Tamlin - Tumblr Posts - Page 2
Day 1: Heir of Spring
The enemy of my enemy may possibly be the father of my child
A small crack fic to start us off with a bang ;)
@tamlinweek
Tamlin winnowed into the Summer Court hall with a resounding boom. All eyes turned to face the surprise guest, then the murmuring began.
Tarquin stood from his seat in greeting.
“Tamlin, are you alright? We weren’t sure that you would join us today, we missed you at the last meeting in the Day Court.”
The male was dishevelled, his hair wild around his shoulders and his eyes bright and frantic. A green velvet robe hung precariously on his frame, gaping open at his chest.
Tamlin's hands fluttered by his sides somewhat helplessly before finally resting on his hips. He looked about the room.
“I need to make an heir.”
“I… beg your pardon?”
“Spring is dying. When the path was cleared for Hybern to invade, he destroyed the land. All life has disappeared from my Court. My people are scared and they need a home, yet it lies in ruin. If I want to have any hope of restoring my Court, it is my duty as the High Lord to produce an heir and bring forth new life. to repair the balance of Spring.”
He continued, pacing about the room even as several jaws dropped at this new bit of information.
“I won’t stay for long. I only wanted to share what I have learned and to ask you to inform your courts. Any males who you deem worthy of this task should journey to Spring immediately. Calanmai fast approaches and will be upon us within the moon. I want to take advantage of that.”
Thesan, who found himself seated next to Rhysand, could have sworn he heard the male emit a high squeak that he struggled to hide as his fingers clutched at his armrest.
The High Lord of Night coughed delicately. "Males, Tamlin?" He attempted a drawl, but his gaze was far too intent, Thesan thought delightedly. It completely belied his suave façade.
Tamlin spoke again, his eyes fixed on Rhys in a pointed stare.
“Naturally. After all that Spring has suffered, I trust no-one but myself to carry my child.”
Beside him, Feyre twitched.
A beat, then Helion’s deep laughter echoed throughout the hall.
“What a predicament you find yourself in, Tamlin! Rest assured, I will inform the members of my court and personally select my most capable of males for you. Perhaps I might even make an appearance myself at Calanmai this year.”
Helion waggled his eyebrows, Tamlin rolled his eyes.
“My thanks, Helion.”
Then, as if a dam had broken, each of the High Lords in turn spoke their agreement, promising their aid.
Then, there remained only Night.
Tamlin's lip turned upwards just a tad, “Rest assured, I will not be seeking aid from Night. You may keep your seed to yourselves.”
“Bold of you to speak as if the Night Court would ever willingly offer you aid.” Feyre said hotly.
“You know,” he smiled toothily, “I’m surprised that Tarquin has allowed you two back in his Court at all, considering what happened the last time he extended his good will towards you. I only hope you don’t steal any artifacts or destroy any monuments on your way out. Besides, I wouldn’t want any child of mine to have such abhorrent traits.”
Feyre glowered, opening her mouth to speak again when Tarquin clapped his hands, rising from his seat. "If that will be all?"
"Of course. Apologies for the disturbance, Tarquin. I'll be making my leave."
Tamlin turned back to Feyre, dipping his head mockingly, "My lady."
She glared viciously at him but said nothing in reply.
“Lords, Ladies. I shall see you all at Calanmai.”
Some time later
“... Er, is something the matter?” Kallias paused in his report to glance concernedly in Tamlin's direction.
Almost simultaneously, all eyes whipped round to the High Lord of Spring, who was wriggling in his seat, expression stormy.
Sitting across from him were the High Lord and Lady of the Night Court, neither of whom had bothered to erase the stunned, slightly aghast expressions on their faces that had been present ever since his arrival.
“Fine,” Tamlin said tightly, his hand running over the swell of his stomach. “Just wondering if all of this is worth saving the Spring Court from eternal ruin, is all.”
Lady Freya of Autumn turned towards him.
“Perhaps you ought to shift, dear. I remember your mother when she was deep in her pregnancy with you. She would often shift as the mood struck to be more comfortable. Besides, the babe will be due in less than two months now."
Tamlin smiled, sadness tinging his lips at the mention of his mother. "I suppose I have been putting it off for quite a while now... If you’ll all excuse me for just a moment.”
A sudden glow engulfed the Spring Lord and shimmered in the air before dissipating, leaving behind-
A set of hands thudded loudly on the great table, accompanied by the sound of a crashing chair.
“You can shapeshift?!” Feyre shouted over at Tamlin.
She cocked her head in bemusement, running her hands over her stomach. “Feyre, you inherited your shapeshifting powers from me. Of course I can shapeshift.”
Feyre's face was a splendid shade of red. “I meant during pregnancy,”
Tamlin's lips thinned into a line, utterly perplexed. “Feyre, I am a shapeshifter by nature… Of course I can shapeshift during pregnancy. I would have thought that Rhys would have informed you of this, given the complicated nature of your own pregnancy.”
Quick as a whip, all eyes were on Rhysand, who had yet to speak. His face was frozen into a half smile, his knuckles white on the table top.
Feyre's eyes flashed as she crossed her arms, looking at him expectantly.
"I- had forgotten about Tamlin's abilities."
Tamlin arched an eyebrow sardonically. "I truly, truly find that hard to believe, Rhysand. I'd shifted between male and female enough times in our youth that I'd thought the knowledge might have stuck with you. It certainly made an impression on you the last time I shifted"
"I-"
"And besides, there are plenty of shapeshifters in Spring. If you didn't want to consult me all those times you were trespassing on my lands, you could have spoken to any of the fae in the Westerlands and they could have told you everything you needed to know."
Silence fell over the round table, then Feyre flung herself at Rhysand with nails bared as he scrabbled to escape, screaming shrilly.
All in all, it was a very eventful meeting.
Tamlin's daughter (who is his exact mirror) accompanies him to the High Lord summit one year, and Nyx takes one look at her before his brain bluescreens and he walks into a wall.
'It seems some preferences run through your side of the family, Rhysand.'
Nyx is besotted with her, and she couldn't care less about him. Like father like daughter.
Acotar Rant Time
The amount of shit Rhysand says about Tamlin that's just straight up not true is so annoying. The main reasons people hate Spring boy is just because of whatever Rhysand or Morrigan has conjured up to make the Night Court look better.
I'm fairly certain it was Morrigan who went on her little tangent about how Feyre would have been 'bred like a prized mare' at the Spring Court. When Tamlin literally mentioned in passing having a SINGLE son far into the future. At the tithe he told Feyre his son would continue on with the duties of High lord, then added, someday. SOMEDAY he didn't want a kid immediately, and I highly doubt Tamlin even wanted children for the sake of having children, it was a duty he would HAVE to fulfill, it wasn't optional, he needed an heir. I have my theories if Tamlin had a choice he wouldn't ever have children. Especially since it is mentioned oh so many times that he wanted to go off in a travelling act, I doubt he even wanted a relationship. I also find it so, so difficult to believe that Tamlin would have wanted more than one child because he grew up in a household with older siblings. He damn well knows the competition in a place like that. He carries the trauma of it everyday! He would never want to inflict that on his kid!
Then there's Rhysand. He was the one who carried on about how Tamlin should've tried to get Feyre out from Under the Mountain. He did! He sent her back to the human lands to get her away from Amarantha! It was Feyre's choice to go Under the Mountain. She could've stayed in the human lands and lived a rich, lavish life, and she chose to go after Tamlin. Not to mention, Amarantha had been waiting for Tamlin for fifty years, she wasn't about to give him any chance to run. Rhysand actually said to Feyre Under the Mountain that eyes and ears were on Tamlin at all times. If Tamlin tried to get her out from Under the Mountain, he would've failed and signed Feyre's death warrant. Not to mention human Feyre used to be badass as fuck and would've absolutely scoffed at Tamlin if he tried to get her out from the Under the Mountain, she loved him and the Spring Court. She wouldn't have left even if given the chance.
Then there's what Rhysand said about Tamlin locking Feyre up because 'he knew she was gem'. Now, what Tamlin did to Feyre was abusive. He did become abusive during that period of time towards her, none of what I'm about to state disagrees with that. However, if you're going to hate this man, hate him for legitimate reasons. Tamlin never locked her up 'because she was a gem he wanted to hoard'. That's a straight up lie. It is stated many, many times throughout Acomaf and Acowar that Tamlin locked Feyre up because in his mind that was the only way to prevent her from getting into danger. He had an actual concern, and that concern was valid, but he took it way, way, way too far. He never should've locked her in there. I'm glad that Feyre got away from that situation. But he never *wanted* to hurt her. Tamlin has never been a malicious man (cough unlike Rhysand cough) His abuse towards Feyre was terrible and she absolutely was right in getting out. But none of his abuse was ever designed to hurt her. When it comes to narcissists, or self-serving abusers, their abuse is carefully crafted, it is designed to hurt. Tamlin however never intended to hurt her. It wasn't crafted to break her. Tamlin's mental health is completely fucked, and I highly doubt he ever came out of fight or flight mode, if you've ever been stuck in fight or flight mode, you'd know it fucking sucks. Every single little thing becomes a massive threat. And in his fucked mind Tamlin was convinced the actions he was taking were the best course of action to protect her from harm, not to cause it. Obviously, this does not excuse his actions, but it does help to explain them, and knowing what drove you to do things is the first step in being able to take accountability and then work on it.
Not to mention, Tamlin has taken accountability, he knows he's fucked up. He helped bring Rhys back to life, told Feyre to be happy because he knew that couldn't happen if she was with him, then he fucked off back to the Spring Court.
And you know what really drives me up the fucking wall? When Feyre insisted she was stronger now and didn't need protection from the sentries and Tamlin responded with "my family were fae and they were killed quite easily." Like that is a valid fucking point! They were killed very easily! Tamlin would be extremely traumatized from that! He probably blames himself for not protecting his mother! The death of his family is most likely one of the core reasons for his extreme paranoia! Am I saying he was justified in his actions in protecting Feyre? No! What I am saying is that you cannot hate him because of his intentions! Hate him for his actions, fine! But never once throughout this entire goddamned series did he intentionally want to hurt Feyre!
Anyway, this post is quite long, sorry for that. In summary, hate Tamlin all you want, but at the very least hate him for the things he actually did. I'm probably missing a ton of other things Rhysand's straight up made up about Tamlin, but these are the main things I've found people hate him for. Tell me if I've missed anything.
Watching sjm try to justify making her characters in acosf hate Tamlin is so fucking hilarious because the dialogue always goes like:
'I don't care that he colluded with Hybern in order to gain secret intelligence that ultimately led us to victory in the war, OR that he saved Feyre and helped her escape from Hybern's camp when he had every reason to stand back, OR that he was the bigger male and helped to bring Rhys back to life without asking for anything in return when he sacrificed his life, he's still a bastard! 😤😤'
Top 5 most annoying Tamlin scene misinterpretations
1. ''There is no such thing as a high lady'' I hate this one, because it is always taken as some sort of proof that Tamlin is a raging misogynist who doesn't want an equal woman by his side or some similar type of nonsense. I don't know where this is coming from. Tamlin never wanted to be a high lord. He would probably welcome for someone to take over most of the work so he could just keep running through the woods. He also has absolutely no issues with taking advice from women in power (Ianthe? Hello??). His first reaction to the high lady question is literally this:
“Is everyone just going to call me ‘Tamlin’s wife’? Do I get a … title?” He lifted his head long enough to look at me. “Do you want a title?”
And let's not forget that Feyre's first reply is ''No, I don’t know if I can handle them calling me High Lady”. To which he then answers that she doesn't have to worry about that, since ''there is no such thing as a high lady'' because the magic choses the title and it keeps chosing males. Also this whole scene happens while he eats her out. Not that it's relevant or anything, just saying...
2. ''Tamlin killed Rhys' family'' No. Tamlin's dad killed Rhys' family. I have no idea how Tamlin doing it is ever the takeaway from that whole story. Let's just quote the actual scene:
“Tamlin’s father, brothers, and Tamlin himself set out into the Illyrian wilderness, having heard from Tamlin—from me—where my mother and sister would be, that I had plans to see them. I was supposed to be there. I wasn’t. And they slaughtered my mother and sister anyway.”
Yeah okay, Tamlin gave the information (supposedly) and was there (supposedly) sure, but it's highly unlikely that he was so willingly. Let's not forget that it's established that Tamlin was afraid of his father, that Tamlin's father is worse than Beron (who, I might remind you, tortures his sons) and that Tamlin was friends with Rhys at the time - which neither family approved of. Even Rhys doesn't actually believe Tamlin did anything besides being spineless:
''I didn’t care that Tamlin had been there, had allowed them to kill my mother and sister, that he’d come to kill me because he didn’t want to risk standing against them.''
In the end we don't know the details. Tamlin could've been tortured and tied up or whatever. Making him watch could've been a cruel form of punishment for being friends with Rhys. We don't really know until SJM graces us with Tamlin's side of the story.
3. ''It's really Tamlin's own fault that the spring court fell'' Alternatively also phrased as: 'Feyre just opened everyone's eyes to Tamlin's incompetence' and....honestly? This low key makes me question the reading comprehension of people.
Yes, Tamlin made a deal with Hybern, which was extremely risky, but the war was coming regardless (as we learn from Rhys in the first half of ACOMAF) and the spring court would be the main target because of its location next to the wall. Inviting Hybern into his lands in a trade is actually a pretty smart way to avoid a lot of death on Tamlin's part - plus he needed help to rescue Feyre and get her out of the deal she had with Rhysand (people forget that Tamlin didn't know Feyre didn't actually need rescuing from the guy that was abusing her in front of him).
So yeah anyway, Feyre did several things to make the spring court fall: 1. She manipulated the solstice ceremony to make herself seem cauldron-blessed in the eyes of the people, 2. She made a sentry accuse Ianthe (who WAS doing sneaky shit) which essentially did nothing except putting Tamlin on the spot in front of Hybern, so he was kind of forced to throw the sentry under the bus. Good job Feyre, you got a poor sod whipped! But it also built resentment within the soldiers, which was her plan all along and 3. before leaving, she did this (let's just quote the whole thing):
''I had a people who had lost faith in their High Priestess. I had sentries who were beginning to rebel against their High Lord. And as a result of those things, I had Hybern royals doubting the strength of their allies here. I’d primed this court to fall. Not from outside forces—but its own internal warring. And I had to be clear of it before it happened. Before the last sliver of my plan fell into place. The party would return without me. And to maintain that illusion of strength, Tamlin and Ianthe would lie about it—where I’d gone. And perhaps a day or two after that, one of these sentries would reveal the news, a carefully sprung trap that I’d coiled into his mind like one of my snares. I’d fled for my life—after being nearly killed by the Hybern prince and princess. I’d planted images in his head of my brutalized body, the markings consistent with what Dagdan and Brannagh had already revealed to be their style. He’d describe them in detail—describe how he helped me get away before it was too late. How I ran for my life when Tamlin and Ianthe refused to intervene, to risk their alliance with Hybern. And when the sentry revealed the truth, no longer able to stomach keeping quiet when he saw how my sorry fate was concealed by Tamlin and Ianthe, just as Tamlin had sided with Ianthe the day he’d flogged that sentry …When he described what Hybern had done to me, their Cursebreaker, their newly anointed Cauldron-blessed, before I’d fled for my life … There would be no further alliance. For there would be no sentry or denizen of this court who would stand with Tamlin or Ianthe after this. After me.''
So, the sentries left Tamlin because of a lie. A fake story. Without sentries, Hybern decided to take over rather than just be guests and had a prime spot to attack the summer court in turn. Which is also why Tarquin is extremely pissed at Feyre - not Tamlin. So no, Tamlin wasn't a bad high lord. His only real mistake was ever trusting Feyre.
Sure, some argue that Feyre thought Tamlin genuinely sided with Hybern and might be a threat to the rest of Prythian, so taking him down would make sense for her even outside of petty revenge. But there's just one problem with that: Feyre is a mind reader. She could have just.....checked. lol
4. ''Tamlin didn't do anything Under the Mountain'' This one really gets my goat because it's not really true? Things Tamlin did to help Feyre: 1. He sent her away to the human realm. (People forget this, but he basically doomed his court to protect her ass - it's not his fault she came back!) 2. He made Lucien check up on her. (Yes Lucien was Feyre's friend but he still acted under Tamlin's orders!) 3. He ignored Feyre as to not rile Amarantha up even more (Come on, have you seen Amarantha? It totally makes sense) 4. He tries to get to Feyre, begging Amarantha to stop even as he is tied up, bleeding out from a stab wound to his chest that he can't heal because he has no powers - like what do you want him to do??? 4. He literally kills Amarantha the second he is able to
Also personal conspiracy detour: That music that Rhysand supposedly sent to Feyre was SO originally supposed to be Tamlin, you can't convince me otherwise. I will never not believe that this wasn't just a lazily done change when SJM rewrote book 1 and 2 to account for the boyfriend switcheroo. Attributing the music to Rhys makes absolutely zero sense. He's not a musical boy at all, come on! Music themes never come up with him again either! Meanwhile Tamlin played for Feyre before, is generally a musical guy COME ON! /conspiracy detour over
5. ''It's Tamlin's fault that Nesta and Elaine got turned to fae'' No. No it's not. He knew nothing about this. Ianthe did this on her own accord because Feyre told her where her sister's lived. Tamlin actually attacks (!) the King of Hybern over it (to no avail, but still).
Some people blame Tamlin for keeping Ianthe around afterwards, despite of what she did. Those people I want to refer to point number 3 in this list. Ianthe was working with Hybern. Tamlin tried to be buddies with Hybern for reasons. No, he can't just throw out Ianthe.
What really bothers me is the fact that Tamlin is extremely open, honest, and vulnerable about the fact that he cannot protect Feyre. It’s a very emotionally mature scene, where Tamlin sends Feyre home because he recognizes the he does not have the ability to keep her safe. There is a very clear boundary being set—and it’s a healthy one. And trust me—there are very few mature scenes like that in this series. So it seriously bothers me, that after the initial scene with Rhys, Tamlin’s honesty about the reality of UTM and his ability to keep her safe and Alis’s very clear message—that Feyre frames Tamlin’s boundary as him not “doing enough.” He sent her home home exactly for the reason she moans about every five pages in MAF. Everybody warned Feyre. And then, when we get to UTM, it’s all of a sudden Tamlin’s fault that she can’t escape.
Feyre + communication and boundaries are just nonexistent. It happens again and again: with the Mor situation, with Lucien, with her sisters. And it’s not a quirky flaw—it almost always has dire consequences, and which leaves us with Feyre depressed because she just realized that her actions have consequences—and some of those consequences are bigger than just acknowledging you’re wrong and feeling sorry for yourself. Some of them manifest and hurt other vulnerable people.
The very existence of the Inner Circle removes all the nuance from the ACOTAR books.
One of the big things that allows for such nuance in a story is perspective. It’s allowing people to have different thoughts and ideas, mixed in with their own personal experiences to create a complex setting.
Except that this can never happen in the ACOTAR books because every time someone has an opinion or perspective that goes against the Inner Circle, they’re either outright written out of it and contradicted or completely vilified to make all their opinions seemingly irrelevant and ridiculous.
This series refuses to allow any nuance in its story for that reason, and it’s a major factor in why it’s difficult to argue about complexities in this story.
I feel that the High Lord Meeting is a great example of this.
We’re constantly told throughout the books that everyone hates Rhysand because of the mask he wears for the world. Then we finally meet the High Lords and it’s like… it’s not hard at all for them to forgive him for his crimes. Even if he didn’t kill the Winter children, that doesn’t excuse all the other horrible things he did while working for Amarantha. The same thing happens with Tarquin + Feysand’s crimes against him. All it takes is knowing they came to Summer to help him against the attack FEYRE caused for him to rescind the red rubies.
Meanwhile, Tamlin — the guy who took in refugees from their Courts, spent decades sacrificing his sentries’ lives and his own sanity to try and break the curse, and overall just doing whatever he can with the limited power he had — isn’t given a fucking INCH over the Inner Circle. It’s so illogical in the grand scheme of things that the other characters just don’t even have a realistic perspective in all of this. Their characters don’t make any sense to the point that they’re just caricatures meant to further the pro-IC agenda.
I really think that Tamlin in general is a better person than Rhysand. And I could name a million reasons for why I came to that assessment, but I feel like that perhaps one little instance explains it best.
After everything that happened between Tamlin, Rhysand and Feyre, Tamlin could still find it in himself to revive Rhysand and even wish for Feyre to become happy.
We’re talking about the man that killed his mother unprompted and the woman that destroyed his entire court and thereby exposed them to the invasion of Hybern.
Meanwhile, we have Rhysand, who comes to Tamlin's court unprompted, sees this traumatized, beaten person who’s already lost so much, and what does he do? He tells Tamlin to k*ll himself. 😀 Like? Is this really someone we should be rooting for? Telling a depressed person to commit? After said person literally revived you?
I genuinely think that Rhysand would have never revived Tamlin, and I think that’s all you need to know about the two of them. It should tell you who’s the bigger person really.
Mark your calendars!
That's right! We're already gearing up for Tamlin Week 2025, which will be held April 13-19, 2025.
More info will be coming soon, starting with the form to submit prompts! We hope you're all as excited as we are!
At this point i’m convinced Taylor Swift read ACOTAR? and uses it as inspiration for her songs.
You’re telling me “Speak Now” is not based on the wedding scene?
“You’re loosing me” describes how Feyre feels about Tamlin at the beginning of ACOMAF while “Would’ve, Could’ve Should’ve” is what she thinks of him once she decides to stay at the Night Court for good.
The “You never gave a warning sign (I gave so many signs” part in exile shows both of their points of view.
“Slut!” is 100% about Feyre and Rhysand’s a trip to the court of nightmares.
I am also completely convinced “Enchanted” is from Rhysand’s point of view when he first met Feyre.
I have more examples but I’d be here all day