Cursebreaker

acotar fic and appreciation blog

[herliterarydreams]

Hi, long time no post! I recently finished this Feyre piece and couldn't wait to show you all.

I usually post more on Instagram (@herliterarydreams) but I will try to be more consistent here! Thank you for all the love on my last Feyre art!!

[cursedeclipse]

rhysand's white shirt in this, it's giving fairytale prince. and feyre is so gorgeous and has such a romantic gaze. the eye contact. miss them real bad 💔💔

🎨: camillelou_illustration

[onebulletaway]

Feysand ❤️ by catdrawsl

[highprincessofthenightcourt]

Someone just reminded me how even though Illyrian males are trained to protect their wings at all costs, Rhysand used them to shield Feyre from half a dozen fatal arrows and now I am broken again. This fandom is such a prison.

[theredcrane]

Wanted to draw Feyre practicing some water magic 💧✨

[the-lonelybarricade]

Thinking today about how Rhys constantly uses his body to physically shield Feyre:

Acomaf, Chapter 49

Acomaf, Chapter 65

Acowar, Chapter 48

[thesistersarcheron]

Honorable mention to the first time he tried in ACOTAR Chapter 44:

[thesistersarcheron]

i need sjm to go ahead and write 200000 words of feysand doing absolutely nothing at all so i can zone out to a stress-free audiobook of them trying to figure out where to go for dinner or what color to paint their bedroom

[thesistersarcheron]

alright, everyone, time to start manifesting A Court of Meal Prep and Sherwin Williams Samples into existence as hard as you possibly can

[feyreshumanheart]

I actually can’t believe it, it’s officially drafted

[highlord-rizzand]

🎨 Lovemerches

[azrielsbreedingkink]

Can anyone explain to me how Rhysand is supposed to be Valg, when we literally had his POV in ACOFAS? We were literally in his head????

[nightbornfeyre]

Exactly—it makes no sense. We have his POV. We are literally in his head. And in his perspective, he never once thinks anything vile, cruel, manipulative, or indicative of some grand evil scheme. Ever.

Now that I’m here, I’d love to debunk the Valg theory, because this fandom seems to conveniently forget Crescent City 3. There are actually numerous reasons why Rhys being Valg is not just unlikely—it’s fundamentally incompatible with canon. Let’s break it down:

Based on the events in CC3, it’s hard to support the idea of Rhys being Valg. Here’s why:

"In Crescent City 3, we learn that Rhys comes from the Starborn lineage. His ancestor, Selene, the second daughter of Queen Thea, mated with a High Lord of the Night Court, and linked her son’s blood to the prison. In Mist and Fury, Rhys confirms that his blood is connected to the prison, solidifying his Starborn heritage."

This connection is critical. It ties Rhys directly to the ancient Starborn bloodline—not to the Valg, who originate from an entirely different world with a distinctly separate magical system.

"Rhys’s powers—mind control, mind reading, telepathic communication, controlling shadows, and starlight—are all traits of the Starborn lineage, as seen in CC3. We also see that the Avallen Fae, descended from the Starborn, possess the same powers. Ruhn, while sharing some of Rhys’s powers, doesn’t have all of them."

This matters because Valg power signatures are very different. Rhys’s powers consistently align with Starborn abilities rather than any form of dark possession or invasive corruption like the Valg exhibit.

"Physically, it’s clear that these traits are common among the Starborn. Selene looks exactly like Rhys’s sister, and Ruhn is essentially Rhys’s twin. In CC1, Bryce mentions the 'tell-tale physical heritage' of the Starborn line, further confirming that Rhys and Ruhn share these features."

This isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s genetic evidence. The physical traits associated with the Starborn lineage are well-documented in both CC1 and CC3, and Rhys fits the mold precisely.

"The Starborn bloodline also practiced intermarriage to keep it pure, which explains the strong physical resemblances and powers. Rhys’s powers are a mix of Starborn and Night Court abilities."

That’s the key. Rhys is not some random byproduct of darkness—he’s the result of two powerful magical lineages converging. Everything about him—his appearance, abilities, and even his lineage—has been established, not hidden.

"Overall, CC3 provides a lot of insight into Rhys’s heritage, his powers, and his physical traits. I believe SJM will delve even deeper into this in the next book."

Another crucial detail this fandom often overlooks is Aelin’s reaction to Rhysand. One of the main reasons people began theorizing that Rhys is Valg isn’t just because of Maeve’s powers—it’s also tied to Maeve’s physical traits. But here’s the thing: when Aelin sees Rhys, she doesn’t think of Maeve. At all.

Aelin—who has deep trauma tied to Maeve, who knows exactly how she looks, sounds, and feels—doesn’t recognize any resemblance between Rhys and Maeve. And that’s a big deal. If Rhys shared even the slightest physical similarity with Maeve, someone like Aelin, with her sharp instincts and personal history, would have noticed instantly. Sarah could have easily dropped a subtle line like, “there was something familiar in his face”—a breadcrumb for us readers to follow. But she didn’t.

That tells us everything.

Even more telling is how Aelin describes Rhys’s power. When he throws it out to help her, she doesn’t recoil. She doesn’t describe it as corrupt or suffocating or cold like the Valg. No—she says it was:

“gentle as a summer night.”

This is Aelin. Someone intimately familiar with the Valg and their magic. If Rhys’s power had even remotely resembled that dark, invasive, soul-consuming energy, she would’ve sensed it immediately—and so would we as readers. Instead, the power is described in the most peaceful, reassuring way possible. That’s not how you foreshadow a Valg reveal.

If Sarah J. Maas wanted us to entertain the theory that Rhys was Valg or connected to Maeve, she would have used Aelin—the character most qualified to sense it—as the narrative vessel for that suspicion. But she didn’t. In fact, she did the opposite.

So no—there’s nothing in Aelin’s encounter with Rhys that supports the Valg theory. Quite the opposite. And that’s because it was never meant to be a theory at all.

So until Sarah explicitly gives us actual evidence of corruption or possession—which she hasn’t. it’s time to retire the Valg theory once and for all.

[feyreshumanheart]

Other than everything you said, I keep seeing people say that Maeve’s description is identical to Rhys’s and that has to be a hint, but that’s not really true.

First, Maeve doesn't actually look like she appears for most of the books and her true Valg form is different. She had created a fake fae form, so any physical similarities of that form to a fae wouldn't be indicative he was Valg.

Erawan went still. “You.” Maeve smiled. “Me.” Those golden eyes roved over the Fae Queen. “In a Fae skin. All this time.” KOA

Maeve contorted, clawing at herself. Her pale skin began to flake away like old paint. Revealing bits of the creature beneath the glamour. The skin she’d created for herself. KOA

But also even if we just look at the fae form, Maeve is described as very different from Rhys, with black eyes and extremely pale skin.

She was to face the Queen of the Fae as Maeve wanted to be faced. And in some fortress that seemed far, far beneath the raven-haired beauty watching her with black, depthless eyes. HOF

Black as night, black as the queen’s eyes, which settled on Aelin, narrowing with pleasure. Maeve seemed content to let Aelin look. KOA

Maeve’s red lips curved into a smile as she waved an ivory hand.

Her thick black hair turned golden. Her moon-white skin darkened slightly, to a sun-kissed tan. The angular face rounded slightly, dark eyes lightening to turquoise and gold. KOA

Maeve lifted dark, hateful eyes as Aelin raised Goldryn. KOA

Meanwhile, Rhys has bright blue eyes that look violet and have stars in them and golden-brown skin.

He winked, smoothing his blue-black hair. “That, Feyre, is the real question, isn’t it?” ACOTAR

His eyes were the same shade of violet blue as Ruhn’s. His short hair the same gleaming black. This male’s skin was browner... He lifted his gaze to her, stars in his eyes. Actual stars. HOSAB

They both have black hair, but even then, Rhys's is described as "blue-black" multiple times, which is like how Dorian's hair is constantly described, not Maeve's.

Maeve is described with "violent, starry eyes" in Heir of Fire when she's first introduced (which I assume is the source of the confusion), but before and after, her eyes are consistently descried as black, dark, and starless.

That seems more like how Amarantha's hair is described as black in one ACOTAR scene and red all other times, just a mistake that was missed in editing.

But it's very consistently otherwise stated Maeve's eyes are black, not violet.

Also, SJM tends to reuse descriptions across characters and books, as writing quirks rather than foreshadowing and parallels. She also has a tendency to use certain types of flowery prose to convey traits, like likening all sorts of female characters- from actual queens to literally extras just seen in one scene- to a queen to convey they are proud, cold, independent or varied traits like that.

Just like how she wants the Court of Dreams and the Cadre to have similar vibes and so the Inner Circle vows "to serve and protect" Feyre to welcome her to the Court as High Lady in ACOMAF and Rowan and Aedion vow to “to protect and serve” Aelin to kick off the new Terrasen court in QoS.

She does that with Maeve's introduction and Rhys's descriptors partially because she wanted to convey that they're both powerful, commanding presences.

But you can find many more similar descriptions of Rhys and Aelin than Rhys and Maeve if you look. There aren't any especially significant similarities to draw between Rhys and Maeve's descriptions.

And then there's the idea that Rhys could just be glamouring himself to hide his Valg traits like how we have seen him bleed but no one has said his blood is black. But even ignoring just how illogical that is when characters are shown to be able to keep Rhys out (like Feyre and Eris), it literally is impossible.

Feyre has seen him bleeding while he was wrapped in the Hybern chains blocking his magic in ACOMAF. She and everyone else literally stared at his bloody, dead body in ACOWAR and he didn't change shape or have some kind of glamour be revealed.

The Rhys is Valg speculation isn't just lacking evidence, it's literally impossible he is one with what's established in the books.

[rosiethorns88]

Dropping the latest Sketch-a-Wish, voted on by my lovely Patreon members for May! Featuring Rhys, Feyre and their meeting with the Bone Carver from A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas! The moment Rhys broke the tension with his knee-hurting-when-it-rains secret, and the Bone Carver busting out laughing was my favorite moment. It cleverly showed the professional respect they have for each other, even though they're definitely not bosom friends. It also emphasizes how much the Bone Carver adheres to his own rules when he accepts it. It makes him such a charming little monster.

[feyreshumanheart]

I’ve thought a lot about writing out an analysis on the “destruction of the Spring Court” so many times because I think a lot of the fandom doesn’t seem to understand what actually happened. But then I think I don’t care enough for the drama and anyone who is talking about violations of the Geneva Convention by faeries in Prythian probably doesn’t care about what’s written in the books anyway.

It’s like how I planned out a super long canon divergent UTM feysand fic and then just decided not actually write and post it because the fandom feels pretty aggressive (even though there are a ton of great fic writers and people here and this isn’t everyone obviously).

It’s a really big shame in my opinion that these books that were obviously written to be enjoyed has a fandom that seems to have at least a vocal minority that is so focused on finding the parts they don’t like to try to criticize people for enjoying the books. It gives the appearance of not worth it to engage heavily and post content because it’ll just suck the fun out of it.

It just makes me sad personally because I do love the books and want to preserve that love so won’t often share it.

[feyreshumanheart]

I've seen people say otherwise, but Feyre's POV on Rhys isn’t at all unreliable. It's actually the opposite: she is by far the best POV we can get on him from a reader's perspective, other than Rhys's own.

Even discounting that Feyre has seen (and believed) the worst of Rhys so it's not like she's just been madly in love and thinking the best of him throughout her POV-

I stared at him, sending as much hate as I could into my gaze. He’d been the one who’d caused all this. He’d told Amarantha about Clare; he’d made Tamlin beg. “Well?” I bared my teeth. “Go. To. Hell.” -acotar

The reliability of her, and every non-omniscient narrator, is mostly rooted in how much they know and tell the reader.

And Feyre is the character who knows Rhys the best in the series. Feyre gets to see sides of Rhys that no one, not even his closest friends, do. She gets his thoughts and emotions through their mating bond. She relates to him and understands his motivations better. She spends more time with him, so we see more of his actions, words, thoughts, and feelings on page with her.

She is inarguably the best narrator on him because she's giving the reader the most information.

The king’s taunt to Rhys had been roiling through my mind for days now. Hybern expected him to give everything—everything—to stop them. Had claimed only that would give us a fighting shot. And I knew my mate. Perhaps better than I knew myself. I knew Rhys would spend all of himself, destroy himself, if it meant a chance at winning. At survival. -acowar

I knew why his eyes sometimes turned distant, why he occasionally just blinked at all of us as if not quite believing it and rubbed his chest as if to ease an ache. -Feyre, acofas

He’d always understood me best—more than the others. Save my mate. -Rhys, acofas

Bryce, Nesta, Ember, even Cassian, these other characters get pieces of Rhys and can (and do) draw incorrect conclusions about him as a result.

In an interview talking about seeing Rhys and Feyre from new POVs, sjm said of acosf:

"Rhys from Nesta's perspective, where she thinks he's like an arrogant douchebag and we know he's not."

Nesta thinks Rhys is arrogant, we see her think and get frustrated at that fact a lot, but from Feyre's POV, we see Rhys's vulnerabilities and doubts and learn about the facade of confidence that masks the truth:

I wondered, then, with his hands beneath my breasts and between my legs, what Rhys wouldn’t give of himself. Wondered if … if perhaps the arrogance and swagger … if they masked a male who perhaps thought he wasn’t worth very much at all. -Feyre, acomaf

Sjm says this because Nesta's perspective on Rhys is naturally limited because she doesn't understand him or really spend time with him. Nesta believes Rhys's arrogant mask because she doesn't know him well enough to doubt it, hasn't seen as many sides of him as Feyre, and isn't privy to his innermost thoughts.

It's also why she says stuff about Rhys that we know is untrue:

Rhys said tightly, “I don’t wish to be High King. I only wish to be here, with my mate and my people... I will not be High King. I will not consider it, not today and not in a century.” -acosf

“And Rhysand is … your king?” Nesta snorted. “He’d like to be.” -CC3

That's not to say Nesta or Cassian or whoever are unreliable narrators (none of the acotar narrators fit that by definition), but readers get less information about Rhys's actions and feelings and motivations from their POVs, so you have to guess at some aspects or use knowledge we have from Feyre's (or Rhys's) POV to understand.

Like how sjm was counting on readers would read Nesta's POV where she talks about how Rhys is so arrogant and know better because we'd seen moments like this before that prove thinks more lowly of himself than he seems:

“Perhaps I don’t know what I want, but at least I don’t hide what I am behind a mask,” I seethed. “At least I let them see who I am, broken bits and all. Yes—it’s to save your people. But what about the other masks, Rhys? What about letting your friends see your real face? But maybe it’s easier not to. Because what if you did let someone in? And what if they saw everything, and still walked away? Who could blame them—who would want to bother with that sort of mess?” He flinched. The most powerful High Lord in history flinched. And I knew I’d hit hard—and deep.

“The other night you told me you wanted a distraction, you wanted fun. Not a mating bond. And not to someone like me—a mess.” So the words I’d spat after the Court of Nightmares had haunted him. -acomaf

And Cassian knows Rhys a lot better naturally, but we know he doesn't get as much from Rhys. In acomaf and acowar, it's repeatedly shown and discussed how much Rhys tries to hide vulnerabilities from even the IC. It's why Feyre says above, "what about letting your friends see your real face?", because Rhys won't let Cassian and others see the full picture, going out of his way to do things like hiding his nightmares from them in acomaf. And while they're often aware something is wrong, Rhys is known to pretend with them.

Cassian even remarks on this:

Cassian had witnessed Rhys going deep into his own head often enough. Knew his brother was prone to withdrawing while appearing perfectly fine. -acosf

But we know, even before they're mated, that Rhys confides to Feyre things he won't tell the IC, like on Starfall:

“Every year that I was Under the Mountain and Starfall came around, Amarantha made sure that I … serviced her. The entire night. Starfall is no secret, even to outsiders—even the Court of Nightmares crawls out of the Hewn City to look up at the sky. So she knew … She knew what it meant to me.” I stopped hearing the celebrations around us. “I’m sorry.” It was all I could offer. “I got through it by reminding myself that my friends were safe; that Velaris was safe. Nothing else mattered, so long as I had that. She could use my body however she wanted. I didn’t care.” “So why aren’t you down there with them?” I asked, even as I tucked the horror of what had been done to him into my heart. “They don’t know—what she did to me on Starfall. I don’t want it to ruin their night.” -acomaf

There's even moments in acowar where Rhys insists something is true to the IC and then admits otherwise to Feyre:

“If Amarantha showed up at that door right now,” Rhys snarled, pointing toward the foyer entry, “and said she could buy us a chance at defeating Hybern, at keeping all of you alive, I would thank the fucking Cauldron.” Mor shook her head, tears slipping free again. “You don’t mean that.” “I do.”

Rhys murmured, “If she …” His swallow was audible. “If she showed up at this house …” I knew who he meant. “I would kill her. Without even letting her speak. I would kill her.” “I know.” I would, too.

Feyre's narrative is always going to be the best for the reader to understand Rhys other than Rhys's own POV because we get so much more of Rhys from her than we will get from someone else.

Another narrator won't let us feel Rhys's feelings, know the parts of himself that he hides from even his closest friends, get his unfiltered thoughts, and even just see him more because Feyre and Rhys spend so much time together.

Because that's another thing, Rhys isn't seen as much in non-Feyre POVs because they spend so much time with each other. That means we have to fill in certain gaps. We have to extrapolate from what we do see. For example, in acosf, Rhys tells Cassian he's having nightmares about Feyre dying and has a panic attack in front of him and shows impaired critical thinking in one or two scenes:

That Rhys couldn’t understand what Az meant told Cassian how distraught and terrified he was.

But most of Rhys's reactions are not shown to us beyond that; Rhys actually seems pretty composed most of the time with just the mildest indications of what we know: that he's a mess in a lot of acosf. We don't even know tons of details of how he learned about the baby having wings or what exactly is said, his immediate reaction.

Rhys panicking in front of Cassian is after he's spent several scenes with Cassian, knowing and freaking out, and Cassian only notices something's off because his smile doesn't reach his eyes and he seems distracted. Cassian was clueless how much of a wreck Rhys was until he confesses to him because of how good Rhys is with pretending he's fine and wearing a mask.

So we just have to make the intuitive leaps on what's going on with Rhys behind the scenes, whether his terror making him miss what should be obvious strategic connections in one scene means there are other things he's missing or other ways he's acting uncharacteristically.

There's just a lot that we don't know about Rhys in acosf because we just see him less and get told things rather than shown it as was more common in Feyre's POV.

Feyre also loving Rhys doesn't negate that she's also giving us the most information for us to judge his character, to actually understand him, to see beneath the surface of the masks he wears.

Through the bond in my hand, I could have sworn I felt a glimmer of pleased surprise. I checked my mental shields—but they were intact. And Rhysand’s calm face revealed no hint of its origin. -acomaf

I could have sworn I felt Rhys flinch through the bond. But my mate said calmly, “We did nothing. Hybern chooses its actions, not us.” -acowar

Feyre is constantly telling us in her POV that Rhys is externalizing something that contradicts how he really feels. Even beyond him confiding in her things he won't even tell his closest friends and showing sides of himself he won't show anyone else, Feyre understands Rhys better because she literally feels his emotions. This began in acotar, too:

“Your court fell, too.” Sadness flickered in those violet eyes. I wouldn’t have noticed it had I not … felt it—deep inside me. My gaze drifted to the eye etched in my palm. What manner of tattoo, exactly, had he given me?

And then she is also constantly relating to him, she understands him what motivates him and why he makes certain choices not because she loves him, but because she's like him and she recognizes this before she's even aware they're mates:

Rhys and I were one in the same—beyond the power that he’d given me. -acomaf

Feyre has a lot of similarities with Rhys, which is commented on by others:

He gave me a grim smile. “You can rely on us, you know. Both of you. He’s inclined to do everything himself—to give everything of himself. He can’t stand to let anyone else offer up anything.” That smile faded. “Neither can you.” -Cassian to Feyre, acowar

It's part of why she forgives choices he makes that she gets mad about, because she's able to see where he's coming from and just understands him:

But he'd known I'd react badly. That it'd hurt me more than help me. And what if I had known? What if I had known that Rhys was my mate while I’d loved Tamlin? It didn’t excuse his not telling me. Didn’t excuse the recent weeks, when I’d hated myself so much for wanting him so badly—when he should have told me. But … I understood. -acomaf

Rhys not sharing burdens with his family is a trait he shares with Feyre and one they acknowledge:

“They’d be happy if you let them shoulder the burden.” “The same way you rely on others to help with your own troubles?” -Feyre telling Rhys to confide in the IC the way he does for her, acomaf

She and Rhys have tons of parallels and similarities, but they also just relate because they understand (and even share) each other's trauma:

"I felt your pain, and sadness, and loneliness. I felt you struggling to escape the darkness of Amarantha the same way I was." -Rhys to Feyre, acomaf

Maybe he only understood because he, too, had been helpless and without choices, had been forced to do such horrible things, and locked up. -Feyre on Rhys understanding her trauma, acomaf

This was mentioned multiple times by sjm, too:

"Rhys has his own history that allows him to have some perspective on how Feyre might be feeling." -on Rhys being respectful and treating Feyre as an equal

"He and Feyre are both battling trauma, despair, anxiety, and tremendous guilt. And their journey from that dark place to learning that they are worthy of being loved and accepting love is so important to me." -on acomaf's healing journey

While none of this means people can't analyze Rhys outside of Feyre's POV, everything we see of Rhys inside Feyre's POV is intended context to understand Rhys's actions and motivations outside of her POV, when we get less information on him and have to extrapolate more.

That she loves him and thinks highly of him later doesn't change any of that, especially because we have tons of examples of readers liking characters that all the narrators dislike or being critical of characters who the narrator loves. Outside of if someone projects onto narrators that their emotions become yours, Feyre's feelings shouldn't really bias readers much, or obscure any of the information that can let everyone draw their own conclusions.

But because Feyre's POV on Rhys is the most complete, detailed, and informative one we have, the one that lets us really understand why and how and what Rhys does and thinks and feels, it is also the most reliable one.

[highlord-rizzand]

They look so beautiful

[majuandrad]

Darling, so it goes 💜✨

[lovelyfawnxx]

The High Lord of the Night Court ✨

🎨 by muni_luny

[boystolemyname]

Snaring the Suriel