Masquerade Of The Guilty [alt End] Part 2

An enchantment of ravens and a court of thorns

I’d seen An Enchantment of Ravens held up as an alternative “fae book” to A Court of Th0rns and R0ses (AC0TAR) since before the book even came out, since there are several conspicuous parallels between them. However, I wasn’t expecting An Enchantment of Ravens (EoR) to read so much like an actual response to AC0TAR.

While I won’t presume to say that Margaret Rogerson wrote her book with AC0TAR in mind, it’s fun to talk about the parallels (or lack of parallels in some cases) anyway, because the difference between the books is a good way of explaining what I dislike about AC0TAR’s romance. It’s easier to explain why one thing in AC0TAR ticked me off when I can point to the way EoR did (or didn’t) do the thing differently and kept me on board with the romance.

some disclaimers:

the following “essay” is not complimentary to the book A Court of Th0rns and R0ses, so if you are a big fan of that book, just don’t read this! i promise you’re (probably) not missing anything you don’t already know

essay also includes spoilers for both books being compared: AC0TAR and An Enchantment of Ravens

the purpose of this essay is not to chronicle all the flaws of AC0TAR, because that would be an entirely different thing. the focus is on how the two books address romance between a fae character and a mortal character in contrasting ways and why i personally like EoR’s take so much better

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"If we switched the story, Soleia would be the main character and Yerenica is the villain."

*deep breaths*

Okay Diana, restrain yourself. I know we've said it before, but we have to explain it again.

First and foremost, I just want to say that I don't hate Soleia. I even made a post defending her. I understand her, and she is one of the best villainesses for me in the Manhwa Community. But I want to settle something here.

For so long, I have seen many people compare Yerenica to (Lord, forgive me for what I am about to say) Rashta. [Scream of horror]

It pains me so much that one of my favourite characters is compared to that, that. No. Your mentality is wrong. The fact that you compared Navier to Soleia and Rashta to Yerenica is just, so wrong.

If we flip the roles, in my opinion, Soleia will be the protagonist who was hurting people, and we will get a backstory on how she is avenging her family.

People will say, "she's a gray character."

A gray character doesn't harm people who don't deserve it. Literally the first time they met, Yerenica did nothing and was just standing behind (not even close) to Euredian. Soleia saw her, a girl who knew nothing and was just kidnapped from her country, and attacked her.

Tell me then, why would a woman attack a girl out of nowhere? Because she felt threatened? What did Yerenica do other than stand there and watch them converse?

I'm not going to insert here what Yerenica is thinking, what her POV was because we're going to focus on Soleia and her POV, and why, even if we turn the switch and she's the main character, she would still be a bad person.

"She has justification! Soleia was engaged to Euredian!"

She wasn't.

She was clinging to Euredian, she was forcing him to choose her. It was mentioned countless times in both Manhwa and Nov how she exposed numerous scandals for the other noble girls who dared approach Euredian.

Soleia distanced the Tower from the Royal Family, making it nearly autonomous and Euredian, to ensure that the Tower remained in his grasp, was forced to marry her in the OG! Novel.

At the time, before the kidnapping and before Euredian accepted his feelings, Soleia was merely a choice that Euredian would begrudgingly accept as his fiancée, and the people thought the same. Everyone knew she was forcing him. The only relationship they had prior to the events we saw was a professional one, a Wizard reporting to the Emperor.

"She did it to protect her people, the wizards! The Royal Family and the Temple killed her family and friends!"

They practiced Dark Magic, something they knew was forbidden. Why did you think they hid? Why did you think they were doing it underground? Why did you think it was passed on secretly?

Because it was illegal.

Why? We're talking about experimenting on the bodies of the dead, stealing souls from returning to Yudetta and practicing mind control, the magic of taking one's freedom. Just look at Leria. Soleia killed her and possessed her body.

What gray character would do that?

What really made the situation worse was that the King at the time, Euredian's father, and the Temple, didn't give them a trial. What happened instead was the brutal massacre and purging of the Richards Family. This was something that Rosel, the man who told on the Richards, didn't expect to happen.

"The Royal Family were threatening the lives of Wizards!"

No, they were not.

Remember the Glückmahn Tripartite Agreement? It was the catalyst that started the original novel. This was the agreement where the three kingdoms of Azekien, Livovny, and Bellecourt would trade and have safe passage throuch the Glückmahn Road of Livovny. The most essential object that was being transported here was mana ore, which Bellecourt didn't have but Azekien did.

Another thing, the Magic Tower of Bellecourt was something the Kings of Bellecourt themselves had made. Euredian said it himself that generations of kings poured wealth over it to become the magical authority of Rhiger, defeating Azekien itself which was rich in mana.

Side note: My theory on why Bellecourt doesn't have mana ores is because Laurus comes down every ten years to cleanse the land. Not to mention, the land itself was made by him. While one can use mana all around Bellecourt, as explained by Rosel, the land Bellecourt was built upon was blessed by Laurus.

If the Royal Family were purging wizards left and right, why did they go to such lengths for talks over mana ore? Why did they make the Tower? Why didn't Euredian and his father, and the other kings purged them?

As mentioned in Manhwa and Novel, divinity and mana co-exist, they just don't feel each other but they can destroy the other. The Richards Family drew the line from using forbidden magic and, as Soleia mentioned, summoning Heidis.

"That doesn't change the fact that Yerenica is like Rashta. She is so dependent on people and uses her looks to get what she wants!"

To answer this, we're now adding Yerenica's POV. Seems fair since Rashta, in what I have seen in passing images, sometimes gets her own POV. If not, please correct me.

Is Rashta terminally-ill? The reason why Yerenica approached Euredian in that matter was because she needed his divinity. Remember that whenever she wasn't exposed to it, she would feel heavy as man would literally hold onto her. Why is she acting cute and why is she so clingy to Euredian?

Alright, this can be compared to Rashta, but please note that at the same time, there is also a difference.

Both Yerenica and Rashta felt unloved. Yerenica's mom died when she was young and her father was always away. I haven't read Remarried Empress yet (I'm stacking shh) but I do know from reading comments about it that Rashta went through something difficult as well.

What's the difference?

Yerenica cared for Soleia. She never had a thought of hurting her, or wanting her to die. She just wanted to block the engagement and marriage between Soleia and Euredian because it would end with the death of Euredian (which Soleia has planned. Please note, Euredian was a child back then. What did he do to contribute to the Richards Family death?).

Rashta, if I recall, smiled when Navier was finally divorced from... What's his name? Sovieshu? Dang what a name. Based on my understanding from some comments and passing spoilers, she just wanted to have the life Navier had (which of course, she can't.)

Please, please correct me if I am wrong because I have not read the spoilers, Manhwa, and Novel fully. I'm stacking.

"Then why isn't Yerenica strong? Why can't she just pick up a sword and do something?"

Because that's not who she is. That's not Seo Eun-seo and Yerenica's personality. She's a fun-loving person who came from our world, who is terminally-ill, and funny. Honestly, the reason why I love Yerenica so much as a character is because I can relate to her.

She's not physically strong, doesn't have a monstrous amount of strength, she didn't have to go through something traumatizing as traumatizing as other female leads do, she died before she knew it. She's not a genius, but she's smart. She's not talented, but she's kind. She's not bad-ass, but she cares and is willing to sacrifice herself for someone else.

I really don't understand why you can hate a person just because you say "She's not strong or bad-ass."

Does every female lead have to lie to get what they want? Deceive others? Do they have to fight in a battle or belittle the villain?

Yerenica, throughout the novel, never belittled Soleia. She respected her, and in the end, befriended her. Soleia smiled at Yerenica and even approved of her marriage with Euredian, thinking they were a good match. Yerenica never saw her as a villain, she had thought she was scary and crazy at times, but never mistreated or fought with her.

Even Soleia knew what she was doing was terrible and in the end, once she realized the consequences of her actions, helped Yerenica and Euredian.

Tell me, if your main character kills people, disturbs the body of the dead, hurts someone innocent, summons the absolute evil of the world and encouraged their son to kill his father, all in the name of justice for a family who were killed for sorcery and killing as well, would you support them still?

Paimon: why are you three here?

Lynette: Father asked us to stalk Miss Furina--

Lyney: *covers Lynette's mouth* --ehm, she means to say that Father asked us to go on vacation! haha;;

Paimon: stalking Fur-- Paimon thought that would be over after everything that happened!

Freminet: well, not exactly stalking...she asked us to make sure Miss Furina didn't get hurt...

Lyney: Exactly, thank you Freminet. that's a much nicer way of putting it.

Lynette: we were also supposed to make sure she didn't know we were following her.

Lyney: ahem, anyway, we're on vacation now since Clorinde and Navia ended up taking over that task...

Paimon: uh, are they in on it too...?

Freminet: no, when he says "taking over," he moreso means they decided to protect her on their own, so there was no longer any need for us to follow...

Lyney: Right, well--

Lynette: also Clorinde would've caught us for sure if we kept stalking her--

Lyney: Guarding. let's call it guarding

Lynette: usually people know if they have a guard. or three.

Lyney: covert guarding.

when draco malfoy was born his mother made the smartest decision of her (and his) life

she sent him to live with her cousin

aka an au where sirius raises draco

NO JUST HEAR ME OUT OKAY

narcissa knew what lucius was like and refused to have her son raised to be like him so she went to the one person who got out

sirius black

(she would have went to her sister but she had a kid of her own)

and 20 year old sirius was fucking ecstatic because “oh cissy of COURSE i’ll take care of draco thank you for putting your everlasting trust in me”

and sirius always wanted a kid and draco was only a few days old but he was so tiny and remus looked like a dad when holding him and that was it, heart taken

and so, dad!sirius and baby!draco headcanons GO

sirius charmed dracos hair to be dark because “he’s a black goddamit why does he look like lucius so much”

sirius took draco over to the potters for play dates even though harry and draco didn’t get along that well

draco adored prongs and often clung to him whenever they were over

sirius dresses draco up in miniature versions of his outfits for the day, with a matching binkie and everything

sirius took draco for rides on his motorcycle even though remus, james, and lily said it was a bad idea

draco not being able to sleep unless sirius enchanted stars over his crib

draco not being able to sleep anywhere but sirius’ flat (no matter how much he like prongs, he did not stay overnight)

sirius letting draco play and pull on his hair, refusing to cut it because draco cried whenever he did as little as pulled it back into a bun

sirius playing queen records to get draco to calm down from fits

sirius and draco taking naps together instead of sirius getting work done

sirius taking draco to order meetings and everyone being shocked because “when did you have a child sirius?”

sirius accidentally leaving his wand somewhere draco could get it and coming back to find broken picture frames and floating balls

SIRIUS AND JAMES HAVING MINI QUIDDITCH MATCHES WITH HARRY AND DRACO

dracos first christmas, sirius cries and pretends he doesn’t

dracos first word is “pads” and sirius cried again

sirius always sends letters and pictures to narcissa and constantly tells draco stories about his mum

sirius knowing damn well draco would not be a gryffindor and still dressing him up in red and gold

sirius spoiling the hell out of draco, candy, toys, clothes, any and everything

sirius clapping and excitedly cheering when draco takes his first steps

sirius dramtically flooing to remus when draco’s first tooth starts coming in

dracos birthday is always over the top and has tons of balloons and cake and music playing the entire time

draco hating the snow as much as sirius hates the snow, so while james and harry play outside, they pair is snuggled on the couch by the fire

draco has a habit of chewing on his hands and sirius is the only one that can replace it with his binkie without him crying

draco is PICKY and gets that directly from sirius “i cant eat that it’s mushy” black

sirius turning into padfoot because draco absolutely adored dogs

sirius telling draco stories about dragons

SIRIUS CALLING DRACO “BABY DRAGON”

sirius getting a magical dragon tattoo and draco would spend hours looking at it fly on his arm

sirius taking draco to a muggle zoo and of course of all things draco is obsessed with the snakes

he also takes a keen liking to the birds

draco only likes eating fruits and will spit out any and all veggie food he gets

sirius gets an apron that says “paddy” on it and things it’s the most clever thing ever

draco really really likes muggle baby food, puffs, and so does sirius so an entire cabinet is filled with them

sirius goes crazy trying to baby proof the flat when draco starts walking and is beyond frustrated because “can you please not touch everything dragon?”

sirius buying one of those muggle swings and enchanting it to suit dracos mood and draco fucking loves that thing

when they go to restaurants sirius dips his finger in his drink or sauce so draco can have some

sirius wears the baby carrier ALL the time, you’ll never see him without it, even if draco isn’t in it

when draco starts teething, sirius freaks out because draco doesn’t usually cry and now he won’t stop crying and sirius calls lily for help

sirius takes to wearing one of dracos teething toys on a necklace so draco stops stuffing his shirt or his own fingers in his mouth

draco one time chewed on sirius’ wand and that was a disaster and remus decided he’d be in charge of keeping the wands while draco was in his moods

draco didn’t have a special blanket but he did have a special plush dog that sirius got him the day he turned 2 weeks old and draco never went anywhere without it

just. sirius raising draco and being a cute family that’s IT

Why is KOSA not trending? This bill aims to take down fandom related sites INCLUDING TUMBLR!!!?? Like we need to get this to #1 on trending and FAST! Please reblog posts on the tags with more resources and spread the word people, this is actually terrifying!!!

Also it doesn’t even end with KOSA, the Earn It Act and many more censorship bills are trying to slip through our legislature and I haven’t seen many people talk about it!

Remember everyone, this isn’t about “protecting children,” because if it was they’d go after actual R34 sites instead of queer people trying to live their damn lives!

Fight for the Future

Stop KOSA

KOSA is a censorship bill that won’t make kids safe. Instead, it'll put all internet users at risk, especially youth. If you believe in a fr

What I’d give for one of the Cinderella remakes to go into how when you’re in an isolated and abusive situation, sometimes you need to be saved and you’re not weak if you can’t escape by yourself

I’ve never been a fan of bad faith reinterpretations of fairy tales, especially ones which flatten the originals into “princesses is saved by a prince and nothing else”, to then go #girlboss. The princess can save herself because she’s a strong female character! (Implying if you’re in a bad situation, it’s because you’re not strong enough to get out)

I like the idea of Reverse Falls! Billford. In my head, Stanford is the needy ex and Will is like “stop trying to serenade me at my window, I’m not going back to your tent.”

I need more needy ex reverse Ford content. I want him to be pathetic. Just like Bill is. 

Here’s part 1. :} Before anything else, I would like to say that Gaster and Papyrus are speaking in wingdings. The Gaster followers cannot speak Wingdings, but they have known Gaster long enough to recognize a fair amount of the words in that language. They know what he’s saying in the lab and understand that something bad has happened with his kids. I drew the Gaster followers grey because I couldn’t find any drawings or references of what they looked like before the void. Anyway,

Hooo boy, I’m sorry this took so long to come out. I’ve been so obsessed with Pokémon shield recently I just haven’t gotten around to it., But its here! It’s finally here. I would be absolutely willing to make a part three, but I want to warn you all that it might take a while. :/

And uh.. if Gasters greeting when he answers the phone is a bit confusing.. The idea is because Gaster only speaks in Wingdings, nobody ever calls him and only texts. So normally when he gets a call its from Sans, now Sans knows that Gaster is busy and shouldn’t be bothered while he’s at work. So normally Sans only calls if he has an important question or some kind of update.

Odysseus: Hello! I’m here to offer my hand in marriage to Helen.

Leta: Welcome to Sparta! This is my daughter Helen, world famous for her beauty. And this is my creepy arts and crafts niece, Penelope.

Penelope: *hisses*

Odysseus: …

Odysseus: Change of plans. I want the weird girl.

When Leo and Usagi start dating

Raph:

Is suspicious of Usagi bc how many Yōkai have they met that HAVEN’T at some point attacked Leo?

Will stare down Usagi whenever Leo leaves the room (Usagi, the poor boy, doesn’t realize what’s happening and just smiles at Raph like :D)

Gave Usagi THE TALK. (If you even think about doing anything to hurt Leo I will personally END YOU.)

Gives Leo a talk. (If that guy does anything to you I’m gonna hurt him.)

Warms up to Usagi after a while.

Usagi nicks his hand on something and Raph helps Usagi put a bandaid on it.

Usagi is now brother number five.

Donnie:

Worried at first but gets used to the idea of Leo dating pretty quickly.

Does not interact with the rabbit man.

Overprotective of Leo but more subtly than Raph.

Definitely has plans if Usagi does anything to make Leo upset. ( >:3 )

Tells Usagi he could do better than Leo(as a joke ofc)

Kinda protective of Leo but not as much as Raph, he’s worried that if it doesn’t work out Leo will be sad

Usagi goes into Donnie’s lab looking for Leo and asks what Donnie’s working on, Donnie launches into a monologue, and Usagi sits there. Listening eagerly. Asking good questions.

Donnie loves Usagi now. They often talk about Donnie’s latest projects.

Donnie encourages Leo to “keep him” on a regular basis.

Mikey:

Heard about Usagi the first time and lit up.

“Is he cute? Do you really like him? Is he coming over?”

Welcomes Usagi into the lair immediately.

Often invites Usagi over for dinner.

Makes Usagi breakfast when he stays the night.

Goes to Run Of The Mill to see Usagi at work/bring him lunch.

Gives Usagi advice on how to woo Leo even more.

Convinces Raph that Usagi is nice and he wouldn’t hurt Leo if his life depended on it.

April:

“Lmao I knew you were a furry”

Pretty chill. Doesn’t hate Usagi but doesn’t absolutely love him.

will help with anything if she’s asked to.

encourages Leo to go for it when he’s nervous.

imagine having a cheerleader that just sat on her phone and occasionally went “woo go team you got this”

Splinter:

“YOU HAVE A WHAT?!”

”I am calm now, my son. Just make sure he is not a spider.” (Cue Leo texting Usagi at 3am like “Arw you a spidwr????”)

His son is so grown up.

His boyfriend is so nice.

”I want grandchildren.”

Draxum!

“Aren’t you a little young to be dating?”

Doesnt like the idea of one of his kids the turtles dating.

Definitely intimidates Usagi

The betrayal when Raph starts liking Usagi

Helps Donnie with his plan to get revenge on Usagi if Usagi hurts Leo.

Only starts trusting Usagi after Mikey tells him that Usagi is nice.

just so y’all know, I do read the tags and change things I feel that are better than what I initially put. Your input makes me happy!