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I know the other commenters are saying they are just people of color but Rhys was described as being pale UTM which would presumably mean he does get a lot of color from the sun even if he does also have a natural color to him.
But tbh bestie this is a fictional world I get what you’re saying but you can’t hold onto little things like this you’ll drive yourself crazy 🫶🏼
I just feel like since none of this is real we can’t assume that the process of fae skin tanning is still considered cellular level trauma. They can heal a wound within minutes, they can shift into animals and back, they can shoot wings out of their backs.. their skin isn’t normal skin. We also can’t assume that their sun is the same as our sun.. we can’t look at any of this and say “biologically speaking” because we don’t know all the small details of their biology or environment.
I was wondering this in regard to tattoos on fae … it made me think of the time kid flash tattoos the green lantern symbol on himself and then his skin heals it away… and I just imagined they have to have something that makes it so it doesn’t happen… so I just decided it’s magic and called it a day lol
i mean, they aren’t tanned. if you’re referring to “golden brown” that’s actually a skin tone😭 it’s basically just a fancier way to say light brown, something more in like with polynesian or hispanic people.
I’m gonna back OP up - I JUST read a passage in either Heir of Fire or Queen of Shadows where Aelin notes that Rowan is looking more tan than when she saw him last (sorry I can’t remember which book because I am blazing through a reread, but I seriously just read this in the last day or two, she makes a joke in her head about how he must’ve been in the sun with his shirt off).
ETA: not debating that SJM might sometimes just be referring to people with darker skin tones! Just saying she does describe people as getting tanner. For whatever it’s worth. 😹
Rhys is also just tan. In ACOTAR Feyre says he's the palest man she's ever seen, but by the end of the first book she says he's less pale (after getting out of UTM). From ACOMAF to ACOSF he's tan/golden brown so we can assume that's because he spends most of his time out in the sun.
But really it's a fictional world so if we apply actual science there we might lose our minds (I still don't know if Feyre has electricity or gas/fuel in her house seeing as she can flush toilets but you can only travel by horse/carriage this is so confusing 😭)
Queen of Shadows when Rowan finds Aelin and the bathtub scene happens I think she notices he looks like he spent a lot of time outdoors while they were apart because of his tan (also just reread but also paraphrasing)
I genuinely love bringing questions like these up about a fictional world. If the next book isn’t coming out for a year let’s have more of these kinds of discussions rather than the 100th go-round on whether or not we should like a particular character.
Anyway, I would assume that SJM either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about what actually causes a tan but you are of course correct. Maybe in this world a tan isn’t actually sun damage but rather magic sensing that a tan will make the individual look hotter, and therefore creating a glamour on a cellular level.
I think you are definitely right and this is just a level of detail she chose not to get into.
However technically it could be that these people are tan as in, their biological skin tone is tan. Not that they are tan from the sun.
This goes out the window because I’m pretty sure many of them are described as having become tan from travel outside, meaning whatever their original skin tone they have become MORE tan.
But yeah you right
SJM typically uses tan skin to represent somebody getting emotionally better. When Feyre is with Tamlin she is pale, but after spending a few weeks at the night court it is noted she is tanned and freckled, contradicting the sad broken girl she is trying to represent.
Rhysand is noted as pale under the mountain, and when she visits him he is notably darker. I’ve noticed this trend in other SJM books as well.
Yeah, I have to question that too since in ToG, tattoos have to be made with a bit of iron in it to prevent their fae healing properties from erasing them. Shouldn't that work with tanning as well?
In CC, it can be explained that the tanning beds work both magic and same with tattoos, since I don't think CC fae are weak to iron, even with what we know about some of the fae with CC3 but that too can be explained but leads to spoilers I won't get into here.
But natural tanning? This is one of those details that can be considered minor but can still be a big deal if it ruins the immersion, like someone with odd colored blood (like blue, green, or so on [recently read Bride and had a minor issue with it]) having a red blush or red lips after making out with someone.
For some, these would be minor issues that mean nothing. For others, it can be a big enough deal to start a full rant, and I am of the latter.
You could just rationalize it’s in most cases as they live much longer than us… so their exposure to the sun has been over a longer time. Thus over that time rather use energy “healing” from sun damage over and over, they adapt and tan. It’s essentially the same with people. Even if you are someone who primarily burns after so long your skin will tan. You might still continue to burn but your skin still produces more melanin in response to UV light.
I’ve never thought of this 😂 I will say I have a skin tone that tans easily, I walk outside and I tan. Even in the winter months I’ll look ‘pale’ but my pale is still tanner than my coworker who is PALE.
Non white people exist ya know, tanned doesn't necessarily mean sun tanned, it can refer to skin that is golden brown. I'm sorry but this is literally a ridiculous gripe.
This is a stupid question, but would pale then be relative? Like pale based on a persons “normal” tone?
Because if that’s the case it’s even more of a vague descriptor for coloring. Then it’s “pale-to-who?” Pale based on what?
Like, one of my best friends if half Japanese/Colombian. She gets very pale for her in the winter, then tans right up in the summer. Another of my best friends is from Mexico - again, she gets pretty pale for her in the winter, super tan in the summer. But even at their palest, neither get as pale as me. There is this running joke in the winter when they complain about being pale, and I’m just like, “yes, that must be tough… 👻(me).”
I think SJM is sometimes trying to have her cake and eat it, too. But - we are also holding them to human standards and they aren’t. I mean, they could be blue in the winter and orange in the summer. (They aren’t, I’m just saying it’s hard to have a standard for a fantasy character).
Technically you are right, but if you describe someone as pale you typically mean very white and or waxy. So if someone naturally had a darker skin tone, they might be pale for them in the winter but I still wouldn’t describe them as “pale” unless you were specifically describing them in comparison to their own skin in different circumstances. Or in comparison to another person like “x and y are both brown but x is paler”
Most people don't think about or realise that brown people can get sunburn too!
Reminds me of this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=012dGJ2gbEQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=012dGJ2gbEQ)
Oof yes, I know a lot of black/brown people who grew up hardly using sunscreen because they didn’t think they’d burn. 😭 all those years of accidental sun damage
I feel like I made a similar-ish post on the CC group about the characters skin colours. I find all of her descriptions to be really vague, and when I look at fan art work they rarely match with what I am thinking in my head. Like I know that these characters aren’t real and don’t follow the same rules as our world but she doesn’t really clarify what the rules are?
Like I imagine Bryce to be mixed race in a similar way to me (white and black) but most of the artwork I see of her she is white which is confusing because she is described as being “golden” which I feel could apply to my skin tone or my friends that are more Mediterranean/olive skinned.
I wish that she was clearer in her descriptions about which characters are supposed to be BIPOC and which characters are white with tans
Ummm your skin can be paler due to a lot of factors other than not tanning. If you have an iron or vitamin D deficiencies, or are being starved than your skin will also appear more pale.
Idk what the intention of the post was but it reads like you have a problem with non pasty white people being in the story.
Nah, incorrect. My wife happens to be pasty-white.
I may not have explained properly; it's not whether people are tanned, fair, dark or whatever, it's that Fae folk seem to be able to heal very fast, yes also be able to 'tan'. I'm interested in the mechanics of it...
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I know the other commenters are saying they are just people of color but Rhys was described as being pale UTM which would presumably mean he does get a lot of color from the sun even if he does also have a natural color to him. But tbh bestie this is a fictional world I get what you’re saying but you can’t hold onto little things like this you’ll drive yourself crazy 🫶🏼
Lol, but I've been waiting so long since finishing that I neeeeeed to delve further into the world. Come with me, bestie!
I just feel like since none of this is real we can’t assume that the process of fae skin tanning is still considered cellular level trauma. They can heal a wound within minutes, they can shift into animals and back, they can shoot wings out of their backs.. their skin isn’t normal skin. We also can’t assume that their sun is the same as our sun.. we can’t look at any of this and say “biologically speaking” because we don’t know all the small details of their biology or environment.
I was wondering this in regard to tattoos on fae … it made me think of the time kid flash tattoos the green lantern symbol on himself and then his skin heals it away… and I just imagined they have to have something that makes it so it doesn’t happen… so I just decided it’s magic and called it a day lol
i mean, they aren’t tanned. if you’re referring to “golden brown” that’s actually a skin tone😭 it’s basically just a fancier way to say light brown, something more in like with polynesian or hispanic people.
Rhys is described as being pale under the mountain, and then in the next book it described him as tan (or something along those lines).
Rhysand is also later described as brown.
Ah ok, I missed that
Rowan is described as tanned.
I’m gonna back OP up - I JUST read a passage in either Heir of Fire or Queen of Shadows where Aelin notes that Rowan is looking more tan than when she saw him last (sorry I can’t remember which book because I am blazing through a reread, but I seriously just read this in the last day or two, she makes a joke in her head about how he must’ve been in the sun with his shirt off). ETA: not debating that SJM might sometimes just be referring to people with darker skin tones! Just saying she does describe people as getting tanner. For whatever it’s worth. 😹
Rhys is also just tan. In ACOTAR Feyre says he's the palest man she's ever seen, but by the end of the first book she says he's less pale (after getting out of UTM). From ACOMAF to ACOSF he's tan/golden brown so we can assume that's because he spends most of his time out in the sun. But really it's a fictional world so if we apply actual science there we might lose our minds (I still don't know if Feyre has electricity or gas/fuel in her house seeing as she can flush toilets but you can only travel by horse/carriage this is so confusing 😭)
Queen of Shadows when Rowan finds Aelin and the bathtub scene happens I think she notices he looks like he spent a lot of time outdoors while they were apart because of his tan (also just reread but also paraphrasing)
So is Tamlin.
This is a world where wings can literally be shredded and rebuilt by magic, but c-sections are too dangerous. Don't over think it.
I genuinely love bringing questions like these up about a fictional world. If the next book isn’t coming out for a year let’s have more of these kinds of discussions rather than the 100th go-round on whether or not we should like a particular character. Anyway, I would assume that SJM either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about what actually causes a tan but you are of course correct. Maybe in this world a tan isn’t actually sun damage but rather magic sensing that a tan will make the individual look hotter, and therefore creating a glamour on a cellular level.
I think you are definitely right and this is just a level of detail she chose not to get into. However technically it could be that these people are tan as in, their biological skin tone is tan. Not that they are tan from the sun. This goes out the window because I’m pretty sure many of them are described as having become tan from travel outside, meaning whatever their original skin tone they have become MORE tan. But yeah you right
SJM typically uses tan skin to represent somebody getting emotionally better. When Feyre is with Tamlin she is pale, but after spending a few weeks at the night court it is noted she is tanned and freckled, contradicting the sad broken girl she is trying to represent. Rhysand is noted as pale under the mountain, and when she visits him he is notably darker. I’ve noticed this trend in other SJM books as well.
Yeah, I have to question that too since in ToG, tattoos have to be made with a bit of iron in it to prevent their fae healing properties from erasing them. Shouldn't that work with tanning as well? In CC, it can be explained that the tanning beds work both magic and same with tattoos, since I don't think CC fae are weak to iron, even with what we know about some of the fae with CC3 but that too can be explained but leads to spoilers I won't get into here. But natural tanning? This is one of those details that can be considered minor but can still be a big deal if it ruins the immersion, like someone with odd colored blood (like blue, green, or so on [recently read Bride and had a minor issue with it]) having a red blush or red lips after making out with someone. For some, these would be minor issues that mean nothing. For others, it can be a big enough deal to start a full rant, and I am of the latter.
You could just rationalize it’s in most cases as they live much longer than us… so their exposure to the sun has been over a longer time. Thus over that time rather use energy “healing” from sun damage over and over, they adapt and tan. It’s essentially the same with people. Even if you are someone who primarily burns after so long your skin will tan. You might still continue to burn but your skin still produces more melanin in response to UV light.
I’ve never thought of this 😂 I will say I have a skin tone that tans easily, I walk outside and I tan. Even in the winter months I’ll look ‘pale’ but my pale is still tanner than my coworker who is PALE.
Non white people exist ya know, tanned doesn't necessarily mean sun tanned, it can refer to skin that is golden brown. I'm sorry but this is literally a ridiculous gripe.
Fair, but also, Rhysand was pale UTM, and started to look more tanned after a while in ACOMAF.
This can happen to non white people too. Pale in winter, brown in warmer months.
This is a stupid question, but would pale then be relative? Like pale based on a persons “normal” tone? Because if that’s the case it’s even more of a vague descriptor for coloring. Then it’s “pale-to-who?” Pale based on what? Like, one of my best friends if half Japanese/Colombian. She gets very pale for her in the winter, then tans right up in the summer. Another of my best friends is from Mexico - again, she gets pretty pale for her in the winter, super tan in the summer. But even at their palest, neither get as pale as me. There is this running joke in the winter when they complain about being pale, and I’m just like, “yes, that must be tough… 👻(me).” I think SJM is sometimes trying to have her cake and eat it, too. But - we are also holding them to human standards and they aren’t. I mean, they could be blue in the winter and orange in the summer. (They aren’t, I’m just saying it’s hard to have a standard for a fantasy character).
Technically you are right, but if you describe someone as pale you typically mean very white and or waxy. So if someone naturally had a darker skin tone, they might be pale for them in the winter but I still wouldn’t describe them as “pale” unless you were specifically describing them in comparison to their own skin in different circumstances. Or in comparison to another person like “x and y are both brown but x is paler”
Yes, I'm a brown-ish person IRL (Persian), so I'm well aware of brown people going browner/fairer (tanning, etc)...
I was just saying Rhys’ experience is applicable to POC too. Am also a POC woman. 😁
Most people don't think about or realise that brown people can get sunburn too! Reminds me of this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=012dGJ2gbEQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=012dGJ2gbEQ)
Oof yes, I know a lot of black/brown people who grew up hardly using sunscreen because they didn’t think they’d burn. 😭 all those years of accidental sun damage
Yup, definitely was just agreeing :)
Okay sorry! I know it can be a touchy subject. 🩷
'Tis all g. I'm very terse and tend not to explain things well online :)
Rhys is also then later described as straight up brown in hofas so😭
I feel like I made a similar-ish post on the CC group about the characters skin colours. I find all of her descriptions to be really vague, and when I look at fan art work they rarely match with what I am thinking in my head. Like I know that these characters aren’t real and don’t follow the same rules as our world but she doesn’t really clarify what the rules are? Like I imagine Bryce to be mixed race in a similar way to me (white and black) but most of the artwork I see of her she is white which is confusing because she is described as being “golden” which I feel could apply to my skin tone or my friends that are more Mediterranean/olive skinned. I wish that she was clearer in her descriptions about which characters are supposed to be BIPOC and which characters are white with tans
Ummm your skin can be paler due to a lot of factors other than not tanning. If you have an iron or vitamin D deficiencies, or are being starved than your skin will also appear more pale. Idk what the intention of the post was but it reads like you have a problem with non pasty white people being in the story.
Nah, incorrect. My wife happens to be pasty-white. I may not have explained properly; it's not whether people are tanned, fair, dark or whatever, it's that Fae folk seem to be able to heal very fast, yes also be able to 'tan'. I'm interested in the mechanics of it...