I'm so frickin *sick* of people saying that all the Taryn hate is centered around misogyny.
Like yes, there are lots of fans who call her the ugly twin as an insult, and that's definitely rooted in misogyny. But like, that's not why most of us hate her??
Hell, we don't even hate her coz she betrayed Jude. I understand that she was raised in the same enviornment as her sister and had to accept that she'd never be good enough for those around her. Not only was she excluded her entire life, but she also lived in constant fear for her life. Being out of Madoc's sight and getting seriously injured or just straight up dying was a real possibility for both the Duarte twins.
So I understand why she knowingly dated Locke, or why she sided with Madoc over Jude. It may not have been the right choice, but I understand why she made it.
Personally, what genuinely made me despise Taryn was how she refused to take responsibility for her actions.
She murdered Locke, which was amazing of her. But then she had the sheer /audacity/ to ask Jude, the sister she's betrayed twice and who's kidnapping she was partly the reason of, to cover her ass after she mudered her husband. And based on what? The fact that she knew Cardan liked her? Mind you, in everyone else's eyes, that's never stopped Cardan from hurting Jude before.
At this point, not even Madoc knew about Dain's geas. So to them, just one thorough inspection for salt and/or rowan berries before the trial, and Jude was done for. The fact that Taryn was so selfishly willing to put her sister in that kind of situation for something that she herself did makes her an irredeemable villainess to me. Like, how dare Taryn, after all the harm she'd done, basicaly ask that Jude die for her? And how dare Vivian support the idea??
A lot of people bring up the arguement that Madoc and Cardan did horrible stuff as well, but they aren't hated at all. Well, it's because:
1) They owned up to it. While Taryn couldn't even tell Madoc what she'd done, (though we're not told if she just chickened out, or just never got the time to tell him, but it's clear that her sisters are the only ones who knew the truth within the narrative, and she only told them for selfish reasons) every other character in tfota accepts their sins. Including Jude herself.
2) Jude personally got revenge on them. Even after everything, she cared for Taryn too much to do anything to her. Taryn's only narrative consequence was having her husband cheat on her. (Since she killed him the moment Locke was about to get physical, I believe? Correct me if I'm wrong, I might be misremembering. Again, very slay queen of her. If only she'd taken some responsibility.)
3) Jude never expected much from them. She loved Madoc and he loved her, but she always knew his love wouldn't stop him from turning against her. She passionately hated Cardan, and knew he'd do anything to bring her down. Meanwhile, she loved Taryn unconditionally.
I know that narratively, Jude needed a sort of push to go back to Elfhame in QoN, but I will never understand why the authour didn't have Taryn go to the trial herself. Hide some salt under her tongue, wear inverted innerwear, hell just straight up have Madoc grant her immunity to charms after she confesses that she did infact kill Locke. There was a lot the authour could've done to have Taryn go to her own trial and still be somewhat safe.
Jude has been shown to care for her loved ones so deeply that it wouldn't have been out of character at all if she chose to shadow Taryn during the trial and protect her if things went south, of her own violition. We could've had Taryn standing up to the court. We could've had a moment where she privately apologises for impersonating Jude and poisoning Cardan before the hearing starts. We could've had Jude awkwardly fumbling through the heart to heart talk before Taryn needed to leave.
Instead, Holly Black chose to give us a woman only characterised by her trauma, her selfishness, and her cowardice. Dissapointing.
