@Falgabird though i do agree that we don’t know exactly what she saw, she was still a terrible mother–albeit one with good intentions. that said, good intentions are just about all she has going for her. even under the assumption that giving pryde any love would have caused her to become arrogant and tyrannous, she could have kept her distance while still providing guidance for pryde and at the very least meeting up with her. just because she shouldn’t spoil pryde rotten doesn’t mean she shouldn’t make any contact at all. she might have thought giving pryde any sort of love was bad, but she could still have at least
been there, even without affection. if she thought she couldn’t control her affectionate nature around pryde, it still doesn’t justify her actions; i’ll get into this more later.
additionally, you said pryde’s change made her question her own precognition which will affect her behavior going forward, but the fact of the matter is that she had so little faith in her child that it
didn’t make her question her views towards pryde until she was forced to meet with her for official business. the queen mentioned that the prince consort had repeatedly told her that pryde had changed and was no longer the spoiled brat the queen had seen in her prophecy, yet the queen refused to listen. instead, she remained caught up in her prejudices against pryde until she was OBLIGATED to meet with her. that means she believed in her own child so little compared to her own precognition that even with her husband testifying that her child had changed for the better, she didn’t believe it and still refused to meet with pryde until the ball. even after the queen finally accepted that pryde had changed, she was
still hesitant to meet pryde because meeting her after neglecting her for her entire life would be “embarrassing.” instead of stopping to consider how pryde must have felt after being abandoned by her own mother her entire life only to meet her younger sister, whom her mother had showered with love and affection,
the queen decided to put her own uncomfy feelies before her child’s mental and emotional well being. it was played off as a joke, but it puts the queen’s blatant lack of empathy for what pryde’s been going through on full display.
going back to what i was saying about the queen’s affectionate nature, i’m seeing a lot about how she tends to go overboard with her love and thought neglecting pryde in favor of tiara would be the only solution, but her lack of self control is a problem
she as pryde’s mother should deal with. pryde shouldn’t have to be abandoned and neglected by her mother all because the queen, the adult in the situation, can’t control her own behavior. her inability to keep her affection in check is something she as a mother should work to change about herself instead of deciding, “oopsies, it’s too hard to stop spoiling pryde in favor of actually providing guidance, so ig i’ll just neglect her kyah 🤪🤪.” just because it’s hard for her not to spoil pryde when she’s in pryde’s presence doesn’t mean it’s okay to neglect her instead of working to better herself.
at the end of the day,
she’s the one who decided to have a child. that makes pryde, as well as all of her actions,
her responsibility. she can’t just decide to neglect and abandon her child when the going gets tough. she can’t just decide to pour everything into her second daughter because the future of her first one is looking bleak. she can’t just decide that her daughter’s fate will never change. she can’t just decide that since it’s hard for her not to spoil her daughter, she won’t make any contact at all.
pryde is her daughter, so she is obligated to at least try to turn her towards a better path and provide guidance instead of just giving up and abandoning her. the fact that her only attempt at “trying” was parental neglect is what makes her a terrible, terrible mother.
