#But ragged and tiger are... at least briefly depicted as bad on purpose

[bonefall]

I don’t know if the Erin’s are romanticizing abuse, don’t realize they’re writing it, or both because this is genuinely getting concerning

They’ve written how many abusive husbands and then said that those husbands are actually great people who deserve everything?

Well, let's apply Occam's Razor. Which of these makes the most sense;

The writing team has accidentally written at least 3 (more like 5) realistic depictions of domestic abuse, and just happen to be consistently more sympathetic to the men in the relationships, and find that romantic involvement makes a character humanizing in general Or

The writing team has a warped perception of what healthy love is supposed to look like, and think that the behaviors they depict are normal and just part of relationships.

I think the phrase "romanticizing abuse" is kind of unhelpful tbh, because it's not totally accurate. Most people believe they're doing the right thing. It's not likely that they KNOW what they're doing is destructive, and are secretly twirling an evil mustache as they write it into a teenage cat book series in the hopes of making more victims.

It's not entirely romanticism/glorification, it's deeper. It's the idea that these behaviors are normal, understandable, and they as writers either a total disinterest in the internal lives of the victims (Turtle, Bumble) or the desire to "explore" the relationship as if both sides are on equal footing/mutually toxic (Squilf)

And Tom... Tom's redemption ties into the narrative about blood that DOTC tells. It says that having children produces a goodness in men, and biological connection (even to people you don't know) is an intrinsic, sometimes tragic fact of life. The only time Tom ever does something that wasn't actively malicious was saving his daughter, Sparrow Fur.

For that, and that alone, he is redeemed. And thus deserves a cutesy reward in his afterlife.