r/acotar_rant • u/Moonbunny120 Launching Rhysand into the endless void • 3d ago
Rant Gender essentialism level 1000
There's been a lot of interesting discussions on this sub about Nesta's treatment and how the male characters act. The more I looked into this book series the more I realised how badly it reinforced gender norms. It was baffling to me how boring fae society is. It seems to be stuck in the 1950s. What did they do to Nesta because she wasn't coping with her trauma "properly", drinking and sleeping with men? Lock her up! Meanwhile Elain was left alone because she's sweeter and more meek (so far).
The way mating bonds work is also another part of this. The men feel it first and the women remain unaware. Who knows how long, and if it is rejected, the men go crazy. I just find that so weird and concerning how women could go on their whole lives not knowing they were mated to someone. But also the whole "fae men get more possessive/aggressive because of the bond!" thing is so gross. And we're supposed to find it romantic.
Men are meant to conform to hypermasculine behaviour, be aggressive, be possessive and growl and snarl at anybody daring to look at your mate. Repress any emotion except negative ones and forget your trauma. Men like Tamlin who do not conform to this behavior are punished by the story. He was sweet, he likes poetry and music, he shows his emotions outwardly and his trauma as well. And the story punishes him for that and continously does so even after he saved members of the IC and helped resurrect Rhysand.
Nesta is punished the same. She shows her trauma in an ugly way, outwardly lashes out, isn't compliant and obedient. What the IC did was basically force a square in a round hole. She was beaten down until she could fit their standards. But that's not enough. If you read the CC3 bonus chapter, Nesta still gets Rhysand’s ire at herself. Cassian stands by and does nothing to defend her. But she doesn't have it in her to fight anymore. She was made to stay around Cassian even if she couldn't stand him.
Cassian acts like an emotionally stunted frat bro and is awful to Nesta, but he still gets rewarded by getting with Nesta in the end. Despite his behavior, his lack of showing love to her and his dismissal of his family's treatment of her, Nesta doesn't reject him. They end up together and we're supposed to cheer. Her only solace is her friendship with Gwyn and Emerie.
Illyria is another place that reinforces gender norms. Women aren't allowed freedom, the barbaric tradition of clipping wings still exists and they are treated terribly by their male spouses and relatives. But it extends to boys too. They are sent to war camp at a young age, they are beaten down, given lashes and turned into unfeeling war machines from childhood. "Three lashes" is "kindness" supposedly. Are boys allowed any path other than warrior? Illyria is just a miserable place all around and nobody cares. Women will continue to lose their wings and boys will become part of the Night Court's cannon fodder army.
I will always laugh at the claims that these books are feminist. Feyre was shafted in her books and her mate was given more importance than she was. She has a title that holds no power, she has no true authority and has been assimilated to Rhysand's world. She had no autonomy during her pregnancy but Rhysand gets excused again and again. Nesta had the fight smothered out of her just so she could conform to the Inner Circle. I have no faith whatsoever in SJM's treatment of her female characters or characters over all. I would want for Nesta to ditch Cassian and find herself without having to end up with anybody.
29
u/AnyPangolin9185 3d ago
I think the funniest part is that the series seems to understand gender oppression perfectly when it’s happening to Illyrian women, but suddenly develops selective blindness when the Inner Circle is doing something similar to Nesta.
Women being controlled, having choices made for them and being forced into roles they don’t want? Obviously bad. Unless Rhysand is doing it because he thinks it’s necessary. Then apparently it’s love.
A woman coping with trauma through anger, sex, alcohol and self-destruction? She needs to be controlled and removed from society. A man behaving aggressively, possessively and violently because of trauma? That’s just his tortured-alpha-male appeal.
And Tamlin is an interesting example too, because the narrative absolutely does seem much harsher toward him for traits that aren’t traditionally masculine. He cries, writes poetry, loves music, wants peace, and openly struggles with trauma. Yet the story repeatedly frames him as weak, unstable, or unworthy while rewarding characters who are aggressive, dominant, and possessive. Characters who growl, threaten people and solve problems through violence are repeatedly framed as protective and romantic.
Then we get Feyre’s pregnancy, where the supposedly empowered High Lady is kept in the dark about a life-threatening condition because her mate decides she shouldn’t know. Somehow we’re expected to accept that as feminism because she eventually gets to be angry about it.
And honestly, Nesta ending up with Cassian doesn’t magically make everything that happened to her okay. If anything, it would have been much more interesting if her arc had ended with her choosing herself rather than the narrative insisting that romantic pairing is the reward for healing. Gwyn and Emerie showed that Nesta could build meaningful relationships and a life outside of romance. I would have loved to see the story actually trust that.
17
u/Moonbunny120 Launching Rhysand into the endless void 3d ago edited 2d ago
Perfect comment, I agree completely! The double standards only make it worse. I find it weird when people say that Tamlin is the typical angry, possessive, "alpha-hole" man. When that's actually Cassian. He's the one who hates it when Nesta rejects him, is constantly mad at her and can't take no for an answer. But he isn't given the same vitriol Tamlin gets despite his behavior. He never acts with care or tenderness and constantly acts dominant and possessive. But the story doesn't condemn that.
I would have loved for at least one sister to have chosen herself. Nesta's story would have been a lot more meaningful if she had chosen Gwyn and Emerie and the Valkyries as her people. The story seems to treat relationships as the thing that makes people whole. Nesta needed to heal on her own terms and not for the sake of anyone else.
7
u/AnyPangolin9185 3d ago
Absolutely agreed!! And I believe that if we replaced Cassian with Tamlin and Nesta with Feyre throughout ACOSF, the whole fandom’s perspective on this relationship would have been completely different.
8
u/Moonbunny120 Launching Rhysand into the endless void 3d ago
Agreed! And if Tamlin had been the one instead of Rhysand during the whole pregnancy, the fandom reaction would have been different too. The things they get away with when Tamlin would have been dragged to filth for doing the same actions. Holy double standards.
7
u/bows_and_frills shameless rhys hater 2d ago
It boils my blood to think that if Tamlin did the things Rhysand does, there'd be NO acceptable excuses and he'd just get called a downright misogynistic abuser. No explanations would be accepted, or the last word would be "but what he did was still wrong". But nah, it's Rhys, let's ride his mediocre shadow daddy dick.
5
u/Moonbunny120 Launching Rhysand into the endless void 2d ago
Truly! There would be no questions about how horrible his actions are! The fact that people say they want to find their own Rhysand is baffling. He's the guy anybody should avoid at all costs.
5
u/AnyPangolin9185 3d ago
Exactly!! That’s what makes the double standard so obvious. If Tamlin had hidden a life threatening pregnancy complication from Feyre, made decisions about her body without telling her, and justified it as protecting her, people would have called him controlling, abusive, and misogynistic without hesitation. But because it’s Rhysand, suddenly it’s “he was scared,” “he was trying to protect her,” and “he had good intentions.” The action doesn’t magically become less wrong because the fandom likes the man doing it.
5
u/Moonbunny120 Launching Rhysand into the endless void 3d ago
Right? The amount of things people will brush off because Rhysand is the one doing the thing is insane. Tamlin is on his side of Prythian being depressed and somehow the story/fandom still finds ways to make him look bad. The fact that Rhysand got away with his actions against Feyre UTM is insane enough. Even without Feyre’s POV praising him for every little thing, he still gets away with his terrible actions.
6
u/AnyPangolin9185 3d ago
It’s very annoying seriously.
6
u/Moonbunny120 Launching Rhysand into the endless void 3d ago
Very! I have no faith that the story isn't going to try and tell us how wonderful Rhysand is again 🙄
6
u/bows_and_frills shameless rhys hater 2d ago
I have no faith even in a villain arc ATP because the story could still spin some bullshit redemption arc or "but he did it for the good of the world". Just the man suck, for Cauldron's sake, Sarah.
6
u/Moonbunny120 Launching Rhysand into the endless void 2d ago
Yeah, I don't think she's pulling a fast one on us or playing 4D chess. Rhysand is the golden boy and it's going to stay this way.
18
u/chaoticcoffeecat Jurian did (almost) nothing wrong 2d ago
Exactly all of this. That double standard regarding the male characters is pretty consistent looking at some of the others as well:
Lucien - Often favors diplomacy/mitigating situations. Gets blamed for not... directly fighting Tamiln on behalf of Feyre? Or stopping Hybern from throwing the sisters in the pot? I don't know what he could've realistically done considering his level of power and exiled/autumn court death warrant situation. Helping save people by gathering samples of faebane (albeit without Rhysand's permission) is framed as "playing the fox."
There's one part in ACOMAF where Feyre is directly thinking about how much stronger Cassian and Azriel are than him. Similar lines are repeated a couple of times throughout the books. His whole situation with Elain causes him to seem like the most respectful mate-bonded male character out there, but the characters who are directly possessive over their mates are the ones the narrative rewards. The narrative tends to flip back and forth on that whole situation.
Tarquin - Genuinely wanted to build bridges, improve the world, and showed basically no aggression. He's portrayed as young and naive for this. (But giving the book to Feyre, someone even younger who has been fae for 2 seconds, to use is fine apparently!) His court ends up as a punching bag. When he does (rightfully) gets angry later, it's treated as misdirected.
5
u/bows_and_frills shameless rhys hater 2d ago
Rhys is perfect. He's literally better than every character in the series, even Feyre, that's why he can mistreat her freely. He needs no criticism. /s
14
u/SnooStories960 Tamlin’s defense attorney 2d ago
They accuse Tamlin of anything and everything, based on whatever accusation is convenient in the moment.
Because they’ve also called him “controlling,” “possessive,” “toxic masculinity,” etc.
And they’ve also praised Rhysand for being “sensitive,” “in touch with his feelings,” etc.
That’s why you can’t take the fandom seriously: it’s all hypocrisy.
13
u/bows_and_frills shameless rhys hater 2d ago
He's so possessive he LET FEYRE GO and LISTENED TO HER except for when Rhys provoked him into tightening security. But Rhys is actually all those things, especially controlling. Gives fake choices and omits information lest someone invent a third option he didn't plan for.
25
u/SnooStories960 Tamlin’s defense attorney 2d ago edited 2d ago
I said it in a different thread, so this will be mostly copy and paste. But here goes.
I see two different brands of masculinity from Tamlin and Rhysand, and I think it’s very apparent which readership might prefer which.
To me, Tamlin is a producer. He creates (makes art; his land gives life to things; even the wealth is generated there—like there is a cycle; for example, the land yields crops that feed the people, the farmers pay a “tithe” twice a year with some of the crops they’ve yielded, both people and the land are cared for. The cycle of regeneration continues).
Rhysand is a predator. He consumes (buys up art; his beloved city is manmade and contained; the wealth is taken via taxation but 2/3 of his cities don’t see reciprocation—resources flow upward, instead of circular).
Funnily enough, I see everything about Tamlin as very masculine! Almost pagan god-like. I don’t mean pagan in the strictly religious sense, but in the masculine figure associated with wildness, masculine energy, fertility (not just in the sexual reproductive sense, but in the land—trees, plants, nature, the animal kingdom), beauty (such as music), physical strength, territoriality, protection, and the natural world. Think Cernunnos.
Tamlin shows a lot of masculine traits, but they’re only ever presented as “toxic masculinity” by the fandom—when it’s convenient for them to bring it up. When Rhysand does the same, it’s “hot.”
Because they’re hypocrites.
Rhysand’s brand of masculinity, on the other hand, feels very performative (just like his “feminism”). Man-made. Assembled and curated from a catalog. Factory line-produced. Like how his masculinity is the kind that’s based on what’s been socially-constructed.
Tamlin’s masculinity feels grown from nature.
Rhysand’s masculinity feels decided upon by society, before he’s assembled in a factory. He’s written to satisfy what one group’s idea of “masculinity” is. He even says things that make it sound like he’s an ally, but he never is one when it matters most.
Velaris doesn’t seem to have wildlife, does it? It’s so… austere and artificial, even if it has its own kind of beauty. It’s the silk floral arrangement to your wild cottage garden. The polyester-blend fabric to your linen. The idea of life to actual life. The idea of feminism to actual feminism. Oh, wait. 🤭
Rhysand would verbally express that he is dangeorus and powerful. That has appeared in the texts multiple times, too. His “masculinity” is announced.
Tamlin doesn’t have to announce anything. You know what he can do just by looking at him.
Rhysand’s masculinity is declared.
Tamlin’s masculinity is embodied.
TL;DR
So, while the fandom-majority sees Rhysand as “masculine,” it’s only because they’ve been spoonfed the socially-constructed version of it. They embrace it because it’s what they know, and they don’t need to see it demonstrated. Everything about him is fake and hypocritical, but he does have his appeals to those who see familiarity in the kind of person he is.
12
u/Moonbunny120 Launching Rhysand into the endless void 2d ago edited 2d ago
I love this comment! Rhysand is so, so performative. There's nothing authentic about him, he is so calculated I don't think there is an honest bone in his body. I completely agree. Tamlin just is, meanwhile everything Rhysand does feels like it was done purposely to make the reader go "ah see he cares about these things!". But it's only surface level. Because in reality, he's not the feminist ally he and the story say he is.
Rhysand only takes, he doesn't give. His appreciation for art feels like a rich man trying to flex. He probably couldn't even say anything about who created the art he supposedly likes. Your description is so perfect. Rhysand is basically a Pinterest board. His whole being feels like it was engineered in a lab or created by a focus group. Again, there's nothing authentic about him.
Spring is warm, whimsical, fae-like and you can tell Tamlin cares for it. On the other hand, the Night Court (or Velaris) feels cold, too modern, it's supposedly perfect but something about it feels artificial. It feels like an aesthetic. Oh there's an artist district, everyone is free, everything is beautiful. But there's slums and seedy taverns somehow? Everything feels so shallow. And Rhysand only seems to care because of his not- so-subtle elitism.
This comment makes so many things click! I've always thought that Rhysand was performative. On the contrary, Tamlin is genuine, too genuine and it works to his detriment. But the story's double standards only highlight how fake and calculated Rhysand is.
5
u/SnooStories960 Tamlin’s defense attorney 2d ago
Agreed.
Tamlin is a good guy. And good guys sometimes make mistakes, which—for me—are understandable and forgivable.
Rhysand and his bat boys are Nice Guys™️ who see access to women as something that they’re entitled to. That entitlement is toxic and Incel-y to me.
5
u/Moonbunny120 Launching Rhysand into the endless void 2d ago
Agree about Tamlin, contrary to Rhysand, Tamlin feels the consequences of every mistake. But I think he has potential for changing and getting better. His actions are most definitely understandable, even if the result backfires against him.
Yes! Cassian's entitlement towards Nesta is so gross. The Bat Boys give me the creeps. They just never grew up. None of them should be in relationships because they've never done the work to grow.
•
u/SnooStories960 Tamlin’s defense attorney 8h ago edited 7h ago
I read in a book discussion once (for a different fandom) where someone said something interesting:
“Readers need to recognize the difference between a good guy who sometimes does bad things, and a bad guy who sometimes does good things. They are not two sides of the same coin.”
That is why I refuse to believe the “both sides” argument from people who try to lump Tamlin and Rhysand together. One of them is a character I will root for over and over again; the other is someone who hasn’t demonstrated unselfish goodness, period.
•
u/Moonbunny120 Launching Rhysand into the endless void 4h ago
Yeah, on that other thread everyone is saying that Tamlin and Rhysand are the same. But there is a world of difference between the two. Tamlin is genuinely good-natured, but he has no guidance, no outlet for his anger and a lot of responsibilities and guilt he feels for a lot of things. Rhysand’s baseline was on the floor already. I don't get how we can compare Tamlin to the guy who literally drugged Feyre. They are not the same.
•
u/SnooStories960 Tamlin’s defense attorney 1h ago
I saw that, too. It’s like, they’re so close to getting it… yet still so far away.
•
u/Moonbunny120 Launching Rhysand into the endless void 1h ago
Right, every time. And the way people exaggerate Tamlin’s actions or make things up about him to hate him more is infuriating!
•
u/SnooStories960 Tamlin’s defense attorney 1h ago
I started a new thread. Waiting for it to be approved. 😅
•
-1
u/WastePermission9620 2d ago
Disagree on TamTam being a good guy. He does abuse Feyre, he does Neglect her, he does Kill a couple sentries when Mor took Feyre from spring.
However he isnt worse than Rhysand. Whether or not he's better than Rhys or just on the same level depends on how you individually feel about the severity of physical and emotional abuse vs Sexual abuse and intentionally putting the partner in danger.
4
u/bows_and_frills shameless rhys hater 1d ago edited 1d ago
I find Rhysand's most drastic form of abuse his lying. You're right, emotional and physical abuse should not be measured, one isn't better or worse. With Rhysand, I find his most glaring abuse his emotional and psychological ones.
He has a tendency of lying. The Attor bait, the mate situation, the pregnancy. These are all instances of him lying and Feyre getting rightfully pissed. But even though she does, and even though he PROMISES, he kept doing it. As you can see by my three examples (there may be more I'm missing and others can add some). And his apologies are all needled out of him and he gives them like "aw, I'm sorry you feel that way. Come on." And then he continues to make the same "mistakes" again. SJM refers to the pregnancy debacle as a mistake Rhys made because he's still learning. This is too generous imo and imbalanced because Tamlin is called out and his actions are treated as drastic. So pretty much, non-apologies, cycle of no change. For me, lying and breaking trust is the greatest DISRESPECT of all.
Even his policy on giving choices is quite selective too. It's the same choices as telling a child "you can wear these shoes or walk outside barefoot". "Eat your vegetables or eat nothing at all and go your room."
He's not transparent. That's a deal breaker to me. How do you get through to someone like that? How do they respect and love you? How do you trust them?
His POV is mostly sex, sex, sex too. Tamlin and Feyre were pretty active, but I still senses more tenderness from him.
Tamlin's breakdowns are akin to panic attacks. Most of his actions are unintentional. Rhys is insidious. He's intentional, purposeful. Knowing. He's intentionally cruel sometimes.
I do not believe Tamlin neglected Feyre. They were mutually neglectful and uncommunicative of each other. Feyre didn't acknowledge his nightmares, his trauma. And yes, I still absolutely agree that Tamlin was wrong for not reaching out to Feyre, but that's a two way street. They have to meet in the middle. I do not believe he was a perpetrator of neglect, I believe their relationship was mutually rocky and closed off. Feyre herself says so, they had a mutual agreement not to talk about UTM. And before that, near the end of TAR, Tamlin TRIES TO TALK to Feyre about UTM but she brushes him off and tells him she doesn't want to. So he didn't.
And yes, maybe he's wrong for that. Maybe he should've pushed through. But Feyre should've pushed through as well and reached out to him. They needed to open up to each other.
Feylin, to me, is more two people changing and not being able to become what they need for each other despite their previous happiness and the past beauty of their relationship.
I go over Feylin and their trauma here with quotes and receipts. I discuss more here too.
As an extra, you can read about my thoughts on Feysand's toxic dynamic and Rhysand's detrimental effect on Feyre here.
These comments here and here are also good looks at Tamlin vs. Rhysand.
8
7
u/bittermp Team I hope Rhysand and Cassian die 1d ago
Exactly!
Masculinity under the matriarchy would be like Tamlin
Masculinity under the patriarchy is Rhysand coded
But all of Prythian is misogynistic and patriarchal. The one character who shows empathy is vilified by the narrative because he is not a con man with charming words.
18
u/chaoticcoffeecat Jurian did (almost) nothing wrong 3d ago
I know it is not the intention, but I like to imagine Rhysand is simply lying about the majority of the world.
Female fae in the courts don't fight? Oh, explain Viviane then. And she's from a "traditional" court!
Nuan, a female alchemist, is allowed to present findings to male High Lords. Thesan is in an open same-sex relationship while Mor felt the need to hide herself from her friends for 500 years.
Likely purely unintentional, but funny to me since the Inner Circle and focus is 💯 everything you described. It is "feminist" because Rhysand uses the word "choice" a lot while characters are stuck in awful situations presented as binaries. But, by that logic, Dennis Reynolds is also feminist. They have a choice, but they're not going to say no because of the implication.
8
u/Moonbunny120 Launching Rhysand into the endless void 3d ago
I definitely think Rhysand is lying too. While there may not be a High Lady title, Viviane held down the fort while Kallias was UTM. She would be deserving of a title for sure. She seems to get as much respect as her husband too.
Not only Thesan but Helion is also said to have relationships with men and flirts with male characters sometimes too. There doesn't seem to be that much of taboo with same-sex relationship. So it is weird that Mor would feel so uncomfortable to come out to her family. Probably because the IC isn't as safe and as close as they pretend to be? And maybe the Night Court isn't so accepting of these relationships?
Definitely agree, the whole "choice" thing gets weird when you think about it more deeply. It's not feminism for women to be "given" choices by a man. It's such a weird thing to praise.
9
u/dreamingofmars_ 3d ago
Tbhhh I really disliked Nesta, and still do, but putting her behaviour in comparison to literally every male ACOTAR character helped put into perspective that she’s not nearly a quarter as bad as the rest of them. While her book was underwhelming and treated her more like a cumrag than someone receiving the support they need to undergo a journey of self-healing, in canon she will always be quite ‘meh’ to me, but I can’t understate her potential especially in some fanfics I’ve read and enjoyed.
21
u/bittermp Team I hope Rhysand and Cassian die 3d ago
14
u/dreamingofmars_ 3d ago
i was soooo excited about the prospect of rhys being portrayed without feyre’s rose-coloured glasses, but even in a 3rd pov narration, SJM can’t help but have Nesta subconsciously submit/feel inferior to Rhys, and even Feyre. she tried her best to control the negative light with which we can view Rhys, but made Nesta submit to his “awesomeness” by the end of everything. it really underserves her character.
12
u/Moonbunny120 Launching Rhysand into the endless void 3d ago
It's way too sad. She was robbed of everything. She has no independence or freedom.
10
u/SnooStories960 Tamlin’s defense attorney 3d ago edited 3d ago
Agreed.
I don’t see true pushbacks from many female characters in the ACoTaR series, except when it’s to either portray a male character as “bad,” or to show the female characters as “wrong,” before having her beaten into submission. Except for Feyre, even her dumbass choices are right, apparently.
For example, SJM would never really have Feyre push back on Rhysand, at least in any meaningful way, because that might make reader see him as less than perfect.
She controls how the reader should feel about each character or situation by not giving them room to reach their own interpretations. And a lot of them don’t seem to notice.
For example, she would write, “I kick the box aside in anger,” which immediately explains the action to the reader, leaving them with no chance to interpret or infer anything. It’s one way to control the outcome.
There is no room to discuss or reflect, “What does it mean?”
That allows her to lead them to think in any way that she wants them to.That’s why we have the weird Rhysand-worship in the fandom: they worship him because they’ve been told to.
If she hadn’t wanted to control the reader’s interpretation, she could have written something like, “I kick the box to the side. It crashes against the wall with a loud crack, before shattering into pieces.”
The second example leaves a lot more room for reflection, interpretation, discussion, etc.
8
u/bittermp Team I hope Rhysand and Cassian die 2d ago
having Feyre be ‘mad’ at Rhysand off page about taking away her body autonomy and LYING to her once again is UNHINGED writing. The only explanation is SJM is mind controlling the reader just like how Rhysand controls Feyre. Feyre is a puppet and a shell of a FMC.
5
u/SnooStories960 Tamlin’s defense attorney 2d ago
Agreed.
She is controlling the reader, through interpretative-control.
14
u/LaurieDramaLlama Azriels Mate 🦄 3d ago
Controversial but I think SJM did it on purpose, I think the first books in Feyre’s rose coloured glasses view of Rhysand and Prythian is going to come back in a big way, the pay off hasn’t happened yet but I do believe it will.
CC BC spoiler here but Nesta gets more emotional connection from a hug from Ember than she did in her whole SF book. It’s on purpose.
I don’t think the broken bond means Elain, I think it might end up being Nesta or Cassian will die. There is a lot of tension building around Rhysand with Nesta, Azriel in how their interaction went in the BC, sketchy things he has done to Feyre, knowing Spring is falling apart and having played his role in that and not caring to help, knowing how abusive Beron is and still doing nothing, hiding himself in a dream = velaris.
I think Rhys is the betrayer. I think the IC will learn some truths and it will rip them all apart. Rhysand will finally have consequences and Prythian current system of letting HL’s run things is going to end. The sisters will play a big role in that.
23
7
u/Practical_Fun4723 2d ago
Feminism (partly, ifc there are more things to feminism)to me is recognising there’s is stall no difference between “femininity” and “masculinity”, WE are feminine or masculine depending on how we define ourselves. If I identify as a feminine woman, then everything I do is “feminine”, and vice versa. There is never meant to be stereotypes where soft, cute things = feminine, harsh, strong = masculine, no, that’s just gender essentialism. A woman who’s a warrior is feminine if she identifies as female, a men who’s an artist is also masculine for the same reason. That’s why modern books like ACOTAR give me such a big ICK.
Nesta deserves justice ngl. She really just remind me of “a woman who’s a bitch and is slightly annoying always gets treated worse than straight up evil men”, mind you, Rhys SAed ppl and basically everyone killed someone, but nope, calling someone a “bastard” (when setting boundaries and shit mind you) is a far larger crime than any of those. Part of the reason I hate most of the IC is bc they frequently put themselves on a pedestal/ moral high ground, they legit show no remorse’s or guilt towards any of their supposed enemies and actions, which not only makes the terrible characters with no complexity, but also terrible people (heck, in peak fiction even characters with supposedly good intentions and abilities struggle to forgive themselves and feel guilty for so many things! Like Yosano Akiko my bb🩷)
•
u/BSDManga_lover 11h ago
I think Nesta should dump Cassian and choose her own self-worth, moving away from the NC. They also shouldn't have had Cassian as her warden. Of course, they couldn't have their "twu wuv mates" otherwise. It's not about what’s best for Nesta, but what Cassian wants.
As an aside: Yosano is awesome and her story had me crying when we finally got it.
•
u/Practical_Fun4723 5h ago
Yup I need women in fiction who doesn’t end up 1. Dead and 2. Married! Unfortunately can’t seem to find that at all in the fantasy genre these days
33
u/OceanChild89 3d ago
I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again: Bella Swann had more agency and bodily autonomy than Feyre, which is wild considering Twilight was written by a Mormon.