#What Koshei does and represent

[elainsgirl]

Koshei x Elain is such a disgusting ship. I can’t believe people are genuinely out there, shipping them.

Do they realise who Koshei is and what he has done? He isnt some morally grey, misunderstood villain. This isn’t dark romantasy where its normal to ship the Villain.

Koshei is a tyrant. He kidnaps women and forces them to turn into birds. Just like the archerons experience with the cauldron, it is a form of SA. He takes their autonomy away. Leaving them helpess and bound to his lake.

Why tf is such a monster being shipped with Elain? Istg, this isn’t dark romance. Its just messed up and literally wrong

And whilst you hve the right to ship KosheixElain, pls note I have the equal right to judge and criticise you on it. Bcs honestly? Its just disgusting. Gives the same vibes as those that romantacise Amarantha x Rhys or Amarantha x Tamlin. Just like Amarantha - Koshei is a villain not your cutesy, morally grey Villain.

[picnokinesis]

AHHH the last chapter of part 6. I held my breath for a sec when I realised the paralells of BOTH hallucinations using the name John not the Doctor. In the Doctors chapter hallucination!Koshei calls her John in the flashback and now Koshei calls his hallucinations John, too ahhh the parallels!! And then the part with him getting ready and him describing his dysphoria/euphoria when wearing the dress. It was written so soft that I forgot that it was still a murdering and manipulative bastard (1/2)

(2/2) And then Koshei saying "Someone has to have a sense of style around here". I squealed because I remember you put that quote in a tumblr ask about I think it was anterograde AU? And I loved that you put it here too. And then the scene with Gat where he thinks about how he controls her to and she has no idea. It makes me think of a parallel where the predator has no idea that they are actually the prey, so that was amazing. I loved the flashbacks but Im worried what happened at the barn?

Ahhh oh my days!! I'm so so happy that you enjoyed the chapter! :D I've wrote the first segment (right up until he leaves the first room) waaaay back in like, January this year? So I've been sitting on at least THAT much of it for that long. The rest got written mostly in July, and maaaaaaan it was such a blast, so finally being able to have other people read it and react to it is so so great! <3

Regarding the name thing - yeah!! It's because the name John has become so synonymous for both of them of that history between them. For the Doctor, it represents the person that she was before that she's now forgotten - the teenager who went by that name. Whereas for Koschei, she's using the name for this version of the Doctor that she has stuck in her head, the version that she's been hallucinating/vividly imagining in order to keep herself sane when in bad situations - and, back in those times, she didn't KNOW that the Doctor wasn't going by John anymore, right? So as far as she knew, that was what the Doctor was called. And, as she says in the chapter.....old habits die hard.

Also SKSKSK the sense of style thing!! I genuinely forgot that I used that in the tags of that post (I actually had to go rooting through the anterograde tag to dig it up lol) and it's so funny because, without a doubt, when I wrote those tags I was thinking of the scene in the last chapter in my head, because even BACK THEN, I knew that line was going to be in it HAHA - it was one of those key moments that I was really looking forward to writing hahahah. Also, yknow - same blorbo, different context. But SSKSKKS oh my days yeah it's like: diversity win!! The vengeful maniac who's haunting the narrative is genderfluid!

Also I looove the stuff with Koschei and Gat, so I'm so glad you love it too!! I really love Koschei's like....tendency to give herself little 'projects' that usually mean needling someone until they break SKSK because she wants to see who they are underneath. But so much of it comes from her desire to be in control in a situation where she can't be, right? Like, she can't leave this place, and it's been heavily insinuated that when she is allowed to leave, it'll be in a body bag sksk, and she is VERY AWARE of this and cannot STAND it. Her need to be in control (whilst also wrestling with and revelling in her own chaotic and erratic nature) pretty much defines her - and so she does this powerplay where she like, tries to rile people up so much that they attack her in a way that's lowkey flirtatious SKKSKSK but then pulls the rug out from under them and I'm lowkey obsessed with her about that. Like go off, babe <3

Oh I posted and the forgot to say anything about the barn. Not that I'm gonna say anything about the barn. But yes. The barn sure is there!

[feysandfeels]

ACOTAR 5 or 6?? (I don’t know which book is next)

Did someone ask for this? No, not really. Am I still going to theorize how the next book is going to go in length? Yes, yes I will. Also I’m doing a facemask that needs 20min to set in so like, I have time to kill. 

I have seen many saying that Azriel’s book is next because through him we will get Illyria, which still needs to be dealt with. Also through him we get Gwynriel and that. Even though I can definitely see the logic behind that, I thought I might throw in another option just for shits and giggles. 

This is more like a fever dream than anything. Don’t hold me to it, because I haven’t read these books with the academic rigorosity to come up with counter arguments as to why it’s Az’s and not Elain’s book that will come next. But, that being said, if I’m right I will say I told you so (lol). 

Also this will further my Elucien agenda so like... yeah you’ve been warned.

Why Elain?

Because I think it makes more sense to go have a book deal with one villain working up to Koshei, than to have Beron+Koshei as the big baddies in one final book. So like ACOSF was the human queen, ACOTAR 5 is Beron and then ACOTAR 6 ultimate baddie Koshei. And who is character that has ties to Beron? Lucien and who would Lucien’s book be with? exactly, Azriel. no I’m kidding, of course Elain. 

I also think Elain was a character that had a huge presence in this ACOSF despite having like three sentences. You could see her impact in the book and to me that was quite telling. 

ACOTAR 5: 

Right so we all can agree on a few things after being in this fandom for a couple of years or at least since the end of ACOSF: first, Elain and Lucien will deliver a Jane Austen type romance; second, it will entail a lot of court politics; and third, Elain is up to something and no one knows what it is. Yes? 

First Act:

Elain doing her suspicious stuff and we as the reader find out what it is and can already see the negative implications

Lucien still taking the brunt of the work in the SC, which is still utter chaos.

BoE content: Vassa is agitated because her curse is nowhere near close to being broken and time is running out. 

The IC finds out what Elain is been up to. I do think it has something to do with her wanting to go back to her human self. Cue the confrontation.

Meanwhile with Lucien: Vassa might attempt something it triggers a magical response from Koshei, an attack or something. Maybe Beron decides to make a move to the SC given that Tamlin is absent as a ruler. I don’t know, the point is we get a confrontation scene that sees Tamlin die to protect Lucien. Everyone is in shock because the HL of Spring just died, without heirs and close relatives. Where did the power go?

Lucien starts to feel it, but then he realizes that it’s not because it is happening to him.

Cue to Elain having her “i want to be human again I don’t care the cost” rant at the IC. Amren will call her a stupid girl, because that’s what she does. Then the power flows to her and she’s going to be hella confused, everyone in the IC is stunned and when Elain asks wtf just happened, Feyre will say: Tamlin died (because she can feel the shift of power of spring due to the kernel of power of spring that she has), so that means and Rhysand finishes the thought by saying that Elain is the new High Lady of the Spring Court (and the first cauldron-chosen high lady)

This means that now she has more ties to this fae world and can’t simply abandon them.

We will have some discussion about what to do next and Elain is all like “I don’t want to be High Lady I didn’t even want to be fae”. Trust someone in the IC, maybe Amren (since she has no problem with saying what everyone else is thinking in the bluntest-maybe even rudest way), to say that having Elain be HL of Spring would make everyone’s life easier given the unified Prythian front they must once again have because of the Koshei threat. Maybe it will even be Azriel and they will have the E/lriel fallout...

Lucien arrives at the NC to talk to Elain or well something. 

News spread about what happened and they know that Elain’s claim (if she chooses to make it) to the SC is a tad shaky and not everyone will accept it. Beron is like the fuck if you think I will accept this human-turned fae claim. The SC is an strategic location and I will take it for myself because it will be useful fo my Koshei-agenda.

Eris arrives like hello my dad is about to move his army to the SC so now is the time to kill him

And Elain is still like “i don’t want it”. Think Jon Snow in GoT.

Cue an Archeron confrontation of “you can’t run away from your responsabilities// life is not neat and sometimes it will throw at you things you thought you wouldn’t have thought you’d needed to take on// take a stance for once and think beyond your own plants”.

Details are blurry but she is like I need to leave here (the NC) because no one has my best interest at heart they are just doing what it’s politically best. But who might have my best interest at heart? That’s right, Lucien. She asks him for help or to leave or whatever.

Lucien is a politician and a courtier but for once, for fucking once he will do something that’s not for political gain (for the court he represents). He will help her because he wants to see her at peace. They go to the human lands with BoE.

The first act ends with one dead Tamlin, one unsure Elain, one willing to help regardless of the decision Lucien, and one war focused Beron. 

Second act:

The BoE content we have all been waiting for 

Vassa might be weak from whatever happened and Jurian is all worried. 

They see Elucien arrive and are like 👀👀👀👀. Lucien glares at them in a “say anything and i will in fact kill you” way. 

Elain starts to open up and mentions that if anything it should be Lucien who’s the HL and not her because he knows the territory and it suits his skillset. All she wanted to do was have a quiet life and see the world. 

Lucien says that if he were to make a claim he would need even more support from other courts, because if Elain’s claim is shaky at best, then his is like ... not great.

They agree that Lucien should travel to other courts to gather support because regardless whether it’s Elain or Lucien who will ascend to the Spring throne, they will need it. Elain asks if she can go with him because, as she said, she wanted to see more of the world. 

We also get an Eris Vanserra visit - or several - and Lucien starts to realize that Eris knows waaaaaaaaaaaay more than he has lead on. And that they need to work together because again, regardless of who takes the throne, Beron will fight it, but if Eris is on the Autumn throne he would offer support to either. 

Cue the Lads tour of Prythian ft. Politics-courtier plotline and the “how the fuck are we going to help Vassa” side quest.

Elain starts to learn more about what it takes to be a High Lady and about the territory of Spring and its people.

During visits to other courts one or two members of the IC will pop in and out.

Elucien slow burn + court romance begins (We have nice balls with tension because that’s how Jane Austen would have wanted it and this is nothing if not an austenian romance).

Elan will learn about Jessminda (that’s her name right?)

Lucien and Elain have a heart to heart one day and Lucien is like “I’ve never had a home that is mine, i’ve always owed it to someone else or it comes because they see me as a political pawn”.

Eventually another heart to heart about the complex grief (if you will) that Lucien must be feeling for Tamlin. 

When we get to the Day Court, we get the baby news. Not only are they trying to gather Helion’s support but also to figure out a spell to save Vassa. Doing something with a spell Lucien and Helion find out. I imagine that Feysand is in the DC because they are trying to keep tabs on how Elain is feeling regarding her High Lady position and they wanted to meet somewhere neutral; and so is Eris, because things are getting out of hand at the AC so they are trying to see what they should do. Also Feysand are nosy bitches so of course they would be there.

After the reveal, Lucien is shooketh and leaves, Elain leaves after him. It is raining. They get wet and he stops when he arrives at a temple (we love a good P&P reference) Lucien starts the monologue of what does this mean, who am i, I’ve always been alone and Elain cuts in and says that maybe in the past he’s been alone but that he will never be again; Lucien turns to face her and she walks up to him and kisses him like the Cauldron intended when it made them mates. 

We Eluciens are starting getting our well deserved smutt dishes. 

Third act:

Elain is still  a tad unsure about being a High Lady, because all she ever heard was that she was good at being pretty and an ornament, that she was meant to be the supporting role. Lucien is like “babes fuck what your mom said but no matter what you choose, I will choose you”. 

Finally shit hits the fan at the AC so that’s where Elucien go and Helion.. because LoA is there and he says fuck it imma go help her Beron can go fuck himself.

However they do not arrive at the palace or something like that but to another location where we can finally have visual proof of what Eris has been up to. LoA appears. Her and Helion have a nice tête-a-tête. 

Vassa and Jurian are there too beause #WereGoingToNeedAllTheHelpWeCanGet

Elucien formally arrive to Beron’s court, as is the plan. 

The tension is absurd, the coup is about to happen, something goes wrong, they need to think of their feet, somebody gets hurt.. you know the usual stuff. 

They use the spell to free Vassa and in such release of power Beron is confused and weakened

Lady of Autumn delivers the killing blow. Beron dies, power goes to Eris and everyone is like did we win??

Eris makes the joke that whichever half of Elucien will make the claim to the SC he will support it. By this moment is clear that Elain will take up the role so we all have a good laugh.

Archeron sister reunion, congratulations all around. Maybe a celebration in the SC??? or maybe that’s too tacky given that the whole court is still a mess,

Happy ending?? oh wait there’s something more uh-oh, when freeing Vassa you also freed Koshei. Oh you thought you had weakened Koshei by killing is Prythian ally? think again. Koshei is a god of death that now has full access to his powers. 

The end. 

[torattlethestars]

Weaver of the Woods

I am, just as I have been for a considerable while, really intrigued by the Weaver. (I wrote a series of posts on the song she sings before acowar came out - part one linked here - and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.)

During my acowar reread, this quote caught my eye:

“Did you steal from her? Did she weave a thread of your life into her loom?”

chapter 22

This is from when Feyre and Cassian go to visit the bone carver the first time.

Expectedly, the Bone Carver know more about the Weaver’s powers than Feyre does. As far as acomaf goes, we only see her as a creepy lady who uses human/fae body parts in her crafts/home decor and we get told she is very powerful.

This line here tells us that she weaves threads of life, and elsewhere we get told that she’s an old death god.

When talking about a “thread of life” in Greek mythology, we talk about the Fates, Clotho (that name sound familiar? I don’t think she’s related though) who spun the thread, Lachesis who measured the length and Atropos who cut the thread. Basically these three were goddesses who decided how long you lived and when you died, and sometimes each of them represent the past, the present and the future.

Does the Weaver act as all three of the Fates, spinning and measuring and cutting all the threads to decide on everyone’s lifespans? We’ve seen her spinning, and we can probably assume from her name that she also weaves. Does she have that power? I don’t think we explicitly saw much of what she could do before she died.

And if the Weaver did control death, have we got only got a the deaths she’s already planned left? Will someone have to take over to make sure death is still possible? Signs and the fandom point to this being Nesta, but I don’t know enough about either of their powers to say either way.

But, from the Fates idea we can extrapolate. There are three fates and three death-god siblings in the acotar world - the Bone Carver, the Weaver and Koschei, the sorcerer on the continent who cursed Vassa. As each of the Fates represent the past present or future, maybe one of the siblings does too. The bone carver would represent the future - he carved the deaths that will happen. From what we know of the Weaver and Koschei, either one of them could represent the past or present, though I would lean towards Koshei, as the eldest being the past.

Then from that, and the idea that someone needs to replace the dead death gods, and the theories from other people that it’s Nesta and Elain who are going to do it (with Elain, the seer, being the Bone Carver and the future and Nesta replacing the Weaver) we could assume a few outcomes.

Koschei isn’t going to die. Now the cauldron has been sealed away, we can’t make a new death god, so he has no replacement. I prefer this option, logic-wise from what I know.

Feyre is also a death god. To keep with our folkloric triads, and replace three siblings with three siblings, we replace Koschei with Feyre. 

Amren is a death god, not Feyre. Her powers align more to death than Feyre’s, although we still don’t know much about them. I don’t like this, though. We don’t get to keep our nice, neat triads of siblings and Amren made herself long ago, not just before all the death gods died.

I suppose, in conclusion, I know very little about this world other than Feyre, but I want to know more. And in typical fashion for me, I choose to get attached to minor characters.

[elainsgirl]

Hey, lately there are a lot of GA/EL tiktok fyp and one thing I see too many time and now here as well is this:

https://www.tumblr.com/bluiela/773922285064159232/them-azriel-questioned-his-religion-for-elain?source=share

And on tiktok many people also say:

"Sarah didn't even make Azriel yearn to kiss Elain again but she made him think of Gwyn" and to that many elriels pointed out how the massive build up there is for Gwyn being a Lightsinger and how Azriel's behavior in the last part can be perfectly explained by this. They pointed out if the next book is Elain's then why are Gwyn's powers being set up? Why not any hints at Elain. And how Gwyn will have a story if her powers are being hinted in a BC and now I'll get to the point sorry😂they say luring and what azriel felt is different. They say luring doesn't include making people feel things? and why didn't Nesta feel those feelings if she was being lured but isn't there a paragraph in SF where Nesta just gushes about Gwyn? something similar?

So Idk where to vent about it so I came here. But what are your thoughts on the religion argument with the last argument.

Wish you the best. And well I hope people who send you hate get karma.

Why are they expecting Azriel to confess his love for Elain in a limited edition bonus chapter. That would just be anti climactic and not how romances are written that too, they want him to confess his love for Elain….to Rhys? Do they understand the point of a romance book or the typical elements that go into one bcs atp I dont think many antis understand.

The cauldron is seen as a divine deity, a god-like figure by the prynthian Fae. Mating bonds are seen as sacred and blessed - even the acceptance of a bond is done through a ceremony by a holy figure - all of this classifies as a metaphorical religion & belief.

Az stood there in front of his HighLord and said:

“what if the cauldron was wrong?”

This line coming from Feyre is significant but it makes sense why she would question the cauldron. She is new to the fae’s belief, their religion. Yet, for Az to question the cauldron- someone who grew up with its belief and god-like symbolism - it holds huge meaning.

Why did Az question the cauldron? Because he believes that the mating bond between elain and lucien must be wrong, why does he believe that? Bcs Azriel thinks Elain is his mate -> therefore by logical definition.

Yes. Azriel questioned his religion for Elain. He questioned it bcs he believes Elain is his soulmate, other half or sacred divine gift as mates are seen by the fae.

Him questioning why two of his brothers were given two sisters whilst the third was given to another - is a long winded why of him saying, “why isnt Elain my mate? Why is she Luciens?” All this IS by definition and just basic common sense -> him questioning his entire belief for Elain.

But why did Sjm numerize the brothers and sisters? Two reasons: 1) in the end, they’re figures. They represent a retelling but which retelling? Koshei’s mythology where 3 sisters marry 3 bird-transforming wizards. 2) Within acotar there is a clear pattern of 3 - 3 mountains, 3 sisters, 3 brothers etc. 3 represents 4completeness. Harmony. Divinity. Fated. When is this pattern of 3 broken? When it comes to Elain and Lucien, Lucien who isnt connected to Rhys/Cass. And THAT mating bond Mass chose to be questioned by 2 important characters. Coincidence? Nope. Intentional writing and foreshadowing? Absolutely.

Lucien may long for his mate, but remember he is doing fine. He chose to live away from her, he even says “Im not always in the night court to see my mate” not Elain, but mate. That is all she is to him. Azriel is the one who can’t sleep over elain. Azriel stays away bcs he knows

so now we’ve proven that - Yes. Azriel did question his religion for Elain.

Mhm, aren’t antis the one yapping and complaining about how Az only wanted Elain physically yet are now complaining how he didn’t yearn for a kiss? They rlly need to learn consistency.

Gwyns powers aren’t being setted up, no where is the text leading us to believe Gwyns powers will be explored straight away - they’re hinted at.

Unlike antis - if you don’t nitpick the text, its clear Elain has the spy set up and since we got confirmation that she still has her powers - just like Nesta, her cauldron powers will be explored next.

Luring is the simple act of drawing a person or thing to you. However, Gwyns power does invoke emotion, look at the way Nesta describes Gwyns singing. And yh. Nesta had a moment where she wanted to crow about Gwyn to whoever. Both Nesta and Azriels powers reacted to Gwyn, both felt calm after meeting with her, both admire her. Az wanting to make her happy and Nesta wanting to praise Gwyn. Both of them felt and had the same reactions to Gwyn.

Thank you for wishing me the best! And honestly, elriel being endgame is karma enough for the antis.