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acourtofquestions · 4 months ago

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Shoutout to the lovely @archerons-elain for inspiring this post thanks to their genius comments, shared theories, & fun fandom appreciation🥰

This started out with the note/theory of Elain & Aelin as an Anagram

(among other fandom theories I’ve started looking into for funsies while reading TOG & waiting for (what I’ve started calling😂) ACOTAR 5 & 1/2) as they are both great characters, that on first glance feel like such opposites… yet when I think about it… they actually feel more like a “what if” of similarities.

I think Elain is what Aelin would have been had she not lost her parents, kingdom, (& most crucial to this point) Aedion. — Vice-Versa— I think Aelin is what Elain might have been under the same circumstances, or if left without Nesta. The paralells between both young Aelin & Elain, and grown Elain & Aelin (while trapped in Celaena).

Though a character/person’s credit is to their own, and their are always pros & cons without “what if’s”; I do think without Nesta, Elain would be a drastically different character: Nesta was Elain’s shelter, her ever-fighter, her great love, her best friend. Nesta fought & fostered Elain to bloom; she gave Elain the chance to grow up, to know some semblance of safety, to have any ray of light among the gray dark winter, and the room to be that beautifully resilient demandingly bright light even amid gloom.

In contrast, sometimes I think of Elain’s upbringing like a potted plant: Created to be beautiful & seen; yet never its full nature or heard. Safe & surviving, but never alive & thriving. Seeing the whole world from a point of beauty; but always through glass. Safe from the storms but deprived of the rain, dosed with sunlight but never in all its unabashed rays. Never to know thorns but left defenseless without them, unable to recognize weeds yet always to grow upon false impositions. Rooted in place with such strength, yet tethered to that place; able to tone the brightest of blooms, but never the room to take full shape. — I always find it interesting that she loves the gardens & yet never entered the woods; I think it serves her character well, soft, overlooked, cultivated, pruned, beautiful, & earthen in home; but never wild, always grown, always made to bloom never to just be; and yet the places she loves most are that.

If put into Aelin’s position; if stolen from her sisters & home; or without her person & protector (Nesta) I imagine Elain would have been used & shaped like a tool, beautiful but without room to breathe. Never witnessing the truth of pure innocence & never knowing the undying ferociousness of love.

Meanwhile you have Aelin & Celaena.

Aelin of the wildfire; because she was wild like the flowers covering Terrasens emerald green & thrown at her feet in adoration, because she was abundantly unstoppable yet always caught before she could make her leaps (safe, but never soaring), because she was bright, free, & simultaneously a cloistered wild-thing signed up to be something before she learned to breathe; she was always the fire heart of a nation; but above all the costs & heavy crowns she was happy, she had something a family a home, a protector best friend fierce love to adore her as she did in Aedion; and she was learning, she would have been given the chance to grow & cultivate into more, to remember & know what it is to be so loved (As Elain knew without doubt). Instead, she was stolen. Aelin, who he even Aedion says he wishes he would’ve been taken with, while he may not have been able to save her from Arobynn, she would have grown up knowing more than just that; the loss of love, the empty colorless world forever in winter without flame; she may have never needed to be Celaena. She would have at least grown up period, instead of being frozen in time, burned alive again & again until there was nothing but ashes to forget or die with, forced to be a phoenix; rising over & over, but with a price. As they say “she became death, to escape it”; where she had been all things alive; she became cold as the river in which she drowned, foreign as the new land, gone with her world. She was shaped into a tool, a weapon, an assassin. Celaena survived, but at all costs; she paid every price for it (without even signing up).

— Then you have these key character points that survived in them both —

They both have similar core motivators/“dreams”:

They wish for peace, for a “normal” life (while this is general enough that it could be applied to many characters, there is a specificity to its value they carry far more; especially in what they are willing to give up to achieve it; and the mundanity they would take with it). They wish to run away from all the chaos of their world & just be in love (or even alone) & just be happy; (once again, while many may have this wish) the difference is they would (& have tried to) actually run away for it. Not many people carry that kind of bravery; fierce, wild, untamable joy.

They have the same line “in the sand”:

They have a line (even to their own dreams); best summed up as love & loyalty (they will be stubborn for) their people; and all that sweet idealism will burn if it is crossed. Let us not forget; Elain made the first true strike on Hybern (not some naive innocence; but painstakingly, heart-torn, brutal, filled with rage & vengeance, & a fierce sort of love that endures) much like Aelin’s many decisions shown to parallel. While, that love also does not easily blind them (let us not forget despite the many “oblivious” accusations Elain receives; she is called “the seer” for a reason ;)

… if anything it is that loyalty & love that makes their line so messy & misunderstood. On occasion it manages to seduce them; the sense of comfort, of defining one’s self as someone else’s, the ability to fall into it & no longer carry the weight of every decision upon your presence in the world; the loyalty to disappear within. — But even that; fiercely loyal as they are, their morals & love carry a torch too (though this can flicker more visibly in Aelin; remember I’m saying they are like versions; not identical, but twin souls).

For Aelin her love & loyalty begin and end with everything she has become because of her people (or lack thereof), her family, (her own being) was stolen from her; sometimes it makes her confuse morality & justice with the vengeance of survival becoming her only true consistently loyal ally. Or the times her loyalty becomes stubbornness (a trait often overlooked in Elain) but very clear in Aelin’s light of such similarity.

In Elain I think it is both best seen & misunderstood in her love for Nesta. Elain loved Nesta period. Even when Nesta could be cruel, she was loyal in that (not because Elain was naive to it; she just knew her sister; beyond the bristling thorns, and loved her enough not to care; Elain has never seemed to mind the thorns that accompany roses. She stubbornly does not garden with gloves). She was still loyal to loving her sister when she drew that line in the sand (that seemed to break it into misunderstanding) but it was because Nesta’s self-loathing was destroying them both; Elain loved her enough not to allow it out of fear of a fight; she would rather her sister hate her and survive, than play nice as she drowns herself in sorrow and alcohol. Just as Elain loved Feyre before the woods AND after; she may have made mistakes (love doesn’t fix all things; Nesta felt abandoned because something did change (however she did not leave Nesta; not in her heart; she loved her stubbornly & without reason). Elain has never been “perfect” as people pretend; honestly, it’s part of her beauty, the actual truth of it), but she loves her sisters (that is important; it’s not a fix, but it is a key). She was loyal to that; the way she loves (and stubborn in it). — Buying paints when they were poor (perhaps privileged, maybe ignorant) but still kind nonetheless. is something else there within them. And then there is that stubbornness (even when imperfect) Elain was stubborn in her love for their father; while it may have been given to her further than the others (fostered to begin with as opposed to forgotten or never given) she must have felt it; Nesta’s resentment, Feyre’s desperation, her fathers own heartbreak, the grief of her mother, the failure; and yet she remained adoring (possibly a fawn response) but also a stubborn loyalty determined to prove goodness true. Feyre reminds it, too; how strong it was to hope and be kind. There’s a poem like that, to remain soft among such cruel, sharp things. Elain has that piece (Aelin in contrast had it stolen) as I said, they are not the same). However, in that morality to love & loyalty…

… Aelin can be viewed similarly, loved Dorian & Chaol; long after they were “in love” (partially as she learned to reshape it; with Dorian becoming her friend, and Chaol & her learning to forgive their pasts). It’s messy though; as I mentioned, her loyalty does not leave easily. It’s why she keeps making promises to a love she knows she cannot be with. She didn’t know how to keep the love & have it change, how to hold many loyalties at once (she apologizes for that later too) for making it sound like she’d come back to Chaol. But she does stay loyal to both; the truth that she could not be with Chaol anymore, & the ring she wore for months after; because she meant it when she said it as much as she meant it when it ended. It reaches the greatest conflict for her when it snaps; when her “sister” is taken, & those loves & loyalties are all pinned against her; she falls into a habit, the practice of “justice” & the seduction of a loyal vengeance (that has kept her alive; even if at a high sometimes called “selfish” price; it is survival). — And in those aforementioned traits; Aelin often gets told she is stuck-up, privileged, ignorant, selfish (and maybe at times she is; though it never sums up a person) I would say the key lies in what she loves & appreciators, her will to live & be more than an existence, much like Elain.

They both however, try, continue, keep doing it when it comes to learning, giving, & building more than existences.

They have a similar gift trait:

They both have an ability to understand people, to “see more” (young Aelin fought the Valg king without even knowing it) & even see those shrouded in shadow (both literal & metaphorically speaking; Azriel & Rowan as primary examples). And with it carry an ability to reach out, to have kindness that endures (often Aelin’s ability to laugh, to smile, despite it all is mentioned; the way she cares for Evangeline & Fleetfoot as reminders of it) & Elain’s quote (once again) about having a different kind of strength; the ability to remain kind & hopeful among tragedy & hardship. They have an attention to detail; Elain notices what makes the man of shadow laugh, she gives him a truly thought out gift, she saw beyond the dark masks and facades enough to note & notice. Aelin saw Chaol, the guard beneath the mask, his favorite poem, his favorite meal, she remembered his birthday, she made the cake.

They have similar coping mechanisms:

They keep the fire burning, hope & heart in hearth. They disappear for a while, they go into their own world. They cling to the known, to the souls they remain loyal, to the familiar. They have their little moments of normalcy among their world to keep a grasp on sanity; both go to the earth, one to the gardens & one to the woods. Elain goes out in her best dresses onto to kneel in the dirt, to spend hours baking, or convincing moments of peace & celebration into existence. Aelin goes to the woods, to the grounds, to her other worlds of books, to the city, to the stores, to take time & take care & primp proper, to dance, to compose, to be a “normal” girl; neither princess nor assassin. As mentioned before, they both have the need to be more than existence and retain some normalcy within it.

They get viewed poorly for certain stereotypical “girlie traits”, or being called “selfish”, “dumb”, or “ignorant”:

The amount of hate I have read toward Celaena’s sass, love for fashion, appreciation of perfumes & nice things. For calling her selfish, temperamental, ignorant. Or Elain’s softness, kindness, warmth, gentleness, love to bake or garden or wear nice dresses. Calling her ignorant, naive, or just plain stupid… It saddens me… Everyone has a right to their opinion, there is argument and validity to it; however, I think a character can be a kick-ass assassin and also love pretty ballgowns without becoming “unfeminist”, I absolutely do not think Elain is a “damsel” or ditsy idiot. I think there is something lovely to representing all sorts of female characters for all sorts of people! I think the two of them carry over some traits and possibilities while being so different that they are a great reflection of that. They have a great deal of difference (obviously) and I quite appreciate both the crossover and uniqueness!

For all they are “alike” they are also different :-)

(As I aside ⬆️)

They both love pretty dresses & nice things.

They have a call to nature.

They are beautiful. And they use it as a weapon.

They are underestimated and carry a power in that.

They are women & can be “stereotypically feminine”. They they are bad-ass.

They know the power of sisterhood. They are loyal. They are compassionate. They are loving. They are stubborn as hell.

They notice details. They see more. They keep track. They carry wit. They do not fear the shadows.

They are bright. They have a levity even after living in the heavy. They are expected to be “one thing” (the “happy one” the “hope” the “chosen perfect” the “invisible”) and it can be exhausting. They can fade into backdrops, sometimes they need to hide, they aren’t fully seen. Yet, they are never becoming less. They have a right to the trauma they carry. They remain more than it, refuse to just be that. They long for domesticity, for freedom, for wild & peace. They have more than what meets the eye.

They were sweet children, protected, gentle, bright. They went through hell. One had a shelter in the storm. One had to become the storm. One kept everything, even so far as to not see the world to believe they kept it. One lost it all, and stopped believing in the world at all. One learned forgiveness, one learned vengeance. One knew love, one knew loss, they both grow to know each.

Where Elain was soft, Celaena grew sharp, learned she had to be.

Elain can bake, Aelin has a whole chapter dedicated to how she cannot. 😂 While Nesta is the dancer, not Elain, Aelin is (actually I think Aelin is a good blend of Nesta, Elain, and even some Feyre (though the latter contrasts match the extremes a little more interestingly)). While Elain’s face was a prize to be paraded Aelin’s was a secret to be masked (I know these are getting silly, I’m just listing😂). Aelin/Celaena seem more Extroverted or Ambiverted (as she rarely gets to pick for herself; I think her love for books & piano, time to eat her cake alone leans more toward the latter) Elain is more introverted (though I do think she also has lacked the ability to have room for presence). Their love stories have differed yet been VERY similar; both had love & lost it, both lost a dream in it, both ran out of time and fate; and while one had their mate and could not face it, the other was the opposite.

Where Celaena ran, Elain stayed. Where Aelin fought, Elain could not. Both have had to play many games, wear many faces to survive/exist in their societies.

Where Elain was allowed not to see Aelin had not choice, and where Elain was thrown into the world Aelin got to choose what part to play.

Without Nesta, without room to grow, Elain might’ve drowned, might’ve had to claw herself back up and back together until she grew thorns. With Aedion Aelin might’ve stayed sheltered, might’ve become more princess than warrior, might’ve gotten to grow up and be herself, become a diplomat, become a hearth instead of wildfire & hellfire.

I think she would’ve resented being quiet and tame. I wonder sometimes if Elain does; if she’s sick of being “the happy one”. Of being everyone else’s and having none of her left for herself. Of not getting choices, just getting thrown in and around. I wonder if Aelin is sick of the definition too of being too wild or too tame, of being the bright hope or tragic grief, of being used or things for other people, of knowing herself and yet not knowing.

And while Celaena’s story becomes Aelin’s and eventually (when I read it) has her full circle & end. Elain has yet to have her story told. I look forward to seeing it. And have enjoyed looking at these pieces… they are drastically different and drastically similar, I think it’s a cool what if to compare… so there’s a random ramble of little things about two characters I’ve really grown & continued to love.

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