WIN a signed copy of #ACOTAR by Sarah J. Maas! Tell us, if you were a fae shapeshifter, which animal you would be and why using #24HrsofACOTAR
Personally, if I was a fae shapeshifter, the animal I would choose would be…
An octopus
They can change the colourandtexture of their skin instantly, which would be handy when it comes to tricking human senses.
They have 3 hearts. Can you imagine having a heart attack as an octopus? Would you even know you had one since you’d have 2 hearts left to pump with? And it someone cast a spelltostop my heart, it wouldn’t be lethal.
With8 tentacles I could stranglehug so many fae courtiers at the same time. Not to mention being able to get all my chores done in a fraction of the time from being able to multitask with so many appendages.
Ink cloud. I’d never be without a convenient sample of ink to pen a letter, and I’d be able to escape potential assailants by releasing one.
No bones means superb flexibility. Good luck trying to ensnare a fae that can change themselves into a cephalopod. If I was caught in a snare, it’s a quick fix.
Asharp beak with a powerful clamp force. Worst case scenario, I have to reduce myself to biting my attacker. How uncouth. Cauldron-willing it won’t go through to the bone of the dim darling that dared raise a hand to me. (And…if I don’t have a nutcracker handy on Christmas Day I’m not too worried).
I suppose the fae /mythical creature I would be is a Cecaelia - half human, half octopus people (like Ursula from the little mermaid).
I’m not in the business of predicting stories anymore…. At least, it wouldn’t be a hill for me to die on, or what have you. I’ve learned my lesson. At the same time, I have opinions, and often they’re pretty strong, and my feeling that I naturally get the narrative subtext in a given story and others seem misunderstand at a basic level is also strong. In a way, it almost seems funny, ‘cause these days it seems like people misunderstand a lot more important information, to a lot more problematic results. It’s like, well, misread fiction all you want. That’s what it wants you to do, especially when you’re talking about plot points that haven’t happened yet. Misreading the news and otherwise factual information is just a bit more dangerous and unfortunate.
Still… I’m not sure I want to forbid myself from arguing with people about low-level fangirl stuff, especially since I mostly do it in my head. It’s okay to have some innocuous debates and disagreements, even– or even especially– in today’s fraught times. Actually, it could even be seen as training wheels for your viewpoint tolerance. If you can’t handle courteous opposition to your interpretation of a book, how can you live in a world where people may violently disagree with your right to live, at least without living in a bunker?
Anyway, to the degree I’m exposed to fandom of any kind, it’s people’s comments on the fanart they post or repost on Instagram, so… really minor. Even so, they often feel the need to preemptively defend their ship from attack, claiming hate won’t be tolerated. No one leaves any room for disagreement, on either side of ship wars, anymore than they do in politics. It’s sad. And you see familiar claims and reactions– new theory comes out with new content, is popular, and before you know it– boom! The old ship/theory is oppressed, hated, persecuted. And the worst part is that the debate probably *does* devolve into persecution. Though I mean, I also think people become pretty sensitized to disagreement and criticism of their beliefs/interpretations, too. I’m not 100% convinced that when the minority shipper fanart posts say 'hate’ they actually mean harassment, stuff that goes beyond strong disagreement.
Of course, I mean, I suppose people are even more justifiably interested in a 'safe space’ in their shipping than most other contexts– certainly moreso than political discussions. You don’t have to entertain debate about your favorite ship. It’s really only because, as usual, people try to justify their ship using rational arguments. But the whole point of a rational argument is that it’s *arguing* something. A ship itself is not an argument but a preference. It’s only once you make up supposedly 'good’ reasons that I start getting twitchy.
I suppose I’ve mostly talked myself out of engaging with the arguments, per se. Overall, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially when the ship in question is seen as the 'minority’ interpretation. Like I said, it’s just because of the argument itself.
In this case, the ACoTAR series Elriel fan quoted Cassandra Clare, who wrote that “Being told that love is forbidden doesn’t kill love. It strengthens it.” This appears to be a reference to Rhys, as the High Lord, forbidding Azriel not to pursue Elain in the book extra epilogue everyone’s in an uproar about. This takes the whole situation in the epilogue out of context, basically. Like, yeah…. this would apply, but only if you claim the relationship in question is *love*. Based on the epilogue, it seems a lot more like lust and loneliness, even entitlement. The whole epilogue interaction before that conversation with Rhys was clearly showing the cracks in the reading which previously portrayed Azriel as a romantic, sweet gentleman when it comes to Elain. Not that he’s not a gentleman with her, but it’s more like he’s not really being himself. The context makes the situation more complex than 'Rhys stands in the way of a strong but forbidden love bond’, and in fact that interpretation is pretty silly.
Anyway, in a book series where 'pure love’ with both main love interests so far involved letting the woman go…. basically, there’s a lot of missing context. I can’t help but come up with these rebuttals in my head. I miss arguing with people about books who were actually up for it… but to be honest, fandom was always pretty bad about enabling healthy debates, especially about anything to do with shipping. You don’t even get to feel good when you’re right (unless you’re in your fannish safe space), 'cause most people whose ships sink tend to blame the author and not their own reading.
Not sure what the ideal would be, though. Probably only if I was actually personally friends with a person who shipped something I didn’t, and then we had a conversation about it when their ship sunk. I have this feeling like a part of the problem that creates ship wars is just that these opinions, once they’re widely enough shared, are automatically presented as *groups*, and therefore they’re part of group dynamics. Basically, disagreeing with a friend or even just a single person is not the same as a whole group constantly saying they’re right and your opinions are wrong. Tbh, though, a lot of times even friendship is not enough. I mean, it’s enough not to ruin the relationship between us, but fans who’re really disappointed tend to just be angry and sad, and not in the mood to care much about the book or show in question. I generally tend to retain some interest in open-ended deconstruction even when I’m really wrong, but even my analytically minded friends have been more likely to just quit the fandom and/or stop engaging with the subject.
Not like all my ships have come true by any means, but generally, I have an innate sense of what’s likely and why things make sense in context, especially in retrospect. This reconciles me to all sorts of unfortunate events in stories that I wouldn’t have otherwise preferred. The type of people that see things this way tend not to take sides (or have ships) to start with. Myself, I am like a true believer/fangirl type and the centrist/canon only type rolled into one. I definitely take sides and have strong feelings and preferences… just… retaining a sense of humor and rational criticism of my own preferences and thoughts. Alas, most people are… not this way.
“To the stars who listen, and the dreams that are answered.”
You probably would’ve guessed, A Court of Mist and Fury is no doubt, my best book of 2016. It’s exceptionally mind-blowing. The world-building, character developments, twists and turns, banters, magic system. Everything was just fantastically crafted. Big thanks to queen Sarah J. Maas for creating such a masterpiece. The wait for A Court of Wings and Ruin is real. Are you ready?
What’s your top book of 2016? I’m not surprised if it’s ACOMAF too *smirks like Rhysand*
HappyElriel Month everyone! I had this beautiful commission done for our lovely ship! I hope you guys like it! I posted two versions, one with rose petals, and one without. Thank you so much to the artist: 8lushal
I am here to kick May off with a wonderful MerMay inspired Elriel commission, while this doesn’t go alongside Week 1’sForbidden prompt rest easy because I have another one coming tomorrow for it, I simply couldn’t resist given what month EM always takes place in. (Click for better quality)
It was an absolute pleasure of no limits working with carasalexandra, she has to be one of the sweetest humans I have worked with, and her attention to detail in crafting this piece is beyond. It has been absolutely soul wrenching keeping this piece of art saved away for like a month, I want a medal for not caving and just posting lmao
I can’t wait for all of the magical works of art this month will bring, I have seen a few bts and it is safe to say this is going to be an epic month!As usual please do not repost <3
Emerie because she’s amazing and deserves all the love I’m glad I finally found the time to finish this piece. This was one of my favourite scenes because we really got to see Emerie and Nesta bond.
“The light female’s voice had Nesta twisting around, stiffening as she found a priestess in the robes of an acolyte standing between the two nearest shelves. Her hood was thrown back, and faelight danced in the rich coppery chestnut of her pin-straight hair.”
Here is my drawing of Gwyn because I absolutely loved her. I’m not gonna lie, I definitely struggled with this because it wasn’t turning out the way I imagined and I really wanted to capture her spirit. But I’m proud of the end result and I hope you like it :)
Am I the only one who stays up at night wondering how the bat boys sleep? Like, they have to be tummy sleepers, right? Unless they lay off the side of their beds so their wings can hang off. There’s no way it’s comfy to sleep on their backs with the bony wings. And wouldn’t Nesta accidentally pin Cassian’s wing to the bed every time she rolled over to snuggle?
And the armchairs. How does that work? Wouldn’t their wings get crumpled? Remember in ACOMAF when they’re all at the Archeron’s estate and Feyre notices that Cassian and Azriel have a hard time with the chairs and thinks about getting them stools?
Are their chairs backless? How is that comfy? How do they recline?
