meredith’s character development, a much needed thread.

this thread is not to make anyone stan her. but i’m so sick of the “she’s annoying” “what does she even do” “her only character trait is her trauma”. this is for u guys to understand her, so please if u want to, read this even tho it’s long af and try to stop calling her names

“you went to dartmouth. your mother is ellis grey. you grew up, i mean look at this house! you walk into the OR and there isn’t anyone who doubts that you should be there.” -izzie stevens

meredith is a really complex character so i’m gonna do my best to explain it to you from this statement.

knowing that meredith is ellis’ daughter, people assumed for some reason that she had a perfect life, which she obv didn’t.

meredith said something in the pilot that really gave us an idea of who ellis really is: “when i told my mother i wanted to go to medical school, she tried to talk me out of it. said i didn’t have what it takes to be a surgeon, that i’d never make it.”

ellis always looked down at meredith. i personally think she resented her for “ruining her life”, or maybe she thought that she was the reason richard left her. “it’s because i have a daughter, isn’t it? i should’ve never had a kid.”

please, please imagine your own mother telling you that she should’ve never had you. that she resents your existence. that she would rather love a man that left her then love her own child that has ALWAYS, and i mean ALWAYS been there for her.

“you think i like making these decisions for you? [...] but i do it. because you have managed to alienate everybody else in your life. and i am the only one. so i have to step up and do it.”

this has been meredith’s entire life. knowing she stood in the way of her mother’s career, thinking she was somehow responsible for all of her mothers despair just because she planted that idea in her head, thinking she was worthless and unwanted and unloved.

and she lived with it. she showed up for her, she was there for her even though she did not deserve it. i’d also like you to imagine showing up every day to a home where the woman who emotionally abused you throughout your entire life lives and help her, talk to her, love her.

fast forward to a few episodes before the drowning when ellis was lucid.
this is something i wanna mention, the first few seasons were focused on merediths personal and love life and we didn’t see much of her as a surgeon which i hate, but it was obvious that she was as talented

as anyone in her class, and she worked as hard if not harder than most of them.
back to ellis, i’m gonna type everything ellis said to meredith:

“what happened to you? you’re happy? you’re happy now? the meredith i knew was a force of nature. passionate, focused, a fighter. what happened to you? you’ve gone soft. stammering about a boyfriend and saying that you’re waiting to be inspired? you’re waiting for inspiration,

are you kidding me? i have a disease for which there is no cure i think that would be inspiration enough! listen to me, meredith! anyone can fall in love and be blindly happy. but not everyone can pick up a scalpel, and save a life. i raised you to be an extraordinary human being

so imagine my disappointment when i wake up after five years and discover that you’re no more, than ordinary. what happened to you?”

saying that to her when she was fighting her ass off to live up to ellis’ expectations both personally and professionally led meredith to ATTEMPT SUICIDE. she ATTEMPTED SUICIDE. i don’t know why people brush it off, and forget about it and ignore it. she felt so small and so

unloved that she thought that there was no point in even staying alive. this is SUCH an important part of her story because after she went down and survived all of this, she realized that she did have people in her corner that love her and would do anything for her.

i’m not even gonna get into how she literally kidnapped her and took away her chance of getting to know thatcher and having a father that loves her because she hated him. how fucking selfish? oh wait, selfish enough to put her daughter thru watching her attempt suicide at 5yo

now i won’t bother getting into all the lexie and maggie drama and bull. it doesn’t need a college degree to figure out that lexie was a reminder of everything meredith never had. why did lexie deserve a loving home and a loving father when meredith was being treated so poorly

and yet she worked on it and she found a way to love her and to protect her even at the cost of her own happiness.
also she was literally never mean to maggie? a woman came up to her and told her she’s her sister, the daughter of her emotionally abusive mother and the man who

broke up her family. don’t expect mer to walk up to her and hug her like?
one more issue is amelia. there’s this idea that mer was so mean to her since the day she came and all that crap. up to derek’s death where drama starts between the two of them meredith was so good to her.

meredith had just lost her husband. and everything i just said in mind, she’s not gonna be nice to derek’s sister who looks exactly like him and acts exactly like him. YES she is imperfect. YES she is flawed. but she never once was rude to amelia.

was she cold? yes she was. could she have been better? yes, yes she could’ve been. but at least she didn’t tell amelia that her dead fiancé would be disgusted by her for grieving him.

this thread is long as fucking fuck. so i’m not gonna go into detail about thatcher. but he left, got a new family, and forgot about her. gave lexie and molly everything he had and didn’t bother trying to do so to meredith until she showed up at his door and made him feel guilty.

i think he would’ve been a good dad to meredith, but the fact that he didn’t fight for her is sickening.

ALLLLLL of this in mind, meredith managed to find love, and happiness, and when she lost that she found it again, and again. she never once stopped believing in the good. she never once gave up on anyone. she never once took her crap out on other people.

“is it that crazy that i would put somebody else’s happiness over mine?” she. is. the. most. selfless. character. there. is. and even now, when most of her stories have been told, she never settled. she always wants to help and always wants to make this world a better place.

she is an amazing mom, an amazing surgeon, an amazing human being which i personally think is a miracle. SHE is a miracle.

end of fucking thread tyvm

wanted to add that the fact that she survived all of this and made it through with a smile on her face gives so many of us so much hope and strength in ourselves. this isn’t just about a fictional character so pls have empathy