#anti sjm: amarantha

[ofbreathandflame]

(heavy discussions on sa - this is actually an older post that i made like months ago, and was actually the first draft of the amarantha taboo post, so some things sound similar! just a heads up!)

you know i actually think there is a wider discussion to be had about rhysand's sexual assault - or sexual assault and trauma as it functions in the wider narrative. ive always felt that bc the story puts rhysand in this vulnerable position (i.e. a victim of sexual violence) the story always needs to like...make up for it, if that makes sense? 

what i mean is: the story creates this dynamic where rhysand is a victim; he has no power, control, or say - but it also has a very hard time reconciling to the fact that he was placed in this position. and so there's these weird placeholding pieces of information that often addle or confuse the narrative. and i talked about this before with rhysand's framing of his 'service to amarantha.' i also contributes to the moments of hyperviolence with rhys in the books, as if he constantly has to make up for the fact he was placed into these vulnerable positions in the first, implicitly.

the first book - and other books thereafter - imply that rhysand's court is specificially shielded from amarantha because he aligns himself (action word). rhysand's decision is framed as a 'sacrifice' which implies a choice (that he didn't really have). it always implies that rhysand is the one consciously 'one-upping' amarantha by 'agreeing' to be her 'right hand man' again - notice how despite the fact amarantha is characterized as a sexual deviant, she's rarely the focus. its what rhys 'gave' and not what 'amarantha did.'  

and this is fine if this is the way rhysand chooses to see what happened to him - bc then that's a trauma response. he can't acknowledge it so its better for him to rationalize it - that would have been great writing. 

but thats not how his sexual assault and role utm is discussed. 

other characters view rhys sexual assault as a statement of heroism (which ew) and not a just a statement of amarantha's capacity for sexual violence. tarquin literally says something along those lines. which again is implying that RHYS HAD A CHOICE. we can't frame this as heroism. he was raped, he did not sacrifice something...it was taken. 

in the initial scenario - where we remove the idea of autonomy (e.g. the idea that rhys purposely aligns himself with amarantha) he's a victim. but then - so is tamlin, tarquin, beron, kallias, and helion. in short - rhys being taken advantage of says nothing about him. it's a statement on amarantha's cruelty. but the story isn't satisfied with this bc...how would he be any different than tamlin whose vilified for being directly affected by his trauma, who 'sat on his ass for fifty years' as the book says. 

its the tragedy of how male sexual assault is rationalized in this series. the story literally purposely sets up a mirror position where rhys and tamlin are consistently compared for how they work through some of the craziest trauma ever known to man. the level of trauma the story is asking these characters to 'overcome' is actually quite insane. 

so the story ups the ante, it doesn't want rhys to be 'just a victim,' it wants him to be the MAN TM. bc tamlin and tarquin are 'just victims' so ewww. like even lucien is given another horribly written experience with sexual assault (which it literally has to bend the worldbuilding to accomplish) and then kind of position his complaints abt ianthe as whiny. or how tarquin's trauma is...not 'dark' enough for feyre. these men are often characterized as cowardly or not enough in relation to rhys. helion, thesan, tarquin, and tamlin are all consistently characterized as 'cowards' with little to no initiative or backbone.

so the story does that thing where it provides impossible situations: rhysand is the most powerful being in the world, he's so powerful that even without his 'real' power, he's still light years more powerful than the others when they're powers are ripped away. he can read minds, and has two wraiths that can literally walk through the walls and spy. he's often sent on missions on behalf of amarantha and can waltz in and out of the spring court without any issues (ie. its easy for him to convince amarantha he needs to go to the spring court multiple times. and then when he works for amarantha - he's the mastermind, not her. he's playing her all along and blah blah blah). but then it doesn't know how to write this dynamic with rhys and amarantha. and then it depowers him, while shaming the other men in the series for not doing 'enough' even when the most op character with all of those advantages isn't even able to over power her.

there's little introspection into amarantha as a character and as a villain -- and you'll notice she's hardly ever mentioned after the first book...despite the fact that she was literally the high queen of prythian and was the governing oppressive force for a half-century. as said in this post - the story isn't actually concerned about making a point about male sexual asault.

and that's why i talked about why that amarantha taboo is...kind of important to how the story chooses to conceptualize sexual violence/assault. the choice to create amarantha (and ianthe and maeve too) as these caricatures of sexuality - which is pretty much the case of all of sjm's villains. 

the story doesn't want to fully commit to a tactical scenario, because it doesn't believe that he's a victim in that capacity  - or at least that the victimhood is valid. bc its spends so much time invalidating the male trauma around rhys, the only way to make a distinction between rhys and the others to have rhys "orchestrate" his own assault to save everyone.

#anti sjm #anti rhysand #anti feyre #anti sjm: rhysand #anti feysand #anti sjm: amarantha #anti acomaf #this was actually something ive thought about for while #i can never quite put into words the weirdness in narrative framing around #amarantha #in which the story can never just allow rhys to actually be a victim without having to moralize his actions #believe or not #it actually would be much more compelling if rhysand's behavior were framed #as trauma responses. he doesn't have to be moralized #he just has to make sense in the given frameworks of the story #or the story could just drop the morals an just allow these characters to be shitty in a grimdark way

[spacerockfloater]

Feyre is not capable of love.

I was carefully re-reading ACOTAR and ACOMAF and it occurred to me that Feyre tells Tamlin she loves him only once, right before she stabs him. She murmurs it back to him in ACOMAF, too, but he’s always the one to say it first. She also didn’t tell him she loves him before she returned back to her village in ACOTAR, which triggered the events Under The Mountain.

And what’s even more concerning, is that she only tells Rhysand she loves him once it is revealed that he is her mate.

All of that, along with the fact that her inner monologue in ACOMAF when she keeps telling herself that she will wait for the mating bond to snap between her and Tamlin before they get married so that she has solid proof that they belong together, makes me believe that Feyre does not understand the concept of choosing someone and loving them. And this is very strange to me because she only found out about the mating bond a couple of months ago. Why is this so important to her?

I suppose that all the hardships she has endured both as a human and a fae probably make her very reluctant to open up her heart, but this is still very problematic. Her need for a higher power to point out who she must be devoted to makes her seem so weak and strips her off her autonomy.

I guess Amarantha was right about her heart after all…

#acotar #acomaf #anti feyre archeron #anti feyre #anti feysand #pro tamlin #sjm critical #acotar critical #amarantha

[astrababyy]

people who pretend amarantha would’ve actually stopped pillaging prythian, specifically the spring court, if tamlin “sucked it up” and gave himself over to her are so funny to me because like,,, she wouldn’t have stopped. rhysand gave himself over to her, and the night court was still freaking decimated lmao. the only part of the night court that wasn’t damaged was velaris, but the rest faced the brunt of amarantha’s reign of terror to protect that city. amarantha wouldn’t have stopped if tamlin submitted to her. she would’ve continued her reign of terror, and tamlin would’ve suffered even worse, all for nothing.

#tamlin #pro tamlin #amarantha #anti sjm #anti acotar fandom #anti acotar stans #i need this critique of tam to go die in a hole #like i’m begging yall #acotar #astrababyy

[foxcort]

listen its not that tamlin locking feyre in a manor is ‘not a big deal’. its that sjm parallels tamlin and rhysand way too much for rhysand to be a viable, healthy option for feyre.

rhys put a whole city under a lockdown so severe people forgot about its existence (and from what the wiki says, the city was kept hidden for centuries even before, for the safety of its citizens) but tamlin locking feyre in a manor, so she wouldn’t follow him into an unsafe situation was crossing a line?

#finally resuming my reread of acomaf and thinking about feyquin-done-right aus in my head to get through it #at the risk of getting ‘too deep’ about the faerie smu t books its stupid to assume everyone would be on board with being locked in #velaris for 50 years #you’re telling me no one had doubts the half-fae HL could keep them protected? (ps. this is where you bring in doubts about his #illyrian bloodline sarah) #especially when the illyrians started joining amarantha’s side (bc they were following their HL’s example) #you’re telling me mor cassian and azriel were okay with rhysand suffering amarantha alone? (this is where you could’ve shown the strong #bond/ties within the IC sarah especially if azriel and his shadow powers and his spying came into play sarah) #this is why its taking me so long to finish reading acomaf i read one chapter and can’t resist writing a long rant about it #anti acomaf #anti feysand #anti sjm

[lunamond]

While I'm not at all a fan of Sjm (I only read Tog, Acotar and dnf'ed Acomaf) and overall strongly dislike almost everything I know about her and her writing, I do have a strange fascination about the Acotar series in particular, partly because despite the bad writing there is so much untapped potential in this series.

One of the things I've been thinking about recently is how easily Sjm could have fixed a lot of the issues with Feysand, while still indulging in her super fucked up SA kink with one simple tweak in book 1.

Instead of having Ratman Sa Feyre "for her own good" Utm, just have Amarantha order him to do this as a way to further punish and humiliate Feyre. This immediately shifts the coupability onto Amarantha (the actual villian) while giving the opportunity to explore Rhys' guilt and the ways in which his actions under duress Utm impact his reputation as a bad guy.

It would also give us sth more concrete to explore as far as Rhys sexual trauma goes compared to canon where Sjm only uses his trauma to shield his character from any sort of criticism.

It would also change the very problematic "romantic" dynamic between Feyre and Rhys from victim/abuser to 2 people with shared traumatic experience (Yeah trauma bond).

It would also make the switch between love interests much more compelling and allow for actual nuance.

But instead we got Feyre being handed off from one hot immortal fey highlord who kidnapped, gaslight, and locked her up to a totally different hot immortal fey highlord who kidnapped, gaslight and locked her up but it's ok because this time he has dark hair and batwings.

#anti sjm #acotar critical #anti feysand #anti rhysand #this of course wouldn't fix everything #but if sjm really intended to make ratman endgame from the beginning this is such a easy fix #it would literally change zero plot #like I even remember reading acotar when I was 16 #and I already could tell the bat would end up a romantic rival based on his description #so when the SA happened I was like obviously this is Amarantha's doing #but nope #the text literally specified that Amarantha didn't like that Rhys was bringing her to the party #he literally just did because he wanted to make Tamlin mad #and Sjm has the audacity to then turn around and say the the Riceman is the better romantic option

[onemustalwaysbecarefulofbooks]

Why I Dislike Rhysand, Part 1: Not a Martyr Like You Think

So. . this rant has been a long time coming. I finally came to the conclusion that it would be too much to include all in one post. There are so many different things I feel the need to touch on and include that I decided I’m going to be breaking it up. Enjoy Part 1. 

I also feel the need to start off by saying that I’ve been an SJM reader for nearly ten years now. I remember when ACOTAR first came out. I remember reading ACOMAF upon its release and nearly being blown over by my intense disgust and dislike for how a story was handled. ACOMAF was released in 2016, so I’ve been holding on to a lot of this for the better part of seven years. I don’t know how many of you were a part of the ACOTAR or SJM community here on Tumblr back in those days but let me tell you. . .it was something else. The fevered Rhysand obsession and worship was WILD. The fans were CUT THROAT and had no mercy. If you even HINTED at the fact that you felt like Rhys was not All That, they came for you and they came hard. I have never been one to engage in ridiculous arguments with strangers on the internet so I kept most of my feelings to myself. It’s giving me immense satisfaction and validation to see so many people begin to express things that are so like minded with how I feel. Keep fighting the good fight!

SO! We’re going to dive deep with this and go back to before the series chronologically even started. 

A huge part of why I so strongly dislike Rhysand is that I find it very hard to sympathize with him regarding his time UTM. 

Yes, you read that correctly.

Now, I realize that that sentence alone is enough to cause a lot of people to click away from this in disgust immediately. I challenge those people to keep reading and to hear me out. I try and make it a point to back everything I have to say with canon facts and logical sense. One of the fatal (or perhaps not so fatal) flaws I have as a reader is that 99% of the time, I am not able to just let things go and absorb them at face value for the sake of an entertaining story. You can sell me just about anything and I’ll be able to find some enjoyment in it. . .if it makes sense. If something exists in a scenario that is contradictory or just plain illogical, I tend to fixate on it and not be able to let it go (I call this the Ravenclaw in me). Sometimes I almost resent that I’m like this because I feel like it prevents me from just having a good time with literature, but for better or worse, this is the kind of reader I am. 

Unfortunately, the ACOTAR series, specifically many things that have to do with Rhys and the Inner Circle, are riddled with things like this. Now, it’s no secret to any SJM reader that Sarah J Maas is OBSESSED with Rhys and the Inner Circle. Like. . .OBSESSED. I’ve truly never seen anything like it from an author. She so plainly and clearly holds these characters on pedestals and believes them to be the best of the best. She also so plainly and clearly works very hard to try and get the readers to feel the same way. This is why I say that SJM is one of the most confusing and frustrating authors I’ve ever read about. She clearly feels this way and wants US to feel this way. So you’d think, if that was her end goal, that she would simply just write characters who really ARE the best of the best and deserve to be on pedestals. Easy, right? She has total control over the actions, thoughts, and words of these characters, every other character, the plot, the narrative, the direction of the entire story. So just. . .write them as being perfect saintly beings, as you so clearly view them as?? You have the power to do this?

But here’s where the confusing and frustrating part comes in: She doesn’t.

Instead of giving us these characters who truly ARE as virtuous and amazing and wonderful as she thinks they are, she instead gives us characters who do horrific, selfish, and highly questionable things across the span of the series and then gaslights her readers by continuing to hold these characters on pedestals and laud them as being The Best In Every Way. . .while their atrocious deeds are sitting RIGHT THERE on the page being completely ignored in every way. It’s one of the most unaware and bizarre things I’ve ever witnessed from an author and honestly, from a group of readers. The amount of people who just blindly accept anything SJM says as Gospel is wild to me. I really don’t understand how people just swallow this stuff and can’t see it for what it is. Open your mind to just an ounce of critical thinking and I really do believe you’ll begin to see things in a new way. 

So. . .my point in all that being: SJM clearly wanted us to have a ton of sympathy for Rhys from his ordeal with Amarantha and his time UTM. The scene is set perfectly! Valiant and selfless Rhysand volunteers himself to play Amarantha’s whore in order to keep her attention from the city and the people Rhys loves so much. He lives for 50 years having to “service” a psychotic evil woman who actively tries to bring destruction to his entire country. Horrible, right??? Unthinkable. What he went through!!! What he had to do!!! No one has a selfless heart like he does!!!!

The only problem is. . .this entire scenario has a million holes in it. Let’s explore some of them. 

So, when Amarantha returns to Prythian, Rhys heads to her little party without any backup from the IC. He plans to kill Amarantha himself but of course, she tricks all the High Lords and captures their power before this can happen. 

Sidenote: This is another thing I can’t stand about Rhysand’s power: We are told over and over and over that he is THE MOST powerful High Lord not just of the seven current High Lords, but in all of Prythian’s HISTORY. In the High Lord’s meeting during ACOWAR (top contender for my least favorite scene of the entire series), Feyre says: 

The others, who had been watching with disdain and amusement and boredom, now turned to my mate. Now possessed a shadow of fear in their eyes as they realized who and what, exactly, sat amongst them. 

Brethren, and yet not. Tamlin was a High Lord, as powerful as any of them.

Except for the ones at my side. Rhys was as different from them as humans were to Fae. 

Okay, first of all:

Second of all. . .once again, we are faced with SJM’s convenient Whatever-I-Need-To-Happen-Will-Happen story telling. She claims that Rhys is as different from all the other High Lords as humans are to fae. And despite this, he still gets tricked and overtaken by Amarantha, the exact same as all the rest of them. His powers were ripped away by that spell just the same as all the others. Being the so-called “Most Powerful High Lord in Prythian’s History” didn’t mean anything in that situation. He’s the mOSt POwerfUL HiGH LOrd iN HiSTORy, but was able to be totally overtaken by Amarantha just like everyone else. Looks like that title really should have gone to HER!

Anyway. . .as Rhys feels his powers being ripped away, we are told that in desperation, he “threw the shield around Velaris”, binding it to my friends so that they had to remain or risk that protection collapsing and used the last dregs to tell them mind to mind what was happening and to stay away”. 

What a noble sacrifice right??

INCONSISTENCY ALERT: There were ALREADY spells and protections hiding Velaris and there had been for years!!!!!! 

The first time I read Rhys’s explanation of this, I was super confused. SJM tells it like he was the one who created Velaris’s shield and protection right there in this moment. That this act was the only thing that kept it hidden and safe from Amarantha. But like. . .this is not the case!!!! 

Don’t believe me??

“Did you even think for one moment,” I said, my voice like gravel, “to extend that luck to anywhere else? Anyone else?”

“Other cities,” he said calmly, “are known to the world. Velaris has remained secret beyond the borders of these lands for millenia. Amarantha did not touch it because she did not know it existed. None of her beasts did. No one in the other courts knows of its existence, either.”

“How?”

“Spells and wards and my ruthless, ruthless ancestors, who were willing to do anything to preserve a piece of goodness in our wretched world.”

(ACOMAF, page 144)

The Velaris Wiki page states:

To preserve it, an ancient High Lord kept Velaris a secret, and so did his descendants. There are many spells on the city itself—laid by him, and his heirs, that make those who trade here unable to say anything about the city and possess the skill to convincingly lie in order to keep the origin of their goods and ships, hidden from the rest of the world. Rumor has it that an ancient High Lord doused his blood upon the stones and river to keep that spell eternal. 

And then in ACOMAF, we get:

“I used the remainder of my power to shield them all from sight and sound. I had only enough for one city--one place. I chose the one that had been hidden from history already. I chose, and now must live with the consequences of knowing there were more left outside who suffered. But for those here. . .anyone flying or traveling near Velaris would see nothing but barren rock, and if they tried to walk through it, they’d find themselves suddenly deciding otherwise. And because my powers were focused on shielding them all, Feyre, I had very little to use against Amarantha.”

So, which is it?? Did your ancestors shield and protect Velaris or did you?? 

Do you see the contradictory writing here? 

Again, in ACOMAF:

“You are safe here, and safe anywhere in this city, for that matter. Velaris’s walls are well protected and have not been breached in 5,000 years.”

According to what Sarah J Maas herself has written, the city of Velaris already had extensive wards and protection on it for millennia. The city had been a safe haven from the rest of the world and a complete secret for 5,000 years. So I was very confused as to why it was being made out to be that Rhys made this Grand Ultimate Sacrifice to shield the city and its inhabitants from Amarantha, when this was already the case before this. She wouldn't have touched it because she didn’t know about it. . .words from Rhys’s own mouth!!!! 

I’m sure in Sarah’s mind, she just needed to make a way for the IC to not come after Rhys and try and help him, so this is what she came up with. Regardless. . .Velaris already had protection on it that did not rely on Cassian, Azriel, Mor, and Amren. You’re saying that with the last shreds of his power, Rhysand undid centuries old ancient blood protection of his ancestors, created an entirely NEW foolproof protection plan, and bound it to the Inner Circle?? 

I’d also like to point out that Kallias, High Lord of Winter, did essentially the same thing with Viviane and the Winter Court. 

And in those last moments, when his power was ripped from him by that spell. . .Kallias had flung out the remnants to warn her. To tell Viviane he loved her. And then he begged her to protect their people.

So she had. 

As Mor and my friends had protected Velaris, Viviane had veiled and guarded the small city under her watch, offering safe harbor to those who made it. 

(ACOWAR, pages 410-411)

These situations are exact parallels of each other. Kallias and Rhysand couldn’t protect their entire courts, but they were able to throw shields and protections around the one city where their loved ones were. The Winter Court was ravaged by Amarantha’s troops, we know this from the story. But evidently, this one city where Viviane was remained protected. And in this situation, I have infinitely more respect for Kallias than I do for Rhysand.

Rhysand claimed he became Amarantha’s whore in order to keep enemies from looking too closely at who he really was and who he loved. He serviced her in bed and committed atrocious deeds in her name for 50 years. All this, he claimed, to protect Velaris and his loved ones. 

So please explain to me how Kallias was able to do the same thing. . .WITHOUT doing Amarantha’s dirty work. 

As I said, I know fully well that the Winter Court in general was not spared by Amarantha. We all read about the children who had their minds wiped (conveniently by some OTHER daemati who we never learn about or hear about ever again). It sounds like Amarantha tried her hardest to destroy the Court in general. But remember. . .the Night Court is not exclusively Velaris. If you look at the map of Prythian, the Night Court is huge! It’s the largest of all the Courts. We have no idea what happened to the rest of the Night Court that was outside of Velaris’s protection. Since it’s such a big deal that Velaris is such a whole, untouched city, I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that it probably wasn’t spared any more than the rest of Prythian was. So it stands to reason that both the Night Court and the Winter Court had one city that remained protected while the rest of their Court was destroyed.

Even further than that. . .it is specifically stated that Viviane offered shelter and protection to anyone who made it to that protected city where she was. Kallias begged her to protect their people and she did. It was a city of safe haven for any refugees who could make it there. (Viviane was Prythian’s first High Lady and that’s the tea). 

Rhysand KNEW what was happening all throughout Prythian during this time. . .he helped partake in it!!! Did he think to offer the same protection for innocent refugees in Velaris during this time??

We all know the answer.

I’m not saying that Rhys was obligated to do this. In a horrible situation like that, I’m sure many people would enter survival mode and adapt an “every man for himself” mindset. It’s an extremely Slytherin move to make, and I don’t really mean that in a bad way. But at the end of the day, Rhysand prioritized his friend group over every innocent citizen of Prythian. 

Kallias and Viviane didn’t do that. 

Again, I don’t entirely blame Rhysand for this!! I think a lot of people would have made the same decision!! But just. . .don’t ask me to act like Rhys’s decision was some grand ultimate sacrifice that was more than any other High Lord made. It’s not. SJM, if you want Rhys to be my fave, why are you putting characters in here like K and V who do the more noble and honorable thing?? 

Kallias didn’t have mind powers where he was able to erase the knowledge of Viviane from every one UTM who knew about her as Rhys did with the Inner Circle. There weren’t already extensive, centuries-old shields and protection guarding the city that she was in. And despite this, he STILL asked her to protect their people, and she kept the city open for refugees who could make it there. AND he remained true to his cause and didn’t do Amarantha’s dirty work for her to “keep people from looking too closely”. 

And yet Feyre and everyone else tell us constantly that “no one sacrificed as much” as Rhys. Yeah, no. My respect for Kallias and Viviane is 10000000x greater than Rhysand. Sorry, not sorry. 

And this leads me to my next point. 

One of the biggest issues I have with Rhys’s time UTM in general, is that his actions are treated by the narrative and the other characters as the MOST sacrificial out of all the High Lords. 

As I’ve expressed above, I do not buy this for one second. And I actually find it pretty insulting on behalf of all the other High Lords!!

Rhysand’s choices and actions were entirely self-serving. He did nothing to fight against Amarantha or protect citizens of Prythian in general. It was entirely about his city and his friends. Again, I’m not saying I condemn him for this! It was a horrible situation and this was what he chose to do. People do crazy things for the people they love. But that’s my point. . .it was a CHOICE. He CHOSE to “service” Amarantha. He CHOSE to do her dirty work and commit atrocious deeds in her name. And every choice he made protected no one but the people who were important to HIM. So I’m just not really sure how/why I’m expected to feel the greatest amount of sympathy for HIM, over the other High Lords, many of whom stayed in open rebellion and never aided Amarantha. How easy would it have been for any of the other High Lords to attempt the same thing he did, and pretend to sympathize with Amarantha? Maybe not “servicing” her as Rhys did, but pretending to deflect to her side, doing dirty work for her, in order to attempt to spare their Courts and THEIR loved ones??? Did anyone else do this??? NO.

Rhys says he bows for no one but that isn’t true. He bowed for Amarantha. The other High Lords did not. 

The High Lords of Summer, Day, and Winter lost their lives by refusing to submit to Amarantha. (ACOTAR, page 284). 

And I’m supposed to have the greatest amount of sympathy for Rhysand??

People talk about how horrible it was for Rhys during those 50 years Under the Mountain. I’m not here to say his life was pleasant. But what I AM here to say is that in comparison to what the other High Lords’ lives were like. . .I find it hard to have MORE sympathy for him than the others. 

“If that was what she wanted, then that was what she would get. I made her beg, and scream, and used my lingering powers to make it so good for her that she wanted more. Craved more.”

“For fifty years--whenever I was inside her, I’d think about killing her. She had no idea. None. Because I was so good at my job that she thought I enjoyed it too. So she began to trust me--more than the others. Especially when I proved what I could do to her enemies.”

Rhys is “so good at his job” of killing Amarantha’s enemies (and one assumes that Amarantha’s enemies are, you know, PEOPLE FIGHTING FOR PRYTHIAN AND AGAINST HER OPPRESSION) and so thorough in their sexual acts, that Amarantha begins to trust him. He is allowed certain freedoms that no one else has. He is not trapped for 50 straight years Under the Mountain. In ACOTAR alone, we see him visit the Spring Court three different times. Do you think any of those other High Lords saw daylight even once during those 50 years?? 

He is clearly allowed to move about as he wants to Under the Mountain. He visits Feyre in her cell several times, seemingly without Amarantha knowing. She is a prisoner of Amarantha, but he’s allowed to do whatever he wants to and with her. 

Essentially. . .Rhys lived as a member of Amarantha’s court UTM. He served as her fuck buddy and one of her main attack dogs. To our knowledge he wasn’t tortured, starved, or forced to watch, powerless, as someone or something he loved was dangled over him. High Lords were losing their lives living in open rebellion against Amarantha, while Rhys lived with a level of security that no one else had. I am NOT saying that servicing Amarantha was pleasant for him, obviously it wasn’t. But at the end of the day. . .this was a choice he made. Everyone makes choices and has consequences of those choices. Rhys chose to serve Amarantha in bed and was given a position of power and security that no one else had. The other High Lords chose to openly oppose and resist her and subsequently had to suffer and live in terror with none of the freedom or choices Rhys was given. I honestly fail to see how Rhys’s decision was more valiant than all the rest. 

Again, this is NOT me trying to say that Rhys did not suffer at all UTM. I completely acknowledge that he suffered his own type of torment. I just get very sick and tired of him being treated as if he is the Greatest, Most Suffering, and Only Martyr in all of Prythian. 

I often say that Sarah writes all of these characters and this entire story in a way that elevates and favors Rhysand, even if in doing so she has people saying and doing things that make absolutely no logical sense. Everything that happens after UTM is a prime example of this. 

The fact that the other Courts and High Lords are so quick to trust Rhysand and work so closely with him after the events of UTM is downright ridiculous and makes absolutely no sense. All of them have EVERY reason to be extremely mistrustful, if not openly hostile to him, after what they witnessed for 50 years. I myself do not understand most of his actions during ACOTAR. Let’s dive into all of THAT.

I made a post separately on this, but I’ll still comment on it here. Rhys claims that he “thought” about killing Amarantha the entire time he worked for her. However, he claims:

“I couldn’t use my powers to harm her, and she had shielded herself against physical attacks”.

There’s nothing I hate more than contrived convenient story-telling. To me, this is on the same level as Feyre not being able to have a C-section in ACOSF. We need it to be true, so we’re just going to say it’s true. . .no matter how little sense it makes in this context. 

Rhys says that he, the most powerful High Lord ever born, had his power ripped away by Amarantha. On page 520 of ACOMAF he says, “Within a few seconds, my power belonged wholly to Amarantha”. 

But does it??? Let’s take a look at all the things Rhys is able to do with his power during his time under Amarantha, without her knowledge or consent:

Uses it to enhance the sexual experience between him and Amarantha, making her beg and scream, and crave him (ACOMAF, page 520)

Broke into the minds of the three fae who cornered Feyre on Calanmai, reshaped their lives, their histories, and then made them confess to Amarantha that they were rebels (ACOMAF, page 523)

“Against my violation, my body straightened, every muscle going taut, my bones straining. Magic, but deeper than that. Power that seized everything inside me and took control: even my blood flowed where he willed it.” (ACOTAR, page 239)

“I couldn’t move. An invisible, talon-tipped hand scraped against my mind. And I knew--one push, one swipe of those mental claws, and who I was would cease to exist.” (ACOTAR, page 239)

Broke into Clare Beddor’s mind when she was captured and took away her pain, told her to scream when she was expected to, then finally slipped into her mind and ended her life (ACOMAF, page 524)

Visits Feyre in her cell UTM and heals her shattered arm completely (where was this power to save her from a C-Section???)

Mentally controls and commands the guards to stay out of Feyre’s cell and not touch her. “If you do, you’re to take your own daggers and gut yourselves. Understood?” Dazed, numb nods, then they blinked and straightened. I hid my trembling. Glamour, mind control--whatever it was he had done, it worked. They beckoned--but didn’t dare touch me. (ACOTAR, page 344)

Enters Feyre’s mind to influence and help her during her second task

Convenient storytelling at its finest. He may not have total control over the full extent of his power, but it is abundantly clear that he definitely has control of some of it! And yet we’re told that Rhys is completely unable to do anything to harm or kill Amarantha, because she holds all his power!! It belonged “wholly to her” as he said! But he’s able to do all of this stuff without her knowledge???

Forget killing her with his power!!! Lysandra killed Arobynn Hamel by slitting his throat in the middle of the night! I’m sorry, I do not find it believable that the Most Powerful High Lord in Prythian’s HISTORY was completely unable to find a way to end this bitch’s life in 50 years, ESPECIALLY when it’s explicitly stated that she allows him certain freedoms and he does things without her knowledge. I just don’t!!!! 

So if I’M thinking that. . .what do you think the rest of the people UTM were thinking??? Can you see how they might be very suspicious of him??

In addition to this. . .his actions regarding Tamlin, and eventually Feyre, make zero logical sense in the context of their situation. Let’s take a look at THAT mess.

So Rhysand is suffering in this horrible awful torment, having to play Amarantha’s whore and do evil things for her. He hates every minute of it, he grows to hate himself, he claims. 

And in this giant mess, there is only ONE road to freedom for not just him, but for everyone. And that’s Tamlin.

“Then she cursed Tamlin. And my other great enemy became the one loophole that might free us all.”

Rhys knows about the curse. He knows the stipulations and what Tamlin must accomplish. He knows that doing so will free them all.

Wouldn't you then think that he would do everything in his power to attempt to aid and assist Tamlin during the course of those 50 years?????

I know he hates Tamlin by that point anyway, due to the rivalry between their families. But, my God. . .would that really matter at this point?? If me and my entire country were stuck in the position Prythian was in, I don’t really think I’d give a shit who our freedom depended on. It could be my greatest mortal enemy and I’m pretty sure I’d still be like Okay Buddy, let’s do this. I wouldn't say I’d LIKE it. But I’d use whoever I could to get me and everyone else out of that situation. 

If Rhysand, the Inner Circle, Velaris, and every other High Fae in Prythian’s lives and futures depended on Tamlin getting a human girl to fall in love with him, I would think Rhysand would be doing whatever he possibly could to further this along and make it happen. Don’t try and say that he couldn’t do it because Amarantha would find out. Rhys WAS able to keep secrets from her and do things she didn’t know about (see my big list up there! ^^) Don’t try and say that he wouldn't risk dropping his Bad Guy Mask because it would make people look “too closely” at him and possibly target Velaris and the IC (I would have a million comebacks to that. As I’ve already said, there were ALREADY extensive shields and protections guarding Velaris and had been for years. Rhys had wiped the knowledge of the IC from the minds of everyone who knew about them. And wouldn't the safer, better option for the IC be that the curse was broken??? So if he really wanted to protect them, this was the #1 thing he should be doing!!!!)

When it became clear to us all in ACOMAF that Rhys was not in fact, really a bad guy, the very first thing I immediately wondered was, “If this were the case, why was he not trying to HELP Tamlin all those years???” If that was their one loophole and their one shot at freedom and ending the nightmare they were in, why on EARTH did Rhys spend 50 years bullying, manipulating, and tormenting the ONE PERSON who had a shot at freeing them??!?!?!? 

Rhys tells Feyre in Chapter 54 of ACOMAF:

“I didn’t know. That you were with Tamlin. That you were staying at the Spring Court. Amarantha sent me that day after the Summer Solstice because I’d been so successful on Calanmai. I was prepared to mock him, maybe pick a fight.”

Again, do not tell me that Rhys was a slave to Amarantha so there wasn’t anything he could do. That is NONSENSE. After Calanmai he crafts an entire fabricated story to tell her and brings people he’s mind manipulated into validating what he’s saying. 

Instead of offering Tamlin support, or at the very least, leaving him alone, he chooses to terrorize him and his people. He leaves severed heads on the manor house grounds, taunts Tamlin about the curse, and taunts Lucien about his mother and his dead lover. Listen to what he says to Tamlin and Lucien, before he knows Feyre is there: 

“What a pity that you must endure the brunt of it, Tamlin--and an even greater pity that you’re so resigned to your fate. You might be stubborn, but this is pathetic.”

“Little Lucien. You certainly gave them something to talk about when you switched to Spring. Such a sad thing, to see your lovely mother in perpetual mourning over losing you.”

“She’s already preparing for you. Given your current state, I think I can safely report that you’ve already been broken and will reconsider her offer.”

This is flat out disgusting behavior. This is the man you want me to have sympathy for, to view as the “better man”. Tamlin and Lucien were even greater victims at this point than Rhys was himself. They were running out of time after desperately fighting a losing battle, with the entire weight of Prythian on their shoulders. Rhys’s actions do not make sense. He is digging his own grave by behaving this way. If he wanted himself and everyone to be free so badly, I’m really not sure why he’s going out of his way to mock Tamlin, make his life difficult, and taunt him about not breaking the curse. 

But things don’t stop there! They get even MORE illogical when Feyre enters the picture!!

So once Rhys discovers Feyre’s presence, he immediately picks up on the emotional connection between her and Tamlin. In this situation, I would expect his first reaction to be glee. He didn’t know who Feyre was at that point, other than a girl he’d been dreaming about (and he later reveals that he first believed these dreams meant that she would be the one to save them all). Did anyone really expect Tamlin to break that curse?? Did anyone really expect him to find a human girl with hate in her heart for the Fae and have her fall in love with him?? I don’t think for a minute Amarantha actually believed there was even the slightest chance of this happening, just like she didn’t really believe Feyre had any chance of winning all three of her trials. It’s a mind game, nothing more. But here Tamlin is, on the very brink of meeting the very specific standards set by Amarantha. 

But what does Rhys do? Amp up the dramatics to scare Tamlin into sending Feyre back across the wall, therefore ensuring that the curse will never be broken. 

His reasoning, he tells us in ACOMAF, is:

“I made Tamlin beg--as Amarantha had made me beg, to show him how powerless he was to save you. And I prayed my performance was enough to get him to send you away. Back to the human realm, away from Amarantha. Because she was going to find you. If you broke that curse, she was going to find you and kill you.”

Um. . .if Feyre breaks the curse, that means that Tamlin gets his powers back. If Tamlin gets his powers back, Amarantha is dead. If Tamlin didn’t do it, certainly one of the other High Lords would have. If you’ll recall, Feyre DOES break the curse and when that happens, Amarantha is dead in literally seconds. Her power isn’t brute strength, it’s trickery. She is no match for Tamlin whatsoever. She literally backs away in fear and pleads for her life. It’s not even a close competition!!! She doesn’t get a single scratch on him! 

Now, I will fully admit. . .this was also something I always found kind of dumb on Tamlin’s part as well. It’s seen as this grand act of love that he sends her away and puts her safety before all of Prythian’s but I’ve always been like. . .dude. You were literally A DAY away from getting out of this thing. Tamlin, as a High Lord with his full power returned, really couldn’t shield and protect Feyre in the time it would take him to kill Amarantha? Yes, he wouldn't be able to properly protect her under their current circumstances without any of his real power, but that was the whole point of the curse. . .if Feyre told Tamlin she loved him and meant it, his power would be returned. The way in which he would be able to protect her would not be the same. You’d think at the point they were at, both Tamlin AND Rhysand would be bouncing around like the singing candlestick and clock from Beauty and the Beast trying to woo a confession out of Feyre. Kallias was able to shield Viviane for 50 years while his Court was under direct attack, I have to believe Tamlin could shield Feyre for the very short time it would take him, or any other High Lord, to end Amarantha. 

Rhys later says:

“If there was a shot of freeing us from Amarantha, you were it. I thought. . .I thought the Cauldron had been sending me these dreams to tell me that you would be the one to save us. Save my people.”

So. . .if this were the case, wouldn't it make more sense to just get a happy little “I love you” out of her before the 50 years were up? Tamlin and the High Lord’s powers would return and Amarantha would be “bloody ribbons”, as SJM likes to say, in seconds. Which is exactly what happened. All the struggle and strife of her trials UTM totally avoided!! 

What I’m essentially trying to say here is that most of Rhys’s actions during this time were in direct contradiction to what he claimed he really wanted. If Tamlin was Prythian’s only shot at freedom for all those years, you’d think he would be trying to secretly aid him in some way, or at the very least, not go out of his way to torment him. If Feyre was in Tamlin’s house, clearly in love with him, and the Curse was expiring in one day, you’d think he’d go back to Amarantha and be like “Nope, sorry, nothing to report” and pray the two of them would get it together for the sake of Prythian. 

Essentially, what I’m trying to say here is that I struggle to have a ton of sympathy for Rhys during this time because I feel as if the explanations that are given for his behavior and actions are flimsy and don’t hold up against most arguments. He felt as if he HAD to become Amarantha’s lover and lapdog in order to keep her from figuring things out about his friends and trying to hurt them. . .who were concealed in a city that hadn’t been breached for 5,000 years and the knowledge of them had been wiped from every person who knew them UTM. He “couldn’t” kill or hurt Amarantha because his power belonged “wholly” to her. . .but he was able to use his powers in ways that worked against her without her knowledge or consent about tons of other things. He was so tormented and miserable in his time UTM that he. . .mocked and tormented the one person who had a shot at freeing them all. When he saw that Tamlin was right on the brink of actually breaking the curse he. . .manipulated him into ensuring that it would never be broken. All the while being surrounded by other leaders who did not have the luxury of shielding their loved ones in an anciently protected city, who worked to help all innocent citizens of Prythian, and who were losing their lives over their refusal to submit to an evil tyrant. I have a vastly larger degree of sympathy and respect for these other High Lords than I do with Rhysand. I find Rhys to be either very self-serving, or doing things that seem to directly contradict what he claims he wants. I do not blame any of the High Lords for being wary and mistrustful of him after UTM--it makes perfect sense that they would (but that’s a topic for another section of this rant!). This is a prime example of SJM self-sacrificing through her writing. I can guarantee you I wouldn't feel as strongly about this as I do after hearing it beaten into my head over and over what a noble, selfless, honorable hero Rhys was during this time. I’m sorry, it doesn’t add up to me. Too many holes, too many contradictions. Which, unfortunately, is pretty standard fare when it comes to Rhys.

Remember, this was only Part 1!! Part 2--Why Rhys is actually a terrible High Lord--coming soon! 

#acotar critical #sjm critical #anti rhysand #tamlin #kallias #viviane #amarantha

[arson-09]

“trust the process” girl. he sexually assaulted her i aint trusting NO process

#acotar #a court of thorns and roses #rhysand #anti rhysand #sarah j maas #feyre #sjm #im sorry guys i just cant like a man who sa an innocent woman #for her protection my ass even amarantha was weirded out and confused #rhysand rlly just wanted to make tam tam jealous

[anne-et]

I just saw a post by @looseleaflettuce where your anon makes a super important comment:

It was only after I read this that I realized. Amarantha is a harassers (and a female portrayed as villain) Iantha is a harassers (and a female portrayed as villain).

Why are only women harassers but men (Rhysand and Cassian) aren't portrayed as such too?

Not only did Rhysand harass Feyre in the first book, he also drugged and manipulated her the entire time (and has clear signs of being Gaslighting).

Cassian I don't think I need to say anything. The guy is toxic as fuck, you can see it in ACOSF.

When women are not harassing, they are hypersexualized.

Morrigan, Nesta (my god all the time), even Feyre sometimes.

#sjm critical #anti rhysand #anti sjm #pro nesta archeron #anti ic #anti cassian #morrigan #pro feyre #nesta archeron #gaslighting #tw harassment #rhysand's abuse #amarantha #acotar #acosf

[the-savage-garden]

Feyre: Ok, so, I'm going to use my sister's trauma, the one where she was forcefully turned into Fae by the King of Hybern when he used the Cauldron on her, as a way to show the other High Lords how dangerous he is! And I'll say it right in front of everyone at dinner while Nesta is there too!

Me: ???????????????????????????????

#anti sjm #anti acowar #anti feyre #im confused #how exactly does this help #i know the nc has a spy system but that means the other courts would too #so wouldnt the other high lords know hybern has the cauldron now #and doesnt everyone already know that hybern is dangerous #amarantha was stated to be from hybern already #the worst thing is that nesta is shown as wrong for saying no #and feyre is brilliant for this nonsensical plan #i know the book will have feyre in the right for this later and it annoys me

[ofbreathandflame]

there's something so weird abt the way the conversation about characters like amarantha and ianthe are facilitated. there's just this like taboo that exists around talking about their character doesn't quite exist for male characters in the story at hand even when those characters do similar or parallel things in the story.

it kind of reminds me of the way rhys's experience with sexual assault is talked about in contrasts to character's like nesta or even feyre. its just weird that we have prythian - this ultra-patriarchal society where men are literally chosen by blood to rule - and then this weird abundance of women villains who specifically commit crimes that violently sexual in nature. its just weird to also like...create this dynamic where the most powerful man in the entirety of the planet is 'tamed' by this 'deviant' sexual woman villain. it creates...the taboo. the taboo that exists between talking about ianthe and amarantha, because its very clear that they are symbols and not characters that we can actually ration logic with. like here we have two characters: ianthe and rhys. we see them both leverage this unwanted sexual behavior toward's unwanted parties, but like rhys's sexual assault of feyre is brooding and tragic, while ianthe's is playful and deceitful. there's an utter lack of motivation that exists in ianthe (and amarantha) that doesn't quite exist for other men in the story that commit similar acts.

there's also this built in moral story about 'women in power' that hangs unwritten in the air. i remember seeing a post that compared rhys kneeling to nesta as a kind of parallel to amarantha...and i remember seeing someone send me the post and being like huh???

its like with amarantha - there's also that general lack of motivation and nuance that does not exist with other male characters (see: beron, tamlin, hybern). but the dangerous part of the story is that it subsumes this 'race to innocence' model that uses these sexually deviant women as a way to deflect from the super impossible ultra-patriarchal world that exists in this world. having the 'strongest' man in the world both as victim and ultra-powerful being deflects from the actual power these men actually hold over the women. and we get pockets of this: hybern, illyria, court of nightmares, autumn court. but the story doesn't hold these men accountable. they are this collective 'other' that exists in opposition to this vague idea of progression.

i can't put words into the mouth of people who dislike nesta, so there's that, but i bet my ass, a lot of hatred for nesta stems from this unwritten idea that she's somehow breaking the rules of how women should attain power or behave. and im not saying that in a 'girl power' way for people who really hate her, but in a way that is like panic that she can do whatever she wants without any consequences. its not so much hatred of her actions, but fear she won't get punished. that she could operare without logic or care and not get punished the way we see rhys. or that her actions aren't validated by the man like we see feyre.

so yeah rhys sexually assaulted feyre buuuut it exists forever in opposition to amarantha and ianthe who lack purpose, remorse, or motivation. it doesn't matter the victim, it matters the intention of the perp.

men can be victims of sexual violence, and they can be just as vulnerable and broken as women. the argument is that acotar creates this power-fantasy where women exists as equal oppressors to men, while also operating as forever lesser. it justifies the sins of the oppressive men, but also allows these men to assume innocence in the face of their power.

its like those stories of 'reverse-racism' where there's a fantasy of white people at the bottom and poc being their opressors. or the handsmaid tale effect of white feminism that takes the fear and experiences that woc and bottles them into a fantasy (and i could say more how handmaid's tale is sometimes received, moreso maybe than the writing of the book) that becomes fearsome because of its proximity to white women. its easier to ignore these problems and the realities of them when it doesn't effect their communities.

and that's how we end up with the weird stigmatizing conversations around ianthe and amarantha. these women are pawns that propagate the weird values of the series than actual characters. you can't talk about them in the same we do rhys or tam, or even beron. interesting stuff.

#anti sjm #anti sjm: feyre archeron #anti rhysand #not rlly not really bashing him here #anti sjm: tamlin #anti sjm: amarantha #anti sjm: ianthe

[alicentsaegon]

Why does SJM hate humans so much

#making the hatred that humans have against fae seem like pure bigotry in acotar #no actually its because humans have been enslaved for centuries and they are still being hunted like sport #and the treatment jurian got :( #listen Jurian should have been a fucking LEGEND in the human lands #Feyre should immediately recognize him by name alone not have Alys spew exposition about him #human general that defeated so many fae slavers and was eventually killed by amarantha? he would 100% be martyred #this post is just to conclude that Jurian >>>>> everyone else #acotar #anti sjm #i wish Feyre never turned in high fae or any of her sisters for that matter #imagine Feyre getting the high lords powers while being HUMAN #hell would break loose #also immortal x mortal angst

[ae-neon]

Clare Beddor

Feyre panicked and gave the first name that popped into her head. It's explainable and even understandable.

Maybe a part of her trusted Rhysand since he saved her the night of the Rite or Calanmai, icr. But at this point there had been severed heads on fountains, Fae with their wings ripped off and the very real fear of Tamlin and Lucien (when you knew Tamlin was a powerful HL). The danger was very real.

I wonder if she ever really told Nesta and Elain everything. I wonder if Nesta knew the Fae that Feyre later brought into her home was in part responsible for the kidnapping of Clare and the murder of her family.

#acotar #feyre archeron #nesta archeron #elain archeron #clare beddor #sjm books #rhysand #amarantha #feysand #anti feysand

[lady-tortilla-chip]

See now I know people didn’t read ACOTAR or just don’t know how to read because Amarantha taking over Prythian wasn’t about Tamlin. It was about her taking over Prythian. The curse on Spring was about Tamlin rejecting her child predator ass. So regardless if he “sacrificed” himself, Amarantha was still going to take over Prythian, except there would’ve been no one to challenge her and therefore no ACOTAR series… since the whole premise of the first book is about the curse in Spring, not Prythian itself.

Lmao. I swear her stans have no braincells.

Amarantha has stans ???? Tho I guess I liked her but I figured most agreed because she was the villain she should be the most hated (as evidenced by Helaina’s survey where MOST chose villains as their least favorites).

ALSO agreed Anon most people in the fandom don’t have great reading comprehension skills seeing as they turned on Tamlin because of acomaf. But yeah insane to think him saying yes to her would’ve saved anyone. It wouldn’t have and like you said without the curse in place over spring Feyre would’ve never killed Andras and been brought to the Spring Court. Her and Rhys only meet BECAUSE of the curse which forces Tamlin to take her.

#at least with this story there is that #the singular event which makes it so everything else has to happen #like I think you could change a SHIT TON about the novels without completely overthrowing the general plot and idea #but the curse and Tamlin telling Amarantha to fuck off I don’t think could be one of them #especially by the logic of these apparent readers #acotar #anti acotar #anti sjm #ask #answered

[astrababyy]

stans always say that antis moralize shit too much, bringing up concerns about the ic’s actions when it’s “not that serious”, but these are also the same people who will cry about how terrible tamlin and nesta are because he locked feyre in a house and nesta let feyre hunt.

meanwhile, feyre’s destabilized an entire fucking court and felt proud of that — which is not only a war crime, but caused the invasions of summer and actively contributed to the fall of the wall because she made the utterly dumb decision to destabilize the ONE court keeping hybern from his goal.

rhys terrorizes the vast majority of his court like the dictator he claims is jUsT aN aCt. he legit sold them all out to amarantha, letting her torture them so he could protect one freaking city that was already hidden from her view. he groped and debased feyre utm, and he twisted her broken arm and forced her into a deal with him. he is constantly lording his power over others, especially the other high lords, which is just freaking pathetic. he’s got no damn respect for others, clearly shown from his insistence on taking the book from tarquin instead of asking. not to mention that whole pregnancy subplot in acosf.

don’t even get me started on the rest of the inner circle. like, you wanna like them? sure, i don’t give af. im not gonna go around calling you an abuse apologist for liking rhysand. but don’t sit here and say we’re unnecessarily moralizing shit in a book about murderous faeries when, in the same vein, the author herself (and a lot of stans) legit does the exact same thing. like there is no world in which maas can stuff a moral scale into these books and not be a hypocrite without it being anything beyond the characters’ own spite. but guess what? SHE DOES IT ANYWAY.

so yes im going to keep talking about how terrible rhys is as a character. yes im going to keep talking about how much the ic sucks. and 80% of the time, idec when characters are horrible people, but when the author herself and the freaking fandom sit there and say with their full chest that they’ve done nothing wrong, that’s when im like ???no??? ESPECIALLY when they call other people abuse apologists for liking characters they constantly try to moralize like no just no.

so keep your stupid contradictory morality in these books idc, but it means that i am going to judge the absolute unapologetic fuck out of your favs.

#it’s not even like the characters themselves that i really care about #it’s more so the double standards behind them #like one of your mains legit tortures people #and the books choose to bully a depressed twenty five year old war veteran over that guy #like no that’s just not logical in any way shape or form #and even if it was biased povs #everyone hates tamlin even though this is the guy who prob took in a lot of refugees from their courts during amarantha #who worked his ass off to fight against her and get an edge over her #who never gave in against amarantha #like i can understand them being wary due to his shtick with hybern #but you’d think they wouldn’t be so outright disdainful without hearing him out first lmao #especially considering refusing Hybern clearly would’ve resulted in his Court being attacked and ultimately defeated #there’s no contradictions ever given that Nesta doesn’t suck #and idc how biased your POVs are #if there’s no proof that those POVs are biased #in that people called them out #it doesn’t count as a biased pov because it’s like every character bends to their reality #anti sjm #pro tamlin #astrababyy #anti rhysand #anti feyre #going on a rant cause acotar reddit is getting on my damn nerves

[author-dapa]

Rhysand's thoughts on Amarantha with a poem: 【So Cold】

A note on their dynamic, feel free to read before or after reading the poem:

The reimagining of their dynamic is purposefully mutually angsty to some extent. The idea is that they both want love, want warmth, so Amarantha fixated on Tamlin except she couldn't have him so she took Rhysand. In this sense, Amarantha is forcing love while Rhysand is helplessly grasping for it.

In this, Rhysand looses his naivety while still desperately clinging onto the idea that the warmth he found with Amarantha is somehow genuine because he can't decide if he wants it to be or not.

I've changed Rhysand’s mind reading power to an empathetic one. So during his captivity, he got to understand Amarantha as a person and know her anger, her grief, and even what made her happy. To Rhysand, his falling for her was so uselessly helpless he can't stand it.

She is still warm, she stills bleeds it, so with a love that hurts him, she destroys him and so when she dies finally, he destroys himself with her.

Her caresses draw blood and peel at the skin

When he wants to claw into her skin, it becomes something so painfully tender

He's seen her smile and felt her tears

How could he hate her?

How can he love her?

The poem:

So cold

So please

Open up my chest

Gorge yourself

on the empty scraps of my heart

Kiss me

with your lukewarm lips

Ah, please

With these heated gasps

of pleasure

of pain

Breathe agony

back into my lungs

Ah, why

is it still so cold

The stars shine so distantly

out of my reach

Falling so quietly

how can I find their warmth

again

Like this

all of my

hopelessly

foolish

dreams

Are buried in the cooling ash

Just like that

they become

cruelly

naive

nightmares

Ah, why

am I still asking why

it is still

So cold

So please

With this fire

that no longer has any meaning

Let me rest

on her pyre

If your curious, this was inspired while listening to CURE by VIVINOS (Alien Stage)

The song

If you want to use this poem for anything, you can let me know or not, but please credit me like this:

So Cold by dapa @aho-dapa @aho_dapa

#Rhysand #Amarantha #acotar #acotar rewrite #dapa rewrite hell #anti sjm #amarhys #edited the fire sentence because it was repetitive

[arson-09]

I already fucking hated amarantha but jesus christ she’s disgusting.

Its strange that sjm never writes about the fact that its canon that amarantha was attracted to tamlin since he was young even though she made it canon. Again the only characters who get the grace of being able to talk about their trauma are her favorites.

The fae world really need to invest in some therapists. Like badly. So many characters need it

#acotar #sarah j maas #a court of thorns and roses #tamlin #sjm #sjm critical #acomaf #acowar #anti amarantha