Tarren: Nice Is Not Kind

One of the most dangerous lies in the world is that nice equals good. It does not.

The serpent in the garden was, by modern definitions, nice to Eve. He offered an alternative perspective. Invited her to see differently. Questioned boundaries. He was pleasant and agreeable. Yet that niceness ended in death.

Many readers often expect a villain to be cruel right off. Some see that predation lurks behind a smile. Tarren is not a caricature, he is complex. Rather than write him with brutality from the start, I left him murky. Nice, but never kind.

Why Tarren Had To Be Nice

Tarren enters the story by stopping another man from harassing Bethan. He tells her where to stand in the auction pen. He buys her for more than she is worth. Once aboard his ship, he offers her a blanket, though none to the other slaves. He clothes her. Feeds her. Gives her gifts. He takes her ashore and buys what catches her eye in every port. To Bethan, there is the illusion of safety inside captivity. The illusion of freedom inside possession. The illusion of being chosen.

That is how Tarren earns trust. None of these things are kindness. They are strategy. He often asks Bethan personal questions. When she refuses, he does not rage. He smiles.

“I do not need to force you, Pet. I have time.”

Tarren is not kind. Tarren is controlled.

The Difference Between Nice And Kind

Nice

• Avoids discomfort

• Maintains image

• Gives to gain leverage

• Pleases when beneficial

• Uses gentleness transactionally

Kind

• Seeks another’s good

• Speaks truth when costly

• Protects without controlling

• Gives without demanding ownership

• Is gentle from character, not strategy.

Why This Matters Beyond Fiction

I wrote him this way on purpose. Not because Tarren represents Satan, he doesn’t. No Tarren is the allegorical manifestation of a villain much closer to home. The fallen heart of man. Proverbs 18:12, Jeremiah 17:9, Matthew 15:19, and Mark 7:21 all warn of the capacity for destruction found in the human heart. But perhaps the one that sums it up is Proverbs 14:12-16.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; And the end of that mirth is heaviness. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: And a good man shall be satisfied from himself. The simple believeth every word: But the prudent man looketh well to his going. A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: But the fool rageth, and is confident.

Scripture repeatedly warns that our hearts can deceive us. We call dangerous things destiny. We rename bondage as freedom. We baptize desire as wisdom.

Just as Tarren manipulates Bethan into feeling chosen and cared for, our hearts will justify, quantify and emote us into chains of slavery to sin and ruin. James sums up the seed of lust once planted in the human soul and the end is always death.

Our hearts naturally

• avoid discomfort,

• seek to make ourselves look better,

• give in hopes of return

• Practice cooperative rebellion when it is easier to get along

• And offer gentleness as a way of getting ahead

All of this results in pain, not just for us, but for those left in our wake. Our default setting is nice, we are our own worst predator and enemy. Tarren never needed chains or force to control Bethan. Our hearts rarely need chains either. Only lies repeated long enough to feel true.

Sometimes the worst thing God can let us have is what we think we want.

Bethan wanted to survive and it cost her everything. Thank God her story does not end there. Next week we look at the hero of my story. Tristan. And how Kindness is demonstrated by a heart clearly turned to the work of the Spirit.