A Court Of Thorns & Roses’ Diabolical Spring Court Theory Would Totally Make Up For One Lackluster Character Arc

Fans have long been known to come up with some tantalizing theories concerning Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses, but one, in particular, would completely upend what has lately been a lackluster character arc. The A Court of Thorns and Roses book series kicks off with the initial Beauty and the Beast-inspired storyline, where human Feyre Archeron is taken as a guest/prisoner to Fae High Lord Tamlin’s court as punishment for killing a faerie. However, like all of Sarah J. Maas’ best books, we are taken on some shocking twists and turns concerning the relationships.

Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship quickly turns possessive and abusive in the second book, and following her fleeing the Spring Court for her own health, the series becomes about her romance with Rhysand and her coming into her own as the powerful High Lady of the Night Court. Tamlin, meanwhile, only gets worse in his complete disregard for Feyre’s wishes and then insults for supposed selfishness when he is forced to accept that she did leave of her own free will. Tamlin’s arc tapers off after this, but one fascinating theory proposes another interesting twist in the next ACOTAR book.

Diabolical ACOTAR Theory Would Totally Change Things For The Spring Court & Tamlin

Is The Spring Court As We Last Saw It A Lie?

Tamlin has something of a redemptive moment in A Court of Wings and Ruin where he helps save Rhys’ life and wishes Feyre happiness. However, after this, it seems like Tamlin lost the drive of being mad at Feyre and blaming her disloyalty for his unhappiness, and was left to stew in the consequences of his own actions. When other characters are forced to go out to the Spring Court, he is apparently living cut off from everyone, making no attempt to govern his people, letting the estate and court fall into disrepair, and wandering around in his beast form.

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However, a theory discussed on Reddit proposes that Tamlin is using his power to only make it look like this is the state of the Spring Court. In the first book, he glamours the staff at his manor to appear as more human to Feyre, and could now be hiding a much stronger court than what the rest of Prythian sees. Much of the Spring Court had turned on Tamlin because of his mistreatment of Feyre, but if he managed to explain how she manipulated them all, to some extent, he could be rebuilding a loyal base.

Why Tamlin Could Be Hiding The True State Of His Court From The Rest Of Prythian

Tamlin Could Be Taking A Page From Rhys’ Book & Preparing For The Worst

Barring whether his power would actually work on characters like Rhys and Nesta, this could be a smart move for Tamlin. Fans are largely discussing this being a strategy to deal with relations with the neighboring Autumn Court. Things have long been tense between them and Tamlin since he took in Lucien, the disowned son of the Autumn High Lord Beron. If Beron tried to invade Spring and install one of his own sons as High Lord, as Tamlin has no heir, he could be taken completely by surprise.

Which calls into question what part Lucien has in this plan. Tamlin has seemingly cut Lucien off too, but maybe doing this to protect his friend, or Lucien is just playing his part to make Tamlin seem even weaker. On the other hand, the Night Court has proven its power and is gaining more support and alliances in Prythian, and Tamlin could be attempting to use their own tactics against them. Regardless of where things stand with Feyre, Tamlin certainly doesn’t want to bow to Rhys as the High King.

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Yet if this is destined to happen, he could be creating a haven like Velaris, completely hidden from the other rulers of Prythian, as Rhys’ family did for thousands of years with the Night Court city. It might not mean he necessarily has immediate plans to launch a war against the Night Court, but it allows him some power outside their rule. If anything, Tamlin has probably learned from Rhys the value of having such a location that no one else knows about, even if he doesn’t yet know exactly how it will help him.

This Court Of Thorns & Roses Theory Would Make Up For Tamlin’s Arc In Recent Books

This Would At Least Be An Interesting Development In Tamlin’s Story

Most importantly, this revelation would revitalize Tamlin’s arc. Tamlin is still a largely unpopular character, and rightfully so given his abuse of Feyre. But at this point, the series seems unable to commit to a risky redemption arc for him or allow him to be the villain. He is just sitting around feeling sorry for himself, confusing readers on whether they are supposed to feel sorry for him too.

Crafting such a complicated plan, whether to protect his people or only to further his own power, would make Tamlin relevant again. Readers can either hate him as a much more complex villain who learns from his mistakes but still believes he was wronged, or Maas can start putting in the work on what will be a very difficult redemption arc. Tamlin has started to feel like a dead weight for A Court of Thorns and Roses, and a plot twist like this could be a boon for the series overall.

Source: Reddit

A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015)

Publisher(s)

Bloomsbury Publishing

Publication Date

2015-05-05

ISBN#

9781619634442