This is my love letter to Elain Archeron, my interpretation of what she sounds like were she to exist as music. Consider this more as an experience and less a list of songs with lyrics that relate to Elain. @elainarcheronweek
My Elain is made up in part of deeply personal headcanons, plus versions of her in works by @bloomingdarkgarden (What Bloomed in the Dark Garden) and @thefangirlofhp (sillage). She is Danielle De Barbarac, a quiet girl with a rich internal world and a heart capable of feeling every emotion ten fold. She has one foot in The Dreaming world of the mystics, and one foot in her rapidly evolving life in Velaris. She wants to be seen for who she is and loved for who she is, gardening-scarred hands and all. She quietly yearns for someone she can't have, never once sharing her woes with any of her sisters. She brings things to life and values learning, creation, travel.
This is a musical journey that represents my interpretation of Elain's soul, her internal world, her life in Velaris, her hopes for the future. (It is Elriel leaning, as a disclaimer, because ... I simply cannot help it.)
I started off the journey with nature sounds, because Elain is so deeply tied to the land in my mind, and with lush, atmospheric music representing how she presents to the world. As the list goes on, we go deeper and more secrets are revealed until the songs become almost entirely instrumental (moody and brooding in nature to represent an emotional landscape). There are songs in different languages or without words entirely, to represent her displacement into an unfamiliar land, in a changed body, and the uprooting of her ingrained beliefs about that land and the creatures living there; about her integration into the Night Court and her insistence that she belongs. It ends with her prayer to The Mother.
SONGLIST
(Sometimes I will include my decisions for including certain pieces. Other times, I hope you can glean your own meaning <;3)
PART I
(nature sounds)
I often imagine Elain waking up at sunrise, before the rest of the city, and just imbibing the land, the birds, the flowers. Noticing things other's don't notice. Seeking solace among nature.
James Newton Howard - A Hidden Life
(instrumental)
Mariee Sioux - Wild Eyes
tiny darling ghost holder
you our soft spirit breather...
you plant your burderns way
deep down in
Wickerbird - Llewellyn
sleep, interred
within old Avalon
A song that evokes visions, dreams, prophecy, distant lands
AURORA - Under the Water
under the water, we can't breathe
we can't breathe
under the water, we die
hearts will dream again
lungs will breathe in
feet won't fail you now
arms won't let you down
This song has been on my Elain playlist since the start. I always reminds me of her journey into the cauldron, the terror and grief that befell her afterward, and learning how to keep going despite everything.
Flower Face - Cornflower Blue
i wanna lay on the kitchen floor with you
i wanna do all the things that lovers do
bruised on your face like a watercolour bloom
moonlight paints your skin cornflower blue
Elain develops feelings for a quiet Shadowsinger...
Steven Price - Ophelia
(instrumental)
Jean Luc Lenoir - The Mermaid's Croon
(instrumental)
"The quiet dreamer"
Ane Brun - Joga (live version)
all that no one sees, you see
what's inside of me
every nerve that hurts, you heal
deep inside of me
you don't have to speak
i feel emotional landscapes
This is a quintessential Elriel song for me, so perfectly capturing how I believe she feels about him (how they feel about each other, honestly).
AURORA - Exist for Love
and then you take me in
and everything in me begins to feel like I belong
Joe Hisaishi - Heartbroken Kiki
(instrumental)
Rachel Portman - Three Women
(instrumental)
Elain, Nuala, and Cerridwen's blossoming friendship. Them in the kitchen learning how to make bread, them teaching Elain how to slyfoot, them whispering secrets about lovers and childhood to each other.
PART II
(Powers Awakening, Hidden Secrets of the Magic of Velaris, Witches and Mystics)
AURORA - The Forbidden Fruits of Eden
(an interlude)
Powers brimming just below the surface, unseen, but felt by Elain.
(nature sounds)
Elain starts visiting the Sidra more and more as her powers develop stronger. I just imagine her sitting by the water, with a scarf around her head, and a small picnic basket, just enjoying the quiet and thinking about her visions and dreams.
Thomas Newman - Starlit
(instrumental)
Night-blooming Jasmine, Elain discovers her place in the shadows of Velaris
Karliene - The Fields of Ard Skellig
Elain digs her fingers into the soil of Velaris and night-blooming flowers blossom all around her. She learns the secrets of the mystics and how to control her powers. Our Lady Kingslayer comes into her own and surprises everyone with her strength of spirit.
The Naked and the Famous - Teardrop
night, night of matter
black flowers blossom
fearless on my breath
Runah - Witch
how she bathes in it
she never had a lover that said her name before
the way it drops from his lips it's like she's never heard
her name sound like a song
and she craves it
oh she has woken the witch
she's becoming
Kati Ran - Vinda
slowly the journey goes like the walk of an old man
seeking in waves and seeking in sand
hear the psalm of the wind, its being sung over the mountain
and you, will you listen to the melody in the evening
Mykur - Nordlys
(instrumental)
Thomas Newman - Luthien Tinuviel
(instrumental)
Agnes Obel - Rosian
(instrumental)
Helisir - Brisingamen
(instrumental)
Johannes Bornlof - Wolfpack
(instrumental)
Honey Gentry - Aphrodite
Aphrodite, hear my pain
I want to fall in love again
Not in love with a man of this world
Fall in love with life itself
You’ve got Feyre, High Lady of the Night Court, made of all High Lords who either slays or gains sway on every monster she encounters. She can melt your brains or scorch you into fucking nothing. The woman can literally erase you from existence.
You’ve got Nesta, Lady Death, future General of the Valkyries (you can quote me on that, I just know it) who can slay you with words and swords and is blessed by the Mother herself.
You’ve got Elain, the Seer, the trembling fawn that (another headcanon, but pretty plausible) probably knows what dried plant to blow in your face to make you drop dead and is also adored by the Cauldron that created everything.
Like Prythian never stood a chance. Nobody knew what was coming for them and they should be afraid.
