u/NerdyWriterKat

Calling it now before we get a title release as I've been (half) jokingly saying it for awhile but it covers all 3 of Azriel's main options and everyone will lose their minds and **claim victory** the moment we get the title and then feel betrayed when it's not the one they wanted because light & shadows belongs to ___!

Elain doesn't belong in the Night Court, would have thrived in Spring and ultimately belongs in Day with Lucien more than likely which explains the *imagery* of light but isn't a true light vs shadows comparison. And Az is always shadows so that part is easy. The *idea* of it is nice, especially if you don't believe Elain will come around on Lucien (I beg to differ), but is it *really* "light" and shadows?

Gwyn is **likely** a lightsinger to fo with Az's shadowsinger. Complimentary opposites, and she's clearly got a crush/would chase him (he deserves to be appreciated)! Cute banter but nothing major for "light and shadows" there either, at least not yet, and their meeting was off the page/didn't stop his interest in Elain etc etc.

And then there's Bryce "LIGHT IT UP!" Adelaid Quinlan. She has Theia's LIGHT to go with Az's SHADOWS.

The others are a precursor to where he ultimately belongs (I've said several times that Bryce is a combination of Mor, Elain, and Gwyn), but have never been quite right. And he's certainly never involuntarily behaved around any of them the way he does around Bryce which is the most recent behavior we have from him! And we haven't seen him yet in a post-Bryce space aside from **Spending time with hwr parents** and being complimented by Ember Quinlan - who doesn't trust older non-humans but keeps singling out Azriel who was one of Bryce's "captors" no less!

From an ACOTAR-only perspective, I get it. Not everyone knows Bryce exists yet. Elain's options are her mate that she still holds responsible for what happened to her (even though we know better) and Azriel who helped her through a rough time in her life. Amd for Azriel there's Mor (500 years for nothing, for obvious reasons), Elain who he has helped and got him out of his funk with Mor (despite Elain having a mate, he's obviously attracted to her and wondering why she's not his mate). And then there's Gwyn he's fond of and proud of and training (common theme amongst the pairings) who is bantering with him & obviously has a crush on him. I think they'd be cute actually.

She yeah, from an ACOTAR-only view, I kinda get why they think everyone hates Elain if they don't want her with Az because they can't accept the idea of her coming around with Lucien someday or that Az **deserves a mate of his own** (ahem), and then Gwyn is adorable and tough and the first glimpse we see of some proper banter va just the sweet protective stuff we get with Elain. And we haven't gotten enough with Elain/Lucien to give them hope that Elain would actually be happy (but are apparently happy to hang Lucien out to dry and go mad...)

Is it super frustrating watching it all happen and various companies keep choosing a side for who to promote? Yep. And people are going to feel extremely misled. But I can also see why if they want to include Elain, she has 2 options and *right now* Elriel probably is the most popular unless you prefer someone else with Az / believe that SJM is a **fated mates** author who wants a HEA for all of these characters *including Lucien.* Still frustrating though watching them ​keep smoking the fires and people thinking they know more than they do.

But ultimately, **true** Light & Shadows is Bryceriel. Their powers **literally** include both light and shadows. Not just the imagery, not the possible type of fae they are. Their actual powers! Az has just been looking for his "light" in all the wrong places until HOSAB!

So while I do think 6-8 is **mostly** Elain's story and that it will have to deal with Az for part of it, she will ultimately be drawn to light of her own through Lucien / Day (Luc = light!) and away from the shadows/the Night Court.

And the Dusk hints will be catching up ACOTAR to CC with at least the introduction of Bryce falling at Azriel's feet and having a **glowing star** on her chest if not catching us up to their adventure throughout HOFAS.

The Dusk teases make me hopeful it will be all of the catchup and I think it might be to give Azriel something to do and not leave him a sad, kicked puppy once Elain accepts her mate but I think we'll at least end it a la HOSAB to give him hope.

But I could also see that happening earlier for him to get obsessed with cosmic research and give us some answers (we know he was fascinated by Rhys' orrery in ACOSF. And Elain is nowhere to be seen during the crossover so her story taking place elsewhere with Lucien would make sense.

I think we may get a lot of closure on various potential pairings early on and then the bulk will send them in different directions.

Reminiscent of (TOG) >! TOD !< in that regard. >! Chaol & Nesryn were thought to be the couple going in and then ended up somewhere completely different! !<

Az needs to deal with Mor and Elain, and Elain needs to deal with Az before they ultimately end up elsewhere. What that looks like I'm not actually sure. Az seemed to listen to Rhys and step back so it may he as simple as them mostly

Or just going their separate ways and then maybe awkwardly referencing it eventually. And Gwyn's crush ultimately subsiding after (insert whatever here). Especially as Nesta was witness to all of it.

So final guess, either Light & Shadows or Shadows & Light depending on the order. It may be "Elain's" & "Azriel's" book but their stories may be going separate directions. The wings could be for Az and we get Bryce dropping in at the end of 6 and a lot of crossover stuff in 7 alongside Elain & Lucien off dealing with something else entirely.

But it wouldn't surprise me if **everyone** claims victory until the books drop once that title is revealed.

Maybe that's one of the reasons it hasn't yet? Seeing that title (especially for ACOTAR-only people) **will** imply a certain outcome, even thoufh she had the Dusk nails & said it wasn't as straightforward as telling us the POVs. Similarly if the main POVs are Elain & Az they could still be on totally separate stories. She needs to mislead a bit but I could see hwr wondering if it's a step too far putting that much out super early.

Not over til it's on the page & over but this long way is excruciating!​

🎶With arms wide open under the sunlight Welcome to this place, I'll show you everything🎶

❤️ to my fellow Bryceriels, old and new, anyone checking us out for the first time, and as always our friendly neighborhood Quinlar! (See, we don't bite!)

Just wanted to give you guys some love. This fandom can be a lot but Bryceriel is so special and you've made this space somewhere not only that we can feel safe but also thoroughly analyze everything to our hearts content.

I was skeptical but open when I first heard about the idea after HOSAB. It sounded really cool in theory! Then I mistakeningly thought it was over with HOFAS, and didn't think much of it until we finally got a release date. Wasn't super into CC but didn't know why. And then the podcast mention brought me back. Something was....off...and I wanted to see what the reaction was to what she said, the body language etc.

I remembered seeing super detailed theories (that I admittedly didn't think panned out - boy was I wrong!) and not only was I welcomed with open arms but found a home here! And all the detailed receipts and connections I could possibly dream of!

Trying to make my own contributions (after initial spirals second-guessing everything), I discovered even more things I hadn't thought of before, and bounced ideas around. How we keep finding new things is miraculous and I can't wait to see what we pick up on next when we finally have some new material!

If you're new here - please jump in! Look around, see if you think we're onto something.

One of the things I love most about being here is it reallly is as simple as "Hey, why don't you come check us out over here? See what you think. Stay awhile!" Or "You should come check out Bryceriel!" (Especially if you have **any** doubts about Hunt.)

More often than not, there's someone to lend a helping hand, find a quote, drop the perfect gift at the right time (often the same person 🥰) and plenty to pop in and bolster the argument in ways you never dreamed of. Things you've completely forgotten about. Questions you didn't think to ask.

We come with receipts, quotes, artwork. The best way to know whether the argument works is to network it. (The last thing we need is to pass around stuff that is easily refuted and undermines everything else. The more we push back, the better arguments we have to stand on while we're told we're crazy!) And yes it **can** sound like we're nuts until you start seeing the insanely long list of reasons we think Bryceriel is the most likely outcome.

I wasn't even a big fan of CC and wasn't really invested in shipping other than wanting to combat everything else and defend the **possibility** of Bryceriel and why the others no longer make sense to me, despite my previously going along rhe ride and watching as I thought it went Mor to Elain to Gwyn and now Bryce. And now I'm here all the time having an absolute blast looking closer at everything. It's already improved the reread immensely looking at it through a Bryceriel lens.

So if you're a Bryceriel (or just curious about what we're on about because you didn't notice the subtleties **between** the dialogue either...or the odd behavior, or put together that Az was admiring Bryce in a wet t-shirt, or thought there wasn't much of anything there at all, what are they talking about?, or think that Bryce already has a mate (more like "mate" and yes there IS a difference) or thought something was "off" with Bryce/Hunt or that Az needs a different option...) pull up a chair. Stick around for awhile.

Our countless essays, discussions, gifs, and enthusiasm might just make it finally all make sense! It definitely did for me!

❤️ you guys! 🥰

Rereading TAB after CC I came to some startling conclusions & would like to know if I'm onto something or have just completely lost it at this point.

I've been saying this the last few days in comments but want to expand on it here for actual discussion.

Is CC Bryce's version of TAB?

Bryce & Aelin have a lot of similarities in general but in TAB we have Celaena & Sam.

- Celaena is still hiding who she is & running from her destiny/isn't interested in dealing with her fae side or claiming her kingdom

- Sam is forced to work for Arrobyn as an assassin and pay off his debts before he is free to leave

- Sam gets involved in a rebellion against Arrobyn because he's in love with Celaena

- Celaena gets them out of their deals by paying off their debts

- Sam & Celaena move in together and talk of the future

- Sam wants them to move elsewhere and start over far away from all this nonsense even though Celaena doesn't really want to leave but does because she loves him

- Sam sneaks around doing things his way without including her on everything and against her explicit wishes

- They don't always see eye-to-eye on things and argue quite a bit/aren't on the same page

- Sam is killed (RIP, still 😭)

- Celaena mourns Sam and thinks he would have made a great king someday/carries that with her moving forward but also finds her **actual mate** and embraces the side she was suppressing/claims he birthright.

Additional ones I forgot:

- "Just because we're ___ doesn't mean ___"

- CPR

- Pact to wait to sleep together even though living together

- Lightning after their first kiss

- It's her apartment, he just stays there

- "Don't use kissing to __"

Am I imagining things or does a lot of this sound like Bryce/Hunt??

Don't get me wrong, I love Sam! But even setting aside his ending & the Orion foreshadowing, a lot of TAB reminded me of CC this time around. The important relationship that helped change Celaena's life and the background information to her overall story, but not even close to where her true love story begins with her actual mate. (And way more little problems than I remembered. Ah, the rose-colored glasses of grief / young love.)

I've seen a lot of people upset at the idea of "having to" read CC but I really think that (so far anyway), CC 1-3 could easily function as Bryce's version of TAB. We know she tells Az & Nesta about Hunt and when she shows up for good, especially if something happened to him, we'll hear about it more. Esoecially to bond with Az.

The CC books would be there for those who want more details, but otherwise it would be like Aelin telling Rowan about Sam and getting to know each other. We as readers don't have to have experienced that with her because Az still needs to hear what she wants to tell him about that time.

The only difference is that Bryce had 3 giant books and more time with Hunt compared to the one Celaena got with Sam.

But those relationships still had rippling impact and ultimately got them where they needed to go. Celaena was sent away to Endovier trying to avenge his death but eventually that led her to finally embracing her fae side/real name & finding Rowan; and without Hunt, Bryce never makes it to Prythian to find Azriel.

I've been mentally preparing for something tragic from the moment hisbname was revealed to be Orion, and had already thought Connor was her Sam (RIP - I'm still upset about him too!!) the thiught of losing two...Bryce is going through it!

But am I crazy? Has anyone else experienced this going from HOFAS to TAB?

There are several instances across the Massverse where it's pointed out that Mates make marriage "insignifant" to the Fae. That Mates are special and so deeply important that nothing else compares!

Non-Bryceriels keep screaming that Bryce & Hunt are married so we should give up already. That's of course ignoring the fact that they **declared** themselves married in front of political bodies (to escape her father's clutches, not for purely romantic reasons) that Bryce has since torn apart, or the fact that they have actually discussed **DIVORCE** before pointing out that for the fae, marriage is to the death (which just adds to his demise foreshadowing). Their non-existent wedding is the opposite of Lidia planning a whole big wedding for her Mate. Marriage adds to Mates but does not take the place of it.

(It also conveniently ignores that Elain is already MATED but that hasn't stopped them so not sure why they think a marriage of convenience would stop us when we're told repeatedly how important fated Mates are to the Fae! **Fated** not chosen like with angels. Elain choosing her future is absolutely important but that does deprive both her chosen and her mate of having mates of their own and she's permanently connected to Lucien so not at the top of my list for wanting everyone to be happy with a mate of their own!)

Bryce still needs to fully embrace her Fae side. And in TOG >! Aelin went through the same thing, wishing she could have a nice, quiet life with Sam and then Chaol before accepting herself and finding her Mate. !<

So as we go through our rereads, I thought it might be nice to collect all the evidence for Fated Mates vs Marriage in the Maasverse! There are a lot more than I realized but haven't had a chance to make my way through all of it yet so thought for timeliness sake I'd make this a group project.

They can always be combined into a neat list with graphics or something later on to have handy (like the one with the hand-holding quotes - love it so much!)

You guys are so good at that stuff and I have a feeling as things get closer we're going to need all the handy graphics with receipts that we can get! I know they make me feel better seeing them all together while we get pummeled for following the latest breadcrumbs to their logical conclusion!

Azriel keeps risking his wings. He fought to teach himself to fly, learning late in life. Wings are of vital importance to Illyrians (whether he likes that side of himself or not) but he has risked his several times in the protection of various females (romantic interest or not - he's a good male) throughout the series and has been **lucky** thus far.

He even risks them for Bryce in HOFAS to protect her from debris.

But Bryce is used to Vanir Wings- specifically Hunt's - that **grow back.** Yes it's painful but it isn't **permanent.** She has no idea what Az actually risked just then because where she's from, as long as you've made the Drop, you're pretty safe, and the angels get their wings back.

But what she initially thinks are "demon" wings don't work like that. They can be mended by skilled healers but once they're gone (or clipped) they're gone. No more flying.

So am I the only one scared for Az's wings in the future (in a moment that makes Bryce realize how much he gave up to keep her safe because she'll expect them to grow back and learn the truth)?

Hopefully she has enough firstlight at the time (and it works on him...) but I had this terrible thought that we've been far too cavalier with wings so far and I'm worried for Az! (Hopefully if it happens it's temporary but eep! That would definitely be a wake-up call for her though!)

None of that is Hunt's fault. It's just a bigger sacrifice for Az to make - and one we've seen Bryce herself make when she shielded Juniper at the club (even though Juniper had already done the Drop and Bryce had not).

In-universe: most powerful offspring

Writing standpoint: romance, get people from point A to point B, give them a reason to tolerate people they otherwise might, etc.

Let's look at some of Rhys' connections:

1. Rhys' parents - not a great match at all. But because of that bond, Rhys' mother was able to keep her wings, and Rhys/his sister exist so I would be remiss to ignore it completely.

2. Nesta is mated to Cassian. She gets **some** protection from disagreeing with Rhys by being Feyre's sister, but she's also Cassian's mate. He can't do anything to her (much as he may want to) without hurting two people he loves, including his mate and one of his brothers (she's also good friends with Azriel so that's another point in her favor). She's scary powerful & chases against his rule but without her connection to Feyre & Cassian, where would she be? And who would help keep her calm if not for Cassian? Not to mention training with him & eventually leading the Valkyries?

3. Elain gets some protection as Feyre's sister (also he underestimates & cuddles her as "Elain is Elain" and is in for a big surprise eventually. But she is mated to Lucien. Like it or not, there is a bond. But what does it achieve?

Lucien leaves Tamlin and the Spring Court, and helps get Feyre home to the Night Court just so that he can actually meet his mate. It keeps an extremely powerful, highly connected, HL's son connected to the Night Court. Not only did he protect Feyre, but he can't do anything against them without hurting his mate. He chose her over everyone including his best friend and didn't rat Feyre out to him for fear of her keeping Elain from him.

And now because of Elain's standoffishness towards him, he is finding other places to be in the meantime that also make him far more useful than sitting around watching Tamlin continue to spiral in his depression. He's making connections that will be useful in the future.

We don't even know what else this bond will do yet, but if she's anything like her sisters and her mate, she'll be a force to be reckoned with and we've already seen how scrappy she can be when danger is afoot!

4. And then there's Bryce. Bryce, Bryce, Bryce. She has the ability to be a MASSIVE problem for Rhys in so many ways. She's from another world and brings terrifying news of what else is out there (Asteri), wakes an Asteri up, could easily be hunted/followed/bring others from her world, she can break through his wards, Dusk (and the Prison) answer to her, she has a Trove item IN HER BACK, is of the same bloodline and is therefore a potential challenger to the High King/High Queen position (even though he says he doesn't want it), and if she hasn't already woken up the Dusk land where the Prison is, she still could which would be a massive problem as well!!

WE know that both Bryce & Rhys are good. We've followed their stories and they have a lot more in common than one might think. In fact, Bryce is shocked that Nesta used to be human, and when Rhys tells Ember they care about the humans, EMBER (of all people) **believes him.** Spending time with the Prythian fae gives Bryce hope for the side of herself that she previously wanted to see destroyed because they wouldn't defend the humans and therefore didn't deserve to live.

And Bryce (like Nesta) butts heads with Rhys, but they all mean well and are powerful but chase at taking orders and being under his rule. They'd be far better off as allies than enemies or than subject and ruler.

So how do we solve a problem like Bryce? How do we bridge the gap to force them to someday call a truce?

I mean, she did come from elsewhere, possibly reminded scary beings that Prythian is out there & accessible, has immense power, and can threaten his right to the throne if he wants it.

There are a couple of options here:

1. Bryce really is done with it all and doesn't claim her birthright/hands everything over to Nesta to figure out and Nesta ends up with Dusk. No more crossover.

2. Bryce bridges the gap with Rhys by reuniting him with his sister (if it is Lorin).

3. Enter **the mating bond** with Azriel. Azriel is the biggest answer here (though Lorin would go a long way as the final cherry on top)!

We already know Rhys doesn't want Azriel to risk messing things up now that Lucien is tied to them. That would be messy and derail any attempt at having allies in the other Courts if Rhys' spymaster takes out the Emissary.

But the mating bond between Bryce & Azriel gives Rhys a reason to find some common ground or not onky is he going to lose Azriel but Nesta is also making friends with her & always looking for a reason not to answer to Rhys.

If Rhys isn't careful, there are going to be too many cracks in the Night Court. He may not want to be king but he does want allies.

Dusk, Night, and Day are all still very close together. So even as people spread out to their own territories with their mates, they'd be close enough to still be connected and visit often. Session could still stay at the HOW between Dusk and Night. Elain could end up in Day with Lucien, and Az would still be able to work closely with Rhys but be with Bryce in Dusk maybe even find a way to go with her to Midgard whenever they please).

Frankly it's more threatening to their other allies if Rhys has THAT MUCH POWER concentrated in the Night Court. He may not want to be High King but it woukd be easy to see why anyone would think that. But with so much concentrated power, of COURSE they're fighting against being controlled by whatever Rhys & Feyre want to do.

They'll always be family, but since it's likely the girls will be separated and off with their mates, it makes sense for the bat boys to be (slightly) as well. Amren has her visits with Varian and Mor already has her own secret place! That much power requires SPACE so they don't all destroy each other.

The top of the map will be still be extremely well-connected and close as one giant extended family but they'll have some breathing room as well and can focus on their own interests instead doing whatever their baby sister's mate wants them to do. That's 3/8 Courts and 3/4 of the solar courts likely aligned for big stuff.

So the mating bond plays several roles aside from giving us the romances and providing the most powerful offspring. And to get people to play nice whether they normally would or not.

Would Cassian and Azriel have had reason to train Feyre if she weren't Rhys' mate? Would Nesta have been able to save them all if her mate hadn't taught her well so that she could survive to get back to them in time?

Getting Rhys to play nice with this brash, reckless outsider won't be easy. He has plenty of good reasons to worry here! He'us used to being in control.

But I think that's why we saw him interact with Ember & Randall. Yes he's angry & scared and **has good reason to be!** But the reports he got about Bryce were from Nesta **and Az** and he knows the behavior came from a good place. His mate calmed him down, his brother's mate has her back, and if she's Azriel's mate as well (which we all think she is), that's another way to bind them so that he is less inclined to take her out when he's not in a blind rage.

(And let's face it - they will eventually need to find some common ground and agree to play nice to fight off something far worse anyway! No way will she have Bryce go through all of this just for Rhys to take her out. She's not a random threat, she's the FMC from another series! We know her & we know that they would be on the same side, especially regarding humans. And Ember can tell Bryce she believes him on that. Bryce already **wants** to believe in their goodness and they make her not hate her own kind!)

They have to eventually play nice even if they're just on even playing ground ruling separate courts to avoid clashing with each other (this goes for all of them). It's the same issue that the HLs have in general (similar to the alphas in CC). Equal power and always wanting to challenge each other / not wanting to take orders.

And if he really doesn't want to be High King, we'll, here's another option then if she stays in Prythian. (She didn't want to continue her father's legacy and dismantled the VALBARAN fae royalty so I'm not sure she'd want it, BUT it's not the same fae who left the humans to rot, and this would answer to her. Similar to Feyre not wanting to be High Lady when it was in Spring - aka wrong- but owns it in the Night Court. There's a chance that the land chooses Bryce and thus gives Rhys an out as Amren warned him it would.)

I used to think if not Rhys/Feyre then Lucien/Elain so Bryce may still not want it but could still stay in Dusk/maybe have a way to Midgard (if it still exists) and just go between Dusk & Avallen. So many possibilities but not enough to write any of them off just yet when she's still refusing the call (as are many others who have ties as well).

But without the mating bonds (corrupted or not), from a narratove standpoint, many of the key things would be much more difficult including romance as it gives people a reason to connect/stay connected, be more forgiving, give people a chance because of their bond with a loved one, etc., and is so much deeper to the fae than marriage is. Cough cough.

Basically we wouldn't have a story if it weren't for the bonds tugging many of them in thr right direction, and mating bonds connected to people in Rhys' circle especially play a huge role not just because they're the MCs, but also in bridging the gaps between powerful people and giving them a reason to at least try to make things work to not hurt those he loves.