#queue0102924

[ofbreathandflame-archive]

i think its weird that the story has allll of this time to explore the archeron sister dynamics but never does. there's a good six years of time that goes by before the real rift between the sister starts (when feyre goes hunting). we know that papa archeron favored feyre and elain - why doesn't the story delved into what that may have felt like for nesta to lose her mother and then be placed in a dynamic where she isn't liked anymore. and then to add everything on top, they're poor, they've lost their status, everything that gave nesta value doens't exist anymore. and not only that - she's lost her only source of validation. the kind of cool exploration of jealousy and girlhood. that's a huge shift for all of the girls.

or how does feyre factor into this new dynamic. we can assume that for her formative years, she was neglected or isolated from her sisters. and while that allows freedom, in some sense, it breeds loneliness, and resentment. or even an eagerness to please. exploring how feyre may subconsciously looks for validation through martyrdom would be very interesting. it’s something i felt like was at least present on a surface level. the hunting doesn’t even have to be about love for her sisters, it could have been an aha moment; a moment where feyre realizes how she can establish value for herself in that household. think about it: no one ever saw feyre, no one ever saw her as valuable, it would make sense if the story played into the absurdity of feyre’s hunting. like it makes no sense logically to us as readers, but to feyre as a character it’s the only way she feels she can make her family actually see her. this could even develop into creating the idea that feyre's love language is through acts (which I think is actually something substantiated in the text). if we were to continue onto

and even the 'favoritism' that's shown toward feyre and elain is something to be explored bc its not something the sister's actually 'benefit' from. it just exists. its not like feyre gets extra meals bc papa archeron may like her better, and its not like elain benefits from that dynamic as well. it just obvious he's very offput by nesta - that he viewed nesta oftentimes as a woman instead of a little girl.

and then what happens with nesta, feyre, and elain have to grapple with the ways they’ve been abused.

during feyre’s formative years, she wouldn’t have received the physical abuse and harassment that nesta received from mother and grandmother so her understanding of nesta’s dynamic with their mother would have been more romantic. feyre may associate any type of attention as positive due to the result of her own neglect by her mother. so she would’ve gone on not understanding nesta’s turmoil.

on the flipside nesta would have romanticized feyre’s “freedom.” and grown jealous of the kind of free-spirited person feyre she perceives feyre to be bc of such. there is no fear of not following the rules, of being perfect, of having to sacrifice your happiness for a good match. and while some of this is true for feyre, it’s not necessarily positive. it doesn’t negate that feyre’s neglect was just abuse too. the book could even explore the jealousy nesta feels at not being to be ‘master of her own fate.’ and how her childhood made mental roadblocks that make it hard to just march to the beat of your own drum.

these are conflicts that can (1) still reiterate the theme of abuse and abusive family relationships. (2) this reads into an actual feminist lens in which these women are complex characters dealing with a complex sitituation. the expectation is not that nesta, feyre, and elain remain these morally good paragons of virtuousness.

we have elain - who arguably operates one of the most interesting portions of the sisterly dynamic by being the middle sister. i think that could breed a character that’s much more organically perceptive to the world around her. i even think the story attempts this initially at the end of tar before there was a hard reset in maf. think about it - she’s could be placed in situations that hallmark that gradual loss of self in this dynamic; how does elain feel about the arguments between feyre and nesta? perhaps she follows nesta bc there is jealousy? resentment? or does she envy feyre’s ability to take charge of her own life? i would have it where elain has to grapple with these false perceptions of her sister and how she can find her own spine. we could even argue that maybe the sisters (feyre and nesta) are tangibly holding her back (not just implied) and have the sisters deal with how they contribute to elain's initial lack of a spine.

the story could play it in so many directions. mutual jealousy between all three sisters, all envious of one another bc of how isolated they were to each other. if the story wanted to, it could even still play into the idea of an abusive nesta with this dynamic - flesh out her abuse in ways that still (1) emphasize the tragedy of these women and (2) establish that feyre is a victim in this scenario (see: azula). if the story moved away from moralization and just told a story the existence of an abusive nesta would not be this controversial (considering all of the male leads are kind of abusive). i also think the exploration of a tangibly abusive nesta could factor in a broad thematic discussions around abuse.