Ciel Étoilé et Café Noir

So many people can relate to Nesta, specially to being traumatized or depressed in a way that is not pretty or quiet. We are allowed to be angry. We are allowed to snap back when provoked. We are allowed to ask for space and to put boundaries between us and those that do not make us feel safe or happy. We are allowed to say no and stand our ground.

We are allowed to be difficult, to be messy, to be works in progress. Being a woman is not just being gentle and kind—sometimes it is clawing our way to survival, fighting our way back from the darkness, and demanding more for ourselves even when the world tells us we do not deserve it or are not owed it.

Women are not required to be palatable or amenable to be worthy of love, respect, or happiness. We do not exist to be convenient. We do not have to shrink ourselves to make others comfortable. We do not have to change ourselves to make a man love us. Our rage, our grief, our sadness, no matter how they may exhibit themselves—they are all valid.

Nesta Archeron has shown us that a woman can be messy, spiteful, angry, stubborn, and steadfast in her beliefs yet still be loved. She is loved by her fellow Valkyries, who listened to all the things she hates about herself and in turn shared the parts of themselves they hide from others. They did not shame her or hate her, they loved her all the same. And she is loved by us—even if she is not real and cannot feel it—there are thousands of us around the world who see her, flaws and all, and love her exactly as she is. She may not be real, but her struggles, her flaws, and her personality is. There are women out there going through very similar things—I know I have in the past—and to read about a woman who did not back down, who did not roll over and take it, is so important and healing in itself.