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tleeaves · 1 year ago

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Gush about your favourite TSC characters and ships! It's a free-for-all.

This is an incredibly sweet opportunity and now I'm sitting here trying to figure out who and what I want to talk about first. It's probably no secret or surprise that most of my favourites of anything in TSC come from the TLH series. See, with such open-ended gushing opportunities as this, actually, there are sooo many characters I want to talk about. I'm beginning to fear everyone's going to regret you calling this a free-for-all.

James Herondale is by far my favourite TSC character in existence, and I think about him and have talked about him (elsewhere, before I had any Tumblr blogs) the most. If you've read some of my longer fanfics at all, this likely hasn't come as a shock to you, but I love the guy, which is probably why I'm a little weird when it comes to others' posts about him (maybe Jane Austen was onto something when she said that if I loved someone less, I'd be able to talk about them more). We all come away from reading books with different takes on characters, and that's a perfectly normal phenomenon. Because I feel so deeply about James, I tend to dance around the topic of him unless I do agree with someone else's analysis or I have something substantial to say, and even then I tend to curb myself because I don't want to sound like a raving lunatic... and now I realise how long that sentence was. (I'm already a raving lunatic, aren't I?) Anyhow, this is an opportunity to gush, and gush I will (very extensively).

See, I've seen it going around the fandom that people dislike the characterisation of James or the way he was presented in earlier short stories pre-TLH publications and then post when some might argue he was a completely different person. Honourable mention to my fellow countryman, musician, and fanauthor, @faithfromanewperspective, who has some fascinating posts discussing the neurodivergence of the TLH cast, which help further explain their personalities and some of their characterisation across their written existence (seriously, go check out some of Silver's analysis posts, they're such wonderful and interesting reads). Similar to Silver, I like to observe the essentially four different Jameses that exist across the timeline of James Herondale's written existence.

We have the James from the Shadowhunter Academy era, James in The Midnight Heir set several months before the events of The Last Hours, and then, of course, who we have during TLH pre- and post-bracelet influence. I once embarked on a research rabbit warren when I hit a rough patch in fanfic writing where I was trying to decide how best to write James post-bracelet while still remaining as canon-compliant as possible, while also filling in the gaps I and other fans have been frustrated with in James' evolution, all before Chain of Thorns was released. I reread all the stories that involved James and constructed an approximate timeline where I explored the ways his personality was presented at various points. From there, I tried to make sense of him by connecting, essentially, these four Jameses.

James holds a number of insecurities and burdens that pretty much sealed the deal for me when I was reading about him the first time around (don't ask me to count how many times I've read about him overall). Similar to when I discussed the topic of Jem Carstairs and chronic illness (see here), I connected to James Herondale through the avenue of chronic conditions. Other content creators like to interpret characters through lenses of mental illness or disorders, for instance, which definitely have a wealth of analysis and discussion to offer. My go-to instead, I suppose, is chronic illness and relationship dynamics, and how that affects a person's character. I may have talked in part about this before somewhere on here, but I'm too lazy to comb through the James Herondale tag that exists on my fandom blog (@streettealee, where I'll also be reposting this ramble). Anyway, burdens and insecurities.

Goatface Herondale

The academy days were especially rough for many characters, but here I'm talking about James (obviously). He was around the age of 13 when he attended the Shadowhunter Academy (a year, give or take a bit, before Grace would ask him to retrieve her bracelet and wear it, and a little closer in time to when he went to Cirenworth and had scalding fever). We see that he was a rather shy kid, generally self-conscious as one tends to be when reaching teenage years especially, and also quite insecure.

He has a close relationship with his parents and also his sister. We know he's very protective of Lucie, and they were playmates, which naturally lends itself to bonding and frequent squabbles (take it from me, an eldest child with a younger sister born right as I became a toddler -- we were each other's only friends in many respects and we got into a lot of fights, yet I would do anything for my sister, even take ownership for her mistakes just because I didn't want her to suffer the consequences). The nature of his relationship with Lucie is something that does not change as the series progresses (it would have been interesting to see her reaction to him in TMH though). As for his parents: James is what my friends and I in primary school would have mockingly called "The Golden Child" (and not for his eyes, mind you), because he's not simply a mama's boy or father's boy. James is the dreaded combination of both, in which he is always trying to do right by them in some way, shape, or form, without much particular favour for one over the other. It wouldn't surprise me if Lucie was ever bitter about him being the oldest and something of a goody-two-shoes, or if James regarded it the other way with Lucie always getting away with everything because she's younger and so innocent-seeming (she definitely play-acted her way out of things as a child).

As has been examined by others already, James carries the burden of his parents' love (we'll get to more of this in the next section). Not only is he the miracle child of a Shadowhunter and a warlock, never seen before, he is also affected by the trauma Tessa carries as an outsider within the Enclave, and the concern she and Will have for him that borders on overbearing. We see in his academy era that he will not say goodbye to his father because he knows he cannot bear it and does not want to be seen as weak. We also see that he refuses to go home and or do anything that would reflect badly on his mother, because she is already alienated for being a warlock in Shadowhunter society. Furthermore, James is resentful of his father particularly at this time, because James is constantly being compared to him (again, we'll come back to this). He wishes Will Herondale were less than perfect so that James would be allowed to be who he is: less than perfect, a Nephilim child with demon blood.

As a kid, it can be difficult growing up in an environment where you are from two cultures, and everyone around you is constantly trying to get you to pick which you most are between them, instead of unifying them both as elements of your identity (this is from my personal experience). James has been an odd Shadowhunter for most of his life, up until the point at the academy where his warlock powers (thanks to Belial, yay) suddenly manifest. From that point on, where it is seen that some magical capability is possible, James is caught between two worlds. It was bad enough for him to have strange yellow-gold eyes ("Goatface Herondale") which he tried to hide by wearing his glasses more often than necessary, he then had to contend with a more noticeable, alienating feature of his demonic heritage, which drove away even the mundanes he had previously been befriending (outsiders to a particular majority tend to flock together, up to a certain point, as demonstrated).

So, there's that aspect of his shadow powers. When I read about James, I drew connections also with the earlier mentioned chronic illness view. His demonic heritage is not a condition, but his experience of their manifestation in uncontrollable and traumatising episodes of shadow magic are what I would call one. As if he were not insecure enough about not being extroverted enough to break out of his loneliness and enter social circles he's always skirted at the edges of, he is afflicted by a condition that betrays his body and will. This loss of control is difficult for anyone. It's easy to feel helpless, even after a diagnosis of something, because it is incurable and or unpredictable in nature. Self-loathing lends itself to those left vulnerable by such a violent change in their body's nature and their identity. There is a lot to be said about the labels given to us and the ones we assume. To James, this is just another way he is less than perfect, less than his father, a weakness to his mother and family, no longer on totally common ground with his sister, different from his peers, and his ability to tamp down this part of him and appear as some semblance of "normal" for Nephilim becomes tied with his self-esteem.

As a quick side note: it is my theory that James feels like an outsider among Downworld circles and that is why he has always been rather awkward around them. We see he does fine in The Devil Tavern when he gradually makes a second home of it, but there are other instances, such as a brief moment that lives rent-free in my head where, at his introduction in Chain of Gold, he walks past a vampire and avoids eye contact because "[unless Downworlders broke the law, it was none of his business what they did]" (I'm paraphrasing there) and I think there's been a bit of shame instilled in him. James is not wholly a Downworlder, and he is not wholly Nephilim, and because he was raised as a Shadowhunter and alienated anytime he was not quite resembling one, he does his best to try and follow Shadowhunter values and norms and further avoids some aspects of Downworld in some contexts, like when he's just come off a patrol.

Of course, good things come to James too at this time: Matthew finally manages to befriend him, and the two are both insecure people who find security in each other. He also leaves the Shadowhunter Academy, and Matthew declares he and James are going to be parabatai and must therefore stick together, which for James would feel pretty damn good -- not only because Matthew wants to share such a special connection with him, considering his demonic heritage and the inherent angelic ties the parabatai ceremony holds, but also because his father places a lot of stress on parabatai as one of the greatest forms of love that exists (again, we come to that burden of love idea) and so James, I believe, would find this an opportunity to live up to the expectations his parents hold.

AND ANOTHER SIDE NOTE: I THINK IT IS BRILLIANT THAT TLH IS BASED ON GREAT EXPECTATIONS I MEAN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD THE ENTIRE TLH CAST IS SADDLED WITH ALL THESE THINGS EXPECTED OF THEM FOR VARIOUS REASONS, I COULD GO ON ABOUT THIS FOREVER AND THE CONNECTIONS THEY HAVE TO THE ORIGINAL NOVEL BY DICKENS.

All that is to say: this first sort of version of James that we see is shy, insecure, sweet, generally well-intentioned, clever (he's funny and I didn't get time to try and go back to the book to pick up all the instances where he says something amusing, keep off), and reaches this first turning point of burden -- the burden of love and expectations, and of his heritage and abilities/condition. All of this has already brewed into a hero complex (it does not quite rival Cordelia's, but it's up there -- James really likes to handle things himself and on his own, and now it's got me thinking about Batman... anyway).

Helen of Troy

This boy had shining golden eyes, like a crystal glass filled brimful with crisp white wine and held up to catch the light of a blazing sun. If his skin was luminous, his eyes were radiant. Magnus could not imagine these eyes as tender. The boy was very, very lovely, but this was a beauty like that Helen of Troy might have had once, disaster written in every line. The light of his beauty made Magnus think of cities burning.

The Midnight Heir is perhaps the most contentious piece written about James, and I would like to point several things out before we proceed: Cassandra Clare wrote this (as well as Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy) with co-authors who, as far as I know, were not as heavily involved in TLH. Furthermore, this is from Magnus Bane's perspective, and he is known to dramatise just as much as the TLH cast themselves like to drape their lives in drama. Now, going forward...

This occurred before TLH and I have my practical writer theories as to why James wound up so different in TLH compared to TMH. Clare changed her mind about the story's trajectory, about who the main characters would be, what the romances would look like, who she wanted James Herondale to be. And this is where I have to admit, Clare as a writer -- like any other -- is flawed and has a history of inconsistencies. As frustrating as it can be, it happens, and so there is obviously the issue of "well who is the REAL James Herondale? What/who is canon?"

This brings me to my exercise in interpreting James: the different Jameses that exist and my way of uniting them all so that they do indeed make one coherent character who can have the mildness of his academy era, the wild intensity of his midnight era, and have all that remain consistent with who he is by The Last Hours (during and post bracelet).

As you may have gathered from the Goatface Herondale topic above, James' turning point at the academy was just the start of the disasters he was written for--disaster written in every line--which leads up to TMH or his Helen of Troy period. There are some interpretations that his wild and unruly behaviour was simply as it was presented to us: heartbreak taken to the extreme "because he's a Herondale and they love only but once blah blah bullshit blah" and heightened by the cursed bracelet he was wearing at the time (there is textual evidence he had it on him, and we are told Grace merely sent a letter that made him despair and things were quickly made up after). Then, such as done by Silver, there is the interpretation that James may be bipolar or have some other disorder in which he experiences manic episodes, which lead to the vast, seemingly inexhaustible energy he had that night in TMH where we first meet him as he's grown older and the complete mood swing that almost resembles an entire change in character (also look to the dialogue of his parents who say he never used to be like this, he was always so studious, so good, very mild and well-behaved, kept his parabatai in line and shared private jokes). This is where I would have really liked to know Lucie's view, because as his sister, she is more than likely to share a view that is different from the adults gathered (Magnus, Tessa, Will, and Jem), and I almost think she would say he's being dramatic and she doesn't know what got into him except he's still treating her all the same and then she'd just roll her eyes (I'm not saying she wouldn't be concerned, but just that she'd easily disguise it as a mockery of her brother doing dumb shit).

There is also something to be said about masking and "the Mask" that James dons. However, I do not know enough about this to comment much on it. I direct you once again to @faithfromanewperspective who I know has covered this topic in more detail. What I have to add around it (as someone with some form of undiagnosed neurodivergence, but leaning toward ADHD and C-PTSD (I do not yet have the funds or ability to seek professional opinions)) is that this is plausible, and yet not my first thought when I'm considering the totality of James and how we can unite the different stages of his timeline. I say this because I experience bursts and lulls of certain behaviours, and so far I do not have anything concrete to attribute it to, and it may sound stupid, but I have found (in my experience) that sometimes we lose our inhibitions as a result of extreme emotions in difficult circumstances. Who I am when I am at home is different to who I am in the classroom and different again to who I am when I've been drinking alcohol and who I am when I'm wandering the streets of a city late at night (always with friends, notably, because I don't feel safe enough to wander alone at night as a woman). Sometimes, I do not even need a drink in me to loosen up certain aspects of my mentality, but a few hours of sleep deprivation (sort of a lie, I'm almost always sleep deprived and it's yet another chronic issue I'm working on since it affects other areas of my health). I believe I am a product of my environment in many ways. And so is James.

There is some merit to the original idea that James has been ensconced in such profound love his whole life, that when his love life goes wrong and is not at all like the beautiful fairytale he resents his parents for having and pushing on him, it destroys him inside. Admittedly, I'd say this would have greater impact and would be a much more compelling narrative if the bracelet was not cursed and James was allowed to break the dumb Herondale myth of loving once (furthering that alienation but ultimately providing him liberation). But even with the bracelet: James believes himself in love, believes he is damned because he is demonic and nothing good can ever become of him or anything he wants in life, he is going to always get the short end of the stick because the expectations placed on him are too great, and he has received a devastating letter as a hormonal teenager with access to an entire city to terrorise and alcoholic drinks to consume. I'd say it's not far-fetched to assume he was just incredibly drunk and heartbroken that night, and was simply embracing the drama that teenagers lean toward.

It is, though, the sheer cruelness that James demonstrates in front of Magnus that pokes a hole in this framework. The James we knew previously, and even the James we see in TLH, is not who you would call cruel. So where did this come from? Was it his resentment against Downworld rising to the surface, an extension of his insecurities raging inside him? Rebelliousness against his parents? If he embraces chaos and cruelty and vice, can he convince himself he is merely being who he was always meant to be, as someone who is part demon? (Sound familiar to anyone? *cough* Jace Herondale *cough*) Was he as drunk as Magnus thought he was? Was James, in reality, experiencing some sort of manic high where he could be wickedly precise with a gun and still be entirely out of his typical character?

I have no definite answer, except that I urge you to reflect inward. Have we not all at least once experienced a time where we "have not acted ourselves"? Where, for one reason or another, we shed our usual attitudes and embraced a different side of ourselves that only seems out of character because others around us do not know us as we know ourselves? I know I have. I know I can be cruel and nasty when I let go of care, and that a part of me believes sometimes that it is my truest nature because of what some people drilled into me for many impressionable years. That sometimes it is a form of self-harm, because I can still feel empathy and I know what I am doing is hurting someone else, and it hurts me too because I am so aware of it and the whole vicious mental cycle goes on. I know that if I simply stay up long enough at night, I indulge in reckless behaviours and say whatever comes to my mind with little to no filter. I know that I can have periods of energy fueled by recklessness, by some social interactions, by many other factors, and can lead to be attempting to perform feats I typically would not.

James trying to make love to a lamppost and a dog and what have you? That I could attribute to drinking or sleep deprivation. It could just as easily be something else, but I will stand by the fact that this is not out of the ordinary when one is in an extraordinary sort of mental state. I also believe Clare's intentions when writing that was more for humour than anything.

Returning to my earlier point, I do believe James might have been cruel in TMH because he simply could be, because he is unloveable (in his mind), demonic, and for that period of time, dreadfully tired of how hard he had to try to be someone everyone believed he was not. And perhaps because this rebellion, this reckless behaviour, as chaotic as it appears, is actually his form of taking control over his life and his image. If he acts the part of a wild, half-warlock, if he embraces wickedness, he is in control of that and no comments or misfortune that might be attributed to it are as bad in his mind. To him, under the curse, Grace is perfect and he's just Ken James, barely a Herondale. This night in TMH that catches glimpse of his character as of late is actually just the snowball effect of his insecurities that we already saw in the academy.

So, how does that connect to the Jameses of TLH?

Barely a Herondale

Let's revisit my favourite topics of chronic illness and control. We see by TMH, and with context provided in Chain of Gold, that James had begun to master his shadow abilities, so that they became actual abilities and not just a condition that he was struggling with. In a way, I see it as a remission. James has developed this precious view of control because of this, I would argue, and we see him grapple with control and his insecurities in TLH more. When we open the series with Chain of Gold and we see James enter the shadow realm against his will in the middle of a fight, there is a deep sense of body betrayal, I find when reading. I feel for James when his friends go "I thought that had stopped happening/all that rubbish was over" and he goes "me too". I cannot count the times in my life when I genuinely thought my health troubles were over, that the rollercoaster was only going up, just to have a horrible shock when suddenly my body gives out on me and I am plunged for months into chronic pain and illness all over again for usually unclear reasons. I have no cure, just as James doesn't. We simply have methods of managing our respective conditions, if that makes sense. It is a constant fight for control over ourselves. There have been times where I will not tell a single person that my symptoms of something have come back, simply because I am exhausted and I already know the drill of management techniques I'll have to employ myself.

James reaches for his knife, for the pain to bring him back. He contacts Jem because he's worried and has no idea what's going on or why it happened. I am so, so obsessed with this. I can't stress enough how much I relate to his whole shadow dilemma from a perspective of chronic illness. I am shaking you, reader. Please understand. I don't care how flawed this guy is or the fact that Clare might not have intended this interpretation, this is my form of projection like everyone else has theirs and it is so comforting to me, as someone who also struggles to feel in control of my own body, who exerts control over other things in other ways just to cope.

This is one line of consistency I draw from Goatface to Helen of Troy to the James of TLH. Now, moving on...

We see that in TMH that Will and Tessa have been trying to get through to James for ages to try and coax out of him what his problems are and why he is acting out. I discussed this once with an old writing partner, how when the Herondales learned of the Carstairs coming to London to save their reputation and required their help, that Will and Tessa likely approached James and demanded he be on his best behaviour so that they can help the Carstairs. For if the Herondales tried to help while James himself was out ruining his reputation, then the Carstairs would surely be doomed.

And so, we have the image of The Perfect Gentleman™ developed over the next few months ready for the arrival of Sona, Cordelia, and Alastair Carstairs in London. This coincides with the fact that over the summer (after the winter period when he had his wild streak and the spring when he would have been getting his heart and act together) he did not go to Idris to see Grace for the first time in years and the bracelet's hold on him was weakening significantly, which I believe, would mean less of the heightened hurt and insecurity surrounding the topic of love for at least a little while, because he would simply care about Grace (in a romantic sense) less. Who knows? Perhaps becoming the model gentleman was his form of revenge against Tatiana and others, because if he conforms and commits heavily to Shadowhunter society and the rules of propriety, then he cannot be faulted for his heritage so easily by that point. Plus, this is much easier to follow when he thinks he has total control over his shadow abilities at that point in time. For about six months, he can simply put it out of his mind (and get extra weird about interacting with Downworld and how he feels about it. This also brings me to a side tangent about how I think his interest in the occult is the little demon/magic intrigue he allows himself in private where only his friends are likely to be aware of the books he keeps. He says, if I recall correctly, at some point that he finds it fascinating what mundanes think of magic and how close or far they are from it sometimes, and I propose there's like this secret third thing to it about how he likes looking at magic and demonology from the perspective of a third party -- someone who is not Nephilim or of Downworlder origin, because it is the closest kinship he might find).

Also, let's not forget how much people in real life, let alone characters, can change over a period of time, much less several months to a year. I truly do not think his character is as inconsistent between books as it is made out to be. I think the real issue is that Clare left out elements of context that would have helped when characterising James and his journey, hashing out who he is and who he is not. I think another blog brought it up once, how TLH should have been multiple books and not just a trilogy. I agree, I think the dense character work would have benefitted from being more spaced out, particularly when exploring the bracelet in regard to James. Because the James after Chain of Gold especially feels rather like a blank slate that Cordelia is usually projecting upon. Which is valid. I have another theory about this, where the reason James was suddenly the It Guy at social gatherings was because he had "cleaned up his act" in the recent year and the bracelet meant that he was a blank canvas for the girls of the Enclave to project their desires onto. Perhaps it's an allosexual thing, but I know of myself and many others who tend to form crushes on people we know next to nothing about simply because they're beautiful and we make things up in our head based on what little knowledge we have, and the gaps are filled to suit. In Chain of Gold, it felt very purposeful, and the changes between James while wearing the bracelet as opposed to without was much more noticeable.

Genuinely, I think Clare dropped the ball once she got to Chain of Iron, and then dropped even further when writing Chain of Thorns. But still, for the sake of outlining the consistencies of James' character rather than the flaws, we'll ignore my personal frustration with those books and continue on.

We still see his insecurities manifest in various ways throughout TLH. Before we get to that, I'd like to point out that James remains clever throughout this series, always introverted even if he knows how to navigate social situations better now, forever a bookworm, loyal, but no longer so much of a people-pleaser as he seems much more prepared to be an adversary in any given situation as well as embrace rebellion, which I think gets overlooked a lot (do you see how quickly he goes "lock up your daughters and your greenhouses, James Herondale is on the loose and has a penchant for property damage etc." after getting in trouble in Chiswick? I swear, this guy had my heart in a chokehold). LIKE. CAN YOU NOT SEE IT? The way he is still the same guy we saw in TMH? His personality did not change so drastically that he is someone else -- it's still him! He's still there! He's just evolved over the months! And here we are, this is one such place where his insecurities are still pronounced, but in such a way where he tries to own it, to control it, once again.

And in spite of all the Herondale traits James definitely carries, he is still not the typical Herondale like Will and Jace or even some of the others we've seen. James is also Tessa and her trauma and Jem and his teachings and his father and his legacy, and he is influenced by disaster (hello? He was thirteen when he saw another dead kid? Got diagnosed with Greater-demon-for-a-grandfather? Has been brainwashed since fourteen?).

Remember how ready he was to believe he was a murderer? That's his insecurity and history talking. These horrible nightmares he's been having too. James tried so hard to be a hero, and yet he believes he inevitably ends up being someone against the heroes. He is surprised when Cordelia says he's the leader of the group because that's not how he sees himself. And this is what I find so fascinating about James. There's how other people see him, and many people see him differently, and then there's how he sees himself. (I will note that I find the idea of the Merry Thieves having any sort of leader laughable. I truly feel that's not how their group dynamic works. It felt like an excuse for Cordelia to fawn over him (as you do when you have a crush on someone) and have that weird shoe-horned on-the-nose moment where James goes to comfort Thomas and waves the others over when Barbara dies).

Most of what I have to talk about admittedly deals more with Chain of Gold, simply because kind of got lost between Chain of Iron and Chain of Thorns. He's still there, and I still see the strings of his personality, I think Clare just let some of his key character issues fade into the background. Also, I still only read Chain of Thorns once. I haven't been motivated to pick that one back up.

One thing I do like about Chain of Thorns though is that James was allowed to be the bad guy, even if it was via being a puppet for Belial. There was something almost cathartic about him crowning himself King of England. He didn't save the day; Cordelia did. James was merely fulfilling a prophecy he had made for himself.

Also, we don't get to see much of James without the bracelet. I think he's still trying to figure out who he is now that the curse is gone, then after Belial is gone and so are the main aspects of his warlock abilities. James has to redefine himself beyond many of the securities he held (so fucking mad that the "technically I did only love once because it was always Cordelia under the curse 🤪" happened because it would have made more sense for James to also break through that insecurity, but whatever).

In conclusion... um, this guy's just neat? I think he's beyond interesting. People who say he's boring and blank, I hear you, I just can't say I totally agree with you. He's my favourite character. I'll make all the excuses. I just wrote this to try and defeat the idea that his personality is inconsistent because I think it can be argued that it actually is not when you consider, well, all of the above. Anyway, I spent almost the whole day writing this. Whoops.

My other favourite characters are Matthew Fairchild, Cordelia Carstairs, Jem Carstairs, Magnus Bane, and Ragnor Fell. Love them all so much. I love a great many characters but these ones most of all.

Ships? Look, as much as I will criticise it and absolutely agree with other critiques of them, I love Jordelia. I project on and relate to both characters, what do you want from me. Also, I keep saying I have no faith in TWP and that I will not be actively seeking it out but... I do like Kit and Ty. Sue me. The drama is so delicious. For ages though, I've been wanting an equally juicy lesbian ship, I feel like the ones we have just... aren't it. You know? I think there was a missed opportunity in making Cordelia bisexual and a girl crush for Grace. OH BUT I ALSO LOVE GRACE AND LUCIE. SHUT UP, SHUT UP, I LOVE THEM. THEIR DYNAMIC COULD HAVE BEEN BRILLIANT.

Anyway, The End. That was a very long gush.

#james herondale #the last hours #tlh #tales from the shadowhunter academy #the midnight heir #tmh #herondale #character analysis #I have now thoroughly exposed myself and the amount of brainrot I experience over james herondale #a character who many share many complaints about #and complicated views #WARNING: very long post #this was an oddly healing exercise #I should ramble endlessly about things I love more often

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themimsyborogove · 1 year ago

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Tagged by @amchara 💖💖💖

How many works do you have on ao3?

39, but a few are ficlet collections. If I separated them out, it would be closer to 150

What’s your total ao3 word count?

296,544

What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly TSC. Dipped my toes in Shadow and Bone show fic a little bit, but I think I got all I wanted to write there out of my system.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Just Keep Walking, Step By Step

And We Keep Living Anyway

Hold on Hope

The World is Gonna Roll Me

We Made It Here Through the Storm

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I always try to. If I ever don’t respond, it usually means I saw the email while I was somewhere I couldn’t stop and write a reply, then forgot that I hadn’t actually responded.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

We’ll Have to Muddle Through Somehow, the Ragnor&Tessa&Raphael fic about what happened to Thule!Ragnor. No happy endings allowed in Thule

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably Like a Storybook Story, the Princess Bride AU. It ends with a solution to the mortal/immortal ship angst

Do you get hate on fics?

Only once from a known troll. I think most of what I write is too niche for the majority of the fandom to have a strong enough opinion on that would make them upset enough to write hate comments

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I still write some, but I’m not comfortable posting it anymore. Most of what I write is character exploration through smut or hurt/comfort. I actually ended up working out some real headcanons for Ragnor and Hypatia through the nonsense I was writing a couple of months ago that I might be able to edit into something postable eventually.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I’ve never written one, but a friend and I used to joke about a warlock squad/Gundam crossover

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don’t think so

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No. I wouldn’t be opposed to trying, but I think I’m too controlling and stuck in my own headcanons about certain characters to be a fun person to cowrite with

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Catarina/Ragnor, mostly because I’ve put so much work into making content for them

What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

We Share the Weary Load, which was missing moments from QoAaD. There were a few more I wanted to write, but I just ran out of steam and never picked them back up

What are your writing strengths?

Filling in the holes canon leaves for more minor characters and relationships/friendships that happen mostly off-page, coming up with rules for how magic works, and swinging from humor into angst with no warning

What are your writing weaknesses?

Long plotty stories

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I use a word or two sometimes, but not whole sentences of dialogue. Japanese is the only second language I speak well enough to do it with, but I think throwing whole sentences of Japanese into a fic would just be jarring and confusing

First fandom you wrote for?

TSC

Favorite fic you’ve written?

Different ones hit different spots, so it’s hard to pick one as a favorite. But since Christmas season is upon us, Florida Man might be winning right now

Tagging @terrainofheartfelt @ibrushmyteeth-donttellanyone @chibi-tsukiko @upagainstabookcase @vivacephoenix

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thevagabondexpress · 2 years ago

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this is about the magister being tsc's most twisted villain and it's also about inopportune lust: some issues a tsc fan has with tsc, pt. vi

Note: this one deals with a fairly heavy theme, relating to consent. No use of the r word itself but just know.

I don't need think I need explain just what makes the Magister TSC's most twisted villain (in my opinion). I don't want to and shouldn't have to go into detail about just what kind of disgusting, disturbing, perverted, and definitely not consensual thing the Magister was planning to do to Tessa Gray, much less the fact that he was planning this since before she was even born.

Granted, I understand why this one kind of can't be acknowledged by the canon. TID's Young Adult/Youth/Teen-Content rating won't really allow Cassandra Clare to fully acknowledge the gravity of a plan centred around assault, forced marriage, and forced childbirth. So my issue here isn't really with the fans, or with the author. It's primarily with TSC's Young Adult rating. It makes it hard to acknowledge the reality of how the characters experienced it. What they went through. And what kind of lasting trauma they must carry with them.

That being said, Cassandra Clare brushes off trauma and grief far more quickly than she should. I'm asexual so that colors my viewing of the series but I can't imagine that, in Tessa Gray's situation, physical intimacy would have been at all easy during the events of the third book of the series. I imagine, if this were the real world, Tessa might have needed weeks or months before she could feel comfortable, even though she was rescued before any unwanting hands could be laid on her. The fact that she goes to bed with Will while still trapped in Cadair Idris just makes no sense. And they're far from the only TSC couple to have made love or thought about it during disjointedly untimely circumstances (say, while grieving a close loved one's death).

As usual, I don't claim to have all the answers. I'm not saying, "I want [insert fix] instead." I do that when I write fanfiction. I don't need or want to do it here. I'm just trying to understand my own personal pet peeves with a series that (despite my many pet peeves) I personally love. But it'd be nice to get a little recognition for how difficult TSC's YA rating makes properly handling and recognizing the difficult topics it sometimes touches on. And I hope that if we do get that TID TV series people keep talking about, they age the protagonists up so we can deal with the story's themes a little less hazily.

"some issues a tsc fan sees in tsc" is an attempt to break down the unacknowledged things in tsc that i unearthed reading chain of thorns, rereading the rest of the series in preparation for it, and writing two longform fanfics (one of them a genderbent canon reworking) for the last hours. click on the "some issues..." tag to see more of these.

#some issues a tsc fan sees in tsc #shadowhunters #tsc #the shadowhunter chronicles #the infernal devices #tsc vent #fan analysis #analyzing the shadowhunter chronicles #fan essay

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purplebass · 2 years ago

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I'm done with Chain of Thorns, people! FINALLY. I have been holding my breath until the end. I feared that something unexpected would happen in the epilogue and ruin our happy ending, but I was wrong.

I mean, there were loose ends, like Jordelia's honeymoon, Matthew's trip (which I believe is the character CC will write short stories about), or Malcom approaching Lucie for her promise and telling her he went to faerie to understand how to raise Annabel. We know from TDA that he got that poem from the king about Blackthorn blood, and he was eyeing Jesse warily. I can see a future story where Malcom tries to harm Lucie and Jesse's children for his necromancy purposes, but then again, it would repeat some of the story we've already seen in TDA with the modern Blackthorn, so I'm not sure.

This could, however, still open a new story if CC decides to write about the kids of the TLH characters... which I'm so upset we know nothing about??? I thought that we would get a sort of glimpse into the future like we did in TID, but maybe it's better this way, so we can conjure up our plots about the descendants. Anyway, I must say, I was scared for this book because I thought it would be brutal. I thought more people would suffer a terrible fate (did CC say that someone would turn into a vampire? or that someone would have their marks stripped?

Thankfully it didn't happen, but I still feared it would). While this book was frustrating to read (James/Cordelia/Math triangle, I'm looking at you), I really liked it and it made me happy. I had expectations, and most of them were met in this book. Things I had written in my theories, my fan fictions --- things I wished would not be only in my mind, have turned into canon, and made me very, very, happy and warm and fuzzy all over. There were some moments where I smiled and laughed and had tears in my eyes because my heart was so happy to read some scenes, and I don't care if you think I'm silly.

I think that compared to other series like TID (which is still my favorite, TLH comes second) the epilogue felt a little underwhelming because it didn't leave that pang of bitterness and sadness the TID one did, but it's still a satisfying epilogue to me. And I'm thankful that tonight, when I go to bed, I will not cry about the ending (although I'm still bitter about Kit's death) and I will dream nice dreams.

It is like the ending of an era. I've been waiting for this book ever since I've finished CP2 and craved more content with the TID characters and their children. Needless to say, I will not shut up about TSC, now that this series is over. On the other hand, the ending makes me want to write more fan fictions and stuff about it, and make edits. So, be assured that I won't leave this fandom, and you can always send me asks or DM me about it, I'd love to discuss TSC with you.

We made it, guys! 💙🥲

#tsc #tlh #chain of thorns spoilers #cot spoilers #chain of thorns #chain of iron #chain of gold #the last hours #Tweety.txt

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dhampiravidi · 1 year ago

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I have something to admit

I don’t think anybody not on Tumblr is gonna understand (has to do w/comfort characters) so here we go.

Basically, in middle school, I discovered my depression & had toxic relationships (unrequited crushes, them receiving) with some people. Then I went to HS @ 12. I was a fucking mess who either cried or had an angry fit every day until junior year. For some reason, there were days where I’d cry myself to sleep at home and dream of Jace Herondale, a fictional character. Nothing explicit, just pure fluff. Us fighting off monsters while flirting. Us walking around, holding hands. So I’d wake up happy.

Now I’m at a place where my mental illness is sort of at a standstill and I have multiple (4, maybe 5) conditions to seek treatment for. I haven’t had a happy Jace dream since maybe junior year of uni. Tbh, I haven’t had a happy dream w/o some kind of anxiety- or irritation-inducing thing in it since then. Anyway, it’s gotten to the point where 1) I have a shit ton of free time to write so I’m really trying to get good/confident enough to write my own novel, 2) if I don’t write I fall victim to my narcolepsy which fucks w/my overall sleep schedule, 3) Jace is a comfort character. #3 sucks because I loved the 1st book series but I’m not super interested in the sequels (same way that I feel about Percy Jackson shhh), every time I see Clace content (which is canon & shoved into anything he is mentioned in) I get a little sad, and I SIGH when I think about the movie that probably spawned a great adaptation series in an alternate universe 😭 yeah so, I feel dumb, not to mention lonely & completely unlovable (but that last part is a whole other thing).

I guess I’m gonna end this by thanking you all (especially my mutuals who I spam) for putting up w/me. If you’re part of the TMI/TSC fandom and you don’t mind playing the Jace to my salty lil assassin half-fey OC Jasmine…HMU.

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fimproda · 10 months ago

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In answer to this, I think it's finally time to post my ChoT review that I started writing last year, shortly after reading the book, and I never got around to finishing. Apropos of this, I agree with everything @sengen-is-life said, and at this point it's pleonastic to say that the same goes for @zoyalannister.

So, without further ado:

It’s been a while since I’ve last written a review. As a matter of fact, lately, I’ve taken up the habit of voice-messaging my reviews (and, even more recently, of videoing them), and I’ve subjected my friends to countless hours of my talking at great length about the stupidest details and taking Pindaric flight after Pindaric flight while never getting to the point.

Not anymore, fellas. Not anymore.

I’m back to my roots; I’m back to writing. Let’s hope this bullshit won’t end up unfinished and forgotten on my computer desktop, and that it will register as a sensible, comprehensive review of the trash fire that is Cassandra Clare’s Chain of Thorns.

A bit of backstory, here. I’ve been a fanfiction writer for nine years now, and I’ve started thanks to The Shadowhunter Chronicles, back in 2014 when I was nothing but a wee little 13-year-old. This is not the time or place to wax poetic about how my writing fanfics has taught me countless things and made me fundamentally change as a person, but I do want to stress how much TSC means to me, how many years I’ve spent with these books and characters, how they’ve shaped my formative years. It is with sorrow in my heart, then, that I’m writing this review.

Who the fuck do I think I’m kidding.

There’s no sorrow in my heart. Hell―there’s not even sadness.

There’s just rage.

Rage, and the feeling of being disrespected as a reader.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s dismantle this clusterfuck of a book, piece by piece, starting from the very beginning.

Now, I’d be guilty of a great lie by omission if I didn’t state that my writing fanfiction has extended to The Last Hours. My co-author @zoyalannister and I have been writing The Last Flowers, and publishing it on AO3, since soon after Chain of Iron came out. So, our being dissatisfied with the canon has begun long before ChoT; but, then, it was more of an AU/What-If little thing we knew couldn’t have happened in canon―for one reason or another―and, even though we treated it as seriously as it deserved to, we wouldn’t have been caught dead saying that it should replace what was written in the original book. We were content with it being what it was and existing as fanfiction.

But boy oh boy, did this feeling change with Chain of Thorns.

You see, Chain of Thorns is everything a book shouldn’t be. I swear to God, I’ve been reading Cassandra Clare’s works for ten years now, and never had I seen her so blatantly disregard the rules of decent writing, from pacing to plot developing, foreshadowing and characterization. I mean, Queen of Air and Darkness made me cry tears of blood―good Lord the fucking giants thing―but at least it didn’t slap me in the face with complete disregard for my media literacy. Chain of Thorns, instead, did.

I’m perfectly aware that Clare wrote ChoT with the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic looming over her. To be honest, I myself made it through lockdown and quarantine and all that pretty decently―I started online school immediately, and so I had a daily routine, and I’ve never been much of a social person anyway―but I can understand the toll Covid took on the majority of people. What I do not understand, though, is how Clare can cite Covid as the reason why her book changed more or less drastically and expect her readers to believe her without a shred of doubt.

It’s true that I’m not Clare. It’s true that I don’t share her thoughts and feelings, live in her house, go about her life, et cetera. But I just can’t fathom how in the world couldn’t she just, you know, put her writing on hold, if she’d been struck by Covid to such a degree.

It’s not like her editor was breathing down her neck that the book should be finished as soon as possible, given that the publishing industry was at a standstill, and there was a paper crisis to boot; ChoT’s release date being set for January 31st, 2023―two whole years after ChoI, which, by the way, was more “in-Covid” than ChoT―confirms that much. I’ve seen people defend Clare tooth and nail, saying that she just wasn’t able to write the book she wanted and we all wanted. To that, I say: Yes, you’re right, she wasn’t.

So, she shouldn’t have written it.

And I know what y’all gonna say. That I don’t understand, that I’m an ugly, immature bully, yadda yadda yadda. I don’t fucking care. I’m 22 years old, I’m vaccinated, I’ve lived my fair slice of life, and despite what you might think of me, I know better than to demand my favorite authors write what I want. For Heaven’s sake, I’m a writer myself―I’m in the somehow privileged position of being able to appreciate the other side of the coin, and as a writer I would never even think to do what my readers asked of me.

But there’s a difference between catering to the―sometime stupid and unreasonable―requests of your readers and being disrespectful to them, while also being disrespectful to your story and your characters.

You still wanna think Covid was the reason? Go ahead. I’m not gonna even attempt to change your mind. But at the same time, you’re never gonna succeed in making me change my mind. I’ll keep thinking that’s a lame-ass excuse.

You don’t feel like you can write? Don’t write. God knows I’ve done my fair share of that, or even more than what could be considered fair. I wouldn’t blame Clare if she’d decided that she needed a break; hell, I thank the Lord Sarah J. Maas wants to disappear for a while after publishing the next book, because I’m a decent human being that acknowledges SJM’s need for some peace, especially since she has two little children.

(Yes, I like SJM. Fucking deal with it. Clare can only wish she had SJM’s balls in taking a character hated by the fandom, making her the protagonist of a 760-pages-long book, and writing a relatable, realistic arc for her. But I suppose there can only be one Nesta, and Clare’s fandom can’t grow out of their childish hate for Grace.)

But enough of my blabbering. Let’s get started.

First things first: tell me what you want, but I don’t believe one bit that Kit’s death was in the making from the very beginning. My, shall we call it, “Deadpool” was dead set―pun clearly intended―on Matt, for two very realistic reasons: one, he’d been an alcoholic for years at that point, and his liver was bound to abandon him sooner rather than later; two, Clare likes to auto-plagiarize, and killing off Matt, leaving his parabatai alone, would have mirrored Will and Jem’s story from TID. Also, come on, with how tragic a character Matt is―tragicomic, really―him dying would have only added to the sappiness of the whole thing. The only reason why Clare didn’t off Matt is because he’s a fan favorite. Change my mind. Actually, don’t. I don’t even care.

Another Deadpool entry, for me, was Sona. I mean, geriatric pregnancy in the London Shadowhunter society of the 1900s? Women die of childbirth in the best hospitals in the 2020s! Sona was a walking corpse. And I don’t mean to say she couldn’t have survived; I’m just saying it was highly unlikely. As I was reading ChoT, when I reached that part when Sona talks to Thomas and basically blesses his and Alastair’s relationship, I couldn’t help but think that that was her Uncle Ben speech and she was about to snuff it. Sorry, not sorry.

(And Charlotte getting pregnant at the end of the book... That ain’t gonna end well, too.)

In my mind, Alastair would have adopted Zachary and raised him as his own, maybe even marrying some generic girl in order to “keep up appearances”, and lived his relationship with Thomas in secret. But apparently, the London Shadowhunters in the 1900s can live their sexuality without any type of ostracism from their society, and Alec in 2007 was just a big whiny baby for fearing coming out. Fucking hell―Clare says that Anna and Ari are looking to adopt a baby! And Anna has been doing whatever the fuck she wanted―he wanted? they wanted?―for years without anyone even commenting on it! What the fuck!

And speaking of sexuality, why in the world didn’t Matt deck Thomas in the face when Thomas came out to him and told him he was seeing Alastair? Alastair! The bully, Matthew’s bully! And Matt was even piss-drunk at the time! Why didn’t he even protest!

But why am I even trying to search for logic in this God-forsaken book. Why did I even think that James and Cordelia not having the second Marriage runes would be a problem. What right do I have to demand that the fucking Chekhov guns fire their fucking rounds. After all, I am but a wee stupid reader, whom Clare can shower with miscommunication and horny ships and a sprinkling of plot-ish stuff, and who can’t even try to speak her mind lest she be labeled wrong and belligerent. A world-bestselling author can surely insult my intelligence and my media literacy and not be held accountable for it. That’s how it works, right?

And don’t even get me started on Grace. She didn’t even have the satisfaction of killing Tatiana, because our dear protagonist Cordelia had to remind us that she is, indeed, the protagonist. Grace had to listen to her brother―her brother, the only person who ever truly loved her, the only person who understood her plight with Tatiana!―telling her that what she did disgusted him, that she had no right to say that it was for his sake, so that he could get back to life. I mean, I get Jesse’s anger, but dude... that’s no way to talk to your groomed, abused sister, who is even currently behind bars, and being subjected to violating round of interrogation after violating round of interrogation. Voluntarily!

And later, that conversation Jesse and James had on the Institute roof... I’m cringing and facepalming at the mere thought of it. “James, you’re so brave”, “No, Jesse, you’re so brave”, jerking each other off at their supposed bravery in facing off Tatiana and Belial, their cruelty and manipulation... while ignoring that Grace did the exact same thing.

And why is it that Jesse is so adept at socializing, anyway? Why was he able to fit into the Herondale family and into the Merry Thieves so easily and nicely, when he spent most of his time as a ghost who didn’t even have the strength to manifest most times? And, most importantly:

WHY IS EVERY SINGLE ONE OF LUCIE’S THOUGHTS FOCALIZED ON HOW DAMN HOT HE IS?

Good Lord. That scene of Jesse chopping wood in front of Malcolm’s house in Cornwall... straight out of a 90s shitty romcom or the worst smutty book you could find on Kindle Unlimited. I mean, I get the hormones, I get everything, but Lucie―keep your fucking mind out of the gutter! You don’t even have a great mind as it is: don’t fry it and make it even worse.

This whole book is horny as fuck. Everyone bangs in here. I guess sex is more important than, you know, plot development, characterization, the bloody Chekhov guns firing... Nah, that’s what we want from YA. Intercourse.

Gesù, Giuseppe, Sant’Anna e Maria!

You know who’s the only couple that doesn’t fuck? The only one that should have. God, I would’ve been content even with just a kiss. Hell―I would’ve been content even with just more than the scarcely five pages they’re in together.

I’m talking about Grace and Christopher, of course.

I’m not―It’s best that I don’t open this particular can of worms. I can’t even begin to state my disappointment with Clare’s treatment of them, both together and separately. I’ll do my best not to insert my fix-it version in this review―should you be interested in it, hit me up on AO3 and start reading The Last Flowers―but God if it’ll be difficult. I don’t even want to think of Kit as dead―which, by the way, is already more than his so-called “friends” do.

Even before he dies, Kit is, in one word, mistreated. Unfortunately, I can say I’ve been in his shoes, for when I was younger most of my peers either didn’t understand my interests―which were reading and writing, not even something, I don’t know, particularly esoteric―or they mocked them, or both. Thankfully I’ve later found a group of similar-minded people, but I recall those years as though it were yesterday, and I swear to God, I flinched every time one of the Merry Thieves―Kit’s closest friends! his cousins!―said something derogatory about Kit or looked down on his character or his work.

Kit is seen as someone who has no social awareness, who understands science better than people, whose only companions are test tubes and beakers. The truth is, Kit is socially awkward, at best, not socially unaware; he applies to people the same principles he uses to study science; and he would have a lot more friends, a lot more close acquaintances, and a much better social standing, if only people were able to lend an ear to him and not label him as a mad scientist from the get-go.

Kit is the only person in his friend group―and this is to stay small and not include every TLH character―who knows how to name his emotions and control them, how to remain clear-headed even in the most stressful situations, how to devise a plan to get himself and others out of troubled waters. Speaking of plans, James is praised for his, while Kit’s, if ultimately successful, are either discarded at the start or mocked throughout. James is admired for his sacrificial spirit, while Kit dies as a war hero―by taking a poisoned knife meant for James, of all people! or was it Cordelia? I don’t even remember―and nobody gives a flying fuck. James even goes so far as call Kit’s solution for Matt’s alcoholism a “muck”, totally ignoring that that “muck” is very likely the only thing that could save his parabatai’s life.

I can't believe how Grace was treated. It wouldn't be that bad (even if it would still be terrible) if it wasn't for the way other characters who did wrong are treated in comparison.

Alert: Last Hours Spoilers

(the following list is not to blame those characters but what happens to Grace)

James: lies to his loving family and friends about things that can have consequences for them

-> there is no problem

Lucie: does the same, plus runs away to raise someone from the dead

-> everyone understands, it isn't necromancy anyway

Matthew: kills his soon-to-be baby sister and nearly kills his mother because he'd rather trust rumors and strangers than his own loving family then hides it for years to everyone

-> forgiven by everyone, including his parents, in a couple of sentences

Alastair: former school bully, used to mock Jamie and Matthew (and their families)

-> needs the three books (and to be someone's boyfriend and someone's else brother) to be forgiven

Tatiana: is saying (shouting really) she's going to make the Herondales, Lightwoods, Fairchilds pay for years

-> several people keep reaching out to her, until she kidnaps little Lightwood and they get how serious her threats are, the group spare two thoughts about her when she's a threat that can't be ignored and kill her reluctantly

Meanwhile, Grace:

abused (and brainwashed) for years, with several people noticing from afar something wrong about Tatiana Blackthorn (she wasn't very subtle about it, though) but refusing to touch the situation with a tenfoot pole

-realizes her wrongs, gives herself up to the Silent Brother, confesses everything she and her "mother" did, atones for what she did

-> her brother (her only family) rejects her, they all comment about her being a monster

-warns the Brotherhood about Tatiana's dangerosity and begs them to take her away from Tatiana (trusts them to)

-> she isn't believed, Tatiana gets free and hurts her (and carries on with her plans)

-runs to help the group instead of running away

-> sees Christopher, the only person who gave her kindness freely, die right before her eyes

-finds the solution to create Fire Message (allowing them to win) and fights alongside them

-> her brother forces himself to forgive her, is tolerated because they don't want to be like Tatiana (written in black and white)

#grace blackthorn #kit lightwood #christopher lightwood deserved better #chain of thorns #cassandra clare

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rinadragomir · 2 years ago

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Okay Rina, here we go (because you’re amazing, you deserve a distraction, and I like to rant) 💖

- Charles x Alastair: I have, in fact, unfortunately seen people who ship them and I’m still sick. Genuinely wish for anyone (though Alastair is def more satisfying) to put him in his place.

- Thomas x Alastair: My everything. My OTP in the whole TSC fandom. I generally like reading fanon content, but sometimes it feels like Thomas isn’t understood by the fandom at all? Y’all forgive Alastair (and super rightly), but show absolutely no empathy towards Thomas. And honestly, I agree with the complaints about his behaviour in CoI, but I don’t get why people can’t read the context. Which doesn’t actually mean justifying, just understanding the situation.

- Eugenia x Ariadne/Kamala: Flawless. Too good to be canon. Doesn’t mean I’m not bitter about it, though.

- Anna x Ariadne/Kamala: Just don’t. Listen, I loved them in Every Exquisite Thing, and I was so happy about a wlw couple being “more central” to the story. BUT, let’s be honest, they were completely ruined after that. They were still okay in CoG, though I didn’t like how some things were handled, but lines were crossed in CoI. There was too much humiliation, too little understanding and too little sympathy towards Ariadne, her life and situation. On top of that, Anna showed that she doesn’t know her at all. I’m pretty sure they’re going to be endgame (if they’re fine by the end of CoT that is), but I don’t like it.

- Jesse x Lucie: Nice, but way too overrated by the fandom. Idk, I read TLH with great expectations for them (pun not intended lol), but I felt like most of their scenes were just okay. I’m not sure why, but they could never make me feel the pathos I was expecting because of their situation.

- James x Cordelia: Boring, but I do hope they’re okay in the end, because Cordelia deserves it. I’m gonna be honest (sorry in advance Rina because I know you love him), but I don’t like James. He deserves happiness after everything he went through, though, and I hope he gets it.

- James x Grace: Doesn’t deserve to actually be called a ship, and I despise it. However, it’s really worth a mention that I was very intrigued by the original idea of them (though I’ve always wanted Grace and Kit to be endgame), and I was really curious to see how that was going to go. For me, Grace wasn’t in love with him even then, but it’s evident James was, and honestly I was always curious to see how he ended up with Cordelia.

- Matthew x Cordelia: A big, gigantic no, but their friendship is great. Probably one, if not the, best developed, and I hate that Cassie’s gonna make it weird.

- Matthew x Kellington: They had so much potential, but I hate it because I’m pretty sure there’s a gross age gape. If their dynamic had been with someone who wasn’t toxic for Matthew and had the right age, I would’ve loved it.

- Grace x Christopher: Loved it since 2014, my TLH OTP then, and my second since Thomastair’s been revealed. I wish the timeline of the books would allow us to see more, but for how everything stands it wouldn’t be right for Cassie to give anything more than hints about them being together in the future. I don’t necessarily disagree with them being on the spectrum (though I also doesn’t see particular clues in that direction), but I don’t think they’d be at one end of it. I believe there have been clues showing they can be interested in romance at the very least, and that’s why I could potentially see them being demi or grayromantic. However, my knowledge about this topic isn’t as extensive as I’d like, so there could be better suggestions.

Couples aside, I also want to mention that Thomas and Christopher and Jesse and Grace are the best platonic relationships, and I wish there were more scenes about them. They deserved to be Parabatai. I’ll also take the opportunity to say that neither Matthew and James nor Lucie and Cordelia make good Parabatai pairings. The problem isn’t keeping secrets because that can make sense depending on the circumstances, but they almost never rely on each other or lean on the other when they need help. I also wouldn’t mind the Thieves going their own ways (except Kit and Tom). It’s just… if they make it work, then good for them and I’ll be happy, but atm they’re not really good for each other. Matthew and James have their own things going on, and beyond that there’s not really that strong of a bond (or desire to really get to know the others and what’s going on with them). It just feels like the four of them love each other, but the bonds that tie them have mostly grown out of their families’ closeness and very little else.

*afraid*

1) noooooooo you were hallucinating! No way it's a thing NO WAY!

2)Thomas is not understood even by his best friends like?... He's the most chaotic and emotional boy in their group. Like seriously, I usually don't read fanfiction (unfortunately) cause every time I start sth I'm always: "nO wAy tHeY wOuLd sAy/do tHat, literally no way". ANYWAY, Thomastair is a gem of our community 💅🏻✨

3)pfffff YesYES I remember the time people used to ship them REALLY HARD. I wonder who came up with this idea, it's so interesting 👀

4)JUST YES🥺listen🥺👉🏻👈🏻WHAT IF! IN! CHAIN OF THORNS! EVERYTHING! IS GONNA! BE! FIXED!🥺yes I absolutely have 99 reasons to hate Anna, cause she's 1) annoying 2) ignorant 3)thinks she's better than everyone BUT

as I said here she's just a fucking stupid teenager whose parents never said "you're cringe, never do this shit again". Like idk why all adults around her see her behavior as normal or "cool". Someone just has to let her understand that you can't be that "I don't listen to parents, I party all night, drink vodka with weird adults and break hearts for a dare like that boy from After" 16yo kid forever.

Like the life she lives doesn't make her happy just as it doesn't make people who she loves happy. She just needs to gain some braincells before CHOT🥺

5)...

POV: James and Lucie are you fav characters and you've just read this ask

7) It's not a ship at all but I've written something about them here (if I'm not mistaken👀)

8) right right 😊 chemistry - yes, healthy relationship - not yet. As I said before, they were healthy for each other before the chain of iron, they definitely have chemistry, but now they're a bad influence for each other.

Matthew definitely needs some time WITHOUT her, to get over his feelings. Cause it's not a love, it's an illusion of healing, of something good in his life. She doesn't even love him back, so it's only gonna make it worse for him

Every time Cordelia interacts with Matthew in COI she uses him for running away from her problems and to focusing on someone else's issues. She has to face her own battles and Matthew, trying to help, only leads her further away from the right path.

9)I have nothing to say here, cause we hardly saw any interactions. Gotta wait for chot 😌

10) I'm so torn rn. I agree with 70% of this and and strongly disagree with everything else. I'm not gonna say anything except I need to read chain of thorns to complete my opinion on this. Cause these are really complicated topics🤔

OH MY GOD I ANSWERED EVERYTHING I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF LOOK AT ME BEING SO GOOD AT TEXTING IN ENGLISH FOR SO LONG ✨💘💓✨✨💘💓✨

#asks✨#the last hours #chain of thorns #chain of iron #cordelia carstairs #james herondale #matthew fairchild #lucie herondale #thomas lightwood #alastair carstairs

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edwinspaynes · 8 months ago

Text

promised myself i was going to do this high for humor value and to be edgy. and now that i am high, i will be doing it. thank you to @thevagabondexpress and @imabitchforjemcarstairs for telling me to go for it.

WHAT I THINK OF EACH BETTER IN BLACK COUPLE, IN THE ORDER THEY APPEARED ON THE ROSTER.

Wessa -> EXCITEMENT LEVEL 9/10. i always want to see more of these two and am curious about what they may do in paris. i'm picky with wessa content and very finicky with it, but i am currently cautiously optimistic about liking the story. if i do i think i will be a bit more satisfied with wessa's canon storyline/content as i want to see them in an established relationship. i'm so interested in what the little crystal ball/snowglobe on the cover means and kinda hope they get into some magical mayhem.

Clace -> EXCITEMENT LEVEL 7.5/10. I like Clace and they give me nostalgic feelings, so it will be fun to catch up with them. They're not, like, an all-time favorite ship, but I like them together and am curious what theyre like as an adult couple.

Arianna -> EXCITEMENT LEVEL 9/10. I'll admit that this ship is one i have some complicated feelings about, but i like them a lot anyway. they're one of the most interesting/compelling dynamics in the TSC canon to me even if i don't think they're thomastairherondaisy-like soulmates. i think that this story is a good choice because their story feels unfinished, and to properly conclude their storyline we need to see them have some conversations and make some compromises. i'm really rooting for them and am excited to see how their relationship works/changes.

Herondaisy -> EXCITEMENT LEVEL 1000/10. i mean, it's herondaisy. Did you really expect anything less? i'm pumped because i want to see them domestically after they acknowledge that they're married and in love. there's going to be a 2nd wedding rune scene, which is awesome and im hyped, but i also think we're probably gonna get some honeymoon adventure content of both of them and i am even MORE excited for that. i like how cordelia is running and james is reachng after her on the cover like "i love my wife she's so adventurous but come baaack. wait for meee." and YES??? good god. this one is going to be so good. and im so curious what the pomegranates are??? yeah??? i think something about being invincible because of persian myth. maybe it's because they're soulmates. an unstoppable duo. i'm gushing lol @angeldaisies @hanelizabeth. i need to stop but this will definitely happen again when i get to the thomastair story.

Sebastian and SQ -> EXCITEMENT LEVEL 8.5/10. okay i KNOW this one's controversial, and i get why one might be upset if their favourite ship did not make the cut. but like. okay. i am SO excited for this story. this is going to be DARK. this is going to be TWISTY. this is going to be the dark horse of the bunch, fundamentally fucked up and horrifying. doomed by the narrative. i'm so excited that this story is there because it's going to be so tonally unique. i think cassie wanted to write something truly fucked up, i think she has the talent to pull it off perfectly, and i am fucking pumped.

Jemma -> EXCITEMENT LEVEL 2/10 for the setting. it'll be cool seeing another institute while they're on their travel year. but otherwise i'm not vibing. i expected it fully though so it's fine, this is the only one in the set i'm considering a throwaway for me that i will for sure dislike. But that's okay! because next up is...

Thomastair -> EXCITEMENT LEVEL 1000/10. guys. look. these are the people whose love i am myself in love with. these are the people that make me believe in hope, and healing, and the power of getting better together and doing better. and we havent seen them in a lot of established relationship, so im glad to do so here. AND IN A ROMCOM. YES. and we're definitely getting content of them playing with zachary. which is like, a dream come true for me since a) i adore that kind of story, and b) zachary is such an important part of alastairs arc. i also think they're going to babysit him and everything that can go wrong will. he's lost! he's rolling away! ahhh! oh it's going to be great. like the herondaisy story this is definitely going to be beloved by me. there's no way to make me not like it. this is going to be one of my comfort stories for the rest of my life, i can tell. like nbs or cls or eet or the herondaisy story or the matthew novella. the thomastair story goes into this special and exclusive category. but yea im gushing again because they're soulmates and i love them <333

Kierarktina -> EXCITEMENT LEVEL 6/10. Yes, i am not really a kierarktina fan, but hear me out. I find their relationship interesting, and they have a lot of things that really don't work. but I think a story where they begin to unpack these differences would be astounding. Also sue me i'm interested in the horse on the cover, much like Ken in the barbie movie.

Sizzy -> EXCITEMENT LEVEL 7.5/10. another ship that while not an all-time favourite is nostalgic and beloved by me. and we've barely seen them at all since TMI, so it will be great to know what they're up to.

Lukelyn -> EXCITEMENT LEVEL 6.5/10. do i care about this couple? no. i don't dislike them, but i'm meh on them. BUT i LOVE the circle, and it said that it took place in the past. we might get another circle story! But also... i want to see Ragnor and think he might appear here??

THANK YOU!

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ladyhindsight · 3 years ago

Note

Notes: it's here. I only quoted what I found relevant to quote, but now I know everything there's to know about Stephen. My personal opinion is that the most interesting thing about him is his take on Robert, and as far as I'm concerned, him calling Robert a drama queen should be the biggest controversy around his character. I promise I did a far more objective work on this, though.

The Stephen Herondale Saga

(+ Amatis and Céline)

Objectively speaking, Stephen is a character significant since the very start because his existence is a key point in the plot of the first TSC era, CoB/CoA/CoG, and the last years/months of the Circle before the Uprising were specifically important. There are things in the Circle history that just can’t both be true because one contradicts the other, and to form a “canon timeline” we need to establish as “unchangeable” and among the most notable there are the birthday of the main characters, that keep being confirmed multiple times via social media and have importance in the TSC fandom lore. So the first thing I establish here is that Jace was born January 18, as informed via Clare’s instagram multiple times.

As directly stated by An Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters & Denizens of Downworld, published in 2016, and also via basic math, the year was 1991. So gathering the information provided by this book:

Stephen- 1966 / Amatis- 1967 / Céline- 1971 / Jace- January 18, 1991

Now, let’s go for City of Bones (first published in 2007 but my main source is the 10th Anniversary edition from 2017). In chapter 11, Clary finds a photograph of the Circle. There are other details to be analyzed from this scene that don’t fit this topic, but the information pointed are

Jocelyn, Valentine, Hodge, Luke, Maryse, Robert and Michael are present.

It’s from the year the Circle was formed

See, it’s not said that they are the only people in the photo, but in my opinion it’s implied enough to be considered so until evidence of the contrary. (And of course, any information provided by Hodge can be retconned later because he could just be lying for whatever reason.) Stuff established, let’s go for the actual content on Stephen

City of Ashes

Published in 2008 - in this book we meet Imogen Herondale, inquisitor and Stephen’s mother, who is very opposed to any possible associates to Valentine and is portrayed as being bitter or something like this. Then we have Luke’s explanation on Stephen! From chapter 17

“Did the Inquisitor’s son die? Is that why she’s like this?” Luke sighed and thrust his hands into the pockets of his coat.

“How did you figure that out?”

“The way she reacts when someone says his name. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen her show any human feelings.”

Luke expelled a breath. He had pushed his glasses up and his eyes were squinted against the harsh wind off the river. “The Inquisitor is the way she is for many reasons. Stephen is only one of them.”

“It’s weird,” Jace said. “She doesn’t seem like someone who even likes kids.”

“Not other people’s,” said Luke. “It was different with her own. Stephen was her golden boy. In fact, he was everyone’s… everyone who knew him. He was one of those people who was good at everything, unfailingly nice without being boring, handsome without everyone hating him. Well, maybe we hated him a little.”

“He went to school with you?” Clary said. “And my mother— and Valentine? Is that how you knew him?”

“The Herondales were in charge of running the London Institute, and Stephen went to school there. I saw him more after we all graduated, when he moved back to Alicante. And there was a time when I saw him very often indeed.” Luke’s eyes had gone distant, the same blue-gray as the river. “After he was married.”

“So he was in the Circle?” Clary asked.

“Not then,” Luke said. “He joined the Circle after I—well, after what happened to me. Valentine needed a new second in command and he wanted Stephen. Imogen, who was utterly loyal to the Clave, was hysterical—she begged Stephen to reconsider—but he cut her off. Wouldn’t speak to her, or his father. He was absolutely in thrall to Valentine. Went everywhere trailing after him like a shadow.” Luke paused. “The thing is, Valentine didn’t think Stephen’s wife was suitable for him. Not for someone who was going to be second in command of the Circle. She had—undesirable family connections.” The pain in Luke’s voice surprised Clary. Had he cared that much about these people? “Valentine forced Stephen to divorce Amatis and remarry—his second wife was a very young girl, only eighteen years old, named Céline. She, too, was utterly under Valentine’s influence, did everything he told her to, no matter how bizarre. Then Stephen was killed in a Circle raid on a vampire nest. Céline killed herself when she found out. She was eight months pregnant at the time. And Stephen’s father died, too, of heartbreak. So that was Imogen’s whole family, all gone. They couldn’t even bury her daughterin-law and grandchild’s ashes in the Bone City, because Céline was a suicide. She was buried at a crossroads outside Alicante. Imogen survived, but—she turned to ice. When the Inquisitor was killed in the Uprising, Imogen was offered his job. She returned from London to Idris—but never, as far as I heard, spoke about Stephen again. But it does explain why she hates Valentine as much as she does.”

“Because my father poisons everything he touches?” Jace said bitterly.

“Because your father, for all his sins, still has a son, and she doesn’t. And because she blames him for Stephen’s death.”

“And she’s right,” said Jace. “It was his fault.”

“Not entirely,” said Luke. “He offered Stephen a choice, and Stephen chose. Whatever else his faults were, Valentine never blackmailed or threatened anyone into joining the Circle. He wanted only willing followers. The responsibility for Stephen’s choices rests with him.”

(Detail on Luke saying Imogen never spoke about Stephen again as far as he heard. How would he ever hear or know about that? Bruh) This is so all over the place, let’s go.

Stephen was Imogen’s golden boy

Stephen went to school… in London?

After all of them (the main Circle I supposed) graduated, Stephen moved to Alicante

Luke implies what we know that was that he saw Stephen more often when he was married to his sister Amatis

Only after Luke turned into werewolf, Stephen joined the Circle as Valentine’s 2nd in command

Stephen cut ties with his parents

For Stephen to become Valentine’s 2nd in command, Valentine made him divorce his first wife [Amatis] and marry a 18 years old Céline very loyal to him

Stephen died in a raid to a vampire nest, and 8 months pregnant Céline killed herself when she found out

Stephen’s father then died of “heartbreak”

Céline was buried at a crossroads outside Alicante

The then inquisitor was killed in the Uprising and the position as offered to and taken by Imogen

We will revisit this later for sure.

City of Glass

Published in 2009- We get Amatis’ side of the story! From chapter 5

“Luke never told me he had a sister.”

“No,” Amatis said. “He wouldn’t have. We weren’t—close.”

“Luke said your last name was Herondale,” Clary said. “But that’s the Inquisitor’s last name. Isn’t it?”

“It was,” said Amatis, and her face tightened as if the words pained her. “She was my mother-in-law.”

What was it Luke had told Clary about the Inquisitor? That she’d had a son, who’d married a woman with “undesirable family connections.” “You were married to Stephen Herondale?”

Amatis looked surprised. “You know his name?”

“I do—Luke told me—but I thought his wife died. I thought that’s why the Inquisitor was so—” Horrible, she wanted to say, but it seemed cruel to say it. “Bitter,” she said at last.

[...] “Yes, she did die. Killed herself. That was Céline—Stephen’s second wife. I was the first.”

“And you got divorced?”

“Something like that.”

[...] “So what happened?”

Amatis was gazing into the distance. “We were in the Circle, Stephen and I, along with everyone else. When Luke was—when what happened to Luke happened, Valentine needed a new lieutenant. He chose Stephen. And when he chose Stephen, he decided that perhaps it wouldn’t be fitting for the wife of his closest friend and adviser to be someone whose brother was…”

“A werewolf.”

“He used another word.” Amatis sounded bitter. “He convinced Stephen to annul our marriage and to find himself another wife, one that Valentine had picked for him. Céline was so young—so completely obedient.”

“That’s horrible.”

Amatis shook her head with a brittle laugh. “It was a long time ago. Stephen was kind, I suppose— he gave me this house and moved back into the Herondale manor with his parents and Céline. I never saw him again after that. I left the Circle, of course. They wouldn’t have wanted me anymore. The only one of them who still visited me was Jocelyn. She even told me when she went to see Luke….” She pushed her graying hair back behind her ears. “I heard what happened to Stephen in the Uprising once it was all over. And Céline—I’d hated her, but I felt sorry for her then. She cut her wrists, they say—blood everywhere—” She took a deep breath. “I saw Imogen later at Stephen’s funeral, when they put his body into the Herondale mausoleum. She didn’t even seem to recognize me. They made her the Inquisitor not long after that. The Clave felt there was no one else who would have hunted down the former members of the Circle more ruthlessly than she did—and they were right. If she could have washed away her memories of Stephen in their blood, she would have.”

Amatis and Luke weren’t close siblings

Amatis is established as Stephen’s first wife

Valentine convinced Stephen to divorce Amatis and have Céline as a more appropriate wife so he would he Valentine’s 2nd in command

Céline was young and obedient to Valentine

Stephen gave Amatis her house and moved with Céline to the Herondale manor, with his parents

Amatis left the Circle and only Jocelyn visited her

Here it looks as if Stephen died in the Uprising

Amatis hated Céline

Céline killed herself by cutting her own wrists, “blood everywhere”

Imogen became inquisitor shortly after Stephen’s funeral, due her dedication to hunt down the Circle to avenge Stephen’s death

Besides what “Uprising’ entails being kinda blurry here (since Stephen was established in CoA by Luke to have died in a raid to a vampire nest, not in the Uprising but before) - the match is strong enough so far.

Then by chapter 17 we have Jocelyn’s side of the story! And now we have a more specific timeline forming.

“[...] I had no idea what was going on outside, no idea that he’d forced Stephen to divorce Amatis and marry Céline. I was in a daze. And then…” Jocelyn knotted her hands together in her lap. They were shaking. “And then I had the baby."

Stephen divorcing Amatis and getting married with Céline happened after Luke became a werewolf and before Sebastian was born.

“[...] I would bring him over to Maryse Lightwood’s house, let him play with her baby son, Alec. Sometimes Céline Herondale would join us—she was pregnant by that time. ‘Your husband is so kind,’ she would tell me. ‘He is so concerned about Stephen and me. He gives me potions and mixtures for the health of the baby; they are wonderful.’”

After Sebastian was born (July 14, 1990, according to CIty of Bones 10th Anniversary edition) and Jocelyn found out Luke was alive as a werewolf, Céline was pregnant.

The continuity is ok so far!

“I wanted to tell her not to trust Valentine or to accept anything he gave her, but I couldn’t. Her husband was Valentine’s closest friend, and she would have betrayed me to him immediately.

Stephen was Valentine's closest friend at the time

“She killed herself,” said Clary, remembering the story. “But —was it because of what Valentine did to her?”

Jocelyn shook her head. “I honestly don’t think so. Stephen was killed in a raid, and she slit her wrists when she found out the news. She was eight months pregnant. She bled to death….”

Stephen was killed in a raid

8 months pregnant Céline killed herself cutting her wrists and there was a lot of blood

It was pretty easy to keep the info consistent so far, in this era, and with all sides put together (including Luke’s from CoB, not quoted directly for this topic) with the birthdays, we can put together the sequence of events. It was confirmed off-page that Céline’s suicide was made up by Valentine, and she was murdered by him and Hodge. We also have Stephen’s death and Céline’s death dated on Jace’s birthday or a day before if Jace was born after midnight, this possible difference is irrelevant though

Next, into next era,

City of Fallen Angels

Published in 2011- From Jace on chapter 3

Over the past six weeks he had taken to reading a letter or so every night, trying to get a sense for the man who was his biological father. A picture had begun to emerge slowly, of a thoughtful young man with hard-driving parents who had been drawn to Valentine and the Circle because they had seemed to offer him an opportunity to distinguish himself in the world. He had kept writing to Amatis even after their divorce, something she hadn’t mentioned before. In those letters, his disenchantment with Valentine and sickness at the Circle’s activities were clear, though he rarely, if ever, mentioned Jace’s mother, Céline. It made sense—Amatis wouldn’t have wanted to hear about her replacement—and yet Jace could not help hating his father a little for it. If he hadn’t cared about Jace’s mother, why marry her? If he’d hated the Circle so much, why hadn’t he left it? Valentine had been a madman, but at least he’d stood by his principles.

The quote pretty much speaks for itself on the info, but we now have answers for Jace’s questions... Sort of. We have this explanation from Clare and also we have Stephen’s letter to Jace available in a specific edition of CoLS, and I added a highlight and comments

To my son,

If you are reading this letter, then I am dead.

I expect to die, if not today, then soon. I expect that Valentine will kill me. For all his talk of loving me, for all his desire for a right-hand man, he knows that I have doubts. And he is a man who cannot abide doubt.

I do not know how you will be brought up. I do not know what they will tell you about me. I do not even know who will give you this letter. I entrust it to Amatis, but I cannot see what the future holds. All I know is that this is my chance to give you an accounting of a man you may well hate.

There are three things you must know about me. The first is that I have been a coward. Throughout my life I have made the wrong decisions, because they were easy, because they were self-serving, because I was afraid. [The fact that Clare later made Robert and Stephen be close friends haha]

At first I believed in Valentine’s cause. I turned from my family and to the Circle because I fancied myself better than Downworlders and the Clave and my suffocating parents. My anger against them was a tool Valentine bent to his will as he bent and changed so many of us. When he drove Lucian away I did not question it but gladly took his place for my own. When he demanded I leave Amatis, the woman I love, and marry Céline, a girl I did not know, I did as he asked, to my everlasting shame.

I cannot imagine what you might be thinking now, knowing that the girl I speak of was your mother. The second thing you must know is this: Do not blame Céline for any of this, whatever you do. It was not her fault, but mine. Your mother was an innocent from a family that brutalized her: she wanted only kindness, to feel safe and loved. And though my heart had been given already, I loved her, in my fashion, just as in my heart, I was faithful to Amatis. Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae. I wonder if you love Latin as I do, and poetry. I wonder who has taught you.

The third and hardest thing you must know is that I was prepared to hate you. The son of myself and the child-bride I barely knew, you seemed to be the culmination of all the wrong decisions I had made, all the small compromises that led to my dissolution. Yet as you grew inside my mind, as you grew in the world, a blameless innocent, I began to realize that I did not hate you. It is the nature of parents to see their own image in their children, and it was myself I hated, not you. [Now you’re sounding like Robert too much for my liking!]

For there is only one thing I want from you, my son – one thing from you, and of you. I want you to be a better man than I was. Let no one else tell you who you are or should be. Love where you wish to. Believe as you wish to. Take freedom as your right.

I don’t ask that you save the world, my boy, my child, the only child I will ever have. I ask only that you be happy.

Stephen

[I hate the similarities with Robert. Damn you Stephen you barely exist as a character, Robert did it better!] That highlight will be useful later

City of Lost Souls

Published in 2012- There’s a little memory of the Valentine/Jocelyn marriage in chapter 14

And then Amatis had come up, dragging a laughing Stephen with her, and Jocelyn had forgotten all about Luke, the way he had looked at her—and the odd way Valentine had looked at him.

Stephen and Amatis were together when Valentine and Jocelyn got married

Fits the continuity so far!

The Last Stand of the New York Institute

Published in 2013- Stephen’s first appearance! As a Circle member, with Luke!

Magnus could not help but look again toward the golden-

haired youth at the front of the group. There was something terribly familiar about him, as well as a suggestion of tenderness about his mouth, and hurt in the deep blue wells of his eyes. There was something that made Magnus look toward him as the one chance to get the Circle to turn from their purpose.

“What’s your name?” Magnus asked.

Those blue eyes narrowed. “Stephen Herondale.”

“I used to know the Herondales very well, once upon a time,” said Magnus, and he saw it was a mistake by the way Stephen Herondale flinched. The Shadowhunter knew something, had heard some dark whisper about his family tree, then, and was desperate to prove it was not true. Magnus did not know how desperate Stephen Herondale might be, and he had no wish to find out. Magnus went on, genially addressing them all: “I have always been a friend to Shadowhunters. I know many of your families, going back for hundreds of years.”

This was published shortly after Clockwork Princess, the association of the Herondale family with the warlock Tessa now known by the reader,

Fear of rumors about Stephen’s family’s connection with downworld being a possible motivator.

But Stephen's feelings over being from a partly downworlder family are never brought up again. He is only pointed/implied as a traitor of Tessa's/Herondale legacy. Which isn't surprising because in my impression it's very normal in TSC to make the main characters the center of the problems/conflicts of side and minor characters even when the connection is weak (as in "everything is about them") [I make everything about Robert anyway]

“Also,” Magnus went on, pointedly ignoring Lucian Graymark, “I find your story suspect. Valentine is ready to hunt down any Downworlder on any vague pretext. What had the vampires he killed in Harlem done to him?”

Stephen Herondale frowned, and glanced at Lucian, who looked troubled in turn, but said, “Valentine told me he went hunting some vampires who broke the Accords there.”

[...]

“Enough of this byplay with demonspawn!” said Stephen. He sounded as if he were quoting somebody, and Magnus bet that he knew who.

“Stephen, don’t—” Lucian ordered, but golden-haired Stephen had already flung a knife in the direction of one werewolf.

Conflict set up between Stephen and Luke?

Quoting his letter, “When he drove Lucian away I did not question it but gladly took his place for my own.” it definitely seems likely!

Now, well…

“Do you never have doubts about all this?” Magnus breathed.

“No,” Stephen panted. “I have lost too much—I have sacrificed too much to this great cause ever to turn my back on it now.”

As he spoke, he swung his knife up toward Magnus’s throat. Magnus turned the hilt hot in the young man’s hand until he dropped it.

Magnus suddenly did not care what Stephen had sacrificed, or about the pain in his blue eyes. He wanted Stephen gone from this earth.

[...]

Then Marian Whitelaw stepped into the light from the spell shimmering in Magnus’s palm, and Stephen’s face went blank with surprise.

“Ma’am, it’s you! We shouldn’t— We’re Shadowhunters. We shouldn’t be fighting over them. They are Downworlders,” Stephen hissed. “They will turn on you like the treacherous dogs they are. That’s their nature. They are not worth fighting for. What do you say?”

“I don’t have any proof these werewolves broke the Accords.”

“Valentine said,” began Stephen, but Magnus heard the uncertainty in his voice. Lucian Graymark might believe they only hunted Downworlders who had broken the Accords, but Stephen at least knew they were acting as vigilantes rather than Law-abiding Shadowhunters. Stephen had been doing it, just the same.

Um…. What.

What sacrifice?

What pain?

At this point, Luke is still the 2nd in command of the Circle. Let’s go back to my notes about Stephen as in City of Ashes:

Only after Luke turned into werewolf, Stephen joined the Circle as Valentine’s 2nd in command

Stephen cut ties with his parents

For Stephen to become Valentine’s 2nd in command, Valentine made him divorce his first wife [Amatis] and marry a 18 years old Céline very loyal to him

First thing, what Luke said about Stephen specifically joining the Circle only after the werewolf problem isn’t true anymore, because I’m seeing with my own eyes Stephen and Luke together in the Circle. We can just say Luke was lying for whatever reason, but it sounds very unreasonable because back in CoA Luke didn't want to reveal yet that Stephen was married to his sister, so he knowing Stephen through the Circle would be a far better cover than that, there was no reason at all for Stephen being established as having joined the Circle after Luke left just to have it changed later.

We also knew for a fact that Valentine forced him to divorce Amatis and marry Céline only after Luke left, and Stephen also stopped talking with his parents then. What did he sacrifice? Really, what? And why is there pain in his eyes? (does he have a secret parabatai in love with him)

Everything bad that can happen to a person has happened to me. — Paris Hilton Stephen Herondale

I could also talk about how since some contents ago, and I left to point out later, Imogen and Marcus were, apparently, very bad parents. We don’t know why exactly, what they did to be considered such, they just are, and murdering downworlders around was Stephen’s way of rebelling.

That was the data from the TMI era, and things stopped making sense already!

Before we go to TFTSA, let me quickly point something! Some years ago, there was a project about a graphic novel focused on the Circle. Cassandra Jean made some artwork about this project, and there’s this collection of Young Circle.

In the post Cassandra Jean credits Cassandra Clare for the dialogue. Stephen’s is:

“It’s hard to get away with anything when your mother’s the Inquisitor.”

Cassandra Clare wrote this. Okay. It’s just that she also wrote in City of Ashes and City of Glass that Imogen became inquisitor to avenge Stephen’s death, after the former inquisitor was killed in the Uprising. From City of Glass we even have that she took the position soon after his funeral. So, you know, it would be kind of hard for him to complain about his inquisitor mother.

Anyway.

Now, I will establish the school year at the Shadowhunter Academy: September to May, according to the timeline of Simon’s education in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, so during Robert’s flashback in The Evil We Love he is finishing his school year in May 1984.

The Evil We Love

Published in 2015- and the best thing published in the TSC according to me, and retconning all over the place!

When Robert is thinking about what he and Michael did on that same week of the year before, it’s said “That was a year ago, before Valentine.” So we can safely assume the Circle started after May 1983, but after that it’s the summer vacation, so it must have been from September 1983, since it started at the Academy.

There were eight of them today, the Circle’s innermost circle, all sitting in hushed silence as Valentine ranted about the Clave’s kindness to Downworlders: Jocelyn Fairchild, Maryse Trueblood, Lucian and Amatis Graymark, Hodge Starkweather, and, of course, Michael, Robert, and Stephen. Though Stephen Herondale was the most recent addition to the crowd—and the most recent addition to the Academy, arriving from the London Institute at the beginning of the year—he was also the most devoted to the cause, and to Valentine. He’d arrived at the Academy dressed like a mundane: studded leather jacket, tight acid-washed jeans, blond hair gelled into preposterous spikes like the mundane rock stars who postered his dorm room walls. Only a month later, Stephen had adopted not only Valentine’s simple, all-black aesthetic but also his mannerisms, so that the only major difference between them was Valentine’s shock of white-blond hair and Stephen’s blue eyes. By first frost, he’d sworn off all things mundane and destroyed his beloved Sex Pistols poster in a sacrificial bonfire.

“and, of course, Michael, Robert, and Stephen.” Why of course Stephen? I guess this is establishing him as Robert’s friend.

Jocelyn, Maryse, Luke, Amatis, Hodge, Michael, Robert and Stephen are established as the ones closest to Valentine.

Stephen arrived at the Academy from the London Institute at the beginning of the year. January 1984? It can’t logically be the beginning of the school year because then he would be with the Circle since the start, not being a recent addition

Stephen was the most devoted to Valentine and his cause

Stephen was into mundane pop culture, which seems like a extension of his “rebellion” against his parents

A month after arriving at the Academy, (February 1984? March 1984?) he was copying Valentine on everything

Then the time frame gets problematic because from what I looked up, it seems like “first frost” would implicate Stephen having joined the Academy indeed for the school year in September 1983, but that was about when the Circle started, so he would not be considered a “new” Circle member, he would have joined in the same time frame as the others

I can’t make any sense out of this!

At this point we can totally kiss goodbye to the “fact’ (from CoA) of Stephen joining the Circle only after Luke was gone, but there’s more. I have to get my highlight from City of Ashes now

“He went to school with you?” Clary said. “And my mother— and Valentine? Is that how you knew him?”

“The Herondales were in charge of running the London Institute, and Stephen went to school there. I saw him more after we all graduated, when he moved back to Alicante.

This is also false now! First, now we know the shadowhunter school is the Academy, in Idris, so no “he went to school there [London].” From Luke’s telling, we get the impression that Stephen never went to the Academy in Idris and that was how he only got to be around Stephen after everyone graduated and Stephen moved to Idris and married Amatis. (How would he have met Amatis then, I have no idea). We know none of this is true now because we are seeing Stephen at the Academy in 1984. With Luke.

By first frost, he’d sworn off all things mundane and destroyed his beloved Sex Pistols poster in a sacrificial bonfire.

so this is what Stephen sacrificed! Now I get it!

“Herondales do nothing halfway,” Stephen said whenever Robert teased him about it, but Robert suspected that something lay beneath the lighthearted tone. Something darker—something hungry. Valentine, he had noticed, had a knack for picking out disciples, homing in on those students with some kind of lack, some inner emptiness that Valentine could fill. Unlike the rest of their gang of misfits, Stephen was ostensibly whole: a handsome, graceful, supremely skilled Shadowhunter with a distinguished pedigree and the respect of everyone on campus. It made Robert wonder . . . what was it that only Valentine could see?

Robert always so perceptive! From what we know of him I have no idea of what could make Stephen a misfit besides having downworlder blood. We also know his parents are annoying? Have high expectations? Pressure him too much? Something like this. Seriously, I’m not saying it’s not hard having parents who pressure their child. The gravity of the problems that made the Circle members vulnerable to Valentine’s web seems to vary a lot from average life difficulties to parents whose parenting ways are illegal to say the least, which I find better than when authors create crews only made of people who survived the most atrocious things they can think of.

“Tutoring? Is that what they’re calling it these days?” Stephen teased. “Seems like she’s already aced her O levels in wrapping you around her little finger.”

Lucian blushed. “Nothing’s happening there, trust me,” he said, and it was presumably the truth. Céline, three years younger, with the fragile, delicately pretty features of a porcelain doll, had been trailing their group like a lost puppy. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that she’d fallen hard for Stephen, but he was a lost cause, pledged to Amatis for life. She’d picked Lucian as her consolation prize, but it was just as obvious that Lucian had no romantic interest in anyone but Jocelyn Fairchild. Obvious, that is, to everyone except Jocelyn.

Stephen seems to have some thoughts on Céline! Her heart would be so broken if she got to know he referred to her as “a girl I did not know” in his letter to their son.

I took notes on the issue about when the Circle started and when Stephen, Robert, Michael joined it and will leave it for another occasion or I will pull my hair out here.

The Wicked Ones

Published in 2018- Céline’s arc! Takes place in August, 1989.

Unless you counted the starring role he played in her daydreams, Céline hadn’t seen Stephen since he’d graduated the Academy four years before. Back then, he’d barely noticed her. He was too busy with his training, his girlfriend, his friends in the Circle to give much thought to the slip of a girl whose eyes tracked his every move. But now, Céline thought, her cheeks burning again, they were practically equals. Yes, she was 17, still a student, while he was 22, not just a full-fledged adult but Valentine Morgenstern’s most trusted lieutenant in the Circle—the elite group of young Shadowhunters sworn to reform the Clave and return it to its pure and ancient glory. But Céline was finally a member of the Circle too, handpicked by Valentine himself.

Stephen graduated four years before, that is 1985. [He graduated with Robert and Michael!]

Stephen barely noticed Céline back at the Academy

By August 1989, Céline was 17 and hadn’t graduated. She was born in 1971.That means her 18th birthday was later in 1989.

Stephen by August 1989 was 22. He was born in 1966. That means his 23th birthday was later in 1989.

Stephen was Valentine’s 2nd in command by August 1989

I am very bad at math but I think that means he was 18 when he graduated.

And it must have been true, because even though she still had one more year at the Academy, here she was, spending her summer vacation on an official mission with Stephen Herondale. Stephen was one of the greatest fighters of his generation, and now—owing to Lucian Graymark’s unfortunate werewolf situation—Valentine’s most trusted deputy.

Céline has one more year before graduating. That means she graduated at the Academy by May 1990

Stephen took Luke’s place after Luke turned werewolf

He’d also gotten married.

She tried not to think about that.

Notice how here Stephen already took Luke’s position and he is still married to Amatis, when in City of Ashes and City of Glass, it was implied that Stephen had to divorce Amatis and marry Céline in order to take the position.

“Me and Céline?” she heard Stephen say.

Feeling slightly ridiculous, Céline withdrew her stele and

drew a careful rune on the door.Their amplified voices came through loud and clear.

Stephen laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“It sounded like a pretty good kiss...”

“I was under the influence!”

“Still. She’s pretty, don’t you think?”

There was an excruciating pause. “I don’t know, I never really thought about it.”

“You do realize that marriage doesn’t mean you’re never allowed to look at another woman, right?”

“It’s not that,” Stephen said. “It’s ...”

“The way she follows you around like a drooling puppy?”

“That doesn’t help,” Stephen acknowledged. “She’s just such a child. Like, no matter how old she gets, she’s always going to need someone else telling her what to do.”

[1. Robeeeert. 2. They are ones to speak! Oh my god guys, what are you even saying]

That’s a lot of opinion on a girl you “did not know’ Stephen! Just saying.

I really wanted to figure out the timeline of the Stephen/Céline relationship. We know from City of Glass that Céline died being 8 months pregnant with Jace… at the same day Stephen died or one after. I am very aware Céline’s death was a murder misguided as suicide, but she supposedly commited suicide after finding out Stephen was dead, so the date needed to match so Valentine could use that cover. That was either the same day or the day before Jace was “born” (removed from Céline’s body)

So, if she died in mid-late January 1991 being 8 months pregnant, that means she got pregnant in… May 1990? That means Stephen and Céline got married before she graduated at the Academy. That sounds weird, and kinda messy because it makes it harder to try to make guesses on marriage dates and how they overlap with the characters graduating. This will be for another post, too.

That's Stephen Herondale! Half of his story is debunked-denied/ retconned at some point! There are multiple factors I deliberately left off because I plan to write separate posts about, when relating with info about other Circle members.

I will leave to you the part of conjuring opinions. (Please? because damn) I honestly don't see why is anyone interested in his character with Robert being right there, and this is an actual objective opinion I developed while writing this and crossing their characterization. I've actually seen more people sympathetic for him than for Robert, which I find disturbing (why be a good character when your last name is enough)

Robeeeeert. Whaat. C’mooon.

I just love figuring this stuff out, and since we’re already in the deep end and love it here, I’ve made a timeline based on all the information you’ve provided here and added my own probing to it with sources also. 😉

(Click for bigger picture)

So as we can see, there’s several inconsistencies to the timeline and not just ones resulting from retconning Stephen’s character but also because of what Jocelyn and Luke have both told about their past breaks the continuity more. For example, according to different writings Luke gets bitten and Changed both before and after Jocelyn gets pregnant with Jonathan. Their telling of the events are also riddled with inconsistencies which, I get, could be attributed to each character’s own memory and perspective. Yet they never were since the inconsistencies in the timeline aren’t addressed.

I’ll say the following in context of what I think about Clare’s writing biases and based on the information you’ve gathered here and my own researching: Stephen Herondale is a one big mess of a character. I’ve tried to gather my thoughts on his character, compromise between what I can see and how my interpretation of these observations might be skewed due to pre-existing attitudes I have for Clare’s writing. I’d really like to say that I think Stephen is multifaceted, that he truly wanders in the gray areas of being a bigot and a jerk but also having some genuinely good qualities also.

But here my own bias kicks in and I can’t. Not completely.

I’ve said before that Jocelyn in the narrative of The Mortal Instruments is practically stripped from her agency when it comes to Valentine, and though she married him, she couldn’t be held accountable for being in the Circle because of the excuses the narrative kept throwing around. I revisited the part in The Last Stand of the New York Institute where Jocelyn goes to beg Magnus’ help, and Tessa and Magnus both are very hard on her for her past in the Circle. Magnus at first refuses to help her.

But it feels contrived. You can see that Tessa is still one of the ultimate favorites of Clare. Everything Tessa says to Jocelyn is true, and I do think that, but simultaneously it’s agonizing how much the writing props Tessa up on Jocelyn’s expense because Jocelyn fits the part perfectly. Tessa is also so kind, merciful, just, mighty warrior, amazing with children, gains baby Clary’s trust easily, agrees to help Jocelyn etc. I also do get that it’s probably because I still dislike Tessa greatly. :’)

I have similar reluctance with Stephen’s character. Clare says Stephen was a jerk and a bigot, and Tessa is written acknowledging readily that Stephen would’ve killed her and denied any kinship with her. But I can’t ignore the inherent Herondale bias Clare sows into all of her work, which is the reason to my disinclination to give more credit to Stephen’s character and grayness. The writing rails against Stephen just enough that Clare can still maintain that she doesn’t defend him (and she ultimately doesn’t, I know), but at the same time her writing gives Stephen as a member of the Circle more slack than others.

The Last Stand of the New York Institute presents the other members of the Circle as they are, but Magnus doesn’t fail to admire Stephen Herondale, his good looks, his hesitancy, the PAIN IN HIS EEEEEYES. Clare said Stephen found himself in a situation he couldn’t back away from. Valentine would’ve found and killed him and his family if he had tried and so on. Stephen was basically stuck. He tells Magnus he can’t back away now that he’s sacrificed so much (which we learn is evidently his mundane clothes and Sex Pistols poster :’D).

Stephen’s letter to Jace is like another attempt at showing that even this Herondale, the bigot and jerk, is not rotten to the core. On the other hand, I am glad that none of the Circle members were mindlessly bad just because they loved Valentine. I think this partly comes down to the fact that I don’t trust Clare when it comes to Herondales. She has a soft spot for them and it shows time and time again.

Partly it comes down to how weak of a villain Valentine was. Everything Clare bases Stephens’s decisions on—killing innocent Downworlders (narrative exempts Luke for not knowing they hadn’t really broken any laws), continuing being Valentine’s lieutenant and member of the Circle and such—is ultimately the threat of Valentine’s revenge and punishment. Death.

Clare says Valentine is a master manipulator, yet spends three books in TMI telling all the things about Valentine and having no one challenge his half-baked ideas that fall down like a card house if poked at. Valentine is empty, poses no true threat, fails as a villain and thus fails me to see Stephen’s plight as credible. Clare presents things in her stories like THIS IS THE ONLY WAY and fails to justify them credibly. When questioned, cue the same old spiel about how dangerous and powerful Valentine is.

I don’t buy Valentine as an antagonist or a villain, so I don’t also by any influence he had on the members of the Circle. He does nothing to show how he manipulated them, everything is just told. And it sucks because I agree that the innermost Circle all had reasons that made them susceptible to Valentine’s manipulations. It’s the execution again that sucks.

Once again this is a cumulative issue for me, skewed by my own perspective no doubt. But Clare can’t write a credible villain that all of this heavily leans on or keep her timeline straight because suddenly Stephen needed more page time. She can’t keep her characters or story straight, evident especially how Céline is treated as character by others and Clare as the author. Her age? When? Who knows? Stephen at least doesn’t!

I did find it interesting that Robert and Stephen share similarities as persons. Their remorse, feelings of cowardice, and self-hatred projected towards their sons. Their feelings about the Circle, in the end, are similar too, though the ways they end up repenting are different.

#Robert Lightwood #Stephen Herondale #Jocelyn Fray #Valentine Morgenstern #Céline Herondale #Series discussion #Reply

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