Sven isn't the guarantor of her feelings. What he has done, though, is keep his mouth shut and take all the heat from the social circle on himself. I wouldn't have been a tenth as noble as all of that; I would have asked her, loudly and in front of Marten, Dora and her friends, "Did I ever make a pass at you before we started sleeping together, yes or no?" "Who made the first move, you or me?" "Who said explicitly we had a no-strings attached, sexual relationship, you or me?"
Hmmm... Except that Sven knew that sleeping with Gina Riversmith was a bad move even as he did it, and then planned to conceal what he'd done from Faye, because he knew it would hurt her to know. So Sven plainly didn't buy the idea that his relationship with Faye was no-strings-attached. He knew his behaviour would hurt her, but did it anyway. Pretty douchey in my book. HOWEVER, the fact that he does accept that he stepped over the line, and does cop the shit he's earned without complaining much, might suggest there is after all a mensch buried somewhere in Sven trying to get out. Hanners sees it.
Good points, but still, I do agree with Ravenswing in one important aspect: all characters in the comic basically responded to this with "Faye is an innocent victim, Sven is a seducing assbutt who broke her heart." And that's just not the case. Faye
did shoot down anything she interpreted as flirting from Sven early on, Faye
did seek out his company later when it seemed he wasn't too bothered either way, Faye
did initiate the sexual relationship after they went out for karaoke, Faye
did make it only a "Friends with benefits" scenario afterwards, Faye
did refuse to make any effort to develop an emotional attachment with Sven, and at the end, Faye
did develop an emotional attachment and walked off in tears because of it.
Sven, on the other hand, got drunk and made a stupid mistake that he obviously deeply regrets. He acted exactly how he said he was wont to act, and exactly as everyone clearly expected him to act. Even Faye herself, in the midst of the post-breakup depression, noticed that.
Is Sven an arsehole who did something he knew would hurt Faye? Yes.
Did he make it worse by not planning to tell her? Yes.
So is Faye therefore completely innocent and well-meaning here? Very, very no.
Sven does not deserve all the blame for what happened between him and Faye. Hell, I'd say he doesn't even deserve the majority of it. He did a shitty thing, after a long list of shitty things that Faye did to him first. And, in complete agreement with others above me, I would
deeply enjoy seeing Sven finally snap and tell Faye as much the next time that the CoD gang (inevitably) start their next "Sven Is An Assbutt" lecture. Much as I love Faye, she deserves it. A little wake-up on that score would be healthy for Sven and might even help her get past her Bitch Persona she's been shedding over the last few hundred comics.