Tamlin and his brothers
This is an analysis of Tamlin's relationship with his lost brothers. For Day 1- Prompt: Heir of Spring
Tamlin's brothers are two unnamed characters that we see very little of, but here is what we know from mentions of them.
Both of them are older than Tamlin.
They are cruel and belittling towards him, in a similar manner the Vanserra brothers are cruel towards Lucien.
Both of them wanted for the throne, enough that Tamlin knew if he took on the High lord's power, they would kill him.
They went along with their father to kill Rhysand's sister and mother. In revenge, Rhysand melted both their brains in their skulls.
That is about all we know of them, and they are never otherwise mentioned.
It is very interesting when we talk about these two characters, for simplicity I will refer to them as the names I gave them in my fiction A Court of Song and Desolation, Baile (the eldest) and Aletris (the middle).
When the reader thinks of Baile and Aletris it is a never in a good light. In the first book it is because it is implied they were cruel towards Tamlin, and in the following book it is because they helped in murdering Rhysand's family.
What I think is an important detail in this respect is that Baile and Aletris never have any specific abusive/cruel act tied to them. Everything they do is an extension of their father, whom I will refer to as Elvin (also from my fiction).
Elvin is the one who was said to be worse than Beron himself, whom we know actively tortures his eldest child. Elvin is the one who is specifically said to have abused Tamlin, taken him and introduced him to Amarantha, and was the one who orchestrated the killing of Rhysand's family.
Baile and Aletris are only said to have been complicit in the abuse and murders. They weren't the ones who started it.
We also know that Tamlin was favored by his mother, and in Lucien's case, we know that favoritism from his mother caused Lucien's brothers to resent him. The same can be said for Tamlin.
As the youngest and their mother's favorite. There was some subconscious resentment towards Tamlin already, which would have fueled their dislike for him.
So, now to what you're probably thinking. Chaotic, why are you listing all this about two unnamed characters who are spoken of like twice in the books?
Because I believe that Tamlin's relationship with his brothers runs deeper than what we are led to believe it is.
(Too note, I do not believe SJM will actually plan anything out in regards to Tamlin's past relationships, these are my personal theories)
Tamlin ran for the War Camps the second he could to escape his abusive situation. As the youngest and the third spare son, he has more freedom than that of his elder brothers. As they are more likely to inherit the throne. Especially Baile, as the eldest.
Like we know with Eris, he is willing to put on a mask of pure cruelty, even to Lucien whom we know he has a weak spot for.
I think it is similar with Baile, and Aletris.
We don't know what happened in the Spring Court manor when Tamlin wasn't present, we barely know what happens when he is there.
We don't know if Elvin tortured Baile and Aletris. We do know he mistreated his wife and abused all his sons. Possibly Baile the worst, as the eldest of Spring.
Which leads me to wonder if their relationship was always so cruel. Could it possibly have been tender but soured with time? Did Baile and Aletris actually want to go with Elvin to kill Rhysand's family, or were they forced too? Was their cruelty for their own sadistic pleasure or out of built up trauma and eventually blowing up?
Imagine, times when Tamlin was a small child and Baile letting him try to put on his armor and barely being able to pick up the breastplate. Baile putting his helmet on Tamlin's head and Tamlin falling over from the weight of it, laughing.
Times where Aletris taught Tamlin to climb trees effortlessly. Knowing where to put his foot and how to pull himself up. Showing him how to get up to the secret treehouses he and Baile built when they were younger.
Times where Elvin was on a rage, and Baile, Aletris, Tamlin and their mother hid in a closet, trying to wait for the storm to calm. Baile and Aletris exchanging stupid jokes and made-up funny stories to make their little brother laugh and cheer up their mother.
Times where Aletris and Baile taught Tamlin sword fighting, how to hone his fighting abilities and how to tame the feral beast he had. How to use his wild side to his advantage.
Times where Baile ruffled Tamlin's hair and called him "Feral kid.
Times where Aletris picked up and threw Tamlin over his shoulder whenever he came back from the war camps to prove he could still pick him up like when he was a baby.
Times when they would all sit on the rooftop and watch the stars, dreaming of a time when none of them had the responsibilities they had, and simply lived as peasants tending to their own personal lives.
Times when tenderness abounded, and they still had softness between them.
Before it was choked out by times when Baile would snap and rage like their father, and Tamlin would hide.
By times, when Aletris would throw things and they would shatter and cut his youngest brother.
By times when they would make fun of him relentlessly until he was sobbing. Insulting everything about him until he broke.
By times when their father beat him and they did nothing but watch with cruel laughing eyes.
By times that were bitter and cold and hateful, that overshadowed the good times they once had.
I think Tamlin and his brothers have a deep, complicated relationship. I think it would be reflected in his grieving, from going from hating them so ruthlessly and glad that they are dead.
To seeing their names engraved into the trunks of trees and breaking down into sobs about their death.
To seeing the scars still their from their abuse.
To seeing the armor that Baile left him.
To remembering the hateful words that he still carries.
To remembering the stories Baile and Aletris made up in that closet.
Their story is messy, frustrating, miserable. It's also tender, comforting and warm.
It will never get closure, because they died before Tamlin could even try to reconcile with them. The chapter will never close and Tamlin will always be left with the grief of losing his siblings.
The blood of the covenant may run thicker than the water of the womb. But nothing will ever feel the aching emptiness of Tamlin's lost sibling love.
@tamlinweek
44 notes
·
View notes
I hate when people dismiss the Phoebe thing as Scully simply having been jealous. She was his best friend first, and she did what any good friend would have
yeah it's pretty reductive, honestly. scully has been very protective of mulder since the pilot; the first 3 episodes of the show are literally her committing to him, holding a man hostage at gunpoint to find him, and cutting ties with her friends who make fun of him.
this was largely her arc in squeeze, after only having known him for a couple of weeks, as she defends him to colton multiple times
and, in the end, concludes that she would rather be “on the side of the victim” with mulder than climb the ladder with her classmates, and tells colton to fuck off the next time he’s rude about her partner
in ghost in the machine, she's disapproving of jerry from the moment they meet, knowing literally nothing about him except that he used to work with mulder
and she instantly recognizes the profile that jerry presents as mulder's work, whispering to him to ask if that's his, to which he replies "forget it, no" and then later fibs and says that jerry apologized for stealing it (once you tell your best friend you can't go back lol)
all of these examples pre-date her behavior in fire, and are episodes where she's put in situations navigating mulder around other men
y'all remember the first time she met krycek and just flat out refused to shake his hand lmao
i touched on this a little bit in my post on fire, but scully really was just so enthralled by him from the very beginning. she grew up on a military base with her navy captain father and two brothers, and her only relationships have been with older men in power.
she instantly is so aligned with mulder and that there's something different in him than she's used to, but she's aware that the openness and softness that she's so drawn to in him makes him more vulnerable, and she's desperate to protect it
in beyond the sea, the very next episode after fire, she screams at boggs that if mulder dies she'll gas him into hell herself, and boggs tells her that he's tasted the afterlife.
that it's a cold and dark place, and mulder's looking in on it now. she replies, "it might be a cold dark place for you, but it's not for mulder"
she knows him, and she's so moved by him and what he wants to do in the world. these are the values that she left medicine to follow.
"jealousy" honestly doesn't even compare to the kind of ferocious protectiveness that she feels towards him from the very start, she really doesn't trust anyone around him for anything. they can't possibly get it like she does, if they treat him that way.
he may not care if people call him names or steal from him or try to make him walk through fire, but he really is just her best friend. and she can't stand it.
122 notes
·
View notes
“shouldn't it be when you're at your worst, they're at their worst, you have every reason to give up, and you still decide you want to try again?”
[image description: six large gifs of evan buckley and eddie diaz from various episodes of season 5 of 9-1-1.
gif 1: from season 5 episode 4. out on his balcony, buck sits and looks at eddie (offscreen) as eddie says, “you’re the guy who likes to fix things. but maybe this isn’t something you can fix.”
gif 2: from season 5 episode 11. standing in his kitchen, eddie tells buck, “buck, you need to move on.”
gif 3: from season 5 episode 13. offscreen, buck asks, “okay. well, what are you afraid of?” eddie answers, “that i’m never gonna feel normal again.” his face is red and wet with tears.
gif 4: from season 5 episode 14. eddie walks into his dining room, where buck is packing away christopher’s school supplies. buck looks up at him and smiles as he enters.
gif 5: from season 5 episode 14. at the equestrian center, eddie breaks into a small smile as he watches charlie.
gif 6: from season 5 episode 18. buck and eddie work on repairing eddie’s bedroom wall. buck says, “yeah, yeah, i know. i’m the guy that always wants to fix everything.” the camera shifts from buck to eddie as eddie argues, “hey, comes in handy when you have a bunch of holes in your wall.”
/end ID]
479 notes
·
View notes