#hysand

[ofbreathandflame]

#i literally put this in the tags of a rn DAYS ago #and my point stands there a nastiness to s//jm stans #that’s deeper even then the r:/.hysand debates #everyone moved on but i am still here #y’all only acknowledge these problems when it benefits a narrative or image #if you want to curate your experience i would start with the literature u chose to dedicate your life to #anti sjm

[theladyofbloodshed]

And within its round space gleamed glittering islands of light. Of jewels. Ten thousand years’ worth of treasure. It was neatly organized, in podiums and open drawers and busts and racks. He led me past displays that sparkled like small constellations, the worth of each … Even as a merchant’s daughter, I could not calculate the worth of any of it. [...] The concept here was the same: carved into the rock was an entire wall of crowns. They each had their own resting place, lined with black velvet.

This stingy bastard has an entire floor of jewels and treasure (with more being stored at the Hewn City) but locks his sister-in-law up when she spends a few of his coins on alcohol 💀💀💀

#anti r/hysand

[gold-wolf-soldier13]

I’m gonna preface this by saying I don’t like ACOTAR, I own the first two books and I honestly hate them, it does not spark joy for me but I simply can’t leave it alone because like R/WBY my brain has decided to fixate on all the ways it could have been good, and I honestly believe ACOTAR could have been great.

Now idk if I’m the first one to say this (I highly doubt it ik I’m v late to the series) but A Court of Thorns and Roses by far had the best and most believable romance in the series (not the controversial part) but it’s never really hit for me personally and I think I’ve figured out how to put the “why” into words.

ACOTAR is (supposedly) a retelling of Beauty and the Beast but it’s honestly not ever worked as one for me personally cause, and I’m gonna be comparing this mostly to the Disney version most everyone knows, the witch that curses the Beast at the beginning doesn’t/isn’t supposed to stick around but Amarantha does- she’s literally the main villain, there would be no story without her.

In the Disney version the witch tests the selfish Prince and when he fails she cursed him for it, Amarantha doesn’t do that- she curses Tamlin because essentially she didn’t like that he wouldn’t sleep with her.

And that changes everything about Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship cause the curse is supposed to be something that teaches the Beast a lesson- ie. beauty is only skin deep, not everything is what it seems, stop being a dick- but Tamlin doesn’t need to learn a lesson, that’s not why he was cursed, which changes how he and Feyre interact. Yeah he’s still gotta make her fall in love with him but it’s not really a self-reflection issue like the Disney version, it’s a fucked up game Amarantha’s making him play that his hearts not really in.

The scene where the Beast lets Belle go so she can rescue her father is the character growth moment for him, it shows how much influence Belle’s presence has had on him and when he sees how cruel he’s been by forcing her to stay with him. It’s the Beast learning to love someone more than himself, that love and compassion and care are always worth the effort even when it hurts.

And Tamlin doesn’t get that moment because he never needed it- he already knows what the Beast is supposed to learn.

Belle leaves because her town is going to throw the only family she has, her father whom she’d traded her freedom for, into an asylum cause no one will help him save Belle from the Beast. Feyre doesn’t get that because it’s Tamlin sending her away for her safety and besides there’s no way she would have gone back to save her family anyways Feyre is an inherently selfish character but that’s not what I’m trying to say rn.

Feyre comes back to save her love just like Belle does but it’s not an affirmation of belief for Tamlin like it is for the Beast, it’s almost exactly what Amarantha wants- another way to torment Tamlin and make sure he’s even more compliant than he was before once she has Feyre.

Feyre breaking the curse isn’t really a triumph of her love for Tamlin or a “reward” for his growth- it’s quite literally a tragedy for him since he has to watch her die after being tortured for months when he tried to save her from this exact situation.

I feel like I’m starting to repeat myself now so there it is ig- why Amarantha doesn’t work as a villain for me and how ACOTAR fails me as a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Feyre is a good “Belle” but Tamlin was never the “Beast”, he was always just her Prince.

#tamlin #this isn’t really specifically pro tamlin #but it’s also not not pro tamlin if you get what i’m saying #acotar critical #sjm critical #idk if I should tag this as f/eylin #cause it’s not really about their relationship just the framework around it #I did /not/ think I had this much to say about this topic #do not bring r/hysand in to this #I very purposefully didn’t mention him #I can’t fucking stand him #don’t clown on this post

[szalonykasztan00]

The difference

Mostly the pre-acomaf but R/hysand sad songs continue.

#pro tamlin #anti rhysand #anti rhys #anti ic #anti sjm

[thebookisalsobad]

What do F/eyre and R/hysand talk about? What does the i/nner c/ircle talk about? (Outside of war/sex stuff for plot reasons.)

Based on what I've read, I can't imagine they have terribly stimulating conversations. Just try to imagine them discussing books or art together. I can't do it.

I don't know why but this is very funny to me.

#anti acotar #anti sjm #anti rhysand #anti feyre #anti inner circle #sometimes I remember that these books exist and I laugh

[algumaideia]

I think it is funny how F/eyre hated all the political activities she had to do with Tamlin but then somehow she is fine with her High Lady duties with R/hysand.

Maybe, but just maybe, it is because she is not really doing any political work

#anti sjm #anti feysand

[bookishfeylin]

It's annoying that the author changed the fact that it was not tamlin who was playing for feyre when she was in her cell but... r/hysand. From the entire series, we never saw a scene where he play with an instrument like wtf? This man has no hobby apart fucking and manipulating people. 

Yes, it's a very popular theory that originally Tamlin was the one who was playing for Feyre and that Sarah retconned it to Rhysand who somehow... uploaded music from Velaris into her mind? I guess? Man that's creepy...

And that's yet another issue with Rhysand: what are his hobbies? What does he like to do??? Who IS he as a person?????

Because being hot, violent, and manipulative is not a well-developed personality contrary to popular opinion.

#ask #anon #acotar #anti rhysand #anti acomaf

[theladyofbloodshed]

“I could help you write to them, if that’s why you’re in here.” I jerked back in my seat, almost knocking over the chair, and whirled to find Tamlin behind me, a stack of books in his arms. I pushed back against the heat rising in my cheeks and ears, the panic at the information he might be guessing I’d been trying to send. “Help? You mean a faerie is passing up the opportunity to mock an ignorant mortal?” He set the books down on the table, his jaw tight. I couldn’t read the titles glinting on the leather spines. “Why should I mock you for a shortcoming that isn’t your fault? Let me help you. I owe you for the hand.”

We really traded this in for r/hysand

[westrangecollectionkoalaposts]

If there wasn't a suicide pact, r/hysand wouldn't even have bothered to ask helion if there is something that can be done about feyre's pregnancy

#he wouldn't even tell his friends about it. only he and that healer would know #also why tf he asked helion about it? isn't thesan the high lord doctor? #also feyre. my dear. if the same healer who knew you would die in the childbirth and hid life treating information about yourself from you. #you dont call this same person for your labor #you call someone else #if acosf passed in our time period. this healer would be that doctor who makes an unnecessary episotomy and makes a husband stich #anti rhysand #anti acosf

[goforth-ladymidnight]

For as much as SJM has proclaimed that R/hysand was always endgame-- though I despise that bait and switch with every fiber of my being-- I think she re-wrote him into the story to make him more important that he was initially. What do I mean? My theory (with evidence) is below the cut.

Feel free to skip it if your favorite book in the series is A/COMAF. Seriously. If you usually skip most of ACOTAR to get to the R/hysand parts, skip this. You won't like it.

Excerpt from ACOTAR ch. 20, 21 (Calanmai): I almost slid down the steep bank as I entered the hollow. At one end, a cave mouth opened into a soft hillside. Its exterior had been adorned with flowers and branches and leaves, and I could make out the beginnings of a pelt-covered floor just past the cave mouth. What lay inside was hidden from view as the chamber veered away from the entrance, but firelight danced upon the walls. Whatever was occurring inside the cave—or whatever was about to happen—was the focus of the shadowy faeries as they lined either side of a long path leading to it. The path wended between the trenches among the hills, and the High Fae swayed in place, moving to the rhythm of the drumming, whose beats sounded in my stomach. I watched them sway, then shifted on my feet. I’d been banned from this? I scanned the firelit area, trying to peer through the veil of night and smoke. I found nothing of interest, and none of the masked faeries paid me any heed. They remained along the path, more and more of them coming each minute. Something was definitely going to happen—whatever this Great Rite was. … As I scanned the crowd, my eyes met with those of a masked faerie across the path. One was russet and shone as brightly as his red hair. The other was—metal. I blinked at the same moment he did, and then his eyes went wide. He vanished into nothing, and a second later, someone grabbed my elbow and yanked me out of the crowd. “Have you lost your senses?” Lucien shouted above the drums. His face was ghostly pale. “What are you doing here?” None of the faeries noticed us—they were all staring intensely down the path, away from the cave. “I wanted to—” I started, but Lucien cursed violently.“Idiot!” he yelled at me, then glanced behind him toward where the other faeries stared. “Useless human fool.” Without further word, he slung me over his shoulder as if I were a sack of potatoes.

That little ellipse between paragraphs accounts for R/hysand’s first appearance in the novel. I took out five whole pages, and if you weren’t looking for him, you wouldn’t know it. The story doesn’t miss a beat without that scene. I promise, the only thing I took out between paragraphs was what happened when F/eyre stepped away from the crowd, and half a paragraph when she rejoins the crowd and stops shaking.

The three faeries who accosted her are never mentioned again in this book. They’re barely mentioned in A/COMAF. They were there as a plot device to introduce us to R/hysand that much sooner, and that’s it.

Honestly, it was unnecessary, and to keep the peace, I want to point out that the following observation is strictly from a writing standpoint. F/eyre has arrived at the hollow. Something important is about to happen. The faeries are gathering. Something’s coming down the path... and then F/eyre steps away.

Wait, what? I’m not kidding. Right after “Something was going to happen”, this happens:

I made my way back up the hillside and stood along the edge of a bonfire near the trees, watching the faeries. I was about to work up the courage to ask a lesser faerie who passed by—a bird-masked servant, like Alis—what sort of ritual was going to happen when someone grasped my arm and whirled me around.

Whyyyy? There is nothing to compel her to move away from the action. She could have asked anyone standing next to her about what was happening, but she didn’t. She stepped away, and that was only so that the narrative could introduce R/hys before the halfway point of the story. 

That’s right. Calanmai takes place during chapter 20-21, and there are 46 chapters. I think R/hysand’s appearance in chapter 26 was always intended to be his introduction, but SJM wanted to make sure “the most beautiful man [F/eyre] had ever seen” made an appearance before then. She couldn’t let her readers fall for Tamlin too hard, after all... 

Sigh. 

Anyway, that’s the post. F/eysand is canon, I get it, but I will never not be salty about the wasted potential of this series.

Anyway, @swiftsnowmane this^^^ is what we were chatting about in the comments of my Tamlin/Tam Lin post a while back.

#pro tamlin #no surprise there #sjm critical #if rhysand was always endgame #why did you make tamlin likable #seriously why include an oc love interest #when you could have given tamlin dark hair #i take that back #leave tamlin's blond hair alone #i wish she would leave tamlin alone #the guy can't even win in his own story #geez

[szalonykasztan00]

I know that this might be viewed as a very classic, boring trop but I think that Nest should be able to see ghost 👻.

Imagine the tea they would tell her (and us).

Name of R/hysand's sister, mother, father - done.

How the Tamsand fall out really happened.

They would 100% tell her about UtM and R/hysand would be so cooked.

She would also 100%:

a) fear that power in the beginning.

b) help ghost to get on the other side.

And she would have so many maternal and father figures to choose form so she can heal herself from her parental issues.

#nesta archeron #nesta deserves better #pro nesta archeron #pro nesta

[elevatorladylady]

Critical Reread - Chapter 18

Join me on a reread of A Court of Frost and Starlight

Chapter 18 - F/eyre

Lucien comes to visit. F/eyre finds out what the bat boys are up to.

“The last Solstice I’d experienced had been at the Spring Court. With Ianthe. And Tamlin.”

I really wish we knew more about what they did for Winter Solstice.

“Both trying to lead the humans who occupied the sliver of land at the southernmost end of Prythian. Left ungoverned for so long. Too long. No king or queen remained in these lands. No memory of their name, their lineage.”

This is the laziest world building ever.

“I wondered if the humans had taken to using only lord as a title thanks to the High Fae who lurked above the wall.”

What is F/eyre on about? Why would the humans adopt anything from the fae at this point? They probably still hate the fae.

“Vassa and Jurian are two sides of the same coin.”

Remember when F/eyre said this about her and Nesta because she didn’t actually begrudge her sister as much as the fandom does.

“You could come live here, is all I’m saying,” I pushed. “Truly live here, stay in Velaris for longer than a few days at a time. We could get you nicer quarters—”

She really wants everyone to love Velaris the way she does, doesn’t she?

“Lucien got to his feet. “I don’t need your charity.” I rose as well. “But Jurian and Vassa’s is fine?”

This is such a rude thing to say to someone who already feels like they are being offered something out of pity or obligation.

“Friends, I realized. They had somehow become his friends. “So you’d rather stay with them?”

Why can’t Lucien have friends outside of F/eyre? They aren’t that close. Did she expect him to completely fold into her life despite the fact that her life offers very little to Lucien?

“That you now feel more comfortable with humans than with the High Fae. If you ask me—”

And what is this bullshit? First of all, isn’t she supposed to be better than the fae that think they are better than humans? Second, she was human for all but one year of her life. Third, Lucien let himself be tortured to protect his human friend, F/eyre. 

“It seems like you’ve decided to fall in with two people without homes of their own as well.”

Why does F/eyre even say this? Is it because she does actually know that Lucien can’t feel at home in Velaris? To remind him of the home that has crumbled because of her actions? Or to suggest that Jurian and Vassa aren’t people worthy of being chosen as friends, just a bad crowd that he “fell in” with.

“You have a name for yourselves.” I fought my incredulous tone.”

Rich coming from a girl who was starry eyed over R/hysand’s telling her about his Court of Dreams.

“But I asked, “And what, exactly, does this Band of Exiles plan to do? Host events? Organize party-planning committees?”

He just told her about all of the work they were doing in the human lands. 

“Lucien’s metal eye clicked faintly and narrowed. “You can be as much of an asshole as that mate of yours, you know that?” True. I sighed again. “I’m sorry. I just—”

I feel like this is meant to absolve F/eyre of being an asshole just because she acknowledged it was true.

“I’d created that rift. Ripped it apart with my own two hands. I didn’t quite feel guilty enough to warrant apologizing for it. Not yet. Possibly not ever.”

Again, acknowledgement without accountability.

“You will need Tamlin as an ally before the dust has settled. Tread carefully.” I didn’t want to think about it, consider it, today. Any day. “My business with him is done.”

Lucien is one of the few people in this story with any sense. Of course they would need Tamlin, and F/eyre cannot avoid him forever if she actually wants to do anything for human/fae relations as High Lady.

“I’m sorry to have caused him trouble, R/hys said.”

I don’t think R/hys would have done anything differently if he knew it would cause Lucien trouble.

“Despite this Band of Exiles bullshit.”

I guess having friends is bullshit. Oh wait, sorry, friends outside of the IC is bullshit.

“I don’t like to see either of you unhappy.”

This is a good spot for F/eyre to land with Elucien.

“Let him live with his Band of Exiles. Let him deal with Tamlin in his own way. Let him figure out where he wants to be. Who he wants to be. The same goes with her.”

Good advice coming from Mor.

“I arched a brow. “And you—are you happy?”

Are we actually going to understand anything about Mor’s interior life when we get to her book?

#anti sjm #sjm critical #ell reads #ell reads ACOFAS

[longsightmyth]

I'm curious: do you think, if R/hysand either did not exist as a character or if he was drastically changed to not have acted so abusively in ACO/TAR, that we the audience would have noticed T/amlin's red flags easier without the clear contrast of R/hysand to make him appear better?

I mean I noticed Tamlin's red flags immediately in acotar so I am perhaps not the person to ask

I think Sarah Janet's writing depends heavily on her audience not having read widely prior to reading her novels and then growing up with them. I am in fact not convinced moving them to YA wasn't a marketing tactic of her publishers even beyond the implosion of NA: younger and/or sheltered readers won't have as many books or as much life experience under their belts in order to pick these things out. As with Twilight, not seeing these things relies heavily on not understanding they are problems in the first place, OR on not realizing that the telling and the showing don't line up.

(There is another category, in which people who read, for instance, dark fantasy romance, are fully aware of the tropes and engage with them on that level, but those are not the people who *suddenly* noticed Tamlin's red flags, those are the people who are fully aware that the flags are there and part and parcel of genre convention, as I believe @bookishfeylin has discussed elsewhere, re: do we apply real world standards of behavior or work within a stated fantasy framework)

So in a roundabout way, I guess I'm saying no. I don't think without Rhysand people would have noticed Tamlin's problems easier, partly because, as many of us discussing the book have mentioned, Rhysand and Tamlin have the same red flags up until acosf, and the people who didn't see Tamlin's the first time around also don't see Rhysand's.

Also because so many of the same fans don't see the grossness in ALL the relationships in Throne of Glass.

#myth rags on a court of thorns and roses #myth answers #myth rags on throne of glass

[gold-wolf-soldier13]

sorry for ACOTAR posting at 7am on a wednesday but unfortunately this series has given me brainrot even though I hate it💜 anyways my most recent though is (also unfortunately) about R/hysand and how much more I’d have approved of F/eysand if SJM really just had F/eyre go “fuck it, we’re evil now”.

So like, for a bit of explanation- I love the Star Wars series, I have issues with it ofc but who doesn’t rn, and the one thing I’ve been consistent on is that Padmé Amidala is a far better woman than I could ever hope to be because if I were in her position and Anakin Skywalker had come to me and said “baby I made you an Empire” I honestly would have just said thank you and gleefully bitched about the paperwork later. I love that dynamic between characters, and while I understand why Padmé as a character would never do that, I love fic exploring the concept of if she did.

There’s a fic on ao3 called How to Take an Empire that while not exactly the concept I described above is in that same vein of accepting Vader as Anakin and vice versa and it’s a fic I love immensely and highly recommend fans of Ahsoka Tano read at some point. And I personally think it’s very apt to compare R/hysand to Darth Vader (never Anakin tho😤).

R/hysand is introduced to us as a vile, cruel, sadistic man and spends the rest of the series acting in the same manner, just with the authors and characters explicit coddling. He’s spent the last fifty years working as the feared right hand to the woman who essentially made herself queen of Prythian through trickery, deceit and (supposedly) long con type plans. I’m getting a very Palpatine x Vader dynamic from them. R/hysand does all the dirty work (read: war crimes) for Amarantha that Vader does for Palpatine and then doesn’t have the decency to have his own prequel tale (god forbid) to show the inevitability of his fall nor the subsequent redemption through love and compassion.

Where for Vader, redemption = death because some crimes can never be forgiven, for R/hysand we get empty justifications on why he did the horrible things he did and the narrative forgives him for it.

My original point tho, tangent aside, is that if SJM had the balls to actually double down on all of his awful behavior- looked us as readers in the eyes and said “this is your man, these are all the horrible things he’s done, and this is still your man” I’d have been okay with it if F/eyre had looked at that and said “yeah, I’m okay with that actually”.

But she didn’t and now we all have to live with it.

#anti rhysand #anti feysand #anti acotar #I personally don’t like dark fic but I’d respect the series more if it actually embraced the darker aspects it introduces #I’m sorry for the sw rant but I’m constantly thinking about anakin

[folkorae]

Morgana in the aco/tar verse:

1) she would probably be in the dawn or spring court or at least was born and raised there; i do see her having some sort of plant/earth manipulation and strong healing powers so that’s why i am between those two courts.

2) i can also see her living in the night court and assisting the inner circle somehow.

3) if she were to have a mate, their relationship would be similar to n/esta and ca/ssian; similar because she is the kind of person that people would misread all the time, she is not someone to trust people easily and has a hard time doing that, she is not one to show what she is truly feeling too so people never really know her true intentions unless she makes it clear and her mate would probably be the only one to actually understand and see through her.

4) still about the mate matter, if he is a high lord, she will probably demand to be a high lady before accepting the bond because no way that she is going to be tied to someone probably for all eternity if her mate doesn’t see her as an equal and doesn’t want to share the power too.

5) this one is just to go against s/jm but consider, Morgana being the high lady of a very different court that most faes haven’t heard about and there is no high lord; just a high lady, period, but it can also have two high ladies in command and we might consider a high lord too.

Additional edit:

6) if Morgana has her own court and is a high lady, i like the idea that she knows about Ve/laris either because she is also a seer OR because she knows R/hysand and they know about each other’s court and its location but Rh/ysand won’t tell the others anything unless they really need Morgana’s help.

7) i also think that A/mren would know about Morgana.

8) since no one else is aware of Morgana’s court, Rhysa/nd comes to her to ask to help him hide Velar/is because, yes she is that powerful, but i think i will only make this idea into my canon for her verse if i discuss this with a Rhys/and writer because i wanna know if this makes sense haushauhsau

#❧ ⸻ headcanons / morgana lefay . #this is just random thoughts for the verse #but i love them especially the last one haushauhsauh #we are so going against s/jm and saying fuck everything i am making my own lore lmao

[emeriesmate]

Just thinking that ( *maybe*) the author and some antis are enjoying that Nesta was being insulted on the entire book, terrifies me.

You can't tell me the author wrote that Nesta is hurt because her sister painted everyone but her (even their f*cking dad), that C/assian told her that everyone hates her, that R/hysand wanted to kill her (because she was just telling feyre the truth about her pregnancy!). Or wrote M/orrigan saying that Nesta deserves to be in the CoN ( for what? For being in depression and doing the same things that mor, azriel and cassian do for so many years aka drinks and sleeps with strangers ) and that A/mren told Nesta that she is a waste of life. And she didn't enjoy making her suffer? Really ?

The author treats Nesta like shit to the point of fitting her into the ic's mould by being submitted to them and this is a healing arc?

#I'm sure the reality of writing Nesta's story is to mock her by torturing her. #Change my mind #maybe i'm wrong but it's almost difficult to think the opposite #The worst is that there are more horrible scenes than what is above. #a chance that there is the valkyries and the mother with her. #because that's the only good thing about acosf in my opinion #anti sjm #pro nesta #nesta deserves better