Rhysand's sudden appearance at the end of HOSAB is the culmination of one of the most annoying and infuriating tropes that plague supposedly 'feminist' titles.
Let's say you've picked up a book. Maybe it’s fantasy. Maybe it's science fiction. Maybe it’s historical fiction, or straight up romance. Whatever the genre, you probably picked it up because there's a female protagonist whose story you want to hear.
And for a while, it's going great. The protagonist is intelligent/witty/capable. She's ticking most of your boxes, if not all of them, and you're eager to see where she goes.
But then the male love interest sidles into the plot, and then things start to go wrong.
He swaggers in, all broody, or smirking, or mysterious. He's got a shady, secret past, or he's had major trauma in his life. He has an athlete's build and he's strangely beautiful. He has a mission or crusade for justice or vengeance. He has a brooding intensity or a smoldering gaze.
Bonus points if he dresses all in black or he has aesthetic 'shadow powers'.
Either way, our heroine finds herself intrigued. And as time goes on, as the love interest plays a bigger role in the story, that intrigue starts to become something more.
Finally, there will come a moment. The heroine's inhibitions fall away, and she finds herself completely infatuated.
And that's when there's a shift. Sometimes it's a bit sudden and jarring if the author isn't quite practiced yet. But sometimes the author is skilled enough that the shift is subtle and easily missed.
Whichever it is, the result is the same: sooner or later, our female protagonist has been sidelined in her own story. Her motivations, her drives, her every waking thought, are now subordinate to this smirking male love interest, who has now displaced her and taken away her protagonist spot.
Our female lead is no longer an active player; she's become the grand prize to be won by this male character. Sometimes, there's a veneer of an equal relationship; our female lead may be his valuable confidante or his right hand woman. But it’s still just a veneer: at the end of the day, she's still subordinate to the man she's paired with.
And then you realize; our protagonist was never the true focus at all. Our protagonist is now just a walking camera, a proxy through which her author can focus their effort and care onto the real focal point of the story; the male love interest, who's been the actual main character this whole time.
It was never her story in the first place. It was his.
She no longer makes decisions or takes initiative for herself; it's now for him.
It's no longer about her mission or goals or desires; it's now about his.
It's no longer about her struggles or pains or hardships, it's now about his.
And it's not just her story that's stolen from her. Her personality, character and strengths are wittled away as well.
If she's competent and skilled at something, then she'll suddenly have the rug pulled put from beneath them by a man who inexplicably outclasses her.
If she's confident, well-spoken, and respected, then she'll suddenly become tongue-tied, flustered and condescended to by a smirking man who's somehow more witty and eloquent than she is.
If she has ambitions that don't immediately revolve around men or relationships, then she'll suddenly have her mind changed by a man who'll make her forget and discard her goals in favor of his.
If she's disinterested in, or indifferent to men, she'll suddenly become infatuated with and softened up by an excessively attractive man almost instantaneously.
And, worst of all, if she confronts him for his gaslighting/manipulation/violence/abuse, she'll suddenly find her anger and will crumbling as the story and narrative excuses and forgives him for his misdeeds. Worst of all, she'll be forced to admit that she's wrong.
I've picked up too many books that are supposed to feature badass or compelling women, only to find them being undermined by men.
And I'm tired of it. I'm tired of compelling female protagonists ceding all their initiative and agency because they’re suddenly convinced some Byronic edgelord's grand quest or crusade is somehow more important than their own.
SJ/M's books suffer from this terribly, especially in the case of Rhysand. It's as if SJ/M (and other authors like her) can't concieve a scenario in which a woman, protagonist or otherwise, is NOT awed by, overpowered by, subservient to, or superceded by Rhysand (or, for that metter, any other man) in some way.
I don't care if this male love interest is a deep character. I don't care if his motivations are compelling. I don't care if his morality, grey or otherwise, makes him fascinating. I don't care if he has six pack abs, lustrous hair, or shimmering eyes. And I certainly don't care about whatever oh-so-tragic backstory or trauma he uses to justify his predatory/abusive/manipulative behavior.
If he swaggers into the story and starts leeching away at the female protagonist's agency, headspace, character, and story, then he's not a character; he's a tumor that needs to be excised posthaste.
And it's not that hard to cut out that tumor. It's absolutely possible to have a unique, compelling, interesting, and even funny female protagonist tell her story, without some pretty-faced, musclebound bad boy barging in and stealing her spotlight. I've seen it in videogames. I've seen it in fanfic. I've even seen it in history, IRL.
Just for once, I'd like to see so-called feminist authors actually make their female protagonists centerstage with desires and goals and ambitions, instead of just being a vehicle through which the author can fawn over the tall, overly attractive, self-pitying popinjay who's been the real focus the entire time.
And if they still prefer to write a story just so they can ooh and aah at their imaginary Adonis, then they can at least do the courtesy of excluding a female perspective outright. They can make this special, muscle-bound snowflake the protagonist from the outset.
They don't need to undermine smart, capable and competent female leads and squander their potential in favor of their thirst trap.
