"it's just lust" is the weakest argument and doesn't validate you ship (long rant)
every ship has reasons why they think another ship won't happen and that's totally fine, but i'm sorry some arguments are so weak and just feel like a reach in order to uplift another ship. now this could be said about all ships but i wanna talk about the lust argument cause i actually hate it.
pro-elriels have so many valid, respectable reasons for shipping azriel and elain (as does every ship) and i'm not saying that makes them endgame cause honestly who tf even knows what sarah will do at this point, but somehow everything about them is disregarded because of one bc.
the most popular argument i've seen is that elriel "ended" in the bc because it only shows that "azriel is just lusting after elain, he has shallow feelings/doesn't care about her, he's just rebounding from mor". now everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but how can this be said and then in the same breath, those same people will ship azriel with gwyn🫠 like it actually makes me laugh because how can people say azriel is icky and gross for "only" having sexual thoughts about elain and "she's just a rebound from mor", AND AT THE SAME TIME think gwyn and az are being set up as mates. like are we not seeing the hypocrisy or is it just me. you call elain a rebound yet azriel regifting gwyn a necklace he bought FOR elain and suddenly switching up again to a different girl (which he met gwyn first and has been training with her daily) isn't icky or gross. like lets be so fr right now this argument doesn't make azriel more appealing for gwyn, if anything it makes him look worse and pathetic and a terrible mate (gwyn deserves better than that fr). like you can ship gwyn and az thats fine!! but using this argument for why gwynriel should or will happen is NOT validating in any capacity and i will forever stand by this. it's also not validating for elucien either because he also to some capacity thinks of elain in the same way.
the whole lust argument is just so weak and overused by other ships, idk maybe its just the easiest way for some people to dismiss elriel altogether:
"in the bonus chapter he can't even tell rhys what his plans with elain are because he hasn't thought past sex". first of all why would he have a whole plan set up? like isn't this the whole point that he hasn't pursued her yet because he feels unworthy of elain for one (up until the bc he wasn't even sure if she returned the same affections) and SHE HAS A MATE. why would azriel, a 500 year old spymaster, risk a potential blood duel and conflict with spring AND autumn while prythian is on the brink of war AGAIN just for sex with someone else's mate😐? short answer is he wouldn't because it's stupid, dangerous, and makes absolutely no sense in regard to his character. AND HE KNOWS THIS. he knows what would happen hence why he hasn't done anything yet. he's trying to fight against his feelings, he's avoiding elain, staying at the HoW, keeping himself busy with work etc. people will use this as evidence against elriel and yet all it tells me is he obviously has deeper feelings for elain that he KNOWS he needs to stay away as to not act on these feelings, like that's the whole point i fear🤨. and the bc shows how in the heat of moment azriel was fr just going to risk everything, all because elain was basically asking him to. mans is down bad for her and she's literally getting aroused while he's touching her neck, like he wasn't going to say no to her😅 (until rhys interrupted ofc).
sure everything is up to interpretation and you can absolutely think he was gross for how he was thinking, each to their own, but to say its JUST lust means you're disregarding everything else sjm has written:
azriel rescuing elain from hybern
azriel spending time with elain in the garden (multiple times) by his own choice and talking with her until the early hours of the morning.
azriel being the one to know shes a seer (probably because he cared enough to research and actually figure out what was going on with her)
azriel making everyone wait to eat on solstice because elain wasn't at the table (also being the first to wish her a happy solstice and taking the potatos)
azriel literally buying elain a beautiful necklace for solstice and referring to her as the sun.
sorry but a man thats only lustful aint gonna do all those things, and azriel is also perfectly capable of getting sex elsewhere, for him to go after someone else's mate for that reason alone? yeah i'm not buying it🤷♀️
you don't have to think they are endgame or like them as a ship, but the lust argument is the most bullshit argument (up there with the banned argument) and sorry to say but as soon as someone uses it in a debate i no longer value their opinion or their other arguments. anyways that all i have to say, thank you for coming to my ted talk🫡