The Hyde-Master Bond: Why Tyler Never Had a Choice
I see it so often on here: people calling Tyler “evil,” “a monster,” or saying that he chose to side with Laurel. And honestly? That take misses the entire point of what the show actually told us.
The Hyde-Master bond is not just about obedience. It’s not like Laurel gave an order and Tyler had to grit his teeth and do it. No — the bond goes deeper. It hijacks the Hyde completely: body, mind, and will.
It forces compliance and then manipulates the Hyde into believing it wants the same thing as its Master. That’s what makes it so horrifying. It erases agency. It’s not “servitude,” it’s slavery on every level.
And let me be clear: Tyler was not just “influenced” by Laurel — he was her victim. And don’t you dare argue with me on that. They had to make Laurel actually say out loud that she groomed him. I think that alone says enough about the cold shoulder some people turn on him. Ignoring that is a deliberate refusal to see the truth.
Tyler had no choice. None. Not physically, not mentally. He wasn’t just trapped — he was shackled. Bound in a way that stripped him of autonomy and made him carry out horrors that weren’t his own.
And yet, antis still insist he “went along with it.” They say he was complicit, as if he had the freedom to choose. Do you realize how cruel that is?
Blaming Tyler is like blaming a prisoner for the crime their captor forced them to commit (just 10000 times worse). He was caged inside his own body, watching himself hurt people he cared about, unable to stop it. That’s the horror of the Hyde. That’s the tragedy of his character.
Hunter Doohan shows this brilliantly in his performance. Watch the small moments — the way his eyes flicker before he shifts, the cracks in his voice, the almost imperceptible hesitation before the Hyde takes over. That’s not the look of someone enjoying what they’re doing. That’s someone drowning in it, screaming behind glass.
So no, Tyler is not the villain of Wednesday. He never was. He’s a victim — of Laurel, of the bond, of circumstances he couldn’t escape. He doesn’t need “redemption” because he was never truly guilty in the first place. And that’s exactly why his story is so heartbreaking.
“But he smiled when attacking!”
Trauma victims smile in inappropriate contexts all the time. Hunter plays Tyler’s Hyde smile as manic, hollow — not joy, but a fracture in sanity. That’s not happiness, that’s survival under control.
“But he tricked Wednesday!”
Yes, under Laurel’s manipulation. That’s literally how grooming works — it teaches the victim to play roles, to say the right things, to keep the Master’s plan moving. Don’t confuse survival strategies with free will.
“But he is the Hyde, that’s who he really is!”
No. Tyler ≠ the Hyde. The Hyde is a monstrous part weaponized by Laurel. Tyler is the boy who was exploited to unleash it. Holding him responsible for what Laurel made him do is victim-blaming, full stop.
“So then everything he felt for Wednesday in season one was fake?”
Absolutely not. That is in every sense wrong. His bond to Laurel didn’t erase his own emotions. If it had, season 2 part 1 wouldn’t exist the way it does. Look at how he behaves: his care for Wednesday bleeds through even when he’s broken. His feelings were real — and that’s exactly what makes his tragedy so raw.
Tyler wasn’t a monster pretending to be a boy. He was a boy forced into a monster’s skin. And if you can’t see the difference, that says a lot more about you than it does about him.