Caldryn Parliament

Nemeses

Written by

Jenny Schwartz

in

,
a cubist painting of two flying ants confronting each other

Enemies to lovers is a popular trope in romance and all its spin-offs, most notably romantasy. Who doesn’t enjoy a rival romance? But I think an underdeveloped aspect of it will be drawn out over the next few years, that of the vengeance or punishment element of a nemesis. People want retribution stories as well as a redemption arc.

So, we’ll have nemeses to lovers as a growing trope with the initial conflict, the bitter frustration, the resentment of their own feelings, and then, the decision to choose mercy and hope and move forward.

Justice is a complicated subject. Fiction has a powerful role to play in providing ways of seeing the world and emotional frameworks for processing it.

Nemeses to lovers is a trope that doesn’t require us to defeat our enemies with violence. I’m eagerly anticipating how authors will find a path from fury and grief to healing, hope, and love.

Discover more from Caldryn Parliament

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Comments

4 responses to “Nemeses”

  1. carriebeanbfe7fd85b0 Avatar
    carriebeanbfe7fd85b0

    Something I very much enjoy about your books is that there are very very few characters that are simple “bad guys” – they are complex, layered characters who may start out in conflict with our heroes, but eventually become allies. I feel like that’s especially the case in the Xeno-archaeologist series. I love that that pushes back against the current real-life trend of someone being an enemy because they disagree with you, and they’re forever put in that box, never to be reassessed. Obviously, real life is complicated and there are some truly terrible people, but I feel like as a society, we’re leaning overly hard into “that person is cut off and dead to me forever” space right now.

    That said, I generally (not always) find enemies to lovers to be problematic as a trope. Either because “he’s mean to you because he liiiiiiikes you” is the root of it – something I think is really juvenile, and does no favors to either boys or girls, as they’re taught to normalize mean=like as acceptable behavior. Or I find it problematic because it leans into body betrayal, which is my most hated trope. I’m talking about where one of the leads is a truly terrible person, but the other lead just can’t help their overwhelming attraction to the jerk, so a lot of bad behavior gets swept under the rug.

    I think I’m overly sensitive to stuff like that, because I’ve done a lot of volunteering at domestic abuse shelters. Women have such a hard time leaving abusive partners for so many reasons, but one of the big ones is that so many things reinforce the idea that if you just hang in there, if you just love him enough, eventually he’ll come around and treat you the way you deserve to be treated. It is such an incredibly damaging narrative.

    Though that only applies when the enemy crosses some pretty nasty lines. For a more normal, adversarial relationship – nemeses, as you talk about – them coming around to being lovers would be more on par with what I love about, say, Zack becoming one of Nora’s closest allies. It’s what happens when people who have a more superficial, adversarial relationship get to know each other better and realize that, while they might disagree on some details, they have a lot more in common than they initially thought.

    Reply
    1. Jenny Schwartz Avatar
      Jenny Schwartz

      Carrie, I don’t think you’re oversensitive. I think our society has some ugly stories shaping perception and behavior and they trap people. One of the hardest things to see is people who KNOW something is wrong, but can’t find a way to put it into words. To validate their own, I guess we call it, instinct. They can’t choose to act because they can’t find the words to give themselves permission.

      Slapping a label on someone as “enemy” for an action that doesn’t define them feeds into some thoughts I’m having on simplified messaging in our society. But those need to stew for a while before becoming either a post or slid into a book. But yeah, we’re losing a lot by refusing to engage with complexity and nuance.

      Reply
  2. xrjl00 Avatar
    xrjl00

    Who doesn’t enjoy a rival romance?
    Me.
    Sorry, but … I find it a waste of energy.

    Reply
    1. Jenny Schwartz Avatar
      Jenny Schwartz

      Really? I attribute my love of them to Anne of Green Gables. Anne and Gilbert were lovely.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

More posts