r/ProElainArcheron

This is a LONGGG analysis on Elain Archeron’s character!

I know a lot of people think she’s boring, useless, or even a coward but I think she’s courageous and has shown it many times in the series!

(Also refrain from shipping talk here, I’d rather not have this post locked, thank you in advance!!)

ACOTAR: Feyre returns from Spring and is talking with Elain in the garden, Elain is ready to leave everything she knows behind and is asking Feyre if she'd like to go with her. (page 256)

>”You should come with me," Elain went on. ”Nesta won't go, because she says she doesn't want to risk the sea crossing, but you and I...Oh, we'd have fun, wouldn't we?”

Elain on page 260: When I first read the book, this paragraph caught my eye, it said a lot about Elain as a character.

>’I gazed again at that sad, dark house- the place that had been a prison. Elain had said she missed it, and I wondered what she saw when she looked at the cottage. If she beheld not a prison but a shelter- a shelter from the world that had possessed so little good, but she tried to find it anyway, even if it had seemed foolish and useless to me. She had looked at that cottage with hope; I had looked at it with nothing but hatred. And I knew which one of us had been stronger.’

When Feyre is ready to go, Elain is concerned ready to help, even though I think she's both sad and scared (page 270):

>Elain, to my surprise, had a horse, a sachel of food, and supplies ready when I hurried down the stairs. My father was nowhere in sight. But Elain threw her arms around me, and, holding tightly, said, ’I remember- I remember all of it now.’

>I wrapped my arms around her. ’Be on your guard. All of you.’

ACOMAF, on page 248 when her newly made sister and three enormous warriors show up on her doorstep and ask for help. Feyre describes them as "wild and rough and ancient (250), and Elain and Nesta are afraid of them, as they have been raised to know that the Fae are horrible monsters.

>’Nesta,' Elain said again, twisting her hands. If...if we do not help Feyre, there won't be a wedding. Even Lord Nolan's battlements and all his men, couldn't save me from...from them.’ *Nesta didn't so much as flinch. Elain pushed.. ’We keep it secret- we send the servants away. With the spring approaching, they'll be glad to go home. And if Feyre needs to be in and out for meetings, she'll send word ahead, and we'll clear them out. Make up excuses to send them on holidays. Father won't be back until the summer anyway. No one will know.’ She put a hand on Nesta's knee, the purple of my sister's gown nearly swallowing up the ivory hand. ’Feyre gave and gave- for years. Let us now help her. Help...others.’

They're terrified, Feyre can smell it on 253:

>My sisters did not curtsy. Their hearts wildly pounded, even Nesta's, and the tang of their terror coated my tongue-

Here is Elain, on 256, owning her part in Feyre's neglect which is the opposite of cowardice because all through this scene she is visibly afraid. She's trembling, her voice is described as a rasp, and she's gripping her knife so tightly Feyre wonders if she might use it as a weapon. A coward would have let Nesta take all the blame: >’And as for Ferye's hunting during those years, it was not Nesta's neglect alone that is to blame. We were scared, and had received no training, and everything had been taken, and we failed her. Both of us.’

I can't not share my favorite Elain line ever, on 389: >And it was Elain- Elain- who sighed and murmured, ’I hope they all burn in hell.’

I think what’s important for me in ACOMAF is that if Elain is the coward hiding behind the most powerful person, and she values power as a way to stay small/unharmed, then Elain would defer to the people she feels has power. Her fiance, with his battlement, her elder sister who runs her household. She could have ran to Graysen and hid behind his walls the minute she saw Rhys/Az/Cassian and who would have blamed her? And instead she doesn’t tell her Fae hating fiance that she's helping them because she views this as working for the greater good and repaying Feyre for years of perceived neglect. And she argues with Nesta to continue helping them, even when Nesta is saying no.

Consistently Elain is described as the kind of person who could convince someone to do something with a smile and a few kind words which implies she has learned how to get the things she needs through a combination negotiation, flattery, and perhaps a little manipulation if it suits her. What use are any of those things to a coward? Why not have Nesta do all of that for her?

On page 549, Feyre even acknowledge how strange it is that Elain is there when she could be under Graysen's protection:

>’Does my sisters' presence here not speak to you? There is an iron engagement ring upon my sister's finger-and yet here she stands with us.’

>’Elain seemed to be fighting the urge to tuck her hand behind the skirts of her pale pink and blue dress, but stayed tall while the queens surveyed her.’

>’I would say that it is proof of her idiocy," the golden one sneered, "to be engaged to a Fae-hating man....and to risk the match by associating with you.’

That doesn't look like cowardice to me. In fact, it looks like courage to me. It looks like risking everything in service of the greater good, and it even looks a little like shame that she's wearing that iron ring which is a symbol of her and her fiance's prejudice in the face of her Fae sister who I believe Elain does love.

Rhys offers to take Nesta and Elain to Velaris for protection in the face of war and the queens acknowledgement they're leaving the humans to suffer. Rhys, the most powerfully magic man in existence and if Elain values power so much and is such a coward, surely she goes? (555)

>Elain swallowed, a doe caught in a snare. ’I-I can't. I...’

But she could, and she chooses not to. Which leads, of course, to her own tragedy.

Elain who gives up safety in Velaris for love, finds herself kidnapped and shoved into a Cauldron. Gagged by strangers, and knowing she's going to drown and probably die, Elain still manages this moment on 602:

>My sisters were shrieking over their gags. But Elain's cry- a warning. A warning to- My right, now exposed. Tamlin ran for me. To grab me at last. I hurled a knife at him- as hard as I could.

So now she's traumatized, and I think Elain get's too much unfair criticism for how she handles it. She's never going to be loud, or a warrior and she's not girlbossing her way through it. She is the thing she's always feared and yet, with war coming, Elain is pushing it aside for the moment to think about others (ACOWAR, 470):

>’Then Elain said quietly, We could move them to Graysen's estate.’

And while I think she desperately wants to see him, this is still an act of courage to consider that they would be safe. I also think Elain knows well Graysen is not going to accept her as she is now, and still she hopes he will, hopes enough to agree to see him when hiding away and quietly mourning would have been emotionally safer.

Feyre even tells her, on 471

>’This could end very badly, Elain.’ She brushed her thumb over the iron-and-diamond engagement ring. ’It's already ended badly. Now it's just a matter of deciding how we meet the consequences.’

On 492, before Graysen, the love of her mortal life, and his terrifying Fae hating father, she says:

>’Graysen, I've come to beg you...’ A pleading glance at his father. ’Both of you...Open your gates to any humans who can get here. To families. With the wall down...We-they believe...There is not enough time for an evacuation. The queens will not send aid from the continent. But here-they might stand a chance.’

And Elain… who was caught in a snare, and still pleading for him to listen, managed to say this:

>’You are mated to some Fae… Male’

>’His name is Lucien.’

Elain, willing to damn convention and immortality to be with the man she loves.

>’Take that ring off.’

>Elain's fingers curved into firsts. ’No.’

Elain in the war is endless courage, despite having no tools to defend herself. After Nesta's scrying causes the Cauldron to lure Elain away as punishment, Elain risks her own life to get out a human. A coward would have looked the other way and risked nothing that put them in danger. Which is the opposite of what Elain did. 577:

>’Grab onto him!’ Elain ordered the wide-eyed human girl as Azriel thundered toward her. The girl looked like a doe about to be run down by a wolf. The girl did not open her arms as they neared. >Elain screamed at her, ’If you want to live, do it now!’

Elain holds the entire time, keeping Briar from slipping and dying.

Elain, on 610, when the violence is unavoidable and Az offers her truthteller: >’I -I don't know how to use it-‘

And of course, Elain, who tells him she doesn't know how to use a weapon, who could have hid (and might have been smart to do so) while everyone else fought, does this (653):

But as a blade broke through the king's throat, spraying blood, I realized someone else had. Elain stepped out of a shadow behind him, and rammed Truth-Teller to the hilt through the back of the king's neck as she snarled in his ear, >’Don't you touch my sister.’

On 655, I love this moment because Elain is truly Cauldron-blessed in that this sentient cooking pot made of ancient, godly magic, loves her and wants to protect her/gift her things. Nesta makes herself into a God, but I think Elain could have been made one, too, had she the inclination. The Cauldron certainly had the will:

>The Cauldron seemed to realize what she'd done, too, as his head thumped to the mossy ground. That Elain...Elain had defended this thief. Elain, who it had gifted with such powers, found her so lovely it wanted to give her something...It would not harm Elain, even in its hunt to reclaim what had been taken.

I think Elain gets labeled as a coward in part because of what happens in ACOSF- she didn't stand up against the IC, so she's a coward because Nesta would have never let them take her up there, but Elain spends a good portion of ACOFAS trying to coax Nesta out, and then offering Nesta space in equal measure when it's clear Nesta wants to be alone. I'm not going to argue whether the intervention was good, because I personally don’t think it was.

And Elain has never enjoyed the coddling, no matter how she benefitted from it. In ACOSF, when Elain is offering to scry on Nesta's behalf. Nesta doesn't WANT to scry but Elain DOES (232)

>’Absolutely not,’ Nesta spat, fingers curling at her sides. ’Absolutely not.’

>’Why?’ Elain demanded. ’Shall I tend to my little garden forever?’

>When Nesta flinched, Elain said, ’You can't have it both ways. You cannot resent my decision to lead a small, quiet life while also refusing to let me do anything greater.’

I think this moment says so much about how Nesta views herself and what she's worth to people more than anything else. Elain is offering Nesta an out- I will do this because I want to (Feyre states it Elain's choice and still Nesta is saying no), and you don't have to. Nesta can't let her, because she can't risk Elain and Nesta is in such a bad place (and I think she was way before she was made, which only amplified it), that to her, she's the expendable one. She can get hurt, she can be the shield because who would miss her? Who would value her if she didn't? That doesn't make her view true, but it does offer insight into their relationship over the last few books, and it makes Nesta all the more tragic.

But it doesn't make Elain a coward either.

Elain might be a lot of things, /positive but cowardly is not one of them. Elain gets a lot of shit for being quiet (which makes her devoid of a personality to some…) and for internalizing her trauma, but she consistently shows up for her sisters every time it matters, often at the expense of herself.

I don't think Elain is drawn to power, nor do I think she's a coward hiding behind whoever can keep her safest. I think Elain is in stasis, partly because her time hasn't come for a narrative but also because she doesn't know where she fits anymore. She has no clear, defined purpose and so she's looking for one. Also, this is a SJM book. Feyre, Nesta, and Elain love each other even if you don't.

If you’ve read this far, thank you!! I think I’m going to do an analysis on Gwyn next. Who else should I do?

Hello, friends! I know many of us are of the mindset that Elain will most likely not become a warrior when we do get her story and her POV. I've heard various theories regarding spying, emissary work, etc. and I'm curious if there are other ideas out there! I came up with some functions/roles/trades that Elain could potentially take on in the upcoming books, and I thought it'd be interesting to imagine her there. If you have other ideas, pop them in the comments?

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When we finally get inside her head, what do you think will be the thing that surprises you the most?

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Do you think it's only the future she can see?

Or multiple futures?

Do you think she will be able to see the past too?

Will she be able to get visions on command for certain things when she hones her powers?

What are your thoughts about how her seer abilities will work, once we fully get to see them happen from her POV? It's something I've always wondered and I'm excited to find out

Re-Sharing my favorite aspects about Elain's character that are all ship independent/neutral:

* Her resilient kindness

* Her bravery

* Her efforts to set boundaries and assert her own autonomy against being coddled

* Her sense of humor

* Her ability to charm and endear herself to others

* Her potential character arc, powerful abilities, Seer capabilities and how those could manifest

* Her desire to see the world and have fun with Feyre

Things I find intriguing, even if not inherently positive or things that could be considered flaws (as no character is perfect):

* Her prior inactivity/perceived selfishness in the cabin (while also operating with a grain of salt because Feyre's first-person POV by nature is biased)

* Her conflict avoidance

* Her coping strategies for her trauma post-catatonic state

* Her overall goals for the future (does she want to open a business? Volunteer more? Have a family? Take up academics? etc.)

* Her dynamic with Nesta and how that might dissolve, evolve, etc. going forward

* Her prior socialite hobbies and what a return to them might look like, if she wants to do that

* How she views herself internally

I just had a thought. In the books, ACSF, Nesta said

>“Elain cocked her head. Didn’t dissolve into the crying mess she usually became when Graysen came up.”

It sounds like she got over Graysen, however, she never said anything about Elain and Papa Archeron, Elain and her humanity. We all know that these two aspects of her life are really important to her. We know that after she got turned to fae, she turned catatonic.

My expectations for the next book is to know what is going on Elain's head at the moment:

- How does she process the events that happened to her

-How she currently views her sisters, the IC, the NC and their current treatment of her (which also includes her relationships with them)

- How she views the mating bond and her mate

- Her thoughts on wanting to do more (because of her desire to do more to assist the NC to help find the dead trove)

- What does she want to do with her fae life basically

Lastly, thank you for the mods for making this subreddit. I hope it continues to be a hub for actual, nuanced Elain discussion (her highs, her lows and her in-betweens). As an Elain-Elucien shipper, I know discussions about her are usually muddled with who she is shipped, not much on what potential character development she could have.

Elain’s young years were spent being treated as “little more than a doll to dress up” by her mother. Additionally, the cultural vibe I got from the mortal lands is sorta regency. Women from the upper class were to marry, run the home, and have children. Thus, that’s what she would have been raised for. She was still a child when her family fell into poverty, and a child raised to be nothing but pretty and pleasant at that. She was then infantilized by her sisters for years. It’s mentioned the sisters didn’t associate with villagers much, so she didn’t really have any other frame of reference up close. That doesn’t excuse everything, but it should be taken into consideration. Elain is frequently referred to as beautiful, sweet, innocent, and oblivious (which is actually quite wrong as I’ll discuss later) by characters. Nobody has ever taken her seriously or treated her like an adult. Before you say but that’s her fault for not acting like one, she became what was expected of her. As Rhysand said “But I wonder if everyone has spent so long assuming Elain is sweet and innocent that she felt she had to be that way or she’d disappoint you all. With time and safety perhaps we’ll see a different side of her emerge.” Nesta recalls her mother saying “Elain is pleasant to look at but she has no ambition. She does not dream beyond her garden and pretty clothes. She will be an asset on the marriage market for us one day, if that beauty holds, but it will be our own maneuverings, Nesta, not hers, that win us an advantageous match.” Elain was just a child and already written off to be nothing but a pretty face. That’s damaging. Elain never felt seen or understood by anyone- “No one ever looked—not really.” A bramble of words. Her voice strained to a whisper. “[Greyson] did. He saw me. He will not now.” Imagine only being seen for your beauty and treated as if you had nothing else going for you especially if you were a people please and felt you needed to fit the role handed to you. Moving on, people have accused Elain of not showing remorse for not helping Feyre and that’s untrue. Elain was the one who insisted upon letting Feyre use the house. Additionally, when Nesta was getting all the blame by 3 angry fae for the treatment of Feyre, Elain stepped in and said she was to blame for failing Feyre as well. As for the often brought up idea that she could have started a vegetable garden instead of a flower garden, possibly, but in ACOTAR, there’s a point where Feyre says Elain wants start “perhaps a vegetable garden, if she could learn enough about it.” That makes me wonder if in universe, it is difficult and expensive.

Ok. Let’s cover some other topics.

Starting with Elain’s intelligence. Elain is quite observant and she’s good at social maneuvering. Elain had the idea of how to send the servants way and to use Greyson’s estate, and was the one who convinced them to leave quickly and helped to convince Greyson’s family. Elain has been described as being able to charm anyone into doing what she wants.

-In ACOTAR, Elain could quickly tell Feyre had found love even despite not knowing Feyre had even gone to Prythian just been observing Feyre.

“Did something happen at Aunt Ripleigh’s house?” Elain asked. “Did you … meet someone?” There are other instances as well.

-“Elain, noticing Azriel’s ease as proof that things weren’t indeed about to go badly, offered one of her own as well.”

-“But Elain’s cry—a warning. A warning to— To my right, now”

“ I know it’s not easy for you,” Elain observed. “Buying things without a dire need to do so.” “It’s their tradition, though,” Elain countered, her face still flushed with the cold. “One that they fought and died to protect in the war. Perhaps that’s the better way to think of it, rather than feeling guilty. To remember that this day means something to them. All of them, regardless of who has more, who has less, and in celebrating the traditions, even through the presents, we honor those who fought for its very existence, for the peace this city now has.

”Pain slowly washed over Elain’s face. And understanding. “Is that what this is all about? Father?”

“Silver lined Elain’s eyes, but her voice remained steady, sure. “There was nothing that could have been done to save him, Nesta.” Feyre smiled. “Elain was the only one who guessed.”

“Nesta never spoke of it afterward,” Elain said. “I just observed.” Nesta was wrong, Cassian realized, to think Elain as loyal and loving as a dog. Elain saw every single thing Nesta had done, and understood why.”

Next let’s cover Elain’s depression which is at best overlooked by many fan’s and at worst used to insult her. Elain went through a severe trauma. Her bodily autonomy was violated. She went through the horror of being in the cauldron. She became a being she was raised to fear and her fiancé hated. Some guy who seemed to have been an associate of her abductor claimed she was his mate. She was so depressed her sisters worried she would end her life. I’ll let the book speak for itself here.

-“She will not leave her room. She will not stop crying. She will not eat, or sleep, or drink.”

-“I couldn’t breathe, looking at this broken, carved-out thing my sister had become.”

-“Elain had always been gentle and sweet—and I had considered it a different sort of strength. A better strength. To look at the hardness of the world and choose, over and over, to love, to be kind. She had been always so full of light. Perhaps that was why she now kept all the curtains open. To fill the void that existed where all of that light had once been. And now nothing remained.”

—“Even wasted away by grief and despair, Elain’s beauty was remarkable. Hers was a face that could bring kings to their knees. And yet there was no joy in it. No light. No life. “

-“Something in my chest cracked as Nesta’s eyes also went to the windows before Elain. To check, as I did, for whether they could be easily opened.”

Even after she resumed a more normal life, we still see some hints of it.

-“Why wouldn’t I be all right?” she asked, a smile lighting up her face. I’d seen those smiles before. On my own damn face.

-“Elain is overwhelmed by crowds.” “She didn’t used to be that way.” Nesta swirled her glass of amber liquid. “She loved balls and parties.”

Next, let’s look at her courage and willingness fight and take risks when needed. It was Elain who agreed to allow Feyre to use their house and have the queens come despite any risks that may come with it. Elain was prepared to attempt to fight fae with a dinner fork if needed be. Then, as as mentioned earlier took her share of blame for not helping Feyre in front of them even though she could have stayed and let Nesta take all their rage. When they tried to put Elain in the cauldron she fought like crazy. When Azriel and Feyre rescued her and Briar, she fought and yelled at Briar to get her into motion and grabbed her by the neck to pick her up when that failed. She kicked a beast in the face with her bare foot multiple times. Of course, most famously, she walked through a battlefield and stabbed the King of Hybern in the neck. She went to Greyson’s estate. She offered to help locate the Trove even after similar activity got her kidnapped. Elain offered to do whatever was needed to help the Night Court in fact.

Onto other aspects of Elain’s personality that are shown. She is hardworking, willing to get her hands dirty, and curious. She is also the sort of person who is willing to befriend servants (seeing as Nuala and Cerwidden are close friends of hers) and to fight fate (she says her mating bond means nothing and she doesn’t care who decided it or why).

Gardening is hard, dirty, and sometimes painful work. Yet, she has taken it on not only for her own home, but as a job in which she helps restore Velaris. She often starts work at dawn. She has also risen at dawn to help cook and bake. This is work she wouldn’t have to do as the family has servants, but she chooses to. Elain prepared their father’s body.

Her curiosity also shows up. She was interested in traveling to the continent. She was interested in the Valkyrie. She asked Azriel about his wings and flying.

Rhysand said “But I wonder if everyone has spent so long assuming Elain is sweet and innocent that she felt she had to be that way or she’d disappoint you all. With time and safety perhaps we’ll see a different side of her emerge. “ We’ve around seen some fire and sass from her. I‘ll share some favorites.

-About the queens- “And it was Elain—Elain—who sighed and murmured, “I hope they all burn in hell.”

-“He brought you a present.” Those doe-brown eyes turned toward me. Sharper than I’d ever seen them. “And that entitles him to my time, my affections?”

-“Her mouth tightened, the only sign of anger in her graceful countenance. “I don’t want a mate. I don’t want a male.”

-“Why?” Elain demanded. “Shall I tend to my little garden forever?” When Nesta flinched, Elain said, “You can’t have it both ways. You cannot resent my decision to lead a small, quiet life while also refusing to let me do anything greater.” Elain cut in sharply, “I am not a child to be fought over.”

• “I went into the Cauldron, too, you know. And it captured me. And yet somehow all you think of is what my trauma did to you.”

• Elain’s eyes flickered. “Did Feyre pay you, like last year?” “Oh, fuck you,” Nesta snapped, and then choked. Elain blinked. Nesta blinked back, horror lurching through her. And then Elain burst out laughing. Howling, half-sobbing laughs that sent her bending over at the waist, gasping for breath. Nesta just stared, torn between questions and wanting to throw herself into the icy Sidra. “I— I’m so sorry—” Elain held up a hand, wiping her eyes with the other. “You’ve never said such a thing to me!” She laughed again. “I think that’s a good sign, isn’t it?” I think shows Elain wants to be treated like a normal person.

To address the situation with Lucien, she does not owe him anything not even a moment of her time. I won’t stand for a female being villianized for that. I do not care how much you like Lucien or that they are mates. How can we even blame her for avoiding him? He was an ally of the male who kidnapped and traumatized her even though he was not in on it. He also yelled out he was her mate in that awful moment.

Finally, I’m just going to discuss a few random things that I find important. She is a seer. She possibly used her ability to save Cassian and Nesta. The cauldron loves her. It gifted her abilities. It has been described as putting in her presence. She befriended Azriel and called his hands beautiful. She gives witty gifts. She is hinted at as having a secret and lying to people. Feyre says she’s better at keeping secrets than Azriel. She sneaks up on people multiple times. It’s theorized she’s taking stealth lessons.

So I want so badly for Elain to get an animal friend that follows her around in her book, it’s one if my favourite tropes in fantasy when the FMC ends up with a little creature/animal who becomes her one of her companions.

(Bonus points for me if the MMC “hates” it but would literally die to save its life 🤣)

What animal/magical creature would you envision for Elain?