🩵Miss Berdara🩷

Azriel's first pov chapter is all about his romantic entanglements. He has a gift ready, a necklace with a rose pendant, which is obviously a romantic token. he intends it for one woman, he has a moment with her, but then it goes wrong and the romantic token is rejected. He then encounters another woman, they talk, Azriel shows comfort and pleasure in her company, and he ends up giving the romantic token to her. No, I don't think Azriel transferred his feelings for Elain to Gwyn in that precise moment, what I do think is that Gwyn has no purpose in that precise chapter which is all about Azriel's love life, except to be brought in as a potential love interest. The structure invites contrasts between Azriel's heated, lust based encounter with Elain, and his more emotional, verbal connection with Gwyn, who he ends up giving his romantic token to . It begins with Elain, and ends with Gwyn, and I think that is to foreshadow how Azriel's arc is going to go.

In terms of contrast, Azriel has three main love interests. First there was Mor, who he pined over for years. She was forbidden, beautiful, and he idolised her. Now there's Elain. Elain is forbidden, beautiful, and he idolises her. There's not really anything to differentiate his attraction to Mor from his attraction to Elain. There's also a touch of coveting of both dynamics, in terms of wanting what his brothers have. Azriel pined for Morrigan while she used Cassian as a buffer, and had sex with Cassian, while Azriel broods over why he, as the third brother, didn't get the third sister.

I am the rock against which the surf crashes. Nothing can break me."

The "shark" rumor was fake.

Azriel: No, I don't like Gwyn.

The tournament begins with tropes that were great, but couldn’t quite make it into the fight on their own. But don’t you worry! You can help them make it into the fray!

Maybe the one you vote for will even make it all the way!

Oh bless your heart. Let me help you understand some things:

1. It’s not hard to understand that Eluciens want Elain to get to know Lucien, hopefully fall in love with Lucien, and choose him. (Just like we wanted with Feyre and Rhys in book 1). Again, this isn’t hard to understand.

2. We don’t want Elain miserable. We want Elain happy and thriving.

3. The reason I ship Elucien is because I actually like Elain. Lucien actually genuinely cares about Elain and her mental / physical health. He also respects Elain’s choices. He would treat her like a queen and we all know it. Anyone who says otherwise is delusional.

4. But if you really want to get into canon let’s do it. How about the quote from Elain in ACOSF when she said she didn’t want ANY male. Guess what? That includes Azriel.

Let’s look at another canon scene where Elain returns the necklace back to Azriel and doesn’t look back.

After Azriels bonus chapter, Elain and Azriel don’t have any interactions together for the rest of ACOSF.

5. And you saying that “we don’t need women to have their healing journey revolve around a guy” (I’m paraphrasing here) is HILARIOUS coming from the elriels who literally center Elain’s healing journey around Azriel.

6. Elain’s journey is tied to Vassa, Koschei, and the lake. That’s ELAINS plot-line. She’s the one who had the vision about Vassa, the lake, and Koschei. We wouldn’t know about Koschei without Elain’s visions. You know what other character is tied to that plot-line? Lucien. Her mate. But first and foremost it’s ELAINS storyline.

It’s not hard to figure out that Elain’s journey will take her to that lake. It’s heavily foreshadowed, along with her not belonging to the Night Court. Sarah made it so obvious I almost feel bad for you guys.

7. "Healing doesn't need romance." Cool. Neither do dragons, magic siphons, immortal faeries, magical mating bonds, or half the plot devices in this series. Yet here we are... reading a fantasy romance.

You don't have to ship Gwynriel. That's called having a preference. But pretending your preference is objectively more feminist because you've psychoanalyzed fictional characters and projected real-world therapy language onto them? That's a you problem.

These aren't real people. Sarah decides whether a relationship is healing, healthy, symbolic, or doomed because she literally wrote the characters.

8. And it's funny how "don't tie a woman's story to a man" only becomes a talking point when it's a ship you don't like. Every couple in this series ties two characters' stories together. That's... the romance genre.

So where does this end? Are we going to start writing think pieces about Off Campus because Hannah is a sexual assault survivor who falls in love? Are we going to attack every romance author who's ever written a survivor finding love? Are we going to campaign against every fated mates book because apparently fated mates is now inherently problematic? WHY ARE YOU READING SJM

9. Romance authors write conflict because conflict creates stories. If every character was emotionally perfect before page one, there wouldn't be much of a novel.

At the end of the day, we're arguing over immortal fae in a book series that isn't even finished.