#not in an EVIL way

[purpleisnotacolor]

I really hope Vanessa in the movie is a huge nerd for morbid subjects who has to remember not to smile when people are talking about murder.

[deathsweetblossoms]

Elain, like Elide, Uses Appearance to Make People See What She Wants them to See

I've been playing with this idea for awhile and as soon as I started reading TOG for Elide & Lorcan, it really pulled the whole theory together. Elide is able to borrow the personas of people she knows to get people to do what she wants. Similarly, she knows how to change her appearance (and even Lorcan's) to get people to give her information or do what she needs them to. She knows how to play a role. And Elain? "Elain can convince anyone to do anything with a few smiles".

In Feyre’s bonus chapter in ACOSF, Rhys suggests Elain “felt she had to be (sweet and innocent) or else she’d disappoint (everyone).” My personal headcanon is that almost every article of clothing she wears plays exactly into this sentiment. In my theory, she is very similar to Elide, in a way that guarantees a future in espionage. For Elide this was a survival tactic, for Elain she was almost compelled to play into the roles expected of her so as not to disappoint those she cares about. Both motivations for their manipulations play into each woman's journey to self empowerment. It's not seen as "evil" or "bad", it's simply a tool in their arsenal.

The infamous black dress in Hewn City. "Both sisters wore black. Both walked behind Rhys and Feyre...they'd planned it that way, wanting Eris to see for himself how valuable Nesta was." "Elain in black was ridiculous....the color of her long-sleeved, modest gown leeched the brightness from her face....Elain had let her golden-brown hair down tonight*, and pinned it back with twin combs of pearl." Elain is canonically the most beautiful sister. Knowing that, she and everyone knew the political game required all curious eyes to avoid her and to gravitate towards Nesta. The best way to do this is to dress so far down that none of the members of Hewn City would even look twice at her -- which she achieved. Cassian mentions that "he knew the cruelty of the Hewn City troubled (Elain)", but that she'd squared her shoulders and insisted she was a part of the Night Court anyway. That she would do what needed to be done. Knowing that, I think Cassian played right into how she intentionally dressed herself for this event. When Elain wants to feel beautiful, she braids her hair or adds adornments to her body (*see my next point to further prove this), but she purposefully avoided doing that to the extreme. Cassian played right into what she wanted him to see, in the same way that Lorcan played right into Elide's ploy to come across as a naive girl. (Until she isn't anymore and he starts to see who she truly is).

In ACOWAR, when Feyre returns from the Spring Court and comments: “Her hair was down — not even braided. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen it unbound. She wore a moon-white silk dressing gown.” Elain was obviously in crisis mode here, but it says a lot that Feyre can’t remember seeing Elain’s hair unbound — so even when they were starving, even when she had visited her in ACOTAR and ACOMAF, Elain always puts some effort into her hair. * Furthermore, in ACOFAS when Elain sees Azriel in the potato scene, she immediately excuses herself to remove her apron and "rebraid her hair". Canonically, she returned with her hair rebraided. For Azriel. Because she wanted to look pretty for him. Only when Elain was in basically a deep depression was she unable to care enough about her appearance to leave her hair completely unbound. Keeping this into consideration, it casts the scene in Hewn City in a different, curious light in that she put very minimal effort into making her hair look presentable (unbound and simply pinned back with the pearl clips? The girl didn't want ANYONE to notice her).

In ACOTAR, Feyre says this about Elain: “my sister was beaming, content — prettier than I’d ever seen her, even in her simple muslin gardening dress. Her cheeks were flushed beneath her large, floppy hat.” This quote is what inspired this whole theory. I have always wondered if this was Elain's "natural" state, when she felt most comfortable, when she was happy, when she wasn't putting on a show was when she was wearing her simple, muslin gardening dress. In this scene, she was talking about her passions and showing Feyre the garden she grew with her own efforts. She didn't need to put on a show for queens, or neighbors, etc. She was simply with her sisters.

So, what does this all mean? Personally, I think we will see the inner workings of Elain's penchant for intentional fashion in her upcoming POV and we will finally see what it looks like when she isn't playing into the "sweet and innocent" role. Like Elide, I believe she will continue to use appearances and charm as a tool to protect herself and to assist the IC. I also wouldn't be surprised if it assisted with a particular skill set required for gleaning information from rival courts to bring down the bad guys. A few people have expressed that they wish to see Elain wear THE SLUTTIEST DRESS OF ALL TIME when she revisits the Hewn City, and I fully believe she will. It will play into her journey of self discovery and self empowerment; a way to express herself that is still her but with a little more kick to it.

[bookshelfpassageway]

yknow i dont go here but sometimes i gotta go: seriously respect clowns. they have the worst pop culture representation in the world and also the best most thorough honor code. they're just here to be silly little guys who bring joy and are very conscientious about doing so responsibly. let them to their merriment in peace you dont hafta take potshots. i dont go here but like maybe i should, you all seem super chill

[gay-fae]

also the way that the nimona movie showed that hate is a taught behavior?? the way that gloreth, the hero worshipped for slaying monsters, was fully accepting of nimona until her mother told her what to believe? until that generational bigotry was passed down? the way the director’s motive wasn’t even power like most evil government figureheads in media, but rather a fear of monsters destroying the kingdom because that hate had been instilled in her too, like it had in gloreth? the way ballister was also indoctrinated into hatred of “monsters” until he was just as outcast as one? because only then was he willing to change and learn?? and how even people with good hearts and good intentions like ballister and ambriosius and even the queen herself are still capable of perpetuating bigotry and unnecessary violence when they don’t take the time to understand or learn about the “others” they supposedly hate????????? i need to lie down

[erect-eggplant]

when your dream guardian is just you with better armor

[mwagneto]

the companion will go oh god doctor who is that?? and the doctor will get all serious and somber and say listen. he's the most evil creature in the universe. he's the worst enemy i've ever faced. he's horrible and unpredictable and you can never ever let your guard down. and then the villain will walk into the room like this

[wr0wn]

Hunting hours

[lanami-legacy]

You know what would be funny? If Anakin haunted Thanatus after the events of the original trilogy

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

RE9 AU where the game is centered around the winters family with mia as the antagonist trying to bring back ethan and rosemary as the protagonist trying to stop her...

[spookberry]

Idiot to Idiot communication

[ben-wisehart]

Welcome to Night Vale having the representative of a giant mega corporation say that they would fix a disabled girl by curing her of her disability in order to increase her productivity and that girl’s dad immediately punching him in the face changed me as a person tbh

[enderspawn]

unfortunately dnd podcasts have already peaked, specifically in 2015 when griffin mcelroy named an npc “garfield the deals warlock” but forgot to describe how he looked in the slightest so the entire collective fandom decided it was just straight up garfield the orange cat

[bxnnie-bxwl]

some random doodle dump <3

[catmask]

if you didnt want me to empathize/ask questions about your fictional monster why did you make it born into circumstances outside of its control that make everyone believe it is intrinsically evil. you expect me to buy that something is born into evil regardless of its choices or actions and its not those that describe it/made it that way r who i should be questioning??

[sophsun1]

#down bad

[godwaltz]

"you've got a job to do!"