#jurian meta

[transprincecaspian]

Another Trystan Shortfic

basically just here to introduce his dynamic with his cousin, Jurian Amell :3 very mild themes of gender envy/dysphoria like you have to squint

Jurian. Tricky Jurian, lovable Jurian Amell. Everyone adored Jurian. That much had long since stopped being a secret for Trystan Hawke. He’d grown up desperately herding Bethany away whenever Jurian tried to show her his magical tricks too close to the line of sight of the Lothering Templars. Just because he’d made a dashing escape from the Circle didn’t mean that Trystan was allowed to risk the same for his little sister. That didn’t stop Bethany from fawning after him whenever he visited; it was once a year, maybe twice if the Templars to the north were hot on his tail.

When the Blight started, Trystan hadn’t been sure what would become of his second cousin, and for a long time, he hadn’t known. It really shouldn’t have come as any surprise to him to learn that he’d made friends with Naoise Cousland and Alistair Theirin, the Heroes of Ferelden. It should have come as less of a surprise that he was already familiar with Isabela and Anders. Lovable Jurian, friendly Jurian; why can’t you be more like our cousin, Trystan?

Jealousy pooled in the pit of his stomach as Jurian crossed across the room in front of him to curl up in one of the plush chairs by the fireplace. Even with Anders nestled at his side, Trystan felt the urge to wrap his arm around him as if to make a point. Jurian looked exactly like an Amell grandchild should; long black hair that pooled down his shoulders like ink, dark and thick lashes that framed blue eyes, naturally red lips that stood out against his pale and freckled skin; if Trystan didn’t know better, he would say Jurian could have been a spitting image of his mother Revka, from the portraits that he had seen.

Trystan was anything but. He looked too much like Malcolm, and he knew it. Brown hair that was too flyaway for him to tame, brown eyes that had been likened to mud before, Malcolm’s prominent and aquiline nose that was crooked from one too many breaks that hadn’t healed properly. He didn’t look anything like an Amell, and he could never have the courage to sit like Jurian does, with a short bathrobe that rose up past his thighs and that plummeted down at the neckline to reveal the valley between his breasts. Lovely Jurian, he recalled, Jurian from the forests, Jurian in the poems. The thought of revealing himself like that made him nauseous in the pit of his stomach.

Isabela had done a triple-take, he knew, and even Fenris had paused to watch him walk across the room. If it wasn’t for the fact that Anders eyes were closed, exhausted from long hours in the clinic, Trystan knew he would be wondering if Anders’s eyes still followed his cousin like they did when they were younger, in the Circle.

Guilt was always quick to follow those thoughts. It wasn’t Anders’s fault, and if he was being honest with himself, it wasn’t Jurian’s, either. He had no business wishing for his cousin’s life. At least he still had his family; Jurian had no one to lean on but the rare times he would come to visit the estate in Kirkwall. It wasn’t like he lived there, a part of the family. Jurian had done anything he could to survive.

FIN

[lullabesstie]

Found this comment on Reddit. Couldn’t explain it better than this.

“It’s clear from Mist and Fury that the original ships were: Feysand, Nessian, Elucien, and Mor/Azriel. Like it’s so obvious the way she wrote Mor and Azriel; Mor even seems vaguely interested/torn about Az. Looking at interviews, SJM even talks about Elucien as a couple (eg where would they like to travel together, etc).

Flash forward to ACOWAR. For whatever reason (lack of chemistry with Az, wanting more diversity) SJM has Mor say that she prefers women. This time the Az-pining-for-Mor is more desperate/feels like a zero chance of being requited. SJM also introduces Az as a potential love interest for Elain because she loves throwing a wrench. Just because Elucien are mates doesn’t mean they’ll have it easy; SJM’s whole thing is angst. She had to throw in a love triangle to make it uncertain. This is the first couple where mate status is confirmed upon meeting.

But there’s a problem now. If Az and Mor are no longer endgame, who will they end up with? is it not suspicious that the two new characters introduced in SF (Gwyn and Emerie) just HAPPEN to be potentially be good partners for Az and Mor? Like it’s not a coincidence that Emerie looks at Mor and blushes, remarking how pretty she is. It’s not a coincidence that Az and Gwyn have so many interactions in the text. It’s not a coincidence that a “random side character” shows up in a bonus chapter.

When SJM created Gwyn and Emerie, it wasn’t just to give Nesta friends. These characters clearly didn’t exist when she wrote MAF. SJM wanted new characters that would solve her retcon of ending Az/Mor. She wanted to solve the Mor/Az retcon so bad that she created a NEW RETCON of Az going to Sangravah. Like why bother to add that detail if it’s not important.

Also: poor Lucien. His endgame heroine was supposed to be Nesta until SJM realized they would be terrible together and that Nessian had better chemistry. So she gives Elucien the mating bond. Like is she really going to fuck Lucien over TWICE? She loves him as a character and has put him through the wringer. Yes, I agree that SJM can change her mind and maybe is open to mate rejection, but Lucien has already switched love interests from Nesta to Elain! Who else is he going to switch to, considering that Jurian and Vassa are “at each other’s throats?”

Finally, please think about the number of books left. Ignoring novellas (which are probably gonna be fluffy ones like ACOFAS where nothing happens), there are two main books left. Two couples.

Option A:

• ⁠Gwynriel (Valkyrie growth, Illyrian rebellion, exploring Ramiel, Gwyn’s autumn heritage and maybe lightsinger?? powers)

• ⁠Elucien (Helion secret baby, defeating Koschei, freeing Vassa, fixing spring court)

Option B

• ⁠Elriel (mate rejection storyline, potentially some stuff above)

• ⁠?????

Literally WHO is the second book in this equation? Lucien and Vassa?? We barely know Vassa and there’s barely any connection to Night Court. And Lucien’s book is going to be depressing as fuck dealing with mate rejection; does anyone want to read two heavy books of rejection? Jurian and Vassa: again, we barely know them! At least with Tower of Dawn, Chaol had been a main character for a long time with POV. SJM will not do a full-length Emerie/Mor book as much as I would love for one. She’s very cognizant of criticism re: Mor bi rep in the past; she doesn’t want to open a can of worms and be accused of writing bad sapphic rep. If anything, I can see a fluffy Emerie/Mor novella with little angst (or them getting together in the background of other books).

So from a meta structural level, I don’t understand who the second couple will be if Elriel is endgame. Lucien/Vassa is the most plausible answer, but 1) we barely know Vassa, 2) she’s human and Lucien is immortal. So are we going to toss her into the Cauldron to make her immortal? Serious question, and 3) I don’t want TWO books about mate rejection, it’s depressing as hell. I can see one but not two.

But with Gwynriel and Elucien, you have enormous fan and audience interest in ALL FOUR CHARACTERS. They’re directly tied to Night Court and SJM so far has no intention of staying away from the core group.”

[stromuprisahat]

Finished A Court of WIngs and Ruin a while ago and I have some notes:

I’m starting to be allergic to specific terms, namely "mate" and "fe/male”. I get creeps every single time I see it on a page.

I have similar reaction to the Christian inspiration- starting with Miryam and her flock of winged soldiers, not nearly ending with Amren’s angelic reveal. That was absolutely disappointing revelation. So was her change into fae. Why does everyone have to become fae for their happily ever after?!

I also did not like the Slavic-ishness. There were moments when all those linguistic inspirations felt like WWII Eintopf- leather shoes included. Maybe a little less might be really more.

As for the plot, there was way too many surprise allies: Jurian, Eris, Helion in a way... Suddenly everyone wants to co-operate out of goodness of their hearts!

The worst part was- as I’m learning to expect- Feyre’s family. Like it or not, they WERE heavily abusive. Nesta and Elain going through traumatizing rebirth doesn’t make them better, yet they’re suddenly treated by the narrative as completely new, better people with no past to answer for. Their father naming ships after them and rallying forces to help Prythian doesn’t change anything either. It’s not like Hybern wouldn’t endanger him too.

I’ve read enough meta not to expect any better in the future.

[separatist-apologist]

Jurian meta?

There are 0 coherent, intelligent thoughts happening on this blog

[riddlecrux]

The quiet power of emotions - a study of Azriel's feelings (part one)

I would love to preface this meta with my favorite disclaimer that everything I will discuss is based on what I have gathered from SJM writing. The quotes used in this post will serve as a starting point for further analysis. Additionally, I will use symbolism, metaphors, and literary device methods to build up my reasoning and beliefs. On another note, this, as usual, is strictly pro-Elriel meta. If they are not your cup of tea and you wish to comment, please be civil and bring arguments supported by the text.

I've wanted to study Azriel’s behavior in ACOFAS, since it's an official novella and it was translated and published in many countries. Since it has come to my attention that some people say that without Azriel's POV, Elriel wouldn't have anything to be based on (which is totally wrong) I decided to tackle Azriel's behavior and show how he had exhibited his feelings for Elain even before ACOSF came out. The scene I would like to start with this series (meta series if I may call it that way) is the one where Rhys and Azriel talk about Illyria, Jurian, and Vassa. Rhys constantly observes Azriel, and he decides to drop this.

“Send Lucien, then. As our human emissary.” I studied the tenseness in Azriel’s shoulders, the shadows veiling half of him from the sunlight. “Lucien is away right now.”

We can see that Azriel is uncomfortable. He's tense and he even shields himself from Rhys' prying gaze. It's all because Lucien was mentioned - which is a bit telling at this point.

Az’s brows rose. “Where?” I winked at him. “You’re my spymaster. Shouldn’t you know?”

Rhys is kind of testing the waters as well, you can say he's railing up Azriel to bring some reaction. However, the question is why would he? What is the reason behind this behavior? It came out of nowhere in the novella, so it's even more surprising to us to reflect upon it, taking into account what transpired in the bonus POV in ACOSF.

Az crossed his arms, face as elegant and cold as the legendary dagger at his side. “I don’t make a point of looking after his movements.” “Why?” Not a flicker of emotion. “He is Elain’s mate.”

I highlighted Azriel's body language because it's very important. Here we have the notion of crossing arms, which can mean that someone is anxious, resistant, tense, insecure, afraid, or defensive. As we can pinpoint some of these emotions are present in this particular scene - Azriel definitely shields himself up, not only by physically crossing arms but also in the indignation of his expressionless face. The fascinating thing is the addition of the comparison between Azriel's cold face and his legendary dagger - which only further solidifies that Truth Teller is in fact a big part of Shadowsinger. Summarizing up with what we got from these passages we have: - tenseness - obstructing oneself from the view - defensive stance - crossing arms - coldness - emotionless

I waited. “It would be an invasion of her privacy to track him.” To know when and if Lucien sought her out. What they did together.

Here comes my favorite part in this conversation - Rhys seeing himself in Azriel at that moment and Azriel keeping in mind Elain's privacy and agency. Some people try to paint Azriel as some sort of a toxic guy, who is so traumatized that he doesn't value anyone but himself. I'm wondering where this reasoning came from - since nothing exclusively supports that theory. It's clear that Azriel shows respect towards Elain, as stated above in the quotes - even if at this moment, he is clearly showing signs of jealousy. Which, once again is totally fine. All bat boys showed jealousy throughout the books, and every one of them loved their significant other with all their flaws and weaknesses. But going back to the quote, we are met with the assumption about Azriel's decision of not spying on Lucien - given by Rhysand. Nevertheless, something must have had triggered such response to Azriel's behavior and his stance - that's why I strongly believe that Rhys knew what Azriel felt like (in ACOFAS he's testing the waters, trying to see if his assumptions are right or wrong, in ACOSF he pulls a rank because of the consequences of the possible outcome with Lucien being so close.)

“You sure about that?” I asked quietly. Azriel’s Siphons guttered, the stones turning as dark and foreboding as the deepest sea. “Where did Lucien go.”

Rhys noticed and understood that his assumptions about Azriel's feelings and emotions are correct, that's why his tone changed. He is constantly observing and giving us very detailed descriptions of the changes undergoing in Azriel's persona while discussing Lucien (and inwardly Elain.) Now, let's look at the metaphor used to underline his emotions in relation to his Siphons. Azriel’s Siphons guttered, the stones turning as dark and foreboding as the deepest sea. - gutter - flicker and burn unsteadily - foreboding - a feeling that something bad will happen; fearful apprehension

SJM used these words in such a situation - a whole sentence that indicates turmoil that is happening inside Azriel. Behind his aloof expression, we got to know that his emotions are restless, that what he is experiencing is sound and present at this moment. We see that by the description of his Siphons - turning dark at the mention of Lucien's possible whereabouts. We don't necessarily know what Azriel thought - if it was apprehension connected to the possibility of Lucien being in the same house, near Elain, or even somewhere where Azriel wouldn't have expected him to be. Judging by the course of the conversation, I would be inclined to believe that it was thought of Lucien being close to Elain.

I straightened at the pure order in the words. But I said, voice slipping into a drawl, “He went to the Spring Court. He’ll be there for Solstice.”

As we are in Rhys POV we can see that he has been caught off guard by the way Azriel delivers his line, yet he masks it with a drawl. Was it because something that Rhys suspected came true? As in, for example, some validation about Azriel and Elain's relationship? We can guess, however, the text clearly states that Rhys was somehow surprised by the tone of his friend. The pure order is what initially made me reread ACOFAS and this scene few times since it carries a heavy chunk of foreshadowing, but also the weight of Azriel's emotions.

Azriel doesn't let anything on his face, which is almost devoid of emotions while talking to Rhys about Lucien - yet, we get so many descriptions about the way his tone changes, his body language, his Siphons, and gaze. Even if he doesn't show externally that he is feeling all those emotions, that doesn't mean that he lacks them. Because, clearly what we have in the text, suggests that Azriel exhibits symptoms of jealousy. This is completely understandable since in the books we get to know that he and Elain have already started getting to know each other off the pages. Another interesting thing is, how structured and written this scene is. We have an insight into Rhysand's thoughts and he is thinking about Feyre and Tamlin.

With Tamlin, it was more complicated than that. More complicated than I let myself usually dwell on. He was still in love with Feyre. I couldn’t blame him for it. Even if it made me want to rip out his throat. I shoved the thought away.

Rhysand acknowledges the fact that the whole thing with Tamlin is complicated, as he repeats in his mind - the situation was something that literally destroyed one of the Courts. It's also peculiar and worth noticing that Rhys is aware of the love Tamlin has for Feyre, and even if he knows that, he is ready to kill Tamlin.

In the contrast, the talk is about Azriel, Lucien, and... Elain. Another triangle that is, in fact, complicated.

“I’ll discuss Vassa and Jurian with Lucien when he returns. See if he’s up for another visit.” I angled my head. “Do you think he can handle being around Graysen?” Az’s expressionless face was precisely the reason he’d never lost to us at cards. “Why should I be the judge of that?”

Rhys asks about Lucien and how Azriel sees him behaving around Graysen, which in my opinion is another instance of testing Spymaster. I angled my head, which is what Rhysand does and synonym to angle is tilt. Once again we are going to look at what does body language says about it. It can indicate curiosity, suspicion, and in some cases even uncertainty. In this particular moment, I believe it's curiosity mixed with suspicion - Rhys has been observing Azriel the moment he changed the subject of the conversation to Lucien. We also have another description of Azriel's expressionless face - showing us, readers, that Rhys notes the changes in his behavior. Azriel even proceeds with questioning his friend about the purpose of that inquiry and how he of all people is the one who is capable of being a judge in this case. I think we can see it as some sort of dodging, stalling even.

“You mean to tell me that you weren’t bluffing when you said you didn’t track Lucien’s every movement?” Nothing. Absolutely nothing on that face, on his scent. The shadows, whatever the hell they were, hid too well. Too much. Azriel only said coldly, “If Lucien kills Graysen, then good riddance.”

Even if Azriel is described as expressionless and almost emotionless in this scene, we do see the moments when his feelings came up to the surface. Just like here, Azriel bottles down his anger and other emotions, letting out only his coldness. However, the question is why? Why so much iciness and apprehension? If the conversation and subjects of it weren't important to him, he would have probably behaved as usual - with his aloofness, but not necessarily hostility hid behind the frostiness. What's even more notable is the fact that Rhys comments about how his shadows hid his emotions/feelings, even on his scent. Azriel did it on purpose, he covered himself so he wouldn't be detected - or better to say to cover up his true emotions that Rhysand could have easily spotted. The biggest tell about it is the addition of "too much". If there wasn't anything to hide or the emotions under the cover were vain or small - Rhysand wouldn't have had added that thought.

No. Sort of. “I’d think bankrolling her apartment and drinking was gift enough.” Az ran a hand through his dark hair. “Are we …” Unusual for him to stumble with words. “Are we supposed to get the sisters presents?”

The conversation changes its topic - and Rhys starts to discuss sisters and presents. We see that Azriel's first reaction is rooted in body language. He is running his hand through his hair which suggests nervousness, frustration, stress, or even a sign of disagreement over whatever is being said. From all these things I think we can lean towards nervousness the most or even frustration - since just before that leap of the topic he was immersed deep down inside his feelings and tried to mask his true emotions about Lucien and Elain. Another thing is that Rhysand also notices that it's unusual for Azriel to stutter, stumble with his words which he does after he runs his hand through his hair. He's nervous.

“No,” I said, and meant it. Az seemed to loose a sigh of relief. Seemed to, since all but a breath of air passed from his lips. “I don’t think Nesta gives a shit, and I don’t think Elain expects to receive anything from us. I’d leave the sisters to exchange presents amongst themselves.” Az nodded distantly.

Rhysand doesn't even know if he can call Azriel's sigh a sigh since it seems that all it was, was just a short exhale. I do think that it was a sigh - of relief. However, we can speculate about what the relief is connected to. If it is for not buying gifts or maybe because the conversation steered in another direction and all these pent-up emotions, feelings, and even frustrations could finally be released? What's clear is that Azriel feels a lot, in this scene particularly. He is hiding it behind his shadows, obstructing it from Rhys, but also from the reader's point of view. Nevertheless, SJM used an enormous chunk of body language to show us what Azriel is feeling - jealousy. Another thing is that he seemed to think about what's being said about sisters and their gifts - because he was described to be nodding distantly.

Az nodded knowingly. He’d always understood me best—more than the others. Save my mate. Whether it was his gifts that allowed him to do so, or merely the fact that he and I were more similar than most realized, I’d never learned.

I love this quote and that it comes from Rhysand's POV as well. It shows that Rhysand knew and his suspicions were, in fact, correct - because he probably saw himself and his infatuation with Feyre in the way Azriel behaved with Elain. I do also think that it will come back in the next book - the bond between Azriel and Rhysand, and probably some of the small fallout because of what had happened with them in Azriel's POV. SJM put Lucien, Elain, and Azriel in here, while Rhysand thought about his situation with Feyre and Tamlin. Two triangles, two different, complicated outcomes, and relationships. Forbidden romance? Yes. Politically connected? Yes. Could start a war? Yes. There are so many similarities between them.

The thing with Azriel is that his feelings aren't over the top - he's not vocal about them. The power of his emotions lies in the quietness and his actions. If we sat back and looked at scenes in which he acts towards Mor or Elain, we can see that his strength in loving someone isn't connected to words, but rather than that - presence and behavior.

[elriell]

Thank you very much! I find it hard to cut them back and be less detailed to be honest. So let’s dive in to it, two quick points before we start;

There will be no hate here as every ship is valid, I simply going to explain why I believe Elriel is more likely to happen than Elucien. (IMO)

Secondly, if there’s one thing for certain with SJM it is that nothing is certain with her.

Of course like any reader I am nervous for what might happen but looking at it textually speaking I do not think we have much to worry about... Not to mention that if we look at SJM past behaviour we can extrapolate several things.

When Sarah falls in love with a character she is very willing to shift all plans to accommodate them, we have a good example of this with Rowan, once she began writing him she fell in love with him and Chaol was quickly pushed aside. I am sure she has done plenty of interviews saying as much from memory.

SJM Live

- Azriel has a lot of shit going on that we’re going to be able to see in this book.

- Azriel’s song is Mr. Brightside for the vibes. Not necessarily the lyrics. SJM is kinda obsessed with him and telling his story in the future.

- We’re getting to see more of Azriel’s cheeky humor in this one.

 - SJM can’t wait to see theories after everyone reads Azriel’s pov. There’s a lot of crumbs that have been scattered around for his journey.      [ref]

It is safe to say that in her own words Sarah is obsessed with Azriel, which gives us a good idea about who she wants to write about next. This is the same vibe we got off her when she was introducing Rowan to the TOG universe and I think it is a pretty easy assumption to believe the next book is Elain’s too.

Not to mention SJM is not afraid to shake it up and swap out the LI you think it will be, Chaol/Rowan & Tamlin/Rhysand. It is not far fetched to think she would do the same with Elain and Lucien. Not to mention the idea of such a repetitive story ARC like Mates (after Feysand and Nessian) could easily be avoided by doing something like a rejected-bond or second bond.  

I really could not tell you what I think Azriel’s ARC/what he is dealing with is because we have so little information on him all I know is I cannot wait to read it all. He is easily one of my favourite characters, he is so mysterious to us. 

I think Elain’s ARC is going to be all about choice. And we know from SJM that you can have more than one mate.

Elain said, her voice breaking. “It means nothing. I don’t care who decided it or why they did—”“You belong to him.”“I belong to no one. But my heart belongs to you.”

“to my sister and the shadowsinger in the garden—“that is what she needs? Is there no free will? What if Lucien wishes the union but she doesn’t?”

As far as I am concerned if you look at all SJM couples from all her books there is always that initial Spark™ and I think that impartially if you look at Elain and Lucien they have not had it at all (bar maybe the moment he scents the bond), Elain is completely disinterested in him. In the bond as a whole.

“if it wasn’t for Vassa.” A twitch of the lips, a spark in that russet eye. “She’s doing well enough. Savoring every second of her temporary freedom.”

Azriel mastered himself enough to say, “Thank you.” I’d never seen his hazel eyes so bright, the hues of green amid the brown and gray like veins of emerald.

See? SPARK, literally and figuratively.

You could even argue that she was you know, really struggling at the time the bond snapped in to place so it wasn’t the time for them but then we are given Azriel as a mirror to the situation and we see despite her troubles she is capable of interacting with someone without disinterest. Can and has been attracted too, can smile and laugh with someone despite being upset over Graysen.

Examples;

“You’re welcome to stay for the night,” I said, since Elain certainly wasn’t going to. Lucien lowered his hands into his lap and leaned back in the armchair. “Thank you, but I have other plans.” I prayed he didn’t catch the slightly relieved glimmer on Elain’s face.”

“Azriel smiled faintly. “Would you like me to show you the garden?” But Elain did not balk from him, did not shy away as she nodded—just once. Azriel, graceful as any courtier, offered her an arm.

“And do what?” “Spend time with her.” “I don’t think she’ll tolerate two minutes alone with me, so forget about two weeks.” His jaw worked as he studied the fire.”

Elain sat silently at one of the wrought-iron tables, a cup of tea before her. Azriel was sprawled on the chaise longue across the gray stones, sunning his wings and reading what looked to be a stack of reports—likely information on the Autumn Court that he planned to present to Rhys once he’d sorted through it all. Already dressed for the Hewn City—the brutal, beautiful armor so at odds with the lovely garden. And my sister sitting within it.

“You as well.” A sidelong glance toward Elain, swift and fleeting. “Both of you.” Elain said nothing, but at least she bowed her head in thanks.”

Azriel and Elain remained in the sitting room, my sister showing him the plans she’d sketched to expand the garden in the back of the town house, using the seeds and tools my family had given her tonight. Whether he cared about such things, I had no idea, but I sent him a silent prayer of thanks for his kindness before Rhys and I slipped upstairs.

“There were only a few presents left—Lucien’s. [...] I handed Elain the small box with her name on it. Her smile faded as she opened it. “Enchanted gloves,” she read from the card. “That won’t tear or become too sweaty while gardening.” She set aside the box without looking at it for longer than a moment. And I wondered if she preferred to have torn and sweaty hands, if the dirt and cuts were proof of her labor. Her joy.”

“He cares for you.” “He doesn’t know me.”

“You don’t give him the chance to even try to do so.” Her mouth tightened, the only sign of anger in her graceful countenance. “I don’t want a mate. I don’t want a male.” 

“You are his mate. Do you even know what that means?” “It means nothing,” Elain said, her voice breaking. “It means nothing. I don’t care who decided it or why they did—”“You belong to him.”“I belong to no one. But my heart belongs to you.”

Again like I said, textually when we look at it all together Sarah is not exactly planting the seeds for them at all, now of course there is still time for that to change, and of course we only have a limited perspective but as a reader it doesn’t come across positively. Even if you consider Nessian who have been against each other from the start have had the seeds planted, even as they argued they had tension and emotion.

Sarah has given Elucien so little of anything positive or negative comparitively, it is like the are barely registered. 

Not to mention she puts across Azriel as a candidate time and time again, and as a writer you would not do that for nothing.

“She doesn’t need anything,” Azriel answered without so much as looking at Lucien.

“You know them better than I do. But I will say that Lucien is loyal—fiercely so.” “So is Azriel.”

“Why not make them mates?” I mused. “Why Lucien?” “I’d keep that question from Lucien.” “I’m serious.” I turned toward him and crossed my arms. “What decides it? Who decides it?”

“What if”—I jerked my chin toward the window, to my sister and the shadowsinger in the garden—“that is what she needs? Is there no free will? What if Lucien wishes the union but she doesn’t?”

SJM is sowing doubt at every turn. Then to top it off we are introduced to Vassa through Lucien, and now we finally see him have a spark, blush, and speak of her with almost worship as Feyre points out.

“I …” Lucien fumbled for the words. Not out of some lie or excuse, I realized a moment later. Realized when he said, “I’ve been at the Spring Court every now and then. But if I’m not here in Velaris, I’ve mostly been staying with Jurian. And Vassa.”

“Not for long—not if Vassa has anything to do with it.” “You sound like an acolyte.”

Lucien blushed, glancing at Elain. “She’s got a foul temper and a fouler mouth.” 

Now, I can understand the belief that Elucien could be endgame but you simply cannot deny that before that Elriel & LucienxVassa is going to have to be explored to a degree. 

“Az ran a hand through his dark hair. “Are we …”Unusual for him to stumble with words. “Are we supposed to get the sisters presents?”

“I …” Lucien fumbled for the words. Not out of some lie or excuse, I realized a moment later. Realized when he said, “I’ve been at the Spring Court every now and then. But if I’m not here in Velaris, I’ve mostly been staying with Jurian. And Vassa.”

We also see both couples paralleled. I mean in all honesty I could go on and on and on, there is so many qoutes that I could add but this will just get longer and longer. I am going to link my full Elriel Analysis, and some other stuff about them and rejecting the bond below.

As for our fox boy Lucien!

I really like him, and I do feel like he has a very interesting journey ahead, between his true paternity, Vassa and the mating bond he has a lot coming up for him. I am excited to see where the band of exhiles might take us, despite Feyre’s mockery I am excited that after so long of not belonging anywhere he may have found people to call his own.

Look if Elucien happens after a genuine build up, I will be happy to read their journey, of course I will be very disappointed for Elriel because I truly believe they are the best fit but I am not against Elucien if anything I think Sarah is, more than anyone else.

Like I said I could go on for years, and honestly in 9 days hopefully we have a better idea of the future to base our opinions on. 

I am tagging this Anti-Elucien, not that I feel it is but I don’t want Elucien shippers to have to see it, so if they blacklist the tag the can avoid the negativity ❤︎

[Elriel Meta] [Elriel Kindred Spirits] [Elriel Choice 1 & 2] [Garden] [Thoughts]

[bookofmirth]

I agree with the majority that Azriel is not fit to be a ruler of any court but do you think Elain could be connected to the 8th court somehow? I know Nesta is the one with the tattoo but I guess I'm just confused why people would think Elain would be the one to revive the 8th court and not Nesta. Thoughts?

You mean the Dusk Court, right? I know that this theory is floating around but I honestly don't know that much about it. I still prefer analyzing what we already have over making predictions about what could be! So I don't read a ton of theory stuff. I prefer meta.

I have no idea what this theory actual entails which means I might not even answer your question, really 💀but...

If there were to be another court, that feels like a completely new story line. We already have a ton of stuff going on in this world? (thanks @evalinashryver @xnightwolfx @kat-renae and @hellacioushag for helping me remember these)

The fallout from Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie doing the Blood Rite which could reignite the Illyrian uprising that was just swept under the rug.

We have Vassa's curse

Jurian and Vassa?

Koschei going after the trove for what goal?

There are three mortal queens still, with unclear motives

Speaking of, there is a fourth Dread Trove item

We have the Valkyries and Illyrians potentially teaming up (so we'll see more of Nesta and Gwyn, likely)

We have Lucien and his Daddy Helion reveal

Eris trying to off Daddy Beron to become High Lord of Autumn

Speaking of daddies, who is Gwyn's?

We have the elucien mating bond that has to be dealt with

Tamlin still beasting it (which does matter, the Spring Court is currently vulnerable)

Whatever Mor was seeing in the woods at her house, plus whatever she is up to when she goes to Vallahan

Beron & Co. getting access to Velaris

Azriel and his whatever the hell feelings with Mor

Az's mom? Mommy issues?

Azriel's Broadway debut

Mor coming out for really real!

What are Elain's powers?

Is Elain sus? What is she sneaking off for?

Az and Lucien and Elain having Healing and Growth

It just seems like a neat theory that doesn't really need to happen? It's not like we are starved for plot lines or questions about the characters. There are seven courts because seven is an important number (thanks bookclub for reminding me of that).

I'm assuming that the Dusk Court would take the place of the Middle? If we look at the map, that's weird placement. The order from south to north is 1) the Middle, 2) Dawn 3) Day 4) Night. This is probably a silly detail no one else cares about except for @rayonfrozenwings but the lack of symmetry is weird? Dusk should be in between Day and Night???

I don't mind the idea and aesthetics of another court! But yeah, I'm not sure what would tie one sister to it over another, let alone when it would happen in the first place, given how many unresolved plot threads we have right now. And I really, really don't see how it could be tied to any of the ships - e*riel because like you said Az would be a shitty High Lord, nessian because they already have the House of Wind and a good friend group in the Night Court, or elucien because Lucien is already heir of Day.

[nikethestatue]

I’m still new to the acotar fandom and I’m kinda shocked how this fandom doesn’t know how to fanon ship, like, in a normal fandom it would have a lot of wlw and mlm ships. The only popular mlm ships I’ve seen in the fandom are between the batboys who are adopted brothers 🥴 (very weird considering everything is problematic for acotar fans) I might be wrong by I haven’t seen any popular wlw ship and that’s very weird to me. Only mor and emerie and still only 10% of people talk about them. The fandom only ship what >they believe< will be canon and then get mad when they’re wrong. In conclusion: this fandom is toxic but also boring as hell.

Welcome to this fandom, Anon!

There aren’t! The only one which I read was Mor and Elain. 😕 I think some of it has to do with lack of female characters! There are actually quite few - 3 sisters, 2 are taken, 1 is waiting. Can’t really ship them with each other. 😬 Mor—obviously, and then now there is Gwyn and Emerie. Thats about it.

Somewhat more male characters. Like I’ve always assumed that Helion and Rhys had something going on UTM, maybe Eris and Rhys. Tamlin and Lucien, pretty obvious, I think. One popular one lately is Az and Eris.

At least people started talking Gwyn and Elain!

You hit the nail on the head—everything is problematic! You say one thing and people lose their fucking minds. There are 100K word metas on toxic femininity, toxic masculinity and lots of other bullshit. And you get people who want to ‘educate’ you and show you the error of your ways. Never mind that you are taking about winged fairies.

Once I said that Vassa, Jurian and Lucien are probably in a poly relationship and it was ‘problematic’.

I’ll probably get angry anons after this saying how this ask/answer is toxic. 😂😂 and how i should check myself.

[princessofmerchants]

ACOSF SPOILERS

I am ready to make a first pass at theorizing who I think will be the featured characters in the remaining books 🧐

Earlier tonight I posted an inventory of all of the POVs that have been featured in all of the ACOTAR books we have so far.

This was a super helpful exercise because I now think I can see a logical way forward that maximizes SJM's freedom to be creative, lets her reveal her final pairings at the latest possible moment (great for selling books), and offers a path through the plotlines she started in ACOSF.

My predictions below are heavily influenced by the patterns I saw through listing all the POVs in the post linked above.

They are also based on where I think SJM is taking the meta story arc (Koschei), when I think that meta arc will resolve, and by whom (more on my ideas on this here).

For posterity, I am going to share my current predictions now, acknowledging I may change my mind well before the next book is confirmed.

Here are my current predictions for whose POVs will be featured in the books after ACOSF (which was ACOTAR 4), and in what order; the POVs I indicate will point to the romantic pairings in each (with a slight exception for the first in the list):

ACOTAR 4.5 (shorter novella) — Mor will be primary POV with Azriel a featured POV as well. Story will take place both in the present and in the past. We'll learn through Mor's POV what happened between her, Eris, and Azriel at the border of the Autumn Court 500 years ago. We might also get glimpses of the first war through Mor's perspective, experience aspects of her love story with Andromache, and meet Miryam and Drakon (and maybe Jurian) in the past. Most importantly, this book will include Mor coming out to Azriel, and them talking through and taking the first steps toward healing from 500 years of angst and deception. Book resolves with the beginning of a romance between Mor and Emerie, which hopefully will have time to develop and become established by the end of the book. This comes about by Mor training with the Valkyries in the present after she wraps up her current work in Vallahan, in conjunction with finally telling Azriel about her sexuality. This book may introduce POVs from Emerie, Gwyn, Elain, and Lucien, but given the focus of the book, the latter two would be more likely as bonus chapters (not necessarily in relation to each other), if SJM could get away with bonus chapters in a novella. Nesta and Cassian POVs might also make brief appearances. This book, while resolving in a well-deserved romantic pairing for Mor, I think will primarily be centered on her, and will be her healing journey, as opposed to following the formula for a traditional romance.

ACOTAR 5 (full-length novel): Azriel will be one of the two primary POVs for this next book. The other primary POV will be either Gwyn or Elain. SJM gets to wait until the announcement of this book to show her final ship cards, especially if she continues to drop breadcrumbs for each of the possible endgame ships in the novella. Again, the novella would feature Azriel in Mor's healing journey, which would set the foundation for his own, but this next full-length novel is where his own main journey will play out. The plot-related conflict will be something related to Illyria, so that part of his journey will require him to come to terms with his Illyrian heritage, and I secretly think whatever the plot-conflict is, Koschei will still be the puppetmaster pulling the strings from his enchanted lake on the continent. If Lucien has not yet had his POV featured in the books, he would most certainly get at least a bonus chapter in this one to set up for the next book. If the Azriel romantic pairing winds up being Gwyn, Elain's POV would also be featured to some extent in this book as well.

ACOTAR 6 (full-length novel): Lucien will be one of the two main POVs for this book, and it will encompass a creative adaptation of The Firebird story in which Lucien, with his romantic partner, will journey to the continent, and defeat Koschei. If his romantic pairing winds up being with Elain, she will have the other primary POV in this story. This, then, would be Elain's book. (If she is meant to be with Azriel, the book before this would be Elain's book, though she would be sharing it with Azriel).

SPECIAL NOTE: Whichever book is Elain's book, despite the fact that my predictions lead with the male counterpart, I feel confident SJM will in fact write and develop the story to center Elain moreso than the male in the story. (I want this to be the case, and based on what we have heard from SJM, I feel confident she will lead with Elain over her male romantic counterpart, because she thrives when writing the stories of strong female characters.)

That's where my head is right now. The Mor novella as the next book feels to me like a very strong possibility, so that is my current working theory on what book is coming next and what its focus will be.

I'd love to hear others' thoughts on these theories and predictions! 🤓 (reply here or my asks are open✌🏻)

[moiraineswife]

Sixth Queen Theory

Lauren is theorising again. Duck for cover people this will not end well. But I was having some Thoughts about the mystery sixth queen. I think the biggest theory for this so far is that she’s Feyre’s mother and I just...Can’t quite get on board with that, there’s something about it that bothers me. SO. Here is an alternative: 

‘I said, “Where is Father?” It felt like the only safe thing to say. “In Neva,” Nesta said, naming one of the largest cities on the continent. “Trading with some merchants from the other half of the world. And attending a summit about the threat above the wall. A threat I wonder if you’ve come back to warn us about.” 

This is what Nesta says about her father’s absence when Feyre returns to her sisters in ACOMAF. But later on Feyre says this: 

“My father is away on business—and attending a meeting in Neva about the threat of Prythian.” “Prythian?” Cassian said, twisting toward us. “Not Hybern?” “It’s possible my sisters were mistaken—your lands are foreign to them. They merely said ‘above the wall.’ I assumed they thought it was Prythian.”

“Where is the sixth?”

The ancient queen, her blue gown heavy and rich, merely said, “She is unwell, and could not make the journey.” 

 In the letter the golden queen leaves for Rhys and the others she says this: 

‘Do not trust the others. The sixth queen was not ill.’ 

This is obviously what sparked the speculation but I don’t think the queen is Feyre’s mother and secretly stayed away for that. I think she was at that convention in Neva. And I think it was about the threat of Prythian. Not Hybern. Why bring that up again if not to hint at that idea? I think even then the queens were working with Hybern and Jurian. 

 “Because the King of Hybern is indeed about to launch a war, and he wants to resurrect Jurian to do it.”

Jurian—the ancient warrior whose soul Amarantha had imprisoned within that hideous ring as punishment for killing her sister. The ring that contained his eye …

[...]

Mor groaned, “Why would the king want to resurrect Jurian? He was so odious. All he liked to do was talk about himself.”

 Why indeed did the king want to resurrect Jurian? The answer was that he became an emissary to the queens. 

“You made a very big mistake,” the king said to Rhysand, my mate’s arms banded around me, “the day you went after the Book. I had no need of it. I was content to let it lie hidden. But the moment your forces started sniffing around … I decided who better than to be my liaison to the human realm than my newly reborn friend, Jurian? He’d just finished all those months of recovering from the process, and longed to see what his former home had become, so he was more than happy to visit the continent for an extended visit.”

Indeed the queens smiled at him—bowed their heads. Rhys’s arms tightened in silent warning.

“The brave, cunning Jurian, who suffered so badly at the end of theWar—now my ally. Here to help me convince these queens to aid in my cause. For a price of his own, of course, but it has no bearing here. And wiser to work with me, my men, than to allow you monsters in the Night Court to rule and attack. Jurian was right to warn their Majesties that you’d try to take the Book—that you would feed them lies of love and goodness, when he had seen what the High Lord of the Night Court was capable of. The hero of the human forces, reborn as a gesture to the human world of my good faith. I do not wish to invade the continent—but to work with them.

 I feel like this all but proves this theory. We know that there is a summit happening in Neva, on the continent, that Feyre’s father attended to consider the threat that Prythian presents. We know that the Sixth Queen was missing during this time as well. We know that Jurian was sent as an emissary to the queens and that he visited the continent for an extended period of time. He was with the sixth mortal queen and those on the continent convincing them to ally with Hybern and go to war against Prythian. 

TL;DR: The queens were always working for Hybern and the Sixth was away not due to illness but because she was on the continent working to turn those people against Prythian and have them ally with Hybern. 

(I’m definitely making another post about Jurian because that....Is going to be relevant in ACOWAR and no-one is really talking about it that much but it scares me.) 

[transprincecaspian]

@daggerbean tagged me back for a WIP weekend (and it was a beautiful piece of art) and so since I’m on my break, I thought I’d share this WIP of a DA2 ficlet I’m working on :3

“I thought the Witch of the Wilds only kept daughters as her apprentices,” the soldier—Aveline—said from behind Trystan. He didn’t turn to look at her, his gaze solely locked on his cousin.

“Oh, but there are always uses for a pretty young lad!” Flemeth laughed, resting a clawed hand on Jurian’s shoulder. If Trystan didn’t know better, he might have thought that his cousin looked tense. “And I am not one so willing to waste a mage with such natural-borne talent. He can accompany you to Kirkwall. A favor for a favor.”

It sounded too good to be true—and too easy. Trystan scowled at his cousin; no doubt he had some motive in this, another ulterior game he was playing that he had dragged them all into. If only he could’ve done it sooner. Maybe Carver wouldn’t be dead.

The guilt stung. It wasn’t Jurian’s fault. That fault was solely his own.

“As you say, mistress.” Jurian spoke and broke the silence, and an amulet was dropped into his hand. Before Trystan had a chance to question it, Flemeth turned away in a burst of bright light, taking the shape of a dragon once more. At least their path to the Waking Sea would be clear.

FIN

[jatracei]

Resenha #352: Corte de Asas e Ruína

por Juliana Arruda

SINOPSE:

O terceiro volume da série best-seller Corte de Espinhos e Rosas, da mesma autora da saga Trono de Vidro em “Corte de Asas e Ruína" a guerra se aproxima, um conflito que promete devastar Prythian. Em meio à Corte Primaveril, num perigoso jogo de intrigas e mentiras, a Grã-Senhora da Corte Noturna esconde seu laço de parceria e sua verdadeira lealdade. Tamlin está fazendo acordos com o invasor, Jurian recuperou suas forças e as rainhas humanas prometem se alinhar aos desejos de Hybern em troca de imortalidade. Enquanto isso Feyre e seus amigos precisam aprender em quais Grãos-Senhores confiar, e procurar aliados nos mais improváveis lugares. Porém, a Quebradora da Maldição ainda tem uma ou duas cartas na manga antes que sua ilha queime.

RESENHA:

Esta história literalmente abrange ação e guerra.

"Sabíamos - todos nós sabíamos. Sabíamos que não sairíamos com vida daquele campo de batalha."

Bem, todo mundo sabe que no final do livro dois se encerra com Feyre se infiltrando na Corte Primaveril, né? Tamlin acha que ela estava enfeitiçada por Rhysand, agora que ela está “livre”, pode voltar finalmente pra “casa” e em “segurança”.

O caso é que Feyre agora é Grã-Senhora da Corte Noturna e está ali como espiã. Ela precisa saber o que o embuste do Tamlin está tramando com Hybern e, ao mesmo tempo, precisa se vingar do Grão-Senhor da Corte Primaveril, que expôs as irmãs Archeron ao perigo do Caldeirão (que, aliás, permanece em atividade).

O que aconteceu às irmãs da Feyre, ela nunca ia perdoar.

E coitada da Ianthe e do Tamlin, viu (SÓ QUE NÃO!!!).

Em meio aos conflitos que Feyre começa a lançar dentro da Corte Primaveril, existe uma Guerra prestes a eclodir contra o Rei Hybern em Prythian. O livro Corte de Asas e Ruínas traz muita ação, batalhas e também muitas mortes. Personagens secundários ganham destaque (principalmente Nestha e Elain).

"Se Elaine era uma flor naquele acampamento de guerra, então Nestha… ela era uma espada recém-forjada, esperando para tirar sangue."

Personagens que são apenas mencionados nos livros anteriores finalmente dão as caras... E que reunião entre os Grãos-Senhores foi aquela? Eu fico eufórica só de imaginar! No livro dois eu amava o Cassian (ainda amo, claro), mas o Azriel me conquistou tanto, tanto, tanto nesse livro! <3

Surpresas acontecem durante a história, algumas são bem positivas com direitos a vários e vários surtos; e outras bem negativas, com muito chorôrô (muito mesmo). Existiram alguns acontecimentos no final que não me agradaram porque pra mim não fez muito sentido... É como se em todos os livros os personagens se comportassem de tal forma e, quando chegam ao final, são totalmente diferentes... Ainda assim, o livro não deixa de ser muito bom (3x).

Apesar de ter toda essa adrenalina correndo nas veias enquanto lemos, também sentimos muito amorzinho com o nosso shipp favorito: Feysand!

"E se eu não tivesse conhecido minha parceira… Eu teria esperado quinhentos anos mais por você. Mil anos. E, se esse foi todo o tempo que nós foi permitido… a espera valeu a pena."

Eu juro que tento não surtar em fofurice com esses dois, mas é impossível! Vale a pena cada página lida e o tempo usado para ler!

"A grande alegria e honra de minha vida foi conhecê-los… E sou grata, mais do que posso expressar, por ter recebido esse tempo com vocês."

Compre na Amazon:

LINKS RELACIONADOS:

Resenha – Corte de Espinhos e Rosas 

Resenha – Corte de Névoa e Fúria 

5 motivos para não odiar a Nestha Archeron 

5 motivos para amar e odiar a Morrigan

Dica: Dois livros favoritos de fantasia que você não pode deixar de ler 

Como anda a sua meta de leitura?

5 quotes que eu amo em ACOMAF

[acourtofstarsanddreams-blog]

[ACOWAR SPOILERS/SPECULATION] I 100% think Lucien's eye can see through glamour and can see Feyre's tattoo on her right arm. He's a lot smarter than we give him credit for.

Anon, I’m right there with you! Here’s some things I found from that stood out to me to support this theory, and also some things I’ve just seen in general that lead me to believe his eye is more than for decoration. (SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT) 

In answer to Jurian’s taunting of Lucien, and questioning of who made Lucien’s eye, Lucien answers: 

(Lucien) “I have an old friend at the Dawn Court. She’s skilled at tinkering–blending magic and machinery. Tamlin got her to craft it for me at great risk.” 

So, obviously it’s metal and not a normal, seeing eye, but it is magical. Was that magic used simply to craft it and allow it to function movement-wise, as a normal eye would, or something else? I’m gonna go with something else, obviously, as Feyre seems to be aware of his eye and noticing it a lot more frequently. And also, what was so risky about crafting a fake eye for an injured fae? 

“Lucien finally looked at me, the intricate pieces and carvings on the metal eye much more dazzling up close.”

She asks him on their first trip into the woods to search for holes in The Wall, what does that thing even see? Lucien doesn’t answer, and even when Feyre asks if he trusts her, he still says nothing. He’s suspicious of her, for good reason, but I think he knows that she is his friend and that whatever she’s doing, she’s doing for good reason. 

My guess/speculation at this point is that maybe his eye can see through minor glamours and spells. I’m going to venture a guess and say the carvings on his eye themselves are significant, maybe they’re spells or enchantments that allow him to see certain things. Idk if that would mean he could see Feyre’s tattoo or not, since she’s very powerful, but it would certainly be cool if he could! 

Sorry this turned into a mini meta lol. 

[separatist-apologist]

Ah it’s probably the tumblr search system too lol. But yeah I just love your Jurian meta so I wanted to look it up!

I never think to store those for later use. If you find it, like it and I'll add it to the meta section of my fic list so you don't ever have to poke around again

[jorammiireads]

ACoWaR Callout- LGBTQ+ Edition (The Twins)

** NB: I was going to make this one post to talk about all of the harmful representation, but it got really long so I will be posting several different posts for every representation I find. **

1. The Twins- Dagdan and Brannagh

2. Gay High Lord of Dawn- Thesan and Gay Lesser Faeries- Nephelle

3. Bisexual Helion

4. Mor

I’m probably not going to write a full review (right now) because this book has other more systemic problems (racism, “feminism”, abuse, sacrifice) and also has some positive aspects within the series and that would have to be addressed separately.

What I am going to do is write about the harmful representation of lesbians, gay males, bisexuals, and asexuals. 

First things first, I am glad that (other than the twins), no LGBTQ+ was hurt for it. There were no instances of bullying, mocking, degrading, or hate from one character to another, at least on the page. LGTBQ+ characters existed and loved as they wished. Obviously not everyone in this universe was free of prejudice, but the main characters were very accepting that people could be gay or bisexual.

Which makes the way character arcs were presented somewhat more problematic than they had to be.

In this post I will be discussing Asexuality and The twins- Dagdan and Brannagh

1. The twins- Dagdan and Brannagh

High Fae in appearance, their skin the same ruddy hue and hair the identical inky black as their king. But it was their vacant, unfeeling faces that snagged the eye. A lack of emotion honed from a millennia of cruelty. (20)

...

Her voice was deceptively light--almost girlish. The utter lack of feeling, the utter authority was anything but. (20)

This I can get behind. This is appropriate and creepy. Infantilization of evil females is actually a very common trope. There is something truly creepy about something that should be innocent, not being innocent. Like the Bone Carver presenting as a young boy. 

Princess Brannagh surveyed me: the rose-colored dress, the hair that Alis had curled and braided over the top of my head in a coronet, the pale pink pearls at my ears.

A harmless, lovely package, perfect for a High Lord to mount whenever he wished.

Brannagh’s lip curled as she glanced at her brother. The prince deemed the same thing, judging by his answering sneer. (21)

Now this is where it starts to fall apart. We don’t know what the twins are actually thinking as they look at her. Maybe they are actually checking her out (like sexual sadists) or maybe they are checking her out as a symbol of power or maybe they are just trying to get a good look at her. We don’t know. But Feyre claims that they are deeming her a package to mount, a sex object. So she is already contextualizing them with sex. And she is claiming that they in fact see her as the role she is playing.

One soul in two bodies. And from the way they glanced to each other in wordless exchanges, I wondered if they were perhaps ... perhaps like me. Daemati. (22)

Okay, first mention of a soul, that they share a soul. So now it starts to complicate things. She compares their daemati powers to herself...except the only person she has opened her mind to like that is Rhys, her soul mate, her sexual partner. We can see how she might start to blend the lines here; if they care about each other so much, if they share a soul and mind, they why not also share bodies? (obviously this feels really meta, and sj/m probably didn’t think this through all the way, but we can’t really know?)

Dagdan and Brannagh had listend to [Ianthe] fawning with enough boredom that I was starting to wonder if the two of them perhaps preferred no one’s company but each other’s. In whatever unholy capacity. Not a blink of interest toward the beauty who often made males and females stop to gape. Perhaps any sort of physical passion had long ago been drained away, alongside their souls.

So the Hybern royals and Jurian had tolerated Ianthe for about a minute before they’d found their food more interesting. (32)

So this quote has been making the rounds since the excerpt was released. Honestly, I think it was poorly written and not closely edited. I’ll break up the analysis into several parts:

-Ianthe. We have heard time and time again how Ianthe uses sex to gain what she wants, what she needs to get ahead. TW: she sexually abuses males in different courts, coercing them to have sex whether they want to or not, and physically and socially and emotionally overpowering them to be with her. 

It’s one thing to use sex, especially as a female, to gain power over males. It’s another to sexually abuse. 

So obviously Ianthe is sexually attractive. But somehow, people not listening to her talking herself up must mean that they don’t find her sexually attractive? This is faulty logic. People can be attractive, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is resorted to drooling over them. People can be attractive and ignored for being annoying. Feyre is putting too much into her sexuality to draw conclusions. 

-Boredom. “Not a blink of interest toward the beauty..” Aren’t the twins consistently bored and uninterested in Prythian? They are the Prince and Princess of Hybern. They are royalty. The Spring Court are full of fools that they are taking advantage of. I am sure that the King has badmouthed Ianthe PLENTY of times. The King smooth-talked his way to Ianthe’s allegiance, promising her a spot to rule Prythian. But do you really think he would take over Prythian and the human lands and then give her some power? Doubtful. Surely the next in line for the throne know this. 

-”...preferred no one’s company but each others.” You can bet your bottom that if I am in a foreign land with no one I can trust except for my sibling, no one on my level except for my sibling, that they would be the only one I would prefer to be with. I repeat, they are royalty. They believe they are on the winning side of the battle, why should they care to get to know the people that will be their subjects one day? Why does it have to be weird that they would prefer their sibling’s company over anyone else?

This is also where incest gets thrown into the mix. Feyre’s already described how they act as one person, as one unit. They even share a room. Sharing a room is a common and easy way to stay together and prevent being killed off or hurt? Rhys does this when he puts Azriel and Cas in one room and Feyre and himself in another when they are in the mortal lands. Yet, she didn’t question whether Azriel and Cas would do anything sexual with each other (although, maybe?) If they had been twin sisters would she have made the same comments? Twin brothers? No, but since they are male and female they must have some kind of sexual relation? 

-”...in whatever unholy capacity.” Excuse you Feyre, I didn’t realize you were the judge of what is holy and what is not? I didn’t even realize you were religious in any way. This implies that their relationship is unholy, deviant, wrong. Incest or asexuality, unclear? Whatever she is judging is between them is automatically unholy. And this book does not exist out of context. Regardless of whatever religion exists in Prythian, most of the religions that exist in our world frown upon sexual deviancy. 

-”Perhaps any sort of physical passion had long ago been drained away, alongside their souls.”

Asexuality is so often not recognized as being real. Anyone who identifies as asexual has had to fight against being called a robot, an alien, soulless, and simply nonhuman. Sexuality has been so engrained into our culture, that anyone who doesn’t adhere to the accepted social norms is seen as a deviant. This is harmful! Also, not everyone who is asexual is also aromantic. Someone can be really passionate and loving and not have sexual attractions. Someone can like and want sex and not have sexual attractions. There are so many ways to experience sex and so many people trying to figure out where they fit in. Writing people who are villains because they lack passion, might be incestuous, and are therefore, without passion and human decency, they are asexual. Such a weird turn of phrase that DOES NOT work. Not being attracted to someone you find attractive does not mean that you are soulless. Not feeling passion to someone who abuses their power does not mean that you are soulless.

-Jurian. Jurian also ignores Ianthe, but his passion and soul are not questioned. He doesn’t express sexual attraction, but since he’s fighting for Miryam I guess it’s okay?

ALSO how do we know that they are not already devoted to people back home? How do we not know whether they have partners they left behind? We don’t know. 

By allowing Feyre to make these unfounded conclusions that exist within and without context, anyone who might identify with these characters would be affected. If you are asexual and don’t feel sexual attraction towards people that are supposedly the epitome of sex, then being called soulless and passion-less is harmful. 

It’s also interesting to note that these were fascinating characters. They could have had such full roles. We could have gotten to know them really well, and yet, they were killed off at first chance.

They are sadists. They are powerful. We don’t really know enough about them to figure out what they are. They do deserve to die for their actions. But they obviously have some shred of something left to them, otherwise the bogge could not have terrified them as it did. 

[rowareads]

stuff I didn’t like about ACOWAR

because my mind is too cluttered and I’ve read the book 3 times already trying to decide on how I feel about ACOWAR. I’ll be writing a “stuff I liked” post as well!!

SPOILERS!!!

1. Eris, Jurian, Tamlin

Everyone is having their bad guy turned good guy plot twist, but WHY SJM. NOT EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE A GOOD CINNABUN. At the VERY least, all three of these characters need to thoroughly, sincerely apologize to the characters they’ve screwed over. Especially Eris (“Apologies, Morrigan” just ain’t gonna cut it).

2. War

I’m sorry but people die in war and all of the inner circle survive? (coming back from the dead 2 seconds later doesn’t count). Where are the long-term effects of war, or even just the effects of letting two very powerful and sketchy death gods run around with minor bargains about sunlight and windows? also very conveniently, said death gods die (out of all the significantly less powerful characters that could’ve) so that SJM doesn’t have to deal with this.

although a story about the death gods’ relationships would’ve been freakily badass

3. Amren

So amren is unleashed and we never really get a description of what she is? is she a burning angel seraphim? don’t we already have a burning firebird? I read three books to learn amren’s true form and all i get is that she wears a halo??

and once again, I’d like to call BS on how there aren’t any consequences to her going meta-angel and then becoming high fae.

4. golden-brown skin

oh my lord of sweet noodles please no, just no. Is everyone honey colored? you can say brown more often, or mahogany even. just no more golden please 

5. Mor

I can’t help but feel that Mor’s bisexuality? being lesbian? is a result of all the backlash SJM’s been getting for her lack of diversity. I appreciate her attempt to make her universe more inclusive, but I still feel it was a bit sudden. 

also, Mor v. Nesta is something that IS NOT WHAT I EXPECTED. Even if Nesta was a mild bitch in the beginning and Mor might be a bit touchy when it comes to Cassian, there is no reason for them to be exchanging cold glances and bitterness 600 pages in.  

ALSO, Mor was just sidelined the entire time. Truth powers? can she tell when people are lying? Can she look into someone’s eyes and just see that ah yes, they are trustworthy? why couldn’t she use this to see if tamlin was on hybern’s side, or on basically all of the high lords they felt were mildly suspicious??

6. Mating bonds

oooooh all right, the whole “males have a harder time controlling the bond than females” just is a bit too much for me. Soul bonds i can accept, but mating bonds that make men go crazy and feral over “their women”? too much twilight for me

7. male/female

you can say men/women. case closed, end of story.