#i'm also not super comparing to the books bc tbh its been a while

[vampswritings]

while i don’t feel that criticism of claudia’s death being fridging is accurate - because of anne’s intentions with her inevitable death and the themes of mourning a child you couldn’t save (it’s actually an aspect of the story i find very compelling)

i do think that objectively the act of losing the only main character that is female is disappointing.

while i love armand and daniel and louis and lestat i can’t help but look around and notice the lack of women, of the very prime for fan fiction male relationships all over iwtv - especially in a very famous property written by a woman

i’m not saying that the show runners should have changed anything (in regards to her death), just that experiencing the story this time made me think “hm i don’t love that.”

[thesilverlady]

Judging by how Ryan love to show his feminist ideals by making female characters go through unspeakable amount of non-canon abuse and violence. And the only way for Rhaenyra's story to be a progressive/feminist tale is by making her get abused by the men around her. I am going to assume it's wouldn't be that far for Ryan to change Rhae's death and makes her gets raped in 4k scene by aegon (who should be disabled but we know Ryan loves to ignore source material) like show Rhaenyra's got zero respect from the writers. Like even her relationship with Daemon which wasn't healthy in the book to begin with , is now not really about her but because Daemon got the hots for Viserys (some leaks implies it for Aemma) he started projecting into her and entered a relationship with her bc it's the closest he can get to Visussy 🤓 f&b was already bad for me personally but Ryan is such a talented mf he managed to come up with much worse

*sorry for the rant I don't really ship daemrya but I really hate watching a female character get non-canon abuse just for the writers to prove a point about a male character *

Edit: My answer became very negative so for the pookies who want to avoid discourse and negativity pls scroll past ♥

it's alright! no need to apologize! 🫶

tbh with you I do enjoy daemyra very much in the book but I fully acknowledge their dynamic has its toxicity (tbf it's super rare to find a wholesome, sweet, "healthy" asoiaf couple and I probably wouldn't even get that hooked compared to how I get with the dark ones)

That being said, the couple lost me already by s1 ep4, so it terms of shipping I've given up waiting anything from them

Now about the writing, hotd has been misogynistic from the start so I'm not exactly waiting for a transformation to happen in s2.

in s1 Alicent’s character was rewritten - in such a way that the new version of her doesn't even experience a moment of happiness or a second of having autonomy or power. She's always someone's punching bag while also her being hypocritical and nasty to Rhaenyra

Laena's way of death was completely unnecessary and brutal, similiar to Aemma's. And the fact they made getting burnt alive being "a dragon rider's death" already gave a hint about how Rhaenyra's death will be seen if it follows canon.

asoiaf established how brutal dragon fire is when Rhaegal bathed Quentyn after he tried to tame Viserion. It's not "honorable" as hotd tries to make it be, it's torturous. And my concern with Rhaenyra's death is that it won't be seen for its brutality.

To continue Baela & Rhaena were barely given any lines, their role as kids was getting dismissed but their dad and as adults they were just standing silently - you'd think they were background characters.

Mysaria's character was brushed off by erasing the child loss she went through due to Viserys - which debatably worked as a trigger for the events she also did in the plot.

Rhaenys was downright written as an idiot who was envious of Rhaenyra and instead of supporting her, she was trying to "humble" her by being an asshole. When she got the opportunity to destroy the greens during the coronation she walked away because.... *check notes" she made eye contact with alicent and the power of motherhood won? her granddaughters being engaged wasn't enough for her to act I guess.

Then there's Helaena, who while she did have an extremely tiny role in the book, it doesn't justify making her extra passive. I've talked about this before but making her having "dragon dreams" is useless and a waste of time and it's also a great excuse to have her be dismissed and ignored.

Helaena in the book was said to be pleasant, motherly, patient and calm. I won't mention the leaks I've read about b&c but if they're true they paint her in a very weird light.

Rhaenyra deserves an entire post of her own. If alicent was the punching bad Rhaenyra is the bing bong boll being tosses from one person to another each second.

So yeah, the issue isn't about shipping or even which teams anyone sides with. The writing is atrocious to all the female characters, and what's the cherry on top is the showrunners constantly patting themselves in the back for being "feminist" and GA falls for it!

I'm so burnt out 😩 This is why I've decided to attempt turn off the media analysis for the show 'cause it's like kicking a dead horse. My goal for this season is to try to vent less and enjoy whatever I can put of context without thinking too hard about it.

[tadpolesonalgae]

hehe its cowboy time. SPOILERS ahead for CC, TOG, and ACOTAR. (I'm on my laptop bc i knew i was gonna go hard so enjoy lol)

Crescent city has a very specific role within the maas universe and I'd like to believe it was created to be a stepping stone or an aid of some kind for SJM. And that the two main objectives while it was being written were to introduce crossovers between universes and propel ACOTAR's story. For years there has been speculation among her readers that there would be crossovers eventually, there's been plenty of hints and small appearances over the years but never to the full extent CC was brought to. And I'd like to argue that said crossover wouldn't have been as impactful if Midgard wasn't 'modern'.

For example, each of our protagonists across all the different series so far have all been in or currently are in unhealthy relationships. Nesta and Cassian both coping with trauma/ negative feelings using sex in ACOSF, Aelin and Rowan literally physically fighting in HOF, and Feyre and Rhysand's unexplored history UTM as well as many other examples that I don't feel like typing out. Some of these problems are ones that can be fixed easily, but most aren't. I think with modern resources however, they would have better ways to handle said negativity.

Which brings me back to CC. I believe that SJM's intentions were likely to introduce a "forward" thinking individual into the ACOTAR universe that forces them to acknowledge their faults a little more. The reason I think this was a major reason for CC's existence is because of SJM's history of giving us morally grey characters and unreliable narrators. Especially because of the randall and ember bonus chapter at the end of HOFAS. We see Ember DIRECTLY compare Rhysand's anger towards Nesta doing the right thing to help others to the Autumn King. Who is the same man who locked down FiRo and didn't send help when the demon attack happened in HOEAB. It can of course be argued that Rhys helped others and he never would have let innocent civilians die like the Autumn King did, but that's besides the point.

Rhys in particular now has been called out by several different people for his behavior towards Nesta being unfair at the very least. And with SJM's love of hiding secrets from her readers? I think the idea of Ember's comparison was to show us, the readers, that we should be analyzing all of acotar's character's a little more.

Regarding HOW Bryce and hunt's relationship was written though? Totally agree in all honesty. Not super into it. There has been a continuous trend towards hyper-sexualization in SJM's more recent books I've noticed and however while it's not a negative thing I don't think it's being done in the best way. All of the male POV's SJM has written have been gross tbh, but I argue that that could be the goal.

#casualmisandrist

Modern men are usually a lil gross anyway, so I wouldn't be surprised that SJM's interpretation of a man would also be a lil icky on purpose. Just like how I'm not surprised so many people were into it lol.

That's about the gist of my feelings on CC? Especially since there were only supposed to be 4 books in the series, one for each house. Since it is so much noticeably shorter, I can't help but believe that CC was mostly a means to expand the universe and get more eyes on her most popular series for it's upcoming books, acotar. Which I dislike as a reader but at least she pulled it off using the lil nuggets of info shes been sprinkling throughout the years lol.

(sorry if this is long or rambly, im sick so im on the nyquil train otw to see the hatman)

PS, pls consider putting any of our homegirls from TOG in cbmthy so they can beat up literally everyone but the archeron girls rn bc the girls deserve a show and the IC needs their ass beat hehe

PPS, Elide, Lorcan, and CBMTHY reader crackship?????? yes?? pls???

-🤠

Warnings: yup, spoilers for CC, ToG, and acotar!!!

‘For years there has been speculation among her readers that there would be crossovers eventually’

This is totally just personal preference, not an actual argument, but I liked it when Aelin fell through the worlds in ToG and saw a male with a heavily pregnant female and then in acosf I think she’s mentioned as that red commit? That sort of thing I loved, or I think the book of breathings showed up in CC (maybe it was the book of the dead) but I thought those things were super cool, but honestly l would have preferred if it remained a mystery? Ironically now it’s been revealed it feels less magical—but again, that’s totally my own feelings and not really an actual valid criticism on CC :)

‘I believe that SJM's intentions were likely to introduce a "forward" thinking individual into the ACOTAR universe that forces them to acknowledge their faults a little more.’

This might be my own background talking here, but I dislike the narrative that because something’s modern or natural that it automatically equates goodness? It also kind of feels like (again, maybe personal opinion), miss Maas realised she made some mistakes in how she wrote characters in the past and how she chose to make them behave, then realised some of that was unacceptable or just not great, and then tried to recover by using a ‘modern’ character to go push all their own views onto other characters which I feel is so cheap?

‘Especially because of the randall and ember bonus chapter at the end of HOFAS.’

Oooh I’ve heard people talk about the Ember scene! I saw some absolutely adorable fanart of Ember and Nesta together actually which made me so happy since I love Nesta 😭

I feel I should probably finish off CC3 but it was genuinely painful at times I often ended up slamming the book down in frustration 😭 I’ll try and push through it though for the other characters that I do genuinely like 😭

‘Rhys in particular now has been called out by several different people for his behavior towards Nesta being unfair at the very least.’

(I would like to clarify ‘you’ in this case isn’t directly as you specifically, just a general, non-specific, generic ‘you’ 😭)

If I’m honest, I feel that’s just something that comes with the type of story acotar is if that makes sense? If you look and analyse too closely you’ll find the flaws and that’ll probably ruin your enjoyment of the series which is why I only enjoy discussing acotar lightheartedly? At the end of the day it is a fictional series so it shouldn’t be taken that seriously? Like to the point of some people judging a person’s character or making assumptions about them, based on who they like is absolutely insane and just way too much 😭

I have to say I don’t really understand people who dislike some of the main characters but continued reading? Not that it’s a bad thing—I just struggle to imagine disliking a character but continuing to read the book anyway? Especially with how prominent Rhys is? How can you even get through the books if you don’t like him? Like I genuinely struggle with CC because I don’t like the two main characters and have made the decision to not read another book because it brings me no joy?

I totally get analysing decisions and having fun discussing potential reasons pr motives different characters have, but only in a lighthearted way otherwise I’m just complaining about something I genuinely enjoy and then I’ll start to believe I don’t like it and it’ll just ruin the experience?

‘All of the male POV's SJM has written have been gross tbh, but I argue that that could be the goal.’

I heavily agree when thinking of Hunt but nothing particularly stood out to me for acotar/tog characters? Except for Az in that one bonus chapter 💀

‘Modern men are usually a lil gross anyway’

Babes usually I’d try to be fair and disagree but I think like a fortnight ago I went out and this man was fully pushing up against my back when I was looking at some t shirts and he even kind of knocked my hand away as if trying to get me to move over—I could literally smell the B.O. on him too 😭 (no, I didn’t budge one inch)

‘Since it is so much noticeably shorter, I can't help but believe that CC was mostly a means to expand the universe and get more eyes on her most popular series for it's upcoming books, acotar.’

Wait is there not going to be a CC4? Oh wait wasn’t House of Many Waters skipped out and we went straight to Flame and Shadow? Or am I misremembering that? Like I’ll be perfectly peachy if there’s no more CC 👀 (I mean, I’ll miss Ithan particularly and basically most characters aside from Bryce and Hunt 😭🤦)

‘PS, pls consider putting any of our homegirls from TOG in cbmthy so they can beat up literally everyone but the archeron girls rn bc the girls deserve a show and the IC needs their ass beat hehe’

Imagine over a meal one time reader mentions she’s been writing to someone then casually explains it’s trans-dimensional communication with this Queen from another realm who has fire magic and the IC are just [stunned silence]

‘PPS, Elide, Lorcan, and CBMTHY reader crackship?????? yes?? pls???’

Babes don’t put that idea in my head 😭 Elide and Lorcan are so precious to me (like yes I was furious we didn’t find out What Lorcan Did at first but low-key I’m kind of glad their relationship was kept the way it was? Maybe that’s just me loving emotional connections in relationships though 🫣🤭)

[t0shii]

hq boys when you're feeling anxious or stressed

suna rintaro, hinata shoyo, oikawa toru x gn!r

!warnings! mentions of anxiety, reader comparing themselves to others, mentions of food & hunger, driving. this is like all fluff no angst rlly tbh.

SUNA RINTARO.

he could tell something was up but conviced himself he shouldnt pry as he had already asked you twice if you were feeling alright, to which you reasurred him with a "yep" both times, it was suspicious but he thought maybe you just wanted to be left alone. meanwhile you weren't sure why you lied him, you obviously were not doing okay at the moment. currently he was driving you home and your anxiety was going absolutely crazy from the amount of school work that was piling up on you, it's unfair you thought to yourself, looking out the window. not only were you stressed from work but trying to keep up with your friend was hard, to say the least. they were phenomenal students, straight As in their transcript and though your grades were just fine, you couldn't help but feel inferior and insecure. it's unfair how effortlessly smart they are and how i'll never be able to catch up.... oh boy if your thoughts weren't running wild before they definitely were now, you hadn't even realized your boyfriend pulling into your driveway until he slightly tapped your shoulder. "are you sure you're alright? i don't wanna pressure you ofcourse but, you know you can tell me anything right?" ... and there were the water works! the little string holding you together had snapped just like that. you sat there in the passengers seat sobbing into your hands and suna rintaro hadn't a clue what to do in the moment.

"give me just a sec" you heard him mumble but not before he gave you a kiss as light as a feather on the top of your head. somehow you didn't notice him exit the car and rush to your side until he opened your door and hugged you so tight you honestly couldn't breathe. after a few seconds your boyfriend let go of the embrace which, to his dismay, only made you cry even harder. now, he knew he was known for being quite... stoic but he was definitely panicking on the inside and it was really difficult to remain calm on the outside. your boyfriend carefully reached over you to unbuckle the seatbelt that you had yet to unclasp. "lets go inside baby." his voice was so gentle it would've taken you by surprise had you not still been crying. you nodded in response and he helped you carefully out of the car, holding your hand all the way to the door, "d'ya have your key?" you nodded trying your best to unlock the door, after a few struggled and shakey attempts you finally had your door unlocked but not without rins help because he couldn't bare to watch you struggle any longer.

stepping inside rin helped you take your shoes off, removing his own after, "bedroom?" having calmed down a little you whispered "yes," with a small nod. he nodded with you in response and took you to your bedroom. after helping you change into comfy clothes he helped you into bed, crawling in right behind you. your back was snug against his chest and he held you super tightly, it was silent for a few minutes until finally he spoke up, "please tell me how i can help" you could feel your lip quiver. "well... you don't have to say anything right now, you know i can wait. i'll even leave if you want, i just wanted you to know that you can tell me whenever you're ready and that i'll listen." neither of you were sure when you'd be ready to admit what had gotten you so upset but you felt comfortable knowing suna rintaro would be there whenever you were ready, whether it be minutes from now or even months.

HINATA SHOYO.

your silence on the walk home was starting to concern him.. maybe im just talking too much... he thought, "hey... im sorry if im talking your ear off.. how was your day angel?" to say he was disappointed with your response would be an understatement. not thar you HAD to talk but usually you were talkative with him and the worry in his tummy was only growing more. a simple, "oh.. my day was alright sho," simply woundn't cut it! "hey, are you feeling okay?" it was silent for a few seconds before you answered a mumbled "i think so, are you feeling alright, sho?" he simply nodded with a "mhm" and you told him to continue on with his story from earlier.

he complied but only to fill the silence. hinata decided to trust you when you said you were okay because you know your own feelings and he knows for a fact he's made it clear before that you could and should let him know if something was bothering you. though you enjoyed listening to hinata's stories you only found yourself getting lost in your own mind whilst he rambled on.you could tell he was suspicious of your behavior but was grateful he had left his curiosity behind because you were sure you would snap if he had asked you if you were okay again, you really didn't want to cry in front of him. truth is, your thoughts were running wild, stressing over the smallest things; assignments due at the end of the week, what you were gonna get your boyfriend for your anniversary, how you were gonna make time for your friends surprise birthday party and helping sho with his studied all the while trying to take care of your own self and keep your own grades afloat. "y/n..? we're at your house.. are you sure your alright? you look a little pale, are you ill?" crap! how had you not noticed you were approaching your own driveway you wanted to slap yourself for being so clueless. you couldn't help but feel horrible for not listening to your boyfriends story also.

"yes sho i'm fine really, i just didn't have time to eat lunch today but i have food inside so don't worry m'may?" he looked at you suspiciously and you knew he was onto you, "y'know y/n, i'm not gonna force you to tell me what's going on but just know i'll always be here for you, okay?" he gave you a small smile before engulfing you into a tight hug, it honestly melted your heart. surprisingly, you didn't start crying on the spot. "y'know, i wanted to trust you when you said you were okay but now i'm not so sure if you were telling the truth," he mumbled into your shoulder. you sighed, giving up the facade. "sho.... i just don't know what to do honestly, i have alot on my plate right now and i'm really stressed with all the responsibilities ive piled onto myself," you admitted. he nodded lifting his head from your shoulder, giving you the brightest smile, "well, i can always help out! i might not be the mooost helpful person ever but i'll try my best, and if anything i'm good moral support!" you giggled at that but suddenly you felt your lip quiver from the sudden guilt you feeling, "i'm sorry for lying to you sho-", "hey! its alright! you dont need to apologize. especially dont need you crying on me now!" he smiled cupping your face in his hands, wiping away a few stray tears of whom managed to escape.

OIKAWA TORU.

you smile back at him and thought of how silly it was that you tried keeping your feelings a secret from your boyfriend of two years, hinata shoyo, feeling glad that you confided in him. he knew you were upset as soon as he saw you that very morning, he could read you like and open book and you knew that fact very well. still though, you tried your best to hide yourself from him, though it was hard considering you sitting right next to him in the passenger seat of his car. finally after a whole day of being worried sick, he was tired of leaving things left unsaid "babyyyy," he sang for you from the kitchen, "please come here a sec!" he yelled for you louder. soon you came trudging down the hallway, blanket wrapped around your body, he couldn't help but smile at how adorable his s/o looked.

"c'mere quickly," he said will a grin, opening his arms for a hug, which you gladly accept, wrapping your arms around his waist tightly. "now, i know you know that i know that you're not feeling well, so please tell me what's got my angel so upset?" he said softly rubbing his hand lightly over your back, his voice a little muffled from his cheek being squished against the top of your head. you let out a breath you hadn't even realized you were holding, "'m sorry tooru, i don't know what's wrong with me today.... just not feeling well." you felt him nod against your head in response, "well good thing your amazing boyfriend is here to make you feel all better huh?" you let a out small giggle at that. "you know you can tell me when you're feeling down right? you shouldn't keep things bottled up inside", "i know tooru... im sorry, i just dont really know wbat i'm feeling so down about though," you admitted shyly. "hey that's okay! there absolutely no need to apologize for that, here, look at me, angel," he tilts your face so you're looking up at him, his big soft hands holding your face, thumbs stroking your cheeks lightly, "i'm here whenever you figure it out, hell, even if you dont figure it out or there just isn't any reason at all. you know i'm always, always, always here. i promise you that, m'kay?" he finishes his little speech with a smile, smothering your face in kisses. you could only feel relieved, thankful and loved. because you knew that you would always have your soulmate, oikawa toru by your side.

( a/n ; ahh so im sorry if this has any spelling or grammatical errors it's sort of late as i'm writing this! and im too lazy to proof read.... also it might just all be word vomit and if it is im so sorry 😩 ++ i'm positive ive kept the reader gn throughout the whole thing but if there are slip-ups i promise i'll do better next time! i rlly wanted to write some hq boys when ur feeling anxious and beyond stressed because i have been MEGA struggling with my own anxiety lately, especially bc of school so i just needed to let my feelings go! anywhooo i hope everyone who reads this has an amazing day or night! ) p.s. im new to writing so be nice 2 me or whatever 😩🙄😌👍🏻