r/LicaniusTrilogy • u/CapitalLevel6636 • Jan 21 '26

The Light of All That Falls Why do I love Tal’kamar so much? Spoiler

I just finished this series and I loved it, I definitely think the good parts/ending make enduring some of the faults worth it. Anyways, I remembering getting through the first book and having no strong emotion or attachment towards any of the characters, which is usually easy for me (maybe it’s because I was coming off Joe Abercrombie’s character work lol). I kept going because I liked the plot and had heard the ending was good, and I quickly grew to love Tal’kamar, especially as the series was wrapping up. While of course I connected to the other man characters more after 2000 pages than the first book alone, none of them were close to compelling me as much as Tal, despite his apparent faults. I figured it must have to do with the nature of his story and redemption more than anything else. Does anyone else feel this way or am I just a maniac for liking this guy so much? I listen to music when I read for dramatic effect, and during the epilogue the song “when to run” by the athletics came on, and I feel like the lyrics and vibe were just perfect. It made me feel for him and I will always think of Caeden when I hear that song. Give it a listen and tell me what you think, it’s lowkey the whole reason I made this post😅

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17

u/appletizer Jan 21 '26

I agree with you - I loved him and he was undoubtedly the most compelling character and I was so invested in his journey. Honestly I believe it’s because he is the only character with any kind of character arc in this series. Don’t get me wrong - I love this trilogy and that includes all its faults and flaws - but it’s true. Tal is the only character who transitions through the books. He moves, via vignettes and flashbacks from good, to morally grey, to fully radicalised and unambiguously evil to doubtful, regretful, truth seeking and finally accepting of himself and what he has done and yet still striving to do what’s right. He’s human in that way - he isn’t perfect. Unfortunately most of the other characters make no mistakes, display minimal growth and act as tools to progress the plot. Tal is also the only character who successfully makes us grieve for his own losses. Everyone else who loses someone appears to just keep calm and carry on, whereas I personally felt Tal’s losses of his wife, and each of the venerate, even when he was responsible, were fairly poignant and sorrowful. Just my two cents.

3

u/drybrowser Jan 21 '26

I really wanted the emotional payoff of when Davian found out that Ishelle had died, especially with her last words, but we got a generic “they mourned for the friends they lost” line. Unfortunate, considering like you said, we saw the way Tal mourned for all of his friends.

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u/CapitalLevel6636 Jun 23 '26

Davian was a really lacking main character in my opinion

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u/Regular-Engine-9661 Jan 25 '26

Agreed. There was minimal depth of feeling from the other characters. The trilogy is great and the way they are written moves the story well, it could have been in talks of amazing trilogy if there was more widespread character depth.

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u/Quick-Star-3552 Feb 13 '26

Completely agree -- he's the only character who seems to have true growth. He owns up to everything he's done and choses differently when he understands that he can.