A Court of Thorns and Roses

Golden-haired and handsome, Tamlin is a 500-year-old High Fae, the High Lord of Prythian’s Spring Court, and Feyre’s romantic interest. A shape-shifter cursed unless he can convince a human woman to fall in love with him, Tamlin is a combination of the Scottish folk figure Tam Lin and the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. Both classic figures must rely on a human woman to save them from a curse cast by a witch or faerie queen, and in many versions of their respective stories, the Beast and Tam Lin display the arrogance, power, and genuine tenderness that characterize Maas’s Tamlin.

Tamlin struggles with the burden of protecting the Spring Court, as he expected to be a warrior and not a politician before his father and brothers were murdered. Tamlin also experiences vicarious guilt over the actions of his human-hating family during the war 500 years before the novel begins. Amarantha uses Tamlin’s sense of right and wrong to punish him by requiring Tamlin to sacrifice his sentinels to have a chance at saving the rest of his people. At the start of the novel, Tamlin is desperate and resigned to failure, not expecting to develop feelings for Feyre. However, as Feyre earns his respect through her resourcefulness and understanding, Tamlin falls in love. The depth of Feyre’s effect on Tamlin is evinced when he chooses to send Feyre home, prioritizing her safety over his own. Tamlin’s character arc from tragic hero to patient avenger is completed Under the Mountain, as he must suffer stoically before defeating Amarantha and reconciling the leader, lover, and warrior that are all part of his nature.

The High Lord of the Night Court and Tamlin’s nemesis, Rhysand is the most morally ambiguous of Maas’s characters. Like Feyre and Tamlin, Rhysand engages in self-sacrifice, endangering himself by serving Amarantha Under the Mountain while secretly plotting against her. Dark and handsome, Rhysand can shape-shift to reveal his bat-like wings and talons, but he keeps them hidden, as “Everything [he loves] has a tendency to be taken from [him]” (414), hinting at a tragic backstory beneath his cruel exterior. Rhysand also has telepathic powers and can possess and destroy the minds of faeries and humans. Referring to himself as both a “monster” and a “pragmatist,” Rhysand does not hesitate to commit murder, manipulate, or violate consent to further his goals.

Feyre is initially frightened of him, but as Rhysand repeatedly helps her and shares his fears and feelings with her, they form a tentative friendship. In later novels, Rhysand becomes Feyre’s primary love interest. Rhysand fits the “bad boy” romance archetype, a morally ambiguous character with dangerous sex appeal and secret vulnerabilities revealed and healed by the heroine. Though Tamlin also learns to open up to Feyre, his moral alignment is much clearer. Rhysand’s desire to change is made clear at the end of the novel when he explains his reasons for defending Feyre against Amarantha: “I want my future offspring to know that I was there, and that I fought against her at the end […] I didn’t want you to fight alone” (413). Despite his professed isolation and moral ambivalence, Rhysand cannot resist his fundamental desire to be a better person.

Lucien is the son of the High Lord of the Autumn Court, another High Fae and Tamlin’s best friend and emissary. Due to Amarantha’s curse, Lucien constantly wears a fox mask, which indicates his sly and playful nature. Initially sarcastic and unfriendly to Feyre for murdering his friend Andras, he grows to respect her when he learns that she freed the Suriel before saving herself.

Lucien was traumatized by the murder of his fiancée, a lesser faerie, by his father years before, and by Amarantha tearing out his eye when he treated for peace with her on Tamlin’s behalf. Lucien functions primarily as a sidekick and confidant for Tamlin, helping him drop hints about the curse to Feyre. Lucien is bitterly disappointed when Feyre leaves the Spring Court without telling Tamlin she loves him. Later, as Amarantha holds Tamlin captive, Lucien tries to help Feyre at personal risk and reveals his essentially loyal nature. He tells the imprisoned Feyre, “You offered up your name for me—after all that I said to you, all I did […] Didn’t you realize I would help you after that?” (352). Maas shows Lucien to be capable of profound forgiveness, willing to endanger himself for his friends and to readily reciprocate gestures of goodwill.

Nesta is Feyre’s vain and beautiful oldest sister. Though Feyre’s father and her other sister, Elain, share Nesta’s dismay at losing the family fortune, Nesta’s disappointment specifically manifests as cruelty toward Feyre, upon whom Nesta depends for money and food. However, Nesta’s ingratitude at the beginning of the novel is revealed to have been the result of her hurt pride over her inability to care for herself.

Nesta’s selfishness transforms into self-awareness after Tamlin’s glamour fails to erase her memory, and Nesta appreciates the significance of the sacrifices Feyre has made for her family. Nesta’s imperviousness to Tamlin’s glamour indicates her strength of spirit, and Feyre notes, upon returning to the village, that Nesta is “made differently, from something harder and stronger than bone and blood. She was as different from the humans around us as I had become” (253). As Nesta learns to appreciate all Feyre has done for her, Nesta recognizes the resilience that she shares with her youngest sister. Nesta’s declaration of Feyre’s steadfastness, that she “would have gone to the ends of the earth” (267) to save Tamlin, greatly helps motivate Feyre’s return to Prythian. Nesta also plays a significant role later in the series.