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  1. No, I think you’re right on the money there, Greg. About the only thing I’d add is there’s a lovely bit in one of the books where Mercy is smart and self-aware enough that she actually works out for herself what she wanted in a life partner! I was so pleased to see that, especially since I’m really tired of the “realization while he’s on his death bed” tripe.

    Thanks for commenting! I love thoughtful comments, even when it takes me a while to answer. :)

  2. This is part of the reason I wasn’t completely sold on the Mercy Thompson stories: the woman being clueless about which among her two potential suitors she really wanted, or whether she wanted either of them at all.

    But reading your assertions in depth, I realize that while Mercy would seem to fall in that same category, the truth is that she does know what she wants: her freedom. She wants to be free to love whomever she wants, to do what she wants, to live as she wants. She doesn’t want to feel guilty for the lost love of her Ex, or to have her freedom curtailed by attaching herself to either of her potential werewolf lovers, on account of the fact they might not allow her to be herself, as a part of that whole werewolfy patriarchy deal. And she certainly doesn’t want to hurt anyone, either.

    (And there also isn’t the whole other trope, about one of them being the honest, straightforward, earnest man that stood by the protagonist only to be dumped because he’s a ‘good boy’, and therefore unexciting.)

    Would you say my analysis of Mercy in comparison to this protagonist is accurate, or is there something else I’m missing, good or bad?

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