#hallwaysandtreebranches

I’m making this post because I haven’t seen anyone else discuss these issues when relating it to other characters.

Well, my fellow ACOTAR fandom, I’m sure the Elain hate that some of you spew makes sense in your mind for reasons that will be explained later at some point. However, some of the other characters that are your favorite portray similar characteristics. Let’s get started...

Disclaimer: I am not hating on ANY of these characters. I am simply comparing characters and their actions+how they’re interpreted by most of the fandom

Point 1:

“Elain let her family starve and didn’t plant vegetables”

-I first want to mention that it’s been debunked that she never learned HOW to plant them and it would be counterproductive in terms of seasons and money. BUT...let’s say that she didn’t because she didn’t want to. It wasn’t her job but her father’s. Not to mention that if you defend Nesta doing something like this, why would you not give Elain that benefit?*cough* hypocrisy *cough*

Lets compare this to something else with a character that is very loved by the ACOTAR fandom that in my opinion is way worse but for the sake of it...

Didn’t Lucien sit back and observe while Tamlin was being emotionally abusive to Feyre? In fact, didn’t Feyre ask and plead with Lucien to help? Well instead, he watched while Feyre destroyed herself.

(Once again, I am not hating on any character. I am just pointing out some hypocritical points. This shouldn’t even be comparable due to obvious reasons).

Point 2:

“Elain chose Feyre over Nesta”

I am actually having quite a laugh with this one.

So Elain “chose” Feyre? Or do you mean she decided to heal with the sister you guys were blaming of harming for not planting vegetables? Yeah...not to mention that Nesta pulled away from Elain in ACOFAS due to her trauma that she decided to deal with by herself (which is fine), but it is the reason Elain backed off. Instead, she decided to mend her relationship with the sister that was ready to heal with her.

Comparison time...shoutout to all the Nesta stans that hate Elain...

Soooo Elain “chose” Feyre over Nesta...but do you not blame Nesta for always obviously choosing Elain over Feyre? Not hating on any of the sisters, but when it comes to dynamics, I don’t think Elain is the only one that should be blamed.

Point 3:

“Elain is useless and all she does is garden”

First of all, why are we reducing Elain to gardening? I haven’t seen anyone reduce Feyre to her painting or Nesta to her dancing/reading. Also, not one is better than the other!!! All of these abilities are forms of art that require passion, talent, and hard work. So please stop undermining gardening (go create a beautiful huge ass garden then) and reducing her to just that.

Comparison time...

A lot of people say that gardening is all Elain does (which is not true). Do y’all remember how much painting Feyre did in ACOTAR while she was in the Spring Court? Or how much Nesta was reading?? We know Elain’s gardening associates with a bunch of her traits, therefore it will develop along with her character. The same thing happened with the other two sisters. I stan all 3 sisters and so should you.

This is going to be a long post on compatibility my dudes, so buckle up...

The imagery is there, ok. Don’t deny that please, because Azriel and Elain were labeled as such, not even separately but together in a VERY important scene.

SJM created the term “shadowsinger,” so we go by what she tells us and the clues that we can determine from the text.

She also not only labeled Elain as a seer, but she ALSO labeled her as a fawn. Did she get inspiration from that somewhere? Hell yeah, she did.

Enough said there, that the term fawn is no mistake... I will be making parallels on compatibility between both Azriel and Elain and why they fit perfectly together in many ways.

Let’s first start out with the only full description we have of what shadowsingers are...

Ok, so we will get back to the transportation later... cause right now I want to talk about the text that is highlighted. So essentially this parallels with a certain someone’s powers as well...

Okay, so now we basically have a person that can hear things others can’t, and another person that can see things others can’t... which also correlates to what the symbolism of a fawn/deer can do.

Once again the whole seeing things but now it’s added an element of being able to see in a dark setting...

However, the fawn also represents not only Elain, but a part of Azriel as well.

Clairvoyance is the power of SIGHT

Clairaudience is the power of HEARING VOICES

(Post coming up on this later this week)

But either way, their senses represent the compatibility of their powers through psychic senses.

Now back to Elain in terms of her relationship with Azriel, lets talk a bit about shadows...

Take this as you may, but to me that expresses Elain being able to see past his darkness (shadows), and focusing on Azriel. Everyone is always so focused on Azriel’s darkness and what he represents. Elain doesn’t do that, Elain sees Azriel. Azriel hears Elain’s pleas and understands. The parallels are immaculate in my opinion. It’s opposite but very complementary.

Now I want to go back to looking at the shadows because this is definitely interesting...

Both Azriel and Elain stepped out of a shadow in ACOWAR and not too far apart either...if we want to talk about shadows, lets bring this into the conversation. This has not been addressed in the books for obvious reasons that we will figure out in the next book, but is Elain using Azriel’s shadows? Is it a coincidence that she does so while she’s in possession of Truth-teller? Either way, the connection is there and it means something especially after this scene where they were both mentioned as death and the fawn...

Once again, more parallels with light and dark, but what stands out is the fact that the space between them is a blend of light and dark. I made another post on this particular part in more detail, Their auras and what they represent is essentially blending, which is crazy insane. Kind of like finding a balance between them. Now, lets look at the last sentence...there’s a bridge of connection between both of them. Are we forgetting what that means?

“The mating bond. It is a bridge between souls.”- Madja

Isn’t that exactly what is being described in Feyre’s painting of Azriel and Elain? Correct me if I’m wrong, but not only is there a bridge of connection with them, but there is also a space between them that blends. What we need to know is why the bridge is truth-teller (the blade that always strikes true). Madja is also the one that said this a few lines earlier,

“If anyone can sense if something is amiss, it’s a mate”

followed up by...

“’She doesn’t need anything,’ Azriel answered without so much as looking at Lucien.”

So I did some research on ivy and the symbolism behind it, and I wanted to share my findings that could lead to parts of Elain’s book and her love interest. This is going to be a long post, so buckle up.

Okay, first thing:

This is what SJM has said about Elain’s book. She’s done research on ivy, and the reasons as to why? Why is that ivy strangling her? Could she maybe feel strangled by what everyone expects of her and the bond? Well let’s look into what ivy represents...

Okay, so the first part of bringing shelter to the darkness.. doesn’t that remind you of anyone? Azriel himself doesn’t know where he belongs and his darkness clearly overwhelms him, which brings an interesting parallel:

-Moving on to the next point, is the life vs death. This could definitely represent the cauldron of the balance of life vs death. There are many ways that this could be represented. Nesta represented death, so Elain might represent life. Azriel represents death and Elain represents life as a balance. It can be looked at through many different perspectives, but generally Elain represents life.

-The next point of the text is ivy representing a search for enlightenment. If Elain is dreaming about it (there’s something else but that’s coming up later), it could represent her journey to truly becoming the person that SHE wants to be. She could be enlightened about a lot of things...

The next point in this post is based on the ivy itself appearing in a cycle

Winter represents the energy spiraling down and basically anything that belongs with the dark energy and negativity. While, spring represents light and rebirth. This one might be a bit of a stretch, but the Azriel POV occurred on the longest night of the year. this resulted in spiraling emotions and negativity. The spring could represent a possible rekindling between Azriel and Elain behind everyone’s backs at the beginning of the next book which will still be the end of spring. In terms of rebirth, spring was when the Archeron sisters were forced into the cauldron and were essentially reborn. The Archeron sisters’ relationships (Feysand and Nessian) “started” in spring as well, symbolizing the perfect setting.

ALRIGHT MOVING ON..I love this one..

SJM did say that Elain would have dreams about ivy. Okay, now a lot of you might think of Graysen. However, by the time that she is dreaming of ivy, that is long gone. Not to mention that foretelling means predicting the future. Is Elain possibly having dreams about breaking the mating bond between her and Lucien? From what we can tell so far (we haven’t gotten her POV), she “shrinks” away and loses her boldness around him. 

Guess what Ivy also symbolizes?

But not just any goddess either. A  Welsh triple goddess, which we know correlates a lot with ToG and the symbolism of threes. I could go on and on about 3 sisters, 3 brothers, 3 death-gods, etc. but I want to talk about the goddess herself and some fun things that I found...

So she oversees life and death (that could represent the cauldron since it loves her so much). However, what I want to focus on time and destiny. Her seer power (the only one that we know of right now), is directly correlated to the future and visions. A further exploration to her powers and how they function seems vital to her book and how they will help further the plot. Also, she represents destiny...but exactly how? Could it possible be representing choosing your own destiny? Or maybe changing it? Can you see where I’m going with this?

So Elain’s abilities with “time” aka. her seer powers might be able to further her personal goals. Probably in relation with Elain directly requesting the cauldron to break the mating bond. As far as the purposes to the cause, this could have relations to finding the 4th dead trove or helping with Koschei *cough* Sleeping Beauty *Cough.* The last line is very meaningful to what Elain’s character development might contain. She doesn’t want to be binded to anyone as she’s mentioned SEVERAL times:

“I belong to NO ONE. But my heart belongs to you”

We know that Elain puts other’s happiness and comfort over her own and she bottles everything up. We need to see Elain let go in a sense, and not be bound by guilt, which could be a reason as to why she hasn’t broken the bond (apart from the fact that she needs to break it in her own book). Also, fearing the future could relate to her accepting her powers and learning to control them...

Also something fun to look out for that has to do with the post I made on the meaning of Azriel and Elain’s names:

In Hebrew, Ivy means god’s gift. This could mean nothing but its also very interesting to me. Ivy symbolizes Elain’s development arc and her character going through some terrible times. Wouldn’t that also symbolize that Azriel’s salvation IS HER and everything she represents?

Last thing...

Anyways, ivy for the win....

Can we talk about where Azriel’s trauma began?

I’ve seen a lot of people say that he doesn’t need the light, but isn’t that what he’s needed his entire life?

Hasn’t he been braving the darkness this entire time? Has it been working so far....clearly not.

People (half-wraiths) like Nuala and Cerridwen have constantly talked about the balance of light and dark... Do both need to disappear in order for them to exist equally?

The answer is obviously no. 

If we want to talk about it in the simplest of terms, dark x dark does NOT function, just like light x light does NOT work either. One can not exist without the other.

Now, lets gets to the actual post.

Azriel’s trauma is deeply rooted on what happened to him in that cell. We obviously don’t know or understand the extent of what happened to him due to reasons that will be explained through his POV. His shadows appeared to him in a time of need (that’s a separate argument), but what did Azriel need the entire time? LIGHT. Yes, his shadows helped him, but it never fully allowed him to open up to himself and let go. Is he fully out of that cell in his mind? Not only was there a lack of light, but there was also a lack of windows. It wasn’t just the darkness, but there was an emptiness due to how dark it actually was. He also needed the ability to SEE in that cell. 

So let’s look at this scene...

We have this iconic scene which can come full-circle to other theories as well. However, something that’s overlooked is the last sentence. Azriel begins his sentence with saying. “we’re the ones...” essentially referring to the entire Inner Circle needing a seer. Azriel instead trails off his thought process and says to HIMSELF about her being a seer. Couldn’t that imply that it isn’t the Inner Circle that needs a seer, but Azriel himself? Quite possibly. 

Why it won’t and definitely shouldn’t be the Illyrian Conflict

This post will solely be focusing on what his role should not be.

Plot:

We will first start out with the issues that are plot-based...

Rhysand has mentioned several times that he has been dealing with Illyrian conflicts for centuries. Serious issues like wing-clipping carry difficulties to be able to completely change. Rhys banned it hundreds of years ago, and it is still being done. Rhys has also mentioned that he can’t make certain laws since it would threaten the lives of the Illyrian females. In any case, he also says that the problems (that have been going on for thousands of years), cannot be solved in a short amount of time. Things like this take hundreds of years, not a single book. 

If you think it about it rationally, this isn’t just a region of the Night Court. This is a place with its own people, its own customs, and its own culture. Yes, it is a region that has some horrible and outdated customs that need fixing. However, this cannot be fixed in a single book as its own subplot (since there’s also other plots involved). I honestly think these issues might be passed on to the Inner Circle’s children with slow progress being made already.

Character:

Now, moving on to the important part of this post. Take into account everything I have mentioned above while you’re reading this...

Let me just outright say that bringing in Azriel to “fix” Illyria would be majorly harmful to him as a character and really confusing. Definitely not in a good way, where it hurts but it pays off in the end and everybody lives HEA. NO NO NO, I am talking about pain that makes no sense to bring in additionally. Do we seem to forget where his trauma came from? Trauma that he is clearly not over, which I have no doubt will be healing in the next book.

Facing your trauma does not mean that your arc has to revolve around fixing the very people that broke you. Before anyone goes straight to bash me in the comments, yes I am very aware that there are several issues in Illyria that have nothing to do with what happened to Azriel. I am also very aware that many Illyrians are victims, just like Azriel was.

I want to mention that we don’t know the extent of his abuse and I have no doubt that we will find out when we get his POV. 

My question is, why do you want Azriel to mend this conflict that will continue to go on for centuries to come? Would that really be facing trauma head-on? 

Why do you want Azriel to not hate Illyria? After all of what he has gone through, anyone would hate it too. 

Do we not think that Azriel is aware that there are victims? Of course he does and he does not blame them. What he is blaming is the culture that surrounds the very same people that tortured him for 11 years. We can even get vague details about the abuse inflicted on his mother, which is a part of Illyria’s views on certain issues.

He does love certain aspects of his culture, especially the one thing that he was deprived of during his torture...flying

That’s very telling. Azriel craves the very things that he was deprived of in that cell, so why backtrack? The parallels are there. I have no doubt we will see him come out a bit more in the next book. I mean, all of this goes back to the first 11 years of his life, which was his childhood.

They wouldn’t let him fly--->His main struggle at camp 

His scarred hands from his brothers---> the most vulnerable part of him.

Him being in the dark---> possibly needing to come into the light.

I would say that the last two issues he has yet to overcome. Why force Azriel into a (impossible) situation before he has even overcome his abuse? and in the hands of Illyrian people that were supposed to be his family?

Roles:

A huge part of this is also the roles that the Inner Circle members play in the court. Azriel is the Spymaster of the Night Court. His job is mainly, well, to spy. We have heard of him traveling to different places and creating documents to sort out and hand over to Rhys. My point is, what is a spymaster doing in Illyria? It’s not even about him never wanting to be there, but his job is not based on sticking to one place. This bat boy travels to different places and gathers information. I do not see how that would fit in. There are other fae that fit the role WAY better than Azriel. I do not think that this conflict will play a main role in the last 2 books. It could be underyling and maybe lead into future generation books...but either way...

-Cassian is the General that works with armies and the Illyrians plently (he’s also been helping out with female Illyrian training)

-Rhysand is the High Lord that creates laws and has superior power over the Night Court (he has mentioned that change comes with time but he has attempted to put a stop to wing clipping)

-Emerie is an Illyrian female who is also the first Illyrian female Carynthian. She has great potential to jumpstart more change to Illyria.

So.....why the spymaster that got tortured?

I have recently come across people JUST NOW realizing about light singers. There are four categories of people in denial...

A) the people that admit she’s a lightsinger but ONLY because Azriel is a shadowsinger and it’s supposed to match.(Spoiler alert: it doesn’t from from textual evidence)

B) the people that believe she is a light singer but have no idea what that means so they assume that she is and she produces some sort of light. (Spoiler alert: that is not it)

C) the people that know what a light singer is, but choose to ignore/acknowledge textual evidence.

D) the people that have no idea.

Let’s get into it shall we (it won’t take that long, but prepare for a full on text evidence vomit)...

“There are light singers: lovely, ethereal beings who will lure you, appearing as friendly faces when you are lost. Only when you’re in their arms will you see their true faces, and they aren’t fair at all. The horror of it is the last thing you see before they drown you in the bog.”

Let’s not forget that she HALLUCINATED while Gwyn was singing.

Then we have this...

Which matches this...

Then we get all of the singing questions (three to be exact)...

Then we have his shadows reacting to Gwyn’s breath...

Okay there will definitely be a part 2 because I maximized my attachments😭😭

Anyways,

This High Lady predicted Nesta’s friendship with Amren AND her love for Velaris. She also predicted Elain clinging on to Azriel, which SHE DID... NOW WHAT’S LEFT?

The fact that they would be handsome together if he “ever stopped quietly loving Mor”!!!! Isn’t that what SJM was pointing at throughout ACOSF? Which would officially give Elriel the green light in Feyre’s eyes and she is the prophet of Nesta’s life sooooo