#i saw rhys as south asian but that's ALWAYS what i do when there's a hint of evidence in favor

[thehaemanthus]

Its more a failure of the author that she didn't flesh out everything properly. She never actually fleshed out the Illyrians as poc (irl Illyrians were living in today's Croatia) and whether Nesta becomes queen or not will be chucked up as either bad or good depending on whether a reader considers them poc or not. Some fashion elements don't exactly connect, it's more for aesthetics than actual, well thought world-building. And we only get some mentions of brown skin in ACOWAR, for Azriel. Thing is, it can be debated all day, explained and over-explained, but it's just that the author did a poor job and should do better. If Illyrians are poc, which I would really like, she needs to add more care into the world-building and the people, not just pretty aesthetics.

oh wow that was a quick response, lol

When I wrote in the tags, I was mostly thinking about how modern governments work with autonomous regions today-- usually the arrangements come out of some contentious past. It’s a shaky peace, though it can work very well! 

I would not want a monarchy in an autonomous region, because a monarch or royal is then a figurehead that the population can get behind. Tbh I don’t know where the idea of Nesta becoming a queen of the Illyrians came from, I’m a little ignorant of fandom conversations, but um. Imma just say it. It doesn’t make sense to me. Either through character motivations or Night Court politics. Does Nesta want to be queen? Does she want to be a ruler? For that matter, did Feyre? Or did she originally just want the power and respect, and latter come to love the people and the work that goes into governing? AND what even is governing in the Night Court, I could go on and on---

Anyway. 

But yeah, I think it’s well-acknowledged in fandom that SJM’s worldbuilding is uh...not the best? I don’t think Illyrians being POC is up for argument, though exactly...where they are from? I guess? What type of POC? Pfft how do you say this You get what I mean. I’m pretty sure many people on the eastern Adriatic coast could be classified as POC, but I suspect that’s because of the Ottoman Empire. So ancient Illyria in our world might be more Greek-ish? Which is still not going to be a Western European culture. 

Of course, none of this actually matters because I think SJM just took the name. 

Since Illyrians live in an incredibly cold climate, my brain has sort of transplanted them to a more far-Eastern European, Georgian or Armenian, setting. Still have that Ottoman influence, but uh. It’s colder? Which affects culture and how people live and dress and work--

That is what my brain did, a sort of personal headcanon, and it is really not supported in canon. I’ve studied both regions (albeit in the national security and foreign policy lense) and Illyrians don’t feel like a match for either. Because we don’t know anything about them. Because apparently they live in war camps and tents and don’t all have permanent settlements and I have no idea how their economy works. 

SJM likes the aesthetics of ~the east~. The clothes Feyre first wears in the Night Court are meant to invoke that, but they are very quickly switched out for surprisingly modern, western-style garb. I think there’s mentions of rugs and colored lamps and the Night Court smells of jasmine-- but Velaris is pretty European. Feyre makes a big deal about the food, but like one of the meals is chicken and green beans, right? Come on. And Mor is supposed to be Rhys’s cousin, from a branch of the Night Court ruling family, but I’m pretty sure she’s white? So the Illyrians are POC, but not necessarily the rest of the Night Court, except that their decor and clothing (that Mor wears!!) is supposed to evoke...an Eastern aesthetic that I don’t actually think exists. And it disappears quickly. Except for Amren. Who is our Token East Asian. 

Worldbuilding doesn’t have to be taking a culture, picking it up, and transplanting it to your world by changing some names. But I do hope that SJM puts some more effort into writing how the peoples of each Court and each region differ. Though they may not in the way we might expect! Prythian may be a post-racial society as we conceive it, in that something like skin color does not matter because other physical identifiers, that of being Higher and Lesser fae, are there. They discriminate differently. 

BUT I wonder what that implies about the movement between Courts, which seem fairly isolated...and I should shut up now. 

tl:dr The basic point that I think everyone can agree on is that worldbuilding has been sloppy. SJM has to put real thought and effort into future works to clarify.