“And I think Elain—Elain would like it, too. Though she’d probably cling to Azriel, just to have some peace and quiet.”
I smiled at the thought—at how handsome they would be together.”
“Why not make them mates?” I mused. “Why Lucien?”
“You said your mother and father were wrong for each other; Tamlin said his own parents were wrong for each other.” “So it can’t be a perfect system of matching. What if”—I jerked my chin toward the window, to my sister and the shadowsinger in the garden—“that is what she needs? Is there no free will? What if Lucien wishes the union but she doesn’t?”
“A mating bond can be rejected,” Rhys said mildly,“ There is choice. 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.”
ACOSF (2021) Azriel bonus chapter
“What if the cauldron was wrong?”
“The Cauldron was of our world, our heritage. But upon arriving here, the Daglan captured it and used their powers to warp it. Turn it from what it had been to something deadlier. No longer just a tool of creation, but of destruction.”
SJM in her most recent interview (2024)
I go the philosophical route with my next question: We’re talking about fate here, but at what point is a character the agent of their own fate? What happens if someone rejects their mate? (Listen, if I were Fae and I didn’t like my mate, whatever God chose for me is not my business.)
“That’s something I find to be very interesting,” she replies. “What if the forces that be put you with the wrong person? Or what if you just decide, eh, I’m not interested. … There’s a lot to explore within the concept of mates and your agency about it.
“I’m not going to say if I am exploring it in future books or not,” she continues, “but it definitely offers a wealth of things to explore with this concept of freewill and what is true love. Is it something that’s destined? Or is it something that you make? Is it both?”
Elain in ACOTAR 6 (2026/2027)
🎨 art by gracerstudios, comm by morgansecretgarden
🎨 by icezimy, comm by lovelyfawnxx
🎨 by fefeiry, comm by botanical_brinn
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