This book is doing nothing to convince me that Tamlin really was a shit from the jump, as so many who jumped to Team Rhys would like one to believe.
Don't get me wrong, the breadcrumbs are definitely there if you look/listen for them, but really all I'm learning on this go-around is that it seems like Tam really never had a chance at all. I learned that quite a bit with the exposition on Tam's past from Alys.
He was raised by a shitty father who encouraged his violence and shit on his fiddle playing dreams, had shittier brothers who wanted to murder him for having the genetic misfortune to be stronger than them, and still he found it in him to be the best man he could. He was by all accounts a good, even somewhat progressive high lord. He put effort in to being as different as he could from him.
Feyre certainly loved him to do what she did, and Tamlin obviously loved her, because he wouldn't have taken such a turn as he did if she meant nothing to him. Despite being arrogant (and I think all high fae are to some degree), he's not unwilling to debase himself and literally beg Rhys to not tell Amarantha about Feyre, despite his history with Rhys, which would you lead you to believe that a guy like Tamlin (and certainly a guy like he eventually becomes) would be totally unwilling to do.
Tamlin didn't keep secrets from Feyre at this point except where he required to according to the magic of the curse.
So I'm not really seeing, outside of his temper, all the signs of him always being the controlling misogynist he becomes in the rest of the series.
Rather he seems like a guy that's been trying for a long time and not getting anywhere, has some level of low self esteem (to give up and think that nobody could actually love him enough to break the curse and to still be willing to tell that person, a human, that he loves her), and is just tired and wants to give up.
I've seen a lot of people point out the fact that Rhys was strong enough to keep going, even after fifty years of abuse, and Tam just gave up. So yeah, he gave up 🤷🤷🤷. He shut down, as is evidenced time and time again under the mountain. So what? Not all of us are strong enough to keep fighting; I don't think that means that he never really loved Feyre or really appreciated her enough to fight for her. He's a different guy, so he deals with things differently than someone like Rhys.
He did send her away to keep her safe, even though he had three days left in which Feyre could very well have said the words that would have freed them all. So yeah, he might have essentially sacrificed his court to protect just Feyre, but Rhys does no better later on. I'd posit that Tamlin just loves differently than Rhys, and eventually not in the way Feyre needs, but certainly not any less in his mind.
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| Is one really better than the other? |
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