#rhysand critical

[theegemini92]

Who is ratsand to decide where the cauldron went? 🤨

[aphroditeofcnidus]

The fact that it's supposed to be only Tamlin and Ianthe's fault that Nesta and Elain were kidnapped by Hybern and forced into the Cauldron is amazing.Even if Feyre can be excused for telling Ianthe about her sisters,because she didn't know her true colors then and considered her her friend,what cannot be excused is the fact that she and Rhysand brought the human queens to their house and offered them no protection afterwards.Would it hurt Rhysand to send a few Illyrians hiding in the trees to watch the house and inform him if sth was wrong?Because,if the problem was humans not knowing about Nesta and Elain's dealings with the Fae, they could do just that,not to mention that Fae can hide from humans anyway(Lucien tries to hide Feyre from Rhysand,so it's not just SC fae that can use this type of magic).Nesta and Elain were forced into the Cauldron,because of Rhysand and Feyre's indifference,as well.They came into their house, pressured them to do things they were uncomfortable doing,Feyre is not even against the idea of Rhysand forcing them to do them,Cassian insults Nesta and when they agree to help,they do nothing to protect them in return.They just didnt spare two thoughts about Nesta and Elain's safety and left them unprotected.

[msbrownwithacrown]

When I see: "Tamlin You Stupid Bitch"...

My brain says: "Rhysand You Raping Bitch"...

[lunamond]

It finally hit me today why I find SJM’s use of sexual violence so off: because she’s doing what a lot male authors do, where her first thought as to what could traumatize a female character is sexual.

I have thought about it a lot, and I can’t find a compelling reason for Nesta to have been potentially assault by Thomas. SJM in general has a strange distaste for humans in her fantasy—a topic for another day—but I really don’t see what it does for Nesta’s development. It doesn’t change her, really. All it does is, I guess, give her more similarities to Emerie and Gwyn? But why is THAT something they have to share.

Of the female characters, most of them have some kind of sexual trauma, and medieval times were bad for everyone but the average person had never been, y’know, that monstrous. Why did Rhysand have to sexually assault abs drug Feyre? All it did in the end was serve to set up their “romance” by having it be consensual the next time, which, to put a kind word to it, is in poor taste.

Thoughts?

Definitely agree on how Feyre‘s abuse is handled. No matter what came after, Sjm shot herself in the foot with the Feysand romance the moment she wrote the SA in book 1.

With specifically Nesta, the use of SA is almost acceptable. Which honestly makes it feel worse to me than how those male authors write sexual violence .

Her initial SA by Tomas and the allegorical SA through the Cauldron could both have been defensible to me. I would even argue that both work well together. Tomas happens completely off page, and the Cauldron gives the reader/character a concrete event to explore this topic while still having level of separation through its symbolic nature. Combine that with her friendship with Gwyn and Emerie, who both experienced various forms of gendered violence, and it's a pretty decent recipe for a story about a woman healing from the trauma of SA.

But, where Sjm then completely loses me again is by adding unnecessary gratuitous SA via the Kelpie and the completely unacknowledged sexual exploitation by Cassian and the IC.

It just leads to a complete thematic incoherence in Aosf, ruining what could have been a pretty solid story about finding healing, love, and acceptance. Instead, Nesta is caged and beaten into submission by her family and love interest, all while the narrative presents this to the reader as sth to cheer for. It retroactively makes the Tomas and Cauldron SA seem gratuitous and unnecessary as well.

However, as frustrating as the writing of SA for the female characters is, it's infinitly worse for the male characters. So many of them have experienced some form of SA, Rhysand, Lucien, Tamlin, and even in her other series Crescent City, I'm pretty sure Hunt has as well. All of the perpetrators, of course, are powerful, scheming, promiscuous women. And none of their resulting traumas are explored in any meaningful way.

Tamlin‘s is completely ignored. Neither his trauma of being preyed on as a child nor whatever Amarantha potentially did to him utm gets any mention at all.

Rhys' trauma is only referenced insofar that it gives him enough sympathy for both the reader and Feyre to forget about his own wrongdoings. Otherwise, his trauma has almost zero effect on his relationship with the IC, his romance with Feyre nor his rulership over the NC.

And Lucien‘s trauma is only used to further prove how bad Tamlin and the SC are, how trustworthy Rhys is, and mark Ianthe as completely irredeemable. Lucien himself gets no focus afterwards, other than having to grovel to Feyre for his perceived moral failings.

[olenvasynyt]

Since you were in 1975 fandom, what ACOTAR ship do you think would make for a really excellent Modern Band AU?

I definitely feel like the batboys would be an excellent modern boyband and I say that as someone who does not like the batboys that much lmao. Cassian would go crazy on the drums, Az would be the edgy emo boy on the bass who does next to nothing but still gets as much attention as the lead singer, and Rhys of course would be the lead singer and guitarist lmao. I feel like you can't have a modern band without the drama and they would bring the drama.

OKAY I GOTTA SPOIL THIS PART BECAUSE ITS A MEANNNNN OPINION:

Since you brought up The 1975, Rhysand is the Matty Healy of the ACOTAR universe. You start out loving him because he's so different and confident and sexy but he also has a unique backstory that's a little sad, but then when you learn more and more about him you realize he's actually just another annoying man with a rich background who is a feminist when it benefits him, says the n-word, posts crazy gross gore / snuff stuff and edgy videos to be different and quirkyyyy and yeah 😀 idk Matty and the 1975 in general has done some good political stuff: they are conscious of the enviorment and are very outspoken about climate change. They do some stuff for the LGBTQ community. They are very kind to their fans and were pretty active when I was in the fanbase. But Matty has also done a shit ton of stuff that just leave a gross taste in your mouth haha so that reminds me of Rhys / the IC a bit😬

[grimseverity]

Working on my Night Court civil war fanfiction where after the collapse of the NC at the combined hands of the CoN and the Illyrians teaming up, the refugees end up in the Spring Court because Lucien comes to aid them in their escape, and convinces Tamlin to let them stay because they lost everything.

And Tamlin meets Nyx, dislikes him at first, but realizes that Nyx inherited his shapeshifting powers from when Tamlin revived both Rhys and Feyre, when he shapeshifts into a little mini version of Tamlin’s own beast form.

I’m dying here xD It does my delusional-ass Feyre x Tamlin x Rhysand heart well

And Nyx as a unifier for them confronting their shared trauma and abuse of one another is the perfect excuse

[queenofqueensarcheron]

Wouldn’t be surprised if in the next book, something happens and Rhys gets pissed at Nesta (because what else is new????) and he blows up and end up hurting her like exploding a window (it already happened) and some glass cut her face while Cassian still doesn’t do anything.

I WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED IF THEY END UP HURTING HER. More than they already have

And I know some people would excuse it

[1800naveen]

Tamlin 🤝🏾 Lucien

Having a winged fruit bat obsessed with them to the point they're constantly thinking of how they're SO much better than them.

Like what do you mean your number one enemy is staying rent free in your mind? Funny enough, your enemy rarely thinks of you.

[ennawrite]

Rhys & Cass physically beat the shit out of Azriel but yeah, Nesta’s the worst sibling ever for being a lil mean and standoffish 🙄

[wingsdippedingold]

Is Rhys written as a Mary Sue?

Since everything he does is apparently necessary for the „greater good“ and in Sjm own words he‘s „perfect“ and „the most powerful high lord in the whole universe“ with no limits, that pretty much makes him a Mary Sue. I don’t think Sjm intended to write him as such though… or even knows what a Mary Sue is.

It‘s kind of funny, considering that everything outside of the narrative he does the most messed up things you could imagine.

ATP, idek

If you had asked me months ago, I might’ve said yes, but for this past month I’ve been in the process of reevaluating how I think SJM’s actually going about writing her narrative. From’s the IC’s and Rhysand’s own perspective, do I think he’s a Gary Stu? Yeah, pretty much. Even if Rhysand admits he’s guilty at times it’s always followed up with a reason as to why it’s actually necessary that he did it as if it’s supposed to negate what he actually did.

From a hollistic view of the narrative… ehhh…

Mary Sues are meant to be all around good, or at the very least the “best” by any metric even if not necessarily morally perfect. They’re meant to be infalliable rather than just moral paragons (though the two often coincide).

Rhysand on the other hand is meant to be morally grey, so while I do think that’s often used as a crutch by the fanbase to explain away his actions, it is a big part of his character that he’s supposed to be the dark, more exciting, LI (even if the narrative and characters refuse to give him meaningful criticism, and the ones who do are supposed to be bad for doing so, that would actually characterize him as morally grey)

So does that disqualify him from being a Mary Sue solely based on the fact that he’s supposed to be a character you can argue isn’t meant to be perfect, even if he’s defended like he is and if that reasoning is only used when someone criticizes him? You tell me 🤷‍♀️

[silverflameataraxia]

Saw a post from 2022 talking about how Rhys would be the ACOTAR character most likely to sympathize with the CC characters.

That post did not age well.

Nesta was the only ACOTAR character to sympathize with Midgard. She helped to defeat the Asteri, free Midgard, and save all worlds, and Rhys almost executed her for it.

[aphroditeofcnidus]

SJM's idea of what is romantic sometimes is very messed up.How is Rhysand and Feyre's pact to die together romantic?I could understand it if both were much older,had strong,adult heirs,who no longer needed their parents and had completed the work they needed to accomplish in the NC.Now,they could leave no heir,which means that the throne could go to Keir or someone else like him,leave an underage child an orphan,who if chosen by magic could be in a very difficult position.He would have no childhood.Someone else would rule in his place until he became of age and would also act as his guardian and who would that be?Cassian and Azriel don't have the skills for this,Mor is incapable of governing Hewn City,let alone the entire NC,this leaves us Amren.Who on earth would trust a young,impressionable and vulnerable child ruler under Amren's care? She's power hungry and would try to manipulate him that's for sure.

It is stupid enough that high lords don't seem to care enough about who succeeds them.Rhysand's father was 900 and still had no heirs,why?Because he waited for his mate,which is a rare bond,to begin with?Why hadn't he taken a wife all this time?Helion is also rather old,probably as old as Beron,who has a 500 year old son and Rhysand says that Lucien,who doesn't even know Helion is his father, is his heir.This means he doesn't have any children,not even illegitimate ones,that he has acknowledged.

All this isn't romance, it's irresponsibility and there's nothing romantic about an irresponsible prince.

[msbrownwithacrown]

This has been mentioned before, and said better than this...

But Rhysand showing up with his entire entourage to the High Lord Meeting will never not be funny to me!

Like no other High Lord did that. Other than Beron bringing Eris. Meanwhile, Tamlin showed up by himself in a hostile environment, like a whirlwind with receipts and the only Hybern intel in the meeting. How can anyone not love that 'fu-rebellious-I'm still going to do the right thing-courage?

[lainalit]

Rhysand when Feyre doesn't want to communicate mind to mind with him

Artwork by @ charliebowater

[olenvasynyt]

I say this with as much contempt as physically possible: I do not understand how you can believe Tamlin gave his father info on Rhysand’s sister and mother willingly. Tamlin? The male who is stubborn to a fault, who holds his tongue, who is so incredibly loyal it’s to his own detriment, who refuses to tell Feyre or Lucien or literally anyone his plans?? Who hated his father and Amarantha, who said this in ACOTAR when Feyre asked him if he fought in the war?

“I was a child at the time, too young to understand what was happening—or even to be told…But had I been old enough, I would have. Against slavery, against tyranny, I would gladly go to my death, no matter whose freedom I was defending.”

You’re telling me he willingly told his father—a slaver, a tyrant, a horrible male—where his friend’s family was? Nah man, sorry. I 100% believe Tamlin’s father tortured him for that information and Rhys’ singular side of the story does not change my opinion.

[grimseverity]

Ngl, During ACOTAR and ACOMAF when Rhys was straight up slutting Feyre out in UtM and in the CoN.

You KNOW his ass was wishing that was Tamlin on his lap ;)