A thing that irks me about under the oak tree fandom is the hate towards Agnes. It is not obvious here on tumblr but on other social media apps and forums, it is. It was more when the 2nd book was being published chapter wise on Ridi. Back then, readers were calling Agnes names and tearing her character apart cuz they thought she was going to steal Riftan from Maxi which is bonkers cuz Agnes doesn't express any interest romantically towards Riftan. She was just doing her job in a war as a leader and Maxi was jealous cuz Riftan was being cold with her and talking to Agnes. This also made me annoyed with Maxi cuz of her irrational jealousy and irritation towards Princess Agnes when she had been nothing but good to her. Also one of the reasons I like book 2 less than book 1 is how they want us to worship badass Maxi and Agnes is not that important but then Maxi still keeps comparing herself to Agnes and being cold towards her. Like girl you would not have gone to world tower if Agnes didn't use her brain to save you and your husband from your father. Readers justify their dislike by saying that Agnes is manipulative. Yes I agree she is, she is damn political figure,she has to be. But she never harmed Maxi, quite the opposite, she wants to be her friend and helped her multiple times. Also being manipulative applies to many other male characters in the series but they are not disliked for it. Even Riftan is manipulative in official matters. Another reason is that Agnes let the Duke take Maxi to Croyso when she came back from war but but but how the heck was Agnes supposed to know Duke is an abuser? Even Riftan didn't know he treats his daughter like shit. Any other person would have done the same thing as Agnes. Sending a woman to her childhood home with her doting father for recuperation after a tragic miscarriage is what most people would consider good for the woman's mental health normally. If she had known about Duke's treatment of Maxi,she would not have sent her with him. They say Riftan had told her to take her to the palace but she let Maxi go with Duke completely disregarding the fact that if Riftan had told Maxi directly that,Maxi would not have agreed to go with her father.
