u/huwualian

Don’t get me wrong, I know we don’t know anything concrete about them yet so their true nature and relationship with Az is still a mystery! But the comments on BB’s post already being so confident about them “being his first friend/companion” and therefore “it’s dumb/evil” for anyone to question them is so eyeroll inducing.

I feel like people that are solely in the “Az’s shadows are 100% good!” camp are viewing them like the dragons in FW. They’re also stuck in their rider’s head and “their first love” and all that. But the difference is we know dragons are extremely intelligent creatures who are their own being apart from their rider. They can have mates and all that. Az could survive without his shadows (whether he’d mourn them or not is the question), but could his shadows survive without him?🤔

Also, mind you…. many (if not all) of these people are the same ones who want Azriel to not care about Mor and actually have just been spying on her for 500 years because… she’s gay and sometimes likes her alone time.

The same ones who wholeheartedly believe and support Azriel turning his back on Rhys, his brother, in favor of Nesta who he barely even had a conversation with for the first time like a couple months prior….

But sure, yes, these shadows that we still know nothing about: where they came from from, what their intentions are, how Azriel actually feels about them, etc. They’re obviously the most important “person” in Azriel’s life, coming second only to his eventual mate…oh, and Nesta of course!

Ultimately, I think it’s FINE to think/hope Az’s connection to his shadows impact him positively and that they will end up being like giant puppies or something (I actually saw their interaction with Gwyn in the BC as like a big, scary dog sensing a traumatized woman and wanting to provide emotional support), but just don’t make it weird by completely doing so while disregarding Azriel’s actual HUMAN (fae lmao) family/friends???

I’ve wanted to ask this in the main ACOTAR subreddit but I know they’re pro-Nesta/anti-IC as hell over there and all the answers I get would be super biased 💀💀….

So speaking to more unbiased readers, does anyone else NOT think Nesta is going to inherit the dusk court?? I get that the part of the fandom that believes the upcoming books are going to be Nesta-central where she ditches the IC/NC and becomes high lady of the dusk court after it’s revived is loud as hell, and that hearing that theory constantly repeated online can eventually cause you to believe it as well…. but is there anyone else out there who fully believes the theory is misguided? Or at least hopes it is.

I just cannot bring myself to accept that that’s where the story is headed….for a multitude of reasons:

1. There are a handful of reasons why pro-Nesta’s believe she’s gonna take over the dusk court, with the main one being her and Rhys constantly butting heads. AKA “you’re not my HL; i dont answer to you” etc etc…. First of all, the fact that the reason people who WANT Nesta to leave the NC is so she doesnt have to listen to Rhys/follow orders is mindblowing to me. Because how is that a good reason for someone to become a leader? 😭 If Nesta gets rewarded for not wanting to follow the rules/laws of the people IN CHARGE of the court she lives in by GETTING HER OWN COURT where she then becomes the person who OTHERS HAVE TO LISTEN TO…. Prythian might as well just get rid of High Lords altogether 🥴 Like what kind of message is that? “You don’t feel like listening to your High Lord? Easy fix! Simply claim some other piece of land as your own and proclaim yourself the ruler!”

2. What kind of sense would it make that the land passes over a descendant of Theia in favor of Nesta? & I know there are theories about Nesta being starborn, but they also rely heavily on her being the ONLY archeron sister who is? How would that make sense? If any of the sisters were somehow starborn, the only one who would actually make sense is Feyre…. but for argument’s sake let’s follow the thread of Nesta being starborn somehow. People theorize this due to the tattoo. The tattoo that appeared on BOTH HER AND CASSIAN…and only AFTER their bargain was made. If she was legitimately starborn, the eight pointed star could have easily been revealed as a birthmark during nessian sexy times in ACOSF. There’s a reason that she only had the eight pointed star on her body for a couple of months.

3. If Nesta ISN’T starborn (which I’m super sure she isn’t), it makes even LESS sense as to how she would revive and then take over the dusk court. What reason would there be for the land to choose her? Maybe due to the extra power she took from the cauldron? But she already gave it back. She’s regularly powerful now. It would make more sense for Mor to be chosen as the ruler of the dusk court.

4. Nesta leaving the Night Court in favor of the Dusk Court comes with the caveat that she takes Cassian (and apparently Azriel) with her. I feel like this is where it becomes very apparent how much hating the IC causes this distorted idea of what will happen in the series because how in the world can people honestly believe that SJM is going to write the IC imploding like that? I get that IC haters think they’re not actually friends/family, but THEY ARE. Cassian defecting to follow Nesta would be one thing. Yes, it would make sense since she’s his mate but it also would permanently damage the relationship between him and the rest of the IC. & I get that people who hate the IC could not care less about that, but I refuse to believe SJM would make that happen…. There’s no way she would write a situation in which the “animosity” between Rhys and Nesta is SO great that the bond between two brothers that has spanned over 500 YEARS is made to be damaged irreparably because of it. The fact that so many people believe AZRIEL is also going to follow Nesta is a completely other matter 😭 Mind you, a majority of these people are the same ones who say the IC aren’t Feyre’s true friends/family & will always choose Rhys over her because they’ve known him longer….but then somehow Azriel is going to choose NESTA OVER RHYS because he’s been her “bestie” for like 5 minutes?? 😭😭

5. For people who love focusing on the politics in ACOTAR, they sure love to ignore the political ramifications of a court that’s been dead for thousands of years suddenly making a comeback with Feyre Cursebreaker’s surly older sister taking the helm as its leader 🤔 Like, really? We don’t think there’ll be ANY pushback on that? Again, same people who refuse to accept Feyre is actually a High Lady, constantly demean her role as just being a cute title to appease her, and claim that none of the other High Lords (or anyone really) respect her position, but somehow Nesta is going to swoop into a High Lady position and be accepted just like that? 🫩

I know that the “evidence” anti-IC Nesta stans have put together over the years while waiting for these books can seem to make a lot of sense…. but honestly any theory can make sense when people put all of their time into crafting it🤷🏻‍♀️

Until proven otherwise, I’m choosing to believe that SJM will resolve the Rhys/Nesta conflict once and for all without needing to permanently weaken/destroy the IC’s bonds. The blurb for Splintered Harmony says the IC must find a way back to each other, but I don’t see how that would happen if not just one, not just two, but THREE members completely abandon the rest like that.

I’m holding out hope that Splintered Harmony ends with Rhys and Nesta finally coming to fully understand each other once and for all and Nesta accepting her place in the IC🙏🏼

I know this is most likely going to be EXTREMELY unpopular on this sub, but hear me out! I think I have a possible theory for who we will follow in ACOSH. I’m going to dissect certain parts of the ACOSH blurb that I think lend credence to my theory.

What was broken will be remade.
Deep in the heart of the continent, Koschei the Deathless is stirring. Though he’s been bound to a mountain lake for millennia, the insidious threat of his return now spreads across the Fae territories, attracting powerful allies hell-bent on reclaiming what was once theirs: the human lands.
The Night Court will not stand idly by while innocents are attacked. But with Prythian still piecing itself together in the wake of the devastating Hybern War, the task of uniting is proving more difficult by the day.
To make matters worse,

(1.) those who rule and protect the Night Court are reeling from recent betrayals and revealed truths. The rifts dividing them seem insurmountable.

What if the answer as to whose POVs we’re going to get is staring us right in the face?*** ***What if the blurb is literally telling us that we will be following the rulers (Feysand) and protectors (Mor, Cassian, Azriel, and Nesta) of the Night Court?? (I’m only not including Amren and Elain as they aren’t currently protecting the Night Court since Amren is powerless and Elain has not been given the chance to (yet)).

In her CHD interview, SJM mentions that 1.) the POV she wrote surprised her and 2.) books 6, 7, and 8 are actually just one huge book with different arcs vs. a trilogy. SO, what if what surprised her is that the POVs she wrote don’t stay consistent for the entirety of the story? WHAT IF…. the POVs for arc 1 (or movement 1) are VASTLY different from the POVs we’ll see in movements 2 and 3?

Everyone has been quick to jump to traditional multi-pov for the books but…. SJM has gone that route before in both TOG and CC, it shouldn’t be THAT surprising to her. What WOULD be surprising? Writing through certain characters in one book/arc/movement, dropping a few/adding a few in another book/arc/movement, and doing so again for the following arcs/movements. It would be similar to if ACOWAR had switched to a solely rhys pov or if ACOSF had switched to gwyn and/or emerie povs midway through the book.

Additionally, if these are the POVs that we’re getting in ACOSH, the mention of recent betrayals and revealed truths would be more obvious. Recent betrayals would obviously be referring to Nesta giving the mask to Bryce. Who would see this as a betrayal? Obviously Rhys at the very least and I would argue Cassian and Azriel as well since they were equally pissed off with her in the CC3 bonus chapter. (The fact that betrayals is plural COULD also signal that SJM is going to revisit the pregnancy plotline.)

Now for revealed truths, the common line of thinking I’m seeing is the history of the Dusk Court. But I actually don’t think that’s going to be it. Rhys had already told Feyre that the island of the prison was believed to have possibly been an 8th court waaaaay back in ACOMAF. I know that for ACOTAR + CC readers, the reveal was crazy…. but in universe I don’t see the reaction being quite as drastic. I feel like it would be received as more of a cool history lesson. Like “oh wow, this alien chick is a descendant of this line? Ok, well her and all those other people are in another world so whatever I guess.”

What WOULD leave certain characters reeling? The reveal of Azriel’s feelings for Elain. Rhys and Azriel obviously, but other characters as well if they discovered this fact such as Mor (not sure how she’d find out) & Feyre (obviously Rhys would tell her).

(3.) But to defeat Koschei’s creeping shadow, they must find a way back to each other and resurrect their former alliances.

Now the highlighted problem in the blurb for ACOSH is that there is a splintered harmony in the Night Court aka there’s a lot of freakin’ tension. Nesta lending the mask to Bryce and Rhys discovering Azriel’s longing for Elain create the PERFECT amount of tension between the characters to cause emotional rifts that they have to mend: Rhys↔️Nesta - always on a simmer with flare ups every now and then, Cassian↔️Nesta - Nesta not feeling supported and/or Cassian feeling upset that Nesta continues to be one foot out one foot in when it comes to the NC/IC, Azriel↔️Nesta - Azriel being upset that Nesta put their world in jeopardy, Rhys↔️Azriel - Azriel feeling attacked by Rhys’s reprimand/command, Rhys↔️Feyre - Feyre being upset with Rhys for trying to interfere between Az and Elain, Mor↔️Azriel - possibly final addressing the centuries long elephant in the room…(additional possibilities: Azriel↔️Elain👀 - Elain avoiding Azriel due to thinking she was rejected by him, Feyre↔️Rhys - addressing the pregnancy secret)

(4.) To survive, they must find a way to repair the splintered harmony all around them.

I think there’s a good chance of ACOSH ending with all of the IC coming to an understanding of each other with the most important two being Rhys and Nesta. I’ve seen people mention KPDH being an inspiration for SJM, and while I don’t know about all that, ACOSH ending with the IC forming a strong united front would be very “This is what it sounds like” of them! Also, I truly believe the IC’s bonds need to be stronger than ever before they (potentially) split up in the next book to look for/gather more allies. Like they need to make sure their own house is in order before they try to persuade others to come in!

I also think if SJM does in fact go this route, there’s a very likely possibility that ACOSH covers from some time during ACOSF to at the very least Bryce’s side quest in Prythian. This would also solve the whole debacle of whether non-CC readers need to dive into a whole separate series before reading the new book. It’d be a great way for SJM to catch ACOTAR only readers up without forcing them to read a series they may not be into.

As someone who saw sjm’s instagram post confirming the leaks and went “oh, it’s so over” and was ready to most likely not continue the series anymore (i was having a mini crashout 😭)….

I truly think we shouldn’t lose hope of the books being Elain/Elriel centric! I know the blurbs give multi-pov and everyone is jumping to TOG level of number of pov characters…. but we truly have no way of determining whether the multi-pov is going to be contained to just 3 (elain-azriel-lucien) or encompass like 10+ like the fandom is speculating 💀

I know the blurbs not mentioning Elain like the previous ones mentioned Feyre and Nesta is disheartening, BUT we should remember that nothing in ACOSF’s blurb hinted at a CASSIAN POV👀

Perhaps SJM either realized she needed to tweak how she wrote the synopsis in order not to throw off the reader with a double/triple pov, or was told to by BB….

In addition, I have some hope that maybe this is a sign that SJM wrote Elain’s story more similar to Feyre’s rather than Nesta’s: as in romance happening while the plot was progressing towards a climax rather than romance happening while staying stagnant plotwise🤔

because let’s be honest, Nesta’s book was boring a majority of the time 😭 Her book was mainly nessian romance and valkyrie friendship development. It didn’t really push us forward besides Nesta finding the trove objects and even those just felt like little side quests thanks to them being in between countless scenes of girlboss kickboxing and climbing up and down stairs🤷🏻‍♀️

I would understand feeling cheated if SJM doesn’t go as in depth with Elain’s healing journey as we did Nesta’s…. but to be quite honest I think she went TOO in depth with Nesta’s…. I honestly believe that ACOSF would have been much MUCH better if SJM hadnt tried to use her as a self-insert for her own healing journey and instead written her book more similar to ACOMAF and Feyre’s healing journey. Unpopular opinion, but my favorite parts of ACOSF were when Nesta interacted with the IC. Everything else just felt like sludge I had to wade through in order to get to the good parts.

TLDR; I think the blurbs could be a sign we’re returning to ACOMAF/ACOWAR levels of writing in which case Elriel would be SO UP since nessian suffered GREATLY from ACOSF’s writing…. Think about the number of Nesta stans that HATE cassian and want him to die because of ACOSF…. I truly do not think ACOSF is what we want to emulate when imagining Elriel’s story☝🏼🙂‍↔️

It’s a common talking point in the fandom by one side regarding how Nesta’s trauma was overlooked/downplayed/ignored/etc. by the IC, and this goes a long way to supporting hate towards them.

However, I think the people who think along these lines are letting emotions take up rational thought. When you REALLY think about it, it’s actually pretty easy to see why/how the IC were so oblivious to Nesta’s suffering for so long.

As much as I know this is going to set some people off, I have to say it….. everyone in the IC either experienced the same trauma as Nesta or worse:
•Elain was also put into the cauldron (Nesta’s aversion to bathtubs)

•Feyre also witnessed their father’s death (Nesta’s trauma regarding cracking of firewood)

•All of the IC participated in the war effort and 4 of them actually ACTIVELY fought (general Nesta PTSD)

As readers, obviously we’re aware of how unlike everyone else in the IC (maybe not Elain but we’ll see in book 6/7), Nesta is the sole person still affected by the events in ACOMAF and ACOWAR. But to understand why the IC “failed” Nesta so badly, all you have to do is step into their shoes.

“Feyre is a bad sister/selfish because she forgot about Nesta saying she can’t stand to be in a bathtub.” - Elain also went into the cauldron, BEFORE Nesta. Elain is seen by everyone as more sensitive/weaker than Nesta. Elain LIVES with Feyre. We can presume that Elain takes baths. It’s not farfetched that this would all align and make it easy for Feyre to not realize how much Nesta is actually traumatized.

“Cassian is a bad mate because he didn’t realize Nesta was triggered by wood cracking while Azriel did!” - Nesta’s whole thing with the wood was due to hearing her dad’s neck break. You know who ELSE heard their dad’s neck (AND THEIR OWN) break?! FEYRE!! Feyre did not have the same reaction as Nesta. It’d be VERY understandable for Cassian to see Feyre going on like normal after seeing her father die and assume Nesta (WHO HATED HIM) was doing the same.

For the general demonizing that the IC suffers from, it stems from Nesta being “forced” to heal fast while everyone else took years to heal their past trauma. I don’t feel like getting into the whole Mor & Cassian’s trauma and healing process thing right now… so I’m not jekdkdkd What I WILL touch on is what the thinking process most likely was for the IC. I already mentioned Nesta’s trauma regarding bathtubs/firewood, so now it’s time for her general trauma. ALL of the IC participated in the war. Rhys, Cas, Az, and Mor actively FOUGHT. They were WOUNDED. They witnessed the deaths of fellow soldiers. Compared to that, the Archeron sisters were FAR REMOVED from the battle. I wouldn’t expect a soldier to think that a nurse would suffer from the same PTSD that they might….. Nesta had her one scene of being in harm’s way. Feyre was hunted by Ianthe and then witnessed the death of her mate. Elain was kidnapped by the King of Hybern. As far as we AND the IC know, both Elain and Feyre came out on the other side of the war mentally unscathed.

Nesta is CONSTANTLY believed to be the strongest of her sisters mentally. Rhys literally refers to her as being an Illyrian: aka she’s super fucking tough.

It should not be difficult AT ALL to see why and how the IC went so long believing she was being difficult rather than suffering emotionally/mentally. That isn’t to say you cannot feel bad for her plight. That’s the whole point of her book. She was so good at putting up this badass front her whole life, that it was impossible for others to truly see her pain until she began to stop being afraid to show vulnerability (aka the feat accomplished by the hike).

Something that I find really unfair surrounding Nesta, is how a certain group of people seem to think that she’s incredibly stupid…. that group being her own stans.

Nesta is constantly lauded for seeing through Rhys’s and the IC’s “good guy act.” In fact, many Nesta stans attribute her view of Rhys compared to Feyre’s as a reason for why they were so drawn to her in the first place.

Nesta is also constantly pitied for being mistreated by the IC (the mistreatment being two out of the SIX simply dont trade pleasantries with her).

So now we have Nesta who is constantly abused by these terrible villains who she already sees for what they truly are!!!!—EVIL assholes. You would THINK that this would make Nesta weary about trusting their word on literally ANYTHING. That is, according to Nesta stans who love crowing about how much smarter than all the IC Nesta is.

HOWEVER, we see Nesta stans’ second and third faves Tamlin and Eris being threatened and verbally attacked worse by Nesta than she has ever been by the IC…. The excuse?? “She’s going off of what fEYre’S BiAsED & UnREliABle NaRrATor self told her!!!!”

So let me get this straight, when the IC dont immediately embrace Nesta to their bosoms upon meeting her because they know how she has treated Feyre all of their lives, the IC are these assholes and Feyre is malicious for poisoning her new family against Nesta…. but Nesta letting Feyre’s ~biased~ attitude toward Tamlin and Eris is “not her fault.” ??????

So either Nesta stans REALLY love to baby this TWENTY FIVE YEAR OLD WOMAN…. or Nesta is actually an idiot. At least the IC loved Feyre and that explains them taking her side against Nesta without question. If Nesta stans are to be believed, Nesta is out here hating the IC, mistrusting them, seeing through them, being abused by them and….. also spitting vitriol at people they dont like and even threatening them (Nesta literally threatens Tamlin while TRESPASSING on his land but I never see the “rhys suicidebaited tamlin!!!!” brigade defending their sadboy against heartless witch nesta🤔)

ANYWAY!!!! All this to say that it’ll never not be ironic that a certain group of readers CLAIM to think so highly of Nesta and write dissertation after dissertation defending their reasoning but it all falls apart really quickly when their countless claims that contradict each other come into play!