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The Triple Goddess

In folklore and mythology, the number three is often associated with fate, balance, and the triple goddess. It also appears repeatedly in Sarah’s ACOTAR series. Three sisters. Three Illyrian warriors. Three mountains. Three stars. Even the second half of the Book of Breathings, which is used to nullify the Cauldron, talks in threes in Chapter 57 of ACOMAF:

Life and death and rebirth, Sun and moon and dark, Rot and bloom and bones

Hello, sweet thing. Hello, lady of night, princess of decay. Hello, fanged beast and trembling fawn. Love me, touch me, sing me.

Light and dark and gray and light and dark and gray—

Others have identified specific parts (and aspects of the triple goddess) with each Archeron sister. Each sister may indeed be more associated with one aspect over another, however, I believe that the three aspects—light and dark and gray—might also describe the characterization and development of each sister. In other words, they are complex and share aspects from all three: maiden (light), mother (dark), crone (gray). They embrace, and therefore blend, their light and dark elements, to experience greater wisdom and inner peace. We may see Elain’s development follow a similar path, especially if her story is inspired by Blodeuwedd.

Blodeuwedd

According to Welsh mythology, Blodeuwedd (which may mean “flower-faced”) was created from flowers by Gwydion and Math to be the mate of Lleu Llaw Gyffes, a Welsh hero. While she was made for Lleu, she falls in love with a hunter named Gronw. They conspire to kill Lleu, but he does not die; he changes into an eagle and escapes. Blodeuwedd and Gronw bask in their love while Lleu recovers. Eventually, he returns and the lovers are punished: Blodeuwedd is transformed into an owl and Gronw is killed with a spear. She begins as a spring goddess with an arranged marriage (maiden), exercises her agency and finds romantic fulfilment elsewhere (mother), and is ultimately transformed into a creature of the night connected to wisdom and death (crone).

Like Blodeuwedd, Elain is strongly associated with spring and flowers. She is bound to Lucien through a mating bond, but does not display interest in pursuing a relationship with him. Avoidance and regression. Even Lucien’s biological father is compared to an eagle, the form Boldeuwedd’s husband shifts into when he is attacked. Coincidence? Probably not. Elain does, however, seem to reciprocate Azriel’s romantic interest. Offer and permission. They form an instant connection that quietly smolders. In the next book, we may see this romantic interest bloom into a love affair as she hones her powers and carves out her role alongside her sisters. Elain’s choice to pursue the male she loves, rather than the one she is bound to, may also have grave consequences. And these challenges may prompt another aspect to emerge: in place of a trembling fawn, perhaps we’ll find a screeching predator of the night instead.

A Shadow on the Wind

And this is where we find the oddly appropriate parallels with the Suriel. Like owls, the Suriel:

Travels stealthily, like a shadow on the wind:

Like a shadow on the wind, the Suriel was off, a blast of dark that set the four naga staggering back. (ACOTAR, Ch. 15)

I was about to start bargaining with the Cauldron, with the Mother, when a creeping, familiar silence fell over the wood. (ACOMAF, Ch. 50)

When I looked back at the Suriel, it was gone. (ACOMAF, Ch. 50)

Shrieks or screeches when it is threatened:

Another enraged shriek pierced the forest, and my snares groaned as they held, and held, and held. I climbed out of the tree and went to meet the Suriel. (ACOTAR, Ch. 14)

And when a crack sounded through the forest, followed by a screech that hollowed out my ears, I nocked an arrow into my bow and set off to see the Suriel. (ACOMAF, Ch. 50)

Serves as a symbol of knowledge and death:

“A test? A foolish and useless test, for if you dared to capture me, then you must want knowledge very badly.” (ACOTAR, Ch. 14)

A face that looked like it had been crafted from dried, weatherworn bone, its skin either forgotten or discarded, a lipless mouth and too-long teeth held by blackened gums, slitted holes for nostrils, and eyes … eyes that were nothing more than swirling pits of milky white—the white of death, the white of sickness, the white of clean-picked corpses. (ACOTAR, Ch. 14)

“I am a member of no Court. I am older than the High Lords, older than Prythian, older than the bones of this world.” (ACOTAR, Ch. 14)

To realize that what sprayed in my face, landing on my tongue and tasting like soil, was black blood. (ACOWAR, Ch. 58)

May appear frightening, but is helpful to those in need:

Run, the Suriel mouthed once more, blood dribbling past its withered lips...The Suriel knew it was a possibility. It had begged me for freedom once … yet it was willing to be taken. For me to run. (ACOWAR, Ch. 59)

“And you were kind to me,” I said, not brushing away the tears that fell onto its bloodied, tattered robe. “Thank you—for helping me. When no one else would.” (ACOWAR, Ch. 60)

And as its chest rose and stopped altogether, as its breath escaped in one last sigh, I understood why the Suriel had come to help me, again and again. Not just for kindness … but because it was a dreamer. And it was the heart of a dreamer that had ceased beating inside that monstrous chest. (ACOWAR, Ch. 60)

So, where is Elain on her journey and how is she connected to the owl and the Suriel? Elain starts the series as the embodiment of the maiden: she’s perceived as innocent, kind, and compared to new life (spring, flowers, fawn). She is then changed against her will in the Cauldron and experiences the loss, or death, of her mortal life.

Her skin was so pale it looked like fresh snow in the harsh light. I realized then that the color of death, of sorrow, was white. (ACOWAR, Ch. 15)

Then beheld the hollowed-out cheeks, the bloodless lips, the brown eyes that had once been rich and warm, and now seemed utterly dull. Like grave dirt. (ACOWAR, Ch. 15)

She spends months lost to the murkiness of the dream world at a time when the hardness of the world has extinguished her light. That is, until Azriel illuminates one of her powers: Elain is a seer. Seers serve as a bridge between material (reality) and divine (dream), like the vines and flowers that Feyre painted on the edges of things in their dilapidated cottage. This awareness clears away her confusion and allows her to move forward.

“She doesn’t need anything,” Azriel answered without so much as looking at Lucien. Elain was staring at the spymaster now—unblinkingly. “We’re the ones who need …” Azriel trailed off. “A seer,” he said, more to himself than us. “The Cauldron made you a seer.” (ACOWAR, Ch. 32)

In this new reality, Elain also develops new mannerisms that help her access and interpret the information she receives through her sight. She blinks or angles her head like an owl. Owls are the only birds that blink like a human; they blink to close one of their three eyelids. Yes, owls have a translucent third eye. Those who use the third eye to obtain a higher consciousness and gain knowledge are called seers.

But Azriel nodded. “You knew,” he said to Elain. “About the young queen turning into a crone.” Elain blinked and blinked, eyes clearing again. As if the understanding, our understanding … it freed her from whatever murky realm she’d been in. (ACOTAR, Ch. 33)

“What sort of curse?” my mate asked before he’d even finished speaking to me. Elain shifted her face toward him. Another blink. “They sold her—to … to some darkness, to some … sorcerer-lord …” (ACOTAR, Ch. 33)

“I need you to find something for me,” I said, dripping water everywhere as I laid a map across her thighs. Perhaps not as gentle as I should have been, but she at least sat up at my tone. Blinked at the map of Prythian. (ACOWAR, Ch. 57)

“The sixth queen is alive?” Azriel asked, calm and steady, the voice of the High Lord’s spymaster, who had broken enemies and charmed allies. Elain cocked her head, as if listening to some inner voice. “Yes.” (ACOWAR, Ch. 33)

You know who else has information-gathering mannerisms? The Suriel. It clicks its hands together and angles its head when trying to access information.

The earth tilted beneath me. “Tamlin is—Tamlin is a High Lord?” Click, click, click. “You did not know. Interesting.” (ACOTAR, Ch. 14)

“Where do I find the cure?” The Suriel clicked its bone fingers against each other, as if the answer lay inside the sound. “In the forest.” (ACOMAF, Ch. 50)

It angled its head, as if listening. “If she is unskilled … bones will do the talking for her.” (ACOWAR, Ch. 58)

These subtle mannerisms aren’t the only changes we see in Elain that parallel the owl and Suriel. She also begins to move stealthily and uses the shadows to her advantage when she hunts her prey.

Elain stepped out of a shadow behind him, and rammed Truth-Teller to the hilt through the back of the king’s neck… (ACOWAR, Ch. 74)

Elain spoke from the doorway, having appeared so silently that they all twisted toward her, “Using me.” (ACOSF, Ch. 20)

And though she is associated with life and renewal, like the spring goddess Blodeuwedd, we will likely see another aspect of her character emerge as Rhys predicted. One that is darker and subverts the beauty she has long been known for:

“Look who decided to grow claws after all,” she crooned. “Maybe you’ll become interesting at last, Elain.” (ACOSF, Ch. 21)

Elain in black was ridiculous. Yes, she was beautiful, but the color of her long-sleeved, modest gown leeched the brightness from her face. It wore her, rather than the other way around. And he knew the cruelty of the Hewn City troubled her. But she hadn’t hesitated to come. When Feyre had offered to let her remain home, Elain had squared her shoulders and declared that she was a part of this court—and would do whatever was needed. So Elain had let her golden-brown hair down tonight, and pinned it back with twin combs of pearl. He’d never once in the two years he’d known her found Elain to be plain, but wearing black, no matter how much she claimed to be part of this court … It sucked the life from her. (ACOSF, Ch. 57)

This last excerpt has been used as evidence to demonstrate that Elain is at odds with darkness and the Night Court. Cassian’s perception of Elain often outweighs her own words in these analyses. He indicates that despite Elain’s loyalty and determination, black makes her appear plain and sucks the light (and life) from her. She is ordinary and dismissible in this more crone-like aspect. But we don’t know Elain’s thoughts about it. What if she finds it liberating to blend in, hide in plain sight? She was raised to believe that her beauty needed to constantly shine brightly to secure a good match. This excerpt might demonstrate that she can choose to use her appearance as a more agile weapon than we originally believed: one that she can dim or brighten at the right moment when needed.

If we learned anything from Feyre’s and Nesta’s development, it’s that characters are complex and can be many things at once. A darker aspect—one associated with wisdom and death—does not change the fact that Elain is flower-hearted at her core. She is a dreamer and helper like the owl and Suriel. She can embrace light and dark to create a powerful blend of the two, a bridge, if you will, between aspects and worlds. Her journey will come full circle, but that does not mean an end. It simply means another cycle, another beginning. And let’s hope that beginning comes with claws and feathered wings.

Read The Heart of a Dreamer for more connections between Elain and the Suriel.