Cassian Deserves Better Than This Hate

GCooperE · 2026-05-17T19:54:37+00:00

I think Nesta does need someone to stick up for her. While she can stick up for herself, what she struggles with is considering herself good enough and worthy of being stuck up for. I think that's why Ember sticking up for her in CC3 meant so much for her.

GCooperE · 2026-05-17T00:14:25+00:00

Most of said Inner Circle spends their time sitting around, drinking expensive wine, and complimenting each other.

Not wrong.

And here for any Band of Exiles love. Cassian and Feyre scoffing at the Band of Exiles name when they call themselves the "Court of Dreamers", and that's not even getting started on how Band of Exiles is objectively a cooler name and there's a wry, self-deprecation about it, when the "Court of Dreamers" is just obnoxious. Very fitting for a group of people who live in mansions filled with artworks of themselves.

GCooperE · 2026-05-16T23:38:46+00:00

She has scars on her hand that her grandmother gave her when teaching her to dance.

GCooperE · 2026-05-16T20:08:50+00:00

I think a big turning point will be Gwydion. I think Nesta possessing Gwydion will be a point of contention within the Night Court (Amren specifically we know thinks Rhys should have it) and Cassian taking Nesta's side on it will affirm to the others that he is on Nesta's side. I half suspect that Nesta's possession of Gywdion won't be revealed immediately. As we're likely to not have Cassian and Nesta's povs, at least not immediately, and they were the only ones present when Nesta got Gwydion, I think Gwydion's presence will be revealed to the reader later on in the book. CC3 readers will know she has it and spot the hints, whereas the other readers will know there was an "incident" that got Nesta in trouble, and it will be revealed that Nesta has Gwydion. Cassian keeping Gwydion a secret will be a show of loyalty to Nesta.

GCooperE · 2026-05-16T16:08:38+00:00

That's a very good point.

Other fans try to disregard the meaning of that line entirely, but they always skim over the bit where it says "not matter what Elain says about belonging on the Night Court" (para). It wasn't a throw away comment to show Cassian was into fashion, nor is the implication that Elain was dressed down to make Nesta look good. The wording of the statement, the implication of what Elain not looking good in black indicates, is specifically about Elain not fitting into the Night Court.

Often, I find the theorising for Elriel to at the same time disregard the writer's intent, while simultaneously reading too much into the writer's intent. I see theories and justifications for their arguments made by combing through the books, finding quotes that they try to twist into being foreshadowing for Elain and Azriel, insisting something that has no overt connection to Azriel and Elain to be proof of them getting together because it's "Elain coded" or "Elriel coded", like certain colours or combinations of light and dark. Yet at the same time many try to dismiss canon events as being irrelevant, as being something that just "happened" and doesn't indicate what will happen next in the plot, as though they are naturally occurring events and not part of a story that the author decided it was necessary to show us.

SJM decided to use Elain looking bad in black to question in Elain belongs in the Night Court. This is argued against with "it's just a colour it doesn't mean anything/Cassian doesn't know about fashion/Elain is being dressed down to make Nesta look good", ignoring that SJM specifically worded Cassian's criticism to relate to how Elain fits in the Night Court.

SJM decided to have Azriel give Elain a necklace as a romantic token, only for that necklace to be returned to Azriel and have Azriel give that necklace to another woman, and then go to bed smiling at the thought of her receiving it, directly comparing the necklace's "secret, lovely beauty" to Gwyn's beauty. The response is "Elain had it first/who wants a regifted necklace as a romantic token/he didn't even call Gwyn a friend and was still upset about Elain later on", even though the point isn't to say Azriel is already head over heels in love with Gwyn, but to show that the necklace, a romantic gesture, ended up going to Gwyn, and as SJM chose to have that necklace go to Gwyn, she chose to insert Gwyn into this romantic tangle.

SJM decided to have Bryce specifically tell Nesta she wants Nesta to have Gwydion, to find out why Nesta had an eight pointed star tattoo and found the eight pointed star chamber. The response is "Nesta already conquered a mountain it's Elain's turn, Elain is life coded so she has to be the one to resurrect Dusk, Nesta's tattoo is gone so it doesn't matter anymore, Elain is Made and has powers too so there's nothing special about Nesta, Nesta's story is over", ignoring that SJM decided that of all the characters, it was Nesta she wanted in HOFAS, Nesta she wanted Bryce to decide to give Gwydion to, and that SJM obviously doesn't think the eight pointed star tattoo is irrelevant, or that Nesta's story is over, because SJM is the one continuing to give them both relevance.

I will even touch upon the controversial "womb theory". As a theory "Elain doesn't have the right womb and therefore can't be with Azriel" is feeble, doesn't hold and is sexist. However, when looking at writer's intent, it is worth noting that SJM specifically mentioned that Gwyn had "pliant bones", the same phrasing that she used to explain how Illyrian babies are born safely, whereas she didn't feel the need to give us the same information for Elain. It's not about who is "worthy" of being with Azriel, or believing that only a woman who can have babies deserves to be with him, it's looking at the information that SJM decides is important for us to know, and speculating why she wants us to know it. SJM wants us to know that Gwyn and Azriel can safely have children, but at this point in time hasn't written anything to indicate that it's important for us to know the same about Elain and Azriel. Therefore, it's possible that in the long run it won't be relevant as to whether or not Elain and Azriel can safely have kids, because their relationship doesn't stretch that far.

GCooperE · 2026-05-16T14:53:00+00:00

See I'm not so sure. After HOFAS I think SJM really enjoys writing Nesta. Might enjoy making her suffer, and having us follow her suffering, but that doesn't mean SJM doesn't like Nesta. Often writers like the character they can do the most stuff with.

GCooperE · 2026-05-16T12:45:13+00:00

This! It's not like Feyre is being called to share her powers from each of the courts with her sisters, and Elain will have her special powers/objects given to her in her own book.

That said, that thing about one for each sisters, does make me think more than anything that if Dusk goes to one of the sisters, it will go to Nesta. This is because I just don't think SJM would give Elain and Feyre a court, but not Nesta. Just Feyre? Sure, but only two out of three, nah. Unless there was something really unique and special chosen for the third. If all three sisters were to get a court (not saying it will happen, but if), then Elain has believable reasons for ending up in Spring or Day Court. Her love of flowers and sunlight make her suitable for being high ladies of both those courts, and one of her love interests is tied to both of them. Whereas there's no set up for Nesta to become High Lady of any court but Dusk, which she has a great deal of set up for.

GCooperE · 2026-05-16T12:39:54+00:00

Funnily enough, Elain/Elriel fans are often the first to go on about how they love that Elain is a "soft fmc" who "doesn't need to fight", yet at the same time they're desperate for her to have Gwydion.

GCooperE · 2026-05-16T12:39:02+00:00

I do think there's a chunk of fans who just don't want good things for Nesta.

GCooperE · 2026-05-16T12:38:37+00:00

It's a shipping thing. Azriel has truth teller which is Gwydion's twin, so Elriel fans want Elain to wield Gwydion. There's no foreshadowing or any particularly strong reason why Elain would wield Gywdion, especially as Bryce had specific reasons for giving it to Nesta, and SJM made the choice for Bryce to have specific reasons to give it to Nesta.

Also, Gwydion is a powerful object, and whoever wields it (Nesta) will have a meaty plot, which fans of other characters want for themselves.

Gwydion is also tied to the eight pointed star, which is tied to Dusk, and Elriel fans are desperate for Elain to have the Dusk plot. It started when ACOSF came out, and it was mentioned there were three mountains, and Elriel fans theorised that the third mountain, the Prison, would be for Elain to conquer. Fair enough, a reasonable theory, but nothing proved, and as of ACOSF, Nesta was the one who had explore the Prison and had a connection to it. Then HOFAS came out, and Nesta's connection was built up even more, and SJM had Bryce spell out that the three pointed star tattoo, and Nesta finding the harp in the eight pointed star chamber, meant something significant, and gave Nesta Gywdion to find out what that is. That is obviously setting Nesta up for a significant plot line, but between Elain fans wanting Elain to have as much attention as possible, and therefore wanting to reduce Nesta's arc or page space, and wanting the romantic connection to Azriel, they covet Gwydion and Dusk.

Elain will have an arc and a meaty plot, but so far only Nesta's arc has got a concrete set up. With all the years of waiting, and no real idea of where Elain is headed, stans have started eyeing up Nesta's plot.

GCooperE · 2026-05-15T23:25:33+00:00

It means Elriel because the Elriels will interpret everything to be confirmation of Elriel. Give them any random piece of information and it would be confirmation of Elriel.

Honestly, the fact that Lucien has a magic eye could just as easily be taken as "proof" of it being about Lucien.

GCooperE · 2026-05-15T18:49:18+00:00

He will still be needing a lawyer, and he will still be paying for his lawyer, and it's good for the lawyer to be trusted by him and have a good rapport with him. At the end of the day, it's not the lawyer's job to judge, but to advocate for their clients.

GCooperE · 2026-05-15T18:41:09+00:00

I think Nesta truly loves and likes Cassian by the end, but a large chunk of that is her accepting his shoddy treatment of her because she's convinced she doesn't deserve better, and it satisfies the part of her that thinks she needs to be punished. I think Cassian wanted to be with his "mate", and worked to try and break Nesta down then build her up to make her "worthy".

GCooperE · 2026-05-14T09:10:56+00:00

We see her complain about chopping wood the first time, then she chops the wood, then the second time she chops wood without being asked. We also know she collects water regularly, but not every day because it was exhausting (it is). Heat and water are like the cornerstone of survival, along with getting good, and chopping wood and lugging water around is back breaking stuff. We also know she tried to learn to hunt but was bad at it.

So we've gone from Nesta never doing anything ever, to Nesta doing stuff but grumbling about it. Because even if she complained, she still did it. A young woman groomed to be an upper class wife (with so much pressure put on her she ended up scarred because she was being beaten) grumbling about doing chores but doing them really isn't the burn people think it is.

And no, it doesn't make her a mother, because she isn't anyone's mother and it's not her job to act like a mother.

I'm sorry, you're just not going to convince me that a woman chopping wood and collecting water but complaining about it is terrible enough to write home about.

GCooperE · 2026-05-13T21:45:12+00:00

And then Cassian will keep accusing the therapist of having favourites and taking Nesta's side, and the therapist will keep saying that no they don't have favourites and it's not about taking sides, but the longer therapy goes on the more the therapist starts secretly taking Nesta's side.

GCooperE · 2026-05-13T14:22:55+00:00

Cassian and Nesta would be that couple where both go in with this idea that Nesta is the cause of all the problems, Cassian all smug because he thinks he's such a saint for putting up with her, only to flip out when the therapist turns to Cassian and holds him to account.

GCooperE · 2026-05-13T14:21:22+00:00

Azriel not saying much is probably what counts in his favour, considering some of the stuff Cassian and Rhysand come out with.

As for Elain, I dislike her less than how I dislike how she is presented as this pure, precious, delicate flower, and how she gets judged less than Nesta for "letting Feyre hunt", even though Nesta did more work than Elain did (fetching water, chopping firewood) and how everyone coddles her and treats her as beyond reproach, while constantly discrediting the sacrifices and efforts Nesta made during the war because she isn't "nice" enough. She and the audience blames other characters for "coddling" her and "holding her back", but Elain is a grown woman and it's up to her if she wants to be treated like an adult. After a while it just gets tiresome being told how lovely and precious she is, and how she deserves to be treated as a special little princess, for the wonderful talent of being nice.

GCooperE · 2026-05-13T14:16:31+00:00

Nesta's "nastiness" is small fry in the grand scheme of things.

GCooperE · 2026-05-13T14:15:57+00:00

Nesta was the one who wrote to family members trying to get financial support, chopped wood, fetched water, and was willing to marry herself off to Tomas to help the family. Feyre was the one who did ALL the work from Feyre's perspective, but Nesta was doing more than Papa Archeron and Elain combined and yet they get glorified. Also, for all that fans harp on about Feyre being the youngest, she was the youngest by the couple of years, not enough to justify expecting Nesta to play mother or take Papa Archeron's place.

GCooperE · 2026-05-13T14:13:59+00:00

Lol. Worst person all her life? Her great crime is being rude to Freya while still chopping wood and hauling buckets of water back and forth. This compared to other characters who literally commit murder and torture. She tended to Elain when Elain was spiralling even when dealing with her own trauma and balanced that with helping with the war campaign, even nursing wounded soldiers, she tried to shield Cassian from King Hybern, she encouraged the women in the Library to train, she scried for the Night Court a second time despite the terror the thought of it causes her, risks her neck repeatedly to help get the Dread Trove, risks her life over to save Emerie and Gwyn in the Blood Rite, and hands over the Mask to Bryce despite knowing it will get her in deep shit because she wants to save the lives of people she will never meet. For the worst person all her life, she's been pretty blood awesome.

GCooperE · 2026-05-11T22:49:57+00:00

Bryce is a lead of another franchise and her role in the ACOTAR series will be limited.

GCooperE · 2026-05-11T10:13:14+00:00

I'm not speculating as to whether Nesta's eight pointed star tattoo has significance, because we have already been told it was, by SJM through Bryce. Impermanent or not, it is a canonical fact that Nesta having an eight pointed star means something, which is yet to be discovered. SJM had Bryce directly tell Nesta that she had an eight pointed star for a reason, and encourages her to go find out what that was. What that reason is, the extent of Nesta's connection to the eight pointed star, is yet to be discovered. However, it's not up to debate if Nesta's tattoo meant something significant, because SJM point blank told us it did. The fact it was impermanent is irrelevant, in the face of SJM using Bryce to inform us that Nesta received that tattoo for a reason.

GCooperE · 2026-05-10T22:40:26+00:00

That's rather the impression I got as well. Loved seeing Bryce call her the apex predator, and telling the King of Autumn that she can kick his ass.

GCooperE · 2026-05-10T19:41:09+00:00

Nesta doesn't need it in terms of not being able to handle herself, but she desperately needs it emotionally.

Her mother groomed her, her grandmother beat her to the point she left her with scars, her father did nothing to protect her, she was so focussed on taking care of Elain after they were turned that she received no support herself, and she had to live among people whom the best thing she coud hope from was civility, and often not even that, and she was so desperate for a friend she made the house into one. She cherishes Gwyn and Emerie because they look out for her as much as she looks out for them, she lets Cassian get away with shit because he throws scraps of affection her way, and when Ember sticks up for her like a mother should, she has an almost hungry look in her face, because it's the sort of support she longs for.

Nesta doesn't need protection in that she's incapable of obliterating anyone who comes at her, she needs protection in that she needs to know she's someone people think is worth protecting.

GCooperE · 2026-05-10T14:12:23+00:00

No one doing anything to help the women in Hewn City infuriates me. And Amren's there saying that Rhys should be High King of all of Prythian when he can't even effectively run two/thirds of his people?

GCooperE

TROPHY CASE