#jace cookies arc

[silver-crowned-riders]

Alright Rotomblr, listen up! I need a cookie that impresses the boss! A NONCONFORMIST RIDERS-STYLE COOKIE!! YEAH!!!

HOWEVER. I have no idea how to achieve that. So I'm lettin' YOU PUNKS put in your vote for the ingredients, got it??

[silver-crowned-riders]

don't do this. don't repeat our mistakes.

I voted ^_^

You know what? Let's bake a cake.

If this sets my kitchen on fire I blame you

Recipe will be 4 cups total by volume, each ingredient measured by the percentage in this poll. Baked in a typical 8-inch round cake pan, if I'm confident it won't be too dangerous.

[belle-keys]

On this week's episode of E!’s Botched: James Herondale's character (Meta)

We've now reached my meta piece on our Angel-Demon Boy Extraordinaire, James Herondale! (Not to be confused with just Angel Boy Extraordinaire, Jace Herondale).

I adore James’ character so much. He's such a sweet, comfortable, and noble main character that you absolutely can't help respect, admire, and sympathize with him in the main trilogy. James, in Chain of Thorns, is on the Jem-tier of sympathetic and lovable. That being said, I have some criticisms of the way his character arc played out in Chain of Thorns especially that I'd like to pick apart... because I can. Moreover, I have a, uh, wee problem with the way I could literally hear Cassie fiddling around with the levers and gears of the narrative as far as James is concerned in The Last Hours (which starts mainly by the end of Chain of Iron and going into Chain of Thorns but was there from the beginning). If you’re super not-in-the-mood to read any criticisms of James (even one where I’ll be blaming only the narrative and not James in any capacity at all), then feel free to not read this.

Powers Begone

James and Lucie lose their demonic powers at the very end of the story. There is no opportunity for growth in the future regarding James and Lucie's demonic heritage. James will no longer be able to use the runed gun that only he can use. This is boring insomuch as it forces the reader to acknowledge James' and Lucie's powers and their inherited darkness as something that was created for the purpose of existing as an obstacle to overcome, rather than as a portion of themselves to come to coexist with. It's not necessarily bad writing but it's just extremely cookie-cutter writing, especially as it makes the central conflict in the story something that will bear no real power in the future and nor will it have a legacy– it has no weight. If the narrative has created these demonic powers to be something that can be detached from the characters with no caveats, then James and Lucie have only managed to be victims of these powers in the story before they shed them. The Belial powers that they've inherited are like raindrops on a windscreen. Rainfall is an obstacle to driving, it's a nuisance, and it can even make you get into a car accident. But at the end of the day, once your windshield wiper is working, you can brush the raindrops away. The narrative brushes away James and Lucie's powers at the end of the story, which is fine, but it also brushes away any and all of the consequences this power should have. The narrative has wiped away any of the long-term effects of the emotional, psychological, and physical consequences or legacy that their powers could have. This isn't a plea for James and Lucie to be destroyed by their powers, but rather, I feel like this complete loss of power and "moving on", which is part of why I find the Epilogue to be so weak, sanitizes James and Lucie's line from being tinged and stained with their inheritance. And while I reiterate that this is not categorically bad writing, it’s just kinda boring to me. James' arc ends exactly where it started, but without the poetry of a "come full circle" storyline. My issue is that James' character does a complete 360 (and not a 180) in a... lame way. Considering this demonic power is what raised Jesse from the dead (a really good thing!) and was the catalyst for the creation of the gracelet too, the disappearance of it makes for, yeah, a very sweet story. And a sweet story is just never as poignant as a bittersweet story. But this last sentence is just me projecting. Maybe. Moving on.

(N.B. But another reason I didn’t think the Epilogue was good, despite it being so warm and pure amd enjoyable for me, is because we damn well know that Cassie is good at writing bittersweet endings. Your main character living with demonic poison in his veins as a mute monk for 150 years before he can finally be with the love of his life and without having forced her to choose only one of the two men she’s ever loved is peak bittersweet writing. Your other main character sacrificing his literal memory to a Demon Prince to get his close friends out of a literal Hell realm and then slowly becoming empowered after that trauma and regaining his memory is peak bittersweet writing.)

You Can’t Spell Herondale Without Hero

James’ goodness is as good as it is bad in the context of the story, and I attribute this paradox to the fact that he’s a Herondale. There’s a Herondale legacy to protect, after all, with his character, and as a result, the story is simultaneously enriched and hindered by James’ parentage and characterization. I'd even argue that said characterization is the direct result of having said parentage, which isn't a bad thing at all. But, what I have an issue with is the way James' characterization feels, you guessed it, entirely sanitized. No, I'm not saying here that there was an Original Dark James that got lost in the wind or cut from the drafts (I mean, yes, I do absolutely think that, yes, but I'm not gonna try to tear apart his character on that basis, because it'd be mean, but it's also pure speculation, and I have no desire to pick apart the Secret Dark Original Ending anyway).

The narrative spends a lot of time protecting James, his heroism, and his nobility, and its choice method of protecting James has been to strip James of his agency. James spends the whole of The Last Hours experiencing things happen to him, but not really doing things. He gets possessed by Belial, he gets blackmailed by Belial, he gets the gracelet put on him by Grace, he gets stabbed by Cortana, he had his wife run away to Paris before he could stop her… I could go on. He spends the entire series being hurt and manipulated by other people and entities because he’s just so good and loving, and he spends little of his time actually making choices that can permanently affect others, for better or for worse. Because James spends the majority of the trilogy literally not having much free will at all (gracelet followed by possession back to back), the story essentially bulletproofs him from having to be anything but a noble, good hero who simply can’t help but just have Hell and Earth constantly hurtling toward him. This goodness also hinders the story as well because James is simply too good, too noble, too innocent to be anything else but a victim by virtue of his treatment by the narrative. The way his goodness is preyed on constantly and the way he is just mainly reactive to the whole situation is quite… bland. And moreover, the other characters spin around him like he’s the sun, which, as I noted in a previous ask, makes for weak character development as you can’t fricking blow up the sun. He’s fixed in his own orbit as actions in the form of comets bounce off him. Nothing that happens and that has a negative legacy for the other characters actually manages to touch James as he becomes an increasingly passive actor in a story that is fundamentally founded on him. On top of James being, quite obviously, the perfect gentleman and husband and also being obscenely rich, fortunate, and privileged, it feels like he was robbed of the opportunity to be anything less than ideal by the way the narrative puppeteered him.

We know James Herondale always felt like he was “not cursed, but damned” and was “destined to walk among thorns and flowers”. The setup for The Last Hours in the prequel short stories was dark, and we all know Cassie was about to end off this series in a very sinister way. I won’t ramble on about that last point too much, but I do wonder if James was originally supposed to be characterized with way more darkness within him (at least, more than the amount of darkness that I'm expecting), which would lend to a very interesting contrast between his idyllic family and upbringing and whatever “damnation” he felt lived within his soul. I also wonder if simply not characterizing James like this was Cassie’s way of making sure that she didn’t taint Will and Tessa’s legacy directly and didn’t undo Wessa’s Happily Ever After. Regardless, the narrative coddles James (and Lucie, and Cordelia) and strips him of any complexity or dubiousness when, in my opinion, the foundation was laid for something exactly like that.

(N.B. Jem is kind of like this too... ish. It doesn’t really bother me, as Jem was supposed to be a foil for Will but also because Jem simply never got everything his wanted, and definitely not when he wanted it.)

Concluding Thoughts

Now let’s get something straight: As a romantic lead, James Herondale is excellent. I thought his enduring love for Cordelia and the way he exemplified the idea that goodness can literally break apart the forces of Hell was amazing as a core theme in the story, and I am so fond of my annotations for all his scenes with Cordelia, because I can barely think of anyone who deserves that kind of love and joy by the Epilogue of ChoT. But the way Cassie wrote James implies a character that is so pure, innocent, and well loved, that all he can be is the hurt prince, a target because of these very qualities, someone who sometimes does things like shoot a gun… a gun that he literally gives up by the end of the story anyway. James is warm, kind, brilliant, strong and big on loyalty. But… what did James Henry Morgan Herondale really do in The Last Hours besides serve whatever purpose the book absolutely needed him to, be beautiful, and destroy at least one (1) doorknob on a certain warm, passionate night?

[the-prophet-lemonade]

okay so... I was rereading chap 8 just now and... it only now occurred to me: luke/wolfsbane was talking about clary and Jocelyn right?? when talking about leaving Idris and marrying her and kiddo in college rn?? and I went ohhhhh, if it's Clary does Luke know she is a super? does Clary know Luke is wolfsbane?? does Jocelyn know?? does Luke know Maryse has kids called Alec, Izzy and Jace?? I have so many questions

so these are some very important questions, the answers to which will be revealed ... soon ... 

luke’s arc is nowhere near finished and we’re only just winding up to it, and as we get closer to the much anticipated election day, we will learn more about luke and what he knows about idris. and yes, wolfsbane certainly was talking about jocelyn and clary in chapter 8 during his discussion with alec! 

currently, clary does not know that luke is wolfsbane or has superpowers. she doesn’t know jocelyn has superpowers either ... clary’s powers manifested in secret and she didn’t tell her parents, which is one of the things that led her into idris’ employ, as idris likely have a gift for picking up young people with powers to shape as they see fit. clary’s story won’t be touched upon in the fic (it’s not really important to alec’s narrative), so i don’t mind talking about her.

now, as for luke ... the question whether he knows (or at least suspects) clary has powers is ... best left read between the lines for now. make of that what you will, but luke is a smart cookie, and he already assumed johnathan had powers based on his parentage. we’ll come back to this in later chapters, especially once wolfsbane meets muse and arkangel (which will happen soon). 

and as for luke knowing maryse’s kids ... well ... he knew maryse. he worked with robert. alec and isabelle certainly existed whilst he was at idris. i’m sure you can draw your own conclusions ... and so will alec. (also, it may be worth revisiting alec’s previous interactions with luke in early chapters before he knew luke was wolfsbane ... because some of luke’s reactions to both alec and jace are ... deliberate, shall we say)

tl;dr ALL WILL BE REVEALED 

[silver-crowned-riders]

OOH, OOH, I should try this!!

I've even thought of the idea before and worried it might come off as weird or somethin, but if others are in agreement I might as well go ahead with it!

TIP: if you’re a henchman and your boss is between evil schemes, try baking them some cookies! They’ll love it!

[drimmari]

Family Ties [1]

A gentle shower of red, orange and gold leaves tugged themselves free of branches and danced on the cool breeze, accompanied by spatterings of azure sparks. The scents of pine, wood smoke and chalk mingled lazily, fell like summer rain upon the nobles and servants of Dawnglory and its sworn Houses.

The Lady’s sprawling manor was bookended by servants’ homes, armories, libraries. Fields of various crops painted vibrant colors into the fertile land that bordered Lake Everstill’s northern bank; Mages peopled one field, murmuring and waving bony fingers over crimson flowers. Bloodthistle was in full bloom.

Elendil traced his fingers reverently down the towering oak’s trunk. The trees were his companions, even more than Fleur, whose days, weeks and even months were spent among the capital’s Spires. Mother’s harsh reprimands, the only true interaction he’d ever had with her, had grown few and far between. These days, he could scarcely recall the sound of that stern, passionless voice.

“My Lord,” came the carefully neutral voice from behind him. Flinching despite himself, the boy turned.

Fir saplings bracketed the old elf, his suit of Lordaeronian plate standing a stark white against the earthy greens and browns. White hair fell to the small of his back, shrouded the handsome face that so often was contorted with rage. His head was bowed respectfully to Elendil.

“Sir Dra’zar,” Elendil responded awkwardly, and cursed himself. Where was Fleureine’s strength, Jemar’s confidence? He was a fool. After a moment, he shifted his bow off his back and leaned it against the oak, trying his best to combat his slouch and stand with chin lifted.

“I seek your mother’s counsel.” There was something off about his voice-- Elendil couldn’t quite place it. Delrion Dra’zar had a wolflike disposition, layered with natural charisma and a dangerous propensity for magic. Like his father, he towered over the rest of House Dawnglory, a resolute giant forever haunted by his mother’s transgressions against the House.

Unnerved, Elendil lashed out. “Why are you asking me?” His voice sounded shockingly juvenile, like that of a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “You damn well know she’s holding court today. Perhaps you can try your hand at wooing the Lady Starspark again?” Empty, childlike. He still hadn’t mastered the chess game of noble’s speech; eighteen years an outcast had left him defenseless.  

Delrion smiled now, a predatory flashing of white teeth behind curled lips. Deliberately his fingers traced the haft of the shortsword sheathed at his hip.

Is he threatening me? Elendil couldn’t help but think, fighting to swallow the fear manifesting in his throat.

“Why the belligerence, young Lord? You and I both know my intentions are just.” His tone was gently chiding as he took a deliberate step towards El, who promptly backpedaled.

Coward, he said to himself even as his loose cannon of a tongue took over. “All I know is that you’re an ass, a horrible father, and a failure. How long have you been looking for him? Seven hundred years? Fuck off before I summon Jace.”

“You mean he’s not nearby?” Delrion asked with mild interest, and Elendil knew he’d bought himself a front row ticket to his own death. He wasn’t sure when the tone had changed, but it had. Delrion was furious; the air darkened with a primal sort of energy, charged with heat, sweat, tension and his own fear. “And here I’d thought the Lady taught you to understand your importance, boy. A fair number of Lords and Ladies would give their own children to leverage you against your mother.”

“You act like Mother would care,” Elendil retorted, but his voice was lame and his heart was pounding in his throat. He backed around trees, stumbling over roots. The Sun dipped below the horizon behind Elendil, casting muted bronze rays among the forest canopies; they seemed to shy away from Rion like a boulder splitting a stream.

The white-haired elf’s approach was gradual and sure. “She would. Such a risk to her security cannot go unchecked.” In one swift motion he drew the longsword from his hip; the glint of sunlight arced off polished steel, sparks of violet dancing into the air and forming webs overhead. Elendil swiped his bow from the oak and scrambled in his quiver for an arrow, but his hands trembled violently and his legs were a riptide.

Delrion’s ears flicked, and he murmured something in a foreign tongue-- somehow, Elendil could discern every syllable, and he knew it was a curse. Abruptly the older elf tossed his sword to Elendil, who in his surprise batted it away with his bow’s upper limb; the sword clattered harmlessly into a patch of dandelions.

“No one taught you to catch, my Lord?” The polite amusement in his voice was almost genuine, and Elendil was so unsettled that he nearly jumped when the small hand clamped down on his shoulder. The scent of gardenias danced around him.

“Mother is in her study.” Fleureine’s voice was silk where Delrion’s was steel. Elendil could sense the thick aura of magic from his sister like the odor of alcohol on a drunk.

“I was going to aid the young Lord with his swordsmanship, my Lady.” Delrion’s tone matched that with which he addressed Anavela-- true respect, even deference. His footsteps faded as he turned heel and left, sparing Elendil not even a second glance.

Disgusted, Elendil wrenched the blade up by its pommel and pitched it into a nearby stream; shrugging Fleur’s hand off his shoulder, shame welling up in his eyes and blurring his vision, the young Lord departed for his usual haunts.

[silver-crowned-riders]

// I think I'm gonna try to figure out making the votes how much of that ingredient there is proportional to the usual amount instead of what percentage of the mass it is. otherwise theres gonna be more salt than flour which. I like embarassing these two but even I have my limits 💔

[silver-crowned-riders]

Watching the cookies in the oven!! They're uh um they're. they're uh. um

[silver-crowned-riders]

...

Yeah the boss is kinda a weirdo sometimes.

[silver-crowned-riders]

So the cookies are done.

[A photo is attatched of... "cookies" on a pan.]

[No rise on the cookies whatsoever. They are semi-charred disks. Instead of being a consistent mass, the cookie disks have little segments of flour and honey clumped together, even yellow bits (presumably the singular egg they used). Sticking out of the flat planes are chunks of pecha berry and semisolid caramelized honey. It's hard to notice them, though, through the sheer number of capsakid seeds that cover more than half of the cookie-disk surface area.]

[Jace is presumably the one to have taken the picture, since Beau is on the other side of the counter, staring at them, cheeks resting on her hands.]

[silver-crowned-riders]

ROTUMBLR'S COOKIE RECIPE IS READY!! I dub them...

Distortion-Realm-Spawn Cookies!

2 cups flour!

1/2 tablespoons salt!

4 teaspoons butter!

1/3 cups brown sugar!

2 teaspoons sugar!

1/2 cups chopped pecha berries!

2 tablespoons Combee honey!

1 3/4 cups Capsakid seeds!

...Why do I have a bad feeling about this all of a sudden.

WELL, we're boundary pushers full of courage here, not resturaunt bakers!

Mister bossman'll be out for a few hours tomorrow, we'll make the cookies while he's away and suprise him with them when he gets back!

[silver-crowned-riders]

// im finally processing the horror of 19.6% votes for salt

[silver-crowned-riders]

[A video is attatched, presumably recorded last night]

[Beau is squinting, seemingly placing the camera into someone's hands.]

🎀🖤: Yeah, like that. Get whoever's talking inside of that frame. Just try to pretend I'm letting ya play around with that like it's a MetaPad and you're my son I don't givacrap about, you get me?~

[A Mawile's chirping can be heard in response. Beau smiles and gives double thumbs up, meanwhile Jace walks across the frame behind her. Beau pulls back to look at him which now makes it clear he's pacing in circles.]

🎀🖤: D'ya want me to get Skitty?

🧵💥: I'm NOT gonna CUDDLE MY SKITTY when I'm giving him the DISTORTION REALM SPAWN COOKIES!!

[Beau shrugs and walks towards him.]

🎀🖤: I don't mind, he probably doesn't mind, he likes you!

🧵💥: No, no he's gonna hate meee, he hates meee...

[Then, the sound of metal doors being kicked open. Jace makes a little squeak sound. The camera turns to a man stretching one of his shoulders, an Absol's horn bobbing along at the bottom of the frame.]

[He has hair dyed striking colors and a long red coat. Definitely stands out, but in contrast to his lackeys, he talks very calmly.]

🦋🐺: I'm back, anything blow up while I was gone? Heheh.

🎀🖤: Fortunately no, bossman!

🧵💥: Nuh-nothing at all, mister-the-boss!

[He smiles and shakes his head.]

🦋🐺: I thought I told you guys, the formality's unnecessary.

[Jace seems embarassed then takes a quick peek at the camera, perhaps he's used to talking the boss up in front of other people.]

[An Espurr floats by the boss's head. He catches her in the air and drops the large metal pipe he was holding in his other hand to clatter in the ground. Right, criminals...]

🧵💥: A-ah, right, UHHHM so Casey! We have a uh suprise. foryouu.

🦋🐺: Hm?

[The boss puts Espurr in the ball and follows Jace's awkward shuffle with his hands in his pockets.]

🎀🖤: We were looking for fun ways to show appreciation for our boss!

🧵💥: So I made ahem. uh I made cookies.

🦋🐺: Really? Never envisioned you firey boys trying something like baking, hah!

[He smiles and punches Jace's shoulder playfully. Jace blushes visibly.]

🧵💥: AHAYEAH WELLABOutthatuh-

🎀🖤: Yeah, you'd think it would limit our creativity, or be super boring yaknow? But Jace was kinda adamant on the cookies idea for whatever reason, so... we kinda had the idea to-

[The two of them freeze when they see the boss has now locked eyes with the tray of... uh, "cookies".]

🧵💥: theeee distortion-realm-spawn cookies!~~*

🎀🖤: With crowdsourced ingredient portions!

🦋🐺: Huh.

[The three sit around a table.]

🦋🐺: Crowdsourced, huh? Like all the Riders voted on it?

🎀🖤: ...Sure, yeah!

🧵💥: They have Capsakid seeds in them, forwarning. A lot, actually! And like, tons of salt too. I, uh... might as well have one first since I made this whole mess in the first place. You don't have to have any if you don't wanna, misterbossman...

[Jace picks up one of the charred disks and looks at it, bracing himself, while the other two go for a bite.]

🎀🖤: Ahh, cmon Jace, don't beat yourself up-

[The spice startles Beau and makes her choke a little. She gives reassuring thumbs up and strained smile to Jace before holding back a cough. The boss looks at her with confusion while chewing his.]

[The boss then does something unthinkable... He takes a second bite. Jace drops his cookie and stares. Beau watches him do this and is sent further into a coughing fit.]

🧵💥: ...

🧵💥: ...What are you doing

🦋🐺: Uh. Eating, how about you?

🧵💥: You... you like it?

[He finishes the cookie. Thinks on it for a second. Nods and takes a second one.]

🎀🖤: Like- ACK. Like actually?

🧵💥: Wuh. Why on earth... um, wh-what'cha like about it?

[Jace is looking at him like he's a freak. He shrugs.]

🦋🐺: Don't see the issue. It's very flavorful. Thanks for this, Jace! Maybe char it even blacker next time, y'know?

[Jace stares at his boss with shock, then concern, then slight disgust.]

🦋🐺: So, how do we wanna split these?

🧵💥: You c- you can... have them. All.

🎀🖤: Mhm!

🦋🐺: Haha! Fine by me.

[Jace finally settles on "relief" for what he's feeling and lets out a sigh. He looks at Beau with an "I'm gonna go sit in a hole for 10 hours now" kind of look. Xe doesn't seem to object. End video.]

[silver-crowned-riders]

Said adios to the bossman for the day! Though Jace barely held himself back enough to not give the whole thing away.

Feels fun making it a big secret but really we're just making suprise snacks, nuthin to get so flustered about. :/

[silver-crowned-riders]

We forgot to put egg in the cookie recipe.

uhhhh. We have one at home, that's probably good enough!

[silver-crowned-riders]

Cookies for the boss does sound like a good idea... but to be honest I have no idea what he'd like. I know he likes jerky and stuff like that but that ain't helpful when I'm making cookies!

I could go with something apple flavored since at least Windy'll like it. BUT what if Windy only eats so much of it because mister bossman HATES apples and just gives it all to his Pokemon?? AGH! I could never look him in the eyes again!