#glass sword is mare's corruption arc

[imjulia-andilikecats]

I just finished reading @hrizantemy Mare Barrow's Critic Post, and here are my thoughts. I'm a die-hard Mare Barrow fan and will be touching on other topics/events that happened in Glass Sword, so please read with caution.

TW: Branding, Dead Baby

As someone who actually started caring for Mare during her corruption/fall arc in Glass Sword. It's no surprise to me that a lot of people would dislike her but it doesn't mean I'll ever get used to it.

Your criticism is mostly focused on the pivotal moment when Mare captured Cameron, which highlights her hypocrisy and her mental/moral decline at the end of the book.

However, you dismissed A LOT of events that led to Mare becoming this.

To start, Mare didn't become this hypocrite overnight:

Glass Sword began fresh after Maven's betrayal, with Mare still suffering from PTSD and guilt for what she did to Cal (and other characters, such as Lucas and her three handmaids).

For the majority of the book, Mare and her companions are in a bloody race to get to the Newbloods before Maven gets to them first while also being hunted down and killed themselves.

With their first encounter with dead Newlood, they quickly got ambushed, and Maven branded her.

Imagine the physical and mental tools that Mare suffered whenever they found a dead Newblood and a bloody letter. Maven hunting her down and mentally taunting/threatening her with his letters.

I would be, pardon my language, tweaking too, if my enemy leaves a message on a dead baby.

Mare has a lot of unaddressed trauma with problems that keep piling up on her that she doesn't have the resources or skill to fix. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't have access to a therapist; she is far away from her family. She never had a healthy way of coping with her trauma. Cause she is too desperate to save a Newblood and survive the day. She never gets to breathe in this book.

Also, the reason Mare broke protocol was when they encountered Jon The Seer, and he told her that the person they would meet would be their chance to infiltrate Corros Prison, and that unfortunate person was Cameron.

Mare, desperate, had Shade capture her. To save Julian, Sara, Newbloods, and even Silver elites being held captive by Elara.

Everyone did not approve of her decisions and often called her out:

Cal and Farley are very vocal about Mare's plans and choice of action.

With most of her plans being shut down and her behavior getting checked when she oversteps.

They don't see her as a leader even if Mare acts like one.

A good example is when Mare discussed the plan to infiltrate Corros Prison, and only a few of the Newblood recruits wanted to join. Mare even noted that they were either scared of her or they didn't know her.

Only when Kilorn, who spent time with them, spoke up about their need to save the others where they were more persuaded to join.

During the attack in Corros Prison when Mare called for Cal to help her. He ignored her because she killed guards who were begging her for mercy.

Later, when Shade died, Mare was not comforted or pitied. Farley slapped her for being dense and insensitive. Cal pushed her into a different room to tell her off, asking what was wrong with her, why was she reading Maven's letters, and even questioning if she was even capable of love.

Mare faced the consequences of her actions:

After Mare and the colonel broadcasted Elara's head. Barely anyone was talking to Mare.

On their way to their mission, they were quickly captured by an angry, grieving Maven. Mare offered herself to spare the others. Maven wanted justice for his mother, so he accepted.

He put a collar on her, dressed her in rags, and paraded her before a crowd of angry Silvers who wanted nothing more than her dead and commanded her to kneel. This happened on her 18th birthday. She is just a kid.

Mare made mistakes. She was not only called out for it. She suffered the consequences and wholeheartedly apologized to Cameron for what she did. Even offering to fight anyone who tried to question Cameron.

I know my response will be dismissed as a Mare stan. But you got to give credit to Aveyard. She created a flawed FMC with ACTUAL flaws that aren't just relatable but realistic, and she actually faces the consequences of her actions and is not being glorified by the characters or the narrative.

[hrizantemy]

No worries at all—I completely understand where you were coming from! Mare gets so much unfair criticism, and I get why you’d be on guard. A lot of people ignore the depth of her struggles and just reduce her to her worst moments without acknowledging why she is the way she is. So I really appreciate you taking the time to reconsider my post instead of just writing it off as another unfair critique.

And honestly, I love the way you articulated Mare’s character here. She’s not passive at all—she’s reactive, shaped by her environment, by betrayal, by survival. Her flaws are real, not just surface-level traits, and Glass Sword takes them to their worst extremes. That’s what makes her arc so compelling. Watching her unravel, seeing her drown in her anger and trauma, but still managing to claw her way back—that’s what makes her one of the most well-written protagonists in YA.

And you’re absolutely right—her story isn’t just about corruption, it’s about redemption, about finding a way to be softer without losing her strength. She’s proof that you can make mistakes, be messy and flawed, but still be worthy of love and forgiveness.

So seriously, no hard feelings! I actually really appreciate this response. It makes me happy to see people who love Mare give her the proper appreciation she deserves. And don’t worry—this didn’t put me off from analyzing her character at all. If anything, it just makes me want to discuss her more!

So firstly, I feel like my post comes off like I hate Mare, and I don’t—she’s actually one of my favorite FMCs. She’s the character that got me into reading in the first place. My criticism isn’t about disliking her; it’s about analyzing her arc, especially in Glass Sword.

Second, I know I skipped a lot of the in-between. That’s because I’m currently doing a reread and I’m only on page 163. So my focus right now is on the early signs of Mare’s hypocrisy—like when she insists she wants to give new bloods a choice, but then immediately denies Cameron that very choice. When you compare that to how she acts later in the book, it becomes even clearer how far she’s slipping.

You’re right that Mare is a flawed FMC who actually faces consequences for her actions, and I love that about her. She’s not glorified, and Aveyard doesn’t shy away from showing her moral decline. But that doesn’t mean I can’t call out specific moments where her actions contradict her own ideals. That’s what makes her such an interesting, complex character—she messes up badly, and then she has to live with it.

Mare’s trauma is one of the defining forces that shape her character, and we see its effects on her constantly throughout the series. She’s not just reacting to what’s happening around her—she’s carrying everything that has already happened to her, and it directly influences her choices, for better or worse.

1. Her Time as a Pawn in the Silver Court – Mare spends months being used as a puppet, forced to lie, to play a role, to watch her every word and movement just to stay alive. She hates how powerless she felt, how easily she was manipulated. That experience fuels her obsession with control—because to her, losing control means being vulnerable again. It’s why she refuses to let herself be a pawn ever again, even if it means making ruthless decisions.

2. Trust Issues & Isolation – Mare struggles with trust from the very beginning, but after the betrayal in Red Queen, it only gets worse. She convinces herself that she has to carry the burden of saving the new bloods alone, pushing away the people who care about her. She thinks detachment will make her stronger, but all it really does is isolate her, making her even more emotionally unstable. We see her grappling with this—she knows she’s alienating herself, but she doesn’t know how to stop.

3. Her View on Power & Responsibility – Mare goes from being a powerless Red to one of the most powerful people in the world overnight. That’s not something she adjusts to easily. She doesn’t want to be like the Silvers, but she also knows that power is the only thing keeping her alive. The more she fights, the more she justifies making harsh, morally gray decisions—because in her mind, if she doesn’t, then she’s as weak as she was before. We constantly see her struggling with where the line is, and how far she’s willing to go before she becomes the very thing she hates.

Mare isn’t just a character who goes through trauma—she’s shaped by it, and we see her struggling under the weight of it every step of the way. That’s what makes her such a compelling protagonist.

Me calling out Mare’s hypocrisy doesn’t take away from the fact that it stems from her trauma. I know exactly why she makes the choices she does—I know she’s acting out of fear, control, and desperation. I know that every mistake she makes is a direct result of everything she’s been through. But understanding why she does something doesn’t mean I can’t still acknowledge what she does.

Her trauma explains her actions, but it doesn’t excuse them—and that’s the whole point of her character arc. She’s flawed, she contradicts herself, and she struggles with the weight of her own decisions. That doesn’t mean she isn’t a great character—it makes her an even better one.

So yes, I criticize her. Yes, I point out when she’s being hypocritical. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love her character or that I don’t recognize why she is the way she is. If anything, it makes me appreciate her arc even more.

Mare isn’t just a soldier or a leader—she’s a symbol, whether she wants to be or not. From the moment she’s exposed as the Lightning Girl, people project their own hopes, fears, and expectations onto her, and it weighs on her constantly.

1. She’s Not Just Mare Barrow Anymore – The moment she reveals her abilities, she stops being just another Red girl from the Stilts. To the Silvers, she’s a threat. To the Scarlet Guard, she’s a weapon. To the new bloods, she’s a savior. But who is she to herself? She barely has time to process what’s happening to her before she’s forced into a role she never chose.

2. People Either Fear Her, Hate Her, or Need Something From Her – Very few people in Mare’s life treat her just as a person. To many, she’s a monster—Silvers hate her for breaking their world order. To others, she’s a beacon of hope—new bloods see her as the one who will lead them to safety. Even within the Scarlet Guard, she’s not fully trusted. Almost everyone around her has an agenda, and she’s caught in the middle.

3. She Feels the Pressure to Be More Than She Is – Mare is 17 years old, but she’s expected to lead, to fight, to win a war. The Scarlet Guard and the new bloods look to her for guidance, even though she has no idea what she’s doing. She’s learning as she goes, making mistakes, and every failure feels like another weight on her back. The pressure to be strong, to be right, is unbearable, and we see it breaking her piece by piece.

4. She Falls Under the Weight of It – Mare knows she’s not invincible, but she forces herself to act like she is because everyone expects it. She isolates herself, believing she has to carry the burden alone. But the more she tries to be the perfect leader, the more she crumbles. She loses sight of herself in the process, becoming colder, more ruthless, and more willing to justify things she never would have before—because if she isn’t the Lightning Girl, if she isn’t strong enough, then what’s left of her?

Mare’s struggle isn’t just about fighting a war—it’s about holding up the expectations of everyone around her while trying not to lose herself in the process. And for a long time, she fails.

I think Mare is so much stronger than I was at 17—I could never go through what she did. The sheer amount of pressure, trauma, and responsibility she carries is insane, and the fact that she keeps going, even when she’s breaking, is honestly admirable.

And just to be clear, I actually agree with a lot of what you’re saying @imjulia-andilikecats. I love Mare as a character, and I don’t want my criticism to come across as me hating her or dismissing her struggles. Pointing out things I don’t like or moments that frustrate me doesn’t mean I think she’s a bad character—if anything, it’s because I care about her arc that I even bother analyzing it. So I don’t want what I’m saying to be taken the wrong way or for it to seem like I’m trying to start anything. I just love discussing her complexity!