18 Ways Sarah J. Maas's Call Her Daddy Interview Reinforced Elriel
My thoughts on the interview, presented to you in chronological order:
1. SJM Is Not Doing Fan Service Gwynriel: Gwynriels love to say that Gwynriel is the "most popular ship." Even if it is (it's not), that wouldn't matter, because SJM made it clear she doesn't do fan service:
âAnd like I don't ever want to hear like, oh, we need to change this to appeal to like XYZ demographic. I'm like, no, that's not how you make art. That's not how I create my stories."Â
2. Nobody Should Dismiss Elrielâs Bonus Interaction As âJust Smutâ: Weâve heard it a million times; âthe interaction between Elain and Azriel in the bonus is âjust lust!ââ But SJM stressed that her spicy scenes are far more than âjust sex.â For example, Nessianâs sex scenes are
âintensely tied to their own emotional journeys and their own journey as a couple. And so like this dismissal of it, like, it's just like smut, like whatever. I'm like, it's fun. I design it to be entertaining, but it's also moving and like I write like what I consider to be like cool shit that like means something to me.âÂ
Yep, Elriel are hot for each other. But the bonus was just the tip of the iceberg and shouldnât be dismissed as âjust lust.â
3. Stop Saying That Az Should Be With Someone Other Than the âBoring Gardenerâ or the âBraindead Baker.â: As SJM herself said, âAnd I find that there is a tendency for people to roll their eyes at things that bring joy and bring women joy especially, and it pisses me the fuck off constantly.â
4. It Doesnât Matter Whether or Not Elain Can Give Birth to a Winged Baby: I canât believe this still needs to be said in the year of our lord 2026, but it doesnât matter whether Elain can give birth to Azrielâs child. As Sarah noted,
âLike someone being in a loving relationship with a person and choosing to bring a new life into this world and to share their world and open up their hearts to someone. That's a beautiful thing. Like however you make a family, like that is a beautiful, wonderful thing.â
5. Stop Relying on a FB Comment from 2017 As Proof of Elucien: SJM reminded us all of how she canât be forthcoming with readers sometimes for fear of spoiling future books:Â
But then like of course like it was so funny when like the first ACOTAR came out and people were like, I love Tamlin so much. I got a tattoo of him and like knowing what like was going to happen. I was like, I'm so happy. Like I'm so happy for you. Also, I'm so sorry. I will give you. I will pay for the tattoo laser removal in like a year.Â
Of course Sarah wasnât going to admit to everyone in 2017 that Elucien was dead in the water, but they were and they remain so. Stop clinging to that comment.Â
6. Hot Characters Get Hot Names (and âGwyn Berdaraâ Is Not a Hot Person Name): Okay, this one is a little tongue in cheek, but I had to laugh at this exchange:
Alex: Is it true that you, like, part of your process is you sit and ponder how sexy the character's potential name is before officially giving it to them?Â
SJM: Oh, yeah . . . But, like, usually, like, if, like, someone's attractive, I'm like, okay. let's find the hottest name.Â
Letâs be realâGwyn Berdara? Least sexy name in the world. Not FMC material. đ
7. Stop Trying to Make Tamlain a Thing: For all you, âElain loves flowers, she belongs with Tamlinâ truthers, letâs remember the part where SJM said,
âI've had so many women, especially. including some, like, very dear friends of mine who've, like, come up and told me about, like, how they saw their own abusive relationship mirrored in Tamlin.â
Does this sound like someone sheâs going to pair Elain with?Â
8. Men on Their Knees = Good Sign: Sarah said, âI think it's, like, really kind of hot that, like, the super powerful dude, like, wants to get on his knees in front of his lady.â Certainly reminds you of how a certain Spymaster would âbeg on his knees for a chance to tasteâ Elain, doesnât it?Â
9. Elainâs Mating Bond with Lucien Does Not Mean âTrue Loveâ: Iâll just leave this little nugget here:
âthere's a biological component to it where like you can be mated to someone that is like not actually your true love. Like there's like true, true mates and then there's kind of like nature made a mistake.â
10. Elucien = Forced Marriage: âElainâs got like her own trauma and shit that she's going through right now. I mean, like, imagine, like, being transformed into, like, a whole new body, a whole new lifestyle. And, like, surprise, like, you've been, like, forcibly, like essentially married to like a stranger . . .â
Calling something a forced marriage doesnât scream peak romance to me!Â
11. Lucien = Complicit in Elainâs Trauma: Sarah referred to Lucien as someone who âwas like involved in bringing [Elain] into this world and like betraying [her] and like shoving [her] into the cauldron.â Tough day for all the âmy baby Lulu is an innocent precious cinnamon rollâ boy moms out there! Â
12. The Face Sarah Made When She Spoke About Elainâs Unwanted Bond:Â
I'll just leave this here đ€
13. The Elucien Bond Is Inferior to the Feysand and Nessian Bonds: Sarah noted that, unlike what Elain has experienced, with âFeyre and Nesta, it was so easy for them ⊠nature picked right.â Guess we know who nature picked wrong for!Â
14. The âSJM Is a Fated Mates Author!â Argument Is Nonsense: Sarah made clear that she doesnât like to be pigeonholed into telling any particular type of story. Talking about the upcoming books, she said:Â
âAnd I had a vision from the start of, like, what it would be, how I would deliver it to you guys. And, like, that's what I want to do. And, like, getting to be in the driver's seat and decide, like, this is how I want to tell stories . . . Like, why do we have to, like, stick to, like, these boxes of, like, this is how you tell a story from A to B. I'm like, no, like, what if we do something different?âÂ
She has told fated mates stories before, sure, but she made clear that she can tell Elainâs story any way she wants to (time to snip that bond, Elain!)
15. RIP, âAzrielâs Bookâ Truthers: Sarah emphasized that âthese books are about women coming into their power.â Seems clear to me!Â
16. Bryceriel Found Dead in a Ditch:Â
Alex: Well, there are a lot of theories that Bryce's true mate is Azriel. Is there any truth to that?Â
SJM: No. I can tell you right . . . I'm sorry to anyone that shipped that and has been like ride or die with that but like no it's Bryce and Hunt.
17. Pinterest Boards Shouldnât Be Taken That Seriously: For everyone out there clinging to ancient pins that âproveâ Elucien and Gwynriel, SJM seemed utterly mystified that people are looking at / caring about Pinterest.Â
Alex: We've all seen the now deleted Twilight of the Gods Pinterest board.Â
Sarah: Really?!? [tone of disbelief]
She also noted that sometimes she has pins for âideasâ where âsometimes I want to share that with the world and sometimes I don't.â It was clear that she used pinterest for a variety of random things that often donât come to fruition.Â
18. Gwyn's Name Was Not Mentioned Once: Youâre telling me Gwyn is going to be one half of the couple anchoring multiple upcoming books and Sarah doesnât even mention her ONCE?!?! Nah. No way. (And, no, sheâs not not mentioning Gwyn in order to avoid âspoilingâ the Gwynriel book, cope harder.)Â Â
In summary: I think thereâs a reason Elriels have been celebrating today, whereas Eluciens and Gwynriels have been sending crazy anons, quietly admitting their ships are dead on Reddit, and suddenly being too âsickâ and âbusyâ to comment on the pod. Welcome to the era of Elriel! đđ©·