#acotar discussion

[yourlittlebunnyy]

sorry but to me it will be forever funny how people in this fandom get so mad when you dont have the same opinion as them like bro we're literally arguing over fictional characters and fanon thingssss lol grow up

[infiniteetcetera]

RAPID FIRE ACOTAR CHARACTER HOT TAKES

. [Mostly focused on side characters but thoughts about our mains too BC why not]

🔥Emerie is one of THE most underrated characters and deserved a bigger storyline in ACOSF (obviously it’s Nestas book but other side characters like Gwyn, Feysand, etc got more time that could have been hers)

🔥I don’t know why people really like Helion or want him with LOA😭 mans has let her be in an abusive relationship for DECADES & I feel like if he really loved/deserved her he would have blood dueled by now. he might make a fine father for Lucien but I don’t want to read a love story that involves a few centuries of abandonment

🔥I like genuinely wonder often if the rest of Lucien’s brothers are evil evil. Like if Eris is playing along to their abusive dad’s whims, how do we know the rest of them aren’t? They likely don’t know Eris is different so why would he know that about them? Lucien didn’t? IDK i’m just curious about more Vanserras

🔥Jurian is genuinely one of the funniest characters👀 his revival may be a little pointless but his vibes are immaculate and he’s underrated

🔥You don’t have to hate Mor for leading Azriel on (there are others reasons to not like her) but she definitely did💀aside from the fact every character including her says it we get literal scenes of it too. like she FR tells Feyre he has a huge dick and just says so many other sexual/romantic things about him that are NOT platonic, it makes sense he’s been confused AF😭

🔥Kallias and Viviane have one of the sweetest love stories in the series and I wish we saw more of them. they also just have such good vibes & if they’re gonna keep popping up for little cameos I want more deets

🔥TW SA: I won’t even argue about Tamlins wrongs against Feyre bc i’ve done so before & it isn’t worth the breath BUT it bewilders me that so many people ignore/excuse what he did to Lucien😭 aside from just the generally abusive vibes he not only ignored what Ianthe was doing to Lucien (when equally if not more depressed people like Feyre/Rhys noticed) but also made him have sex with that creepy ass predator😩 Lucien’s struggle with that is so overlooked in general but still bothers me people ignore Tamlins fault in it and that Lucien is now groveling for his friendship

🔥 While on the topic of SA, i’ve seen a lot of people in the fandom have such a gross attitude about what happened to Rhys recently. like man has plenty of flaws and has done a lot of wrong things but that’s not an excuse to make jokes about him being SA’d for DECADES especially when male SA representation is so rare and it’s dumbass jokes like the kind fans are now making that makes guys feel uncomfortable about speaking up

🔥One more on this topic, the SA Nesta experienced is also SO overlooked, even by the narrative itself. The general fact she was using sex as a form of self harm/punishment is also weirdly addressed a few times but then excused if it’s with Cassian in a way that’s so gross

🔥Feyre and Rhys having Nyx so soon was a bad decision. No matter how many people bring up the “oh they were so close to dying” “oh they don’t want to waste time” blah blah blah doesn’t change the fact that’s a TERRIBLE reason to have kids😭 like does the fact they made that decision kind of make sense given what they experienced? sure! was it at all smart or level headed or much more than a trauma response? literally no

🔥I feel like Rhys’ mom…kind of sucks? She’s spoken about more highly than any of the other ACOTAR parents but she literally forced her son to go to a child soldier camp she knew was full of misogyny, poverty, and a bunch of other barbaric practices, did nothing to help any of the other kids unless she was forced to (Rhys brought cassian home, and Az’s mom begged her to take him, she then let Rhys & Cas beat on this poor traumatized boy) and overall Rhys turned out far from perfect but actually could have been SO much worse when you think about it

🔥On the topic of bad parents KIER BEING ALIVE STILL IS SO STUPID AND MAKES NO SENSE.

[1800naveen]

I feel like we should talk about how Ianthe was Tamlin's childhood best friend.

What was she like? Was she any different from now? How did they meet?

Let's discuss as a class👩🏾‍🏫

[cuntdestroyer3000]

Am I the only one who’s uncomfortable with the amount of illiterate jokes people constantly make about Feyre? Those jokes bother me more than the jokes that she’s a bad artist because it just smacks of ableism. Like I get she’s a fictional character - but the way people keep bringing up the fact that she couldn’t read as a gotcha moment as if that’s some sort of character flaw makes me uneasy. How are you going to blame a nineteen year old for not knowing how to read when she was neglected her entire life and was stuck in poverty for years? And what makes it worse is how people act as if she’s dumb and ignorant for not knowing how to read as if she wasn’t the one who kept her family alive with her wits alone. These people also act as if she still doesn’t know how to read, that she misspells every word, that people (the IC specifically) laugh at her and mock her behind her back for it…. Idk… am I just reading too much into this - and this is just a lighthearted joke?

I fs understand where ur coming from. I think there’s a lot of ppl who are just joking around but I do agree that it’s weird that some ppl bring it up as a gotcha moment, like bro it isn’t her fault she can’t read💀

Like when feyre haters are like “well she can’t read!!” I’m like…ok? She learned to read by the second book bruh.

At the end of the day none of this is that deep but I get u, it is annoying when ppl point it out as a character flaw when it’s really just a result of her parents neglecting her and them falling into poverty.

[florencemtrash]

to add to the rhysand's sister discussion, even if she wasn't as powerful as rhysand she'd definitely be very powerful like she doesn't need to be as strong as rhys to be more powerful than almost every other character. sjm barely uses rhys's powers so i think we forget, he is the most powerful high lord ever and he was really fucking powerful even before being high lord so his sister definitely had around the same power. he probably only got stronger because after his dad died he got the high lord power added to it. but either way if his sister was alive during amarantha she probably would have broken the wards rhys put over velaris and you know her and the ic would go get him

Oh absolutely. I 100% agree. Also, in my mind, her unique superpower would be some FUCKING COMMON SENSE AND REASON! Like that alone would make her stronger/more capable than 90% of the other self-sacrificing characters (I love them for it, but goddamn does it get frustrating sometimes) regardless of their actual power level.

"Oh, you want to go to Amarantha's party alone??? You mean the female we fucking hate and distrust with a burning passion??? Yeah, absolutely not. Either we're staying home and watching the shit show go on from behind our borders, or we're going together." -> that alone is probably why Rhysand's sister physically could not be in the books.

[iocaisaint]

the Nesta modesty discourse is so weird because all someone said is that Nesta is often dressed in more revealing clothes when drawn alongside Feyre and Elain (her sisters) which is weird because Nesta is the only character on page who we know hates being dressed in revealing clothing and will avoid it if she can...no one brought in ships, men or attached morality to dressing modestly/not dressing modestly until some of started throwing around accusations of slut shaming (for pointing out a fact)

Now my opinion is that mean "bitchy" female characters are often sexualised in this weird "femme fatale" thing that fandoms regularly assign to them as their archetype whether it fits them or not (it does not Nesta is literally a bookworm who kills terrible people on the side), also Nesta is noted to be the more curvy of her sisters so we'll just sprinkle that in too.

This goes without saying but people can draw anything they want and every piece of art is a gift but it's hard not to notice a trend when it happens with nearly every time she's in an ensemble

[infiniteetcetera]

Being a fan of both Rhysand and Nesta is so hard because I really can’t like a post about one without getting fifty posts hating on the other in my feed💔

[ennawrite]

been seeing a lot of backlash for Netflix gender bending one of the Bridgerton characters and I find it so interesting because they could gender bend almost any character in ACOTAR & I think I’d be down for it.

Hell, I’d probably like the relationship more if it WAS gay 😭

[jon-snows-man-bun]

SURPRISE @olenvasynyt

@buffy-vanserra and I were going to save this for @nameless-acotar-weekend, but it turns out that we're both too impatient and too in love to sit on this until May. Can you blame us?! 🔥

It's our favourite mean evil hottie, Raivis Vanserra 🥵 He's got his sneer ON, his braids IN, and he's ready to scheme. Your story has been such a delight that we couldn't resist bringing him to life in all of his arrogant, miserable, bloody-minded glory. Thank you so much for sharing A Court of Embers & Sunlight with the world!

Learn all about Raivis and join the Vanharem in A Court of Embers & Sunlight, an ACOTAR prequel that dives into the delicious, dramatic, and dangerous world of the Autumn Court.

Raivis was brought to life by @onigiripurr, who took our vision for a fairy prince with a bad attitude and ran with it.

[prettyawordthatstuck]

People who complain about people who draw/write Gywn with Az in sexual situations or with other characters because she was SA'd need to shut up. Ya'll dont hold that energy for Nesta, Rhys , Lucien or Feyre. People who have been SA'd can go on to have beautiful and fulfilling sex lives, especially with partners they trust and using Gwyns SA to diminsh the fact that she can be a sexual person (with Az or otherwise) is disrespectful imo.

[littlefeltsparrow]

For Sarah J Maas, it isn’t enough to just have Feyre and Rhysand be traumatized, she must emphasize that they have suffered the MOST and that they are the MOST traumatized (yet they oh-so-nobly rise above it).

Her idea of virtue is characters suffering and being traumatized, conveniently showing few signs of that trauma, and then giving them an air of superiority because other characters are “not trying” or haven’t suffered as much as they have. It’s almost like a competition, which in turn makes the character interactions feel hollow and removes any potential substance from in-text discussions about trauma.

[sonics-atelier]

First off thank you so much for prasing the fic, I'm deeply honoured and it means a lot to me ❤️

I agree with everything you've elaborated on. Sjm truly has a shit way of writing eating disorders and only uses it to further the romance plot and ignore the consequences entirely, I also think the fandom is heavily responsible for this.

Like I've seen fanarts of nesta with HUGE boobs and a tiny 0 some waist and it pisses me off sm like why are you sexualising her disorders ??? Same with feyre after UTM like please stop ✋️

And we really need to stop with the chiseled 6 foot man agenda because IT IS NOT IDEAL why are we glorifying toxic beauty standards ? THIS ISNT THE VICTORIAN TIMES FFS LET MEN HAVE TUMMIES AND FAT AND HAVE "SOFT BITS" ( fuck u casssian and sjm )

Also wouldn't azriel have an eating disorder because he was starved as a child and since having cassian as a friend he tries to stay "healthy" And keeps going back to unhealthy patterns of eating ? Like there's no way someone who seen sm darkness is able to have a healthy relationship with his body after being tortured and starved by his brothers. He would cope with this by developing unhealthy eating habits and binge eating due to fear of starvation.

Same with eris like that man was tortured by his father he would have sm body issues 😭 and when he feels stressed he would turn back to those patterns of abusing himself. Also what if beron starved his children and since eris was the eldest he was used to giving up his share to his brothers and pregnant mother and starving himself because he's self sacrificial? SJM DO BETTER FFS

Also like sjm is shit at being inclusive cause I remember reading somewhere that she hadn't described Bryce as curvy but the fandom ran with it and like ? That woman has very toxic views on how bodies should be like and has no plus size characters as far as I remember.

I won't ramble more because the above post has covered most of it but please write characters people can relate to and empathize with their struggles.

ACOTAR Discussion

Okay, so recently my mutual @sonics-atelier posted this fic Perfect To Me (which is so fucking amazing, I cried, go read it rn) and in this fic, they write about Tamlin developing an eating disorder (specifically anorexia) since his body changed after starting to get Spring back on its feet. And it started me down a whole rant about fictional characters being the pinnacle of beauty standards, specifically in relation to what they're bodies look like. So, to save my mutuals the long spam texts about my thoughts, I'm gonna post em here.

General trigger warning- Discussion of a variety of eating disorders, body dysphoria and Cassian.

SJM covers disordered eating within ACOTAR, it happens specifically to the female characters. And this is something, I have a huge problem with. That might seem like a massive asshole sentence, but let me explain my thought process.

These eating disorders are not well respresented, they do not further affect the plot, they only serve to be an outward appearance to the male saviour characters that something is wrong, and they never appear on the female characters in a way that makes them any less pretty, in fact, I would say, the resulting skinniness from said disordered eating, is the desired result. By that I mean, yes I think SJM writes her female characters starving themselves to make them fit the female beauty standard.

This is very evident with Nesta, who somehow miraculously only grows thinner in the waist and hips when she is starving herself. But still has massive breasts which Cassian makes a point of oogling, despite noticing how thin she is everywhere else. Instead of taking Nesta's not wanting to eat anything and turning it into a plot point for her character in which she learns to take care of and eventually love her new Fae body, SJM decides to further starve Nesta, but Cassian limiting her sugar intake, so she reminds the same 000 size in the waist.

Now, onto what really, truly makes me angry within SJM's series. Character's gaining weight, rather than losing it.

This happens once in the series. It is one singular comment, that put me off Cassian forever.

"You need to get out in the practice ring, brother. Don't want your mate to find any soft bits."

This comment was from Cassian to Rhysand in the third chapter of ACOSF, after looking Rhys up and down pretty much.

May seem like a harmless jab to a lot of people, but take into account all of the context around it.

Cassian had just been eyeing Nesta's body-clearly suffering from the effects of long-term starvation, like a hunk of meat.

They had just won a war not long ago-still coming down from the stress highs that would have no doubt been enough to put any normal person in bed for a month.

Rhysand had only recently found out about Feyre's pregnancy, if I remember correctly-would have also found out about the risks, and would be dealing the extreme stress that would be causing.

It would be incredibly normal for Rhysand to gain weight because of all these factors. Not to mention this being the first (and I'm fairly certain) only time, SJM's mentions a male character gaining weight, and it being in such a negative light, could only suggest she, and thus Cassian, find the idea unappealing or perhaps downright abhorrent.

Which really fucking pisses me off.

Most of her female characters have experienced a form of anorexia throughout the books as a trauma or stress response. And it never exists to go further than making them more conventionally attractive.

Now further on her male characters, not a single one of them ever has an ounce of fat on their body. Weight gain is entirely out of the question, even when it should be the obvious occurrence due to whatever change in their situation.

Now this also brings me to another problem I have, which also leeches into fandom behaviour.

We all love Tamlin's tits, ofc, ofc, but muscle behaves like fat if its not being actively flexed. Tamlin's pectoral muscles are no doubt incredibly strong, and would, probably be able to crack a nut (no pun intended) if flexed. But if they werent, they would be soft and squishy. No one talks about THAT THOUGH DO YOU???

Not to mention, that, Tamlin is a beast creature, wandering the forests, not training or exercising properly, and is only gouging on the carcasses of animals he kills. This could be an excellent time to lean into weight gain, and the intense feelings of guilt, and body dysphoria that it brings.

Lets also discuss Gwyn, a traumatised young woman who fled to the Library in order to live a life of peace. She has never trained a day in her life before becoming a Valkyrie, why is she so skinny?

It's never mentioned Gwyn having any kind of reaction to her trauma that affects her eating (as far as I remember) and I think it would be far more interesting to delve into the effects grief and the lose of a dear loved one has on the body and ones eating habits.

Lets talk about Elain, who is said to use baking a coping mechanism, why is she skinny? This is the perfect opportunity to delve into a character binge eating, then extreme guilt from the times where they were in poverty, and purging. But finding comfort in food because food = wealth, wealth =safety.

And in the end, a character can be fat and be happy. Why do we have so many characters that are so thin at the end of their books?

So many of these characters also have near no stability, their diet would not doubt be changing constantly from the inconsistency in their living situations. Which should to lead to drastic changes in their body. This could be a very interesting way to explore body dysphoria. Hating seeing yourself in the mirror even if you just survived battle, because you can hardly recognise yourself. Changing so much in the mind and not even having the comfort of your body being the same. Especially with Nesta and Elain being Made against their will. I honestly believe Nesta's starvation should have been her hating her new Fae body so much that she just wants to destroy it. Her healing, should have been learning to love herself, no matter what body she is in.

In the end, your body is you, but you are more than your body. Bodies are such incredibly fascinating tool, and people don't always have to like what it looks like to care for it. Bodies can be smaller, bigger, stronger, they take your brain wherever it wants to go. But they are not all of you. And that should have been what especially Nesta's journey could have been.

Anyway, this is incredibly sensitive topic for a lot of people, so I do really want to open this up to everyone. What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you think SJM's portrayal of eating disorders is justified, or do you think I'm wrong on any of these points? Let me know in either the comments or the reblogs, I would be happy to discuss it.

[gwandas]

Nesta stans being the only Archeron sister fanbase that doesn’t center the man she’s with… real af of us

[copypastus]

Nothing gave me more whiplash IN MY LIFE than going from acowar to acofas.

Remember when Feyre closed the chapter on her relationship with Tamlin and wished him well? Coz the Inner Circle sure keeps forgetting.

[yaralulu]

Since we’re on the topic of Tamlin and Lucien’s friendship,I obviously have to say something (a lot of things actually I can’t help it).

I’ve always hated how people bring up/assume Tamlin saving Lucien is the only reason for Lucien’s loyalty to him (because he feels indebted to him).Yes obviously Tamlin saving Lucien’s life and giving him a home is a part of it but so much has happened between them since then.Those two have witnessed and been there for each other at their absolute lowest moments and that kind of bond is deep.

Minimizing their relationship to just “Tamlin saved Lucien’s life” is just completely diminishing everything they’ve been through together and does their friendship a massive disservice.

Who was there when Lucien was struggling with the loss of Jesminda? Tamlin 

Who was there when Lucien lost his eye? Tamlin 

Who got Lucien his eye replacement to help him? Tamlin 

Who was there when Tamlin’s heart got turned to stone? Lucien 

Who was there when Tamlin was forced to send his sentries to their death? Lucien 

Who has there for Tamlin when Feyre left Spring? Lucien

Who begged Amarantha to spare Lucien’s life?Tamlin

Do I need to go on?

They were there for each other at every point.They’ve been through hell and back together .Their relationship is so much deeper than “he saved my life and I owe him everything ”. A genuine friendship and a familial bond has formed between them and that is why Lucien is so loyal and protective towards Tamlin .That man is his family.

[derangedthoughtssideblog]

Am I crazy or is enemies to lovers only good when they're just enemies in canon and lovers in fanon?

It just feels like people writing enemies to lovers in canon don't actually know how to write the enemies part, and it's clear from the start that their characters are going to end up together. They never allow their characters to actually do evil things to each other because they fear the readers won't be able to forgive.

I don't want mild annoyance and teasing and secret crushes. I want full on hatred and attempted murders, is that too much?