I find it funny when people claim that SJM's books are centered on the fated mates trope and they tell us to read something else cause we ship Elriel/dislike Elucien...
They're acting as if the idea that Elain may reject/break the bond has been fabricated by our side of the fandom with no evidence to back it up, which is really ironic considering SJM's own words in the books:
"At least he liked you,” Rhys countered, then clarified for me, “my father and mother, despite being mates, were wrong for each other."
"You are his mate. Do you even know what that means?" &"It means nothing."
Some sliver of hope that had shattered today. That Graysen would still love her, still marry her—and that love would trump even a mating bond.
"A mating bond can be rejected," (...)
"And sometimes, yes—the bond picks poorly. Sometimes, the bond is nothing more than some... preordained guesswork at who will provide the strongest offspring. At its basest level, it's perhaps only that. Some natural function, not an indication of true, paired souls."
"Many mated pairs will try to make it work, believing the Cauldron selected them for a reason. Only years later will they realise that perhaps the pairing was not ideal in spirit."
"What if"—I jerked my chin toward the window, to my sister and the shadowsinger in the garden—"this is what she needs?"
"Why not make them mates?" I mused.
"What if the Cauldron was wrong?"
That's most quotes from the books and the majority of them are in relation to the Elucien mating bond👀
Now's let's look at SJM's words outside of the books:
"Exploring a concept of free will, what does that look like with a mating bond? What does that mean? Like, does Nature get it wrong sometimes, does it get it right sometimes?"
"Like, you're mated to someone and don't wanna be mated, I'm like 'ew.' What do you do? Like, you're stuck with this person?"
"It's something that I find to be a really interesting concept."
"Versus like Feyre and Nesta, where it was so easy for them, like Nature picked right."
We didn't just randomly pull this theory out of our asses. We looked at the information that SJM presented us with and came to these conclusions.
Why do you think that ACOTAR is the specific series in which she keeps highlighting these points?
Why do you think that most of these points stemmed from conversations about Elain and Lucien?
As SJM once said, it's pretty obvious.
Also, stop limiting her to nothing but a fated mates author when she clearly wants to explore other options and grow as an author! Like, do you really want her to repeatedly write the same trope over and over again, or are you just scared because the idea obviously goes against your crackship?🤭
areudirty
tangentwithtanner
turnnoffyourmind
jimmyeatworldofficial
