I love being tagged in posts by people that essentially direct further harassment and abuse to my account or about me when Iām blocked and canāt see the post or respond! Super cool.
@bookofmirth in response to what youāre saying about my post, that you didnāt even read in its entirety but that you apparently felt competent and entitled to comment on nonetheless:
The whole point of the post was to examine superficial parallels or commonalities between the two characters (some of which are canon, some of which are assuming Gwyn is a lightsinger), and then examine why those parallels might exist. The whole point is that Gwyn isnāt actually like I*nthe, sheās good while I*nthe is evil, so why are there these parallels in the text?! And if youād read my post, the conclusion was, probably because theyāre foils, or opposites!! I*nthe is a figurative lightsinger but truly evil, and Gwyn is an actual lightsinger but good! Or maybe Sarah is hinting that Gwyn is going to be vulnerable to being manipulated by Merrill or Koschei somewhat like I*nthe with Hybern. But I in no way concluded that they share any characteristics in their characters or morality.
I apologized when I was told my post triggered people despite my trigger warning and read more, Iām sorry that happened, and I expressly made the trigger warning more explicit and changed the title so it wouldnāt trigger anyone else.
But again, the post wasnāt saying that Gwyn is like I*nthe as a character. It was exploring (superficial) parallels in the text and asking why theyāre there. Which, as you know based on your profession, is what weāre supposed to do as readers. What would you do if your students brought up that Gwyn and I*nthe are both priestesses and are the only two characters in the whole series with teal eyes, and that Ianthe has characteristics that seem figuratively to be a whole lot like those of a lightsinger, which the text suggests Gwyn might be?? Would you tell them that theyāre making things up that arenāt there, are āclinging to details,ā or are wrong for recognizing those parallels because I*nthe is a rap*st and Gwyn is a SA survivor? Or would you ask them to think about why Sarah might have done that and explore what these parallels might mean? If youāre a good teacher, and I presume you are, I bet you would do the latter. And you would acknowledge that Sarah might have intentionally included those parallels for a reason, and might have wanted the reader to ask these questions. Just like authors do all the time between their villains and protagonists.
Anyways, I was not comparing actual character traits between Gwyn and I*nthe like you have done between Azriel and Tamlin, and I was in no way suggesting at all that Gwyn would ever be a sexual predator like I*nthe, which you have done when youāve said Azriel has the potential to be like Tamlin, i.e. abusive.
I understand you have experiences that make you see red flags in Azriel, and Iām sorry you had those experiences. But thereās a difference between saying, hey to me these are some red flags and hereās why but I realize thatās based on my experience and might not end up being canon, and that I might be imputing my experiences onto him! And saying, hey there are objective (impliedly in canon) red flags in this character and he has the potential (again, impliedly in canon) to be like this other character who is actually an emotional and physical abuser and in canon committed domestic violence. Despite the fact that there is no indication in the text that Azriel would ever and I mean EVER commit domestic violence or emotional abuse on a partner, whether that partner be Elain or Gwyn or Mor or anyone else. The former is fine. The latter is harmful, as it misrepresents what an abuser is and what makes an abuser, as others with more experience and expertise have already explained much more eloquently than I can.
