#anti papa archeron

[silverflameataraxia]

Nesta coming home bruised and bleeding from the beating she just endured at the hands of her Grandmamma. Standing in the doorway of Papa Archeron's office, tears streaming down her face, hoping he'll look up and notice her. Hoping he'll care and protect her. But he's too busy with his spices to notice his battered young daughter standing there. Nesta quietly heads back to her bedroom so she can cover up the bruises before her sisters get home.

In the heat of summer, Nesta wears gloves and long-sleeved dresses. Elain and Feyre think their sister is a giant weirdo, but really she's trying to cover up her palms that are beaten raw and the bruises marking her body. Because as long as her sisters don't know about the abuse that she's suffering, she can handle it.

Little Feyre constantly interrupting dancing lessons because she wants to play with Nesta. Nesta, noticing the familiar rage on their Grandmamma's face, purposely falls so that their Grandmamma will beat her and not Feyre.

Young Elain going on and on about the flowers in bloom. Nesta notices the growing annoyance on their Grandmamma's face, so she says something to rile her up, so their Grandmamma will rip Nesta to shreds, but leave Elain's heart intact.

Nesta's favorite place is to be alone in her bedroom because only there can she let the tears flow. Only there will she not be beaten or have her heart ripped into a thousand pieces. But as long as it's happening to her and not her sisters, she can endure it. As long as the bruises are on her body and not theirs, she'll be okay. As long as their hearts are whole, it doesn't matter if hers is ripped to shreds.

When their Grandmamma finally dies, Nesta refuses to shed a single tear or lay flowers at her grave. Elain and Feyre think their sister is hateful and horrid, but really Nesta just refuses to cry or lay flowers for her abuser.

Nesta let's her sisters spend their childhood thinking everything is rainbows and unicorns when really it's a court of nightmares.

[0lk0s]

i didn't just see mf on tiktok say how nesta and their deadbeat dad are similar because they're traumatized and failed their family😰 yeah sure! only the fact nesta was a literal child and their dad was a literal grown man with all the responsibility to take care of his kids but yeah totally the same! like dpmo now😭

[ladydeath-vanserra]

the girlies who throw so much shade at Nesta regarding feyre hunting but say nothing about papa archeron or about Rhys suggesting naming their child after papa archeron are the weakest link

[hrizantemy]

You know what I hate? I hate when people shit on Papa Archeron, not for the abuse he caused his daughters but for his final act of love when rescuing them. Like, Nesta’s name was on the leading ship—like, seriously? As if that doesn’t make total sense. Nesta was his first daughter, the first one he failed. She was the one who went after Feyre when she was taken. So many of his firsts were with Nesta—she was the first to show that kind of fierce, protective love, even when it came at the cost of herself. This was the first man who failed Nesta, and people still want to diminish that connection. It’s honestly wild.

[stargirlfeyre]

Feyre being hated for speaking on her familial trauma/abuse to the Inner Circle will always be insane to me.

“She painted them out to be bad people and her the poor little victim” No they painted themselves out to be bad people and all she did was express how their actions hurt her. For a series that’s heavily focused on trauma and healing, I can’t believe people are so upset because a female character spoke on her own experiences.

Feyre didn’t paint herself out to be a victim. She simply was one. You can’t look at that Cabin situation and boldly say that Feyre was not a victim.

[elainarcheronslawyer]

no because you know what I’m sick of? i’m sick of people blaming elain and nesta for feyre going hunting as if mr archeron wasn’t right there. like if your willing to sit there and hold two children accountable then maybe you should also blame the adult who quite frankly couldn’t be arsed to help his own children. i know it’s not the most popular of opinions but i think elain and nesta have paid their penance for a crime that wasn’t theirs.

[silly--fangirl]

i think we all need to start putting much more shame on the archeron parents' name but people aren't ready to hear that

[fenrysmoonbeamswife]

Now people are excusing Papa Archeron?? Are you people for real?

Also I don't think people realize their excuses for him actually come across as slightly ableist. Disabled people are not useless. He had a bad knee, that does not mean he could do nothing.

He's fully capable of doing things when they have money so get t'fuck. He was useless from the beginning, it is not because of his disability. He allowed the physical and emotional abuse of Nesta, he neglected Nesta and Feyre, he allowed and participated in the grooming of Nesta, and this is all pre poverty.

As someone who is disabled and actually has a father who is similarly disabled to Papa Archeron, I can absolutely give the slightest, and I mean slightest, bit of leeway to him. In a sense that becoming disabled on top of losing their money most likely sent him down a spiral that was hard to dig himself out of. I think most disabled people have felt like that at some point, especially in the beginning if it's something you didn't previously have, but jesus come on. The man has zero backbone, zero drive, when you have children especially you dig yourself out of that hole and you do what you can. I'm not looking for some Herculean effort, he doesn't have to be perfect but at the very least you try, you show some gratitude for what they're doing, you don't act like they don't exist.

Let's be real, his failings really have nothing to do with his disability. It's all about the money for people like him. When it's gone he is completely unable to accept it and is always focused on regaining it while doing nothing to actually fulfill that. He's all talk and no action. He neglects his children entirely and relies on Feyre for food and money and Nesta to care for the house and Elain and find suitors.

I will never ever blame either Feyre or Nesta for the way they treat/speak to each other in that cabin. They are young girls in poverty, they're starving, they're cold, they have a useless parent and a dead parent and they have the weight of the world on their shoulders. I've been there. They are not going to be sweet to each other, it is not all rainbows and unicorns and ooh la di da they should all bake bread and sing in their little cottage. They are frustrated and angry and scared 24/7 and in constant survival mode. But I do blame Papa Archeron 100%, fully and completely.

Someone tried to compare him to Elain because she tries to see the beauty in the bleakness of their life but honestly that is an insult to Elain. He didn't see the beauty, he was just greedy and a useless sack of jelly when he didn't have the ambition to match his greed.

And don't even get me started on his bullshit narcissistic stunt with the ships?? That's a whole post in itself. I actually hate that man to the point I wish SJM gave him a name because he doesn't deserve to be called Papa

[szalonykasztan00]

Mr. Archeron and Mrs. Archeron are just ACOTAR twisted versions of John and Mary Winchester.

Let them rot in hell.

[colorlesschristmastree]

What's your opinion about the ship scene in acowar? When Father Archeron comes back and the leading ship is called NESTA

I can't even stand to think of that mediocre, bullshit ass scene. I have so much spite for that entire scene it was just ridiculous. Like I'm not even gonna bother to explain but it makes ZERO sense for it to be anyone other than Feyre.

[cactusboil]

I love seeing Papa A receive some smoke

Papa Archeron, the father who curved all narrative responsibilities.

Short rant, but I saw a post somewhere that stated the those who think it would be wiser for the narrative to be more critical of Papa Archeron are abelist because his leg was fucked up, thus it should have meant Nesta and Elain should have been more responsible during their time in poverty and are deserving of the hate they get. Though being more "responsible" in this context would mean going hunting like Feyre than managing a household, trying to maintain some social standanding to be able to gain a wedding match to release the burden on the family- I present Elain's match to Greyson and Nesta's match to that prick, Tomas. They did that. Even if in Nesta's case, it would have been detrimental to her, but something she would have followed through with as that was her duty.

Now, the moment Tamlin gave them their wealth back, which he didn't have to do, Papa Archeron's disability miraculously was no longer a factor. Dude was up and about, travelling the world, making more money and gathering armies like it was a piece of cake, with no excuses and no issue.

Doesn't this just prove Nesta had a good fucking reason to silently rage and refuse to life a finger initially? Because she knew he had it in him to take action and be a parent the entire time, but he chose not to when his children needed him the most. He left them to fend for themselves. He should be the one to receive the ire, but no. His disability became an "out", though the moment money was re-introduced, that was enough to rouse him than his own children. Daughters, no less, in a society where women are expected to be married.

Like, what the actual fuck? Nesta was right about him all along, and the fact that people hate on Nesta for his failings as a parent is mad to me.

[silverflameataraxia]

This may be a controversial post, but I will never hold it against Nesta that she didn't do the hunting. She went through twelve years of physical and emotional abuse that her sisters did not endure and don't even know about. She protected them and suffered for them. She's done enough. There's no reason Nesta should have gone through twelve years of abuse and eight years of hunting while her sisters did nothing. Nesta has suffered and endured enough trauma.

When it came time for someone to do the hunting, it was time for someone else in the family to step up. It was time for someone to protect Nesta. To take care of her. It shouldn't have been Feyre, but it most certainly shouldn't have been Nesta. As tragic as it is to see fourteen-year-old Feyre go hunting in the woods alone, it is not more tragic than seven-year-old Nesta coming home bruised and bleeding from the latest beating she endured for supposedly "failing" at her dancing lessons.

The original trilogy should have focused on Feyre resenting Nesta for letting her hunt, only for Feyre to learn in ACOSF that Nesta protected her from twelve years of abuse. Then both sisters could have come to terms with their respective traumas and turned their resentment towards their useless, horrid father, who clearly didn't love them because he turned a blind eye to Nesta's abuse and Feyre's hunting.

It's the fact that the narrative gives a free pass to Papa Archeron, the man of the household, while pitting female against female. We're supposed to hate the female child abuse victim in order to make the other female the ultimate victim of the Archeron family. But, in order to do so, SJM has to ignore, undermine, and invalidate Nesta's abuse so the narrative can revolve around Feyre and her suffering.

[stargirlfeyre]

The fact that Nesta ends her book feeling like she now has to earn the love of a man who sat back and watched as she was groomed and thrown at grown men is…definitely a writing choice.

I thank God every day that we got Feyre’s books before Sjm lost her mind.

[elainarcheronslawyer]

You absolving Elain and nesta of providing for themselves and taking advantage of their little sister for years, many of which they were adults, is wild. Elain and nesta took advantage of feyre, it’s repeatedly established, and we meet them when they’re adults and this has been happening for years. Their father obviously sucks but even he was shown doing more than Elain in the cabin even though she was able bodied and an adult when we meet her.

It was absolutely their crime. If you can’t fathom why it’s horrible that feyre was beyond exhausted just risked her life and comes home with food only for elain to be like “when will you finish getting it ready” and have it established she’s never offered to help and has never provided any help and this has been ongoing for years while she’s an adult then idk what to tell you. You lack empathy.

You’re lying to yourself if you don’t get how bad their treatment was. It’s their crime because they could’ve done something to show appreciation or provide for themselves like healthy adults should but they knew feyre would do it so they let her. Nesta even justifies taking Feyre’s money with “I knew you could always get more”. Elain and nesta are guilty in different ways and the same and it’s actually revolting that you’re excusing this abuse and neglect just because you like their characters.

Honestly just read the acofas interview where sjm talks about the fact that feyre was forced to be the caregiver of her sisters and father and had never been prioritized or taken care of is literally linked to how she ended up in a domestic abusive relationship with tamlin.

Elain admits they failed her and neglected her and didn’t help while she gave for years. Nesta admits she did nothing and wanted them all to starve and hated feyre for stepping up and failed Feyre repeatedly. Feyre has deep emotional scars over it that we see repeatedly. To deny this mistreatment was theirs and an established pattern for YEARS, most of which nesta and Elain were adults and most of which feyre was still a child, is unempathetic and ignoring what the books clearly show.

oh goodness let’s tackle this a bit at a time.

firstly, no one is diminishing feyre’s hunting. what she did was something no child should have to do.

it’s almost as if there is no one way to respond to a truly horrific situation. nesta was 22 in acotar and elain was 20. now sjm’s timeline is a mess but that would make them no older than 17 and 15 when they fell in too poverty ( feyre would have been about 13). nesta and elain were barely adults. elain was only an adult for 2 or 3 of those years (again this is unclear due to a slightly messy timeline). however regardless of how long they’d been adults it’s still not their responsibility to provide for the family ( it shouldn’t have been feyre’s either). why? because that responsibility rests solely on the shoulders of their father. my second (rhetorical) question is: who do you think was doing the domestic tasks? because it wasn’t nesta, it wasn’t their useless lump of a father (he was to busy carving wood and neglecting his children) and feyre canonically doesn’t know how to (nor would she have time to after spending her days hunting for food). so it must have been elain. feyre is repeatedly shown to have very little interest in domestic tasks so it is plausible that due to her being an unreliable narrator it just hasn’t occurred to her and therefore it doesn’t occur to the reader. if feyre is starving after a day of hunting why can’t elain be equally as hungry after a day of unrecognised domestic labour? (even if this isn’t the case they are three barley adults in a truly awful situation so i think it’s both acceptable and understandable for them to be hangry). i don’t know how much experience you have with not knowing where your next meal will come from and being constantly hungry but i can tell you it fucking sucks and it brings out the absolute worst in people.

i never said it wasn’t a horrible situation only that it wasn’t nesta or elain’s (or feyre’s for that matter) responsibility.

it’s quite clear that all occupant of that cottage were suffering from some kind of trauma and it’s understandable that they react that way but once again it was only ever their father’s responsibility to find food and money not the sisters. i hadn’t read that interview before this and i did find it very informative so thank you (i think) for the recommendation? however, i do think it is besides the point because once again it was not any of the sisters responsibility it was papa archerons. feyre’s abusive relationship is obviously awful and i recognise how much she craved someone to put her first. but nesta and elain are not the ones at fault. their father is. it was only ever his responsibility to care for his children (and to be quite honest it was his fault they were in that situation in the first place)

also, (i’m actually glad you brought it up) both nesta and elain recognise and apologise for the treatment of feyre and show remorse even after feyre completely destroyed their human lives (albeit accidentally and i don’t think she is solely to blame she only wanted a friend).

finally, obviously i’m not the one lacking in empathy if you’re failing to recognise the trauma carried by all three sisters. nesta was angry and bitter at their father for his failings and neglect, we haven’t had elain’s perspective yet but i’m of the belief that her desperation to bake and cook comes from years of worrying where her next meal is coming from and how whatever feyre brings back is going to feed four people. you seem very familiar with feyre’s trauma so i won’t reiterate it. the only person to blame for the neglect of all three sisters is their father. he had a duty of care and he abused them. (negligence is a form of abuse btw) he was responsible for all of his daughters. he should have done something to help. it shouldn’t have been feyre hunting because it shouldn’t have been any of them. their father neglected them all. elain had to take on the role of his care giver (neither of the others would’ve done it and they shouldn’t have had to). so yes ‘letting’ feyre hunt wasn’t nesta or elain’s crime. it was their father’s and because he’s dead it is highly unlikely he will face the consequences of this and/or apologise to his daughter’s for neglecting them. ( a half arsed confession before he died doesn’t count and pulling his act together just in time for the grand finale in acowar won’t absolve him of his crimes either)

[fenrysmoonbeamswife]

His death was the final act of a narcissist. SJM will never convince me it was a redemption and I'm sorry but if you fell for that scene you have been so unbelievably manipulated

SJM hates Nesta so much and she will never change my mind when this^^ is how she writes things. It would have been totally understandable if it had just been Nesta's inner feelings that she was feeling guilt etc because that's pretty common in parentified and neglected kids when a parent dies but to have him get off with no consequences as some sort of martyr? To suggest having Feyre's child named after him?? To have everyone else agree with Nesta that she's guilty and villainize her but not him? Get fucked SJM, get f u c k e d

Papa Archeron gets a pass for being a shitty father for two reasons.

1# He’s a man

#2 He’s dead.

These two reasons are why he receives barely any in-text criticism and is never held to the same standards as Nesta. It’s worth pointing out how Rhysand and the Inner Circle never bring up Papa Archeron’s culpability for the toxic atmosphere in the Archeron family home. When Rhysand expresses his anger towards Feyre’s family during a private conversation, he only mentions her sisters and doesn’t say a single word about Papa Archeron.

The hostility that Nesta receives from the Inner Circle is underlined by the misogynistic expectation that she should’ve stepped in as a sacrificial surrogate mother for her sisters. According to the narrative, it’s acceptable and forgivable for Papa Archeron to let his family down as a father, but Nesta needs to be raked over the coals to earn forgiveness. The fact that he’s dead only makes it worse. Because in death, he’s suddenly remembered and honoured by his loved ones while Nesta is left behind to repay his debts.

[amandapearls]

I think it’s weird…really weird…that the Elriels assume that Eluciens want “Elain to be a side character in Lucien’s story”—-

🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

I don’t know how to help them at this point. Let me break it down.

Elain is 100% getting a book. That is confirmed by Sarah. We still don’t know when we will be getting that book. Elain will be the main character in HER BOOK. Eluciens believe that Lucien will be her LOVE INTEREST in her book. Elain is DIRECTLY tied to the Vassa and Koschei plot line because she’s the one that FIRST had the vision of Vassa. We wouldn’t even know about Vassa, the lake, or Koschei if it wasn’t for Elain.

This is ELAIN’S plotline. HERS. Now, luckily, her mate is also tied to the plotline since he went to the continent looking for this lake and Vassa. Thankfully he was able to find Papa Archeron and Vassa. So therefore he’d be the perfect love interest/ side kick in ELAIN’S STORY.

It’s sad that I even had to break this concept down. It should’ve been obvious. Oh well here you go.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

Excerpts are from “A Court of Wing and Ruin”