Sep 19, 2026 · 1 hr 42 min · 10 segments
We are going deeper into the Great Azriel Ship War this week with part 2: Elriel! We know there are many die-hard Elriel fans out there and we wanted to investigate the evidence they bring to the…
so our first argument this was kind of spread all over instagram and reddit so i tried to aggregate it in one place but it came from um spoiled sandy on reddit little sergeant swifty instagram we had lovely reverie they all kind of lovely fawn there was a lot of names that pulled together for this one but basically the argument is that elaine and azriel are being positioned as a romance about choice versus predetermined fate So Elaine has been assigned a mate by the cauldron.
They already came out and said like, we know this has happened, but the narrative explicitly raises the possibility that mating bonds can select poorly, can be rejected and do not eliminate free will while simultaneously developing a romantic relationship between Elaine and someone who is not her mate.
The L real argument is therefore it's not that just Elaine likes as more than Lucien it's as jam has given us this constructed romantic conflict where Elaine has to eventually choose her partner.
And Elriel would represent Elaine rejecting a predetermined fate and choosing Asriel herself.
Yep.
Yep.
And I think everyone who has read it would say, yep, clear as day.
Sarah has made that very evident to everyone.
Like there is just literal lines of them saying, why is this being determined? Is like, why did the cauldron, like Feyre literally says, why did the cauldron choose Elriel? Lucien why did he why did the Cauldron not choose Asriel so
yeah
it's been very clearly discussed and then Rhysand talks about that most of the time people accept mates but occasionally they don't occasionally it doesn't pick right we don't quite understand we haven't gone into it enough to understand what those relationships look like and why They don't work out.
And I think that's possibly what we're going to be exploring in the next books is finding out more about what that actually looks like.
Possibly not just with Elaine and Lucien, but also potentially with other relationships that may have mates connections that we maybe don't know about yet, but it hasn't worked out.
So we'll just have to wait and see.
Sarah's laid the groundwork, right? I know there are a lot of people who theorize that perhaps the reason that the choice in mates comes up is are we going to get a backstory where Mor and Aerys were once mates, right? And that that is the bond that's been broken.
Or I've also heard that could it be the Lady of Autumn, you know, Lucien's mother and Beren, right? And is that going to be a broken? So I think it's interesting.
It's funny because our very first piece of evidence is that Ackawar chapter 24, where Feyre says, why not make them mates? Why Lucien? And Rhys says there is choice.
So yeah, it very much establishes
Yeah.
And yeah, I'm trying to think back to that particular chapter.
I was thinking about today when I was going through this and thinking about why did Feyre actually say that in the sense that she sort of sees Asriel and because Elaine's gone through all this trauma and she's out in the garden and Asriel's just sitting there with her and she's kind of like, oh, they're so beautiful together.
Why aren't they mates? You know, but there's not like she actually likes Lucien.
Yeah.
they're friends so it's not I don't recall Farah saying like oh I don't see them getting along more just that oh it's not doesn't seem to be vibing very well not that she's like oh Lucien is a terrible match for for Elaine more just like I'm not really seeing the vibe and I see much more of a vibe here with Asriel right now so
yeah I you're right I haven't really I mean her words are not why did the cauldron pick lucian that's a really bad fit for elaine why she just basically she kind of just poses the question what would make elaine and lucian mates why not elaine and azriel and i think that's a great question you know honestly i think it's a question that people can come back to and if we look at it just from like normal lives what makes someone marry someone and not somebody else and how like do you decide you believe in soulmates i kind of very much believe that there is you can have that kind of connection with a person even in this human world but what makes that happen and not someone else what are the celestial mechanics that bring these things together i don't know
so our first argument this was kind of spread all over instagram and reddit so i tried to aggregate it in one place but it came from um spoiled sandy on reddit little sergeant swifty instagram we had lovely reverie they all kind of lovely fawn there was a lot of names that pulled together for this one but basically the argument is that elaine and azriel are being positioned as a romance about choice versus predetermined fate So Elaine has been assigned a mate by the cauldron.
They already came out and said like, we know this has happened, but the narrative explicitly raises the possibility that mating bonds can select poorly, can be rejected and do not eliminate free will while simultaneously developing a romantic relationship between Elaine and someone who is not her mate.
The L real argument is therefore it's not that just Elaine likes as more than Lucien it's as jam has given us this constructed romantic conflict where Elaine has to eventually choose her partner.
And Elriel would represent Elaine rejecting a predetermined fate and choosing Asriel herself.
Yep.
Yep.
And I think everyone who has read it would say, yep, clear as day.
Sarah has made that very evident to everyone.
Like there is just literal lines of them saying, why is this being determined? Is like, why did the cauldron, like Feyre literally says, why did the cauldron choose Elriel? Lucien why did he why did the Cauldron not choose Asriel so
yeah
it's been very clearly discussed and then Rhysand talks about that most of the time people accept mates but occasionally they don't occasionally it doesn't pick right we don't quite understand we haven't gone into it enough to understand what those relationships look like and why They don't work out.
And I think that's possibly what we're going to be exploring in the next books is finding out more about what that actually looks like.
Possibly not just with Elaine and Lucien, but also potentially with other relationships that may have mates connections that we maybe don't know about yet, but it hasn't worked out.
So we'll just have to wait and see.
Sarah's laid the groundwork, right? I know there are a lot of people who theorize that perhaps the reason that the choice in mates comes up is are we going to get a backstory where Mor and Aerys were once mates, right? And that that is the bond that's been broken.
Or I've also heard that could it be the Lady of Autumn, you know, Lucien's mother and Beren, right? And is that going to be a broken? So I think it's interesting.
It's funny because our very first piece of evidence is that Ackawar chapter 24, where Feyre says, why not make them mates? Why Lucien? And Rhys says there is choice.
So yeah, it very much establishes
Yeah.
And yeah, I'm trying to think back to that particular chapter.
I was thinking about today when I was going through this and thinking about why did Feyre actually say that in the sense that she sort of sees Asriel and because Elaine's gone through all this trauma and she's out in the garden and Asriel's just sitting there with her and she's kind of like, oh, they're so beautiful together.
Why aren't they mates? You know, but there's not like she actually likes Lucien.
Yeah.
they're friends so it's not I don't recall Farah saying like oh I don't see them getting along more just that oh it's not doesn't seem to be vibing very well not that she's like oh Lucien is a terrible match for for Elaine more just like I'm not really seeing the vibe and I see much more of a vibe here with Asriel right now so
yeah I you're right I haven't really I mean her words are not why did the cauldron pick lucian that's a really bad fit for elaine why she just basically she kind of just poses the question what would make elaine and lucian mates why not elaine and azriel and i think that's a great question you know honestly i think it's a question that people can come back to and if we look at it just from like normal lives what makes someone marry someone and not somebody else and how like do you decide you believe in soulmates i kind of very much believe that there is you can have that kind of connection with a person even in this human world but what makes that happen and not someone else what are the celestial mechanics that bring these things together i don't know
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