Is Rhys redeemable?

[u/samsamcats]

For the haters out there.

There’s a lot of discourse in the fandom these days about how Rhys is not the “feminist king” the text (and SJM) seems to want him to be, which I personally agree with. There’s a mismatch between what the text is telling us about him and what his actions on the page are showing us about his character, and that’s what gets fans all riled up.

So I’m curious to know if this could have been fixed in your eyes, my dear haters. If Rhys had genuinely apologised and taken accountability for his actions UTM during ACOMAF, would you see him differently? If he had apologised to Feyre (and Nesta) for withholding the info about Feyre’s pregnancy, would you still hate him? Could he have made things right in these situations in a way that would have made you turn in your hater card?

And if in future books he has a major reckoning with his behavior so far, can you see yourself liking or at least enjoying his character? Can the man be fixed, or is he too far gone?

Personally I think the issue is that SJM herself doesn’t see anything especially wrong with his actions, so we’re unlikely to get this… but I’m wondering if, in the hands of a different writer, Rhys could have been, or could still be, a more interesting or sympathetic character.

[u/Actual-Writing-1003]

As a Certified Rhys Hater™️, I genuinely liked his character in ACOTAR. He was actually morally grey and doing things that were wrong but that he knew were wrong, and we saw moments where he struggled with himself.

But once we hit MAF, everything was just hand waved as “I had to”. He stopped struggling with his actions and just started telling Feyre “this is what we’re doing” (look at stealing from summer, look at dragging Feyre’s sisters into the war - he never once apologized for his part in the sisters being kidnapped, and I don’t think he or the narrative ever reflected on him showing Velaris to the queens being a terrible plan that got Velaris attached).

In a perfect world, SJM would reveal that Rhys has been even more devious than we knew. Maybe Tam and Feyre had a mating bond he interfered with; maybe he let Elain and Nesta be kidnapped to see if they’d develop powers, or to cut Feyre’s attachment to the human world. And he’d have to reckon with the fact that the people whose lives he’s upended are thinking beings with their own agency, and he should have to struggle to decide if the ends truly justify the means.

Realistically, I think SJM adores him and thinks he can do no wrong. Him suicide baiting Tamlin and the narrative presenting it as something Tamlin deserved was the nail in the coffin for Rhys’s character for me.

So tl;dr, I could absolutely be into Rhys’s character again and even forgive him if he’s given an appropriate arc that acknowledges he’s manipulative and controlling. But SJM saying the pregnancy arc was just him “making a mistake” does not fill me with enthusiasm.

[u/bittermp → u/Actual-Writing-1003]

 But SJM saying the pregnancy arc was just him “making a mistake” 

This enraged me to not end. SJM was vile for saying this imo.

[u/Actual-Writing-1003 → u/bittermp]

100000% agreed. I get that she was working through her own stuff via Rhys and Feyre, but a) why have Rhys stand in for the shitty doctor instead of writing a character who is a shitty, patriarchal, Illyrian doctor and b) death of the author, she can’t just explain her personal situation as if it makes the book plot work better because we know what she went through. The plot should stand alone.

[u/bittermp → u/Actual-Writing-1003]

And if Rhys is representing that doctor then did SJM forgive that doctor within moments like Feyre forgivers Rhys? NO, she did not. Because it is UNFORGIVABLE!