#acotar shipwar

[zenkindoflove]

Fandom Shipping Terminology 101: ACOTAR edition

Hi! So I decided to put a little resource together for the ACOTAR fandom. Since many people join the SJM/ACOTAR fandom and have never been in fandom before, they encounter a lot of fandom terminology that they are not quite sure what it means or have seen others use it incorrectly so they get a false impression of the meaning of the word. So I put this together, including examples from the fandom, so that people can use it as a reference to learn more about what these terms mean and when they're appropriate to use. This list is focused on words related to shipping.

Tldr definitions (note: these are definitions that I wrote based on my own experiences/research on fanlore. These are always up for interpretation and meaning and nuance change over time and depend on fandom context)

Canon ship - a relationship where the characters have romantic interactions in canon

Fanon ship - a relationship where in canon the characters are platonic but the fandom has accepted as a ship with romantic undertones, canonical potential, or has become so popular within a fandom it's has surpassed the need/desire for canon

Crackship - a pairing of two characters where the idea of them together is strange or funny depending on the circumstances. Often in these ships, the characters have little or even no interactions in canon

Rare pair - agnostic to fanon or canon status. A rare pair simply means the fandom does not make a lot of fan content for it.

End-game - This is a canon ship that is together by the end of a series.

Slash ship - Fanon ships that feature queer relationships. M/M usually takes on the term slash and F/F has the term femslash.

OTP - Stands for One True Pair. This is a ship that a shipper considers to be the most important one that they love in a fandom.

NOTP - anti-OTP, or a ship that a shipper detests/is squicked out by

Multishipping - the act of shipping a character with multiple other characters.

For more context and thorough examples read more under the cut 

First, what the heck is a ship?

The origins of shipping and becoming obsessed with fictional relationships predate our modern understanding of fandom. Modern fandom roots can be traced as early as Star Trek: The Original Series. But the terminology of calling a couple you like a ship or the act of obsessing over fictional (and sometimes non fictional) couples "shipping" has its origins in the X-Files fandom. While ACOTAR is a romance, many fandoms do not have romance as a central element of its plot, and yet, shippers find a way. That's exactly what happened for the fans of Mulder/Scully. Those who wanted them to be in a romantic relationship were called "relationshippers" which then got shortened to "shippers". The verb "to ship" would appear later from this origin.

The way to think about "what is a ship" though is really based on do people think up romantic scenarios with these two characters? If yes, then you have a ship. And in ACOTAR, oh baby, are there MANY, MANY SHIPS.

Canon vs. Fanon ships

Where does a canon ship end and a fanon one begin? Now that, my friends, is not as clear cut as you might think.

I think this discussion is very important for the ACOTAR fandom because of the state of the ship war currently. Often, there is back and forth about which ship is canon or fanon (and *eye twitch* people throwing around crackship as a derogatory term to de-legitimize a ship which makes me wanna punch shit).

I'm gonna burst everyone's bubbles and say, I personally think Elriel, Elucien, and Gwynriel are all CANON ships.

Why? Well, that's the part that is up for interpretations my friends. What is deemed canonical romantic interactions? That is where a lot of lines can become blurry and if you have ever shipped a fanon ship before - you KNOW what I mean by that. Is it a charged glance? A caress of a hand that lingered too long? Is it a shared kiss? Or do the characters have to explicitly declare "I'm yours and you're mine"?

I've shipped a lot of kinds of ships. Canon. Fanon. Canon that had its end-game blown up. You name it, I've shipped it. And to me, a canon ship is anytime the writer of the canon is putting characters in a romantic situation, regardless if they end up together or not by the end of the series. If they wanted you to feel butterflies and think "could they?", and you felt butterflies, well my friends, you're responding to canon romance. And we've seen evidence of all three ships having those moments.

But, what does that mean for fanon ships? I have shipped a fanon couple where I got butterflies from their canonical scenes together. I've read into their moments and thought "wow, that was romantically charged". I think this is where the lines of canon and fanon are blurred. Because what this comes down to is, did the author intend this? Or am I seeing more into an interaction because I like it? Most fanon ships do hinge a lot of their interest in said ship because of what happens in canon. But, often times, the authors of said content are not necessarily wanting you to take away from their writing that these two characters are interested in each other romantically. You just can't help it. You see it. You see the potential, and you want it to go there so you see more of it the more you look.

Sometimes fanon ships are very clear that the canon is not even hinting at these two characters together romantically. And that is perfectly fine. To me, a fanon ship is a ship that has become so ingrained in the fandom community that the fandom thinks of these two together romantically. That it doesn't really matter anymore what the canon says or doesn't. The fandom has created this relationship and it lives and breathes within what the fandom builds for it. Azris is a perfect example of a fanon ship in ACOTAR. The canon interactions between Azriel and Eris are sparse and platonic in nature, yet the fandom itself has created a whole fanon around them with a large enough community that as soon as you enter the ACOTAR fandom, you immediately know this ship exists.

Rare pairs and Crackships

These two terms are often used interchangeably as if they are synonyms. Now, a rare pair can be a crackship but not all rare ships are crackships and vice versa.

Generally, a rare pair is devoid of canon or fanon connotations. A rare pair is a ship that receives little attention from fans and has few associated fanworks. So, a rare pair could be a fanon couple that few people think about romantically. For example, Emerie and Gwyn have a lot of interactions in canon. I would not think shipping them together to be a crackship because I mean, they're friends, they like each other, they read smut together. There are a lot of scenarios one could imagine them falling in love. But they have a whopping 12 fanfics under their tag in AO3. Therefore, they are a rare pair but not necessarily a crackship.

A rare pair can also be a canon ship. For example, Thesan and his unnamed lover are canon. However, when you look up their relationship tag on AO3, there are 23 works and most do not appear to be focused on them.

I also have seen people use rare pair for very popular ships (like Azris) when they mean fanon. Again, rare pair is really an indication of "how much fan content can you find for this" not necessarily are they canon.

Crackships really were birthed from the intention of putting two characters together "4 da lulz" to bring back early 2000s internet lingo. Crack shipping is usually a pairing that the idea of them together is a little absurd but also fun. Beron/Tamlin is a quintessential crackship example, especially why it came to be (but we will avoid getting into all the origins of that). There is no real reason to think Beron or Tamlin would ever have a romantic interaction and thinking about it makes you laugh. Crackships can sometimes turn into fanon ships. This is another example where the lines do get blurry. But really, crackshipping is about intention and the use of absurdism within fan creation.

I also want to say, often what I see in the Elucien v. Elriel and Elriel v. Gwynriel ships wars is the use of crackship in a derogatory way, and thinking that if one of these ships does not become end-game, therefore, it proves the other was a crackship. Simply put - no. That's not how it works.

End-game

Related to the above point, I think often where the ACOTAR ship wars really derail themselves, is conflating fanon/canon/endgame with each other. I don't see people often using the term end-game, when really, it would help so much with the judgmental and strange ship policing that this fandom loves to do. Specifically, this fandom has a hard time talking about the value within shipping fanon, or shipping the blurriness between fanon and canon for any characters that do not have end-game potential. ACOTAR is not a complete series. Therefore, in a strict definition, no couples are end-game. However, given the genre, there are several couples who are clearly going to be end-game. And really, what I think the ship war community needs in their discourse, is to start using the term end-game when they want to discuss the outcome of Elucien, Elriel, or Gwynriel having a canonical Happily Ever After. The reason being is that you can use end-game, and not insult another ship. End-game is simply a fact. There is no hierarchy involved in what ship is best or not. Because ships can be beloved whether they're canon or fanon or canon who did not end up together. And they all can have very valid reasons why people ship them despite not achieving end-game.

I also urge the ACOTAR fandom to realize that end-game is not the end of YOUR experience of your ship. Your ship lives on despite what the canon may or may not give you. Even if you ship a canon ship that does not achieve end-game, you can create those fanon end-games for yourself. Many popular ships end up being popular because of the effect of that ship not achieving end-game. And while I am using the prime-ship war as examples within this post, I've seen other microshipwars popping up within the fandom as well. So, I'm not trying to pick on this specific set of conflicts, it's just the one I see most prominently.

OTP vs NOTP

I think the ACOTAR fandom could also really benefit from adopting this terminology.

The point of declaring OTPs and NOTPs is a way for you to signal to others in your fandom, "This is how much I care about this ship. Whether I love it it or hate it. Tread carefully". These terms are not meant to say one ship is better than the other from a moral standpoint. Instead, it's to indicate to others that you have a strong preference. You're going to love your OTPs regardless of what arguments others throw at you to convince you to not love them. You will probably be very annoyed by your NOTPs regardless of what others try to do to convince you that they're actually cute/sexy/hot/perfect for each other. And what the ACOTAR fandom could benefit from, from readopting OTP/NOTP language, is having a common understanding where different shipping communities boundaries are and how they can better utilize those boundaries to prevent constant fighting. Now, ship wars are inevitable because of how people see their OTPs and NOTPs, but general rule of thumb is - don't engage with your NOTP's content for your own mental sanity.

Multishipping

Multishipping can be used in many ways. Some people use it to say, hey I'm in this fandom, and I ship a lot of couples. But the origins of multishipping as a term, comes from ship war discourse in other fandoms. Multishippers generally are people who ship one character with multiple other characters. For example, if you ship Elain/Lucien, Elain/Azriel, Elain/Gwyn, Elain/Tamlin, etc etc etc, you are a multishipper. I generally would not consider someone a multishipper if all of their ships do not cross streams. It just sort of means that you ship a lot of couples. Which tends to be normal for romance series with a lot of couples. Maybe not a single of those couples is your true OTP, and that's what you mean by saying you're a multishipper. And that's okay. I think though that multishipping generally in other fan spaces is a marker of you telling others that you don't draw harsh lines with who you see characters with. I often see multishippers not declaring NOTPs. It's kind of a state of how you go about shipping often. I, for one, identify as an OTP shipper. I've never really multishipped. But I also have a very strict standard of what I call my "ships". Anyways, this is to say, this term has a lot of uses. And sometimes it can be confusing which of these uses a person means when they say it.

Slash shipping 

I've seen over the years that slash as a terminology has fallen out of favor. In the past, slash shipping was the pinnacle of shipping in fandoms. The term slash comes from the first modern fanon ship, Kirk/Spock, where the / between their names, which we now all know and use to indicate a romantic pairing (note: & is used to indicate a platonic interaction between characters), exists because the Kirk/Spock shipping community really were the originators of shipping communities creating fan content and sharing it in with each other in a massive way. In general slash (and femslash) is an important modifier of shipping because it explicitly tells you that this is a queer ship which often were not mainstream and considered canon until more recently. With the rise of canonical queer ships, I think the subversiveness of shipping queer couples has lost it's edge, therefore slash is not needed as much anymore to directly state the nature of your ship.

I wanted to keep this in the post though, because I think it's incredibly important history for ALL ACOTAR fans to understand. Shipping queer couples, and especially shipping FANON queer couples, has always been the backbone of fandom. Kirk/Spock walked so Destiel could fly. These are all queer ships that have strong fanon roots (and that fanon has had impacts on their canon) and have shaped fandom and your concept of shipping and romance tropes in inextricable ways. You don't have / without Kirk/Spock. You don't have Omegaverse, without gay shipping within the Supernatural fandom. And I wanted to make this point because this fandom has a strong het (heterosexual) ship bias. Which is okay. It's a romance series with a lot of heterosexual canon couples. But, I think because of that, many people are not entering this fandom with an understanding that people shipping queer fanon couples have been the ones who were the originators of many fandom terms that we have come to know and use today.

Conclusion:

I hope you all found this informative and that you can take away something from this post that can help you have better interactions and ability to communicate with others in this fandom. Again, I want to stress, that this is heavily influenced by my own 25 years of experience being in fandoms. And I haven't seen it all. Others will have different interpretations of these terms and experiences using these terms. So, feel free to add on anything that you think would be helpful to those in the ACOTAR community to better understand how to "ship and let ship". I do think that ship war are inevitable and not necessarily a bad thing. But using the right terms can help you engage in a more respectful way within ship war discourse.

[gwynrieldreams]

So as someone who has been in fandom spaces for 20+ years… I have started dipping into the ACOTAR fandom within the last few months. I am very confused as to why crackship is being used for gwynriel and I’m ver confused as to why this ship war appears to be so much more… hateful than some I’ve seen? Like I’ve seen some fucked up shit but I don’t think I’ve seen the way that some folks are literally wishing death on others because of a ship? Additionally it’s a tad frustrating that it appears folks don’t know how to tag on tumblr and I need them to learn it’s not like tik tok where you just add any tag whatsoever to give it traction you tag based off what the post is about if a certain ship isn’t even mentioned don’t bother tagging it anti x

I’ll be honest I like almost every character in acotar (except Beron he can fuck off) but I am so sick and tired of Elain and that is quite literally because of the way some folks portray her in their shipping war. I know Sarah has said she will tell Elains story and I believe she mentioned she wanted to tell Azriels story too?? but at this point I’m hoping Elain gets a short story, a novella would be too long, and Azriel gets a blog post. I hope we get a full Mor story and anything but the four that make up this crazy ship war (while establishing who ends up with who on the side cause I still want my own ships to sail but that’s neither here nor there)

Anyways if you’ve read this far thank you 😁 apologies if it doesn’t make sense

Yeah, this shipwar is getting ridiculous. I don't know what people are thinking sending hate and death threats over fictional characters. I don't know why there's so much hate.

The tagging system in tumblr is different from other platforms and older users just have to be a little bit patient and kind to new users. The confusion is understandable. I was using tumblr years ago but then suddenly stopped. I didn't even remember how the tags worked, so I made a a mistake at the beginning. At the end of the day it's just tags, it's not that serious.

SJM has confirmed she will write a book about Elain. Personally, I'm looking forward to it, even though Elain isn't currently my favourite, I believe she has a lot of potential as a character.

SJM has also confirmed she will write two books with dual povs each focusing on a different couple -so the gwynriel/elucien book scenario is very much a possibility- and a novella, which imo will be Mor's backstory and her happy ending with Emerie.

I understand, though, why some people are tired of the shipwar. No matter what ends up being canon, people can and will ship whatever they like and that's ok. I'm just afraid that after we get confirmation, shit will get real bc some part of the fandom will be real angry and will start acting out, taking it out on sjm or other fans.

[erisia-twinktruther]

Maturing is realizing

Gay crackships >>>> the motherfucking shipwar

Long Live Azris, can I get an amen?🙏

[violetasteracademic]

Rambling thoughts post. Won't delete.

I learned a long time ago to stop commenting on the state of the ship war/ SJM fandom as a whole and asking people to be kinder, and anyone who has followed me for a while (which sounds silly to say since I've only been here since March) has likely witnessed my slow disillusionment of the SJM fandom space. As my therapist said, if you keep trying to clean up debris in someone's house who refuses to fix their roof, you'll drain yourself for nothing. (That was about my ex husband but hey I think it applies here.) I've also realized that in the long run, individual creators don't matter, really. There are too many creators in this space who burn out and disappear and even if it upsets or disappoints people in the moment, there is always someone to replace them. I'm very replaceable. My thoughts really don't matter. But here they are anyway.

The SJM tumblr space is extremely hostile and negative. But it isn't all hostile and negative, and the more I filter out the shipwar content and anti content (seriously, I have filters on anti elriel, anti gwynriel, anti elucien, and shipwar buzzwords like delusional, reading comprehension, touch grass, ECT and thank you to my dear friend @yourstarsmyscars for showing me how much more the filters can do than I realized!) the more free I am to see how many kind and wonderful creators there are on here making cute art and amazing fanfics and nourishing a positive fandom ecosystem.

Again, I don't matter in the long run. I'm not sure how many people even still follow me really since I've stopped engaging in the shipwars beyond art, fics, and kind posts. But I do want to let anyone out there who, like me, has had their tolerance for the ship wars plummet to the core of the earth, break through the crust in the middle of the Pacific ocean, and then drift into space, know that there IS kindness in this fandom beyond the noise. There are people doing great work on all sides, who are welcoming to all, and just trying to create something people will enjoy.

I can't say I'll be here forever, or even much longer. But I feel moved to signal boost the positivity. I also know that, although I do believe I tried very hard to be positive and not insulting the majority of the time, I had days that I let the negativity get to me and I was snarkier than I wish I would have been. I'm truly sorry if I ever made a post that even remotely hurt anyone's feelings or added to the negativity. I'd go back and delete them, but frankly they are my most popular posts and still get reblogged so it feels sort of pointless since reblogs don't get deleted.

Although I am an Elriel in my heart of hearts, I want to continue to be a welcoming space for all. If that means my followers get cut in half or only a few people interact with my posts, that's okay with me. I can't try to patch the roof of the fandom, but I can keep my own space toasty and warm for anyone looking for reprieve, regardless of who you ship. I've stated multiple times here that I'm the only Elriel in my IRL friendships, and I love my friends dearly. I tried to speak to Tumblr as a whole the way I'd speak to them, and I didn't always do that. But the world is too abysmal and scary and a lot of SJM fans come online and struggle to find a space that isn't extremely hostile and negative.

Here's to all the goofy little spooks making art, fics, texts, and transcending the shipwars and just trying to connect over the things we love.

In the words of our Lord and Savior Taylor Swift, I want to be defined by the things I love, not the things I hate.

Also still committed to writing a banger Elain Lucien and Azriel throuple once I get through my laundry list of current fics. Maybe a quadruple with Gwyn. Maybe I'll just write a giant orgy, actually.

[youareatragedy]

I don’t really care about the ship drama, but I keep seeing their accounts from time to time. The Elr!el stans align so well with the Inner Circle while the Gwynr!el and Eluc!en stans align more with both the HoW people and IC (but in my observation they're not as passionate as the Elr!el people about the IC). I have to say, one of those ships is definitely more.... unpleasant at times, and I’ll tell you surprise! it’s the Elr!el side. Maybe I’m biased because I’m more critical of Feysand and the IC, but can someone explain why so many Elr!els hate Nesta so much? Is it because Nesta is friends with Gwyn? Like Rhys didn’t literally forbid Azriel from doing anything stupid with Elain? It’s just ridiculous.

I wasn’t aware Elain was so important that she could ignite this kind of pointless war, especially considering she doesn’t even have a strong storyline or much characterization yet—Oh, that’s exactly why? Self-insert? Got it.

There’s something strange about how many elr!els hate Nesta and are obsessed with Rhys and the Inner Circle. (I’m kidding—I know EXACTLY why Elr!els tend to hate Nesta. It’s exactly like I’ve said before: because Elain is in the good graces of the Inner Circle, they think they should just hate on Nesta. Rhys' mafiastancult in another form.)

[yazthebookish]

[isuckazrielsdick]

"I cant wait for e|riel to happen in the next book!" Keep waiting! Its not going to happen🫶🏻💕💐💞🫶🏻🩷😋💐🥰💖💋💅🏻

[lunaatthezoo]

I just had my first shipwar mongerer come into my inbox with some BS, even though my bio clearly says that I am not interested in ship wars.

Our country (U.S.) has failed itself. My family has been hanging on by barely a thread financially and emotionally for the past year. We just suffered a heartbreaking loss too many know, yet too few discuss.

It's pretty fucking obvious who I personally ship (for FUN) from my profile. I am not. Interested. In fighting over who FICTIONAL fairies are going to fuck. I have waaaaaay too many other things to occupy my brain space and energy. Like in all vulnerable honesty, I am not ok. But I'm trying.

I started writing Elriel fanfic because it brings me joy, because I haven't had a hobby in 5 years due to grad school and raising a toddler who is smarter than me. That's literally all I have room for.

This is a safe space for anyone who wants to ship anyone. THESE PEOPLE AREN'T REAL. Joy, my loves. Joy. We can't afford to focus on anything else when it comes to something inconsequential like which magical fairy will fuck which.

So follow your heart- eluciens, crackships, multiverse ships, azris, gwynriels- it literally does not matter just find your joy, babies.

[bloomingdarkgarden]

people clinging to sjm's words from interviews that are now three years old or whatever like she didn't just completely rewrite the trajectory of her own novel in a few weeks and publish it regardless lol.

Like... this woman literally said x and x and x will happen in her newest book- not just concepts or themes but actual events and storylines. And in the end she just... didn't?

Does that not tell us all we need to know?

idk just something to consider for those holding a deathgrip on her commentary. What readers should truly be grasping is that SJM herself is a completely unreliable narrator lol.

[zenkindoflove]

I have a new hypothesis about why the ACOTAR fandom is so weird.

And I think it's because there is a difference between the people who enter this fandom as shippers and the people who enter because they like the romance genre*.

I think many life long shippers enjoy romance. Maybe they don't always seek out the genre but they see romance in whatever media they are engaging with and they take those characters and put romance spins on them even if those characters aren't from a romance story. You ship because of a feeling. You see a dynamic or maybe you think about what a dynamic could be and then suddenly you're pulled in. Like falling in love. But you're falling in love with the idea of a couple. How that couple ends up becoming in canon is independent about how thinking about them together makes you feel.

I think romance readers aren't necessarily shippers*. They enjoy reading romance in a romance canon but they don't necessarily ship in the way shippers do with obsession and devotion regardless of what the canon says. They ship because they see that this couple is good together and it does make them feel squishy inside. Similar to a shipper. But they weren't necessarily going to see that until the canon actually played it out. To me that is responding to a romance plot as the author intended.

And maybe that is something different than shipping. I know for myself, I can read and watch romance and feel pulled in by the love I see but I don't "ship" them in the way I have shipped my OTPs with the level of obsession and devotion and need to construct my own head canons and fanon.

And I think that is a big issue when people from different backgrounds try to talk about shipping and the ship war in ACOTAR if they aren't coming from a similar experience. As I discuss a lot on this blog, there is history and culture behind shipping. And shippers have developed a common language to discuss shipping in a way that respects others shipping habits while also maintaining your devotion to your own ship.

It seems like those who are in this fandom because they enjoy canonical depictions of romance only are often confused by people who are taking characters into their own fanons and playing around with them or are devoted to them regardless of what the canon validates or not.

If you are used to shipping generally it seems very weird for people to say things like "I ship this because they're end game" or "I'll stop shipping if they don't end up together". Because shippers tend to not ship because of end game. They would LIKE end game because having canon validation is great. But it is not necessary (I also am tempted to make a whole post defining the differences between canon vs. fanon vs. end game ships because I frequently see the ACOTAR fandom using these terms incorrectly).

I think sometimes we are talking across each other and not to each other because we don't share a common cultural understanding of fandom or approach to shipping.

*obviously people can be both. Maybe the first couple you shipped is because you got into a romance series. But the point is that shipping at its heart comes from a feeling. How thinking about these characters together makes you feel squishy inside. And that can exist with or without canon. Shipping canon couples does come with many rewards, and canon can validate and be positive feedback on your shipping feelings, but you don't ship because they're end game. You would ship them regardless because you saw something special in their dynamic and whether the canon gets it or not isn't going to stop you. I like reading romance but I find romance in any genre because my shipping brain never stops.

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

I have no real investment in any of the shipwar ships and I dont go out of my way to engage with any of them, but sometimes my tumblr for you page sends some posts my way and now I have a question to all the eluciens, and im asking this without any judgement

Where does this idea that Elucien is gonna be like a regency era-type romance come from? Because when I think of regency era romance I think of like, the slowest of burns, like they dont even hold hands until halfway through the book, and I feel like SJM doesnt really write romances like that ? I mean, its not like she cant start now but i feel like there hasnt really been a precedent for it

[thehighladywrites]

elriel or gwynriel

anon, i’m gonna be so real rn. i honestly couldn’t care less. I can’t find it in me to give a SHIT

like these shipwars have been doing too much and it’s annoying. Like why is Elain reduced to a love interest? Why is Gwyn reduced to one? Why does Azriel have to end up with anyone? The man needs THERAPY he doesn’t need women.

The man needs to be alone, Elain’s book shouldn’t be a love triangle and ‘omg who is she gonna choose’ IT’S HER BOOK???? MAYBE IT’S ABOUT HER POWERS OR TRAVELING OR IDK HER FRIENDS NUALA AND CERRIDWEN?

maybe they all need to have a huge orgy and be done with it😒 elain lucien az and gwyn need to team up and fuck tbh, end this stupid war

maybe they just need to tag team me? I love Elain and I should be between her legs rn but here we are😒

[readychilledwine]

You know you're an Elucien when you're looking for a specific lucien series to add to your rec masterlist, and you accidentally type "Lucien Archeron"

Sigh. My bad.

[intairnwetrust]

As an Elriel, i find the whole debate about whether Elain would be better suited as a spy or emissary hilarious at this point.

Why exactly are you fighting? This is really a point where you can say both sides are right.

Spies focus on covert activities, requiring a high level of secrecy, observation, and the ability to extract information. Emissaries engage in diplomatic missions, emphasizing public representation, negotiation, and building relationships between entities.

If I asked you to tell me the characteristics of a spy and an emissary, you should actually name me traits that overlap. Of course specific skills and purposes of spies and emissaries set them apart but they share some similar traits both need for their job.

An emissary can also act as a spy and a spy can also act as an emissary.

Both have the job of getting information. Both must have good observation skills. Both must have good people and communication skills. Both must have the ability to adapt.

And guess what Elain Archeron has all these traits.

Long story short: Elain could be an emissary, Elain could be a spy and Elain could be both.