Maybe it's my age talking, but I do think the Azriel vs. Lucien thing is blown way out of proportion.
There's a difference between attraction and being in love with someone, and another difference still between having a crush and being in love.
TL/DR: I genuinely think the biggest piece people overlook in this Azriel vs. Lucien puzzle is Elain herself and the layers of her internal conflict. Personally, I suspect it's much bigger than them both.
Here's the thing:
Azriel is gorgeous and is basically described as looking like a dark, fallen angel. He went into Hybern's war camp and got her out of there alongside Feyre, took her in his arms and flew her to safety. He's been kind to her, too. He hasn't pushed her to talk and has a quiet, strong presence that I'm sure is quite comforting to her.
There is zero expectation with him--zero pressure that she would even be able to create in her own mind. There's no "mate" term dangling over them and no friends or family breathing down their necks at every turn, acting like they should be supervised for something they didn't do. They're the only two people in their current circle (exempting Mor, though that's a bit different) who are still single. They both are constantly bombarded with this idea of "mates" and being on the outside of what that means.
I don't think it would be a reach at all to call her and Az friends.
It's not odd or confusing to me at all that she would have a crush on him; be attracted to him, want him to kiss her, or even to sleep with him. It seems completely natural.
I would argue that Az has been a gentleman towards her (and I will stand by the fact that internal frustrations are very different than actions, and that something expressed in confidence to your brother is nowhere near the same as acting out of turn), but I also wonder, too, if there's a part of her that makes her think she doesn't want a gentleman right now.
That while she's handled her trauma very differently than Nesta (thank the Cauldron), there's a part of her that's taken that robbing of life to heart and Graysen's whiny bitch comments/rejection to heart. That it's impacted her self-worth to make her think she is something "other" that's beyond saving or isn't worth the kind of fairytale love she always dreamed of for herself.
If I read into it perhaps a bit too much, I think Az is a little off when he assumes Elain doesn't know about the types of things he's done, whether that be atrocities or something more private. She might even see her involvement in killing Hybern to be some dark thing outside her nature she's having difficulty coming to terms with.
I'm not at all saying Az isn't a good guy who's deserving of love too, but I don't think what Elain's looking for with him in that extra chapter has much of anything to do with love. I think she wants a distraction with someone she thinks understands.
I think there's a chance, too, she's overwhelmed by Lucien being in the same house. Overwhelmed by that strong, involuntary pull she feels towards him and that she doesn't know what to make of him at all.
I will say it until I'm blue in the face, but I genuinely think the only barrier--the only real issue--that prevents her from warming to Lucien in the same or a similar way is that heavy, life-altering M-word that got slapped onto them both on arguably the worst day of her life.
He hasn't had the luxury of being around her as part of her family like Az has. Hasn't had the luxury of Elain seeing him fully through her own eyes without the "mate" label being forced into their lives. Yet it doesn't lessen the pull she has towards him, and that combined with everything she's experienced of mates thus far can't exactly be easy to process, especially after a brutal rejection, lost love, and lost future.
She isn't able right now to see the bond as a choice.
She doesn't even get the chance to evolve naturally into seeing it as a choice with the way her family hovers and breathes down her neck. How suddenly the most un-purity culture people in existence magically start caring a great deal about Elain's choices in that regard and insert themselves into chaperone roles like Elain and Lucien are two teenagers who can't control themselves at a junior high dance.
How confusing and contradictory that must be for Elain, who's been condescended and told by her sisters (namely Nesta) that the Fae don't live by human customs when it comes to sex or anything of the like. How the one time she did take that chance with someone she thought she loved it only got thrown back in her face by both Graysen and Nesta?
And what do we know about Lucien? He's devastatingly beautiful. Elegant yet rakish. An intelligent, educated, trained courtier and the son of a high lord. Even Feyre--a happily mated female--can't go five minutes in her internal monologues without noting how attractive and sexy he is even when he's doing absolutely nothing and minding his own business.
She knows he's Feyre's friend. She's heard some of the stories there. So she is aware, then, of at least some of the qualities her sister sees and admires in him despite their current rocky relationship.
Lucien is, in every way, being respectful of Elain's wishes and giving her space even though her rejection hurts him. He's still warring with the guilt of his own lost love in his mind and with a sense of unworthiness. He's been achingly thoughtful towards her; the epitome of a gentleman.
Elain would know that especially with that bond she doesn't fully understand, he's not someone she could simply have a pleasant distraction with. That he's someone who could see through her in every way she wants to hide and that she would never be able to hide in the mere idea that he simply doesn't press her (in the way Az doesn't press her).
Az feels safe right now and someone still attached to her comfort zone. He's a place she can continue to hide without fully facing her present and future and all Prythian is.
She can't hide her pain or suffering from Lucien in the same way. She can't quietly stare out the window into the sunlight without him knowing and feeling exactly what she needs.
She knows--senses--that she won't be able to separate the most vulnerable fragments of herself from her bond with Lucien. Again, a bond she didn't choose, and doesn't currently see that she still has a choice in.
So, she turns away from it in every way she knows how and looks for new ways to do so.
The way people treat Elain when it comes to her love life is so predictably (to her) unlike how Feyre and Nesta have been treated. Elain has always been different from them both, especially when it comes to love and sex. She's more modest and more reserved; has never been the type to fall into bed with some random man or Fae male. She's more guarded; a bit more protective of her own heart.
Maybe, to some extent, there's something she feels she needs to prove to herself. That she can fit within this more sexually liberated Fae world and that she's not some outsider in need of being treated with kid gloves.
Az, in that capacity, is definitely not someone who will. He's also not someone she can't keep her guard up with and can't keep her vulnerability from.
It would not surprise me either if there's a part of her that wants to deter Luicen (thinking back to Mor's tactic of deterring Azriel when she slept with Helion), but more strongly and importantly, to deter and distract herself from the bond. She doesn't want to allow herself to feel anything towards him.
The fact that she does feel a strong pull and, more likely than not, an overwhelming attraction of some kind makes me think it wasn't fully coincidence that she approached Az on Solstice when Lucien was in the same house.
I think she very much wanted to tie someone else to what she's feeling and try to get Lucien, the bond, and that dreaded M-word out of her mind.
Running the risk of sounding crude, Az could probably achieve that at least temporarily.
But it'd come right back. It's always been interesting to me that everyone seems to note that their bond is strong despite nothing having happened between them yet.
Until Elain acknowledges that bond and Lucien one way or another, that internal conflict she's clearly feeling is never going to change for her.
Two things can be true at once: we can fully acknowledge that neither Elain nor Lucien had a choice in the bond snapping between them, and that until they face it, neither one of them are going to have much choice in anything else at all. Not beyond a meaningless tangle in the sheets with someone else.
I think it would've been worse in the long run for Elain to learn that the hard way.
I also genuinely don't think Elain understands that there's nothing wrong with her for being different than her sisters or being different than the Fae norms. That there's nothing wrong with her for struggling to process this or for being overwhelmed.
She's still healing. She still has wounds she hasn't addressed. She's still hiding and seeking distractions while growing restless about wanting more from her life and being frustrated by her sisters' low expectations.
Feyre and Nesta love her, and it's not the protectiveness from love in itself that's wrong.
But they're suffocating her.
Lucien is, in every way, a person who never could. He's something so different and "other" than what she's used to both as a human and as a Fae while also being a bridge between those worlds. He can function in both. He can thrive in both.
He can see, perhaps too clearly, all sides of her whether she likes it or not.
I think she also very much senses he's the type she could fall in love with. The type she'll never be able to fully distract herself from if she lets herself fall or take that leap.
Her heart's still wounded, and she's not ready to risk opening that again right now.
That doesn't mean she won't be later on, and that doing so won't be incredibly worth it.
She will never find herself or open that chance up to herself, though, if she also keeps hiding in only the channels she knows. The barriers--intentional or otherwise--set around her by her sisters.
I do think that's inevitably going to be the difference between them, though: Elain and Lucien are going to face their reality and find healing together and in each other, and in the process, are going to end up falling in love. Real, true, soulful love.
Lucien's love is the kind that will leave her wondering why she ever thought she'd known what love is in the first place, and what they could find in each other is the kind of love they both deserve.
I cannot wait to see Elain facing her fears when she's fully free to do so. I can't wait to see her getting to know Lucien without the IC watching their every move and making her feel like a caged animal. I can't wait to see her find her strength, her love, and the fullest extent of her freedom.
That's not to say that Az would not have many wonderful qualities he could offer her too, but the person she's going to find more of herself than she every thought possible with is Lucien.
Az, in my humble opinion, is likely going to end up with someone else. An actual mate where he'll find his own healing alongside.
The stupid Inner Circle never told Lucien about the dangers of Feyre’s pregnancy because he wouldn’t have even tried to keep it in out of fear like Nesta, this man is unhinged. He told Amarantha to go back to the shit-hole she crawled out of then came back and defied her again and again. He would’ve dipped and told Feyre as soon as he found out there was a chance of Feyre dying. Then he would’ve gone to Dawn and sought the advice of every damn healer. He probably would’ve even risked telling Tamlin if the Dawn court healers had no advice. That’s just the kind of guy he is.
"She finds those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated - scars that will have a far - reaching impact on the future of their court"
"She" as in Feyre.
ACOFAS excerpts:
We are told that ACOFAS bridges the gap between ACOWAR and future books. That those future books have something to do with those dearest to her who have more wounds than she anticipated - scars that will have a far-reaching impact on the future of their court.
And who are the characters who are the primary focus of Feyre's worries?
Elain. Lucien. Nesta.
Not Az.
It is their trauma that is Feyre's focus in ACOFAS.
Nesta as she hides herself away from the others.
Elain as she spends hours mourning Graysen, her father, her lost human life.
Lucien who she admits that she is partially to blame for the rift between he and Tamlin, Lucien who she apologizes to for being an asshole, Lucien who she again offers a home in the NC too.
Lucien, Nesta, and Elain who she tells Mor she wants to be happy.
Lucien who she tells Elain is a good male, twice.
Lucien, whose gloves to Elain she thinks about in SF.
And whose scars might have a far reaching impact on the future of their court?
"You ruined any chance I have of going back to Spring. Not to Tamlin, but the court beyond his house. Everyone either still believes the lies you spun or they believe me complicit in your deceit".
"You will need Tamlin as an ally before the dust has settled. Tread carefully".
Spring is key because of its location.
Yet in SF, we have the IC continue aggravating Tamlin when Nesta visits his lands.
Also in SF:
It sort of sounds like the problems with Tamlin and Spring are a pretty major concern, do they not? Something that they addressed as a major concern in the novella and continued on in SF?
Problems that might have a far reaching impact considering Beron wants to take over its weakened lands. Far reaching when there was the concern of what might happen to the humans now that the wall is down, the human lands which border Spring. That those on the continent are still looking to make trouble.
Is Az connected to Tamlin or Spring in any meaningful way?
Who did we later learn as being made for Spring? Whose scent is a promise of spring?
Which character was later stationed in Spring to be the eyes and ears of the NC?
In the novella, Feyre wanted happiness for Nesta, Elain and Lucien. Her worry was for them, not Az.
It's not that Az won't get his HEA, of course he will, but I doubt he'd be getting one with Elain when it was Lucien that Feyre was worried about in the novella and Elain and Lucien who were tied to Spring in a major way in the most recent book. A court we know they need as a strong ally but do not have with Tamlin in his current state, a court we know Lucien still has sadness over because of the events of ACOWAR.
It was Lucien who Feyre told Elain of being a good male.
It was Lucien and Elain that she wanted happiness for and Mor who offered Feyre "a kernel of truth" when she told them all they needed was time.
It's been over a year since Mor spoke those words to her.
“But Elain is uncomfortable around Lucien! She obviously does not like him!”
No. The girl was in love with her fiancé, she gave him everything and he threw her away without a second thought. Suddenly she was nothing to him. She was kidnapped and traumatized and he decided she was his enemy.
My theory is that she is afraid of giving a male that power to hurt her again. In her experience, love is a fickle thing that can be crushed at any moment. She didn’t even do anything to earn Graysen’s hatred. She probably thought he would still love her after what they did to her.
She likely feels the pull of the mating bond to Lucien, and has decided it’s safer to guard her heart against him and heartbreak. I suspect she is attracted to him and feels desire but will not allow herself to fall into “the trap” again.
Feyre rolled her eyes. But then she said to Nesta, “Elain will need time to dust off her powers to try to See the Trove. - ACOSF, chapter 21
This post is exactly what it says it is: a reference list of all the posts I and others could find that theorise about Elain's possible powers, and how they might work. I'll add to this list as I see new theories about Elain's magic, so please let me know if you see any great posts! It doesn't matter if the theory isn't on Tumblr, all I need is the url.
Cauldron-Made/Making
Could Elain Make Ents? @offtorivendell
Did Elain Make her necklace? @offtorivendell
Sight
Did Elain "yank" Bryce into Prythian? @silverlinedeyes
Elain's murky realm... links between Seers, Oracles and Mystics, and how they're relevant to Elain - @wingedblooms
Mystics and Seers - @merymoonbeam
Seers, Blindfolds and Bloodbane... does Elain need to embrace the dark in order to use her Sight? - @offtorivendell
Shapeshifting
Can Elain take a new form? @wingedblooms
Singing
Elain could be a lightsinger - @wingedblooms
Elain is a Singer - @silverlinedeyes
Is Elain's Sight a form of singing? Shadow or light? @offtorivendell
Starborn
Are the Archeron sisters descended from Theia? @wingedblooms and @offtorivendell
Witchcraft
Is Elain a witch? @wingedblooms
Other
Could Elain have Banshee-type powers? @offtorivendell
Breaking SJM news: a completely new series is (likely) on the way !!
Last night, I came across a veryyyy interesting YouTube video posted by Bloomsbury 4 weeks ago. Although the video was mostly super boring (talking numbers and finances), towards the end, we get this little nugget of information...
[Bloomsbury staff member]: "Regarding the timeline and future Sarah J Maas book releases, which are obviously very important to us... so her next title, which is the third in her Crescent City series, comes out on the 30th of January, 2024. So, that will fall into this financial year."
[Bloomsbury staff member]: "And thereafter, we have SIX further contracted titles -- so continuing this series, and STARTING A NEW SERIES AS WELL."
A new series! This likely goes hand-in-hand with the announcement made by Bloomsbury a couple of months prior, in which they stated that 4 additional SJM books were on the way (but curiously, no further details about these books were given...)
Although we don't know for sure, this is my guess as to what these 6 future SJM books are:
2 x ACOTAR books.
Then the 4 remaining, newly contracted books; the first being the final Crescent City book, House of Many Waters.
Leaving 3 x books for the new series (which makes perfect sense, as when starting a new series, SJM is always contracted for 3 books initially).
The question remains as to what exactly this new series may be. Which leads me to... Twilight of the Gods.
[SJM universe spoilers ahead!]
Back in 2015, SJM started a Pinterest board for 2 new book series that were connected in some way; one was Crescent City, and the other was called Twilight of the Gods.
On her Twitter, SJM also mentioned that she had been working on both for quite a while, and that it was soon time to release them into the world.
Around the same time, a series called 'Twilight of the Gods' was mysteriously added to SJM's official Goodreads catalogue.
'Twilight of the Gods' is another term for Ragnarok; a famed tale of Norse mythology where the Gods and giants/demons across all worlds joined together to fight a giant battle that signified the end of the world.
Thus, I believe that 'Twilight of the Gods' is SJM's next series; it will be a Ragnarok retelling, and all of the characters from TOG, ACOTAR and CC will join together for a cataclysmic battle against the Asteri, the Daglan, and the Valg (because lets not forget that Orcus and Mantyx are still unaccounted for...).
With this in mind, consider the numerous references to Norse mythology that SJM has already scattered throughout her books:
Feyre as Freya: Freya was perhaps one of the most renowned Norse goddesses, and was Queen.
Nesta, Emerie and Gwyn as the Valkyries: An obvious one, but the Valkyries originated from, and had a huge part to play in Norse Mythology (Ragnarok especially).
Lucien as Loki: According to Norse mythology, Loki is often depicted with long, red hair. He is also seen as a God of fire, and is commonly associated with foxes.
Danika (Fendyr) and Fenrys as Fenrir: Fenrir was a renowned monstrous wolf of Norse mythology. Fenrir being 'unleashed' is one of the key events of Ragnarok.
Hunt as Thor ('Thurr'): During Ragnarok, Thor has a famous battle against the 'Midgard Serpent.' Consider the snake that Hunt is holding on the cover of HOSAB.
Midgard: is the 'Earth' world in Norse mythology.
Hel (spelt the same way): Is the 'underworld' of Norse mythology.
Further, if you looked at SJM's "Twilight of the Gods" Pinterest board - before it was deleted - you'd see countless images of (Lady?) Thor, the Valkyries, Sailor Moon, and even the coffin that Maeve locked Aelin in... (that can't be a coincidence, right..?!) Some examples below:
'Twilight' is also another word for 'Dusk'; considering the lost Dusk Court, and 'Dusk's Truth' (both of which are the centre of the upcoming crossover and broader multiversal narrative...) it matches up perfectly.
Thus, I believe that the remaining ACOTAR and CC books will continue to add to the multiverse, bit by bit. And whilst they can still be read in a standalone fashion, my guess is that they will build up to a grand finale (perhaps the very last ACOTAR book will end with Aelin walking through a portal...?) and then Twilight of the Gods will begin.
If you thought Kingdom of Ash was epic... then Twilight of the Gods -- if correct -- is bound to blow us away (and, it might even put SJM's name in the history books).
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