browneyedartist01

[browneyedartist01]

the most comical thing about protagonists written by sarah j maas, is that they're always the most powerful dingle berry in dingle berry-land history but the best they can do is 'dream of a better world' and have a 10 page essay about how much they hate slavery.

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my friends told me this counts as a late Halloween post so here it is teehee

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By all means, create art of Feyre wearing her UTM "outfit".

Elaborate drawings, with strategically placed pieces to cover her intimate areas, as if we did not know she was made to parade naked by her (at the time) enemy.

Portray Feyre in that see-through "dress", which she was made to wear as she was drugged night after night for the sin of wanting to liberate the man she loved.

Brush after brush, color that "dress" as a symbol of empowerment, while the memories of her SA during those months are blocked in your mind, just as hers did.

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Unknown mother and sister.

I know people have spoken about authors using female anguish or pain placed upon them to develop the male characters before, but it honestly bugs me so much when it comes to Rhysand. His whole shtick for the Great Retcon of Tamlin is helped through the past actions of Tamlin’s so-called betrayal that led to the murder of his mother and sister (we still don't know the whole story. Heck, Rhysand himself still doesn't know the whole story, yet acts as he does - go into his mind and find out), but what do we even know about these women other than to serve as Rhysand's ever lasting resentment?

We have no names. We have no solid personalities than the vague stereotypically female qualities of "kind hearted" and "caring." The mother randomly made dresses in a revealing design that doesn't match the Illyrian's prudish aesthetic at all when it comes to female’s and how did she even get her ring in the weavers hands and how would retrieving it display anyones worth of her precious son? That in itself could have been a whole back story along with her and any extended family. Then there's the sister who we also know nothing about. And even in CC3 (hofas) Azriel mentioned that Helena, during that holographic scene in the Prison, looked similar to Rhysand’s sister. In that moment, a name could have been given, SJM! That was a perfect opportunity, but nah, I guess.

The point being, these women were Rhysand’s heart. Azriel's heart. Cassian’s heart, and yet we know practically nothing about them beyond the surface. They were tracked and murdered for...reasons. Beheaded and wings removed to debase them further, but what attachment are readers meant to have other than to say, "Aww, poor Rhysand, how horrible"? Tamlin lost his mother too, but his story isn't as wrapped up in the loss as Rhysand’s is, so his mother being dead isn't meant to hold that much weight nor granted much sympathy despite neither women having names nor much back story. Women killed due to other men's (the fathers) anger and vengeance. Women's deaths meant to set the tone and nothing else. Senseless. Pointless.

We know more about Mama Archeron than any of them, yet even that information is scarce, and she's the dead parent of the FMC. We know more about Alis than them. We know more about Amarantha and her sister, Clythia, than them. We know more about Myriam than them.

So someone tell me why I'm meant to take Rhysand seriously and his devastated, broken heart for his losses when they're used as nothing but tools to excuse he behaviour and justify his feelings despite us never getting to know the true memory of them?

I wish we learnt more. She was the first Illyrian Lady ever! That's interesting! What did she do to help her own people? Did she care? Why did she allow Rhysand to go to those camps? Did she have a choice? What did the sister do in her years alive? Did she have dreams? I still think a little romance between the sister and either Cassian or Azriel would have been an interesting twist.

So many books, and we're given crumbs. So many books and so many characters don't even have names, let alone surnames. I know the genre is romantasy, but c'mon. And I'm just tired of random female trauma being used to further a males tragic backstory and nothing else.

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there is actually no fucking way you are saying this about bestselling white piece of shit fantasy author sarah j maas. there is actually no way you are comparing sarah j maas, a woman who used breonna taylor’s murder to promote her book, to women of colour who are regularly and routinely sidelined in the publishing industry and who struggle to get marketing budgets or publishing contracts in the first place and whose work is often pigeonholed. there is simply no way

[browneyedartist01]

Hi wolfy! um I recall you stating your opinion on why you dislike Calypso before, but i can't find it... I wanna see it again though so... Can i ask about it again?

Well I have no overarching opinions on her, I just dislike her in relation to Odysseus because. Y'know. The rape. And the keeping him captive thing

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If Feyre had been the one abused as a child we would have heard about it nonstop for five books now, but since it was Nesta who spent years being abused as a child, it's summed up in two paragraphs, labeled "discipline", and never mentioned again.

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Odysseus at the end of the vengeance saga with no context:

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Little Red Riding Hood.

Ink and Watercolour.

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saw someone say "I'm not sorry for loving you" is calypso's YouTube apology and I haven't been able to think of anything else since

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Athena: I believe we should ship Odysseus and Penelope together.

Ares: To where?

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Sometimes there are moments where you think maybe SJM does see the reality of how she has written Cassian and Rhysand. Like when Lucien calls Feyre out for falling for Rhysand after he abused her and Ember calling out Rhysand and Cassian for how they treat Nesta. The way Feyre makes comments about how Rhysand treats Nesta. Nesta's general dislike for them. Literally everyone but the inner circle thinking they're not good people.

I just don't know if I have faith in her to actually act on it and not end this all as a stockholm syndrome "fairytale" where only the men come out as the winners

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So, according to ladyofbloodshed's timeline, it took Feyre a year and three/four months to go from being an illiterate human to High Lady.

In less than a year and a half, a 20 year old human that believed fairies couldn't lie and knew the bare minimum about Prythian became the ruler of a court.

If it sounds ridiculous for human standards, I cannot imagine what it felt like for their people... "Sorry we can't properly address the inhumane and misogynistic practices within the HC and Illyria, 'cause ya know, change requires tiiiime!

Oh, but this barely adult lady that just got here will be your new High Lady because I say so, so get used to it!"

???

[browneyedartist01]

i think the hottest thing sarah j maas did was make lucien incredibly intelligent and self aware,,,

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Aeolus watching Odysseus open the wind bag again:

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Hmm, maybe I should elaborate on why I am so furious with the 600 strike and therefore totally disappointed in Epic the Musical.

Okay, there’s no problem with the help from the souls of the crew; let’s collectively forget that they should hate him because he was the reason for their deaths, and that they shouldn’t even be there since they died not near Ithaca, and Hades wasn’t likely giving them a day off from the underworld.

No problem with the wind bag, so conveniently delivered by the trident; okay, just a really wild coincidence.

But here the problems start:

1. Since when does a totally uncontrollable and turbulent storm act like a controllable jetpack?

2. Since when is Odysseus totally capable of not only using this jetbag with ease from the very start but also using it in a damn battle? Is that believable in the slightest?

3. Since this is Poseidon’s storm and Poseidon is fully capable of controlling it (as we see at the end), why didn’t he just turn the storm off a little bit earlier to get rid of Odysseus without any problem? Because the author says so? That’s just silly.

4. Why doesn’t Poseidon fight back but mostly just float helplessly? Yes, he is supposed to be a worse fighter at close range, but not helpless at close range! Why didn’t he even use his own sea for attack or defense? It’s his domain, after all! I saw an opinion that he was shocked because he felt pain for the first time in his divine life… but that’s just not true. He was eaten by his own father and spent his childhood in his stomach, where there was surely enough pain. Also, gods fought their own wars with titans and giants, so he must have experienced enough pain in battle. He even fought in disguise alongside mortals in the Trojan War. So it can’t be the reason. What is the reason? Masochism? Or does the author simply understand that there’s no way for Odysseus to win if Poseidon fights back or at least protects himself with water?

5. Why does Poseidon just let his trident lie on the ground for Odysseus to pick it up slowly? Poseidon was already pretty well beaten by this mortal, so I just don’t believe he didn’t consider Odysseus a threat at that moment. So… just why? Another author’s decision for the sake of a desirable (but totally illogical) Odysseus victory?

6. Why does Poseidon let himself be stabbed repeatedly by his own trident and not even try to take it back, run, or use water to evade? Is he really this masochistic? Another “because the author wants it so”? And we can see that Poseidon bears serious pain well enough, by the way.

7. Poseidon calling Odysseus a "monster" as an accusation is just hilarious because with all his ruthless philosophy, it should rather be a praise! So we have a clearly out-of-character Poseidon here. Also, I think he would rather die (being immortal, yes) than ask a mortal (!) for mercy! And all the “how would you sleep at night” is just so out of character for Poseidon from all the gods! He is ruthless himself, so… is he sleeping poorly at night all these thousands of years? Really? Does he genuinely consider his ruthless deeds something to regret? Do we have a straight PJO Poseidon here instead of our old epic one?! This line seems just forced for the sake of a “badass” Odysseus's response.

So we already have too many illogical moments that the author uses to get a desirable but totally unbeliveable result. But what about mythological accuracy? In Greek mythology, we have no examples of a god being literally defeated (not tricked or captured) by a mere human. Only wounded—twice—in the Iliad, but in the first case, it was Aphrodite, who is specifically described as weak in wartime. And in the second case with Ares, Athena was there invisibly, literally guiding Diomedes's spear to the weak spot with her own hand. So we can’t even say that it’s mythologically possible for a mere human to defeat a god, especially one whose power is comparable to Zeus.

So… now you can see why I am totally disappointed with the 600 strike.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.