How Being a Teacher Made Me Hate the Inner Circle More than a Little Bit

Let me start with a confession: I used to adore the Inner Circle from A Court of Thorns and Roses. They were the “dream friend group.” Loyal, powerful, hilarious, ride-or-die types who always had dramatic entrances and deep trauma bonds. But the more I re-read the series—as a teacher, an adult, someone who deals with real-life power, protection, favoritism, and actual care—the more I realized something pretty alarming:

They are elitist, dismissive, and function exactly like gifted kids who grew up and never realized they were the problem.

And actually? Being a teacher made me resent them more than a little bit.

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They believe in their superiority — to a nauseating degree

The Inner Circle speaks constantly about how “better” their court is compared to others. The Court of Nightmares is beneath them. The Illyrian camps are barbaric. The mortal realms are ignorant. Anyone who doesn’t join them must obviously be a threat or an idiot.

In the classroom, I’ve seen what happens to students who think they’re superior to everyone else. They isolate themselves. They cut themselves off from empathy or humility. They end up smart, yes—but cruel. Watching Rhysand and his group constantly joke about how they’re the only dreamers in an empire full of savages makes me think of kids who are praised for being gifted so long they forget how to be kind.

Education should expand your compassion. Their power only magnified their entitlement.

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The segregation in their own territory is horrifying once you think about it

We’re told the Night Court is this glorious enlightened territory. But half of it is literally walled off and forced to live in fear and violence. The Court of Nightmares is still operating under fear, misogyny, abuse, power hierarchies. Everyone shrugs and says, “It has to be this way for appearances.”

Excuse me? You have the most powerful court, the ability to wipe out entire armies with magic, and yet you leave thousands of people, women, in a city of terror because… it’s politically convenient? Because Rhys doesn’t want to be seen as a tyrant enforcing his own laws? That’s not noble. That’s negligent. Especially when he has no problem enforcing rank and doing bad things for the greater good in other instances.

As a teacher, I think about kids who are left in failing schools or unsafe districts because “that’s just how the system works.” Those in power make excuses: “We can’t change it yet.” “It’s complicated.” Meanwhile kids are suffering. Illyrian women’s wings continue to be clipped, painful and humiliating. The Inner Circle willingly maintains a caste system because it keeps their image intact.

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They speak for the weak — but never with them

Teachers learn quickly: if you’re making decisions “for the students” without asking the students what they need, you’re doing harm. Rhys and Feyre constantly make decisions for Illyrians, for humans, for the Court of Nightmares, without actually listening to them or giving them representation.

Why is there no Court of Nightmares emissary in Velaris? Why is there no Illyrian woman at the planning table? Why are they always speaking about entire populations like social experiments?

Rhysand reminds me bizarrely of an overconfident administrator: so sure he has everyone’s best interest at heart that he never considers he could be wrong.

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They have the audacity to feel morally superior while ignoring injustice

The arrogance just gets unbearable on reread. They laugh, drink wine, joke about how “brutal” other courts are — while condoning oppression right under their noses. They critique Tamlin for locking Feyre in a house, while they lock an entire population in a nightmare prison realm they refuse to dismantle. They lock Nesta up in the House of Wind because she was an inconvenient reminder of their imperfections. All of her drinking? Money spending? As if Mor and Amren and the rest aren’t almost always seen with a drink in their hand. As if Cassian wasn’t given literal decades to deal with his trauma.

As a teacher, I see students who swarm the popular table, convinced they’re the good guys because they bully bad people, or laugh only behind closed doors. Doesn’t matter. It’s still harm, wrapped in charisma.

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Conclusion: They’re less a squad, more a privileged clique

Yes, they love each other fiercely, and yes, they do genuinely care in their own limited sphere. But the Inner Circle is basically the honors kids who think they’re heroes because they’re not as bad as the school bullies—while ignoring the kids crying in the hallway.

The more I read them through grown-up eyes, teacher eyes, responsibility eyes, the more I realize: they’re not revolutionary. They’re comfortable. They just live in a nicer bubble.

And once you notice it, it’s impossible to unsee.

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