my-acotar-thoughts

[my-acotar-thoughts]

Why?

Why did SJM create a man with the power to not only read minds but manipulate thoughts and memories without a person knowing and break people to the point that they’re mindless zombies and then tell me he’s the good guy? I wanted so much to like Rhysand but he scares the shit out of me. You can’t know for sure what reality is when he’s able to break into most people’s minds and brainwash them. He manipulates others for a living. He’s constantly playing the game and even those he considers family are chess pieces he will use. Everyone knows he makes plans and tells no one. Feyre isn’t immune to his lies and manipulation, as seen with the baby situation. This is the guy she wants us to root for as the hero? I’d be too nervous around him, not able to trust my own senses or mind.

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If I Were Feyre, I’d Never Forgive Rhysand

If someone did to me what Rhys did to Feyre Under the Mountain, I would never forgive them. And don’t tell me it was “for her own good.” SA is SA, no matter the circumstances. Forcing her to drink faerie wine against her will? That’s SA. Making her do lap dances for him in front of everyone? Absolutely disgusting.

And the bargain? That wasn’t about protecting her—it was about owning her and provoking Tamlin.

Then came ACOMAF, where I thought I’d find reasons to love Rhys, but it was the total opposite.

The Stalking and Control That tattoo bargain turned into an excuse to stalk her. (And let me be clear—I’m not a fan of “dark romance” or mafia boss-type possessiveness. I hate stalking stories.) He also made her wear the same revealing dress she had to wear Under the Mountain, the one tied to her deepest trauma, and paraded her in front of the Court of Nightmares. And let’s be honest, the way she was acting there—it wasn’t her fault, but Rhys pushed her into playing the role of the High Lord’s whore. Then he had the audacity to get mad when someone treated her as such.

Mental Manipulation While Rhys assaulted Feyre physically and emotionally in the first book, in the second, he added mental SA to the list. He entered her mind without her consent to get information about the Spring Court, even when she told him to stop. And when he was supposed to teach her how to read and write, he made her write sentences about how handsome and powerful he is. Who does that? I couldn’t be with someone so arrogant and self-absorbed.

(And honestly, I’m not convinced he’s “the most powerful High Lord of all time.” He only keeps saying it to make sure everyone believes it. Feyre’s view of him is so biased because she’s in love with him, so of course, she sees him as the greatest.)

The Pregnancy Lie Let’s not forget the pregnancy situation. Rhys hid the life-threatening risks of Feyre’s pregnancy from her. How can anyone still say he always gives Feyre a choice after that? He literally became the definition of “your body, my choice.” And then he got angry and even threatened Nesta for telling Feyre the truth!

Mind Manipulation Master Rhys is a literal mind manipulator who has mastered his power for centuries. If my partner had that kind of ability, I’d constantly question whether my thoughts, choices, and feelings were genuinely mine—or if they were his manipulations.

[my-acotar-thoughts]

For all the Tamsand lovers…

The song Taste by Sabrina Carpenter.

It’s in my head now and I can’t unsee it…

[my-acotar-thoughts]

Random thought…

If I didn’t have my own OC I ship with all my favs, I would be shipping Nesta with most characters. She’s everything I would have wanted cause I relate to her deeply. If only SJM didn’t break her down to fit Cassian in the end…

[my-acotar-thoughts]

This last post really made me think about how Hybern attacks places, and it’s honestly wild to me that some people still act like Feyre is this untouchable saintess when there’s so much blood on her hands. I mean, we’re talking about what happens during Hybern’s invasions—actual horrors. It’s not just some battles between armies; it’s full-on carnage and destruction. The soldiers aren’t just killing—they’re raping women, torturing people, and completely dismantling the lives of anyone they come across. And what’s even worse? Hybern lets all this happen. He’s fully aware of the atrocities his soldiers commit, and he does nothing to stop it because it’s all part of his plan to break the courts and take control.

Let’s not forget that when Feyre is in the middle of everything, she isn’t taking the time to think about the bigger picture. The fact that people in these towns and villages are being tortured and raped while she’s trying to make everything about her own personal trauma? The hypocrisy is real. She has no problem condemning the Spring Court and everyone else when it’s convenient for her, but when it comes to Hybern, the actual villain causing this destruction, she just seems to think it’s all a side effect of her being “chosen.” It’s as if she has this weird shield that makes her blameless in the face of these horrors.

We all know Hybern’s army doesn’t just kill in battle—they’re taught to make the suffering last. They terrorize entire towns. Men, women, children, it doesn’t matter. They burn homes, enslave the survivors, and like I said before, rape women. There’s no justice for these people. They’re just collateral damage in the war Hybern is waging. The fact that Feyre—who’s supposed to be a “hero”—is so close to this horror, yet still takes no responsibility for her role in all of it, is staggering. She’s not some innocent bystander—she’s one of the key players in this mess.

But Hybern’s army isn’t just mindless savages—they’re systematically destroying entire cultures, and Feyre’s part in that destruction? She just shrugs it off. Her desire for Rhysand and to “get back” at Tamlin always seems to take priority over seeing the actual suffering happening in these territories. And yet people still hold her up as a saint, as though she’s doing everything out of the kindness of her heart. Sorry, but no. She’s complicit in the suffering of thousands, and it’s sickening that some fans can overlook this.

Feyre, in her blind rush to make herself the center of everything, loses sight of what’s really going on around her, and it’s not just about her or her family—it’s about the people whose lives are literally shattered because of this war. And for what? To make sure she can “prove herself” to the Night Court? It’s twisted when you look at the full scope of the war Hybern is waging, and yet somehow Feyre gets this get-out-of-jail-free card when it comes to acknowledging the true depth of the violence and destruction.

In the end, I’m just saying: If people are going to keep acting like Feyre is this pure, untouchable figure, they need to really think about what happens in the world of Prythian when Hybern attacks. And more importantly, they need to take a hard look at Feyre and her role in this mess. She’s no innocent bystander—she’s knee-deep in it.

I’m not blaming Feyre for the entire destruction, but let’s be real—she’s definitely one of the major reasons why everything that happened to the Spring Court went down the way it did. The attack on the Spring Court, the devastation, the deaths—it didn’t just happen in a vacuum. Yes, Hybern was the mastermind behind the invasion, but Feyre’s choices, her actions, and the decisions she made set so much of this in motion.

Tamlin was trying, even if he was a mess. But Feyre’s actions took the Spring Court’s defenses away, and left them exposed to the very real dangers of the invasion that followed. I’m not saying she’s solely to blame for the war or the horrors that followed—but let’s not ignore the fact that her choices were a huge catalyst. If we’re talking about accountability, she needs to realize that part of the destruction was because of her, even if she didn’t intend for it to go that way.

[my-acotar-thoughts]

I feel like I would like Rhysand as a morally grey character if there was something about him I could trust but I honestly can’t. I can’t tell what’s a manipulation and what’s the truth with him and that would scare me if I met him. SJM literally gave him the power to alter your memories and thoughts! I’m sorry, but if I can’t trust my own senses around you, how can I trust you???? Actions speak louder than words but he’s proven even his actions are deceptive. You really expect me to believe he kept his hands on her waist only when he showed Feyre he can use his magic to manipulate the paint on her body under the mountain to appear how he wants and fix itself???? We don’t know what Tamlin and Lucien saw but Lucien was clearly concerned over the fact that THIS was the male Feyre loves and that to me is a red flag cause Lucien was always the realest friend. I want to like Rhys. I want him to give me a reason to like him as a character but with his track record and general way of doing things, he scares me.

As someone who hates Rhysand and has interacted with the acotar fandom, I’ve seen a lot of insane comments being made.

But one thing that has always confused me is how Rhysand’s stans love to claim how he’s so morally grey but then be surprised and angry when people don’t like him. Like yeah that’s what being a morally grey character means, not everyone will like them.

(I don’t agree with him being morally grey, I think he’s just evil)

But also the fact that they claim that he’s morally grey, but justify every single thing he does and says. Because Rhysy is perfect and he’s never done anything wrong 🥺🥺🥺.

So how can he be morally grey if he’s perfect and has done nothing wrong?

[my-acotar-thoughts]

"I ship Elriel!"

"I ship Elucien!"

I ship myself with most of the damn characters. I'd fuck them. Point blank, no hesitation. Smash. Next question.

[my-acotar-thoughts]

Feyre’s arrogance is actively cultivated by the Inner Circle because it lets them contain her in a bubble of ignorance. If Feyre feels sure of her authority as High Lady, then she trusts that the Inner Circle will be subject to her power and never betray her. That illusion makes it easy to undermine her, because she is convinced of her security in their world. Her naïveté, coupled with her rapid rise to power makes her easy to persuade and manipulate.

Also, Feyre’s alignment with masculine power makes her think that she no longer needs feminine solidarity/sisterhood which isolates her even further. Lording her power over her sisters pushes them further away and prevents the Archeron sisters from fully uniting with one another. Her willful blindness to the injustice of Nesta’s plight is a way of convincing herself of her authority and the false idea that she could never be subject to such treatment.

[my-acotar-thoughts]

"High king Rhysand and high queen Feyre is a good idea!" No, it's not.

Think about it. The inner circle has a bunch of enemies or at least people who they consider "enemies" and people who hate them because of the stupid actions they have done.

Velaris may be fine with it but Hewn City? Illyria? The other high lords and their courts? The mortal lands?

Their own court has so many problems that could easily be solved but they don't do anything about it. You can't be that big of a ruler if your court is suffering in silence. Work on that first.

There is a reason why feudal monarchy was ended. SJM may write it as everyone agreeing with the plan but we're not doing it her way (hasn't even happened but this is her we're talking about).

A faerie version of the French revolution? You know Rhysand and Feyre say "let them eat cake!" The whole of the inner circle too.

[my-acotar-thoughts]

High King and High Queen…

I don’t understand why people think this is a good idea no matter who you want in the throne… You will not get all 7 Court to agree to give up all their power to one ruler. You’re asking for war. You’re asking for most likely genocide. You’re asking for tyranny cause that’s the only way a High King and High Queen can come into power again. Also, for those who want Rhys and Feyre on the throne… one good city inherited by generations before who built it in a giant court that is double the size of most other courts is not enough to prove you’re good rulers. Seriously, ONE. SINGLE. CITY.

The road to High King and High Queen is paved in blood. You know who also wanted to take all of Prythian? Amarantha. And look what happened there. No one. Not a single court will ever want to live remotely like that again. Especially not under the rule of the court that has a city Amarantha’s court under the mountain was modeled after.

[my-acotar-thoughts]

Looking back at mist and fury for research and seeing that Ianthe is the one who pushed Tamlin to enact the Tithe before the new year even though he didn't want to....Ricky when I catch you Ricky.....

[my-acotar-thoughts]

Here’s how I see Tamlin’s betrayal of Rhys: Tamlin’s father and brothers were allegedly worse than Beron and the Vanserra brood. Growing up in that kind of environment must of been hell, especially when your growing power marked you as Heir and a threat to your father’s throne, so Tamlin’s sense of self-preservation would’ve been strong. I think Tamlin is a prime example of how cycles of abuse harm us in ways we don’t fully grasp, even if we have some awareness of what’s going on.

So when the time came to stand up to his father, a tyrant known for brutality and unafraid to wield it, he failed. Even despite knowing that the High Lord planned to assassinate Rhys, his closest friend at the time and someone who had entrusted him with knowledge of Night Court territory (because they couldn’t have made it into the heavily-warded court unless Tamlin had been there before), he was scared enough of his father’s retribution that he couldn’t make the hard but morally upright call against tyranny; in short, he failed to be the hero of the story and he couldn’t reconcile that. And when they winnowed into the Night Court and found not Rhys but the Lady of Night and her daughter, the damage of his indecision was already done.

After the Night Court retaliates, even goes so far as to kill his mother, and Rhys leaves him without a word, maybe, Tamlin thinks, the NC are all truly as terrible as he’s always been told. Maybe his family were right to be weary of his friendship with Rhys. Look what happened to them. But the wings are still clipped to his father’s study, a constant reminder of his own fault in this, and he can’t bear to look, to have that laid before him. He almost throws the bandolier into the flames too, but he can’t quite relinquish this last gift from his friend, a reminder of what had been and was now lost forever.

AGREED. I think this is also part of why Tamlin is so preoccupied with fighting against evil and being the hero when Feyre meets him hundreds of years later: He wasn't the hero with Rhys's family, and it's haunted him since.

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No offense to Kallias, he seems like a nice guy and a good High Lord but he's a dumbass. Why did you bring your PREGNANT wife to the Night Court when you still don't know who killed all those Winter Court children??

During the meeting, Rhysand did not give him something to work with when it came to the daemati or who to point fingers at? Where is that daemati now? Did they get killed or are they living on the low? They were not brought to justice, I know those children are pissed off.

This you, Kallias?

[my-acotar-thoughts]

So about Nesta vs the Inner Circle…

When they first meet Nesta and Elain, Rhys and Cassian already don’t like Nesta. That much was clear with how Cassian brought up Feyre hunting at 14, but I don’t understand why they ignore the fact that Nesta and Elain were also children, barely older than Feyre at that time too. Nesta wasn’t a grown woman expecting a child to do all the work. Nesta and Elain still did their parts in the home, but it was more traditionally feminine work that, honestly, Feyre acts like is beneath her.

It honestly feels like a manipulation. Feed into Feyre’s anger and insecurities against her sisters and seem more sympathetic so she sees you as the good guys. Cause their anger towards Nesta is extreme. The girl wasn’t out there buying luxuries, she was being practical. I also think Feyre compares Nesta to their mother too much and their mother sounded very frivolous so there may be projection. Nesta gives off a more practical aristocratic lady, not the frivolous, hedonistic kind like their mother. But yeah, Rhysand and Cassian feel like they’re just saying shit that Feyre wants to hear to feel validated in her anger towards her sisters, particularly Nesta. And Cassian, being Cassian, of course lets his emotions run away with him in the worst way.

[my-acotar-thoughts]

I… had a moment today…

You know how we get ads on Tumblr now? Well I saw an Allstate ad while looking at the pro Tamlin tag and my brain said “When did Tamlin start working there?!” 🤣🤣🤣

I need a nap lmao

[my-acotar-thoughts]

Here's some Prythian lesser fae world-building headcanons because I am so bored of human-looking hot guys with semi-pointy ears and literally nothing else.

Spring has several races of lesser fae that have wings like butterflies. They are the main farmers and bouquet makers for the Spring Court but they were targeted by Tamlin's father before his death.

Spring also has a lesser fae race that are a bit like fawns / satyrs but resemble sheep instead of goats or horses. They have fluffy white wool and ram horns for the males

Many lesser fae races migrate between the seasonal courts based on the season. There are the monarch fae, who migrate between Spring, Summer, and Autumn.

There are also the Kontio fae, who are bear-like lesser fae who travel between courts based on the season. They hibernate in Winter during the winter months, travel through Summer and Autumn on the Spring Equinox to settle in the Spring Court, then they travel to Summer and Autumn perspectively until it's time to hibernate again. They are one of the main lesser fae races in my Lucien backstory fic A Court of Embers and Sunlight :)

Sprites are common in all of the courts, but each court has their own unique variety based on the elements / main features of the Court. Spring has sprites that resemple petals and sleep in flowers; Autumn has sprites that glow like embers and hide in the colorful leaves; Summer has wood sprites and water sprites. Winter has snow sprites with frosty skin. Dawn has fae that only come out during the sunrise and camouflage with the clouds. Day has sun sprites that are completely gold and shine in the sun like jewels. And Night has star sprites that hide in the mountains and shoot across the sky like comets.

Winter has ice giants that hide out in the mountains. These became almost extinct after the Human War, and many believe they no longer exist.

Winter also has snow leopard fae with tails, spots on their white skin, and and fluffy ears that peek out from their soft white hair.

Summer has the Áfruvvá fae, which is a mermaid race that lives on the coast

Night has the Aranrot fae, which is a fae race with beautiful silver skin that glows and sparkles like a star. The race is all female, very stern and independent, and live proud sexual lives.  Believed a virgin was an independent female who was answerable only unto herself. Associated with the galaxy.

Autumn and Winter have lesser fae that resemble wood lemmings. They are covered in soft fur, and have small paws with a flattened claw as their index finger. They have terrible eyesight but their sense of smell and hearing are 10 times better than the High Fae. They're called Sopuli Fae in my fanfic :) 

These are a small precentage of my lesser fae headcanons and it's one of my favorite things to write. Like come on, it's so fun! Give me more, SJM 😩

[my-acotar-thoughts]

Tamlin canonically being a weird person is great.

He says that Lucien is better at making friends than he is, and he can't flirt for shit. He's also awkward and tends to do things by himself or be by himself in general.

You know how cats will bring you something from outside to show affection? Tamlin would do that.

You see something on your pillow, that's Tamlin's way of saying "I love you".

He might bring you something that reminds him of you or that you would like.

"I found this rock. I thought you would like it."

And he would point at something and go "that's us". Two animals cuddling? You and him.

Some examples:

(Bro, the heart tail thing is so cute)