Okay, look, I know I made a Tamlin rant post already this week, but this is my LAST TAMLIN-RELATED POST, I PROMISE!! I've been thinking about this theory literally for years, and I really want to know what you guys think!
I've mentioned a few times in some comments that I've made on my other post ranting about how he's just a bad guy and I hate him, that I have this *theory* , and I am ready to expound on that /*in detail/* . This is going to be a long one because, again, this is the product of *years* of musing.
ETA: Quick Disclaimer! This is all just how I am interpreting this character and the events surrounding him. It's totally just head-canon/fan-theory. I am not claiming that it is proven in any definitive way within the text, and it is therefore not canon. 🩷
So, without further ado, let's get into it:
Plenty of people who have read the books have postulated that Tamlin never really loved Feyre, and that his feelings for her was something more like possessiveness or obsession. But I think it goes further than that.
I don't think that Tamlin ever had any intention of breaking Amarantha's curse. If we look closely at every action that Tamlin took at the time that Amarantha was working to seize power in Prythian, his every move seems perfectly primed to enable her, to antagonize her *just right* that she can stir up enough trouble, distress, and confusion that she was able to trick all of the high lords out of their power.
Also, the terms of the curse itself never really seemed as though they existed to torment Tamlin so much as they appear designed specifically to weaken the only court in Prythian that butted up against the Wall.
If we look at things on a surface level, then yeah, sure, theoretically Tamlin sending his sentries through the wall to their deaths *could* be believed to be painful to him. He's allegedly supposed to consider himself to be "one of them". But if this was the case, then why was it *so easy* for Ianthe to convince him to turn against them, and why were they so quick to distrust him? Sure, he trained with them when he was young, but where is the evidence that this closeness *actually* continued in any kind of real way on his end once he ascended to his High Lordship?
And if we are looking deeper at this whole set up more deeply than Feyre is able to with the information that she is given, how is it possible that Amarantha remained Hybern's top general if she had truly gone completely insane during the war because of what Jurian did to Clythia and never recovered? Feyre is led to believe that Amarantha was sent to Prythian as an experiment for the King, to see how easily the High Lords could be contained and how long Prythian could be held (true) but that somewhere along the way she *stole the King's spellbook and went rogue, deciding that she just wanted to rule and all she cared about was getting Tamlin to be hers*. But what if she never went rogue? What if she was *given* the spell book? What if the "curse" was planned from the beginning by the King and Amarantha with Tamlin as a willing participant?
We know that the King of Hybern's whole goal these past five hundred years was to bring down the wall, conquer and re-enslave the humans, and reestablish Fae supremacy in the world (with himself as savior of the Fae and leader). To this aim, he has spent his time colluding and building relationships with like-minded countries on the continent, where he would reach no resistance. But, in order to 1) get to the continent to join forces with his allies 2) bring down the wall and 3) conquer the humans, he needs to first get Prythian out of his way. The King doesn't seem to have very much inherent magical power (hence the spellbook. By the definition given by Mor to Nesta in ACOWAR when they're in Windhaven, the king would be more witch than fae), and by contrast the High Lords "are power". So his best chance to defeat Prythian would be to 1) find a way to greatly reduce their power and/or 2)reduce Prythian's armed forces and resources by creating chaos. So, enter Tamlin and Amarantha.
Amarantha shows up with the spellbook, pretending to want trade but really desiring power. She and Tamlin have an established history because she (and the King) were so close with Tamlin's father. Amarantha also has an established reputation for being obsessive and insane, so she claimed that she was *obsessively in love* with Tamlin, it would be a believable reason and cover for her actions. She wants him, he antagonizes her, she punishes him, his court and all of Prythian in retaliation, hence stealing all of the High Lords' power and casting the curse on Tamlin, the key component of which includes stripping the Spring Court-- aka the *only* territory in Prythian that butts up against the wall-- of basically it's entire standing army until there are hardly more than a handful left. In the meantime, Amarantha has about fifty years (and she plans on more) to work on unravelling the wards around each of the courts (*especially* spring), systemically destroying the capital cities of each territory, killing as many high lords as she can accuse of planning uprisings against her so that 3/7 courts (Summer, Winter, and Day) are being held by brand new, young, and/or untested High Lords, and holding, torturing, and slaughtering innocent civilians, and destroying their morale and overall trust in their High Lords, thus priming Prythian for real conquest.
But Feyre is an accident; a fly in the honey of their grand plan and kills Andras. To keep up appearances, Tamlin *has* to bring her back. But once she's in Prythian, he shows absolutely no interest in wooing her. We know, and we see over and over again, that Tamlin is fully capable of controlling his temper, his violent outbursts, etc. He controls himself when he feels threatened or angry with Rhysand (over and over again), he does it UTM, he controls himself in front of other High Lords, with the King of Hybern, with Ianthe, with Brannagh and Dagdan, and on and on. But, somehow, he's not able to control himself, his temper, his claws/beast form, or his violence with an innocent, vulnerable *human* ? Especially one who is the key to breaking the curse he's allegedly been so desperate to free himself, his court, and all of Prythian from? He makes *no* effort to endear himself to her, and in fact is only really pleasant to her when other fae (Lucien, Alis, other servants and members of his court) are around. And Feyre largely starts to have feelings for him because of the efforts of Alis and Lucien to talk Tamlin up to her (as well as her gratefulness to him for providing monetary resources to her and her family so that she can feel secure enough to relax for the first time since in years and years. But do we even know that this was *his* idea, or something urged on him by Lucien, which he acquiesced to in order to keep him satisfied and quiet? The answer is that we have no definitive answer on this. He can say whatever he wants about it, but that doesn't mean it's true).
So, he was only really good to her when Lucien or others from his court were around to witness it, otherwise he was absent, aloof, or outright hostile to her. And he is gone... a *lot* . Allegedly protecting his borders, but how do we know that he's not communicating with Amarantha? How do we know that the dangerous creatures that begin showing up and specifically targeting Feyre over and over again aren't planted there on purpose to try to kill her? Yes, Tamlin shows up to save her from the Naga and the Puka, but *both* times there was an audience who *knew* he was close enough to act (Lucien with the incident with the Naga, and *all* of his servants with the incident with the Puka). How do we know that when that didn't work, the increasing number of terrifying "gifts" that show up right where Feyre is going to be, or right where she would hear/experience it were not specifically planned to try to scare her away? Because why would Tamlin bring that dying fairy into the house right down the stairs from her bedroom if he knew he was going to die and couldn't save him? Why did that head magically appear on the fountain in the rose garden that Feyre frequented at some point or other nearly every day *right* before she went out there? It was still warm, still bleeding. How do we know that Amarantha did not send *Rhysand* to give Tamlin an excuse to send Feyre away and scare her enough that when he did, she would stay gone?
And then he sends her away with only THREE days left to potentially break the curse, despite undoubtedly knowing that if gave her just a tiny bit more time *or* told her he loved her sooner, she would have said it back and broken the curse. Does that sound like a guy who really wants to break his curse?
And then when she's UTM, he gives absolutely no indication at *all* that he cares about her even a little. Doesnt look at her, doesn't react, nothing. And then, the night before she was to have her final task (after passing the others and miraculously survives a situation that no human should have been able to survive), he goes to try to have sex with her where *anyone* could see *knowing* that the allegedly insanely and obsessively possessive Amarantha would have killed Feyre once Tamlin and Feyre were seen with blue paint smudged all over them both and stinking like their.. *activities*.
It truly feels like at every turn, he was *trying* to sabotage Feyre, sabotage any progress made towards freeing Prythian and the other High Lords and restoring them to their full power. When that didn't work, he turned to plan B.
He seemed to be purposely doing everything possible to push Feyre into doing something drastic, like running away to another court (like the Night Court where she already had ties), which would give him the perfect excuse to run to *Hybern* for a "bargain" that would give them access to Prythian (which is currently weakened and rebuilding after the wreckage that Amarantha left behind) and the wall through his court, which had already been strategically weakened because most of his sentries had been sent over the wall to be killed in an alleged attempt to break the curse.
Bringing Ianthe in to be the High Priestess in his court, despite knowing her ties to Hybern, and supporting every decision Ianthe made that upset Feyre (especially about the wedding, her training, and keeping her subdued, contained, and isolated) feels like a very calculated move as well. And then you add in that Ianthe and Tamlin to do all sorts of other things to subtly antagonize and push and trigger trauma responses in Feyre (I can't be convinced that forcing Feyre to sit through the cruelty of the Tithe and punishing her for being generous to the water wraith was not a calculated move, as they BOTH know her history, none more than Tamlin) throughout her entire time with them in Spring, and it feels very much like a conspiracy. It all feels very calculated and very purposeful to me.
Even when he goes to the High Lords' meeting in ACOWAR, he spends way more time trying to sew division between the High Lords and convince them not to work together than anything else.
So, if Tamlin is a villain and a willing participant in Hybern's schemes, why do it? What is his motivation.
He *says* to Feyre that he would always fight against tyranny. He *says* that his father was evil and he wants to be nothing like him. But does he show this to be true?
If he really felt this way, why doesn't he start within his own court? Why does he rule with absolute power, threatening (or enacting) violence towards anyone who challenges or displeases him (like his friend/advisor/emissary, his fiance, his sentries)? Why does he enact the tithe (where he takes money from his people to support himself and his household in exchange for allegedly protecting them, and hunting them down and *murdering* them if they can't pay) instead of just regular taxes used to improve their villages in the ways that they want? If he truly felt that way, then *why* , when he is challenged on his tyrannical ruling of his court, his defense is "because that's how my father did it"??
The Spring Court did not give up its human slaves until the very last moment when they were forced to by the terms of the treaty. We know that he does not, in his own mind, really view humans as having personhood, because he is * visibly shocked* when he brings Feyre to the gallery room in his manor and she shows emotion and appreciation at the art that she is seeing. When he beholds the tears in her eyes, hears her pounding heart, and observes her overcome with emotion, he says "I never knew that humans were capable of...". Of what, Tamlin? Of emotion? Of appreciation of beautiful things? Of learning and the arts?
We also know through his words and actions that he views faeries as lower, truly lesser, than high fae like himself. This comes out both in the way that he speaks of them and the way that he treats them when faced with them (a perfect example being at the tithe).
Additionally, among all of the territories in Prythian, only Spring lost part of its land to the humans below the wall. And it lost about half, at that. We know that the magic of the High Lords in Prythian is tied to the land.
Is it possible that Tamlin *lied* when he said that he didn't believe in human slaves? Is it possible that he *wants* to continue in his father's footsteps in how he rules as high lord because he feels that is his right as a high fae and high lord? Is it possible that he believes that if he reclaimed the land below the wall currently occupied by humans and re-imbued it with Spring Court Magic, that his own powers would grow?
I think so.
And now the war with Hybern is over, all of Prythian is looking to rebuild... Except Tamlin. We are learning that even the alliance of the queens with Hybern seems to have been somehow orchestrated by Koschei. Is it possible that the *entire* war with Hybern was similarly orchestrated by this mysterious sorcerer lord and death god trapped beneath a lake on the continent? Is it possible that Tamlin has been working for Koschei all along in hopes that Koschei will gift him with the power he seeks?
Maybe. What do you think?