ok so remember the episode where emily convinces rory to sit for her portrait to be painted?? so remember emily wanted there to be swans in the painting?? but rory (with lorelai's help/insistence) is able to be painted in a more comfortable position with no swans and just simply reading a book
now the episode swan song directly references this painting when jess sees it in richard's study at friday night dinner... the same dinner that her famously showed up to with a black eye from a swan of all things!!
swans = rory's aristocratic side. beautiful, graceful, but famously territorial
jess getting beaked by a swan of all things right before interacting with the blue blood side of rory for the first time can't be a coincidence
but by the end of the episode, he mentions going back to her grandparent's house even though the night was not a good one
he's willing to face the swans for her
but now let's go back to the painting. under emily's influence, rory was willing to have the swans involved in order to appease emily and richard. however, when lorelai finds out what's going on, she's able to get the swans out of the picture and rory can pose with a book (who else happens to be symbolized by books?? hmm)
then in s6 we see rory without lorelai influencing her life and she falls fully into the swan life and we see by the end of it that she doesn't like that life, she loves emily and understands the swan life, but (with jess's influence) shakes that part of her life off and gets back on track
she's not completely swan-less, though she doesn't intentionally make them a centerpiece in her life. but it's okay when they do appear because jess has always been willing to risk the swans to be with her















