The way people switched on Tamlin the moment Rhys was introduced is diabolical.
āTamlin never really loved Feyre, it was all a trick from the startā: It is stated that Tamlin was disgusted by the idea of forcing someone to fall in love with him and considered it slavery, but ended up being so in love with her that he ultimately lets her go and choses her freedom and safety over that of his own people. Rhys confirms that Tamlin loved Feyre too much. And he loved her truly. Not because he had to. Tamlin treated Feyre with dignity when she was engaged to him. He introduced her as his lady, to be respected and cherished by all. And she really was loved by his people, too. Rhysand uses her as his lap dog to scare Hewn City and parades her as his whore.
āTamlin never did anything for Feyre, he just used herā: He improved her and her familyās life in every aspect and offered her everything he had.
āTamlin had sex with someone else in Calanmaiā: Out of duty and responsibility because he didnāt want to force Feyre, who still wasnāt sure about her feelings, into it. All of the High Lords perform the Calanmai. Lucien says so. How convenient that this is never brought up with Rhysand. He surely does perform it as well. All the theories in here, āLucien doesnāt know what heās talking about/ This is a SC ritual only/ He probably just passes the duty on to someone elseā are just a way for people to villainise Tam and glorify Rhys again. All of them inaccurate. The Calanmai is canonically performed by every High Lord. Thereās no evidence that proves otherwise. As the son of one High Lord and the ambassador of another, Lucien would know. He is 500 years old. Itās just more convenient for SJM to never bring this up again because it raises the question of āWho was Rhysand fucking all these years?ā and it makes her favourite character look bad. And once he is engaged to her, Tamlin flat out refuses to do it. Letās be real for a second.
āTamlin didnāt help Feyre under the mountainā: He literally could not. He was bound by a curse. He was forced to be Amaranthaās consort and a consort cannot oppose you. His powers were bound. Alis warns Feyre that Tamlin will not be able to help her. Stop acting as if he didnāt want to help her. He decapitated Amarantha the moment he got his autonomy back. Claiming that thereās no proof that Tamlin was under the influence of a spell when he literally didnāt break the curse and Amaranthaās magic didnāt allow him to use his powers is crazy. And even if he tried, he could never provide actual help. We see this when he begs Amarantha for Feyreās life. Him showing he cares about her would only make Amarantha more jealous and vicious towards Feyre.
āTamlin made out with Feyre instead of helping herā: He couldnāt help her run away. No one could do that. She would never make it, Amarantha would find her. In fact, Tamlin specifically could not help her in any way. He could only assure her he still wants and loves her. And she wanted that just as much. Rhys abused her physically, mentally, verbally, drugged her and much worse. And he enjoyed all of it. If he didnāt want to raise suspicions, he wouldnāt have placed a bet in her favour. Rhys is a sadist, SJM just decided to mellow him down in the next book so that weād all like him over Tamlin.
āTamlin ignored Feyreās wishes and only wanted her to be his bride, he didnāt let her be High Ladyā: Both Tamlin and Feyre were bad communicators going though trauma and Tam had a whole court to care for. Tamlin was unaware of how Feyre felt because she barely spoke up once. Rhys knew because he literally lived inside her head and had all the time in the world to focus his attention on her since his court suffered zero consequences during Amaranthaās reign. And Tamlin simply told her the truth: thereās no such thing as High Lady. Even her current title is given to her by Rhys, the magic of Prythian has not actually chosen her to be High Lady. The title and its power are decorative. And she said she didnāt want that anyway.
āTamlin locks Feyre up and uses his magic to harm herā: He locks her in his humongous palace to keep her safe, after she just came back from the dead and his worst enemy is kidnapping her every month, while he runs off to protect his borders. Rhysand locks Feyre in a fucking bubble. Tamlin loses control of his magic. He doesnāt want to harm her. Thatās not abuse. Abuse is intentional. Feyre and Rhysand lock Lucien and Nesta up. They lock the people of the Hewn City up in a cave. Feyre loses control of her magic and harms Lucienās mother. Double standards I guess.
āTamlin is a bad and conservative rulerā: Tamlin is such a beloved ruler that his sentries literally begged to die for him. Feyre had to fuck with their minds to finally turn them against him. They were his friends. He was so progressive that the lords fled his court once he became their ruler because he wouldnāt put up with their bullshit like his father did. He loved all of his people. He is against slavery. The Tithe was just tax collection. Rhysand practically rules over just one city, while ignoring Hewn City and Illyria. He treats 2/3 of his realm like shit and everyone except the residents of Velaris hates him. He collects tax, too, but we conveniently never see this. He ranks the members of his inner circle (my 1st, my 2nd etc.) and reminds them every moment that they are his slaves first and anything else second, while Tamlin treats them equally and even gives Lucien an official title by naming him Ambassador.
āTamlin conspired with Hybernā: He was a double agent and his short lived alliance, two weeks all in all, not only didnāt harm a single soul, but ultimately saved all of Prythian as he was the only one who brought valuable information to that meeting. He dragged Beron to battle. Rhysandās alliance with Amarantha harmed thousands and only helped save one city, Velaris.
āTamlin is responsible for turning Nesta and Elain into Faeā: No, that was Ianthe, who got the info from Feyre. Tamlin was fooled by her, just as Feyre obviously was, or she wouldnāt have trusted her. Tamlin was disgusted by that act.
āTamlin is less powerful than Rhysandā: Rhysand himself says that a battle between them would turn mountains to dust. Tamlin killed Rhysandās dad, the previous High Lord of the Night Court, in one blow. He is just as powerful as Rhysand. SJM again just wants us to believe otherwise. And he is smarter, too. He was the only one not to trust Amarantha. And he was a good spy for Prythian against Hybern.
All of these takes are cold as fuck. SJM was testing the waters with ACOTAR and she made sure the main love interest, Tamlin, was insanely likeable, so that the book could be a satisfactory standalone story in case she couldnāt land a trilogy deal. She didnāt know it would be such a big hit. But once she realised she could turn this into a franchise, she had to figure out a new story to tell. She may claim otherwise, but thereās just too many plothotes to convince me. And in order to make her new main love interest seem like the best choice, she had to character assassinate the old one. There was no other way. ACOTAR Rhys was too much of an evil monster to be loved by the majority of the audience. But Tamlin was introduced to us as such a heroic and passionate man that is literally impossible to turn him into someone despised by all. Feyreās relationship with Rhysand reads too much like cheating on Tamlin. Thatās why anyone with basic analytical skills is able to realise the flaws of the narration.
