Dina turned to face her. She was used to hearing her family's last name often, but sounded strange when it came from a faerie. Despite being familiar with Dara, she is also a nymph.Â
"Of course it is. But here it doesn't matter" she inquired, looking away at the landscape. "I mean, maybe if I bump into one of the Archeron sisters they'll recognize it"Â
Must be acceptable for her to be nervous. It's in her family's veins. Being a Beddor reminded her of that, and House Beddor just didn't turn to political advancement with all the resources they had for one simple and traumatic reason; protect the edge lands of the mortal from creatures coming from the other side.
Dina was on the other side now. Way beyond what she thought was faerie territory. Her advantage was her friends, her training, and a crazy plan formed by crazy people (herself included).Â
Looking at the faces of Dara, Oscar and even Guizo, everyone there knew that stealing from a High Lord would be like shouting from the rooftops to put a target on their foreheads. Dina couldn't see this as not being personal, since she knew there were specific names behind Clare's disappearance and that includes the High Lord of that land and Elain and Nesta sister.Â
Being the humans of the group, Dina and Guizo depended on Dara and Oscar's knowledge of this land. But even they didn't seem to understand much beyond what Jurian had informed them.Â
"I get the feeling we shouldn't even be here in the first place" Oscar, the only human other than her, didn't move from the rock he was sitting on. Half fae and half human, but a changeling, adopted into a noble mortal family.Â
Guizo kicked a stone, surprisingly his hands were in the pockets. "Honestly, I take back everything bad that has ever been said about Spring Court. Why couldn't this High Lord hide his stuff in a flat place?"
"It could be worse. It could be Velaris"
"Is it a flat place?" Oscar hugged himself in the overcoat, his hand covering the pendant around his neck involuntarily.
"It's much harder to get into and relentlessly beautiful, or so they say" Dara explained, though maybe Oscar didn't care at all "Velaris has gone from being a hidden place to an impossible place. In Hewn City is not enough for us to enter, but to get out quietly"Â
Oscar snorted. "Problem is how to keep two humans, a nymph and a half Urisk alive and well"
âThat's the spirit, I'm so glad you understood, my good friend Oscarâ Guizo clapped amiably on his arm, to which Oscar didn't react beyond a nobleman's eye roll.
"I've never been this high before either" Dara muttered. Her body shuddered as another gust of wind swirled through the mountains. Not the cold of the water or the cold of the storm, but a hard wind pounding against her body as if she's supposed to fall over a mountain. She wondered if there were nymphs in the Night Court in general.Â
"I think that's awesome" Guizo jumped up "So, as long as we can get in, steal the parchment, and not get paid, it's going to be sooo awesome."
He walked to the edge, where he could see the entrance to the city.
âDoes anyone else want to do something, or can DaraâŠâ
"Don't say my last name"
Dina's voice managed to cut through the wind.Â
âI know it's not customary for you to have oneâ Dina looked down at the Beddor crest with her sword. Every Beddor has at least one thing with the crest highlighted . The machete looked less lethal than Dina had always considered her to be, even if it takes more than that to kill a faerie.
But she could hurt -, a lot.Â
âBut don't mention my last name. Just in case"
Silent agreement prevailed between them, even Guizo seemed to calm down for a moment before continuing.
âOkay, since thatâs allâ he pointed down in the middle of the mountains âLetâs steal from a High Lordâ
I just think that (narratively) the easy going warrior character who liked training and playing Illyrian dress up should have been the one to become a Valkyrie and compete in the Bloodrite or whatever. Should be the one running around doing her McGuffin missions and grabbing Lucien and Vassa and Jurian to go kick ass on the Continent. She befriended a damn Suriel but now she has no friends outside of her husband's middle aged gang.
And I think that the smart and strategic character who didn't want to be a warrior should be the one behind a desk, using her mind [that recovered a fortune through investments and calculated the amount of boats needed to evacuate a small country] to help at least one court if not the whole of Prythian.
I think that if a character is gonna sit there and dictate to other HL's what they should do it should be the one with the power to literally kill them all if need be. Not that I'm advocating for violence or anythingđ€·đ»ââïž and I won't have to because at the end of the day the super scary sister that everyone treats like a venomous snake - never actually wants to do stuff like that? She's actually quite the pacifist
It's about what was promised and what wasn't delivered. (In my opinion)
The liberator of Prythian is now loitering around Velaris, while the first real liaison between humans and fae is swinging a sword instead of a pen...
Edit: this is definitely not anti Feyre btw. She defeated the Middengard Wyrm through strategic thinking. She caught the Suriel. Nesta wouldn't have been able to do those things.
They are different people who just do things differently. And this is my personal preference for their character arcs.
No no no, you will never convince me that a +500 old man with such authority and power over people was less or equally guilty to a 25 old traumatized woman in that pregnancy plot. Nop, never.
i find it frustrating when a character makes a decision (especially an emotional one) that makes sense for them as a person to make in a given situation, but because the decision has unforeseen ill effects of some kind, fandoms attribute this choice to the characterâs stupidity. because itâs like. no!! they arenât stupid, they are just trapped within their story and cannot see further forward in it than where and when they are!! they are not looking at this with the omniscient godâs eye view that you, the viewer who has already read this book or seen this movie, are where you know what happens after this and the consequences of every move on the narrative chess board!! they cannot make the decisions that you think you would, knowing what you know, because they donât have all that insight!!
Every piece of art had been picked by Feyre herself, or painted by her, many of them portraits and depictions of themâher friends, her ⊠new family. There were none of Nesta, naturally. Even their gods-damned father had a portrait on the wall along one side of the grand staircase: him and Elain, smiling and happy, as theyâd been before the world went to shit. Sitting on a stone bench amid bushes bursting with pink and blue hydrangea. The formal gardens of their first home, that lovely manor near the sea. Nesta and their mother were nowhere in sight. That was how it had been, after all: Elain and Feyre doted on by their father. Nesta prized and trained by their mother. During that first tour, Nesta had noted the lack of herself here. The lack of their mother. She said nothing, of course, but it was a pointed absence. It was enough to now set her teeth on edge, to make her grab the invisible, internal leash that kept the horrible power within her at bay and pull tight,
I canât believe she wrote this and then published with her whole chest? I donât even think I would have cared if the story didnât point out that Feyre had a goddamn picture of her neglectful father and Elain but not one of Nesta? I feel like anything, it would have been good storytelling to have had Feyre paint one of Nesta and then have Nesta note it. It would establish that Feyre loves Nesta, even if Nesta didnât believe she deserves it. Not this bullshit here.
Iâve been reading Sarahâs books for about 7 years now. There are things I genuinely love about them. Iâm not going to sit here and trash every single thing about them or shit all over her as an author. Her books have brought me a lot enjoyment and credit is due where itâs due.
However, if you asked me, point blank, âWhat do you think of Sarah as an author?â Iâd probably sit there on the verge of an aneurysm because I genuinely donât know how to answer this question.
As much as I enjoy reading her books and genuinely love parts of them, Iâve been growing more frustrated with them over time. This kind of all came to a head in reading ACOFAS and ACOSF. I used to think that these were mostly isolated little incidents involving random different characters. I used to think it was about Chaol, or Tamlin, or Lucien, or Nesta. Iâve come to realize that itâs really not. Itâs about Sarah herself and the bizarre way she has chosen to portray her characters.
Every single one of Sarahâs characters do bad things. ALL OF THEM. There is not a single significant character she has written in any book who has not done something shady, or morally gray, or wrong, or hurtful, or whatever. I seriously challenge you to try and find me a character who has not. This is completely normal and understandable!!! No one wants to read about a perfect and utterly flawless character. It makes them uninteresting and unrelatable. ALL good books should feature nuanced characters.
The issue I have is this: while every single character in her writing does bad things, only SOME characters are DEFINED by these bad things. No matter what else they do or say, they are deemed an irredeemable piece of shit who will never deserve anything good. Even if other characters arenât openly hostile towards them anymore, the narrative will always find a way to subtly remind us all that these are âbadâ people who did bad things to others. Any criticism they receive is justified and right. It does not matter how many good and/or heroic deeds are carried out by these characters. Often times these very characters will end up expressing how awful and unworthy they are, either internally or to other characters.
At the same time, there are other characters who do equally bad things (if not worse or significantly worse!!!!!) and have every single one blatantly ignored or explained and justified by the narrative or other characters. They are treated in the exact OPPOSITE way. No matter what they do, they are right. No matter how hypocritical, cruel, or just plain wrong they are, it will never ever be acknowledged by anyone. They will never be made to hold an ounce of responsibility for any of it. Other characters, themselves, and the narrative will turn an absolute blind eye to any wrongdoing and will gush and fawn over them instead.
This would be enough to be incredibly frustrating. But it doesnât end here!!
Not only will these special select characters have every single blatant wrongdoing ignored, they will also walk around smugly judging the characters who are less fortunate (aka less favored by the author). Despite the majorly shady acts of their own, they will walk around highlighting all the bad things others have done while self-righteously proclaiming their own moral superiority. The narrative and the thoughts and words of other characters will support this. Sarah will beat you over the head with it. An opportunity will never be lost to tell us (not necessarily SHOW us) what a morally good person they are in comparison to someone else.
It honestly makes me feel kind of insane when Iâm reading it. It makes me stop and sit there and wrack my brain going, âDoes Sarah know she is doing this????â Does she realize she is a giant hypocrite of a writer?? Does she know she makes giant hypocrites of her characters?? Itâs honestly hilarious to me because in writing the way she does, she takes the characters who she clearly wants me to adore and favor and makes me end up hating them and makes me end up rooting for the characters who she clearly wants me to dislike. I never liked Chaol until I read Queen of Shadows, when he is irrationally blamed for every one of Aelinâs problems. I was never really that invested in Lucien until he started to get shit on by absolutely everyone in the Inner Circle. I was never a Nesta stan until I read ACOSF, where she is bullied and mistreated by her âfamilyâ and gaslighted into thinking that they are right and she is deserving of all they say and do to her. I never had any true passionate feelings about Tamlin until he became a personal punching bag for every single character in ACOTAR, despite the majorly important good things he does that everyone ignores. It blows my mind how Sarah seems to fail to realize that the people walking around with a Holier-Than-Thou Attitude toward these people have a laundry list of majorly questionable actions of their own that never gets addressed.
In short, Sarah essentially self-sabotages as an author and I donât understand it. You wouldnât see me and tons of other people posting essays with word counts in the thousands defending the actions of certain characters so strongly and passionately if her little favorites were made to hold even the tiniest bit of accountability over their own wrongdoings and werenât crapping all over the less favored. It makes her faves come across as the stereotypical âfavorite childâ in a family who everyone secretly resents and rolls their eyes at. If youâre going to have characters who constantly judge and scorn others for their perceived wrongdoings, it would be smart to give them a spotless and crystal clear record themselves. People in glass houses shouldnât throw stones.
No one enjoys reading about hypocrites, Sarah. Gain some self awareness and start holding ALL characters to the same standards and accountability.
It's really hard to explain what I mean but yknow that moment in the show where the protagonist realises who is pulling all the strings and it all clicks into place. But it implicates their companion in the process? And they turn around to tell their companion about their revelation and the shot changes and you can just see the companion is already 5 steps ahead of them. They're got this knowing look and a smarmy smile on their face. And before the protagonist even gets to speak they have a silent moment of "we both know what we know." LITERALLY MY FAVOURITE TYPE OF VILLAIN REVEAL.
yâknow as much as self-sacrifice gets made out to be super noble and shit in a lot of fiction, i am. very much more in favor of the message âyou can live. you can want to live. it is a good thing to want to live, and it is a good thing that you are alive. you donât have to feel guilty for being alive.â
idk itâs what i really needed to hear when shit got bad and honestly itâs what i still need to hear sometimes and itâs what i want the people i care about to believe about themselves.
"No but Nesta only told feyre critical information to hurt her!" Don't care, at least she told her. I'd rather ppl angrily tell me shit I need to know than keep the truth from me to spare my feelings.
Also, nesta was afraid of rhysand. It's fun to pretend like she wasn't but she definitely knew that he would use violence against her if she made him mad. He also did use violence against her to make her show submission in this book. So the hypothetical situation where nesta calmly tells feyre the risks of her pregnancy because she feels feyre needs to know can't exist in canon without nesta putting her life on the line.
It's almost like the potential threat of violence has some effect on people's willingness to keep secrets for powerful people... đ€
I wondered if Lucien knew that his first words here would either damn or save him. I wondered what my role in it would be.
Noâit was my call.
High Lady. Iâoutranked them, my friends. It was my call to make whether Lucien was allowed to keep his freedom
Maaaaan if I'd served my court for 500 years and now i'm suddenly outranked by someone with no experience, no expertise, and no knowledge of politics, i'd be pissed
Also, why would Lucien be imprisoned??? He helped Feyre get away from Brannagh and Dagdan, helped her across every court including the one he was exiled from and faced death in - if you face imprisonment for helping, it's no wonder the ic don't have friends.
vampires are like. what if i was a monster and you loved me anyway. what if i was a monster and you loved me because of it. what if i could teach you not to be afraid of yourself. what if i taught you how to be free. what if i vamped our genders. What if my very nature created, for us, a romance so epic and dark and seductive itâs impossible to tell a vampire story without this element?Â
Let me be clear: the IC are completely allowed to cut Nesta off from their money when sheâs spending it with reckless abandon (albeit, I find Feyreâs reaction a bit dramatic). Thatâs arguably justified. Sheâs not entitled to their money. Sheâs entitled to the money they paid her for her work during the war (and the money they were supposed to pay her for everything she helped with during ACOSF, but thatâs after they cut her off).
But.
Literally everything past cutting Nesta off and no longer associating with her because itâs affecting their mental health wasnât okay. They decided to host an intervention to âhelpâ Nesta. They decided to âassistâ her in healing and moving on. They decided to all but lock her in the House of Wind. They decided to force her into training. Thatâs their choice. Thatâs what they decided to do instead of letting her figure it out herself.
They are not justified whatsoever in how they treated her after cutting her off. Thatâs where the ethics in their decisions related to her end.
no because how do you even react when you find out the little creature youâve been beefing with for months is of the species youâve been taught to worship your whole lifeâŠ.. like thatâs so funny.
(also i need them to bond. mutual identity issues go brr)
But the other High Lords were now on their feet.
âThat was how you got through my wards,â Tarquin murmured.
Beron was panting so hard he looked like he might spew fire.
But Helion rubbed his jaw as he sat down once more. âI wondered where it wentâthat little bit. So smallâlike a fish missing a single scale. But I still felt whenever something brushed against that empty spot.â A smirk at Rhys. âNo wonder you made her High Lady.â
âI made her High Lady,â Rhys said simply, lowering his hands from my face but not leaving my side, âbecause I love her. Her power was the last thing I considered.â I was beyond words, beyond basic feelings.
Helion asked Tamlin, âYou knew of her powers?â
Tamlin was only watching me and Rhys, my mateâs declaration hanging between us. âIt was none of your business,â was all Tamlin said to Helion. To all of them.
âThe power belongs to us. I think it is,â Beron seethed.
Again, Beron is kind of right. They did deserve to know that they lost some of their powers. And what Helion said about the scales. If Feyre only got a small scale of their powers, then she wouldn't be as powerful as them, right? She only received seven small scales, which shouldn't equate to what the rest of them have. So how'd she fight Beron if he's older, smarter and more powerful?
Maybe it's controversial to think like that but put feyre as a high lady it is about power
It's nice that Rhysand wants so badly to put her as his equal (although it's not in practice), but if she's there for being his mate then she definitely not being this equal girlboss as she think it is.
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