What's Elide's role and why do fans debate her fate?

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Elide’s Role

1. Elide Lochan is the niece of Lord Vernon Lochan and heir to the territory of Perranth in Terrasen; she’s part of the Blackbeak Witch-Clan by heritage. She’s short with dark hair and a pronounced limp—her uncle kept her chained and withheld medical care.
2. She’s illiterate because Vernon denied her proper education, leaving her with only her nursemaid who also couldn’t read.
3. After being imprisoned in Morath, she escapes with a mission: deliver a strange black stone (a Wyrdkey) given by Kaltain Rompier to Celaena Sardothien/Aelin, and find Aelin to help in the war.
4. Much of her arc in Empire of Storms follows her journey north through danger, accompanied by Lorcan Salvaterre—initially as antagonists, later growing into an uncertain but emotionally charged alliance.
5. She proves resourceful, brave, and morally clear-headed—she doesn’t have massive powers, but she uses her wit, moral conviction, and personal sacrifice.

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Why Fans Debate Her Fate

1. Unresolved Romantic Tension: The romance between Elide and Lorcan progresses significantly but ends on shaky ground—with betrayal and emotional distance lingering. Fans are deeply invested in whether that relationship will heal.
2. Near-Death Situations: Elide is injured severely more than once in the story—from Valg attacks, witchlash encounters, and is literally saved via healing from other characters. Her physical vulnerability fuels concern among readers about her survival.
3. Forced Ethical Compromises / Betrayal: At one point, Lorcan signals for Maeve’s help to protect Elide, which ends up being a betrayal of Aelin and/or other characters. Fans debate whether Elide will forgive him—and whether whatever she does thereafter will haunt her or leave lasting consequences.
4. Role in the Ending Plan: Elide becomes deeply tied into Aelin’s ultimate gambit to seal away evil using the Lock and the Wyrdkeys. Since that plan demands sacrifice, many fans speculate whether Elide might be one of those sacrificed, or whether she will survive but changed irrevocably.
5. Moral and Personal Identity: Because Elide is a non-magic human born into witch heritage, her strength comes from morality and courage—it invites questions of whether that alone is enough in the stakes of war. Readers debate whether she’ll remain “just human” or take on a bigger magical or symbolic role—possibly at cost.

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If you want, I can dive deeper into Kingdom of Ash to see how much of her fate is revealed; there are some spoilers but lots of threads close up there.