Iโve seen a few posts recently bring up the excellent point that it seems likely it will become a crucial part of Azrielโs emotional arc that Gwyn ultimately will see him as โjust Azriel,โ and not the spymaster or shadowsinger.
I entirely agree with this based on what the text has given us so far โฆ including the progression of how Gwyn talks about/to Azriel in ACOSF and also due to how SJM intentionally seems to be mirroring this with Bryce and Hunt.
And while I think we will also see how important it will be for Gwyn to understand that Azriel sees beyond what has happened to her (which we have already received glimpses of in ACOSF), I do want to focus more on the reverse today and save that conversation about Gwyn for its own post.
But first, I know itโs easy to argue, โGwyn calls him โShadowsinger,โ so that just shows she doesnโt see him as Azriel!โ โฆ but this argument only makes sense if you remove all context from ACOSF and completely ignore the progression of how Gwyn thinks about him before training and then as training progresses โ how she speaks to him alone โ how she irreverently teases him after that.
I will come back to that quote from Gwyn and how it proves my argument; but I canโt do that without first drawing attention to the progression that leads Gwyn to that point. That progression shows that Gwyn not only becomes incredibly more comfortable around Az (and vice versa), but it shows an awareness between them that begins the process of stripping away identifiers to get to the person beneath.
Ultimately, Gwynโs journey with Azriel is a process of individualization.
Gwyn moves from knowing of him as a title or a legend, to knowing him as a person with specific habits, quirks, and humor.
And, crucially, SJM is showing us this progression on the page โฆ therefore, this is intentional. Again, my mantra these days in book spaces is: these characters are not real; they are tools the author uses to tell their story and/or explore specific themes. So, in this instance with Gwyn and Azriel, we as readers are not left guessing or theorizing what couldโve happened off page. While that can be fun and has its place in fandom, it is critical to note that this progression between Azriel and Gwyn is explicitly shown to the reader (not told or assumed).
Early on, before Gwyn starts training, she has a conversation with Nesta in the library:
โYou slew the King of Hybern,โ Gwyn repeated. โWith the shadowsingerโs knife.โ
Here, Gwyn refers to Azriel by one of his monikers. But, I argue that she is using his most severe title as others see him โฆ not his official Night Court role, but his association as the fearsome shadowsinger. Itโs clear that before she started training with Nesta, Gwyn only knew (or thought of) Azriel as โthe shadowsinger.โ
So, this then leads into Gwyn starting her training and to *several* narrative moments which intentionally draw our focus to how much Azriel and Gwyn start to become aware of one another, and also gradually feel more comfortable around each other โฆ and this all happens within POVs from other people. [side note: Iโve written about this several times but, again, the fact that SJM does this with such specificity and frequency in both Nestaโs and Cassianโs POVs should have flashing neon signs around each of these moments]
Our baseline for Gwyn is the first training session where Azriel is present:
Gwyn had been distracted todayโone eye on the other side of the ring. Cassian could only assume she was watching his brother, who had given Gwyn a small smile of greeting upon arrival. Gwyn hadnโt returned it โฆ Perhaps he should have asked all the priestesses about including another male, but especially Gwynโwhom Azriel had found that day in Sangravah. Sheโd said nothing about it during the lesson. Only glanced every now and then toward Az, who remained dutifully focused on his charges.
Gwyn is not cowering, and she does not seem afraid of โthe shadowsinger.โ Sheโs described specifically as โdistractedโ and possibly a bit closed-off due to her unreturned smile. I love this moment for multiple reasons. First, this is the moment I knew immediately that Gwyn was somehow going to be relevant to Azriel. But I also love that itโs how we can measure their growth by the time we get to โSee you tomorrow, Shadowsinger.โ
After this first training session, we get the following:
โ Azriel going from โdutifully focused on his chargesโ at first, to doing the exact opposite of this when Gwyn โlet out a high-pitched noise that was nothing by pure excitement. Azriel, on the other side of the ring with the rest of the priestesses, half-turned at the sound, brows high.โ
โ The whole ribbon-hanging scene where, as Cassian questioned Gwyn and Emerie about their progress while he and Nesta were on their hike, Gwyn started โglancing toward Azriel,โ and then โagain glanced to Azriel, who drifted closer.โ
โ What sounds like one-on-one training when Azriel โhadnโt lingeredโ after dropping off Cassian and Nesta to the human lands because โGwyn wanted him to go over dagger handling.โ
โ The bonus chapter where Gwyn is not frightened of Azriel in the slightest. She acknowledges and smiles at his shadows, she gives him an out to leave (which he declines), she observes that he likes his alone time, she teases him about his dagger excuse, and irreverently nudges him to share about himself.
During this, we get descriptors of Gwyn like โher mouth quirked to the side, crinkling the freckles on her nose,โ and that โpure amusement glittered in her stare.โ And in response, Azriel โoffered her a crooked smileโ and his โlips twitched.โ
Of course, this all leads to the ribbon cutting guidance, where Gwyn is open to his corrections and instruction, joking about blaming Cassian for his neglect. In this moment, โAzriel laughedโ and โGwyn smiled broadly.โ
โ When the Blood Right Qualifier course was set up and โGwyn asked Az, her teal eyes bright, โWhat do we get if we finish the course?โ Azโs shadows danced around him. โSince thereโs no chance in hell any of you will finish the course, we didnโt bother to get a prize.โ Boos sounded. Gwyn lifted her chin in challenge. โWe look forward to proving you wrong.โ This takes the teasing from the bonus chapter and amplifies it furtherโagain, Gwynโs irreverence shines through. She honestly couldnโt care less that heโs โthe shadowsingerโ and is pushing all his buttons regardless.
OK โฆ.. Now this progression leads to the line.
Proving Azriel and Cassian wrong would take a while, it seemed. . . .
Indeed, Azriel and Cassian had just leaned against the wall, arms crossed, and smiled at them the entire time.
Gwyn threw Azriel a withering stare as she strode past him. โSee you tomorrow, Shadowsinger,โ she tossed over a shoulder.
Az stared after her, brows high with amusement.
This moment deserves more attention than it sometimes gets, in my opinionโor, at least, I believe it deserves more analytical attention. Yes, itโs sassy and itโs fun to see Gwynโs irreverent personality shine here โฆ especially juxtaposed against how we typically think of Azriel as stoic and cold.
Why I love this moment, and this โShadowsingerโ line from Gwyn, is because:
1. Itโs a callback to the first moment she mentions Azriel on page (โYou slew the King of Hybern . . . With the shadowsingerโs knifeโ).
2. It demonstrates that Gwyn now sees past the title.
By this point in the progression between Gwyn and Azriel, she clearly is no longer viewing him by his titles or how heโs largely known throughout Prythian. When Gwyn uses โShadowsingerโ here, she is not using it the way the broader world does: with reverence or fear.
She is using it the way you use a nickname for someone youโre comfortable teasing. Azrielโs title has been completely recontextualized by their growing friendship. It is no longer a marker of distance, like he comes from a different world than her. Instead, it has become a term of familiarity, and it reads as playful and affectionate the way she deploys it.
And whatโs just as crucial in this scene is Azrielโs response to it. His brows are โhigh with amusement,โ which confirms that he receives it that way too. He is utterly delighted. The Shadowsinger, who inspires fear all over their known world, is standing there amused because a priestess just teased him on her way out the door.
How often do we see this on the page where Azriel is concerned? Even his own brothersโ POVs indicate very clearly in ACOFAS and ACOSF how Azriel sometimes still scares them, or that there is no reaching him or getting him to open up if he doesnโt want to, etc. Yes, Azriel will chuckle around his family occasionally; but this is still a rare sight.
And what makes it that much more impactful, is that Gwyn is using that nameโwhich comes with so much fear and weightโto make it seem weightless. The title has been fully stripped of its power. It is just a word she uses for him now. Not because itโs how she sees him, but exactly because itโs not.
Again, that process of individualization is being highlighted here. Gwyn is moving from knowing of him as a title, to knowing him as a person.
And, if it hasnโt been clear already, I keep coming back to the word irreverent. I do so because this adjective is used for Gwyn twice in the bonus chapter, which again indicates that itโs crucial to understanding Gwyn and how she interacts with Azriel in that moment.
You can only be irreverent toward something you are not fearful of, is the point here. Itโs a very specific precondition to actually being irreverent. When Gwyn shrugs at Azriel saying that he is a shadowsinger, or she teases him with that name, she is not being dismissive of him. Remember that Gwyn is a tool that SJM is using to communicate something to the reader. So what she is showing here is that Gwyn has already moved past the version of Azriel that inspires fear or awe in others, and she has arrived at a version of him that she finds approachable โฆ who he is truly.
For a character who at the start of ACOSF could barely be in a room with an unfamiliar male, this is not a small feat. Her irreverence toward Azriel is actually a testament to how safe he makes her feel, and I think itโs safe to argue that safety is mutual based on Azrielโs response to her too. He doesnโt worry about his hands once while in Gwynโs presence, even while using them to demonstrate corrections to her technique in the bonus chapter. Again, there should be neon flashing signs in this moment, because this is the one-and-only POV we have from Azriel so far.
SO WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH BRYCE AND HUNT?
I have written more extensively about literary parallelism with Bryce and Hunt in another post, so I donโt want to revisit everything that Iโve already expressed there โฆ but I do want to draw attention again to a few things specifically.
As I mentioned at the beginning, itโs all about the process of individualization. Hunt is also dealing with this as the feared Umbra Mortis. We see this in various ways in CC, but there is one scene in HOEAB which mirrors some of Gwyn and Azrielโs moments in the ACOSF bonus chapter.
In HOEAB, the scene where Bryce goes to sit with a box of chocolate croissants on Danikaโs birthday:
is in the male POV (Hunt vs Azriel);
shows Hunt randomly dropping in on Bryceโs private moment (although he knows Bryce is there); similar to how Azriel drops into Gwynโs private moment;
includes narration where Hunt compares Bryce to the traumatic moment he first met her [โBryce stared out at the river. She looked drained. Like that first night heโd seen her, in the legionโs holding center.โ]; compared to Azrielโs reflection of the traumatic moment he first met Gwyn [โHe blocked out the bloody memory that flashed, so at odds with the Gwyn he saw before him now.]โ
But, ultimately, what stands out to me most in this scene between Bryce and Hunt is this:
โNo issue with the Umbra Mortis being your emotional twin?โ
But her face grew serious again. โThatโs what they call you, but thatโs not who you are.โ
โA pain in my ass.โ Her smile was brighter than the setting sun on the river. He laughed, but she added, โYouโre my friend. Who watches trashy TV with me and puts up with my shit. Youโre the person I donโt need to explain myself toโnot when it matters. You see everything I am, and you donโt run away from it.โ
He smiled at her, let it convey everything that glowed inside him at her words. โI like that.โ
OK, there is a lot here to unpack, so Iโm just going to focus on a few small things for now.
โThatโs what they call you, but thatโs not who you are.โ
*again with the neon flashing signs*
What does this sound like?
โThey call you shadowsinger. Is it because you sing?โ
โI am a shadowsingerโitโs not a title that someone just made.โ
In my opinion, this parallel isnโt coincidental. It reflects SJMโs authorial fingerprint and specific intent for how a particular type of connection is being built (Bryce and Hunt arenโt overly romantic here yet either; flirty maybe, but not romantic). This is a demonstrated pattern and intentional parallel.
The reader is forced to pay attention to the deliberate phrasing for how we see both Hunt and Azriel. Both characters are known by epithets which reflect how the outside world perceives themโdeadly and dangerous. Their identities are often defined by others.
As I state in the earlier post I referenced above, there is an intentional parallel in the exact phrasing here by using the words โthey call you.โ SJM is relying on parallelism to do what it does in more typical contexts: to emphasize or draw our attention to these specific words.
Gwyn immediately shrugs off the reply, irreverently. Her casual dismissal of Azrielโs deadly title is a pivotal moment โฆ very much so mirroring Bryceโs refusal to allow Hunt to be defined by his title. Gwyn is unafraid, unfazed, and unmoved by Azrielโs reputation. Like Bryce, Gwyn sees something more in the male before her.
And, just for funsies, donโt forget the last line in that Bryce/Hunt excerpt above:
He smiled at her, let it convey everything that glowed inside him at her words. โI like that.โ
I donโt know about you, but Iโm getting increasingly excited to see this progression continue with Gwyn and Azriel, but now with singing and with that quiet glow making its way to the surface. ๐๐ถ๐
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