#utm

utm style care bear cousins (made a while back before they revealed the braveheart design)

He deserves the love and warmth

Seven High Lords on the continent yet none bowed low enough to work with her—except one. Rhysand sold himself into her slavery, turned himself into her pet dog and committed countless crimes in her name for fifty years, murdered children and innocent people in her name. All to protect Velaris—a city nobody even knew existed. Is it selfless or just plain stupid, to sell your soul for a city no one was even looking for?

Explain to me the logic in this. Please. The other High Lords inarguably had more to lose: families, bloodlines, entire courts instead of just one city. Velaris and its citizens are no more deserving of the blood Rhysand spilt to protect it than Adriata or any cities of Dawn, Day, Spring, Winter, or Autumn. Yet, not a single other High Lord bowed to Amarantha’s whims. They were her hostages, but they were never her slaves. Unlike him. Three High Lords and their bloodlines wiped completely off Prythian in their defiance of her, yet somehow it’s Rhysand who is deserving of praise?

Was it bravery or cowardice that led him into her service? He had enough time and magic to erect a shield around Velaris, to wipe clean everyone’s memories of the Inner Circle. That’s more than what everyone else had, when they were all stuck hostages Under the Mountain. That’s more than what Tamlin got with his fifty year curse, when he had to send countless men over the border to die in his defiance of Prythian’s wretched self-proclaimed High Queen.

Power? Freedom? What exactly did Rhysand do with those little movements Amarantha allowed? He didn’t rule, didn’t orchestrate a rebellion, didn’t find intel on how to take down Amarantha from the inside. In fact, he seemed more than content to sit on his ass like everyone else while Tamlin tried to break the curse. So what exactly did those countless moments of hurt and pain and trauma bought Rhysand, hmm? Nothing more than anything else the rest of Prythian got.

Night was a dumpster fire because both Hewn City and Illyria were given too much freedom. Velaris was locked away as it had been for 5000 years. And Rhysand a mass murderer and a criminal, on top of being Amarantha’s consensual non-consensual sex slave too.

Just my musing for today 💭 but why do we blame Tamlin for not rescuing Feyre UTM?

Tamlin did his part and sent her back to the human lands in order to protect her, sacrificing himself and the freedom of his court because he couldn’t bare the thought of her being harmed even for the benefit for his people. “Burn the world for her” type action right? Very romantic we all love to see it.

Okay so then Feyre decided to go after Tamlin to save him from the “blight” (and then getting the WHOLE RUNDOWN of the situation from Alis now that the curse was over) and then deciding to go and rescue him regardless. Very girl-boss (if a little naive) for her to want to be the Hero Warrior Savior (gender swapping the “typical roles”). Very cute we love to see woman empowerment. Buuuuut she didn’t really have a plan and got captured almost immediately. Very unfortunate wrench in the “plan” for the Hero Warrior Savior.

Now how is she going to save the Damsel in distress (Tamlin) from the evil sorceress (Amarantha)?

Aweee she makes a bargain (not a very well thought out one--with a very glaring loophole) in order to free him and his court. Very Noble, Very Hero Warrior Savior, having to compete in trials to prove her love and save them. This is pretty common in fantasy books.

So how then does it turn out that the Damsel should have somehow saved the Hero Warrior Savior? Like it was very clearly stated he had no freedom of movement UTM, couldn’t show her any attention or else Feyre would be tortured and kil*ed for Amaranthas enjoyment.

Further, Feyre was magically bound by the bargain to complete her trials (or die trying). She could not be “saved”, she would have had to return in order to complete them (or die most likely because she didn’t complete/fulfill the bargain). So her only option was to survive completing the trials. Which is why Lucien was helping/healing her in order to try and ensure she survived.

So how does it become the fault/duty of the Damsel to then save the Hero? Feyre was not the “Damsel” of the story, it was not up to Tamlin to save her. She was on her “hero quest” so to speak. And then afterwords it became “look at all I sacrificed to come save you—you owe me now, I did this for you” like we would never say Snow White owed anything to her Prince because he saved her. Same with Sleeping Beauty, he fought Maleficent’s dragon and saved her from the curse, but we don’t end the story with her feeling indebted to the Prince.

Musing over~ thank you if you read till the end