#acosf meta

[theweeklydiscourse]

What Makes Feyre’s Pregnancy Plotline in A Court of Silver Flames so Upsetting?

The answer is that the events and outcome concerning Feyre’s pregnancy speak to a fear of one’s loss of autonomy, specifically one’s reproductive autonomy. Furthermore, this plotline demonstrates Maas' consistent prioritization of her male characters at the expense of her female characters. Multiple factors make this subplot feel particularly uncomfortable and upsetting, but I can condense them into three main points that converge to create one frustrating scenario.

1. Rhysand and the Question of Choice

From ACOMAF onwards, the reader is made aware of Rhysand’s unusually progressive politics and his attention to the autonomous choices of women. This is demonstrated through his selection of counsel, appointing Mor and Amren in roles of authority, and eventually crowing Feyre as High Lady of the Night Court. In addition to this, we are shown his emphasis on choice through his interactions with Feyre. Rhysand repeatedly reminds Feyre that she can choose, that she can make an autonomous decision that he will respect. So, it is these positive features of Rhysand that make the pregnancy subplot of ACOSF so disturbing.

He, and the Inner Circle by extension, purposefully omit the information that Feyre’s pregnancy will turn deadly and never volunteer the information to her. During Cassian’s meeting with Rhysand and Amren, we are shown their thought process behind withholding information from Nesta (and Feyre by extension) According to Amren, it is not lying because they are technically not telling lies in the traditional sense, only withholding information.

While this is about Nesta, the reader can see the parallels between both cases. The choice to lie by omission reveals that both Amren and Rhysand are aware of the dishonesty of their actions, choosing to mitigate it slightly on a technicality. It feels distinctly like a loophole in Rhysand’s previous promises to Feyre, making this act feel more deceitful while demonstrating Rhysand’s willingness to undermine Feyre’s authority as High Lady. If Rhysand had a condition or illness that would eventually kill him, informing him of it would be certain, you wouldn’t even consider the possibility of not telling him. However, because Feyre is pregnant, she is not afforded the same autonomy.

Wanting to keep Feyre in blissful ignorance is not a sufficient reason, especially when Feyre is still of sound mind and can advocate for herself. Rhysand’s reasoning sounds noble, but in reality, it is just benevolent sexism. It doesn’t matter if he thinks it will cause Feyre stress, she NEEDS to be aware of what’s going on and the fact that the news will ruin her peaceful pregnancy is of little consequence when her life is on the line. Rhysand prioritizes his feelings and implicitly gives himself executive authority over Feyre’s pregnancy, demonstrating his disregard for her autonomy and choices. This action directly contradicts the progressive beliefs Rhysand stated in previous books and is a betrayal for the reader as well as Feyre.

2. The Infantilization of Feyre

The omission of this critical information, good intentions or not, is based on a belief that Feyre would not be competent enough to handle such a pressing situation in her pregnant state. Amren claims that the stress and fear could have physically harmed Feyre, but such a claim assumes that Feyre would not have the fortitude or ability to handle the situation.

Amren's explanation demonstrates a belief that Feyre's input on the matter would be irrelevant and pointless because it prevents Feyre from offering any. It is a plan that assumes Feyre will not be able to add anything meaningful to the solution and that it would be less harmful to her if she was kept out of it. This is infantilizing and paternalistic because Feyre has proven herself to be capable of coping under pressure and happens to be an unprecedented magical anomaly. Feyre’s access to pertinent medical information should not be revoked and it is insane that Madja her physician, actively misleads her with Rhysand’s consent.

This infantilization of a pregnant character echoes how pregnant women have been infantilized throughout history. It is a terrifying thought to imagine that your bodily autonomy could be stripped from you in the name of serving your supposed best interest. Rosemary’s Baby is one of the most famous horror movies of all time and it explores this exact topic, the same is true for the short story The Yellow Wallpaper, both stories capture the horror of reproductive/medical abuse that still happens to women today.

3. The Aftermath & Prioritizing Male Rage

Lastly, one of the most disturbing elements of this subplot is the way the text consistently prioritizes and coddles the violent rage of male characters at the expense of female characters. This is on full display when Rhysand flies into an intense rage after Nesta reveals the truth to Feyre. Although Nesta can be faulted for her harsh phrasing, let it be known that even Feyre felt that she did the right thing and was expressing her anger at the paternalistic and unjust practices of the Inner Circle. However, Nesta is still subjected to severe physical and emotional punishment in the form of a grueling hike where she is left to stew in her guilt and suicidal ideation despite Feyre ultimately not faulting her.

Feyre admits that Rhysand “majorly overreacted” and that she wanted Nesta back in Velaris. And yet, Nesta is still punished. But why? Will Rhysand or any of the Inner Circle be punished for betraying Feyre? Why, if Feyre agreed that Nesta was right to tell her, would she ever need to be subjected to a severe punishment when she was justified in what she did?

This is a particularly telling detail that compels me to ask: is this punishment about Feyre’s feelings or Rhysand’s? Why is it that Rhysand’s “overreaction” needs to be assuaged by punishing Nesta? What I observe from this passage is the characters prioritizing the feelings of a male character and placating him with the suffering of a female character, even when he wasn’t the one who was hurt in that situation. Feyre asks Cassian to tell Rhysand that the hike will be Nesta's punishment as though it isn't truly a punishment, but it undoubtedly is.

Throughout the hike, Nesta is in a silent spiral of guilt and self-hatred, Cassian never tells her that Feyre is alright and that Rhysand overreacted, letting her dwell in it alone. He hardly speaks to her, he pushes her to the point of exhaustion and is somehow surprised that Nesta shows signs of suicidal ideation.

This isn't constructive at all, it is not evidence that Cassian cares about Nesta's well-being, and the scenes of Nesta internally repeating that she deserves to die and that everyone hates her are nothing but gratuitous and disgustingly self-indulgent. The text basks in Nesta's suffering, even when she was in the right and this hike only happened to placate Rhysand who wronged Feyre in the first place.

Hindsight am I right? Fuck off. A more productive resolution to this matter would be for Feyre and Nesta to talk it out ALONE. Feyre could express her feelings to Nesta directly and they could find a solution together, that way Feyre’s situation could be centered on the two sisters working together. Cassian can see that Feyre is alright, she’s obviously upset, but she didn’t crumble like he expected and that makes it completely baffling that he would punish Nesta anyway. It’s a solution that prioritizes his and Rhysand’s feelings as opposed to Feyre’s, making it not about a perceived transgression against Feyre, but against Rhysand.

In Conclusion

This topic has already been discussed at length by many people in the fandom, but it is a topic that still stays on my mind with how upsetting it is. It is a stunning example of the misogynistic undertones in Sarah J Maas’s writing and makes reading a very straining experience due to her obvious bias towards certain male characters. Not even her main character matters when Rhysand is factored into the situation, his emotions are always centred by other characters and is permitted to betray his wife and get off scot free.

Feyre’s reproductive autonomy is violated, and Maas doesn’t bat an eye. But when Nesta rightfully reveals the truth to Feyre, everyone loses their mind. Both Nesta and Feyre have their autonomy stripped away from the, by way of the Inner Circle’s paternalism, and when Nesta advocates for herself and Feyre, she is punished severely. Being put in her place as the hierarchy is strengthened.

#a court of silver flames #acotar #nesta archeron #acotar meta #feyre archeron #amren #rhysand critical #rhysand #cassian #sarah j maas #acosf meta #anti nessian #close reading #acotar analysis #anti sarah j maas #anti sjm #anti inner circle

[elains]

Azriel's association with Enalius, what it means for his arc and Illyria

This is something me and my friends have talked about off tumblr, but I wanted to write my own post about it and gather my thoughts. But here, I'll discuss a bit Azriel's character and how the revelations we witness in House of Flame and Shadow will be important to his character. (+ a little bit of Emerie).

What do we know about Enalius? From ACOSF, Emerie provides us with a little exposition when they are in the Rite, when the Pass of Enalius is brought up:

Long ago—so long ago they don’t even have a precise date for it—a great war was fought between the Fae and the ancient beings who oppressed them. One of its key battles was here, in these mountains. Our forces were battered and outnumbered, and for some reason, the enemy was desperate to reach the stone at the top of Ramiel. We were never taught the reason why; I think it’s been forgotten. But a young Illyrian warrior named Enalius held the line against the enemy soldiers for days.

Now, from the Crescent City crossover, we learned that Truth-teller and Gwydion are twin blades. They are a pair. According to the Silene History Lesson, the dagger used to belong to her father's (Fionn's) dear friend, slain during the war. A bit later, when they find Vesperus, she confirms that this friend was Enalius:

The Asteri’s eyes flared with recognition at the long blade. “Did Fionn send you, then? To slay me in my sleep? Or was it that traitor Enalius? I see that you bear his dagger—as his emissary? Or his assassin?”

Immediately before that, she also confirms that the Asteri crafted (which can either mean created, shaped forged, but we are going with created) the Illyrians:

The Asteri’s blue eyes lowered to the dagger. “You dare draw a weapon before me? Against those who crafted you, soldier, from night and pain?”

From everything, we can conclude this: Enalius was the original wielder of Truth-teller before Fionn and Theia, a dear friend to Fionn, and someone who pulled the ultimate sacrifice to keep the Asteri/Daglan from reaching the top of Ramiel. He was a traitor to the Asteri, a rebel against his masters and everything they stood for.

Enalius is the hero most Illyrians strive to mimic, the legendary figure who they all hope to one day surpass. He's a symbol of their people, even if so much about him has been forgotten — the fact that he had a dagger, Fionn's friendship, what the battle was for, maybe even how he was as a person. Brave, for sure. Willing to die for the cause.

And it's Azriel who bears his dagger. Azriel, who has such a complicated relationship with his Illyrian heritage and loaths it - and by extension, himself - is the one with this enormous legacy right at this hand. And this matters.

Still in ACOSF, we have Rhys talking with Cassian and wanting him to play Courtier, the following exchange then follows:

“What, we’re doing some role reversal? Az gets to lead the Illyrians now?” “Don’t play stupid,” Rhys said coolly. Cassian rolled his eyes. But they both knew Azriel would sooner disband and destroy Illyria than help it. Convincing their brother that the Illyrians were a people worth saving was still a battle amongst the three of them.

Azriel hates the Illyrians for what happened to him and his mother and his dislike for them is, to a degree, understandable. The thing is that Azriel, no matter how much he loaths it, is Illyrian. Maybe he's more than that (as it's pointed that Az is different in a lot of ways and Bryce wonders if he is Starborn), but at heart, he's Illyrian. Siphons, leathers, fighting, being Carynthian, his wings, his scabbard and the dagger it holds.

It was healthy, perhaps, for Az to sometimes remember where he'd come from. He still wore the Illyrian leathers. Had not tried to get the tattoos removed. Some part of him was Illyrian still. Always would be. Even if he wished to forget it.

Being Illyrian is part of who he is and his deep hatred for them only fuel his self-loathing. He would like to set himself apart, but he is not.

We can actually draw a direct parallel between Azriel and Bryce with how they regard the Fae vs the Illyrians. Bryce loathes the Fae and for most of HoFaS, she believes they are evil, corrupt, power-hungry and quite generally, not worth saving. She would leave them all to burn. Sound familiar?

And Bryce is wrong. Sathia challenges her notion, pointing out that she's laying judgement to all fae and that is hardly fair. What the one who don't deserve it? Herself, yes, but Flynn, Declan, and Ruhn himself? Do they deserve to burn too? Bryce herself acknowledges this:

Urd had sent her there to see, even in the small fraction of their world that she’d witnessed, that Fae existed who were kind and brave. She might have had to betray Nesta and Azriel, trick them … but she knew that at their cores, they were good people. The Fae of Midgard were capable of more. Ruhn proved it. Flynn and Dec proved it. Even Sathia proved it, in the short time Bryce had known her.

And this part here sums up quite neatly:

Fire met starlight met shadows, and Bryce loosed herself on the world. It ended today. Here. Now. This had nothing to do with the Asteri, or Midgard. The Fae had festered under leaders like these males, but her people could be so much more.

There are Illyrians who are kind and brave and break the mold. We see this with Emerie, who is also a woman. We see that with Balthazar, Cassian. The main point stands, though, that you cannot judge or condemn an entire race for the bad apples.

Azriel is wrong, just as Bryce was wrong, and his journey will be also to realise that his people are worth saving. They were created of night and pain (words that Azriel embodies, being a master of shadows and a torturer), but that is not everything they need to be. They can be more than soldiers. They can thrive.

And I believe this was something Enalius himself came to the believe, long ago. His people deserved more than to be slaves to the Asteri, forced to give them their power when need be, bred to live and die for them. They could be more. And Enalius died to free his people from their chains.

Is Azriel Enalius's blooded descendant? I'm not sure, but he doesn't need to be. Azriel is Enalius successor because he will finish what was started. He'll uncover the secrets of the past, what his people were in truth, what Enalius rebelled for, what he stood for, what the Blood Rite truly means - which he only got a glimpse of.

And this is where I think Emerie will also come in. She's s one of ACOSF most relevant characters and the first female Illyrian to be Carynthian. I think Emerie will also become an inspirational figure to the Illyrian women, another of these what they coud be. What they can be. And more importantly and that is just a theory, what they were.

Orestes was a warrior. What if so was Carynth and she was woman? The name always struck me as similar to Carina, which is the name of a constellation and commonly used by women. It would be ironic and another shaking revelation to the Illyrians that Carynth, for whom their greatest warriors are named after, was a woman.

Does that mean all Illyrian women must become Valkyries? No, but some might wish to follow this path whilst their society takes its time to catch up. They already shook the status quo and with Nesta poised to have a big role (andthe Valkyries along her), they will continue to do so.

Azriel will uncovered the lost history of Vesperus offered him all the clues he needed to start looking. His journey to find out this secrets will lead to him facing his own demons, confronting his loathing for his people and, in doing so, he will make peace with himself.

#hofas spoilers #azriel #shout out to yaz for helping me fish the quotes #my meta #acotar #acosf #emerie #illyria

[kataraavatara]

because SJM thinks women learning how to fight is the end all be all of feminism, we get these scenes of ✨feminist rhysand✨ declaring that female Illyrians be trained how to fight, and she wants it to come across as this magnanimous and progressive thing, but it just reads like he’s very callously trying to replete his armies after the last war. has he done anything to address economic or legal inequality? what about reproductive care? is divorce even legal? who cares, they can use swords.

#once again rhysands feminism benefits only rhysand #sjm critical #acosf critical #acotar critical #acotar meta #carly’s anti rhysand manifesto

[bookishfeylin]

I love how feyre outright states that she wants to settle and learn to paint and "set down that savage, wild part of me that had only survived hour to hour" for Tamlin to then get shat on cause he wanted to give feryre the life she wanted...

I was talking about something similar here and here and here. As a big disclaimer for this post, it is WRONG for Tamlin to coddle and confine and control Feyre against her will in ACOMAF. I am not going to argue against that, because it is clearly wrong. What I will discuss is that it makes no sense for being coddled and whatnot to make Feyre feel like she's "drowning" and to be what triggers and compounds her trauma in the first place. It's a critique of the writing, not Feyre herself. With that disclaimer out of the way, let's begin.

Firstly: While Tamlin DOES NOT, as I've outlined in the first post, fall for Feyre because he sees someone dainty and feminine he can protect and provide for, you're correct that Feyre does explicitly want that type of life. @katymckateface pointed out that ACOMAF tries to retcon this and turn her into an adrenalin junkie and that it makes no sense, and I agreed, in particular because of what I wrote about how terribly Feyre's trauma is written (see the third link above). But we'll discuss trauma in a minute. For now, let's focus on ACOTAR 1. Feyre is her family's provider, the 'man of the house' as it were, so she's naturally tired. She doesn't want to be responsible for caring for others, wants to be able to enjoy life for herself and have someone else take care of her. This makes her suddenly hating this idea in ACOMAF very... strange. The book tries to argue that it's because of her trauma that she changes, but that excuse just doesn't work for me.

Secondly: About Feyre's trauma. The way Feyre's trauma is written makes no sense. After dying... shouldn't that have made her more scared of doing things? Of getting hurt? Of dying again? Logically, it makes no sense for her to desire danger and desire going on missions, when being in danger last time, and killing people in particular, is the main source of her trauma; and it makes no sense that being coddled and protected makes her feel overwhelmed like she's "drowning." Again, this is a critique of the writing, not with Feyre herself. I just don't know why it never occurred to Sarah that almost being killed and being forced to murder others traumatized Feyre UTM, so it makes no sense that going on dangerous missions where she's almost killed and murdering others heals her in ACOMAF. I do wonder if her original arc in ACOTAR 2 was about her withdrawing from the world and wasting away because she's so traumatized, and Tamlin, her family, and any new friends she makes were the ones who helped her out of that. If her original arc was that fear of death shouldn't keep her from enjoying life; that maybe she was originally going to learn to live, laugh, and love in spite of how dangerous the world is. At any rate, we live in the timeline where ACOMAF was published so we'll sadly never know. Anyway... The fact that going on life-threatening missions and doing dangerous shit in general is what Feyre finds healing as opposed to like. Living the soft life or whatever is interesting as she's apparently about to get this "soft life" anyway in ACOSF. As I said in my second linked post, do the stans actually like her arc in ACOMAF, or do they like that it's what Rhysand wants Feyre to be at the time, which is why when he wants her to play housewife they're fine with her throwing all her goals and desires and political aspirations from ACOMAF under the bus? And if, again, getting that life was "overwhelming" to her in ACOMAF and it made her trauma worse, shouldn't she also find this traumatizing now in and post ACOSF? Why wasn't Rhysand's overbearing nature and incessant coddling during her pregnancy to the point of putting her in a freaking shield triggering? And now post ACOSF, if being coddled and taken care of triggers her, how is she going to heal from the reproductive trauma she endured at the end of the book? Unless Sarah does a u-turn again in the future and decides that actually Feyre does find being coddled and whatnot healing. In which case I give up.

Thirdly and finally: again, the main issue with Tamlin is that he forces these things on Feyre without it being her choice to do so. He was rightfully called out for it, and I don't want anyone to think otherwise. But it doesn't change how bizarre it is that Feyre's character flips between wanting and loathing that life, seemingly for no reason other than the convenience of the plot, sadly doing a real disservice to the discussions of trauma these books attempt to have.

#ask #anon #acotar #anti acomaf #acosf #acotar analysis #anti sjm #feyre archeron meta i guess? #feyre archeron

[bookofmirth]

I actually disagree with the fact that Rhys was ooc in ACOSF. I think he acted super consistent. He just had very little to no growth in the series. So to me, he’s just been stagnant.

I read Rhys’ problem not being secret keeping. But rather, the need to burden himself with everything which leads him to keep things from others so they don’t have to deal and burden themselves. And we have a few examples of this throughout the series. 

Rhys hiding Velaris. He doesn’t want to burden the IC with what is about to transpire so he hides it and essentially locks them up so he could do it on his own. They cannot do anything to help him.

Rhys hiding the mating bond. This is one time where I really don’t blame him entirely—even though I also understand Feyre’s right to be angry. Still, he hides it and keeps that burden to himself. Feyre gets mad and this is supposed to be his big aha moment. Where he learns that he shouldn’t do this anymore, especially with Feyre.

Hiding the Keir/Eris alliance. I think only Az knew about this bc I think he just needed him for the plan to work, but once again, Rhys is burdening himself with finding ways to win this war and keeping his rest of the IC in the dark, instead of actually consulting them. (*Cough* not being able to delegate is bad leadership)

The cauldron repairing scene: I go back and forth on this one but I think it still proves my point, even though I understand there was like a major time constraint here. He takes on the ultimate burden of literally giving up his life to repair the cauldron. His power was drained and although we’re not in his head, it was obvious he knew he wouldn’t live. And Feyre does feel lied to here (again) and she calls him out (again) for it later on, which he then proceeds to just laugh it off and make a joke instead of idk actually taking it to heart.

So by the end of ACOWAR, Rhys still is doing the thing he’s always done even after he’s was supposed to learn how it wasn’t right. And the cauldron scene is so significant here because it reinforces to Rhys that his thinking is correct. Like he did need to give up his life to save them. If he didn’t, they wouldn’t have enough power to fix it. I mean there was not a moment that I can think of where his need to burden himself with everything was proved wrong. 

So going into ACOSF, it makes sense he hides the truth about the pregnancy to not burden Feyre. There has been no moment of growth or realization that how he operates is incorrect. Every other time that he does this, everything works out. The pregnancy plot line also worked out again because they didn’t die. Once again, not providing Rhys with an actual moment of learning, meaning he’s just gonna do it again and think it’s gonna work out. This is why Rhys needs to actually face some consequences. It’s a way a character grows--not the only way obviously. And I also don’t mean a simple argument with Feyre or the IC again because clearly that wasn’t enough since they forgive him too easily. He needs to once again, take on the burden and hide something and it all go to shit for him to actually get it in his head that he can’t keep working that way. 

And by consequences, I mean unexpected ones. Him dying and what Amarantha did can be seen as consequences but he knew those going into his plan. I mean, more like, after locking up the IC in Velaris, the Illyrians rebelled during the 50 years because there was no one watching over them or Velaris' economy collapsed with the lack of trade.

This is why I think the cauldron remaking scene should have been Feyre and Rhys working together and just fixing it. Less dramatic? Sure, but it would have shown Rhys that he doesn’t need to take on the burden alone anymore because he has Feyre and the entire of his IC to depend on. It would have disproven his unhealthy mentality because he has an actual example of when he leans on others, they can be stronger together. It’s cheesy af but it’s a romance novel. It would have closed feysands story beautifully bc it would also be a good moment of Feyre knowing she would never have to face anything alone again also. 

To conclude this ramble, Rhys' actions in ACOSF made sense unfortunately. This man had too much just conveniently workout for him to actually have a moment of realizing his wrongs. This is why peoples obsession with Nesta apologizing just doesn’t make sense to me. Rhys gave a somewhat of a very half hearted apology into his soup, but his actions show it doesn’t hold any merit. Apologizing and acknowledging wrong behavior can be a moment of growth (it's what Nesta's journey essentially was), but if your actions don’t actually show any improvement then it’s meaningless. 

The IC’s response was inconsistent. I’ll agree with that though. 

I get what you mean about him taking on burdens, and I actually think you could add the way that he acted around Amarantha UtM to that list because he took on this "relationship" in order to keep his ulterior motives ulterior. I wouldn't call that a consequence, but another example of how he might be self-sacrificial for the bigger picture.

I think where I disagree, and maybe this doesn't change anything in terms of if you feel like he was ooc or not, but these "burdens" that he supposedly takes on, actually do harm to other people, so I wouldn't call them burdens in the sense that he thinks he is sparing his friends and family. Hiding the alliance with Keir directly and negatively impacted Mor, so that was not helpful for her. Not telling Feyre about the mating bond... that one I am more iffy on because like, when would have been a good time. Not telling them he was going to hide Velaris, I don't judge him for that because it happened in an instant, they were in Velaris and he was UtM and it was a split-second decision. From what I remember, he sent a message to Amren or Mor? Him protecting Velaris in general I can see, I suppose - it was always protected, and if he had been given months to decide, he doubt he would have done anything differently. It did probably strip Mor, Amren, Cassian, and Az of any agency, for them to be trapped in Velaris. Maybe I'm talking myself into the idea that that was another instance of him not thinking about how he impacts people.

I guess my thing is, if all of this is supposed to be Rhys taking on burdens, who exactly is being helped? He's got to deal with those problems one way or another, so it's not like he's taking the burden upon himself when it's already his job. Hiding that information from his friends actually does more damage to them than if he were upfront, and you'd think he would have learned that by now.

Perhaps the real issue is what you mentioned, that he hasn't changed pretty much at all since the beginning of the series. He has shown his "Mr. Nice High Lord" face to everyone, but I guess... what bothers me is that he pretends to be democratic with the IC, and he does listen to them and take their opinions into consideration, but ultimately he is going to do what he wants. Suppose that's how it is, since he is still the one in charge.

And maybe Rhys tells himself that he is doing this for everyone else's own good, but it's really, really not. Maybe in terms of the world, the "good guys" are winning so far, but he's not actually sparing anyone around him of any pain, and in fact contributes to it.

It would have disproven his unhealthy mentality because he has an actual example of when he leans on others, they can be stronger together.

I think that this is supposed to be the point of the IC, but it really doesn't come across. They meet, and he uses Amren's knowledge, and Cassian's ability to lead the armies, and Mor's diplomacy, and Az's spy skills, but they don't have a say outside of those roles. It's like they present him with information and then he decides. Yet we were presented with the IC as this wonderfully equal and family-style political structure in acomaf. Really??

I can't speak for others, but when I think of Rhys being ooc in acosf, it comes from the way that his relationship with Feyre began, and the fact that his relationship with these other people is political or familial, not romantic. Romantic relationships have a different standard imo. To me, Rhys situated himself as a partner for Feyre who would always keep her in the loop and would empower her, who saw her as an autonomous individual rather than an extension of himself. Perhaps it is the way that Tamlin and Feyre's relationship began, with him having power, knowledge, influence, status, and her having literally none of those things. Compared to Rhys, who didn't act as if there was any reason why this human hunter shouldn't be able to throw a shoe at him. It seems like a small thing when taken out of the context of her relationship with Tamlin, but Rhys saying "hey, you as a person have agency and a right to know stuff" was super important. And then he just fucking doesn't follow through. I understand why people are saying that there are now similarities between feysand and feylin, which 1) I detest that comparison, even if I understand the instincts behind it, and 2) if we removed this whole dumbass pregnancy thing from the story, literally no one would ever think that. Tamlin had rage issues from day one, about stupid shit. Rhys was faced with a problem and made a (one) shitty choice in his relationship.

I am getting off topic now haha

Anyway, I think the partnership that feysand set up in acomaf looks nothing like what we got in acosf. I don't recognize acosf feysand. It's super annoying, and to me, it's because of Rhys. It's certainly not due to Feyre.

Re: the IC, I think their response to the pregnancy was absolutely ooc. Otherwise, as individuals, I didn't see them acting in ways that surprised me. The only thing I can think is that they are ultimately still more loyal to Rhys above anyone else. Even one another.

#rhysand #acotar #acosf #ask #anon #long post tag #acotar meta #feyre #feysand

[wingedblooms]

Secret, slumbering land

This meta is a continuation of theories (forbidden secrets, blooming dreams, bright as the dawn, and heart of the night court) about Elain’s connection to Wyrd and the land. This new thread focuses on the gentle healing land and lake that the sisters visit in their stories. Maasverse spoilers below, so please proceed with caution.

It seemed like a secret, slumbering land that time had forgotten. (acosf)

Both Feyre and Nesta visit a turquoise lake nestled in the mountains. Because their description is the same, this theory operates on the assumption that it is the same place. And since things come in threes in this series, Elain may visit this magical lake in her own story. When I reread the scenes with previous visits, I was struck by the language Sarah used to describe it—secret, slumbering, forgotten—and the clues those words might hold for Elain and Wyrd, the Stone Mother.

Secret

During the first visit to this lake, Azriel teaches Feyre to fly and shares their court philosophy on training, which is connected to a legend about Nephelle (more on that later). During this scene, Azriel is bathed in blinding sunlight and his shadows are gone. His appearance is stark and clear, readable.

In the blinding sun off the turquoise water, his shadows were gone, his face stark and clear. More human than I had ever seen him. “There’s no chance that I’ll be able to fly in the legions, is there?” I asked, kneeling beside him as he tended to my skinned palms with expert care and gentleness. The sun was brutal against his scars, hiding not one twisted, rippling splotch. (acowar)

@offtorivendell connected his appearance to the bonus chapter ages ago, and it is still one of my favorite metas. In that bonus chapter, we learn Azriel’s shadows are also prone to vanish around Elain.

Elain sucked in a soft breath that whispered over his skin. His shadows skittered back at the sound. They’d always been prone to vanish when she was around.  The golden necklace seemed ordinary—its chain unremarkable, the amulet tiny enough that it could be dismissed as an everyday charm. It was a small, flat rose fashioned of stained glass, designed so that when held to the light, the true depth of colors would become visible.  A thing of secret, lovely beauty. (Azriel’s bonus) 

He tells us he doesn't need to rely on his shadows to read her, so his deep trust and vulnerability might be the only explanation for his shadows' behavior, but they can also sense power and respond to it as power themselves. For example, if someone's power is related to music, they might sing or dance in response. What power, other than the revealing light of Truth, might cause them to vanish?

But even the silence weighed too heavily, and though the shadows kept him company, as they always had, as they always would, he found himself leaving the room. Entering the foyer. Soft steps padded from under the stair archway, and there she was.  The Faelights gilded Elain’s unbound hair, making her glow like the sun at dawn. She halted, her breath catching in her throat. (Azriel’s bonus) 

The Faelight reveals Elain's secret, lovely beauty: she glows like the sun at dawn. What do we know about dawn? In nature, dawn restores the light and awakens the earth. In the Maasverse, it is also associated with healing magic. And when we return to the lake in Nesta’s story, we learn it was once connected to healing. Healing light is bright and warm like the dawn; it has the power to pierce the darkness and outrace Death itself. It is pure life in its rawest form.

Sarah has repeatedly connected Elain to rebirth and renewal, especially in relation to Azriel: in his presence, she's the lovely fawn, vibrant spring behind her. Standing before Death. Even the headache tonic, a lighthearted remedy, serves as potential hint for this secret, lovely beauty: 

Then Azriel tipped his head back and laughed.  I’d never heard such a sound, deep and joyous. Cassian and Rhys joined him, the former grabbing the bottle from Azriel’s hand and examining it. “Brilliant,” Cassian said.  Elain smiled again, ducking her head.  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. “This will be invaluable.” (acofas) 

Elain’s gift awakens life, veins of emerald, in the earthy brown and gray within his soul, just as she does in her own garden. It is no coincidence that Elain, who is most radiant in healing hues, glows like the sun at dawn in the dead of night. And Azriel is stark and clear before her just as he is about to finally allow himself a taste of pure life, of healing. In the wake of Elain’s healing presence, we even glimpse Azriel’s emotional scars through his internal dialogue. On healing journeys, lingering scars are faced and overcome rather than avoided. Some wounds require deep trust as the healer, patient as a gardener, walks the road with them on that journey. 

Slumbering

On our second visit to the lake, we learn the surrounding land is inhabited by ordinary faeries who prefer solitude. This immediately made me think about Elain, content and beautiful in her simple gardening dress, and Feyre’s comment about her clinging to Azriel for some peace and quiet. It would be fitting for them to come here in their story, to find joy and love and healing here together. And if I were to hand select a place for Rosehall, where someone like Azriel's mother could find solitude and healing, this would be it.

He knew these mountains well enough from flying over them for centuries: shepherds lived here, usually ordinary faeries who preferred the solitude of the towering green and brownish-black stones to more populated areas. The peaks weren’t as brutal and sharp as those in Illyria, but there was a presence to them that he couldn’t quite explain. Mor had once told him that long ago, these lands had been used for healing. That people injured in body and spirit had ventured to these hills, the lake they were now two and a half days from reaching, to recover. Perhaps that was why he’d come. Some instinct had remembered the healing, felt this land’s slumbering heart, and decided to bring Nesta here. 

-

She’d never seen such a view. It seemed like a secret, slumbering land that time had forgotten. […] The mountains watched her, the river sang to her, as if guiding her onward to that lake. (acosf)

The mountains here aren't brutal and sharp, but they still have a powerful presence. Like the third sister. The mountains watched Nesta like a protective seer, and the river sang to her, as if guiding her onward to that lake, like Elain’s scent. Her scent is a sparkling river, a promise of spring, that guided Nesta to her. And what did Nesta find when she reached the source of that scent? Elain’s sharp angles, once like the Illyrian mountains after she was Made, were now replaced with softness. She glowed with health and her smile was bright as the sun. She also smells of jasmine and honey, which are soothing scents and herbs that have healing properties. 

Her sister’s delicate scent of jasmine and honey lingered in the red-stoned hall like a promise of spring, a sparkling river that she followed to the open doors of the chamber. Elain stood at the wall of windows, clad in a lilac gown whose close-fitting bodice showed how well her sister had filled out since those initial days in the Night Court. Gone were the sharp angles, replaced by softness and elegant curves. […] Her sister turned toward her, glowing with health. Elain’s smile was as bright as the setting sun beyond the windows. (acosf) 

In the span of a few pages, we're also told twice that this land is slumbering. Since it was once used for healing, it would make sense for healing magic to be at the core of its slumbering heart. Remember, the rawest form of healing magic is pure life and we just learned that Wyrd, the Stone Mother, was once blossoming with pure life. Elain’s wyrdcrown seems to mirror Stone Mother's creative powers in the form of sleeping buds:

She had no mental shields, no barriers. The gates to her mind…Solid iron, covered in vines of flowers—or it would have been. The blossoms were all sealed, sleeping buds tucked into tangles of leaves and thorns. (acowar)

This imagery of Elain’s power has always reminded me of the darkness of creation and rest Yrene receives guidance from while she bathes in Silba’s Womb, which she calls the slumbering heart of the earth. In the tog series, Silba was the goddess of healing and gentle deaths and Elain shares many connections with the healers who honor her. So, it’s possible slumbering simply means the land reflects the restful and restorative healing power of those who once lived on and fed the magic of the land. 

Slumbering or sleeping can also indicate dormant magic, which is something we’ve seen in both tog and cc. In tog, Dorian has raw magic and he can shape it into different things—phantom hands, shifting, healing, etc. His raw magic is sleeping in his heart before he explores it. 

“You have power in you, Prince. More power than you realize.” She touched his chest, tracing a symbol there, too, and some of the court ladies gasped. But Nehemia’s eyes were locked on his. “It sleeps,” she whispered, tapping his heart. “In here. When the time comes, when it awakens, do not be afraid.” She removed her hand and gave him a sad smile. “When it is time, I will help you.” With that, she walked away, the courtiers parting, then swallowing up her wake. He stared after the princess, wondering what her last words had meant. And why, when she said them, something ancient and slumbering deep inside him had opened an eye. (com)

We recently learned the Asteri poisoned the waters in Midgard with a parasite to feed off of the magic of its citizens. This parasite warped their magic and it is described as dormant and tethered as a result:

The Asteri had infected the water we consumed with a parasite. They’d poisoned the lakes and streams and oceans. The parasites burrowed their way into our bodies, warping our magic. (hofas) - Somehow, a barrier had been removed. One that had ordered him to stand down, to obey … It was nothing but ashes now. Only dominance remained. Untethered. But filling the void of that barrier with a rising, raging force— (Ithan’s magic, hofas) - Tharion withdrew. Lidia shook with rage and power. Tharion could feel it shuddering around him, rising up like a behemoth from the deep. What had that antidote woken in her? What had been taken during the Drop? And what had lain dormant, all this time? His water seemed to quail at it—like it knew something he didn’t. (Lidia’s magic, hofas) - Warm, bright magic answered. Healing magic, rising to the surface as if it had been dormant in his blood. He had no idea how to use it, how to do anything other than will it with a simple Save him. […] He willed that lovely, bright power to keep healing Ketos, though. (Ruhn’s magic, hofas)

Similarly, the Asteri pooled and imbued their magic in Wyrd to warp her purely creative magic. 

The Cauldron was of our world, our heritage. But upon arriving here, the Daglan captured it and used their powers to warp it. To turn it from what it had been into something deadlier. No longer just a tool of creation, but of destruction. And the horrors it produced…those, too, my parents would turn to their advantage. (hofas) - Those of us who ventured here found ways to amplify that power, thanks to the gifts of the land. We pooled our power, and imbued those gifts into the Cauldron so that it would work our will. We Made the Trove from it. And then bound the very essence of the Cauldron to the soul of this world.” (hofas)

Is it possible Elain’s sleeping buds, as a mirror of Wyrd’s original magic, represent what remains dormant, tethered?

“Or maybe it’s dormant, as the Cauldron is now asleep and safely hidden in Cretea with Drakon and Miryam. Her power could rise at any moment.” A chill skittered down Cassian’s spine. He trusted the Seraphim prince and the half-human woman to keep the Cauldron concealed, but there would be nothing they or anyone could do to control its power if awoken. (acosf)

In the scene above, Cassian and Rhysand are discussing Nesta’s powers. We learn that they aren’t dormant, which makes sense; they seem to represent the magic that the Asteri imbued into Wyrd to become a tool of death and destruction. That magic might be feeding off of Wyrd’s creative powers like a parasite and keep her half-awake, like the Fae in Midgard and, perhaps, the healing land: 

It was all so still, yet watchful, somehow. As if she were surrounded by something ancient and half-awake. As if each peak had its own moods and preferences, like whether the clouds clung to or avoided them, or trees lined their sides or left them bare. Their shapes were so odd and long that they looked as if behemoths had once lain down beside the rivers, pulled a rumpled blanket over themselves, and fallen asleep forever. (acosf)

Ancient, half-awake, behemoth. These terms are also used to describe Wyrd. The word behemoth in particular is associated with a primordial chaos monster in mythology and may be yet another potential hint that Chaos is Hel’s name for Wyrd.

The Under-King lounged on a throne beneath a behemoth statue of a figure holding a black metal bowl between her upraised hands. […] “And she,” the Under-King went on, gesturing to that unusual depiction of Urd towering above him, “was not a goddess, but a force that governed worlds. A cauldron of life, brimming with the language of creation. Urd, they call her here—a bastardized version of her true name. Wyrd, we called her in that old world.” (hofas)

-

As they walked up those steps and entered a space that was a near-mirror to temples back home—indeed, its layout was identical to the last temple Hunt had stood in: Urd’s Temple. […] “The Temple of Chaos is a sacred place,” Apollion said sharply. “We shall never defile it with violence.” The words rumbled like thunder again. (hofas)

-

But the Cauldron. As if some great sleeping beast opened an eye. The Cauldron seemed to sense us watching. Sense us there. (acowar)

@silverlinedeyes, @offtorivendell, and I believe Wyrd saw Elain as a kindred spirit and gifted her the language of creation with the hope that she could be the key to her freedom, her healing in body and spirit. Those original creative powers could include a deep connection with the earth (earth magic), divine sense (seer abilities), fluid form and movement (travel and shifting), and healing, pure life and world-building power. Elain might already be testing the boundaries of that creative magic, learning to shape it into different things (explaining her mysterious appearances).

Elain may also need to bring her sisters together to help Wyrd. They represent the three faces of the Mother together and have been marked by her from the beginning of the series. When Feyre physically healed the Cauldron with the help of Rhysand, she cupped her hands and became the first face of the Mother. Nesta became the second face of the Mother when she healed Feyre and Nyx with the Trove. And the healing lake appears to hint at Elain's role, the third face of the Mother:

Nesta cleared the hill that Cassian had mounted ahead, and a sparkling, turquoise lake spread before them. It lay slightly sunken between two peaks, as if a pair of green hands had been cupped to hold the water within them. Gray stones lined its shore. (acosf)

This is our first earthen depiction of the Stone Mother. Someone with green fingers or a green thumb is skilled at gardening. Gardeners provide gentle order to pure, blossoming life with their green hands. And we already know, thanks to Rhys and Feyre, that Elain won’t hesitate to get her hands dirty—stained green, even—for a pretty result. 

When Elain's creative magic rises in her story, will it flow like a sparkling river, unfurl like a bloom, to awaken the soul of the earth? Could it soothe Azriel’s icy rage and bring true spring and healing to Ramiel, softening its sharp angles when its heart, Wyrd, is finally restored? Only time will tell.

Forgotten

The land is also described as a place time had forgotten and, as I mentioned earlier, it's where Azriel shared the story of Nephelle—the one who had been passed over, who had been forgotten—while he tended to Feyre's wounds after a fall during flying practice.

Nephelle, who had been passed over, who had been forgotten…She outraced death itself. […] And yet her too-small wingspan, that deformed wing…they did not fail her. Not once. Not for one wing beat. (acowar)

Nephelle wanted to be a warrior, but was turned away due to her small wingspan. So, she made herself indispensable as a cartographer and excelled at finding the most geographically advantageous positions for their armies. And now that hofas has been released, we know earth magic can be used to locate the best geographical locations:

…those with earth magic were sent ahead to scout lands [...] Not only the best geographical locations, but magical ones, too. They could sense the ley lines—the channels of energy running throughout the land, throughout Midgard. They told the Asteri to build their cities where several of the lines met, at natural crossroads of power, and picked those places for the Fae to settle, too. But they selected Avallen just for the Fae. To be their personal, eternal stronghold.” (hofas)

Those with earth magic are deeply connected to the land and their creative power flows freely in places where the natural magic in the land is untethered. Is it possible Nephelle excelled at finding the best locations because she possessed earth magic? And could that come into play in the next story if Elain possesses earth magic as part of her creative powers?

Despite being perceived as weak, Nephelle outraced death itself with her small wingspan to save Miryam. Her miraculous rescue inspired the Night Court's philosophy toward training: 

I raised a brow. Azriel shrugged. “We—Rhys, Cass, and I—will occasionally remind each other that what we think to be our greatest weakness can sometimes be our biggest strength. And that the most unlikely person can alter the course of history.”  “The Nephelle Philosophy.” (acowar) 

We saw this philosophy in action at the final battle with Hybern when Elain raced against death itself and appeared out of nowhere with Truth-Teller to protect her family. Like Nephelle, she was and still is passed over, forgotten.

Elain is pleasant to look at, her mother had once mused while Nesta sat beside her dressing table, a servant silently brushing her mother’s gold-brown hair, but she has no ambition. She does not dream beyond her garden and pretty clothes. (Nesta's memory of Mama Archeron, acosf)

-

"Go back to Feyre and your little garden." (Nesta to Elain, acosf)

-

Elain said, "Then I will find it. I might require some time to...reacquaint myself with my powers, but I could start today." "Absolutely not," Nesta spat, fingers curling at her sides. "Absolutely not." "Why?" Elain demanded. "Shall I tend to my little garden forever?" When Nesta flinched, Elain said, "You can't have it both ways. You cannot resent my decision to lead a small, quiet life while also refusing to let me do anything greater." "Then go off on adventures," Nesta said. "Go drink and fuck strangers. But stay away from the Cauldron." (Elain and Nesta's exchange, acosf)

-

Elain in black was ridiculous. Yes, she was beautiful, but the color of her long-sleeved, modest gown leeched the brightness from her face. It wore her, rather than the other way around. And he knew the cruelty of the Hewn City troubled her. But she hadn’t hesitated to come. When Feyre had offered to let her remain home, Elain had squared her shoulders and declared that she was a part of this court—and would do whatever was needed. So Elain had let her golden-brown hair down tonight, and pinned it back with twin combs of pearl. He’d never once in the two years he’d known her found Elain to be plain, but wearing black, no matter how much she claimed to be part of this court…It sucked the life from her. (Cassian's observation, acosf)

These quotes hit differently with the release of hofas. @offtorivendell and @willowmeres seem to be on track with their theories that the warped magic of Hewn City affected Elain's creative magic. What if she reflects the magic of the land around her, and when that magic is warped or tethered, her physical appearance mirrors it? Is this another sign she will be able to use the language of creation to unearth Prythian’s secrets, forgotten by time? And maybe, like the legendary Nephelle, the things that Elain is viewed as weak for—her little garden, a symbol of her care for and connection to the land, and her appearance, a reflection of what was forgotten—actually become her family's biggest strength.

#hofas spoilers #elain archeron #maasverse theory #the language of creation #wyrd and her sacred land #the healing lake and land #secret slumbering forgotten #where Rosehall is tucked away #azriel shadowsinger #elriel #feyre archeron #nesta archeron #three faces of the mother #marked by wyrd #wyrd = cauldron mother fate #she is the stone mother #nephelle 🤝 elain #the nephelle philosophy #our greatest weakness can be our biggest strength

[princessofmerchants]

HOFAS - Gwydion and Nesta Archeron

HOFAS spoilers below the break

“I think that eight-pointed star was tattooed on you for a reason. Take that sword and go figure out why.”

—Bryce to Nesta, HOFAS ch. 100

The way I screamed.....

This moment right here lives rent free in my mind.

(I didn't plan to go into a deep meta about this but oops my fingers slipped I guess...)

I would never presume to say I know where SJM's head is based on what we see in her work unless she says it herself in an interview.

But there's so much in HOFAS and the bonus chapters that make me think she wasn't quite finished telling Nesta's story.

I think Nesta's romantic arc has been good and told in ACOSF, but her personal arc, both with herself, and with her family both blood (sisters) and found (Valkyries)?

I am daring to hope SJM isn't finished telling Nesta's story, even as she will need to do so in the formula she has established in the series (i.e., one couple per book with a multi-book magical conflict plot arc within which the romance arcs are set).

I want to be on record that I'm not looking for another Nesta book (though I'd never be opposed... 😏), and the stories I know are coming about some of my most beloved characters (Gwyn and Lucien specifically) are not stories I want somehow replaced with a book starring Nesta and Nesta alone.

But the way SJM kept inserting into HOFAS actual honest to God character development for Nesta, with both overt and implicit unresolved threads, albeit from the POVs of CC characters (something I enjoyed a lot and which I'll maybe write about another time), makes me so, so happy.

And this moment, with Bryce giving Gwydion not to the Prythian Fae but to Nesta specifically? And almost CHARGING her with a quest of sorts when she does so?

IT HAS ME HYPED BEYOND BELIEF

~and ACOSF Amren can take this and shove it~

#hofas spoilers #post hofas discussion #hofas #house of flame and shadow #nesta archeron #gwydion #acotar #a court of thorns and roses #acosf #a court of silver flames #sarah j maas

[nestaarcheronweek]

♕ Day Two: Metamorphosis ♕

Fics:

Nevermind by @whyisaravenlike-awritingdesk

Pages Turned by @climbthemountain2020

Queen of Queens Chapter Two by @voidcommascreamintothe

Orange Juice by @c-e-d-dreamer

Moments Chapter 5: Shackled by @arinbelle

Moments in the Evolution of Nesta Archeron by @kale-theteaqueen

Love fool by @tadpolesonalgae

These Beautiful Wings by @venus-celestial

Fanart:

Nesta in the Cauldron fanart by @positivewitch

Metamorphosis fanart commissioned by @melphss, drawn by 0jem0

Metamorphosis fanart by artedeabs

Metamorphosis fanart by @dustjacketdraws

The Facets of Nesta fanart by @jmoonjones

Metamorphosis fanart by @thoughtfulshepherdmongerkid

Nesta fanart by bysofigutierrez

Metamorphosis fanart by hannah.patterson298

Metamorphosis fanart commissioned by @podemechamardek, drawn by pablochmn

Nesta fanart by @ginya-writes

Nesta fanart by kamillaeart

Nesta fanart by @danikamariewrites

ACOSF fanart commissioned by @amandapearls & the_valkyries_trove, drawn by queen_joey

Other:

Nesta Began: A Short Meta by @princessofmerchants

Moodboard by @spore-loser

Kaleidoscope of Colors by @callmeblaire

Nesta Cosplay by hiddenbooksandcrannys

Nesta Cosplay by vickiesreads

Metamorphosis moodboard by @lorcandidlucienwill

Metamorphosis moodboard by @bookishwithathought

Metamorphosis moodboard by @sonics-atelier

Nesta’s Fury: A Metamorphosis Unleashed [Poetry] by @sonics-atelier

Nesta Cosplay by martienlasnubes

Nesta Cosplay by abstractlysydney

Nesta Cosplay by thesassverse

Nesta Appreciation Post by beereadsxo

#nestaweek2024 #day 2: metamorphosis #nesta archeron #pro nesta archeron

[theweeklydiscourse]

I 100% agree with your last acotar meta. I remember reading the book and thinking the sisters were so cartooney that it was legitimately comedic. And the worst part is, their characterisation isn't even contradicted in acomaf, it's in the second half of acotar. Feyre goes back home and suddenly they're all completely different people.

EXACTLY! I found that this contradiction was most present in Nesta because initially, she was portrayed as a a spoiled fool, but when Feyre returns, she becomes a cunning and concerned older sister. I read the second half of ACOTAR and thought: “Hold on, where was this Nesta at the beginning?” Because in the first chapters, there was hardly any evidence that Nesta had any feelings for Feyre aside from contempt and irritation.

“My hands slackened at my sides. “You went after me,” I said. “You went after me—to Prythian.” “I got to the wall. I couldn’t find a way through.”

I raised a shaking hand to my throat. “You trekked two days there and two days back—through the winter woods?”

She shrugged, looking at the sliver she’d pried from the table. “I hired that mercenary from town to bring me a week after you were taken. With the money from your pelt. She was the only one who seemed like she would believe me.”

“You did that—for me?”

How do we get from “Keep it up, and someday—someday, Feyre, you’ll have no one left to remember you, or to care that you ever existed.” To Nesta suddenly becoming a shrewd and observant woman with a mind of steel? In the first chapters, she is impractical, spoiled and naive but suddenly is flipped into a way more interesting character in the latter half of the book. It’s as if Maas had a foundational idea of Nesta as a wicked step sister, but then decided to expand upon her and completely transform her halfway through her draft (except she never tweaked the first draft to match her second one).

One could argue that the restoration of the Archeron’s wealth influenced this change, but even in the beginning there was hardly a hint that this version of Nesta existed beneath the haughty Nesta we saw initially. If Maas wanted to maintain continuity she could have laid down more hints about Nesta’s strength of character and planted seeds that might later grow into a fully-formed character arc. Nesta is way more compelling in the second half of ACOTAR and it is bizarre that Maas never really made the two halves match up with each other.

But I would not find this rapid change to be so frustrating if it were not for the fact that the initial characterization of Nesta we see is brought up several times throughout the series as a point of contention against her. How she acts in these first chapters (which is later contradicted in the very same book) is used as a major plot point in Nesta’s development later on in ACOSF and colours the Inner Circle’s perception of her. It’s especially terrible when you try to mediate this first draft of Nesta with the character that she is most of the time because it is just so…incongruent. How the hell can I engage with this character when their story is riddled with contrived nonsense and they act like a caricature in their first introduction?

#sjm critical #feyre archeron #nesta archeron #elain archeron #acotar meta #acotar #acomaf #ACOSF #anti sjm #inner circle #fandom meta

[elains]

Fionn's death, the Bog of Oorid and the Mask

I'm currently on my Sarah J. Maas brainrot era and chatting with my friends earlier, I drew a parallel which soon turned into a deep dive into ACOSF, HoFaS, and some mythology to boot. Worry not, I’ll keep the mythology part to myself first and foremost and this post will mostly revolve around the following: that the current state of the Bog of Oorid is due to Fionn’s death.

Spoilers for House of Flame and Shadow, so be warned. 

In ACOSF, Amren tells us about the Bog of Oorid and how it wasn’t always this evil, accursed place. It used to be a sacred ground, where warriors of the Fae were laid to rest, long ago:

The Bog is a part of the Middle, which is mostly uncharted territory full of dangerous creatures, where Wild Magic runs unbound. A council of Ancient High Lords prohibited any mappings of it. We also learn from House of Flame and Shadow that the Middle was the Daglan's personal hunting grounds, where they unleashed beasts they bred to serve as worthy prey:

We know for a fact that Fionn was in a Marsh - a bog - when he died, with islands and grass and black waters, and we also know that the place was blooming when he was there. Even with the amount of evil and beasts kept in the Middle, the land was still thriving:

This is a sharp contrast to present day ACOTAR. In Silver Flames, the Bog is described as oppressively still and dead, all gnarly, leaflesss branches branches, crumbling trees, thorns. There are no birds, no insects. It's a place of death, of Evil, and it's remarked how it's as if not anything bloomed:

House of Flame and Shadow provides this passage just after Fionn dies:

Also from Flame and Shadow, we knows that the worlds have souls and degrees of sentience, as far as worlds go. Fionn is murdered in a foul act of violence, fueled by nothing but hunger for power by the very people who were supposed to aid him. Fionn, who worked to free the world from the Daglan feeding on its magic. It seems to me that the world was thankful to him for what he did, as it might have also been thankful to Theia.

And you know what's more interesting? That this is where the Mask ends up. We don't know what in the world happened to the Mask after Theia left Prythian; it's not said what she did with neither it nor the crown. Presumably other people got ahold of them (Helion's ancestor?). We don't know where the Crown was, but it's ironic that it ends up where Fionn died.

When approaching the water, Nesta remembers a story her mother told of how a cosuin was killed by Faeries, dragged to the depths and drowned:

Which is actually very similar with how Fionn himself comes to meet his end: bound and gagged and thrown into the water by his wife and general. Shortly after, she meets the Kelpie, who is described as such:

This is also remarkably similar to the creature that ultimately kills Fionn:

This Kelpie speaks to Nesta in the Old Tongue, which hasn't been spoken in fifteen thousand years. It retreated to the Bog thousands of years ago and it was probably the last o his kind. It could very well be the creature that killed Fionn, slain by Nesta, who goes to claim the Mask as he himself did.

Which brings up some questions: how did the Mask end up in the Bog of Oorid? It doesn't seem happenstance that it found its way to a place where death has in its grip and the open grave of the High King. Could it have been Helion's ancestor? His reaction to the mask is strange, visceral in a way the other's aren't. I'm betting that it was Helion's ancestors who took the Mask from Theia and once the power proved too much, discarded it to rest in Oorid.

But the point is that Fionn dies and it's the nail in the coffin for Oorid. The Bog withers to a giant, accursed grave, trapped in a state of perpetual death where nothing blooms.

Therein rests the first and last High King, the evil done to him forever imprinted on the land.

#acotar #acosf #hofas spoilers #fionn #nesta archeron #my meta #i just thought it interesting that the mask SOMEHOW finds its way to Fionn's death place

[voidcommascreamintothe]

Cassian is not going to die in the next acotar book, what are y’all on?

I’m talking about acotar again. I gotta. The thoughts must be let out!

Come, walk with me here.

I’ve seen a couple of tiktoks saying that Cassian is likely to die, or that he is fated to die. But I am convinced that media literacy is much lower than the experts thought, because some of the arguments are just… inaccurate interpretations of canon?

My arguments are as follows:

1. Elain saying it wouldn’t take much to kill him, was only in the context of the battle with Hybern. And i know this because acotar was supposed to be a trilogy!!! You dont even need to read between the lines here, you just have to read. It was supposed to end with Wings and Ruin. It was planned out and plotted as a trilogy; altho i am partly convinced that Maas never intended the books to continue past the first one (more on that another time). Elain either saw that Cassian dies and intervened because she saw that his death leads to Nesta’s death, or she warned him, to let him know that he is not infallible. His death means Nesta will probably die too, as is established when Nesta refuses to leave Cassian and covers his body with hers, so Elain warned him to not do anything stupid. Altho the fae people have long lives, they are not Deathless. They can still die. So that warning of Elain’s, only served as a reminder to Cassian.

2. We have canonical resurrections. Rhysand died and came back. All three Archeron sisters died and came back.

2.1. We also get a cop-out. Near the end of acosf, when Bryarlin is controling him, he turns the knife on himself and pretends to fall to his death, so that Nesta can unleash her power to its fullest. This fake “Cass dying” scenario happens like two or three times over the course of the books. It would be poor cheap writing on Mass’s part if it happens AGAIN. And poor and cheap writer she is not.

3. What would be the point?

No, i am serious here. Narratively, what purpose would a Major Character Death serve at this point in the story? When has an important character died, and stayed dead in these books?

I truly believe that Amren’s death would’ve served a narrative purpose. If she sacrificed herself - and stayed dead- for the sake of everyone else, it would’ve been definitive proof that she was more fae than cold blooded monster. She was not one for sentiments and warm hugs. This act would have been her showing just how much she changed, how much the love she received from her friends changed her for the better. But no, she gets scooped up from the magic cookware and becomes yet another powerful female character that looses her powers.

Side eye. Major side eye to Maas for that one.

And thats for Amren, a secondary character. I do not for one second believe that permadeath is in the cards for any of the acotar characters.

4. Maas got her start in writing Sailor Moon fanfics. Do you think that someone who writes Sailor Moon fanfics would NOT write a HEA?

Ok this is more of a meta-textual reading of the text, looking at the bigger picture and incorporating details from real life into the contextual interpretation of the text, but it is important still.

Maas’s stories are high fantasy with a hard magic system and also a focus on love and loving relationships between people. Throne of Glass specifically, but the Maasverse generally, follow this kind of pattern and genre. A Court of Thorns and Roses is much more of a Romantic Fantasy. Romantic not as in smut, but as in Princess Bride. Romantic as in the Romantic movement in literature. It is idealistic. It shows a world through pink lenses in the shape of love hearts. It is much more of a 80s or 90s fantasy movie than anything else.

Game of Thrones these books are not. GRRM, Sara is not. The tonal shift that would come with a Major Character Death would be jarring. It would be off putting to a lot of the core audiences, and if Maas doesn’t see this, then Bloomsberry does. Or someone on her team does. If they cut a threesome scene, citing messiness and over complicating character relationships, then they most likely advise to stick with the status quo: HEA.

Love and loving connections is a huge part of the plot in Sailor Moon. The meaning of love, life, bonds with other people, all of this warm fuzzy way of telling a story is the point of the immaculate conception of Maas’s world building. She will bot go against it. It is not within her style nor her pattern of storytelling.

4.1. My loves, Aelin made it out of the box. Aelin got her happy ending with Rowan by her side and a crown on her head. Her Majesty the Queen of Therassen, got out of the box and got her happy ending- without her powers (side eye) but that is for another post. We were worried for a second there, but it was a HEA at the end wasn’t it?

When Maas said that we should be worried for Hunt, (or Rhun really, both are in a bit of a pickle at the point the story left them), I am confident she meant we should worry for them in the same way we were worried for Aelin. Who went through hell, but came back. To her HEA. Do you see what in putting down?

4.2. I also don’t really have a way of saying this, but smutty romantasy books do not kill off their breeding pairs. The style/subgenre of smutty romantasy does not come with main girl/boy death. Side characters, maybe; parrents or siblings (often off-screen) definitely.

But not your breeding pair. Cmon. We’ve read enough of those books to see the established pattern right girls?

I am by no means an athority on ACoTaR lore. Im just a girl in the world, reading smut. But I do have reading comprehension skills. Well developed ones, in thanks to all that classic literature i read as assigned reading in school. If I can analyze the motivations and traits of Raskolnikov and the original Lady Marmalade, as well as accurately surmise the plot of War and Peace, a book that gave me no peace and gives me war flashbacks, then a book about hot people having hot skysex is not an issue babez, truly it is not.

Bonsoir.

#cassian acotar #nessian #nesta acotar #nesta archeron #nesta x cassian #maasverse #pro acosf #acotar #acowar #tog #throne of glass #queen aelin #rowan x aelin #aelin ashryver galathynius #cc1 #cc hosab #cc hoeab #rhun daanan crowned prince of the valbaran fae #sarah j maas #hunt alathar #elain archeron #elain kingslayer #pro elain #aelin apologist #crime and punishment #war and peace #dostoyevski

[belle-keys]

I do not understand how people say they saw Tamlin red flags from the start and then turn around and excuse everything Rhysand does, even his actions towards Nesta and Feyre in ACOSF. Like these people clearly AREN'T capable of seeing red flags, they only see red flags for characters they personally dislike.

Yeah, on my old Tumblr (long gone), I had written a meta about how the narrative of these books is designed to uplift and shut down different characters based on how the author herself sees them, not based on their actions.

Even if Rhys and Tamlin do the same things, the narrative tells you that only one, and not both, of them are wrong for what they've done. It selectively villainizes. Because that's who the narrative, who's its own character at this point lmfao, likes. That's poor storytelling.

These books are like... fae propaganda or some shit.

#anti sjm #anti sarah j maas #anti acotar #anti acosf #anti rhys #anti rhysand #anti feyre #sarah janet #sjm critical #anon ask

[colorlesschristmastree]

I never too much minded the pregnancy plot as I was happy with the Feysand content we got (angst, Rhys ready to burn the world down, them finally having their baby, the few soft and possessive moments we got to see, them becoming milf and dilf. You know). And while reading I was too nervous to be angry about it. However when I think about it, the more I think “what the actual fuck is wrong with SJM.” Setting aside that it was wrong for Rhys not to tell feyre, it seemed like he was the only one who even cared she was dying. At least his reasoning for not telling her was to buy time and save her from the stress/fear of it while he could look for a solution. The rest of the inner circle said “damn that sucks, anyway!” And they were only upset when they learned Rhys was going to die too. And the actual birth scene was horrible with everyone just watching feyre half naked and bleeding out. Why did Cassian and Azriel (her brother in laws) have to be there? It should’ve just been rhys and Mor, maybe elain. Grotesque. Sjm just wanted them all to witness Nesta’s “heroism” *gag*. The whole concept of womb/changing the womb is so disturbing. It makes me actually side eye SJM because really what person thinks these things are good to write?

Literally everything you just said.

You're completely right anon, I barely have anything to add because you just brought up every point. It was a disgusting plot point and acosf was a shit book.

Cassian was too busy losing his entire personality accommodating Nesta to give a shit about his High Lady dying, Nesta was too occupied with making friendship bracelets and blaming her sisters for problems that she made for herself, Azriel was occupied writing fucking Tumblr metas on why he thinks elriel should be canon, Mor wasn't even on the same continent as them for most of the book!

Don't even get me started about Amren, she should've stayed dead.

If I was Feyre I wouldn't even be able to look at these people, this would've been the second time in my life where I die a painful death exposed in front of people. Fuck Nesta and her heroism, I'd at least have a tiny crumb of respect for her if she'd bothered to ask Gwyn or one of the other priestesses if there are any books related to the subject but no.

Ofc someone's rebuttal could be "yeah well this is Nester's book why should she worry about feyre", and to that I say fuck you and your fave, Feyre constantly worries about Nesta in all of her books including acofas. And if it's "nesta's book" why did Feyre's life need to get exploited to make her seem like a good person? It's ridiculous.

#anti nesta #anti acosf #anti nesta archeron #pro feyre #pro rhysand #pro feysand #my posts

[bookofmirth]

The Nesta and Az chapter gave us some good stuff in terms of Nesta’s growth (can’t wait to meta on this), their friendship (also this), and Az’s continuing troubles, but the ship stuff was… paltry.

The one thing I took away from it re: future books is that Az is the most likely next main character. Sjm said she’s excited to tell his story and she’s giving it to us on a platter. Like she has been since acosf.

#hofas #hofas spoilers #house of flame and shadow #house of flame and shadow spoilers #Nesta and Az chapter #I’ve been so good ALL WEEK #about not posting #I see your asks #sorry I am being stubborn

[ae-neon]

Reading Throne of Glass (19-22)

Recap:

Dorian's mother Queen Georgina is pushing him to get married.

The second Test is upcoming

Chapter 19

Unexpected Kaltain Rompier POV?!

Kaltain is still at the ball that Dorian left early in the previous chapters, she's bummed he left but surprised Duke Perrington made an appearance.

So Kaltain is from a minor house and essentially got to court through the Duke's "favour" - she's been able to avoid having to sleep with him but she thinks her time is running out

Hm. I'm a bit disappointed with Perrington. I thought he'd be scary like the King - smart and intimidating. For Kaltain's sake it's better this way but...

I thought he'd be Dorian's antagonist at court, but he gets all red in the face and almost blurts things out in anger. I wanted him to be a smart scheming courtier.

Nice to see a bit of Dorian and Chaol's friendship even if the conversation does revolve around who likes Celaena (less than a month into the story)

HC that Dorian is taller than Chaol.

“What about that dead Champion—the Eye Eater? Any idea yet who did it, or why?” Chaol’s eyes darkened. “I’ve studied it again and again over the past few days. The body was totally destroyed.” The color leeched from Chaol’s cheeks. “Innards scooped out and gone; even the brain was . . . missing. I’ve sent a message to your father about it, but I’ll continue investigating in the meantime.” “I bet it was just a drunken brawl,”

Definitely not.

And how did he send the message if no one knows where the king went??

Chapter 20

Celaena closed her book and sighed. What a terrible ending. SJM queen of foreshadowing, very meta

So Chaol is understandably frustrated by the murder as well as the king's secret trip but the way he acted with Celaena was deserving of her reaction, especially after she had opened up to him about Endovier and her physical issues around vomiting and the damage her body has sustained.

But SJM loves writing romances like a "how to become a victim" guide. She has Celaena gaslight herself into thinking she was unnecessarily cruel and Chaol is so innocent and undeserving. Feyre is written to do the same - especially when it's obvious Rhysand is in the wrong - and I bet if I cracked open the garbage can that is ACOSF, Nesta would hate herself and call herself a monster for telling Cassian to fuck off.

Again it's less of the big things that stand out to me. Anyone can point at something obvious and say "well this is a fantasy/ the morals of the time or story etc" but stuff like this slips through the cracks of impressionable minds and is necessary to internalise to enjoy the romance.

Anyways back to tog

Celaena is bored and anxious and has rigged things in her room to make it obvious if someone tries to sneak up on her and kill her like the other competitor.

There's a piano in her room and she really likes to play

She had been good once—perhaps better than good. Arobynn Hamel made her play for him whenever they saw each other. She wondered if Arobynn knew she was out of the mines. Would he try to free her if he did? She still didn’t dare to face the possibility of who might have betrayed her.

This dynamic has the potential to be so twisted and complicated and tragic but I don't think sjm is gonna realise that potential. Still hoping he's a smart villain tho

Glad Celaena has music as a sort of therapy. But now knowing this, certain elements of acomaf especially seem lazy as fuck.

Celaena: I have set up things in my room - down to changing the hinges on the door - so no other murderer or assassin can sneak up and kill me

Dorian, having snuck in and stood behind her for 10 minutes without her realising: ...

Dorian peeled himself from the wall. For all her assassinating experience, she didn’t notice him until he sat down on the bench beside her. “You play beau—” Her fingers slipped on the keys, which let out a loud, awful CLANK, and she was halfway to the rack of cue sticks when she beheld him.

Worst assassin ever?

Pelor and his poisons >>>

Riceman is Dorian's son. Maybe sjm regretted not giving him the endgame in tog so she just dipped him in black and sent him to acotar.

How’s training going? Any competitors giving you trouble?” “Excellently,” she said, but the corners of her mouth drifted downward. “And no. After today, I don’t think any of us will be giving anyone any trouble.” It took him a moment to realize she was thinking of the competitor who had been killed while trying to escape. She chewed on her bottom lip, quiet for a heartbeat, before she asked: “Did Chaol give the order to kill Sven?” “No,” he said. “My father commanded all the guards to shoot to kill if any of you tried to escape. I don’t think Chaol would ever have given that order,” he added,

On the one hand it's understandable that Celaena would see the humanity in the other competitors and the savagery in the guards and higher-ups who are using them in this game but it's also kinda out of character that she's so torn up about this Sven dude.

If the competition had gone a little longer and come to some desperate point and Nox Owen had been the one to try to run - especially after his sponsor promised him he wouldn't have to go back to his old life - then be murdered in cold blood by the King's orders, I would understand, believe and appreciate her feelings on this.

But as it stands, she herself wants to kill some of the competitors and Sven's death was the first time we even heard of him. Who gives a fuck

And the idea that Chaol would never order the death of these criminals is such bs? He's the Captain of the Royal Guard. He's been ready to kill Celaena from the moment they met. Only the day before he asked her what she did to deserve being whipped as a slave labourer. He would definitely kill all of them if he needed to

Again, I understand sjm is trying to develop a romance and using character development to bring them closer but it's coming at the cost of the characters themselves.

Celaena even questions herself on when she became so sappy and girl idk because you've only been here like 3 weeks?!?!

So Celaena says she doesn't want to be seen as Dorian's lover because she doesn't want people to think she sells herself. Dorian calls her out on her morality given she kills people for money and she gets offended.

He's right. Why does she think she's better than anyone else? Or better yet why does she look down on those who do that in the first place - especially given where she comes from?

Or maybe it's exactly that. No matter how much she experiences - becoming an orphan, losing her country, grueling training, slavery - she still can't let go of the idea that she was born better than other people? She's still just a royal asshole at heart?

Celaena is down 10 points

Okay so Dorian is riling her up as a way of flirting but Celaena's not happy about it funny how it was unacceptable when it was Nesta who didn't want to entertain a clown

Sorry, sorry, my inner hater slipped out

It was his turn to blush. Had he ever been scolded by anyone like this? I've heard Dorian is kinky in the later books. But I just know sjm isn't gonna deliver what I hope for

This is only her 3rd or 4th time meeting Dorian and he's said the wrong thing again and again and she literally kicking him out of the room but she still just tells him the truth about Sam? It feels a little unearned

Chapter 21

We pick up in the middle of the second Test. They're scaling a castle wall to retrieve a flag. And another one of the competitors didn't show up. One of the competitors falls and dies.

A dude named Grave is tryna kill Nox Owen but Celaena jumps into action to save him.

Chapter 22

Mission impossible style Celaena jumps with a rope tied to her waist to catch Nox as he falls.

Between the weight on her waist and the fact that they both slammed into the wall, idk how she's still holding onto this man Nox

Cain wins the Test, of course. Celaena is upset, of course.

Celaena and Nox still have to compete for some reason even tho literally everyone just witnessed her insane save. They both make it through the Test.

Later, Chaol isn't happy she showed she's definitely more than just some jewel thief through her rescue actions.

She glared at him. “Well, I still lost.” (...)

Chaol’s brown eyes shone golden in the midday sun. “Wasn’t learning to lose gracefully part of your training?”

“No,” she said sourly. “Arobynn told me that second place was just a nice title for the first loser.”

I want so much from this relationship. It's shaped so much of how she acts and thinks and while it was obviously done for manipulative reasons; Celaena is who she is because of him. She has survived because of what he made of her.

She looked toward the window, and the glittering expanse of Rifthold barely visible beyond it. It was strange to think that Arobynn was in the same city—that he was so close to her now. “You know he was my master, don’t you?” “I’d forgotten,” Chaol said. Arobynn would have flogged her for saving Nox, jeopardizing her own safety and place in this competition. “He oversaw your training personally?” “He trained me himself, and then brought in tutors from all over Erilea. The fighting masters from the rice fields of the southern continent, poison experts from the Bogdano Jungle . . . Once he sent me to the Silent Assassins in the Red Desert. No price was too high for him. Or me,” she added, fingering the fine thread on her bathrobe. 

Them acting like Arobynn saying she has to pay him back for all the money he spent on training her isn't completely normal, understandable and reasonable 🙄

Like I'm sure there's plenty of reasons to hate the man so why would you point that out like he's supposed to be in the wrong for that.

Over five hundred thousand gold coins. Gone in three hours. Nesta Archeron was imprisoned for less

Chaol and Celaena have a bit of back and forth, grinning and insulting each other, cute

Surprise, surprise, the competitor who didn't show up was found dead days later

The new murder cast a pall over the next two weeks, and the two Tests they brought with them. Celaena passed the Tests—stealth and tracking—without drawing much attention to herself or risking her neck to save anyone.

Okay time jump. We're approximately two months into the story. It's nine weeks until the final duel.

Celaena hasn't interacted with Dorian since the day in her room but she feels "warm and tingly" when she sees him apparently

Chaol's side of the love scale is stacked and Dorian's side is just sjm going "trust me"

Celaena is finding herself feeling anxious about whether she'll make it to the top 4.

---

Overall we're sitting at about 3 stars. It's okay.

#ae reads throne of glass #throne of glass #celaena sardothien #chaol westfall #dorian havilliard #anti sjm #anti tog #just in case

[wingedblooms]

The high lord’s orrery

I’ve talked about the orrery before (buried under layers of connections in my murky realm meta), and wanted to come back to it on its own. It is, in my opinion, one of the biggest hints we have for Elain’s role in the crossover.

We are first introduced to the official term, orrery, in HOSAB. When Bryce and her friends seek out the Astronomer and his beauties, also known as mystics, they use a space map to track down information across the cosmos:

Bryce set aside her outrage and waved a hand to the drifting planets. “This space map—”

“It is called an orrery.”

“This orrery.” Bryce approached the male’s side. “It’s tech—not magic?”

“Can it not be both?” (HOSAB)

Bryce’s murky memory reminds her that her father has his own orrery in his study.

Bryce’s fingers curled into fists. But she said, a murky memory rippling from her childhood, “The Autumn King has one in his private study.”

The Astronomer clicked his tongue. “Yes, and a fine one at that. Made by craftsmen in Avallen long ago. I haven’t had the privilege to see it, but I hear it is as precise as mine, if not more so.”

“What’s the point of it?” she asked.

“Only one who does not feel the need to peer into the cosmos would ask such a thing. The orrery helps us answer the most fundamental questions: Who are we? Where do we come from?” (HOSAB)

Craftsmen in Avallen, a place with powers that mirror the Night Court, made an orrery long ago. And it is kept in her father’s study. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

There was the main floor of the study—bedecked in the hand-knotted blue carpets that Feyre had gone to Cesere to select from its artisans—with its two sitting areas, Rhys’s desk, and twin long tables near the bookshelves. At the far end of the room, a little dais led into a broad raised alcove flanked by more books—and in its center, a massive, working model of their world, the stars and planets around it, and some other fancy things that had been explained to Cassian once before he deemed them boring and proceeded to ignore them completely. Az, of course, had been fascinated. Rhys had built the model himself centuries ago. It could not only track the sun, but also tell time, and it somehow allowed Rhys to ponder the existence of life beyond their own world and other things Cassian had, again, instantly forgotten. (ACOSF)

We know now that Sarah was planting seeds for travel across the cosmos. By the end of HOSAB, Bryce lands in Prythian and desperately needs to find Aidas to help her rally the armies of Hel against the Asteri. But who makes the most sense to help? Who has successfully located frightening beings from afar like the mystics? That would be Elain.

There are striking parallels between Elain and the mystics, which I discuss in depth here, so I won’t spend time on the details in this post. The mystics’ sleepy travel and use of a space map remind me of similar scene in ACOWAR.

Three mystics slept, submerged in greenish, cloudy water, breathing masks strapped to their faces. Their white shifts floated around them, doing little to hide the skeletal bodies beneath. (HOSAB)

When Feyre seeks out Elain to track down the Suriel, she finds her in a dim, dreamlike environment that seems a lot like the mystic tubs. Her eyes are even unfocused, as though she is lost in space. Is it possible she was drifting in her murky realm, like the mystics?

Her tent was dim, and quiet—the sounds of slaughter far away, dreamlike. She was awake, staring blankly at the canvas ceiling.

Feyre asks to plant an image of the Suriel in her mind to help her locate it, and when she passes her mental gates, she finds even more dreamy, half-life imagery:

The gates to her mind … Solid iron, covered in vines of flowers—or it would have been. The blossoms were all sealed, sleeping buds tucked into tangles of leaves and thorns.

And then, without any training whatsoever, Elain uses the map to find the Suriel on the move.

Elain again glanced at the map. At me. Then closed her eyes. Her eyes shifted beneath her lids, the skin so delicate and colorless that the blue veins beneath were like small streams. “It moves …,” she whispered. “It moves through the world like … like the breath of the western wind.”

“Where is it headed?”

Her finger lifted, hovering over the map, the courts. Slowly, she set it down. “There,” she breathed. “It is going there. Now.” I looked at where she had laid her finger and felt the blood rush from my face. The Middle.

Much like Thanatos—a prince of Hel—with the mystic in CC, the Suriel also sees Elain from across the world.

Its over-large teeth clacked faintly. “Thrice now, we have met. Thrice now, you have hunted for me. This time, you sent the trembling fawn to find me. I did not expect to see those doe-eyes peering at me from across the world.”

On the third hunt for the Suriel, the third sister to have her story told finds a terrifying, deadly creature who repeatedly provides help to Feyre. Coincidentally, this fits the bill for Bryce and Aidas as well. And what map might help her find him? The high lord’s orrery, of course, if it is as precise as the one his (theoretical) distant relatives created in Avallen long ago.

That’s not the only connection Rhysand and his sister-in-law have when it comes to this plot point. According to Rigelus, mystics can also pry into characters’ minds and influence their behavior like a daemati. Is it possible Elain is already experimenting with this power? That kind and sage voice Nesta starts to hear in dire circumstances appears after Elain said she could reacquaint herself with her powers. And like the high lord again, she might have some glowing magical hands to go with that voice if her influence is at work with the Cauldron at the end of ACOSF. Please let this be one of the many secrets you’ve planted in ACOSF, Sarah.

“We were eventually notified by one of our mystics here, who learned it from prying into the mind of one of Ophion’s Command. So we did a little tugging. Pointed Micah toward synth. Toward Danika.” (HOSAB)

What’s the significance of these connections? Alongside her siblings, Elain is going to be a key player in the crossover. And we’re likely in for even more Rhysand-Elain bonding time. This time, though, she’ll be the one taking him on a mental tour of the cosmos, leaving the Sidra far behind. Sarah already laid the groundwork for this: Rhysand wonders about her surprising behavior in the final battle against Hybern in ACOFAS, and in ACOSF, his interest only grows as he supports Amren’s order to approach Elain for help next, suggests she may be more than capable of getting her hands sparkly dirty, agrees with his mate to help her after Nesta, and even meddles in her love life (like an overbearing older brother). In fact, he interrupts and forbids her intimacy with the only other person we know, in canon, that is also interested in Rhysand’s orrery: Azriel.

So, what role, if any, will Azriel play in this plot point besides his obvious connection with Bryce, the Starsword, and demon-like wings and cold, dark shadows? Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but the mystic in CC is snared by the Prince of the Ravine like Elain is lured by the Cauldron. Even the camp where she is trapped operates similarly to the Prince, and it just so happens to sit next to a ravine and is home to fearsome hounds, like the Prince’s Shepherd:

Hybern’s camp and hounds

Campfires burned, as numerous as the stars. Beasts snapped and snarled, yanking on leashes and chains. On and on and on that army went, a squatting terror drinking the life from the earth. (ACOWAR)

The nearest hound—it was not a hound, I realized as the arrow spiraled for its head. But some cousin of the naga—some monstrous, scaled thing that thundered on all fours, serpentine face snarling and full of bone-shredding white teeth—(ACOWAR)

Azriel’s roar echoed off the rocks as the hound slammed into him, dragging those shredding talons down his spine, his wings— The girl screamed, but Elain moved. As Azriel battled to keep them airborne, keep his grip on them, my sister sent a fierce kick into the beast’s face. Its eye. Another. Another. It bellowed, and Elain slammed her bare, muddy foot into its face again. The blow struck home. With a yelp of pain, it released its claws—and plunged into the ravine. (ACOWAR)

Prince of the Ravine and his hound

“Allow me to introduce my shepherd,” the Under-King said from the mist ahead, standing beside a ten-foot-tall black dog. […] Designed to latch into flesh and hold tight while it ripped and shredded. Its eyes were milky white—sightless. Identical to the Under-King’s.

Her light would have no effect on something that was already blind.

The dog’s fur—sleek and iridescent enough that it almost resembled scales—flowed over bulky, bunched muscle. Claws like razor blades sliced into the dry ground.

His attention snapped again to Bryce. Ripped away skin and bone to the being beneath. You slew one of my creations. My beloved pet, kept for so long on your side of the Crossing. […] You cost me a key link to Midgard. The Shepherd reported faithfully to me on all it heard in the Bone Quarter. The souls of the dead talk freely of their world.

I grow tired of these questions. I shall feast. […] It has been a long while since a mortal fly buzzed all the way down to Hel. I will taste this one’s soul, as I once sipped from them like fine wine. […]. You have gone too deep. I think I shall keep you. (HOSAB)

Like Bryce and Hunt, Elain and Azriel work as a team in this scene. Azriel holds Elain and helps her escape the clutches of Hybern, and she in turn defends him against the hounds. Might this teamwork foreshadow another rescue, on a different plane? Is that why we were reminded of it more than once in ACOSF? It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Elain, like the Suriel, was snared again and needed an anchor—someone who can navigate the dark, won’t abandon her, and will pull her back when needed—if she travels too deep in her search. And as his past behavior suggests, it makes sense for that anchor to be the Shadowsinger.

If you’re interested in comprehensive metas discussing Elain’s powers in the context of the crossover, check these out:

Shifting forms of fate: Elain’s connection to Urd and changing form/appearance

Elain’s murky realm: how her sight might work, using evidence from ACOTAR and connections to oracles and mystics in the multiverse (mostly CC)

The space between: what is it, where does it appear in the multiverse, and how might Elain and Azriel use it to travel

Mapping the mysteries of the sister peaks: a forbidden couple exploring forbidden secrets deep underground

#elain archeron #seer elain #azriel shadowsinger #rhysand #daemati and mystics #the astronomer and his beauties #hosab and acotar crossover #acotar cc crossover theory #prince of the ravine #the suriel