#anti elain stans

[theshadowsingersraven]

To be quite clear and disrespectful if needed, if you "can't remember"/ "had to Google to recall" the existence of a secondary character frequently involved with a main character to the point that they were mentioned 565 times in the most recent book, then it sounds like you don't pay nearly enough attention in narratives, and completely undermine the validity of your own opinions. And if I were SJM, I'd never want you to touch a single one of my books again if you were going to be dismissive of my character work--especially in favor of a lackluster ship I'd only created for the purpose of each character to have a rebound before their endgame.

Maybe take notes or something before burdening us all with your "hot takes".

[going-through-shit]

did rhys, cas, az, feyre, amren and mor not do practically the EXACT same thing tamlin did to feyre in acotar in to nesta in acosfor am i going insane?

all just a bunch of hypocrites imo

[thefatesofspring]

You honestly can’t make this shit up…

If there’s one thing Feyre & the majority of her crackhead stans are going to do it’s avoid taking accountability & pinning the blame on someone else.

Blaming Tamlin for Ianthe betraying him as well as Feyre might be one of the most delusional things Feyre & her stans have done yet, why the hell Feyre decided to say in the high lord meeting that Tamlin is to blame for the actions of another grown ass adult backstabbing him & her is beyond me!

In that meeting Feyre told Tamlin not to spin the narrative only for her to turn around & do the exact same thing…SPIN THE NARRATIVE!!

[elucienscourt]

One thing I know for SURE is that if Lucien was given the chance to fight Azriel and had the chance to win…he still wouldn’t do it. Not because he believes he wouldn’t win, but because he’s too mature for that and he would KNOW that Elain wouldn’t want violence to win her over.

My guy would be like “Nah I’ll give Elain all the time and space she needs without needing to resort to physical violence because I’m not desperate, and I actually understand her unlike SOME people…” and then walk away 😭

[silverflameataraxia]

Nesta coming home bruised and bleeding from the beating she just endured at the hands of her Grandmamma. Standing in the doorway of Papa Archeron's office, tears streaming down her face, hoping he'll look up and notice her. Hoping he'll care and protect her. But he's too busy with his spices to notice his battered young daughter standing there. Nesta quietly heads back to her bedroom so she can cover up the bruises before her sisters get home.

In the heat of summer, Nesta wears gloves and long-sleeved dresses. Elain and Feyre think their sister is a giant weirdo, but really she's trying to cover up her palms that are beaten raw and the bruises marking her body. Because as long as her sisters don't know about the abuse that she's suffering, she can handle it.

Little Feyre constantly interrupting dancing lessons because she wants to play with Nesta. Nesta, noticing the familiar rage on their Grandmamma's face, purposely falls so that their Grandmamma will beat her and not Feyre.

Young Elain going on and on about the flowers in bloom. Nesta notices the growing annoyance on their Grandmamma's face, so she says something to rile her up, so their Grandmamma will rip Nesta to shreds, but leave Elain's heart intact.

Nesta's favorite place is to be alone in her bedroom because only there can she let the tears flow. Only there will she not be beaten or have her heart ripped into a thousand pieces. But as long as it's happening to her and not her sisters, she can endure it. As long as the bruises are on her body and not theirs, she'll be okay. As long as their hearts are whole, it doesn't matter if hers is ripped to shreds.

When their Grandmamma finally dies, Nesta refuses to shed a single tear or lay flowers at her grave. Elain and Feyre think their sister is hateful and horrid, but really Nesta just refuses to cry or lay flowers for her abuser.

Nesta let's her sisters spend their childhood thinking everything is rainbows and unicorns when really it's a court of nightmares.

[maybeiwasjustjade]

I see so many post constantly degrading Nesta for being so nasty and mean and ungrateful; for using Rhysand’s money and staying on his land (not for free I might add) while refusing to play nice or care.

But isn’t that the bare minimum of what he owes her?

The IC and Feyre dragged Nesta and Elain into their world by manipulating them using their guilt over letting Feyre hunt for those 5 years when they were severely impoverished. Nevermind that Feyre doesn’t know how to cook or clean so someone had to have done that, or that someone was bound to do physical labor anyway. But I digress—the IC gave Nesta so much shit for refusing to be Feyre and Elain’s mom, for not being the one to take care of them by any means necessary (which we know would’ve been through marriage).

So the sisters agreed to help with the Human Queens, putting a major target on their backs. The IC sent away their staff and guards, promised to leave protection that failed miserably. Feyre told Ianthe about her sisters; Rhysand let the Attor live knowing that Hybern would have their location. So the sisters were taken—kidnapped and dragged and thrown into something that turned them into something they weren’t.

Murdered and tortured for however eternity it took to melt the flesh off their bones, for their bones to grow and lengthen, and magic to flow through their veins. There’s another word for this, you know? Nonconsensual body modification. And just because they came out young and beautiful and immortal, everyone around them expected them to be grateful. But what is there to be grateful for, if you were Nesta and Elain? Ripped from their finally stable human lives and love? Forced to join a war that had nothing to do with them until it eventually fucked them over too?

As far as I’m concerned, and how it should’ve been if SJM wasn’t so far up feysand’s ass, whatever debt owed by Nesta and Elain to Feyre was repaid in full when they were murdered over Feyre and the IC’s actions.

Elain came out of that Cauldron catatonic for months. Nesta came out something other, even for a Fae, and dripping with so much power that she made High Lords quake at the sight of her and that damned finger. And in order to spare Elain from further suffering, Nesta took the brunt of their missions and scrying, repressed and depressed as she was. Yet it was still them who killed the King of Hybern, effectively ending the war.

The bare minimum Rhysand owed them afterwards was a fucking lifetime of peace, and to be left alone if they wished with enough money to make a king cry. But that wasn’t enough for him was it? Feyre was pushy because she wanted Nesta around even when Nesta preferred to be literally anywhere else. I can understand that to an extent as a younger sister myself. But she went about it all wrong, and let her mate do what he does best: be a complete and utter bitch.

And if getting sexually assaulted and repeatedly nearly dying finding the Troves for the NC still wasn’t enough to repay whatever fucking ‘debt’ Rhysand and his stans seem to still think she owes (despite the dying and kingslaying), Nesta gave up a significant portion of herself to save Feyre, Nyx, and Rhysand. And despite his gratefulness, he still couldn’t help himself from berating her horribly behind Feyre’s back, even when Feyre herself has told him repeatedly to lay the fuck off her sister.

So, NO. Nesta shouldn’t owe squat to the NC and its shitty High Lord. Pretty sure at this point, he owes her more.

[reblogandlikes]

Self insert Fandom

I've come to realise that most of the toxicity within the acotar fandom is often rooted in a ridiculous amount of self insert. They see a character as them, therefore their actions are absolved. They see another character in their abuser, or worse, 'as' their abusers and so they can never be impartial towards them, thinking the worst because in real life they've dealt with a lot.

I get it. Art can sometimes mimic reality, but they are indeed forgetting that this is a whole fantasy fiction book about human women turned fae getting dicked down with a hint of war and political intrigue. These characters are not, in fact, you or your abusers. Making the series so personal to themselves can then lead to a lack of introspection of the work as a whole made to be enjoyed and critiqued to the readers' preference, whether shallow or in depth.

But because this fandom in particular seem to make these books so personal than reading it as a piece of fiction, they're inflicting real world scenarios onto fictional characters and if their characters face any backlash or reasonable questioning, they take it as a personal attack which for some reason leads to insults and wild assumptions of very REAL people.

"No, no one is saying you should forgive your abuser mum, boyfriend, sister, because this literally isn't about you. I dont know you or your situation. Im talking about *insert character*."

"No, I don't think reactive abuse is OK, though I also don't believe lying about SA is OK either, let alone condoning SA."

"What do you mean it's abusive to lock someone up and then make an excuse to say it's not abuse to lock someone else up?"

The mental gymnastics is truly outstanding. If they're so called morally grey, let them be just that.

Speaking for myself, it's easy to find some commonality in a characters personality. It's written by a whole human who has a personality too, after all. But I do not attach myself to these characters as if they are my family members or those dear to me. They are, in fact, not real, and I will talk about them in the context of a fantasy text, generally.

Now the moment you take their actions out of a fantasy text, every character, and I mean, every character, needs to be dealt with the same scrutiny. Your faves will be called out and dragged. You cannot call real people names, but then think highly of yourself when your faves have done worse. What does that then make you? A racist? A misogynist? An AS denier? An abuse apologist? Someone who endorses apartheid? Someone who's OK with controlling the female body? A war criminal?

You see how absurd that all is?

Honestly, it's not that deep. But again, it's not bad to see yourself in character. Just realise that when people have some reservations about them, they are not calling YOU out. They are strictly talking about that character and that character alone. But maybe if you find so much offence, perhaps you should think about why that is. Look deep and figure out why it troubles you so much. Perhaps they're holding up a mirror, and you simply can not bear to look into it, seeming that that character represents you so much.

I think this is the only fandom I've been involved in where simply daring to disagree with the main MC and side characters can lead to online prosecution and just so much hostility. I've seen some truly nasty comments, and it's boggling. I can imagine how off-putting it may seem to newer readers.

I long for the days when people can talk about the characters and narrative alone without feeling the need to make disclosures about what they support in real life because it's truly unnecessary. I thought reading fiction was meant to be a form of escapism, not defending my moral standpoint.

If I said I enjoyed Katherine Pierce, Klaus Mikaelson and Kai Parker from TVD, what then? They're despicable, but fucking enjoyable. Don't get me started on Game of Thrones characters.

Alright, I'm done now 😅

[bookishwithathought]

[kataraavatara]

keep waiting for the part in silver flames where Nesta was like “yeah, fuck it, let elain do it” when the ic kept holding it over her head that if she didn’t find the trove or do xyz for them elain would have to. like this girl packed up your shit behind your back and sent you off to the house of wind before coming up there, provoking you, and then acting surprised and playing victim when you understandably snapped at her, crying about some “she’s not trying hard enough” let elain lie in the bed she made i beg of u

[daybreakmusings]

Elain telling Nesta “All you can think about is what my trauma has done to you” was incredibly ignorant and no one can convince me otherwise.

For some reason, Elain thinks the trauma that had resulted from that night belongs solely to her and Nesta is being selfish for trying to take any ownership of it.

Everything in Nesta’s life, has always been about Elain. She came first and she never stopped to think about how it could impact Nesta. Very rarely does Nesta have the time to face her own trauma and learn to heal from it because she was always in environments/situations that put her on guard to protect her sister. And Elain has always been comfortable allowing her to do so while she retreats to the background where it was safe. She has never thought twice about putting Nesta in these positions all her life. 

When the sisters first come to Pythian, Elain completely checks out from the weight of the loss and trauma she has experienced. Which is completely understandable. But she isn’t the only one to have lost so much. So had Nesta. But at a time where Nesta may have needed her support, she wasn’t there. 

All Elain could think about was what their shared trauma has done to her. But Nesta never cared.

Those first few weeks in Pythian? Nesta was there to check on her. To make sure she is eating. To ensure her wellbeing. To see to her needs. To make sure she is comfortable.

In ACOSF, for the first time in Nesta’s life, she isn’t capable of putting Elain first. But Elain is unwilling to confront the possibility that the trauma they both experienced that night may have affected her sister differently than it did her. As a result, she avoids putting herself in a position where she might have to face the full extent of that truth.

I’m not saying that Elain doesn’t have a right to feel greatly impacted by what had happened to her. She went through alot. But she doesn’t get to pick and choose whose trauma that night was greater and warrants more concern.

[ofbreathandflame-archive]

Elain stans have such a weird relationship with Nuala and Cerridwen and I genuinely can't tell if they just choose not to look at the optics of that dynamic or what...

[dameaylins]

on my "anti elain/anti elriels are allergic to reading comprehension" tirade; taking the word of nesta (who is literally proven in the same book to be unreliable when it comes to her perspective of elain with her "elain is like a dog" comment that cassian later disproves) on blind faith about how elain would love the spring court or that it was "made for someone like her" simply because it has flowers when, in the first book, we are explicitly told that there is no gardening done in the spring court- which is what elain actually enjoys about flowers, the actual process of gardening and getting her hands dirty. it's like sjm is trying to tell us something about elain and how fundamentally no one in the inner circle (cough, besides azriel, cough) understands her as a person.

[0lk0s]

'Nesta and elain should apologize to Feyre' 'Nesta and Elain owe a lot to Feyre' etc

wasn't literally dying for Feyre enough? both Nesta and Elain were slaughtered like sacrificial lambs because they helped their sister. paint the picture however you like but it's the facts. have they not helped feyre with the human queens, they wouldn't be turned into fae. so if you still think they owe feyre shit, maybe let's rethink that!

[elucienscourt]

So, you’re telling me that Sarah was inspired by Jamie Fraser when she wrote Lucien’s character and loved the mating bond between him and Elain so much, just for that to go nowhere? Really? Some of you guys are way too confident in a ship that Sarah has never once mentioned or acknowledged, even when she was directly asked about them…so good luck with that, you’ll need it 😭😭

[silverflameataraxia]

I'm not a fan of Elain, but I do love that she expects to be held equally accountable as Nesta for letting Feyre hunt.

Elain sat a little higher as she said to Cassian, "And as for Feyre's hunting during those years, it was not Nesta's neglect alone that is to blame. We were scared, and had received no training, and everything had been taken, and we failed her. Both of us."

What I hate is that these 500-year-olds give Papa Archeron a free pass, while hating on Nesta (and sometimes Elain) for letting Feyre hunt. They don't even care about Nesta and Elain - about what they might have been through in their lives - except that they didn't protect their sister. The IC act like Nesta and Elain didn't even exist until Feyre turned fourteen and started hunting. Does it not occur to them that the older sisters may have their own stories to tell, their own traumas that they have endured? We don't know much about Elain at this point, but we know Nesta was abused as a child, badly enough that she bears a scar from it. But yet, no one seems curious about what made Nesta Nesta. Since she's not nice, and since she didn't protect Feyre, they don't care. But who has ever protected Nesta? No one. And I'm sure Nesta was kind and sweet and had a smile on her face before her grandmother beat it out of her. Now she hides her emotions behind a cool exterior and wounds others before they can try to hurt her again.

Long story short: Nesta and Elain have their own traumas and brushing those aside in favor of "they let Feyre hunt!" is a huge disservice to both characters.

[theshadowsingersraven]

I love actually being pro Elain by developing her character outside of her romance. And she's not even a main character in my fic.