#also disclaimer I am not the most knowledgeable person in the world about punk ideoIogy

[bookwyrminspiration]

Please please please share any and all thoughts you have about Tam being punk. Punk!Tam is a favorite headcanon of mine, and I would love to hear more about your thoughts on him.

-⚙️

(P.S. You have mentioned a few times that you do not enjoy emojis. I wanted to let you know that if you would prefer it, I am willing to change my signature to something else that is not an emoji.)

Oh where to even begin! He and the person most important to him are victims of their system, of course that manifests as a distrust of said system and the functioning of their world. He's directly experienced is atrocities and is disillusioned, his very existence is a politicized. Of course there's the necessary distinction here that punk ideology/culture as we know it in our world is in response to our world's problems (capitalism, consumerism, our particular inequalities, etc.), so the punk ideology Tam would focus on would be separate, focusing on his world's problems. The twin discrimination, shade stigma, talentless marginalization, etc.

I do think that Tam, if given the choice, would rather just disappear with the people important to him and go do their own thing instead of confront the system head on. Perhaps some sort of anarchist society/situation where people do their own thing, though getting into the specifics of what that would mean is beyond the scope of this ask. However, that's not currently an option for him (no society in place, people he cares about want to stay and fight), so he's fighting because that's his best option.

Related, a detail I can't get out of my mind is the blanket mentioned in Neverseen when Sophie first meets the twins, which is described as "patched together from the craziest bits of fabric" (p. 451); the execution and concept reminds me of punk fashion. Of using what you can find/have available, patching things together and creating something usable and beautiful in its salvaging that would've otherwise been abandoned. The skills needed to make that blanket would translate perfectly into appearance and altering/decorating clothing.

There's so many avenues and specifics to explore with this concept, but to summarize: being punk is largely ideological and being against oppressive, harmful, exploitative systems of government and ruling (of course that definition can be argued, I'm working on the fly here), and Tam is, by nature of his place in society and his experiences, disillusioned and against an oppressive, harmful, exploitative system of government. The issues faced by us and by him may be different, but the sentiment is shared. Tam being punk is not at all a long stretch.