A Court of Manipulation, Delusion, and a Secret Third Thing
Dear reader darling, if you wish to retreat back into the world of Prythian and never look at the heroic hunk of ACOTAR the same again, then you have come to the right place.
Dear reader darling,
It is with my most miserable and despairing heart that I must gather my senses to inform you that the man we are conditioned to fall in love with - the man who carefully serves choices to women, who romantically stalks their mate for months, and who is told to us through lustful, youthful, and naïve eyes is, in fact, the upmost evil of them all. Hierarchies and positions of power are inherent themes throughout Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) series where female agency is seemingly placed on a pedestal by “the most powerful High Lord to every walk this Earth” (ACOMAF), Rhysand. Initially the explicit villain in ACOTAR, Rhys soon becomes the heroic enemy to lover whose mind and body torture that he performs on others, once revealed, apparently made sense all along… However, as scholar Elin Nilsson expresses, “Rhys is just as domineering and possessive” as any of the villains throughout the ACOTAR series. As the ACOTAR world begins to further unfold throughout the novels, it is not Feyre’s story that the reader is following, but a carefully manipulated and delusional version of Rhys’s world where his political, sexual, and powerful agenda are slowly revealed to be controlling everyone around him. Rhys holds the confidence that he gives the people he loves the freedom to make choices but instead strips everyone around of their deepest agency, especially the women. Rhys wholeheartedly believes that the persona of the evil High Lord of the Night Court is a mask he only puts on when necessary. Once the perspective shifts from Feyre to Nesta in A Court of Silver Flames, Rhys’s constant dominating level of power and control is divulged. Nesta’s description of Rhys’s actions demonstrate how his alternative and evil personality leaks into his ‘real self’ more than he believes throughout the series. Ultimately, Rhys is the most dangerous High Fae in all Prythian - not because of his power, but because he believes that he is genuinely and fundamentally good. Rhys’s ignorance of his inherent problematic, manipulative, and controlling personality functions as a form of dangerous hypocrisy, leaving Rhys to be the evillest of all the characters in the ACOTAR series.
The first four novels are primarily told through Feyre’s perspective. Through Feyre’s eyes, we follow Rhys’s introduction and development from Prythian’s worst High Fae to Prythian’s most desirable, masculine, hunk of wonder. Through Feyre’s perspective, all of Rhys’s decisions are because Rhys has been hurt in the distant and close past and will do anything to save his chosen family. During a conversation in ACOMAF, Rhys informs Feyre that the reason he saves Tarquin’s life under the mountain is “because I’d heard how he wanted to even out the playing field between High Fae and lesser faeries. I’ve been trying to do that for years”. The reader then gets a sneak peek at the sob story Rhys believes his life to be – he has been unsuccessful in his pursuits to change the world for 500 years. Rhys also believes himself to be a feminist (even if the word does not exist in the ACOTAR universe). He emphasizes how Feyre is always given choice over her actions: “’you might be my mate,’ he said, ‘but you remain your own person. You decide your fate – your choices. Not me. You chose yesterday. You choose everyday’” (ACOMAF). However, his noble quest to save the world and give his mate freedom of choice is largely undermined by the actions he takes throughout the series.
One distinct reason that Rhys’s actions do not meet his words is that Rhys does not know his true self. Even after 500 years of life he is constantly described as adjusting his personality to fit the situation. Nilsson includes that “one of the masks he puts on for others is that of the evil, High Lord – the rule of the Court of Nightmares” (16). Rhys’s symbolic mask is embedded throughout descriptions of his character. When him and Feyre visit the Court of Nightmares, Rhys says, “’What I have to be tomorrow, who I have to become, it’s not… it’s not something I want you to see. How I will treat you, treat others…’” to which Feyre responds “’the mask of the high lord’” (ACOMAF). Once they are in the Court of Nightmares, Rhys is noted to be giving his best performance when giving Keir orders and Feyre thinks: “Rhys didn’t dare break from his mask” (ACOMAF). The person that Rhys describes he must become in this scene is one that Prythian believes him to be. Nilsson further suggests that Rhys “is ruthless, exhibiting a sort of violence – almost treating it like a performance” (12) when discussing how, in this scene, Rhys breaks Keir’s fingers for disrespecting Feyre. Rhys has been displaying and becoming this violent and intrusive person who he claims is not himself for centuries.
I do not blame Rhys for all his actions. If you read the books you will understand that Prythian functions on a lot of violence, misogyny, and class discrimination. However, Rhys’s evil performance becomes problematic when his so-called alter ego begins leaking into what he believes is his real self. After 500 years of performing as someone else, the concept of method acting can be used to help explain how this version of himself gets intertwined with his ‘real self’. In acting theory, J.L. Moreno, the founder of psychodrama, theorized that “many internal selves or roles lie within every individual” (Brown, 9). Rhys’s internal selves juxtapose against each other as absolute evil to kind-hearted family man. However, Rhys’s expertise at flipping the switch on his personality signifies that he reaches for something already inside himself. More specifically, method acting is described as, “the use of one’s own life experiences in the creative imagination [to] infuse each choice with genuine thought, desire, sensation, action and feeling resulting in psychologically in-depth behavior” (LSTF). Throughout the series when Rhys performs his Night Lord self he channels his life experiences to not act as someone else, but become the someone else. The problem arises when he begins to unknowingly infuse his ‘real self’ with what the world believes him to be, resulting in a third persona – the one he does not see. The use of an inhabited role to this degree through a performance “may impact an actor’s native self-conception” (LSTF). Rhys has performed this role for 500 years convincing thousands of fae and humans of his malicious intent, darkness, and menacing power. Rhys’s portrayal as the High Lord of the Court of Nightmares is highly convincing not only because he is a good actor, but because that is who Rhys has been performing as and slowly becoming for centuries.
Once Feyre’s focalization of Rhys is switched to Nesta in A Court of Silver Flames, Rhys’s true third self becomes evident. The way he treats those closest to him in not only ACOSF, but the whole series, takes an alarming shift. Rhys treats Feyre like an object and strips her of agency throughout their entire relationship arc. Even before Rhys knows who Feyre is he willingly uses his daemati power when visiting Tamlin’s estate in ACOTAR. Feyre describes the experience of having her mind and body controlled as: “against my volition, my body straightened, every muscle going taut, my bones straining. Magic, but deeper than that. Power that seized everything inside me and took control: even my blood flowed where he willed it” (ACOTAR). In this moment Rhys knows that Feyre is human and powerless and does not necessarily have to demonstrate his almighty power to control her and threaten everyone in the room, but wants to.
As ACOTAR continues, Rhys’s control of Feyre’s body becomes more intense and useless. There is a clear power imbalance between Rhys and Feyre, so his actions towards her are unjustified. Jeana Jorgensen states that in ACOTAR Feyre “is clearly in a disadvantageous position. She is relying on Rhysand for survival, and while he helps her, he also treats her poorly” (19). As she is dressed, drugged, and forced to dance, her control and agency is stripped away. Although later in the books Rhys admits to doing these things under the mountain to protect her, he also admits that he made the decisions “for her” (ACOMAF) and earlier admitted that “taunting [Tamlin] is my greatest pleasure” (ACOMAF). There are numerous other things that Rhys could have done to help Feyre under the mountain which did not involve bothering Tamlin, borderline assaulting Feyre, and forcing Feyre to do drugs. Rhys’s decisions are rife with conceited double standards His actions under the mountain ultimately reveal to be manipulative and the decisions he made were primarily for himself.
Rhys’s agenda is further portrayed when he gives Feyre the grand illusion of The Choice. However, the biggest choices he gives Feyre all have an obvious better option – signifying that there are no real choices but functions of manipulation for Rhys to get what he wants. The first choice he gives Feyre is under the mountain. Feyre is in immeasurable pain when Rhys comes strolling in offering to heal her arm in exchange for one week a month with him at the Night Court. Rhys says, “I’ll heal your arm in exchange for you” (ACOTAR). In this scene Rhys knows that if Feyre’s arm does not heal then she will die, so she has no other choice but to agree if she wants to live. However, even with this life-threatening knowledge, Rhys still forces her to agree by further breaking her arm after she originally says no to him. Not only is Feyre not given a choice, but her body is further mutilated by Rhys to force her acceptance. It is later revealed that the reason for this specific bargain is because Rhys believes that they may be mates. Even with Rhys’s speculation of their connection, he still hurts her both physically and mentally for his own benefit, to ultimately get Feyre to spend time with him at the Night Court.
Rhys also always offers Feyre The Choice to stay at the Night Court. He offers this choice as he slowly charms her and essentially seduces her to stay. When Feyre makes the ‘choice’ to stay, Rhys continues manipulating her to use her powers for his political gain. When pressuring Feyre to learn to use her powers he includes that, “’do you understand what that might mean in an upcoming war? Do you understand how it might destroy you if you don’t learn to control it?’” (ACOMAF). Rhys’s manipulative tactics here indicate that if Feyre does not learn to use her powers she will die. After giving Feyre option one, he includes that “’you’ve got another choice. You can master whatever powers we gave to you, and make it count’” (ACOMAF). Through their bond (which Feyre still does not fully know about), Rhys knows that Feyre is headstrong and will react to this level of persuasion. And after giving Feyre another choice of life or death, Rhys includes that Feyre is “no one’s subject” (ACOMAF). Feyre’s choice to either learn or not learn her powers is an illusion that functions from clever manipulation. Rhys clearly wants Feyre to learn how to use her powers here and he knows that threatening Feyre with death, persuading her to believe it is her choice, and that learning her powers will help in a war to save her family will ultimately control Feyre’s decision.
Along with giving Feyre the illusion of choices, Rhys consistently lies to Feyre throughout the series. Rhys believes that his choices are always correct and, although he believes he is considering the other person, the consequences of his actions demonstrate that Rhys only continues stripping Feyre of her agency throughout their relationship. He goes on a big rant about why he chose not to tell Feyre about the mating bond to which she responds, “’I don’t want to hear you explain how you assumed that you knew best’” (ACOMAF). Typically, when Feyre calls Rhys out for making a big decision for her, he includes that she is new to the world and is not familiar with the ways it works – further displays of undermining her autonomy of herself and his so-called kindness. Rhys’s biggest lie is revealed in ACOSF where he makes the decision to tell everyone else that their baby will kill Feyre during birth. After spewing the righteousness of choice for four books, Rhys withholds this information thinking that he knows what is best for Feyre’s body, demonstrating that he has learned nothing about her. Nesta responds and rightfully tells Feyre that “’I do know that your mate ordered everyone not to inform you of the truth’” (ACOSF) indicating that it was entirely Rhys’s decision to not tell Feyre. Rhys is incapable of considering the perspective of others, even his mate’s. He manipulates and controls Feyre to the highest degree through lies and bodily control hidden by juxtaposing choices and the illusion that he wants what is best for the person, not himself.
He does not only give Feyre The Choice, but also Nesta. One of Nesta’s choices is to be locked in the House of Wind to train, work, and behave or get dumped somewhere in the human lands. After Rhys berates Tamlin for doing that to Feyre, he easily agrees to do the same to Nesta. Furthermore, near the end of ACOSF, Rhys trophies Nesta to Eris once he learns of her seducing power to help his political agenda without considering what Nesta wants. He says, knowing that Nesta will always try to keep Elain safe, “’you and Elain are my only options” (ACOSF). Although Rhys works the same logic on Nesta that he does Feyre, Nesta still threatens
Rhys’s control with her power. Rhys’s fear of Nesta’s power fully exposes his true self as he cannot seduce her into agreeing with him like he does with Feyre. When Nesta says no to Rhys’s orders, something that nobody in his core group ever does, Rhys’s High Lord of Night Court persona comes forth. When Nesta gets up to leave the room where everyone is making fun of her, Rhys, without considering how she could be feeling, commands her to sit down. Nesta thinks: “the raw command in that voice… the utter dominance and power” (ACOSF). Rhys clearly knows his position in the world and, without requirements, channels that side of himself outside the Court of Nightmares. After the same discussion, Cassian describes Rhys as having “the same cold precision” (ACOSF) in his face when slicing up enemies – the same enemies who knows Rhys as his evil alter ego. Finally, when Nesta tells Feyre about the baby, Rhys tells Cassian to get Nesta out of the city “before I fucking kill her” (ACOSF). The violence he feels for Nesta is quite similar to how the world sees Rhys – full of rage and domineering control. Nesta actions then reveal Rhys’s true identity as someone who cannot stand to not be in control of every situation and everybody in it.
The other men of the Night Court’s actions towards Rhys further reveal his identity. Both Cassian and Azriel idolize Rhys. When Nesta calls Rhys an “arrogant, preening asshole” (ACOSF) Cassian responds, “’Don’t you fucking talk about Rhys with that tone’”, Cassian snarled.” (ACOSF). Even after Cassian experiences Rhys’s explicit bullying of Nesta, he still stands up for him with a high level of anger, even towards his own mate. Azriel also bows down to Rhys in the bonus chapter of ACOSF where Rhys catches Azriel try to kiss Elain. When Azriel tells Rhys that he cannot order him to stay away from someone Rhys replies: “’Oh, I can, and I will” arguing that it is Lucien’s right to defend the bond. However, Rhys decides to include to Azriel in his argument against their love that “’your doing so will rip apart any fragile peace and alliances we have, not only with the Autumn Court but also with the Spring Court and Jurian and Vassa’” (ACOSF). Here Rhys demonstrates that he is not mad at Azriel for disprescting the mating tradition, but angry about Azriel ruining possible political alliances. Rhys also threatens Azriel when Azriel tries to oppose saying that he will “make [Azriel] regret it’” which “stunned Azriel” (ACOSF). In this scene Rhys’s inner diabolical self once again leeches to the forefront of his personality where his anger and controlling nature mimics his actions in the Court of Nightmares and the rest of Prythian. Azriel ultimately listens to Rhys, knowing that his threats of pain and regret are real.
Through manipulation and violence, Rhys controls everything in his life: his mate, his friends, his court, and his family. His intense performance of acting as the great High Lord co-exists with the opposite person that he believes himself to be. His belief that he is genuinely kind and the ignorance of his disturbing actions make him more evil than Amarantha, the King of Hybern, and Briallyn. The antagonists of the ACOTAR series know their darkness while Rhys believes his dark side only comes out when he wants it to. As Rhys controls everyone around him, he fails to control himself. The true mask of Rhysand, dear reader, is just Rhys’s beautiful face as he has also controlled us through the mediating of Feyre’s narration.
Reference list! My info came from these lovely places (should all be free access):
Method acting:
https://strasberg.edu/about/what-is-method-acting/
Blurred Lines Between Role and Reality: A Phenomenological Study of Acting Gregory Hyppolyte Brown
https://aura.antioch.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1560&context=etds
Opinions about ACOTAR
https://www.reddit.com/r/acotar/comments/pardil/thoughts_on_a_court_of_silver_flames/
https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/ymuhcu/a_court_of_silver_flames_by_sarah_j_maas/
https://gracelapointe.medium.com/acotars-rhysand-should-have-stayed-a-villain-d99d3c1475fb
Scholarly articles about ACOTAR
A Masculinity of Power and Pleasure: A Feminist Analysis Of A Court Of Thorns And Roses’ Rhysand
https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1733500&dswid=117
"The Thorns of Trauma: Torture, Aftermath, and Healing in Contemporary Fairy-Tale Literature." Humanities, vol. 10, no. 1, 2021, pp. 47. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/docview/2501907051?accountid=8172&parentSessionId=WmoKEOFQNva1idOS%2Fmo%2FRzIQ3G2hoaQpSbcu7ncR4QM%3D&pq-origsite=primo
DOI:10.3390/h10010047
Image from: https://thesistersarcheron.tumblr.com/post/700905576959459328
This essay is absolute perfection! 🤣 I am cackling over here because I couldn't have said it better and love how many sources you tied in to prove your claim. Thank God I'm not the only one who thinks Rhysand is a toxic manipulator to the extreme!