World’s premier Tara Markov academic

^ straw page link

Paige, she/her, 21

I post almost exclusively about dc but Tara, the Wilson family, Arisia, Power girl and wildcat (ted) specifically.

At times I talk about topics that may be triggering, so be wary if you follow, I try to put trigger warnings where applicable.

DNI: anyone can interact just be nice pls.

Sideblog: @powercatdni

TikTok: @terradni

Arisia reading list, Terra II reading list, Terra III reading list

Disclaimer I’m not saying that people have to LIKE Tara or FORGIVE her. I just have thoughts about it okay. Also keep in mind I haven’t read #36 yet bc I can’t find it anywhere.

Firstly entirely agree that she was groomed and she chooses to be a bad person (up until layman’s sloppy redemption arc)

Tara was only ever like 3/4 years younger than the older titans. When you’re 16 and 19 there’s a big difference but between 26 and 29 there isn’t so much of a difference so I don’t understand their complaint there.

Tara being raised as a princess, within the post n52 story this is true she was raised as a princess just for the first few years of her life until she was forced to leave and the woman helping her escape was literally shot and killed, she lived on the street from then on and while she isn’t given an age it’s safe to assume she’s relatively young based on the way she’s drawn. So she was on the street from let’s say 10 at the latest until she met Slade at 15. Firstly being raised in the palace as a bastard with a father who disregards you and specifically neglects you compared to his other children (because you’re a bastard) we technically don’t even know if she WAS in the palace for long all we know is that she was in that palace that one night. She then died at 16/17 (hard to tell bc priest made her 17 when Slade and Tara split up but JC is recanonised so we don’t fully know abt it she was 16/17) I wouldn’t call that a good childhood personally. Maybe that’s just me. Especially if you take into consideration Priest’s blog post about Tara being used by other men before Slade.

Brion did and does love Tara and wants her at his side, however we don’t know if Tara knows this. The majority of Brion’s love for Tara is shown posthumously like LW+T and the outsiders 09. In post n52 they haven’t even spoken, we do know that they love each other because shadow war and bc she asked about him as she was escaping Markovia. But having one (total) supportive figure in your life doesn’t magically make your life better. Especially not if you don’t interact with them.

“She joins Slade in priests run” *LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER. Okay she does, but the thing about Tara is she’s a liar. It’s revealed that the whole time she was in defiance she was working with Addie and Wintergreen to try and have Slade locked up, thats why Addie picked her, that’s why he did that big “you were a child” moment and that’s why he wound up in Arkham after defiance. Defiance was a hero team, their goals were ultimately good though flawed and Slade’s way of inciting crises was an issue. But the kids on the team were all doing, and trying to be good. Slade was trying to be good too (no killing, road to Damascus moment, after the time travel in Lazarus contract). Tara was working for a heroic organisation and trying to put the morally corrupt leader of it behind bars, to me that doesn’t feel like a “staying on the antagonist side.” But whatever.

Layman’s titans, she didn’t bring Slade back to life Slade was being kept alive by the heroes #nokillrule and she expedited his healing (which the heros were already giving him) and freed him. She didn’t choose to do that just because she felt like it and she was just fucking with the titans bc she wanted to. She was working for Waller and felt out of her depths and went to the evil she knew rather than what she didn’t know. She knows Slade, she knows how he works and she chose to get his help rather than having unpredictablity.

This is the thing for me, I don’t see how people can see Tara constantly going back to her abuser and saying “wow she’s so evil for that.” Idk guys maybe the manipulation and grooming had an impact on her psyche and ability to trust. I’m not saying she has Stockholm syndrome or whatever I’m just saying that as someone who has also been groomed the bond they build with you is hard to move past and even years later I find myself missing my groomer despite knowing what he did to me was wrong and that he didn’t love me. Tara going back to Slade repeatedly isn’t her always choosing evil it’s her choosing the man who she believe loved her. It’s choosing a familiar pain over an unknown life. The way I view it is essentially as a form of self harm honestly, she knows how the story goes yet keeps on repeating it because it’s what she knows.

Maybe if Brion found her he could’ve helped her? Maybe she wouldn’t have chosen evil. The thing is she doesn’t know that he loves her, she doesn’t know that he’d do literally anything for her. What she does know is Slade and how loved he made her feel.

Once again I agree and don’t think anyone has to like or forgive her I just don’t think she’s given the grace she deserves for the situation she was and is in. Tara started doing contracts out of necessity, how else is a girl on the street going to survive? Just because her father’s a king doesn’t mean she was treated LIKE a princess. I feel this analysis of her and her story is very surface level and doesn’t think about the intricacies of her, her actions, her mental health and how all of those things intertwine.

Now she is finally on a redemption arc and there arguments that she doesn’t deserve it because she was mean, that’s the point of the arc. I think a majority of this is Layman’s fault because my god was her redemption sloppy. But you can’t write her off as “totally evil” or a “total psycho” and not give her a chance to redeem herself when she’s actually working for THE good guys for a change.