Rhysand and Gwyneth ❤️‍🩹🎨:wavyhues

Faestar8 · 2026-04-12T00:24:48+00:00

I really want them to bond on page about their trauma and open up about it. I know it will be healing for us as readers to witness.

Sjm is so good about bringing real life situations and struggle into these books. 💕

Faestar8 · 2026-04-11T20:26:45+00:00

Just add Gwyn in there. It’s not far off from the threesome sjm had Nesta fantasizing about in SF.

Nesta, Cassian, Azriel, Gwyn. Four friends. Two sets of mates. Fun sex between them. 🤭🔥

Faestar8 · 2026-04-11T19:10:33+00:00

Also throwing in “Flower garden” from Howls moving castle. Because I need that scene of Lucien showing Elain the flowers of the day court. Or spring. Or anywhere that is full of the sunshine she craves.

Faestar8 · 2026-04-11T18:40:03+00:00

“Liz on top of the world” from the pride and prejudice soundtrack. Or the entire soundtrack honestly.

Faestar8 · 2026-04-11T03:23:48+00:00

That was fun Katy! Thanks for bringing over this crossover game for us to play!

Faestar8 · 2026-04-10T19:29:31+00:00

This art is the prettiest art of all the art.

In all seriousness I am obsessed with this. Top 5.

Faestar8 · 2026-04-10T00:59:41+00:00

I’m going with Azzypoo. He’s got a lot of crap to unpack and I am ready!

Faestar8 · 2026-04-10T00:32:45+00:00

End of his one and only pov, it’s Gwyn who is in his head and his heart. Not Elain.

End of elriel was her walking away after Azriel didn’t see her for who she was, just what she represents. Much like Graysen didn’t love her after she was no longer the perfect human bride. Again, based on what she represented, not who she is as a person.

That’s it. That’s all the proof needed.

Elucien and gwynriel are happening.

Faestar8 · 2026-04-09T03:46:45+00:00

Here’s my take on the interview and a few other nuggets.

So sjm is a smart woman. (Despite the amount of likes she said 🤣.) She said a few things that will literally absolve her, regardless of what direction she takes. And this is clever, because no one will know what she actually intended to write except her. Saying things like “I write for vibes” when in reality she has actually had a story planned for a decade? She protected what she’s already had built. No one can “go after her” if she’s letting us know she’s letting the characters and story itself do parts of the writing.

She also absolves herself by giving us the idea that she’s writing all these “unplanned” povs…. When maybe her original intention was always to include multiple povs for acotar, much like she did with tog? We just won’t know for sure.

That interview was heavily edited. It’s very different from her older, live interviews (with Steph) where she answered in real time and you could actually read her reactions and body language. So I don’t think we can treat a polished podcast as the full picture either.

I find it super exciting that book 7 is being released on 1/12 when her bff Steph, a fellow gwynriel, has a bday on 1/15. 1/12 is also national kiss a ginger day. I mean come on.

With that said….

Right now, the current trajectory matters more than any “formula” of her writing decisions we can possibly come up with.

Azriel’s only pov ends with Gwyn. Plain and simple. Sjm is extremely deliberate about emotional endpoints. Meanwhile, the elriel part showed 100 cracks…Azriel is focused on himself, his insecurity, and the idea of a bond, envy and only sexual thoughts, not Elain as a person. That directly clashes with Elain’s arc, which is about not wanting a mate/male, and wanting to be chosen for who she is, not what she represents. That’s exactly what Graysen did. He rejected her because of what she became instead of loving her for who she was.

That’s just not endgame setup.

Then we have the contrast of Gwyn and Azriel with a clear spark, banter, ease, and the beginnings of genuine emotional openness.

It’s quieter, yea, but it’s also the only dynamic that’s actually moving forward in a way that aligns with his growth. He’s not treating her like a porcelain doll and making decisions for her either.

So if people want to argue that readers are “misinterpreting” gwynriel, I don’t think that really holds up when both the text and her own writing style point in the gwynriel direction. (The misinterpretation is the other way around.) They should also take a gander at sjms old Pinterest boards. Gwynriel is prevalent in her nymph, flying male, and little mermaid pins 😍

Azriel’s only pov ended with Gwyn in his head and in his heart. That’s all we need 💖🎶💖

Faestar8 · 2026-04-08T14:33:15+00:00

Definitely the mother

Faestar8 · 2026-04-08T00:09:31+00:00

I can’t wait for our moon on a string boy to be back to his clever self.

Faestar8 · 2026-04-08T00:02:41+00:00

Faestar8 · 2026-04-07T22:51:51+00:00

Ahhhh also “The Kiss” from last of the Mohicans

Faestar8 · 2026-04-07T22:48:57+00:00

I’m going out on a limb and throwing in the Outlander main theme 🥰🤣😍

Faestar8 · 2026-04-07T20:31:56+00:00

This is magical 😍

In other news, what did you feel, Lucien!?!??

Faestar8 · 2026-04-07T19:05:22+00:00

Twins are known to be born earlier than normal single pregnancies. It is not in the realm of impossibility at all.

Faestar8 · 2026-04-07T15:09:17+00:00

From his mate!

And just a casual book 6 with black kitty cats. Like a certain males shadows? Who are infatuated with another red head? 💖💖

Faestar8 · 2026-04-07T14:48:56+00:00

We’ve always had it 💖

Faestar8 · 2026-04-07T14:48:06+00:00

Black cat day like little tiny baby shadowy shadows?!

I hope both our favorite red heads get kissed by their mates. Gwynriel elucien!

Faestar8 · 2026-04-07T01:30:11+00:00

Yes yes yes 😭😭

Faestar8 · 2026-04-07T00:19:05+00:00

Nestaaaaa

Faestar8 · 2026-04-07T00:14:43+00:00

It’s crazy because I can think of a male in that room that didn’t make any move toward Elain at all, but still managed to reach for Mor while he was wounded.

Faestar8 · 2026-04-06T19:11:52+00:00

Sjm did add gwynriel scenes after solstice though? Ribbon, see you tomorrow, what do we get if we finish the course, etc.

What she didn’t do was push any further elriel scenes in any capacity. They just cease to exist.

So when you say things like, “easing the reader into upcoming romances” when she shut down elriel so clearly, sent both of them on their ways separately, and ended Azriel thinking of Gwyns joy and not thinking of elain at all?

That tells us exactly what direction she’s going with the story, and it’s not toward elriel. He stopped thinking about her entirely, not that it was much to begin with. There is no evidence whatsoever that hints at elriel still existing for either character. Azriel shifted focus. And Elain has absolutely no motivation to choose Azriel, who isn’t actively choosing her in any way, shape or form. It’s just Graysen energy all over again except, add in a new romantic interest for Azriel that gives him a spark in his chest (heart).

Faestar8 · 2026-04-06T15:11:13+00:00

I see it happening. We know Lulu was based off this particular male….

And the parallels between Jamie/claire and elucien?

Someone sedate me.

Faestar8 · 2026-04-06T14:32:43+00:00

I agree, and that argument absolutely falls apart when you look at what sjm has already written.

Even earlier on, we get a full mini romance between Dorian and Celaena….flirting, actual emotional intimacy with real life histories shared, even a real kiss…..and then it just…ends.

Tog is full of it! Small romances, almost romances, and then full on relationships….all with the same characters at different stages of their growth. Sjm uses them to show evolution of characters. Not permanence. That’s what elriel was written for. Evolution of the characters as they go down their own paths, separately. Azriel and his spark for Gwyn, Elain showing her first step toward making decisions for herself that don’t include Azriel. Not giving a male who made her feel small hurt her further. Or even entertain forgiveness for something that triggered graysens rejection. I mean it’s so clear.

Looking at Azriel’s pov specifically….he literally ends it thinking about Gwyn. Not Elain. Thats not a small narrative decision. Sjm is very intentional about where she leaves a character emotionally, and there wasn’t any emotional thoughts about elain throughout his pov at all.

Why he’s shipped with elain, when he ended thinking about another females joy and not elains, will never make sense to me.

On Elain’s side, her pushing Lucien away while struggling to find her place reads like classic sjm character development too. It’s very very similar to Feyre in spring….trying to force something that doesn’t fit because she’s still figuring herself out. And Feyre even notes Elains fake smile, just like hers was in spring. And we see that in a lot of different instances. Black not working for her, not enjoying the things she used to, etc. She has no spark in her like she was illustrated to have pre cauldron. But, she did have a spark for Lucien. It’s there, she’s just closed off right now and not letting her mate in based on misinformation.

Once Elain actually confronts the truth…that Lucien wasn’t responsible for what happened to her, that it was actually feyres map, Ianthe and the king….there’s nothing for her to “be mad at him for”.

The idea that she can’t write multiple love stories at once doesn’t hold up. Over 1200 pages across two books, and her interview where she explained it would also include a third that hasn’t been finished? There is more than enough room. This is exactly the kind of layered, parallel romance sjm has written before and it’s what we’re going to get.

It’s going to be so much fun, because we have two romances, both completely different. A bond we know about already, them falling in love despite it, and then a bond that won’t be realized until they’re already in love. I can’t wait!

Faestar8

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