSF, we find out that Elain has found a place, a role in Velaris. She's discovered joy, purpose, and friendship with the wraith twins. She practically glows with good health while in the city of starlight.

So, let me ask again: has Elain's character actually been written as someone desperate to leave the Night Court, or do some readers simply want her to leave because their preferred ships won't work out otherwise?

[shadowsingerswife]

"A love that would trump a mating bond."

Grayson cared about the mating bond. Azriel doesn't.

"You came for me."

Elain thought Grayson would come for her, he didn't. Azriel did.

These two things alone gives me no doubt that Elriel is happening.

You can say SJM is a mated fates author but having her characters question the bond, state recently in an interview that "what if forces that be put you with the wrong person?" and after 16 books I can only guess that she wants to do something new.

Personally, I'm neutral on Elain and Az being mates. If they aren't fine, if they are fine. But if you wanna say that SJM is a fated mates author and that she only writes mates, then there's enough evidence to point out that Elain and Az COULD be mates. The point is though that Elain and Azriel have enough chemistry and build up and CANON desire for each other that even if they are, Elain CHOOSES Azriel with or without a mating bond.

If Elain ended up with Lucien, it would be because of the mating bond which is unlike any couple SJM has written as mates. The character's always feel something to their mates, be it passion, anger, and OMG lust and also get to know each other first and fall in love THEN find out they are mates. Elain feels no pull to Lucien, she doesn't want to talk to him, be around him. She doesn't even HATE him; she's indifferent. That is not a fated mates romance I want to read where the FMC reluctantly falls in love with the MC because she gave him that super special bandaid of a "chance."

[shadowsingerswife]

Saw someone on the Elucien thread on Reddit say Elain didn’t care about Azriel’s injuries, she went straight to her sisters, then later she seems concerned about Lucien’s possible injuries and asks him about it. The poster is trying to point out that Elain doesn’t seem to acknowledge Azriel’s injuries and doesn’t care about him. The quote the person chose to use about how Elain doesn’t acknowledge Azriel is literally two sentences after this.

“Yet Elain didn’t seem to notice them as she rose up on her toes and kissed the shadowsinger’s cheek.”

How can you say she doesn’t acknowledge Azriel and only goes to her sister when this moment is in the same scene? She acknowledged him first.

I choose to read books in its full context, not pick and choose quotes to suit my theories.

Elain was there when Azriel suffered his injuries. He suffered his injuries because he went to save Elain, even if it meant death for him. Elain saw the hounds clawing at Az’s back and wings and she fought them off with her bare feet. She was THERE. Why would she need to ask him if he was hurt or if he was okay when she witnessed what he did to save her and helped fight off the beasts that harmed him? She risked her own life in that moment to save him.

[shadowsingerswife]

“I serve no one.” (Lidia, hofas)

has the same vibe as

“I belong to no one.” (Elain, acowar)

[shadowsingerswife]

you ever read a fanfic and just sit back and think…someone wrote something THIS good… and then just….published it on the internet….for free…..