Things that annoy me about Acotar (1/5)
I was going to write this on my personal/private acc but I remembered that those acc are supposed to be seperate for a reason...
In this little unorganized rant I will be talking about political world building, character writing, inconsistancies in world building and plot, and other little things about the fandome.
PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAVE READ THE BOOKS MULTIPLE TIMES, I LIKE THE BOOKS, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I CAN'T RECOGNIZE PROBLEMATIC FLAWS. ALSO NOTE THAT I AM NOT ANTI-ANYONE (Except, Ianthe, Baron, and Hybern, and a few other I can't be bothered to remember)
THIS IS MY OPINION, AND MY ANALYSIS, MANY OF WICH ARE 100% CONTROVERSIAL. You have been warned.
So here's the rant :D (There is some parts that I like as well that I think needed to be talked about and will be marked with a +)
(Warning: I will be disscussing many sensitive topics, which include abuse, mental dissorders, ptsd, trauma, slavery, torture, self-harm, alcoholism, nonconsent, sexual assault, medical abuse, and lots of other topics) These warnings apply for all of my rants.
Sorry about my shitty spelling and gramar y'all.
Character rant (1 out of ?):
ONE THING THAT ABSOLUTELY PISSES ME OFF... are the fact that we have so many important characters that remain completely nameless or sidelined. Lady of Autumn is a victim of abuse, and god knows what goes on in that house, yet she's never been given an actuall name. The only gay RULING couple, and one isn't even given a name. Thesan and his lover are completely sidelined, we get a small tid bit of their past (if that even counts) and then absolutely nothing. We Know more about Hellion, Tarquine, Beron, and Tamlin than Thesan and his lover.
Kallias and Viviane are the most healthy depiction of a ruling couple and they are so heavily sidelined it genuinly hurts. The two healthiest couples are completely ignored and it comes to show, with the little information we have, that the night cour mates are the most problematic relationships.
Feyre is not entirely blameless. There are ways she acts that just makes her a bad persone. And hey thats what makes her "Human" but that doesn't mean we should praise her for them. She is manipulative, emotionally unstable, and thinks there wont be consequences. But theres also the fact that Feyre is gullible. Which is problematic, because she believes a lot of what the IC says without a single doubt. Feyre doesn't listen to all sides of the story, or even try to work things out in a logical sense.
+FEYRE IS A VICTIM. Feyre is a victim, and she can still be a victim and still not be the best person. Her brain naturally filters things out, and that leads her to believing what she wants to believe. Its a natural response to trauma. Some trauma response that she has is extreme "Fawn" response (with Tamlin she tries to appease and please him, but with Rhysand its an over dependance on him), and trauma bonding
+Fawn response. Feyre has had this response twice. With Tamlin, where she walks on glass around him, trying to appease him and avoid conflict. With Rhysand she believes almost everything he and IC tells her. Feyre is emotionally dependant on them, and not in a good way. It causes a problematic disparity in information on key issues. I will go into this in a later bullet point. This aspect was well represented in the ACoTaR(intentionally or not it still is) and though she pisses me off with how Feyre treats Nesta, I think those decisions are a slight byproduct of her own ptsd not being properly treated.
+Nesta is also a good representation of ptsd. The side of ptsd that people don't like to talk about. Everyone seems to Idolize how Feyre goes about her trauma, but burns Nesta at the stake. What people needs to understand is that Nesta, Feyre, and Elaine are completely different representations of trauma. Which is why its unfair to treat Nesta like a problem when they all are, including the IC. Nesta deals with trauma through alcohol, sex, and avoidance. Yes, hypersexuality can be a trauma response. Nesta would rather feel guilty and blame herself rather than numb. The way this fandome treats and invalidates ptsd responses is sickening.
Instead of getting Nesta proffessional help, the IC traps her against her will. Wich is not only abusive, they invalidate her traumatic response, take away her rights, doesn't allow her to make certain decisions when its about her. Nesta has every right to be mad at them for that.
The fact that Nesta is treated as if she's the problem and she has no say in her situation. Considering Nesta's personality, it would have been more likely that, if given the chance, she would not be staying with IC and find a way to leave. Nesta is a strong minded individual, and though she would come back (Because of the house not the IC) it would have done more for her to find found family OUTSIDE the night court.
Rhysand is not a good person, and is in fact he IS abusive and is NOT A GOOD HIGHLORD (The highlord part will be explained in 2/5) He is hella manipulative towards everyone including IC, and the fact that everyone believes him to be this amazing savior is really disturbing.
Rhysand shows visible hostility toward Nesta for having a trauma response that is completely normal for what she has gone through. Just because Nesta see through his shit doesn't excuse the fact that he trapped Nesta in a house that you physically can't leave without severe bodily and mental damage, Rhysand traps her with Cassian of all fucking people. This situation should not be used as a learning oportunity for Cassian. Rhysand should have sent professional mental help for, not only Nesta, but Feyre and Elaine as well.
Rhysand commited medical abuse by not informing Feyre about her and her baby's life or death situation.
Lets not forget that in terms of age in human, and fae years, Rhysand is quite litterally a predator. We shall disscuss this when we are ready for that conversation.
The way SJM portrays the IC as the missunderstoon good guys pisses me off. IC is clearly abusive. Emotionaly, psycologicaly, financially, medically and more. Open your eyes guys come on.
Beron is supposed to be an abusive character that cares about power, his ego and pride. Yet he can get bitched around? Forced into joining the war?? In case people think otherwise, Beron isn't weak. Infact he is one of the more powerfull highlords. He's lived the longest of the current highlords, they all walk on eggshells around him. Not once have the highlords done anything about Beron and his massive abouse of power.
Is Rhysand really the most powerfull highlord? correct me if im wrong, but he needs Eris to gather inside information on Beron??? Isn't Azriel supposed to be able to use his shadows to gain information? (And I'm not talking about turning into shadow) That kind of defeats the whole best spymaster thing. Unless Beron is powerfull enough that gathering information inside autumn is impossible for Azriel. This is very inconsistant...
Morrigan is a complicated mix of irritating and poorly writen. Not only is she 500 years old, with 0 emotional inteligance. It seems Morrigan has not once gone to therapy regarding her trauma. That and blaming Eris for not helping her is fucking idiotic. If Eris helped her, she'd be either living in Autumn court under BERON. Getting tortured and abused, just like the rest of the vanserras. Or Morrigan would be DEAD. This is Beron we are talking about here, not Tamlin. Beron would 100% kill her. This is just bad character planing. Morrigan still can't sort out her trauma dispite having 500 years under her belt.
Morrigan has a similar ptsd response as Nesta, yet she's not getting burned at the stake. Hey! guys, notice how Morrigan drinks a lot of alcohol, is implied to hook up alot, and is HEAVILY avoiding any topic regarding her trauma? sound familiar? no? okay....
Eris is somehow well written and poorly planed at the very same time. Like his actions and behaviour can be explained (not excused, theres a difference) by the fact that HE IS LITTERALLY BEING TORTURED AND ABUSED BY HIS OWN FATHER. Yet people dosn't seem to understand the fact that Eris is genuinly trying to survive. He doesn't have a support system. And, though this is hypothetical, its very likely that Eris has watched his mother get tortured by Beron. Eris also likely raised his brothers to a certain extent (wich is why they listen to him, and stick together) Eris can't affort to make a mistake, because they could possibly all die.
Then theres this past with Morigan that is kind of obvious wasn't actually planned out when it was implied in the book.
Kallias and Viviane are the only healthy mated relationship shown in ACoTaR. Followed closely by Thesan and his lover.
Tamlin will have to be a seprate state of afair as this is getting long
Cassian and Azriel are also a complicated mix of good and poor writting and planing. Though they are both absolutely horrible people as well, and for a spymaster, Azriel is lacking an astronomical amount of information. Especially information that he should know considering he's a spymaster. The fact he doesn't know what happened between Mor and Eris is insane and kind of makes the whole shadowsinger spymaster thing completly off balance. If people want my stupid views on Cassian, Azriel, Tamlin, Elaine, or any other character let me know.
I would also like to take the time to adress the mid level depictions of characters:
+Azriel, Amren, Kalias, Vivian, Kallias, Jurian, , Thesan, Tarquin, and other characters are the only poorly planed middle characters that actually show that IC and the Vanserras are not infact heros but a seperate kind of problem. They all have really good potential to become really well writen characters if developed PROPERLY.
I have more hence the "1 out of ?" but I really REALLY want to see what people think... Like I'm pretty sure I might be burned at the stake.
Still I really want to discuss in the comments so hit me with your own analysis, or with what you do or don't agree with<3
anyways sorry about the very dissorganized rant.
