u/dorianswitchling

Second moodboard for Elain’s different court fashions and this time it’s the Autumn Court. 🍎🍂🌹🔥🍁

I’ve always imagined Autumn Court fashion with strong TUDOR influences with rich fiery velvets, deep crimson shades, intricate floral embroidered corsets and bodices, insaneeee beadwork and touches of antique gold and pearls.

I also love the idea of how everything there feels hauntingly romantic in the saddest and most devastating court when it comes to romance. There’s something so poetic about all that warmth and regal softness existing in a place where love and lovers always seem doomed. ❤️‍🩹🕯️

Elucien x Hozier will ALWAYS be a hit!!!! They were made for that aching Hozier kind of love. 😭🙌💛

credit to: readsss.ri

“But he couldn’t breathe as she faced him fully.
She was the most beautiful female he’d ever seen….

You are mine, and I am yours. Mate. Her eyes were the brown of a fawn’s coat, and he could have sworn something SPARKED in them as she met his gaze.” ❣️

President of the Yearning Nation, Lucien Vanserra.
With a single glance, Elain nearly brought a 400 year old fae to his knees. Lucien could literally not breathe in her presence. She didn’t move, didn’t speak and she didn’t need to, she simply existeddddd and that alone was enough to unravel him!!! THE BUZZZZZZ IS UNLIKE ANY OTHER. 😭✨❤️‍🔥

🎨 Beautiful artwork by: _dark_moon_art

This is how I neeeeeeeeeed Elucien’s arc to play out in ACOTAR 6, 7 & 8 👀🫠❤️‍🔥

ACOTAR 6: Enemies and forced proximity. She can’t stand him, he’s constantly frustrated and done with her, but by the end they grow into friends and each others’ comfort zone.

ACOTAR 7: YEARNINGGGG. LONGING. SLOWBURN. Elain falls for him. Lucien falls even harder. Both refuse to admit their feelings, each convinced the other doesn’t feel the same. JEALOUSY. Ends with an angry and emotional love confession. 😭😭😭❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

ACOTAR 8: LOVERSSSSSS.

Obsessed with this artwork!! I also stumbled upon this quote “I am yours. Even in this waiting, I am yours.” and it feels so Elucien coded. ❤️‍🩹 It just captures that ache between them so perfectly, along with the slowburn, the waiting and the longinggg.

🎨 Artwork by pandyals_art

I’ve always said Elucien shares so many similarities with Flora and Helia from The Winx Club, so seeing this fan art by llibiarts made me so excited!!!! 😮‍💨💜✨👀🌷💚

I grew up watching The Winx Club, so I loveeee how Lucien and Helia both have that poetic and emotionally intelligent nature, while Elain and Flora share the same gentleness, love for nature and understated strength.

Flora has soooo many parallels with Elain, both are strongly connected to nature and deeply love helping people. Both of them tend to hide most of their feelings and struggle with verbalizing emotions even when they feel them deeply. They’re calm and gentle on the surface, but both also have a surprisingly intense and powerful side when pushed too far or when someone they care about is threatened. 💚🌷

Flora’s magic depends on being connected to nature, she he can even hear the voice of nature speaking to her, which feels especially interesting when compared to Elain who hears sounds, voices and heartbeats around her, with her powers also being influenced by her surroundings. 👀👀👀🚨🚨 Even Flora’s abilities being linked to dreams feels like another subtle parallel to Elain’s visions. 👀👀👀

Helia is secretly witty and a little sassy in the exact same way Lucien is. They both have that dry humor and observant personality where the sarcasm just slips out. 😭😂 Even visually they remind me of each other with the long hair, the romantic fashion sense and the refined aesthetic. Both men are ALWAYS underestimated even though they’re actually extremely capable and powerful when they need to be.

Another thing that stands out is that Helia rarely relies on direct physical combat, which also feels very Lucien coded!!! 👀😮‍💨 Compared to the more openly aggressive fighters around them, both of them tend to approach conflict with intelligence, restraint and emotional awareness first rather than charging headfirst into violence!!! Brandon even describes Helia as a pacifist aka someone who rejects war in principle and that immediately reminds me of a certain fox lord. 🤭❤️‍🔥🦊

Alsooo fun fact about their names and symbolism, is that Helia is the Greek word for “sun” while Lucien literally means “light” and considering Lucien is the son of the Day court HL, it feels like the universe approves of the parallelism. ☀️✨

My favoriteeeee similarity between both ships tho is the way both men believe in the women, even when the rest of the world doesn’t. Helia believes in Flora and constantly encourages her to trust herself and her abilities even when she doubts her own strength and THATTTT reminds me so much of Lucien’s faith in Elain and her visions. 🥹🙌 Even when everyone dismissed her, Lucien believed there was meaning in what she saw before anyone else did literally traveling across the continent because of her vision. That belief they both have in their women gets to me everytime!!! We obviously love supportive and non controlling partners here.

I do think Helia and Flora are the more peaceful version of Elucien lol, while Elucien has more tension, angst and emotional explosiveness underneath all that softness, which honestly makes the pairing even more interesting to me. ❤️‍🔥

🎨 This amazing artwork was curated by the very talented llibiarts 🎨

I want to start doing moodboards for Elain’s different court fashions, and I started with the Day Court because I think Elain would absolutely eaaaaaatttt the fashion there. The soft golds, flowing fabrics, delicate jewelry, warm sunlight colors, like it’s literally so HER energy coded. She would thrive in all the romantic sun kissed looks. ✨🌷☀️💖

I saw this gorgeous Elucien fan art by @sad-scarred-sassy and fell in loveeeee!!! I couldn’t help adding some cheeky dialogue to it because it captures their energy so well. 🤭🔥

I think Elucien are going to have such a brat x brat tamer dynamic, with Elain being a brat with him and Lucien loving and enjoying every second of it. 😭❤️‍🔥🙌🌝

Link for the original art by @sad-scarred-sassy https://www.tumblr.com/sad-scarred-sassy/756553056419758080/you-are-so-gorgeous-it-makes-me-so-mad

The lore between Helion x LoA x Beron x Lucien x Elain has me going feral because there’s so much we still don’t know yet.

I know there’s already a big theory that the Lady of Autumn and Beron aren’t mates and yeah, I fully agree with that.

But I want to push it a step further and say that I think the Lady of Autumn and Helion are the real mates. 👀

And honestly… the hints are too consistent to ignore.

This might sound a little unhinged at first, but if you line up the timeline, it actually tracks in a really clean way (I think lol!)

And I also think this ties directly into Elucien, not because it’s the exact same situation, but because it follows the same pattern. The difference is that Elucien might be the first time that pattern actually breaks.

SIDE NOTE 1: Thank you to @/Eluciey, who helped me put this together, and to all the Eluciens I met here who discussed this with me. 💗

SIDE NOTE 2: I’ve added screenshots with canonical parts of the book that support this entire thread of thought. It would take too long to cite everything individually, so please check the screenshots as you go lol.

So… are Elucien about to heal Prythian’s longest running generational trauma? HEAR ME OUT! 👀

1. It starts before Beron (the equinox ball)

Everyone assumes Helion and the Lady of Autumn only got involved after she married Beron, especially because of the war rescue, but that doesn’t really hold up…

Mor mentions a rumor that before agreeing to marry Beron, LoA was waiting for “someone” she met at an equinox ball the year before.

Who else could that realistically be but Helion?

At that point, he wasn’t even High Lord yet so not politically powerful and definitely not a “safe” choice for her power hungry family.

Which raises manyyyyyy questions: why didn’t he come for her? Did the bond not snap yet? Was there pressure on him too?

Either way the timing suggests they knew each other BEFOREEE Beron even entered the picture.

2. This wasn’t a love triangle. It was politics.

LoA wasn’t choosing between two men.

She didn’t really have a choice at all.

Her family wanted power and alliance. Beron offered that.

And the way it’s framed in the text honestly feels less like a marriage and more like a transaction. She was given to Beron to strengthen political ties.

What makes it worse is her relationship with her sisters. It’s repeatedly emphasized that they love each other fiercely.

Sooo.. if there was any kind of pressure, blackmail, threat or leverage involving her family… it makes sense that she would comply. 👀 Not because she wanted to. Because she had to, maybeee to save her sisters that she loved FIERCELY?? 👀👀👀

Which brings in the mating bond question:

Either it hadn’t snapped yet ORRRR it had and she was forced to reject it anyway.

And if she did reject it, I don’t think it was about not loving Helion. I think it was about choosing her family’s safety over herself.

3. Helion finding LoA during the war wasn’t random AT ALL

Feyre says to Helion: “You saved her. You found her, didn’t you?” when Hybern attacked during the past war.

That wording is… specific.

Because how do you just happen to find one person in the middle of that level of chaos?

Unless you’re being pulled there. 👀👀👀

And that’s where the mating bond fits perfectly!!!!

Then look at how he reacts, he doesn’t fight strategically, he tears through enemies with his bare hands. It’s not controlled, it’s instinctive.

Feyre even parallels it with Rhys when she’s in danger.

That’s a pattern!!! When mates are threatened, instinct overrides everything else.

So it’s not just that he saved her.

It’s HOWWW and why he was there in the first place.

4. “She chose to stay.”

When Feyre asks why he didn’t stop Beron, Helion says “She chose to stay. Chose.”

That repetition feels… off. Like he’s trying to convince himself as much as anyone else.

Because if you factor everything in her family, the political pressure, possible threats, SO was it really a choice? Or was it survival?

And what if Helion doesn’t know that?

What if he genuinely believes she chose Beron over him?

That would explain the distance. The avoidance.

The fact that he barely looks at her during the High Lord meeting!!!! 👀👀👀👀👀

“You barely even looked at her today.” THAT detail about him barely even looking at her. Like if he looks too long, something might snap. Or resurface. Like he can’t stomach it.

That’s not indifference. That’s unresolved history.
That’s not lack of interest, that’s avoidance.

5. Helion’s reputation might be a coping mechanism

People reduce Helion to just being a fun hoe, but that feels shallow. What if that reputation came after LoA?

If he believes she rejected him, then every lover becomes either a distraction… or a message to her.

Because if they’re mates, she would feel it.

So it’s not just indulgence, it could be grief, anger, even retaliation.

Maybe it’s his way of telling her: you made your choice, now live with mine… 👁️

6. Beron knows more than he lets on

If Beron knows or even suspects that Lucien isn’t his son, a lot clicks into place.

The abuse inflicted on Lucien wasn’t just sadistic, it was targeted.

Lucien isn’t just Helion’s child, he’s a threat to Beron. A reminder. A political liability tied to another High Lord.

And Beron not exposing the truth? That doesn’t read like ignorance to me, it reads like leverage.

He’s sitting on information that could destabilize Helion, Lucien and the Day Court and he’s choosing to wait. Why? Because that evil man wants all the power.

7. Lucien is the emotional fallout of all of this

LoA favoring Lucien suddenly makes a lot more sense in this context. He represents the life she didn’t get to have. The bond that was broken. The choice she was denied. He’s not just her son, he’s her love child. 🥹❤️‍🩹

8. Elucien and Lucien’s restraint towards Elain and their mating bond

Notice how Lucien never pushes Elain? That’s because he understands the meaning of choice.

Because whether he knows the full truth or not, he clearly understands that a mating bond doesn’t automatically mean a fair or mutual relationship.

So his fear isn’t just “what if she doesn’t choose me?”

It’s what if I become part of a system where she doesn’t get to choose at all? And that’s why he holds back.

When Lucien learns the truth, his first reaction could easily be anger, especially toward Helion for leaving his mother with Beron.

But eventually… I think he might understand.

Because he’s living a version of that same situation with Elain. Having a bond…and still choosing not to force it. Respecting their choice, whether they like it or not.

And that realization would shift everything.

Because then it’s not about failure.

It’s about respecting someone’s choice, even when it costs you everything.

So this isn’t really about proving Helion and LoA are mates (even though… I do think they are).

It’s about what their story represents.

Elucien could actually become something hopeful. Where LoA and Helion represent a bond that was shaped and ultimately damaged by power, pressure and lack of choice…

Elain and Lucien are in a position to do it differently. Lucien doesn’t treat the bond as something he’s entitled to, and Elain isn’t being forced into a role she didn’t choose. That alone shifts everything.

It means their story has the space for something Prythian hasn’t really seen before: a mating bond that’s chosen, not just accepted or endured. And if when they do come together, it wouldn’t be because fate “demanded it”, but because they both, FULLY and FREELY decided it was right. 💗💗💗

PHEWWWW! 🤯 So as you can see, the lore is deeeeeeeepppp and it’s been living in my mind rent free. I just can’t wait until we find out more. That’s all for now thanks for reading. Close the curtains. 🌝