Uhhh, I don't hate Helena? I'm excited to see what she'll do.
Of course, I don't like her (yet), but I don't hate her or dislike her, she's more interesting than anything else to me, maybe even a little relatable?
A lot of people were telling her that she has no reason to act like the "dumb heroine" but I think that if you thought about it, her entire job at this point is just to please the prince. Officially, she's a maid but unofficially, she's basically a sugar baby.
The reason that I don't hate her, is actually because she genuinely doesn't have a choice.
If she stands up to the crown prince, she runs the risk of being executed or having her social position lowered even more than it already is. The prince is essentially her only way of support and even if she tries to cut ties with them, she'll always have that shadow and people won't want to be associated with her either way. At least if she acts dumb and pretends to ignore things, she won't get fired and she'll have a relatively stable job. I also doubt the prince would give up on her that easily. It's just easier to act like a doll for her because that's what she's been doing her entire life.
In the end, her moral compass is less geared towards compassion and more wanting to survive in a decent environment. I can respect that to a certain level. She can look over the small things because if she doesn't she can have stuff happen to her. She has little to no control over what she does, she's only presented with a choice of a short term bad decision and a long term bad decision. They're both bad decisions and it's really unlikely that anyone would actually have the courage to go against figures of authority when your entire life could be upended or destroyed with one wrong move.
And are we really ignoring the fact that her mother essentially abused her kid? She threated to kill a child and that child was fine with it. Don't you think that there's some stuff that's been going on behind the scenes if a child is okay with having a knife against their face, by their parent??
I don't find this makes her likeable, or charming, but it makes her interesting and more morally grey than anything else. She's not weak or anything that people keep saying she is just because she wants to live and be comfortable.
I don't think she was meant to be a good person, but just a girl who's trying to survive in a world that's being controlled by men who want her. She seems to be in a good social position, but if you look at the way she thinks she never actually says that she wants anything for herself. She just can't seem to think of anything she wants at all, just for herself. She's not selfish, to the point where she's self-sacrificing and I think that's the main problem and the reason people don't like her. Not because she's the "heroine" or anything like that, but because she never acts selfish. She never wants anything, has no agency of her own and only seems to exist to serve other people's storylines.
Sounds like the classic girl character in every badly written romance novel, right?
But honestly, this chapter might be the turning point. It shows that she might change, because despite the fact that the prince doesn't like Elise, she still tries to make amends. It's not big, but I doubt that anyone in real life immediately make a big gesture when not actively thinking about changing. This however, also plays into the "self sacrificing heroine" persona, since a good heroine would want to make friends with everyone, even the villainess, so I don't know how to take it.
But I do not know the future. I don't know if she decides to be a bad person later or what, but this is only just a few thoughts from what I've seen so far.
Extra note, I think it would just be strange if the author did write an empty, boring character. All their women characters are interesting and complex, (although we've only really seen two, so I suppose I can't make a judgement about that) But because Helena started in such a low place in terms of character, I think she could develop to be interesting and more likable than people expect her to be. I think that's where the author plans on taking Helena, but again, I don't know the future. I haven't read the novel, I haven't seen the raws, I don't know what happens. All I'm saying is that I think it's a good idea to have your mind open to see what will happen with her.
Uhhh, I don't hate Helena? I'm excited to see what she'll do.
Of course, I don't like her (yet), but I don't hate her or dislike her, she's more interesting than anything else to me, maybe even a little relatable?
A lot of people were telling her that she has no reason to act like the "dumb heroine" but I think that if you thought about it, her entire job at this point is just to please the prince.
Officially, she's a maid but unofficially, she's basically a sugar baby.
The reason that I don't hate her, is actually because she genuinely doesn't have a choice.
If she stands up to the crown prince, she runs the risk of being executed or having her social position lowered even more than it already is. The prince is essentially her only way of support and even if she tries to cut ties with them, she'll always have that shadow and people won't want to be associated with her either way. At least if she acts dumb and pretends to ignore things, she won't get fired and she'll have a relatively stable job. I also doubt the prince would give up on her that easily. It's just easier to act like a doll for her because that's what she's been doing her entire life.
In the end, her moral compass is less geared towards compassion and more wanting to survive in a decent environment. I can respect that to a certain level. She can look over the small things because if she doesn't she can have stuff happen to her. She has little to no control over what she does, she's only presented with a choice of a short term bad decision and a long term bad decision. They're both bad decisions and it's really unlikely that anyone would actually have the courage to go against figures of authority when your entire life could be upended or destroyed with one wrong move.
And are we really ignoring the fact that her mother essentially abused her kid? She threated to kill a child and that child was fine with it. Don't you think that there's some stuff that's been going on behind the scenes if a child is okay with having a knife against their face, by their parent??
I don't find this makes her likeable, or charming, but it makes her interesting and more morally grey than anything else. She's not weak or anything that people keep saying she is just because she wants to live and be comfortable.
I don't think she was meant to be a good person, but just a girl who's trying to survive in a world that's being controlled by men who want her. She seems to be in a good social position, but if you look at the way she thinks she never actually says that she wants anything for herself. She just can't seem to think of anything she wants at all, just for herself. She's not selfish, to the point where she's self-sacrificing and I think that's the main problem and the reason people don't like her. Not because she's the "heroine" or anything like that, but because she never acts selfish. She never wants anything, has no agency of her own and only seems to exist to serve other people's storylines.
Sounds like the classic girl character in every badly written romance novel, right?
But honestly, this chapter might be the turning point. It shows that she might change, because despite the fact that the prince doesn't like Elise, she still tries to make amends. It's not big, but I doubt that anyone in real life immediately make a big gesture when not actively thinking about changing. This however, also plays into the "self sacrificing heroine" persona, since a good heroine would want to make friends with everyone, even the villainess, so I don't know how to take it.
But I do not know the future. I don't know if she decides to be a bad person later or what, but this is only just a few thoughts from what I've seen so far.
Extra note, I think it would just be strange if the author did write an empty, boring character. All their women characters are interesting and complex, (although we've only really seen two, so I suppose I can't make a judgement about that) But because Helena started in such a low place in terms of character, I think she could develop to be interesting and more likable than people expect her to be. I think that's where the author plans on taking Helena, but again, I don't know the future. I haven't read the novel, I haven't seen the raws, I don't know what happens. All I'm saying is that I think it's a good idea to have your mind open to see what will happen with her.