The Trope Series #2

Arsehole with Feelings

Could also count as Treat 'em Mean, Keep 'em Keen

This is overly used for male love interests in YA books. Like, so over used. The only example I can think of is Jace Herondale from The Mortal Instruments, but that's because I'm lazy. Do I hate this trope? Sometimes.
We can all name at least one character that fits this trope, and mostly you'll think of a white dude in his twenties to thirties who's parents are dead. So, like 75% of Marvel and DC characters. Ayyyyyy...

These characters are often complete dickheads who make the main character's life hell until they "mend each other" or some shit. Best relationship ever! Sometimes it can work, if they warm up to each other gradually rather than making out five minutes after meeting for the first time. There's a sudden change from hatred to lust. With these types of characters, I doubt that there's any actual romantic feeling between them. I doubt that some AwF's can love.

Also, what I find with these is that the AwF will treat the main character like dirt and the main character will spend ages whining about it. It often takes up a good proportion of the book. It's basically:

"We need to save the world!"

"But that hot, misunderstood arsehole hates me and I need to understand why!"

"The generic villain is coming to do an evil thing!"

"I must brood."

Anyway, after that, we'll agree that I'll never try to be funny again. But that's essentially what happens for the first half of the book in four sentences.

Another example I found, by accident, after editing some old posts, is Daniel Grigori (or however you spell it), the best example I can be bothered to find. He blows off Luce for a lot of the book and she's just lusting after him and being creepily possessive jealous over him. Why? Because apparently, treating a girl like shit makes her like you. Which we all hopefully know is bullshit, but it enforces the whole treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen rhetoric that's just gross. Mainly because it teaches people (women especially) that you should allow people (mainly men) to treat you badly because it means that they like you. This allows a growth of toxic and unhappy relationships.

One good thing about this trope is that it allows for character development. Really, an AwF should go through quite a bit of character development, so we know about them and they can be in a healthy relationship with the main character (because they always end up together). And although it's an overused trope, I think it allows the author to show off their character writing skills and if they can pull believable and flawed characters off.

What do you think about this trope? Comment below and tell me your thoughts and any other tropes you'd like to see critiqued.

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