What is an Unreliable Narrator?

*potential spoilers for the ACOTAR series*

We talk often about unreliable narrators on my Tik Tok page. Because of my recent dip into the world of Sarah J. Maas, the conversations are usually centered around Feyre Archeron, the main protagonist of the ACOTAR (A Court of Thorns and Roses) series. Despite the abundance of conversation on this topic, a singular question is often asked: what is an unreliable narrator?

First, it has to be stated that being an unreliable narrator is not an insult. It is merely a judgment and observation about the storyteller. In short, an unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility is compromised. It’s unknown if the way they’re telling the story is accurate or truthful.

Again, this is not inherently an insult. Sure, sometimes narrators are purposefully deceptive, but sometimes they’re unreliable due to age or innocent. Sometimes the narrator doesn’t have all the information or is suffering from a mental illness. Let’s talk about some examples.

Examples of Common Unreliable Narrators

An example of a purposefully deceptive unreliable narrator is Amy Dunne from Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. Dunne warps the story to try and frame her husband for her “murder.” Another purposefully deceptive unreliable narrator is Roger “Verbal” Kint from The Usual Suspects. Kint works to manipulate the police officers throughout the entire film, and thus also influences audiences.

Another type of unreliable narrator is the madman, or one who is suffering from a mental illness that is contributing to a warped perception of reality. Remember Edward “Teddy” Daniels from Shutter Island? Another is Nina Sayers from Black Swan. A classic example is Don Quixote. The poor guy thought windmills were giants.

Next is the naïve narrator whose account of events is distorted due their innocence, age, or lack of information. Vardaman Bundren from As I Lay Dying is an example of this type of unreliable narrator, as he is unable to understand his mother’s death because he’s just a child. Scout Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird also fits this mold.

A biased unreliable narrator is a narrator whose perception of events shapes the way they see things. Nick Carraway of The Great Gatsby fits the mold for this type of narrator, as he has certain opinions of Daisy and Tom, and Gatsby.

Feyre Archeron as an Unreliable Narrator

Although this is a heated debate topic, Feyre Archeron is an unreliable narrator.

Let’s start with the basics: she is naïve. There just isn’t another way to slice that one up. She initially enters Prythian upon a lie, believing Tamlin that there is a law stating that killing a fae means a human must be taken over the wall. This law does not exist. Further, she does not know about Amarantha’s curse at first, she doesn’t know that Rhysand is her mate, she doesn’t even know when her own life is in danger due to pregnancy complications.

Time and time again it is seen that Feyre is naïve and unknowing. (And yes: I do know that by A Court of Silver Flames when it’s revealed that she is pregnant it is no longer in her first-person POV. However, I think this is just yet another example of her unknowing.)

Secondly, she’s biased at times. No offense to Feyre, but she thinks the guy she’s with is the end-all-be-all until they break up. She thought very highly of Tamlin until Rhysand popped into the picture, and now that she’s with Rhysand, he can do no wrong. (And stick around to hear all my ramblings on ACOTAR because I have a lot to say about Feysand.)

Not only is she biased when it comes to her love interests, but she is also seen to be biased towards her sisters. In the beginning of A Court of Thorns and Roses, Feyre expresses her frustration with Nesta’s desire for new shoes claiming that the shoes Nesta has were practically immaculate and new. However, later in A Court of Silver Flames when Nesta visits the old cabin with Cassian, we see the shoes from Nesta’s perspective and they were completely destroyed.

Feyre’s unreliability becomes much more obvious once we step into the third-person limited POV in Silver Flames.

Being an Unreliable Narrator is not an Insult

I must reiterate this because the misinformation online is rampant, but being an unreliable narrator is not an insult. Being an unreliable narrator is just an an observation that the credibility of the narrator might be compromised.

In a way, all first-person narration is supposed to be questioned. Every person (and character!) is biased in some way. Do you believe everything everybody ever tells you in real life? If so, I have a bridge to sell you.