#but i do love alec a lot and he's so vital to the book

[impishtubist]

Well here we are on week 6 of the TC re-read, the wait is over - Alec is here!!! I would love to hear all your thoughts on TC Alec and his place in the book 💖

Hello hello! Answering this 2 months late, as one does :)

Oh, Alec. I love him so much. I ship Ralph/Laurie, of course, but I have a soft spot for Ralph/Alec (and Ralph/Bunny, but that's another discussion).

I think it's so lovely that they're exes but still close? Ralph came to his birthday! He brought a present! He's fiercely protective of Alec and hates what Sandy puts him through!

Alec suffers so much!!!! Obviously it's very important to the plot that Ralph thinks Alec betrayed him, and that Alec doesn't challenge that accusation/belief, but omg. It pains me so much. Just use your words, Alec! Tell him the truth!!!

Agony!

And yet, even after this, Ralph is still looking out for Alec!

"You're talking to me now" and the earlier "He's not feeling half as ill as I'd like to make him" are soooo hot.

Sorry, this is turning into a Ralph manifesto. I just want to highlight how much I love that they still care about each other, even though they're no longer together. Alec looks out for Ralph, too! He doesn't want Laurie to hurt Ralph the way others have in the past.

Also, Alec "hates soft thinking on the one hand and intolerance on the other" Deacon? Delicious.

Okay, also, Ralph nearly gave up the sea for Alec. Do you know how amazing that is??? Ralph Lanyon, choosing to give up the sea for someone, before the choice is taken from him and he's forced to give it up? Sure, it didn't work out between them, but that means Alec is quite something.

AND ANOTHER THING Alec is the only person Ralph told about Odell's death (and presumably his infatuation with Odell). That definitely means something, and speaks to Alec's character (and how much Ralph cares about him).

Also, I love Alec's speech about homosexuality in chapter 8. "I'm not prepared to accept a standard which puts the whole of my emotional life on the plane of immorality" and "I'm not a criminal. I'm prepared to go to some bit of trouble, if necessary, to make that point" are great. It's just banger after banger in Bunny's rooms.

And then!!! And then!!! Alec swooping in to save the day at the very end! Rocking up in chapter 16 to metaphorically smack some sense into Laurie and straighten out the whole misunderstanding! Of course it wasn't Ralph who Andrew struck, it was Bunny, don't be a fool Laurie, and how dare you have a row with Ralph about it! Go fix this at once! Here's a pass, we'll say you've got an ill family member! He's so tired and exasperated in that chapter, and he's so done with Laurie's shit.

Your honor, I love him.

[di-daynamic]

But the Symbolism. . . (II)

This isn't exactly a continuation, more just me ranting about how amazing and perceptive Jace is.

Firstly, to add onto the previous post, another significant thing Jace gave someone was the toy soldier he gave Max. I'm fairly certain it was a relic from his own abusive childhood with Valentine, and he gave it to Max, his younger brother who - while his family certainly had its own troubles - had a happy and fairly idyllic childhood.

And Max died holding it. That's how much it meant to him.

Pretty sure I don't need to elaborate on that.

In City of Heavenly Fire, in Edom, when Simon feels the burst of pain in his chest from when Raphael was killed, Jace knew what it was instantly.

“Raphael,” Jace said finally, in a flat voice. “He’s your sire, the one whose blood made you a vampire.”

But he didn't tell. He kept it all to himself, instantly changing the subject and pretending the cause for Simon's discomfort was something else.

He knew that at this stage, Alec and Clary would absolutely fall to pieces if they thought Magnus and/or Luke and Jocelyn were dead.

And Jace cared for Magnus, if not for his own sake (though they were absolutely friends at this point) then for Alec's. We know he sought comfort from and confided in Luke in the past.

He kept this knowledge to himself. How much agony do you think this must have caused him? Keeping such a vital thing to himself - that the people they sought to rescue could already be dead. He mustn't even have known they were alive until he got there and Sebastian mentioned they would pay for that.

And sure, maybe it was a tad unfair to the others, but I'm not focusing on that right now. Jace's need to protect the people he loves, even at the cost of their own independence, is so obvious in every action he takes, in the tiniest details spread across the books. I love this.

“Clary,” Jace said, a warning in his voice.

Jace wants to stop Clary from giving too much information about his family to Mark, in the tunnels below Faerie to Edom. Why?

Because:

"—My family? Do they know—” “What’s happened to you? A little. And no, they’re not all right.” His eyes closed.

Jace knows the pain of knowing the people you care about, the people you love, are hurt because of you, and yet even knowing that you can't do anything about it.

Jace empathizes with Mark. Clary even thinks it:

Jace didn’t answer her; he looked stunned. She wondered if Mark, brittle and orphaned and alone, reminded him somehow of himself.

Jace was brusque at the beginning, demanding to know about Mark's time with the Fair Folk, but as soon as he realizes the torture and imprisonment and hopelessness of his family being somewhere he could no longer go Mark'd gone through he became sympathetic. He gave him a witchlight, one he'd always had, the symbolism which I talked about in Part I.

It was Mark's 'I'd rather die' that spurred him on. I think that also reminded him of himself, his impassioned speech to Clary as he went back under Sebastian's control.

“They took you because you have faerie blood, but also because you have Shadowhunter blood. They want to punish the Nephilim,” Jace said, his gaze intent. “Show them what a Shadowhunter is made of; show them you aren’t afraid. You can live through this.”

Mark wanted to feel and be useful. Jace gave him a purpose, something to do. Mark saved Idris and all the Shadowhunters there. A lot more would've died if the precautions against Faeries hadn't been put in place.

Jace was a war tactician and a friend at the same time: he gave Mark hope, was kind to him, and even then ruthlessly used his sense of being lost and the same kindness to make him do something for the war effort.

I can't stress how much I love this dichotomy, and how much it reminds me of Julian (also reading City of Lost Souls Julian - the troublemaking wax melting kid, knowing how much he goes through and how much pain is waiting for him, is just awful).

I could wax poetic about how awesome Jace was in the Blackthorns' interrogation. He wasn't as outwardly biased towards them as Magnus and Clary, but he was unequivocally on their side. His arguments were the ones that convinced Robert.

He agreed with Robert at first (and God, I love Julian's thought process about him):

“He has a point.” Jace smiled at Julian and Emma, and the smile was like gold melted over steel. You could see how the softness was a disguise, and how what lay under it had won Jace the title of best Shadowhunter of his generation.

But then, immediately next switched it around. You can see the way it changes Robert. For Jace, it became personal, and if it was personal for him - he would have done the same - it would be so for Robert, his adoptive father. He goes from stern to exasperated, more willing to be pliant.

He's the one who finally convinces Robert to let Julian speak. The final masterstroke. Robert complies immediately, despite reluctance. I doubt Jace planned how the entire thing went down, but this was a clear show of his loyalty and his brilliance. We see how Jace's strategizing mind works. He remains unreadable throughout, even to Julian - master liar and manipulator.

And when he spoke to Mark later on. He tries to put Mark at ease - doesn't succeed fully, of course, but it does sort of work. He reminds him of the witchlight. And of course, he's understood that Julian is the one running the Institute. I'm guessing it's half the official correspondence he gets from running the New York Institute, and half listening to Julian spinning his tale and helping him out there, but still. He guessed something which not even Emma, the love of Julian's life knew about him. It's kind of ridiculously OP, but also really amazing.

In Lord of Shadows, when he first met Kit, Jace knew exactly what to say. We, as readers, know that Jace would love meeting his blood family and as Alec put it, wanted Kit to like him, but to KIt, he seemed simultaneously someone impressive, and someone he wanted to be far away from.

And this:

-- "You’re fifteen years old. You might think you want to die, but trust me—you don’t.”

Am I the only one whose heart is breaking from the PARALLELS? And the certainty with which Jace says it? Jace-Death-Wish-The-SIze-of-Brooklyn-Lightwood-Herondale? This is as cathartic as seeing Jace finally calling Valentine abusive in The Lost Book of the White.

The 'Herondales Can't Resist a Challenge' thing is definitely part of the reason Kit decides to stay at the Institute. There's also, of course, Ty and Livvy and revenge.

Kit felt a sudden tightness through his body. Talking to Jace earlier had eased some of the anxiety he’d felt ever since his father had died. Jace had made everything seem like maybe it would be easy. That they were still in a world where you could give things chances and see how they worked out.

(The 'I didn't hear anything' at the kids' spying antics?? Jace totally did stuff like that with Alec and Izzy when he was younger).

(Also, like he's not the one who convinced Robert to listen to Julian and then present the testimony without involving the kids. This is canon to me.)

Clary leaves Jace alone in the room with Mark, when they're asking him for advice on Faerie. Playing on his prior connection to the Blackthorn. And Jace gets Mark to cooperate within a minute, revealing some information, but not all of it.

Also, the thing with the Herondale ring. Jace got it from Clary, who got it from Tessa, right when he was beginning to accept that he was a Herondale and took the name. To me, his giving it to Kit - and through Clary no less - was an expression of hope that Kit would be able to find the home and family and love and identity he had. And maybe a subconscious subtle manipulation on the fact that Kit never knew his mother and would therefore be vulnerable to Clary, whom everyone - from Emma to Julian - seems to regard as maternal.

And the way he intimidates Kit into not selling it just cracks me up.

(I love him making sure Emma and Julian have Magnus and Alec's numbers in case they run into trouble. He absolutely recognizes the 'chaos follows me around' tendency he has in them. And that he and Clary asked Magnus to help them. I could talk about that for days.)

Just - the way Jace's sarcasm, his charm, his ability to get people to talk and manipulate them, sweet-talking, humour, superhuman fighting abilities, kindness, emotional sensitivity and perception all meld together is genuinely breathtaking. I get why some people don't like his character - but I love him.

[daincrediblegg]

2, 4, 28, 30, and 33 for the film questions!

2.Favorite director(s)?

Oh god there are so many to list and I know I’m going to forget so many but here we go- I’m also gonna include some showrunner directors in here bc honestly there are way more talented female directors making shows than there are those who make feature films and I need to give them credit for how much they inspire me too. Some of these may be painfully obvious and others not so much but here we go:

Guillermo Del Toro, Mike Flannagan, Peter Jackson, Hiyao Miyazaki, Akira Kurosawa, Orson Welles, Lily and Lana Watchowski, Todd Phillips, Wes Anderson, Robert Eggers, Bong Joon-Ho, Mel Brooks, Taika Watiti, The Coen Brothers, Jon Favreau, Terry Gilliam, Makoto Shinkai, Jim Henson, John Hughes, Chris AND Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Noah Baumbach, Sergio Leone, Jordan Peele, Ari Aster, Jonathan E. Steinburg, Sam Mendez, Kenneth Branagh, Vince Gilligan, Spike Jonze, Spike Lee, Rian Johnson, Tarsem Singh, Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, Francis Ford Coppola and begrudgingly Quentin Tarantino (bc even tho he is way overrated in the film bro community he does make some fun movies it has to be said)

4.What’s a movie you watched over and over again as a child that you still love?

Another that I remember watching a LOT is legally blonde. When I started sleeping by myself at night my parents let me keep a tiny DVD player in my room and I used to watch movies on it to go to sleep (also bc I was afraid of the dark for a long ass time) and I distinctly remember Legally Blonde was the first one that I put on every night to sleep to lmao.

28.Recommend three completely different movies.

Aight. First if you haven’t seen Top Gun Maverick you should bc it’s all practical and that’s fucking insane to do and nobody else has made a flight movie like this ever. The original looks like fucking tinker toys in comparison I mean like literally but it walked so this film could fucking SOAR so… yeah. There u go.

Next is a deep cut: Bicycle Thieves. Italian Neo-Realism at its finest (which basically means none of the “actors” in it were career actors- just normal people, and no extras either- nothing is staged it’s all 100% just footage from the real world, and also probably the best child actor I’ve ever seen playing the kid in this ever. Also this was Sergio Leone before all the spaghetti westerns and frankly I think this might be my fave film of his to trump them all).

Another deep cut but since we’re thinking about star wars and obi wan kenobi I can’t help but mention The Hidden Fortress by Akira Kurosawa. If you want to know where Star Wars comes from? Thats it. In its entirety. And Toshiro Mifune essentially plays the original Obi Wan Kenobi (and god what a perfect world that could’ve been if he had but this is a great window into that- also I think he’s a better sword fighter than Alec Guinness for sure). I might have to even re-watch again for further parallels to the Kenobi series man.

30.Favorite movie with a pet/animal as an important aspect?

I mean god where do I start. First that comes to mind is Babe bc I watched that so much as a kid it’s burned into my head now. Then I thought Okja because jesus that fucker got dark (but god damn important as a film for sure)… but fuck all that we’re gonna go with Balto because that was my fave as a kid I even had a wolf stuffie I named Balto after him so there u go.

33.Name a film you could write an entire 10+ page essay on. (If you’ve done it, what was the focus?)

Well I mean I have written many 10 page papers on many films lmao. My first was on LOTR and it was focused on Merry and Pippin but in hindsight it wasn’t the most well thought out theme or execution (but then again whose first college paper is?) but WITH that hindsight it’s really a think piece about the vitality of side characters to the movement of plot- using both the book and the films as examples to how Merry and Pippin shape the story of LOTR way more than they’re given credit for. Yes I have always been a slut for them.

Another one I wrote more recently was a comparison of horror director methodology to edgar allan poe’s essays on writing structure in which I of course used GDT and crimson peak as my prime example- given time I would’ve delved more into mike flannagan and robert eggers films and shows too as examples of the grander cinematic gothic revival, but alas, that’s a whole ass thesis and it was only a 7 page assignment and I didn’t have that kind of time. Also I did a critical analysis about the ending of Apt Pupil once that correlated the nazi imagery to the american male teenager that earned me a handshake from my professor and an A for the course but like y’know no big deal. And of course y’all know how bad down I am about midnight mass I mean Y’all have seen the meta posts that are somehow still circulating. I have so much about that series living in my head and never enough time to put it to paper lmao. In fact thats true of a lot of things I literally have so many essays in my head happening all at once and I am always looking for some kind of excuse to write it but never getting one lmao

FILM QUESTIONS

[riggerbison]

tag 9 people to learn about their interest!

tagged by @janackermns, thanks for the tag jules! 💛

MUSIC

- fav genre? i mean i will listen just about anything but i probably do lean more towards anything that would fall under rock music

- fav artist? nf

- fav song? i have a top 30 list for nf so don’t expect me to have an answer for this especially since i i have so many other songs that i love by other artists

- most listened to song lately? lost by ollie

- song currently stuck in your head? baby shark - i have heard it so much this morning

- 5 fav lyrics? “i'm checkin' my vitals they keep on workin', but i know breathin' don't mean you're alive so” (change by nf),  “inside of me's a personal canvas, the paint can be splattered get messy when i start to get rattled” (lost by nf feat. hopsin), “ ******* thoughts come and go like a guest to me but i don't wanna ***, just wanna get relief” (hate myself by nf), “my pitfalls i latch onto like a pit dog” (trust by nf feat tech n9ne), “ it's like i’m a visitor in my own skin, i can try to fight it but i'll never win” (lost by ollie)

radio or your own playlist | solo artists or bands | pop or indie | loud or silent volume | slow or fast songs | music video or lyric video | speakers or headset | riding a bus in silence or while listening to music | driving in silence or with radio on

BOOKS

- fav book genre? mystery/horror/thriller, sci-fi

-fav writer? matthew pearl

-fav book? to kill a mockingbird

- fav book series? the magicians triology

- comfort book? the three billy goats gruff (i just really love making voices for the characters 🙈)

- perfect book to read on a rainy day? the dante club

- fav characters? scout & arya stark

- 5 quotes from your favorite book?

“As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it…Whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.”

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”

“People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.”

“The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

hardcover or paperback |  buy or rent | standalone novels or book series | ebook or physical copy | read at night or during the day | reading at home or in nature | listening to music while reading or in silence | reading in order or reading the ending first | reliable or unreliable narrator | realism or fantasy | one or multiple POVS | judging by the covers or by summaries | rereading or reading just once

TV AND MOVIES

- fav tv/movies genre? comedies/ thriller/horror/scifi

- fav movie? have lots of movies i love, not sure i have a favorite

- comfort movie? the breakfast club, coco

- movie you watch every year? hocus pocus

- fav tv show? again have lots of shows i love not sure i have a favorite

- comfort tv show? leverage, psych, the office

- most rewatched tv show? leverage

- 5 fav characters? sander driesen, alec hardison, eliott demaury, carlos reyes, & yasmina ait omar

tv shows or movies | short seasons (8-13 episodes) or full seasons (22 episodes or more) | one episode a week or binging | one season or multiple seasons | one part or saga | half hour or one hour long episodes | subtitles on or off | rewatching or watching just once | downloads or watches online

tagging: @hidden-joy, @mirroroferisedx , @nellsdani, @wheelernance, @ijzerengels, @tsjernobyl, @ottelu, @nyttvera, @letisnotonfire, feel free to ignore 💛

[italianeyes]

what is Maurice about in a nutshell (or feel free to start rambling if u want)

im prob gonna start rambling but i'll try to not do that. basically it's about this guy (maurice) coming to terms with his homosexuality and the movie and book basically document the ups and downs of his love life. but the whacky thing is he has to keep mum abt everything bc it's edwardian england and having the big gay was illegal back then. and the book was written during that time too bc the author (e.m. forster) was gay but it wasnt published till after his death bc if he released a gay book where the protagonist got a happy ending people woulda roasted the fuck outta him so he finished it in 1914 and kept it under his bed i think and it wasn't published till 1971. he didnt wanna change the ending at all bc "a happy ending was imperative" which is king shiz imo bc go him i love that. if u wanna know why i love it so much ill tell u and i will try to keep this as short as possible bc i could write essays upon essays. mainly bc it has a happy ending unlike the other gay movies ive seen cough cough brokeback mountain. also it's really really reallyyyyy pretty like the aesthetic of it it's just so pleasant to watch. the acting is off the charts man like it's on point it is so so SO good you can tell what the characters are thinking at any given moment. it's got bombass soundtrack literally the best soundtrack to any movie ive ever heard i blasted it on repeat for a month straight it goes so hard. also i really love how romantic it is it's just wowie wow you know like wow wow its really romantic and makes my heart v happy. and the directing,, chef kiss emoji the shots are so pretty and there's so many parallels it's crazy like u can tell they put actual effort into making the movie. also all the actors got dat tymmy yhmmy ymmymyy yum (before they all got mustaches) and finally alec scudder bruh you really dont need any other reason to love the movie besides him. the only flaw is that there's some deleted scenes that i feel are so vital to the movie but they got cut from it which is really not epic or cash money but a lot are on yt so it's ok i just watchthem in order w the movie. i hope this helped:^) also thanks for asking i love talking about this movie and not to flex but actually yeah to flex but i watched it 12 times in 2 months and it's become a habit to watch every weekend bc it gives me so much comfort and serotonin and makes me feel like everything is gonna be ok.

[thelightofthebane]

A rainbow for you

Summary: Alec challenges himself at making a very magical gift for his husband. What could go wrong, right? Pairing: Magnus Bane/Alexander Lightwood

You can also read here: ao3

So, this is a gift for @aria-lerendeair because she deserves a lot of sweeties and much more. (°◡°♡).:｡

________________________________________

Yellow.

Joy, brightness, hope.

Petals of sunflowers to shine as the sun, of daisies and buttercups to bring the freshness of Spring, of yellow zinnia flowers for the fond memories they share since day 1.

Alec plucks them out, one by one, with utmost care and thoughtfulness. His calloused fingers brush the soft texture for a moment before ripping tiny pieces inside the wooden bowl.

Green.

Prosperity, health, resilience.

Petals of bells of Ireland for good luck, of green zinnias to brighten everything up, of green spider flowers for liveliness like the very core of his husband – even in the bad days –, of green cymbidium orchid for a little bit of naughtiness.

He smiles while crunches the petals and mixtures them with a sandalwood oil he spent the last week brooding. It was easy when your instructor was one of the smartest warlocks in the world, but like training, it could be a bit… distracting, not wanting to kiss your instructor all the time. So, he is doing everything alone now.

And because it’s a surprise for Magnus.

Purple.

Power, wisdom, creativity.

Petals of purple roses for calmness, of lavender for serenity, of violets to remember everything they had to go through to be together, of purple lily to remember that even though Magnus is the royal child of a demon, his grandioseness didn’t come from his blood, but from his heart. And, well, he would always be the king of Alec’s heart anyway.

Alec waits for the water to boil a bit more while checks a heavy book of spells. Most of it is written in some languages he doesn’t understand. Mundane ones, warlock ones. He needed to ask Madzie to translate a specific spell for him since Max is still training at the Spiral Labyrinth. The spell is relatively simple and it’s only required to add final touches to what he is creating by himself. When a spiral scent of grass and nectar tickles his nose along a silver line of smoke, he resumes his work.

Black.

Strength, mystery, uniqueness.

Petals of black pansies for all the dramatics, which is certainly another one of his husband’s traits, of black petunias to reinforce that black goes well with everything (and hell, Magnus was a living proof of that – black eyeliner, black eyeshadow, black nail polish, even black attires with all that jewels), of bat orchids because these ones in special Magnus brought from Malaysia, after a quick trip to Indonesia where they visited his husband’s homeland.

Alec stops for a moment to admire the flower. Magnus is still healing. His mother’s demise is a scar too deep to cure once for all, but he is getting better. Now he can go there for one or two days without cracking. He can put flowers inside a bamboo garden where his mother was buried centuries ago. He can pray without shattering, just wishing she is well – wherever her soul is – and not hating him anymore.

White.

Beauty, spirituality, new beginnings.

Petals of white hydrangea for unconditional devotion, of white magnolias for unconditional love, of white roses as a symbol of true love, the very one he shares with the man who is his home, his heaven, his life, his everything.

Their garden is full of these little ones. Magnus has always liked to maintain a certain variety from all over the world, but it was Alec’s request to spare a corner for just them. For someone who had spent most of his life in the shadows, wearing black, being able to see something brighter is some kind of relief. Of new perspectives. For Shadowhunters, it is a color for mourning. For him, it is the reminder of a rebirth to a better self.

Pink.

Grace, elegance, passion.

Petals of pink dahlias for kindness and commitment, of stargazers for everlasting love, of astilbes just because it’s also called false goat’s beard, thus reminding him of Magnus’ goatee.

Alec smiles fondly, tapping another book, one with flowers’ meanings. His choice of them has nothing to do with their magical properties (hence why he guaranteed they wouldn’t interfere in his project’s result), but only with their meanings. For all the colors he needs, he could just pick any flower, but he thinks it’s much more special choosing the ones who convey the best everything you feel for the one you love.

Orange.

Courage, excitement, warmth.

Petals of marigold for blissful joy, of cockscomb for silliness and laugh (and the delights of all the memories he has from non-official missions with Magnus that just proved how dumb they can be together), of ranunculus for all the charm his husband is overflowing. Like he doesn’t need an ounce of magic to make Alec feels like he is enchanted.

A weak puff of gold escapes the caldron. Almost there. He just needs to crush some more petals, cast the last binding spell and it would be done. Luckily, it would be finished before Magnus is back from one of his outside requests. That morning, he said something about Hong Kong and a problem with a warlock teenager who was trying to conjure real dragons to be her pets. And then he would go to the Veneza Institute to talk with Rafe. Their son is currently there for some internal affairs as co-Head of the New York Institute with Izzy’s eldest daughter. Alec couldn’t be more proud of his family.

Red.

Love, life, desire.

Petals of amaryllis for determination, of red tulips for timeless pure love, of red poppies for a statement that they’ve fought a lot of wars, prejudice, greater demons, and a whole society just to be together. Oh, and some petals of red roses, the ultimate symbol of love, because after thirty years of marriage Alec could be a bit sappy.

Magnus’ apothecary resembles a giant flower bed. Petals and flowers stem everywhere. Alec scratches his left brow for a moment, taking in all the mess. It wouldn’t take much to clean everything, but somehow it makes him recalls memories from when Max and Rafe were still kids, turning the loft upside down. He misses that. Perhaps he could suggest expanding their little family…

Puff.

Oh, it’s almost done!

Blue.

Serenity, inspiration, intimacy.

Petals of morning glories for the duality they represent, something both Magnus and Alec has to endure all the time as they navigate between being leaders and husbands, dark and light, demons and angels. Petals of hyacinth for trust and clematis for loyalty. And, at last, petals of blue rose. A rare one.

For immortality.

Moreover, for having the same mesmerizing beauty as Magnus’ magic.

Their magic.

Blue sparkles dances around Alec’s hands, warming them. Thanks to the enhanced and permanent Alliance Rune, he shares Magnus’ soul, power and vitality. They share a forever together.

Alec uses the magic he kick-started and pours into his creation, concluding it. Another puff and it’s finished.

A whole pot of magical and homemade glitter.

He smirks, proud of himself. It is a self-sustained glitter that replenishes by itself, can be used with anything and can turn into whatever color and exhales whichever flower fragrance the owner desires.

Just in time, he hears the opening of a portal at the loft entrance and knows that Magnus has arrived. Smiling like a mischievous kid, he puts a handful portion into a glass bowl and strides towards his husband to show him.

“Hello, darling!” Magnus smiles brightly, even though the tiredness of a lot of portal traveling has clearly worn him off.

“Hi,” Alec greets back, grinning and holding the bowl near his chest, then extending it towards Magnus. “I made this for you. My first attempt alone at breeding a substance induced by a shape-shifting spell.”

Magnus stares to all that colorful and vibrant glitter in awe. It took over a decade for Alexander asking him how to make potions, and even if in the beginning he had a lot of difficulties to get used to, his stubborn Shadowhunter was never one to give up a challenge. He isn’t a genius like Izzy, but he is smart and focused enough to hold up the game.

“Hmm…” Magnus takes a moment to appreciate his husband’s sweet gesture. The glitter has a distinct spectrum of colors more intense and brighter than the mundane one. Magnus smiles, his eyes crinkling at the corners with tenderness. “I loved it, Alexander. Thank you.”

“It has a perfume of your choice, too.”

“Oh?” Magnus approaches his face to try and smell when something tickles his nose and he sneezes.

And then there is glitter in the air, on their faces and clothes.

They stare at each other for a moment, too shocked to say or do something. They are positively sparkling more than any fairy they have ever met.

Alec is the first to come to his senses, clearing his throat as he reaches for Magnus’ face.

“Here, let me…” he trails off, not sure what to say, when Magnus squirms under his touch. Alec’s hand freezes in the air as he stares at his husband with a shocked expression. Then, he tries again, and Magnus does the same thing, though now he also giggles. “What the…”

After calming himself and organizing his thoughts, Magnus also extends a tentative hand, brushing alongside Alec’s ribs. The result is some kind of jolt and a strangled sound from his throat, as if Alec is trying to not laugh.

“Darling, did you put roses in this glitter?”

“Yes.”

“Different colors?”

“…Yes. Why?”

Magnus hums, understanding.

“Roses have strong magical power, especially the blue ones. If you mix them together, the shield spell to neutralize their mystic effects will eventually crack after some time. One of the side effects of so much flowery powder is body sensibility. To pain or…”

Alec mischievous grin returned.

“Tickles,” he lifts his hands and wiggles his fingers towards Magnus, who backs off instinctively.

“Alexander Gideon Lightwood-Bane, don’t you dare…” Magnus says cautiously, narrowing his eyes.

“Why? After all, I do have magical fingers now. Very, very magical,” he smirks, approaching his husband like a predator.

“Don’t you try this bullshit of pun with me.”

“Why?” Alec repeats, finally cornering Magnus. “I learned with the best. A medium-rare one.”

“You will never let me forget that, will you?” He gritted his teeth. “It has been 31 years, Alexander. 31!”

“Never.” Alec finally grabs Magnus and spins him around, his fingers pressing the most sensitive spots of Magnus’ body that Alec memorized with utmost pleasure. His husband squirms again, tries to run away, but end up turning into a mess of giggles and laughs.

Somehow, after some time, Magnus is able to have his sweet revenge, and both engage in a very childish fight of who can make the other laugh more, stealing breathless kisses between fingers’ attacks and teasing words.

They could wait for the spell to wear off or try to make an antidote, but for now they would enjoy the contentment of their love’s smiles and laughs.

[madcapmoon]

MacKayes are woven together, through punk rock and beyond

Alec, Amanda and Ian MacKaye, exclusive 2019 photo by Allen Beland.

By Andy  

 Sunday, March 10, 2019 With dad taking his spot, front and center at the stove, the MacKaye family dinner is a vital Sunday fixture in their schedules in the Washington, DC, area. Whipping up vegan delights, the elder MacKaye is a culinary threat as he grips onto cooking utensils instead of a microphone or guitar that his children -- Ian, Alec and Amanda -- have wielded during their time on stage with their various bands over the years. This is where the MacKayes thrive, as a family, more than they do anywhere else in their lives. "For us, the MacKayes, we all still hang out with each other," said Amanda, 49. "It wasn't temporary. A lot of people when they get to this stage of life, their siblings are far-flung or they don't really get along with their siblings or whatever. A lot of this is just part of who our family is, we have Sunday dinners, we're together. We have one sister who lives on the other side of the country, but we're all still connected. And we're all still into whatever the other one is doing. We're all still pretty interested in each other." Currently, Ian, Alec, older sister Katie and their dad Bill all live in DC; Amanda (the youngest) resides in nearby Arlington, Va.; and another older sister Susannah calls Oakland, Ca., her home. Ian said it was a treat to have Susannah back on her home turf of DC this weekend to celebrate her birthday. Ian, 56, noted that his parents were only children, so the MacKaye siblings grew up without any uncles, aunts or cousins. They learned from and inspired each other along their life paths, which eventually led them toward punk rock and embracing the idea of residing outside of the mainstream. He laughs about the MacKayes being a weird family that way. They're close-knit to the core. "We are the MacKayes. Especially our mom, she really emphasized, we are a family," said Ian of mother Ginger, who passed away in 2004. "We're fifth-generation Washingtonians. My mom was born here and it was just important to her this idea of being Washingtonian. I think we're just committed to each other. We're a family and there's times where people get steamed with each other about something, but we never have like the awkward Thanksgiving nonsense. But partially because we see each other almost every Sunday for dinner anyway." If the conversation roams toward music at the family meal, Katie can certainly chime in about taking Ian to his first concert, featuring Queen and Thin Lizzy in 1977. Ian noted that Katie always possessed cool records and was ahead of her peers in the music game. She wasn't a punk, but was a proponent of going to see live music of all sorts, including arena-rock bands and tunes with a faster bent like witnessing the Ramones with Ian in 1979. Katie still attends gigs, and aside from venturing into the music scene, she's voyaged across the country twice on her bike. She's a badass, Ian said. Alec, 52, remembers Katie toting a clutch of records back from England around Christmastime in the late '70s. Generation X, Eddie and the Hot Rods, the Damned and a 10-inch sampler featuring X-Ray Spex were soon blasting throughout the household. "The moment I heard it, I was just clocked in. It was the best thing I had ever heard," Alec said. Ian was a self-proclaimed Ted Nugent "Double Live Gonzo" devotee before latching onto punk music a few months before Alec in '79 or so, thanks to his high school friend Bert Queiroz lending him some Sex Pistols, Damned, Clash and Tuff Darts records. "I had to really get in on it and think about it 'cause I was so puzzled by the whole thing. But I gotta say, it clicked and I was like, 'Oh, I'm in, I love this stuff,'" said Ian, who remembers debating with kids in high school about whether punk sucked or not. When Ian cut his hair, he recalls rocker Alec and his friends teasing him about the new look. Soon, Ian and Alec would be a punk duo, delving into the music together, attending gigs in DC and performing in bands like the Slinkees, Teen Idles, Untouchables, Faith, Minor Threat and more. Further down the road, Embrace, Ignition and Fugazi would continue to put the MacKayes and DC on the map.

Little sister Amanda got in on the punk action as well. It wasn't just the music that spoke to the MacKayes, it was the surroundings that punk offered and a way for them to click with family and the other like-minded people they encountered. Amanda's entrance onto the scene occurred at age 9 and was captured in a classic photo of her and Katie watching the Slinkees play a garage gig in August of '79. Amanda laughs when the photo, featured in the book "Dance of Days," is mentioned. "It was like a lightning-bolt moment for me. The funniest part of the memory for me is that Kim Kane of Slickee Boys, he was just so kind, he is so bright in my memory of that show. It's just interesting to think about the fact that of all the things to remember about that moment, it is someone I wasn't even related to," she said.

A young Amanda, center, with Katie behind. From "Dance of Days."

While she doesn't remember any of the music, "I remember, and this is probably sort of like the core of my feeling about punk, is I just  remember the freedom and the intimacy. I think I was wearing a Johnny Rotten button, but it was a homemade one that Ian or Alec had made. You're in a garage, there's not like a real stage, just running around with people I didn't know who were happy to see me. We're all just there and there's like this joy, which is what I think of, that sensation is what sort of propels me in every aspect of my personal definition of punk. It's wrapped with this joy." For Alec, dipping his boots into shows in the punk realm marked both an advancement into his formative teen years and a punch of chaos into his musical tastes. "I think I liked the intimacy of it all. Before that, I had just been to see arena rock, some of the huge bands like Queen and Santana and large-scale things. Then going to smaller shows was really the ticket for me -- it still is," said Alec, who mentioned attending small shows by Bad Brains, Slickee Boys, Tru Fax and the Insaniacs at first, and bigger ones with the Cramps, Damned, Clash and B-52s. The energy of those shows was infectious. "I really was digging on that abandon, you could really lose yourself in the music. Everybody else was on the same page and it didn't seem like it was very well-controlled and that part was super exciting for me. That was what I was responding to right away," Alec said. Alec began his punk transformation on the clothes and hair front in middle school and said that people thought he was a nerd or a freak. At age 14 and now in high school, he joined his first band, the Untouchables. He's still singing today with Hammered Hulls and Ian plans on taking them into the studio soon. On initially getting up on stage, shouting out lyrics and bouncing his body all over the place, Alec said, "I was pretty introverted before that, and I still am in a certain sense, but I also became an extrovert by being in a band and not being afraid to be standing on stage and doing things that a lot of people would not be up for. I was up for it, 'cause it gave me license to act out in ways that were just fun. So that was a big change for me. With punk rock, it felt like I had a new persona and had a little bit more vigor." Ian's mind was blown when he saw the Cramps play in DC in '79. It was his first punk show and was a seminal event for the area's punks. "I thought it was incredible. The first show was the Cramps and that was complete chaos and really, really exciting and so dangerous feeling and terrifying," he said. "At that point, I had seen Queen twice and Nugent three times, and they were all arena shows, so my relationship with music was really, when you saw bands, you saw them in that kind of setting, and bands were, as you know, unapproachable in that setting." The Cramps show in a hall at Georgetown University was wall-to-wall packed with punks. And it was nuts. "(The Cramps) were so in your face and everybody was really losing their shit. People were jumping up and down," said Ian, noting that as the sold-out show progressed, the long tables that people were standing on soon began to break and he could see "human formations descending into the crowd." People also were seen squeezing through transom-style windows to get into the fray. "Punk was wide open, and I just wanted to get in," Ian said. "It was instantly just on, so I felt it was great. Super engaging. It was like you're walking down the street and you find a box, and you go, 'That's an interesting box,' and you bring it home and when you open it, it's a box of infinite learning -- and I'm still learning." "Some people in the world think of life in terms of phases and then there's other people who think of it in terms of flights of stairs, and that's I think where we're at," he added about the MacKayes. Ian's still got the Evens, a two-piece with him on guitar/vocals and his spouse Amy Farina on drums, in the back pocket but they haven't been active lately. Another band with Joe Lally on bass, Farina on drums and Ian on guitar/vocals is nameless at this point and they have a record in the bag and awaiting a future release. They played two gigs last November, but the band is on hold until Lally returns from tour with the Messthetics, which also features former Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty.

Ignition

For Ian, after the seeing the Cramps, he felt that what they were doing was pretty straight forward and so he got the Slinkees happening. "I wanna be in a band, I just wanted to play music. I wasn't then and I still don't think of it as a career. To me, I just wanna play music. I just do the do, I just work with what's in front of me," he said. That Slinkees garage show, with his family members in the crowd, kicked things off and the MacKayes have never stopped. The punk ethos still rings true. The idle teens are adults with children and they continue to make an impact in the music world and on the people they encounter in their day-to-day lives. Their family is your family. We're all in it together. "I honestly wasn't thinking about sort of the juxtaposition of me as an audience member or me as a performer because that's kind of the point, they're not that different. We're making a show together, that's what we're doing, the audience and the bands," Ian said. Alec knew he would be a punk-rock lifer from the get-go. "I gotta say that there never was even a doubt in my mind. I have known people in my life that, 'that's a closed chapter,' they move on, they grow up, they put away childish things or whatever. I think when I got into punk rock, in my head it was a forever thing that I would be 120, if I ever live that long, and still be doing it, on some level, I just didn't know how," he said. "So that's been a thing that as you go through life, navigating how you can still relate to it and how it can work in your life. It just stayed with me, I never stopped listening to music and I like the energy." "It's a feeling and it's real as they say, as I said in a previous band," laughed Alec, who works full time in an art museum and thrives on learning about history, philosophy and cultural things. He also gets to travel the world, and recently attended a hardcore show in Tokyo while his art colleagues took in different sights. Some things never change, right? Keep your key in the ignition of life and go wherever the fuck you want. "It's astonishing to me that when I was in Tokyo, there was a flier for a Faith/Void re-release. To me, it's been almost 40 years of doing stuff and it just keeps going," Alec continued. On a recent day, I walked into a Barnes & Noble and saw a Minor Threat record with the first two EPs at the front of the M rack. Alec sits on the cover with his head buried in his arms. It's an iconic image that I first witnessed when I purchased the original red 7-inch at Zed Records in Long Beach, Ca., in 1981.

Alec said that someone recently showed him a photo of that image emblazoned on someone's back as a tattoo. "That particular image is not me, it's anybody. That's the one that the  everyman punker can relate to. Yes, it's a trip to see that everywhere still. It's really got legs," he said. Like a lot of us who got into the punk scene back in the early '80s, those early MacKaye bands had a major impact on Amanda. As a youngster, she had those tunes at her fingertips, literally right when the tapes came hot from the studio into their home music deck. Lives were changed when the play button was pressed. "They were my older brothers and I already looked up to them and tried to do whatever they were doing. I found the whole thing instantly exciting. The energy of it was just hypnotic for me and I immediately sort of gravitated to it," Amanda said. "My parents played a lot of records and my mom played piano. There was other music, we didn't really listen to mainstream radio that much. I definitely was aware of 'mainstream rock,' but really at a very early age, like 10-11-12, I was in a conflict with my peer group because I was listening to Minor Threat and they were listening to (mainstream music)." "Some of the general-population music stuck with me, but mostly I was sort of in an instant weirdo zone because when I was trying to get people to listen to my Walkman, it was Minor Threat and they were like, 'Eww. Why?'" she added with a laugh. "Some of the 'why?' for me was that I was totally awestruck by my brothers and I was super proud of them and wanted to tell everyone like, 'No. No. No. I'm related to these people.'" Like family members do, the self-proclaimed tomboy gravitated toward whatever Ian and Alec got their hands on: football and baseball cards and muscle-car Hot Wheels because Alec made models of those vehicles. Amanda, who these days works at a public high school with her husband, said that as a child, "I think that I always sort of felt like outside the circle. I felt like our family just didn't look like everybody else's family, we did things that were a little bit different." She tried to fit in with the other kids by playing soccer in elementary school, but she was admittedly a terrible player and hated the experience. Kids were mean to boot. "I couldn't wrap myself into it and maybe that added into why when I saw this group of people in this garage, who were like, 'Oh, hey, you're outside just like us,' maybe that's why it felt so good," she said of the Slinkees gig. "I'm still attracted to that warm embrace that punk rock gave to me as a young child. I love it when I find bands that are just warm from the get-go. You meet them and you feel like you've known them for a long time, or they play music and you just feel like, 'Oh, yeah, this feels right.'" Following in her brothers' footsteps, she formed her first band, The Headaches, as a pre-teen and they performed in living rooms. A quick insight into the experience was their theme song was ripped off from The Monkees and they had personas (she was the tough, cool person who looked like one of the Blues Brothers). Her punk path became more serious when she formed Sammich Records in high school and released an EP by her friends Lunchmeat and Mission Impossible and then many more records to follow. Ian helped her configure the label since he had experience on his side with Dischord rolling strong (Amanda and Alec also worked at Dischord for a awhile). At age 20, she began singing in Desiderata and later performed with the Routineers.

For the last 14 years, Amanda has booked shows at Fort Reno Park in DC, the spot where the MacKayes saw some of their first concerts. She likens the free outdoor shows to an incubator for bands to give it a shot and play out. She's received feedback that people are thankful their kids can see them play and see music and be able to expose their kids to something that drives them forward, she said. "I jokingly refer to it all the time as a labor of love. But it's actually much more serious for me than that, because at this point in the music industry or however you want to discuss it, the opportunity for people under the age of 21 or even 18 to see live music un-influenced by anything else is very rare in this area. It's like a dinosaur. I feel extremely emotionally  bound to do this because that's what helps me sort of dial in on what was important to me," said Amanda, adding that most venues -- aside from art spaces -- serve alcohol and have video or pinball games that infringe on the true musicality of the shows. "It's really really hard to find a pure experience where you're seeing music and that's all you're seeing. You're with your friends or your family or just with like-minded people. So, I'm pretty impassioned about keeping it going," she said of the Fort Reno gigs,

Heaps of music and crucial life lessons that they gained through the punk scene remains with the MacKayes. As they gather for the Sunday meals and for Susannah's birthday, the conversations are sure to be lively and insightful. The MacKaye children of today will have enough of their parents' stories and anecdotes to last them a lifetime, and they'll feed off those discussions and create vital paths of their own and experiences to pass on as well. "I suppose it's what I didn't learn that's kept me free," Alec said. "I'm pretty resistant to being led away from the things that I cherish. I didn't learn to grow up and be completely conventional, even though there's been plenty of peer pressure from adults. It's a cliche, but it's true, that you really need to stay true to the things that serve you best, and I've continued to do that." "I have two daughters and that's another moment where I just didn't know what that was gonna be like, being a father," Alec added. "I wasn't really afraid of being a father, I was afraid of being a member of the village. You know, they always say it takes a village to raise a child... to me, the village just fucking bothers me and they should just go raise their own children and stay outta my face. That was something I was worried about, but I found out there's other villagers that feel the same way, so that was a relief. I can be a father that isn't like the ones that you think are perfect, and that's OK, and my kids love that about me." For Amanda, she forever enjoys watching Ian and Alec perform and says it's a cool feeling to be still walking her own path. "At this point in my life, it doesn't hurt to be different. When I was 12, it was really complicated and painful for me that all the kids in the neighborhood thought I was weird and I didn't really have any friends, except for Josh who introduced me to Joan Jett, which was incredible 'cause it's still very prominent for me," said Amanda, who's still in touch with Josh. She's thankful for remaining true to herself since the day she stepped into the garage with Katie to watch Ian and the Slinkees. The high school she works at has a staff spirit week on tap and they're asking people to dress like they did in high school. Amanda and I laugh: "Same." (Except that she doesn't wear leather anymore, so that jacket of yore won't make an appearance.) Alec jokes that Ian's the ultimate storyteller of the family. He remembers occurrences with exact dates and years and relays the information in great detail, with verve and a dose of humor. Through the punk scene, the trio of MacKayes -- Ian, Alec and Amanda -- have woven themselves together. "In the '70s and the early '80s, there was a lot of chaos in our family, with our parents, and I think that punk probably was something that was very anchoring for us," Ian said. "And I think the three of us especially, really that was an important connection. It was something that we could feel committed to and it was a safe thing."

There’s Something Hard In There Blog

[yasbxxgie]

Now that the cast is coming together, Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming adaptation of Dune is getting more attention than ever. And with that attention an interesting question has started cropping up with more frequency, one that bears further examination: Is Dune a “white savior” narrative?

It’s important to note that this is not a new question. Dune has been around for over half a century, and with every adaptation or popular revival, fans and critics take the time to interrogate how it plays into (or rebels against) certain story tropes and popular concepts, the white savior complex being central among them. While there are no blunt answers to that question—in part because Dune rests on a foundation of intense and layered worldbuilding—it is still an important one to engage and reengage with for one simple reason: All works of art, especially ones that we hold in high esteem, should be so carefully considered. Not because we need to tear them down or, conversely, enshrine them, but because we should all want to be more knowledgeable and thoughtful about how the stories we love contribute to our world, and the ways in which they choose to reflect it.

So what happens when we put Dune under this methodical scrutiny? If we peel back the layers, like the Mentats of [Frank] Herbert’s story, what do we find?

Hollywood has a penchant for the white savior trope, and it forms the basis for plenty of big-earning, award-winning films. Looking back on blockbusters like The Last of the Mohicans, Avatar, and The Last Samurai, the list piles up for movies in which a white person can alleviate the suffering of people of color—sometimes disguised as blue aliens for the purpose of sci-fi trappings—by being specially “chosen” somehow to aid in their struggles. Sometimes this story is more personal, between only two or three characters, often rather dubiously labeled as “based on a true story” (The Blind Side, The Help, Dangerous Minds, The Soloist, and recent Academy Award Best Picture-winner Green Book are all a far cry from the true events that inspired them). It’s the same song, regardless—a white person is capable of doing what others cannot, from overcoming racial taboos and inherited prejudices up to and including “saving” an entire race of people from certain doom.

At face value, it’s easy to slot Dune into this category: a pale-skinned protagonist comes to a planet of desert people known as Fremen. These Fremen are known to the rest the rest of the galaxy as a mysterious, barbaric, and highly superstitious people, whose ability to survive on the brutal world of Arrakis provides a source of endless puzzlement for outsiders. The Fremen themselves are a futuristic amalgam of various POC cultures according to Herbert, primarily the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana, the San people, and Bedouins. (Pointedly, all of these cultures have been and continue to be affected by imperialism, colonialism, and slavery, and the Fremen are no different—having suffered horrifically at the hands of the Harkonnens even well before our “heroes” arrive.) Once the protagonist begins to live among the Fremen, he quickly establishes himself as their de facto leader and savior, teaching them how to fight more efficiently and building them into an unstoppable army. This army then throws off the tyranny of the galaxy’s Emperor, cementing the protagonist’s role as their literal messiah.

That sounds pretty cut and dried, no?

But at the heart of this question—Is Dune a white savior narrative?—are many more questions, because Dune is a complicated story that encompasses and connects various concepts, touching on environmentalism, imperialism, history, war, and the superhero complex. The fictional universe of Dune is carefully constructed to examine these issues of power, who benefits from having it, and how they use it. Of course, that doesn’t mean the story is unassailable in its construction or execution, which brings us to the first clarifying question: What qualifies as a white savior narrative? How do we measure that story, or identify it? Many people would define this trope differently, which is reasonable, but you cannot examine how Dune might contribute to a specific narrative without parsing out the ways in which it does and does not fit.

This is the strongest argument against the assertion that Dune is a white savior story: Paul Atreides is not a savior. What he achieves isn’t great or even good—which is vital to the story that Frank Herbert meant to tell.

There are many factors contributing to Paul Atreides’s transformation into Muad’Dib and the Kwisatz Haderach, but from the beginning, Paul thinks of the role he is meant to play as his “terrible purpose.” He thinks that because he knows if he avenges his father, if he becomes the Kwisatz Haderach and sees the flow of time, if he becomes the Mahdi of the Fremen and leads them, the upcoming war will not stop on Arrakis. It will extend and completely reshape the known universe. His actions precipitate a war that that lasts for twelve years, killing millions of people, and that’s only just the beginning.

Can it be argued that Paul Atreides helps the people of Arrakis? Taking the long view of history, the answer would be a resounding no—and the long view of history is precisely what the Dune series works so hard to convey. (The first three books all take place over a relatively condensed period, but the last three books of the initial Dune series jump forward thousands of years at a time.) While Paul does help the Fremen achieve the dream of making Arrakis a green and vibrant world, they become entirely subservient to his cause and their way of life is fundamentally altered. Eventually, the Fremen practically disappear, and a new Imperial army takes their place for Paul’s son, Leto II, the God Emperor. Leto’s journey puts the universe on what he calls the “Golden Path,” the only possible future where humanity does not go extinct. It takes this plan millennia to come to fruition, and though Leto succeeds, it doesn’t stop humans from scheming and murdering and hurting one another; it merely ensures the future of the species.

One could make an argument that the Atreides family is responsible for the saving of all human life due to the Golden Path and its execution. But in terms of Paul’s position on Arrakis, his effect on the Fremen population there, and the amount of death, war, and terror required to bring about humanity’s “salvation,” the Atreides are monstrous people. There is no way around that conclusion—and that’s because the story is designed to critique humanity’s propensity toward saviors. Here’s a quote from Frank Herbert himself on that point:

I am showing you the superhero syndrome and your own participation in it.

And another:

Dune was aimed at this whole idea of the infallible leader because my view of history says that mistakes made by a leader (or made in a leader’s name) are amplified by the numbers who follow without question.

At the center of Dune is a warning to be mistrustful of messiahs, supermen, and leaders who have the ability to sway masses. This is part of the reason why David Lynch’s Dune film missed the mark; the instant that Paul Atreides becomes a veritable god, the whole message of the story is lost. The ending of Frank Herbert’s Dune is not a heroic triumph—it is a giant question mark pointed at the reader or viewer. It is an uncomfortable conclusion that only invites more questions, which is a key part of its lasting appeal.

And yet…

There is a sizable hole in the construction of this book that can outweigh all other interpretations and firmly situate Dune among white savior tropes: Paul Atreides is depicted as a white man, and his followers are largely depicted as brown people.

There are ways to nitpick this idea, and people do—Paul’s father, Leto Atreides might not be white, and is described in the book as having “olive” toned skin. We get a sense of traditions from the past, as Leto’s father was killed in a bull fight, dressed in a matador cape, but it’s unclear if this is tied to their heritage in any sense. The upcoming film has cast Cuban-Guatemalan actor Oscar Isaac in the role of Duke Leto, but previous portrayals featured white men with European ancestry: U.S. actor William Hurt and German actor Jürgen Prochnow. (The Fremen characters are also often played by white actors, but that’s a more simple case of Hollywood whitewashing.) While the name Atreides is Greek, Dune takes place tens of thousands of years in the future, so there’s really no telling what ancestry the Atreides line might have, or even what “whiteness” means to humanity anymore. There’s a lot of similar melding elsewhere in the story; the ruler of this universe is known as the “Padishah Emperor” (Padishah is a Persian word that essentially translates to “great king”), but the family name of the Emperor’s house is Corrino, taken from the fictional Battle of Corrin. Emperor Shaddam has red hair, and his daughter Irulan is described as blond-haired, green-eyed, and possessing “patrician beauty,” a mishmash of words and descriptions that deliberately avoid categorization.

None of these factors detract from the fact that we are reading/watching this story in present day, when whiteness is a key component of identity and privilege. It also doesn’t negate the fact that Paul is always depicted as a white young man, and has only been played by white actors: first by Kyle MacLachlan, then by Alec Newman, and soon by Timothy Chalamet. There are many reasons for casting Paul this way, chief among them being that he is partly based on a real-life figure—T.E. Lawrence, better known to the public as “Lawrence of Arabia.” But regardless of that influence, Frank Herbert’s worldbuilding demands a closer look in order to contextualize a narrative in which a white person becomes the messiah of an entire population of people of color—after all, T.E. Lawrence was never heralded as any sort of holy figure by the people he worked alongside during the Arab Revolt.

The decision to have Paul become the Mahdi of the Fremen people is not a breezy or inconsequential plot point, and Herbert makes it clear that his arrival has been seeded by the Bene Gesserit, the shadowy matriarchal organization to which his mother, Jessica, belongs. In order to keep their operatives safe throughout the universe, the Bene Gesserit planted legends and mythologies that applied to their cohort, making it easy for them to manipulate local legends to their advantage in order to remain secure and powerful. While this handily serves to support Dune’s thematic indictment of the damage created by prophecy and religious zealotry, it still positions the Fremen as a people who easily fall prey to superstition and false idols. The entire Fremen culture (though meticulously constructed and full of excellent characters) falls into various “noble savage” stereotypes due to the narrative’s juxtaposition of their militant austerity with their susceptibility to being used by powerful people who understand their mythology well enough to exploit it. What’s more, Herbert reserves many of the non-Western philosophies that he finds particularly attractive—he was a convert to Zen Buddhism, and the Bene Gesserit are attuned to the Eastern concepts of “prana” and “bindu” as part of their physical training—for mastery by white characters like Lady Jessica.

While Fremen culture has Arab influences in its language and elsewhere, the book focuses primarily on the ferocity of their people and the discipline they require in order to be able to survive the brutal desert of Arrakis, as well as their relationship to the all-important sandworms. This speaks to Herbert’s ecological interests in writing Dune far more than his desire to imagine what an Arab-descended society or culture might look like in the far future. Even the impetus toward terraforming Arrakis into a green world is one brought about through imperialist input; Dr. Liet Kynes (father to Paul’s companion Chani) promoted the idea in his time as leader of the Fremen, after his own father, an Imperial ecologist, figured out how to change the planet. The Fremen don’t have either the ability or inclination to transform their world with their own knowledge—both are brought to them from a colonizing source.

Dune’s worldbuilding is complex, but that doesn’t make it beyond reproach. Personal bias is a difficult thing to avoid, and how you construct a universe from scratch says a lot about how you personally view the world. Author and editor Mimi Mondal breaks this concept down beautifully in her recent article about the inherently political nature of worldbuilding:

In a world where all fundamental laws can be rewritten, it is also illuminating which of them aren’t. The author’s priorities are more openly on display when a culture of non-humans is still patriarchal, there are no queer people in a far-future society, or in an alternate universe the heroes and saviours are still white. Is the villain in the story a repulsively depicted fat person? Is a disabled or disfigured character the monster? Are darker-skinned, non-Western characters either absent or irrelevant, or worse, portrayed with condescension? It’s not sufficient to say that these stereotypes still exist in the real world. In a speculative world, where it is possible to rewrite them, leaving them unchanged is also political.

The world of Dune was built that way through a myriad of choices, and choices are not neutral exercises. They require biases, thoughtfulness, and intent. They are often built from a single perspective, and perspectives are never absolute. And so, in analyzing Dune, it is impossible not to wonder about the perspective of its creator and why he built his fictional universe the way he did.

Many fans cite the fact that Frank Herbert wrote Dune over fifty years ago as an explanation for some of its more dated attitudes toward race, gender, queerness, and other aspects of identity. But the universe that Herbert created was arguably already quite dated when he wrote Dune. There’s an old-world throwback sheen to the story, as it’s built on feudal systems and warring family houses and political marriages and ruling men with concubines. The Bene Gesserit essentially sell their (all-female) trainees to powerful figures to further their own goals, and their sexuality is a huge component of their power. The odious Baron Harkonnen is obese and the only visibly queer character in the book (a fact that I’ve already addressed at length as it pertains to the upcoming film). Paul Atreides is the product of a Bene Gesserit breeding program that was created to bring about the Kwisatz Haderach—he’s literally a eugenics experiment that works.

And in this eugenics experiment, the “perfect” human turns out to be a white man—and he was always going to be a man, according to their program—who proceeds to wield his awesome power by creating a personal army made up of people of color. People, that is, who believe that he is their messiah due to legends planted on their world ages ago by the very same group who sought to create this superbeing. And Paul succeeds in his goals and is crowned Emperor of the known universe. Is that a white savior narrative? Maybe not in the traditional sense, but it has many of the same discomfiting hallmarks that we see replicated again and again in so many familiar stories. Hopefully, we’re getting better at recognizing and questioning these patterns, and the assumptions and agendas propagated through them. It gives us a greater understanding of fiction’s power, and makes for an enlightening journey.

Dune is a great work of science fiction with many pointed lessons that we can still apply to the world we live in—that’s the mark of a excellent book. But we can enjoy the world that Frank Herbert created and still understand the places where it falls down. It makes us better fans and better readers, and allows us to more fully appreciate the stories we love.

+Dune’s Paul Atreides Is the Ultimate Mighty Whitey

[murfeelee]

Aku Cinta Kamu

He could see light up ahead—the City Hall station. He was about to douse his witchlight when he heard a familiar voice behind him. “Alec,” it said. Magnus moved forward, into the circle of illumination cast by Alec’s witchlight. “You had to come all the way here, to this abandoned subway station, to deliver that message?”

“Magnus—” Alec took a step toward his boyfriend. Alec’s hands had begun to shake, hard enough that he dropped his witchlight. The light winked out, and he fell to his knees, scrabbling on the ground among the trash and the dirt. At last something lit up before his eyes, and he rose to see Magnus standing before him, the witchlight in his hand. It shone and flickered with a strangely colored light. “It shouldn’t light up like that for anyone but a Shadowhunter.”

Magnus held it out. The heart of the witchlight was glowing a dark red, like the coal of a fire. “Is it because of your father?” Alec asked.

Magnus didn’t reply, only tipped the rune-stone into Alec’s palm. As their hands touched, Magnus’s face changed. “You’re freezing cold.”

“I am?”

“Alexander…” Magnus pulled him close, and the witchlight flickered between them, its color changing rapidly. Alec had never seen a witchlight rune-stone do that before. He put his head against Magnus’s shoulder and let Magnus hold him. Magnus’s heart didn’t beat like human hearts did. It was slower, but steady. Sometimes Alec thought it was the steadiest thing in his life.

When Magnus drew away, Alec found that somehow he was holding the witchlight alone; Magnus’s hand was gone. The light was white.

Softly, Magnus said, “Aku cinta kamu.”

“What does that mean?”

Magnus disentangled himself from Alec’s grip. “It means ‘I love you.’”

-- City of Lost Souls, Epilogue, by @cassandraclare

CC CREDITS & MY THOUGHTS (bit of canon rambling)

CC CREDITS

- Boroughsburg world by @potato-ballad-sims (I love the Subway lot! It’s very realistic.)

- The 'witchlights' are gems used with a ton of OMSPs & poses: SN EP glowing bluish Moonstone & red Bloodstone, diamond from basegame. Crystal Ball cut. I hid a tiny table light inside the Bloodstone with OMSPs, to make it look like it was glowing. ;)

- Poses X X X

MY THOUGHTS

That excerpt from the epilogue of CoLS is more infamously known as The Malec Breakup. I cut out all the dialogue on the plot stuff and drama that led up to Magnus breaking up with Alec in that scene -- but lemme tell you, Alec had it coming.

(Basically, he let Magnus’ scheming evil ex-girlfriend Camille that trampire wench convince him to try and find a way to get rid of Magnus’ immortality behind his back, so they could grow old together. BAD MOVE.

Magnus found out from Camille, busted Alec when he tried meeting with Camille at the abandoned subway, and told him to pack his bags and leave, but also told Alec that he loved him in his native Indonesian (aku cinta kamu.). Malec was over until after the events with Asmodeus in Edom, when they made up in City of Heavenly Fire.)

Thanks, Camille. Thanks a lot.

If you don’t STFUISTGASDFGHJL!

On the show, the briefer S02 “breakup“ or whatever it was (considering the timeline’s been, what, a week? 36 hours? :P ) was another classic fail on Alec’s part. (Basically, he withheld vital life-or-death information from Magnus during the war against Valentine -- after promising total transparency between Shadowhunters and Downworlders -- and Magnus found out and flipped the eff out, and rightly so.)

It was weird though, cuz in the book he was far less angry and didn’t overreact nearly as much to Alec technically trying to steal away his immortality (which would kill him). But on the show salty!Magnus was almost out of control, and it didn’t really make as much sense - yeah, I get that he was pissed, but dang! Magnus was hella rude for a second there. I thought it might be to trick the Seelie Queen into thinking he was loyal to her instead, but.... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But whatever. Magnus can be a dramatic bish if he wants, he’s still my beloved husband. Malec got back together like 2 hours episodes later during the S02 finale anyway, so. XD

[acehotel]

A Conversation With UnCabaret’s Beth Lapides

It’s Los Angeles and it’s the dawn of the 90s and everybody looks so young. There's Janeane Garofalo, Paul F. Tompkins, Kathy Griffin. There’s Bob and David, pre-Mr. Show. There’s Margaret Cho and Larry Charles and Patton Oswalt and maybe a babyfaced Apatow. Within a few years, the people in this room will be credited with transforming the face of popular comedy. Right now, they’re in a basement of a restaurant in West Hollywood, and Beth Lapides is holding court.

Lapides’ UnCabaret was a unique pillar in LA’s nascent “alternative comedy” scene — offering performers an “un-homophobic, un-xenophobic, un-misogynistic” stage to work out their weirdness in front of a generous audience. Now in its 25th year, Lapides and CAP UCLA bring UnCabaret to The Theatre at Ace Hotel on Sunday, November 18 for a star-studded anniversary show. 

After a quarter century of shows, how does UnCabaret maintain its vitality?

Finding new, unique talent and nurturing them. Being in the now. This now. No, this one. Now. Knowing we are part of a big shift. Staying true to our core beliefs, still feeling urgent about our mission to create “un-homophobic, un-xenophobic, un-misogynistic” comedy. And at the same time being willing to evolve. 

Coffee. More coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. Oh and stories, of course.

UnCabaret's alumni list is obviously staggering, but are there names new or old that you miss on the Anniversary roster? So many! We would need a full series of shows to include everyone we wanted to include. Dana Gould, Michael Patrick King, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Margaret Cho, Kathy Griffin, Alec Mapa, Sarah Silverman, Tig Notaro, Judd Apatow, John Riggi, Larry Charles, Baron Vaughn, Erin Foley, Marc Maron, Kira Soltanovich, Aparna Nancherla, Jamie Bridgers, Merrill Markoe, etc, etc, etc. Love them all. They are all part of us.

And I wish with that Judy Toll and Taylor Negron were still here, both were so key to UnCabaret’s DNA. The mix that we do have on stage includes performers from the various chapters of our story. We wanted to make sure this show wasn’t a “reunion show," but that it had the joy of reunion. The Theatre at Ace Hotel is such a perfect place for it. It’s a great size, 1600 seats, but somehow manages to be intimate. And the fact that it was the United Artists Theatre is so perfect for UnCabaret. Which is, essentially, a group of united artists. List three emblematic UnCabaret memories — first thought, best thought. Julia Sweeney’s first set about her cancer. "I have a little cancer," she said. She let it sit there for a minute. Then after a beat, she said, "Hold for laughs." The room exploded. Her story unfolded onstage week after week. And then those sets became God Said, Ha! on Broadway and subsequently in book and film.

Judy Toll brought a blown-up check of the $30,000 that Scientology returned to her after she left. And her e-meter, as she told the story of getting into and then out of Scientology. 

Faye Dunaway asked Mike MacDonald to be her comedy coach. He spent an entire day on the phone with her. 

Kathy Griffin’s various sexcapades. 

Michael Patrick King, the triple threat behind Sex and the City, told a story about going on a very revelatory spiritual retreat with his boyfriend. 25 years is pretty reflective milestone — do you have a vision for the future?

Yes, we are going to expand. That may mean taking a longer stride into monthly rather than weekly shows. We’re developing scripted projects and books. Our edu-wing is growing. Our venue for the past 7 years just closed, so we’re looking at new venues. It’s an exciting and expansionist time. 

But right now, we are looking forward to Nov 18.  

[revengeisalwaysanoption]

ITAINSTITUTE CON 2 - THE M&Gs

Featuring: My confused memories of the M&Gs with Matt&Dom and Alberto.

PARABATAI M&G

Okay, so... The real reason I bought this M&G is because Matt’s were sold out and from other conventions I know that is the experience I enjoy the most even though I spend those 30 minutes taking in the actors’ more than actually interacting with them. but whatever. I’m really sorry I can remember only very little from this M&G. - Matt was lovely and always gives long and in depth answers to what is asked, sometimes he takes detours and you start wondering ‘Is THIS what I asked him?’ but you can’t help but love how passionate he is when is talking (and how he can’t help using his hands... Italians can relate X°D) -  Some people disagree but BOTH Matt&Dom were a bit sorry the parabatai bond is underdeveloped even though it's (supposed to be, I would say) a deep platonic relationship. They DO understand that couples are more important, especially Malec for what it means to so many people. According to them it should be like the feeling you have with a best friend, when you can tell that there’s something wrong just by the way they say “Hi” to you but I personally believe it didn’t come across so well. - Don’t expect them to talk about what happened in the 3A finale: the writers have decided that everything has been said already with Alec acknowledging that who nearly killed him wasn’t Jace but the Owl in 3x10 and that’s it. They were quite disappointed about that. - Someone pointed out that the bond is quite unbalanced and they agreed. They used a simile that I liked, saying that Alec is like oxygen to Jace not in the sense that he is vital to his survival but rather that he takes him for granted and realizes it only when he is fighting for breath while Alec is different ‘cause he has learned to hold his breath for quite a long time by now. -  They were asked if there’s room for improvisation and they said that while it was much more accepted in S1, they can’t add their own twist to it now. I can’t recall if Matt said something about his scenes but Dom said that apart from the ‘ILY’ in 2x20 (Matt was ENTHUSIASTIC about it and argued that IT HAD TO BE SAID) he also put in the ‘Please, don’t leave me, Alec’ line in 2x03 that was unscripted. - They were asked if they ever have disagreements writers/directors about their characters, because they feel Jace and Alec would never do something like what is written on the script.  They said they discuss it with the writers and sometimes it turns out it would all make sense in a couple of episodes, and sometimes their foot down like Dom did with the Owl (I didn’t quite get in what capacity, I’m sorry) and Matt about having Alec crying: it’s a cheap way to show emotions. - Matt also said you don't only cry out of sadness but also out of frustration and selfishness (to make the other feel bad, I believe) so yeah, writers should be wary of using crying too much especially with Alec. (it was then that they asked the question about the lack of balance in the parabatai bond, I think) - The last question was mine, and I find it doesn’t quite fit what he said to the individual M&G Shumdario news reported (see here: https://twitter.com/ShumDarioNews/status/1019666993920774144)  but what Matt had said about not wanting too have Alec breaking down in tears, so it was like: “Connecting to what we have previously said about showing emotions on screen... I felt a bit underwhelmed by the way Alec acted in the finale, especially when he was saying goodbye to Magnus before he went to Edom, so I was wondering if we can expect to see a less restrained Alec in 3B. ” He told me that since Alec was on duty as a Shadowhunter - even during the goodbye to Magnus before he goes to Edom -  he wouldn't let anything show and just soldier on.  Unlike the 2x18 scene where he was just Alec off duty and so taken aback that he didn't know how to react.  "That's why I asked you.” (about more emotional scenes for Alec, because I KNOW he can shows a wider range of emotions that what he we have seen during 3x09-3x10) He said that yeah, we can expect some in 3B. - I believe someone asked about Alec’s role as the HOTI in 3B and Matt went off on a rant about the Clave. I’m 99% sure it was in the M&G because it would have popped out already on someone’s Twitter if he said in the panel, since he originally said “It’s a FASCIST organization.” He immediately backpedaled on the term not because he found it too negative for the Clave but for its historical/social connotations (especially in Italy: I was really impressed that he felt the need to immediately correct himself even though nobody said a word about that or glared at him or anything) so he said he wishes Alec could just quit that “Prejudiced and self-serving organization’ that thrives on the subjugation of Downworlders under the pretense of keeping them safe. ****** ALBERTO M&G********************* So first of all I want to say that Alberto went overtime by, like, 10-15 minutes because he wanted to answer everybody's questions... Such a sweetheart ç_ç <3 !!! He got into the room by walking in queue with us, so we played along and even complained that he was jumping the queue :D - Alberto talked a lot about his brother Diego and how him being a director gives him a different insight on his work as an actor, the process of their work together and how inspired they have been by their parents now following their dreams.

- Since he is so passionate about literature he isn’t ruling out becoming a Professor in the future. - He also said that it was his mom who made him realize he was always prioritizing acting over everything else so he started to organize his part-time jobs so that he could audition for Shadowhunters. He encouraged to find the thing we prioritize without even realizing (acting for him) and hold on to it, give our all to it. It's never too late; he talked how his mom is now embracing her dreams as a painter and is Dad is getting a PhD. - He does want to go back on stage and do musicals. If he could, he’d love to star in Newsies and Dear Evan Hansen (he mentioned another title as well but I can't recall what it was 'cause I'm not familiar with it) - I asked him how it was playing those few scenes he has with Harry. Like many others at the Con, he is a big fan of Harry too. Right after saying that those scenes were awesome to shoot, he went on gushing how great Harry is and how hard he worked to be a professional in so many different fields. And how Harry knows a lot more about the business related to TV shows as well so in a way he sees him as his mentor on the show. -  Alberto hopes to have an opportunity to direct in the future, maybe starting from a show not too distant from SH, kinda like what happened for Paul Wesley. Concerning directors he said that Matt Hastings is the one who has to make sure the ‘mood’ of the show is not lost (that it doesn’t become CSI - Brooklyn, for example) when they have a guest director on the show. -  He agrees that his scene in 3x09 was one of the best ever (and his usually very critical about his acting) but he gave much credit for it to Christina Cox and the writers who made it so tragic and poignant. Similarly to Matt in the M&G he said that you don't necessarily need to cry rivers to show emotions. Alberto compared that to spilling water on the floor (which he did) against keeping it in the bottle which gives you more room to work. - He wasn't happy with how the scene where Simon goes to ask Raphael infos about the Mark went. In the editing Simon's hesitation and different tactics to approach Raphael didn't get across... So it looked like Simon was annoying Raphael in a very delicate moment. He had prepared the scene well with David and also had argued that the stakes didn't seem , to him, so high that Simon couldn't save it for a moment when Raphael wasn't suffering that much.

- He wants to use the Rosende Book Club to promote initatives like the Bibliocicleta (https://www.awesomefoundation.org/en/projects/52670-bibliocicleta) 

[halfhell]

opinions on magnus & camille's relationship??? :') u kno who this is

              i’ve spoken about it vaguely here & more in depth here as well ! but these are both a solid year old now so obviously my characterization & understanding of them has grown & i’m happy to talk about them again.

              keeping mind this is ALL book based with vague show influences because i’m saying it now that i don’t like how they wrote it as magnus ONLY having camille when he had ragnor ( referenced even in the show with how he said he hated her, so obviously they knew each other then. ) as well as catarina, tessa to some extent, will, even woolsey ( who was who he originally stayed with to get away. ) he was not alone & i don’t like erasing those relationships that really did keep him from sinking under. 

              she did not save him, if anything, she was definitely part of the reason why he had such a negative & destructive view on detaching himself from relationships & feelings. his friends were the ones that supported & helped him throughout the hard parts in his life because they cared. that’s that & critical to my magnus.

              now all of that being said, camille was a vital part of magnus’ life & growth as a person, for better & worse in some ways. he loved her, whole heartedly, he was under the false perception that because she was immortal she wouldn’t leave him like the others did. camille was ancient, far older than him, she was manipulative, cunning, magnus bane was scared of putting his feet up on a table because of her ( from a scene in the infernal devices series. ) she was powerful, a power that magnus could acknowledge & to some extent figured that it meant she was immovable stone to the pass of time.

                       ( the rest is under a cut because this grew to be about 1.4k words on accident. )

              her opinions on love had always been very negative, it was a nuisance to her, temporary whereas magnus wanted something forever. something permanent & safe, camille, to him at the time, was safe. she was familiar, she understood his immortality, his fleeting nature. so he opened himself up, he allowed all those loses he’d had in his life to fuel him. he had been ready to spend forever with her. 

              despite both of them having done terrible things in their lives, even camille referenced magnus having a kind heart in the fall of hotel dumort. (  which i’ll definitely get to because it’s another thing that’s important to magnus’ characterization, even if he doesn’t consciously remember it thanks to catarina. )

“thank you for lying to me. you have always been kind. i never have been. that was why we couldn’t be, wasn’t it?”     —   camille,  the fall of hotel dumort.

              magnus did— does have a  kind soul, he loves fiercely, passionately & he doesn’t half ass anything. he gave his all to camille, he would’ve done anything for her, did most anything for her. this quote below really hits me hard & definitely describes their relationship at the time. 

 “you left me. you made a pet out of me, and then you left me. if love were food, i would have starved on the bones you gave me.”  — magnus, city of fallen angels.

              he gave her his all for little in return & while i’ve mentioned before, that she did care about him, camille is an ancient being. her caring is different, her own perceptions on relationships was changed throughout the years too, with how she refereed to love as a temporary thing. 

              i do, despite my earlier qualms like the quote in the show that ragnor says something along the lines of  “you are immortal & she killed you.” as a “ ghost “ in 1x13. on some level, she had. she had helped to kill off pieces of his humanity, of his trust, even.

              he however, endured through it. it’s not as easy as just walking away when you love someone, especially someone manipulative, someone who knows exactly what buttons to press, how to get beneath your skin or what to say to get you where it hurts. 

              cheating on him, however, was the last straw. with the distance between them, magnus could think, he had friends to help him, to support him. will who unintentionally did a lot for magnus which i’ve spoken about here even helped. i also addressed their kiss in that link & how it was done because frankly, camille did scare him, the thought of leaving her was scary. i’m not excusing that it was fucked up, just addressing his reasoning behind it.

               it hurt, yes, but on some level i think he had known it was coming. he dealt with heartbreak & an almost at once. her words had an effect on him, her opinions on immortality. he went decades after without falling in love, healing along side his friends & helping tessa through will’s death.

               when they meet again in the 70′s, magnus knows better. he’s had a hundred years to reflect on their relationship, on everything that happened & while he was not by any means still in love with her. he has a good heart, he didn’t want to see someone he had once loved hurting. not when she was speaking to them like it was a century ago, cheerfully laughing & calling his name ( you can see the panel from the fall of hotel dumort here. ) the moment shared between them at the end was bittersweet for magnus. it hurt him, deeply. he hadn’t given himself fully to another like he had camille, not till alec later on. 

                                   i’m including this here too because i want to mention some things from it !

“it never really went away for us, did it?” she said. “there’s really never been another—not like you. is it the same for you?”

 “camille …”“

i know we can’t go back. i know. just tell me there’s never been another like me.”

in truth there had been many others. and while camille was certainly in a class by herself, there had been much love—at least on magnus’s part. yet there was a hundred years of pain in that question, and magnus had to wonder if maybe he had not been so alone in his feeling.

“no,” magnus said. “there’s never been another like you.”   — the fall of hotel dumort.

              he wasn’t particularly lying when he said there’s never been another like her, as mentioned, camille had a class of her own. she couldn’t be categorized with others magnus has loved or who had loved him. it all hurt him, seeing her hurt throughout that time hurt him, so much. because he had loved her, he had cared for her so deeply at one point that he couldn’t bear to see her hurting like that again. magnus bane’s a good man at heart, even if his morals are questionable & some of his actions are too. 

              when he saw camille again, he didn’t remember their previous encounter. it was like seeing her for the first time in a hundred plus years. i can’t speak for her motives, whether they were to ruin magnus’ love life, to truly get him to believe her words that love was a temporary, fleeting & useless thing, or what exactly spurred the events that took place in the last three books of the mortal instrument series. i’m not sure if it’s mentioned ( i haven’t reread in awhile, which i need to. ) but magnus had learned from camille, which was part of the reason he walked away from alec. not because he didn’t love him enough ( which i’ve talked about here regarding clary’s wording as well as the malec breakup. ) 

              magnus learned to love himself, he learned for himself that he can’t close himself off. he can’t put up those walls & become numb to the world, he saw first hand what happened to camille when she did & unintentionally he had come to do the same ( here he tells alec about it. ) but in the end, in the present time, he’s learned. 

              tl;dr: it was unhealthy on all accounts, but camille was an incredibly important relationship in his life because of how he grew afterwards, 

[singingwordwright]

The Sebastian Manifesto v 2.0

I conceived most of this meta during the hiatus between seasons 2a and 2b, and wrote and published it after episode 2x11 once we finally meta Sebastian. However, now that we’ve come to the midway point in 2b and seen a major reveal with Sebastian, I feel like it needs updating. It hasn’t been entirely Jossed yet, not by a long shot, but there’s definitely a few parts where it needs some adjustment. I’m editing some of the existing, but I may miss a few bits here and there. Most of the changes are going to be in the new sections.

Sections 1-3 are what I’ve posted before, sections 4 and 5 are new.

I’m going to start off by saying that I DO NOT SHIP SEBASTIAN AND IZZY. Don’t let the title fool you. I think Izzy is going to play an important role in the Sebastian storyline, but not on a romantic level. Don’t even go there, please.

Most of this meta, you can find in various other posts I’ve made along the way, and particularly scattered through my episode-by-episode recaps from Season 2a onward. What I’m saying here is nothing particularly new, it’s just condensed into this one particular post. Which is a long-ass post. Be sure to buckle up.

I will also point out that I could be entirely long. Part of my goal in posting this is to get it out there so I can play a game of “let’s see what I got right” with myself as the season progresses.

I’m going to put this behind a cut because it’s quite long and contains spoilers from the books that may or may not come to pass in the show. What follows is discussion about what I think they’re going to do with Sebastian in the show, and how vital a role Izzy is going to play in it.

1. The ALDERTREE-IS-SEBASTIAN theory: not quite as defunct (or debunked) as you may assume

I follow a lot of Shadowhunters fans, and thus most spoilers and meta about Shadowhunters crosses my dash sooner or later. If there has been any official confirmation debunking this theory, I haven’t seen it. If it exists, please link it to me, and I will officially rescind this part of my meta and admit I’m wrong.

Nonetheless, a lot of people appear to have moved on from the idea that Aldertree was Sebastian in disguise, since we didn’t get confirmation of it at the end of Season 2a. That’s definitely understandable; the end of 2a would have been the perfect time to reveal that there had been a snake in the Institute’s bosom the entire time.

On the surface, it would appear the connection between Aldertree and Sebastian was weak to begin with. They both have English accents, they both (supposedly) hail from the London Institute, and Aldertree isn’t a nice guy so those of us who knew about Sebastian wanted to make sense of that by assuming he’s the Really Not Nice Guy we all knew was coming down the pike. And on the surface, that’s it. That’s all that links the two of them together. 

Underneath the surface, though, it’s a lot more.

First of all, Aldertree isn’t just a not-nice guy. He’s either terminally stupid, or he’s in league with Valentine actively working on an agenda that doesn’t benefit the Institute.

Note the edit I made there. One aspect of this meta that HAS been somewhat Jossed is the idea that Sebastian is working with Valentine on Valentine’s agenda. Given the end of 2x15 and the sneak peek we’ve seen of 2x16, I think it’s safe to say that he’s not actually allied with Valentine. However, it’s still possible that, as Aldertree, he positioned himself as an ally and colluded with Valentine. His agenda, however, appears to be far different.

Regardless of where you stand on the Sebastian theory, what we see from Aldertree in Season 2a isn’t just a bunch of random bad-guy mustache twirling. In the end, he does actually help Valentine achieve what Valentine is trying to achieve.

And a large part of that takes the shape of an organized campaign to drive wedges between the Lightwood siblings (including Jace,) thereby weakening the power structure in the Institute.

He isolates Jace, first by making him a fugitive (2x01)…

…then by making the other Shadowhunters in the Institute doubt him and finally by driving him out (2x06.)

He isolates Izzy, first by making her choose between Alec’s life and turning Jace over the the Clave (2x03)…

…then by trying to get her addicted to yin fen (2x05.)

When Aldertree attempts to use her yin fen dependence to get her to spy on Clary, Izzy begins isolating herself (2x07) because by that point she’s been forced to betray the trust of someone she cares about twice and she knows no one she cares about is safe.

When Aldertree realizes she’s slipped the hook with regard to the yin fen, he tries simply charming her instead, but it’s too late. 

Jace and Izzy being isolated means Alec is isolated. Still, Aldertree produces a convenient tale of tragic lost Downworlder/Shadowhunter love in order to distract Alec and cut him off from his most powerful ally, a warlock who has successfully opposed and thwarted the Circle more than once. (More on this later.)

But none of this necessarily means Aldertree is furthering Valentine’s agenda for his own purposes, right? He could just be a random bad guy.

Except…no. There’s more to it than that. Because weakening someone by isolating them from their loved ones is a play right out of Valentine’s book. One of his favorite plays, in fact. Our loved ones serve as our conscience, the better angels of our nature. They provide rational thought when we can’t see things clearly. This is why it was so important to cut Jace off from his found family, so that they couldn’t provide the antidote to the poison he kept pouring in Jace’s ear about demon blood and “to love is to destroy” and so forth.

With the Lightwood siblings splintered apart and distracted by their own worries, no one—including the Best Forensic Pathologist in New York--thought to run a DNA test on Jace and Clary to confirm their mutual parentage, or to try to figure out just what sort of demon blood Jace had in him and whether or not Clary had the same. They had no time or opportunity to compare notes and see the way they were being individually manipulated.

There are other ways in which Aldertree served Valentine’s purposes, so much so that it seems obvious to me that Aldertree abetting Valentine in whatever capacity you choose to believe 

How did Aldertree know about Jace’s falcon? (2x04) Look at the confusion on Jace’s face there. I don’t think that’s a story Jace would have willingly confided in just anyone, so how did the Clave’s representative find out?

How did Valentine know about Clary and Alec’s visit to Iris Rouse (2x05 and 2x08?) Unless he has spies on Clary 24/7, the only way he could have learned about that is because Alec and Clary went back to the Institute and made a report about Iris’s warlock-baby mill, and that report found its way to Valentine.

But here’s the kicker:

In 2x09, when Alec asks about Izzy’s whereabouts and expresses his suspicion of Aldertree, says he knows Aldertree is hiding something. Aldertree responds by threatening to make Alec submit to a psych evaluation “after what happened at your brother’s party.”

Aldertree knows what happened at Max’s party (2x08.) This means he also knows Magnus’s counter-spell book was stolen.

Aldertree is Head of the Institute. He has to know which warlock created the Institute’s wards. That would certainly be on record and considering Magnus’s close relationship with one high ranking member of the Institute, Aldertree would have checked Magnus’s records.

Even if we assume Aldertree is too stupid to realize what implications there are for the Institute’s wards in Valentine stealing a book that can undo every spell Magnus has ever cast, Magnus would never be negligent enough not to notify Aldertree that the wards were vulnerable (nor could he possibly be stupid enough not to put it together that they were at risk.)

Aldertree knew about the missing spellbook and HAS TO HAVE KNOWN about the vulnerability to the wards. And yet, what’s his first line in the beginning of 2x10 when Madzie brings down the wards? He blames lax security. He never got another warlock in to plug the security leak.

He left the door standing wide-open for Valentine.

His scene with Alec up on the roof in 2x10 is very obviously a delaying tactic. He brags about being able to hack into the system from there, and then can’t do it. Really?

Then there’s the story he tells Alec about his lost love. Shadowhunters and Downworlders can never be together because Downworlders will always give in to their demonic nature. Golly…that’s just identical to what Valentine keeps telling Jace and Clary, isn’t it? And maybe it’s not an exclusively Valentinian philosophy, but the way he uses it to try to get inside Alec’s head and do a mindfuck to turn him against a powerful ally is, again, straight out of Valentine’s playbook.

(Why doesn’t he just kill Alec? I’ll get to that later.)

Conclusion: Aldertree was abetting Valentine. But does that really mean he’s Sebastian, you may ask?

Well, again, there’s the whole thing about weakening Izzy, Jace, and Alec by driving wedges between them and isolating them from one another. Yes, it’s a trick straight out of Valentine’s playbook, but more importantly, it’s a very intimate trick. It’s the sort of trick you learn by being mentored by someone, or by growing up with an abusive parent who did it to you. Aldertree wasn’t just abetting Valentine, at some point he was close enough to Valentine to truly learn and adopt his philosophies.

2x14 offers us another clue, as well. Sebastian tells Raphael he “always knew” Izzy was getting her vampire venom straight from the source. The wording is odd because at this point, Sebastian has been around for a couple weeks maybe. The wording, however, seems to indicate a knowledge going back much father than that. But if, as Aldertree, he sussed out what Izzy was doing, it would make more sense.

What ties Aldertree and Sebastian together most convincingly, is Izzy.

2. ALDERTREE AND IZZY (an obsession is born)

Aldertree zeroes in on Izzy right from the beginning.

In 2x01 when threatening Izzy and Alec, he goes immediately for the deruning threat, and he looks at Izzy while he’s doing it, knowing that particular threat would carry weight with her. He also keeps a seemingly casual/amused eye on Izzy and Clary’s training session, clearly knowing they’re up to something (more on that later.)

In 2x03, Aldertree makes his first move. He forces Izzy to betray one brother to save the other. And he acts benevolent about it, claims he’s trying to save Jace’s life. He’s driving a wedge between Izzy and Jace while simultaneously attempting to position himself as someone who just wants to help her.

2x05 is where things get really interesting, and I admit this particular point is mostly supposition. I keep wondering: if the Soul Sword’s purpose was so super-secret that Aldertree needed to send an expedition to the Adamant Citadel to get input from the Iron Sisters, how did Valentine know? The obvious answer is that the Soul Sword’s purpose isn’t as secret as we’re led to believe.

If Aldertree is abetting Valentine, especially if he’s convinced Valentine he’s an ally, Valentine quite possibly would have told him what the sword does. Even if Valentine didn’t, whoever it was within the Clave that DOES (and someone has to, or, again, how did Valentine find out) likely would have in order to warn Aldertree about what Valentine might intend.

There are at least two ways Aldertree might have known about the sword. So…why send Izzy to the Iron Sisters?

Well, let’s assume Izzy’s lifelong fascination with and admiration of the Iron Sisters is fairly common knowledge. She grew up in the Institute, and it’s not something she would have had reason to hide. It would be known to the people she grew up around and quite possibly in her personnel records.

If Aldertree wanted a hook in Izzy, he’d have to offer her something she yearned for badly enough that she would accept the yin fen despite the risks. The mission to the Iron Sisters was never about the Soul Sword. It was about Izzy.

He dangles the Iron Sisters mission (by way of letting it drop to Jace that he’s organizing it) to get into her good graces, and possibly to get her to accept the yin fen. Then he uses the yin fen dependency to try to get her to spy for him. What he doesn’t count on is the purity trial at the Adamant Citadel, which makes it clear to Izzy just how much danger she’s in. She gives the yin fen back and he loses his hook in her. We don’t see him in 2x07 and 2x08, but then we get to 2x09, and this is where it really all comes together.

In 2x01 when Izzy is advising Clary, she cites Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Remember how Aldertree was keeping an eye on that whole thing?

In 2x09, when Izzy comes to see Aldertree and he unsuccessfully asks her out, there’s a very pronounced close-up of a copy of The Art of War on his desk. And later in the episode, when Alec accuses Aldertree of hiding something regarding Izzy, Aldertree is reading the book, and again, there’s a close-up of the cover.

In TV and film, you don’t do a close-up of a prop like that unless it has significance. The producers wanted us to know he was reading the same book Izzy had been advising Clary from. This is a book that advises things like isolating your enemies in order to weaken them. Don’t let them join forces. Try to conquer the city without warfare or siege, subdue enemy forces without fighting.

And, of course, as Izzy points out: to know your enemy you must become your enemy.

Now that philosophy makes Aldertree’s timely anecdote to Alec on the roof in 2x10 about Shadowhunter/Downworlder romance a lot more convenient and suspicious, doesn’t it?

And that’s what leads us to Sebastian.

3. SEBASTIAN AND IZZY (Becoming your “enemy”)

There’s absolutely no reason to believe the Inquisitor, Imogen Herondale, when she says that Aldertree is in Idris facing reprimand. She also said the Soul Sword is in Clave custody, and we know that’s a lie. Those of us who have read the books also know Sebastian must have been the one to take it (one assumes the reason he didn’t destroy it as per the vision Ithuriel gave Clary and Jace is because it wasn’t charged.)

Why would the Inquisitor lie about Aldertree’s whereabouts?

First, because it would be a massive loss of face for the Clave if it were known that their golden boy, the one sent to whip the New York Institute into shape, was a traitor working with Valentine. So if he disappeared with the sword, they would want to cover that up before the Institutes started losing faith in the Clave’s leadership.

Second, the Clave is probably claiming the Soul Sword is secure and in custody because if the Downworld found out it’s in the wind—in the hands of a traitor who probably aided Valentine—the Downworld is going to lose its collective shit even more than it already has following the massacre in the Institute.

So Aldertree/Sebastian is at large with the sword, except he can’t bring himself to stay that way because of what he’s left behind.

Namely, Izzy.

In the books, Sebastian has an incestuous obsession with Clary. But the show has been trying to downplay the incest angle. Maybe that’s because of network censorhip, or maybe it’s because the producers in their wisdom decided it was a disgusting sideplot that needed to be shelved. At any rate, aside from a few hints of lingering feeling, they basically dropped Clace until they could reveal that Jace wasn’t Clary’s brother.

It’s Sebastian, not Jace, who is Clary’s brother. If they bring in that obsession, they’re going to be right smack back in the middle of stuff they’ve been making a concerted effort to omit from the show. I admit, 2x12 has called my theory here into question, since obviously Sebastian DID go there with Clary, at least a little, but mostly they’ve been focused on his interactions with Izzy.

So what I truly believe they’ve done here is transfer Sebastian’s fixation to Izzy. Especially in light of the recent interview where Emeraude remarks something to the effect of things aren’t going to be the way they were in the book, they’ll end up in the same place, but they’ll take a different route to get there.

There’s a REASON our first scenes with Sebastian are between him and Izzy. That’s significant. And look at what those scenes contain.

Look at the parallel here, between this and 2x05 when Aldertree applies Izzy’s first dose of yin fen. While this scene isn’t as blatantly sexualized, there is often something sexual overtone to a grown adult ingesting something from another adult’s hand. Even if there weren’t, the fact that Izzy is once again willingly accepting an unknown substance from someone she has no reason to trust is parallel enough.

But beyond that, look at who Sebastian is portraying himself as being.

He’s a yin fen addict who has bravely kicked the habit, and he has just what she needs to get better. He’s is a great cook who effortlessly takes care of people with delicious food. He’s a child with a troubled relationship with his mother who still manages to be okay.

Sebastian hasn’t just “become” Izzy, he’s become the person Izzy wants to be. Someone Izzy will admire and want to emulate. Someone she’ll be grateful to for rescuing her.

And in the process he’s undoing the damage he did by getting her hooked on yin fen, because look at the glance Izzy and Aldertree share on the roof in 2x10. He feels remorse for that, or at least he understands that he’s harmed and endangered someone he wishes to possess.

Does this mean they’ve transferred most, if not all, of the Clary/Sebastian plot to Izzy? Maybe? I don’t know. But I believe Sebastian’s driving motivation is going to be his obsession with Izzy, rather than with Clary.

Why Izzy? I don’t know.

It could be because she outthinks him in 2x01 in order to advise Clary on how to get around him.

It could be because she somehow managed to slip his yin fen blackmail hook, even at desperate cost to herself, and he admires that strength.

It could be because he homed in on her as the weak link of the Lightwood sibling chain in 2x03 and something about how much she loves her brothers touches him and sparks an obsession.

That last one is probably what’s going to be closest to the way things play out. And it could have very interesting implications for Alec. Because in 2x11, Sebastian reacts evasively (looking away, changing the subject) or violently (burning himself) when Izzy’s love for Alec comes up. I’ll come back to the burning thing in a bit.

Keep in mind, if Aldertree was Sebastian, Alec has thwarted him and stood between him and Izzy. He’s thrown down with Sebastian and challenged Sebastian’s “claim” to Izzy. And there’s no way he will ever win Izzy the way he wants her unless he finds a way to undermine Alec. But he can’t kill Alec, because he’d definitely lose any chance with Izzy (hence the reason Aldertree takes Alec to the roof to get him away from the fighting and keep him busy/distracted, instead of killing him.)

Also, Alec is the leader Sebastian tried and failed to be. Alec effectively ousted Aldertree as Head of the Institute. It very well could be that, just as the show is transferring some or all of Sebastian’s obsession to Izzy instead of Clary, they may be transferring some or all of his obsessive jealousy to Alec instead of Jace.

What this means in terms of the “dark parabatai”/twinning thing, I have no clue. I suspect, given what Dominic Sherwood said in an interview recently about how Jace isn’t going to be catching a break anytime soon, even as far as he’s been told about Season 3, that that storyline is still going to play out pretty much the same.

In the books, iirc, Sebastian is jealous of the fact that Valentine loved Jace more than him even though Sebastian is Valentine’s true son and Jace isn’t. And he’s jealous of the fact that Clary loves Jace and can’t give Sebastian the time of day.

It may be that the show will focus more on the family bonds instead of the romantic bonds. The parallels between Maryse and Jocelyn’s imperfect mothering are an obvious starting point. If that’s the case, if the focus of his jealousy and obsession is familial love rather than whatever it was book-Sebastian was after with Clary, then certain events coming up later this season are going to be particularly tragic.

What will Clary and Jace be doing if they take those storylines away? I really haven’t the vaguest idea. I think what’s most likely is that we may see a hybrid of my theory (where it’s primarily focused on Izzy and Alec) and the book canon that’s focused on Clary/Jace. I honestly have no idea what that would look like; the same story but just more spread out and inclusive of these characters as a whole group, I guess? Mostly I’m just thrilled at the idea of them taking a major storyline like “being the object of the bad guy’s obsession” away from Clary and giving it to Izzy. Because that’s freaking awesome.

4. SO WHAT IS SEBASTIAN’S AGENDA

Given the fact that in s2ep15, Valentine was sincerely unaware of who Sebastian was, and also the preview we’ve seen for s2ep16, I think it’s safe to say that either he hasn’t been working with Valentine, or if he was (especially as Aldertree) he was doing so to further his own agenda.

What is that agenda? Good question.

I think Valentine believed Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern to be either dead or banished to another realm. Remember this moment in 2x11?

In s2ep15, Magnus reveals to us that what the agony rune showed him was not the worst thing that ever happened to him, but the worst thing he ever did. The torment of the agony rune isn’t about sorrow or loss or helplessness, it’s about guilt.

That’s an important distinction.

We know Valentine experimented on his and Jocelyn’s son with demon blood. And we know from Jocelyn in 2x02 that Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern had not just one flower-killing mishap, but a whole series of incidents in which it was made patently obvious that he was partly demonic.

I believe what we saw in 2x11 while Valentine is being tortured is the memory of what he did to Jonathan. Either he was trying to somehow “purify” Jonathan of any excessive demon-nature and thought he had killed him instead, or he decided Jonathan was beyond salvaging and performed a ritual to banish him to a demon realm (likely Edom, which is the joint province of Lilith, whose blood he used in his experiment on Jonathan) and considered him gone forever.

This would explain why Valentine is so invested in Jace. In the books, he deemed Jace too soft-hearted and wrote him off, sending him to be raised by the Lightwoods while he focused all his attention on Jonathan/Sebastian. What we’ve seen on the show, however, is a bit of role-reversal there. I think it’s Sebastian he wrote off, so he could focus his plans on Jace.

Clearly, Sebastian has taken a dim view of all this and is angling for revenge.

I think Sebastian plans to destroy the Shadowhunters (or at least most of the Shadowhunters.) And he’s trying to foment conflict with the Downworld to accomplish it, which is why it was in his interest to abet Valentine’s goals during Season 2a.

In the books, it’s eventually revealed that Sebastian is the (in an older form) Seelie Queen’s lover. We’re already seeing hints of the two of them working toward the same agenda, in the way that the Seelie Queen tries to create a rift between Simon and Clary/Jace, the way she emphasizes “they always choose their own kind” (which could very well be words right out of Sebastian’s own mouth, if he believes Valentine tried to kill or banished him in favor of Jace.)

But let’s look at what Sebastian is doing on that front as well.

2x09: (as Aldertree) Asking Izzy out on a date once he realizes she’s going to a vampire to get her yin fen fix.

2x10: (as Aldertree) He tries to create a divide between Alec and Magnus by telling Alec a tragic tale of tragic Shadowhunter/Downworlder romance-gone-wrong.

2x12: Disregarding Clary’s relationship with Luke to convince her she’s without family, and asking her out on a date, thereby attempting to get between her and Simon.

2x13: Probably being somehow complicit/the mastermind in the whole Kaelie scheme, which was obviously an attempt to start a war between the Shadowhunters and the Downworld

2x14: Taking a discussion of Jace and Maia’s hookup and turning it around to bring Jace’s attention back to Clary (probably knowing that the Seelie Queen would later also try to nudge Jace and Clary toward each other.)

2x14: Interfering in Raphael and Izzy’s relationship to convince Raphael to walk away from Izzy.

2x14: Trying to derail the Downworld Cabinet by setting Luke up for attempting to murder Valentine.

Sebastian has a very clear pattern of trying to divide Shadowhunters from their Downworld loved ones and allies. At first I thought this was because he was working on Valentine’s Nephilim supremacist agenda, but now I think it’s the opposite. I think, like Valentine, he wants a war, but he intends for Downworlders and probably demons to come out on top and to exterminate the Shadowhunters.

And he’s not having an easy time of it. Mostly because of Izzy.

Now, I said earlier that I thought his burning himself was a violent reaction of jealousy toward Izzy’s love for Alec. I wrote that after 2x11, well before 2x15, so I really have to revamp that theory.

Again, look at those pictures of the little boy burning from 2x11. That is what happened the last time Jonathan/Sebastian loved and trusted a Shadowhunter. I think the reason we see him burning himself is because of his attachment to the Shadowhunters he’s infiltrated (particularly Izzy,) because he needs to remind himself of the pain of being betrayed by his father and why he thinks it’s necessary to do what he’s doing.

Do I like this particular plot? I’m not sure, but I see some really big potential pitfalls. Mostly because it potentially positions the Downworlders as aggressors whom the Shadowhunters need to heroically defend themselves against with deadly force, when in fact that exact opposite has been the case. It runs the risk of echoing various white supremacist propaganda that portrays people of color as aggressors against whom white people must defend themselves, and I’m really hoping they won’t go there.

However, after 2x13 we saw that the writers and producers do have some awareness of the metaphor they’re dealing with, and the show has brought two women of color into the writer’s room for Season 3, so it could be that they find a way to sidestep that trap. At least I really hope they will.

5. SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US WITH REGARD TO THE BOOKS? (SERIOUSLY MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD)

The short answer is: I think Season 3 will be the last season of the show. Or at least it will definitely be the last season of the show that follows the books in any significant regard.

In the books, we don’t really see Sebastian depart from Valentine’s agenda until after City of Glass, where he’s killed by Jace, and then resurrected by Lilith at the end of City of Fallen Angels.

But here’s the thing: other than resurrecting Sebastian, City of Fallen Angels doesn’t do much that we really need to see on the show. Jocelyn is dead, so the whole plot with her investigating the demon babies is out of the question. We saw Simon go to a dark place, feeding off a mundane, in 2x15 so that’s done. Other than that, all that happens is the introduction of Maia’s abusive ex, Jordan Kyle (who doesn’t need to be introduced at all, thanks) and a whole lot of Clace angst (which I’d also rather be spared.)

So, again, hearkening back to Emeraude Toubia’s remarks about how the show is going to end up in the same place as the books, but take a different route to get there (and the fact that Dominic Sherwood has stated that Jace isn’t going to catch a break even well into Season 3) I think at the end of Season 2, we’re going to see the show skip past most of City of Fallen Angels and jump right into events lifted largely from City of Lost Souls for 3a and City of Heavenly Fire for 3b.

A while back, there was a bunch of excitement from the production team over some last minute casting for a character in 2x19 and 2x20.

I think that character is going to be Lilith (I also think it’s the role Sarah Hyland is going to play, but I could be wrong there, she could just as easily play the aged-up Seelie Queen or Helen Blackthorn, as other people have suggested.)

I think in 2x19 we’re going to see the history of how Valentine made Sebastian, how Sebastian’s demon blood came from Lilith. And I think in 2x20, we’re going to see Lilith do what we’re told in City of Fallen Angels that she did at the end of City of Glass: save Sebastian after Jace kills him.

But Jace also dies at the end of City of Glass. City of Fallen Angels is all about the fallout from that, but most of it could easily be bypassed and the story wouldn’t suffer one bit. In an interview this week, Dominic Sherwood talked about how at the end of this season, there’s going to be a “heartbreaking rift” between Jace and Alec. Most of us in the know about the books believed that to be Jace’s death breaking their parabatai bond, and that may very well be the case. However, instead of having Lilith go through all the CoFA hoops to create the dark parabatai/twinning, it could easily be that being resurrected at the same time somehow bonds Jace and Sebastian instead, and thus we move right into CoLS. That would make as much sense, storytelling wise, as anything else.

So, that’s where I think this is going. If the show continues beyond Season 3, it will be a show completely removed from book canon, which let’s be real has been a millstone around the show’s neck for a while now. The showrunners will have fulfilled their obligation to book fans to portray the events that are considered iconic from the books, and thereafter they will be free, especially since it’s well-known that they don’t have the film rights to either Tales From Shadowhunter Academy or the Dark Artifices trilogy.

Could be interesting. Could be a disaster. I guess we’ll see.

[sunshinejcowger-blog]

I wrote this on Jambios and thought I'd share it. So, I clearly remember writing the email to Beth. I was hooked up at dialysis and I thought 'just write her and let her know why you love the site.' I didn't think for a moment that it would go any farther. Instead what happened completely blew my mind. So, here is the email that I sent. Good morning, My name is Sunshine Cowger. You may know the name through Twitter because of my hundred and one questions. I know the site because of Ian Cusick whom I have followed for some time. I checked out Jambios because of his belief that it could be a powerful site. There is hope that you will take the time to read this email and that perhaps enjoy what I'm about to say. As for anyone fighting for their life, it is important that we leave behind lasting information. Not only do we try to handle it all with grace for the children that are witnessing what we do, there are moments when we break. It's vitally important that the kids are reminded that my fight is not their fight. How does this come back to Jambios? I'm getting to that. As an author I always believed that some of my books would be enough for five kids to hang on to. However when I began looking into your site, I was touched by a much bigger opportunity. I could leave information about the small moments that have built relationships with children that I was not fortunate enough to give birth to. As a dialysis patient, I spend three and a half hours, three times a week hooked to a machine. I'm currently writing this while hooked up. I also just finished a batch of chemo (not a cancer patient). This has all been very difficult. Luckily my faith in God pulls me through. I am doing this alone and my kids want to know why I don't date. I can write that in Jambios (although I'll leave out that no man is praying for the sick girl to fall in love with them). What I do want to write is why I made them chocolate chip pancakes with whip cream (ghost blood) at Halloween. Why I would yell out activity time in the middle of horror movie binge watching. Why I would tell them their strengths and how I knew God had a divine purpose for their lives. Why we would pray together even on our way to church. In a society where suicide has become so prevalent, I believe your site can be used for good. I love the prompts you currently have. However I feel like there could be beneficial ones as well. * What memory from your childhood are you still overcoming? * What's your most painful memory? * Did you ever tell the person that hurt you that they caused you pain? The list could go on and on. Quite honestly, though Hospice is different because it's where people can go to die, I have that option and I almost took it. I am well aware that most go there because their body no longer gives them a choice. However I almost took it because I am just so tired, my soul is exhausted. In the end I choose not too because I felt that it would be selfish. As I said in a tribute to the late, great Robin Williams whom I loved. 'How I wish you knew that suicide doesn't end the pain, it merely transfers it.' Imagine how many lives could be saved if broken hearts simply had a place to share. Your site could do that. Although I no longer think of giving up because my pain is not for others to bare. I do think of a time when my body is far too weak to continue. How cool is it that you have provided a place where Ross, Heather, Alec, Joseph and Tyler could go to read about my favorite memories with each of them? Where I can talk of Disneyland trips, the time I fell in the movie parking lot, Heather's first date, Ross starting his own business when he wasn't even out of high school, Alec's witty one liners, Joseph starting a photography career when he had just turned seventeen and Tyler and I becoming kibon blackbelts together. Jambios will provide that for them and for me. Thank you. God bless and good luck on your endeavor. Respectfully, Sunshine Cowger Later that day I received the sweetest tweet from Beth. It wasn't until hours later when I just happened to check my email that I realized she sent a response there too. In that she mentioned that she was sending the email off to other people including Ian and I think my mouth fell open. I was flattered that she thought that much of the email. So then Sunday rolls around and I had forgotten about all of it as most of us do when life begins to take over. I was busy yelling at my youngest who is eleven and knows absolutely everything. I'm pretty sure that I was annoyed and saying something along the lines of "How on earth did I ever survive before you were born?" In which he responded with an attitude that told me that 'why yes, I would like to be locked in the trunk of the car while you calm down.' (Fear not, I don't actually lock the kids in closets or said trunk). He is safe and alive and I will send a picture of him with today's date to prove it if needed. My phone went off and then it went off again and again and again. People were like 'Congratulations!' sending me pictures of streamers, GIF's of Kabby kissing and one lady went so far as to say "Why would he follow you?" I was very confused. And then I saw it and once again my mouth fell open (I should really work on that). Anyhow at first I just saw Ian's picture and was like 'Well he must of posted something outrageous.' Imagine my surprise when the guy I've been following for sometime had decided to follow me back. That is literally what it said "Henry Ian Cusick follows you back" and I'm like 'Is it too soon for best friend charms?' I was like 'I will commit to this friendship right now'. All joking aside, I was downright shocked. And then I over thought it. 'What if he sees my fanfiction?' Suddenly I'm picturing Ian sipping scotch, roaming through pages of Kabby happiness and muttering "Deviant! Be done with her!" as he slowly scrolls through Twitter and clicks the unfollow button because surely he can't be associated with such awkwardness. And then I was like "Dude......the guy is filming Inhumans, he has to go back to The 100 soon and probably flying out to China somewhere in between to support his wife. Chill out!" By the way, I really am grateful that Ian won't be at ComicCon in San Diego this year. Quite frankly I took the day off months ago only to let the moment to buy tickets pass when it was never confirmed whether or not he would be there. However now that he is going to be on InHumans, I have to believe I will get my chance to meet my new BFF when obviously he will probably do engagements for the show. So, can't wait for that. In which case Ian will be all "My old pal Sunshine" and I'll be all "Ian! How are things?" Then I'll trip and fall and he will be all "Classic Sunshine!" and then I'll snort while I laugh. Good times man, Good times! ***quick disclaimer - I don't know for sure that Ian won't be at ComicCon. I'm hoping he won't be cause I would be crushed.

[cowgirlontheloose]

The Shaman and the Swift Fox

Some time in the early 1990s, I had a dream. A female form appeared to me. Maybe a goddess, shaman or fairy creature? She didn’t explain herself. She told me I had to help wildlife. I can’t recall her exact words. But I understood I had to take some sort of action. Then she faded gently from the scene just like in the story books. Poof! 

The morning of my dream, I nibbled my toast and thought hard. Mug of tea in hand, I went to my computer and wrote three similar emails:  one to the Swift Fox recovery team in Alberta and Saskatchewan; one to Burrowing Owl recovery on the prairies, and one to threatened Black-tailed Prairie Dogs in Saskatchewan’s Grassland National Park. I volunteered my services for three months. “Use me however you want,” I wrote. “I’ll scrub cages, count poop, run errands, type, do paperwork or answer phones.” I provided a bio, some glowing references and hit send. 

I was free-lancing in those days — writing for various magazines and organizations. I worked from home, where I could glance from my computer screen out the window to my wild, overgrown 80 acres. Now and then, creatures would plod, scurry, bound or fly by:  turtles, fox, deer, raccoons, skunks, wild turkeys, blue heron and a host of tinier beings that I couldn’t see. But I knew they were there.

Most of my research and writing concerned endangered species. I adored learning about their biology; how they all play a role in keeping our world turning. It thrilled me to discover that the lives of Barn Owls, Kangaroo Rats or Flying Squirrels actually had an impact on my life and the planet. Not directly maybe. But through a chain of influences, weather systems, tiny and significant world events — each one influencing something else and something else and something else — I finally understood how dependent we all are on forces we are mostly clueless about.

One example (and there are millions more) let’s take sea otters, sea urchins and kelp forests to see how we are all connected. By the way, there are no exceptions to this rule. None.

Kelp forests provide homes for a vast number of creatures. Just like any land forest, kelp removes C02 through photosynthesis and turns it into energy it needs to flourish. Along come hungry sea urchins — small, spiky critters that eat kelp. Generally, there are plenty of sea otters around to eat some of the urchins so that everything is balanced tickity-boo and everyone has enough to eat. So far, so good, including all the teeming smaller species also living in the watery forest. But humans have been working overtime dumping toxins and garbage into the sea. Exacerbate this horror with oil spills, over fishing, coastal development and soon otters vanish, leaving the hardier urchins to multiply and literally eat the kelp forest to death along with everyone else living within. 

This particular chain reaction doesn’t stop there of course. It goes on from one thing to another, interacting with other chain reactions all over the planet. Eventually, you and I, our kids and grandkids are affected. It’s a glacial process, so most people don’t notice until it’s far too late, until we wake up to something like the horrors of climate change.

And now, back to my fateful dream and the send button.

A few months later, I found myself in Edmonton at the office of Dr. Lu Carbyn, a Canadian Wildlife Service scientist and chairman of the Swift Fox (Vulpes velox) Recovery Team. The task he set me was to locate myself somewhere near Medicine Hat, Alberta. There I would give talks to schools and community groups about this little fox, why it’s recovery was vital, and how we could all help by not shooting, trapping, poisoning, paving over or digging up their grasslands home. 

I was also expected to have informal visits with some of the major ranch owners. It was these large spreads on which the fox depended after all. And it’s a well known fact in conservation efforts that some Canadian land owners — and no doubt, the world over — do not ever want it known that a vulnerable species was spotted on their property because it could lead to restrictions for the rancher. Their unofficial motto if this should happen is “shoot, shovel and shut up.” I’m not suggesting that any of our prairie ranchers fall into this category. I’m just reporting what I heard again and again in the field.

All this talking in front of groups was a scary stretch for a shy sort. And the thought of me — clueless female Easterner — presuming to educate Western ranchers who possessed more know-how and grass-roots intelligence than I could blink at, made me want to turn tail.

But a deal was a deal.

Lu rounded up a vehicle for me, a cranky, rusting station wagon with balding tires which frankly, was not reliable (I wasn’t about to complain, believe me), and off I went to Elkwater, pop. 80-ish. Here I boarded with the gung-ho and endlessly inventive Lyall family:  Noreen, Don, Richard, 6, and Alec, 4. (Our adventures together will have to wait for another time, alas.) Their home was a few miles from Elkwater on the rolling prairie I love so much. Highway 41 stretched by our door, north to the Trans-Canada and south to Wildhorse, Montana, one of the loneliest border crossings I have seen. 

Before settling in Elkwater, howerver, Lu and I trucked south-east to Val Marie, Saskatchewan (800 km) with several Vulpes velox in cages. Some had been wild trapped in the U.S., and others raised in captivity at the Cochrane Ecological Institute in Alberta. We would be releasing them in Grasslands National Park in hopes of establishing a sustainable presence there.

Forget Banff, Jasper and the Rocky Mountains. Grasslands is possibly Canada’s most gorgeous natural treasure. Established in 1981, this 907 sq. kms. protects one of our country’s remaining un-meddled-with, mixed-grass/short-grass prairie. The park is home to several species in various states of peril:  Bison, Burrowing Owls, Black Footed Ferrets, Greater Short-horned Lizards and Black-tailed Prairie Dogs.

The night before the release, Lu and I camped in this magical place bathed by the misty light of stars and full moon. As his tent was hidden over the brow of a hill and I was located below on a flat expanse, I seemed to have the entire planet to myself. I woke several times and crawled out to pinch myself in disbelief. Coyotes wailed and shooting stars fell. And beneath my bare feet the prairie sighed.

Next day’s release was, in some ways, anti-climactic. So many years and resources, so much funding, will and people power, had brought us to this moment, yet it was just the start of an unfolding mystery. Would this little fox survive long enough to become an integrated part of Canada’s living tapestry again?

We opened the eight cages and stood well back. Some bolted, some crept from captivity to the glory of big sky and vast grasslands. My eyes shimmered. Those sleek, camouflaged coats blended flawlessly into the prairie hues. I blinked. Like wraiths they melted away one by one.

Once settled in Elkwater, I set up appointments with every school and group  I could find. I’ve long forgotten how many there were, or how far afield I roamed. I fondly remember a lively one-room school in Buffalo, Alberta, somewhere between Bindloss and Jenner. Although it was in the middle of nowhere (at least to this Easterner) and clearly a fading hamlet, the school was full of life and energy. Online now, I see that Buffalo is listed as a ghost town, although the minuscule post office and store were operating as of 2015. No sign of the school.

Oh so many schools! The elementary kids had lots of question and comments, always a forest of hands waving at me. The high school crowd was generally stoney-faced — too cool to reveal themselves in any way. I left those presentations feeling like a boring idiot, but hey — I tried. The most interactive and fun schools were Hutterite colonies — Spring Creek, Cypress, Box Elder, Elkwater. Here I was warmly included and herded on chatty tours of the colony by pink-cheeked, giggling youngsters. Once, my son Adam, was visiting me on his way back to University in New Zealand, and came with me (I probably forced him) to one of these colonies. I know he answered a barrage of questions about what New Zealand was like. I hope he remembers that time. This is the kid whose only apparent childhood memory is of me chasing him upstairs whacking at his legs with a wooden spoon. 

I covered thousands of lonely miles. One night on my way to Consul, Sask. (1.5 hours drive — was I nuts?) a full moon poured a fantastical light onto the prairie. I pulled over, got out and lay down in the middle of straight-and-flat-as-an-arrow Highway 13. I don’t know why I did it, but the prairie sang to me in four-part harmony that night.

I surely recall heading south an hour one cold night to Manyberries. Up and over the high bench of the Cypress Hills I drove, straining my eyes for elk and moose. Then down to the long flat stretch to Montana. 

I passed the sign that said something like Warning — No Gas Or Services For The Next 100 Kms. and tried not to add a sub-text which urged Better Say Your Prayers, Sister. 

The road was bare and I hummed happily. Suddenly snow — an instant, blinding white-out and the road vanished. I crept to a standstill. Yes, I knew possibly only a few kilometres from me, lights glowed from a warm ranch house at the end of a long laneway. But I had no hope of finding that. I waited, my heart rattling in my throat. 

Fifteen minutes later, headlights glowed behind me and a transport truck swirled past. How could he possibly see? But now I had quickly fading tracks to follow, which I did. There was no way I was going to risk turning around and hitting the ditch. Ten minutes later, the white-out stopped dead. Bare highway appeared and the transport’s light drew away from me. On I went to Manyberries, trailing clouds of dumb luck and good fortune.

Did I make any difference to the Swift Fox effort? Who knows. My time volunteering was precious beyond measure and enriched my life and understanding of how the world turns. And what of Vulpes velox (also called the Kit Fox) today in 2018? Once common from the Canadian prairies south to Texas, No thanks to humans, it was extirpated from Canada in 1930. Between 1983 and 1997, conservationists introduced more than 900 of these house cat-sized animals to the Canadian grasslands. It is estimated that 600 are living and reproducing in our country today.

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) designated the Swift Fox as extirpated in 1978. It was uplisted to Endangered in 1998, and since 2009 was further uplisted to Threatened.

Wildlife Preservation Canada says the Swift Fox recovery is considered “…one of the most successful endangered species translocation programmes in the world.

[stealth-liberal]

Book!Alec vs TVShow!Alec

There’s a lot of debate in the Immortal Instruments/Shadowhunters fandom about the character of Alec Lightwood and biphobia and most of it ENTIRELY misses the point. As a bisexual, this is an issue that I feel able to speak not only for myself, but for the vast bulk of my community as well. Here goes:

For the uninformed, Alec Lightwood is one half of the EXTREMELY popular M/M ship called Malec. The other half being a bisexual Asian (specifically Indonesian) character named Magnus Bane. Alec is not bisexual, he is gay, so two entirely different sexual orientations here. Now, again, for the uninformed, this is a paranormal/supernatural book/tv series and Magnus Bane is an immortal warlock who is around 3 to 4 thousand years old. Therefore, he has fallen in love many times with both genders, male and female. In the books, the author goes to great lengths to not have the tired trope of One True Love in her books, so all of Magnus’ past loves are treated as very real, not just merely practice runs for being with Alec. Now, as I hate few things more than One True Love when it comes to fiction, I love this. Also... I just plain don’t believe in One True Love, but I digress.

In the books Alec is EXTREMELY biphobic about Magnus’ past relationships with women and he’s a real dick about it. He pretty much hits every classic, textbook note for biphobia and does it with asshole style. He also never really gets over it the way you’d hope that a character would be able to fix a huge flaw that’s become a plot point. Now, to be sure, he does get better, but it’s only ever incrementally better. It never get’s fully fixed.

On the tv show, the writers appear to have decided to just skip this part of Alec’s personality. He displays no biphobic behavior that I, or anyone else, can detect. For him, Magnus’ bisexuality is his orientation just as much as heterosexuality is his parabatai Jace’s orientation and homosexuality is his own orientation. It bears no further comment from him, nor worry. The only time he makes what could be seen as a negative comment on Magnus’ romantic/sexual past is when he realizes that after thousands of years of life, Magnus has a LOT of exes and past one night stands and he gets intimidated by that. However, by the end of that particular episode, Alec has gotten over it and moved on.

Now, obviously, tvshow!Alec is clearly a healthier character then book!Alec and tvshow!Malec is a far healthier relationship than book!Malec in this respect. A lot of people give the author, Cassandra Clare, a heaping ration of shit about Alec’s biphobia, to the point of calling her homophobic for writing him that way and for the most part, neither fandom (book or tv show) gives much more critical thought to the issue. Well at least it would appear that the straight and gay fans don’t. For us bisexuals it’s a very different story.

Alec’s behavior in the books is very realistic to us. We’ve ALL had run ins with this type of person in the gay and lesbian communities, we’ve ALL been rejected by them or been made to feel inferior by them. A good portion of our lives gets spent dealing with them and trying to exist in LBGTQA spaces in spite of their hostility. We get told that we aren’t real by them, that we’re fakers and that’s the nicer mean things that they say to us and about us. Oftentimes, after being ejected from straight spaces, we find we aren’t welcome in LBGTQA spaces either and it all comes down to one thing: biphobia. For many of us, myself included, it get’s bad enough that we decide to ONLY date other bisexuals. No straights, no gays, no lesbians. Why? Because the constant rejection isn’t worth it. My spouse is bisexual and he made the same decision as well.

I, and many others in the bisexual community, have also been in relationships with gay men or lesbians who acted as though they were doing us a huge favor by agreeing to be with us. And then they reveal the minefield: Constant questions about past relationships, G-d forbid we make eye contact with a member of the opposite sex, because that’s going to mean days of recriminations, gaslighting and questions. This is the daily minefield that many of us have walked though in toxic relationships, now reverse this behavior for straights and make it about the same sex and you can understand why many of us throw our hands up in the air, say “Fuck it!” and restrict the dating pool to other bi/pan people. Pan wasn’t a term when I was coming up in the world, so for me, bisexual is how I identify and what I use to describe anyone who isn’t monosexual or ace.

For me and a lot of people like me, book!Alec was a refreshing bolt of realisim in a genre/fangenre that treat the gay community like magical unicorn people with no flaws. At the time the books were written, biphobia was denied as an issue and was nearly always pushed under the rug. No one. Was. Talking. About. It. And suddenly here was this hugely popular book series and this hugely popular couple from it and they were like a master class in what biphobia is and how it effects bisexuals and our relationships. Magnus was already gold as far as bisexual representation goes and the way his past relationships were treated just made it all the sweeter. He never changed his orientation because Alec showed him who he was always meant to be, he never stopped being bisexual. Then the biphobic shitstorm that Alec unleashed on him... and I read it with a smile on my face. 

Finally, someone was doing bisexuality right and biphobia right. Finally someone cared enough about my community to talk about the thing no one would talk about. It meant a lot to us and it still does.

Now, none of this means that I don’t like how the tv show has dealt with it. I like that too, just as much. It’s a master class of it’s own about how gay men and lesbians should treat the bisexuality of their partners. It’s a joy to watch just as much as the other relationship was refreshing to read. One does not cancel out the neccessity of the other, both are vital. I just think that people should ask bisexuals how they feel about it before they say how bad it was to have written book Alec and Malec the way the were before decrying it and saying it shouldn’t have been done.

Also, I shouldn’t have to say this, but I know I’m going to have to anyway. If you, as a gay man, lesbian or straight person have never engaged in biphobic behavior than fantastic. The points that I made weren’t about you, they were about toxic, biphobic members of your respective communities. Don’t inundate my inbox with hate.

@a-forger-and-a-point-man  (This kind of deals with what we were talking about.)