Warning: This article contains a major spoiler for the first Court of Thorns and Roses book.
Summary
- Despite its troubling narrative, the abusive relationship between Tamlin and Feyre is crucial for the story's authenticity and Feyre's growth.
- Tamlin's initial love and understanding allow Feyre to discover her worth and transform from a broken person to someone who embraces her power.
- Feyre needs to experience the good and the cruelty in Tamlin to make informed decisions about her future and fully heal before becoming a leader.
Hulu's A Court of Thorns and Roses TV show is quietly in development, and there's one profoundly problematic storyline that the show, surprisingly, has to keep if it wants to do the story and characters justice. At its heart, A Court of Thorns and Roses is a romance story wrapped up in a fantasy, and later, a war story. In that romance, however, are some really troubling narrative threads that have bothered fans for years.
The initial romance that unfolds is between the Fae High King of the Spring Court, Tamlin, and Feyre, the human huntress he takes as payment for a broken ancient pact. It's a modified version of Beauty and the Beast, but the story gets darker. While Tamlin is initially kind and generous to Feyre, and they share a deep love, that changes after they both experience horrors that leave them with PTSD. His tendency toward control and possessiveness turn into something abusive as he becomes unhealthily obsessed with keeping her safe. Feyre becomes a prisoner in her own home, wasting away to the point that she comes close to breaking permanently. Understandably, book readers have a lot of hatred for Tamlin and this storyline. However, it needs to stay in the Court of Thorns and Roses story in the TV show.
Feyre Will Need Tamlin In The Court Of Thorns & Roses Show To Grow
While Tamlin turns into a monster later in A Court of Thorns and Roses' fantasy story, he's initially the best thing for her, treating Fayre better than anyone else she'd ever known. He's the first person in her life to show her she has any worth. Feyre spent her entire life taking care of her family, with no one to take care of her. No one in her family bothered to see her. Tamlin's love, and his initial intimate understanding of Feyre, allowed her to finally have the space to breathe and discover who she was. Feyre was a deeply broken person, a step away from a feral animal trying to survive. There was no way she would get from that to growing into her power had it not been for Tamlin. While he proved to eventually not be the right fit for her long-term, he was exactly what Feyre needed at a crucial juncture in her life to grow.
A Court of Thorns & Roses Also Can't Cut Out The Abusive Part Of Feyre & Tamlin's Relationship
While it's an uncomfortable, deeply problematic relationship, the reality is that Tamlin and his influence on Feyre–for better and for worse–are necessary for both the story and for Feyre's character. That includes the part of their relationship after it goes south and he becomes obsessive and controlling. Feyre falling in love with a man who eventually turns angry and controlling is, unfortunately, an arc that plays out in real people repeatedly, particularly women. Feyre's story of falling deeply for the first man who shows her any affection before gradually realizing he's not healthy for her is all too real, which is why it can be a relatable part of the delayed Court of Thorns and Roses TV show.
Feyre's great arc in A Court of Thorns and Roses is taking ownership of her destiny, but also her choices. As a trapped woman who never had the opportunity to choose for herself, Feyre needs to see both the boundless good and the trauma-driven cruelty in Tamlin to make a fully informed decision about what she wants for herself. It's not enough for certain people around Feyre to know she deserves better. Feyre herself has to know it–and act upon it–before she can be in a position to fully heal, embrace her power, and step into the role of a leader. She never could have done that without experiencing the full spectrum of what love can be, even at its worst. As much as readers may hate Tamlin and what their relationship becomes, A Court of Thorns and Roses can't leave it out if it wants Feyre to believably earn her character growth in the TV show.