In all honesty, I never thought I would spend my time talking about a series I'm not the biggest fan of one here. But I won't be an ass, and I will admit there are things SJM does well in her series. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but the characters are pretty cool.

After ACOSF, I had to mentally vomit on the Inner Circles behavior, but we are getting off-topic. Let's talk about Nesta.

DISCLAIMER I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL BY ANY MEANS; TAKE ANYTHING I SAY WITH A GRAIN OF SALT. THIS IS ALL MY OPINION ON NESTA, AND IT IS OKAY TO HAVE A DIFFERING OPINION. I DON'T GIVE A FUCK! ALSO, I LOST THE BOOKS WHEN I MOVED SO I'M GOING ON MEMORY HERE, PLEASE HELP ME.

I guess this is more about the Inner Circle than Nesta, but it all revolves around her.

Let me say one thing before I continue. It is 100% valid for you to hate Nesta. She is a total bitch, and her unhealthy coping mechanisms hurt the people around her. However, I have always sympathized with this character.

One of the things in ACOSF that really put me on edge was the exposition.

Allow me to set the scene: Nesta is an alcoholic and puts her drinks on her sister's tab. Her sister is Feyre, the High Lady of the Night Court. One day Rhysand, Feyre's husband/mate/boyfriend thingy, decides to read the tab aloud. In front of the entire court. Good idea. It gives the Inner Circle (the court) the idea to make her train with Cassian (who is obsessed with Nesta and who Nesta has repeatably rejected, but he still comes for her. I always thought it was weird, and it never sat well with me.) She is also moving out of her apartment (which Feyre is paying for) and making her move to the House of Wind. The House of Wind has a million steps (exaggeration) to get up and down. She will train at an Illyrian camp and get better. Problem solved.

No. Just, no.

First of all, y'all know nothing about mental illness, and that whole plan reads like a shitty fanfic.

You will make Nesta, a woman who probably isn't that strong and VERY mentally ill, train at a sexist place and exploit her. What the fuck is wrong with you!

Also, y'all aren't giving Nesta a choice. They did, but it was either that or prejudiced against in the human lands... not much of choice. Despite "it's your choice" being the Inner Circle's fucking mantra. It's their Bible. It's their comfort catch-phrase. It provides them with more comfort than any comfort character ever could.

Still, I let it slide when Nesta went to the grounds and did nothing. Both bad and good for feminism. It's really only good with context, though.

Also, I forgot to add this, Nesta is working at a library and makes some friends. Yay!

When they finally got Nesta to train, I honestly didn't care anymore. They changed the scenery and had Feyre watch her progress. I'm not sure why, but whatever. None of this really bothered me that much until the dance scene.

Nesta is a dancing beast, and it really made me think about the shit going on.

Let's talk about how athletic dancers really are. If you look at any contemporary performance, you'll know that they can crush my skull like a grape. But, we never really know what type of dancer Nesta is. Is it ballroom, ballet, tap, hip hop, etc.?

Given the time period, I narrowed it down to either ballet or ballroom, with ballroom being the most likely style. However, this just makes me think Nesta is being exploited.

Before y'all comment on that, I ask you to read Azriel's chapter.

There are many different ballroom dance types; some of the more common ones are the tango, the traditional waltz, Viennese waltz, quickstep, pasodoble, etc.

Given the descriptions of Nesta's dance with Eris, I can rule out both waltzes. A waltz is slow and has a subtle rise and fall, unlike the dance. We can also cross out the quickstep off the list for more obvious reasons. Now, pasodoble and tango are harder to rule out. The described song was very fast-paced, and the dance had a lot of spins, both characteristics of a pasodoble. However, the dance is supposed to be intense and brutal, but with no tricks. That sounds more like Argentine tango.

I'm going to say it was an Argentine tango, simply because it would be harder to keep up with that, and the music would fit more with the dance style.

One of my favorite couples who have done the Argentine tango is Luca and Allesandra. They competed in "World of Dance," and the tango is not their strong suit. However, it was one of the best dances I have ever seen. I'll link the performance, and I suggest you watch it now.

After watching that, you can see what I mean. Now, I will say that was a very intense tango, and not all tangos are like that. But, if Nesta is the best dancer Velaris has ever seen, I think she can pull that off.

I wanted you to focus on the part where Allesandra walked on Luca like a spiral staircase. The amount of power and core strength it would take to do that... astounds me. And I'm aware that Nesta has been working out, but that will take a lot more than squats and holding a fucking plank.

YOU MEAN TO FUCKING TELL ME THAT SHE COULD DO THAT (most likely) BUT CAN'T HOLD A PLANK FOR 30 SECONDS. BULLSHIT.

thank you for coming to my TedTalk.