I keep seeing a lot about the next ACOTAR book being centered around Elain and Azriel, but logically: how can that ship fit into one book? First, from an author’s perspective, the next MC won’t get next to no page time in the book before. Elain wasn’t set up to be a MC or LI or both in ACOSF, and I don’t say this to stir up a ship war, but her presence was merely to signify future plots for her but nothing significant. Second, she has no connection to the next book, and that’ll tackle: the Illyrian uprising, the aftermath of three women winning a blood rite in an extremely misogynistic territory (country? I don’t know what Illyria counts as), Azriel dealing with his past (we learned his mother is still alive and will likely play a role in him confronting his past), Azriel handling his mental health (grappling with self worth), more issues with the Autumn Court, and closure with Morrigan. I see this having more to do with Gwynriel (if you’re looking for a ship) because she’s tied into what’ll be one of the most important plots (aftermath of the blood rite).

_{thinking of parallels between suspected endgame ships:}

• _{nessian: cassian seemed to understand nesta’s grief regarding the death of her father because he lost his mother. the two share similar mannerisms as well in terms of coping. cassian knew that training was the outlet that quieted the world for him and it was how he was able to help nesta efficiently, to some extent. cassian is a warrior, and nesta ultimately became a valkyrie.}
• _{gwynriel: azriel was locked away and abused to a horrifying extent. gwyn was subject to what happened in sangravah before choosing to keep herself locked away into the library. azriel is in need of a journey that will allow him to fully look into his past, to embark on self-acceptance and self-love, and to fully close the chapter with morrigan. gwyneth needs to leave the library, and can only do so when she has the strength to fully face the past, and to allow herself to know that she is not to blame for what happened to her and her sister. both grapple with issues of worth, and both have been locked away.}
• _{elucien: elain seems to struggle most with being faemade, and one of her largest conflicts is the ended engagement with graysen. lucien’s biggest source of agony is jesminda. elain has often been kept protected and shielded, in a way keeping her from exploring her full potential, while lucien has never been able to truly heal and grow, let alone in knowledge of his full heritage. in a way he has been shielded from his full potential, the way the night court seems to insist on keeping elain from using her cauldron gifted powers (although she shows that she wants to begin using them). elain also seems to dislike anything that is not within her control, and lucien has never once been in control of his life.}

_{not here for y’all to argue w me, just here to point out some interesting parallels.}

_{eluciens aren’t being toxic, they’re finally speaking back after actual years of abuse, harassment, and even death threats. for those of you that have been in the fandom as long as i have (i personally have been around before ACOTAR was even released, back in the TOG days, just to make a point on how long i’ve been around), how many elucien fans were there in the beginning of the ship formation, post acomaf? how many were there until a acosf, and then the live? this isn’t a call out post to all elriels because i’ve met some that were kind, but the behavior from the elriel fandom has quite honestly been arguably some of the worst i’ve seen in my 22 years of existence lol, and quite literally, every single day there is a bullshit post on my tumblr calling out eluciens or gwynriels for toxic behavior that i absolutely have not seen. that majority i overlook because i am a grown adult and am not arguing with teenagers lol, but at some point y’all are going to have to recognize your fandom is the problem, and has been for quite some time.}

_{ask the eluciens that aren’t on twitter because of y’all, the eluciens that strictly maintain tiny blogs to avoid harassment, the artists that get death threats and hate for drawing elucien and gwynriel, and the teenage girl y’all sent a death threat to on twitter.} 

_{grow the fuck up, it’s ridiculous.}

_{okay, but can we discuss the way the inner circle handles trauma? while they pride themselves on growing past their traumas, i couldn’t think that’s further from the truth. i think they have a toxic mentality where they repress said traumas and push past it so they may live normally; they do not handle the trauma head on, as made evident by the way feyre, rhysand, and elain are mentioned and spoken about it in acosf. and i honestly think for elain, it’s damaging her more than anything and that lucien is the only one that’s picking up on that. i feel like the inner circle often glosses over elain, and i’m upset azriel hasn’t made more of a point to address it as well, particularly since he’s very much also “feeling” for elain.} 

acotar as a show

Lucien is not white Helion is not white Emerie is not white and I cannot believe I have to say this but Tarquin is absolutely not white

so explaining my take on Lucien’s heritage— I don’t think he’s Black, I think he’s Middle Eastern (there are Black North Africans, but geographically, I’m penning North Africa rather than East, West, or South). Sarah J Maas is known for being vague and having PoC characters remain ambiguous, but let me let y’all know why I have my take on it.

Date palms and sand-swept palaces remind me more of North Africa and strictly North Africa; Egypt and Morocco in particular.

Now as for his dress, it’s very Mediterranean, very Roman/Greek but also not. Another issue with SJM is that she often meshes cultures together, which is EXTREMELY problematic, and that is the vibe I am getting with Helion and his court. To finalize what I assume is an attempt at a court that is built off of North Africa and Ancient Egypt, I looked at the appearances of the others from his court.

Rich dyes, and KOHL. Kohl is a cosmetic that is heavily popular in North Africa and particularly Egypt — when you look at paintings and representations of Ancient Egypt, the people are ALWAYS wearing Kohl. Now combined with imagery of desert palaces and palms, along with Mediterranean dress that was worn by the Ancient Egyptians, and my take is that Helion is meant to be North African, and strictly Egyptian.

This is a reminder as well that Egyptians are a wide variety of colors— while as an Egyptian I am more olive, I have relatives that are Black. Egypt is a heavily diverse country, and there ARE Black Egyptians. And Lucien, to me, likely sounds as if he’s got a skin tone that is almost gold, not olive, with yellow undertones.

AND THIS IS A REMINDER THAN LUCIEN VANSERRA IS NOT WHITE.

Elain’s gardening is very much a part of who she is but is also a connection to the human world; it’s the only connection that truly hasn’t changed, and gardening in the fae world is the same as in the human lands. I think it was mentioned that she spent an AWFUL amount of time gardening and to me it sounds like she’s deflecting becoming fae while clinging to the one thing that makes her feel human. :/