#antiacosf

My personal criticism against Feyre is not that she’s a tyrant, but that SJM doesn’t flush out ideas enough for her to become as equally flawed as everyone else. Feyre is annoying, but she should be a little bit annoying. She doesn’t like her sisters. She doesn’t like her family in the beginning of acotar. Her motivations are purely obligation! We are given why she’s doing it and how she feels about it. She goes to the Spring Court with a bad attitude. Lucien jokes about it.

She goes to the Night Court arguably with a bad attitude, she throws a shoe. She’s annoying to Nesta on more than one occasion, poking and prodding and trying to get them to do things that reasonably they should have left them out of. She does make a mess of the Spring Court. She does have fun playing her games. She’s essentially a Jude but less smart. 

She has a control freak tendency. Feyre says herself that she wants to fix Elain’s relationship and she goes out of her way to try and fix Nesta’s happiness though in no tactful way in acofas, which is a reasonable characterization since she’s been taking care of them her whole life, but she’s also the youngest and lacks a lot of patience. It’s Mor who’s like chill dude, stay out of it. She is the one who is a busybody and starts thinking of the situation between Mor and Az and Cassian in acomaf, and Rhys is like hey... please let them fix it themselves. He says that!

My problem with her character is that she’s not made to be more annoying. So in acosf, that intervention should be somewhat about Feyre being a control freak. Arguably, it should also be about Rhys being a control freak, because he’s also one, which is perhaps why it’s not so compassionate. It’s a totally like Feyre thing to do, think of acowar and how she handles Nesta and Elain turning fae. She’s not super compassionate there either. 

So the idea that they are suppose to look “good” is ridiculous! Because you cannot take out their characterization that’s already been established, and say hey because it’s Nesta and she’s difficult, it’s totally Nesta’s fault. No it’s not! Oh Nesta totally needed this, so they did the right thing and should be exalted. No they didn’t! There’s enough evidence to say, she needed something but probably not this. Think of how she handles Nesta in acofas, she invites her to things, instead of just asking how she feels or what she needs!

“It’s not right to keep the knowledge from Nesta.”

“Rhys knew how to wield a tool at his disposal. ”

“Nesta makes you unstoppable. Especially if she were to march into battle wearing the Mask. No enemy could stand against her.”

“Amren asked pointedly, “So your mother twisted Nesta’s creative joys into a social climber’s arsenal?”

“I was my mother’s creature.”

Honestly if I was suppose to think Nesta wasn’t being used for the entirety of acosf just like she was used by her mother as a social climber or Eris wanting her for political power or Lanthys wanting her to rule the world maybe… I shouldn’t have blatantly read it. This paired with the fact that when she tells Feyre about the pregnancy, Nesta’s realized that they wouldn’t have told her about the weapons she made just as Feyre is being withheld medical information, she’s punished!!!!!

I just do not understand why Rhys would be so wary of Nesta or be so antagonistic to Nesta if the entire objective is to get Cassian and Nesta together. That’s the stated objective in acofas and the assumed one in acosf, because getting Nesta “to heal” doesn’t require Cassian at all. So what is the point, even going further to the Mor situation, of them being like... we’d prefer you were gone... if there’s no objection to her and him living together? 

It’s what confuses me even about “helping” her. Because if they didn’t like her why go through the trouble of doing anything at all? It can’t be for Feyre’s sake or Cassian’s... because in their mind, Feyre and Cassian are better off as they show through their actions and state out loud. 

If they wanted to use her power that’s another thing but even that is a so-so because they have Feyre AND Elain. Nesta is at rock bottom, showing no signs of her power, and is a nuisance they think. 

It can’t be because she’s embarrassing, because it’s stated and presumed that fae are like this. Fae drink and sleep around. Cassian says this. This is noted consistently throughout the book series. If it’s the money, that is also consistently shown as “they have an abundance of it and don’t need it at all.” 

People try to argue this all the time, you know, and whatever--you have your opinions, but I am not convinced. You can’t tell me that it was necessary and then have Nesta have no withdrawal symptoms, no back and forth, no deep temptation, some great inner turmoil of an addict. If she doesn’t have any of this than the IC and Feyre and Elain look bad, because they took agency away without the reader contextually having known that they tried anything else that was meaningful. 

You can’t tell me that they care for her and then show me quite a few scenes where they outright say they don’t or don’t say anything at all. Caring has to be shown not said, where are the scenes where I am shown patience, empathy, compassion? If there is none, than the IC and Feyre and Elain look bad. Feyre and Elain worse because they are her sisters and therefore obligated. The entirety of the Feyre vs. Sister’s conflict is based on obligation. Feyre doesn’t look as bad because we know that conflict with Nesta, and we also know from acofas and mentions in acosf that she has tried at least more than Elain, though not well or effortful--inviting her to parties or to decorate is not effortful. It makes Elain look tremendously unsupportive, because we know that she does nothing. This is something I wrote about in a long analysis but never posted. Maybe one day.  

You also cannot tell me this is a healing arc, but then frame the situation that Nesta’s healing is not more important than taking accountability. Someone’s second hand suffering is not more important the person who suffers, especially in their own POV. You can have both at the same time, but you can’t fix the effects without evaluating and accepting the cause. That’s basic. 

The way I see it is that people keep trying to argue this blank grey area that was in between acofas and acosf--that “oh Nesta must have been difficult, if it resulted in this. It must have been warranted and if it was then the IC was justified because she was suffering.” It doesn’t matter. You have no proof. You have only what has happened in acofas, and what was briefly mentioned in acosf of what happened in between. The argument at the barge. The blanket statement of pushing people away, drinking, sleeping around. A moment with Elain, I believe, and the fact that Feyre asked her to decorate and gave her a tour of the house. But that’s it. Those are cause for concern but not enough for an intervention. 

What is obvious is that after the intervention, Nesta doesn’t have withdrawal symptoms and only thinks about drinking once. She starts a sexual relationship easy and that is not at all criticized. She is stuck in a house she can’t easily leave, but she does her duties. She is used many times, a few of those times being argued by her as not wanting to do it. We have blatant scenes of characters saying that they will use her no matter what it takes. We have very little scenes with the others that are not in direct relation to her power/skill of dance and games and using that power.