#elias atatn

[for-hiraeth]

[clockworkbee]

My mind orders me to stay silent, but my heart screams to be heard. She is asking, after all. She wants to know. And I want to tell her. I want her to know what I am. / So I speak.

—Elias Veturius, from A Torch Against the Night

[elias-veturius-laia-of-serra]

Elias Veturius on Instagram

[eliasveturiusfandom]

Laia: Let's play a game! Kiss, Marry, Kill

Laia: Me, Afya, and Helene

Elias: Kiss you, marry you, and kill Keenan

Keenan: I wasn't even one of the options what the hell

[aeitascholardom]

Elias Veturius by nc23_11 (IG) 😍😍😍😭😭😭 WHO CAN NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH TALL DRINK OF WATER WITH A HERO COMPLEX ♥️♥️♥️

[humanitysuucks-blog]

~The field of battle is my temple, The sword Point is my priest. The dance of Death is my prayer. The killing blow is my release~

An ember in the Ashes by @sabaatahir

[author-athenagrey]

A study of a toxic relationship written without romanticization

This post includes spoilers for A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir.

Did I enjoy ATATN very much? No. It was too slow paced for my tastes. But did I love how Sabaa Tahir portrayed Keenan and Laia's relationship in the book? Yes, I did. I am in love with the way she portrayed a toxic relationship. On first glance, it doesn't even seem toxic but then you see the subtext and go "this is brilliant." I made incoherent notes on that brilliance for this post.

For those who don't know, Laia and Keenan are a couple of sorts from book two in the An Ember in the Ashes quartet by Sabaa Tahir. We do not like Keenan. Here is why.

Love bombing

Keenan was hot and cold with Laia all through book one and just generally giving her mixed signals. He would be aloof and then bomb her with attention and make her doubt her emotions and feelings. He'd make it seem like he cared and then retreat again in his cycle of manipulation when Laia got dependent on him. He used her loneliness when she was vulnerable when Elias left for Kauf and slept with her. Then he used magic to befuddle her mind and manipulated the shit out of her emotions.

Invalidating her emotions

Making her feel like she should let go of negative emotions, instead of openly expressing and feeling them like positive emotions. Making her feel as if sadness is a luxury, when it's not.

Making her question her capabilities

This seems like it's sweet on first glance, but it's not. He used his magic to manipulate her, to befuddle her mind and to make her question herself. Then, in a position where she couldn't lean on anyone else because she was alone with him, he put her in an even more vulnerable state by making himself the only person she could trust. He made it so that she couldn't even trust herself more than she trusted him. He's making her feel like she's not ready and capable and making her dependent on him instead of herself. Her inner voice figures it out but his magic wins in the end and she tricks herself into believing he's right.

Making her feel like shit for having a voice

Laia questions his authority. Can't verbalize her doubt because he's breaking her spirit. 'As if she's growing smaller day by day' shows that she feels inferior and that she thinks she should be thankful (she shouldn't) that the Great and Wise Keenan is helping her and is with her. She trusts him and his abilities over her own, which is not a good thing.

Making her trust him

He does the stuff he did and then acts like he cares so she doesn't question his authority again. After all, why would he wanna harm her if he cares about her well-being like that?

Making himself her only relief

He took away her comfort space, the coat Elias gave her, to make him her only respite. He took away her comfort space and introduced a new one that's moreso based on him so he can take her further away from who she truly is.

Loss of sense of self

She's conflicted. She wants to be herself but she has no energy to fight back because of how he's hurt her. She wants to be herself again but she can't because she isn't even aware of the fact that she isn't herself and it's all because of him and this is brilliant.

Beaten and bruised

He told her this toxicity is normal. That this is better than independence because she can't handle independence. That she screws stuff up when she's not babied and infantilized and made dependent on someone. She completely loses trust in herself and places it in Keenan, as that was what he wanted.

Tl;dr, Keenan is a toxic s/o to Laia so I hope you don't ship them and go hype up Sabaa Tahir for she is brilliant.

[maddiesflame]

elaia headers

like/reblog if saved © maddiesflame

[dream-to-be-frog]

just finished reaper and it’s definitely the best book in the series by far. the first one was sooo ya and like. obviously it is but it made me remember why i don’t read ya as much, in the nicest way possible. it was good but wow some things made me oof. all my love to sabaa i’m reading this most because i love and respect her, but it was definitely a debut novel, y’know? second was better but still remnants of that. by reaper, she’s definitely more seasoned. it’s the first book i didn’t see all the plot twists coming and things genuinely caught me by surprise i was so thrilled with the plot. and the end?? chef’s kiss can’t wait for laia/helene bestfriendism. biggest critique is that at least one of the major characters should be gay. i think dex is actually but like is he gonna get anyone? who knows. also he’s not as important to me tbh. like faris and livvy obviously elias and laia (probably?? somehow??) helene and avitas (which i am actually a super huge fan of. not gonna lie. they’re so fun and i’m just obsessed with helene sorry blood shrike in general she’s arguably my favorite which i thought was surprising considering i was like omg finally a brown female lead. (lmao rip. i do love laia okay but of course she is who she is and who she is is slightly formulaic by nature of what kind of story this is. helene is just so complicated and fucked up. i love my fucked up girls.)) the whole thing with cook ??? with elias losing his humanity ?? oh homies we are really in it now because idk how besties will get out of this one, but i am having a blast. so obsessed with how elias changed to soul catcher in the middle in terms of chapter name. blood shrike caught me off guard at the start and this is even better. again the whole cook plotline?? yum finally some good fucking food. the twisty turnies the betrayals the fuckedupity. i’m just talking now and lost the plot of this post but i am genuinely soooooo excited for a sky beyond the storm

[goblinofthecheese]

I don’t know if this has been done before, but this has been my main train of thought while reading A Sky Beyond The Storm

[urlindah]

THEY ARE THEM

credit: @missescara

[remusfinglupin]

Laia: Elias is so calm and composed all of the time. I wonder how he does it.

Elias, internally: Fuck fuck fuck fuck f

[clockworkbee]

The swordpoint is my priest. The dance of death is my prayer. The killing blow is my release.

—Elias Veturius, from A Torch Against the Night

[elias-veturius-laia-of-serra]

Decided to combine all my Laia and Elias fancasts into one using the face app! Thoughts? 👀🤭

[eliasveturiusfandom]

Elias Veturius: Toni Mahfud

Elias Veturius: Akash Kumar

[aeitascholardom]

Helene and Elias in A Reaper at the Gates: I know what I’m doing I‘ve got it all under control

Also Helene and Elias in A Reaper at the Gates: