#like just *tell us* the family tree was written before tlh was really a thing & because of that it's not canon anymore

[helenofblackthorns]

Cassandra Clare writing the pre-tlh short stories and then forgetting about them & what they had established as canon when actually writing the last hours is my villain origin story. like it makes me so violent. and I get things change as the writing process goes on but imo as an author you have a responsibility to abide by what you previously wrote & published. you don't get to pretend that it just never happened.

[sarahreesbrennan]

Hey I'm just curious since you've now coauthored both Nothing But Shadows and Cast Long Shadows. Matthew Fairchild is one of my fav book characters ever and I was wondering what your favorite thing about him or writing him is? ❤ Is it difficult to write a character that you didn't create? Sorry to bother you, coauthoring fascinates me (and Matthew makes me smile)

Aw, what a nice question, and you’re not bothering me at all! It’s really fun to have the Ghosts of the Shadow Market stories coming out, and to do this adventure with my friends and Cassie’s great readers! I was super nervous about Son of the Dawn, and the reception has been really lovely.

I was actually with Cassie on tour when she came up with some of the big moves for The Last Hours, so I’ve always been super into it. Me, Cassie and Maureen Johnson were touring together to promote the upcoming The Bane Chronicles which we all co-wrote, as well as Cassie’s Clockwork Princess. That night Cassie and I were sharing a room, and since it was just after the release of Clockwork Princess, we got to talking about the future for the Infernal Devices characters and Cassie’s favorite Dickens book being Great Expectations (mine is Tale of Two Cities, which we’ve squabbled over, so I was all, you have to do books referencing Great Expectations because you love it so much you want to marry it), and we got out the family tree and started telling it to each other as a bedtime story. (WRITERS. We are like this.) And we co-wrote The Midnight Heir, the first time we see some TLH characters, on that same tour. It’s much nicer to co-write when physically together and able to chat it out, but sometimes that isn’t possible as Cassie and I live in different countries–America and Ireland–and we both travel loads. For instance, lots of my bits of Cast Long Shadows I wrote while in the Seychelles, weeping gently on the beach as I discussed Matthew’s life over the phone.

So the TLH characters and I have been friends a long time, and they’re maybe my favourite set of Cassie’s. It definitely is tricky to write a character you didn’t create–but uh, I’ve written fanfic in the past, so I’ve done it before! And this is different and better: Cassie is there every step of the way, so you know you can’t go too far wrong, and you know where everything is going, and it is really an honour to get to contribute a little to her world, and to know if I feel at sea I can push the computer toward her with an ingratiating smile and promise to do more on my next turn, and she will stop me or fix it if I have committed a great faux pas. Plus, through writing characters sometimes you come to love them more–I truly have with several of them. Co-writing with someone I didn’t know really well, and really trust, would be much more difficult. Mostly what I worry about is letting Cassie or the readers down. But because I came in on the ground floor with the TLH characters, they come easier to me than, say, the TDA characters. Not to tell you guys my Awful Weaknesses, but my most difficult Shadowhunters work was Bitter of Tongue, even though I do truly love the TDA characters, and Mark, and Helen and Aline’s wedding. But just… faeries. Why are they the way they are? How do Cassie and Holly Black, faerie queen extraordinaire, do it? I don’t know. I don’t get it. I sat across from Cassie while we wrote it, and sadly threw flowers at myself and at her, to feel more faerie. (I don’t know why any of my friends ever speak to me, all I do is pick them up and carry them, or belabour them with blossoms, or make them try k-beauty products.)

Anyway, I think you can now see that I do go on, as I have now been rattling on without answering your question for some time. (Both Cassie and I tend to write super long, which is a failing our friends must deal with. ‘For God’s sake ladies would you quit it’ said Maureen and our co-author Robin Wasserman for Tales from Shadowhunter Academy, when we handed in Born to Endless Night, which was twice as long as planned.) But I hope it’s clear that co-writing these characters is fun as well as challenging, and Matthew is especially great and easy to co-write, and has always been a special favourite of mine. He makes me smile, too, and that was lovely to do in Nothing But Shadows: James discovering Matthew, at the same time the readers were discovering him. ‘The facts are… I love him,’ I have said urgently, many times. (I am a horrible favourites picker, and will sit campaigning for story time for my chosen darlings and death for my least favourites through every critique session with every one of my writer friends. Soon I may just start waving cards with ‘RAPHAEL!’ or ‘NINA!’ or ‘CARDAN!’ or ‘THE CARSTAIRS SIBLINGS!’ or ‘THE MOON!’ written in sparkly letters. They all have to deal.) When Cassie, Robin, Maureen and our new fabulous addition Kelly Link discussed writing Ghosts of the Shadow Market in a pool in Italy, we knew that chronologically we’d start with the Last Hours characters–Jem seeing the new generation, his friends’ children, as his friends move forward in time and he… doesn’t. 

I have long complained about getting the first stories in these anthologies–introductions are difficult! It is a lot of pressure. ‘Hello, welcome to Magnus’s warlock gang.’ ‘Here is George Lovelace, we have big plans for him, gosh I hope Cassie saves me from screwing this up.’ Cassie told us of Matthew’s great sin. ‘I GET THE MATTHEW STORY!’ I shrieked. I have a piercing scream. ‘I’m doing it with you, right? Right?! ME!’ My friends swam uneasily around in the pool. ‘Yes Sarah. You can have the Matthew story. Stop that noise. Stop it.’ So I bagged the first story, this time around. (And then it was decided that Son of the Dawn would come out first, so I got a double first. Like I said, very nervous! But I did it for Matthew.)

I think writers are always interested in a dichotomy, so it’s fascinating to think of warriors growing up against the background of the aesthetic movement: CLS is set in 1901, a really exciting time tipping wildly from history into modernity, careening all unawares into the Great Wars. (In fact, a significant historical event occurs in CLS: you’ll know it when you see it.) Matthew is an artistically minded warrior raised by a scientist and a politician, and he passionately loves modern art and modern ideas of beauty and an ideal of living beautifully, in a way that doesn’t fit in with his society’s values or way of life. Matthew has everything going for him–he’s a talented warrior, he’s extremely adept socially–but the thing setting him apart from the rest is what he loves: his father, disabled and not valued for his scientific brilliance, his parabatai, under a demonic shadow, and his other particular friends, a boy who represents the next generation of science with new ideas about disease and technology, and a sickly small kid who people murmur won’t make it as a fighter. Matthew could’ve loved anybody, but he chose them, and in CLS it was great to write from his POV, and see those he loves through his loving eyes. He especially loves Oscar Wilde, who is a great Irish literary figure and who I grew up loving–and who got by himself on being witty and charming and brilliant, until tragedy struck. (I have read the play The Importance of Being Earnest… more than a hundred times, and Cassie and I saw a performance together in London, with David Suchet playing Lady Bracknell, which I feel Matthew would have enjoyed.) Show me what someone loves, and I’ll show you who they are: Matthew’s sensitivity, and appreciation for what others don’t appreciate, is what I like best about him. (Plus: funny and blond.) Being suited for violence, and choosing love, being drawn to love, is really endearing–it also means choosing to be easily hurt. How much Matthew loves makes him lovable, and seeing readers like him from the short stories is amazing–and I know they will like him even more in the books.

Our story comes full circle here: Cassie and I were roomies at the North Texas Teen Book Festival when we released the Cast Long Shadows snippet, and we planned to put it up when we were together for extra sleepover fun. ‘Let’s do it now!’ I urged Cassie wickedly on. ‘Plus try these gold and snail eyepatches, you will like them, go on, try a snail.’ And we will be together at a writing retreat–appropriately, in England, when Cast Long Shadows comes out! We will be eating toastie cheese sandwiches and hoping that you like it.

[brotherzachariah]

"#the last hours #not gonna lie #i want nothing to do with this series if matthew and james aren't canon" really? wtf?

yes, i said it.

first of all, james and matthew are very gay/bi/pan-coded in nothing but shadows, the book from shadowhunter academy where they meet and basically follow the classic enemies to friends to lovers trope that we all love so much. there are so many quotes that made myself as well as my best friend (we are obsessed with this otp together) believe that james and matthew were into each other in a non-straight/bro way. here are a few:

“That was when Matthew Fairchild said, “Sir,” and smiled.

James had forgotten about The Smile, even though it was often broken out to great effect at family parties. The Smile won Matthew extra time before bed, extra Christmas pudding, extra anything he wanted. Adults were helpless to resist The Smile.

Matthew gave his all to this particular smile. Butter melted. Birds sang. People slipped about dazed amid the butter and birdsong.”

okay sorry but does one really wax that fucking poetic about some guy they’re not attracted to? no.

then later, to further prove this point:

“Matthew glanced at him and smiled: it was The Smile, gradual and illuminating as sunrise, and James had the sinking feeling that he might not be immune after all.”

ha. not immune to The Smile. james refers to matthew’s smile as a proper fucking noun. that’s not gay at all, folks. also, referring to your bro’s smile as being akin to the sun, just bros being bros.

“I was jealous of you first. I was jealous of everything about you, and I still am.”

“Wait,” said Matthew. “Wait, wait, wait. You don’t like me because I am so very charming?”

He threw his head back and laughed. He kept laughing. He laughed so much that he had to come and sit beside James on the step, and then he laughed some more.

“Stop it, Matthew,” James grumbled. “Stop laughing. I am sharing my innermost feelings with you. This is very hurtful.”

“I’ve been in a bad mood this whole time,” said Matthew. “You think I’m charming now? You have no idea.”

James punched him in the arm. He could not help smiling. He saw Matthew noticing, and looking very pleased with himself.”

THIS IS GAY.

“He found Matthew looking at him. Matthew had known, all the time, exactly where he was.

“Jamie,” Matthew said, sounding unsettled but impressed. “That was terrifying.”

“It’s James, for the last time,” said James.

“No, I’m calling you Jamie for a little while, because you just displayed arcane power and calling you Jamie makes me feel better.”

James laughed, shakily, and that made Matthew smile. It did not occur to them until later that a student was dead, and the Shadowhunters feared and distrusted the demonic—that somebody would be blamed. James did not discover until the next day that his parents had been informed of everything that had transpired, and that he, James Herondale, was now officially expelled.”

to quote my best friend and roommate “when ur gonna be expelled but it’s chill bc ur crush smiled at u”

“Father, please,” James said in a quiet voice.

“Mr. Herondale, please!” said Matthew. “We cannot be parted.” James braced himself for the explanation about truth and beauty, but instead Matthew said, with devastating simplicity: “We are going to be parabatai.”

James stared.

Father said: “Oh, I see.”

Matthew nodded encouragingly, and smiled encouragingly.

“Then nobody should come between you,” said Father.

“Nobody.” Matthew shook his head as he said “nobody,” then nodded again. He looked seraphic. “Exactly.”

HMM INTERESTING. CAN’T BE SEPARATED FROM EACH OTHER. BUT DIDN’T ACTUALLY PLAN ON BECOMING PARABATAI, DID IT ON A WHIM. SOUND FAMILIAR? YEAH ITS THE SAME EXACT SCENARIO AS EMMA/JULIAN. BINCH

now here comes the gayest quote

“We don’t . . . have to be parabatai,” Matthew said, his voice quiet under the sound of the blast. “I said it to make your father take me with you, so I could execute my new plan, but we don’t . . . have to. I mean, unless you . . . maybe want to be.”

James had thought he wanted a friend like himself, a parabatai who was shy and quiet and would enter in on James’s feelings about the terror of parties. Instead here was Matthew, who was the life and soul of every party, who made dreadful hairbrush decisions, who was unexpectedly and terribly kind. Who had tried to be his friend and kept trying, even though James did not know what trying to be a friend looked like. Who could see James, even when he was a shadow.

“Yes,” James said simply.

“What?” said Matthew, who always knew what to say.

“I’d like that,” said James. He curled his hands, one around his father’s coat sleeve, and one around Matthew’s. He held on to them, all the way home.”

GAAAAYYYYY

moving on to my actual points.

i feel like it’s important to take into account that so far, emma and julian are the only parabatai relationship that’s been canon. (unless you count michael and robert, but since they never acted on those feelings in canon, and it never actually came to fruition bc robert had his Big Gay Panic, i’m not counting it for the sake of this argument.) if cassie is really telling us that in her four main series, as well as her side novellas and miniseries, etc. the only parabatai relationship we get to actually see be together and fall in love is a cishet couple, i will fucking scream. that’s really homophobic and gross, considering. but honestly cassie has never been into qu**r-baiting, that’s not her style. and homophobia has never been her thing. which is why i have to believe that matthew and james will be canon.

also, matthew is obviously not straight. and i’m not going to search for the ask, but cassie was once asked about matthew’s sexuality specifically, and she was like “i would rather… wait… till the books come out… for you to know.” or something to that degree. like, fam she would never say that if matthew was straight. like i said, not a qu**r-baiter. matthew is obviously into james, and their relationship as i said before was gay/bi/pan-coded in nothing but shadows. BUT you say, MAYBE james is straight and matthew’s love for him is just one-sided! and then he just ends up with a random dude side character!! um, no. that’s the same thing that happened with alec-jace-magnus in the mortal instruments. it would be lazy af to run with that same storyline again, and i honestly would fucking lose my mind if i had to deal with another unrequited gay parabatai love story ever again.

next, and honestly this is REALLY important to me as someone who’s not straight. clary, tessa, and emma. the three /main/ characters of the last three series were fucking straight. they were written straight in the books. canonically straight. yes obviously we all headcanon them as lgbt bc why wouldn’t we, but the point is that the narrative painted them as straight. (disclaimer, i have not read lord of shadows yet, so if emma and christina somehow got together in that book, i take this statement back.)

with her fourth and possibly final (??) series coming out, how could she pass up the chance to make the main character lgbt? the world has changed since she started publishing her books ten fucking years ago in 2007. readers and publishers are much more open and willing to accept lgbt main characters and main relationships. she made alec gay back in 2007, which honestly seemed groundbreaking at the time, but having a side lgbt relationship in your novel is hardly groundbreaking in 2017. everyone’s doing that. but, she has a chance now, with all her popularity and money, and the fact that her books no matter what are instant bestsellers, to finally make her /MAIN/ main character non-straight. she can do anything she fucking wants. so!!! why!!! not!!! make!!! james!!! fucking!!! herondale!!! bisexuall???

and another thing, while i’m ranting like the crazy person that i am. yes, clearly james and cordelia get ~married and have kids or whatever the fuck according to that family tree we saw when clockwork princess came out. BUT keep in mind that at the time, cassie herself said that the family tree had purposeful inaccuracies and she left out the fairchild family line on purpose.

cordelia imo is obviously going to bi, pan, or a lesbian, and end up with anna. that’s just my two cents, and honestly i’m really happy about that because in all her fifty or so books, the amount of wlw is astoundingly low. obviously theres helen/aline, but they are background characters and a background relationship, and we didn’t even see them get together. so i’m glad there will be a wlw relationship in the core main group of the last hours. STILL though, still, that just means that cordelia and james got fake married so they could be with other people. but back to my original point: it makes more sense for that person to be matthew, rather than grace.

another thought to consider is that tlh and tda are meant to parallel each other in multiple ways. i know this seems obvious, but i have to believe that one of these parallels is the whole falling-in-love-with-your-parabatai-making-you-both-monsters drama that jem brought up. JEM, who had a very close relationship with his favorite nephew james and tried to comfort him when james thought he was ‘becoming a monster’ in nothing but shadows. i haven’t even read lord of shadows yet but idgaf bc this obviously still holds up.

SO

tldr; obviously james and matthew should and can be together. and like i said in those tags, if they aren’t i have no interest in the book series.