And for the ppl that always scream misogyny, dare I say this might be sexism, bcuz ppl tend to defend women's abusivre behavior more than men. If we condemn one we have to condemn the other too, hold both accountable. And YES I will strongly say that what Lydia did was abuse, not only abuse but she sold her daughter too, then proceeded to be glad when her daughter didn't sell her out when she was literally DYING. THAT'S why ppl reacte so strongly to her, NOT misogyny.
Liking a complex character doesn't mean you have to defend their behavior or be okay with it, that's the point of a complex character. I'm just genuinely sick of people either screaming misogyny, saying people don't understand and can't handle complex characters when people point out their dislike of her or just straight up defending her actions.
I feel like why people's reaction towards Lydia are so torn comes down to honestly how the story is written. I don't like how a lot of people come in with guns blazing and accuses ppl that doesn't like Lydia as just being misogynistic, like that's not it. I think a big part of why ppl's feeling towards her are so strong is bcuz in stories similar to this, where the FATHER is the one being neglectful and abusive and the MC is reincarnated or something and tries to "earn" his love or simply just living her life and suddenly he loves her now, those types of story still paint the father as terrible, tho not overt, the story still makes us dislike the father in the beginning, the relationship between father and daughter is still strained and has to be built up slowly (mind you this kind of plot has been done with Mothers too tho not as much as fathers since it's a popular trope, so it's NOT misogyny), our feelings towards these Father's/Parents are usually earned slowly, we don't like them from the get go, the same goes for the MC, they usually are distrustful and at least resentful of the Parent, therefore the parent actually has to deal with consequences.
Whereas here, MC is an absolute saint (literally she's one) and doesn't hold her mom to any accountability, nor does anyone else hold her to any accountability, she herself does yes, but anyone else kinds of glorifies her as this absolutely gorgeous and amazing woman. NOW, don't get me wrong, we love attractive characters, BUT I have notice time and time again that this story uses Lydia's beauty as some sort of shield and tries to paint her as this cool fem-fatale WHICH mind you kind of defeats the whole point about her past, the fact that she was used, abused and that her worth was her beauty. Lydia's beauty could've been a part of her that helps deepens her character, it could've been about how much she struggle with prejudices, jealous ppl AND what she can get away with simply bcuz of how she looks (it's only explored in her past and never brought up again which drives me insane), instead now the only time her beauty is mentioned is always to further glorify her and it's very indicative of pretty privilege, it's similar to how ppl treat celebrities, how a lot of fans will defend their faves behavior simply bcuz of how gorgeous and or handsome they are (ESPECIALLY male actors). Yes she is now known for her intelligence and capabilities yet the story still use her beauty as some sort of crutch, I actually didn't notice it in the beginning when it wasn't so prevalent, but I have noticed a pattern that everytime she shows up, it's always about her beauty (almost like they're trying to use her beauty to distract us from her flaws). The thing is, the story as far as I can tell doesn't really paint Lydia as a mother trying to redeem herself (at time it does and those moments are usually my favorites, like the time Lydia had to stop herself from being controlling towards Lyrica), it feels more like a Heroin love story, nobody holds her accountable and the story itself doesn't really show any strong reaction towards what happened to Lyrica, even Lyrica herself doesn't reacte much, everything just feels like it's being pushed under a rug. This point is why alot of readers are so mad or uncomfortable, bcuz it doesn't feel earned, she's essentially living the heroin live while being a "villain" herself before, now don't start on her backstory, I myself almost fell into the trap of not holding her accountable simply bcuz her backstory was so terrible, BUT it doesn't, it explains her actions and let us understand and empathize with her but DOESN'T excuse her behavior.
Just like today's chapter, when somebody points out HER abuse, suddenly they're the villain. It feels like the author of story itself doesn't really understand the gravity of her actions and tries to make everything sunshine and rainbows ( I understand it's bcuz everything is from Lyrica's perspective but the lack of reaction from other characters are quite jarring too).
It really seems like the story is trying to paint Lydia as this super cool female lead, while it works in stories that are not ABOUT abuse and redemption, it doesn't work here, It feels quite cheap and sometimes immature and cringy. Bcuz we HAVE seen sides of her that are downright atrocious, we already have a subconscious negative opinion and feelings about her, it is further amplified when so far she has not face any consequences and instead praised and worship, nobody calls her out for it, nothing happens to her, she's painted like this perfect person (by other characters) AND the fact that her and the emporer keeps this "talk bad about her and I kill you" kind of act ( i seriously DO NOT like the emporer, he makes me cringe), that conveniently literally FORBIDS any accountability on her part. They have this very y/n and CEO dynamic that just doesn't work here bcuz it directly clashes with her abusive past and her relationship with Lyrica, it's odd to see a character that we know as flawed painted in such a weird light, it comes out as somewhat childish, like TELL ME WHY the emporer and Lydia has MORE screentime than Lydia and her own DAUGHTER. The story doesnt do a good job on the redemption part of the story, it just feels so un-serious.
I actually loved how Lydia was written in the beginning and the glorification of her was in part funny and why I enjoyed it. But I would've thought that as the story progresses we would explore more of her human side, and we might see Lyrica humanize her more and stop glorifying her so much, I thought we would be able to see the mother and daughter bond grow but no, the story stays the same, the feeling overall is very un-serious and nothing changes, and as time passes its just really uncomfortable to read, like the story itself doesn't understand the seriousness of it all. Like she literally called her ABUSE a "secret past", like are you kidding me. It doesn't help that her romance with the emporer, dare I say it, kind of hinders her growth, he kind of like a shield to everything. Overall it feels unjustified.
LONG STORY SHORT ppl are uncomfortable bcuz they're seeing an ABUSER painted in a positive light. Abusers should not be painted as such, we can empathize and understand how they came to be AND cheer them on their road to healing and redemption but definitely NOT glorifying them.
I actually love Lydia and nuanced and complex her character is, I thought that she brings forth such conflicting feelings between so many readers is why she is complex, BUT the story fell flat on how they handled her character, it was not executed with the gravity that it should have had and instead everything is quite sunshine and rainbows and lacks the seriousness that alot of readers crave. Therefore failing to make the readers connect more to Lydia unfortunately.
Thats my take ╮(￣▽￣)╭