#AND EMMA IS A CARSTAIRS TOO

[jemsbitch]

Emma carstairs and Julian blackthorn are just tessa and Jem in another font while jace and clary is Tessa and Will but y’all aren’t ready for this conversation yet

[clockwork-carstairs]

the dark artifices has so many moments that just floor me. when diana opens up to gwyn and he tells her she’s the bravest woman he’s ever met and gently asks, Can I hold you? when kieran feels betrayed and mark kneels in front of him to ask for forgiveness and tells him I love you, I wish you could believe me. when julian says to emma “I’ll love you if I never touch you” and emma thinks, I love you more than starlight. kieran telling mark “you are all that exists on the earth and under the sky that I do love.” julian telling dru that “you’re the heart of this family”. ty and kit being each other’s reasons to stay. livvy’s protectiveness over ty; livvy telling julian she wants to be like him. kierarktina dancing together and all being stunned after. there is just such fierce and fragile love in this series in so many different forms, i’m so soft for all of them

[threewaywithdelusion]

Can we talk about how tightly written the themes are in Lady Midnight?

~~~ SPOILERS ~~~~

Malcolm is the perfect villain for Emma and Julian, because he’s a foil to both of them. When we meet Emma, she is entirely devoted to finding her parents’ killer and getting revenge. The only thing keeping her grounded is the relationships she has with Julian, the kids, and Cristina. She has her Wall of Crazy and multiple times considers placing her need for revenge above other considerations (investigating faerie deaths being illegal, the fact that she could endanger Julian’s attempts to get Mark back, etc).

Malcolm is Emma in another world. Emma where revenge became her be-all end-all. Her dark mirror.

Malcolm is also a foil to Julian. He’s a liar and a ruthless man who will do anything for the one he loves. Once the Blackthorns discover the murders are caused by someone trying to bring their love back from the dead, Julian immediately feels kinship with the killer. He says that if it were Emma who was dead, he would do the same. Julian isn’t driven by revenge the way Emma is, but his loyalty is just as dangerous. Julian is also playing a part the way Malcolm is — pretending that Uncle Arthur is running the Institute — but unlike Malcolm, he has not become completely severed from his true self. Not yet.

So both Emma and Julian can see the worst parts of themselves in Malcolm and both can empathize with his motivations. And that’s before we throw the forbidden love thing into the mix. In the first book, neither Emma nor Julian know about the parabatai curse. They both think their love is only forbidden by law, the way Annabel Blackthorn’s love for a downworlder was forbidden by law. Julian keeps thinking this for another whole book.

More than any of the other series, the Dark Artifices is about the interaction of love and law and government. About Aline choosing to be exiled with Helen and Mark’s relationship with a faerie prince and a Shadowhunter girl (being forced to choose whether he is a Shadowhunter or a faerie and eventually picking both). But especially with Emma and Julian, their story — their fear of discovery, the way they know their relationship is taboo, the close childhood friendship that became love — parallels Malcolm’s story almost exactly.

He is a warning of who they can become if they lose each other, and simultaneously a warning of who they become if they cleave to each other too tightly and put their love above all.

[wikitpowers]

kit herondale’s instagram posts ->

[inkedbydave]

[marrr444]

...and into the depths of her brain it went, never to be thought again

(even though if it hadn't it would have probably saved them some trouble...)

[garvalhaminho]

the carstairs family when the buselevators family walks in:

[witchlingcirce]

Emma is the type of person to have a yellow iPhone because it reminds her of Cortana

[helenofblackthorns]

my toxic trait is knowing & understanding how cousin naming conventions work (I just read an old ask where CC said Jem & Emma are 6th cousins once removed)

[balladofbells]

This is going to stay with me forever

[threefuckencrowsinaleatherjacket]

Jsjshdsjsj I’m not saying the way Kit talks when he’s first introduced is giving cowboy but

[clockwork-carstairs]

most of the main tsc guys are pretty stressed out but lady midnight julian is like, next level. he’s running an institute without anyone knowing, raising a bunch of kids including angsty teenagers and a 7 year old, hiding literally illegal feelings for his parabatai with everything to lose if he doesn’t (and also believing she’ll never return his feelings), while also supporting mark who’s recalibrating to the human world and trying to make sure the kitchen isn’t on fire at any moment and that all the kids are fed and doing okay and protecting them from potential danger all while not even being an adult. like this poor guy. most tsc guys are stretched pretty thin but julian’s holding on to like a single thread here. he needs a break😭

[mal3ctr4sh5eva]

“And if we don’t have energy runes, we’ll have to get our energy the old fashioned way”

Mark looked puzzled. “Drugs?”

“Chocolate,” Emma said. “I brought chocolate.”

- Lord of Shadows, Cassandra Clare

[wikitpowers]

*sighs* i want what they have 🫶🏻

(they’re just too funny together istg)

[marrr444]

There are some great ship names out there but.... Blackstairs? *Chefs kiss*

[cabeswaterdrowned]

lolz at Julian opening the room to his Emma-painting room like he’s opening up a murder closet at least he’s self aware about it xd