grimseverity

[grimseverity]

I refuse to believe Tamlin is straight and cis.

Just as I wish that Cassian was the one to lose his wings after having them shredded to bits.

ACOTAR Thoughts of the night

SJM has brought 3 Main Characters back from the dead now. This has created a problem for if she wants to ever kill one off. At this rate, keep them alive.

Cassian or Azriel (not both, just one of them) should have been that one of them lost their wings. Unable to be healed fully. Unable to fly again. The ARC we could have gotten with that would have been cool. Don't at me with the line from the book either where they say "A true Illyrian would rather die than never fly again." that line was actually repulsive considering the sheer amount of female Illyrians that can no longer fly.

Feyre should have set more traps through the whole series. The first few chapters in ACOTAR when she was setting traps left and right as well as locking her room door because of the need to survive and feel safe was brilliant. I wish that would have come back in ACOMAF to showcase her not feeling safe even with Tamlin there. I also wish her sneaking out to sleep outside would have been a thing. It would have been another great representation of the effects UTM had on her and being confined. Show me, don't tell me.

After a High Lady / Warrior Arc and a Revival Warrior Arc, I will scream if Elain gets a warrior arc. There's more to fantasy and strong characters than putting a sword and powers in their hand.

Watching people call others "pick mes", "band-wagoners", "forced", etc for not liking or liking certain characters / pairings will always be hilarious to me. Don't take it so personal and don't make it personal. Just have fun and debate.

While I don't trust SJM to write LGBTQ+ characters because she doesn't do well ... at all ... with that. I hate the fact and will always hate the fact that Tamlin is a straight cis male that can shapeshift.

A High King plot line is going to blow. It's giving Season 8 GOT but in reverse. It's unnecessary and frankly unjustified / unneeded. It will not help the Rhys is a villain and Feyre is power hungry allegations either.

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SJM, Research Things. I Beg You.

Things SJM could have researched that would have made the story a little bit better. Honestly, this is just me getting out my pet peeves. It's super picky so like ... take this with a grain of salt.

Village Dynamics. A small village often worked together to survive. There are also many parts to a village including hunters. We barely get anything about this village. It's weird.

Barter & Trade Systems. A poor town is not using only money for goods ... be so for real right now. Feyre should have been trading her furs for goods not coin. Small villages and areas even to this day primarily operate on barter and trade!

Hunting. Children 11 and 14 are not that young. That's average in modern times. It was often younger in older periods. Deer also weigh a lot. It's hard for a grown ass seasoned hunter to drag a deer out of the woods. Field dressing is a must.

Cleaning and Disease. I'm still mad about that dead bloodied deer being thrown and gutted on the kitchen table. That place is gross. They have a disease now.

Curing Meat. The meat could not have been cured overnight. At a minimum it would need 24 hours.

Weaponry. The fact that barely any weapons are mentioned in this story aside from swords, knives, daggers, and bows is a travesty. It doesn't matter that Feyre was just a hunter. There are more than just bows and snares for hunting. Illyrians having such base weapons for a warrior culture is abysmal. Did you know a lot of weapons were created from farming and building tools?

Disabilities. Enough Said.

Vegetable & Crop Rotation. I'm hoping Elain's book fixes this but as of right now it's criminal. Especially with Illyria again and not giving them crops and veggies to cultivate? Emerie has her garden, sure, but the rest of the camp? There are so many things you can grow in a cold mountainous environment. Imagine the stuff we could have had aside from just ... stew and porridge.

Foraging. Why isn't Feyre foraging? I get not many books mention it, but like it would be so cool if they did! Especially ones like this with a starving family and you are telling me hunting and Elain's failing garden are the only way?

The Arts: Dancing and Painting. ugh... at this rate if you know you know.

War, Battle, and Politics. I have a whole other issue with this trope, but these books really hone in on it.

Geographical Locations and Maps. Whole rant for distance and time here.

Biology and Anatomy

Hair color. Because not all red hair is the same. Thank you!

Political Power Structures & Government Bodies.

Magic Systems the magic use is basic (Except when Tarquin drowned those soldiers with sea water he conjured in them. That was cool!), the system has shown to have no balance, and there is no real power scaling.

Warrior Cultures. The way I am so pissed that her warriors nations have zero respect for Illyrian women but in the same breath says they explicitly breed for strength. Most warrior cultures while being patriarchal and having not great things for women. Still treat their women 100x better than SJM does her Illyrian women.

Also, because the village is roughly closer if not the same distance from the ocean as it is the wall ... why did Feyre not try to fish? They also have a lake near the village. It's where Feyre taught herself to swim, so again ... Fishing? No? Okay ...

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I don't like the theory that Eris could be Helion's son too.

I know many like it and I understand why.

I prefer a narrative where your origins don't have to doom and define you. That's the point of his character.

It's much more poetic if Eris is Beron's son, but instead of growing into his cruelty, he grows out of his cruelty. Because he feels it upon himself and others, every single day. More poetic if Eris decides to honor the gentleness of his mother instead.

More poetic if Eris realizes he has a lot from his father and not all of it has to be negative. Some of it is assertiveness, determination, fierceness.

There's beauty in coming to terms with your origins, your upbringing. And deciding it does not have to define you forever. There's beauty in recognizing the good and the ugly and deciding you can shape your own self from that.

Eris does not have to be Helion's son to be good! And that's his character's point! That he didn't let his father win and that he chose to be his own person! And is still trying to be and probably has a bunch of guilt and identity issues! But still he doesn't give in!!

He also doesn't need to be Helion's son to be truly loved by his mother! That is also the point of his character! To see that he chose to prioritize and hold onto his mother's caring nature. That he could've grown into a cruel sexist but he would never do that to her. That he would never close his eyes to her suffering!

Wishing him to be Helion's son, empties the meaning of his character. And devalues all of his internal and external suffering and efforts. It also supports an awful genetic determinism.

Being Beron's son and deciding to break from Beron's mold, is the beauty of Eris Vanserra!!

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“Lucien did nothing as Feyre was abuse”

Tamlin never abused Feyre. And if you’re referring to the one time he blew up the room with Feyre in it that is not abuse. It’s confirmed canon lore with high fae magic that they can have magical outbursts when emotionally unstable either with a panic attack or with anger. We see both Rhys do this and we see Feyre do this with her attack on Beron at the high lord meeting which she did hurt an innocent person, LoA. Tamlin is suffering from ptsd just like Feyre is, they are just displaying it differently. Feyre is shutting down while Tamlin is going overprotective. And it’s understandable that he is being overprotective. He had to sit for 3 months and watch the woman he loves be tortured and sexually abused and sexually exploited to save him. SAVE HIM. He was powerless for 3 months to help her. THAT’S GONNA EFFECT ANYONE MENTALLY and EMOTIONALLY FOR A WHILE AFTERWARDS.

And now she has what is essentially a slave tattoo on her arm that allows Rhys to own her for 1 week a month. Rhys a known Daemati. Rhys a man who offered his services to Amarantha. Rhys the person who killed multiple people UtM for Amarantha. Rhys who harassed Tamlin and Lucien every chance he got. Rhys who called Feyre human trash and revealed her sexual desires out loud. Rhys who made Feyre sick to her stomach when he raked his nails inside her brain. Rhys who threatened Lucien’s mother and then almost melted Lucien brain when he wouldn’t reveal Feyre’s name to Amarantha. That’s the Rhys Tamlin is trying to protect Feyre from. Let also take into account that Tamlin is the lord of spring court where the wall is located and Amarantha’s boss, the king of Hybern, wants access to that wall to reinstate human slaves. So Tamlin has Rhys, a known to Prythian sadist owning Feyre and King of Hybern wanting to invade his lands, on his enemy list. And Feyre a newly born MADE fae is with him and needs his protection. And now that he has his high lord powers back he can ACTUALLY protect her unlike UtM.

And you’re acting like Lucien locked Feyre in a room and let Tamlin beat the shit out of her as he stood outside it. Lucien who helped Feyre UtM every friggen chance he got even knowing the punishment for doing so. Lucien who argued against both Tamlin and Ianthe to let Feyre train. Lucien who went against orders and took Feyre outside of the manor grounds to the nearest village. Lucien who was the recipient of one of Tamlin’s magical outbursts. Lucien who was running himself ragged trying to help Tamlin against Amarantha remaining beasts roaming spring court lands, rebuilding, evading Ianthe, advocating for Feyre, going to day court to study breaking bargain spells, and reorganizing springs courts army. That’s the Lucien who did nothing for Feyre 🙄🤦‍♀️

And yes Lucien did try to grab Feyre in the night court forest because she was KIDNAPPED. She had not sent any letter or came back to talk to Tamlin, her fiancé. She was with a man (who the readers now know is a “good” person) that has spent 300-500yrs cultivating a sadistic, evil, torturous high lord persona of himself to the other fae of Prythian. Lucien SPENT 3 MONTHS WATCHING THIS MAN DRUG FEYRE AND SEXUALLY EXPLOIT HER!!!! Lucien knows the powers of a Daemati and how they can brainwash and manipulate your thoughts. He has no clue Feyre has fallen in love with Rhys voluntarily. Because Feyre hasn’t reached out to either him or Tamlin in all these months to reassure them of her safety or new growth in her soul as a person. She got better with Rhys but that does not mean Tamlin knew that or Lucien knew that. The readers know that but we need to remove ourselves from the inside knowledge and look at the situation from outsider perspective. And also Feyre saw how desperate Lucien was in this forest. She heard his words and how he stumbled over himself in what he wanted to say. And she thought nothing of his state of mind. Never once thought this is not how my friend acts. Something is wrong. Nope she wanted to scare him and threaten him and gaslight herself into truly believing that he abandoned her. When that was the farthest from the truth.

Acotar book 1-3 is a first person PoV. And when we only get the narrative from one person we have to declare the narrative unreliable. Feyre’s feelings are justified and true, but the actions of everyone around her and what she thinks the people around her are thinking is unreliable. We have to step away from Feyre and see each character from their perspective, from their mental space, and from their trauma induced psychosis.

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Where you at, Tamlin? I’m ready for the Rite.

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This instantly made me think of the song “Violent Nature” by I Prevail as the music for the fight xD

The only Emerie and Mor book I would read is the one where Emerie starts the Civil War in the Night Court, liberates the Illyrian women and has a long cinematic sword fight with Mor that ends with Mor's gory death. In mud. A sword fight during a fuckass rain. Preferably with beheading. Poetic cinema 👌

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Following this with ways I’d change ACOSF;

Legit would have loved to see Cassian shout that he loves Nesta when they argue about her dancing with Eris, and how him seeing her with another male drives him crazy because he feels unworthy but loves her still.

Would have loved to see the “hike from fucking hell” instead be Cassian taking her to a remote Cabin to save her from Rhys’ wrath, taking care of her when she spirals about telling Feyre about the baby’s risk, maybe get some domestic Nessian and have her argue that she doesn’t deserve it, but Cassian doesn’t care, he’ll care for her regardless.

Cassian actually enforcing the boundary of no sex because he’s smart enough to understand Nesta uses it as a self harming and coping mechanism. Gives that good slow burn and yearning instead of the fuck buddy shit we got.

Remove Lanthys OR switch him with the Kelpie. He legit had no reason to exist.

Have Nesta and the Valkyries fight the Illyrians together instead of just Nesta alone.

End the book with the Illyrians in full rebellion against Rhys for what happened in the Blood Rite.

Remove the scenes with Tamlin in spring, just have them meet in the damn Night Court, or even Autumn in order to show it off and explore it.

Nesta using her powers to command death to leave Feyre alone instead of bargaining for her with the damn Cauldron or another or whatever. Let her be Lady Death. Hell, maybe even have her have a closure scene with the spirit of Papa Archeron WHILE saving Feyre.

Nesta telling Amren to fuck off for ALL OF THE SHIT she does in this book.

Nesta and Azriel friendship.

Rhys and Nesta having an actual conversation about how he projects his failure to project his own sister onto her and Feyre’s relationship, and how Nesta tells him about the domestic work she did to keep the house up.

All this could have made it kick so much ass

Nesta and Cassian deserved better than what acosf gave them. So I’ve decided to make a list of what acosf should’ve had.

• Cassian Grovelling( not just Nesta. Seriously bring back the angst of ACOWAR with these two. Sjm failed terribly in that department)

• Both of them saying I love you. ( Not once in the entire book did Cassian say I love you, ik actions speak louder than words but the only action they were doing was getting down and dirty f*cking like bunnies)

• Cassian DEFENDING Nesta from the IC. This is a hill Im prepared to die on(You’d think that if he knew this entire time or even had an inkling that Nesta was his mate that he’d go absolutely feral anytime anyone said something horrible about her. Instead he had to jump on the I hate Nesta train with the IC )

•less sex. ( there I said it. I actually think there was way too much smut in this book it just dragged on for way too long for the most part. but when it came time to the most crucial moment aka their mating bond it didn’t feel as special because it was just another smut scene. Or at least for me that’s what it felt like idk about y’all)

• less of the feysand and the baby plot. ( whole bunch of reasons why that was a horrible plot device and shitty plot to put in this story specifically)

• Nesta keeping her powers. (Another plot device by sjm. Nesta loosing her powers has got to be one of the worst things ever. You gonna give us another goddess of death and then rip that away from us just so she can have babies in a book we’ll all probably loose interest in by the time that comes around dafaq please make it make sense. I get that you can’t have anyone more powerful than mr ratman but come on. Her learning to control her power and gaining back her own autonomy being able to control something for once when everything else has been out of her control for so long then ripping it away from her feels so wrong.)

•more of the Archeron sisters together. ( you know that scene in ACOWAR when they all lay together and hold each other? We deserved more healing moments like that we were getting somewhere and then yet again, the rug was ripped out from under our feet only to have it yet again 2v1 with the archeron sisters.)

•acosf og cover (this is just because I have the old book covers and hate that it doesn’t match. Think It’d be cool if they released a limited edition version with the old cover.)

Overall reading this book was a huge disappointment and made me lowkey hate cassian which sucked because I used to adore him think I’m still a bit bitter about it.

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Masterfully said

Anyone else just now realize how when Feyre was taken by Rhys, he literally told her that the house was warded and only certain people could come in and out (namely Mor, Rhys, etc.) but that she was “safe”?

Like, is that not the same exact circumstances she was in with Tamlin’s manor (warded as all hell, only he and Lucien could walk in and out, being left in there for her own protection etc)

And let’s not forget the damn force field he locked on her when she was pregnant, enough that Cassian couldn’t even give her a kiss.

Rhys isolated and controlled Feyre’s perception about the world just as much as Tamlin did, he was just more charismatic and deceptive about it. And that’s insidious as fuck, and Feyre fell for it hook line and sinker.

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isn’t it so crazy how sjm had to complete ret con tamlin’s character and reduced him to someone who’s completely unrecognisable from the first book to make rhysand even remotely palatable as a love interest

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The Tragedy of Lady Autumn 🍂

Sometimes I think the fandom forget how truly sad Lady Autumn’s story is.

And no, I’m not just talking about her being forced to live far from her mate or being married to a tyrant who never deserved her.

I’m talking about her children.

She watched her sons grow up into shadows of their father, mirrors of a man who never showed them love, only violence and legacy.

And even when she knew they were going down the wrong path, what mother wants to see her children turn cruel?

What mother wants to watch her children try to kill one another?

Because yes, two of her sons went after Lucien. And no matter how twisted their motives were, they were still her babies.

And Lucien... he had no choice. It was either kill or be killed.

Can you imagine what it does to a mother to know one of her sons died, killed by her youngest, the only one who escaped that toxic legacy?

without forgetting the son Tamlin killed.

We know Tamlin didn’t have a choice, he had to kill him because that son was going to kill Lucien.

But still… that was her son.

No matter how twisted or cruel he became, he was still someone she carried, raised, loved.

Losing a child like that, it leaves a pain that never really goes away.

And for it to happen like that... gods, it’s just heartbreaking.

Lady Autumn’s whole life is a quiet tragedy.

She is away from her mate (still sus about helion btw he's funny yeah but I don't trust him as a partner) and married to a tyrant abusive man

She’s surrounded by sons turning into their father, losing one to exile, two to death, watching the rest grow colder and more distant. (Well maybe she see some hope in eris)

She’s not just a victim of Beron; she’s a mother who’s been grieving alone for years.

And that just makes me really sad.

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Some close ups of the details for you all xD

"Sometimes, laying submerged is the only way I can stop thinking about it. That soldier? He wouldn't have gotten to me if I was underwater, me...or my sister." My submission for Day 4: Nymph - The Magic Of The Naiads of @gwynweekofficial I definitely feel that Gwyn has a water nymph form that only appars when she is underwater and wanted to depict that, as well as the silent pain that she deals with regarding her past. The water is how she maintains a connection with her sister, and I can imagine she finds a comfort in its solitude :)

Happy Gwyn Week yall!

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"Sometimes, laying submerged is the only way I can stop thinking about it. That soldier? He wouldn't have gotten to me if I was underwater, me...or my sister." My submission for Day 4: Nymph - The Magic Of The Naiads of @gwynweekofficial I definitely feel that Gwyn has a water nymph form that only appars when she is underwater and wanted to depict that, as well as the silent pain that she deals with regarding her past. The water is how she maintains a connection with her sister, and I can imagine she finds a comfort in its solitude :)

Happy Gwyn Week yall!

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Made wit @copypastus picrew, my OTP, Briar & Tamlin.

I dont think my man is done with the human's yet ;)

It's my headcanon that she took up priesthood in the Winter Court for a while, but as Spring gets back on its feet, they'll need a new high priestess to replace Ianthe. Queue the fireworks xD

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Made my own oc w Tamlin 🤭🤭

Here's the picrew link: 👇🏻

Found this from @copypastus 's acct

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Anyone else just now realize how when Feyre was taken by Rhys, he literally told her that the house was warded and only certain people could come in and out (namely Mor, Rhys, etc.) but that she was “safe”?

Like, is that not the same exact circumstances she was in with Tamlin’s manor (warded as all hell, only he and Lucien could walk in and out, being left in there for her own protection etc)

And let’s not forget the damn force field he locked on her when she was pregnant, enough that Cassian couldn’t even give her a kiss.

Rhys isolated and controlled Feyre’s perception about the world just as much as Tamlin did, he was just more charismatic and deceptive about it. And that’s insidious as fuck, and Feyre fell for it hook line and sinker.

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the only pregnancy plotline I care about is tamlin pregnant with rhysands baby

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🩸DEATH🩸

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