Tam Lin & "Grimm"

Castle of the Enchantress by Alan Lee

I'm not normally a promoter of fan fiction but I'm making an exception for this recently written story since it does two things: 1) it makes good use of the fairy tale ballad Tam Lin (a favorite of mine) and 2) shows some of the (unused) the potential of NBC's Grimm.

Although this is essentially a fairly straight forward retelling of Tam Lin (with Juliette as Janet, Nick as Tam Lin in need of rescuing, Captain Renard as the fairy queen (king?) and the ever-helpful Monroe as sidekick), I think it does a good job of showing the sorts of places these characters could go, as well as illustrating how much fun a series arc could be, especially if it too is based on a fairy tale. Also interesting is the response of other fans to this piece. It's become very popular and is being linked to from all over the place. To me that says a lot about where this show could go.

One of the main criticisms of Grimm is that it's taking far too long for any series arc and character development to take place. Juliette (the MCs girlfriend) is frustratingly under-used and obvious repercussions of Nick's actions as a "Grimm" aren't being explored much, if at all. This fan fic tackles all that while managing the keep the characters true to the show, bring together hinted at plot lines and still leave the world wide open for exploring.

I could see certain aspects of a Tam Lin device developing over a few episodes, rather than this being told hurriedly in one, though I think "Anonymous" did a nice job. I'm not assessing this for the writing quality (think quickly written first draft with fairly good pacing that hits all the important points) but more for how apt it is for the show, characters used, genre and for the fairy tale angle. In other words, there's a ton of potential here I'm finding myself wishing I'd see explored in the actual show.

By the way, this little gif below, ties in nicely with the Tam Lin angle so thought I'd add it to help provide some visuals while you're reading. :)

If you like Tam Lin, or are wishing (like me) that Grimm's Juliette would be more of a major player in Nick's double-world, then take a few minutes and have a read. It's light, fun and Monroe bantering with a capable, smart Juliette is something I'd really like to see.

You can read the whole story (posted in 4 parts) HERE. (Scroll down past the "prompt post".)

I only wish I could properly credit the author. Clearly they've hit on something with Grimm fans.

A final observation: while Once is being talked about in forums, blogs and podcasts in a speculative sense, it's Grimm that seems to be inciting fan fiction. Clearly viewers see a lot of potential in the show's premise and world of Grimm creatures and tales that just isn't being explored. I too, hope that changes, and soon.

One note re the site: Try not to get put off by the site's name. I found this fan fic by searching for recent Tam Lin additions to the web, not by looking for Grimm news or because I was previously aware of this forum. A quick look around this site turned up a lot of NSFW adult content so I feel lucky to have stumbled across this at all. Despite this, you can be reassured that the story itself is completely clean and safe for work, as are the comments to date.