#they could have gone with Laurel being a mere chemistry teacher

[alaskanna]

Who else has noticed the similarities of Tyler Gaulpin to Tam Lin?

(I wrote this post last year, and decided to repost it because it’s Halloween week, and I’ve been thinking about it again. I also added more to it :)

Honestly, it does appear that the character of Tyler and some of Season 1 was inspired by Tam Lin. Even their names begin and end the same way, just the middle is different. I know at least one other Tumblr poster has, because I saw their comment on another post, and then I was like ‘oh yeah, how did miss this’.* 😆Because if we have a Tam Lin, then we need a Queen of Fairies to be controlling him, and then who is getting sacrificed as the fairy tithe to Hell on Halloween night?

For those of you who are not familiar, Tam Lin is a ballad from the Scottish Borders that predates the 18th century. In most versions, he is a young mortal man who was kidnapped by the Queen of Fairies and guards the Carterhaugh Woods at her command, and any young woman who is caught going that way must pay a toll of either a ring, a green mantle, or her maidenhead. (Good thing that one of the first things we learn about Tyler in Ep 1 is that he can’t be bought!) Tam Lin does get rescued by a woman, but you will have to read the ballad to find out what happens!

Here is Child’s 39A communicated by poet Robert Burns in 1792, one of the most famous versions from a really awesome website:

It is in Scots dialect, so here is the ‘meta’ version from the same site:

And here is my very favorite music version by English folk rock band Steeleye Span:

Here is a list of other coincidences that I noticed:

Tyler’s ex friend’s name is Carter, and while it’s a common name, the woods that Tam Lin guards is named Carterhaugh (this is a real wood in the Scottish Borders).

Cobham Woods sounds suspiciously similar Carterhaugh Woods (this doesn’t appear to be a real place in Vermont).

Rowan Laslow; Rowan is also a common name, and the rowan tree (or mountain ash) was widely considered to have magical properties. The last part of the ballad is the faerie queens lament, from the modern English meta version on the site:

“If I had know, Tam Lin," she says
"that you were up to no good
I'd have taken out your green eyes
and put in eyes of wood."

“If I had known, Tam Lin," she says
"you would have always been alone!
For I'd have taken out your mortal heart
And put in a heart of stone."

But in one of the most famous modern versions from Steeleye Span, the official lyric reads ‘put to a rowan tree’. I haven’t seen any traditional versions that use it, so this coincidence is definitely a reach.