This is a comparison post of Hunt and Tamlin. I originally shared in the debate sub, but thought I would share here too! Be warned this is an anti-quinlar take, hence the Bryceriel tag.

1. Partnership vs protection/support

One thing that stands out to me with Quinlar and Feylin is this underlying mismatch in what the FMC actually wants/needs from the relationship. 

Feyre repeatedly begs Tamlin to let her help, let her participate, to let her go with him… Instead, we see Tamlin refuse, shutting down conversations, refusing to explain things to Feyre, and eventually locking her up.

Even when Tamlin tries to "support" Feyre, it's often in ways he thinks she needs. He continually redirects her towards painting and gifts her a traveling paint set... but Feyre describes this gift as

>"looking at that box, at what was inside, felt like examining a crow-picked corpse."

Bryce has a similar (albeit slightly different) frustration with Hunt. A lot of the time he reads less like an equal partner and more like someone reluctantly going along with choices he disagrees with.

>“...I’ll go along with it. I have your back. I promise.”
She blinked. Then blinked again.
“That’s not good enough for me,” she said quietly. “That isn’t good enough for me — that you’ll just go along with it.”

2. The FMC monitoring the MMC’s emotional state

Feyre is constantly aware of Tamlin’s claws, rage, tension, and whether he’s about to lose control. “Claws” is mentioned 56 times in relation to Tamlin throughout ACOTAR.

While not to the same degree, Bryce repeatedly monitors Hunt’s emotional state and volatility as well.

>“Bryce murmured to Hunt, ‘Chill the fuck out.’ Hunt stared at each of the strangers, as if sizing up a kill. Lightning sizzled through his hair. ‘Hunt,’ Bryce muttered, but didn’t dare reach for his hand.”

Even Bryce and Hunt’s first sexual encounter is framed around Hunt’s violent emotional state, with Bryce initiating largely to pull him out of that rage spiral and redirect him.

3. Power unleashed toward the FMC

I actually think there’s an important distinction between Tamlin and Hunt here.

Tamlin’s study outburst reads more as uncontrolled - panic, trauma, anxiety, loss of emotional regulation. But Hunt’s unleashing of his power is intentional - yet it’s framed as protective, justified, passionate, or done “for Bryce.”

Honestly, I think that makes the parallel more interesting. Tamlin loses control and it’s treated as frightening and abusive. Hunt chooses to unleash destructive power directly at Bryce, and fandom often interprets it as romantic devotion 

>Hunt blurted, “Don’t you dare – “ 
Bryce lifted the jug to her lips, but lightning smashed the vessel apart before she could drink. 
She whirled, temper searing through her. 
Hunt was glowing with lightning, furious as he advanced on her. “Do not drink from that-“ 
“This is not the time to go Alphahole!” 
“-without me,” he finished. 
Bryce could only gape at her mate as he grabbed the drinking bowl and held it out for her. 

4. “Why didn’t he help her?” parallel

A major criticism of Tamlin UTM is that he didn’t do enough to help/save Feyre directly.

But Hunt has a moment where he literally has the opportunity to step in for Bryce and chooses not to, saying she can handle herself. 

>“Help her,” Baxian hissed…. 
“She doesn’t need my help,” Hunt whispered. 

Except… pages later, Bryce does need help. And SJM intentionally frames that rescue moment away from Hunt:

>“...light burst from his chest. 
Hunt’s lightning had— 
No. It wasn’t Hunt’s lightning that shone through the Autumn King’s rib cage. 
It was the Starsword. And it was Ruhn wielding it.”

SJM briefly wants readers to think Hunt is the one saving Bryce before immediately redirecting the moment away from him. This feels like pretty deliberate wording to me. 

5. The narrative insists the relationship is good while quietly planting warning signs

We see this much more clearly on re-reads of ACOTAR. It’s easier to overlook those same signs in CC right now because we’re still in the “Tamlin phase.” 

Alright, sorry mods for attempting this 3 times! Hopefully this doesn't have formatting issues

1. Partnership vs protection/support

One thing that stands out to me with Quinlar and Feylin is this underlying mismatch in what the FMC actually wants/needs from the relationship. 

Feyre repeatedly begs Tamlin to let her help, let her participate, to let her go with him… Instead, we see Tamlin refuse, shutting down conversations, refusing to explain things to Feyre, and eventually locking her up.

Even when Tamlin tries to "support" Feyre, it's often in ways he thinks she needs. He continually redirects her towards painting and gifts her a traveling paint set... but Feyre describes this gift as

>"looking at that box, at what was inside, felt like examining a crow-picked corpse."

Bryce has a similar (albeit slightly different) frustration with Hunt. A lot of the time he reads less like an equal partner and more like someone reluctantly going along with choices he disagrees with.

>“...I’ll go along with it. I have your back. I promise.”
She blinked. Then blinked again.
“That’s not good enough for me,” she said quietly. “That isn’t good enough for me — that you’ll just go along with it.”

2. The FMC monitoring the MMC’s emotional state

Feyre is constantly aware of Tamlin’s claws, rage, tension, and whether he’s about to lose control. “Claws” is mentioned 56 times in relation to Tamlin throughout ACOTAR.

While not to the same degree, Bryce repeatedly monitors Hunt’s emotional state and volatility as well.

>“Bryce murmured to Hunt, ‘Chill the fuck out.’ Hunt stared at each of the strangers, as if sizing up a kill. Lightning sizzled through his hair. ‘Hunt,’ Bryce muttered, but didn’t dare reach for his hand.”

Even Bryce and Hunt’s first sexual encounter is framed around Hunt’s violent emotional state, with Bryce initiating largely to pull him out of that rage spiral and redirect him.

3. Power unleashed toward the FMC

I actually think there’s an important distinction between Tamlin and Hunt here.

Tamlin’s study outburst reads more as uncontrolled - panic, trauma, anxiety, loss of emotional regulation. But Hunt’s unleashing of his power is intentional - yet it’s framed as protective, justified, passionate, or done “for Bryce.”

Honestly, I think that makes the parallel more interesting. Tamlin loses control and it’s treated as frightening and abusive. Hunt chooses to unleash destructive power directly at Bryce, and fandom often interprets it as romantic devotion 

>Hunt blurted, “Don’t you dare – “ 
Bryce lifted the jug to her lips, but lightning smashed the vessel apart before she could drink. 
She whirled, temper searing through her. 
Hunt was glowing with lightning, furious as he advanced on her. “Do not drink from that-“ 
“This is not the time to go Alphahole!” 
“-without me,” he finished. 
Bryce could only gape at her mate as he grabbed the drinking bowl and held it out for her. 

4. “Why didn’t he help her?” parallel

A major criticism of Tamlin UTM is that he didn’t do enough to help/save Feyre directly.

But Hunt has a moment where he literally has the opportunity to step in for Bryce and chooses not to, saying she can handle herself. 

>“Help her,” Baxian hissed…. 
“She doesn’t need my help,” Hunt whispered. 

Except… pages later, Bryce does need help. And SJM intentionally frames that rescue moment away from Hunt:

>“...light burst from his chest. 
Hunt’s lightning had— 
No. It wasn’t Hunt’s lightning that shone through the Autumn King’s rib cage. 
It was the Starsword. And it was Ruhn wielding it.”

SJM briefly wants readers to think Hunt is the one saving Bryce before immediately redirecting the moment away from him. This feels like pretty deliberate wording to me. 

5. The narrative insists the relationship is good while quietly planting warning signs

We see this much more clearly on re-reads of ACOTAR. It’s easier to overlook those same signs in CC right now because we’re still in the “Tamlin phase.” 

During my ACOMAF reread I noticed this line, Rhys talking to Feyre
> The fashion of the Night Court suits you.

So it’s very interesting that SJM felt the need to point this out in ACOSF
> He'd never once in the two years he'd known her found Elain to be plain, but wearing black, no matter how much she claimed to be part of this court ... It sucked the life from her.

Rhys & Feyre

But as I breathed in— It wasn't there. That thing that rose and fell with each breath. That echoed each heartbeat. The mating bond. It wasn't there. It was gone. Because his own chest it was not moving. And Rhys was dead.

The emptiness in my chest, my soul at the lack of that bond, that life— I was shaking him, screaming his name and shaking him, and my body stopped being my body and just became this thing that held me and this lack of him, and I could not stop screaming and screaming

I couldn’t live with this, couldn’t endure this, couldn’t breath -

Shattered me in a way I didn't know I could still be broken, a rending of every tether and leash…. For there ... the torn scraps of the mating bond. Floating on a phantom wind inside me. I grasped at them— tugged at them, as if he'd answer…I clung to those scraps and remnants, clawing at the void that lurked beyond.

(Later when Rhys and Feyre are talking). “Those minutes,” I said…. “Rhys…. I never want to feel that again”. But he wrapped his arm around my waist and squeezed, breathing me in. "I heard you, even in death. It made me look back. Made me stay—a little longer." (They can’t bear to live without the other so they make the life to life bargain).

Rowan & Aelin

Home. The way home— She fumbled for the tether, the bond in her soul. Inked into her flesh. Come back to me. Aelin plunged through world after world after world.

The tether grew stronger. Tighter. Reeling her in.

It was breaking apart. The mating bond. Bowed over his knees, Rowan panted, a hand on his chest as the bond frayed. He clung to it, wrapped his magic, his soul around it, as if it might keep her, wherever she was, from going to a place he could not follow. He did not accept it. Would never accept this fate. Never. The mating bond was breaking.

Rowan was on his knees before Aelin, readying for her last breaths, for the end that he hoped would somehow take him, too. He'd make it his end. When she went, he'd go. But then he'd felt it. As the sun rose, he'd felt it, that surge down the frayed mating bond.

A blast of heat and light that welded the broken strands. He didn't dare to breathe. To hope. Even as Aelin collapsed to her knees where the Wyrdmarks had been. Rowan was instantly there, reaching for her limp body. A heartbeat echoed in his ears, into his own soul.

Bryce & Hunt

(First death)
And you don’t have much time to make the Ascent, Bryce.” Bryce snorted. “I’m not making the Ascent.” Danika blinked. “What do you mean?” Bryce stepped back. “I’m not making it.” Danika crossed her arms. “Why?” Bryce blinked furiously. “Because it got too hard. Without you. It is too hard without you.”

Danika asked softly, “What about the angel?” Bryce’s head snapped up. “What about him?”…Bryce withdrew her hand from Danika's. "You're really trying to convince me to make the Ascent for a guy?"

(Second death)
But her heart did not answer this time. (Hunt POV).

"Quinlan.” She turned to Jesiba. "Are we dead?" "Yes." "Did the others— "Alive, though the Asteri are not." A wry nod. "Thanks to you." Bryce smiled, and felt it beam through her. "Good. Good."…"Quinlan," Jesiba said again. "You have to go back." Bryce angled her head. "What do you mean?" "To life," Jesiba said, irritable as always. "Why else do you think I'm here? I traded my life for yours." Bryce blinked. "What? Why?"

Bryce's eyes stung. "I don't ... I don't understand. I was happy to give my life well, not happy, but willing" "I know," Jesiba said, and squeezed her hand. "That's why I'm here." She gestured behind Bryce, where a crystal doorway, reminiscent of Crescent City's Gates, now glowed. "The angel is waiting for you, Quinlan." The angel. Hunt. The thing she'd left behind. The thing that she'd been looking for, the reason she'd hesitated...

So Bryce turned from Jesiba. From what awaited them, all of them, and walked back toward the archway. Toward life. Toward Hunt.

With Feysand and Rowaelin:
• The bond is the center of the scene
• The narration repeatedly emphasizes the fraying bonds
• They instinctively reach for each other through the bond itself
• Death physically impacts the mating bond
• Both would rather not live than have to live without the other

But with Quinlar:
• Bryce is willing to stay dead (twice)
• Neither Bryce nor Hunt instinctively grasp for the other through a tether or physical bond
• Jesiba and Danika have to tell Bryce to go back, both have lengthy discussions convincing her to return
• Hunt is framed as “the thing she'd left behind”
• No fraying or snapping of a mate bond despite the perfect opportunity to do so

And what makes this even more interesting is that SJM has already written this type of “returning to life for someone you love” scene before with Feylin:
“I was swimming, kicking for the surface, where Tamlin was waiting, where life was waiting.”

Confirmed mates are written with very specific tether bond language, which is emphasized in death scenes. And Quinlar noticeably lacks that pattern.  

The interview has given some shippers more confidence, with many taking the question as proof/canon the bond is flawed or mistaken. But SJM didn’t directly provide an answer… she raised a question, and people are **assuming** the answer.

My interpretation is that this isn’t about the bond being wrong or nature making a mistake… it’s about the journey to understanding it. SJM has already said Elain and Lucien will have a healing path ahead of them, with a “great deal of tension, growth, and healing…(together)”.

If anything, that question reads as part of their arc. Elain hasn’t accepted the bond yet, so of course it’s being challenged… that’s where the tension comes from. But SJM consistently builds her endgames through **conflict, resistance, and eventual understanding**. The fact that their story is framed around growth together points toward resolution, not rejection

**TL;DR**
SJM didn’t confirm the bond is wrong. She raised a question. Given Elain and Lucien’s stated path of growth and healing *together*, this reads like setup for their arc, not a rejection of it.

I’m still relatively new. I’ve been doing thrive for a couple of months now but only 2-3 days/week. I’m trying to follow the program more religiously this round… and I guess I never realized how often legs are included. Monday - lower body. Wednesday - full body (so some legs). Thursday - lower body. Saturday - lower body.

Why the heavy focus on lower body? My legs are exhausted 😅 are all the programs like this? I’m sure it’s too late for me to switch.

I normally take a while to grow close to side characters, so I unfortunately did not pay close attention to him the first time reading ACOTAR. But man, this reread has been fun and I’m struggling NOT highlighting every single thing that comes out of the man’s mouth 😅 from his teasing of Tam to his snarky attitude with Feyre, like how did Feyre not fall for Lucien instead?!

I just got to the part where he gave Feyre step by step instructions to catching the Suriel and man did I find that entertaining 🤣

I normally take a while to grow close to side characters, so I unfortunately did not pay close attention to him the first time reading ACOTAR. But man, this reread has been fun and I’m struggling NOT highlighting every single thing that comes out of the man’s mouth 😅 from his teasing of Tam to his snarky attitude with Feyre, like how did Feyre not fall for Lucien instead?!

I just got to the part where he gave Feyre step by step instructions to catching the Suriel and man did I find that entertaining 🤣

Chapter 5 I find particularly interesting.

She describes magic as smelling metallic “…when a charged, metallic tang stung my nose. “Magic - that’s what the tang had been…”. Is this all humans, or does this hint at something else?

“Exhaustion slammed down upon me and blackness swallowed me whole.” … “Secured by invisible hands” What power is Tamlin using?

“I recognized the power deep in my bones, from some collective mortal memory and terror.” Theories? This is an interesting description to add. Almost like Feyre may have already been part fae (or witch).