extremely-judgemental - Tumblr blog

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I just realised why Feyre doesn't find Rhys's actions manipulative. Because she herself isn't above it!

Where's her mental monologuing of making Rhys force her sisters to help them in the war?

And her entire conversation with Nesta in HoW with the whole 'sister or High Lady. High Lady or sister' thing?

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People who say SJM can't write soft women are wrong. Or at least she accidentally wrote one in the best way possible.

No, it's not Elain. It's Gwyn.

Gwyn is kind and sweet to everyone. She's funny. She's observant of everyone and everything around her. She's considerate. She indulges in 'feminine' hobbies like making bracelets. She entertains her friends by taking interests in their hobbies as well. She invites Nesta to their prayers knowing she'd enjoy the music, the only source of music in HoW. She loves her family very much and carries guilt for not doing enough to save her sister. She doesn't let that grief to dictate how she treats others, nor does she bring others down. She healed herself (most parts) even when cut off from the rest of the world. She makes new friends and help them become better not in a 'I'm going to save her' way but she's compassionate. She isn't afraid to cry and express her feelings to her friends who later become her sisters. On top of it all, she faced her fears for her found family. She doesn't care about other's opinions of her. She's willing to sacrifice her life for them.

Literally this woman has done nothing wrong so far, at all.

I don't understand how anyone could hate this character. Honestly, she's one of the few characters who's refreshing and well developed in the series.

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Okay, I might've been wrong about Bryce. CC is far better than ACOTAR. Characters have depth and feel real, they grow and evolve. The plot is still way too elaborate for me but it makes sense.

Did SJM intend to write messed up characters in messed up world in ACOTAR or did she accidentally fuck it up?

So. I started Crescent city series. (Don't ask me why I'm punishing myself with SJM's books)

I have questions now.

Why do all her FC need to be reckless?

Why do they all need to be obsessed with their loved ones?

Why do all her characters have snark or sass as their main personality trait?

Does SJM even have an editor?

I just feel Bryce is just a decent version of Feyre in some ways. I don't have the mental or emotional capacity to elaborate.

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The narrative with Cassian hating Nesta and coming to accept her in ACOSF could have been one of the most interesting relationship development in the series.

Imagine Cassian supporting Nesta like he was meant to as a mate. Cassian standing up against Rhysand, Amren and Feyre when they try to imprison her. Cassian standing up to Morrigan when she's mean to Nesta. Cassian hating the idea of keeping secrets and fighting his friends and family.

Now, Cassian already thinks Nesta is on the wrong with her behaviour. He would still hate her and want her to change, but he wouldn't be able to handle the whole protectiveness that comes with the mating bond. He'd have hated her even more for that.

Then, he would hate himself for feeling that way. And his character development would have been much more satisfying and plausible than an abusive-Rhys's ass kissing-creep.

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The part I hate about Elain lashing out on Nesta is that she didn't say a word to IC.

She already agreed to help them. She had no problem that they reached out to Nesta for help when she already accepted the task? She was angry that Nesta was trying to protect her and make a choice for her, but not IC for doing the same?

It makes me angry that she so easily sided with the IC in imprisoning Nesta. I want to believe it was out of care, but it just feels so wrong that she'd do that to the one sister who always looked out for her, who kept the others away including Lucien after they turned fae.

Was there any mention of what exactly was said between Elain and Nesta during their private fight? I can't remember.

I wish she had also called out IC at some point.

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‘He shot me’ Somehow, this remark did not elicit the dramatic response I expected. - The marvelous and unreliable Richard Papen

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So. I started Crescent city series. (Don't ask me why I'm punishing myself with SJM's books)

I have questions now.

Why do all her FC need to be reckless?

Why do they all need to be obsessed with their loved ones?

Why do all her characters have snark or sass as their main personality trait?

Does SJM even have an editor?

I just feel Bryce is just a decent version of Feyre in some ways. I don't have the mental or emotional capacity to elaborate.

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Hold up.

You're telling me he was a literal child when it happened? And the IC is holding a grudge against that?

The fuck what!

Correct me if I’m wrong cause I could be misremembering but didn’t someone make a whole timeline of ages during the war or something and during the whole Morrigan thing Eris was 12 or something???

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That's a cool concept but I don't think it would work since the house can only provide and take orders. If Nesta asked though, it wouldn't resist since she is its only true friend and Rhys and the whole IC mistreated her.

Forget Rhys, I would like to see it kick Cassian out though! Imagine him strutting about as if he owns the whole damn world and does or says something stupid to Nesta, and the house just. . .flings him out. Without his wings, it'd be funnier.

Does anyone else feel weird that they gifted the very house where they locked Nesta up in the end?

It makes sense that her friends are there, the Valkyries are there, the library and the sentience of the house. Still. . .

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Does anyone else feel weird that they gifted the very house where they locked Nesta up in the end?

It makes sense that her friends are there, the Valkyries are there, the library and the sentience of the house. Still. . .

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Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie didn't have any interest in the Blood Rite. They weren't even thinking of it. They only wanted to train to get stronger and better at defense, to become a Valkyrie.

But they ended up in it because Cassian and Azriel brought the Illyrian generals to training to show women could train..?? And the generals thought of making an example out of them..??

Was no one ever going to acknowledge that or apologise for putting the three women's lives in danger? I wonder whose idea it was anyway.

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It's a common theme in the book if you notice. Tamlin dreams and works for it. Tarquin dreams and works for it. Lucien dreams and works for it. Also Eris! Even Vassa and Jurian lie in the same category. And they all are somehow portrayed in bad light at one point or the other.

But Rhys calls himself a dreamer, so do the IC. And yet they are the ones doing the least bit to support that name.

Man, Rhysand was never the dreamer in that god awful series. It was always Tamlin

Tamlin is the one who has always done everything he can do to stop injustice. Protecting mortals, always accepting fae from other court in his land, trying his damnedest to find a way to break the curse instead of stealing a mortal. He has always dreamed of a safer and more just world and has always tried to make that come true. Even after loosing so much he always did whats right and true in the end.

but hes doomed by the narrative. His good deeds and genuine soul over shadowed by the biases of the narrator. Hes the age old tragedy of wanting to be the best he can and do the best he can.

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Not to bitch on another woman here, but doesn't Mor do the same thing? Drink, gamble and have fun? The only difference is that she idolises IC and complies to Rhys's every whim.

So fighting in a war and almost sacrificing only counts as a service to a court when Feyre or Rhys themselves do it.

this part is kinda funny when you think about it because why would the average Velaris citizen gaf about how Nesta spends her time

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Why would someone give this much thought into this when the hot guy is back alive, right?

Also, the High Lords resurrected Feyre back because of Rhys's meddling with their minds, to what extent is unknown. Except for Tamlin and Helion, none of the others doing it makes any sense here.

Feyre demanding that the High Lords bring Rhysand back and them just obeying her??

That's why I honestly believe SJM forgets what she writes or flat out, ignores it in favor of her favorites.

The High Lords are supposed to be cunning and calculated, each one looking out for their people and their Courts first and foremost.

Fine, them bringing back Feyre UTM can be chalked up to their gratitude towards her and Tamlin since they did free them of Amarantha. They only gave her kernels of life essence to bring her back. The powers that came with them were unexpected, a whole big oversight, whatever. What's done is done.

For Rhysand, It can be reasoned that it was gratitude for fixing the Couldron, but frankly, I don't think he and Feyre had any other choice since the whole thing happened because Amren went rogue and because the world was falling apart?

The HLs bringing back Rhysand makes absolutely zero sense whatsoever politically, though. Why would any one of them want to keep 'the most powerful High Lord in history' alive? Let alone taking the chance of giving him even more powers if the same thing that happened with Feyre happened again? Especially when the High King theory had already been brought up, albeit discarded, but it was still there. The NC had been a terror even before Amarantha. It was the perfect way to destabilize it and keep an eye on whoever new HL was chosen.

Or if they were going to bring him back, why weren't there bargains with Feyre? I'm pretty sure she would have given them anything they wanted. Like Beron, of all people, gave another kernel willingly and for free? Really? Or Tarquin, who had every right to demand full restorations to the damages that were done to his court in exchange? Or Kallias, who should've demanded that 'other' daemati's name?

Honestly, it would've made more sense and would've been more believable to keep one of the death gods alive and have them bring him back. Or Nesta's death magic accidentally bringing him back because her emotions were reacting to her sister's cries. Or the Couldron bringing him back because it was grateful he had sacrificed himself to restore it.

There could have been so many other things to use instead of recycling that scene smh.

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Rhysand isn’t that great of a High Lord as praised in the books. IC’s ‘dreamers’ or ‘peace keepers’ narrative is just laughable.

SJM loves Rhys so much that she can't go a page without telling others how great he is. This is going to be long, and I don’t have much good things to say about him.

Rhys’s father gets killed when he was still young, around the time of the first war. Which means he had been High Lord for over 500 years. And since then he’s had IC with him too.

He’s known as the most powerful High Lord to have ever existed. But there are simply no mention of what he had done so far to prove that other than inheriting genes from his parents. He’s supposed to be unstoppable, and that’s the only thing everyone goes on about. After Amarantha drains most of the powers of High Lords, he’s still left with lot more. During the war with Hybern, he destroys a whole fleet of the enemy’s army with a flick of his finger. Great, but what else has he done with that so called power?

When they were talking about Velaris, I honestly thought Rhys and IC built the city themselves because of their dreams. But Velaris was built by his ancestor who was the OG dreamer. Including the wards, which he powered with his own blood.

During Amarantha’s rule, Rhys hid Velaris and his friends. Considering his powers were diminished, he couldn’t have saved the entire court but would he have since he hates Hewn City already? His first instinct was to erase the minds of his people UtM, mind you they were all from CoN since Rhys didn’t trust Amarantha enough that even his friends were left behind. And if we consider the ward he cast UtM, it’s quite pointless or just precautionary. As no one knew of Velaris and considering the wards were already powerful, he did that to protect his friends, to keep them in Velaris so that they don’t go looking for him. He basically bound the city’s safety to his friends’ lives which I don’t know if it’s a smart move or not. If any one of them had disobeyed his command, seeing how reckless Cassian and Azriel can be, he risked his city’s safety. Ignoring that, he protected his friends and his city, which was his literal job, which is no different from whatever the other HLs did the best they could.

Hewn City was the sacrificial lamb. They were the ones getting dragged into politics, wars, and whatnot. They are the evil subjects to his evil rule. And given that’s the role the people are meant to play every time, I don’t see how they could have lived any differently. After rescuing Mor, they did nothing to prevent it from happening to anyone else. If she was a gem of a person in the worst place possible, she couldn’t have been the only one. Given, Rhy has ultimate power to some extent even though Keir has influence over Hewn City, it’s notable that no one did anything to provide safety to anyone suffering. Velaris is the only safe place in Night Court where people can be themselves, and live a free life. And yet, it’s a secret from the ones in NC too. So what about other women who might endure what Mor did? What about the people who don’t agree with HC’s morals and ideals and want to leave, but they don’t see an option and don’t want to leave their home, i.e., NC? In the 500 years, no one made an attempt to change the traditions in fear of Keir rebelling against them. Not even Mor is said to do anything about it. She hates the place and clumps everyone in the same category as it’s easier to ignore.

It’s constantly pointed out that Rhys doesn’t even visit it often. And Mor is the one running it. Apart from occasionally showing up as their ruler and making a scene, Rhys has no contribution to that part of his court at all. As if he handed the responsibility completely to Mor while he enjoyed in Velaris. Unless he’s plotting something and he has a need, he doesn’t really bother with that city. Yes, for a ruler, delegation is important. But he’s completely ignorant of the rest of the court unless he has to play hero. Velaris is the only place the entire IC truly seem to care about and that’s not a good thing.

Now, when Keir tries to free his people, they outright deny him. He wanted to get out of the mountain. They could have given him access outside of the mountains but not within Velaris. But what is truly questionable is making a decision without consulting Mor about Keir’s arrival to Velaris. It was not only a betrayal of her trust as a friend, but also disrespectful to his third-in-command who basically takes care of his court all those years.

Though it might be seen as an empowering move to give reins to Mor over HC, sometimes she can’t stand in the same room as her father or Eris without having a traumatic flashback. If for personal reasons and space that Rhys doesn’t interfere, he should have as a ruler. But he doesn’t. And someone who’s biased towards a major portion of their court and still processing trauma from it is not a great idea.

Similar issue with Illyria. Women suffering, children abused, no reformation. The recent insertion of training females felt like a plot development and excuse instead of true motives of the IC to improve their court.

The major problem with the IC’s dreamer narrative is that they want to live in a better place but they don’t actively do anything about it. Their solution is to isolate the trouble and turn a blind eye instead of facing it. Illyria in the mountains. HC and the rest of the court cut off. While Rhys and the IC stay happily in Velaris, enjoying all that the city has to offer. Given he’s been in power for 500 years, if he had started reforming early on, they should have made some progress if they had at least tried.

Then there’s the matter of his relationship with other courts. After UtM, there was so much space for Rhys to build a better alliance with them all, except Spring of course. It was actually the best opportunity, even if he didn’t want to give up the bad guy act. They had all seen him fight against Amarantha in the end. Instead, he goes ahead and tricks the one HL who truly gave him a chance for exactly that—friendship and allyship. Rhys is a daemati and he uses his powers on anyone when he doesn’t trust them. He could've done that, he would've already done on that on Tarquin. And yet, he still went ahead with his plans after listening to his talks with Feyre. And when Tarquin blames Feyre for the attack on his court, Rhys should have held her accountable and apologised. Instead, Rhys skirts around with his ‘She’s the High Lady’ comment.

Going after Hybern and the cauldron was a mistake, a little understandable though. But since Hybern didn’t set his eyes only on NC, they should have warned the other HLs even if they didn’t want them to fight. At least after they got the book and had a plan in place. If they had, the others would have prepared which is proven with what happened in Summer.

Spring was the biggest sign of how terrible a HL Rhys is. Feyre was a comparatively a child who went through so much and she was clearly acting out of vengeance. Though it made sense for her at that time, Rhys who is known as the cunning mastermind throughout the series should have known the implications. He didn’t have the connection with her all the time to know what she was doing or what she was plotting. But he should have warned her. Instead, he encouraged her. He had a duty to his court and by extension, to Prythian. And he let Feyre destroy an entire court to punish one man.

And there’s the ‘bad guy’ mask he uses. He didn’t need that at all. If he had been a regular HL who wasn’t a high fae, it would make sense why he needed to pretend to be ruthless. But he is the most powerful HL to exist. He has the two most powerful Illyrian warriors by his side. Mor is said to be powerful and we don’t know how or why. He has Amren too. Basically they are a superhero squad among the courts. Literally he doesn’t need it at all since no one would dare fight him. Even if he did that because his ancestors did it, there are some things he did which no one just pretending to be evil would do(ahem ahem what he did to Feyre).

What I’m trying to say is most of the things he did was what he was meant to do as a HL and they are not extraordinary to label him as the best HL like it’s mentioned in all the books. He did his job, sometimes terribly. Other than protecting what was already well protected and going to wars, his actions weren’t mentioned enough to call him the best, most just, most powerful HL ever. 500 years is a long time and they did nothing though he had a ‘dream’.

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In the John Mulaney tag looking for gifs for a totally different post BUT now its:

Acotar characters in John Mulaney gifs:

Elain:

Feyre:

Nesta:

Az:

Cassian:

Rhys:

Lucien:

Tamlin:

Eris:

The end.

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I haven't felt so strongly about a book for so long as I do about the ACOTAR series. The more I think about it, the more I believe it has everything to do with the writing itself than the characters.

Someone once said SJM's book are about her characters and analysing the plot for logic would definitely lead to disliking the series. I don't know about her other books, but I can say for sure that since ACOMAF, to her, the characters are nothing but carriers for her 'cool plot ideas'.

In fantasy, the appeal lies with the high-stakes, the unimaginable, and the magical aspect of the story and so makes sense that SJM focuses more on that. But on the other hand, she sacrifices her characters like lambs even for a bit of suspense or thrill.

The best example I've got is the butchering of Feyre's character. The woman in first book is completely unrecognisable after the second. With ACOMAF, I understood she went through trauma after trauma and she was healing the best she could. I was waiting and waiting for her evolution into someone who has clearer values and more defined personality.

Instead she's reduced to a character to whom the plot happens. She has no clear healing, her family bonds are more strained than ever, her friendships are more goal oriented than anything, her ruling as High Lady is nothing more than a show.

I read the fanfics first and I thought I'd give the series a try. Huge mistake! Where was this side of fandom to warn me?? I believed with all my heart that IC are good people when I began the books and imagine my surprise how quickly the illusion was shattered.

Feyre doesn't actually seem to heal. Or in my opinion, I don't see how or where it might have happened. She still is reckless and endangers lives for what she believes is right.

She's used to making herself useful and she believes that's what gives her value in life. That's confused as her love language of giving and being of service. Not denying it isn't who she is though.

In ACOMAF, her relationship with Rhys is just that initially. He throws her in harm's way again and again, and she readily does it because it makes her useful, her powers useful. It's why she doesn't feel what Rhys is doing anything wrong, and so the readers don't find it shady.

In ACOWAR, it's a personal vendetta. In both books, it's more to do with her own reasons than good of others. They are collateral, a justification of sorts.

Like she felt at home before Tamlin, before Spring Court. Her family needed her for survival. She needed to feel useful to the point that she couldn't figure out what she wanted to do when she found her family was fine.

I'd have loved if she had learned not everything relied on her and she could take a break. If she had learned she has responsibilities to others but it doesn't mean her life would end if she failed once.

Instead she has an epiphany at the last minute and was afraid of losing Rhys. Just him, not the rest of her life, all the other happiness she might be missing on. Instead we get the Feyre who realised her idea of living life is having a child and being a housewife. Instead of having a steady healing where she becomes better and better and considerate, we get Feyre who's arrogant, conniving and prying.

Feyre once said in the beginning that if her sisters were married and she didn't have all those responsibilities, she would spend her days painting. And finally when she does it, people are to assume, it was her happy ending. But it was a lame way to give closure to her character. That was young, overworked, deeply traumatised Feyre asking for a little break and compassion. It wasn't her ultimate goal in her life. Honestly, her dream was never revealed because Feyre didn't matter in SJM's books, it was her plot that she cared about.

I have so many thoughts on all the other characters and every time I get mad, I remember it was all SJM's fault.