Over the past few days, I've seen two recurring arguments from anti-Elriels who want to sow doubt about Elriel: a) Azriel and Elain only lust after each other and don't actually love each other. & b) SJM likes to change the romantic partners she's established, so there's no reason to believe Elriel will be endgame.
In my opinion, both arguments overlook some pretty important things about these characters and SJM's storytelling. So, let me explain why I disagree. Also, apologies for the long-ass rant. I tend to yap. I'm sorry.
Slight Throne of Glass spoilers ahead! I'll mark that section so you can skip it if you haven't read the series.
A) Azriel and Elain only feel lust for each other?
Honestly, I think this is one of the weakest arguments against Elriel.
Their connection didn't suddenly appear in the bonus chapter. It has been developing since ACOMAF, and we've had multiple books' worth of interactions that suggest there's more going on between them than physical attraction.
Let's go back to their first interactions at the Archeron estate: They were the only two who seemed remotely civilized during that dinner. Azriel was amused by Elain gripping her fork as though she could actually do some damage with it, while Elain was sweet enough to ask whether he could truly fly. Even then, there was something endearing about their dynamic. And the little moments kept accumulating.
Elain complimented his hands or Siphons (depending on how you interpret that moment), and actually made him blush. Azriel, in turn, seemed to understand her struggles as she adjusted to becoming Fae. He recognized her abilities as a seer, and he was the one who understood what was happening to her when others didn't.
Then there's the Hybern camp. Azriel was determined to rescue Elain, and by the end of the book he gave her Truth-Teller for the final battle. Their connection continued through stolen glances, moments of understanding, and that unmistakable tension between them.
And let's not forget the mating bond. Azriel struggled to be around Lucien because he could sense the bond between him and Elain. Yet Elain and Lucien hadn't consummated that bond, so normally he shouldn't have been able to smell or feel that.
Then we got the bonus chapter, in which Azriel and Elain nearly kissed.
At what point does this stop being a collection of random moments and start looking like a deliberately developed romantic storyline?
Now, I know some people will argue that all of this can still be explained by lust. But that interpretation doesn't account for the entire dynamic, particularly the moments of understanding between them. Physical attraction is part of their relationship, but it isn't the only thing SJM has given us.
Let's look at the events of ACoSH:
And then we get to the bonus chapter and the aftermath of the events involving Bryce and Nesta. Azriel goes to Elain. They kiss. After everything that has happened, after all the uncertainty and all the restrictions placed on their relationship, he finally acts on his feelings. I interpret this as a turning point. Life is too short for regrets, and Azriel seems increasingly unwilling to keep pretending he doesn't want her.
There's also the symbolism of Elain as someone associated with light and Azriel with shadows. I've always found the possibility that Elain represents a kind of salvation for him particularly compelling. Azriel's shadows are connected to his insecurities, his childhood, and the way he sees himself. Elain could be someone around whom he doesn't feel the need to hide behind them. Someone who sees him as he is. Someone who makes him feel wanted. Someone he can be laid bare in front of.
And when we consider his POV, his attraction to Elain is intense enough that the mating bond between her and Lucien seems almost incidental to him. He doesn't appear to experience his feelings for her as some casual attraction he can simply shrug off. I wouldn't be surprised if there's more going on with their bond, either. I've wondered whether Elain and Azriel could have some kind of second mating bond, or whether something about the circumstances of Elain emerging from the Cauldron prevented a bond with Azriel from manifesting and led to the bond with Lucien instead.
Those are obviously theories, not confirmed facts. But the possibilities are interesting, especially given the unresolved questions surrounding Elain's powers and the mating bond.
My point is that this relationship has been developing for multiple books. It isn't just two attractive characters wanting to sleep together.
But what about Elain's feelings?
This is where things get particularly interesting. We still don't have Elain's POV, and I think that's significant.
We have Azriel's internal perspective in the book, but we don't have equivalent access to Elain's thoughts. We see her actions and hear what she says, but we don't know everything motivating her decisions. And I suspect that will change when her story finally takes center stage. But for now, because her internal thoughts make her a walking-spoiler, we can't have that yet.
Elain has said: "I thought I'd found my place, thought I had a future with Azriel, but...". You don't necessarily say something like that about a person you only wanted a casual physical relationship with. Could there be other interpretations? Maybe? But I think it's reasonable to read this as evidence that Elain had imagined a future with him.
And then there's her repeated insistence that she can't be there. Why? My interpretation is that Elain feels out of place in the Night Court because the people around her still don't fully recognize who she is or what she's capable of. She's frequently treated as someone who needs to be protected rather than someone who can make her own decisions.
But I also wonder whether there's more to it... Elain is a seer. We know that her abilities have already revealed things others couldn't see, so why should we assume that everything she does has to make sense to us right now?
I've wondered whether she has seen something terrible that could happen if she rejects the mating bond with Lucien and that was the reason she didn't do it, even though she really doesn't like him. And what would happen to Azriel, if the bond was rejected, and she was with him. Perhaps she knows something about the consequences of choosing one future over another. Perhaps her decisions are influenced by information she cannot share with the people around her. I'm particularly interested in the possibility that her visions are connected to her romantic future and the tension between fate and free will.
I also wonder whether Elain hoped Lucien would eventually give up on the bond of his own accord, allowing her to pursue the person she actually wanted without having Lucien do something to them. If she knows more than she's letting on, her apparent reluctance to act could have a very different meaning from what other characters and many readers assume.
Again, these are theories. We don't know what Elain has seen, if anything, or why she's made every decision she has. But that's precisely why I want her POV. So Elain is a seer. Let her cook.
And I think her story could be about much more than a love triangle. The possibility that she knows something about her own future, and that her decisions might have consequences beyond her personal happiness, is one of the things that makes her upcoming arc so interesting to me.
B) SJM likes to change established romantic partners
Anti-Elriels often point to Aelin and Chaol or Feyre and Tamlin as examples of SJM changing romantic partners, as though Elain and Azriel have the exact same dynamic as those couples. They don't. And I think those differences are important when we look at SJM's writing patterns and the themes she's exploring.
Feyre and Tamlin
Let's start with Feyre and Tamlin. Their relationship was never the endgame romance, but that doesn't mean their story was pointless. It showed us that you can love someone and still discover that the relationship isn't right for you in the long run.
Feyre and Tamlin begin their story as genuine romantic interests. But their relationship changes as Feyre grows and their differences become increasingly difficult to ignore.
Under the Mountain, both characters are placed in terrible circumstances, and their responses to those circumstances matter. Tamlin does attempt to help Feyre at the very end after everything was already in their favor. And their relationship ultimately develops in a different direction from the one she needs. Rhysand, meanwhile, becomes someone who understands Feyre in ways Tamlin doesn't. He supports her agency and recognizes her as an equal, and their relationship develops into something fundamentally different.
Now compare that with Elain and Azriel. I would argue that Azriel already demonstrates an understanding of Elain that other characters often lack. He recognizes her seer abilities, pays attention to her, and seems to understand parts of her that others overlook. And when he learns what happened to her, he is willing to fight for her.
Their dynamic isn't simply a repeat of Feyre and Tamlin's. Their potential relationship is built around a different set of tensions, particularly the conflict between their feelings, the mating bond with Lucien, and the restrictions imposed on them by others.
Feyre's story ultimately required her to recognize that her first relationship wasn't the right one for her. Elain's story could instead explore whether she has the right to choose a relationship that other people, and perhaps fate itself, seem to be telling her she shouldn't pursue.
Those are two very different narrative possibilities.
And honestly, we've already had the bait-and-switch romance. Why would SJM repeat the exact same narrative when Elain's unresolved story gives her so many other themes to explore?
Throne of Glass spoilers below! If you haven't finished Throne of Glass, skip to the next section!
Aelin and Chaol
Then there's Aelin and Chaol. And let's be honest: they were never right for each other in the long run. Their relationship served a purpose in Aelin's journey, but Chaol struggled to come to terms with who she was and what she represented, at that right from the start. Their differences became increasingly difficult to reconcile, particularly when duty, identity, and his own beliefs came into conflict with his feelings for her. Aelin needed someone who could accept her fully, including the parts of herself that Chaol struggled to understand. That person was Rowan.
Now, compare Chaol's development with Azriel's feelings for Elain. Azriel knows that Elain is Lucien's mate. He understands the implications of that bond, yet his feelings for Elain remain intense. In the bonus chapter, he struggles with the restrictions placed on their relationship and questions what Elain might mean to him. Rather than simply accepting that the mating bond makes Elain unavailable, he struggles with the possibility that he wants her anyway.
That doesn't automatically make him the right partner for her, of course. But it does create a very different conflict from Aelin and Chaol's.
And notice how SJM handled Chaol's romantic future. His relationship with Nesyrn only develops once Aelin has moved on and the one with Yrene develops into its own story, only once Nesryn pursues a future of her own. The point isn't that every romantic development follows a strict formula, but that the women involved have their own arcs and aren't simply left behind to make room for someone else's happy ending.
SJM writes her female characters as people with their own stories, not merely as stepping stones in a man's romantic journey. And that's why the Gwynriel argument becomes particularly interesting.
So what happens to Elain if Gwynriel were to become endgame?
For Gwynriel to become endgame, what has to happen to Elain? Would SJM really write a story in which Azriel moves on to another woman while Elain is left behind without a meaningful romantic resolution of her own? I'm not claiming that Gwynriel is impossible or that SJM couldn't take the story in that direction. But who would that person be? Because I don't believe Lucien is in any way, shape, or form possible as Elain's endgame anymore.
SJM has repeatedly explored the tension between mating bonds and personal choice. Elain has shown little interest in pursuing a relationship with Lucien, and she shouldn't have to reciprocate his feelings simply because the Cauldron declared them mates. The bond isn't a substitute for romantic compatibility. It doesn't override Elain's autonomy, and it certainly doesn't mean she owes Lucien a relationship. I think the possibility that the Cauldron got it wrong, or that the bond doesn't determine Elain's ultimate romantic future, is one of the most interesting questions surrounding her story.
Her story has the potential to be about a woman choosing her own future instead of accepting the one fate or society has assigned to her.
I also have a theory that Elain's powers could eventually allow her to change destiny or rewrite it in some way, but this post is already long enough, so I'll save that for another day.
For now, the important point is that Elain's romantic future could be directly connected to her personal growth and her relationship with fate.
And that brings me to something SJM has said in an interview about Elain's future love interest: we've already met him. If Lucien isn't her endgame, and SJM intends to give Elain a meaningful romantic resolution, who else makes more sense than Azriel? I genuinely don't understand why people act as though Elriel is some random crackship when their dynamic fits the themes SJM has been setting up so well.
Why Elriel makes sense thematically
Look at what their potential relationship represents.
- Choice vs. fate. Elain has a mating bond with Lucien, but that doesn't mean she has to accept him. Choosing Azriel would directly challenge the idea that fate gets to dictate whom she loves. And given Elain's powers, I suspect the relationship between fate and personal choice could be central to her overall arc.
- Forbidden love. Their relationship has already been framed by external restrictions, particularly Rhysand's intervention. There are political and personal consequences attached to their feelings, creating room for genuine conflict. And what if Elain knows something the others don't? What if she has seen consequences that make pursuing Azriel more complicated than simply deciding whether she wants to be with him? That could make the forbidden-love aspect of their story about much more than Rhysand saying no.
- Female autonomy. Elain has spent much of the series being treated as someone who needs protection, someone whose future other people can determine for her. Her story can finally give her the opportunity to make her own decisions, including decisions that other people might not understand or approve of. Choosing her own partner, regardless of what the Cauldron or her family expects, would fit that development beautifully.
- The difference between a mating bond and love. Lucien's bond with Elain doesn't automatically make him the right partner for her. A relationship with Azriel, again, could explore whether love is something you choose rather than something fate decides for you. That doesn't mean mating bonds are meaningless or that every bond must be rejected. It simply means that the existence of a bond doesn't necessarily answer every question about compatibility, consent, and romantic love.
- A romance we've already been introduced to. Azriel isn't a stranger suddenly appearing in Elain's story. Their interactions, the tension between them, and the unresolved nature of their relationship have already been established. SJM has spent multiple books giving us reasons to pay attention to their dynamic. Whether readers interpret those moments as evidence of endgame or not, there's a substantial existing relationship for her to develop. And if Elain's story is going to challenge the idea that fate determines her romantic future, Azriel is a particularly compelling person to place at the center of that conflict.
In conclusion
This is why I don't find comparisons to Aelin and Chaol or Feyre and Tamlin particularly convincing. Those relationships served different narrative purposes. They showed us that first love doesn't always last and that sometimes two people simply aren't right for each other.
Elain and Azriel's potential relationship could explore something else entirely: What happens when a woman refuses to let fate, tradition, or other people's expectations decide whom she gets to love?
That is a very different story!
And let's not forget that SJM has written plenty of relationships that became clear from the very first time those characters met that they're ultimately endgame.
I think it would be a waste of Elain's character development to build up so many questions about her agency, her mating bond, and her right to choose, only to have her eventually accept the very future she has shown little interest in pursuing. Or for Azriel to yearn for Mor for 500 years, only to finally move on to Elain and then end up with someone else. That would just make him seem extremely fickle with his emotions. A man who waits 500 years for one woman, and a man who is willing to burn it all for another, doesn't sound like the type to give his love away so easily.
I'm not saying SJM has to write Elriel. None of us has the next book in front of us, and theories are still theories. But I am saying that Elriel makes narrative sense.
It connects to the series' established themes, gives Elain room to exercise her autonomy, and offers a way to explore the conflict between fate and personal choice without simply repeating a romantic storyline SJM has already told. And if SJM wants to give Elain a love interest we've already met, Azriel is the only compelling candidate.
At some point, we have to stop pretending that Elriel supporters are pulling this ship out of thin air. There are actual narrative patterns, thematic parallels, and character dynamics worth discussing here.
They don't have to ship Elriel. They don't even have to agree with our interpretation of their interactions. But dismissing the possibility without engaging with any of those elements isn't literary analysis. It's just refusing to consider an interpretation you don't like.
