#bad crown utm

[littlepillbugs]

i like bluster from care bears. comical villainy is my weakness

[olenvasynyt]

In ACOWAR during the meeting with Kier when he asks for his people to be free of the mountain, Feyre says “You have every comfort, and it’s still not enough?”

She had every comfort at Tamlin’s manor, and it still wasn’t enough for her…

#freethecourtofnightmares2024

One thing that really pisses me off about the Court of Nightmares is how SJM writes it so black and white. The entire court, not just Keir, is evil and conniving. There was a part in ACOWAR where he says he is going to let the CoN go to Velaris but he told all of the vendors and business owners to refuse service to not just Keir, but all of the CoN. And this paints the entire court in this black and white lense.

Not a single person in that court is a dreamer like Mor? She was the only fucking one?

I think there can be a little bit of nuance to the situation where a significant portion of the court is just bad because they have been festering in the dark for so long, but guess who's fault is that?? It's the leader's fault, the one who keeps the court up and running, aka the High Lord, aka Rhys.

Rhys says he wants change. That he wants to show the world that he's good. But he continues to keep the Court of Nightmares up and running, he keeps Keir as herald.

"Oh this court is so awful and sadistic," Feyre thinks as she sits on the throne with a crown on her head and with Rhys holding her hand.

And Rhys says "the Court of Nightmares just rules itself" and sure, I guess that's true, but as High Lord, you have the ability to put a stop to that and pull out the bad weeds. But instead, you keep it running to further your agenda and to keep your evil mask on.

Getting mad at Keir for slutshaming your lover and breaking his arm is not enough. Restricting access to Velaris is not enough. Even telling the Court "you guys are bad >:C " is not fucking enough.

Rhys the most powerful High Lord who killed all of the Illyrian war bands who sided with Amarantha after UTM, yet he can't do the same to the CoN?

Rhys and Feyre and the IC label the entire CoN as evil without trying to find the forgotten dreamers, and they continue to keep the court up and running and making the excuse that "it's too hard" despite their power and influence. It means they don't care. Or that Rhys maybe fucking enjoys it.

It also means that SJM (so far) has no idea what she's doing and can't understand the situation she wrote in her own series.

And this brings me to comparing Nesta being locked up, the CoN and its dreamers being locked up, and Feyre being locked up. Is SJM intending this irony and hypocrisy of the IC? I sure hope so because I swear it's the most obvious comparision ever, but it confuses me because a large majority of the ACOTAR fanbase doesn't get it. "Oh well the CoN is evil! They have to keep them contained and Rhys can't do a whole lot as High Lord because the Court rules itself." And the most frustrating argument: "Nesta was addicted to sex and alcohol, she needed to be rehabilitated! It's for her own good!"

They don't see the irony of how the IC treats Nesta because Tamlin also did what he did for Feyre's own good. It was to protect her, keep her safe. Not saying it was 100% good and right, but why are we not understanding that what the IC did to Nesta was not 100% good and right either?

[nickel156]

My rankings of the Inner Circle:

Strap in.

Worst at # 6

Cassian

I hate him. For so many reasons. So so many. Mostly that damn hike. Then is there an apology for making her suicidal?? No. He's a shit for brains. Can burn in the depths of hell so Nesta can move on with someone who will actually tell her he loves her.

#5 Amren

Bitch should have stayed dead. All she is, is a cranky old nag. Who says "keep reaching out your hand" Yet never does!! Why couldn't you join her while she listens to bands? Or try to do things Nesta enjoys instead of forcing her to do the things you want her to do Then telling her she's a waste of life!

#4 Rhysand

Why most of the fandom forgives him for his SA against Feyre UTM is beyond me. If my friend told me a guy drugged her, then made her dance for him in slutty outfits as he touched her. But it was all for a good cause! Girl please. Who are you gaslighting? Then the whole pregnancy shit. But the real nail for him, was his treatment of Tamlin. He literally saved your fucking life and this is what you do? At least you'll have your buddy with you in hell!

#3 Mor

Is said to be this powerful apex predator. Where? 👀 Seriously where is this predator with all her crazy truth powers? Or her badass fighting skills?? She compared Nesta to the fae of HC who beat her and nailed a sign to her stomach.. like how? Nesta hasn't hurt anyone? Just your precious little HL's bottomless wallet. I'm so apathetic about Mor, I'd rather have a Jurian x Vassa Novella. Or Helion x Autumn Lady

#2 Feyre

Was a bit iffy on where to put her, but honestly she's the most hypocritical Bitch. You didn't want to be High Lady, wear a crown, wear dresses every day, or be a prized breeding mare. (HER WORDS it's literally what she calls it.) The irony. She became everything she claimed to hate. But hey Rhys at least didn't lock you up. Nooo that's what you do to Nesta! Just because she's number 2 just means the bar is set so damn low it's laughable.

#1 Azriel

Never thought I'd see the day where he was my favorite of the flying rodents, or my favorite of the IC. But I've grown to really like his character. And I like where it's potentially going. All of the good things he's done, outweighs the bad imo. He didn't behave terrific in acosf but in comparison to everyone else, he's leagues ahead.

[theladyofbloodshed]

Feyre's personality transplant is so bad.

She has a massive issue with Tamlin collecting the tithe after it was suspended during Amarantha's rule and doesn't comprehend that the funds are channelled back into the court for sentries etc. The Spring Court is quite clearly not the safe haven Velaris is because it has bogge and naga in the forest so needs sentries to stop these creatures from hurting fae or going to the Wall. Tamlin also lost a majority of his sentries trying to break the curse. And Tamlin has 5 crowns in his entire bloodline so it's not a very wealthy court.

She dreads Tamlin giving her a crown. Due to UTM, she then hates painting - but hasn't informed Tamlin of that - and because he's not a daemati who just rummages through her thoughts, he's condemned. (Actually, a thoughtful gift for her, not ostentatious in anyway which would have suited book 1 Feyre).

When she is working for Rhys, she has absolutely no problem in wearing a crown. She even wears it to the human lands which is surely not subtle at all? What is the need to wear a crown to visit the sisters who believe you dead? At this point, she's not even with Rhys.

In ACOWAR, she then sees Rhys' treasure room and is not disgusted by his obscene amount of wealth despite seeing first hand how Illyrians struggle, despite knowing that - as a child - Cassian was an orphan who had to fight for clothes and food. But wow!! crowns for me!!!

And then her discomfort in wearing a crown for Tamlin was because he isn't her soulmate - nothing to do with wealth disparity between her and the folk who struggled to pay the tithe. Feyre, could it be because Tamlin only had 5 for you to choose from?

[wishcamper]

Heavy Lies the Crown: Rhysand, greatness, and the pressures of power

Or: the librarian’s daughter, former playwright, licensed counselor mashup of my nightmares dreams because I am vast, I contain multitudes.

No content warnings and no real HOFAS spoilers, I don't think, other than that he's in it but I feel like you know that by now. Spoilers for Breaking Bad (lol).

---

In working on my current fic (on ao3 here!) I've been thinking a lot about Rhysand and how he really goes off the rails in ACOSF and HOFAS. It's easy to chalk it up to poor writing, but I like the challenge of trying to make it make sense. What are Rhys’ motivations, truly? What would explain the vast array of heinous shit he does the text tells us is justified?

Rhys is shown over and over to be quite Machiavellian ('ends justify the means' dude, who was maybe writing satire). It's easy to list the times he shows this. The 50 year Velaris hostage situation. The bargain UTM with Feyre. The Weaver's cottage. Stealing the Book from Tarquin. CLARE BEDDOR. Infiltrating people's minds. Torture. Assassination. Allying with Kier. Concealing his wife's medical information. Being an ass to people in general. According to Mr. Machiavelli, any action is warranted if it the goal it achieves is morally important enough.

It seems like Rhys can justify anything to himself if he believes it will serve the greatest good at the end of the day. He does so many things with the air of “it’s for your own good” or “you’ll understand why one day” but that day never.. comes? Not yet anyway, which begs the question: is he that unself-aware, or is there a longer game he’s playing that all of these minor skirmishes are leading up to? What if he knows what's coming? And what kind of cause or threat would feel so great he could justify everything he does up to this point?

Okay I'm gonna talk about Aristotelean literary structure, please don't leave me.

The idea of a tragic hero is a character whose downfall is inevitable but who fights against it anyway. Hamlet is a classic example of a tragic hero, Oedipus being the de facto first, Walter White from Breaking Bad a more modern version. We see Walt learn he’s going to die in the first episode, in the middle he does a bunch of stuff to prevent his physical death (cancer) and metaphorical death (failure/obscurity), and then both his body and reputation die in the last episode as a direct result of his attempts to avoid fate. It’s blissful Aristotelean symmetry. *chef’s kiss*

Every tragic hero has hamartia, more commonly known as a ‘fatal flaw’. In Hamlet, his fatal flaw is procrastination, and his delays create space for all kinds of the fuck shit he was trying to prevent. It’s important to note that hamartia is by design a neutral term - not so much a flaw, but a trait, motivation, or decision that sets off the chain of events the character is trying to avoid. Tragedies have occurred equally from too much love as too much hate, and doing nothing is just as much a decision as doing something. The word itself comes from the Greek for ‘to miss the mark’. To try and fail, the backbone of tragedy.

One of the most common hamartia is hubris, a modern synonym for arrogance but which more specifically means an outsized belief in one’s ability to affect and control the future. Well-known tragic heroes taken down by hubris include our boy Walter White, Tony Soprano, Viktor Frankenstein, Achilles, Jay Gatsby, Kendall from Succession. It exists in real life, too: Lance Armstrong is a perfect example of a modern tragic hero brought down by hubris. And what do all these men have in common? Power, via money, fame, strength, the state, intellect, violence etc.

I’ve been enjoying looking at Rhysand through this tragic hero lens because while it doesn’t really make him more sympathetic, it does make his actions easier to understand logically, which is its own kind of humanization. If Rhysand is aware of a prophesied or fated event sometime in the future and is pulling the cosmic strings now, it must be incredibly important, like annihilation-level important, which is so much pressure. 

So he grows to maturity with an understanding that he will one day have to face this intense evil that could completely destroy his world, and it plants in him a hubris. He believes that his immense power grants him a certain amount of influence automatically. And honestly, is he wrong?

And this is where it’s important to think about how power makes people weird. Power gives people a false sense of confidence in their actions and choices, because their status and privilege protect them from so many more consequences. In this way it’s easy to see how someone can get a big ego - no one is stopping me, so I must be doing well! Or: everything is going well for me, so I must be really killing it! I know I feel that way in the first tingles of hypomania, but hypomania is fundamentally a distortion of reality and I believe so is power.

Power not only gives people confidence but also access to make decisions for others. They begin to think they should share the success they’ve found by leading and guiding others to see how great it can be if you do what they say. Just look at one of those cringe 'billionaire morning routine' videos to see what I mean. It’s a very patronizing form of altruism, because the leader genuinely believes they have the people’s interest at heart. And I use the word patronizing intentionally - leaders have often referenced feeling paternal towards their people, Winston Churchill + FDR, 'God the Father'. Power and fatherhood have been linked for a long time. And direct from our girl Wikipedia, "paternalism is action that limits a person's or group's liberty or autonomy and is intended to promote their own good".

I was talking with a girlfriend of mine recently about how I think some men don’t have the experience of other people depending on them in a significant way until they get married and/or become fathers. Like, afab and femme people learn very early to be considerate of others, to think about how others feel, to act in ways that keep others happy, etc. This plants in us a sense of duty to perform in ways that please others, to smile, to create comfort and provide caretaking in every environment we enter. So by the time we get to marriage and motherhood, we already know how to put others’ needs before our own because we’ve been doing it from the jump.

For men, however, this can be a completely novel experience. And it seems like it's SO HEAVY FOR THEM. George ‘Father of his Country’ Washington just wanted to go back to Virginia the whole time he was President. So many men talk about the pressures of being a provider and their families depending on them in a way women don’t, and I think it’s because for the first time others truly depend on them and they don’t know how to handle it.

In response, they either shove down their emotions as patriarchy demands and have a midlife crisis, or they abdicate that responsibility and go completely absent physically and/or emotionally to continue living for themselves. (Obviously there are good men and dads out there, and bless you if you’re lucky enough to know, have, or be one.)

And this aspect of power feels relevant because from the text it seems like Rhysand is unraveling. Between Feyre, the baby, the Trove, Nesta and being threatened by her power, Koschei, Bryce, the whole High King shit - I think he’s starting to crack under the pressure. And honestly, I’m kind of surprised it didn’t happen before now.

According to Aristotle, the tragic hero must:

Be significant (virtuous/capable/powerful/important etc.)

Be flawed

Suffer a reversal of fortune.

Rhysie boy definitely ticks the first two. I wonder what it would look like to get to three? I don’t think Sarah has the balls, but it’s definitely enhanced my reading experience and given me a lot of interesting things to think about.

Okay that's all I've got. Love ya, see ya soon xx

[ziggyhadathought]

I don’t know if it’s bad writing or hinting at rhysand’s character but the descriptions of feyre’s outfit UTM where she is sa’d, degraded and roofied and the description of her outfit when mate introduces her to part of his court leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

“nearly identical to those I had been forced to wear Under the Mountain.”

(ACOMAF)

“my hair onto a crown atop my head—right behind the black diadem”

(ACOMAF)

“my hair coiled around a small gold diadem”

(ACOTAR)

“my face adorned with cosmetics rouge on my lips… kohl lining my eyes”

(ACOTAR)

“vicious line of kohl at the outer corner of each. My lips she’d painted bloodred.”

(ACOMAF)

It’s like she’s physically still there. Why is she in the same clothes she could have skimpy clothes to sell be bit but not a replica. he knows how uncomfortable feyre was before

__________________________________________

“Good. They should be afraid of them.Afraid of me.”

(ACOMAF)

This I think is kinda sad because they are not afraid of her they are afraid of rhysand. The only reason she is somewhat safe is because of rhysand’s reputation. This scene is supposed to show where feyre becomes sexually empowered there is a section where she imagines them calling her a whore and she learns to ignore it comparing it to the music. But all rhysand does here is present her in the same way amarantha presented her while UTM.

__________________________________________

“And with a tug on my waist, he perched me on his lap.The High Lord’s whore.”

(ACOMAF)

She is still a doll. There is so much weight put on names and titles in this series and in other maas books so I find it a bit distasteful that rhysand’s trigger is used here. It’s the one phrase that is shown to deeply effect rhysand and one of the few times his sexual trauma is even mentioned. I know it’s all a part of there ruse and it’s just a trick but it’s strange.

“That every male in here is contemplating what they’d be willing to give up in order to get that pretty, red mouth of yours on them”

(ACOMAF)

There could have been so many other things said here about how they are all bowing to her and they are worthless and she could kill them if she wanted but he reduces her to only sexual power, she is something to be consumed. And I see that he can be trying to make her more confident in her own body.

Yes she is sat on the throne but she’s in his lap he is always that barrier between her and power this is seen in later books when rhysand ordered the IC to withhold information from feyre even though she is the high lady and it was pertaining to her body. They are mates and supposedly equal but the chain of command is never altered.

“He’d apologized in advance for it—for this game, these roles we’d have to play.”

(ACOMAF)

I really despise how it is suggested that this was the only way they could have gotten the orb, rhysand didn’t need to have her on his lap or lick her. He’s 500 years old and he couldn’t conjure up a better plan than extended foreplay.

“But it seems true: Tamlin’s pet is now owned by another master.”

(ACOMAF)

From a political standpoint why would he want such an important figure thought of as a private escort? This takes away all of her credibility to the illyrians. It is trained into the illyrians that females purity is currency and their bodies a commodity so how is this smart. If I was a misogynistic warrior who sees humans as scum my highlord grinding on a woman clothed in scraps wouldn’t convince me of her political prowess.

“The Steward was staring unabashedly as he leaned against the wall. Unsure whether to interrupt. Half terrified to. We were his distraction. We were the sleight of hand while Az stole the orb.”

(ACOMAF)

HOW THE HECK WAS THIS THE BEST PLAN THEY COULD COME UP WITH!!!????

who was their sacrificial sex doll before Feyre 👀?

[hellacioushag]

**not sure if i’m blocked, but my post seems to have disappeared so i figured i would post again about this post from @offtorivendell about gwyn's age being problematic when shipping gwynriel:

i’m trying very hard to understand the intent behind this. because reading this whole thing, saying that gwyn is basically a young teen in fae years, sounds like an insinuation that anyone who ships her with az is ok with child abuse/pedophilia. i get you said this take is not to be hurtful and you would be respectful, but this is how it sounds.

let’s say for arguments sake this was a genuine concern when reading. that you are just a concerned gwyn fan who doesn’t want her to be in a compromising relationship. i’ll humor this post as best as i can.

the fact that she talked about how she was not able to participate in the great rite, not because of her age, but because of her location - being remote - leads me to believe she’s old enough to be in a sexual relationship with a fae male. considering the great rite doesn’t pair people up based on their age bracket and it’s just a fun orgy for the fae one can assume she could have paired up with a 20 year old fae, an 80 year old, a 578 year old... so claiming she’s too young for this doesn’t make sense. next.

alis and her nephews are urisks. they are not high fae or river nymphs. they age at a significantly slower rate. that alis quote was pointing out how difficult it is for her species and the high fae to reproduce. it was pointing out why both covet their young. the reason tarquin is considered a young high lord is he’s the youngest one and also he hasn’t had a chance to rule since he was crowned UtM. that’s why they talk about him being idealistic, he’s not used to court politics - which he admits when with feyre. he doesn’t have the cynicism the others have due to his age and time ruling. next.

rhys himself was 28 years of age when the war started 500 years ago. that means cassian, azriel, and mor were all around the same age. they were old enough to fight and have sex. cassian and mor had sex with each other, but no one claims they were too young to be having sex. cassian was in a relationship with a valkyrie, a seasoned warrior, during the war. i haven’t seen anyone write a post about how cassian was a victim of statutory rape. 28 is not a child in their world. next.

if we are putting this creepy feel onto gwynriel, that gwyn is too young for azriel, then we most definitely need to put that title onto feysand, nessian, elriel, elucien, feylin....literally every ship in this universe aside from elain x graysen and feyre x isaac hale (her mortal barn boy in case anyone forgot). having been mortal at one time does not exclude them from the “he’s too old for her” title. they’re all younger than gwyn. wow, what pervs. next.

azriel saved gwyn so there’s a power dynamic... ok so guess that means elriel is out. feysand too since feyre saved all of prythian. guess she’ll have to go to the continent for some lovin’. cassian, sorry nesta saved you so now she holds too much power over you. do you see how bad that argument is? saving someone does not disrupt the power dynamic. especially when these characters are equals. gwyn did not train for months and complete the blood rite not to be considered an equal to azriel. next.

gwyn sounds younger than everyone... ok, but she’s not. she grew up sheltered. her only sexual experience was violent. that’s why she doesn’t read smut as easily as emerie or nesta. reading adventure books does not make her a child. it speaks to her desire to be her own hero, to be a warrior, which she now is. and sorry, but truth teller is a pretentious af name. silver majesty >>> truth teller any day lol. as for the friendship bracelets, sure that was very “tweens at summer camp” moment, but it was to signify that gwyn has found a sisterhood with nesta and emerie. if we’re gonna use this as evidence that gwyn is too young then we can also use nesta making an imaginary friend real (the house) and nesta asking said imaginary friend to make a miniature pegasus. the entire slumber party scene had the tween girl feel to it, but you’re not claiming nesta or emerie as childish...

i don’t care what people ship. you want to ship elain and koschei go for it. you want a thrupple with mor, nesta, and the bone carver fucking have fun! i just don’t think it’s appropriate to make a post to talk about a ship that implies anyone shipping it would be supporting pedophilia. because this is essentially what you are saying. that gwyn is technically a teen in fae years so shipping her with az is problematic. i will give you the benefit of the doubt and say you did not mean to imply this, but it’s a bad take. let people ship what they want in peace.