and yet

and yet

and yet

and yet

and yet

and yet

Stephanie Meyer gave us Mormon Vampires.

And Sarah J. Maas gave us zionist Faeries.

We had this crossover so 1) Bryce could steal Truth-Teller, 2) Nesta would give Bryce the Mask, and 3) in return, Bryce would give Nesta Gwydion. But while Bryce is the hero of the story, who saved Midgard, Nesta is treated like the irresponsible idiot who risked Prythian, rather than the intergalactic savior that she is.

And it's not like Feyre and Rhys haven't risked Prythian in order to save Prythian. They literally released death-gods from confinement hoping they could control them. And as we saw with Bryaxis, clearly they can't. But they're still heroes.

Nesta at least has Emerie and Gwyn and Elain the twins, Feyre has no one, she considers the IC as family but the truth is they will always be Rhysand's first, as was shown with the pregnancy situation, she will never be a priority to them and they don't let her have her own life outside of them, she's so closed off from the world, she can't even see how abusive this situation is, so much so that she forgives Rhys for threatening to kill Nesta and for lying to her about the baby, she has no one outside of his family and is stuck to a place she only knows the IC, so she has no choice but always choose them.

Feyre deserves better, Rhysand is abusive to her since the beginning, but since he was the less bad choice she chose him and now she has no one to turn to, since her "family" will always choose Rhysand and would never betray him and let her leave.

Let’s unpack that: he is speaking to a group of human women, representing the very group of people who were enslaved by fae for centuries, and when they bring up this long history of subjugation, torture, rape, and death, his response is to essentially say, “Well, both sides were bad.”

That is victim-blaming. That is revisionist history. That is colonialist rhetoric.

It’s no different than saying, “Well, the enslaved people fought back sometimes, so it wasn’t just the slavers who were wrong.” Rhysand, who wants to be painted as this morally enlightened, progressive High Lord, essentially minimizes the suffering of an entire species—the one his mate used to be a part of, no less—because acknowledging that the fae were uniquely cruel would be an inconvenient truth. He doesn’t show remorse. He doesn’t even offer an ounce of compassion.

Instead, he offers the oldest excuse in the book of abusers and empires: “It was mutual.”

No, it wasn’t. The fae were the enslavers. The humans were enslaved. Power imbalance matters. Scale and systems matter. And for Rhysand — who was alive during that time — to not only fail to acknowledge it, but dismiss it outright, is a massive moral failing.

What makes it worse is how it lines up with everything we’ve come to understand about how he views humans. Rhysand might love Feyre, but he doesn’t love humans. He doesn’t mourn their culture, their history, or what was taken from them. In fact, he only seems to acknowledge humans when it’s politically convenient (like trying to leverage Feyre’s mortal roots or the war). Otherwise, they’re an afterthought at best, disposable at worst.

And the fandom just…lets him get away with it.

There is no growth. No nuance. Just a man who calls himself “feminist” and “progressive” while upholding the very structures that oppressed entire peoples — and gaslighting them about it.

“Evil morning, Tamlin,” I purred lyingly. “What are we going to have for dark breakfast. I mean regular breakfast.” Fuck, that was close. We only call it dark breakfast at the night court, where your mate feeds you fruits under the light of a thousand stars in a seductive dark way. I missed the night court, which I am in charge of. Down the mating bond, I felt Rhysand smirk or something. I rubbed my hand where my secret tattoo was subconsciously.

Across the table, Lucien frowned suspiciously. I smirked. He knew I was going to outplay and kill them all, but he couldn’t do anything about it because I knew he wanted my sister. “How is your sister doing?”

“Feyre, I have to go talk to the Hybernians,” Tamlin cut in. “There’s something about them that I can’t put my finger on that makes them untrustworthy and suspicious. Like that entire island and its red-headed inhabitants are ancient and evil. Call for Lucian if you start seeing things in the wallpaper again.”

Starborn, Fireheart & Lady Death - CC, TOG & ACOTAR