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flying in a dream, stars by the pocketful...

a court of frost and starlight (feysand) headers. like or reblog if you save or use. 🌨️

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telling me elain is boring and "does nothing" when she literally took a dagger and sliced a king's throat, saved the IC asses and was ready to do it once again if it weren't for Nestha... going thru poverty, war and trauma and still seeing the light and beautiful side of live and always choosing kindness. She's strong and ready for a development and ya'll don't see it!

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📎📷 shannon maud lynch

details of (my) little fighter !

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just remembered this app exists and that i love it!

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MY FOREVER BABY !

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 johnny kavanagh, the bulldozer

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Elain🌸 and Azriel🦇

🎨art by irynkart on IG

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Feyre's Power and Versatility

I feel like Feyre's skill set, power, and versatility is so creatively done in the series.

I saw some people say that Feyre didn't fight a lot or show her powers or abilities much in the series, and I never got that impression when reading. I was blown away at how many skills she shows, powers and abilities and the unique combinations of them.

So I went through a looked at examples of skills/abilities and how they're used creatively-

Archery

The obvious first one, but beyond her backstory and the first chapters of acotar, it comes up even after she turns fae; like in acowar, killing a couple of the naga hounds as they escape from Hybern's camp:

It's not a forgotten skill even if Feyre has so many other abilities to utilize later that it comes up less often.

Hunting

Feyre the huntress is basically the origin of her character and a defining skill; you can see it in her trapping and killing the Middengard Wyrm as a human, but it also comes up when she saves Rhys from the Hybern soldiers in acomaf:

The Hybern scouts even attempted to conceal where they'd taken Rhys by using his shirt to carry his scent and splitting up into two groups, and Feyre is still able to figure out which group to track.

She doesn't just understand snares/traps, she understands animal habits, tracking, and applies that knowledge to kill the Wyrm in impossible odds and save Rhys in acomaf.

Hand-to-Hand Combat

Feyre is a skilled combatant, even without relying on magic:

She even does this while also incorporating (and keeping up with a thousand year old Hybern Commander utilizing the same) winnowing into her fight here.

(To say nothing of how she's poisoned and weakened during this and adapts her fighting to end it quicker, get Lucien free, to finish before the poison can fully take hold).

It's so impressive that Lucien (who's centuries old) and Brannagh (who is a thousand) are visibly shocked. Lucien even comments on it later.

Winnowing

Winnowing is "a rare gift" that "only the stronger Fae can do"; only a few of the Inner Circle are shown to be able to do it. Thousand year old Hybern royalty like Brannagh can't do it.

But Feyre is able to. She even is shown to winnow with others (saving Rhys in acomaf and taking on another sentry in early acowar).

And it's implied she'll get better with time since it's established training is important (not just power) to go further distances and carry others and that what Feyre needs is more time and training to go farther:

"[Winnowing is] wholly dependent on your own reserve of power—and training" - Rhys explaining winnowing to Feyre in acomaf

I still had not yet mastered doing it over long distances. At least, not with many stops in between. -Feyre, end of acomaf

Strength/Speed

Feyre is noted to be unusually (physically) strong and fast for a High Fae, which is one of the first signs of a High Lord's Heir.

Her strength is shown in the Weaver's Cottage when she loosens and throws bricks at her and in her inability to keep from destroying doors and silverware and whatnot on accident after being turned, literally not knowing her own strength.

Shielding

Her mental shielding is so good, she successfully keeps Rhys out; she's also able to physically shield against High Lord powered attacks (like Tamlin in acomaf and Beron in acowar):

She also shields Lucien and Tamlin's minds and protects them from daemati attacks without them even realizing in early acowar.

Daemati

Daemati are even rarer than fae who can winnow, and her burgeoning abilities were so strong, she slipped into Lucien's mind without meaning to multiple times.

She was also able to influence a High Lord (Tarquin) and infiltrate Ianthe's mind so deeply it took days for the King of Hybern to unravel.

We also see her power to sense minds, cast of "net of awareness" and see if any fae are hiding or nearby.

Curse-Breaking/Spell-Cleaving/Ward Breaking

Feyre can cleave even difficult and powerful wards/spells. Even the King of Hybern is impressed-

She cleaves his wards/breaks his spells multiple times and also breaks a High Lord's:

Moreover, she's able to almost trick spells:

She also can detect spells as part of her abilities:

Shapeshifting

She uses her shapeshifting abilities to enhance her body in combat (i.e., eyes that can see in the darkness, talons to fight with, and wings to fly with). She's also able to use it to impersonate others, like infiltrating Hybern's camp as "Ianthe".

Beyond that, Azriel notes that her attention to detail as an artist allowed her to create detailed, accurate wings, highlighting the intersection for how she views the world as an artist with her powers:

Elemental/Misc. HL Powers

Beyond the others above, she also inherits a variety of often elemental type of powers specific to different courts that she uses in varied, creative way- a few examples:

Night (shadows): uses the shadows to blind the Hybern soldiers in the halls of the Adriata palace and use the cover of darkness to winnow repeatedly and kill them (while using the shapeshifted eyes so she has night vision)

Day (light): blinds Eris on the ice in acowar to get away

Day (wind): uses the wind to create shields and block weapons like arrows

Dawn (healing): mostly seen speeding up healing herself but we've seen it save Rhys's life when he's poisoned

Winter (ice): after drenching the flying Hybern soldiers with water in the attack on Velaris, she uses the ice to freeze them and bring them to the ground to shatter; she also uses the ice to negate Eris's fire cuffs in acowar

Summer (water): the water wolves speak for themselves- but just creating water animals as weapons that can charge and fly in general; she also drowns a Hybern soldier on land in the Adriata palace

Autumn (fire): she uses lashes of fire to behead Hybern soldiers in Adriata and even set an entire clearing ablaze in acomaf (before using other powers to smother it)

You can see in many cases, she plays off the complementary powers (using water to soak flying soldiers only to use ice to freeze them; using shadows to blind Hybern soldiers while using her shapeshifting to give herself night vision and winnow in bursts to take out the soldiers).

This gives her abilities and powers that are unique from the individual High Lords.

Glamouring

She uses the shapeshifting magic to conjure a glamour of their entire army. This is a glamour that a high lord (Tarquin) was skeptical could be done. The NC army is significantly bigger than the Summer army, too.

She also uses glamouring when she hides Bryaxis and the Bone Carver before the battle with Hybern, with no one on either side aware.

Wielding the Cauldron

Feyre possesses an ability to use the Cauldron that's incredibly rare. It's shown that part of it is due to being Made, but also Feyre's own ability to control herself/her mind and withstand its power.

She is the one able to be a conduit and reforge it, even without the Book of Breathings, in a cool moment that purposefully references The Mother and "the story of Prythian":

Her power also goes in to remake the Cauldron with Rhys's:

Her ability to do this (use the Cauldron as a conduit to unleash Amren and reforge it) is the only reason they win the war, that any of Prythian's forces live.

She also can sense it and track it:

The King of Hybern even notes that the Cauldron "purrs" in her presence.

General Power

The acotar books aren't great with power scaling imo; having said that, Feyre's considerable power is discussed and acknowledged multiple times.

Her use of magic in the Court of Nightmares when people try to test "whatever power she might have" causes people to faint, tremble, whimper, and flee even:

In the High Lord meeting it's especially apparent.

I think some misunderstand that though Helion establishes that what it feels like for the High Lords is that they're missing an inconsequential bit of their power (to the point that only he is shown to have noticed it), he also says in the same breath, that the power Feyre just displayed makes him say "no wonder" she was made High Lady, establishing it as HL level in his eyes:

I think it plays into how Feyre is repeatedly asked "what are you?" by people like the Weaver or established as "like and unlike all".

Because despite all the HLs acknowledging Feyre was given just a drop/they aren't missing much, it's also acknowledged that she could've killed the oldest High Lord (Beron) and her display seems like "far more" than what was given:

It's not that 7 drops of power from the High Lord's adds up to much and took anything noticeable from them individually, it's that the combination created something unexpected, "outside anything" recognizable and with a "behemoth" of power.

Feyre being Made this way literally became something more than the sum of her parts- and that's only emphasized with how she combines her powers and abilities to make something new.

Seven Courts/Connection to Prythian/Made

Feyre notes that her unusual powers respond differently, to the High Lord and their court/land. This comes up when she's tracking items, when she's getting past their wards, and even from the land itself.

Like her other abilities, she combines her connection to the HLs to other gifts- like using her shapeshifting to physically become Tarquin and then her connection to him to be perceived as him by spells.

Another interesting thing is that Feyre's power responds to both the High Lord's power (it "writhed" in response at the start of the battle against Hybern when they use theirs) and the land of their courts. She notes that her affinity to use certain court powers responds and is strengthened when she's there:

In the Middle, there's even a moment where Feyre feels the very land of Prythian accommodating her:

Which connects well to how she reforges the Cauldron with a purposeful reference to "the story of Prythian" (when the Mother held the Cauldron- notably depicted in a "starry, endless night") and the start of all life.

The whole "child of seven courts" with powers that respond to the land is fascinating as the power in Prythian is so tied to the land and that moment that she parallels.

-

I liked how Feyre's skills and powers are shown because readers really get to see it and not just hear "she's powerful" or "she's a huntress".

You see her apply training (so much emphasis on power training with Rhys and combat with Cassian and flying with Azriel for instance and all get payoff) and experiences (her years hunting shows up in all three books and makes moments like killing the Wyrm and finding Rhys after he's taken feel more earned) rather than just suddenly have "power".

You get to see how she applies her powers, how she combines her skill set, rather than just a generic blast of power that demonstrates "power" but no skill or strategy. And that creates abilities that are new and unique.

Anyway, this was fun to do- Feyre's a badass whose versatility lets her build upon the individual powers she has and her powers and skill set are used very creatively in the series.

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favourite sisters ! 😭🫶💫

Felt the need to paint this sketch I made some time ago. Now it’s ready for @elainarcheronweek day 5 💛

©characters belong to SJM

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Elain Archeron Week: Strength

“𝓓𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓰𝓮𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓰𝓪𝓻𝓭𝓮𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓸𝓯𝓽𝓮𝓷 𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓾𝓵𝓽𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓽𝓽𝔂, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓲𝓽 𝓲𝓷𝓿𝓸𝓵𝓿𝓮𝓼 𝓰𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓸𝓷𝓮'𝓼 𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓼 𝓭𝓲𝓻𝓽𝔂 𝓪𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝔂."

Art by the very talented gracerstudios and commissioned by me. I loved working with you and adore your portrayal of Elain 💖

Elain has shown her strength many times throughout the series, whether through surviving the Cauldron, seeing the good and finding the beauty in dark times, or protecting those she cares about by kicking hounds in the face or stabbing a king through the neck. I think one of the biggest ways we’ll see Elain show her strength in her book is by standing up for herself and her right to choose. In ACOSF, we saw a glimpse of this when Elain stood up to Nesta after she forbid Elain from going near the Cauldron. I’d love to see Elain defy those orders and explore her powers, proving how capable she is to all of those around her.

We also saw Elain stand up against the concept of mating bonds in ACOWAR when she declared she belongs to no one. I think this could lead to Elain defying fate in her book as she decides who she wants to spend her life with. Elain grabbing the thread of her mating bond in this piece represents that choice. Standing up against society’s expectations and following her heart would be an amazing display of strength for a woman groomed to be nothing more than a pretty face to be married off as an advantageous match for her family. Whatever she decides, I’m so excited to see Elain stand up for what she wants and show that only she knows what’s best for herself.

Please do not repost without permission.

@elainarcheronweek

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Elain Archeron Week: Connections

“So Elain silently cried, the tears so unending that I wondered if it was some sign of her heart bleeding out. Some sliver of hope that had shattered today. That Graysen would still love her, still marry her—𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓽𝓻𝓾𝓶𝓹 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓪 𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓫𝓸𝓷𝓭.”

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Art by gracerstudios and commissioned by me

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

After Graysen cruelly rejected Elain, some of her hope shattered - including her hope that their love could trump even a mating bond. I think we could see this hope restored in Elain as she continues to explore her blossoming connection with Azriel.

Since their first meeting in ACOMAF, I have loved seeing the natural and effortless connection between Elain and Azriel grow. Elain looks to him for comfort, shares her passion with him, and picks him out gifts that show she sees him. In return, Azriel understands Elain in a way no one else does and shows how much he cares about her through his actions. I’d love to see their connection prove that love is strong enough to trump a mating bond and for Elain to get the great love story she deserves with a male of her own choosing.

I imagine Elain and Azriel’s story being full of angst, longing, and romance and I wanted to portray that feeling with this piece. Gracerstudios is so incredibly talented and did a phenomenal job bringing my vision to life! Thank you again for being such a pleasure to work with 💙

Please do not repost without permission.

@elainarcheronweek

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johnnyshannon × the blue !

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i absolutely love how Feyre is strong, brave and so damn stubborn but also so gentle and empathetic, she really is a lady of many faces and i love how she can be a perfect mix of Nesta and Elain's personality!

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To cut Tamlin some slack I would also go on a 2 year spiral if I fumbled Feyre too.

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i just opened tumblr and i was BOMBARDED with elriel and elain beautiful content my god i absolutely LOVE IT HERE !!

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“She was so strong, so resilient, and she didn't even know it. I couldn't imagine going through what she had and just getting back up again. But here she was, ready to put her trust in me, leaving her house this evening even though her father was still around. I mean, that had to fuck with her head, right? But she didn't let it take her down. The girl was the definition of fall down seven times and stand up eight. No matter what seemed to be thrown her way, she always dusted herself off, climbed back up on her feet, and tried again.”

— shannon lynch you will always be loved by me!

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“Because you’re the foundation, the one who lifts us. You always have been.”

Day 7: Growth 🌸✨

“I glanced toward my sister. ‘Did you . . .?’ A nod from Elain. ‘Nuala did the decorating though.’ It was then that I realized what the three different tiers had been painted to look like. . . The same design of the chest of drawers I’d once painted in that dilapidated cottage. One for each of us—each sister. . . ‘I asked Nuala to do it in that order,’ Elain said as the others gathered round. ‘Because you’re the foundation, the one who lifts us. You always have been.’”

While Elain takes accountability for her failure to help Feyre in ACOMAF, I love this moment in ACOFAS where Elain again makes amends to Feyre and acknowledges just how much Feyre did for her and Nesta. Elain’s willingness to uplift Feyre speaks volumes to just how much Elain has grown through the course of this series so far.

And I can’t wait to see Sarah continue to explore that growth in the next book!

Sweet @pinkykei.art did such a wonderful job capturing this scene! I love how she draws all the ACOTAR characters and knew that I had to have her for this piece 💕 She is such an amazing person and artist and it was so fun to work with her!

Art by: @pinkykei.art

Commissioned by: me

Characters belong to: @sarahjmaas

For: @elainarcheronweek

You can find it on IG here

Likes, comments, shares, and saves are welcomed and appreciated!

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@elainarcheronweek - day 7: growth/free day.

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“𝓛𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝔀𝓱𝓸 𝓭𝓮𝓬𝓲𝓭𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓰𝓻𝓸𝔀 𝓬𝓵𝓪𝔀𝓼 𝓪𝓯𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓪𝓵𝓵.”

‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.

elain has come a long way from the meek girl in the cabin, hiding behind her sister. this is the girl that kicked naga hounds in the face with her bare feet, the girl who shoots straight whiskey, who “hopes they all burn in hell,” who wielded shadows and truth teller to bring down a king.

elain is a woman who both shines in her gentle femininity and isn’t scared to get dirty to protect those she loves. she’s gone through the worst thing she can imagine, sank into the depths of despair, and came out the other side still filled with hope and kindness, a different kind of strength.

and through all this, she sees azriel’s darkness, and does not balk from it. and he sees her, maybe the first to ever truly do so. she went from being a normal human girl with a healthy fear of the fae to seeking out the company of one of the most fearsome fae males there is.

no longer the delicate socialite doing what is demanded of her, instead she is fighting fate, destiny, and the suffocating weight of everyone else’s expectations just for a chance to take control of her own future for the first time in her life.

elain has come so far, and i can’t wait to see where she goes from here.

‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.

thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to @celestarly for bringing this art to life in the most beautiful way! it’s more stunning than i could have possibly imagined and i love all the little touches you added that i couldn’t have thought up on my own. thank you endlessly for your patience while i navigate one of my first times commissioning, i couldn’t have asked for a better artist 💜

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🎨 art by @celestarly

🌸 commissioned by me

📸 Instagram

likes, comments and shares appreciated!

please do not repost 💜