YES!YES!!YES!!!

Aristotle’s philosophy on two human beings in love reminds me of Rik Garrett’s current series ‘Symbiosis’. The fate of two physical bodies that connect and form as one soul, which is similarly portrayed throughout Garrett’s mixed media photography. The Chicago based artist explores ideas regarding love, relationships, magic, alchemy and mutually beneficial partnerships in nature.

loré pemberton

I don’t want a job I want a cottage in the woods and paint, read and eat berries

Byeon Woo Seok as Ryu Sun Jae - Main Vocalist of Eclipse

Lovely Runner (선재 업고 튀어) 2024

Accurate💀💀😭

i envy ppl who can provide deep analysis about their favorite media and/or characters b/c whenever i like something a lot it looks like:

At this point I just wanna live a peaceful country life✌️

When the sun has set, no candle can replace it.

THISS

Let's Talk: TFOTA vs ACOTAR

Why compare them, you may ask? Well, mostly because I love analysing works of fiction, especially fantasy. But also because I love expressing my adoration for The Folk of the Air trilogy; and I wanna call out SJM on her writing, and I thought comparing these two series might be a great way to do so!

Let’s look at the similarities first, shall we? They are both about human girls being forcefully taken away from their worlds into faerie worlds. They are both marketed as YA Fantasy (yes, I know ACOSF is NA, but I will only be talking about the original trilogy). I’m gonna be completely honest here- I love the writing style of both the authors. SJM has flaws in her grammar, yes, but I would be lying if I said I did not like the way she expressed her writings through the figures of speech.

Plot:

Look, I know that TFOTA is more plot-oriented, whereas ACOTAR is character-oriented. But as far as fantasy is concerned, plot is a very crucial element. Holly Black manages to give proper arcs to her main characters without spoiling or disrupting the plots/plot-holes. SJM, on the other hand, has a very messy plot to begin with. It begins as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and then takes a turn to heaven knows where. And her characters aren’t well developed either. Why were Nesta and Elain so bitchy? What is Mor’s power? How did Feyre get those powers, and why didn’t Rhys get them, too, when he was resurrected? SO many unanswered questions.

Characters:

TFOTA does not have many moments where we get to see the characters have bonding moments with each other, and yet, we root for them. This is not to say that we don’t root for the ACOTAR characters at any given point. But some of the moments really do seem too unnecessary (*cough* Mor coming out for six pages *cough*). The backstories of each of the IC members were told, whereas Holly Black mostly showed the backstories of her important characters (in flashback).

Both Feyre and Jude have two sisters. We see Taryn go from the sweet twin, to a complete bitch. Our feelings for her develop throughout the first book (and continue in the rest). Vivi is the type of character who isn’t exactly portrayed to be likeable or unlikeable. She is a morally good character, but she messes up, then she feels guilty and tries to rectify her mistakes - it’s the choice of the reader whether they like her or not. When it comes to Elain and Nesta, however, we are told that we are supposed to hate them within the first few chapters. It isn’t shown how exactly they whine a lot, instead, we read about it in Feyre’s internal thoughts.

Love interests:

Wow I can’t believe I’m gonna compare Cardan Greenbriar with this Rhystrash, but here we are Both Cardan and Rhys were supposedly villains in the first book, and then became the love interest.

Now, the difference between them is that Cardan is held accountable for being shitty; his deeds are acknowledged; he feels terrible for doing them, and never justifies his actions. Unlike Rhys, who never apologises, never even admits to have done something wrong, and claims that he did all that to 'protect' Feyre. And SJM pulls the "I was good all along, even when I did bad stuff" trope, which doesn't make any sense. Especially because Rhys himself admits to have not done anything wrong. I'm just gonna add a little bit of Aaron Warner here, and say that even if he had good intentions all along, Warner never hesitated on admitting that what he did was wrong.

Also, one more thing that I noticed was that the things Balekin did to Jude when she was being held in the underwater kingdom (I forgot the name), is kind of similar to the things Rhys did to Feyre UTM. And while Jude kills Balekin, Feyre...well....you know.

Protagonists:

Buckle up bitches, 'cause this is gonna be a long ass rant. Jude vs Feyre - I have seen other comparisons between them, and I wholeheartedly agree.

To begin with: motive. In the first few chapters of TCP, we see Jude struggle in the face world. She gets bullied, insulted, and there is a whole chapter dedicated to some of her bad memories in Elfhame while growing up. Feyre, on the other hand, didn't have anything against fae when she kills one "in cold blood" (or wtv the phrase was idk). She also doesn't have a motive in wanting to be High Lady, considering she'd been treated pretty well in both the courts (not UTM).

Also, SJM chose the lamest protagonist she could choose. Feyre is mostly put into situations by other people, and she also gets out purely by luck-- or Rhysand does something. Whereas Jude makes her own decisions, chooses what she's gonna do, and creates her own schemes. Which one is an example of a good protagonist?

Honestly, I feel like Nesta would've been a better protagonist, considering she's way more like Aelin as a character (who was a very good protagonist, and I know this even though I haven't read ToG).

Feyre uses the same old "seduction" technique, which is probably the worst thing a main character should do. And since ACOMAF, she was lowered into being a narrative for Rhys. It is evident that SJM tried making Feyre a "girlboss" in which she failed miserably.

Conclusion:

People who hate on TFOTA saying there was not enough romance, and idolise ACOTAR never fail to confuse me. Like, it's literally fantasy. If you don't have strong characters (in terms of writing) and good worldbuilding, then there is literally no point of a good romance. And in my opinion, the romance in TFOTA was just fine.

TFOTA is everything ACOTAR couldn't be, and I stand by that.

Definitely!!

The most accessible and wisest of counselors. x

tbh like….i ain’t mad at either soo or so

they were always destined to fall apart in this era

soo tried so so hard to make sure that she would help him, so that no one would have to suffer, so that he wouldn’t have the legacy she heard of as a bloody monarch. she wanted him to be remembered as she saw him: a great king, and a good person. but once he became king and she became his “mistress,” as won puts it, she was inadvertently stripped of all the power she had in the palace as a court lady, and she was reduced to “sitting in her room, waiting for him to come home.” the intention was for her to become queen, but without the backing of a powerful family to support her, it became impossible. by the time so told her he would make her the second queen after she had a child, she was already broken. her best friend was killed because she was a traitor, spying on her and lying to her for years. not only that, but the one who ordered her death was the man she loved, and despite the fact that chae ryung was working against her the entire time she was in the palace and helped kill people she loved, soo is incredibly torn because she can still see in her a girl who was trying to help her family. then another friend of hers commits suicide. and then she is told that the reason the man she used to love became such a slimy, homicidal jackass was because of a warning she gave him, reminiscent of the previous king telling her he killed people in order to get the throne because she covered so’s scar. 

at this point, hae soo feels not only like she doesn’t have the power to save anyone, but like her influence on politics has had an active role in killing all the people she’s worked so hard to save, people she loved deeply. no wonder she wants to leave - it’s not that she thinks so is a monster and wants to escape him, but rather she’s gotten to the point where she hinders more than she helps, and her staying is fatal. and she can’t take people she cares about dropping like flies anymore.

meanwhile so. so. so has his hands tied everywhere he turns. someone made this great post about how people have been abandoning him since the start of his reign. the military general. his mother. baek ah. now hae soo wants to leave too, the only person he has left. and to be honest, it would be better for his reign if he let her leave, because every move he makes he thinks of her, and, as we saw with his marriage situation, he would doom himself if it meant staying by her side. but he loves her far too much to ever let her go. the only thing that finally gets him, that really makes him let her leave, is finding out about wook. and i don’t think it’s a jealousy thing - he knew years ago she had loved one of his brothers, and there’s only so many to choose from. but the fact that it’s wook, “of all people why does it have to be him” wook, breaks him. not because it’s his brother. because he’s the man who plotted the death of his oldest brother, who used chae ryung as a spy and made her a traitor (with the assistance of won), who was ready to shoot yo with an arrow like he was hunting something, who threatened him using hae soo and collaborated with his family to make his sister take soo’s place at so’s side, who used his smart brain to rally the noble families, who looked so in the eye and said “nothing is yours, it’s all mine.” it’s not that hae soo loved someone besides him ever in her life, it’s that she was ready to marry someone who at every turn tried to tear him down and their family down, a manipulative murderous snake, and despite that part of her still cared for him enough to beg for his life.

he feels like she never loved him, “wook was always in your heart,” like it was all just some scheme wook was planning or a way to hurt him using what he cared about most. so he lets her go, because he feels like she’s “throwing him away,” or, even worse, that she never cared about him to begin with. at least not as much as the guy who killed his family and hers.

and it’s tragic. and heartbreaking. and i really can’t blame either one of them.