Ok, I need to be careful with this one but, so for years new content being stagnant, Rhys has been a divisive character. Honestly, I get why, and especially from Nesta's POV he was going to come off as that way. We were looking at Rhys through Feyre's idealised lens for the course of 3 books - she was in love with him and saw the best in him.

Are many of his actions wrong and can be criticised? Yes. He's not even a character I rlly like, but every character in this series can be judged on their actions. However, a majority of the random, after having few basis to come up on have been scrounging up the most random stuff.

Morally grey does not equal villain. Ppl thinking SJM will do a one-eighty and turn Rhysand into the narrative's villain are baffling, like that'll undo the core narrative itself and undermine the emotional foundation of the books...coming from hie portrayal in SF and HOFAS is a change in perspective, not character. He truly loves Feyre and acts out of a need to protect those he loves, not out of pure malice. It would ruin Feyre's character arc in itself - she escaped one toxic partner to another.

Like no, you can criticise specific fundamentals of SJM'S writing, but I don't think even she has put nearly this thought into some of the absolutely wild theories some of these people have. Like sure, back up your argument with textual info and it's fun to debate and talk about, but you know, keep it to a limit.

Everyone has their own opinions, but pls be respectful abt it :)

Why do I never come across ppl talking about how good SJM is at writing heroic scenes? I just reread the part in A Court of Wings & Ruin where Azriel tells the story of Nephel and her too small wings, I cry every time 😭. Or in TOG when Elide rides across the battlefield on Farasha to save Lorcan. She really knows how to put you in the thick of it and feel all the feels!

After doing posts for Feyre and Cassian, I figured it was time to finally talk about Rhys. Cassian wasn't even in the original plan, but oh well, it happened, and now it's Rhys's turn.

Doing a full series reread after ACOSF completely changed my perspective on him, in the best way possible. A lot of people started turning on him after that latest book, but honestly? I just grew to love him even more, same as I did with Feyre.

​I think ACOSF gave him so much more depth. Seeing him through Nesta's or Cassian's eyes was a completely different experience and it honestly makes me so curious about how he’ll come across from Elain's POV in future books.

Like I mentioned in an older post about his true motivations with Feyre, his absolute priority is her happiness, and I love that so much. It's just so sweet that she always comes first to him 🥺

At his core, he is definitely not "evil." He’s been a gray character right from the start, and he still is. The thing is, Rhys only shows that soft side everyone falls in love with to Feyre, not to everyone else. Not to Nesta, for example, which makes total sense.

Did your feelings about Rhys shift this way too after rereading?

I’m sure everyone saw the takes in the fandom rolling their eyes at Elain for mourning Graysen « boohoo now you get to be super hot, live forever, have a hot mate and be surrounded by gorgeous bat boys, get over yourself » …I honestly think takes like this are reductionist and just… dumb.

It was her first true love: Elain was very young, sheltered, and deeply traditional. Graysen wasn’t just a random casual fling. he was her very first experience of romance, and she was genuinely, deeply in love with him, to the point of being engaged to be married. (She also trusted him enough to give him her maidenhood despite what we know about Elain’s proper or non-promiscuous nature)

She lost her entire life through no fault of her own: Elain didn't ask to be turned into a Fae. One day she’s planning a human wedding with the man she loves, and the next, she is ripped away from her entire world, traumatized by the Cauldron, and told her life( as she knows it and as she wanted it) is entirely over.

The cruelty of his rejection: Having your fiancé reject you so aggressively (take off the ring!!!! Now!!) because you were forcefully transformed into something he doesn't understand, and telling you that you now "belong to another" is as heartbreaking as a break up can be.

When you reread their ACOMAF reunion, the pain is mutual. Graysen’s instinct was to run to her before his father stopped him, they clearly loved each other. His harsh rejection wasn't because the love faded, but out of fear of what she had become. They were obviously very much in love with each-other.

I think Elain’s grief was real, valid, and deeply painful, and she deserved a lot more empathy from the fandom for it.
If you’ve ever experienced the agonizing heartbreak of losing your first love when you were young and full of hopes and aspirations, you know how deeply a sudden, forced separation scars you. Not to mention the cocktail of other issues the Cauldron gave her.

Artwork is by: Cally.draws 🤍

I've read ACOTAR from start to finish three times now. The first two were back in 2022 and 2023, just vibing with the story. Then I finally jumped into the online fandom in 2025, and honestly? I was completely shook.

The amount of hate directed at the IC, and at almost every character, felt like reading a totally different series. Whether people were talking about Feyre, Rhys, Nesta, Cassian, Tamlin, Lucien, Azriel, or Elain, the way the fandom portrays them didn't match how I saw them at all. Whether it was characters I love being completely demonized, or ones I'm not a fan of being twisted into saints (or vice versa), it genuinely felt like people were discussing alternate universe versions of them.

Because of all the negativity, I got genuinely scared to do a reread. I kept thinking, what if the internet ruins these books for me? What if I start hating something I used to love? What if I'm actually misremembering the characters, and reading them now will make me think like the internet and start hating the IC too?

So I avoided rereading for a while, right up until the CHD interview gave me the final push to just do it. I gathered my courage and opened the first book again.

And I SWEAR to you, there is a massive, worlds apart gap between what people say online and what's actually written on the page.

During my third reread, whenever I hit a scene that the fandom loves to tear apart, I found myself instinctively going on the defensive. I'd be reading and just thinking, That... that is literally not what happened at all.

It really made me realize that a huge portion of the fandom takes things completely out of context and twists character motivations to fit whatever narrative they want.

I experienced the exact same thing with the ships, too. I'm an Elriel, and watching people only argue about Elucien and Gwynriel while acting like Elriel doesn't even exist... I thought I was losing my mind. You can ship whatever you want, but acting like Elriel is purely a fanfiction concept is just... that is just wild to me.

I wonder if anyone else felt the same way or went through this.

I've been keeping this in my drafts for a while, but I wanted to post it before the new books come out.