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Why does everyone love Cardan and glorify his (frankly abusive) relationship with Jude? There is definitely a difference between 'bad boys' and 'assholes', and Cardan falls into the latter for me. He's interesting, but why in the world would you have the hots for him?
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Savannah
I think its because Cardan really didnt learn how to deal with his feelings properly. That gives him no excuse for how he treated Jude, but it does explain why he did the things that he did. Due to the abusive nature of his brother and mother, as well as the dismissive behavior of his father, Cardan learned the only way to get their attention was to get in trouble or to piss them off. I think in a way he tried to get not only Judes attention but attention from his friends and family from being an asshole to everyone. Again, that doesnt give him an excuse, but I think it really does add layers to his character cause of the way he changes throughout the trilogy. How he learns to be a good king and a good person in general makes the story have a lot more depth and makes it more realistic for me since a lot of people make mistakes due to how they grow up and try to change their habits that they have had for most of their lives.
Rita
He had indeed an abusive behaviour, in the beginning of the first book, towards Jude. But did you read book 2 and book 3? His behaviour towards Jude and other people in general changes dramatically. To tell you the truth, after the end of book 1, I can't remember one abusive scene between him and Jude. He actually becomes a cinnamon roll.
That being said there is a need to clarify that Cardan is a fictional character that is written by a person who does with him whatever she wants. Abusive people in real life don't normally change.
That being said there is a need to clarify that Cardan is a fictional character that is written by a person who does with him whatever she wants. Abusive people in real life don't normally change.
Laura
It's called character growth. Nobody was really comfortable with him at the end of book one, but clearly in book two, and then obviously book three, the "abuse" was not a thing. Read about childhood trauma. It should explain a lot for you. Also, he's a fictional character. People can love him in a book and never condone those behaviors in real life.
But the cool thing about opinions is that you have yours and others have theirs and it's not really nice to come at people asking how they could be so blind to whatever you have decided about his character. It's not necessary.
Reading your comments to others below, you haven't read book two or three so I'm also not sure why you would come on to this book with that comment when you seem to have no interest in finishing the series. It's a little bit of stirring the pot.
But the cool thing about opinions is that you have yours and others have theirs and it's not really nice to come at people asking how they could be so blind to whatever you have decided about his character. It's not necessary.
Reading your comments to others below, you haven't read book two or three so I'm also not sure why you would come on to this book with that comment when you seem to have no interest in finishing the series. It's a little bit of stirring the pot.
Anu
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Mars
While it's completely true that Cardan was harmful towards Jude, Jude wasn't much better. Both sought out respect in each other and in the people around them and it led to them both lashing out and being harsh. The attractiveness, I think, comes from his willingness to grow and become a better person, if not for his people then for Jude.
Briar
Because
1) He’s not human and the abusive tendencies he exhibited was normal behavior for his kind. In fact, compared to the other fae in Jude’s life Cadan’s cruelty was kind of tame in comparison.
2) He was abusive to her for a bit of the first book, the rest of the entire trilogy he exhibited no abusive behavior.
1) He’s not human and the abusive tendencies he exhibited was normal behavior for his kind. In fact, compared to the other fae in Jude’s life Cadan’s cruelty was kind of tame in comparison.
2) He was abusive to her for a bit of the first book, the rest of the entire trilogy he exhibited no abusive behavior.
Leah
Because it's fiction. In real life I like guys to be sweet and nice. In fiction, all bets are off.
Katy Cage
Cardan is the lover/rival/villain we love to love-hate. That's the point.
To be clear, I'm not saying it's good. Not saying it's bad, either. Just that it IS. Ever heard the tale of the scorpion and the frog? It's like that. Cruelty is sorta in Cardan's nature. And there's nothing y'all can do but watch him wreak havoc.
To the sensitive types who whine about his abusiveness: Stop investing so much energy into worrying about a fictional character's behavior. You recognize that he does bad things. Gold star for not being a sociopath! Now get over it.
To the Cardan stans who claw out the throats of those whiners: Stop excusing his cruelty, because there ISN’T an excuse, no matter how tormented Cardan seems. Sometimes people do bad things. Their reasons don’t change the nature of the bad thing itself.
Let Cardan be the hellish little beast he was meant to be. And Jude, too. They're both villainous and antiheroic at the core. And when we read about them, we get to indulge in a bit of villainy, too.
It's all fun and games in Faerie—as long as, when we close the book and return to reality, we let our inner villains go to sleep.
To be clear, I'm not saying it's good. Not saying it's bad, either. Just that it IS. Ever heard the tale of the scorpion and the frog? It's like that. Cruelty is sorta in Cardan's nature. And there's nothing y'all can do but watch him wreak havoc.
To the sensitive types who whine about his abusiveness: Stop investing so much energy into worrying about a fictional character's behavior. You recognize that he does bad things. Gold star for not being a sociopath! Now get over it.
To the Cardan stans who claw out the throats of those whiners: Stop excusing his cruelty, because there ISN’T an excuse, no matter how tormented Cardan seems. Sometimes people do bad things. Their reasons don’t change the nature of the bad thing itself.
Let Cardan be the hellish little beast he was meant to be. And Jude, too. They're both villainous and antiheroic at the core. And when we read about them, we get to indulge in a bit of villainy, too.
It's all fun and games in Faerie—as long as, when we close the book and return to reality, we let our inner villains go to sleep.
Amber
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Amira
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Kirsty
because we're all emotionally traumatized. we try to convince ourselves that they aren't abusive, they just had it rough as a kid so they can't help it and we tell ourselves to wait it out and not to worry cause they'll get a (pitiful) redemption arc eventually, right??
Chi
Hey, this is a very valid critique. HOWEVER in fiction, we are allowed to explore darker feelings and emotions in a SAFE space. That's what differentiates abusive behaviour in fiction and in reality.
If someone treats you the way Cardan treats Jude in the beginning, run! And never look back.
If someone treats you the way Cardan treats Jude in the beginning, run! And never look back.
Ayse
These answers are sorta messed up, some of the things he did were inexcusable and the only reason I love and enjoy the books, and his character is because I had to pretend he didnt do them (I usually just pretend it was Valerian and Cardan was kinda absent or trying to stop him). Otherwise the story wouldn't be enjoyable for me anymore. I think its a definite flaw of writing that Cardan is a caricature bully during half of the cruel prince, then turns into an actual, real, flawed but quite charming character in the second half, and rest of the series. I think Holly Black is very talented, Wicked King is my favorite book ever, so its a shame how she wrote Cardans character so badly in the first half of the Cruel Prince book, but yea at the end of the day I just want to enjoy the book, so I use my imagination to delete the abusive behavior and make it that he was just mean, but didnt do all the really problematic things.
Ani
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KataTM
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Zoe
Personally, when reading this series I'm distinguishing between what is healthy in reality and what is fun to read about in fiction.
This series is set in a fantasy land where the rules the characters play by are completely different from the rules of our world, so I hold the characters to different standards than I would a real person, or even to a character in a contemporary novel.
In that sense, I can excuse the outlandish behaviours by all the characters simply because ALL the characters do crazy, messed up things.
Similarly, I don't consider the relationship between Cardan and Jude to be abusive simply because they both manipulate each other, and both gain and lose power over each other (at least, at the start). That (to me) makes the relationship toxic, not abusive. But, again, this is fantasy. These aren't real people. I just like reading about two messed up people who are attracted to each other, and later fall in love, while also using each other to further their own ambitions. It's interesting.
And, as others have mentioned, both characters grow a lot over the series. They become better people, and begin to love each other in a much more wholesome way. Spoilers, but their relationship makes them better people.
I don't glorify Cardan's behaviour towards Jude. I accept that they've both done crappy things to each other, but also that they grow from that. Simple.
This series is set in a fantasy land where the rules the characters play by are completely different from the rules of our world, so I hold the characters to different standards than I would a real person, or even to a character in a contemporary novel.
In that sense, I can excuse the outlandish behaviours by all the characters simply because ALL the characters do crazy, messed up things.
Similarly, I don't consider the relationship between Cardan and Jude to be abusive simply because they both manipulate each other, and both gain and lose power over each other (at least, at the start). That (to me) makes the relationship toxic, not abusive. But, again, this is fantasy. These aren't real people. I just like reading about two messed up people who are attracted to each other, and later fall in love, while also using each other to further their own ambitions. It's interesting.
And, as others have mentioned, both characters grow a lot over the series. They become better people, and begin to love each other in a much more wholesome way. Spoilers, but their relationship makes them better people.
I don't glorify Cardan's behaviour towards Jude. I accept that they've both done crappy things to each other, but also that they grow from that. Simple.
Yulee
I hate him more than Jude supposedly did in the first book. If I could assassinate his immortal ass I would. Cardan Greenbriar just gives me the major icks. He reminds me of all the guys who used "not knowing how to deal with their feelings" as a justification to be assholes in class. Except, as a plus, Cardan is a racist =D Everyone's dream man. His childhood trauma is no excuse to treat people around him so shitty and certainly not enough for the fandom to tolerate him, much less glorify him. And don't you dare start talking about how 'fAe lOvE iS DiFfErEnT' and how 'Jude fought back'. Fought back how? By kissing him the first time he mentioned his attraction to her? She's a pathetic excuse of a character and he's a narcissistic son of a bitch who, like most male leads in YA,
1. Needs a therapist, not a girlfriend,
and
2. Gets a personality transplant the moment he meets "THE ONE", who is our special heroine.
Stop. Just stop, guys. I don't gaf about his cheekbones. We can find less toxic men; the ones without racism, abusive tendencies, alcohol addictions, and tails. But I guess it was my fault that I never found any because I was looking in the wrong place; YA fiction.
1. Needs a therapist, not a girlfriend,
and
2. Gets a personality transplant the moment he meets "THE ONE", who is our special heroine.
Stop. Just stop, guys. I don't gaf about his cheekbones. We can find less toxic men; the ones without racism, abusive tendencies, alcohol addictions, and tails. But I guess it was my fault that I never found any because I was looking in the wrong place; YA fiction.
Jennifer
Wow, so many excuses for his pathetic, abusive behavior. And people seem to forget that this is a YA book and sets terrible precedents. We do not excuse abuse IRL bc the person had it rough, ever. And people who dismiss him because he's fiction are clearly ignorant about what fiction does and how much it influences.
Clare Snow
This is what faeries are - awful, awful, awful 🙃
Summer (speaking_bookish)
First, because it's fantasy. But if that isn't enough for some folks to just sit back and enjoy the ride, then my second answer is because anyone who has read this book and wants to put human labels on faeries that don't actually exist can go ahead and soothe themselves by knowing that Cardan had a very traumatic upbringing and the only attention he ever received was when he misbehaved. This is classic behavior also found in the human world. He also pretended to be awful to keep his friends and family at bay while secretly trying to do the right thing whenever he could get away with it. Not to mention that Jude is nobody's victim. She can handle, and understand, Cardan like no one else can.
But like I said.. it's silly to put human labels on fantastical creatures who don't exist. Cardan can't represent an abusive human male because he's a faerie and faeries aren't real. And Jude can't represent a woman in an abusive relationship because she was raised in a fantastical faerie land, which also doesn't exist. I read books like this because the characters can get away with terrible behavior and I can sit back and laugh knowing I can't judge a faerie, or other fantastical creatures, for their behavior (since, again, they aren't real) and instead choose to enjoy it instead.
Also, some of us just really like assholes. What can I say? Luckily, if you do not like Cardan, which you clearly don't, that's ok! We are all allowed to like or dislike whatever we choose. So as long as no one comes at you over the things you like, I think it's only fair that you offer the same respect to people who think differently than you.
But like I said.. it's silly to put human labels on fantastical creatures who don't exist. Cardan can't represent an abusive human male because he's a faerie and faeries aren't real. And Jude can't represent a woman in an abusive relationship because she was raised in a fantastical faerie land, which also doesn't exist. I read books like this because the characters can get away with terrible behavior and I can sit back and laugh knowing I can't judge a faerie, or other fantastical creatures, for their behavior (since, again, they aren't real) and instead choose to enjoy it instead.
Also, some of us just really like assholes. What can I say? Luckily, if you do not like Cardan, which you clearly don't, that's ok! We are all allowed to like or dislike whatever we choose. So as long as no one comes at you over the things you like, I think it's only fair that you offer the same respect to people who think differently than you.
Alice
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Daiga
Honestly, after book 1 I can say nothing negative about his behaviour. Jude is the violent one. She's murderous and choosing violence and abuse as the first option for every problem.
Sian
I find Jude's behaviour equal (and in some cases, worse) as Cardan's, as she happily murders people and feels nothing. This is a love story of two villains- a monster girl and wicked boy, respectively.
Holly Black has been very clever about making the narrator's flaws in the series become almost invisible to the reader- even when Jude herself says them to us: “If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.�
Holly Black has been very clever about making the narrator's flaws in the series become almost invisible to the reader- even when Jude herself says them to us: “If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.�
| Anaïs 🐍
In this world, they are all toxic people, and wicked; fae and humans.
Jude ain't clean either, she is abusive too (threat, manipulation, treason, murder thoughts...).
It seems like in this world, you have to find your person, and they have to love you, besides you way of being mean.
It brings spice.
Jude ain't clean either, she is abusive too (threat, manipulation, treason, murder thoughts...).
It seems like in this world, you have to find your person, and they have to love you, besides you way of being mean.
It brings spice.
Victoria VanTol
Okay so, not that this justifies Cardan's actions, but I would argue Jude was actually more abusive toward Cardan in terms of severity and consistency. Without being too spoilery, she exerted a vast amount of non-consensual control over him in books two and three.
Ultimately this series is about dealing very poorly, and immaturely, with being in a powerless position. People who've been abused often take their trauma out on others. Cardan and Jude were able to relate to each other on this, having both experienced abuse, and worked through (mostly) their traumas together and on their own. No, it doesn't always (or even usually) happen this way in real life, but I thought the portrayal of trauma and how it can be overcome was done well in these books.
Ultimately this series is about dealing very poorly, and immaturely, with being in a powerless position. People who've been abused often take their trauma out on others. Cardan and Jude were able to relate to each other on this, having both experienced abuse, and worked through (mostly) their traumas together and on their own. No, it doesn't always (or even usually) happen this way in real life, but I thought the portrayal of trauma and how it can be overcome was done well in these books.
Cari
That is like asking: Why in the world would you like (insert flavor, color, animal, food, etc, here)? It is all a matter of taste.
It is important to notice fiction books are just that, fiction. People will like characters or not based on a number or arbitrary reasons. It doesn't mean that readers in real life will choose those characters as life partners or lovers. It is a fantasy. :)
It is important to notice fiction books are just that, fiction. People will like characters or not based on a number or arbitrary reasons. It doesn't mean that readers in real life will choose those characters as life partners or lovers. It is a fantasy. :)
ireadcusimpretty
tell me you haven't read book 2 and 3 and "how the king of Elfhame learned to hate stories" without telling me 😐
Cynthia
Is it his tail? LOL? Intriguing. I like the way he improved his behavior over the course of the series. He is vulnerable, yet he has a course exterior. Soft on the inside? And he is passionate. He realizes his own weaknesses and realizes that Jude has a mind of her own--and that he has work to do in terms of learning from her. :D
DaezanatheThorn
I think it is largely this budding interest in nonhuman love interests in popular fiction. He isn't human, he doesn't think like one or act like one. Cruelness comes easily to the fae, which is easily supported by lore.
Love amongst that can be intoxicating.
Love amongst that can be intoxicating.
K. Valore
Even though at the beginning he is an asshole at the end he changes completely, he respects Jude and gives her her place. Personally I didn´t like him in the first book but towards the second and third I also got a crush on him because of his funny moments, cleverness and sass, also because of how he treated Jude in the last 2 books. But of course this is fiction and in the real world people don´t change like that, I think it doesn´t matter if you like toxic fictional characters as long as you know how to separate fiction from reality.
Introvert Insane
What glorifying? I've never seen anyone glorify that whatsoever in the book. It was addressed that what he did was messed up but what can you be if you grow up in an abusive household and in a culture where you bully mortals?
It would make less sense for him to be a nice guy. Of course, there is a place and time for such characters but this is the beginning of his growth. If you want a nice guy character that starts of nice and stays nice, then you clearly are not a fan of the badboy trope. I find some authors glorify the creepy badboy stuff that those type of heroes did but Cardan is NOT the case.
He change. He matures and he is actually someone who needs help. And he gets it in Book 2 & 3 AND clearly change.
This is like Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl. He's a creep in S1 but his transformation made him one of the best characters in the series.
It would make less sense for him to be a nice guy. Of course, there is a place and time for such characters but this is the beginning of his growth. If you want a nice guy character that starts of nice and stays nice, then you clearly are not a fan of the badboy trope. I find some authors glorify the creepy badboy stuff that those type of heroes did but Cardan is NOT the case.
He change. He matures and he is actually someone who needs help. And he gets it in Book 2 & 3 AND clearly change.
This is like Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl. He's a creep in S1 but his transformation made him one of the best characters in the series.
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