#dreadtrove

Tw: Mentions of past Abuse

Okay so there’s something about Azriel’s shadow singers powers that has me kind of on the edge of a theory. It isn’t fully formed and just bare with me. 

Okay so what we know of Azriel’s past is that he was abused and kept in the dark for years, deprived of love, touch, affection and light. 

A part that stuck out to me in ACOMAF was when Azriel told Feyre “When my father realised I was a shadowsinger...”. So far, we are aware that different fae can possess different types of abilities, (Elain was/is a seer, Rhys and Feyre are Damaeti, Mor’s Gift is truth) and I assume that Shadowsinger falls under those kind of specialist powers. Obviously, in some cases it may take a while for one to realise their powers/ for their powers to manifest; However... Azriel’s abilities appear to present themselves quite physically, you can literally see the shadows around him, so surely if he was born with these powers then his father would have realised them from birth essentially, which makes me think that maybe somehow Azriel made his powers. And maybe consequently Truth teller is a part of the dread trove. 

Okay so hear me out, 

Azriel spends his life in the dark so much that the dark becomes his friend and powerful abilities come from it. The darkness communicates with him and I don't know about you but this seems awfully similar to Nesta’s relationship with the House of Wind. Nesta deeply wanted a friend so she unknowingly created life in the house. I don’t quite know how Azriel may be tied to the cauldron but I suspect truth teller may play a part. So I present a little story: 

Perhaps Truth teller presented itself to Azriel in his cell and perhaps truth teller is an unknown cauldron made object. Much like Thor’s Hammer maybe it saw Azriel as worthy and gave itself over to him. Through this, Azriel possesses powers of the Cauldron, similar to Nesta, and for a brief moment allows him the ability to speak to the darkness. Azriel makes himself a shadowsinger. Where we saw Nesta confine the soul of the house to the library, Azriel uses the darkness/ shadows to protect himself. His father sees what he has become and Azriel is sent to Windhaven. 

I know this is a lil far fetched but Azriel’s powers are such a mystery, even to the people who have known his for 5 centuries. 

I also think that it might explain moments like Azriel going with Feyre to the Hybern camp to rescue Elain, I think deep down he knew that like called to like and he could navigate the Cauldron. I think it might also explain how truth teller allowed Elain to literally step out of the shadows to where the King of Hybern AND THE CAULDRON were. Like calls to like. 

We never see how the Cauldron effects Azriel, after all he schools his face constantly to appear emotionless and undisturbed, for all we know facing the Cauldron in Hybern and during the war may have been awful for him. 

Perhaps this could further explain the close friendship between him and Nesta and maybe even why he's so drawn to Elain when that’s clearly a bad idea. It might explain why he was always so on edge about Amren, because she is not from the world made by the Cauldron. 

I just think that with such mystery surrounding his powers, the options are limitless and I would love to see Azriel wielding that much power and truly finding himself worthy.