A Court Of Thorns And Roses: 400+ pages
A Court Of Mist And Fury: 600+ pages
A Court Of Wings And Ruin: 700+ pages
A Court Of Frost And Starlight:
A Court Of Thorns And Roses: 400+ pages
A Court Of Mist And Fury: 600+ pages
A Court Of Wings And Ruin: 700+ pages
A Court Of Frost And Starlight:
It makes so much sense that Rhys doesn’t like Nesta and not because of the bs excuse that he can’t forgive people who’ve hurt Feyre, but because they are practically the same person. They both have dark powers that no one else has, they both are wildly more beautiful than anyone else. They both have closed-off minds, are analytical, secretive almost, and are self-sacrificial for their family members. The biggest difference between them is that Rhysand is older and has money and Nesta does not, which is another post altogether. It makes sense that they both can’t stand each other, because their personalities almost seem to have that same aspect of self-hatred that they definitely wouldn’t like their own reflection staring back at them. Rhysand has done such unforgiving things equally as Nesta has been so “unforgivable.”
The counter to this is that it also makes sense that Feyre and Cassian are bros, because they are also similar characters. Both very protective, both laughable and kind, charismatic, but also very self-critical. They are the fun, more open half of the other serious one. Even in terms of how they deal with Nesta, they are alike, because they both “try” but don’t really try in any way that matters.
It’ll be so interesting to see that gender-swap in the new book and how that plays out with the interaction between the two couples. But I think it’s why Nesta’s healing comes slower and at a greater cost than Feyre’s. Because it was Rhysand who kept pushing Feyre, kept putting her in odd situations, teasing and taunting, and talking to her. Cassian on the other hand doesn’t push Nesta at all. You can even argue that the others members of the Inner Circle are not as important to this process. They play the same role and have their own same problems with themselves in both scenarios as we see in ACOFAS. They are basically where they started except with more trauma. So Nesta’s healing in this book version/pattern is dependent on Cassian even if she does have to gain some autonomy in the process.
All of this I write to say that of course Nesta is going to Illyria with Cassian. Lol. It’s the only option that makes sense.
From the girl who brought you the long defense of Kal/call out of the squad, comes the thrilling and really rather contradictory sequel. I humbly present to you A Defense of Squad 312 because nuance is fun and important and I'm nothing if not fair in a situation like this.
Okay, so, to clarify, I'm not necessarily going to be saying that their actions were morally right or that I agree with them per se, but, what I am going to do is explain why some of them make sense and are understandable given the circumstances and who the characters are as people.
I'm gonna go character by character here and first up we have Scarlett. Go big or go home right?
So, Scarlett has possibly the worst reaction, but also the most justified. Everyone in that squad has gone through absolute hell but Scarlett has at this point suffered the most, second only to maybe Auri (who has had time to process and let go and move on and stuff in the Echo but we can get to that later). Let's remember that both books in their entirety span less than 2 WEEKS and in that time Scarlett has:
And this isn't even to mention the fact that the Starslayer killed her father and his relation to Kal did in fact put them all at higher risk from the Unbroken even if, like I mentioned in my Kal post, this can't all be blamed straight on him.
Now, although this isn't all Kal's fault and, if Scarlett was thinking more rationally, she'd realise that, you have to remember that she ISN'T thinking rationally. Look at that list and tell me that if you'd been through all that, you'd be thinking clearly and I will straight up call you a liar because we humans are incredibly emotional beings and stress and loss makes us do all kinds of things we'd not normally do. And Scarlett, well Scarlett is one of the most deeply emotional people of all.
Throughout both books, it's repeatedly said and shown how much and how deeply she cares, even about these people she's only just met, and, I mean, she's a FACE for gods sake, feelings and caring about people and being in touch with the emotions of others to better negotiate is literally part of her job and one of her core personality traits. If that kind of stuff would destroy any one of us, it would without a doubt destroy her too. And then to get such an earth-shattering piece of news that could at first glance link directly to most of her problems? Well that is just the straw that breaks the Camel's back and so she lashes out. It makes sense, it's understandable and an emotional response that doesn't come out of nowhere. It's been built to all this time and no, it's not fair and it's not right, but when you snap, you snap and Kal is about the only thing right in front of her that she can see having caused her some of these problems that she can let it out on.
I want to reiterate once again that this isn't right. It's not an action that's supposed to be okay, it's one that highlights the flaws in good people and that doing what's right isn't always easy and people sometimes act selfishly. But the fact remains that she had a reason for behaving how she did, even if it wasn't a good reason, and though she acted incredibly harshly, that doesn't make her a bad person, it just makes her a person.
Also like, if I remember rightly it wasn't her who was first to tell Kal he needed to leave but choosing as the leader to do so also makes sense in circumstance. Something like that reveal will create something of a rift whether people want it to or not. When you find something like that out, you absolutely would start questioning what you know about a person in even the best of times and, as we've already established, this is far from the best of times. With everything going on and the crushing weight of grief and anxiety and fear and doubt and everything else she's feeling, it isn't surprising that she would opt for the simplest solution to this. Whether Kal was trustworthy or not and regardless of whether he'd been the cause of any problems before or would be in the future, if he's not there, he can't possibly cause any further problems and they can focus on what they have to do without that extra worry on their minds. In both a tactical leadership sense and from a highly emotional view, it makes sense and I get why she and the others chose that.
Once again, I'm not saying it's fair or right or just, but it is understandable and one poor and somewhat cruel decision does not make Scarlett a mean person.
Okay, moving on. You'll be glad to know I'm not gonna go on so much with the other characters because there was significantly more to talk about in regards to Scarlett than any of the others.
I'm actually gonna talk about Fin and Zila together because I feel a lot of their reaction comes from a similar place and they handle it in ways not too different from each other.
So for both of these guys I got the impression that they were more shell shocked and a little hurt rather than truly angry like Scarlett. They don't do or say a whole lot in this scene in comparison to Scar and Auri and Zila even tries to mediate just the tiniest bit at the begining. Both of them really seem to mostly be puzzling it out and trying to deal with the hurt of being deceived somewhat (especially Fin after he'd shared some meaningful bonding moments with Kal and had also come to him about the note and been lied to then) and barely get involved in the whole thing. Fin really only does when it looks like things are about to get physical between Kal and Scarlett and it's more out of worry that her rage is going to get her hurt if she tries to punch him or something (which is exactly what happens). And Zila is just in distress throughout the whole thing and again this doesn't seem to be specifically because of Kal but more from the fracturing of this group she'd started to feel at home in and like she belonged. She'd been coming out of her shell in the last few days after finally letting these people in and starting to feel safe with them and then this huge fight and breaking up happens and it's like another family unit is all being ripped away from her again and it triggers that trauma response that makes her start shutting down again.
Similarly I can see some of that response happening a little bit in Fin because he also has never felt like he belonged and has always been cast out and he finally found a group that cared about him and didn't consider him a burden because of his disability and he's also having that torn apart which can't be easy even if he seems to handle it better than Zila since it's more traumatic for her.
They both have milder reactions that are able to be somewhat more logical in approach since they comparatively have less emotional investment in some of the implications of this reveal than both Scarlett and Auri do. However, they're both still deeply hurt by the fracture this has caused within the group and Kal is in fact part of the cause of that fracture for them so they go along with Auri and Scarlett (who is literally their leader now and following orders and sticking together is so important to these two now that they have this group. They don't want to lose any more of it). And like I mentioned in the Scarlett section, they're smart and they recognise that distrust within the group as they head into what's next is incredibly dangerous and a huge detriment to the mission so since they are understandably hurt and a bit unsure now, they make the logical decision to reduce the potential risk in keeping him around.
Okay so a quick bit on Tyler. He, like Scarlett, is understandably hurt by finding out about Kal but his reaction is muted and more reasonable after what he's gone through with Saedii on the TDF ship and also due to the gravity of his situation and everything going on with Cat somewhat overshadowing it all. I don't think anyone is really mad at Tyler so I'll move on, but I think his level of hurt, betrayal, and anger is more in line with what I'd expect from him and probably Scarlett if she hadn't been through all she had and was being more rational.
So, where my irritation starts coming into play more is with Auri. She's spent 6 months with Kal in the Echo where they grew closer and more in love and I guess I can see questioning all that because if he lied about that for all that time then what else could he lie about? But there's also the debate to be had about certain point of view like in Star Wars and whether omission of something that might never really have needed to be said is acceptable. And the thing is, I can't give a definitive answer on that because every person is going to have a different opinion on that idea in general and on Kal's handling of this situation in particular based on what we've experienced in our own lives and where we draw the right/wrong line or handle the grey area of morality. With something like this, there really isn't much in the way of a right answer and that's okay.
But I think the thing I see with Auri which makes her a bit more understandable here is how she's using Kal's OWN WORDS to rationalise this and figure out how to feel. "And I remember you said our past makes us what we are." That part in bold is what Kal told her, what she knows he believes. When you know someone holds that belief and then you find out THAT is their past, there will be a question mark over them no matter how well you think you know them.
Also, Auri has dealt with so much loss lately and time and again people and systems she should have been able to trust and feel safe with have let her down or turned against her and, speaking as someone with some level of trust issues, I know it's incredibly hard to get rid of doubt after it's started to set in and all too easy to call up any small moment that might support that doubt, so I can see why Auri might be doing that now.
I am still personally of the opinion that Auri should have reacted better and known him well enough to not have acted that way but remember this is a defense post and I already gave the other side (at least most of it) on my Kal defense post.
I think we're gonna leave it here now. And in conclusion of both of these posts, whichever side of this you come down on more (or even if you sit in the middle like me), that's completely fine and valid and you're not wrong for feeling a certain way about a situation like this. Fundamentally, it comes down to which characters you most identify with and who's experiences most resonate with you.
It's not a clear cut right and wrong thing because literally every single character handled something badly and everyone's motives, including Kal's, were understandable in some way and believable. They're all people and people are flawed and selfish and jump to conclusions and lash out and although we have to remember that those aren't morally sound things to do, they're a shared human experience.
I know no one asked for this long-ass analysis of this scene and situation but as a writer and film student, scene and character analysis is kinda what I DO so I thought I'd go ahead and make this post. Something like this is actually brilliant writing from Jay and Amie because there's a lot more nuance to it than a quick glance at the situation might suggest and since it's such a hot topic in this fandom after Aurora Burning, I wanted to address it and make sure a bit more of an in depth look was taken into exactly what happened.
Anyway,
Tl;dr: this is something of a counter point to my Kal defense post and every member of the squad had understandable reason for reacting the way they did in this situation, even if they may have been too harsh. People are flawed and these characters are no exception, but that's okay.
Shits about to get dark so bear with me.. I know this may be considered looking to deep but here me out. Hyper sexuality can be a result of sexual abuse. And it’s actually one of the most common responses.
Feyre: (more so emotional but oriented around sex) After under the mountain there was a point when Tamlin wasn’t there for emotional support only sex. And in Feyre’s state of mind even subconsciously she could have perceived it as this is when I’m loved, this is when I’m validated. Feyre also displays other signs of abuse after UTM like when after she comes back she hates her self and feels like her soul is dirty. And no one (especially Tamlin) invalidates that, no ones there to listen. The only time he showed he cared was when they had sex. Feyre is also young and never had love and attention from the people she need it from most so like she said she feel in love with the first person to show her personal attention. And then after she fought so hard for that love, the only time (afterward)she got that personal attention was with sex. (To elaborate, ex: I’m not dirty, I’m not worthless, I’m not awful because we have sex which means he loves me.) So it can lead to a very misconstrued point of view on how love and being loved works.
Rhys: I know it can seen counter intuitive that someone who was forced to have sexual interactions with someone would then only think about having sex. But actually it can stem from feeling like some one has had control over you (amaranth obviously) but now they (rhys) has the control and can do what they want. I know that can sound bad (controlling) but it makes sense because even before, with Ianthe she felt like she had control over him. That his opinion wasn’t even considered. It build a complex of always feeling used.And like mentioned with Feyre it can come from a place of validation or filling a void in a way. (And I think the example I used for Feyre’s case can also apply to how Rhys might feel) So even though a lot of people voiced how it was annoying in acofas and acowar, I think they both use sex as a default way to feel loved, valid, and in control.
And just elaborate more on how it can manifest.
Nesta: Again from trauma as I think cassian said “she felt like her body no longer belonged to her” so Nesta is taking back that control. And In parallel if the drinking and sleeping with random people is not just a copping mechanism they can also both be used as self harm. It depends on her mindset.
So now that I feel like I have sufficiently ruined anyone’s day that read this, in conclusion I really want people to see this and try to see things from this point of view I’m really into psychology(trauma specifically) and why people react the way they do not mention a lot of their other behaviour can be linked to the reaction to abuse and trauma or abandonment issues. I think a lot of people forget how even if on surface they seem happy the character are severely impacted (even subconsciously) by their trauma.
Thanks for listening. @actualfeysandtrash @acourtofbooklovers @foxboylucien @fck-tamlin @feyre-darling-highlady @feyremylove @iamthebonecarver @fiery-feyre @rhysanoodle @rhysand-and-his-wingspan @acofas @acotarfans @highladystarfall @highladyfxyre @highlord-tarquin @librarian-of-velaris @velaris-vault @illyrianbeauty @queen-archeron @flowerchild-elain @propshophannah @adriata @nesta-of-night @nestaarch @highlordofthenightcourttrash
Hi! I'm writing a novel set in a fantasy world, but i need a residence for the royal family. Can you explain the most important places in a palace, where they are usually built and if they have any defense system? Also, it's okay if the palace is near a city? Tysm 💞💞
So @dreaming-about-somewhere-else sent me a message asking if I would explain how I read Nesta’s behavior in the ACOMAF extra chapter, Wings and Embers (provided here by @bookofademigod). So I started this post as an answer to that ask. It quickly became a lot bigger, and I realized I couldn’t leave out and lines because they were all so important to Nesta and Cassian’s behavior. So I’m posting my answer to the ask here!
It’s two parts and goes into some details about the clues to Nesta and Cassian being mates, but that was not the focus. So it’s not a comprehensive analysis of my thoughts on that.
To @dreaming-about-somewhere-else I can certainly try to explain that scene the way I see and read it, and then you can decide what you think. So here goes!
greek mythology | deities of the underworld
There is some authentic modern wisdom here 😅
I am a(n):
⚪ Male
⚪ Female
🔘 Writer
Looking for
⚪ Boyfriend
⚪ Girlfriend
🔘 An incredibly specific word that I can't remember
Hmm..
i dont like love triangles not bc love triangles are inherently bad but bc im literally NEVER torn. im always like “i like this one” and thats That. its done. no more bullshit. but love triangles DEPEND on the bullshit of back and forth. so then whenever the writer is doing their tragic “maybe in another life” long winded emotional scene with the OTHER character im always just like…alright
I’m so glad someone put this into words holy shit.
*realizing the irony of my inability to breathe as i laugh hysterically at the last panel*
Here’s HSTHETE, the 24 hour comic I drew this year! Thanks to everybody who followed along on twitter this weekend as I posted these pages <3
Sarah’s response when asked what she thinks about people shipping the wrong people together. She really got us with Tamlin lmao😂
Enjoy.