Tam

Tam Is Crazy Powerful (Legacy Spoilers)

Okay, can we just talk about how crazy powerful Tam is?? Especially with his new shadowflux training. I actually think he's more powerful than Sophie. 

*entire Keeper fandom gasps*

Yes. I said it. 

Let's go down the list, shall we? Starting with the smallest thing. 

1. Shadow reading

Okay, I don't think the keeper crew understands how useful this is. Both times he didn't trust someone because they refused a reading (Keefe and Alvar), they both ran off to join the Neverseen, or in Alvar's case, already had. And you might think that telepathy would be better for getting secrets out of people, btu I disagree. For one, shadow reading needs no permission and violates no rules. So you can do it on anyone and not get in trouble if they don't give you permission, since it's so vague. There's also no way to twist the results—plenty of people have hid things from telepaths, like Lord Cassius or, you know, Tam. It's rare for someone to be able to do it, but you can. You can also wash or damage memories, just like Lady Gisela did to Keefe, so looking through those to see if someone can be trusted might not be totally trustworthy. But shadow readings are just testing how much shadowvapor you have, and by that extent, how many secrets you have. The more secrets, the less trustworthy. And guarding your secrets with shadowvapor isn't something you can control, or even be aware of—it's just a natural process that your mind does to protect the things you don't want people seeing. 

2. His normal shadows 

Guys, we still don't know what his normal ability does, without the shadowflux. But I mean, it's pretty intimidating, I guess, so plus one!

3. Hiding stuff

He can hide large groups to near invisibility—not enough to stand close inspection, but definitely enough to come in serious handy

4. Transport on Shadow Express

When Sophie enhances him, he can use those shadow print portal thingies. Plus another one!

5. Literally no one is safe

He can break through force fields, which literally no one else can do. Trap Sophie in a force field? We all saw what happened there. Protect yourself behind a force field? You're safe. Try those with Tam, and you are still screwed. 

6. No elf-made protection

You know those caps that the Neverseen use to keep Sophie's telepathy at bay and stop her inflicting? Welp, those don't work with Tam. The only thing that can really stop him is that etherine stuff, and I definitely spelled that wrong, but Glimmer was the Neverseen's only flasher and she's on the Black Swan's side now so hurray! One more point to the You're Still Screwed meter!

7. Shadowflux and Echoes

....Do I even have to explain this one?

He can literally leave his enemies laying in the hospital for WEEKS, if not months at a time. Umber's echoes almost killed Sophie and Fitz, and they would have died without Tam's help (which he also figured out how to do on the fly, btw). Umber's echoes were just pure pleasure and malice, no revenge or motivation. Imagine what Tam could do to someone if they killed Linh.

He could kill them. 

8. His incredible control and determination 

Let me remind you, Umber had YEARS of practice on Tam, and yet with just a few weeks of training , he was able to fully control shadowflux, incapacitate Ruy, store shadowflux inside of himself, and with maybe another week of practice, teach himself how to do Keefe's transformation with only a few journals. According to Lady Zillah, he'd shown the most promise of any Shade she's ever taught, and that was BEFORE the shadowflux. 

So yeah, Tam's pretty heckling powerful. If I missed anything, let me know