Rhysand really doesn't make any sense as a character.
Sjm tries to present him as this tortured misunderstood hero. But that image of his character makes zero sense even with all of her retconning.
This is especially clear with everything that has to do with his victimhood.
To this day, I really struggle to understand the whole Amarantha business. She steals the Highlords' powers and forces them to accept her rule, which they all do (except for Tamlin), but then Rhysand has to sacrifice himself and become Amarantha's whore to protect Velaris and his friends. But like why?
Velaris was already a secret and magically shielded + the new protection he gave it before his powers were stolen, so why does he need to do it? Not to protect the rest of the Night court, he made it quite clear that he was ready to throw everybody there under the bus.
So, what actual benefits did he get out of it?
Kallias also used his power to protect a city (even taking in refugees), but he didn't need to sleep with Amarantha to pull this off. So, why did Rhys?
If Sjm actually engaged with this situation, it could have been interesting.
Maybe Rhys was panicked, made a mistake, and once he realised he was already stuck in that relationship. Or maybe he liked the proximity of power that his position gave him, and being feared and hated gave him a sense of control over his situation (actually allowing him to be morally grey).
But she doesn’t. Because that would make Rhys fallible.
The narrative keeps reiterating how big of a sacrifice Rhys made, even going so far as to elevate Rhys over other victims of Amarantha as someone who supposedly suffered the most. Making sure we understand how tortured he is over the fact that poor little Rhys had to help Amarantha uphold her terrible reign.
This is extra gross when it is later used with the expectation of earning back the trust of the other Highlords. Even ignoring how little sense his sacrifice makes, why should him throwing their courts and most of his own under the bus to protect a select few only he cares about be admirable?
Especially when other Highlords were risking themselves AND their loved ones to protect innocent people (Tamlin and Kallias, for example).
Quite frankly, I hate how any criticism of this part of Rhys' character can very quickly come off as victim blaming. So I want to make clear what happened to him was SA no matter the circumstances.
BUT this is just another of countless instances in which Sjm shows herself to be completely incapable of actually presenting sexual trauma in a none harmful way. Because even with Rhys, her little darling, she ultimately presents the SA as necessary.
Like with Feyre's SA, Rhys' abuse ends up serving a greater purpose. Feyre had to be repeatedly assaulted to "keep her safe". Rhysand had to be assaulted to protect his friends.
It's just raises the question, does Sjm understand that irl SA doesn't happen for some greater good, that it ultimately is about the abusers' desire to inflict harm and exert control over their victims?
Because every single time her main characters experience sexual trauma, she centers the "positive" effects their SA ended up having. In Feyre's case, why it was ultimately beneficial for her.
If Sjm was a better writer, this might have been an interesting examination of how victims can try to rationalise their abuse after the fact, but alas, she is not.
I was looking through some of my older acotar posts and found this. I don‘t even remember writing this, but this is basically what I was criticising in my last Acotar posts. I am low-key impressed by me three years ago, lol
Also, I have no idea why I hid this in the tags:
Though, I would correct past me on the ml having sexual trauma bit. I do think it's good to acknowledge and represent male SA victims. The problem lies more in the fact that Sjm uses it as a way to garner sympathy points from her readers instead of actually fairly dealing with their trauma.
