in acosf it’s obvious that elain is hiding something. she downplays her abilities to the point where the ppl around her forget she even had them. but let’s look at her actions before acosf. bc i think sjm has been foreshadowing elains secretive and sneaky nature for a while now.

elain is the most socially active sister. while feyre n nesta both have an aversion to large society parties n gatherings, elain turned being a socialite into an art form. she mentioned in acotar how the people around her were very two faced, and how her so called “family friends” were praying on her family’s downfall. (which is a similarity she has w lucien, they both have an extensive background with two faced and fake courts/societies) who’s to say she didn’t learn anything from this experience. that she learned how to read people, how to get what she wants- but not by using brute force and power, by using a smile. in the months between regaining their fortune and feyres return to the human lands, she secured one of the most wealthy and influential eligible men in her realm to marry. she’s a social climber. and while she loved graysen, i think she understood that she lived in a patriarchal society where the only was to rise above is to marry well. she was raised with the mindset that a woman’s purpose to have an advantageous marriage. she had one foot in each room, was engaged to a faerie hating bigot all while supporting the magical beings. she harbored faeries in her own home, without any human knowing. even when she was nervous and apprehensive around the bat boys, she made small talk and was kind, and she made sure they liked her. she knows how to play the field.

when nesta gets angry, she lashes out immediately. she stole from the cauldron and told feyre abt the risks of her pregnancy without thinking. (this isn’t a dig towards nesta, i love her, but she can be impulsive) when elain is angry, she waits for the best time to strike. she didn’t react abt the wrongdoings she faced at the hands of the king, then she waited until she had the right opportunity and stuck a dagger in his throat. she wasn’t at nestas intervention, even though she agreed with feyre n the ic, she waited until time had passed and approached nesta separately to offer her opinions on her sisters actions.

now this isn’t a post to support the elain spy! theory, bc she wouldn’t do well in espionage. she’s well known, easily recognizable, and fits in with people- not watching them from a distance. feyre even said her ability to keep a secret rivals azriels, she hid the fact that she still has her powers and wanted to use them from him. azriel was just as surprised as everyone else that her abilities haven’t been laying dormant. he also wants to shelter her from every danger, there’s no way in hell he would allow her to spy with him.

now bc i am a hardcore elucien shipper, let’s look at how they mirror each other in this way. (i explain it in a simpler way in this post) lucien is a sneaky fox. he went behind feysands back to help nuan, and avoided the high lords meeting and the war in general. we then later learn that he had been calling in favors, striking deals, gathering and rounding up an entire army to help prythian. he waited until just the right moment, and he struck. (i personally believe we were robbed of an eos type moment for lucien, where everyone was shocked when they realized that aelin secretly gathered an army but that’s just my opinion.) he also works for two different courts at the moment, in addition to the human lands. he plays both sides of the field, he knows how to play people. also feysand thinks they’re so sneaky, just wait until elucien forms their own plans. also wanna know who else is sneaky and played double agent for a bit... JURIAN. i’m calling it now, the band of exiles is going to be prythians rude awakening!!!!

Haha! So while I was reading, I thought it was weird that she wanted to be constantly bathed in sunlight. And we know she was in a dark place, and Feyre kind of explained that as her needing to get the sunlight she could no longer produce from within. And that makes sense. But it struck me that maybe she wanted the sunlight to keep the shadow away because her darkness was calling to them. We don’t know if Shadowsingers are born or made. And in ACOMAF Rhys mentioned that maybe the shadows came to Azriel when he was locked in darkness for all those years. So yeah. That played in my mind a bit. 

And then we got scenes of Azriel being HELLA attentive. He was the ONLY one in the WHOLE BOOK who saw Elain. And that was kind of her thing—no one saw her but Graysen, but now he won’t see her. But the entire book, when Azriel interacts with her, he knows exactly what she needs. He hides his shadows when he’s around her, he doesn’t ignore her visions instead he talks with her about them. He sits with her in companionable silence in the sunlight in the garden (like maybe he did, and needed, the same thing when he was released from the darkness). He is almost as much of a seer as she is in a way. He is the one who figures out that she is a seer. And I think he figured it out the day they all stood in the foyer after the Court of Nightmares visit. Also, she sees him. She doesn’t balk at the scars or his huge frame or anything.

Then she was downstairs with the Shadows making bread. I know it was daylight and Elain was healing, but it was kinda odd that she was handing out with the Nualla and Cerivden (I cant spell their names!). 

But all of that is scraps. But then…

Azirel hands Elain Truth-Teller, a blade he’s never given to anyone. Ever. And they have their weird moment where they’re both holding the blade and it reads like maybe some truth passed between them as they both held that blade. And I remembered that Elain predicted Cassian’s death. And I got the impression, that 1) Azriel remembers because he was standing in the room when she said it, and 2) Azriel knew she could handle the blade/needed to be able to trust herself with it, and that if Cassian was going to die, it would be after this moment. So because he knew Elain saw Cassian’s death, and knew when it might happen int he near future, it could’ve been a way for Azriel to low-key let her know that just because she sees death, doesn’t mean she can’t stop it. But it’s always her choice.

The wouldn’t you know Elain Archeron “stepped out of a shadow behind him” to stab the king. I mean she TOTALLY could’ve been in the area. She TOTALLY could’ve come running. She TOTALLY could’ve winnowed. And it could TOTALLY have been the magic of the blade that brought her to the person she wanted to kill so that it would always “strike true.” And that seems likely. that it was Truth-Teller. BUUUUT. Didn’t Azriel become Feyre’s shadow when they went to save Elain? Didn’t he then fold them into shadow so that they could run through the camp unnoticed?