all art is quite useless and so am i

acosf | the witcher | asoiaf - "A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid."

[nesta-stan]

Unpopular opinion: Feyre's birth/death scene was over dramatic bandaid for sjm to avoid actually fleshing out and developing certain relationships. It was lazy writing to wrap up the loose ends she didn't want to bother with.

Too many relationships had so much tension, too just flip the switch completely in one chapter at the end.

[angelaanimates]

Oh Nesta you beautiful mess that tests Cassian’s patience

[arinbelle]

This scene was iconic

[vidalinav]

The one thing I hate about SJM’s POVs in ACOTAR

is that the narrator always seems to be completely biased to their own perspectives in a way that they seem to not understand at all what another character might be going through. Which is just UNREALISTIC. 

Let me point out all the ways and explain: 

None of the IC know that Mor seems to be uncomfortable with Azriel’s unrequited love and that she’s gay, though she frequents a gay bar/restaurant and she’s never shown any feelings towards Azriel and she even actively tries to sleep with other people when he seems to act more on his feelings or show them more fully. Like okay??

In Cassian’s POV, he says that he didn’t know Nesta was aware of how much self-hatred she had and that she didn’t want to exist. Like dude, she spent a year drinking her life away, distancing herself from everyone, and sleeping with randos when she previously had spent most of her adult life not sleeping with anyone and Cassian knew that she was a victim of s*xual a*sa*lt. 

Rhysand who he himself has gone through what Nesta has gone through, didn’t know the extent of Nesta’s trauma??? And even after didn’t really care all that much?? To the point where he was constantly an ass and he threatened to kill her when she told Feyre she might die, even though he should have told her because well feminist rhys over here “you always have choices” didn’t give one to his equal. 

Amren after constantly saying “reach out your hand” didn’t reach out her hand, nor show any empathy to Nesta, going as far as being more aggressive to this person who is literally suffering from PTSD and severe depression, and then sort of blaming her for letting it get that far, and then when Nesta apologized said this well to do speech about living with darkness inside of us but choosing hope, like it was that easy and as if she helped at all or even deserved that apology. 

Mor, wasn’t that bad, comparatively to the rest, because she was barely in the book, but when she was you’re telling me that this girl also doesn’t understand what Nesta could be going through??? That she says that she belongs in the Court of Nightmares, for what reason??? For hurting her friends, which they admit they didn’t help all too much for a whole year because they thought giving her time would have been fine and who also show that they care about Nesta. Because I hate to tell y’all this, but offering to decorate a room is not helping out a person with severe depression. And this is a girl who was raised in the same environment as Mor, who suffered many of the same afflictions of unhappy childhoods and loss of autonomy. Mor who is used to helping women and  s*xual a*sa*lt survivors and then doesn’t see that in Nesta???? 

Rhysand doesn’t seem to understand Azriel’s POV, and then he’s like well he never tells us anything. He’s a tough nut to crack. We know he’s a little bit… ehh how you say–messed up, but well we don’t see a major problem as long as he gets his rage out being our spymaster. But oh no, Elain, you can’t have her. You think you deserve her, even though critical thinking skills might have found him thinking oh hey this guy is probably envious of the happiness we have, he’s probably feeling lonely, rejected from the person he’s loved a long time, both of his brothers have mates now, maybe I should talk to him like a BROTHER and less like a high lord. 

And then in Nesta’s POV, all of her healing comes at the expense of blaming herself. Like I understand taking accountability and she needed to grow and learn that she has definitely ruined a lot of her relationships and she’ll continue to do so if she keeps up this behavior, but you’re telling me that she doesn’t think anyone did her wrong??? You’re telling me that she feels she deserves all of this?? Even after she starts liking who she is, everyone was not at fault, it was only her fault??? Even after Cassian said what he said–being stuck with her??? 

You’re telling me that everyone thinks Elain is fine??? That she’s relatively at peace because she’s calm and gardening and pleasant??? Makes me laugh. 

Like I just don’t understand. It’s to the point where I feel they characters are willfully ignorant OR that SJM thinks that POVs can’t read emotion in other people or connect dots. All POVs are biased, but NOT that biased. A real person talking to someone else will notice how tired a person looks, if they want to talk or not, by the grimaces, by the way they shorten their sentences, their body language, you can reach conclusions based on context. “It’s been a long day at work, I learned that this person has a new baby, this conversation looks to be weighing on them, I should probably cut this convo short, because I feel for them.” That sort of thing. Which is my biggest problem with this series is that I’m like fuck me, why Whhy WHYYY??? They don’t seem to even see each other, let alone understand each other, and if they can’t understand each other or know who they are, they are not considered family!!! The characters in this series make choices like they are blind to the people around them. That they exist only in their own head. Which again is not realistic, but also causes a lot of problems that I don’t feel would be fixable if you were not aware that they were problems. Like I can easily say, “hey maybe SJM did this on purpose because she’s leading up to something, to heal them in some way.” But all characters are like this–so it’s make me wonder if SJM knows that she’s doing it. Like we thought Feyre was a horribly biased character, but damn. Like I understand this imperfect character arc, but at this point are they imperfect or stupid? 

Don’t get me wrong I love this series, but wow… it’s been three years for this next part, she’s written a thousand and one books, it should be better. Every single one of us has pointed out inconsistencies, and they’re not just small things, they’re big overarching writer mechanics and structure and plot and details. So I can hope that eventually it will lead to something, but after four books… I’m losing hope that the issues we’ve pointed out and not just this one are going to be resolved and not just glossed over like they didn’t happen at all. 

It’s an adult book, my word. Make narratives more narratively complicated. (Especially if the plot is not the focus)

[nessiantrashh]

rhys and nesta had the potential to be such a powerful brother sister duo. idc if you think the rhys getting down on his knees scene was cute.. it was solely on the pretence that she saved his family only

why couldn’t they have a single convo? you can’t just brush all that internalized anger and say a grandios mating ceremony will fix it.

[maevelin]

Nesta Archeron and The Temptation of Power

Can we take a step back and realize that everyone who feared Nesta and how she may use her power did it because they were influenced by their own ambitions and how they themselves react to power?

Everyone believed that Nesta would be corrupted and tempted by the massive power that surged in her veins and wanted either to contain or use and control her for their benefit (political, for war, even for conquest). They either feared her or viewed her as an opportunity for their power games.

You could see characters wanting the crown, the power, the ability to rule over literally everyone and Nesta had that all in an arm's reach and was not impressed.

Characters drooled over the weapons she made and wanted to check them out, feel their power, play with them or they dreaded to even touch them and Nesta was just shrugging.

Everyone was so surprised when Nesta didn't make a move to keep the blades she made and returned them denying the fact that she could very legitimately claim ownership over them...because they knew they would not do the same. They offered the weapon she made to Eris out of all people and she did not even blink because while others saw magic in destruction she was seduced by the magic in music.

While others found the potential of all that power seductive Nesta was not moved. And you cannot tell me there was not a degree of envy underneath all that behavior targeted towards her when it came to this. And fear because they knew that if Nesta wanted their throne, their kingdom, their court she could simply take it.

Only they failed to see that this wasn't her. She never wanted to take. Even when she was at her worst she kept her distance and did not unleash her power to gain anything. She hadn't even considered how her power could bring her wealth, fortune, unlimited power to control everyone. She was not distracted or enticed by the temptation of power and let's face it she was a powerhouse on a godly level.

Amren proposed to Rhysand to use Nesta as if she was a dangerous object of power they had to wield in order to gain ultimate power over all courts while Lanthys tried to tempt Nesta by a vision of them ruling the whole world. Why one is considered evil and the other is not? Why no one acknowledged that Nesta basically was the best example of: "with great power comes great responsibility" and she showed that by not being swayed by all that power in an actual healthy and balanced way; while others were incapable of comprehending that fact because it was simply not in their nature. But Nesta's nature was pure when it came to this.

Even Cassian at the end considered the fact that she gave away most of her power as a great sacrifice. He thought that compared to all that power he was just her consolation price and she was settling for less because he believed that with so much power Nesta could rule the world, she could conquer, find glory and be a Queen...because let's face it who wouldn't want that if they were in Nesta's shoes. They'd be tempted, they'd want to rule. And we pretty much saw that unfolding in the way they viewed Nesta and even in hypothetical future plans or how they translated the whole situation with the Cauldron. We even saw it with the weapons she accidentally made.

And what I found amusing was that Nesta just... didn't care. She was not tempted. She was not corrupted. She feared the power she had inside her because she felt she could not control it or use it appropriately to help and save the people she loved. She feared she could cause harm but either than that when it came to actual power she was...chill.

Everyone saw the monster in Nesta but failed to see the nerd.

Because when it came down to it what did Nesta Archeron truly crave? The girl wanted to listen to music, dance and eat chocolate cake. Her ultimate happiness and wish in life was to have a friend, read smut...and let's not forget...cuddle with Cassian lol

How everyone viewed Nesta:

In the mean time Nesta:

[nestable]

This is EVERYTHING

[spell-cleavers]

Elain should not have to become dark to make a relationship with Azriel work. Azriel shouldn’t have to leave his life and family in the Night Court because Elain thrives in the light. These two people, despite being attracted to each other, are not compatible. Which is part of life! Sometimes you’re drawn to people that are absolutely not right for you. That’s what the text is trying to point out with the references to Azriel’s shadows hiding from Elain and Elain looking horrible in black.

Azriel spitballing a plan to MURDER Lucien (who has done nothing wrong except also be forced into this uncomfortable mating bond) and start a war is another example of his incompatiblity with Elain, as is his lack of self awareness about how entitled he sounds when he’s whining about three sisters for three brothers. None of what happened with Elain in the bonus chapter was a good look for Az, absolutely none of it.

For some reason that I don’t quite understand, she brings out the absolute worst in him, not the best. That’s not forbidden love, that’s toxicity.

And y’all need to stop coming for Rhys, because he is the only one who has shown an ounce of common sense about this.

[emmilinne]

Modern! Cassian & Nesta

[sunsummoner]

okay but as fun and fresh elain’s “you thought more about how my trauma affected you than how i felt” speech was it is very much undercut by 1. elain doing the exact same thing back to nesta and 2. literally everyone doing the exact same thing to nesta

[cinaja]

That speech was actually good, and I really liked Elain bringing it up for a number of reasons, but then, it just never got any follow-up? And yeah, everyone treats Nesta that way now - just with less kindness than they did with Elain.

[sunsummoner]

okay wait i went and thought about it more and like.. my thing is that it? felt cheap??? like that little speech could have come in and killed me with how valid it is but it never got ANY follow up whatsoever and it... felt like a “ha! gotcha!!” thing more than an actual exploration of character or relationship. like, elain is literally babied. the trauma speech is valid, the “stop treating me like a baby” too but it’s like??? the little snappish speech isn’t actually played as something elain cares about, or that’s how i read it, it’s just. another way to have the narrative swandive into nesta being all “ooOOh i am a shit peson boohoo” and ahhhh i so wish it hadn’t played out that way because the potential really was there and instead i’m over here like. elain. come on. the hypocrisy. like, it felt super artificial, which i keep saying, and it almost made both nesta and elain feel... super fake?

[cinaja]

Yes! Exactly this! I genuinely liked the sentiment behind that one line, and I also think it could have been very interesting to see Elain standing up against being babied by everyone around her. But the execution and the way it worked with the general story was so bad. This one paragraph was really good, but sjm completely ruined it with everything surrounding it.

Like, it wasn't about Elain, somehow. Because Elain's feelings on the topic were never brought up again, and no one chamged their behaviour around her. It was really just the narrative once again presenting Nesta as The Worst, this time going "See? She didn't even treat the one person she was really close to right! It wasn't them being close, Nesta just made everything about herself and kept poor Elain from properly developing" and I Don't Like It. Especially put together with the fact that Elain is never once there for Nesta/tries to help her in this book. It ruined Elain's thing of being kind and wanting to help people, and it ruined her relationship with Nesta.

[gonewiththehannah]

Gorgeous fan art of Emerie from ACOSF by witchlingsart on insta!

[vidalinav]

That’s my girl!

[jennyofoldstone]

The Singer and the Shadowsinger

“Something sparkled in Azriel’s chest but he only nodded his thanks and left. He could picture it, though, as he ascended the stairs back to the house proper. How Gwyn’s teal eyes might light up upon seeing the necklace. For whatever reason, he could see it.

But Azriel tucked away the thought, conscious erasing the slight smile it bought to his face. Buried the image down deep, where it glowed quietly.

A thing of secret, lovely beauty.”

A Court of Silver Flames, Sarah J. Maas (2021)

I needed to use this quote so people could read it AGAIN and maybe interpret it the right way.

[mistress-light]

And us? What are we doing here? We relicts, doomed to obliteration, to extinction and oblivion?

[vegamaxs]

I'm sorry but this whole idea of Elain and Azriel having a "forbidden love" really bothers me, and it's not because I don't ship them, but because that would mean Lucien would supposedly be the reason behind it, and that enfuriates me, because of how his character was built, and how he would be perceived if that happens.

You know who really had forbidden love? Lucien and Jessaminda. Lucien couldn't be in love or have a relationship with a lesser faerie, so much, that when Beron found out he literally tortured and killed Jessaminda in front of him, before exhiling Lucien from his court. Forbidden love was the reason why Lucien ended up with Tamlin in the first place. It was the reason why he couldn't ever have or think about loving someone else after Jessaminda, and the cause of all the guilt and sadness he still carries.

You know who also had forbidden love? Helion and Lucien's mother. She could never be with Helion because she was married to someone else. She would never be capable of leaving her other children to be with him, no matter how much she loved him, and Helion wouldn't go against her wishes. Lucien is literally the fruit of a forbidden relationship.

The fact that Helion and Lucien's mom couldn't be together, prevented Lucien from ever knowing who his true father was, or ever building a relationship with him. It prevented him from seeing his mother truly happy and free. It prevented him from having a true home, knowing his lineage, and his powers. It prevented him from having a family. It was the reason why Beron, the man he thinks is his father, and his brothers, despised him his entire life.

Forbidden love shaped Lucien's life and the man he is. It is the cause behind some of the worst things that happened to him and the biggest source for a lot of his suffering. So making Lucien be a main reason for Azriel and Elain's love to be forbidden, or using him as a impediment for them, when he knows how it is to be in this situation and was born out of this exact place, is just so cruel to his character I can't even put into words.

It's not just about not wanting Elain and Azriel to be together, sjm can make them end up together by any other way. Is not wanting their love to viewed and built as forbidden at Lucien's expense as a character after everything he's been put through. He deserves better.

[howtopotato]

LUCIEN. DESERVES. BETTER.

[unpopularcharacterstan]

THIS IS SO GOOD

[fiercehildr]

I never saw it that way but this is so sad.

And, on another end of the spectrum, you also have people who want a “cheating trope” for Elriel (Azriel cheating on Gwyn/Elain cheating on Lucien to live their romace) and I-... After everything Lucien and Gwyn both suffered through and had to live through, you all really want them to feel like pieces of shit and worthless and be cheated on? They both deserves better and people saying this are disgusting. (Also, how do people still like the “cheating trope”. What’s attractive to you about this? What’s sexy about a person being unfaithful, breaking people’s heart and being too much of a coward to talk to their partner about their problems? Smexy, smexy...)

So if Sarah makes Elriel canon, that’s 200% fine with me and I’ll definetly be on board (not matter what she picks, anyway, let’s be honest) but not at Gwyn or Lucien’s expense (and not through killing Lucien either, sorry but he deserves better)

[unpopularcharacterstan]

There is nothing in the WORLD I hate more than the cheating trope. *Ooooh so sexy you being a giant piece of flaming shit to people who trust you*

[nestable]

I dont understand why people believe that nestas become fully domesticated after acosf because ,bitch where? Just because shes prepared for children and has a home and friends doesnt mean that shes about to become a housewife like feyre. Homegirl is planning the resurgence of the valkeryie, actively educating herself on military strategy to lead a female force one day and is homies with the Mother. Shes not about to become the house bunny yall misunderstand her too be.

[kittyxherondale]

Also maybe just maybe she did the thing she did bc she's aware that accidents happen and she would rather not die if she accidently got pregnant not just bc she wants children one day.

[arinbelle]

Literally this!

Idr who said it, but Nesta Archeron LITERALLY said to Cassian she would lead the Valkyries one day. Like a trained female military unit, which I may remind haters, Cassian and Rhys were UNABLE to do successfully.

Also, when did we start hating on women who want to follow more traditional feminine roles? Is that your feminism? Because it certainly isn’t mine.

In my feminism, I support Nesta Archeron who wants to start an unparalleled military force and also be a mother one day. In my feminism, I support Feyre Archeron who decided she wanted to have a baby young and enjoy being a wife and doing very “housewifey” things because they make her happy, not to mention she does do work even if it’s not at the level that people expected her to do. And in my feminism, I do not care that Elain does not want to fight or kill and is very okay with tending to her garden and cooking and being a “housewife” type material.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk, on this blog we support all women regardless of whether they want kids or not, want to tend to a house or a battlefield, wish to remain in their dresses or wear pants, want romance or not, simply because all people deserve to be happy with what they do.

[inthemidstofbuddie]

It’s very frustrating the way sj///m seems to glorify smugness and arrogance, like they are used in a way that is supposed to be read as good ? Idk I just find it very annoying, ty for your time

yes, she has a really strange idea of confidence vs arrogance/smugness bc what we perceive as arrogance and smugness, she clearly translates as confidence. the only genuine person in the book so far is Nesta, and i really don’t think sj///m is aware of half of what she writes when it comes to Nesta, such as how it’s so clear that Nesta is internalizing all the bullshit that Cassian tells her (such as how he called her “pathetic” bc she couldn’t make it 100 steps down the 10,000 on her first day or so, and how she now considers herself “pathetic” if she’s sore after working out), but this story, sadly, isn’t going to be about Nesta finding confidence and self-worth through herself and the people who are genuinely good for her (such as Gwyn), but through whether or not she and Cassian finally bone

[silverkrahe]

im still not entirely sure how i feel about the book as a whole BUT i do know the climax was so disappointing on multiple levels.

nesta's victory over brialynn had literally no impact, cassians fake out death had absolutely no tension because it was so quick, him and nesta have no time to talk alone after the fact before az and mor arrive (HOW DID THEY KNOW CASSIAN WAS THERE? like he had just been kidnapped by koschei and no one seemed to give a fuck😭), and for the "real" climax to be nesta on her knees apologising.

[minjuiced]

If I recalled correctly, there was this sentence along the lines of:

"her brother [rhysand], who had shown her kindness"

Excuse me? Are you legitimately asking me to believe that Rhysand, the man who treats her like a wild animal that needs to be tamed, did everything out of kindness? Is the narrative seriously portraying Rhysand as the one who had helped Nesta all along with good intentions?

Tell me one instance when Rhysand did anything for her out of care and consideration. I can say it is a fact if it wasn't for Nesta being Feyre's sister, he wouldn't give a damn about her. His true character would literally leave her rotting in a basement for all he cared.

And I am actually supposed to believe Nesta would agree with this? A few hundred pages later and he is now her "brother"? Who is SJM trying to kid.

[jennyofoldstone]

Gwyn and her sexuality (tw// sexual assault)

So guys, in the last few days I have seen many opinions about Gwyn and her trauma that made me think that I lot of you have a very twisted idea about SA victims. Some people acts like her past makes it impossible to her overcome what happened and at least try to heal. It hurts seeing posts like that, making her entire character, her arc, her relationships about that!

Gwyn’s character development obviously is about healing, about make her see she is worthy and that she is not broken! I don’t know if SJM is going to make her a LI (I hope she does) or if her destiny is to end up alone the series, but either way she doesn’t deserve the kind of treatment that some in this fandom are reproducing. Just like Elain is NOT defined by her uterus, Gwyneth is NOT defined by her past. Please, stop using this kind of arguments to pit women agains each other, ok?!

Just remember: Gwyn is a Valkyrie, a Priestess, a sister, a friend, a female, an amazing mix 3/4 fae and 1/4 water nymph. She likes to read, to learn, to laugh with her friends. She gives gifts because seeing people she loves happy makes her happy. She is a singer and she glows when she does it. She has the most beautiful teal eyes and a constellation of freckles on her nose. She beated Ramiel. She is a survivor! We learned all of it in one book so please DON’T define her as “the sexual assault victim incapable of healing and having a healthy sex life.” Please don’t! It’s incredibly unfair. It’s all up to her, to her path.

Maybe she can never go there again, and it’s alright! But maybe she can, so don’t shut this door on her.

Just like everyday she’s is making progress and coming out her library, just like she opened up herself to Nesta and Emery and began to trust them, just like she let herself be trained by Cassian and Azriel, with the right partner and the right storyline, respecting what she’s been through and her time, she can learn to trust her body and her heart to another person too.

I needed to get it off my chest! Please, think about what are you posting before you post it! Might hurt other people on a personal level. If you stopped to read this, thank you!

Ps: please don’t come for me saying “yes but even if she can go there, she and Az would never fit because he is a kinky bastard and she would never fit” The post isn’t even about ships, it’s about a character development. But IF someone brings it up:

Kinky sex is about trust and if both partners are confortable and into it. If they are, who are we to judge?

Relationships isn’t just about sex.

Re-read this entire text.

But this is a subject to deepen in another post, and I’ll write about it later. Maybe.

[silverkrahe]

nesta loosing her powers was so predictable. i knew sjm was gunna do that shit because she did it with aelin too. she literally couldn't have nesta be more powerful than rhys because that would undermine the very basis of his characterisation and permently ruin the inner circle's social and political heiracy

it also suggests there's some part of nesta that inherently bad and less worthy of the power that rhys holds. shes too weak not to do something bad with it meanwhile rhys isn't. but whtever