Because we really were made to think Feysand and the NC were the progressives of Prythian especially compared to Tamlin and the SC but where is the evidence?
First things first, Rhysand is the most obviously wealthy of all the High Lords and has (as to what weâve seen) the highest wealth disparity in his court. He has FIVE homes to Tamlinâs one, and although the SC has to have wealth to some degree, especially considering economy (the SC is way more likely to have exports and things that actually generate money for the court), Tamlin is never shown flaunting it except for necessary occasions (see: his doomed wedding to Feyre). And still, with all that wealth, theyâre stingy. Tamlin opened his doors for everyone. Feysandâs homes sit empty when Feysand and the IC do not occupy them. Imagine having five homes, staying in 2 or 3 of them, and letting the rest collect dust RIGHT AFTER acknowledging that there are people who are displaced by war and need homes, people that you are responsible for. Couldnât be me. Or rather, couldnât be Tamlin (canonically).
Then thereâs the whole Inner Court and NC hierarchy in the first place. Rhysand has his family controlling the entirety of his court. Mor is a cousin who controls Velaris, her father is an uncle who controls the Hewn City, and Cassian and Azriel are brothers who control Illyria. And while that isnât too different than what we see in places like Summer Court or even Autumn Court, in those places there are also advisors and nobility, people who exist to hold the High Lord somewhat accountable for how he treats the court. The closest thing to that in the NC is Amren, who is not Fae and canonically doesnât care about the NC.
And I gotta address that High Lord meeting. You care so much about Prythian, but every single time you step outside of your mansion(s), youâre cruel. You mock and intimidate and bully and threaten everyone you come across, hurt their friends and family who are innocent, and then ask them to believe youâre a nice person. Itâs insane to me that the other courts literally havenât discussed a war on Feysand yet. Destruction of Spring is one thing. Winterâs children canât fully be proven (even though all it would take to blow a hole wide through that story is asking them to provide said daemati that wasnât Rhysand, or his name at least). Summer had the most grounds for hating Night, considering Feysand literally came as a guest, threatened to murder Cresseida and countless others, invaded their minds, stole their greatest treasure, and then paved the way for Summer to be destroyed in the war. But even all of that is not the same as Feyre intentionally attacking a High Lord and harming his wife IN THE PRESENCE OF ALL OTHER HIGH LORDS on neutral ground. How is that not grounds for all other courts ostracizing and freezing out the NC at the very least and declaring war at the most? Name one other court that has done anything remotely similar or comparable to anything said in this paragraph. Iâll wait.
And even within the bounds of your court, youâre cruel for absolutely zero reason. Swaggering and posturing in front of the Hewn City residents, forcing them to bow while you smile down at them and remind them all that youâre better than them becauseâŚthey deserve it? Yeah Iâm sure the children born into that absolutely deserve that treatment. Going into the Illyrian camps, doing jackshit for all the obviously abused and mistreated women there and beating the snot out of most of the men becauseâŚthatâs what they respond to? Sure, thereâs absolutely no way that the most powerful High Lord of all time in all of Prythian, the most powerful war general in all the courts, and the most powerful spymaster and shadowsinger (who are also, funnily enough, the most powerful Illyrians in the NC) can get anyone to listen to them unless theyâre beating the hell out of people theyâre duty-bound to protect. And tbh, if they do all that and no one listens to them anyway, are they really the most powerful or are they just tooting their own horns? By contrast, we see Beron as some sort of monster for being cruel, but doesnât he, for the most part, at least leave his citizens alone? Someone whoâs done a reread recently correct me if Iâm wrong. And even if Iâm wrong about them, Iâm not wrong about Tamlin, whose citizens approached him freely and spoke to him freely without fear or intimidation, whose citizens were not being forced to bow to the ground every time he walked in the room, whose citizens didnât hate him and plot behind his back to overthrow or undermine him.
Thereâs so much more I could write about: treatment of women, High and Lesser Fae equality, seeing every person outside of Velaris as a warrior/potential warrior to die for their random causes, treatment and subsequent discarding of said warriors, adherence to rules especially of other courts, treatment of the people you love and care for the most, etc. No matter the topic, the NC ALWAYS FAILS. Like, how can anyone really read about the NC and think theyâre progressive and misunderstood and kind? How anyone can really read about the NC and think theyâre anything other than a court of literal evil is crazy to me. You know how they say to not watch out for the person who comes as your enemy but the person who is your enemy and dresses as your friend? Thatâs the NC, playing at being friends except theyâre bad at that too, ask Tarquin and Cresseida. They strut around on their high horses, finding fault with everyone but themselves, ignorant to their own cruelty and exaggerating their made up virtues that canât be proven with actions or history. Literally, Rhysand is a wealthy military king with a plutocratic oligarchy that rules his war state, literally like Russia or NK except for the colonizing (which I fully believe is coming by the end of the series).
Credit to @bythenineshards and their anon who inspired this rant.
