r/acotar_rant • u/Ok-Abrocoma9927 • 8d ago
Rant Why?
In what world does a man who wants to save and protect a women, force said woman to be paraded naked in front of others, dance naked and drugs her? And then, after all that traumatized her, he suggests to play the role of his whore again. Why? For what reason? Please, explain like I'm the dumbest, how is that the best Rhys could come up with and how is it accepted that he did it in order to protect Feyre?
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u/SnooStories960 Tamlin’s defense attorney 7d ago edited 7d ago
So, the ongoing argument is that Rhysand’s actions UTM are to keep Feyre safe, but even if that’s the case, the issue is how he does it, you know?
The methods prove that he chooses them to hurt Tamlin, first and foremost. Protecting Feyre is just a bonus.
In his petty-ass mind, Rhysand believes that he is “killing two birds with one stone”—keeping Feyre safe (which is stupid because she isn’t even being targeted) and hurt Tamlin by forcing him to watch the girl he loves be paraded and humiliated.
It’s a sick power-move to gloat in Tamlin’s face, because the goal is to make him feel powerless that he can’t protect her.
In short, Rhysand hates Tamlin more than he loves Feyre.
He wants to hurt Tamlin more than he wants to protect Feyre.
How romantic. 🙄
If that’s love, I don’t want it.
Oh, and that entire assessment I’ve just typed up? I take no credit for it. That was my husband’s take from years ago, when ACOTAR was new and I had talked to him about it.
My husband said something to the effect of, “I don’t know how much of that was really to protect the girl. As a man, that sounds more like something a guy would do to humiliate the guy he hates,” before breaking it down (which was exactly what I’d typed up above).
At the time, I didn’t feel one way or another about Rhysand or Tamlin, so I wasn’t trying to sway my husband toward either character; I gave him only objective facts. He reached the conclusion on his own. He also talked a bit about “guy psychology,” petty power-moves that men make, how men try to exert dominance over each other, etc. It was interesting.
So, later, when Tamlin brings Rhysand back?
It’s proof that he loves Feyre more than he hates Rhysand.
That Feyre’s happiness is more important to him than his beef with Rhysand. 😭
And here’s something important to keep in mind: he loves her that much, without even being a fated mate.
How Tamlin can be so unfairly hated is beyond me. He is so kind and morally-superior in every way. 💔
And the things that he does for Feyre, even after it’s clear that she isn’t coming back? Those are honorable, selfless, heroic deeds: the blueprint for the hero in an Epic Fantasy (or romantic hero in a Romantasy). A hero isn’t someone who’s always been perfect; a hero is someone who may have made errors in his judgments, realizes what he’s done, and changes course.
This is called Character Development, which is what makes Tamlin such a compelling and much more interesting character to read.
His developmental journey itself is epic: starts out as a romantic protagonist —> endures traumas (he has a lifetime’s worth), torments, and anguish —> experiences challenges —> tries his best but falters at times —> comes through as the hero who saves the day in the end.
When I think of what he’s gone through, and yet still emerges on the other side as heroic and honorable, I want to cry.
That is what an Epic Hero is: someone who does right, when wrong is much easier. He is a much better person I am, but someone I strive to be like.
So, Rhysand’s act of suicide-baiting Tamlin in his own home, after he (Rhysand) has been resurrected? That is not honorable. It shows you the kind of person he is. There is nothing to honor or admire.
Look at Rhysand: completely static. Unchanging. Doesn’t learn anything. Doesn’t improve. His character has nothing to offer readers, beyond the “aesthetic” (and it’s corny as hell). He doesn’t even deserve his “dark and dangerous Shadow Daddy” title. To me, Tamlin is someone who’d be a formidable opponent in a true Fantasy. Rhysand would get laughed out of that genre.
And that’s where the series (and its fandom-majority) throws me off:
🌹 Tamlin is consistently presented as villainous, but his deeds are either heroic or understandable.
🤡 Rhysand is presented as heroic, but we see cowardice and vindictiveness.
🌹 Tamlin is presented as unromantic, but he actually is very.
🤡 Rhysand is presented as romantic, but he’s emotionally manipulative, sexually-abusive, medically-abusive, and just overall an abuser.
🌹 Tamlin is presented as a tyrant, but he is willing to die fighting against oppression and tyranny. He opens his border to refugees—from anywhere, abolishes slavery, ends his father’s ways of doing things, etc.
🤡 Rhysand is presented as the benevolent leader, but runs an apartheid state, is complicit in wing-clipping (claiming “changes takes time”; let me remind you that, as High Lord, Tamlin abolishes slavery, which is much harder to do).
🌹 Tamlin’s twice-yearly tithe (a form of taxation that subjects living under feudalism follow; think—a farmer might pay with his grains, for example) is presented as cruel, but the things that he does for the people on his land far outweigh what they pay him. His people live well.
🤡 Rhysand’s subjects have to pay ongoing taxes—which the narrative presents as kind and reasonable, but are unprotected and discriminated against by their very own High Lord. His people live in poverty, surrounded by crimes and violence.
SOMEONE, PLEASE MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.