“That’s what they all say, when they pretend he’s a sadistic murderer. You forget I knew him in the War. You forget he risked his legion to save Miryam from our enemy’s fort. That’s how Amarantha captured him, you know. Rhys knew it was a trap—for Prince Drakon. So Rhys went against orders, and marched in his whole legion to get Miryam out. For his friend, for my lover—and for that bastard Drakon’s sake. Rhys sacrificed his legion in the process, got all of them captured and tortured afterward. Yet everyone insists Rhysand is soulless, wicked. But the male I knew was the most decent of them all.”
Right this here is something I’m having a problem with. This is not an ultimately good act? This is not automatically a decent thing for Rhys to have done? He saved Miryam and he prevented Drakon walking into a trap but...He got his entire legion tortured and slaughtered? They were his men. He was supposed to protect them. Instead he led them straight into a trap and got them all killed. This does not make him ‘the most decent of them all’ this makes him a ruthless bastard.
And that’s FINE. That’s interesting. Rhys being willing to make sacrifices for the greater good (if that’s what saving these two/preventing that trap being sprung was) but...There’s no question here. There’s no conflict. There’s none of the ambiguity that clung to Rhys’ morality in ACOTAR. Rhys did it. So it’s good. That’s not how it works and it makes for boring and frustrating reading. Because this happens repeatedly.
I wanted Rhys’ grey morality. I think it’s interesting. I think it makes him more interesting and layered as a character. And it’s THERE it’s there over and over again but nothing ever gets done with it. He’s never questioned, he’s rarely called out, he’s always validated. It’s dull.
