In Throne of Glass, we learn the Eye of Elena is actually an Ironteeth symbol and it is called the Eye of the Goddess. Blueblood prophets have this symbol tattooed on their hearts.
The eye inside the symbol represents the heart of darkness within the Goddess, and it is similar to the symbol on Juniper’s dust jacket for acotar 6 as @karmaliciouslife commented earlier on this post, which were done in collaboration with Sarah and BB.
Sarah also chose to wear blue and a necklace with an eye on it to the CHD interview (as @mrspettyferr pointed out), and spoke about how this story was inspired by a mystical vortex and gave surprising insight into various things.
We’ve been connecting Elain to witches, and specifically Blueblood prophets and this Goddess symbol, for several years. Prophets are connected to the divine, like Elain, and they speak prophecies.
The Blueblood witches represent the maiden aspect of the Goddess and they supposedly require more iron, more pain, to keep them tethered to their realm. @offtorivendell and I wondered if this might explain why Elain, a Cauldron-blessed seer, has more iron (iron mental gates, iron engagement ring, iron bracelet, etc) and doesn’t mind the pain of gardening without gloves. In fact, we suspect she might be seeking it out to feel grounded.
Sarah has hinted directly through Feyre and symbols representing Elain that her powers allow her to commune with the Goddess, and I think that means traveling in her heart of darkness. Half-hidden in shadow. It makes sense that this would connect her to priestesses, and why she seems more priestess than warrior like the Blueblood Matron, and could use a dawn ritual to help keep her grounded as she explores her magic.
The Illyrians appear to be sensitive to these forces (perhaps the Goddess and her gods); they can sense otherness and feel larger forces peering into the training ring. According to Azriel, they are born hearing the song of the wind and have the wings (captured on Juniper’s dust jacket for acotar 7) to travel like a force of nature, harkening us back to Elain’s first question for Azriel about flight.
Will this power help illuminate more secrets of the past, including those that involve the land, Asteri, Illyrians, and the Cauldron? Does time bleed together for Elain, as it does for Ancients, in that heart of darkness? And could she have wandered to the past to give a lonely boy hope? I’ve been working on a little headcanon for elriel month where Elain is thrust into the past by one of Azriel’s childhood songs, and afterward, he was he so desperate to hear her voice again that he Made the shadows around him, bringing them to life through his yearning for that lovely friend he met in the dark. After all, Azriel is the wilder one and could be more elemental and connected to nature as a result. I don’t care if Sarah actually wrote this, it’s canon in my mind.
Elain’s magic has the potential to bring so many threads of the story together in such a unique way, and I cannot wait to experience it.