#pro elain uniting the lands over the need to stay in the immediate vicinity of her sisters forever

[acourtofthought]

Elain had squared her shoulders and declared that she was a part of this court—and would do whatever was needed.

I think Elain's story will be about duty and responsibility over choice. Elain has had nothing but choices in her life. It was Feyre who their mother expected to care for their family. It was Nesta who their mother expected to make an advantageous match that would benefit their family. But it was Elain that was allowed to marry for love. I'm not saying their mother's opinion of Elain wasn't cruel, it was. Imagine your parent thinking you have nothing to offer the world but your good looks which is why she never bothered asking anything of you, because she didn't 't believe you were capable. But that lack of seeing Elain as anything more than a doll to dress up means there were zero expectations placed on her, she was free to do whatever she wanted and marry whoever she wanted whereas Feyre and Nesta were expected to do what was best for the family to further their station and keep them alive. Of course Elain didn't choose for their family to go into poverty, of course Elain didn't choose to be kidnapped and made or for their father to die but Nesta and Feyre went through those same things, the sisters all had things that were beyond their control. Outside of those things though Elain had the freedom to do whatever she wanted because nobody expected anything of her. Therefore choice in her story is simply redundant to how her entire life has been. She's ALWAYS been free to choose who she loves. She chose Graysen for love, did she not? She has chosen to not accept her bond this far, has she not? Elain has never been forced to love someone she didn't want to love and she's never been forced to do things for her family that she didn't want to do. Therefore I think a bigger arc for her character would be to worry less about choosing love and instead focusing on that which benefits their world. Ending up with Az doesn't do anything to help anyone. It doesn't gain them alliances, it doesn't offer them anything that they can't already have with Elain as Feyre's sister. Elain choosing Az for "love" is literally the same thing as her wanting to go back to Graysen because she loved him. But Elain ending up with Lucien? It's combining multiple courts: a lady of the Night Court marrying a son of Autumn, marrying a son of Day, marrying a liaison to Spring, marrying an ally of the human lands. Building an alliance like that can only help their world and the NC who struggles with the perception those other places have of them. Elain focusing on how she can make a difference in their world, how she can become a useful tool (and then falling in love with her mate) is a lot more girl-boss than sneaking behind everyone's back to choose love like she's always been free to do.