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Could you give some examples of aspects from The Black Jewels that SJ/M included in her books?

Certainly, anon! Most of the similarities begin in Heir of Fire and the introduction of fae culture. There is definitely some wiggle room here - neither The Black Jewels nor Throne of Glass would be the first to have a reverse harem thing going on - but there is a deep emphasis on ‘males’ serving queens who do or do not deserve their service based on the Old Ways.

A quote:  "To serve, in the way [redacted descriptor] males liked to be needed, to fulfill some part of them that wanted to fuss and dote.“

There is no way, once I took out whether the descriptor was Blood or Fae, to know which series that line is from.

Wait there’s more:

“They were from all kingdoms, all races. Human, witch-kind, fae… But they wove a tapestry of dreams, all begging for that one thing… a better world.”

Jaenelle Angelline is literally the incarnation of the dreams of human and kindred (the nonhumans) of her world. I can’t find the exact passage at the moment, but rest assured that I will. Also, the magic intelligent spiders weave dream webs in Jaenelle’s world. Just a note.

Rowan is consistently described as some weird mix of Daemon Sadi and Lucivar Yaslana, minus wings (wings added for the ACoTaR series), except I guess he and Lorcan DID pull a Saetan SaDiablo and destroy an entire nation (Zuulaman in Saetan’s case,  Solamere in Rowan’s, I think?)

The witches and their Darkness (mother night and may the darkness be merciful! Which character said it from which series you don’t know)

A whole lot of the language used in later books (killing field, killing edge, killing calm) and especially the descriptions of plummeting to pull magic up from an abyss made me think for a second that I WAS reading the Black Jewels again, right down to the interactions between the women and men of Celaena’s ‘court’. The use of ‘court’ is interesting too: obviously there are royal courts, but those are a lot more of a location thing? Like, sure, your chief advisor is part of your court, but so is that baron who showed up yesterday in last year’s fashions. Celaena’s court is much more along the lines of Jaenelle’s and the Blood courts, as is Maeve’s, down to blood oaths to the one Queen in charge because the males all yearn to serve her, but only in the ways they deem fit, which is also a problem in the Black Jewels.

Silky, court-trained liar? Former courtesan turned spy/assassin? Incredibly over-the-top reactions to everything being presented as natural and correct? Which book is it?

That’s just Throne of Glass.

The Illyrians in the ACoTaR series? The Eyriens in the Black Jewels, right down to culture and preferred weaponry (despite supposedly being a matriarchy in the Black Jewels, that’s another post). That One Bigass Mountain Everybody Is Kind of Afraid Of? Ebon Askavi. Amarantha is even red-haired like Dorothea at least once (I say because her hair changes color). Cassian is Lucivar. He just is. There’s no way around this.

Just knowing someone is The Big Good, and the only way to save the world is to serve them? Literally having the amount of goodness you possess measured by characters and narrative in how much you believe in the designated protagonist sight unseen (or on sight) with no evidence? Hardly confined to Black Jewels and Maas’ books on an execution level, but in that being an Actual Thing In Universe? Yeah.

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i can't remember who told me on here that the Illyrians are just a rip off of an Anne Bishop series, but I'm on the wiki about the Black Jewels series and:

The Eyriens are a warrior race. The books describe them as having tanned skin, black hair, gold eyes and "batlike wings". They are one of the long lived races and can thus live thousands of years. Traditionally a warrior race with a long history of physical fighting, most males are raised to be warriors in hunting camps, while females are forbidden from touching weapons. The Eyriens are most notably found in Askavi Terreille, an extremely mountainous territory.

Damn that sounds familiar

One of the characters is even called Prythian

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Black Jewels anon here again & please forgive me for filling your inbox. Yes! She stole the Illryians, as you mentioned. I saw some criticism on your blog re: her sloppy/bad/etc handling of the (brown) Illryians & I do not want to overstep because the criticism of SJM taking bits from other cultures for "flavour" & "exoticness" is 100% wrong, but I firmly believe she only made them brown-skinned because Eyrians have "golden-brown skin" & she was copying them from Black Jewels. (cont.)

(TBJ anon) I've read Rhysand is always "crooning" & "slipping his hands into his pockets," which are traits of a specific TBJ character, Daemon Sadi. SJM is on record saying she loves Lucivar Yaslana (there's not much fanart, but he's basically Illryian-warrior Rhysand with a brash, arrogant personality) & it seems she just added bits of Daemon Sadi into him (tailored suits, "fated lovers," "crooning," someone who "fools a friend in order to fool an enemy," sadistic / loving to enemies/friends -

(TBJ anon) I found an in-depth post on Reddit which details this, but I'm not sure if links can go through anon asks so I'll have to butcher it a bit, sorry! reddit-dot-com : /r/acotar/comments/f546ex/similarity_to_black_jewels_trilogy/iqgv4ie/ - what really stands out is: "liar. trained, clever liar" is apparently an oft-quoted phrase which is a direct parallel to TBJ having Daemon FREQUENTLY referred to as a "liar. silky, court trained liar." the cadence is the same even if the words aren't.

(TBJ anon) anyway that reddit post covers a lot of similarities. i don't know if i even want to read acotar, knowing that it took the heart & soul of a series i dearly, dearly love, and used it as kindling to fan SJM's own "creative" fire, just so she can retcon abuse and hold ridiculous double standards (tamlin house arrest = bad, but nesta house arrest = for her own good??). but thank you for writing about it & i apologise for all my messages but it just makes me so - tired - & angry. ♥♥♥♥

TBJ anon again: I'M PRETTY SURE I MISSED SOME WORDS, i meant the criticism of SJM using other cultures for "exotic flavour" is 100% ON POINT because *she* is 100% wrong for doing that kind of shitty behaviour. sorry!! I just realised what I said came out the total opposite of what i meant! i was cutting parts down for character limit and went too far with that sentence :(

YIKES YIKES YIKES that really doesn't reflect well on Sarah 😬 

While I haven't read the Black Jewels series so I can't comment much, I believe @longsightmyth has talked about similarities between the ACOTAR series and the Black Jewels trilogy, so she might have more information if you're interested. 

And you're good nonny! I understood what you meant about the Illyrians when you first said it, and honestly that could partially explain why the culture as a whole is so poorly written. And I always love receiving asks so you're fine :)

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this is also probably an obscure one, but i'm p sure she got the whole concept of the lord of the north both from princess mononoke (the spirit of the forest) and the book fire-bringer (which...lol. the title alone probably tells you a lot).

Sarah:

[autolykus]

Celaena Sardothien + Arya Stark

I couple of days ago I made a post about how Manon Blackbeak (one of the most beloved female characters from Throne of Glass series) is similar to Visenya Targaryen with relations to Targaryens in general.

Today I wanted to talk about Celaena Sardothien/Aelin Ashryver Galathynius. As we know, Throne of Glass is one of the most beloved YA fantasy series and for some people most influencial. For many, Throne of Glass was that one series that got them into reading again.

Fans praise Sarah, not only for her characters, but also for her writing. While searching through Tumblr we can find long post made by antis, proving that Sarah J Maas's writing is at times based of taking quotes from other pieces of media. „You could rattle stars”, „to whatever end” are only some of them. There's one quote that is never mentioned, a quote loved by tog fans tied to Celaena Sardothien/Aelin Ashryver Galathynius.

One of Celaena/Aelin's most infamous quotes is:

„My name is Celaena Sardothien/Aelin Ashryver Galathynius and I will not be afraid.”

The thing is the same quote appears in Chapter 6 of George RR Martin's A Feast for Crows (October 17, 2005, with a United States edition following on November 8, 2005) in relation to Arya Stark:

“Valar dohaeris." He pushed off with his oar and drifted back off into the deeper water. Arya watched him row back the way they'd come, until he vanished in the shadows of the bridge. As the swish of oars faded, she could almost hear the beating of her heart. Suddenly she was somewhere else . . . back in Harrenhal with Gendry, maybe, or with the Hound in the woods along the Trident. Salty is a stupid child, she told herself. I am a wolf, and will not be afraid. She patted Needle's hilt for luck and plunged into the shadows, taking the steps two at a time so no one could ever say she'd been afraid.”

[autolykus]

this has got to be a real obscure one, but i'm almost 100% certain sjm stole the idea for the eye of elena from the mmorpg lineage 2. there's a necklace in that game that looks exactly the same as the eye.

This list is getting so, so long..

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Can you explain how Manon Blackbeak is a ripoff of Visenya Targaryen (I love Visenya)

Hi, virtual-dragon-almond-bakery! How are you? Thank you so much for your question.

I'm going to answer this in the best way I can but I don't know if I will be able to since this is my first Tumblr ask and my hands are shacking with excitement, but anyway this post will contain some spoilers, so if you haven't read Throne of Glass (TOG) or A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones (ASOIAF/GOT) or just any other George RR Martin's book and you don't want to be spoiled than don't read this post, but if you don't mind being spoiled than feel free to keep reading!

Before we start with the Manon/Visenya comparison I feel like we need to talk about how similar Manon is to Targaryens in general. As I mentioned in my previous post Manon IS very Targaryen coded. Even though some tog fans might argue that Manon's long, moon-white hair, and eyes of the color of burnt gold make her look different from most of the Targaryens whose main features are: pale skin, long, silver/gold/silver-gold/platinum hair and eyes in a variety of shades of light-blue/purple, the similarities are still hard to ignore, especially if we compare Manon's arts with those of the members of House Targaryen.

Manon Blackbeak-Crochan

The Targaryen's

Now onto the similarities between Manon and Visenya:

Their personalities

Monon in the Throne of Glass books is depicted as a person who is cruel, heartless, ruthless, yet cunning and resourceful. She is also described to be cold, uncaring, and icy. Meanwhile Visenya in Asoiaf is stern, serious, and unforgiving.

2. Their connections to the iron

In the world of Throne of Glass, there are 3 clans of witches: the Blackbeak Clan, the Blueblood Clan and the Yellowlegs Clan. Each of these clans belong to the group known as Ironteeth Witches.

As Ironteeth Witch, Manon has a specific physiology such as iron teeth and claws.

In George RR Martin's books, iron is also very important. As a metal, iron is used in tools and armaments. We also have ironborns, we have iron islands, but most importantly we have The Iron Throne which is a seat of the Lord of Seven Kingdoms. The Iron Throne was constructed by Aegon I Targaryen, also known as Aegon the Conqueror, first king of the Seven Kingdoms and Visenya's husband (and brother). It was made from the swords surrendered by Aegon's enemies.

3. Their connections to magic/sorcery

As I've said previously Manon is a witch but she's also the last surviving Queen of Witches. Visenya apart from being a skillful and powerful warrior was also rummored to be doing some magic stuff, including dark sorcery and poisons:

“Some claimed that Visenya dabbled in dark sorceries and played with poisons.” (Martin, A Wiki of Ice and Fire)

4. Dragons and blades

Just like Manon, Visenya is also a dragonrider. Her wyverns name is Vhagar, while Manon's wyvern is named Abraxos. What's interesting in all of this is how they named their dragons. Both of these names were associated with Gods of their respective series.

Manon named Abraxos after the Three Headed Goddess' pet and Visenya named Vhagar for one of the gods of Old Valyria

Apart from that they own swords, Manon - Wind-Cleaver and Visenya - the Valyrian steel longsword Dark Sister.

If you want more examples of this then go to @1800naveen blog and @autolykus one.

If someone has much more information on Manon/Visenya similarities or other Throne of Glass characters being Asoiaf characters copycats fell free to reblog and write about it.

Anyway that's for now. Hope you have a wonderful evening ❤️

[autolykus]

this has got to be a real obscure one, but i'm almost 100% certain sjm stole the idea for the eye of elena from the mmorpg lineage 2. there's a necklace in that game that looks exactly the same as the eye.

This list is getting so, so long..

[autolykus]

i was today years old when i found out that the series called “throne of glass” exists and this is their protagonist aelin ashryver whitethorn galathynius, and these are her titles

i literally haven't read these books, i never heard of them until now, so i rely on the internet w this info but. are you kidding me??? literally just count how many times you can find the word “fire” here lmao, not to mention “the queen who was promised” and “light-bringer" (“fire-breathing bitch-queen” i pretend i don't see you).

dany, you're so famous, your wannabes have their own series now! this is just so hilarious i can't 😭

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people who think sjm is so original are literally just clowns to me. like let's all be real here: sjm plagiarized the SHIT out of daenerys and her storyline and just asoiaf and lotr in general and the fact that evil fucking woman got away with it when it's so blatant still stuns me

[autolykus]

Can you explain how Manon Blackbeak is a ripoff of Visenya Targaryen (I love Visenya)

Hi, virtual-dragon-almond-bakery! How are you? Thank you so much for your question.

I'm going to answer this in the best way I can but I don't know if I will be able to since this is my first Tumblr ask and my hands are shacking with excitement, but anyway this post will contain some spoilers, so if you haven't read Throne of Glass (TOG) or A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones (ASOIAF/GOT) or just any other George RR Martin's book and you don't want to be spoiled than don't read this post, but if you don't mind being spoiled than feel free to keep reading!

Before we start with the Manon/Visenya comparison I feel like we need to talk about how similar Manon is to Targaryens in general. As I mentioned in my previous post Manon IS very Targaryen coded. Even though some tog fans might argue that Manon's long, moon-white hair, and eyes of the color of burnt gold make her look different from most of the Targaryens whose main features are: pale skin, long, silver/gold/silver-gold/platinum hair and eyes in a variety of shades of light-blue/purple, the similarities are still hard to ignore, especially if we compare Manon's arts with those of the members of House Targaryen.

Manon Blackbeak-Crochan

The Targaryen's

Now onto the similarities between Manon and Visenya:

Their personalities

Monon in the Throne of Glass books is depicted as a person who is cruel, heartless, ruthless, yet cunning and resourceful. She is also described to be cold, uncaring, and icy. Meanwhile Visenya in Asoiaf is stern, serious, and unforgiving.

2. Their connections to the iron

In the world of Throne of Glass, there are 3 clans of witches: the Blackbeak Clan, the Blueblood Clan and the Yellowlegs Clan. Each of these clans belong to the group known as Ironteeth Witches.

As Ironteeth Witch, Manon has a specific physiology such as iron teeth and claws.

In George RR Martin's books, iron is also very important. As a metal, iron is used in tools and armaments. We also have ironborns, we have iron islands, but most importantly we have The Iron Throne which is a seat of the Lord of Seven Kingdoms. The Iron Throne was constructed by Aegon I Targaryen, also known as Aegon the Conqueror, first king of the Seven Kingdoms and Visenya's husband (and brother). It was made from the swords surrendered by Aegon's enemies.

3. Their connections to magic/sorcery

As I've said previously Manon is a witch but she's also the last surviving Queen of Witches. Visenya apart from being a skillful and powerful warrior was also rummored to be doing some magic stuff, including dark sorcery and poisons:

“Some claimed that Visenya dabbled in dark sorceries and played with poisons.” (Martin, A Wiki of Ice and Fire)

4. Dragons and blades

Just like Manon, Visenya is also a dragonrider. Her wyverns name is Vhagar, while Manon's wyvern is named Abraxos. What's interesting in all of this is how they named their dragons. Both of these names were associated with Gods of their respective series.

Manon named Abraxos after the Three Headed Goddess' pet and Visenya named Vhagar for one of the gods of Old Valyria

Apart from that they own swords, Manon - Wind-Cleaver and Visenya - the Valyrian steel longsword Dark Sister.

If you want more examples of this then go to @1800naveen blog and @autolykus one.

If someone has much more information on Manon/Visenya similarities or other Throne of Glass characters being Asoiaf characters copycats fell free to reblog and write about it.

Anyway that's for now. Hope you have a wonderful evening ❤️

[autolykus]

…Go Aelin Targaryen, you can do it!

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The way people switched on Tamlin the moment Rhys was introduced is diabolical.

“Tamlin never really loved Feyre, it was all a trick from the start”: It is stated that Tamlin was disgusted by the idea of forcing someone to fall in love with him and considered it slavery, but ended up being so in love with her that he ultimately lets her go and choses her freedom and safety over that of his own people. Rhys confirms that Tamlin loved Feyre too much. And he loved her truly. Not because he had to. Tamlin treated Feyre with dignity when she was engaged to him. He introduced her as his lady, to be respected and cherished by all. And she really was loved by his people, too. Rhysand uses her as his lap dog to scare Hewn City and parades her as his whore.

“Tamlin never did anything for Feyre, he just used her”: He improved her and her family’s life in every aspect and offered her everything he had.

“Tamlin had sex with someone else in Calanmai”: Out of duty and responsibility because he didn’t want to force Feyre, who still wasn’t sure about her feelings, into it. All of the High Lords perform the Calanmai. Lucien says so. How convenient that this is never brought up with Rhysand. He surely does perform it as well. All the theories in here, “Lucien doesn’t know what he’s talking about/ This is a SC ritual only/ He probably just passes the duty on to someone else” are just a way for people to villainise Tam and glorify Rhys again. All of them inaccurate. The Calanmai is canonically performed by every High Lord. There’s no evidence that proves otherwise. As the son of one High Lord and the ambassador of another, Lucien would know. He is 500 years old. It’s just more convenient for SJM to never bring this up again because it raises the question of “Who was Rhysand fucking all these years?” and it makes her favourite character look bad. And once he is engaged to her, Tamlin flat out refuses to do it. Let’s be real for a second.

“Tamlin didn’t help Feyre under the mountain”: He literally could not. He was bound by a curse. He was forced to be Amarantha’s consort and a consort cannot oppose you. His powers were bound. Alis warns Feyre that Tamlin will not be able to help her. Stop acting as if he didn’t want to help her. He decapitated Amarantha the moment he got his autonomy back. Claiming that there’s no proof that Tamlin was under the influence of a spell when he literally didn’t break the curse and Amarantha’s magic didn’t allow him to use his powers is crazy. And even if he tried, he could never provide actual help. We see this when he begs Amarantha for Feyre’s life. Him showing he cares about her would only make Amarantha more jealous and vicious towards Feyre.

“Tamlin made out with Feyre instead of helping her”: He couldn’t help her run away. No one could do that. She would never make it, Amarantha would find her. In fact, Tamlin specifically could not help her in any way. He could only assure her he still wants and loves her. And she wanted that just as much. Rhys abused her physically, mentally, verbally, drugged her and much worse. And he enjoyed all of it. If he didn’t want to raise suspicions, he wouldn’t have placed a bet in her favour. Rhys is a sadist, SJM just decided to mellow him down in the next book so that we’d all like him over Tamlin.

“Tamlin ignored Feyre’s wishes and only wanted her to be his bride, he didn’t let her be High Lady”: Both Tamlin and Feyre were bad communicators going though trauma and Tam had a whole court to care for. Tamlin was unaware of how Feyre felt because she barely spoke up once. Rhys knew because he literally lived inside her head and had all the time in the world to focus his attention on her since his court suffered zero consequences during Amarantha’s reign. And Tamlin simply told her the truth: there’s no such thing as High Lady. Even her current title is given to her by Rhys, the magic of Prythian has not actually chosen her to be High Lady. The title and its power are decorative. And she said she didn’t want that anyway.

“Tamlin locks Feyre up and uses his magic to harm her”: He locks her in his humongous palace to keep her safe, after she just came back from the dead and his worst enemy is kidnapping her every month, while he runs off to protect his borders. Rhysand locks Feyre in a fucking bubble. Tamlin loses control of his magic. He doesn’t want to harm her. That’s not abuse. Abuse is intentional. Feyre and Rhysand lock Lucien and Nesta up. They lock the people of the Hewn City up in a cave. Feyre loses control of her magic and harms Lucien’s mother. Double standards I guess.

“Tamlin is a bad and conservative ruler”: Tamlin is such a beloved ruler that his sentries literally begged to die for him. Feyre had to fuck with their minds to finally turn them against him. They were his friends. He was so progressive that the lords fled his court once he became their ruler because he wouldn’t put up with their bullshit like his father did. He loved all of his people. He is against slavery. The Tithe was just tax collection. Rhysand practically rules over just one city, while ignoring Hewn City and Illyria. He treats 2/3 of his realm like shit and everyone except the residents of Velaris hates him. He collects tax, too, but we conveniently never see this. He ranks the members of his inner circle (my 1st, my 2nd etc.) and reminds them every moment that they are his slaves first and anything else second, while Tamlin treats them equally and even gives Lucien an official title by naming him Ambassador.

“Tamlin conspired with Hybern”: He was a double agent and his short lived alliance, two weeks all in all, not only didn’t harm a single soul, but ultimately saved all of Prythian as he was the only one who brought valuable information to that meeting. He dragged Beron to battle. Rhysand’s alliance with Amarantha harmed thousands and only helped save one city, Velaris.

“Tamlin is responsible for turning Nesta and Elain into Fae”: No, that was Ianthe, who got the info from Feyre. Tamlin was fooled by her, just as Feyre obviously was, or she wouldn’t have trusted her. Tamlin was disgusted by that act.

“Tamlin is less powerful than Rhysand”: Rhysand himself says that a battle between them would turn mountains to dust. Tamlin killed Rhysand’s dad, the previous High Lord of the Night Court, in one blow. He is just as powerful as Rhysand. SJM again just wants us to believe otherwise. And he is smarter, too. He was the only one not to trust Amarantha. And he was a good spy for Prythian against Hybern.

All of these takes are cold as fuck. SJM was testing the waters with ACOTAR and she made sure the main love interest, Tamlin, was insanely likeable, so that the book could be a satisfactory standalone story in case she couldn’t land a trilogy deal. She didn’t know it would be such a big hit. But once she realised she could turn this into a franchise, she had to figure out a new story to tell. She may claim otherwise, but there’s just too many plothotes to convince me. And in order to make her new main love interest seem like the best choice, she had to character assassinate the old one. There was no other way. ACOTAR Rhys was too much of an evil monster to be loved by the majority of the audience. But Tamlin was introduced to us as such a heroic and passionate man that is literally impossible to turn him into someone despised by all. Feyre’s relationship with Rhysand reads too much like cheating on Tamlin. That’s why anyone with basic analytical skills is able to realise the flaws of the narration.

[autolykus]

tw: A Court of Thorns and Roses, UTM

"Swift as lightning, he lashed out, grabbing the shard of bone in my arm and twisting. A scream shattered out of me, ravaging my aching throat. The world flashed black and white and red. I thrashed and writhed, but he kept his grip, twisting the bone a final time before releasing my arm. Panting, half sobbing as the pain reverberated through my body, I found him smirking at me again."

Sjm wrote this, not me. I want you all to remember that.

[autolykus]

I found it funny (but actually it's sad)

I actually find it interesting. It's funny to see how our art influences other people's perceptions, don't you think?

[autolykus]

A strong suggestion of plagiarism: Detailing the similarities between Anne Bishop’s The Black Jewels trilogy and Sarah J. Maas’s ACOTAR series

Anne Bishop released her The Black Jewels trilogy between 1998 and 2003. It is a dark fantasy book trilogy, part of a larger fantasy saga within the world of The Black Jewels. Sarah J. Maas released the first book in her A Court of Thorns and Roses fantasy romance series, which goes by the same name, in 2015. This popular series of Maas is still ongoing.

For the last decade, many individuals have noticed glaring similarities between Maas’ fantasy series and Bishop’s earlier books. From character names to world-building elements and plotlines, several readers have concluded it is highly possible that Sarah J. Maas has plagiarized major aspects of Bishop’s work in the ACOTAR series. For purely legal reasons, I am hesitant to say outright that Mass indeed plagiarized The Black Jewels in ACOTAR. However, I do believe that there is very strong evidence indicating that Maas may have done so. Please note all my screenshots here are all from The Black Jewels and I can provide more if necessary.

This post presents my observations of the similarities between Maas’ book series compared to Bishop’s trilogy. Indeed, there are several elements that are near-indentical in Maas’ series compared to Bishop’s. Whatever is in brackets is my shabby-MLA-esque way of referencing in which specific book you can find the content I'm talking about. I am aware others have made similar posts on Tumblr and Reddit, and I salute them! Here, I am merely outlining what I have noticed myself, and I imagine there will be significant overlap between his post and others online.

The Eyrians and the Illyrians

The Eyrians are a winged warrior race in TBJ, described as having tanned skin, black hair, gold eyes and "batlike wings". They are one of the long lived races and live thousands of years, based upon a lofty mountain range in their realm. They are a warrior race with a long history of physical fighting, often reputed to be "backward" by aristocrats in their realm (DOTB, HTTS). Their "dark, membranous" wings are the prized physical feature among their race and they have a tradition of turning to militarism and barbarism during skirmishes (DOTB). Cutting off or clipping an Eyrian's wings is the greatest torture and the worst dishonour for a warrior (HTTS). The Illyrians in ACOTAR are a virtually identical winged mountain warrior race with a similar culture and physical features including "black, membranous" wings and tanned skin (ACOTAR). The Eyrians, like the Illyrians, yearn for freedom of their expansive mountains and the war camps within them.

Eyrian males are raised to be warriors in hunting camps in the mountains, while females are forbidden from touching weapons and are confined to domestic pursuits. Eyrian women are often mistreated and are usually expected to be docile and subservient to their militaristic males (QOTD). This is the same gender construct present among the Illyrians in ACOTAR.

The Eyrians in TBJ carry prejudices against half-Eyrians, similar to the Illyrians' prejudices against "half-breeds" like Rhysand in the ACOTAR series (ACOMAF). The word “half-breed” is actually used to describe an important half-Eyrian in TBJ, Lucivar Yaslana.

The Eyrians have a practice known as the "Blood Run" which is a rite of passage taken by skilled Eyrian warriors in their mountains, rather similar to both "Nephelle's Run" and the "Blood Rite" which we learn about in ACOWAR and ACOSF respectively.

Powerful Illyrians, like Cassian and Azriel, use siphons—colourful, jeweled gauntlets that channel and hone their magical power. This is eerily similar to the way aristocrats in TBJ use jewels to channel and concentrate their power. The Illyrians also wear fighting leathers while the Eyrians wear black skintight leathers to go to battle.

Lucivar Yaslana and Cassian

Lucivar Yaslana is an Eyrian male who commands a large portion of the Eyrian troops. He is described as a "bastard", both as an insult and a jest in TBJ, because his father and his mother were unmarried and he did not grow up knowing his father who’s the High Lord. The same situation is pertinent to Cassian in ACOMAF whose "bastard reputation" precedes him.

In QOTD, Lucivar begins training Eyrian females to defend themselves and fight military-style, which is a radical move in the realm and receives a lot of push-back from fellow Eyrian males. Lucivar wants to make sure the Eyrian women tap into their strength, at least a little, to prevent them from being helpless when under attack or in battle. There's a few heartwarming training montages in QOTD where he whips them into shape. Cassian leads a similar initiative in ACOSF where he trains Illyrian women so they learn to defend themselves and some even become respected warriors.

Lucivar has gold eyes, big wings, big muscles, shoulder-length dark hair, and light brown skin. Cassian also has gold eyes, big wings, big muscles, shoulder-length dark hair, and light brown skin. Lucivar ultimately reports to the authority of his queen and serves her faithfully just as Cassian reports to authority of his High Lord and Lady and serves them faithfully.

Daemon SaDiablo and Rhysand

Daemon SaDiablo of TBJ was forced to serve as a sex slave in the court of an evil priestess, Dorothea of Hayll, and he has experienced a lot of trauma and pain for hundreds of years due to being forced to serve in the bedchamber of this abusive enslaver. Rhysand similarly serves as a sex slave to Amaratha for 50 years when she builds her court Under the Mountain. In TBJ, the evil queen who conquers the realm through cruelty and corruption, Dorothea, enslaves multiple males to serve her in bed and she even banishes Lucivar to land's brutal "salt mines" when he becomes disobedient. Daemon is known as "Hayll's whore" by the public in DOTB just as Rhysand is known as "Amarantha's whore" by the public in ACOTAR.

Daemon has jet-black hair, golden skin, and a frighteningly beautiful face. Daemon is also known as a natural Black Widow, one of the one only male Black Widows ever in their world. As such, Daemon is one of the most powerful males in all the realm. Rhysand, similarly, has dark hair, a stunningly beautiful face, and has unique powers making him the most powerful High Lord. Daemon, like Rhysand, becomes the highest ranking male in his "Dark Court" and he is also the main love interest (QOTD).

Daemon has a habit of putting his hands in his pocket when he's nervous and/or trying to intimidate people. Rhysand has the same habit. Daemon is feared for his sadism and power in TBJ but is, deep down, a good person and a devoted lover, similar to Rhysand’s persona being much crueler and sadistic than his real personality (ACOMAF).

Daemon originally starts seeing the protagonist of the series, Jaenelle, in his dreams and he recognizes while enslaved that she is the realm's salvation (DOTB, QOTD). Rhysand also begins seeing glimpses of Feyre in his dreams while enslaved Under the Mountain and he knew she was Prythian’s hope (ACOMAF).

Wingspans

We know that in the ACOTAR world, the wingspan of an Illyrian male is supposedly proportional to their, yunno, male parts. This is also the case in The Black Jewels where, in the second book, we learn a male's wingspan also corresponds to the size of his… down there.

Scents and gender

In TBJ, magical figures have the abilities to identify or smell another person based on his or her "psychic scent", which is their unique scent. The psychic scent also allows them to sense the magical abilities, emotions and traumatic experiences of other persons. Romantic couples also have a keen awareness of their partner's scent. This is the likewise the case in the ACOTAR world where mates and fae can identify and read each other based on specific scents including their arousal.

In TBJ, you can put up a "psychic shield" to stop someone from peering into your thoughts and reading you through your psychic scent. It's the same in the ACOTAR world, a concept introduced in ACOMAF, where you can put up a mental shield or barrier to stop someone like the daemati from breaking into your mind.

The males in TBJ can become quite territorial and possessive over their women and mates, almost animalistic based on their emotions. They purr and snarl and growl quite often, and Sarah J. Maas uses identical descriptive language regarding the bat boys.

Dragons and Amren

There's an older female character called Draca in TBJ who is a dragon in human form, trapped in a human body. Draca, who serves in the main character's Dark Court, has to decipher old texts in the TBJ because she is the only one who understands the ancient languages they contain. Draca is referred to as the "ancient one." This is exactly like Amren being known as the little "ancient one", a powerful angel in human form who is the only one that can decipher the Book of Breathings in ACOMAF.

There is a "creature" deep beneath the Keep and library of the High Lord of Hell in TBJ who, in HTTS, turns out to be a mighty dragon whose name is Lorn. Likewise, beneath the library in Velaris lurks Bryaxis who is a dangerous dragon-esque creature (ACOWAR).

Other worldbuilding plotpoints

There are “High Lords” of various realms in The Black Jewels and High Lord is not a traditional feudal title throughout history or mythology. One major character in TBJ is the High Lord of Hell, Saetan SaDiablo. His court, and that of his adopted daughter, is known as the Dark Court or the "Court of Darkness". Rhysand is the most powerful High Lord who presides over the Night Court which is also, in many ways, Prythian's own Court of Darkness.

The Dark Court in TBJ has a "first circle" that is comprised of the queen's most trusted courtiers. Rhysand's Court of Dreams in ACOMAF also has an "inner circle".

Jaenelle is known as "Dreams Made Flesh" because of her immense power and ability to deliver her lands from evil. Jaenelle was a saviour-figure who was dreamt up by the "dreamers" in her realm who were suffering and oppressed for many years, ruled over by cruel queens (QOTD). Likewise, the Court of Dreams and Feyre's defeat of Amarantha were, more or less, the product of dreamers who wished upon the stars (ACOMAF). Just like how Feyre possesses the power of all seven High Lords, Jaenelle is the magical figure to possess the power of all the various colored jewels in TBJ.

There is a character named Prythian in The Black Jewels who is a powerful priestess, and the main land that the ACOTAR series is set in is called Prythian. There's also an assassin-prostitute character in TBJ named Surreal, and the Suriel is character in the ACOTAR series.

The sigil/seal of Janelle's Dark Court in TBJ, we learn in the second book, is an image of a mountain with a unicorn’s horn above it. The main sigil of the Night Court in ACOTAR is a mountain below three stars. The vastness and freedom of mountains are a motif in both TBJ and ACOMAF.

Conclusion: There are others online who have pointed out the similarities between The Black Jewels and the Throne of Glass series, but it’s been many years since I read Throne of Glass and I’m rusty so I won’t touch it. Did Sarah J. Maas rip off Anne Bishop’s work? I think it could be proven in a court of law, but I’m quite hesitant to say outright that she’s guilty of plagiarism. Is Sarah J. Maas guilty of serious unoriginality? Yes, definitely. A preliminary search online will tell you that Sarah J. Maas has openly praised Bishop’s writing and she has even said that Lucivar is her favourite fantasy man of all time. Bishop's books were released when Maas was a teenager. Make of this what you will.

I’ve used a variety of tags on this post because, honestly, I’m not sure whether it falls into the “anti” category of posts or not. I think this post neutral in tone and exists just to catalogue the similarities between both series. I hence believe both fans and antis might appreciate it... for different reasons.