𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓

Nesta slid her gaze to the shadowsinger. Azriel’s hazel eyes glowed golden in the shadows.

Nesta said, “Then you will die.”

rhysand 💚

azriel 🩶

All Elain wants for someone to look deeper than her pretty face. To see the real her. Her character.

Her mother? Only saw her pretty face and how to use it

The young girls from her childhood? They saw her pretty face and hated her because of it.

Graysen? Even tho he was with her the minute she turned to fae it all vanished. He could only see "what" she is rather than "who" she is.

Lucien? It goes the same way. He simply doesnt care about "who" Elain is as a person but "what" she is to him—mate. So he is only doing what a mate should...not someone who is interested in Elain should. And Elain notices that.

Azriel on the other hand...he listens to her. He sees her. He understand her. This is literally the most important part of it. To see deeper than the pretty face or what she is. Azriel understand who she is as a person and doesnt judge her for it or act according to please it. As Feyre said in acowar:

It made sense, I supposed, that Azriel alone had listened to her. The male who heard things others could not … Perhaps he, too, had suffered as Elain had before he understood what gift he possessed.

COULD the books be multi-POV, either in a limited (including Lucien and/or Vassa, for instance) or more broad (full cast multi POV) scope? Sure, I guess. But nothing SJM said in the podcast so much as alludes to that being the case. (I now very much doubt that it is, I think it's dual POV with perhaps a heavier ratio of the POV falling on Elain than she initially expected.)

Even if it IS multi-POV in some way, why does that somehow lead people to believe that the story isn't still Elain's? How does it eliminate Elriel?

I just don't understand why you'd want to cling on so hard to something that a.) does not matter and b.) doesn't actually do anything for your ship/main character argument.

IF, by some chance, the books are multi POV, the most likely cast would be:

Elain

Azriel

Lucien

Vassa

Even if we wanted to consider the possibility of a bigger, KoA type situation, I think we'd be more likely to see:

Elain

Nesta

Feyre

Azriel

Rhys

Cassian

Lucien

Vassa

Elain Archeron - The Burden of Being a Seer and Grounding through Nature

𓆱༄˖°.𓁹⋆｡𖦹 °

A Seer, or “one who sees” is a prophet or mystic who is able to foresee and alter future events, and in some cases, can see or step into the past.

In Norse mythology, they were believed to have the ability to navigate or reshape the sacred threads of fate. Seeresses would often sit on raised platforms in a trance-like state while chanting to pierce the veil between the mortal and spirit realms.

The Burden of Seeing All Too Much All at Once:

Processing the past, present, and infinite possible futures simultaneously can fracture a Seer's sense of linear time and reality, leading to erratic behavior or trances. Knowing a disaster is coming—especially one they are powerless to stop—often creates intense guilt, paranoia, and trauma. This fatalistic stress can easily be mistaken for madness.

Grounding Through Nature:

The connection a Seer shares to the earth is a deep, intuitive awareness of cycles, the environment, and the interconnectedness of all living things. A Seer’s connectedness to the earth provides the necessary stability to process overwhelming spiritual inputs.

Grounding, such as spending time in nature or focusing on physical senses, helps them translate obscure visions into clear, practical guidance for others.

The Connection Between Seers and Nature - A parallel between Elain in ACOTAR and the ‘Greenseer’ in the A Song of Ice and Fire series:

"Will I hear the earthworms writhing through the soil? Or the stretching of roots? Will the bird of fire come to sit in the trees and watch me?" - A Court of Wings and Ruin, Elain hearing the Earth and describing a vision