#don't make people bad for writing villains lmao that's horrible stop it ]

[adsevel]

unpopular bleach opinion?

Hi! I answered this as an unpopular opinion about the series as a whole on another blog, so imma do one for rpc here, because I can. 

Unpopular opinion: I as a writer, especially a writer that does indeed create stories around the series villain(s), do not need to change them according to other people's whims and how they perceive it. If you think that someone has to actually 'atone' for a character's sins as the writer and 'water them down' or make them 'more amicable', aka, you push them out from being ic into ooc against their own will because you have a problem with the character and what they did, then that is wrong and you should cease it. 

This is something I've seen a lot. OOC and IC antagonizing villains or morally very grey characters and the mun behind them even in a "fun" way and, lemme tell you, as someone who primarily writes 'mean' or 'villainous streaked' characters, it's not. You are not funny, you are annoying. In the worst case, people will think you have a personal problem with them. And do you really want that?

[demonsfate]

This is kind of a Hot Take, but I don't care about Miguel, and I don't get why people (mainly on the tek subreddit) are fascinated by the idea of Miguel showing up to beat Jin. I stumbled upon ANOTHER post about this yesterday and saw people saying that they would love to see Miguel face the "villain turned messiah", as opposed to the other characters that supported Jin. Which is funny, because I don't think Miguel would last a fight against Jin in his current canon state. Also, this is a result of the horrible writing on 6 so not addressing the whole thing with Miguel's sister is mainly on the writers. Don't get me wrong, I think it's fine if there's a character that is against Jin and still can't forgive him. Tek8 didn't do a good job on addressing the issues 6 left behind, (it was an "Okay" job tbh but anyway, I take it). Still can't help but think the "Miguel should come back to murder Jin now that he's happy" crowd is mostly made of Anti-Jin than Miguel stans

I'm always conflicted with Miguel lmao. The thing is... I do like his design a lot. In fact, outta all the Tek6 characters, he may have the best design. He's the one that I could see being in like the older games (Tek4 or older) than I did the other Tek6 designs. And I seem to have a thing to hot - headed characters lol. But like... obvs the main problem with him is his story. LIKE. It's hard to like a character whose story is perhaps the biggest insult to your favorite character.

I'm sorry, but other than Tek6 itself, Miguel's existence is the biggest insult to Jin's character. Like the whole purpose of Jin's character is that he was indeed the first Good Mishima (sorry fans who actually fell for the "ALL Mishimas are bad!! That's the point!!" Y'all just fell for the lazy and obviously inaccurate excuse they made to justify his sudden turn in Tek6.) Kazuya was created to be the anti-Ryu, to be an unconventional protagonist for a fighting game 'cos that hadn't happened yet. But after Kazuya was done with being the protagonist, they went on to give us one that was actually good, therefore to be different from Kazuya. They even said the point of Jin was that he was supposed to be Kazuya's OPPOSITE. A possibility of what Kazuya might've been had he been raised by somebody who loved him. The Tekken 4 endings even hammered in the idea that Jin woiuld never be like Kazuya and Heihachi. Because every one of the trio's endings were all set during the same time (Jin's kidnapping in Hon-Maru), however - both Heihachi and Kazuya would've ended with them killing everyone. It's only Jin's ending where nobody dies. This is because Jin will always be a better person than them. Anyway, my point I'm gonna make is that Tekken 6 ruined everything that Jin was supposed to be. And Miguel is, perhaps, one of the biggest insults by being a victim of Jin. Jin lost his family to a monster, in Miguel's story - Jin is the monster who took Miguel's family member. That is fucked up, and no, it's not poetic nor clever. It just further destroys Jin's character and everything that was good about him. Jin should've NEVER hurt anyone else in the way he's been hurt.

And yeah... I mean, Jin has defeated Gods, he's defeated Heihachi and Kazuya (defeating Kazuya TWICE now). Miguel... hasn't really reached any of those feats, and plus... there's nothing really special about Miguel. (He's no Mishima, he's no Kazama, he's no devil gene carrier). And like, people are just talking as if Miguel would ONLY be going against Jin alone somehow???? As if... y'know, Lars, Lee, Alisa, Leo, Eddy, Xiaoyu, or many of the OTHER allies would let that shit fly. If some RANDOM GUY tried to kill Jin, they're not.... they're not gonna let it happen lmao, they're gonna stop it. Like sorry, but with Jin having accomplished these incredible feats, and has a ton of powerful friends, I don't see how Miguel can even be seen as much of a threat lol.

Imo, Tekken 8 did a horrific job at addressing Tekken 6. They didn't even inform the player as to why Jin did the War in the first place (which was for complicated reasons, but supposedly "good" ones). They just had characters say "YOU KILLED THOUSANDS" and then Jin says "shut up!!! I feel bad about it so that's something!!!" And like... who's to say that Miguel would even hate Jin if he were in Tekken 8? I mean, think about it. In Tekken 7, Lars wanted to kill Jin. He only stopped the Narrator from brutally killing Jin with a screwdriver simply because they needed Jin, and that's it. Yet suddenly in TK8, Lars is pals with Jin, and might as well be his cheerleader. The thought of what Jin did to Alisa was enough to bring her to tears in TK7, yet in TK8... she's also buddies with him, now holding his hands and everything. Eddy acted like he wanted to oppose Jin in his TK6 ending, yet... that was retconned to have him be mad at G-Corp / Kazuya instead??? Hell, Lee KILLS Jin in his TK6 and Tag 2 endings!!!! Although they've never canonically interacted prior, Lee still hated Jin in the noncanon moments. Like I get they needed Jin, but them being buddies with him was never properly addressed either and just came from nowhere. So, who's the say they wouldn't do something similar with Miguel???? Like, Eddy, he suddenly decides to drop the Revenge Plot off screen because uhhh revenge darkens the soul and isn't worth it man!!!!

Honestly yeah. Jin seems to have a lot of haters. I mean, Hell, it's hard to even look at Jin posts without seeing someone hating him or joking about him being a war criminal. It's been a while since I used Reddit last but MY GOD, before TK8 came out, there were a PLETHORA of people who were saying Kazuya should be the True Good Guy, that Kazuya is in the right, that Kazuya has never done anything wrong, that they hope Jin is revealed to be the main bad guy and is killed by Kazuya in the end. And like, this isn't an opinion of only a few ppl. After the demo came out, there was legit a post that said Kazuya is only a bad guy because he has the devil gene that Jin hates and that post had almost 100 upvotes!!!! With people agreeing!!! Completely ignoring EVERYTHING Kazuya has done. Like I made a post in my drafts but deleted it 'cos I thought it sounded too emotional, but it was me pretty much saying that people hate Jin for things they praise other characters for. Or the things they hate him for, they ignore the same in other characters. (Seriously, what makes Kazuya worthy of redemption but not Jin?) It really does feel like that. I understand some people may find Jin boring due to his stoicism, or may be critical of him due to his inconsistent writing (and character assassination) but I wish people would just be frank about that instead of hating him for every small thing. So yeah, I do believe that a lot of the "we wanna see Jin get beaten to death by Miguel" crowd really are just Jin haters. They get fucking wild at times. It's quite exhausting.

[butwhatifidothis]

"I still do like Edelgard" You sure don't show it much lol.

SSSSSSSTOP LMAO

MY LONGASS ANSWER GOT ATE SO the tl;dr ver. of what I was GOING to say before Tumblr said nah: I do like Edelgard’s character, but the writing that tends to surround it dilutes how good she could have been. Edelgard’s character, as is, for the most part, I have no issues with as a villainous character and in fact can find myself enjoying pretty easily, but the game has too many moments that try to force the player to feel bad about her - not because of who she is as a character, but because sometimes other characters (most of whom having little to no connection with Edelgard) say she totally isn’t all bad and really more like us than it seems, and Edelgard is now totally not all bad and really more like us than it seems. 

Which isn’t true. Most of the cast wouldn’t wage war on an overall peaceful continent. Most of the cast wouldn’t outright admit pointblank to being willing to sacrifice the lives of those under their care to achieve some “greater cause” - in fact the other two lords of the game outright and explicitly reject that notion. Most of the cast isn’t willing to kill their friends if they try to stop them from committing horrible, morally reprehensible crimes such as grave-robbing... well, any resting place, really. Most of the cast aren’t willing to use the people under their care as meat shields to hide behind as they hole themselves away in the safety of their nice fancy throne room. Most of the cast aren’t willing to specifically order one of their supposed friends to man a ballista on a hill that is specifically rigged to be set on fire should any enemy try to take it. Most of the cast aren’t willing to use Demonic Beasts as tools. Most of the cast isn’t willing to hide and work with a sect of murderous people set on killing everyone who isn’t them in order to use their cool technology (which includes Demonic Beasts). 

Along with all of the other things Edelgard does that nearly no one else is willing to do due to the horrific nature of the action in question. But the game never addresses these actions in full at any point. The closest we come to accountability being put on Edelgard is, again, AM, and it does an overall fine job at it, but even that route doesn’t acknowledge the true depths of all that Edelgard has done - notice how even AM never brings up the use of Demonic Beasts, which has absolutely no moral justification, just like no other route brings it up, because it’s objectively bad that she’s willing to use them and so it cannot be brought up ever.

And. Just. Byleth. Holy shit, among all the characters that Byleth drags down, Edelgard is the biggest fuckin’ victim. She becomes this lil’ baby back bitch who can’t stand to attack her pwecious teacher who she weally wikes to draw and she has such a big cwush on them and she needs them to get ~softened~ but omg they saw her dwawing!! //>~<// So embbawwasing!! And oh nyo!! >m< Scawy wats!! But Edelgard just sounds adorable when she screams, right guys? You can say it twice, that’s how cute it is! Not a creep move to make at all!

Byleth makes Edelgard a complete and utter embarrassment. Edelgard needs Byleth, Edelgard’s weak to Byleth, Edelgard’s so soft to Byleth - which is all a good thing, apparently! 

Like, you see what I mean? A lot of my faults with Edelgard aren’t actually with Edelgard - she’s a villain, and so I view her actions through a villainous lens, and in doing so I think she’s fine, for the most part. More than fine, really! She, as her base character with very minimal changes, can make a damn good villain if allowed! But it’s the game having so many moments that try to remind you that she’s this good girly who just does fucked up things sometimes, in the same way that Dimitri and Claude are good boyos who just do fucked up things sometimes, and in doing so they end up severely downplaying just how bad she is... which in turn ends up having a large, laaaarge portion of the fandom either deliberately downplaying her actions/overplaying Dimitri and Claude’s (and Rhea’s oh boy Rhea’s) actions or just deadass not acknowledging the actions in the first place in order to make her stand with the other good guys of the game.

That, primarily, is what shits in my cereal about Edelgard. I really really really want to like her route, for example, because of the idea of “overt tones = Protagonist good, undertones = Protagonist bad” being so appealing to me, but it’s ruined by the knowledge I have that the game actually will try to make Edelgard better than she is. Is CF supposed to be this propaganda route that tricks the player into seeing Edelgard as the good guy via the nice words and the powerful protagonist, or is it supposed to be something that’s actually, genuinely trying to make Edelgard a good guy by, this time, deliberately hiding her actions and now straight up changing the story to erase some of her more egregious ones (mainly what she does with Dimitri)? I wanna say the former! But the narrative ends up muckin’ up that idea, if that is what they were going for. 

[bchanslvr]

Alexa's ranting time— Don't ask me why my maternal grandparents named me Alexa. In the entire world, they got no name and decided to give me a name that resembles with Google!

Now time for the ranting for my Queen Astoria's value.

Listen, if the person who is reading this— I understand you like DraCo in a romantic way. But is it really necessary for you to picture Astoria in a bad way? I just can't believe when someone writes Astoria r@pes Draco in the fics using love potions etc stuff— is it that Astoria who believes ‘sweets helps you to make friends’??!?

She knew that she won't live any longer but also she knew— Draco had no one except for her (his parents were not the best ofc.) She gave birth to Scorpious Cinnamon roll Malfoy. Draco got a reason to live— his son. It was the best day of their life!

No hate on Pansy. But don't forget that she used to cling to Draco in Hogwarts. Can you make her the villain? If you think Astoria is shit etc then baby you are a jealous lil girl— it's s i m p l e.

Some fans who are trying get Astoria a raise are getting demotivated because you are up to making the beautiful girl a bitch (a horny @ss bitch who is trying to snatch ferret from you.)

Draco is crazy for her. I like Draco only because of Astoria. Even if he didn't deserve that hot queen— I would put him next to Harry. But Drastoria is final. If you are anti-astoria then my middle finger salutes you.

Also.....Lyn do you think I can become a politician? Lmao 🤣

this from when we were talking about astoria and it got lost in my inbox i'm so sorry but i'm gonna answer this now because what you said is something i think everyone needs to hear

—

astoria was the person that made draco into a person. he crumbled down after the war and she was person that restored him. he didn't marry her for looks, her blood status but for her personality and who and what she stood up for.

he was awed by the way she would stand up to what was right and loved and married her for it.

when scorpius was born he was over joyed. he though he would get a second chance from everything. a chance to redeem himself. he brough up his son with care and understanding and nothing like he was. astoria helping him like the good mother she is.

astoria refused to teach her son pureblooded beliefs such as that muggles and muggle-borns were scum. much to the disappointment of lucius and narcissa whom found her a somewhat disappointing daughter-in-law. here's the link i took this and others about this rant from, go give it a read if you want.

but that didn't stop her, nor her husband from loving her now did it?

draco himself said that he didn't want a child and could happily let the malfoy name die with him if it meant she would live.

but astoria wanted a kid longed for a child so that Draco, after her eventual death, would not be alone. SHE did that.

astoria always interested draco right from the start. and if you read the books then you'd know that he really hated pansy and only liked her because she gave him attention nothing more.

so when people make pansy the better person and astoria this horrible women it makes me upset and annoyed.

there's a certain limit with fanfiction. yes it's called 'fanfiction' for a reason but whenever i try to read a good story with past draco/astoria.

she either cheats on him, sa'd draco(you never joke about that), runs away leaving him heartbroken?, or is a horrible mother to scorpius.

like damn what did she do to you? you're just jealous she married 'your mans'. she's nothing like that but a good women who loves her son and husband. SHE treats him like an equal, SHE loves him through everything he's done, SHE. SHE was chose by draco to marry him because SHE captured his heart and made him a better person.

there's a reason he chose her as his wife and mother of his son. if she was anything like what people write her to be then he would have never dared lay a single finger on her.

and if you don't like astoria after all that but solely because she married draco and had his kid, i hate you and you are a horrible person. this is an astoria stan blog and if you don't like her go away now.

thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[kazuwhora]

i love your writing and you're doing matchups so please if i could request a romantic one cause i dont know who i like most in tokyo rev anymore? also are you okay you got hit by a car?? im guessing it wasnt bad but still.

my pronouns are she/they, im INTP 6w7.

people often tell me im really cold and carefree but i have my 2 best friends im soft for. i warm up to people in time but itll take a while before i'll really care about someone. i like to think im generally nice to people, i don't really argue with anyone ever i just push them to one sided arguments or if i want to annoy them ill smile and tell them "you're wrong but ok" and it drives my family crazy.

im not sure how to answer the values question? i really value when someone takes my feelings into consideration cause i wont say it at first or if they recognize my efforts. or is it more about morals and fairness cause im not that. i dont have em. ive broken into places for fun. ive had a girl transfer schools cause of me. ive put people up to physically fight each other. im your filler villain. yeah i feel like a horrible person and i hate myself but i never paid for any of it. maybe i do kin dark impulse mikey

lmao ok my love language is probably quality time or acts of service. i dont think id ever enjoy classic dates id rather sit in their car parked on some dark road or just. at the beach at 4am eating cold pasta (i do that with friends every weekend and the sunrise makes everything so peaceful). i dont have real hobbies but i have a cat i play with. im an animation student so i made my previous hobby a career choice so all i have now is cat, which isnt a hobby its a responsibility but i guess it works out.

irl im not looking to date at all cause i will not be opening up to anyone like that BUT this is tokyo rev boys so ill allow it for them. id want someone who reminds me im a person. it sounds so stupid but its not a hard task theyd just have to ask what's bothering me or tells me to eat something today. ok i feel super guilty about it but i want someone sweet and touchy and clingy because i know myself well enough to know ill flirt first. ill kiss first. ill initiate everything but i will definitely stop once theyre mine. i want someone to pull at my sleeve to go to bed and lay on my chest.

appearance wise i think im average. im 165cm tall, 60kg (i round the weight cause its always 58-61). brown eyes, dark blue hair regrettably its the berries and cream haircut but my hair is wavy and always looks disheveled so really its the crackhead rat look. i have around 20 tattoos (like 6 are small ones though so really its like 14) i have my ears pierced a lot (and i wear a bell!! yes cause of kazutora and yes i made it myself) and my septum pierced. i had the side of my nose pierced at 16 but i took that out a couple years ago and it grew in. my biggest appearance trait is that i always wear 2 shirts on top of each other and apparently its the first thing both my best friends noticed at first about me so i guess its valid.

god im sorry thats so long!! thank you so much in advance!!

thank you for supporting me and my writing and sending in a request!! I am ok I guess for now, it wasn't like omg I went flying but I have a nice bruise on my waist and some sore ribs! life goes on lol

let me just say that kin wise you def sound like mikey LOL

so because of that I'm matching you up with Mitsuya!

wI think in terms of kin vs matchup mitsuya is a character who is about balance and care which works well with the fact that a lot of your personality resembles mikeys. there's a reason why mitsuya is in toman lol. you mentioned wanting someone that reminds you you're a person, and really I don't think this sounds stupid at all. it's really easy for us to get lost in our day to day lives and feel detached from ourselves. mitsuya (being an infj) is someone who deeply values emotional connections and being grounded in yourself and relationships- a trait that rubs off on others really easily.

mitsuya is one who's presence brings you back to earth without much effort. he's calm, caring, and has no struggles with being emotionally vulnerable and true to himself. while you may have a cold front that you put up in terms of like you said scaring people off, mitsuya sees through it and recognizes you for you and not for how you act. he values your emotions and opinions as a part of you, and never hesitates to make that known through conversation and his listening skills. chalk it up to having two sisters lol.

the other thing I think that just works about you and mitsuya is his indulgence in your ideas. you wanna eat cold pasta on the beach at 4am? sounds like a fantastic idea and he's up for it. no complaints to be had. it can be jarring (?) at first, but once you're able to recognize that he is in fact being genuine, it quickly becomes a really valid aspect.

[baldinggoat]

Hi. I just want to say that I agree with every point of criticism you have about BG3 and parts of its fandom. Another thing I'm afraid about is they're going to go through with "TWIST! Zevlor is evil all along" thing (based on his datamined voicelines). It kinda dumbs down his character and erase the potential his character could have (a person who tried to fight for the right thing, persecuted for being different, exiled, then having to bear great responsibilty of keeping other people safe). His character could have, I don't know, an arc about learning to put himself first sometimes, allowing himself to enjoy the moment and be happy for once etc. (Also give him a boyfriend, preFURrably Halsin, do it Larian you cowards). It doesn't have to always be twisted villain or being killed off for grimdarkTM or some such to make an arc meaningful.

I very happy to know theres some people actually reading my random rants and even agreeing! I dont tag them bc i know a huge chunck of the bg3 fandom is and will be dragon age players and i dont want anything to do with the homophobic/transphobic/racist circle jerks that pop up in that fandom. Ive already blocked a few terfs. I also have friends who are DA players tho so dont @ me about “not all da fans” if u r one :p

Ive actually written out even more like, burning scolding hot takes that I deleted because i dont want to bring drama to myself. Im not a huge computer gamer, i mostly replay fallout and borderlands, but i do some causal VTM and DND ttrpg so like. I have POE and divinity downloaded but idk when I’ll actually sit down to play (oof). So my like, authority on Video Game is kinda... Limited? But that obviously doesnt stop me and ill tear apart AAA videogames idgaf.

So far ive sorta, noticed that some of the dialogue branches, and subsequently, the quest branching, dont actually have that many different endings and actually loop into each other to give you the same outcome. Not a great look, but ill wait and see when we get to actual baldurs gate to see how everything ends up going. I do know that BG: seige of dragonspear had the first and only trans woman and the backlash was horrible. And i feel like a lot of the problems im finding with lgbt representation (or lack of) with BG3 EA are a direct result from that. Im waiting for more content, and then the full game release to tear it apart. I will not be gentle.

As for zevlor: If he turns out evil idgaf, in this household we love our bastard tieflings to the very end. I hope all the stuff people are datamining are just a very small portion of like, “bad endings” and people are just being pessimistic and i hope there are more good feelsy endings. I really fucking hate forced grimdark/ gritty endings in dnd writing. When theres bright blue elves with purple hair, i cannot take any of it seriously. I hope since it is labeled and marketed as an RPG, our choices will actually matter. If they dont and halsin ends up with a forced permadeath or zevlor ends up ~evil~ no matter what you do at the grove, BG3 is going to get ripped into by critics, not just me lmao.

[lordeasriel]

Hi! I saw that you read Alice Network and I was hoping you wouldn't mind if I asked you a question about it, cause I don't know many others who've read it. I was wondering what you thought of René's depiction. Quinn writes him so slimy and despicable, but then she really emphasizes his suaveness and idk sexiness - the way Eve remembers her nights with him, it's much more than Quinn gives to the actual VIABLE romantic interests in the book. Why is that? Or does this just say a lot about me haha

To get this first out of the way, I did some research on Kate Quinn before I read and a little after, to see if I could find her process while writing TAN, or anything like it, and I didn't find much, other than plenty of history fiction books. So, she's an author that does A LOT of research and she thinks her stories through - so mind you, I could be very wrong - but the vibes I get from Rene is that of a character who wasn't entirely planned the way he came out, from the start.

When we meet him, he's put right off the bat as the enemy, the antagonist, someone who sees past Eve's doe eyes and stutter, he doesn't underestimate her based on these things. Not that we can forget he's a devious, wicked man, but the narrator, going through Eve's perspective, shows us Rene as someone to loathe and fear, Eve is constantly terrified that he might see through her façade. However, Rene is also reasonable, logical, understanding even, he portions scraps of good food between his employees (mind, this is horrible yes, but considering he DIDN'T HAVE TO do that, it's quite something that he does so), he is even I daresay thoughtful in some ways He's very complex, as one expect from normal human characters, but we are introduced to him as someone terrible, slimy, loathsome. This is because it's how Eve shows us her first impressions of him, again he is The Enemy, so the text focus on showing us a stern man, sitting in a room full of luxury, purely ostentatious, after we see (through Eve) a city starving, sieged by the Germans who kill, steal and violate them at will. We're supposed to see the contrast of starvation and gluttony, luxury and poverty, and we're supposed to understand that man is someone who enables that.

As the story moves on, Eve began to add new layers to Rene: at first we have a scene where he is shown to appreciate art and poetry, he shows off by quoting Baudelaire (then he never stops LMAO); then we have him confronting her lie because he can tell different French accents apart, which is both a nod to him being a snob and petty, as well as a very well-travelled and educated man. This adds to him elegance, makes him appealing to the target audience as well as Eve, because the closer the story gets to the point where they engage in a sexual relationship, the more Eve perceives him as someone who would be desirable to the right people. She doesn't feel attracted to him because she sees him as a traitor, she's a spy in enemy territory, she's under stress a lot and he is living the easiest life on Earth by throwing everyone else under the bus. All of this conflicts with her personality, she's headstrong and righteous, so he's unappealing, but cut her disfavored perspective and you can see he's appealing from the start, she just doesn't let us see it because of course she hates him. But even Eve slowly began to notice these details, for example, when Violette suggests he might be interested in her, Eve says she's "not sophisticated enough" which shows us she considered that possibility, even if it was just for a moment. And after Violette suggests that, Eve began to avoid Rene at all costs, and when she talks to her she tries her best to keep the conversation as respectable as she can because she notices now his flirting/courting and it makes her uncomfortable, because suddenly he's very shave and cult (she even starts to remark on his scent). She of course, always end up in an obscene Baudelaire quote because that's Rene's game, so she's always trying to avoid that at all costs.

As he makes a move, Eve begins to notice him as someone appealing, and she's a wee prude so she's embarrassed, mortified with his presence. It's not that I don't think Quinn couldn't have planned this transition from the start, if she did, good for her, great storytelling, but this feels more like she realised the potential a sexual relationship between Eve and Rene, but she realised how he wasn't initially an attractive or suitable "partner", so she slowly begins to make him more palatable. As a first time reader, I didn't think him appealing at all, because like Eve, all I saw was the layer of luxury and lack of morals, that hindered the rest. He's a cultured man, educated, an art lover, there's a lot of appeal in him, that we take a long time to see because Eve resents him at first (righteously of course). Suave is the tip of the iceberg concerning Rene.

And it's easier to sexualise a relationship between a woman and a man if the man is appealing and handsome. Most female authors do that, because women already experience complicated sexual lives; we like the idea that a female character engages in a relationship with someone attractive, appealing. Eve having sex with an ugly, slimy, hideous man who is selfish and who collaborates with the enemy, just so she can have information to report? Distasteful, and this is why Rene checks all the boxes for an appropriate suitor. He's even described as "not un-handsome" which is English for "he's handsome but let us pretend he isn't too handsome cause otherwise I'm pushing my luck", and there's a whole section of the story that deals with Eve feeling horrible for taking pleasure in her time with Rene. Not only because she's a lil biased due to her upbringing, but also because he is a horrible man supporting the Germans while people die and starve. She doesn't understand how can she have any pleasure with someone like that, because she's very tormented by conservatives views as well as the conflict caused by the knowledge Rene is her Enemy.

So all of this contributes to Rene being, not likable, but perceived as attractive and sexy. Their relationship makes it hard not to perceive him like that; it's consented, and he's very thoughtful towards Eve and while she hates his guts, she enjoys the situation even though she feels guilty about it. We're just so used to associating villainy and evil with ugliness and disgust, that when we're presented evil characters we have to be explicitly told they're attractive cause otherwise we just imagine them as ugly and disgusting as possible. Such examples are Mrs. Coulter, who is beautiful and we know that from the start, while she does horrible things; or even Cersei Lannister; (there is also Count Olaf in ASOUE, who we are constantly reminded that he is unattractive, dirty, with poor hygiene habits and in contrast to him, we have Esme Squalor, who is described as attractive and fashionable, while she's just as cruel as Olaf).

Rene goes very easily from slimy to smooth as the story progresses. To us, compared to Eve, it's easier to feel lust for him (even if we question the morality of it) because we are not living that situation closely. We don't experience the same things as Eve does, we're merely observers, while Eve has to deal with starvation, poverty, fear and lack of freedom, and those are things she sees when she looks at Rene, which is why she feels such a shame. But personally I think there's nothing wrong in thinking he is a sexy character; I've seen much worse situations, and as long as you don't brush off the bad things he does to make him more likable, I suppose there's nothing wrong to feel attracted to him. (as I am, guilty as charged, Anon lmao)

I usually tend to stay away from sexualised female protagonists, but in this case I enjoy the whole dynamic because it's a powerful and very rare dynamic. They don't fall in love, or at least Eve doesn't, he fulfill his role as a "villain" by torturing her, but their dynamic is good because it puts under perspective lots of things. Especially considering it's a history fiction, so at that time women had very different views on sex, especially pre-marital sex, and we see Eve struggle with the idea of "how can I have pleasure with someone I don't love?", And it's interesting because, at least from my experience, sex and love are two very different points of relationship. And Eve spends a lot more time with Rene, especially because I think with her viable romantic options, there are no conflicts and that's fuel to the story. Her time with Rene doesn't change her experience someone else, but it changes a lot of her concepts and connects them through something frivolous, which is refreshing. Most situations like this end up with the woman falling in love, so this twist on the trope is very yummy.