Warning! Spoilers for the Uglies movie and book series ahead!
Tally’s romantic life gets pretty messy in the Uglies movie, but who does she end up with in the books? Scott Westerfeld’s sci-fi novel series carries Tally’s story through three central installments, though his world continued to expand into several spinoff books. While it’s currently uncertain whether Netflix plans to continue beyond Uglies, the answers regarding how things turn out for Tally can be found between the pages—including who she dates, what happens to her romances, and who she finally ends up with.
Romance isn’t at the center of the Uglies book series, but it still plays a significant part. Tally had always been taught that she wouldn’t be worthy of anything until she got the operation that would make her Pretty. Until then, the idea of someone ever finding her beautiful or falling in love with her seemed unimaginable. It’s implied in both the Uglies book and movie that Tally and Peris would begin a romantic relationship once they became Pretties, but things didn’t go to plan. Instead, Tally shared a romantic kiss with David before sacrificing herself to the city. So, who is Tally’s endgame?
Tally & David End Up Together In The Uglies’ Book Series
They Give Their Relationship Another Shot But Go Their Separate Ways Decades Later
Tally’s story still has a long way to go after Uglies. She spends most of her time away from David in the following two books, Pretties and Specials, since her surgeries (which first make her Pretty, then make her a supersoldier Special) get her all twisted up in the city’s drama. However, at the end of Specials, Tally and David successfully spread the cure all over the continent. People wake up from the Pretty haze their lesions left them in and quickly begin destroying the planet again. This leads the duo to begin a mission together to protect the world from humanity’s destructive ways.
Though there is nothing romantic between them at the end of Specials, the spinoff book Extras (which follows a new protagonist, Aya) brings Tally and David back for a time. Though they live in the wild together, they visit Aya’s city in Japan and are seen walking together arm and arm into a pleasure garden. This implies that the duo rekindled their romance in the four or so years between Specials and Extras.
Westerfeld’s
Uglies
trilogy was followed by the spinoff
Extras
in 2007. The author then expanded the series with the
Imposters
series in 2018, which included
Imposters
,
Shatter City
,
Mirror’s Edge
, and
Youngbloods
.
However, in Westerfeld’s Uglies spinoff series, Imposters, Tally again makes a reappearance. Set 20 years after she and David released the Pretty cure, the fourth book in the series, Youngbloods reveals that David and Tally had split up thanks to an undisclosed disagreement. After all that Tally goes through in the Uglies series, she isn’t a particularly easy person to get along with, and it’s noted that she likely pushed David away. Still, if Tally had an endgame, he would be it.
Do Tally & Peris Ever Get Together In Uglies?
Things Got Too Complicated Between Tally & Peris
Peris’s story is very different in the Uglies books than Netflix’s movie. On the screen, he and Tally were all but together, and there was an obvious spark between them. However, this fell apart when he became Pretty and got even worse when Dr. Cable turned him into a Special. Then, the fact that Peris winds up falling off a dam to his supposed death puts even more of a damper on his relationship prospects with Tally. Still, it’s implied that Peris could have survived the fall, and he may make a return if Netflix adapts the sequel Pretties into a film.
In the Uglies book, Tally and Peris’ feelings for one another are far more ambiguous. They were never overtly romantic, and Tally’s experience in the smoke (while Peris stayed safely in the city and never became a Special) meant that they had very little in common, even once Tally became a Pretty. In the Pretties book, Tally eventually thinks her way free of the lesions in her brain and makes a big escape from the city. However, Peris refused to leave, and Tally realized that her friend simply liked being a “Pretty head.” Their friendship never really recovered, and a romance never bloomed.
Who Else Tally Has A Romance With In The Uglies’ Books
Tally’s Biggest Romance In The Uglies Series Ends In Tragedy
Though Tally technically ends up with David, she was in love with an entirely different character in the Pretties and Specials books. Zane is a Pretty whom Tally meets after becoming Pretty herself, and it’s with him that she ultimately discovers the Pretty cure that the Smokies sent to the city for Tally to test. Unfortunately, the pair split the two pills, assuming it would mean that they would both be “half” cured. This wasn’t the case. One pill was filled with nanos that would eat away at the Pretty lesions, while the second pill was supposed to eat those nanos to stop them from doing permanent brain damage.
Tally was devastated by Zane’s death, and based on the news that she and David split up decades later, she never really got over it.
Tally ended up taking the second pill, which essentially did nothing to her mind. Zane’s pill, however, ate away his Pretty-head lesion but continued on to eat away parts of his brain, causing permanent damage. This ultimately leads to his death at the end of Specials, which is something that Tally blames herself for entirely. It’s for this reason that Tally and David don’t dive back into the romance they had started in Uglies right away. Tally was devastated by Zane’s death, and based on the news that she and David split up decades later, she never really got over it.
