One of the most difficult things is to remain kind when life and the world have failed you, repeatedly.
Lucien had a mother who loved him but a father — if one can even call Beron that — who loathed his existence. Still, despite the scorn, the hatred, he flourished into someone with so much love and compassion to give to others. Someone who fell in love with Jesminda, despite their differences and societal scorn, and was willing to do anything for her.
He watched her die under his father's orders, held down by his brothers, his kin, and that still didn't make him less kind. He found a home in Spring, a new purpose to live. There and beyond he continued to make friends, to be an emissary, to work to establish peace, not war.
When a human girl killed his friend, yes, he wasn't all that kind at first— but who would be? Yet that did not stop Lucien from growing close and befriending Feyre. It did not stop him from helping her during the trials under the mountain at the cost of himself (and make no mistake, Lucien's life and sanity was on the line there).
When Amarantha falls and they return, everything's changed, yet not. Tamlin spirals; everyone around him has to face the consequences, Feyre and Lucien both, in different ways. But Lucien still tries to talk to him, to convince him to let Feyre train, to get out, and Tamlin responds with violence. It's easy to forget that Lucien, in these circumstances, is as much under Tamlin's mercy as Feyre. He has no home, not since Autumn. What is there for him outside of Spring? Tamlin saved him and took him in at the risk of Beron's wrath. This isn't a friendship between equals either.
And when he goes to try and bring Feyre back, it's equal parts desperation — who is getting the brunt of Tamlin's rage, I wonder? — and equal parts care. It's also easy to forget that as far as Prythian was concerned, Rhysand was the greatest of monsters, a mind-controlling one. Lucien, for all his qualities, is no daemati to know Feyre was there willingly. Tamlin, as far as he can tell, is the lessr evil, the evil they know, the evil he has learned to navigate to the best of his ability.
And in the end, when the misunderstandings clear, Lucien does chose Feyre. He does chose to leave and do the right thing. And afterwards, he continues to put himself in harm's way, in contact with Tamlin, because who else is willing to step up and care for the shambles of Spring? No one. No one is. He stays out of loyalty to a home that is no longer a home, but who took him in when no one else would.
And all throughout, he remains kind. He remains generous and good, believing that the pen is mightier than the sword.
Lucien is not perfect. He has made mistakes, behaved in ways that weren't ideal, but who in this series can claim perfection? All throughout, once provided with all the information, he has consciously chosen the right path.
All throughout, he has remained gentle, compassionate, and believing in the good in people. That is something rare, something precious, something that is found again and again in the greatest of our heroes, those worthy of books, song, and tale.
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