Betsy

I’m gonna tag some fandoms I’m in (so feel free to give me a follow if you like any of them ;))

⭐️ ACOTAR

- Throne of Glass

- Empyrean (Fourth Wing)

- All for the Game

- The Raven Cycle

- Vicious/Vengeful 

Here me out:

- Feyre says in chapter 47 in ACOWAR that Lucien and Vassa are “a bird of flame and a lord of fire. I wonder if they have found each other yet.” This title feels very much like foreshadowing, and the fact that both are linked with fire… well.

- Jesminda. Feyre goes into Lucien’s head in chapter 24 of ACOWAR and finds out some of Lucien’s thoughts about Jesminda and Elain—and the fact that both are very different. “She was nothing like Jesminda.” Is followed shortly after “But there she was. His mate.”

I think it’s clear Lucien loved Jesminda, and in this passage she was described as being “all laughter and mischief, too wild and free to be contained.” None of this language would be associated with Elain, and already Lucien points this out.

I’d say it could probably be argued Lucien’s type (if, of course, he has one), would be someone more like Vassa, since she seems to be more associated with Jesminda’s description. Again, I’m not saying he necessarily has a type, but since Elain and Jesminda are so different… well, would Elain really be the right fit for him?

Also in this passage, Lucien says “she had chosen him,” referring to Vassa. “Elain had been… thrown at him.” This language—while I’m not saying there isn’t room for growth between Elain and Lucien—feels a bit more like they won’t get together, especially since Lucien himself acknowledges how this bond seems to be the only thing tethering them, and it feels almost forced.

- Swan lake parallels and ‘The Death of Koschei the deathless.’

Swan lake: there’s a huge allusion to this tale with Vassa being Odette, who was put under a spell alongside her companions to be a swan during the day and return to her human form at night (familiar?) the spell can only be broken if a man promises his love and remains faithful to that (again please hear me out.)

Lucien in this tale could potentially be the Prince Siegfried who falls in love with Odette. During a ball, he’s supposed to find a bride when he’s tricked into dancing with a likeness of Odette (may be a reach, but this could allude to the mating bond as a ‘likeness’ of true love).

Eventually Siegfried refuses his fiancé (Odile, the likeness of Odette) to be with the real Odette (or maybe Lucien’s real/chosen mate, Vassa.”

The death of Koschei the deathless:

While I’m less familiar with this tale, the description of the story caught my eye:

The wandering prince (the warrior queen’s husband in the tale) sounds very familiar to a ‼️spoiler‼️ wandering high lord’s son/heir who happens to be apart of the ‘Band of Exiles’ alongside Vassa (who’s a most likely allusion to the warrior queen in this tale)

Again, it’s not a secret that SJM likes a good fairytale retelling.

- The cauldron doesn’t put couples together based on love but because they are most likely to produce the most powerful offspring. So, take Elain and Lucien who don’t yet (or potentially won’t ever) love each other, and take their mating bond. Could a chosen one be forged instead?

I *get* that we don’t really know Vassa yet but I think her character will be later explored anyway. So yes, I think Vassien will become canon, although my words may come back to bite me.