The Heart of Spring

Archive; no longer actively posting

[goldenspringmornings]

I really don’t go here anymore but I just saw kpop demon hunters for the first time last night and I’d like to posit a rhysta!rujinu au

[neenarchive]

really hilarious and unsexy when hetero romantasy authors refer to love interests as males and females. you sound like david attenborough narrating a special documentary on two turtles humping in the mud

[neenarchive]

i don't care if he's the king of the fae. if that man called me a desirable female i'd have him gelded

[anastmeko]

Valentine for my girls🩵🧡❤️‍🔥

[goldenspringmornings]

[goldenspringmornings]

sjm’s idealized abusive romances are not comparable to the fandom being fucking racist about the Illyrians

[theoracleofwessex]

One of the problems with the racism against Illyrians is that it is a real place.

I need Americans to understand that Illyria is a real place in Europe. It is in the Balkans and is in modern day Albania.

Calling a group of people, in your fantasy land that you named after them, barbarians is racist and xenophobic.

[hereathemoment]

Cassian meant it when he said everyone fucking hates her. That didn’t just pop into his head in the heat of the moment. When he said he felt shackled to her. When he took her on a hike until she passed out. Every single time he used her for sex. Every single time he defended Rhys when nesta needed his support. Every single time he waxed poetic about the good qualities he sees in Mor and Feyre and bemoaned the terrible qualities he sees in nesta. Every single day nesta was locked in that house, he hated her. Laughed at her struggling. Starved her of every good thing she’d ever said she wanted. He hated her through it all.

This was a book written by a woman, against women. The dichotomy between good and bad is irrelevant— sjm only cares about the difference between women who obey men and women who need to be punished for disobedience. She promotes themes of SA, violence against women, and general brutality that uses women’s trauma as plot devices (primarily to promote male ‘heroism’).

[theegemini92]

All I said was Rhys and his batboys haven’t never been with Illyrian females sexually. This was on the topic of Feyre culturally appropriating Illyrian women and using Azriels wings as a prop. And I said I will blame Rhys who is already a sexual deviant to want to have this fetishization of flying and fuvking.

If my saying that the batboys haven’t had relations with Illyrian females means I don’t like them then it’s fucking dumb af. Yes I don’t like Rhys but I am not blind to see the social systems of Illyrians. People don’t like Nesta yet they have shipped her with Tamlin. People don’t like Tamlin they have shipped him with Rhys sister. How is this very reasonable theory a bad one? I have already talked about this in-depth on a reblog but again the Illyrian females are not easily accessible. Per my reading and understanding

Many cultures in our real world don’t give their women access to foreign men or the being with another who has a bad rep to taint their women. These females are shunned or killed for even going outside the culture. Peoples world views should start expanding beyond where they live or else things like this will fly over their heads. I’ve heard stories of caste systems, religion etc getting couples killed.

Cassian mother was an obvious example. With Illyrian women you either marry or become a prostitute and your children becoming bastards.

Illyrian pregnancies were also male Illyrians to another female fae which put these females to death, never the other way around.

The way they subjugate their females, what makes you think you can just waltz in and get one? They are also not even regarded as high fae.

We truly do have a lot of material to come to such a conclusion.

I would love other peoples thoughts on this topic honestly. I really want to know am I wrong on this take? My reblog is also on my page if you need to read it.

[goldenspringmornings]

ik I made a jokey post about it before but I’d like to offer the counterpoint that Az, Rhys and Cass only had “access” to illyrian females as it is actually canon in maf that Rhys and his mother lived in the illyrian camps (as that’s how he meets Cassian/sees how bastards are treated in camp) and it’s not explicitly stated but heavily implied that they don’t leave illyrian territory until at least after the human rebellion which makes them at least thirty years old before being regularly exposed to “high fae society”

which I feel is partially what leads to the disregard/disrespect they all hold for illyrian females- they were raised in a culture that devalued a woman’s contribution to simply housework and breeding whereas high fae culture is comparatively less….rigid (to put it nicely)

[wingsdippedingold]

This such a disgusting way of thinking

If you agree, please examine why and try to think about how you fell into a trap that’s historically been used to justify the mistreatment of other ethnic groups

How do you call people “a wild ethnic group” and “primitive” and not see how that’s an issue???

To see people say this and argue that she’s not using the “savage dark-skinned poc” because the bat boys are also Illyrian is ridiculously lazy and stupid. The three bat boys constantly emphasize how different they are of the Illyrians and disapproving of their ways, they are meant to be the OUTLIERS.

If you want to say it’s just fiction or poorly written, than you’re going to have to let people critique it for what it is??? Poorly written???

You can’t use the text point blank saying that they’re primitive and then get mad at someone calling the text an issue 😭

ACOTAR fan try to not kiss Sarah’s ass and acknowledge when you might be wrong challenge: failed

ALSO CHAT GPT IS NOTORIOUS FOR MAKING YO ITS OWN FACTS TO JUST PLEASE WHATEVER IT ASSUMES THE PROMPT WANTS

[littlefeltsparrow]

The whole “I’m hurting you to protect you” trope only works well when the harm inflicted is lesser than the harm that would have otherwise occurred had a character not intervened. This is a good guiding principle for examining how well this trope fits into a given story. Because if the harm inflicted fails to meet the condition of being lesser than the harm that would’ve otherwise occurred, then the whole relationship is called into question.

Rhysand’s actions under the mountain are a good example of this trope done wrong, because there are very few points where the threat of harm to Feyre genuinely justifies the harm he inflicts upon her. For example, Feyre could have reasonably stayed in her jail cell and remained safe without Rhysand’s intervention, which ultimately, caused her more harm than was necessary. Many fans try to justify his actions by claiming that he was sparing her from the horrors she might witness UTM, but that simply isn’t substantiated by the evidence we’re given. We’re never given a substantial reason that requires drugging and fondling Feyre for nights on end to save her from greater harm. It is never established what might have happened to Feyre had Rhysand not intervened, and the reader is given no reason to think that Feyre would have suffered more had she remained in her cell.

The most blatant example of this however, is when he uses physical force to coerce her into agreeing to a contract that serves his interests. He did not have to twist her broken arm or frighten her into signing the contract, he could’ve just healed her because Feyre beating Amarantha was ultimately beneficial to everyone. Nobody told him to do that and it is never established why he *needed* to hurt her in order to protect her.

This trope is very broad and can operate on a spectrum of severity, but it must involve an established/implied threat for it to reach its full potential. The fact that Maas overlooks this crucial aspect of the trope is further evidence of her incompetence as a writer.

[wingsdippedingold]

While the “Tamlin unwittingly led the High Lady of the Night Court into the heart of his territory” is cool for Feyre and a fun line to end the book with, I hate that it just discredits the fact that the only reason he did that was because he trusted Feyre, and not because he’s a bumbling fool, nor because of Feyre’s own merit 😭

Like it just felt undue to me? Idk

The whole “Feyre is a Night Court spy in the Spring Court, we’re so cool and strategic 😈” was always so meh to me anyway, cause like Tamlin let her in on good will; y’all didn’t really get the drop on him, you basically just used his trust and lied. Up until then, he saw Feyre as a trustworthy person, and I don’t think it’s stupid to trust a woman who helped save all of Prythian, especially when they’re praised as super moral and charitable by the narrative and fans 🤷‍♀️

Like if he didn’t trust Feyre anymore, he would just get hated for that- there’s no winning for him

[lady-of-oorid]

Ya know what would have made me respect Cassian?

After the kelpie/bog scene if he would have said, Hey, ya know, I know you want to have sex and you have that right. But I don't want to be a part of your self destructive habits while you are still healing. I mean, you said you didn't care if it hurt you and that sounds like a pretty big red flag to me. Let's wait until you're in a better headspace, huh. What do you think?

Instead of saying: yeah, it's still a coping mechanism but I'll go ahead and hit it since you offered.

[wingsdippedingold]

Y’all wonder what would happen if Cassian threatened to kill Rhysand’s mate? Cause I know what would happen

Idc if he’s your high lord and you worship the ground he walks one. This is supposed to be a romance book Cassian, act like it.

[thefatesofspring]

You can’t & wont convince me that Rhysand didn’t know Hybern didn’t have an interest in The Book of Breathings.

You won’t convince me that it was actually Rhysand all along who wanted the book & he needed a way to get it & when Tarquin became HL he found his way. The way Rhysand kept saying that Tarquin was new & untested, the way he was adamant that Feyre NOT tell or ask Tarquin for help, told me everything I needed to know.

The way Tarquin genuinely wanted an alliance & maybe even a friendship & they screwed him & his court over.

The way Hybern wasn’t even interested in the book until he found out Rhysand had taken it from The Summer Court.

He wanted that book for himself & he knew that he could convince Feyre to take it under the guise that Hybern was after it when really it was him all along, he knew Hybern didn’t have an interest & I will ALWAYS be absolutely livid that Tarquin rescinded those blood rubies!!

[ladydeath-vanserra]

omg 😂😂😂

[arson-09]

the new night court editions of Acotar are genuinely so fucking ugly LMAOOO

[livinforthetea]

Here's my latest question.....how does someone go from living in a dilapidated barely standing cabin, where you had to sleep in the same bed as your two sisters while your father slept in a cot because you literally had no furniture and you had to SHARE bathwater to describing an apartment in what is supposed to this beautiful utopian city as "slums" or "as close to slums" as possible. How bad were these apartments (and in that case, what the hell Rhysand?!)? Did they just not have an east wing and a west wing and a parlor and a conservatory? Are we talking about something like the house from Shameless, because even that sounds cozy compared to the cabin they lived in.

How does one go from sleeping with someone in a barn to describing taverns as "seedy"? How bad were these taverns? Are we talking like the Salty Spitoon? Or were they simply just not Rita's, which is no doubt the Bel Air Country Club of Velaris, with dancing.

And I know that its likely Feyre regurgitating whatever the Inner Circle feeds her but I'm really curious just how bad these things were that someone who lived in the kind of poverty that Feyre did can describe them so judgmentally.