#choice > bonds

[highladyjane]

Colour me delulu and lost, but I love how these 2 passages between 2 endgame couples from TOG and CC who CHOSE each other as mates follow it with

"I thought it was obvious" 👀

and how both scenes parallel with Elriel - which is by now more than obvious who the next Maas-novel will be about 😉

Does that perhaps hint and mean more than intended, Sarah? 😏

Funny how, in all 3 scenes they all were about to do "something" but suddenly can't go through with it right there...

Lorcan and Elide (EoS, ch. 60)

Probably don't mean much in context, but the same exact wording is also found in Elain and Azriel's very first interaction btw 👀 (ACoMaF, Ch. 24)

But just Who was Azriel willing to offer up his life for? Read 'A Court of Wings and Ruin', Ch. 64-65 😉 And in ACoSF, ch. 22...

... where in the very next page, Az says...

But, reading further, What (and Who) does Azriel really and actually want?

Bryce and Hunt's scene in HoSaB, ch. 17 has wordings that parallel well and has the same energy as Az's BC during Solstice in ACoSF where we find out exactly What and Who Azriel wants.

And it's pretty obvious who Elain wants - and she herself knows it too.

Another fun parallel is that Bryce is formally engaged to Cormac; while Lorcan is bound by the Blood Oath to Maeve at the time in both scenes - just like Elain formerly was with Graysen and then bound through the Mating Bond with Lucien - which were all the reasons why they couldn't do what they wanted to... Yet. 👀

Yet, will you look at that... Elorcan and Quinlar were endgame.

Through ✨️Free Will. Choice. True Love.✨️

I can't wait for Elriel to both finally figure it out and prove the Cauldron and "the forces that be" wrong and trump any predestined mating bond 😌

🥖🫓🥨🥐🍞👥️👀

*this has been in my drafts for a month while re-reading, and I haven't finished HoFaS yet, but pretty sure it still applies well 😜

[highladyjane]

Love vs. Fate

ACOTAR foreshadowed the whole love triangle with this

Which I believe is the background for this part of this interview - where sure, Sarah may try to play things off:

But I find that interesting, because TOG's ending clearly said this (Kingdom of Ash, Ch.98)

And CC's ending said this (House of Flame and Shadow, Ch. 98)

So isn't it funny that all of SJM's books are all about defying Gods, Odds, and Fate through acts of True Love, aaaand people still think that Elain, Azriel, AND Lucien are just going to do what everyone and that corrupted Cauldron expects and tells them to do in the end because "Sarah's a fated mates author", and because that's what they've been doing their whole lives prior to encountering each other?

Can't people connect the dots and see the real pattern of her books? Because it's pretty frickin' obvious to me.

"What if the Cauldron was wrong?" is just the beginning of fighting for that HEA.

And I am sorry, not sorry, because as of ACOFAS, ACOSF, and the bonus chapters, there's not a single hint of Elain wanting to bridge the gap with her Cauldron-given mate... But rather a lot of her initiating the bridging of a gap between her and a certain Shadowsinger/Spymaster who confirms in his very own POV that he has feelings for her, but has been trying to stay away because he struggles with feelings of unworthiness - especially because a damned Cauldron gave her to another on top of that.

So if Elain's choosing anyone, it won't be because of any mating bond. No, Elain...

I may be primarily pro Elriel but I'm also pro-Lucien, so I want him to be happy too. I just think he deserves someone who readily wants and chooses him back, mating bond or not... So I am pretty sure he's asking the very same questions Az is asking. Sure, Elucien can still happen -there's just going to have to be a great deal of retconning, including ignoring all the build-up and crumbs Sarah has scattered throughout her books to make it feel unforced. But just like with Rhys' or Tamlin's etc. parents, not everyone accepting their mating bond is going to guarantee a HEA. And once Lucien finds out about his true parentage and the truth about the Cauldron, now that he's an exile with no High Lord to submit to... I'm pretty sure he's going to start finally fighting about what he truly thinks is right and his own freedom to choose and to love - something he didn't get to do for Jesminda. And no, it wouldn't be through a Blood Duel for a mate that was "thrown at him".

So there's no need for "I just want ______ to be happy" or "_____ doesn't deserve ______." Because none of these 3 are going to end up without a HEA in an SJM book where a character can barely stay dead for longer than 3 minutes.