🥒 Before there was Tamlin, there was Tam Lin. 🥒

This week, we're diving into the 500-year-old Scottish ballad

that inspired A Court of Thorns and Roses—and spoiler alert:

the parallels are EVERYWHERE.

In this episode:

✨ The original Ballad of Tam Lin—the full story

✨ Janet, the badass heroine who defies warnings

✨ Tam Lin, the cursed fairy knight held captive

✨ The Fairy Queen as the original possessive villain

✨ The trials, transformations, and rescue

✨ How Sarah J. Maas adapted the ballad for ACOTAR

✨ The parallels: Feyre/Janet, Tamlin/Tam Lin, Amarantha/Fairy Queen

✨ Where SJM stayed faithful and where she diverged

✨ The brilliant subversion—what if the rescue ISN'T the happy ending?

We're discussing:

💚 How knowing the source material changes how you read ACOTAR

💚 The folklore elements woven throughout the series

💚 Is Rhysand the TRUE Tam Lin of the story?

💚 Female agency in both the ballad and ACOTAR

💚 The fiddle (yes, we're talking about the fiddle)

💚 Why SJM made the changes she did

💚 Whether ACOMAF is a subversion or betrayal of the source

This is for the literary nerds, the folklore lovers, and

anyone who's ever wondered why Tamlin felt so... folkloric.

Turns out, it's because he IS.

FULL SPOILERS for ACOTAR series (because we can't help

ourselves when discussing the parallels).

Tell us: Did you know about the Ballad of Tam Lin? Does it

change how you see ACOTAR?

DM us @PicklePartyPod! 💚

#PickleParty #TamLin #ACOTAR #SarahJMaas #ScottishFolklore

#BookTok #Romantasy #Folklore