#rhysand critical

[legendl0re]

NIGHT. COURT. CIVIL. WAR.

I need it.

and then what happens when rhysand's son is 8 years old and the illyrians are rioting because if their sons must suffer in those camps then why not the high lord and lady's? the high lord who loves to parade his half-illyrian status in order to justify him using the illyrians as little more canon fodder and the high lady flaunting her illyrian wings when thousands of illyrian women will never fly?

then what will rhys do?

[kataraavatara]

dare I dip my toes into acotar fandom discourse….

[extremely-judgemental]

Tarquin offers friendship and peace and Rhysand steals from him.

Helion treats him as a friend and helps him with concealing the trove and Rhysand keeps the truth about his son (with the woman he loves) from him.

Lucien works for him without expecting anything in return and Rhysand baits him with his mate and exploits him against Tamlin and Band of Exiles.

Eris spies on his father risking his life and Rhysand betrays him after promising a marriage alliance and throne and help to find his soldiers.

Tamlin helps bring him back to life and Rhysand repays it by telling him to kill himself.

Nesta sacrifices her powers to save him, his mate and his child, and Rhysand wants to kill her for using the trove (that belongs to her) the way she sees fit.

What an ungrateful fuck.

[merwgue]

The only reason I believe the acotar books are fantasy and not horror because if I were tamlin and an illiterate-barely-legal girl tried to ruin my court I would have BOMBED the night court. You bitches would have seen female rage. Mary curie would have had NOTHING on me. Uranium discovered on the SPOT.

Send tweet.

[litnerdwrites]

Rhys being the 'most powerful hl' ultimately hinders the story. If SJM wanted the nc to be underdogs, it should've been the smallest, most unstable court.

Historically, objectively bad or unmoral people can sometimes be the best rulers while objectively good or moral people can be terrible rulers. Take advantage of this.

Make Rhysand need to wear the mask of the cruel, ruthless high lord in order to prevent the CON and Illyria from rebelling. Make both of those places have a certain amount of political and militaristic power over him that would explain why he can't just force them to do as he pleases.

Have the NC be the court with the highest crime rates, and poverty rates and Rhysand be considered a ruthless ruler. One who 'lets' amren out on the prowl to steal wealth (preferably from greedy rich nobles) but they don't know that it's redistributed into running the NC, and looking after the people.

Have Mor actually help woman but drinking and visiting the con or other cities under the guise going there to flex her power and act tyranicle, but secretly leave money, medical supplies, tickets to boats/carriages, etc. Or even instructions to their library where sa survivors heal (maybe not in the how, but somewhere else, hidden or warded).

Have Azriel and Cassian push the limits of the Illyrians, not enough to incite war, but to keep them in line. If men clip wings, have Azriel either assassinate them or Cassian publicly punish or beat them but not reveal the reason why, so it comes off as tyranny.

Make them act like villains for a damn reason, and actually accomplish things in the process, even if it's small. Perhaps even have the land itself be dying (like the dusk court centuries ago), making food harder to come by too.

Maybe even have the concept of Velaris be a legend, of the Night Court's former glory, but in the current story, be a shell of itself. This would give the so-called court of dreams something to dream about and work towards.

Have the previous rulers of the nc be objectively moral people, that were bad at ruling and created the unstable political climate Rhysand needs to navigate, while Feyre gives him new perspective. Have Elain and Nesta come in later, and help teach Feyre about politics based on what they knew from their mortal lives. Give them dreams and aspirations of their own.

Give each of the Archeron Sisters something in the NC that would cement it as their home, if that's what you want to do. Have Feyre speak with the Illyrian women, teach them to hunt, learn of their issues, etc. Have her repair her relationship with Nesta over helping them, with Nesta using the training of her childhood to help the Illyrian women overthrow the corrupt lords that insist on treating them as lesser than.

Give Feyre and Nesta a chance to learn about each other, their childhood, how neglected Feyre felt and how abused Nesta was, before coming together to reach a common goal. Then, Nesta could become a diplomat that helped the nc repair their foreign relations, giving her the chance to travel that she always wanted.

Make the humans have innovative methods of agriculture, given they don't have magic. Have Elain want to help the people of downtrodden villages and towns, teaching them about those innovative methods, to help rejuvenate the land. Still let her have trauma, but let them have their own reasons to want to stay in the nc or not stay in the nc.

Making Rhysand 'the most powerful hl' doesn't make him unique or interesting. It makes it too easy to wonder why he won't do something when he sits in a seat of power and privilege, to do it. So, take away that power. Give him something to earn. Give the entire IC a dream/vision for what the NC could be and work to it, throughout the books, instead of handing it to them on a silver platter. Make them work for it.

[wingsdippedingold]

There’s something so deeply compelling about ACOTAR to me

Not because I think SJM wrote it well, in fact I think she majorly fucked it up and I still hate her guts. Seriously, it’s on sight with her, but that’s another conversation

But because of all the missed potential, the squandered plot lines, the theories and explanations hidden in the cracks that actually make a lot of sense but are entirely unintentional and go against her narrative, the yearning for the characters to have a better writer, the fantasizing about the world (both hindered and helped by the terrible world-building), the underused side characters we can explore, the inconsistencies making literal alternate realities, and most of all, the fandom and friends I’ve made here that keep pumping out content, creating wonderful fics and stories about these characters better than the author ever could, making impeccable jokes and hilarious posts, and writing beautiful analyses and critiques.

You all are truly what keeps me engaged, and I love you guys so much you don’t even understand 🫶

[lainalit]

Rhysand Stans arguing back with the "So do you want rhys to slaughter and imprison hundreds of fae males bc they are abusive to the females?" everytime someone brings up the suffering of the hewn city & Illyrian women, isn't the gag they think it is

Cause yes why the fuck can't Rhysand the proclaimed morally grey character and saviour for all women from this fandom not just do that?

He already is/was a tyrant during amarantha's rule when he killed a bunch of innocent fae's under her command and he doesn't face any consequences for that other than a half ass "that wasn't very nice" statement from some high lords

also we rarely hear from him how horrible and guiltridden he feels about it since sjm can't write her characters feeling the impact of their actions for more than one scene

So again why can't feminist Rhysand not just be a tyrant to abusive men since the plot already don't care if he was one to begin with?

[1800naveen]

Unpopular opinion

Tamlin is morally grey, not Rhysand. Hell, he's the definition of morally grey in the Acotar universe.

He's good at heart but at times, he executed them poorly.

He truly cares for his court and lets in refugees or anyone who needs a place that they can call home. He will protect the people he loves, even if it means sacrificing his life. He's actually making a difference.

Tamlin may love someone but no one is enough to push him away from the path of fighting against tyranny (that's iconic as hell like yes. If I had two choices: my lover or fight against tyranny, I'm fighting every time. Tyrants will make sure that almost everyone suffers and I'm not down with that. No offense but get the hell out of my way, I got tyrants to kill).

His moral compass is like a diamond and it's unbreakable.

But one of the few actions where he did wrong is held over his head unlike Rhysand who has done numerous amounts of bad stuff but most people don't get mad at him for it.

"It's because he's morally grey!" Nah, he's just a bad guy and that's completely fine, I like a good villain. But sjm keeps defending him and his actions which is just annoying.

IF TAMLIN WASN'T BLONDE, PEOPLE WOULD LIKE HIM MORE. THEY CAN'T HANDLE A BLONDE MAN WHO SERVES JUST AS MUCH OR MORE THAN THEIR DARK HAIRED RIVAL😔

On another note, what's up with the Tamlin would sacrifice you to save the world but Rhysand would sacrifice the world to save you?? Girl, I don't ever want a man to do that just for me, nobody is going to have a place to live anymore. What's more important, a singular person's life or the lives of millions? Fuck the villains, heroes on top.

(also he reminds me of a golden tiger, I can't hate him when he looks like this to me)

(I love this animal so much, I would adopt one if I could. You can't tell me that this is not Tamlin.)

[dippedinmelancholy]

I think there's something so ironic and stupid about the fact that Rhysand/every fan on his limp cock screaming "I can't do more to protect the women in the Night Court, because change takes time!"and then like, literally overnight he makes Feyre High Lady. A thing that does not exist in fae memory. She was on Tamlin's dick two months ago and she's suddenly married to this dude who's been a cunt to literally everyone for the last 500 years, and he suddenly names her High Lady. And like . . . absolutely no one has a note worthy reaction to this? No one cares. Literally. No one. This is arguably the biggest fucking change????? SJM I'm begging you to write shit that makes sense, you're killing brain cells.

[msbrownwithacrown]

🍷 This fine glass of wine is for my man, Tam.

For the pleasure of rereading the solstace scene where vengeful, rage-filled, presumptious Rhys makes a complete Ass of himself in the Spring Court.

Meanwhile, Tamlin wasn't this weak, broken male. Of course, that's what Rhys saw. But from what I read, Tamlin was the only one who wasn't broken in that scene. Rhys was the first to lose control of his magic as he released his shadows. He was the one unable to even remain seated and had to stand up and talk down to Tam, as he spouted emotionally abusive belittling statements to him. He was the one wanting a fight. Wanting violence.

Tamlin was the calm, cool headed one. He asked appropriate questions. Pointed out his grievances (no sentries, no wall). Questioned why the night court would be placing military in his court. He asked for specifics on how it would support peace, yet he wasn't provided with any more info. Just Rhys essentially saying his way is the better way, the right way (which still didn't answer the valid question). This is when Rhys loses control, because without providing any info as to why nightcourt soldiers should be there, Tam firmly says, "Your brutes won't be here." Rhys, not getting his way immediately turns to namecalling, belittling behavior. All the while, Tamlin remains seated and assertively tells Rhys to get out, 3x. Keeping his cool the entire time. 😎

Anyway the glass of wine, is for celebrating the epic headcanon, fanfic that this scene has inspired. More to come on that later, but eek I'm excited!

[bonecarversbestie]

My biggest beef with the Inner Circle is how they feel so entitled to information that impacts ALL of Prythian. And they hoard secrets and powerful artefacts like they’re the only ones responsible or trustworthy enough to handle them. For someone who says he doesn’t want to be high king Rhys sure acts like he rules all of prythian. 🙄

Maybe that’s how being high lord works but it’s just the superiority complex of it all.

Examples

Azriel spying on literally everyone (I know it’s his job but it just feels like there’s no privacy in this court and they want it that way. If ANY other person outside the IC has information they don’t, they want it. Secrets are for NC only 🙅‍♀️. No one else is allowed to make plans to save the world)

Location of the cauldron(it should be secret but why does it get to be the night courts secret? I think they should have let Tarquin decide tbh)

The whole search for the book of breathings (as if the war that was starting didn’t affect everyone. They considered just asking Tarquin and they should have.)

The existence and location of the trove (again why do they deserve to be the only ones who hold this knowledge)

Keeping Nestas weapons from her (they belong to her and no one else has any right to them. I’ll die on this hill)

Luciens paternity (though I’m pretty sure he already knows. But it’s the fact that feyre wouldn’t tell her friend this life altering information for literally no good reason)

Even Rhys and Feyre keeping their stupid death pact a secret is so selfish. Bc if they both died with no heir who becomes high lord? Kier? Seems like a shitty surprise to leave your mourning court.

[lifeisabiscuit]

I really find it funny how when it comes to people pointing out and having a problem with Rhysand being 538+ to Feyre's 21, the excuse is that "mentally he's like 30" or "he doesn't act 538, aging is different for fae"

BUT

When it comes to Tamlin and him not dealing well with his emotions or not helping Feyre with her ptsd when he himself was struggling its "he's 500 years old he should have control over his emotions" or "He needs to grow up hes 508 years old"

So which is it? Are they basically 30 or are they 500+??

(Also, maybe the male who threatens to kill his mates sister multiple times, threatens to rip Luciens throat out and bursts into the other peoples homes with his darkness should know how to control his emotions as well at his big age)

[witheverynesta]

idk abt u guys but no matter how many times its stated that rhysand is this beautiful powerful man i'll always see him as ugly and weak. he can't even rule 2/3 of his court. his actions alone make him one of the ugliest characters in the books sorry

[extremely-judgemental]

How convenient Feyre doesn't have a single memory or glimpse of how Rhysand abused her for two months though she was drugged but her memories weren't taken away. Her body doesn't recognise his touch as danger and isn't repulsed by him. Her trauma hasn't left a mark on her mind and body.

How convenient Feyre's PTSD is about being locked up in a cell and not the man who tortured and broke her hand forcing her into a bargain. Her nightmares are filled with the creatures that abused her once and threatened to spit roast her but not of the man who touched her and kissed her without consent and paraded her naked.

How convenient Feyre goes back to using sex as a crutch with Tamlin and later with Rhysand when it was the very thing that was used against her UtM. Her body readily wants a man's touch right after her rebirth.

How convenient Lucien is the only source of information who told Feyre what was done to her. He is also the most considerate and sweetest friend she ever had. He could have withheld some of that trauma to spare her the humiliation and heartbreak.

How convenient Feyre and Tamlin agreed never to speak of what happened UtM. Feyre doesn't understand how Tamlin's rage extends beyond his possessiveness. For her to turn a blind eye and blame him when they won't even talk about it.

How convenient every HL wants to hold Rhysand accountable for the very things he explicitly claimed to be remorseful of (Winter children massacre) and not the other atrocities he participated or committed in the fifty (or 500) years.

How convenient the HLs are polite enough to not ask Feyre how she forgave Rhysand after he SA'd her every night and willingly plays his whore whenever he wants.

How convenient the HLs don't ask if Feyre is also being mind controlled by Rhysand when he proved his strength by taking over Tamlin's mind in front of everyone.

How convenient every HL forgive Rhysand and Feyre for every mistake they ever made and make compromises throughout but never expect anything in return. How convenient mere 'sorry' always seems to be enough when their courts are suffering because of IC.

How convenient Tamlin insults Feyre but doesn't ask how she accepted her abuser as her mate when she accuses him of the same (sometimes worse) too.

How convenient Lucien is so charmed by the beauty of Velaris that he understands why Feyre left Spring for it but doesn't hold a grudge for what she did to his home.

How convenient Nesta, who's been SA'd twice, never finds out her baby sister also went through the same and is in love with the perpetrator. She never finds out the baby she saved is the child of Feyre's abuser.

How convenient Rhysand and Feyre agreed to deal with their trauma in secrecy. No one in Velaris ever finds out what truly happened UtM.

How convenient 'We save abused priestesses together' Morrigan or 'Careful how you speak about my High Lady' Azriel or 'No male better than Rhys' Cassian never find out how Rhysand hurt Feyre.

How convenient Rhysand himself was SA'd over and over again and so it's all fine to do the same to Feyre.

How convenient what happened UtM stays UtM.

How fucking convenient.

[merwgue]

Everytime I see fanart of rhysand fingering feyre in Hewn city an angel dies

Yall do realise they FORCIBLY made a whole nation watch their high lord get off?? Yall do realise how traumatising it is?

Imagine if Biden rubbed one out on live TV and you'd be jailed for life if you don't watch

Imagine the children watching that...yea...

[yaralulu]

Tell me why when rhys visited the spring court for the first time in acotar he mentioned the lady of autumn THREE TIMES to try and taunt lucien. Bringing her up more than once in a span of like four minutes was already insane but it doesn’t even stop there because he continues to do it in acomaf.Stop dragging his momma into this and leave the poor woman alone what’s wrong with you 😭.