u/ohnowatido

I’m sure everyone saw the takes in the fandom rolling their eyes at Elain for mourning Graysen « *boohoo now you get to be super hot, live forever, have a hot mate and be surrounded by gorgeous bat boys, get over yourself » …*I honestly think takes like this are reductionist and just… dumb.

It was her first true love: Elain was very young, sheltered, and deeply traditional. Graysen wasn’t just a random casual fling. he was her very first experience of romance, and she was genuinely, deeply in love with him, to the point of being engaged to be married. (She also trusted him enough to give him her maidenhood despite what we know about Elain’s proper or non-promiscuous nature)

She lost her entire life through no fault of her own: Elain didn't ask to be turned into a Fae. One day she’s planning a human wedding with the man she loves, and the next, she is ripped away from her entire world, traumatized by the Cauldron, and told her life( as she knows it and as she wanted it) is entirely over.

The cruelty of his rejection: Having your fiancé reject you so aggressively (take off the ring!!!! Now!!) because you were forcefully transformed into something he doesn't understand, and telling you that you now "belong to another" is as heartbreaking as a break up can be.

When you reread their ACOMAF reunion, the pain is mutual. Graysen’s instinct was to run to her before his father stopped him, they clearly loved each other. His harsh rejection wasn't because the love faded, but out of fear of what she had become. They were obviously very much in love with each-other.

I think Elain’s grief was real, valid, and deeply painful, and she deserved a lot more empathy from the fandom for it.
If you’ve ever experienced the agonizing heartbreak of losing your first love when you were young and full of hopes and aspirations, you know how deeply a sudden, forced separation scars you. Not to mention the cocktail of other issues the Cauldron gave her.

Artwork is by: Cally.draws 🤍

I love how he volunteers to go with her to the garden instead of Feyre, the first time he offered her his arm like a courtier, and then the second time he takes her hand in his…
For a not very touchy character, he seems to be touching Elain each chance he gets, even when he carries her out of Hybern he doesn’t put her down despite them being safe and him being severely injured.

People loooove to say it’s so cliché and predictable and bad writing. Here is why I beg to differ:

1. It’s actually RARE in Romantasy

People throw around the word "cliché" like this is a dime-a-dozen plot device, but try naming three other major romantasy series where three powerful, closely knit brothers end up intertwined with three biological sisters. You really can’t, because it almost never happens. Unlike the fated mate tropes which happens in almost every Romantasy book.

2. SJM is playing long-game fate

I don’t see the whole trope like a math equation of 3 divided by 3 or a coincidence, but rather as cosmic fate. SJM loves playing with ancient prophecies, bloodlines, and fate. Having the three sisters act as the destined counterparts to the three most powerful brothers in the NC isn't just convenient matchmaking, but I think it creates a beautiful dynamic of elevated found-family. It also creates intrigue over the Archeron bloodline and what decided they should be with the bat boys and rule the NC.

3. Elain is not Azriel’s mate

If SJM really wanted to write the most predictable, paint-by-numbers version of this trope, the ultimate cliché would have been making Elain and Azriel mates right from the jump. Instead, she deliberately throws a wrench into the machine. She sets up undeniable, simmering tension and mutual desire between Elain and Azriel, but leaves Elain bound by a mating bond to Lucien, someone she doesn't automatically want. By forcing the characters to deal with the messy, uncomfortable decisions of the cauldron or fate, and exploring the notion of free-will that SJM loves talking about. Loving someone who is mated to another is already complicated without the whole family dynamic. There is alot of cruelty in how Elain was mated to another male despite her sisters being with the brothers of the male she actually wants and who actually wants her.

At the end of the day, I personally love how poetic the symmetry is. Especially when you add the Elain-Azriel factor into the mix. The story almost sets it up as if fate intended for all three sisters to seamlessly match the three brother, making the math of the universe complete. Yet, something stood directly in fate's way, twisting the threads and giving one sister to an entirely different male instead. There is something cruel and heartbreaking, about watching Elain and Azriel yearn for each other, when fate could have made it so much easier had it followed its own pattern.

The beautiful artwork was done by: pinkykei.art 🤍