What do you think of Rhysand’s mother? I have a few questions about her after reading this post (https://flowerflamestars.tumblr.com/post/641487845398364160/are-we-ever-gonna-talk-about-how-rhysand-can) about Rhysand’s childhood.
1. Do you think Rhysand’s was as soft and gentle as Rhysand portrays her? I never got that vibe because when he describes her, he said that she gave her ring to the Weaver for safekeeping and brought Rhysand to the camps for training? I think it would take a very cunning and intelligent person to bring their child to the camps for more than one type of training (physically and not just magically). I truly do not think that she was as helpless as Rhysand portrays her to be. What do you think?
2. Why do you think she brought Rhysand to the camps? There are a few reasons mentioned within the books, they are: she wanted him to know his culture, use his physical strength and not his magical strength, and that she saw his father as cruel and wanted Rhysand to be separate from him. The issue I have with this is that it actually does not make any sense.
Rhysand’s mother was raised in a family oriented society, Azriel said as much when he was teaching Feyre how to fly. So for her to “break up” their family and go against the values she was raised with by sending Rhysand to the camps, I think she did it because she hated his father. I do not truly think it had anything to do with Rhysand having control over his physical strength and not just his magical prowess. She was removed from her people very abruptly, forced to live in a land that she probably knew nothing about, and did not see her family until she came back to the Illyrian camps. It literally said she was brought to Velaris and became his bride the same night. It was probably very jarring for her and I think that is why she struggled to like his father. And on top of that, his father was known to be mean. I do not think she brought Rhysand to the camps because she wanted him to be physically strong, I think she thought him because training male children is all she knows, (it’s what she grew up with in the camps) and she wanted to get away from Rhysand’s father that she saw as evil.
I do not hate her but I think the way she is described in the series by Rhysand is a bit contradictory. I don’t think there was a lot of foreword planning as to why she brought him to the camp, she just did not like his father and made Rhysand train because it is all she saw the women around her doing while she was growing up.
3. Why specifically do you think Rhysand hates the Illyrians? I firmly believe that he hates them because of their way of life. He seems to enjoy the nicer things in life, he doesn’t live in the camps and likes having nice expensive things. I loved how in your post you highlighted how his first couple years of life was in absolute privilege and pleasure. He had no worries and then suddenly he was dumped in a freezing cold place where people barely have any belonging except for the stuff they need to survive. It was probably very jarring and confusing for him and he never got over it.
I am so happy that I came across someone who speculates about Rhysand mother. A figure we hardly talk about or was mentioned in the books.
Hi, thank you!
Caveat, obviously, this is all my own personal speculation, and I think Rhysand's mother (and his sister, for that matter) aren't really characters in canon, so much as they are plot beats. They're there initially to explain the Tamlin/Rhysand hostility (which Rhys just forgave? I guess?) and then if we're really stretching things as a sort of combo guilt complex/justification for being over-protective of Feyre.
The soft and gentle vibe...very much rubs me the wrong way. We don't have a good handle on when, exactly Rhysand's mother died- after the first war with Hybern, since we know Rhysands father was High Lord during that conflict- but not so long after that Rhysand wasn't young. And that shows. His mother is kind, beautiful phantom.
He can tell Feyre her actions- arguably ruthless and iconoclastic (more on that later)- but he then completely flattens her character into one note: his mother. his beautiful, good, tragic mother.
Which is not to say ruthless woman aren't good mothers- it's that Rhysand carries so much guilt about her death that he cannot, even as an adult, even five hundred years later, see her as a whole, complete person.
I think she probably was a good mother- but not in ways Rhysand bothers to reflect on.
Which brings me to the Illyrian camps.
I've never seen it addressed, but I cannot imagine Rhysand's mother returning to that place- she has a house! she stays there and takes care of Rhys and his friends!- was not a personal sacrifice.
There are two Illyrian women, in total, in all of the books, who can fly. Who are not ritually maimed. Who have, besides the freedom of the sky, the apparent freedom to go wherever they want: Rhysand's mother, and Rhysand's sister.
Their whole existence spits in the face of tradition.
She stays in a hostile environment so her son knowns he isn't alone. And maybe this is where his dislike of Illyrians started- they probably fucking despised his mother.
(I can't speculate about family because...it doesn't seem like there is any? I also don’t think a woman who tried starving herself and drugging herself to avoid the rituals her people practiced around puberty really cared about falling in with tradition)
But I do really think he takes all the wrong lessons from it. (as expanded on in the original post) I don't even think it's about superior training- the Illyrian Legions are a threat, ultimately because their entire existence has been reduced down to war- but the other faeries we meet? The other High Lords, even? Are all incredibly violent. Rhysand was always going to learn to fight, not to mention the fact that he can, as is apparently a family skill, melt people with his brain.
But I digress- I think the whole point isn't threat, necessarily, it's that Rhysand's mother is preparing for his adulthood. She's showing him where she came from, with the knowledge he, and he alone, can change it some day.
Ditto for the ring! If her son was going to grow to break traditions, then whoever his partner was, they were going to be in danger too. It's a pretty straightforward test of strength. There's a future Rhysand's mom wants to happen, and she's shoring it up in fascinatingly ruthless ways.
Which means it's time to talk about Daddy Rhysand.
In VERY SIMILAR my parents are not people they're how I traumatically felt about them when they died when I had the maturity of a teen and have NEVER INTERROGATED ANY EMOTION EVER- Rhysand's father is hilariously one-note.
We know he separated Rhysand from his friends during the war- which I know we're supposed to see as mean and unfair but...kind of makes sense? So much as anything does in an obviously flawed, shitty system but like, they belonged to different parts of a military defense???
Anyway.
We know Rhysand dismissed his government- no clues on what that structure was- and replaced them with his friends.
And we know, that despite whatever flaws Rhysand prescribes, he could have loved Rhysand's mother very much.
I have to disagree with the whole hiding in the camps/hiding the ring thing for the very simple reason that Rhysand's father could have stopped her, at literally any time. He lets her take his heir to this incredibly dangerous place, which shows, at minimum, trust in her judgement.
He doesn't do anything, as far as we know, when she gives away her wedding ring for Plotting Antics.
Rhysand remembers them as Wild & Kind vs Rigid & Mean- but like, isn't that exactly how an angry teen who doesn't have the skills/perspective/emotional maturity would see it?
Not to lean hard on the grievously sexist world-building, but High Lords hold absolute power in their Courts.
Rhysand's mother was, in contrast, not just lacking in power because she was a young woman, but was also a member of tightly controlled, horrifically abused minority.
Saving her initially from the wing-clipping can probably be written off- ugh ugh ugh on 'protective instincts'- but after that? He takes her home. He doesn't hide her or seem remotely ashamed of her, from what we know. She was Lady of Night. She lived in palace he built her, specifically designed to be flown to, where no one could winnow, for her safety and comfort.
He didn't stop her from teaching their children things from a culture faeries of his class wildly despise. Moreover, it sounds like she just did whatever the hell she wanted, traveling around, making deals with the Weaver, ect.
None of that means their relationship couldn't have problems or difficulties, but what we're shown is ultimately more complex. It could have been love! She could have been terribly lonely! He could have tried and failed to bridge the gap! We just don't know, but he never caged her or even, it seems, contained her.
I can't, for example, imagine Rhysand allowing Feyre to run away to Illyria with their kid.
Which- okay, I can't talk about Rhysand's mother without talking about the dress thing.
The ring thing? Ruthless. Crazy. An interesting snap-shot into what Rhysand's mother was like.
THE DRESS THING??? God. Wearing an inherited piece of jewelry, like say, an heirloom wedding ring guarded by a primordial horror, can be cool.
Wearing clothes your mother-in-law made, who happened to be a very talented seamstress? Yeah, works of art.
WEARING CLOTHES YOUR MOTHER-IN-LAW MADE YOU, THAT YOUR SPOUSE PICKS OUT FOR YOU, PRE-CHOSEN FOR EVERY IMPORTANT OCCASION WHILE YOU'RE WEARING HER RING, INHERITING HER TITLE AND LIVING IN HER HOUSE? Fucking weird
This is, of course, not the most egregious or creepy boundary crossing thing that happens, by far, but thinking about it AT ALL makes me feel like my brain is liquifying.
Rhysand's daddy issues are so loud they envelope everything- and, dare I say, define his entire adult character almost as badly as Feyre's do- but the behind the scenes mommy issues?
Feyre with ILLYRIAN WINGS! AS A SEX THING! Feyre's insanely inadvisable pregnancy!
Rhysand has rolled all his guilt into one unhealthy thing and it's Feyre, his mom sister pet Mate, he'll do anything to protect.
He's like one book from hauling out her old dresses from storage and having a family portrait made of himself (a better version of his father, A DREAMER), Mama Feyre, and perfect little treasure better future perfect accessory NightNight staged the same way as the royal portraiture that used to be in his father's office or something. WE ARE RIGHT ON AN ALARMING LINE
In sum: I think Rhysand's mother is fascinating, and we're never going to know more. I don't find Rhysand's hatred of Illyrians justifiable- it's cultural, but it's also systemic and he is, literally, the head of the broken system causing most, if not all, of that cascade. He could have been a great hope for them, as a nation.
I can go either way on Rhysand's parents having a good or bad relationship- there's no definitive answer, but I do think her agency is present enough to...wonder about how he speaks about it.
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I'm watching Monkey King 2009, and I know a bit of what happens to Six Ears later so I can't help but look at things through that lens, specifically the ways the FFM troop are a hot mess in a way that's actually kind of interesting and addressed in the show (to the extent a kid's show generally touches on those things). Like! The fact it's only the second episode and the troop is now two-for-two throwing Six Ears to the wolves at the first available opportunity! I decided to look back on what happened the last time they did this and go ahead and outline the thoughts I was having on it because, apparently(!), this was not a one-off! And I was not overreacting!
The very first fight scene in the series in Episode 1. Analysis, go!
Specifically, the part where a child is the one facing down the leader of the enemy warband, a combatant who already mowed through the advances of two experienced, trained adults with minimal effort, and the show...actually kind of goes a semi-realistic route with it?
Six Ears starts off strong and confident. He's basically an adult, his king put him up to this, of course he can handle it! He won't let him down!
And he does a pretty good job! It's very kid's show fun and punchy.
But then the Demon King of Havoc - an adult, a trained fighter, a blooded fighter - starts buckling down. And Six Ears slips up. And then he keeps slipping up.
It's not fun anymore. Six Ears is in way over his head and he knows it. So you get this (honestly kind of heartstring-tugging) shot of him glancing away while the Demon King approaches to look for his mentor and idol for help or guidance or something. He's a kid, he's scared now, and he wants his grandfather.
...and finds him asleep.
Now in most media I'd expect this to either be the mentor-figure feigning indifference or carelessness to encourage their pupil to handle the problem themselves (and implying in the process that they never doubted their pupil's ability to handle it - that they were never in actual danger), or this would just be building tension before the seemingly-oblivious mentor-figure suddenly intervenes at the critical moment.
But, of course, Six Ears isn't the actual protagonist, and that's not what happens. Six Ears looks to his king for help, finds none, and that's it. The Demon King of Havoc goes in for the kill and all Six Ears can do is run.
And he does, and he runs and runs and runs, farther and farther from his troop and anyone who can help because apparently no one was paying attention to the kid who was taking on the leader of the entire opposing force by himself, and he barely stays ahead of the sword, the trees the Demon King sends crashing down on him, and he's blatantly not able to do anything more than survive moment to moment.
And then he can't run anymore.
And the Old Monkey King doesn't show up. We find out he was never going to show up.
We get a shot of the Old Monkey King slowly waking up way back in the camp well after this scene, in response to Stone Monkey's hatching. (He also stands bolt right up, which is probably meant to be in shock at the giant stone rocketing into the sky wreathed in universe energy but I also like to think might also have been a "Where the FUCK is my KID" just so I can imagine someone was concerned about Six Ears during all this.)
Like, I cannot emphasize enough, Six Ears would be dead if Stone Monkey hadn't been hatching at this exact moment. An energy burst from the hatching blinds the Demon King long enough for Six Ears to bolt and start the chase again. That's what saves him. And then again when Six Ears manages to get the egg between him and a blow from the Demon King's sword.
Considering how eager the generals are to throw Six Ears to Stone Monkey when they're still convinced he's a legitimate danger in literally just the next episode, presumably just days after all this went down, and I...sort of think they were fully aware Six Ears was likely going to die to the Demon King. While I hesitate to say they didn't care at all, they showed in Episode 2 pretty clearly that they definitely cared way less about a child of their troop's likely death than they did about saving their own skins. Not enough to back him up, not enough to go after him when he's forced to flee, not enough to take on the fight in his place.
Which is tremendously messed up all on it's own, but it gets worse because these generals are all for treating him like a young kid when it's convenient for them. They see him as a child! But they're just as quick to throw him under the bus of adulthood as soon as that's convenient for them. Whatever requires the least effort from them, that's what they want him to be.
Seriously, who the hell is taking care of this kid? Because at this point it sure seems like the Old Monkey King - who is very old and very tired and whose body is blatantly failing him - is stuck not only trying to keep his troop in something vaguely resembling working order and secure them as much as possible for his imminent death no one but him seems concerned with, but is also somehow expected to be the primary (if not sole) caregiver of a young child. Something he can't be. Like, geez, guys. Let the man wither away in peace without piling on him more fraying threads of the things he can't possibly tie up properly before he goes, thanks!
Not to mention how this would blatantly conflict with the Old Monkey King's need to have a successor as soon as possible, since the most eligible adults in his troop are, apparently, all lazy cowards who are entirely unsuitable. He brings it up like two or three times in the first episode alone, so this is clearly something that's stressing him out, and his best option is still a boy. Meaning Old Monkey King is in a position of having to desperately (but trying not to show that he's desperate) push Six Ears to grow up just a little faster because he doesn't know how much longer he has left. There's just not a lot of room for him to just let Six Ears be a kid, in those circumstances. He needs a king. He needs Six Ears to make decisions and lead and take risks, even if the ones he's taking are far beyond the sort of things that should be on a kid's shoulders. He can't be his mentor and his grandfather and his king. No one person can be all three of those. Something is going to give. And so the Old Monkey King makes his mistakes. He piles too much on Six Ears too soon. He expects too much of him too soon. He nearly gets Six Ears killed in the first episode. (He accidentally leaves Six Ears vulnerable in the future to adults who want to use him.)
It's a fascinating little set-up. Obviously not really addressed in the show, since it's for kids and framed from a kid's perspective, which is also sort of genius? I'm thinking of the second episode where the generals are more than willing to dump Six Ears on the sacrificial alter, even physically carrying him out the door, an adult on each arm, like he might wise up and get scared and run (and if he did, like they wouldn't let him), and all Six Ears does is laugh. He's a kid. We've all been kids who think some of the most messed up things are perfectly normal simply because you don't have anything to compare it to. This is just the generals being the generals, obviously. They're so silly :)
But adults were writing this show, and I can't imagine an adult writing this not knowing exactly what they were doing. Especially knowing what happens to Six Ears.
Anyway, long story short: I want to fight the generals with my bare hands. I do not want to fight the Old Monkey King with my bare hands, but I do want to give him a long, disappointed glare over his cups that I feel like he would understand perfectly.
Also, someone needs to wrap Six Ears up in a burrito blanket and stuff him in a pillow fort with Stone Monkey where nothing can hurt them. That would be nice.
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TW: su!cide, death, unreality (again)
I did something very weird.
But I don't feel bad about it. And I don't know if I should.
I could verbalize it. But that would be a bad idea.
I want to say all of it was. But I'm not sure.
If anyone questions it I already have an idea of what to say. But what I can say doesn't make a lot of sense. And it would raise questions.
So I should think of a few other things.
I don't know.
I feel a lot of anxiety still. But I don't feel like I need to do bad things to myself anymore.
So while I definitely diffused the situation, I don't think I did anything productive.
I probably did something that won't work out in the future.
Not that I won't make me feel better. But it won't be sustainable.
I can't just "do this next time!"- because its not. That kind of thing.
I can't just do this at all really. I shouldn't.
I thought I would feel disgusting but I didn't.
All my other normal efforts did not work.
I wish that they did. But they didn't.
I know why.
I don't need coping mechanisms anymore. I've already done that. And failed. I need real people beside me.
I tried to give myself a better childhood. I tried really hard. I tried to enjoy it.
But everytime it blew up in my face.
So I gave up and moved on to imaginary efforts.
That was until they mostly became un-imaginary and started to hurt me mentally.
But before all that, it was fine.
I had no reason to suspect it wasn't. I was re-parenting myself, making new friends, enjoying life, becoming comfortable with myself. Except. None of this was real.
Part of me knew this. That's why none of these things made me guilty in the first place.
That was until I realized what I had made cookie12 spawn from.
Which was my own death.
Which sounds really bad, but it wasn't involved as much. It was just the catalist for any of the experiences to be made.
And they were great experiences. All caused by my decision to let go of things and become my own person. Whether realizing it or not. Though none of this was real in the first place.
Thinking that you already died isn't exactly I great way to live your life. Which is why I quit all cookie 12 daydreaming.
you can do all that without dying. I doesn't have to be this way. I knew that. But it was too scary.
Despite how nice their life was. It wasn't real life. It was all fake. I still accomplished things under daydreaming but. Most things didn't feel good. That was, unless I was daydreaming.
And they guilt i carried didn't help.
But in quitting I was now alone.
I'm still trying to figure how to deal with that.
While I still valued others, it all felt like I was just going through the motions.
Expecting one day they would all leave me and cut me off.
Until eventually I live in this house with terrible conditions and i daydream all day.
But for me this was a fantasy.
I think slightly more of myself now.
Theres no more daydreaming in my future I hope. And I think I want an okay house. And I think maybe I want to make sure I keep more hoarding in check. And I am not like my Aunt.
I sure do love her a lot, but I don't think she deserves to live like that.
And I'm trying really hard to not believe that myself. Though the truth is, I don't believe I'm deserving of anything. And I don't want anything.
My asks are so small.
And they shouldn't be. But I'm too scared to ask for the things I like.
Anyway.
I did something similar to what I did in 7th grade.
I had put the in my backpack. And then
Well I actually don't remember the rest.
Put cran-grape juice on the floor on purpose. Told my dad it was an accident and had him clean it.
Surprisingly the floor is not stained?
I left the In the backpack for weeks. That's disgusting.
I don't blame myself for it or anything. But it is.
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