  This paper delves into the intricate study of the elastic flow of closed
curves and of open curves with clamped boundary conditions. While prior
research has made strides in establishing global existence and convergence
toward critical points for initial data with energy levels below a certain
threshold, this study pioneers an investigation into the singular behavior
exhibited by this flow. Specifically, we present a novel and comprehensive
convergence theorem applicable to arbitrary initial data, coupled with a
quantification of potential singularities based on the energy content of the
initial configuration: Each singularity carries a cost of at least 8 in terms
of the elastic energy. Moreover, we can prove that blow-ups of these
singularities are asymptotically geodesic elastica. Of particular significance
is our contribution in the understanding of the singular limit of the elastic
flow of $\lambda$-figure-eights, an intriguing configuration that previously
already served in showing sharpness of the energy threshold 16 for the smooth
convergence of the elastic flow of closed curves.
