r/ElrielFans

Even though I'm not actively expecting a book centered entirely around Nesta and the Valkyries, just the thought of it actually happening makes me genuinely upset and angry. Let me clarify: a book like that coming out wouldn't even automatically mean Gwynriel is real.

The scariest part is that before we even notice it, the entire series will have been hijacked by Nesta and the Valkyries. We'd look back and realize we spent all the main books reading purely for Nesta, while Feyre and Elain were relegated to mere supporting props, and Feyre's entire epic arc was literally just written to give Nesta a little character growth and regret. And Elain? She's a Seer, she just sits there, existing, accepting her mating bond, and nothing else.

High Queen? Who knows, maybe Nesta takes the crown, or maybe Gwyn does, how are we even supposed to know anymore? Nesta will probably handle all the crossovers herself, skipping hand in hand through the meadows with Aelin and Bryce.

Things have gotten genuinely bizarre. The original trilogy was a romance-focused fantasy, Nesta's book shifted into a heavy personal growth journey, and now what are we expected to read, high-stakes political strategy? Where did all the actual romance go? Ugh.

(Actually, I kind of like politics being brought into the mix, and we kind of predicted that anyway, but where is the romance???)

These next two months are going to be agonizingly rough, and I am definitely not touching the books without getting spoiled first. If it turns out to be entirely Nesta and Valkyrie focused, I am officially checking out, dropping the series, and leaving the fandom for good. Period. I don't mean to stir up trouble or bother anyone, there's honestly no point in constantly spamming posts about things I hate just to annoy other fans, but I needed to get this off my chest.

⬆️ Thats from the blurb for book 7 A Court of Forgotten Melody. The blurbs may seem vague but they actually tell us a lot.

What other reason would that be happening? and why would the IC, personally, have to be diplomatic about it other than Elain rejecting the bond?

Rhys and the Inner Circle would have to be diplomatic only if it involves one or two of them doing something to cause the issue.

I think by the end of book 6 either Elain will have rejected the bond or Lucien will have caught Elriel together, and called for a blood duel. You may say “Lucien wouldn’t do that!” But if he truly is feeling a mate instinct he absolutely would even if he doesn’t even want Elain. Or he could he manipulated into doing it by someone. Either way the blood duel is something thats part of the story and has been foreshadowed since acowar. It’s happening.

Just a fun theory: maybe Lucien calls for a blood duel after catching elriel together, and Elain runs off with Azriel because she doesn’t want either one of them dying and thats how elain ends up meeting Azriel’s mother cause they go to Rosehall to hide.

I've had to do some thinking these past few days. Because the ship war has gotten so incredibly stuck in a rut over the last few years. I still believe strongly in Elriel and really have no doubts about it. But how do you think SJM will resolve the Ship War? Because realistically speaking, at least one side is bound to be disappointed. Especially when I see how the other sides write about Elain. That’s why I think Acotar 6 will keep a lot under wraps until Acotar 7, but it will still have to point in a clear direction. What do you think? 🤔

I think that a series title very often has very little to do with the plot overall and it’s more to do with what is a catalyst and it’s very possible the Valkyries and the events in ACOSF kicked off this whole set of books or this ‘era’. But I was thinking about the following;

The Eating Woods (a conduit between worlds but the plot not based solely on it and infact you spend very little time there at all)
The Empyrean- is not any main plot force they’re a background political organisation related to but isn’t the main driving force of the plot. Our main characters are mostly outside of it entirely
Crowns of Nyaxia - Not about nyaxia. She’s a trigger and shows up sporadically.

I know people have shared other theories that it’s also going to be mostly based around the Valkyries opera that is about forbidden love. I just think the blurb told a very different story and I’m not entirely sure this is a literal subtitle.

Hello everyone, I hope you are all doing well 💙🩷

I am making this announcement to inform you all of a discord server created for elriels,

Its called elrielcentric, a place where live discussions surrounding the next books will take place. Its intended to be an elriel centred podcast,

The first live session will happen today at 10pm uk time,

Here is the link to join the discord 💕

https://discord.gg/N2sRsAhQ8

I want to talk about this argument of gw*nriels against elriel, albeit, misogynistic. They always rehash this argument that Elain doesn’t have the flexible pelvis that Gwyn apparently has, thus, she’s more fit to be Az’s endgame, because, you know, for their hypothetical offsprings’ sake.

But I’m wondering, why wasn’t this argument used against Nesta and Cassian? Cassian is obviously also Illyrian, with bat wings, while Nesta is just an ordinary Fae. Wouldn’t that mean that Nesta would also have problem with giving birth to their children like Feyre did?

Why was this argument not used against this particular pairing? Or did Nesta also have magically flexible pelvis that could carry Illyrian babies easier? Or is this only a problem with a particular pairing (elriel) because they fucking hate elain?

Am I the only one that's bummed out enough about this new information we got that I'm not even looking forward to getting the next book(s)?

Was I too naive in thinking that, given the fact that Feyre got her story, and then Nesta got hers, what we were supposed to get next was Elain's book?

Am I being too drastic in thinking that's never gonna happen now, even if the blurbs or the subtitles hint to "Elriel's forbidden love story"? I'm not interested in reading that if it's alongside a bunch of other stuff and Elain is outshined by 14 other possible POVs since apparently that's what "the story that came out of me was too big" means.

For months, since day one when I became a fan of these books and especially when I saw the vitriol this cursed fandom has for Elain when she'd done nothing to deserve it, I have been a ride or die fan of her. I have shaken my head thinking people were gonna eventually be proven wrong when Elain gets her times to shine.

I have been ride or die.

For Elain. For her story, her powers, her personality, her little moments that shined even through the lense of other people's POVs. People have waited patiently for years for her turn, and that to me now seems more far away than ever.

Nothing we got since yesterday confirms to me that Elain will be our next FMC and I can't believe this would mean that those who hate her for "not being interesting enough to carry her own books" were correct. That Sarah agrees. That she needs to add other POVs or conflicts or resolve other stuff at the same time. All while Nesta got a 700+ page standalone doing her own thing and having her own space to grow. Elain doesn't get that grace.

Am I convinced Elriel isn't happening? No.

But I'll be honest. I don't care. And I'm gonna quote Jo March here so you can see where I'm coming from.

>Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they’ve got ambition, and they’ve got talent, as well as just beauty. I’m so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for.

I was never here for the men. I will never care more about what Azriel does than about hearing from Elain and being in her head. The boys are just a good addition to a story of empowerment about the FMCs that I like. But I do not care about romance if it comes at a cost of my favorite character not having her well earned spotlight. I didn't need to be in Rhysand's head to be sold Feysand's love story. I don't need Azriel's thoughts or Lucien's thoughts or whoever it is she's intending to add as a POV.

Yes, these are romance books. This is a fantasy story. I'm aware. But if Sarah managed to build the entire world of Prythian in 3 books with only Feyre's first person POV, then she could've done the same thing without book 6, after 5 years, suddenly turning into "The Inner Circle" book.

That wasn't what I was expecting, especially since once upon a time she said she was doing research for Elain's book. But none of this screams Elain. Where's the seer imagery, the flowers, the vines, the shadows? Where is everything that makes Elain...ELAIN?

Maybe I'm being too negative. But I needed to get this off my chest, and I just can't do it in a different space where I know everyone else is celebrating we finally got titles, and covers, and art, and blurbs, while I'm still out here mourning my Elain book.

I'm not the writer of these books. And I knew some people were gonna be disappointed inevitably, I just didn't think it'd be those of us who were rooting for Elain to finally be out of the shadows (pun intended) of her sisters. That just doesn't seem plausible to me anymore.

Please if you disagree, be kind to me, I'm very heartbroken right now even though in my head I keep telling myself "it's not that deep". But I feel like I lost something yesterday, and that's the hope of the soft FMC with a different sort of strength that I thought I'd been promised.

Life and death and rebirth.

Sun and moon and dark.

Rot and bloom and bones.

Hello, sweet thing. Hello, lady of night, princess of decay. Hell, fanged beast and trembling fawn.

Love me (Feyre), touch me (Nesta), sing me (Elain).

---

Hear me out. What if ‘sing me’ represents Elain finding her voice. She has spent much of the series being defined and spoken for by other people. We know what everyone else thinks Elain wants, but we still don't fully know what Elain herself wants.

The new titles are FILLED with musical language:

Splintered Harmony --> a story in which the different pieces are fractured and out of alignment.

Forgotten Melody --> something lost, buried, or forgotten being reclaimed.

And that pairs beautifully with “SING ME.”

Let's also look at this:

“Hope can be spun from the darkest of shadows.”

Elain has been associated with hope since ACOTAR, where Feyre contrasts her own despair with Elain's ability to look at the same broken home and see HOPE. Then, in ACOFAS, Elain encounters the void tapestry and specifically asks about the silver thread, which the weaver calls Hope.

And now we're given hope + shadows in the same sentence.

Elain has an established connection to hope.

Azriel is a Shadowsinger.

I believe SJM is continuing to build a beautiful thematic connection between Elain and Azriel.

The upcoming story is structured as multiple movements, and harmony requires multiple voices coming together. The Valkyries can be central to the battle and the larger conflict, while Elain's individual story unfolds within that same composition.

If Elain's arc is about finding her voice, the metaphor isn't simply that she learns to sing. It's that the story finally lets us HEAR HER.

Fractured Harmony = Elain's voice exists, but it isn't being heard or integrated into the larger “song.”

Forgotten Melody = Elain's voice has been surpessed and overlooked for so long that her own desires have become “forgotten,” and the story brings that voice back.

SING ME.

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☝🏼🙂‍↔️

I wanted to share this article by Harpers Bazaar because reading it, and seeing how it dedicates a large part to speculating about Elain, Azriel, and their potential relationship, it made me realise once again how loud voices on the internet sound, yet the “general public“, which this article is catering too, is mostly unaware of what’s been going on online and would perceive them as a natural couple/theme for the upcoming novels.

I just wanted to share because it helped me distance myself from all the craziness of online theories on social media and made me realise that a) most people have no clue about the ship discourse or its full extent, b) online opinions seem incredible loud and can take the joy out of the journey, c) none of us know what’s going to happen and d) Sarah knows best and I trust her to do the characters (especially of Elain and Azriel) justice! 🌸🦇

I shipped Dramione and Zutara way back when.In both cases, it was the obvious choice because there was an abundance of thematic and character moments that would have been exceptional. In both cases, the bland choice, the first choice, was made canon.

Another post pointed out that if Elriel didn't happen, it would serve as another Dramione. Sooooo, let's chat about these dynamics, because I think it could be insightful. I'm not gonna mention any in-book evidence, I feel it's obvious ;) where it connects and we all did our homework.

Both ship wars have been autopsied, and it's evident that the decisions were made based on the author, not the story. JKR (ew) wanted everyone paired off nearly and sorted into the existing status quo. She wrote the epilogue before the series. Bryke modeled Katara after Mike's wife, and there are plenty of interviews showing that the self-insertion kept them from pursuing the obviously superior option. There were fights in the writer's room about it.

In both cases, we have a couple that serves the writer's ego, and a couple that serves the story. Elriel/Elucien is the same (sorry Gwynriel, we're keeping with the MFM love triangle) However, this iteration is different, as SJM has talked about how her husband inspired Rhys and people have speculated that Feyre is at least partly a self-insert.

So, first lesson: it's ok if they aren't canon.

When I was in high school, it mattered a hell of a lot that Ron ended up with Hermione. Well, a decade later, we know that the author has poor decision-making skills and Dramione fanfiction is now getting published as a genre staple. The live action ATLA added scenes that are Zutara fanfic mainstays that were not in the original story.

Because, in both cases, duh.

It's a bad idea to spend a whole story setting up a theme and then take a left turn so you can stroke your ego.

Second lesson: Be confident anyway

The situations here are different. SJM has spoken extensively about letting characters influence the direction organically, and having ships manifest as the stories reveal themselves.

So, we have a couple that aligns with the themes and story direction, and a couple that...........? Well, it isn't ego, for sure.

We'll be fine gals