“What was broken will be remade” is probably wishful thinking but fr, Tamlin is like right on the border with the humans, either they’re gonna off-page him, which I will HATE, OR there has to be some kind of SOMETHING that happens with him. He is VERY BROKEN!!!!
Just a stream of consciousness type thought, but considering what we know about Tamlin from Book 1, i genuinely think that if he had not walked away and had seen what happened to Feyre when he shielded her in the house, he would have immediately taken the shield down and done something about it.
Why? Because he would have seen himself in her. His magical outbursts are very similar to that and that would have been something that he could empathize with. He resents and fears the fact that he can’t control his magical outbursts sometimes, and if he were to realize she had the same issues, as was as powerful, if not MORE SO, than him, he would realize the following:
A
B
Idk what do you guys think? I think it’s an interesting thought exercise to think about.
Just a stream of consciousness type thought, but considering what we know about Tamlin from Book 1, i genuinely think that if he had not walked away and had seen what happened to Feyre when he shielded her in the house, he would have immediately taken the shield down and done something about it.
Why? Because he would have seen himself in her. His magical outbursts are very similar to that and that would have been something that he could empathize with. He resents and fears the fact that he can’t control his magical outbursts sometimes, and if he were to realize she had the same issues, as was as powerful, if not MORE SO, than him, he would realize the following:
A
B
g her
Idk what do you guys think? I think it’s an interesting thought exercise to think about.
I just finished the first chapter with Tamlin in it and just Fck RHYSAND Fck EVERYONE
FYM “THIS IS TAMLINS OWN FAULT” RHYSAND?!?!?!?!
EVERY SINGLE SITUATION THAT LED TO THIS WAS LITERALLY MANUFACTURED BY FEYRE
HIS PEOPLE LOVED HIM
HIS PEOPLE WERE WILLING TO DIE FOR HIM
THEY LEFT HIM BECAUSE OF A SINGULAR INSTANCE OF REACTIVE ABUSE BY FEYRE AND THEN ALSO THE OTHER LITERALLY TWO THINGS ONE OF WHICH WAS A FALSELY IMPLANTED MEMORY THAT WASNT EVEN REAL!!!!
Rhysand is a fcking prick who is not doing the “tough love” thing he did for Feyre HE IS JUST BEING HORRIBLE BECAUSE HE CAN AND KNOWS HE CAN GET AWAY WITH IT!!!! UGH!!!!
Tamlin has gone through SO MUCH it’s not even funny:
- Was sexually harassed from a very young age by Amarantha
- He had to send his closest men to their deaths just to have a chance at the curse being broken, and had to handle them BEGGING to do so bc they loved him so much
- His family was killed and even though he didn’t like 3/4 of them, he still was thrown into the role of High Lord with little to no formal education on the subject bc he avoided it bc he NEVER EVEN WANTED TO BE HIGH LORD
- Had to learn to be High Lord WITHOUT any kind of formal guidance except from someone YOUNGER THAN HIM!!!! (Rhys had his IC to help him, and Amren!!!!)
- Had to see that his best friend was scarred and lost his eye bc he tried to negotiate for his sake
- Dared to trust Amarantha despite knowing that she was up to no good, TWICE, and the first time he lost his power and the second time he got his entire Court cursed!!!!
- Fell in love with someone and was forced to let her go for her own sake
- Had to watch Feyre be tortured during the trials and could do nothing to stop it
- Had to watch Feyre be beaten by Amarantha and he didn’t have the strength to stop it until Feyre LITERALLY DIED
- HAD TO WATCH FEYRE DIE
I can’t even, and this is only what I REMEMBER
Edited bc Tamlin and Rhys both have it bad and it is not fair to compare traumas
Rhysand was Amarantha’s arm candy and wh*re up until Tamlin failed to break his curse and is dragged UTM to take Rhysand’s place, because Tamlin was who Amarantha really wanted after all.
And you know what Rhysand did? Fresh off that trauma? This MOTHER EFFER! DOES BASICALLY THE EXACT SAME THING TO FEYRE. HE MAKES HER DANCE FOR HIM. Practically naked. in front of SO MANY PEOPLE. And because of the faerie wine and the fact that he can reset the paint SHE HAS NO IDEA WHERE HE COULD HAVE TOUCHED HER.
It doesn’t matter that the faerie wine “lessened the blow” by making Feyre forget what happened. What matters is that in order to stick it to Amarantha, to rub it in Tamlin’s face just to hurt him, Rhysand subjected Feyre to nearly the exact same trauma he went through. And he already mentions in book 2 he was jealous when Tamlin kissed her and that’s why Rhysand forcibly kissed her too. If he did that when Feyre was conscious, God knows what Rhysand did when she wasn’t.
Faeries can lie, and I don’t believe Rhysand’s explanation for it in book 2. The precedent that this sets, fictional or not, is horrific. I cannot understand how a male lead who did this to FMC ultimately ends up getting the girl. It makes no sense to me and it genuinely upsets me. No woman in her right mind would even FORGIVE a man for what Rhysand did to her, much less FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM!
Okay, I started out OUTRAGED by the library scene and then outraged AGAIN by Feysand having sex in the tent on the battlefield. And also the random ass weird awkwardness between them that is quickly resolved and the weird casual make outs during serious conversations while they’re in Velaris.
HOWEVER, after finishing the book… those were just speed bumps and most of the book is actually pretty dang solid! I loved the plot (holes and all—tf was up with the Weaver dying so easily like HELLO????), the prose is amazing and the characters, I adore the characters (except for Mor—sorry Mor fans she’s just so MESSY!!!!!) ESPECIALLY NESSIAN
However one plot thing I cannot get over, speaking of Nessian, is Cassian suddenly shrugging off Nesta when Nesta is bandaging his wrist when it’s sprained when Mor comes in.
LIKE!!!! DUDE!!!! YOUR MATE IS TOUCHING YOU, VOLUNTARILY, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!! (Well outside of the hug in the library when the Ravens came but that was under extreme duress she was fricking terrified) WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!
It just seems so out of character for the way Cassian has been acting most of the book!
But anyway overall, I really liked the book :))))
Edit: edited a typo
(Apologies if this is a bit disjointed, this is very train of thought).
Feyre told Tamlin she was drowning. That everything he was doing to try to take care of her, was smothering her.
And Tamlin’s response to trauma and negative emotions is to avoid them, to try and keep going because he can’t afford to stop and sit with them lest it break him entirely.
We can’t see into Tamlin’s head, but considering how protective he is of Feyre I doubt he didn’t notice how she was wasting away like she was. I think he did notice, but didn’t acknowledge it the same as he didn’t acknowledge her nightmares because he thought she wasn’t ready to talk about it (as she turned him down twice already when he asked if she wanted to talk about what happened UTM).
Is he in the wrong for not DOING anything about the fact she was wasting away in the Spring Court? ABSOLUTELY. But the point still stands.
Anyway, this man is trying his best to keep a very vulnerable court together. He was right about needing a united front and when people compare the Night Court and Spring Court when it comes to needing to present a united front, I can’t help but laugh because the contexts are entirely different. The Night Court is strong, has a large army and fortified/hidden cities. Rhysand has the people’s loyalty (and fear, in terms of the Hewn City).
Tamlin also has (had) loyalty from his men and love from the villagers, but the fact that the Spring Court had it far worse than the Night Court under Amarantha means that it’s far more fragile and still needs to recover. As is proven by the fact that it really did not take much to break it, meaning Tamlin was in fact correct about needing to present a united front.
So Tamlin is clearly super stressed out by all of this going on behind the scenes, to the point where he can’t even focus on the wedding to the woman he loves either! And then when Feyre finally snaps at him and is like “I feel like I’m drowning” he is confronted with the fact that the one thing in his life that’s meant to be constant, stable, he’s failing HER, too, despite putting his all into keeping her safe, which is what she’d needed before! And I think that’s what sends him over the edge.
Again, not justifying it, I just think it’s an interesting theory as to WHY the explosion happened
(Apologies if this is a bit disjointed, this is very train of thought).
Feyre told Tamlin she was drowning. That everything he was doing to try to take care of her, was smothering her.
And Tamlin’s response to trauma and negative emotions is to avoid them, to try and keep going because he can’t afford to stop and sit with them lest it break him entirely.
We can’t see into Tamlin’s head, but considering how protective he is of Feyre I doubt he didn’t notice how she was wasting away like she was. I think he did notice, but didn’t acknowledge it the same as he didn’t acknowledge her nightmares because he thought she wasn’t ready to talk about it (as she turned him down twice already when he asked if she wanted to talk about what happened UTM).
Is he in the wrong for not DOING anything about the fact she was wasting away in the Spring Court? ABSOLUTELY. But the point still stands.
Anyway, this man is trying his best to keep a very vulnerable court together. He was right about needing a united front and when people compare the Night Court and Spring Court when it comes to needing to present a united front, I can’t help but laugh because the contexts are entirely different. The Night Court is strong, has a large army and fortified/hidden cities. Rhysand has the people’s loyalty (and fear, in terms of the Hewn City).
Tamlin also has (had) loyalty from his men and love from the villagers, but the fact that the Spring Court had it far worse than the Night Court under Amarantha means that it’s far more fragile and still needs to recover. As is proven by the fact that it really did not take much to break it, meaning Tamlin was in fact correct about needing to present a united front.
So Tamlin is clearly super stressed out by all of this going on behind the scenes, to the point where he can’t even focus on the wedding to the woman he loves either! And then when Feyre finally snaps at him and is like “I feel like I’m drowning” he is confronted with the fact that the one thing in his life that’s meant to be constant, stable, he’s failing HER, too, despite putting his all into keeping her safe, which is what she’d needed before! And I think that’s what sends him over the edge.
Again, not justifying it, I just think it’s an interesting theory as to WHY the explosion happened.
So I’m still reading ACOWAR/listening to the graphic audio and I was unfortunately spoiled for the fact that Nesta is Cassian’s mate but oh my god it’s so FUN reading ACOWAR with that context because it is SO CLEAR that she is his mate lmao!!!!
This man cannot be subtle to save his LIFE! The Bonecarver, when Nesta considered joining them for training, when Cassian stepped in front of her in case Amren lost her shit…. Not to mention all the longing looks he casts her way 🥺🥺🥺🥺
Seriously tho Nesta HAS to realize, right? She’s definitely not stupid at all and she sees how Lucien acts around Elain, surely she sees that in how Cassian acts????
See this is why Cassian is my favorite, not to mention his VA does an excellent job! I can’t wait to get to Nessian’s book!!!!
We really don’t know a lot about Tamlin’s inner world and I’d love to give writing it a shot and including scenes that are missed and I think are needed for the ACOTAR series for Tamlin to show what he was going through the whole time as well.
I saw a comment recently that if ACOTAR was from Tamlin’s POV or included Tamlin’s POV then he would be the fandom’s darling, and I completely agree!!!!
Edit bc I forgot: Also would anyone want to read this if it doesn’t already exist and/or want to be a beta reader :)))) (I want to make sure he is as in character as humanly possible)
First of all:
The Feysand reunion? Completely unsatisfying for me. Feyre asks if Rhysand wants her to debrief since she’s been in the Spring Court for over a month.
Rhysand replies “I have other things I want to do first.” Romantic asf, contrasting him directly with Tamlin since Tamlin interrogated her both times after she returned from the Night Court and denied her intimacy until that was achieved! UNTIL RHYSAND DECIDES TO INSERT THE DEBRIEFING INTO THEIR REUNION MAKEOUT. HELLO???? That completely ruins the contrast for me. It’s just that but with spice. For someone who was apparently panicked every single second Feyre was gone, this is such an odd writing choice to take away from the emotions of their reunion just to add more stuff we ALREADY KNOW!!!!
And then from there we have: the weird ass tension between them when Feyre thinks she undermined Rhysand in Amren’s Loft when Feyre snaps at him but when they finally decide to communicate everything is fine, actually, which made it a non-issue and a waste of time and page space!! And then during MORE serious conversations such as when they are discussing serious war stuff while they are walking in Velaris but also talking about how Feyre healed, they’re continually making out and then they make out IN THE LIBRARY!!!! FULL OF SA VICTIMS!!!!
I don’t know it just feels like SJM was suddenly given a quota of spicy scenes she was supposed to meet and she’s just shoehorning them into the plot in places they don’t belong!!
OH AND THEN RHYSAND DECIDES TO GUILT TRIP FEYRE FOR BEING UPSET THAT HE IS CLEARLY PLANNING ON SACRIFICING HIMSELF IF IT COMES DOWN TO IT! SIR SHE IS YOUR MATE SHE IS ALLOWED TO BE UPSET FYM
(I haven’t finished ACOWAR yet I stopped at the library scene but like JEEZ.)
I just got to the part where Feyre and Rhysand go to the underground library with EXCLUSIVELY SA VICTIMS that you have to GET PERMISSION TO GO INTO!!!!
WHAT DO YOU MEAN RHYSAND STARTS GROPING FEYRE WHERE LITERALLY ANYONE COULD WALK IN.
I WAS LISTENING TO THE DRAMATIZED VERSION AND I CANNOT EVEN!!!! THIS IS SO DISRESPECTFUL AND GROSS I CANT EVEN!!!!
Like just…. Rhysand is SOOOO BENEVOLENT (/s) and he made this library for these poor females and then he desecrates that same space BC HES WITH HIS MATE. DUDE!!!! WHAT. THE. FRICK!!!!
Canon divergent after ACOFAS!
So basically, with the Wall gone after the war with Hybern, a young female human child (age like 6) whose village is near the wall (tbh it could be Feyre’s village) persistently keeps wandering into the Spring Court’s woods to “explore.”
Tamlin is irritated by this because someone is encroaching on his territory, and follows her in his beast form from afar to “plan to scare her off” (make sure she’s safe, but he’d never admit that).
Then a Puca finds her, and starts to lure her but Tamlin can’t help it, he has to intervene.
The girl isn’t scared of him, somehow, and he tells her to go home before running away from her bc he doesn’t want to corrupt her, too.
She keeps coming back, and he’s irritated by it, and very wary bc of her innocence so he keeps his distance for quite a while, but also somehow having something to protect, helps him. He can’t really wallow anymore if he has to keep her from wandering into trouble.
Eventually he’ll shift back and they’ll have a father-daughter type relationship, and Rhys will become involved bc I mean come on, he will never think that Tamlin is fit to be caring for ANYONE (which is fair but also Tamlin will have healed by that point to an extent but Rhys will refuse to see it). So Rhys will try to take the kid away. Thats all the plot I have so far. The healing arc would be very slow (to be accurate, since yes this gives Hallmark movie but instant healing isn’t any fun to read, angst must be involved!).
Basically it’s a healing-centered Tamlin fanfic that will also maybe involve Feysand at some point. And there will be angst, and I’m going to try and keep Tamlin as in character as possible. What do you guys think? Would you want to read it?