#attor

The Attor is far from being a mindless brute; it is a scholar, but not of knowledge as we typically understand it. Its study is pain—deep, intricate, and precise. Over centuries, the Attor has honed its craft of inflicting suffering with the same meticulous attention to detail that a painter uses to craft a masterpiece. It doesn’t just enjoy causing pain; it’s fascinated by the art of it. The way a muscle spasms under pressure, the exact moment a victim’s scream shifts from pain to hopelessness—these are the details it lives for. It keeps mental notes on different species, knowing exactly how to prolong agony without causing death, or how to break a mind while leaving the body intact. It’s developed such a profound understanding of anatomy that its victims often die in ways that leave even the most seasoned healers baffled. Pain is more than a weapon for the Attor—it’s a language, one it speaks fluently.

Although the Attor is a creature of malice and power, its heart burns with an almost unbearable envy for the High Fae. Its envy isn’t just for their beauty or their strength, but for the way they are revered, loved, and desired. The Attor’s twisted form is a source of deep bitterness. It once looked at the High Fae like a child looking through the window of a bakery—longing for something it could never have. As it tortures and terrorizes the High Fae, a twisted part of it imagines what it would be like to be them, to possess their grace, to move in a world where power is tied to elegance. This resentment only fuels its cruelty, as every blow it strikes against the Fae feels like a twisted form of revenge against their existence. There’s a bitter irony in the fact that while the Attor tears them apart, it craves the very life it destroys.

One of the more bizarre and unsettling aspects of the Attor’s personality is its deep appreciation for music. But not just any music—it is drawn to dark, haunting melodies that carry a sense of unease. In the quiet of the night, when the corridors of Under the Mountain are still, the Attor can sometimes be found in forgotten corners, listening to strange, discordant tunes. It’s not a passive listener either—it hums along, its voice guttural and broken, creating an eerie harmony with the notes. What’s most chilling is that these songs often come from the minds of its victims. The Attor delights in discovering which melodies break them, which notes make their minds crack, and it stores these pieces of their soul like trophies. Sometimes, when it has a new captive, it will hum those same notes—its own twisted lullaby, knowing it has broken others with the very same tune.

Before it became the hideous creature of terror that we know, the Attor was once a noble, ruling over a small, forgotten court in the far reaches of Prythian. The court it once ruled is long gone, wiped from history after a series of terrible decisions that led the Attor down a path of darkness. Desperate for power and control, it made a deal with entities even darker than Amarantha, a decision that cost it everything. The once-proud noble was transformed, twisted into a monstrous being that could never again walk among its own kind. Deep down, the Attor still remembers what it was like to wear fine robes, to be admired, and to move through the courts with grace. It remembers its old life with a painful clarity, and it harbors a deep, festering resentment toward the High Fae, whose beauty and nobility remind it of everything it has lost. Its hatred is personal—each strike against the High Fae is an attempt to destroy the remnants of the life it was once denied.

Unlike many sadistic creatures, the Attor doesn’t revel in the obvious trophies like teeth or bones. It collects something far more insidious: memories. The Attor doesn’t just break bodies; it breaks minds. It lingers on the psychological torment of its victims, preserving the precise moment they give up hope, when their spirit crumbles under the weight of its cruelty. These mental snapshots are far more precious to it than any physical keepsake. It holds onto them, revisiting these moments of despair in its mind over and over again, like a favorite piece of art. It can recall the sound of a particular scream, the exact look in a Fae’s eyes when they realized they would never escape, or the quiet sobs of someone who knows they’re already dead inside. These are the moments the Attor treasures most, feeding on the psychological ruin it leaves behind.

While most think of the Attor as simply a servant of Amarantha, its reign of terror extends far beyond that. The darker creatures of Prythian—beasts like the naga, the Suriel, and other shadowy figures—hold the Attor in an almost mythic level of fear. The naga, who are vicious predators in their own right, avoid crossing paths with the Attor at all costs, knowing that its cruelty surpasses anything they could imagine. Even the Suriel, with its deep knowledge of the world’s secrets, feels an unease in the presence of the Attor. It is not merely a torturer of bodies; it is a predator of souls. Other dark creatures recognize the depth of its evil and avoid it as one might avoid the deepest, darkest part of a forest. To be caught by the Attor is a fate worse than death. It isn’t just feared by its enemies—it’s feared by its own kind.

When the Attor speaks, it’s not just a voice—it’s an assault on the senses. Its voice is a layered cacophony of sounds, like whispers and screams twisted together, with an undertone that feels like nails dragging across a chalkboard. The sound wraps around its victims, leaving them disoriented and terrified. What’s worse, its voice seems to invade the mind, twisting thoughts and memories. Those who have survived an encounter with the Attor speak of its voice haunting their nightmares for years, a constant reminder of their near brush with madness. It has a hypnotic quality as well, able to coax its victims into a trance-like state, their will slipping away as the sound burrows deeper into their psyche. Its voice is more than a means of communication—it’s a weapon in itself.

The Attor commands shadows with an eerie precision. These shadows aren’t like the natural play of light and dark—they are alive, malevolent, and obey the Attor’s will. It uses these shadows to hunt, to stalk its prey through even the brightest halls, bending light and shadow to its advantage. The darkness it commands isn’t just visual—it’s emotional, a creeping sense of despair and isolation that floods its victim’s mind. It enjoys watching its prey stumble through the shadows, terrified and lost, as if they’ve been swallowed whole by a living nightmare. The Attor’s mastery over shadows is a reflection of its twisted soul, dark and consuming, and those who fall under its influence find themselves trapped in a world where the light never quite reaches.

+ 1. Elain

Ok, so I just love this female. I love how Elain is not portrayed as the type of woman who does need a weapon to get what she wants. It is true that one might take her outstanding beauty as a weapon (it sure is) but she can achieve a lot of good things by just using her words and charisma, letting peace remain, before one might do the wrong step and start a war.

Elain is in my opinion though not only charismatic, but also really … yeah silent and well behaved. She does not need to be the centre of the party or a conversation, we have learned she enjoys the company of silence too and her language or the way she is, just speaks on another level. One might say she has a stick shoved up her ass, but I don’t think that this is the case, simply bc we have seen Elain act on her own emotions as well, she just seems to prefer to hold up that mask of her human days around her family, she can use curses too and also have dirty thoughts (her reaction to Azriel on solstice (this was no shock, fear or whatever one might claim!)) god forbid!

Something I also love about her is her seer ability, I am most of the time really intrigued by the future, so seeing her look into the still foggy realms of what is to happen, is really interesting.

+ 2. Azriel

This boy just deserves all the love this world has to give! One of the reasons probably bc dark and broody males with a whole wall of mystery build around them are my typ. But no, seriously – I think Az is one of the most misunderstood characters, mostly by his family.

Bc even though he has known the greatest part of his family for 500+ years, no one seems to understand him, his feelings or his wishes (Thank you Rhysand!) as everyone just assumes Azriel is Azriel and is just ok with being where his family is( Obligated to be the fifth wheel for the rest of eternity!😭)

Something which I also think the IC mistakes is his silence. It might seem as if Azriel barely has anything to say, but I guess it is more the other way around, as we have figured out that if he talks it is always well thought with deep meanings, at times even poetic from the bottom of his heart and often used to motivate or encourage someone. I just think he picks his words so carefully bc he is afraid to give away too much of himself and that everything he might say, or every thought he harboured, could be used against him, so that he would be wounded (THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THAT RHYSAND!)

+ 3. Nuala & Cerridwen

I just love both of them, so I was not able to put one of them on a fourth place.

Anyway, Nuala and Cerridwen are two characters who are also majorly underestimated. Those two have a quiet side which makes most  of the people around them forget that they even exist, which is pretty noticeable from Feyres, Rhysands and even Nestas pov (though I am not gonna lean too wide out of the window with her since I haven’t read Acosf yet) Those two could literally plan to overthrow an High Lord and we would only know the moment it is too late,bc everyone seems to forget about their existence. Something I also love about them, is their whole character. We don’t know much about them now, but it already is noticeable that they accept people like they are, for they have no fear of Azriel, nor do they act around Elain as if she were made of glas.

+ 5. Lucien

Lucien is just an innocent bean who deserves all the love in all of Prythian! I might be an Elriel stan, but you might want to address the fact that not even one rooting for Elriel is oblivious to the shit show which took place in Luciens life. Undermined son, lover killed in front of his eyes, abused/used by his best friend and on top of that practically homeless. He knows that he can’t go back to the spring court yet, for things with Tamlin did not yet settle down, he also knows he isn’t also really home at the Night Court and god forbid if he ever thought of entering Autumn again! If it wouldn’t be for the Band of Exils (Thank god they exist) he’d be all lonely and without a roof over his head.

And this is something our sassy, witty fox does not deserve.

+ 6. Amren

Amren is just a character I identify with. She seems like as if she is only caring about her own stuff and only mind her business, while in truth she just doesn’t know how to express the love she feels for her family, as we know from her former past she did not even receive love, and just cares the most about her family.

Something I also love about her is her whole behaviour if one is to doubt her size. In my country I barely scratch the minimum of average height, so a friend of mine likes to make jokes about my size (much like Cassian about Amren), so seeing how she just shows him his place with a glare or some sharp words is just satisfaction to me.

+ 7. Alis

The kindness with which Alis treated Feyre in Acotar just sort of stuck to me and as I did not really find a character in Prythian, who was born there, who had the same kindness as her – she just stayed.

+ 8. Nesta

Nesta is a character I absolutely love, in Acotar I do admit I did not pay that much attention to her or Elain, but I just love how strong minded she is. She had been fighting for her own goal the moment she got spit out of the cauldron and she did not particularly stray from that. I also adore her for her strength – she wouldn’t even have been in the need to learn combat in order to hurt someone, as Nesta just analyses the people around her so much, so that she’ll know exactly what would feel to them like a gut stab.

The fact that Nesta is a huge bookworm and a dreamer in her own way makes her even more awesome.

+ 9. Cassian

Now you can just love this guy! He might have his ups and downs, but in the end he always worked his way out of them. Cassian just has such a big heart, that much like Nesta, he would do anything in order to protect his family and loved ones.

And while he is great to cheer one up, he might not be the brightest candle on the cake, but he would still go to the end of the world if it meant he could fight and protect those he loves. Something I also liked was that he is practically the one who started this whole thing with the females training while Rhysand just let the Illyrians do like they please.

+ 10. Feyre

As the main character we had learned a lot about her and I am happy that she is alive, has her freedom, is in love with her mate, has a child, a loving family and a really high title (*cough* High Lady). But what I think she could have done different was the way of how she treated both, Elain and Nesta, during their traumas.

Even though Nesta might not have shown her trauma that clear in the beginning, she could have still looked over the plates rim once it was almost tearing through one’s ears in a painful scream of help that Nesta was not fine. And judging someone straight out mad or considering it while you yourself have not even a real clue of how this whole Prythian thing works is just a big no-no. Elain doubted herself already enough, Feyres fear that she might have gone mad was not helping the situation.

And well Nestas story is one I can’t particularly dive into yet, but from what I have read (Acofas) she dealt with it the wrong way. It might have been that she and Nesta did not have the best relationship and she might have even wondered if she was entitled to bound with her sister on such a topic, but when Nesta pushed each of them away Feyre should have not moved away from her.

Feyre already did a lot for her, true, but Feyre knew herself how it was to have a trauma and she herself had pushed help, in the first months, away, but however I am overall just happy she got her happy ending.

- 10. Morrigian

I have criticized Morrigian already a lot, but I will just say it again.

First of, I don’t hate her. Morrigian is a character who I think has a lot to tell, as we know she kept the biggest part of herself a secret until now, but I just don’t like how she claims to trust the IC while in truth she refuses to tell them of her sexuality (the thing she seems to be afraid? of the most.)

I know the Azriel pining after her for 500+ years, was a lot of pressure on her back, but she could have also just told him she wasn’t interested or loved females (if she wouldn’t have been fine with telling Rhys). However I think she is going to be one of the more important side characters as I think her situation and everything that follows, pretty much sums up how gays/lesbians and other LGBTQ members feel now a days. And I think her journey is sort of supposed to help to overcome those struggles.

I at least hope she gets her journey.

- 9. Graysen

Graysen was an ass for breaking the engagement of like a toddler, that’s it – end of the song. If he would have told Elain he couldn’t trust her bc she lied to him – ok.

But the tune makes the music! Keep that in mind,Nolan!

- 8. Rhysand

Now Rhysand is to me a character who tip toes on a two sided blade.

I normally do like him, he is kind and caring and no doubt would die for the people he loves, but he has a very, very hard time separating work from private life. The example I’ll go with is the big bad magical solstice. He might have claimed that the kiss between Elain and Az could have invoked a blood duel, if Lucien would have notice, possibly even provoking a war between Night and Autumn (work) but his ulterior motive were Feyre and Nyx, no one blames him for that, but it is a private reason and excuse he should not use while speaking as the High Lord.

And again, when Az starts doubting the Cauldron with choosing the wrong mate for Elain, Rhys assumes it is just lust speaking from Az and commands him as the High Lord to stay away from Elain (low blow of assumption, but not my point) while he then offers to pay for the pleasure halls Azriel could possibly seek out (according to him). With what money would he have paid it, his own (private) while he was speaking as the High Lord, or the exchequer (work)?

You see my point? Anyway Rhys is a loving character, but he is just a bit troubled ruling an entire court (this huge) and having a family to take care of. Perhaps he is having it settled in a few years, but until then we will just have to wait and see.

- 7. Cauldron

I don’t really know if you can call the Cauldron a character, but I just placed it here as I hated how it had humiliated Nesta and Elain.

The bloodshed it caused was also nothing I ever want to mention again.

- 6. Attor

Now just the Rainbow and the attack on Velaris, just this, nu-uh man.

- 5. Amarantha

I hated her for killing innocent fae, enslaving High Lords or in general and setting up ‘riddles’ (games) in which the life of helpless fae was depending on a human who could barely safe herself with a bargain. Something I also kind of take personal is how she treated Jurian, I mean ok – he deserved a punishment, but like setting him in chains and having him barely at the minimum of survival would have been also fine.

- 4. Ianthe

Just the Suriel! This was when I took things personal! (I’ll add an 11 to the list above – I loved the weaver!)

- 3. Luciens Borthers

Luckily, most of those little shits got what they deserve.

I don’t grow up in a family very high in statues, so I don’t know how it is, but no matter if poor or rich – siblings should fight together instead of against each other! And most definitely not kill the female their brother loved!

- 2. Beron Vanssera

I hate him for having hesitated saving Rhys, watching how his sons treated Lucien and how he could possibly let anything as terrifying, as what had happened to Mor, happen. Also – it’s just the way how he treats his wife!

Someone really hadn’t drunken his ‘respectful juice’, for the last fucking Millenia!

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