#acomaf retelling

[elliemarchetti]

A Court of Deadly Virtues (Book 1)

Plot: A Court of Mist and Fury retelling from Nesta’s POV. Set in Chapter 57.

This is going to be more canon-divergent further on, but for now every change involves mostly Nesta and Cassian’s relationship.

Previous chapters

Words: 1.107

Kindness [4/7]

Only the eldest and the golden Queens attended the second meeting, escorted by five guards each. By the time they decided on the perfect date, spring had begun in the Mortal Lands, and crocuses and daffodils were poking their heads out of the no longer frozen earth. Feyre still wore her flowing ivory robe and gold feathered crown, but this time she and Rhysand held hands resolutely. The older woman ran her shrewd eyes over them and sat down without an invitation, arranging the skirts of her emerald robe around her. The negotiations were less gracious, and not even the images of the secret, beautiful city showed by the Veritas were worthy of the rulers trust.

“Who says this isn’t another manipulation?” the crone asked. “A lot has changed since the war and the Morrigan’s so called friendship with our female ancestors. Perhaps you’re not who you say you are and the High Lord crept into our minds to make us believe he has allies more powerful than those he can really count on. It would explain why you seek our help so desperately.”

“That’s crazy talk,” hissed Nesta, unable to hold her tongue any longer. “Crazy talk from arrogant, crazy fools.”

Feyre turned to her with a pleading expression at the same time as Elain reached out to silence her, but there were too many innocent lives at stake to stand back and let everyone else do the dirty work. If they didn’t want to risk their lives, so be it, but they at least owed them a chance to fight back.

“Perhaps an evacuation is possible...” speculated the golden woman, but it was evident she was just making up things to shut her up.

“We’ll need ten thousand ships,” Nesta replied, her voice nearly breaking. She did the math for a whole night and ran over the same calculations nearly a hundred times, fearing she missed something, hoping there was an error and they weren’t really in need of such a fleet, but she was right, and she didn’t even started to consider the cost of transportation from the inner villages. Everyone was talking about numbers, and hypothetical lives, but Nesta knew those people, she knew they had nothing, she knew families born poor and farmers who preferred to die than abandon their fields or a couple of decrepit cows. No mortal knew the whole truth about the Fae, their knowledge based on erroneous legends and rumours, they had no idea what they would’ve to endure and they didn’t know how to fight. They would be slain, and what little good was left in their simple lives blown away like a house of cards in a blizzard.

“We’re stuck here,” she resumed, cold rage and burning accusations exuding from her like a vengeful aura. “And you’ll watch us die in hope they’ll be satisfied and won’t look at the Continent, but they would, and if you do nothing you’re going to regret every choice you made in this room.”

The old Queen gripped the shiny armrests of her chair, furious at such obstinacy: “Then I suggest you ask one of your winged males to take you across the sea and see for yourself the power of our defences.”

Nesta stared at the woman in pure disgust. She wasn’t going to beg, she wasn’t going to ask for more, and judging by the look on Cassian’s face, even he wouldn’t have allowed her to make a fool of herself. It was a matter of pride, and love.

“Five hundred years ago, I fought on battlefields not far from this home. I fought alongside both humans and Fae who believed in equality, and I’ll be on that field again, Nesta Archeron, to protect this home and your people. I cannot think of a better way to end my life than to defend those who need it most,” said the Illyrian with such ardour, that for a moment Nesta felt more important than she was, not just a pawn in someone else’s game but a powerful player who somehow won the heart of Prythian’s most fearsome warrior. A single tear trickled down her hollow cheek, and thick calloused fingers were ready to wipe it away before it could fall on her dress. If he’d got down on his knee right now and asked her to marry him, it would’ve made less of a stir, but Nesta felt no embarrassment, and didn’t flinch at the almost familiar touch, completely ignoring the Morrigan who looked at them with wide eyes. She didn’t seem jealous or annoyed, even though Nesta suspected she and Cassian had some shared history, but rather amazed. The Queens didn’t seem to share the same sentiment, and as swiftly as they arrived, they disappeared from the large drawing room, leaving behind them a heavy lead box. Nesta gasped as Rhysand lifted it to reveal what was inside, but she didn’t lean over Cassian’s shoulder to find out what was written on the note resting on the second half of the coveted Book.

“You should come with us,” whispered the Fae, so softly only she and Elain, who was still by the window looking on her garden, could hear him. “You heard the situation and you’ve made perfect calculations. You should pack lightly and stay in Velaris for a while, as safe as it can be now that the Queens know of its existence.”

“I...”Elain muttered, looking like a dog caught in a snare. “I can’t.”

The words flowed out so quickly, and Elain looked so stubbornly at the floor, that Nesta wondered if she was having second thoughts on the wedding and something happened between her and Azriel. More than ever, the iron ring she wore on her finger seemed immensely ugly and unsuitable for her sweetest sister.

“Then I’ll send a unit of my soldiers to guard the estate. No one will notice their presence and they’ll be completely autonomous. If you change your mind, one of them will wait in this room at noon and midnight every day.”

Nesta just nodded, unable to find the right words to thank Cassian for such a great kindness.

“I wish things were different,” he admitted, before walking off to rejoin the rest of his companions, who were beginning to cast curious glances at them.

“I could never leave my sister,” Nesta replied, and momentarily prayed to some forgotten God for him to get close enough to touch, so she could remember what it was like to have their fingers intertwined, but he didn’t, and when the small group flew away, Nesta was unable to meet Elain’s guilty eyes.

[emeriesmate]

I find it crazy how acotar was the only book in the series in which Feyre had a girl-boss moment. She, a little human, went to rescue her lover voluntarily in a place full of Fae who only want to see her suffer and she proved to them in their face that she was not as weak as they are think.

And then we have acomaf. Whose book makes it clear that a woman can make her own choices and be badass just because a man says so....

[smolandweirdwriter]

Full offense as far as ya (or supposedly ya for the latter) hades x persephone retellings or things based off it which have someone who is life/spring marrying the lord of darkness, Girl, Goddess, Queen is SO MUCH BETTER than acomaf.

[jessread-s]

✩🥀🤍Special Edition Collection:

When I first read the “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series in 2021, I bought the complete set on my kindle because I did not want to waste money on the physical books and not actually like them. This decision turned out to be a BIG mistake because I fell in love with the books almost instantly upon reading them and subsequently made all of my friends purchase their own copies so that they could understand my obsession and develop one of their own. 

Because this series is so special to me, I wanted the physical copies I purchased to be special too! As a result, I spent a lot of time this past year searching for copies of the original, out of print editions to add to my collection. @Abebooks and @pangobooks made all my dreams come true! I cannot wait to read my physical copies for the first time in preparation for Sarah J. Maas’ next release. 

Cross-posted to: Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph

@worldofsarahjmaas @sjmaas @bloomsburybooks-blog-blog

[elriell]

I have been apart of the Elriel community since ACOMAF came out and we were but a mere few souls, over the many years there have been so many incredible fan theories explored.

One of my favourites is one I came up with and posted about eons ago which was the concept of Elriel as a Sleeping Beauty retelling.😂

I am beyond in love with what @fremuard did to bring this crossover to life! She absolutely breathed life in to this piece! Bless you.

What is your favourite fairytale & what would you want to see Elriel’s retelling melded from if any?

[lunamond]

The argument that the switch-up between Tamlin and Rhysand as love interests was SJM making a clever commentary on the inherently problematic nature of the Beauty and the Beast tale is actually really annoying to me.

I'm absolutely not above being critical of this story.

However, just because there are problematic aspects in the foundational version of this story doesn’t mean that modern iterations automatically possess these as well.

So let's look at how modern retellings deal with the most commonly criticised element of the story: the kidnapping.

For me personally, the most important thing to look at when judging how "problematic" the kidnapping in any given Beauty and the Beast story is, is to look at what the actual power dynamics at play are.

Most of these stories tend to feature some inherent power imbalance between the Beauty and the Beast characters. However, most retellings also feature a curse/curser who puts pressure on the Beast to kidnap Beauty in the first place. This means there is always some kind of higher power/authority who holds significant power over the Beast as well.

In the og Fairytale version, we have a scorned Fae/Witch who curses the Beast. The stakes for the Beast are to find a woman, make her fall in love with him, or stay a Beast forever.

How much this gives the Beast a pass for the crime of kidnapping is, of course, sth each person has to decide for themself.

However, most modern retellings tend to significantly increase the severity of the conditions and consequences of said curse, often times putting many lives outside of the Beast's own at stake.

This increase in stakes, at least for me, significantly impacts how much I condemn the actions of the Beast character.

We see this in the Disney version were all the people living and working in the castle were turned into animate objects and risk turning inanimate once the time-limit for the curse runs out, which is essentially a child friendly way of saying that they will all die.

In the YA novel Cruel Beauty (which I already compared to Acotar in an older post), the Beast character is forced to take a new bride every century. Due to the specifics of the curse, the safety of an entire country is dependent on his compliance with the conditions put on him. So, despite the fact that he initially appears much more powerful than the Beauty character, they are essentially both stuck under the same curse.

The first Acotar book works the same way. Tamlin kidnaps Feyre, not because he wants to but because the conditions of the curse put not just the fate of the SC but of the entirety of Prythian at stake.

That's, of course, not to say that this isn't a violent experience for Feyre and her family. But it does mean that Tamlin isn't the instigator of this violent act, but the person responsible for the curse, aka Amarantha.

The attempt to turn this into a subversion of the BnB story by revealing Tamlin as a violent and abusive partner becomes incredibly frustrating, because most of the violent undertone present in the 1st book, that fans like to point towards as an early sign of his future abusive behaviors are not caused by Tamlin himself but by Amarantha (and her batwinged lackey).

But SJM's attempt is especially nonsensical because Feyre's new romance with Rhysand is just a worse version of BnB.

I am aware that the second book, Acomaf, is most commonly marketed as a Hades/Persephone retelling.

But here is the thing; the modern interpretation of Hades/Persephone as a romance is much more akin to the story of Beauty and the Beast than the hymn to Demeter (the og source text featuring the myth of Hades/Persephone), which as the title suggests is much more concerned with the feelings of grief and rage a mother feels in response to her daughter's abduction than anything else.

So, let's judge Feysand's story with the same standards we just used for other modern BnB retellings.

Immediately, we run into the issue that Rhysand doesn't have a higher power above him forcing him to kidnap Feyre (unless you want to count the mating bond, but that is clearly meant to be seen as a positive so that doesn't really work, Amarantha doesn't count either).

However, it gets worse.

He is the one who forces the bargain on Feyre, ensuring she has to spend 1 week in the NC for the rest of her life. When he later kidnaps her, he is fulfilling the curse he himself put on her.

In this version, the Beast character, Rhysand, is not the cursed but the curser. So he is at once the kidnapper AND the higher power enforcing the curse/the cause for the kidnapping.

In a direct comparison between the way Tamlin and Rhysand each fullfill the Beast role, it becomes pretty apparent how utterly SJM's supposed criticism of the BnB story has failed; Tamlin kidnaps Feyre because he is forced to, Rhysand does because he WANTS to.

[hopelesslyhopeful11]

Feysand: The TRUE and ONLY ACOTAR Hades and Persephone Retelling

For those who are unfamiliar with the story of Hades of Persephone, here is a little run down:

Hades aka God of Underworld and the Dead, God of Hidden Wealth, God of Darkness of Night, One of the Most Powerful Gods in Greek Mythology

Persephone aka Goddess of Spring, Goddess of the Underworld, Bringer/Goddess of Death, Goddess of Seasons

Hades was in love with Persephone and kidnaps abducts her to the Underworld while she was in blooming flowers

Hades tricks (or bargains) Persephone into spending a certain amount of time in the underworld

Persephone becomes the Goddess of The Underworld, a title that is equal to that of Hades who is one of the most powerful Gods and rules along side him which was a novel concept in Greek mythology

Since apparently this needs to be spelled out for certain people to stop proclaiming that their ship *cough cough Elriel couch cough* is the Hades and Persephone retelling, let’s go step by step into how Feysand is 100% SJM’s Hades and Persephone story:

Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court and the Most Powerful High Lord in History

Feyre, a bride of Spring, has all the powers of the High Lords (aka has all the powers of the seasons), and is High Lady of The Night Court

In the story of Feysand, Rhys is in love with Feyre and kidnaps her from Spring, a place of blooming flowers

Rhys tricked Feyre into a bargain so she has to spend time with him in his world for a certain amount of time

Feyre becomes Rhys’ equal as High Lady of the Night Court, something that is novel to their world

And before anyone says this is all up to interpretation, this line in ACOMAF literally exists:

SJM explicitly is saying Feysand in a Hades and Persephone retelling here and if you think otherwise, you’re just playing yourself.

And to those that are insistent that Elriel can still be a Hades and Persephone retelling, I’ll kindly remind you that one of your main arguments against Gwynriel is that you believe it won’t happen since it will be like Nessian 2.0. So which is it?

Elriel and Feysand are both a Hades and Persephone retelling and SJM will write the Feysand story 2.0 with Elriel including the same elements that you guys love to harp on?

Or SJM won’t do a retelling of the same story?

The hypocrisy.

Also friendly reminder: Persephone thrived in the darkness of the underworld and her name literally means bringer of death; Elain looks like she’s dead in the darkness of the night court, gets violently ill over death, and her name literally means light. She is a great many things, but she is not Persephone.

[acourtofthought]

Just putting this out there..... SJM might want to retell certain fairy-tales. But that doesn't mean those fairy-tales guarantee an endgame pairing. She once did Beauty and the Beast and we all know that didn't lead to a HEA for Feyre and Tamlin. It also means it's not doing anyone any good to expect her version of the fairy-tale to look anything like the actual fairy-tale. TOG was supposed to be a Cinderella retelling but it's barely noticeable. ACOMAF was a Hades / Persephone retelling.....except Feyre is not going to be returning to the Spring Court 6 months out of the year and she never really embodied Spring at all. So declaring a Vassa / Lucien endgame because she wanted to retell "Swan Lake" and "Vasilisa the Beautiful" or an E/riel endgame because of Blodeuwedd (weird considering the Az character in that tale ends up dead by the Lucien character's hand) means some are choosing to be ignorant of the above facts.

[the-lonelybarricade]

TheLonelyBarricade Feysand Masterlist

All works excluding drabbles are avilable on AO3

🌶️= Smut/Works with explicit content

A Court of Faded Dreams Masterlist🌶️ - acotar rewrite/timetravel fic. (WIP)

Darling, Let's Run 🌶️ - Cat!Rhys and his general trickery (Completed)

As the River Flows Masterlist 🌶️ - Regency Feysand with a magical fated mates twist (completed)

Till Death Do Us Part Masterlist - A slice of life chronicalling the adventures Grim!Rhys and his reluctant wife Feyre (WIP)

Queen of Thieves Masterlist 🌶️ - Con-artist Feyre makes an ill-placed bet with the High Lord of the Night Court (WIP)

Take My Hand, Wreck My Plans Masterlist 🌶️ - Modern AU where Feyre gets pregnant from a one-night stand with a violet eyed stranger (WIP)

We Bleed the Same Masterlist 🌶️ - An acotar retelling where we cut out the feylin love story entirely (WIP)

The Other Side of the Apocalypse 🌶️ - A canonverse AU following human Rhys and Feyre as they journey through all seven courts (WIP)

Canon:

Hate Me If It Helps 🌶️ - Feysand angsty sex pollen fic.

The Most Magnanimous High Lord 🌶️- Rhys gives Feyre a reading lesson

Five Times the Beast Was Subdued (and the One Time It Wasn't) 🌶️ 🌶️ - Part 1 ⟡ Part 2 - Feysand beast form, monsterfucking, breeding kink filth

ACoMaF Wedding Scene - Canon compliant Feysand wedding scene.

The Chains That Bind Us - Feysand are married and Rhysand’s mating bond snaps w/ someone else. 

When The Glass Shatters - Feysand are married and Feyre’s mating bond snaps w/ someone else.

A Conversation At Dawn - Rhys takes a quiet moment to reflect with his mother. 

Just Can't Prove It - Feyre meets a stranger on a flight

All By Design - What if Isaac Hale was Rhys all along?

-

AU:

It’s Nice to Have a Friend  🌶️ - part 1 ⟡ part 2 -  Modern AU best friends to lovers/accidental kiss.

Ten Past Five 🌶️ - plotty Feysand NYE meet cute

Snow on the Beach 🌶️🌶️ - Daddy kink, Feysand join the mile high club

Can’t Keep My Hands to Myself 🌶️🌶️ - Part 1 ⟡ Part 2 - Feysand Sugar Daddy AU 

The Music of the Night 🌶️🌶️- Demon!Rhys visits Feyre in her dreams (dub-con)

Violent Delights 🌶️🌶️ - Feysand vampire smut (dub-con)

Be a Doll, Darling🌶️🌶️ - Feyre's Sex Doll comes to life (dub-con)

Cakes & Cupid - Birthday party meet-cute. (Modern AU)

Scaring Is Caring - Halloween themed meet-cute. (Modern AU)

Arrowmusings B-day Present - Lucien x Rhys x f!reader fluff (Modern AU)

Long Story Short - Feyre gets stood up in a restaurant. (Modern AU)

The Dating Game - Modern fake couple AU. (Modern AU)

The Outlier - part 1 ⟡ part 2 - Timetravel fluff / university AU. (Modern AU)

A Letter Never Sent - Christmas fluff (Modern AU)

Caught Up In You - Rhysand Celebrity AU (Modern AU)

Don't Be a Jerk (It's Christmas) - Coffee Shop Christmas fluff (Modern AU)

Down the Water Well - Eldritch Horror Vibes AU

if you ever think you got it wrong - modern hurt/comfort friends to lovers

Good Morning, Darling - Feysand & baby Nyx fluff 

Behind You - Batboy Snowball fight featuring Nyx

Like An Illyrian - Rhys and baby Nyx fluff

No One Has to Know What We Do - vaguely smutty angst

Every Time I Look at You, It's Like the First Time - Feysand fluffy proposal

Guess I’ll just stumble on home to my cats - Feyre drunk at a party

[helenlvsbooks]

• Elain Archeron as High Lady of the Dusk Court •

CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ALL OF ACOTAR AND HOFAS

DISCLAIMER: This is a pro Elain, pro Elriel theory, if you know this is something that will upset you, scroll and don’t interact with my post. I am not responsible for the content you choose to consume.

This is a post made with love and appreciation for Elain Archeron and all of my beautiful elriels, you guys are the intended audience for this post and I hope you guys enjoy it, as much I enjoyed writing it.

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POWERS

As of February of 2024 we know very little of Elain’s powers, and while we know for sure that she has visions or something close to it, making her a seer; there’s reason to think that she might be able to do more than that.

ACOWAR CHAPTER 75

It’s been said throughout the series that the cauldron is taken with Elain, and gifted something to her. While Nesta took power from it, Death itself as Rhysand called it in ACOSF, Elain was blessed by it.

While I have a preference for what those powers might be, I’m not going to stick only to my ideas, but I’ll also mention some alternatives the fandom has come up with.

ACOWAR CHAPTER 74

There’s two things I want to talk about when it comes to this passage.

— Elain stepped out of a shadow.

While there’s a lot of possibilities as to why Elain was able to do this, the exact moment it was needed, there’s two main theories I would like to mention.

One. Elain was able to winnow.

ACOMAF CHAPTER 7

ACOMAF CHAPTER 13

This is the most simple explanation to what happened in ACOWAR, and it could be an indication of Elain’s power being greater than that of a normal high fae.

“Only the stronger fae can do it.”

But it also leaves the question of what about the training? We all know Feyre is a High Lady, and even she had to train to be able to use that ability, so how is Elain able to do this so easily at the right moment in the middle of the battle field?

I would love to offer you an alternative.

TWO. Elain used Truthteller’s powers.

HOFAS CHAPTER 25

We learned in CC3 that Azriel doesn’t know how to use Truthteller to its full potential, what if Elain was able to see it with her Seer abilities and make use of it?

ACOWAR CHAPTER 30

It’s known in the fandom that Elain foresaw Cassian’s death. And while some still think this is going to happen in future books, I believe it already happened and Elain found a way to stop it.

ACOWAR CHAPTER 69

If Elain was able to winnow all along, why didn’t she take the dagger that Cassian offered her? She could’ve killed the king with that one just fine. Unless, she isn’t or didn’t know she was able to until she possessed Truth-Teller.

It’s been proven in CC3 that The star-sword and Truth-Teller possess a unique ability when combined/used together, but Vesperus was referring to Truth-Teller on its own.

HOFAS CHAPTER 12

This conversation in CC3 tells us two things:

Truth-Teller doesn't possess the ability to kill the unkillable we saw with The Starsword and Ataraxia. So, a simple dagger could've killed the King of Hybern.

It's implyed by the name of the dagger and what Azriel said that it might possess truth powers.

What if Truth-Teller showed Elain her ability to winnow or the dagger's innate power to help her do it?

HOFAS CHAPTER 12

"The dagger shone with darkness" - "Elain stepped out of the shadow."

As for the second thing I wanted to mention about ACOWAR 74: Only those with the power of the starborn can wild the Sword and the knife. And this is a fact.

Healing - Life Powers

ACOWAR CHAPTER 76

Going back to the Cauldron and Elain's gifted powers. It would make sense that while Nesta stole Death itself from it, Elain might've been gifted with Life by it.

Throughout the ACOTAR books, Elain's been linked to spring and gardens, and there have been many instances where SJM wrote about Elain growing plants, growing life.

ACOWAR CHAPTER 80

All of this aligns with what we learned about Theia and the Dusk Court in CC3.

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HOFAS CHAPTER 22

This right here is what inspired this theory, the moment I read this, everything made sense to me. This is what Bryce senses in the prison with her starborn powers, sounds familiar?

ACOWAR CHAPTER 24

Even Lucien knows that what Elain is saying doesn't seem to be about him, and I never believed it was. The wording is very specific.

"I can hear your heart through the stone." - "There was a beating, vibrant heart locked away, far beneath them."

HOFAS CHAPTER 67

"Off making more gardens?" - "I think the world needs more gardens."

Again, the wording used here was too specific to be a coincidence. A Garden, that's how SJM referred to the mountain Bryce awakened in Avallen, which is almost the exact copy of the Prison/Dusk Court.

HOFAS CHAPTER 19

"blossomed under her care,"

All of this makes me think of something SJM mentioned in ACOSF.

ACOSF CHAPTER 22

There was no reason for SJM to mention this particular detail unless it's something that might come to happen in the future; and with all of the foreshadowing I just showed you, I think it's pretty clear who they might be referring to.

In HOFAS, Bryce takes Theia's power from the mountain and this awakens the land. She already did this in Pythian, but we didn't get to know if the same thing happened there. What if the land needs a High Lady to really blossom and come back to what it once was?

I can't think of anyone better than Elain to do that.

DRESS FORESHADOWING

One thing that some elriels noticed is that SJM makes it a point of having Elain 90% of the time in either pink or blue dresses, this is a fun detail that we love to mention when talking about The Sleeping Beauty retelling theory, this one is one of my favorites so definitely check it out.

While this is true for most of the series, SJM decided to make Elain wear another color in Silver Flames, purple, the mix of the two. Where am I going with this?

I think this Google image speaks for itself, but one last thing! There's a particular line of inner monologue from Cassian that a lot of gwynri3l's use to justify Elain "not belonging" in the Night Court.

ACOSF CHAPTER 57

While they love to forget that the Inner Circle did this on purpose to make Elain look "plain", so Eris would keep his attention on Nesta; they might have a point because no, Elain won't stay in the Night Court.

ACOSF CHAPTER 57

Nesta looks stunning in black tho, so she'll most definitely stay there. Right?

COLORING BOOK SYMBOLISM

On another note, user acoracaodefogo found something really interesting in the official coloring book for the series. Remember how Archeron's father named three ships after his daughters? Well, each of them has a symbol that correlates to something important about the sisters' future.

The Feyre has a crescent moon and stars, symbolizing the night court, and The Nesta has a creature that looks close to what the hounds of the Daglan are described as (intriguing), and a sun, like the one in the mask of the trove.

Elain's however, has an eight-pointed star, the symbol of the starborn and the Dusk Court.

HOEAB CHAPTER 21

As we already know, only the starborn can wield the Sword and the knife, and Elain happened to wield one of the two already.

STARBORN HERITAGE

Were the sisters already part of the Starborn line? I think this might be the case. It never made sense to me how Nesta was able to shield her mind from a high lord, or that Rhys could feel Feyre, his mate, while still being human; or how their father was able to make a deal with Koshei. We know he was known as the Prince of Merchants before losing all of his fortune, but what could he offer Koshei? What could be so important that a death god was happy to strike a deal with that old man?

ACOTAR CHAPTER 35

And there's also this. This little piece of information is what made me believe the sisters weren't completely human after all. Why would their parents know and old name of the fae? The humans hate the fae, they are scared of them, why would they choose that name for their youngest daughter?

There's also this new piece of information we got in CC3. Ruhn has healing magic, from the starborn line? This aligns perfectly well with what some elriels have been speculating since ACOWAR, that Elain saved Cassian not only by stabbing the King of Hybern, but also by immediately running towards him and healing some of his wounds.

HOFAS CHAPTER 94

NOTE: One last thing that came to my mind just now, the Starborn lake is in the Spring Court and it was said multiple times in Silver Flames that Elain would love to see that court. Just a thought.

This is going to be it for now, if you have something else to add to this please do; I would love to talk more about it!

ACOSF CHAPTER 21

BUT ELAIN TURNED ON HER HEEL. "FIND ME WHEN YOU WISH TO BEGIN."

ACOSF FEYSAND BONUS CHAPTER

"LET'S HELP ONE SISTER BEFORE WE START ON THE OTHER."

[mystical-blaise]

Operation Keep Fanfiction Free: Part 2 Report this shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NaruIllustration?ref=l2-about-shopname

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[elliemarchetti]

A Court of Deadly Virtues Masterlist

Charity [1/7]

Chastity [2/7]

Patience [3/7]

Kindness [4/7]

I’ll post a new chapter every Tuesday if people start to interact more

[theladyofbloodshed]

To be honest I don't even care about acotar not being logical or not having solid world building. It was meant to be a fairytale type story, in those stories things can be whimsical and extreme, the villains or super bad for no logical reason and step family would sell you for a grain of salt. That is FINE. It's part of being a fairytale.

What isn't okay is then the following books trying to be super fucking analytical and realistic and judging and criticizing everything and everyone from the first book with this new out of nowhere realistic standard. First book is like a dream and the rest are trying to cosplay as real life on top of judging the dream and holding it to real life standards, like no bitch it was a dream! It's a mess, you just don't change the tone like that in a series.

What annoys me is that the world building is inconsistent and has gaping holes but sjm is lauded as a genius and THE woman of fantasy. ACOTAR has influenced so many current books. And yet there are so many plot holes and retcons, you can't help but wonder how someone who is so successful and is on her third book series, is still allowed to bypass editors, continuity, sensitivity etc.

The issue is SJM wrote the first as a beauty and the beast retelling, knowing that Tamlin is the beast. A beast who acts like a beast. Then in ACOMAF, completely disregarded all of the degradation that Rhys did to her, and put abuse hotline numbers in the book because Tamlin is a bad guy. It's giving mixed signals. Rhysand is the best boyfriend in the world, but he also sexually assaulted a woman, married her, got her pregnant, kept medical information from her. If you include abuse hotlines for readers who know a Tamlin, you need to also have them for those who know a Rhysand, and acknowledge that Rhysand is abusive too. Abuse doesn't just come in one flavour.

You can't be a whimsical, fun fantasy whilst also portraying the things sjm does. You can't have your cake and eat it imo 🤷

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

actually speaking of acomaf not committing to the aesthetic, didnt it get marketed as a Hades & Persephone retelling? How on earth is it a Hades & Persephone retelling??? Rhysand is the highlord of the night court what the hell does that have to do with death or ruling over the realm of the dead, his realm isnt even shrouded in eternal darkness, i mean that wouldve been a stretch imo but it couldve kinda worked symbolically but NO they just have a normal ass day/night cycle. In this regard, Ive seen some people complain about how Feyre doesnt actually have anything to do with spring and that the only thing that makes her persephone-esque is her association with Tamlin, but I actually dont mind that since Persephone is also only known as a "spring goddess" because of her association with Demeter. I dont think thats intentional at all but yknoe, I dont mind it

And like, i know Rhysand gets called like "Death Incarnate" or some bullshit like that but again I ask, why?? Because hes edgy??? Because hes killed a lot of people?? I dont think that makes you DeAtH iNcArNaTe I think that just makes you a murderer. God, Im actually so mad rn HES NOT EVEN GOTH he just wears black and has dark hair, atleast give him some eyeliner or some black lipstick for fucks sake

[bookishfeylin]

One of the biggest issues I have with acotar is how you don’t know what standards to judge the romantic relationships by. The first book is fine, because while it’s a retelling of a relationship that’s inherently unhealthy by real world standards, it’s also a romance and fantasy story that isn’t trying to have a moral.

But that’s flipped in the books after. THEN it’s trying to make a commentary on unhealthy/abusive relationships. So like it’s weird, obviously, but you’d also assume that from then on the relationships would at least try to adhere to the standards recently brought into the universe by being healthy by our standards, right?

Right guys?

SO LIKE WHY DID SJM MAKE RHYSAND LIKE THAT?? Because he’s bad in the first books- has already violated the newly placed rules in acomaf- so first of all, why did SJM try to add real standards about relationships into acomaf while simultaneously making Feyre get with the guy who sa’d her in acotar?

Second, the whole “faking it” or “it’s just a mask” excuse is bullshit, because it doesn’t change the fact that he still did it to Feyre in acotar. By SJM’s standard of Tamlin locking Feyre up still being wrong no matter his intentions (which I agree with), Rhysand “faking it” shouldn’t excuse him sa’ing Feyre.

Third, it gets fucking worse. Feysand’s relationship goes places I could never even have nightmares about. Like the death bargain or whatever it’s called (the bargain where if one of them died so would the other)? What?? Who, in a relationship as healthy as SJM and the feysanders want Feysand to be, would want their partner to die with them? If they were so healthy wouldn’t they want the other to be happy if they died?

Fourth, the pregnancy. The FUCKING PREGNANCY WHAT DO I EVEN SAY ABOUT THAT?? Stans keep trying to excuse it saying stuff along the lines of, “he was trying to find a solution and didn’t want to stress her out!” Which, is already stupid enough without counting the times I’ve seen people saying she could’ve miscarried if she had information ON HER OWN BODY, but also just... again, stans keep saying that Feyre’s feeling as the victim carry more weight than the intentions of her abuser (which again! I agree with!), but that only seems to apply when Tamlin is doing the abusing. When it’s Rhysand? Then only HIS feelings, HIS intentions, how Feyre’s possible death made HIM feel, that’s all that matters to stans.

Like I just want to know what the fuck are the standards here. It’s just so annoying and confusing.

Anon I want to print out this post and pin this it on my wall 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

And this part right here:

stans keep saying that Feyre’s feeling as the victim carry more weight than the intentions of her abuser (which again! I agree with!), but that only seems to apply when Tamlin is doing the abusing. When it’s Rhysand? Then only HIS feelings, HIS intentions, how Feyre’s possible death made HIM feel, that’s all that matters to stans.

YES!!! Feyre’s abuse matters until it’s Rhysand doing the abusing, then Rhysand’s feelings trump Feyre’s abuse. And that’s honestly horrific.

I honestly don’t have much more to add, because this ask is perfect as is

[bookofmirth]

Do you think Tharion will get the Little Mermaid retelling? It seems like it fits him more than Gwynriel (tbh their story might not be a retelling; Nessian wasn’t a retelling, I think).

And do you know when Sarah said Elucien will be a Blodeuwedd retelling? I’ve seen some theories about it but idk where it comes from.

For context, this was sent a few days before hofas came out

I don't think that Tharion will be a Little Mermaid retelling, just for the fact that she never does strict retellings anymore. Even acotar was the premise of Beauty and the Beast, which she then did her own thing with. Acomaf had just the premise of Hades and Persephone, but she made it her own thing and took it in different directions that made sense for Rhys and Feyre. ToG was a twist on Cinderella, but definitely went its own directions! Even now, you can see a lot of allusions to other cultures and myths and such, but she has created her own mishmash story with them! (Whether that's appropriate or respectful or not is... another discussion.)

Also, post-hofas, Tharion has a whole new issue on his hands - a new wife. :)

@acourtofthought is the one who came up with the elucien theory!