proud immortal faerie way

Tam if he were beauty and the beasting it for @tamlinweek day 2, cursed. Isn’t he just.. revolting 🤢 those mouthparts… those chitinous plates… good luck finding a girlfriend loser - bugmarantha probably

And then… we get three more books, and it still makes no sense.

We’re supposed to believe that Tamlin—who was friends with Rhys—betrayed him by handing that information over to a father he hated… for no clear reason? Even if you argue Tamlin is selfish, that still doesn’t line up. Selfish decisions usually have some kind of benefit attached. This just feels irrational.

I’ve looked through fandom theories, and most of them either feel wildly out of character (like “his father threatened his mother”) or require some convoluted crossover-level twist to work(the Lorin = Rhysand's sister theory). None of them really satisfy the basic question: why would Tamlin do this?

So here’s my take.

Let’s assume Rhys is telling the truth, since we don’t have another perspective on this event. We know Rhys was supposed to be at that location with his mother and sister. We also know Tamlin’s father was weaker than Rhys, but obsessed with proving his strength.

So what if Tamlin gave up the location expecting Rhys to be there—and hoping Rhys would kill his father?

Because that’s the only version of events that actually makes sense to me. It turns the betrayal from random stupidity into a calculated risk: Tamlin tries to get rid of his abusive father by setting him up against someone stronger... and it goes horribly wrong.