Fascinating as usual. If Er is Watcher-identified, then is Tamar a version of the Watcher's wives of Gen 6? I was just reading a paper about them which notes some talk they seduced the angels. A sexual boldness that Tamar seems to share.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvwrm4f2.11

The scholar Michael C. Astour points out that Judah's visit to the prostitute seems to be a “a predicable, ritually prescribed act.” He writes: “It is known that feasts of the pre-exilic period were accompanied by ritual fornication with the magic intention of securing rich crops and increase of herds."

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3265124

So Judah drops off human semen to get animal fertility in return? Human for animal. But he also gives up his goat in v.17. Is the goat for sacrifice—and is his possible resulting child for sacrifice as well?

Tamar's words to Judah "Recognize please" mirror Judah & his brother's presenting Joseph's bloody garment to their father in Gen 37:32. The great messianic theme of cosmic justice being visited upon unsuspecting men by a woman.