#critical acomaf

[achaotichuman]

Acotar Rant

I feel like the Acotar series would be so much better if Rhys and Tam was just a little over a hundred.

Assuming the age gaps and century year old fae in SJM books are there so we can have complex characters and not just to fulfill her weird sexual fantasies I think it would be better if instead of these people being like five-six centuries old, where they should have fully developed characters and should be better equipped to handle the situations, they're in. Because trust me, none of them are.

They were like just a little over a hundred. Tamlin and Rhysand might have been twenty-thirty years old when they're families were killed, and they were put on thrones. And keeping to the fact that they are immortal, all of a sudden, to have the equivalent of baby Fae ruling Courts, the actions or lack of actions taken in their Courts makes a ton of sense.

Tamlin, who has said many, many times he would always fight for freedom and defend people who couldn't defend himself, following in his tyrant father's footsteps makes sense because he was so young and probably had no one and nothing to his name. Rhysand not doing anything for the Hewn City or Illyria also makes sense because he was just a couple of decades old and same thing as Tamlin, had nothing and no one to his name.

Then only like twenty-thirty years pass, which even for humans is not nearly enough time for massive changes like completely eliminating wing clipping, an ingrained tradition in society, to take place, Amarantha comes. Her being able to trick a literal daemati also makes sense because Rhysand wouldn't really have the experience needed to sniff out when someone is up to something fishy.

Then fifty years pass, fifty years Under the Mountain which is even longer than either Rhys or Tamlin had been ruling. Then their desperation makes more sense. Tamlin clinging onto Feyre like she's some fallen saint that he desperately needs to protect makes even more sense. At that point neither of them would really know much more than Under the Mountain or the curse.

It's still a gross age gape, but it adds more nuance to the story, it's also why I think it's stupid when Feyre says Tarquin wouldn't understand her darkness, like no sweetie, you wouldn't understand his darkness.

I just think we need younger Fae. Fae that are inexperienced and don't know better than the bad cards they've been dealt. Rhysand who is still new to this whole ruling thing and know only knows Amarantha's way of ruling. Same thing with Tamlin. Both of them still locked in the memories of the night they became High lords, unable to let go.

It's also a good way to comment on how Fae mentally age, because, immortal or not, time changes people. Fae mentally age slowly, because their bodies don't at all, so for only like seventy or eighty years to have passed since they witnessed the death of their families, for Tamlin to have been like fifty-sixty when he was forced to send his sentries, his friends, to their deaths in vain. For Rhysand to have been a child king trying to eliminate wing-clipping and darkness in the Hewn City while men centuries older than him scoffed and laughed.

It just adds a whole new level of complexity. I hate the idea that these characters need to be like 500+ to have any level of personality in these series'.

[spacerockfloater]

The way people switched on Tamlin the moment Rhys was introduced is diabolical.

“Tamlin never really loved Feyre, it was all a trick from the start”: It is stated that Tamlin was disgusted by the idea of forcing someone to fall in love with him and considered it slavery, but ended up being so in love with her that he ultimately lets her go and choses her freedom and safety over that of his own people. Rhys confirms that Tamlin loved Feyre too much. And he loved her truly. Not because he had to. Tamlin treated Feyre with dignity when she was engaged to him. He introduced her as his lady, to be respected and cherished by all. And she really was loved by his people, too. Rhysand uses her as his lap dog to scare Hewn City and parades her as his whore.

“Tamlin never did anything for Feyre, he just used her”: He improved her and her family’s life in every aspect and offered her everything he had.

“Tamlin had sex with someone else in Calanmai”: Out of duty and responsibility because he didn’t want to force Feyre, who still wasn’t sure about her feelings, into it. All of the High Lords perform the Calanmai. Lucien says so. How convenient that this is never brought up with Rhysand. He surely does perform it as well. All the theories in here, “Lucien doesn’t know what he’s talking about/ This is a SC ritual only/ He probably just passes the duty on to someone else��� are just a way for people to villainise Tam and glorify Rhys again. All of them inaccurate. The Calanmai is canonically performed by every High Lord. There’s no evidence that proves otherwise. As the son of one High Lord and the ambassador of another, Lucien would know. He is 500 years old. It’s just more convenient for SJM to never bring this up again because it raises the question of “Who was Rhysand fucking all these years?” and it makes her favourite character look bad. And once he is engaged to her, Tamlin flat out refuses to do it. Let’s be real for a second.

“Tamlin didn’t help Feyre under the mountain”: He literally could not. He was bound by a curse. He was forced to be Amarantha’s consort and a consort cannot oppose you. His powers were bound. Alis warns Feyre that Tamlin will not be able to help her. Stop acting as if he didn’t want to help her. He decapitated Amarantha the moment he got his autonomy back. Claiming that there’s no proof that Tamlin was under the influence of a spell when he literally didn’t break the curse and Amarantha’s magic didn’t allow him to use his powers is crazy. And even if he tried, he could never provide actual help. We see this when he begs Amarantha for Feyre’s life. Him showing he cares about her would only make Amarantha more jealous and vicious towards Feyre.

“Tamlin made out with Feyre instead of helping her”: He couldn’t help her run away. No one could do that. She would never make it, Amarantha would find her. In fact, Tamlin specifically could not help her in any way. He could only assure her he still wants and loves her. And she wanted that just as much. Rhys abused her physically, mentally, verbally, drugged her and much worse. And he enjoyed all of it. If he didn’t want to raise suspicions, he wouldn’t have placed a bet in her favour. Rhys is a sadist, SJM just decided to mellow him down in the next book so that we’d all like him over Tamlin.

“Tamlin ignored Feyre’s wishes and only wanted her to be his bride, he didn’t let her be High Lady”: Both Tamlin and Feyre were bad communicators going though trauma and Tam had a whole court to care for. Tamlin was unaware of how Feyre felt because she barely spoke up once. Rhys knew because he literally lived inside her head and had all the time in the world to focus his attention on her since his court suffered zero consequences during Amarantha’s reign. And Tamlin simply told her the truth: there’s no such thing as High Lady. Even her current title is given to her by Rhys, the magic of Prythian has not actually chosen her to be High Lady. The title and its power are decorative. And she said she didn’t want that anyway.

“Tamlin locks Feyre up and uses his magic to harm her”: He locks her in his humongous palace to keep her safe, after she just came back from the dead and his worst enemy is kidnapping her every month, while he runs off to protect his borders. Rhysand locks Feyre in a fucking bubble. Tamlin loses control of his magic. He doesn’t want to harm her. That’s not abuse. Abuse is intentional. Feyre and Rhysand lock Lucien and Nesta up. They lock the people of the Hewn City up in a cave. Feyre loses control of her magic and harms Lucien’s mother. Double standards I guess.

“Tamlin is a bad and conservative ruler”: Tamlin is such a beloved ruler that his sentries literally begged to die for him. Feyre had to fuck with their minds to finally turn them against him. They were his friends. He was so progressive that the lords fled his court once he became their ruler because he wouldn’t put up with their bullshit like his father did. He loved all of his people. He is against slavery. The Tithe was just tax collection. Rhysand practically rules over just one city, while ignoring Hewn City and Illyria. He treats 2/3 of his realm like shit and everyone except the residents of Velaris hates him. He collects tax, too, but we conveniently never see this. He ranks the members of his inner circle (my 1st, my 2nd etc.) and reminds them every moment that they are his slaves first and anything else second, while Tamlin treats them equally and even gives Lucien an official title by naming him Ambassador.

“Tamlin conspired with Hybern”: He was a double agent and his short lived alliance, two weeks all in all, not only didn’t harm a single soul, but ultimately saved all of Prythian as he was the only one who brought valuable information to that meeting. He dragged Beron to battle. Rhysand’s alliance with Amarantha harmed thousands and only helped save one city, Velaris.

“Tamlin is responsible for turning Nesta and Elain into Fae”: No, that was Ianthe, who got the info from Feyre. Tamlin was fooled by her, just as Feyre obviously was, or she wouldn’t have trusted her. Tamlin was disgusted by that act.

“Tamlin is less powerful than Rhysand”: Rhysand himself says that a battle between them would turn mountains to dust. Tamlin killed Rhysand’s dad, the previous High Lord of the Night Court, in one blow. He is just as powerful as Rhysand. SJM again just wants us to believe otherwise. And he is smarter, too. He was the only one not to trust Amarantha. And he was a good spy for Prythian against Hybern.

All of these takes are cold as fuck. SJM was testing the waters with ACOTAR and she made sure the main love interest, Tamlin, was insanely likeable, so that the book could be a satisfactory standalone story in case she couldn’t land a trilogy deal. She didn’t know it would be such a big hit. But once she realised she could turn this into a franchise, she had to figure out a new story to tell. She may claim otherwise, but there’s just too many plothotes to convince me. And in order to make her new main love interest seem like the best choice, she had to character assassinate the old one. There was no other way. ACOTAR Rhys was too much of an evil monster to be loved by the majority of the audience. But Tamlin was introduced to us as such a heroic and passionate man that is literally impossible to turn him into someone despised by all. Feyre’s relationship with Rhysand reads too much like cheating on Tamlin. That’s why anyone with basic analytical skills is able to realise the flaws of the narration.

[pinkwhite]

"Tarquin said, claiming the seat at the head of the table between Rhys and Amren. A bold move, to situate himself between two such powerful beings". mind you this his court, their in his palace, and like he's also a HIGH LORD???

[thefatesofspring]

Feyre having the nerve & audacity to be upset at Tamlin & Lucien for BELIEVING HER LIE that Rhysand was still SA’ing her will FOREVER piss me off beyond reason!!

That was such a green flag that I’m convinced the delusional hoe is colour blind too.

[yaralulu]

I will not let anyone forget that the minute feyre was back in spring with her insane revenge plan in mind,the first thing tamlin does is admit his behavior in acomaf was wrong and he apologizes without trying to make excuses for anything he did. And we see him in acowar actually trying to be different and going through with his words here.

A man reflecting back on his behavior and admitting he’s wrong and apologizing without giving us a 7 page monologue full of excuses?? Unacceptable!!! Kill him!!!

[littlefeltsparrow]

Schrödinger’s Feyre: Where Feyre is simultaneously a cunning and badass girlboss with a mind of steel and a fragile little lamb who doesn’t know any better. When they’re proud, she’s a skilled strategist and competent High Lady, but when it comes to facing the consequences of her actions and the implications of her power, suddenly she’s a little baby waddling through fairy land.

[ennawrite]

the IC being convinced Jurian is the worst guy ever because *checks notes* he fought hard to get his people out of *checks notes again* *pulls notes back* *squints* *lifts up super sophisticated spectacles onto head* *brings notes closer* ENSLAVEMENT? AGAINST THE FAE?

[wannabewriterlol]

I want tamlin and Nesta to start a therapy group and just work through the copious amount of gaslighting they’ve faced by Rhysand, Ferye, and the his merry band of idiots.

[reblogandlikes]

Paraphrasing, but the general idea of, "Oh my gosh, Rhysand let's Feyre breathe and go wherever she wants and can make her own choices in Velaris, whereas Tamlin’s stripped her of all her autonomy. He's so abusive and doesn’t listen to her."

Bruh, Velaris is a literal secret city no-one knows of and has a fucking state of the arts super shield around it that requires the help of the bloody Cauldron to break. Plus, the Lord of Bloodshed, the Shadowsinger, the Morrigon, the Otherworldly creature trapped in fae form, and the self proclaimed all Most Powerful High Lord reside in this single space. Of course, Feyre suddenly feels like she has "Freedom." There's no need for surveillance (even though she's always accompanied by one of them) and is basically living in an impenetrable bubble away from all possible dangers.

Then there's Rhysand who can literally feel and hear everything she doesn't express, whereas her and Tamlin had the silly unspoken rule of not talking, but instead carry on - push forward which ultimately resulted in her growing resentment, but she was quite literally a participant in this just as much as he was, while refusing to believe him when he said it was dangerous or that the towns people wouldnt want her help because they were so grateful or getting mad because he had to be an active HL. Hybern were actively looking for her; there's literal monsters roaming his land. Of course, she needs to be protected because the girl is literally in danger. And then the one time she did go out to hunt or whatever, and look, she froze.

To tamlin, she's in danger from Hybern and their monsters, in danger from Rhysand who has been nothing but a known menace to Prythian and she's in danger from the HL's if they ever realise she has powers she's not meant to possess. Plus, the act of rebuilding his court and strengthening relationships via those "parties" he's not allowed to smile at and ensuring the safety of his people. Dude has a lot going on at once, nevermind his own trauma that's being repressed and trying to become reacquainted with his HL powers.

Now these are very huge differences in environments. One in a controlled setting and another that isn't. Similar when Feyre was in the Moon Palace because that's controlled too. Now, what if Feyre was in Hewn City or Illyria instead? Yeah, all that "Freedom" she loves would be cut real quick.

Hell, she was placed in a literal bubble when pregnant while wholly safe in Velaris for...reasons. But, "Rhysand is just being Rhysand 🤭✨️ hee hee," I guess.

Feyre with Tamlin and Feyre with Rhysand are not comparable when the situations during a time of internal turmoil for her are vastly different. And despite this obvious observation, somehow it doesn't register as the beginning of turning Tamlin into the antagonist despite never once getting his POV beneath the surface.

[wallflowers-in-the-wind]

Whenever I see people discussing Feyre in ACOMAF it’s always about Feyre’s trauma and how Tamlin ‘wasn’t a good partner’ or ‘didn’t help her with her nightmares’. But no one seems to be asking what did Feyre do for Tamlin.

Didn’t Tamlin also have nightmares? He suffered too and did everything he could to save her. It’s literally stated in the book that he slept at the end of the bed in his beast form to protect them from intruders. He threw himself into his job to ensure their safety as much as possible. Feyre and her tendency to put herself in harms way regardless of what it may do to everyone who cares about her didn’t help.

Trauma can cause people to close up and focus on what happened to them. Both Feyre and Tamlin did this. But only Tamlin gets called out for not doing enough to help Feyre. He’s painted as a horrible monster who doesn’t care while she can ignore everyone else’s feelings. And no it doesn’t count to reach out once them back off when things get too difficult.

It’s a ridiculous double standard and Feyre needs to be held to the same standard of scrutiny for her actions. Because what she did was a lot worse than what he did to her.

[lainalit]

I don't understand why Rhysand is the most popular Male character in the series then Lucien " If I offer you the moon on the string, will you kiss me too?" and Tarquin "I will fight for equality between all faeries" exist

[natureboy96]

Rhysand is Tamlin's abuser

I've been enjoying crackshipping and fun posts for the past few months, it's far more pleasant to interact within fandom this way I've found, but this thought came to me last night and it won't leave my head, so I simply have to go for another rant/long post about it.

The discussion about what happens Under the mountain is largely focused on what happens to Feyre, which is understandable as she's the POV character; the problem is, what happens there isn't about Feyre at all. Everything UtM is designed to break Tamlin, especially torturing Feyre. And Rhysand is a large part of that.

While Rhysand is sexually assaulting Feyre, he's also psychologically torturing Tamlin. Can you imagine how horrible it would be, being forced watch and witness this fragile human you've come to love, being turned into a sexual prop and toy, forced to dance and drink and vomit and dance again, every night for months on end, knowing that the slightest twitch could end up killing someone you care about, or hurting Feyre even worse? I wouldn't put it past Amarantha to leave Feyre with a few less limbs if Tamlin grimaced.

And the thing is, Rhysand not only knows that he's hurting Tamlin, but that he's doing it intentionally. He explains fully that he wants to protect Feyre, yes, but also that he wanted to make Tamlin suffer, to make him feel hate and pain. All those horrors that Rhysand drugs Feyre, so she doesn't have to witness it and be scarred by it? Tamlin has no choice but to look, and not react, and Rhysand knows it. Tamlin doesn't know anything about Rhysand's "evil mask" during and after UtM and only sees him for how he presented himself; a sexual predator who worked as hard as Amarantha did to break him, and continued to trigger his trauma after they were free.

But Rhysand has a grudge for what Tamlin did to his family, yeah? A grudge he's been holding on to for at most over four centuries (due to the lack of dates and timelines, the only clues we get for when things went down between their families was that it was after the war 500 years ago, and a few years after Tamlin "matures" as Rhys says it, which could be as early as Tam being 18 or 19) And that he doesn't know all the details about! a grudge he's had centuries to try and find out the truth about, but that he's chosen to assume the worst about Tamlin instead, and that ended with Tamlin's family dead in retaliation.

Rhysand being angry for what happened to his family (after getting revenge in retaliation) does not justify months of psychological torture.

And then in ACOMAF, instead of taking any accountability for the pain he caused either of them, he at most justifies how he treated Feyre, and entirely ignores the pain he caused Tamlin. Worse yet, he goes on to villainize Tamlin for dealing poorly with his PTSD, trauma that he had a direct hand in causing, and actively antagonizes him further to make it worse!

Tamlin should be held accountable for the pain he caused Feyre, and I would argue he pays for it well more than his actions warrant. Rhysand never takes or is held accountable for any of the pain he causes, not to Tamlin or Feyre (and later not to Nesta either). Beyond feeling bad in a monologue or again justifying his actions when confronted by the High Lords, he never has to answer for the harm he's caused and its handwaved away almost immediately on being addressed.

Rhysand and Tamlin hurt each others' families, Rhysand abuses Tamlin, who later abuses Feyre, who later abuses Tamlin back, and then the Night Court abuses Nesta, after she abused Feyre when they were poor and starving. It's just a cycle of abuse, but only some characters ever pay any actual, tangible price for it.

All of this is to say, I have found myself having far more sympathy for Tamlin reacting poorly to his PTSD than the person who gave it to him with psychological torture and then villainized him for it.

[spacerockfloater]

“Rhysand is the most powerful High Lord” this and “Rhysand is the strongest fae” that, but are we just gonna forget that Tamlin, within 30 seconds of becoming Spring Court’s High Lord, was able to fucking annihilate Rhysand’s father, who had been Night Court’s High Lord for fuck-knows-how-long and was able to kill all of Tamlin’s brothers and father?

Like, aren’t strength, valour and power Tamlin’s thing? Why did we have to take away all of these qualities from him and give them to Rhysand?

It just seems so… odd, to me at least, that Tamlin had to be nerfed in order for the reader to be convinced that Rhysand is superior in every way and therefore the better choice between them.

[pinkwhite]

"Cresseida made many sacrifices on behalf of her people", Tarquin offered gently- to me. "Do not take her caution personally " "We all made sacrifices." Rhysand said, the icy boredom now shifting into something razor-sharp.

Rhysand dismissing Cresseida's trauma in UTM is baffling to me because like what? They did nothing to you and your acting rude for no reason? And SJM too, like why is it that SJM dismisses Cresseidas trauma and make it less significant, even though she is a minor character SJM shouldn't dismiss her trauma as well.

[viktoriaashleyyx]

My biggest green flag is having my husband read Ch 54 and his first response was:

"But where is the apology?? 'I felt bad for hurting you' is not an apology."

[darlingod]

When someone criticizes a book or character that I love: