One Brutal Court Of Thorns & Roses Scene From 10 Years Ago Highlights The Series’ Biggest Missed Opportunity

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the A Court of Thorns and Roses books.Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses is brilliant in many ways, with its compelling cast, unique world-building, and intriguing magic system. However, the books often lack high stakes and tension within their stories — and this is mainly due to the rarity of character deaths or any real consequences to be found throughout the (currently) five-book fantasy series. Feyre and co. are essentially untouchable, and everyone reading knows it.

This is made even more apparent by one brutal scene in the first A Court of Thorns and Roses installment, and its highly emotional aftermath emphasizes the need for more character deaths throughout Maas’ fantasy book series. While this death takes place fairly early in the A Court of Thorns and Roses saga, it’s not one that is replicated or returned to very often and makes for one of the book series’ biggest missed opportunities.

The Summer Court Fae Having His Wings Cut Is One Of The Most Brutal ACOTAR Scenes

The Scene Adds So Much Emotional Depth To The Story

In the first A Court of Thorns and Roses novel, Maas wrote one of the most brutal scenes of the entire series, during which a Summer Court fae is brought into Tamlin’s home after having been tortured by Amarantha. As his wings were cut, the fae is in horrendous pain, and the small moments both Feyre and Tamlin have with this character before his death are some of the hardest to read. After a short time of attempting to save the faerie, it becomes obvious by Feyre, Tamlin, and Lucien’s reactions that he doesn’t have long to live.

“My wings,” the faerie choked out, his glossy black eyes wide and staring at nothing. “She took my wings.”

— A Court of Thorns and Roses

Not only does it highlight how terrible and great a threat Amarantha is to Prythian as a whole, but it shows a different side to the characters as the readers have come to know them up to this point. The scene is brimming with emotion and packs a powerful punch into A Court of Thorns and Roses‘ overall story, and few other examples are able to capture the same raw emotion that this does. Which is somewhat surprising, given that it involves a character readers know for all of two minutes.

This Court Of Thorns & Roses Moment Highlights The Series’ Biggest Missed Opportunity

The Summer Court Fae’s Death Highlights How Beneficial Character Deaths Can Be In A Narrative

Hardly any characters die in the ACOTAR novels, with most who do sustain life-threatening injuries making a miraculous recovery. And even if they do meet their demise, they are very quickly brought back to life — like Amren or Rhys. However, the emotional loss of the Summer Court faerie in the first novel illustrates how the series would have benefited from more character deaths throughout its five books. Aside from the Summer Court faerie, the only other death that impacts readers is The Suriel — but even he isn’t a major character.

There are plenty of moments throughout Maas’ ACOTAR books where one of the major characters should have died — and while it would have been hard to lose such them, the emotional depth it would have added to the story would have been advantageous. Character deaths help to push the plot forward, generate more stakes and tension, and ultimately make the story more realistic. It’s impractical to believe every character will make it to the end, and ACOTAR‘s pattern of teasing character deaths, only for them to return a page or two later, makes the plot feel inconsequential.

It’s Not Too Late For ACOTAR To Deliver On A Major Character Death

Maas Can Turn This Around In A Future Book

While the initial trilogy should have delivered a major character death in some way, Maas still has the opportunity to do so in a future A Court of Thorns and Roses installment. It is established that the ACOTAR series is far from over, and while the narrative for Maas’ upcoming novel is still unknown, she’ll hopefully use it to turn around her lack of character deaths. It’s widely believed that the next novel will finally feature Elain’s story, and with so many unanswered questions from previous books, Maas has a lot to work with.

Related

The Next Court Of Thorns & Roses Book Could Address The Series’ Biggest Fae Problem Through 2 Underused Characters

Maas’ sixth A Court of Thorns and Roses needs finally explore Prythian’s toxic fae behavior, and two underused characters would be perfect to do so.

A Court of Thorns and Roses‘ cast has continued to grow with each installment, and at this point, there are over a dozen major players to be found within the narrative. While many of these characters are beloved, the large cast gives Maas the opportunity to pick and choose who will meet their demise in future books. This will by no means be an easy decision, as many play an important role. But I’m hoping she uses their varying skills and personalities to deliver a heartbreaking and heroic death that does the narrative justice.

A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015)

Publisher(s)

Bloomsbury Publishing

Publication Date

2015-05-05

ISBN#

9781619634442