A Pretty Detailed Explanation on Why Destroying the Spring Court Was Stupid Beyond Compare
A/N - I read the ACoTaR series a couple years ago, so please tell me if I make a mistake about this series. My memory could be faulty, and I really don’t want to misrepresent or straw man these books.
Feyre is the main character, protagonist, perspective, and hero in the ACoTaR series, and she’s just as terrible as her husband.
At the end of the second book, Feyre decides to be a spy in the Spring Court. She did that because the Spring Court was Hybern’s ally on Prythian. She also decided to destroy the Spring Court while she was there, because then she’d be weakening Hybern’s only ally on Prythian. Here’s the thing, though...Feyre’s an idiot. Feyre (and anybody in the Inner Circle, frankly) is stupid and a terrible person, because she destroyed the Spring Court government and almost entirely forgot about the people, the civilians, of the Spring Court.
Anybody with two brain cells knows that by destroying the government of a land, they are also creating chaos and instability in the entire land. That by creating problems for Hybern in this scenario, Hybern would probably retaliate harshly on the Spring Court. But Feyre only briefly considered that. Tamlin told her, “Hybern has promised that our people shall remain untouched and undisturbed” (36), and she then proceeded to destroy the Spring Court from within.
Why, WHY would you believe the evil bad guys you’re about to go to war with when they say they’ll leave people unharmed? Why would you trust them? Why would you allow the safety and stability of an entire land full of people dependent on the land YOU’RE ABOUT TO GO TO WAR WITH?? This is honestly one of the worst and stupidest decisions I have ever seen a character make. She was so uncaring and unthinking towards all the innocent people she’d be harming in her little spying scheme. The harm she caused was much greater than the reward of weakening Hybern’s ally.
Feyre’s a coward, too, because when she’s confronted with Tamlin telling her that all the villages in the Spring Court were burned, she’s like, “I shut out that, too. He’d said they’d remain untouched, that Hybern promised—” (848). She can’t even face up to the repercussions of her own stupid decisions. Also, yes, you should definitely rely on the bad guys to keep their promise and be kind towards innocent civilians.
BUT WAIT! There’s more! Because the Spring Court fell, the doors were left right open for Hybern to attack the Summer Court. Tarquin, High Lord of the Summer Court, tells Feyre and Rhysand, “‘You left the door open for Hybern. They docked in his [Tamlin’s] harbors [...] It was an easy trip to my doorstep. You did this.’”
You want to know what Rhysand’s great response to this completely true accusation was? “‘We did nothing. Hybern chooses its actions, not us’” (722).
HUHHH?? YOU HELPED THE BAD GUYS!
That’s like knowing there’s a murderer outside a person’s house, and handing them the key to the house. You’re helping the evil dudes by weakening the Spring Court. In that situation, you don’t have the right to say, “They control their actions, not us.”
My critique about what Rhysand and Feyre did to the Spring Court isn’t over. There’s more. See, in the third book, A Court of Wings and Ruins, Tamlin shows up at the High Lords’ meeting and says that he was pretending to be loyal to Hybern, that he was allying with them so he could get inside information. At the end of the book, Tamlin did end up helping Prythian’s side. Throughout the entire series, we see Feyre and Rhysand commit the most deplorable acts for (seemingly) good reasons. Yet, when they saw Tamlin do something questionable (allying with Hybern) they did not even consider that he could just be pretending and doing it for a good reason. They didn’t even consider that Tamlin could be pretending to ally with Hybern. They irresponsibly didn’t consider that before destroying the ENTIRE SPRING COURT. They didn’t even take the necessary precautions to make sure that Tamlin was actually as bad as they thought!
This is made even more anger-inducing by the fact that after Tamlin shows up to the High Lords’ meeting and explains himself, Rhysand tells him, “‘I believe you. That you will fight for Prythian.’” Rhysand was so quick to believe Tamlin, which shows how irresponsible and hasty the Night Court was in deciding to destroy the Spring Court, because Rhysand was open to the idea of Tamlin fighting for Prythian!
Rhysand actually even tells Feyre, “And perhaps we did him [Tamlin] a disservice by not even considering the possibility. Perhaps even I started to think him some warrior brute” (875). It’s nice that Rhysand has the brain cells to actually think this, but self-awareness doesn’t negate the destruction they caused to the Spring Court. And it’s not a “perhaps” situation, they did the entire Spring Court a disservice by not considering that. And it’s especially ridiculous since Feyre and Rhys’ number one talent is acting (Rhys’ mask Under the Mountain, and Feyre playing that gross role in Hewn City in ACoMaF).
ANOTHER reason for why Feyre was stupid in destroying the Spring Court is that she didn’t consider that they’d bring Tamlin to their side and require his army. “I had done that — in my rage, my need for vengeance...I had not thought long-term. Had not considered that perhaps we would need that army” (907). You didn’t consider anything, you dumb...girl. Annoying, dumb, terrible, special-snowflake Feyre shouldn’t have any sort of power or authority.