#ship analysis

you cannot convince me he wasn't about to walk in the hotel and do it. he didn't even wait to be sure angel was there, or that they were alone, husk had to tell him then and there.

and now he can't. he won't make his time at the v tower working under val more difficult for him by telling him now.

he missed his chance.

I feel like one of the reasons Scumplane is so interesting to me is because Shen Jiu values his pride and dignity highly as it’s something he has had to fight against all odds to obtain. He would rather die than beg for mercy, rather be slandered as a pervert than admit he craves comfort. Meanwhile Shang Qinghua has never been able to afford dignity. As shameful as he may feel, he is fully willing to wear a leash around his neck and bark like a dog if it means his continued survival .

They are two ends of the extreme and I’d love them to reach a middle ground where Shen Jiu learns to ask for help and Shang Qinghua learns to value himself.

They could fix each other trust

Also because Shang Qinghua knows Shen Jiu better than anyone so Shen Jiu can’t push him away with his icey facade or go down the whole “he’d hate me if he knew” rabbit hole because Shang Qinghua already knows his deepest secrets and he loves him anyway.

And because I think they would both be low key terrified of each other at first. Shen Jiu because he thinks Shang Qinghua is playing up his patheticness as a disguise and that he’s hiding something huge from the sect (which he is). Shang Qinghua because he knows out of all the peak lords Shen Jiu is the most likely to figure out he’s a spy and slit his throat while he’s not paying attention.

Azriel – Lucien – Elain – Gwyn All single and ready to mingle…

Why, in my opinion, the dynamic only really makes sense in ONE constellation (all my opinion, based on text, symbolism & logic — no hate, no ship war):

First off: Sarah J. Maas rarely writes by chance. Regardless of whether you love her decisions or want to cringe. She:

works with mirrored structures

allows biological rules to apply

repeats motifs until they make sense

and she doesn't just "park" characters haphazardly If there's a piece of information like: "more flexible bones" or "Black swallows her" that's not a decorative line. That's a tool. And with this tool, we'll examine the four characters. 2. Elain: Fear, Control & the Problem of “Mate”. Elain is not a “soft girl.” She is:

polite

empathetic

introverted

AND extremely fear-driven.

She keeps quiet because keeping quiet has ensured her survival. She avoids risk. She chooses security. Therefore: Graysen = castle, order, role, plan. That wasn't freedom—that was control. Then:

she becomes violently enslaved

gets engaged, loses herself

loses her world

gets a mate-Bond that overwhelms her. She doesn't understand the Bond emotionally, but only feels its force. And Elain reacts to force with:

→ withdrawal.

→ distance.

→ avoidance.

Not because Lucien is “wrong.” But because the Bond terrifies her. And: we NEVER get her POV. We only see reactions—not thoughts. This leads to misunderstandings: She seems cold. In reality, she's overwhelmed. And that's the crux of the matter: The Mate Bond isn't a romantic shortcut. It's a pressure she can't yet grasp.

3. Lucien: Loyalty, Grief & the Reluctant Gentleman. Lucien isn't a clown, not a sidekick. He is:

traumatized

politically astute

highly observant

extremely loyal

and always polite, even when he's suffering. He truly loved Jesminda. He watched her die. He carries guilt, shame, anger, and grief. Then he gets a new Bond. And of course: He feels it more intensely. He doesn't want to be intrusive. He senses Elaine's fear. He withdraws—out of respect. And perhaps also:

Guilt towards Jesminda

Hurt pride

Fear of being “too wrong” again So Lucien is NOT the annoying mate dude, who keeps saying, “You belong to me.” He asks. He observes. He waits. Elain needs space. Lucien gives space. And something valuable emerges here: A Bond film that takes time—and matures, instead of forcing. 4. Azriel & Elain: Security, but at the expense of himself. Azriel is not just shadow. He is duty, control, self-restraint. With Elain: He becomes gentle. He becomes calm. He warns, protects, holds back. She feels safe. But: His shadows dim. He makes himself smaller. He doesn't show his whole self. This is not a "healthy relationship." This is adaptation out of consideration. And Sarah shows us vividly: During the Solstice almost-kiss, he hesitated—not because he doesn't want her, but because something about it feels "wrong." And the Night Court? Black swallows Elain. The aesthetics, the city, the darkness— they extinguish her instead of supporting her. And Azriel? He would never leave the Court. He IS the Court. He is its shadow hand. The equation states:

Elain + Night Court= Disappearance Azriel + Elain = Self-diminishment This isn't romantic tragedy—it's simply a narrative mismatch. 5. Elain isn't "soft and ready"—she needs a real redemption arc. Elain is often read as: sweet kind fragile innocent and then the analysis ends.

But that's just the surface. Beneath the surface lies:

Fear

Avoidance

Moral passivity

Dependence on security

and moments when she abandons others because she can't bear it.

When they were poor, she—like Nesta—did nothing. Not out of coldness, but out of fear. She adapts to systems, even if those systems are unfair, as long as they promise her protection. And after the war: She avoids. She doesn't confront. She treats Nesta harshly and unfairly, because Nesta's chaos threatens her safety. This isn't an "evil" character— but it is an unfinished one. Elain needs:

Responsibility

Confrontation with her own decisions

Growth beyond fear

A choice that hurts—and is right

A life she determines herself, not the Cauldron, a man, or a mate If she simply: → gets Azriel because it's nice, or → rejects Lucien without ever confronting the Bond, then that's not a character arc. That's stagnation with glitter.

A true redemption arc for Elain means: She recognizes where she's looking away. She stands up—for herself and others. She makes conscious decisions, not reflexively. And THEN—no matter who it's for— every relationship becomes meaningful, because it arises from independence and not from fear or the pressure of fate.

That's why Elain + Lucien feels so potentially powerful: It forces her to confront— Bond, responsibility, herself. And that's precisely why Elain + Azriel often feels like a shortcut: romantic… but emotionally too simplistic. 6. Gwyn: Voice, Water & the Art of Staying in the Dark. Gwyn isn't "the other option." She is:

traumatized, but active

combative

humorous

curious

more confident than she used to be

and she SINGS And singing is her identity.

Her blood: River nymph → movement, flexibility, transition. She loses her voice— and fights to get it back. When she sings, the room brightens, but the darkness isn't destroyed. It remains—only more legible. And then: Azriel's shadow moves toward her. Not away. It doesn't dim. She doesn't have to diminish him. He's allowed to exist. She sees him kill. She doesn't break down. She's terrified—but she stays. Their relationship isn't "Heal me with love." It's: I am strong. You are strong. We're both broken—but we're not lying to each other. 7. "The Cauldron is Corrupted"—and Why That's NOT a .Counterargument. A common argument against Lucien + Elain (and thus indirectly for Azriel + Elain) is: The Cauldron is corrupted, so Elain's mate bond with Lucien is false. That sounds logical at first—but it simply isn't in canon. Because:

👉 The Cauldron doesn't create mate bonds.

👉 The Cauldron transforms beings.

👉 The mate connection exists independently of that.

Best example: Feyre & Rhys. Their bond was there before Feyre became a Fae. It just wasn't fully perceptible because she was mortal. The same applies to Elain: The Cauldron created her. It didn't "assign" her to Lucien. The connection was already established. If the Cauldron created Mate bonds, ALL Made Fae would automatically develop bonds—which they don't. "But why didn't Azriel sense a bond with Gwyn?" Counter-question: Why didn't Azriel sense a bond with Elain? Why didn't Elain sense a bond with Azriel? Why did Lucien sense Elain's bond immediately, but Elain only felt it vaguely? Mate bonds are not always:

simultaneous

equally strong

equally conscious

equally perceptible We have several examples in canon:

– Rhys senses Feyre early, she doesn't sense him – Kallias & Viviane only recognize each other late – Bonds sometimes only become perceptible in the right emotional state The argument "Azriel should have noticed immediately" is therefore not a canon law—but a fan assumption. The most important point: If the cauldron really does create "false" bonds that would undermine the entire Mate concept of the series. Then:

Rhys & Feyre would theoretically be unsafe

all Made-Fae bonds would be potentially worthless

and the central romantic foundation of the series would be unstable This contradicts Sarah J. Maas's entire narrative so far.

In short: The Cauldron = Transformation The Mother / Destiny / the Universe = Mate Bonds The Cauldron changed Elain. It didn't assign her to Lucien. And if you take this point seriously, you can't simultaneously claim: "Elain's bond is wrong, but Azriel + Gwyn would automatically be right." Because then the same logic applies in both directions. 8. The Biological Detail (My Personal Favorite): Nesta alters the physiology:

in herself

in Feyre Both are supposed to be able to have winged babies. Elain stands by. Nesta does NOT do it for her. Even though she knows: Azriel is Illyrian. There's tension. There's possibility. If Sarah had wanted to say: "Elain has the option of Illyrian children"

→ that would have been the perfect moment.

Instead: Gwyn later says: "My bones are more flexible." River nymph trait. And yes—that includes pelvic mobility. This means:

Gwyn = natural compatibility Elain = deliberately unprepared This is no coincidence.

This is a narrative switch. 9. Symbolism: Where do they belong?

Elain = Earth, garden, bread, home, community Lucien = Wandering, sun, diplomacy, movement, politics Azriel = Shadow, war, espionage, night Gwyn = Water, voice, threshold, combat training Now look at the pairs as axes:

Elain + Lucien → Slow approach → Trust, healing, safety → Politically and emotionally meaningful → Mate bond is finally taken seriously Azriel + Gwyn → Darkness and light work together → Both retain their selves → Trauma scars over instead of being covered up → Night Court remains night—but with song This doesn't feel contrived.

It feels built. 10. When SJM stays true to its own writing style… This isn't "my ship is better than yours." It's about something else entirely: Sarah J. Maas has consistently written the following across all her series:

Mate bonds mean something

Foreshadowing is fulfilled

Biological rules remain in place

Symbolism returns

Characters get fitting arcs, not random partners If you only look at these regularities, the logic always leads to the same conclusion:

Elain + Lucien Azriel + Gwyn Anything else would mean:

Mate bonds suddenly become irrelevant

Biology is disregarded

Foreshadowing is dropped

Character arcs are broken And that doesn't feel like story— it feels like fanservice. That doesn't mean she couldn't do it. But it would be a break with the very style that has held her stories together so far.

… Conclusion

I don't see a coherent endgame where:

Azriel and Elain end up together

Gwyn becomes irrelevant

Lucien's mate bond is simply ignored

Elain remains "swallowed up" in the Night Court

Azriel has to permanently diminish himself In contrast:

Season 3, Episode 11 (“Our Town”) which aired on January 12, 2012 gave us Klaus delivering that whole soft, vulnerable, “there’s still beauty in the world and immortality isn’t a curse” speech to Caroline… and in the SAME episode he gives her a birthday present. Not just any present a diamond bracelet. You don’t accidentally write a centuries-old villain pouring his heart out and handing over jewelry in the same 42 minutes unless you’re deliberately building something.

And then you go back two months earlier to Season 3, Episode 9 (“Homecoming”), November 10, 2011 before he ever saved her, before the bracelet, before the fandom went feral and Klaus literally calls Caroline “pretty” out of the entire room. The camera freezes on her. His eyes linger. It’s not subtle. It’s not accidental. It’s not “oh the writers just reacted to the fans.” The episodes hadn’t even aired yet.

They were hinting at romance. They were planting the seeds. They knew exactly what they were doing.

Sonic needed the clarification that Amy loves him for him which instantly changed his wrong perception of her.

After this Sonic immediately asks Amy to join him even though a few pages ago he was trying to leave when she showed up. It’s not the fact that she had to “change herself” but Sonic now knows whenever Amy is excited to see him or starts hugging him, it’s because Amy’s love for him is genuine. Not some form of restraining but a real close affection for Sonic that became completely mutual after this moment.

(Fanart by @47-61 )

Thank you for the ask!

Why do I ship Raybins, or what makes their canon dynamic interesting? Which do you want to know?

The short answer is that, even though I first read the book over 20 years ago, on revisit the dynamic between Ray and Stebbins got into my head like a snatch of pop music.

The longer answer has a lot to do with the narrative foil dynamic my moots @idlesdays and @rambling-ids discussed in their own analyses.

One aspect of that which I have not yet seen discussed is that the Stebbins-Garraty narrative foil relationship operates in part along the lines of World’s Dumbest Genius vs. World’s Smartest Dipshit.

Stebbins has the analytical apparatus to understand essentially everything except the thing that matters most to his own survival and wellbeing. Stebbins’ intelligence is both his greatest asset and the instrument of his destruction. He was smart enough to understand every facet of the Walk inside and out, but not wise enough to see that his plan was built on a foundation of need he couldn’t acknowledge.

In contrast, Garraty stumbles through the novel in a fog of unexamined feelings and propagandized assumptions, and yet his instincts keep pulling him toward the right people and the right conclusions even when his conscious mind can’t articulate why. Garraty’s relative lack of self-awareness is what keeps him walking in some ways, because if he had Stebbins’ clarity about what the Walk actually is and what survival costs, he might not have the same capacity to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Another thing I love about their narrative foil dynamic is King’s extraordinary sleight-of-hand regarding which of the two is actually the strange one. When you actually inventory what we know about each of them, Garraty is the one with genuinely disturbing psychology. His sexualized response to witnessing death isn’t incidental. It happens multiple times, which suggests it’s a pattern rather than a shock response, and has been produced by a society that has thoroughly normalized the Walk as spectacle. He’s been conditioned into something deeply aberrant without any framework to recognize it as such. His sexual shame, particularly his suppressed homosexual attraction, adds another layer of internal conflict that he can’t articulate or process. He’s a profoundly fractured person whose perspective almost reads as normal because we as readers only see things from his point of view.

Stebbins, viewed from outside, seems strange. Viewed from inside, to the extent the text allows it, he wants his father to acknowledge him. He wants to belong somewhere. He made a catastrophic miscalculation about someone who had power over him. These are among the most universal human experiences imaginable. Stebbins’ strangeness is almost entirely a projection of Garraty’s limited capacity to understand him. Which, given Garraty’s own unexamined psychological depths, is a fairly rich irony.

Lastly, I love Raybins as a ship because of the mutually obsessive and somewhat dysfunctional relationship between Garraty and Stebbins. We see Garraty’s obsession with Stebbins long before Stebbins interacts with him or even has significant dialogue. Even though we don’t get to see Stebbins’ perspective, it’s safe to say the obsession is mutual. Stebbins prefers to interact with Garraty to the point of ignoring or barely reacting other characters who try to talk to him. For this reason, Raybins is the ONLY Stebbins ship that makes sense if one prefers to stick with canon. And by canon, I mean both the book and the film.