"Late night thoughts"

We’re officially less than 100 days until ACOTAR 6 releases and I wanted to share a commission to celebrate 🥳 I'm so excited to finally read more about Elain and Azriel's journey. It’s going to be a beautiful ride and I can't wait to see where SJM takes us 💙🩷

Art by malotte000 on Instagram and commissioned by me!

What’s that? Pink roses associated with Elain, you say?

💙🩷

The lovely fawn standing before death

“The sunset was at its peak, the sky ablaze with pink and blue and gold and purple,” [ACOSF]

So this is how SJM describes Dusk during ACOSF, which generally speaking we already had a good idea about… minus the addition of Gold.

But it is interesting that these colours all represent Elain. 

Pinks

“Elain at last slid into the chair near Mor’s, her dawn-pink dress—”

“Elain didn’t turn. She was wearing a pale pink gown that did little to complement her sallow skin, ”

“Elain straightened from the piping-hot loaves of bread she’d hauled from the oven, her hair half up, the apron over her rose-pink gown dusted with flour.”

Blues

“Elain’s dark blue cloak, still warm from her body”

“But my sister remained near the stairs. She’d covered her nightgown with a silk shawl of palest blue, ”

“Elain seemed to realize it, too. She peered down at herself, at the simple blue gown she wore.”

“Elain rasped, “Nice to meet you,” before hustling after her, the silk skirts of her cobalt dress whispering over the parquet floor.”

Purples

“Gone was the ill-suited black dress from the ball, replaced by a gown of amethyst velvet, her hair half-up and curling down to her waist. ”

“Elain headed for the doors, purple dress sweeping behind her.”

“Elain stood at the wall of windows, clad in a lilac gown whose close-fitting bodice showed how well her sister had filled out since those initial days in the Night Court.”

“I found Elain studying it, beautiful in her amethyst-colored gown. I made to move toward her, but someone beat me to it. The shadowsinger was clad in a black jacket and pants similar to Rhysand’s—the fabric immaculately tailored and built to fit his wings.”

“From the edge of my vision, purple and gold flashed—Elain. ”

Golds

“Elain asked, the faelight of the chandelier catching in the ripples of her golden-brown braid.”

“So Elain had let her golden-brown hair down tonight, and pinned it back with twin combs of pearl.”

Her hair is literally always described as golden so that’s just two examples, or I would be here forever listing them. 

I think another interesting thing to note is after Solstice in ACOFAS, we continually see her in shades of purple, as if there is a significant change after said date. With the exception of the Ball when she is in black and they remark on how it doesn’t suit her.

It might mean nothing or it might be a little foreshadowing. These are certainly her colours and I don’t think that is a coincidence, along with a 8th Court being mentioned, and having every manner of Court except a Dusk court. To many coincidences for me…

ALL HAIL HIGH LADY ELAIN OF THE DUSK COURT!

Blue :

“The silk skirts of her cobalt dress whispering over the parquet floor”

“But my sister remained near the stairs. She'd covered her nightgown with a silk shawl of palest blue”

“Elain seemed to realize it, too. She peered down at herself, at the simple blue gown she wore.”

“Elain's dark blue cloak, still warm from her body”

Bonus : « a pale blue cloak with armholes, perfect for gardening in the chillier months » a blue cloak gifted by Feyre.

Pink and blue :

“Elain seemed to be fighting the urge to tuck her hand behind the skirts of her pale pink and blue dress”

Pink :

“She was wearing a pale pink gown”

“Elain in dusty pink”

“Elain at last slid into the chair near Mor's, her dawn-pink dress”

“Elain straightened from the piping-hot loaves of bread she'd hauled from the oven, her hair half up, the apron over her rose-pink gown dusted with flour”

“She set down the tray and wiped her flour-coated hands on the apron she wore over her dusty-pink gown.”

Purple :

“I found Elain studying it, beautiful in her amethyst-colored gown”/“purple and gold flashed — Elain”

“Elain stood at the wall of windows, clad in a lilac gown whose close-fitting bodice showed how well her sister had filled out since those initial days in the Night Court.” /“Elain headed for the doors, purple dress sweeping behind her.”

“Gone was the ill-suited black dress from the ball, replaced by a gown of amethyst velvet, her hair half-up and curling down to her waist”

She has also worn black and white. And, It’s funny how people are obsessed with saying that black “doesn’t suit her” but apparently white too :

“Elain in black was ridiculous. Yes, she was beautiful, but the color of her long-sleeved, modest gown leeched the brightness from her face”

“She wore a moon-white silk dressing robe.(…) “I realized then that the color of death, of sorrow, was white.”

So yes, Elain’s colors are blue, pink and purple.

She loves her pink, blue and purple dresses.

And I will always find it interesting that her wardrobe is made up of pink, blue, and purple. No red, green, orange, yellow, grey, or brown dresses. (From what we saw)

Acomaf ch. 57

Acosf Ch. 1

I checked all the books for the combination “pink and blue,” and it only appears four times. Twice in combination with other colors, and twice on its own and both of those times, it’s associated with Elain. The combination “blue and pink” is nowhere to be found.

If you’re interested in the other two scenes:

Acowar ch. 14 purple and pink and blue

Acosf Ch. 37 pink and blue and gold and purple

—

Feyre and Rhys took their thrones, and Nesta and Elain came to stand at the foot of the dais, between him and Azriel.

Feyre and Rhys on their thrones

Nesta and Elain between Cassian and Azriel

So it looks like this

Cassian Nesta Elain Azriel.

And see how Archerons are always mentioned first. 🫡

It would have shown Rhys’ connections to the Autumn Court beyond just Eris. It would have been a clear display of power, showing that he has allies in other courts because his sister-in-law is mated to Lucien. I mean, COME ON. That would have been such a strong visual politically.

Having Lucien there instead of Azriel next to Elain would have been powerful optics in every sense.

Clearly SJM has been laying the ground work for Elriel for a long time now.

meanwhile we have multiple confirmations that elain’s story has been in the works since 2018, SJM brings her up (and the idea of free will tied to her story) in nearly every recent interview, her and her motifs are repeatedly used in promo material for the new books, she’s the only archeron sister who hasn’t had her story told in the series about the archeron sisters, she’s connected to pretty much every main plotline..

but somehow elriels are the delusional ones for thinking her story is next?

ACOTAR 6 & 7 book colors remind me of this piece I did of Elriel. 🥹 💙🩷