Gwyn Acosf - Tumblr Posts

LOOK AT HER!!!

𝓖𝔀𝔂𝓷 𝓦𝓮𝓮𝓴 ❄️☃️

So excited to share this lovely Gwyn art with everyone! After reading A Court of Silver Flames I just fell in love with Gwyn and her friendships with Nesta and Emerie! She’s such a wonderful character! Thank you @kamillyanna for drawing her so beautifully ❤️. Who do you guys think she’s smiling at?

@gwynweekofficial

Commissioned by @trashforazriel and myself

Link to Instagram post here

Character belongs to Sarah J Maas

*sighs* I had to:

THE CAULDRON AND THE SHADOW SINGER:

Azriel: but what if the cauldron was wrong?

The Cauldron: what the- Do I have to explain mating bonds to every mated pair in Pyrinthia? Why am I always getting blamed? Blame the Mother!

Azriel: "the third one"

The Cauldron: The third-? You know what? Screw this. You want to blame me for the mother not giving you someone else's mate? Great, go for it. But you know what? Boom, your shadows won't say anything.

Azriel: "his shadows had not warned him"

The Cauldron: how's that? And now, BOOM, she's smiling at your shadows.

Azriel: it was directed at his shadows

The Cauldron: Huh? How's that? And here you go, BOOM, she's kicking you out

Azriel: "are you kicking me out?"

The Cauldron: He's staying, why is he staying?

Azriel: "I can't sleep without my favorite dagger"

The Cauldron: no, wait. You were supposed to leave-

Azriel: "his shadows darted 0ut to dance with it"

The Cauldron: Why is it doing that? I didn't do that

Azriel: "rotate your wrist"

The Cauldron: They're joking with each other. What is happening right now?

Azriel: "something restless settling in him"

The Cauldron: I need an EXPLANATION!

Azriel: "charming irreverence gone"

The Cauldron: Charming irreverence?

Azriel: "Buried the image down deep, where it glowed quietly-"

The Cauldron: I know this glow. How do I know this glow?

Azriel: "A thing of secret, lovely beauty."

The Cauldron: Wait a second, I know this...MOTHER!

The Mother: YOU TOLD ME TO MAKE MATES GET TOGETHER IF I WAS BORED!

Azriel questioning the Cauldron and then having a spark in his chest for Gwyn wasn’t a coincidence

I just need to get this out of my head and it may be a little silly, but:

Gwyneth Berdara smells fucking amazing. Like coconut but a little ✨citric✨. And like summer rain (yes it has a smell).

She loves fruits, mostly grapes, strawberry and pineapple.

She wears a whole bunch of golden jewelry once she leaves the library and can buy it. Like, those delicate, decorated with white pearls golden bracelets, earrings and necklaces. And she buys those golden, pretty seashells you see only in pinterest for no reason at all.

Oh, and I can't forget, she has the best hair ever. Really long, shiny and it just feels like silk. When she gets a break from her work at the library, she has a self-care day (a tradition that she started to learn to love herself and her body again) and hydrates her hair with one hundred different techniques she read about.

And she is the cutest ever. I love her very much and yes this is silly but I need to post it.

I was re-reading ACOSF and got to a simple conclusion halfway through it:

There's no way in Hel my bad b**** Gwyneth Berdara isn't going to have a story line in the next book(s).

fight me.

Beyond all the questions SJM left unanswered about her, such as heritage and possible powers, she has simply one of the most interesting and unique backstories in the series.

While most of the characters had their pasts already completely explained (even though some still need development), Gwyn's backstory mostly focuses on her trauma. While it's certainly something important and had a huge impact on her, there's still 26 years of story besides that.

Like, it's so so interesting. She is a priestess that grew up in one only-female environment with a half high-fae, half water- nymph mother that was too wild as a child. She had a twin sister, and it's a Great Rite child. It raises so many questions

Was her mother a good mother? Or she was too carefree given her heritage and didn't know how to take care of 2 kids?

How was her relationship with Catrin? Were they best friends or did they have troubles and fights between them?

How was her relationship with the other priestesses? Did she lose only Catrin or perhaps a best friend, a maternal figure in the attack?

Is she interested in discovering her heritage? Did the attack affect her faith somehow? How does she, as a born fae female, view mating bonds and other fae traditions? Does her nymph heritage affect her in other aspects of her life? Does she feel some sort of pull or belonging towards rivers and oceans? Who was she in Sangravah? How much of herself changed during her stay at the library? How does she view sexuality, considering her religious background? How did her mother die? Who taught her how to sing? Does she maybe feel she has some sort of power? How chaotic could her mind be?

Too many questions about a too interesting character.

PS: And can someone please tell me why tf is she considered childish?

What I find the most appealing about our baby girl Gwyn, is the fact she's both gentle and fierce? She doesn't have the worldview Feyre and Nesta have, but she isn't docile like Elain.

Gwyn stands between both worlds, she's a girly girl but also a badass, she's cold (think her telling Nesta off for looking at her with pity) and warm (think everything else tbh), and honestly she's the most unique character sjm has written so far.

I don't know why but

Gwyneth Berdara is Van Gogh coded.

that's all I have to say.

About a possible Gwyn/Rhys friendship...

I mean, they do have a lot in common and could totally be friends...but hear me out:

✨ a Lucien and Gwyn friendship ✨

They would be wonderfully chaotic together and I'm here for it.

Firstly, they have so many similarities and even though this applies to Gwyn and Rhys as well, I don't know if they could relate completely, not like Gwyn and Lucien. I mean, who could relate more to the feeling of having a loved one executed in front of them? Of feeling extremely guilty about it? Of losing everything they knew as family and home and having to move to a foreign court/city?

And then, I'm dying to see their sexy-chaotic-sarcastic redhead duo dynamic. Just imagine those interactions:

"Don't talk to me about mating bonds. You were oblivious of yours for 4 years"

"You didn't even know who your father was!"

"Like you know who is yours!!"

"At least I never stood one foot away from him thinking 'Wow we really look alike'"

"Oh shush"

And imagine the We're-not-really-a-part-of-the-inner-circle-but-we-still-need-to-participate-in-dinner-gatherings-because-of-mates gossip sessions. Lucien judging everyone's outfits and moms and Gwyn being too polite to comment but silently agreeing with everything, even more so when it comes to her fashion-wreck of a mate ("I already told this overgrown bat he would look amazing in white but he simply refuses to wear anything other than black" "hide his clothes 😌"). Emerie can join the group and they become the "Outer Trio" (as in opposition to "Inner Circle").

Oh, and if Azriel or Elain lose them from sight for more than 1 minute, there's chaos. Like "Oh dear Mother we lost our fire-starting Autumn Court offspring of mates, Gods protect this city" type of chaos. In the end, Gwyn was simply showing Lucien the new Valkyrie techniques she found and asking if she could bore some books from Day.

And I may have gone overboard with this. Sorry not sorry.

just had a random thought and...

Modern Gwynriel AU but in the very first chapter Gwyn is described wearing exactly that outfit Sarah wore.

Yk, that outfit.

It's really poetic how my girl Gwyn just showed up randomly in a book and the whole fan base just flipped on it's axis

I'm posting a lot about Gwyn lately but...

Why did it become common sense that this girl is hyperactive?

I mean, we could see in ACOSF that she is a little bit... energetic, but every few days I see someone picturing her like:

And it's absolutely accurate.

My girl is up early in the morning for service (faithful queen (and I'm not even religious)) and then training, spends the whole afternoon working for Merrill (who has that whole "I want you to do all my work while I laugh at you" boss vibe), then goes to service again AND THEN she's like "well, I'm going to train at night as well, just because."

Honestly, Gwyn my love, are you alright?

All these "theories" like 'Azriel is Gwyn's father!', 'Gwyn is a lightsinger!', 'Elucien's mating bond is fake!!!'

Just prove y'all are truly, deeply desperate.

and it's really funny, continue please

Soo, I was thinking about starting to write again and since my current obsession is Gwynriel, I'll obviously write something about them.

I have too many ideas about this couple and can't decide between them, so

"Oh but Gwyn is just a side character-"

JUST LIKE ELAIN. JUST LIKE AZRIEL. JUST LIKE MOR. JUST LIKE EVERY FREAKING CHARACTER WHO DID NOT HAVE THEIR STORY TOLD IN THEIR BOOK.

and dare I say she has more development than some who have been around for longer...

I have this headcanon that Gwyn already had her first kiss.

Because let's think about it: She lived in Sangravah, a priestess temple. The priestesses who lived there participated in the Great Rite/Calanmai. So they had babies.

Unless the Great Rite has some weird kind of magic that only allows priestesses to conceive females, some of these babies were male. And I don't think they threw their male babies away a la Hera and Hephaestus, so they grew up in the temple by this logic.

Maybe they simply had to move out when they reached a certain age?

Anyways, for me, she was best friends with this quiet little boy. He liked her and was always giving her flowers. When they were, idk, 14 or 15, he had to leave the temple and gave her a goodbye kiss.

Years later she tells this story when hanging out with Nesta, Cass and Azriel. And a certain batboy gets illogically jealous.

Azriel had his shadows since he was a little tiny boy, locked away in a small room with no windows, feeling unloved and uncared for.

The shadows were not a part of his trauma, they actually may have been one of the reasons he survived through his trauma.

They are his company, his little spies, a literal manifestation of his powers and honestly, very loveable little beings. The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Azriel is that he is a Shadowsinger.

AND Y'ALL WANT THESE SHADOWS TO DISAPPEAR?

Let me tell you something: That's exactly why I don't ship e/riel. Because, if they were to truly be happy together, someone (or both) would have to give up in such essential parts of themselves that they wouldn't be the same person.

Elain would have to give up on traveling around the world and planting gardens everywhere. She would have to give up on glamorous parties because her partner is an introvert and terrifies everyone in Prithyan except his family and the people who want to fuck him (I'm looking at you Helion). She would not live somewhere sunny all the time and take walks in the nature.

Azriel? Apparently, he has to give up his shadows. He will have to hide the darkest parts of himself, not because Elain can't deal with it, but because he is clearly extra-self conscious and ashamed of those parts around her. He would forever feel afraid of "tainting" her or scaring her away, because he clearly doesn't consider her someone capable of dealing with darkness. He would have to give up on having a mate.

IN ORDER OF THIS SHIP TO WORK, THEY NEED TO BE DIFFERENT CHARACTERS.

Spoiler ahead: these characters already exist.

I don't ship Gwynriel and Elucien because I'm anti-elain or some other bullshit. I ship it because I love these characters and I want to see them grow without needing to become something completely different from what they are.

I don't need gentleman, well dressed Azriel because LUCIEN IS THERE.

I don't need warrior, bloodthirsty Elain because GWYN IS THERE.

Honestly, it's so very simple it hurts.

Soo... sorry for the wait (if anyone is waiting for it, though I doubt it). The jealous Az one shot accidentally became a two chapter story, so it took a little longer. It will probably come out by sunday.

(Also, if anyone has one character in particular as an interesting suitor to flirt with Gwyn and make Az go mad, please leave in the notes)

And, to the main point of this post, I'm thinking about writing something a little bit longer since I'm reconnecting with writing. Nothing elaborate, but I had two things on my mind:

a) An modern AU where Gwyn is a PhD student and a research assistant trying to release her first song and Azriel is a private investigator analysing a murder case that happened years ago, but had no solution. They meet at Cassian's gym.

b) A sort of collection of one-shots that are not really one-shots because they form a full story, but there's no real plot (I guess) about Gwyn's pregnancy and their babies. I understand this may be a little weird to some people, but it just lives rent free on my mind. They would be mated for a long, long time and completely ready for babies since I don't really like unplanned pregnancy stories.

Soo, I was thinking about starting to write again and since my current obsession is Gwynriel, I'll obviously write something about them.

I have too many ideas about this couple and can't decide between them, so

Idk I'm reading a lot of fanfic lately and, 9 out of 10 times, Gwyn is doe-eyed. And I love it, it's amazing, bUT-

I can't picture her other than with these huge, beautiful siren eyes. So I'm writing it, thank you very much.

I love love love Gwynriel with my whole soul.

but the parasites in me sometimes do see the potential flirting between Gwyn and Tarquin.

and I am aching to make Azriel mad about the said flirting (notice the word - flirting, brief attraction - not endgame, never endgame) in my one shot;

But it's scary bro.

I do see the interactions between E/riel. Every Gwynriel / Elucien does.

I know they have the hots for each other. I know Azriel gave Elain Truth-Teller. I know he saved her when she was kidnapped.

I can recognize that and still say it doesn't bother me at all because, in every single one of these interactions, at least one of them was in love with someone else. Or for every single one of these interactions, there was opposite foreshadowing.

The fact that E/riels completely deny the existence of Elucien and Gwynriel foreshadowing and similarities or "suspicious" interactions tells me a lot.

No but it's so funny when people get mad about anything related to a character if said character is in a ship they don't support.

I'm using Gwyn as an example because I see this happening a lot with her, but it happens to a quite awful lot of characters:

I understand not liking Gwynriel, or even simply not liking Gwyn's character. But it doesn't mean you need to invalidate and shame every theory and aspect about her, even when it has literally nothing to do with the ship.

Like why are some people mad she's a redhead/ pictured as a redhead? Or that we're curious about her ancestry/ lineage and powers? About theories saying she can play a bigger role in future books?

I'm sorry, but when a character is introduced in a series like ACOTAR and gets the attention and the development she got, people are going to speculate. Even more when said character has no apparent reason for being the highlight in a few scenes, but is nonetheless.

SJM is not dumb. No, she is not the best writer in the world, but she does think and plan a lot for her books, mainly with the foreshadowing. There's a reason Gwyn is the first reborn Valkyrie, even when Nesta is the MC. There's a reason for the sentences indicating "larger forces" noticed Gwyn when she was cutting the ribbon. There's a reason she talks about wanting to leave the library and that she's the one saying their stories are worth telling. There's a reason she became Carinthyan just when the Illyrian rebellion was about to start.

And finally, it's not shameful or "dumb" to theorize about a character possibly having larger roles in future books when the narrative itself suggests so.

If you're threatened or mad about it, the shame is on you.

and everyone knows the real reason some people think the Valkyries shouldn't have won the Blood Rite, and it has nothing to do with being "unrealistic".