A Court of Thorns and Roses

A Court of Thorns and Roses, often abbreviated as ACOTAR, is a series of new adult fantasy books written by Sarah J. Maas. The series is a retelling of multiple myths and fairy tales, including the renowned classic Beauty and the Beast and the Greek myth Hades and Persephone.
Since the first book's release in 2015, the ACOTAR series has an active fanbase located on Tumblr. Though originally marketed as a new adult novel, the series gained traction in young adult literature communities such as Goodreads and BookTube. From 2020, the series became one of the most popular book series on BookTok, the bookish section of TikTok, alongside other series like Fourth Wing, resulting in the romantasy trend.
Much of the ACOTAR fanbase consists of Throne of Glass fans, a series also written by Sarah J Maas. During 2015, the fanbase for ACOTAR had a relatively small amount of fanworks. Instead, Throne of Glass was the dominant focus of fannish activity from the Sarah J. Maas fandom. This changed in 2016 after the second book's release. A Court of Mist and Fury gained major attention and the time after the release is typically viewed as the true beginning of the ACOTAR fandom. Fanworks and meta discussions became increasingly more common, and fanfiction archives such as Archive of Our Own quickly expanded in numbers. 
==Canon Overview==
===Synopsis===
The series focuses on Feyre Archeron, a 19-year-old mortal huntress, who lives in poverty with her father and two sisters, Elain and Nesta. After killing a faerie, Feyre is taken into the faerie land of Prythian by Tamlin. The first book is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and involves Feyre falling in love with Tamlin, the High Lord of the Spring Court.
The second book, A Court of Mist and Fury, is a retelling of the Greek myth Hades and Persephone. This book details Feyre and Tamlin's broken relationship and the new blossoming romance of Feyre and Rhysand. The third book, A Court of Wings and Ruin, involves a war between the rival faerie kingdoms, Prythian and Hybern.
===Characters===
* Feyre Archeron: Feyre is the protagonist of the series. She is a mortal huntress, and later the High Lady of the Night Court.
* Rhysand: Rhysand rules the Night Court, a dark and mysterious place in Prythian. He is Feyre's mate.
* Tamlin: Tamlin is the High Lord of the Spring Court. Tamlin is Feyre's fiancé until Feyre and Rhys start a romantic relationship.
* Morrigan: Rhysand's cousin. She is the third-in-command of the Night Court. She is revealed to be gay in A Court of Wings and Ruin.
* Azriel: Azriel is a spy and close friend of Rhysand.
* Cassian: Cassian is the leader of the Night Court's armies and a close childhood friend of Rhysand.
* Amren: Amren is the second-in-command of the Night Court and a faerie with a mysterious past.
* Lucien Vanserra: Lucien is a former member of the Spring Court. Lucien is Elain's mate.
* Elain Archeron: Elain is a seer and Feyre's sister.
* Nesta Archeron: Nesta is Feyre's sister and the emissary to the Night Court.
==Fandom==
The fandom is most active on Tumblr and BookTok. On Tumblr, fanfiction, fanart, headcanons, edits, photography and meta are regularly posted. Many fans are also members of Maas other book series: Throne of Glass and Crescent City, forming a somewhat combined Sarah J. Maas fandom. However, ACOTAR is the most popular of Maas' book series, so it is not uncommon to find users who post solely ACOTAR. Despite being marketed as new adult fiction, the ACOTAR series is also popular in young adult literature communities.
From 2020, the fandom would gain a significant presence on BookTok, being one of the most popular series on the platform and one of the key drivers behind the romantasy trend. 
===Ships===
Due to its central focus in the series, Feyre/Rhysand is the most popular pairing. It has the largest amount of fanworks on Archive of Our Own and fanart of the pairing is also common. Het ships are the common focus of the fandom, though femslash gained more popular after Morrigan reveals she is gay. However, slash pairings are rare.
Prior to the second book's release, Feyre/Tamlin was arguably the most popular ship. Feyre/Rhysand gained some popularity but to a lesser extent. After the release of
the second book, Feyre/Tamlin's popularity decreased due to the domestic abuse storyline that was introduced. Instead, Feyre/Rhysand popularity increased dramatically gaining many fanworks and focus within the fandom.
The second book also introduced multiple new characters, prompting a surge of new fanworks and ships. Cassian/Nesta, Azriel/Morrigan and Elain/Lucien became popular ships. While, some rarepairs also gained some attention including the slash pairing Azriel/Cassian, the het pairing Amren/Varian and the femslash pairing Morrigan/Nesta.
The third book's release revealed that main character Morrigan was gay. This reveal caused major controversy within the fandom, mostly from Azriel/Morrigan (Moriel) shippers who were upset that their ship was deemed non-canon. Many believed prior that Maas was hinting at a relationship between Azriel and Morrigan, particularly as it was confirmed that Azriel held romantic feelings towards Mor.
After the third book, Azriel/Elain (Elriel) gained more attention and shippers of Elriel commonly engaged in ship wars with Elucien (Elain/Lucien) shippers. Additionally, new pairings included Lucien/Vassa, Kallias/Viviane and Andromache/Morrigan.
===Fanart===
Fanart is common and is usually posted on Tumblr and/or DeviantArt. Largely due to the series' medium as literature, official artwork of the series is limited, and therefore fanart is typically subjective and based on the artist's personal image of the character. Consequently, it is common for artists and Tumblr users to debate how the characters look:
The author of the series, Sarah J. Maas, has regularly expressed her appreciation for fanart. Her monthly electronic newsletter occasionally includes fanart she likes. Charlie Bowater, an artist who designed fanart for the series, was often included in the newsletter. In fact, Sarah J. Maas liked her work immensely that her work gained canon status when she was hired as an artist for the official coloring book.
===Fanfiction===
Fanfiction of the series is usually posted to Tumblr and/or Archive of Our Own. Additionally, Fanfiction.net also contains an archive of A Court of Thorns and Roses, but has a lower number of fics compared to AO3.
Many fanfics have adopted a similar naming scheme to the canon series. Each canonical book is a deviation of the title A Court of A and B; the first book being A Court of Thorns and Roses and the second as A Court of Mist and Fury. Similarly, many fanfic authors have adopted similar titles for their works. For instance, herxndale's Hogwarts AU is titled A Court of Witchcraft and Wizardry and sarahviehmann popular fanfic is titled A Court of War and Starlight.
===Fannish terminology===
* Tamlin the Tool: is the fan favorite nickname for the character of Tamlin. The name is commonly used in memes, comedic chat posts and in general conversation on Tumblr and other social media.
* Fire Dick: On April 27, 2017, several days before the official release of A Court of Wings and Ruin, the tumblr blog acowar-spoiler posted a link to an 8 chapter preview of ACOWAR on Overdrive. This post garnered just over 500 notes, and the Overdrive link went viral across the fandom. During Chapter 6 of the preview, the character Brannagh mentioned that "Autumn Court males have fire in their blood - and they fuck like it too.". This piece of dialogue inspired several posts, memes and even fanfiction regarding the 'fire dick' idea.
===Events===
There are a myriad of fanweeks and even months celebrating ships and individual characters in ACOTAR. Some characters and ships have more than one event.
*Archeron Sisters Week. Active.
*Azriel Appreciation Week. Active.
*Azris Week. Active. 
*Cassian Appreciation Week. Active.
*Elains Week
:Defunct as of 2022.
*Elain Archeron Appreciation Week. Active.
*Elucien Week. Active.
*Elucien Week
:Defunct as of 2021.
*Elriel Month
:Defunct as of 2021.
*Elriel Month. Active.
*Emerie Week. Active. 
*Eris Week. Active. 
*Feyre Week. 
:Defunct as of 2022.
*Feysand Month
:Active. Hosted on Instagram.
*Feysand Week 2023
:Active. Started to create a tumblr-centered fanweek for the ship.
*Gwyn Week. Active. 
*Gwynriel Week. Active.
*Lucien Appreciation Week. Active.
*Mor Week. Active. 
*Nessian Week. Active.
*Nesta Appreciation Week. Active.
*Poly ACOTAR Week. Active. 
*SJM Romance Week
:Active. A romance themed week open to all ships and characters across SJM's three series.
*Starfall Week. Active. 
* Valkyrie Week. Active.
==Anti-fandom==
The A Court of Thorns and Roses series, and Maas' other series, Throne of Glass, have both been heavily criticized by fans for a lack of diversity and negative depictions of LGBT and POC characters. This has been raised in meta posts by book bloggers and Tumblr users. An anti fandom also exists, primarily on tumblr, where users discuss the issues in Sarah J. Maas's writing. Often discussion and meta focus on various topics including homophobia within the series, acephobia, sex in YA fiction, writing issues, POC treatment, toxic masculinity, unhealthy relationships and possible misogyny.
===Meta examples===
==="Antis" vs "Stans"===
On Tumblr, users who oppose and critique Sarah J Maas's writing are typically referred to as antis. The "anti" fandom particularly rose to prominence in 2017 after the release of A Court of Wings and Ruin; this book was notable for including problematic LGBT characters and the first book by Maas to include more diverse representation. Due to the controversial plotlines, the anti fandom grew in number and popularity. However, in turn, members of the anti fandom gained hate and abuse from some fans of ACOTAR and Throne of Glass. These particular fans were nicknamed "stans" by the anti fandom.
== Controversies ==
* Soapgate (2018)
==Fanworks==
===Fanfiction===
* A Court of War and Starlight by Sarah Viehmann "The war is just beginning. Disguised in the Spring Court, Feyre gains access to the King of Hybern's plans for Calanmai while Rhys hatches a plot to get her out before it's too late. Old allies are restored, new enemies are made, and Feyre and Rhys must travel across Prythian and beyond to unlock ancient secrets of the fae and prevent the King of Hybern from conquering every fae and mortal realm."'
* Unbound by pterodactylichexameter, rated M, "It's been weeks since Nesta arrived at the Night Court and she's still not used to her new body. Or Cassian's constant presence as he trains her and Elain. She knows she has to face him, face what she's become, but it's easier to pretend there's nothing going on. After all, he's still healing too. The Cauldron rendered Nesta and left a piece of itself in her, ruthless and destructive. This is the story of how Nesta put herself together again."
* Saturated Sunset by pterodactylichexameter, rated M"Everything is Happy™ and Feyre finally makes it back to that lingerie store in Velaris. Smut ensues."
* A Court of Hopes and Dreams by dreamworld1997 "Modern AU/AH. Feyre is conviced to attend the Prythian University by a beautiful stranger in a bar and now she has to deal with the aftermath of her decision. While hoping to find her escape from her previous life, she soon discovers there are worst things to face than her past."
* ACOMAF Part 1: The House of Beasts (Rhys POV) by illyriantremors "The first 13 chapters of ACOMAF told from Rhys's POV. Includes some brief details of his three months without her after he comes home from UtM and some improvised scenes, but most of it concerns his time with Feyre."
===Fanart===
* "Your Mine" by merwild
* Rhysand by merwild
* Rhysand by annashoemaker
* ACOTAR - The Inner Circle by Norm27/silketara
* Wings and Ruin by Charlie Bowater
===Fanvids===
* a Court of Thorns and Roses - Lyric Video by taratjah
* Feyre & Rhysand | Dark in my imagination by gabbyavv
* Feysand // Bring me back to life by Maria K
* ❝to the s t a r s who listen by Erika Majnivok
* ☾ the city of starlight ☾ by starkov
===Meta===
* Understanding Rhysand (and Tamlin): A Post-ACOMAF Reconciliation of Rhys’s Actions Under the Mountain in a Culture of Defeat by xnightwolfx
* Tarquin character study/appreciation post by irethlivvie
* The relationship between misogyny and romance: a SJM study by howlsmovinglibrary
* Christina's Close Look: Abuse and Assault in Fantasy Featuring A Court of Mist and Fury by blogger girlinthepages
* Rowaelin and Feylin; Parallels and Abuse: Why Context Matters by filippaeilharts (Throne of Glass and ACOTAR meta)
==Archives & Fannish links==
* acotar tag on Instagram
* /r/acotar on reddit
* A Court of Thorns and Roses on TV Tropes
* A Court of Thorns and Roses on Goodreads
===Fanfiction===
* A Court of Thorns and Roses series on Archive of Our Own
* A Court of Thorns and Roses archive on Fanfiction.net
* acotar fanfiction on Wattpad
==Resources==
* A Court of Thorns and Roses Wiki
==References==
Category:A Court of Thorns and Roses