valkyrie

He's constantly praising Lucy and George. He's often the first one to try and apologize when he gets into a fight with them. The second he clocks Lucy as a "safe person" he becomes super touchy and holds her hand constantly. He compliments George's cooking. He's visibly proud of the people he cares about and publicly defends them on multiple occasions. He repeatedly asks his team if they're okay and tries to get them to open up when they're having issues. He makes an obvious, conscious effort to repeatedly tell Lucy he believes in her and wants her to stay at Portland Row. He smiles and jokes and laughs around with them on a pretty regular basis. He's also emotionally aware enough to tell Lucy "the reason I haven't talked about this subject with you is because it's relevant my childhood, which I don't like to talk about because it's pretty traumatic" when she questions him ahout Jessica's door, and he's kind of astonishingly open about his trauma with Lucy and George despite generally being unwilling to actually talk about the details.

And this applies to characters other than Lucy and George, too. He compliments Kipps' team during the graveyard fight and clearly respects Flo, for example. He's kind to Winkman's son, is generally polite to his clients, and is affected by the death of the undercover agent to the point of having a panic attack. It's pretty clear he cares deeply about the people around him even as he tries to push those closest to him away so they won't mourn him if (when) he dies.

First of, english isn’t my first language so I apologize in advance if my grammar is wrong.

I encounter a LOT of hate towards Elain Archeron on instagram and it pains me to see these people so indifferent and just so hateful to characters like Elain who chooses to see good in other people. I realized something when I was answering a comment about my post on Elain’s page in the wiki fandom. I realized that the ONLY reason they hate Elain was because she’s “miss innocent” who- instead of planting vegetables to help Feyre during their years of poverty- chose to plant and grow flowers instead. When I ask some of the fan accounts on why they hate her character its all the same, “She’s miss innocent who didn’t even think to help Feyre by planting vegetables instead of flowers. She’s also to blame”. 

The thing is, Elain never said she was innocent-she never claimed she was. She even admitted that she was also to blame when the batboys and Feyre visited the two sisters for the first time and they were having dinner. Should I need to note that Elain was the one who admitted it and not Nesta. People always forget- or choose not to remember because it’s Elain- that Elain experienced more traumatic events during the war against Hybern. 

She was abducted with Nesta then shoved into the cauldron; 

She lost more than Nesta. She was about to get married in a few days before their abduction and her ex-fiance hated her for being Fae then basically spit to her face how disgusted he was that Elain was fae and that he would rather die than be married to a fae-to her; 

She was mated to the male who’s a constant reminder of what she lost; a male she was forced to by the cauldron

She thought that she was losing her mind after becoming fae because of her Seer abilities -at that time no one knows yet what was happening to her- until Azriel understood that she was a Seer. She was distant then because of it and no one understood her (except Az); 

She was abducted again by Hybern in the dead of the night to be tortured and use against the IC 

She also lost her father 

Also, Elain was the one who stabbed truth-teller to Hybern’s neck. If it weren’t for her every one of them would be dead by now and ACOTAR would have been finished then lol. Elain let Nesta finish the King of Hybern and claim the kill. And people keeps comparing her to Elide Lochan- a character who also sees the good in people despite what happened to her- and Gwyn- who’s also a headstrong character- but I’m not going to talk about those characters because they are made differently; honed to be a different kind of strengths. 

Just because Elain’s not a warrior doesn’t mean she’s weak. SJM already said it, she has yet to show her full potential. There’s so much more of Elain hidden in the shadows BECAUSE its not yet her story. She was written in the background because her time will come. Don’t get me started with her being “boring” ughhhh 🙄 If Feyre chose paints and paint brushes over bow and arrows then Nesta chose books over training with Cassian and becoming Valkyrie y’all would probably call them boring too if both sisters didn’t choose to learn how to fight. Y’all would probably be shouting at the top of your lungs how “boring” and “weak” and “useless” they are for not fighting back and always in need of “rescue” 🙄 A character doesn’t need to be physically strong or a warrior to be considered strong. Elide’s not a fighter/warrior; doesn’t even know how to properly use a dagger/knife; and doesn’t even possess any magic but she’s the strongest character in TOG. 

I’m not a super fan of ACOTAR but I love these books nonetheless and seeing people heavily criticize these characters especially Elain’s made me want to rip their throats lol I respect every sjm characters (except Ianthe and Manon’s fucking grandmother) because they represent different journeys and strength and healing. 

I hear Athenas war cry in the shouts of protests,

fighting a war now closer to home,

I see her in the young women with picket signs

clenched tightly in their fists

Hera curses the names of the abusers

The ones who break families and marriages

Her voice heard in the wedding bells of young lovers

Poseidon now resides in a beach home

Going out every night to pick of trash left by the day

Shooting daggers at the drunk men letting their bottles be swept away

Demeter can be heard cursing the politicians refusing to believe in global warming

Names of scientists and studies on the tip of her tongue

She is found teaching young children how to grow their food at the community garden

Ares is found on the front lines of a different war, not fighting but protecting the innocent

Guiding classrooms of children away from gunfire,

His shield protecting the terrified

Apollo can be found at opens mics

Reciting his latest works

Or walking down the street in docs on his feet and a guitar on his back

He knows he’s the coolest

Artemis is seen on the streets

Her bow and arrow have long left her

Carrying nothing more than a knife and mace

She hunts a different kind of monster now

Hephaestus resides in a workshop at all hours of the night

Creating custom pieces for the right price and a warm smile

The hammer making him feel invincible

Aphrodite’s song is heard in the breathy kisses of teenagers

Shes found walking down the street, lips a blood red

Punching the men who dare disrespect her  

Hermes is seen with a smirk as he walks long well-traveled roads

Delivering the messages of those needing to be heard

Traveling, telling stories, and wearing out another pair of shoes

Dionysus’s voice heard only over the pounding bass in the bar

Keeping watch over young girls drinks

Dancing, partying and living as he throws another one back

Hades is seen weeping over the graves of those taken much to soon

Looking to his wife for comfort

He’s long lost his faith in humanity

Persephone found in the gardens beside her mother in the spring

Brushing off girl’s dirty knees and putting flower crowns on their heads

She can be seen holding onto hades as he mourns the loss of life

Hecate will be found running metaphysical shops

Bringing hope to powerful women wanting more

Selling potions, nobody thinks will work

And collecting graveyard dirt for a new spell

Zeus is watching over everyone

Watches Athena cry

Hera curse the men, he being one of them

Poseidon’s glares

Demeter’s harsh words

Ares raising his shield

Apollos singing

Artemis as she tracks a new beast

Watches Hephaestus work

Sees Aphrodite punch

Hears Hermes words

Sees hades weep

And Persephone plant and comfort her partner

And grins as Hecate keeps magic alive

The old gods are not dead

They are alive

And they are watching