#if it doesn’t happen in twp then what’s the point | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thomaslightwood · 1 year

Note

I honestly believe people are allowed to express their dislike for any piece of media they consume, be it books, movies or shows (as long as they aren’t toxic and hateful about it, to the point where you question why they remain in the fandom). Now, regards to CC and TSC specifically, I find that majority of the fandom who dislike certain aspects of her books, don’t actively try to argue and be rude to those who love them. I will absolutely condemn anyone who does so.

And I have to say, the recent release of CHOT is a perfect example of how fandom can be divided. I honestly have nothing against people who enjoy EVERY aspect of CC’s work, but even they can be overbearing sometimes. For example, I find it laughable that some of them imply that the arguments we make are because we “can’t cope” with CHOT not ending “the way we wanted.” Like, no, we know CC is within her rights to end her trilogy however she sees fit, without giving a second thought to people’s theories and expectations. But that doesn’t absolve her of critical reviews when she herself said people will have strong opinions about the book, and not everyone is going to be fully satisfied with how the trilogy ends.

And there are three main things I disliked about the book:

(1) As much as I enjoy love triangles and adore Herongraystairs, I’m quiet wary of them as well, especially one that was executed like MatthewxCordeliaxJames. This fiasco might’ve been focal to the overall plot, but it was dragged out to the point where the series was reduced to solving messy relationships, instead of focussing on the fantasy plot at hand. The “dragging out” aspect of it would’ve made sense if James learned about the bracelet later, rather than sooner. However, majority of the book left him contemplating over whether of not he should tell Cordelia, to the point where I was expecting an understandable reason as to why he didn’t. But lo’ and behold, it was only because he didn’t want her to “pity” him *sigh.*

(2) I had reservations about Kit’s death, and not because I didn’t want him to die. To counter argue hardcore fans claiming this is the only argument we make, I want to go even further by saying, ok Kit died, yes we are told all his friends and family mourned him. But the emphasis here is on the word TOLD. There was a lot of telling, but not enough showing. As much as it would’ve been heartbreaking and unbearable to read his funeral, as well as a more detailed account of Cecily, Gabriel and Henry’s reactions to his death - it would’ve made for better storytelling. For example, I couldn’t imagine Queen of Air and Darkness being written without portraying how the Blackthorns mourned Livvy’s death - which was more beautifully executed by CC in my opinion.

(3) A more minor reservation I suppose, was the anticlimactic-feel of Belial. I mean, (1) Mortman (a mundane), wanted to create an army of automatons to take over England and rape Tessa to have extraordinary offspring. (2) Sebastian (half shadowhunter; half demon), succeeded in creating endarkened shadowhunters, and wrecked havoc during the dark war. But you’re telling me Belial (a literal prince of hell)‘s main motive was to be coronated in Westminster abbey? Are you frickin’ kidding me?

Fingers-crossed for a more satisfactory storytelling and ending in TWP, I suppose.

Anon, you're much more humble and respectful than I will be right now.

I would say it's okay to enjoy piece of media that is trash. I have books that I love that are absolutely trash and I can admit that - I still love them. If you just want to consume the media without analysing it, that's fine.

But it's ridiculously and childish to say or imply people saying "bad" stuff about COT is because we didn't like what happened. We are using critical thinking skills to consume media and it's so tiring to be called a hater because you use them when you consuming media. The anti-intellectualism is real.

So, now:

1) Overall, I agree with you! I hate love triangles but since it was about characters I didn't particularly care about, I don't have strong opinion on it. But it definitely influenced the structure of the book in very bad way, to the point as you said, it was reduced to solving messy relationships. The whole deal with James not telling Cordelia about the bracelet was ridiculous and pointless - needn't to wait so freaking long for literally no valid reason at all!

2) I definitely didn't want Kit to die... But even if we look from objective point of view, his death was executed poorly and served no purpose to the plot. It was to shock and upset the reader. He died just for the sake of someone dying. It was similar thing with Raphael, with Jordan, with Barbara, with George. Someone just had to die. And of course, it's absurd a protagonist to die and CC very hard tries not to play into the 'burry your gays' trope, so this leaves her with limited secondary characters to kill off.

I don't even want to talk about everyone's reaction to Kit's death, it all was a parody.

3) You may have a point, anon... I haven't thought much about it, I was too pissed about other things. I believe Belial's goal was to take over this dimension too... Or at least to rule London? Yeah, that's actually... kind of silly compared to other antagonist we have had? In the other three series the villians had some sort of stronger motives, that came from trauma and turst for revenge... But Belial was simply power hungry. I guess that's one of the problems having a Prince of Hell as you antagonist - he's usually inhearantly evil and when you're asking why he's doing whatever he's doing: "he's just evil". You don't have real answers why he's corrupt or power hungry - he just is.

I think it works only to have it as a side antagonist - like in TMI with Magnus' father (which name I don't remember, sorry). There it was ok because it wasn't the main source of problems.

At this point I feel like I can talk with hours about the issues this book had... The more I sit with it, the more I realize how unsatisfying it was.

#cot spoilers #chain of thorns spoilers #anon #asks #ask #tlh #tsc

13 notes · View notes

plutoswrath · 3 years

Note

there aren’t a lot of posts going in depth about chart patterns except stelliums (from my knowledge) hope it’s alright if i ask you about YODS i have 3. thank you for taking the time to respond :)💗

The Yod:

✭ Consits of two planets in a Sextile, while both planets of the Sextile are in an Inconjunction to one (or possibly two) planet(s) -> this is called the apex planet

✭ Keep in mind that this is considered a minor aspect pattern, so keep the orbits pretty close, for the Sextile as well

✭ The aspect is known as the "finger of God/fate" and it's because the apex planet the finger is pointing to is an are that is fairly unnoticed or needs more recognition and awareness by the individual, almost like saying "Hey! That area here in your life is very special, pay attention to it, there is a huge lesson waiting to be realized by you!"

✭ Therefore the energy of the Yod is represented by Pluto (sudden and profound realization and transformation)

✭ To get into the meaning of the Yod, we have to look into the aspects involved here: the twp planets inconjunct the apex planet can make this kind of a gray area in the individuals life, meaning that it needs lot's of adjustment and creative work to deal with the disagreement that is created between the three planets here

✭ Thus the apex planet, it's meaning and influence on the individuals life is often unrealized by either missed timing, unawareness, self sabotage, etc.

✭ The Inconjunction is represented by Virgo energy, meaning that the awareness that is brought to the apex planet is done by high awareness, reconstruction and searching for alternative methods of how to work with a problem and find a solution.

✭ The apex planet and it's 'base/Leg' (meaning the two planets forming the sextile) are activated by transits, progressions, eclipses, etc. -> here we get to the sudden changes that will happen in ones life and that can be anything: new people, relationships/friendships, new conditions and circumstances in your life , new situations, etc.

✭ Here we get to the part the Yod is known for: sudden changes that will force you to be highly aware of what is happening with you in your life/in your environment and how it influeces you

✭ With that being said, the apex planet is not only to be looked at when it's activated: the activation of the planets of the yods are only here to further push awareness as it brings change the true lesson here is to look at the apex planet and reinvent it

✭ What is meant be 'reinvention'? As I've mentioned before, the Inconjunction is an aspect formed by two planets that have absolutely nothing in common. As the apex planet is very much pressured here, it requires searching for new ways to make meaning out of the apex planet, so initiatives, and to succesfully integrate the area it represents in your life -> usually, the task here is to look at the archetype of the planet involved and to consider the alternative ways of how to live the energy out/use it, as the new ways of interpretation will grand the individual more flexibility and adaptability in the area of the apex planet in their life -> it's important to work with the apex planet continuously

✭ The apex planet basically has to transform it's meaning to the individual and thus the effect of the apex planet will differ from that point on and be views in a completely new light

✭ This actually reinforced the importance of the Yod's 'mission' and how it's tight to ones spiritual journey and believes, because the individual will most likely realize the significane of the apex planet and how lot of events in their life have pointed to the fateful turn of outer events and inner, personal changes

✭ The mission looks different for everyone of course, but generally it says that when outer planets are involved, it's more about your evnironment and your place in it and with inner planets it effect more directly your psyche and personal state of being

✭ also: it's not only important to look at your the planets, signs and houses involved, but also the houses rulers for a more in depth insight of where the Yod will have an influence on you and what areas in your life are involved

✭ The Yod pattern is considered very powerful, because it can make someone aware of their 'calling', but this calling doesn't have to be quintessentially good, keep that in mind.

#replies #cactusion #yod #yod aspect pattern #minor aspect pattern #aspects patterns #astrology #zodiac #astrology notes #astro notes #plutoswrath #own #minor aspect patterns #aspects #yod aspect

245 notes · View notes

khaleesiofalicante · 3 years

Note

hi Dani. just read LABF and wow what a wild angsty ride.

I might need a few days to recover from this. Magnus and Rafael needs to be protected at all costs pls.

I just have one question. and I don’t mean to criticise or anything I swear but

How did Alec and tmi gang not do anything after what those bitches said? like this is ‘I will change the law if it doesn’t help Magnus’, this is ‘He loved one man so much he changed the world for him’ Lightwood. we’re talking about Jace Wayland, Izzie Lightwood, Clarissa Fairchild, Simon Lovelace “we have went to hell once for you, we’re doing it again AND DO IT A THIRD TIME IF WE HAVE TO’ FOR MAGNUS BANE

acc to the timeline, the incident happened months before the accords signing right? how did nobody every punish the ones who started the rumours or like any kind of action against them? it just doesn’t sit right with me.

I get that it might’ve been needed for the story to work out. so that Rafael can be the future leader and Anjali’s scrne and what not and I love all your writing and everything but this one incident just didn’t sit right with me. i understand that prejudice isn’t smth that can be solved in a day and that shadow world isn’t perfect now just because Alec is consul but I’m really sorry but I refuse to believe that Alec and the TMI gang didn’t do anything. not just tmi but TDA and TWP too. Magnus and saved them a 100 times over and then sone. Alec was 25 smth when he became consul. These guys are probably in mid-30’s now. THEY ARE THE CLAVE

I’m sorry Dani this isn’t a rant against you I swear. just against the shadowhunters and this particular incident

Hi!

Your question/comment is ABSOLUTELY valid.

See, when it comes to the decision making of fictional characters - it's all subjective. It very much depends on how you see the characters and how they act and behave in your head.

So, you thinking 'why didn't they do anything' is just as valid as me thinking 'they are not going to do anything rash about this right now'.

You've justified your perspective so allow me do the same.

For starters, tmi gang is a little different in lbaf - not in a way that changes their core personality or who they are. But a lot of their decision making has to be influenced by their current jobs, the fact that their parents and everything going on the shadow world (factor that can very much influence what you do and how you react in a situation like what happened in chapter 5)

There are multiple reasons from my end.

1. The age has a lot to do with it. In all the chapters, you notice the LBAF gang just acting on instinct (Selena breaking someone's nose and Max threatening to portal people to hell). It's the same as TMI gang when they were young. But in the LBAF, they react differently because they are older - because when you are older you don't have the luxury of being rash and acting on instinct when things are serious - because adults are held more accountable than kids. We notice this "responsibility" of adulthood in Rafael as well. His reaction to what happened to Max in chapter 2 and what happened in chapter 5 are very different - and I think that's something that happens when you grow up. You don't become more passive, but you become a little bit more sensible. Because you understand that actions - ALL actions - have consequences.

2. Another contributor is the fact that this kind of thing is extremely normalised in the shadow world. No one - including Magnus and the tmi gang - found it to be a crime either. They were angry of course, but until Rafael points it out, they don't realise what happened - or what has been happening for centuries - is a crime and should be illegal. I think this has a lot to do with the normalisation of hate speech towards downworlders - as well as general lack of understanding of verbal harassment. Like how words like 'bloodsucker' is SO normal for shadowhunters and they don't realise it's a slur. A lot of such issues are normalised in the shadow world I feel. For eg: None of them questioned the fact that they didn't law child protection laws until David turned up. This doesn't mean Alec - and his friends - are ignorant. It means these issues have never been prioritised in their world so it didn't even cross their minds. Which is a common problem in our world too. So many refuse to see hate speech - or emotional harm - as actual forms of violence. So, one of the reasons no one did anything could be that this behaviour is normalised and they didn't realise there is something they needed to be addressed on a larger scale.

Note: but if you notice, it's getting better. The first part of LBAF is where they are learning. Alec and his council might have been in power for a decade, but they are still learning. And I would say they are doing an excellent job at that.

3. Other than these rational justifications, I have a personal headcanon that they didn't do anything because Magnus didn't want them too. Even in the actual story, during the accords, Magnus avoids the cohort instead of standing up to them. There is nothing wrong with it. His way of standing up to them is avoiding them and ignoring their presence, which is valid. He priotizes his dignity and mental health, which is how he want to fight instead of making a scene. When we are trying to help someone (like tmi gang wanting to help magnus here) it's very important that we do what the victim wants and not what we think is right for the victim. So, if Magnus wants to let it be, distance himself ('I need space' as he mentioned) and then those wishes must be respected. And I think the tmi gang are in a position to understand and empathise with it.

And finally and most importantly - just because they didn't "fight" back doesn't mean they didn't fight this problem. There is more than one way to tackle this issue. And they all did in the ways they could.

Even though it is not mentioned in the fic, in the months during which Rafael was in Argentina, all of them were there for Magnus emotionally. Every time someone brought it up, they shut that shit down. And most importantly, they talked to their kids about it. They talked to their kids about rumours and being responsible and being safe. They talked to their kids about how to handle these situations. That's the difference between the tmi gang is in tmi and lbaf. Their passion and anger and love is all still there. But the way they process and express these emotions and handle these difficult situations has changed - or that's how I feel.

But like I said, your perception is not wrong. It's just different from how I see these characters in this situation. Thank you for sharing this with me. I completely understand your frustration since our instinct is to fight and defend Magnus always at any cost :)

#hope this made sense x #lbaf

17 notes · View notes

thechangeling · 3 years

Note

I was reading your co-signing the narrative post- great post btw- and your thoughts on Kit Lightwood helped me figure out exactly what bothers me about the way other characters talk about and treat him.

So, there’s this kind of this running “joke” in TLH that Christopher’s interests are boring, that everyone else puts up with it him as though it’s this big nuisance, that everyone zones out hearing him talk… and on and on and on.*** And then there’s this scene where Grace is genuinely interested or at least not bringing him down about his self-expression and the things that bring him joy, and that’s romanticized as special when it’s really kind of the bare fuckin minimum. Like, I’m not saying James/Matthew/Thomas had to immerse themselves completely in every sciency detail but the constant “jokes” implying that Christopher’s work is boring or incomprehensible or not worth their time is just so tiring. There’s always an undercurrent of “Christopher’s just playing around uselessly” (which is not true and even when he’s having fun with his work then it’s still automatically WORTHY and VALUABLE because it makes him happy!) Not to mention this recurring problem directly contradicts the value that Christopher’s work has (beyond its inherent value) when he sends it into the world to literally save lives: the poison antidote, the fire messages that will probably come about in CoT.

And the thing is, the merry thieves’ disinterest is directly meant to foil grace’s interest in order to lend the Grace/Kit relationship a certain significance, as CC assigns to it. I’m not saying shared excitement over an interest/hobby/career/field/etc isn’t sweet platonically or romantically. I just really dislike how the idea CC is using is “no one else can bear to tolerate Kit’s ‘quirks’ but Grace, and that is Endearing, and so they are Soulmates (TM)” rather than the much healthier and positive idea that “Kit does cool sciencey stuff which his family and friends generally don’t share as strong a passion for but still don’t huff about it like it’s somehow a chore or a burden on them, and then Grace comes along and she does happen to share a similar passion and that’s the beginning of their ties to one another.” That second reasoning is what could make their friendship really refreshing; we don’t need ableism poorly twined into romance to enjoy that relationship.

I haven’t read TDA in a while but I’m thinking we could also find touches of this with Ty partly because so much of when we see him is from Kit’s POV? Not that Kit means harm or thinks himself heroic but CC on the other hand is a repeat offender in “abled/white/straight/cis character is ultimately and completely responsible for the salvation of disabled/POC/queer character in this aspect.” And I’m kind of half dreading the wicked powers for that reason among others …

I apologize if all this seems obvious or rambly. I do sometimes have trouble articulating things exactly but when I read your post i had a lightbulb moment and I wanted to note it down.

Have a great day!

***Side Note: this is why I really enjoy fan-created content that explores Christopher’s relationships with people (even people he didn’t interact with on-page in the canon) without that annoying and problematic aspect built into the framework of the relationship.

^^^^^^^^^THIS ALL OF THIS!!!!!!

Full disclosure this is gonna be kind of long sorry. But you have stumbled across my favourite topic to rant about. Allistic saviorism. Basically the name is pretty self explanatory. It's when an allistic person fictional or otherwise has the desire to or actively attempts to essentially "save" the autistic person from the horrors of the world or their life, or even themselves because they think that the autistic person isn't strong or capable enough to fix/handle it on their own. All of this is usually done for very self serving reasons. Part of this is also allistic people being praised as heroes for being nice to autistic people or asking them out, or loving them.

I don't neccesarily think that kitty is an allistic savior ship on it's own. I think that there are definitely peices of those beliefs scattered throughout the books and it might get worse in TWP. That's honestly something that I'm worried about too tbh. But honestly I think that the fandom made it a billion times worse.

This mainly allistic fandom wanted to romanticize the idea of Kit taking care of Ty and shouldering the burden of his "unpredictability." Kit is the only one who can get through to Ty. The only one who understands the mystery that is Ty 🙄. Some of this is canon too. For example, Ty can look Kit in the eye, he lets him touch him. He doesn't wear the headphones when Kit's around right? And Kit was able to calm him down during his meltdown.

And while some of this is really cute from a romantic perspective, it's also kinda problematic because it reeks of allistic saviorism. It promotes the idea that Kit is like Ty's "cure." And that's just impossible.

And honestly I know I've contributed to this in some ways. Because if I'm being perfectly honest with you, there's a part of me that enjoys that. The romantization of autism.

The idea of being taken care of.

The idea that someone could love an autistic person and see them as "beautiful" and "extraordinary" and all the things Kit calls Ty, was incredibly moving and appealing to me as a kid. It still is. Because I grew up on stories of charity cases and allistic saviorism making headlines with prom dates. I was super secretive about it, but I was always a romantic growing up. But I thought that it was impossible for me to have a real love story because people like me don't get that. (Not to get all sob story on you sorry. I overshare. It's an autistic thing.)

And there are some really compelling things about kitty that really do work. And I'm not trying to suggest that Kit learning to help Ty with the ...shall we say more colourful traits of his disability is a bad thing always. It's not. But I think the issue is with Ty's lack of pov and Ty's lack of a narrative in the books. It makes him seem like less of a completely developed character and more like, "Kit's" you know?

And because we don't have Ty's pov we don't really get what makes Kit have this sort of calming effect on him or why it's different. And more importantly we don't get why Ty's letting him in, we only get Kit pushing past his boundries. The entire thing becomes about Kit essentially and that's at the root of all allistic saviorism.

Also like you mentioned before, Kit is seen as special to a certain extent because he can handle Ty. That's not neccesarily something the character believes obviously, but again with CC co-signing the damn narrative with the way she makes the impact Kit has on Ty such a big deal in everyone's eyes and in QOAAD she really emphasizes the drain Ty's necromancy plan is taking on Kit, suddenly Ty's grief becomes all about Kit and with no pov from Ty, it's more allistic savior bs.

Honestly most of this isnt actually THAT bad it's just when you throw it all together and look at the ugly history and let's be honest present, of autistic people being silenced and spoken over by our caregivers and loved ones and we are treated like burdens on them, and how those people are praised for loving us, it kinda looks bad. But the fandom definitely made it worse.

I always get criticized for criticizing kitty by allistic people with, " well if you think they're so toxic then why do you even ship them?" Which is a piss poor take lacking in any nuance. An autistic person has the right to critique a dynamic involving an autistic character. More to the point, you can love something and be critical of it. I swear when this fandom finally figures that one out... we could accomplish so much.

I'm really hoping this is making sense it's like 2 in the morning. As for Grace and Christopher's dynamic I agree with you. I basically have nothing to add. Bare minimum. Should not be idolized. The way the others treat him should not just be brushed off as no big deal. It's ableism.

Basically it's just a bunch of classic mistakes that come from a neurotypical abled writer writing nd characters. Some mistakes are more damning then others. But it does make me scared for TWP.

I can only hope.

#kit x ty #christopher lightwood #ty blackthorn #tsc #tlh #tda #twp #the last hours #the dark artifices #the wicked powers #actuallyautistic #allistic saviorism #asks

36 notes · View notes

the-bee-graveyard · 3 years

Note

I can't believe I just thought of this but, you know The Princess Bride right? The movie? I'm assuming you do because it's iconic.

But basically just imagine Kit saying "as you wish" to Ty in TWP to say I love you like Wesley does in the movie.

You know what if this doesn’t happen what the fuck is the point of TWP

#ty blackthorn #kit herondale #kit x ty #asks #the 🧚fae🧚 tag

16 notes · View notes

ti-bae-rius · 3 years

Note

I am vibing with what you said about Anush and Ty!

I know a lot of people are like “KITTY ANGST” because of the three year long separation but I honestly think it was good for them? I’m not a fan of Kit not saying goodbye and not having an honest conversation about his decision to leave- that wasn’t fair to Ty- but I’m really glad that A) Kit is getting the chance to have people to care about who can offer him a safe space and a fresh start and B) that Ty gets his dream of going to the Scholomance, and also a chance to grow and find himself outside of being perceived as a “twinless twin,” as you say, above all else. I think it’s important that both of them explore friendship and romantic interests outside of one another and outside of the constant intensity and high-energy stress of the time that passed in TDA.

I think sometimes we forget that kit and ty don’t know that TWP is going to happen, they don’t know that they’re going to be thrown together three-ish years after their separation 😂 Besides maybe hoping vaguely for a chance to be friends again at some point when they’re grown and when their wounds aren’t so fresh, it doesn’t make sense that they would just sit around pining indefinitely in stasis. They’re going to keep growing and thriving and focusing on their present.

I have nothing to say except YES all of this! Love it!

11 notes · View notes

darcyolsson · 4 years

Note

please, do tell us why matthew will/won't die

thank u, anon, for endorsing me

enjoy an extremely long meta analysis on what i think will happen to matthew fairchild in chain of iron (+ chain of thorns)

ETA: the new tungle jungle update killed list formatting so all my bullet points are now below each other instead of having sub points but its Fine, i’m FINE, u just have to read over it i guess, let’s get to it

let’s start out with some reasons why matthew is extremely unlikely to die (spoiler warning for chog and tid!!!)

plot protection! matthew is more plot protected than.. literally anyone imo. the storyline of his secret and his romance with cordelia are two reasons he’s very unlikely to die because there’s too much to be resolved. killing him off would mean leaving those plotlines entirely unresolved.

similarly, matthews deep mental health issues funnily enough protect him from dying. cc never kills off characters who are struggling with themselves. (jessamine is the exception to this, more on that later)

same goes for the fact that matthew is bi- lgbt characters generally don’t die* in cc’s writing. she avoids the kill your gays trope like hell which, tbh, good for us???

not as stong of an argument, but it would make tlh too similar to tid- killing off the herondale’s parabatai who’s also interested in the main girl? yeah. i know cassie recently spoke about how she doesn’t really care for comparisons between tlh and tid, but i feel like this would be pushing it.

but then again, there’s a Lot of reasons why matthew might be dead as hell by the end of coi i’m sorry

most of all, book two madness! shit always goes down in the second book. cassie has also hinted at Shit Going Down in coi, and considering a lightwood already died in chog, i wouldnt be surprised if a main dies

“But Victoria Why On Earth Would That Be Matthew” well! because literally everybody else Cannot die:

it won’t be anna, alastair or thomas bc of said avoidance of kill your gays (And they still need to kiss kiss fall in love); grace, lucie, james and cordelia are simply too important to the plot for cc to kill them; and jesse’s... already dead idk what to tell u

i’m aware this leaves out christopher too, but tbh? i wouldn’t be too surprised if he dies. the only thing saving him rn are that he still has to marry grace if we’re following the family tree and that he has to invent fire messages but....... those are attainable goals for a single book imo (unlike matthew sorting out his Stuff) so... Perhaps it’s gonna be kit but thats a whole nother post

yeah i know i also just listed a bunch of reasons why matthew wont die but bear w me

so why matthew? because, plot-wise, there’s advantages to him dying, that other characters’ deaths wouldn’t have:

it would solve the love triangle. as a fairstairs it pains me to say this but it’s fairly straightforward: matthew dies, the gracelet is destroyed, jordelia lives happily ever after. we know jordelia will probably be endgame, so.. yeah.

on that same note: matthew doesn’t have a love interest besides cordelia. we know we won’t be seeing the tlh characters in another series, so everybody that lives has to get their happily ever after, which in cc’s case means being happily married. if i recall correctly, the only main characters that have ever ended up single at the end of their books were tda characters that we know we will see again in twp.

he isn’t on the family tree. we know for a fact that we can’t trust the family tree, but i think it’s unlikely for cc to just... ignore something as big as that.

but vic, wouldn’t a dead person be on the family tree? good question! that leaves us with our third option: matthew dies, but doesn’t die, aka downworlder/disowned matthew

basically, the whole idea is that matthew either becomes a downworlder and loses contact w the gang, or he gets stripped of his runes/disowned for what he did to charlotte

it would be a way for him to distance himself from the shadowhunters without actually dying- so it would create none of the ethical issues that come w dying (such as kill your gays) but it would distance him from the shadowhunters enough to let jordelia do their funky business.

matthew being stripped of his runes would explain why he isn’t on the family tree too, bc we know shadowhunters that were stripped of their runes aren’t allowed to have contact w their family.

i’ve talked about vampire matthew before but basically: there’s some hints at matthew staying young forever in chog, and him dying but becoming immortal instead would basically be pulling a jessamine. he dies, but doesn’t die.

becoming a vampire would also give us the Drama™ of his death scene, mayhaps some dramatic confessions, plus it would give him literal eternity to sort out his alcoholism/underlying issues (though i think that will be sorted out by the end of cot)

this also fixes the lack of love interest: if he’s immortal, that means we will probably see him again (maybe in twp/tec?) (with a hot vampire bf/gf, of course)

the only argument against this is again, that it would be too similar to tid, which we know cassie might be avoiding.

also perhaps that ppl might see it as as a way to execute the kill your gays trope without actually doing it, but then again, she sent haline to wranger island Just Like That so,,.,. she doesn’t seem to have any problems w that :^)

basically, i have no idea what’s gonna happen to matthew. i think downworlder matthew makes a Lot of sense, but at the same time it’s a bit of reach imo. if anything, i think it might make too much sense. (i had theories for tda that made a lot more sense than giant naked angels but We Got That Too, didn’t we!)

knowing cc’s writing, i think Matthew Suffers, But Somehow Lives is probably the route she will take. i just have no idea how it will be executed.

thank you for coming to my ted talk!

tl;dr: matthew’s death would be very convenient for some parts of the plot, but it would create a lot of issues with other parts of it. because of this, i think cc might take some sort of dying-but-not-really middle route.

* generally, because there’s a few exceptions: michael is bi but started out dead, which doesn’t count as killing people off imo. the faerie characters that died could be considered lgbt because technically all faeries are bi/pan, but none of the faeries that died ever had a same-sex romance. the aro/ace character that died in tmi is the only one i can think of, but he wasn’t explicitly aro-ace on page until the novellas that followed after tmi. matthew is very explicitly bisexual and has always been very explicitly bisexual.

#this got long dfkgdhj sorry i got carried away #the last hours #matthew fairchild #chain of iron theories #cassandra clare #the shadowhunter chronicles #tlh theories #tsc meta #op #tlh #tsc #lit #long post \#anonymous #answered asks

199 notes · View notes

immortal-enemies · 3 years

Note

Hi!! So I want to say I totally respect all your opinions but I had just wanted to add my two cents. Y’know, just another perspective, cause your discussions gave me interesting stuff to think about!! Hope y’all are having a good day!!

First, about Livvy- I don’t think I completely agree that she couldn’t stand on her own as a character. I do see where you’re coming from, though.

I think one of the underlying facets of her that was explored in TDA was a subtle struggle with individuality. Her brother and family means a lot to her, and for the Blackthorns especially their family was a lifeboat. Traumatized kids left orphaned and abandoned by the adults of their world logically come to depend on each other and influence one another in a perhaps more intense way than kids in normal situations do.

For example, let’s take James and Lucie at the start of TLH (not twins but are quite close in age). they’ve been able to “be their own person” in the way that we define that condition, because they exist in a time of unusual peace and freedom/security to leave one another. They can explore themselves outside of their immediate family and still have the generally guaranteed security of their loved ones.

Livvy and Ty, meanwhile, have from their childhood known separation and death. The way that their bond manifests is not just because of the stripped-down facts that they are twins and that they understand each other better.

Now, in TDA the focus was on Emma, Julian, Cristina, Mark more than it was on Livvy and Ty. That and the sheer size of the cast (a situation which has undeniably impacted a lot of CC’s writing, especially in TLH and TDA) means that we didn’t get to spend as much time with her alone. We don’t have a Livvy POV except in a short story where she’s a ghost, and for all those who will accurately say that POV is not the only way to get to deeply know a character, we just didn’t get much out of her alone except in Thule. So it’s easy to understand why she might have just been seen as disposable. And I do wish she had been developed more.

But don’t forget that Livvy was just as complex as any character- firstly because of her inherent worth as a human being, but also because:

she wanted to run an Institute one day (it doesn’t really matter that this isn’t a concrete personality trait, it was an important dream of hers that points to other aspects of her life). she wanted the bond of parabatai. she was a romantic at heart and she was scheming about Julian’s love life and talking about hot celebrities from the beginning. She loved love and weddings and celebration. She was curious about and wanted to include Kit as much as Ty was. She wanted to know what a kiss felt like. She smelled like orange blossoms. After she died and was brought back we see her reflect on the strange stasis she exists in and we see the danger of that condition.

The point is, from the exterior it’s easy to say that she revolves completely around Ty but... a lot of factors impact that perception. As to her death being considered more for its impact on the other characters: well, no one looked at the situation and thought primarily, “this sucks because we’re going to be so sad.” They grieved for her loss and all the things she would never get to see or do because they cared about her as a person, because of her and not because of anyone else. Livia’s Watch wasn’t established for Julian to feel sorry for himself or to make Ty feel better- grief doesn’t work that way. It was to try and honor Livvy, to put her name and character and associated feelings on something larger in order to make up a little for what she lost.

One last thing- are we forgetting Thule Livvy :(

I understand “it’s not the same Livvy.” Let’s worry less about the technicalities of how much their souls match up and think more about the actual character. The whole alternate universe construction is meant to evoke one main idea: POTENTIAL. what could have happened. It asks, what if. Now the irony is that Livvy died in the main world and in Thule she was the only true and known survivor. Outside of this, though, didn’t Livvy have the capacity to fall in love? To grieve? To stand alone as a character and save lives, protect others, make awful decisions as the leader of a weakened people? Didn’t she become even more of a key player by the time Julian and Emma left?

Just stuff to think about! Obviously no one has to agree with me lol

Hiiiii!!! Don't worry! You're good!!

I always viewed Dru as the Blackthorn who was fighting to stand out 🤔

Yes! James and Lucie are very sperate characters! But, that's because they, along with Cordelia, are both the main characters in the series. (CC said herself that it was each of their stories)

Livvy, in the other hand, exists purely because of Ty. She's not a main character, she's somewhere between a secondary character and a tertiary character. To me it feels like she existed to make us like her and then she was killed so Ty and Kit could resurrect her, which would go wrong, and that leads into TWP.

CC obviously knew Livvy was going to die from the start. She didn't just write the end of LoS and think "ya know what would be CRAZY lol?" She knew Livvy was going to die. So there wasn't much need to really grow her character into one that could stand on its own. Especially since once she was a ghost, she was tied to Ty and really couldn't develop because she has to be apart of Ty. She's not even really her own character anymore.

Yes, I did take Thule Livvy into consideration. I think she was more so put in there for the same reason all of Thule was; to set up TWP.

Yes, she was important in Thule. I mean, I don't think anyone could honestly say that Thule Shadowhunters would even exist without her.

But the story doesn't take place in Thule. She is Livvy, but she's not Livvy, so I think comparing them to the standard of "can they stand by themselves" is a little unfair.

Jdbdjsjsjs yes! All of these reasons are completely valid!! And thank you for sharing them!!

#ndmsndss 💙🧡❤️#asks #anon #livvy blackthorn

8 notes · View notes

merry-thieves · 4 years

Note

I read your theory about Lucifer. Do you have others? What might be so different/interesting that what we expect? I always hope for "it is someone we already know" but idk if it's possible. How will he (?) tie with TWP?

Thanks for the ask <3

So, finding theories about Lucifer is a bit tricky at this point since we basically know nothing about him but I tried my best.

Cassie said that Lucifer is “different” from other Princes of Hell and that he is “not who or what people think” he is. So, the things that all the other Princes of Hell have in common is that they are all pretty evil, power-hungry and selfish. That could mean that Lucifer doesn’t have those traits or it could mean Lucifer isn’t a Prince of Hell at all. And that is basically what I expect him to be: a Prince of Hell, former Angel now a demon.

(A few days ago I answered this post about Lilith’s key which will play a role now.) What if Lucifer has been on earth the entire time but as a human or some other creature. And what if he doesn’t know that he is the devil because the other Princes of Hell stole his memories and powers and locked them away. (Something clearly happened between them and the other Princes of Hell seem still pretty apprehensive towards Lucifer.) Then Lilith’s key would, in a way, still be the key to Lucifer’s prison.

This way, Lucifer could be someone we know. Without his powers, he wouldn’t emanate this evil aura and no one, not even he, would know about his secret. He could be an old man selling paprikas for all we know.

As for when he’s going to appear, I would say definitely TWP and not TLH. The devil never made an appearance before in Shadowhunter history and I would think that at least one person in London 1903/04 would write it down should it happen. And we don’t know yet what exactly is going to happen in TWP but we do know that Sammael plans an Avenger-style attack on the Nephilim and Lucifer is part of his plans. Also, TWP is supposed to be the end of TSC so it would make sense to involve the devil. The question now is he going to be the big bad guy?

I’m really sorry for this weird theory...

#the shadowhunter chronicles #tsc #ask #theory #lucifer #princes of hell #lilith #the wicked powers #twp #the last hours #tlh #tlbotw spoiler #tlbotw #The Lost Book of the White #sammael

58 notes · View notes

alma-berry · 4 years

Text

The Wicked Powers Theories

I had a few asks about what the wicked powers could actually be… so I came back to the Shadowhunter children’s rhyme and tried to see what I can learn from it.

This theory is a bit complex and has a lot of biblical references and the final conclusion is in the very end... so bear with me!

***

Let’s start with Bronze:

Bronze is not a regular color, in a way that its meaning isn’t obvious like a lot of the other colors do. So I figured its meaning had to have a special part in understanding TWP.

I dug down the regular channels and found rather basic interpretations that didn’t say much. Then I came across a meaning that said it means the judgment of Sins and testing by Fire. I studied each interpretation separately and combined them:

1. The judgment of sins:

Bronze is mentioned quite a lot in the bible, specifically in the last chapter of Jeremiah where there’s an entire paragraph that’s describing bronze paraphernalia from Solomon’s temple, of which every detail was mandated by God himself. If we take this temple as an example, all of the holy objects were made out of gold (which is symbolic of God’s kingship, glory, and holiness), and were kept inside the temple. Everything outside the temple was made out of bronze. Almost like the bronze is a sort of a stepping stone into the place of God, into the divine. The division is clear.

What lies outside of the temple? The altar, on which animals were sacrificed to atone for our sins (go vegan), and the enormous “Brazen Sea” which was a large bronze basin of pure water, to cleanse and purify. So the place where you atone for your sins, where the blood is spilled, as well as the place where you wash them away, is all made from bronze.

It seems as bronze is where God’s judgment deals with sin, and only then can a person enter the temple, and by context - the pure and holy presence of God.

Bronze is also the material of which Moses made The Bronze Serpent, which God told Moses to make so that the people who saw it would be protected from dying from the bites of the "fiery serpents", which God had sent to punish them for speaking against him and Moses. Again, judgment for sins.

You can also say a big motive here is the suffering. Both examples point at the pain one must go through to be redeemed - which is a Christian motive, if not a Jewish one (though I say the animal suffering is not something to be dismissed) - but TSC is based much more on Christianity than on anything else.

2. Tested by fire - this is rather short. Metals such as bronze and gold can withstand fire. Fire means a deep purification. Water washes the surface, but fire cleanses through and through.

***

Now, the phrase said, “Bronze to summon wicked powers”.

This is pretty significant to me. It’s an action, something one must do in order to obtain these powers.

So if bronze is what you must do, does it mean you have to call god’s judgment? Or rather, the angel? Do you have to sacrifice something or someone? Do you have to prove you’re “tested by fire”, or rather, “purified”, in order to obtain these powers?

Secondly, If you must summon them, that must mean they don’t already exist here. There are many assumptions that Kit or Ash are the wicked powers… but that phrasing doesn’t sit well with that theory. And besides, their powers are not wicked, they just are.

Another question is - when you summon those powers, where do they go? Are they contained in an object like the bronze serpent? Do they go to a person? Perhaps the one who summoned them? And if so, does the bearer of the powers even matter? For example, if it’s someone like Ash, who was already used as a vessel for dark powers, who’s blood is unique - does it magnify or change the power?

But this whole thing bothers me in the most basic of ways - it all screams Devine, but if so, why are the powers wicked?

We all know the word summoning has two sides - good and bad. But powers are not so black and white. Powers are just powers, it’s the person who bares them that decides if they’re used to do good or bad.

So maybe the powers are not wicked themselves, but they’re called so because of how they’re obtained. Wicked isn’t necessarily evil, it’s more like immoral. Maybe in order to obtain those “Wicked Powers”, you have to commit something just as wicked, as immoral as their name.

***

“And bronze to summon wicked powers” is the last phrase of the poem. The last option, the last resort.

“Being the final series installment, Cassie has plans for all the characters who are still around to face the greatest threat they've ever faced, and the characters from different generations of the Shadowhunter Chronicles will have to unite and join forces in the biggest battle they'll ever have to take it down, and that something will happen that will change the nature of Shadowhunters and what they mean. She has also stated that "It will bring the Shadowhunter Chronicles to an end. The Shadowhunter world will change forever."

(from TSC wiki)

I’ve always thought it’d be a sort of apocalypse scenario, because of this description. This screams sacrifice for me, and a sacrifice on a much greater scale than what we’ve faced before - which is a personal sacrifice. I think it would have to be a collective decision, something all must pay. And if the Shadowhunters world will change forever, does that mean there will be a shadowhunters world? Will there even be shadowhunters left? Not in a sense of mass death, but of powers? What if the sacrifice, the one that so clearly screams blood, is not life, but their angelic blood?

***

This is so complicated, and while I do have many thoughts about more specific scenarios, I figured I should start with this, and hear what all of you make of it!

#TWP Theories #twp #the wicked powers #kit herondale #Ty Blackthorn #ash morgenstern #dru blackthorn #Livvy Blackthorn #tsc #the shadowhunter chronicles #cassandra clare

249 notes · View notes

ravenclaw-alum · 4 years

Text

The Lost Book of the White

My thoughts on The Lost Book of the White (spoilers ahead for LBOTW and In Dreams Begin), which ended up being longer than I thought:

I love Alec and Magnus’ relationship and being able to see it, because you can see them grow. They don’t just come together and it’s happily ever after, we get to see them actively working to make their relationship work. This is something we see once again in LBOTW and it makes me fall more in love with them as a couple because, despite one being a warlock and the other being a Shadowhunter, they seem more realistic than many other couples in fiction. They show that love takes work and they’re willing to put in the work, and, as someone whose parents have been divorced multiple times, Magnus and Alec are a couple to look up to and learn from, even if they are fictional.

There’s a lot in this book that hints at events that take place in TDA. This was also the case with Red Scrolls of Magic and events that take place in the last half of TMI series. This makes me very excited for Black Volume of the Dead, because I bet we’re going to see some foreshadowing for TWP and that it’ll lay some of the foundation for that series.

Going along with that, Sammael discusses how powerful a group of people working together can be, and I can’t help but wonder if maybe he didn’t play a role in pushing things to the breaking point with the Cohort or the isolation of Alicante. Honestly, following Sammael for power purposes seems like the type of thing Manuel would do.

I am very glad we learned what it was that led to the creation of Shadowhunters 1,000 years ago, despite demons being on Earth before then. I figured we would, considering some things hinted at in QOAAD, though I was not expecting Michael to be involved.

When Alec first gets to Shanghai, he briefly considers the fact that the mundane world may one day overtake the Shadow world. This is something we already kind of see with the Blackthorns and Emma, and I wonder if this is something we’ll see play out with him as Consul and if we’ll see more interaction between the Shadow World and the mundane world.

Multiple times in LBOTW, there’s reference to a giant cosmic chess game between the angels and the princes of hell. While we know the princes have/are planning to get up to stuff, I wonder if the angels are also up to something behind the scenes and if this is something we’ll see play out as the series goes on, Supernatural style.

The fact that the Ke house is older than the institute in Shanghai and how much the Ke family’s legacy is played up (which seems more impressive than the Herondale legacy, though I do love me some Herondales) makes me wonder just how long the Ke family has been fighting demons. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that there were mundanes fighting demons before the creation of Shadowhunters (considering there seem to be weapons that are unique and capable of killing demons beyond seraph blades), and if that’s the case, I like the idea of the Ke family being among those that have been fighting demons since before the time of Shadowhunters.

I was a little disappointed to not see more of Tessa in this book. While the focus is Magnus and Alec, the role of the eldest curses keep growing in importance and besides Magnus, Tessa is the only one we know. I’m hoping she’ll be more involved in Black Volume of the Dead, especially since that book is tied to Belial, who is her dad.

Speaking of Tessa and eldest curses besides Magnus, I’m curious if there are others. They say there can only be nine at most, and we know Sammael doesn’t have one, but are there any others out there besides Tessa and Magnus?

I’m really hoping that either in Black Volume of the Dead or TWP we get to see Sammael’s reaction to Ash, considering Ash’s ties to Lilith. I mean, he was searching for Sebastian because Lilith told him too, but he wouldn’t have known about Ash.

Both In Dreams Begin and a comment in LBOTW about “Tessa’s descendants” have me further convinced that despite what may or may not happen between Lucy and Jesse, the Blackthorns are related to Tessa.

Elias Carstairs helped kill Yanlou. Knowing how difficult that demon was to kill, and considering it sounds like it was Elias and Ke Yiwen who killed Yanlou without mention of any other help, was Elias already an alcoholic then? If so, did he sober up for revenge purposes?

There’s a lot of mention of “the Taxiarch,” which I’m assuming is another way they are referring to Michael, but if not, is this something that may reappear in a future book?

So, black adamas is a thing that can tie warlocks to a realm and its ruler. I feel like this is something that we’ll be seeing again, especially since there’s another Svefnthorn out there. Also, how does the corruption work? Is it exposure over a long period of time, or does it have to be intentional? I’m thinking particularly about Belial and the adamas he is using, despite it burning him, in GOTSM.

Elyaas makes another reappearance. While I doubt it will happen, I kind of want to see him make a temporary alliance with Magnus and Alec in a future book, even if it’s just to protect Max because he refuses to see Max die before he gives into Elyaas’ attempts at temptation we see him doing in GOTSM.

Alec says they’d all go into hell a third time for Magnus. I really hope that’s not foreshadowing. If someone has to go to another hell dimension, let’s keep Magnus and Alec out it. They deserve happiness and peace and an early retirement.

Tian talks about fairies not being bound by the same rules as everyone else. I wonder if that’ll apply to Kit and Ash?

I am greatly looking forward to seeing what side effects Ragnor has from being stabbed by Heibai Wuchang.

I really hope we see Tian again, even if it’s just a cameo in a future book. He was pretty cool and could do a lot to help Alec change how Shadowhunters view everyone else, considering the way Shanghai operates.

There’s a point in the book when Lucifer is brought up and Sammael narrows his eyes and says, “Well. We don’t talk about him.” When he later calls all of the princes together, he says it’s time to talk about Lucifer. I’m very curious to see what Lucifer did to cause this type of reaction and what he’s been up to. Especially considering Cassandra Clare’s comment about how he may not be who, or what, we think he is. It makes me wonder if maybe he isn’t someone we’ve met before. I’m also curious to know if all of this will play out in Black Volume of the Dead, or if, what i find more likely, everything with the princes will fully play out in TWP.

I’m also curious to know if all of the princes will join in with Sammael, particularly Belial who, in GOTSM, seems to enjoy being able to walk around on Earth and give humans the means of their own destruction. He really does seem like the type of prince of hell who would rather watch humanity destroy itself instead of sending in a bunch of demons to do the job.

#lbotw #lbotw spoilers #lost book of the white #alec lightwood #magnus bane #tessa grey #ke family #ragnor fell #sammael #belial #lucifer #in dreams begin #in dreams begin spoilers

46 notes · View notes

apple-bottom-jeansx · 3 years

Note

Okay so I am not done with re-reading TDA, but I did finish Lord of Shadows!

So Magnus mentioned that his dream of blood rivers were through a city with towers of bone. In the Shadowhunter color rhyme, bone is "for those who never grow old" the Silent Brothers. I don't mean if that means anything, but it was something I picked up on.

Also, the Riders of Mannan were constantly described as using bronze as part of their color scheme. And as we know, bronze is to summon Wicked Powers. I don't what this has to do with wicked powers, but there is no such thing as a coincidence in these books.

I’m not quite sure what that means either, but any dreams Magnus or Clary have are always important

The Riders were especially against The First Heir aka Kit so we can guess that will be a major conflict in twp, but I feel like we were all already guessing that. I feel like this is pointing to the faeries being the enemy again, which I’m hoping doesn’t happen because that would make fighting against the Cold Peace pointless. However we know the Thule!Seelie Queen will be in twp. But this will probably be somewhat minor because of the Princes of Hell. I dunno

I’m also pretty sure that Annabel’s red dress is ‘red to call enchantment down’ so maybe that will lead to more clues while you’re reading?

I feel like CC at this point is giving us enough hints to know there’s something big, but is withholding all the information that would allow us to actually learn/guess anything substantial 🤦🏼‍♀️

2 notes · View notes

prongsisabadger · 3 years

Text

TWP Chapter 28

Wolffe and I spoke casually as we made our way towards the bridge. Not a lot had happened since I’d been gone, the Pack had mostly been assigned extractions, rescue missions and patrols among other things. The clone commander didn’t show his feelings on the lack of battlefront action, but then again, I was still his superior and it might have looked like he was complaining to some. He was glad I was back, I could tell that much. Wolffe might have looked like an emotionless steel blast wall, but the man was still a sentient, and sentients interacted with the Force. It was a quiet, tame feeling he allowed himself in the confines of his mind, but he would never allow it to show. Clone Commander Wolffe was many things, emotional was not one of them, even if he did feel things deeply in the privacy of his soul.

Like Obi-Wan, he felt safe because he was strong and reliable and fiercely loyal. But my Master at least allowed himself to show feelings to those he cared for and trusted the most. Wolffe was the kind of person that didn’t open up easily even to his closest friends, regardless of how deeply he felt about things. It was the kind of self control and discipline only extensive training and programming in a Kaminoan facility could grant. I was pretty sure Master Plo and I were the only ones that had an idea of how Wolffe felt about certain things, and it both felt like privilege and like I was intruding on something deeply personal. Those were things the Force told us about him, not things he had volunteered himself, so Master Plo and I had come to the silent agreement that we would not speak about them until he volunteered the information himself. It was both heartwarming and sad to have such a close, intimate look into a person such as him and not be able to share them because at the end of the day it would have been very intrusive.

That is how I knew it hadn’t been the 104th who had gifted me the vibroblade, it had been him. That is how I knew he was annoyed at the celebration the 212th wanted to throw for me. That is how I knew he liked my older armour best, because it didn’t have a wide, loud orange stripe. That is how I knew Art hadn’t been completely dishonest when he told me Wolffe was a little too protective of me.

And now, walking side by side, finally having a moment to ourselves in what seemed like years, I could feel how at ease he was. The Force around him flowed naturally, almost visible in how bright it felt, and yet, to the naked eye, he looked no different. His back straight and his pace leisurely, face relaxed as he spoke of his brothers’ shenanigans. He was so at peace, and for a moment there I didn’t realize that very peace was being reflected within me.

I was so lost in the feeling of the Force around him that I missed the question he asked me.

“Huh? I’m sorry, what was that?”

Wolffe cleared his throat and repeated the question, never taking his eyes off the corridor ahead.

“I was wondering about the new robes, Commander. They suit you.”

I looked down at myself. Right, the new robes. Last time he’d seen me I had been wearing a style that resembled Tusken robes. They had soon proved to be quite inefficient when I’d accidentally caught fire twice.

“Oh, right. I thought that since my armour represents who I fight for, who I fight with; then my robes should tell a story too. Where I came from, where I am, where I’m headed.” I answered truthfully.

“But, Commander, you don’t have the insignia of the Republic on your-” said Wolffe, confused for a second until his mind clicked. I could see the realization in his eyes. “Oh- don’t let anyone know that.” he added seriously, taking me by the arm and guiding me towards the wall for privacy. He looked in every direction before looking me dead in the eyes and saying the next words. “Some could call that treason, Commander.”

I smiled at him and put a hand on his bicep.

“You are not anyone, Wolffe. I trust you. You know I fight in this war because I have to, but I am not a soldier. I fight so that the Dark Side doesn’t win, I fight so that innocents don’t suffer, I fight because I can’t bear to see the Jedi commissioning an army of slaves and do nothing about it. I’m not blind, Wolffe, clones aren’t free, the war has hit you the hardest and until you are free to do your own will, the least I can do is keep you alive. This war cannot last forever.”

Wolffe was not one to show emotion, but I knew stoic when I saw it, and I had the Force. He wanted to disagree with me, he wanted to tell me he was a free man and that he fought because it was the right thing to do, but he knew that was not true. He wanted to tell me he was not a slave, he wanted to tell me that his brothers and him did not need protecting, that they did not need pity or saving, but he knew it wasn’t true.

He wanted to be angry, to contradict me, to defend the system, the very people that had created them, he wanted to say that without the war they would not exist. But existing to fulfil somebody else's purpose, to die for that cause that wasn’t his own, to know his life had no meaning of its own, that was not living. His eyes were conflicted, his soul tormented, his conscience raging because he wanted to fight, but he didn’t know how much of that will was his own.

In the end, all he could do was take a deep breath in to try and calm the storm raging inside of him and say:

“We will not betray your trust, Commander. I will not betray your trust.”

…

I had an entire week off with the Pack before our next deployment, and I spent every single moment of it catching up with the boys. After a disastrous night bar hopping in Coruscant, I promptly decided the Jedi had the right idea when they said alcohol was no good. One hangover was enough to last me a lifetime, thank you very much. I spent the day after napping on a cot while Art worked on my left shoulder blade, and only got up to sip on my water bottle -which Boost, Force bless him, refilled every time I emptied it- and to go to the refresher. At some point during noon, Twitch brough Art and I lunch from the mess hall and stayed to chat before going off to do some reading of his own. It was a very lazy day, and so were the ones that followed. Except for the evenings when Headfirst came to drag my ass to the training facility and made me do my lightsaber drills while he did his own thing. We would wrap up the day with a spar which, to be completely honest, wasn’t always a fair fight. Since I had the advantage of Jedi training, Headfirst had gotten into the habit of playing dirty. We had to agree on a new set of rules when he decided trying to get me angry with misogynistic comments was a perfectly good idea. He had a black eye for the next two days.

Once our week was over, briefings and preparations for our next mission to Khorm started. It was the first mission I would be in command of, Master Plo was being held up in Coruscant my Council duties and would not be coming with us. So the mission was technically in my hands -even if I did have Wolffe and Vero Zapal, our admiral. The situation in Khorm was unknown to us. Like in Orto Plutonia, the republic had lost contact with a clone division stationed there. The entire overview looked, at first glance, like a re-living of Orto Plutonia, since Khorm is also a frozen planet, but something felt terribly off to me. I told Wolffe and Zapal this, and that we would be going in to investigate with the utmost caution. Things never happened the same way twice, and I doubted the universe was going to go easy on me on my first command.

I was going to take every precaution and plan every last second of the mission, and prepare at least one contingency plan. I knew from experience that battles had a knack for throwing plans out the garbage shoot but it paid well to be prepared. Every maneuver, every flight route, every entrance, nook and cranny of the facility was taken into account; and every plan I made, I ran by both Wolffe and Admiral Zapal for their opinions.

It’s safe to say I didn’t really sleep well that week, not because of nightmares or resurfacing memories, but stress and anxiety does have a knack for making sleep restless. I meditated more during that week than I had before any battle I’d faught up until that point. I practiced mindfulness every morning as I woke up and tried my hardest to keep the Force as close to me as I could.

I tried to keep my appearance as neat and put together as I could, and tried to do the same to my quarters, but the amount of holomaps and datapads on my desk were too many to keep in a neat pile. I didn’t want any aspect of my life to be neglected during that time, because neglect leads to darker places and I would not allow myself to be distracted in any way. Lives were at stake.

My friends helped in any way they could when they weren’t busy making their own preparations. Some sat with me during lunch, even when I was too busy reading to talk to them, others forced me to exercise or to take recreation breaks, others simply checked on me at night to make sure I wouldn’t stay up too late reading. It warmed my heart, even when I couldn’t tell them how thankful I was for taking care of me.

I also fell into the habit of performing my lightsaber drills every morning and every night. The funny feeling I had about the mission only grew as our departure date neared and something told me I needed to be ready. In any other situation, I would have considered the possibility that I was being paranoid, but we were at war against a very real enemy. It was only paranoia if they weren’t out to get you, and our enemy was.

It was almost time for lights out when Wolffe walked into the training facility. Only a section of it was lit up, the one that I was still using. I repeated form after form, one, two, ten, forty times until I was satisfied with it. I felt him approach me from the darkness, but I didn’t acknowledge him until he stood a few feet away from me, watching, waiting for me to stop. I didn’t.

“You should turn in for the night, Commander.” He said finally, never shifting his posture. Straight, solid, face and body language betraying nothing as he stood with his hands at his back.

“My forms aren’t as good as they should be, I’m staying for at least another 50 reps” I said, never stopping, my pace never dwindling. “Go to bed, Wolffe.”

He said nothing, but he also didn’t move. Wolffe just stood there, watching me move through the forms once, twice, three times. He wasn’t annoyed, I knew that much. He wasn’t pitying me either, he was simply there to make sure I didn’t work myself to exhaustion. He didn’t even feel resigned, it felt like he knew me well enough that he didn’t expect me to stop when he asked me to. He felt determined, like he knew the only way to get me to listen right then would be waiting for me to be done. There were times to insist and times to wait, he had known me long enough to identify each of those instances and react accordingly.

Wolffe knew I was nervous and doing my very best so that everything went smoothly. He knew the thing that stressed me out the most was the fact that his brothers’ lives, my friends’ lives might be in danger. He knew I would blame myself for each and every loss we suffered, and he knew this was my way of getting ready for that. Because we would lose men, we always did. But up until that point, I had never been the one in charge, I had never been responsible for the cones’ deaths, not really.

So Wolffe stood there, silent and strong and reassuring. Because he knew nothing he said would make me feel any less responsible, because he knew the best thing he could do was to be there for me.

#TWP #clone wars fan fiction #star wars the clone wars #plo koon #obi-wan kenobi #commander wolffe #captain rex #ahsoka tano #padawan!oc

3 notes · View notes

incorrectlasthours · 4 years

Text

#CrackpotTheoryTuesday (Wednesday?): Chain of Iron Edition - Matthew Fairchild

Happy April Fool’s Day, my lovely followers!

I wish this theory was a joke, but it’s not - I’m v worried about our precious Matthew Fairchild in the next book, and I have some theories about his fate that are v sad.

As always, these posts contain spoilers for everything released in the Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare; this post in particular has spoilers for Chain of Gold and Ghosts of the Shadow Market. You have been warned.

Okay, so here’s what we know about Matthew at the end of Chain of Gold:

He’s struggles with alcoholism

He still hasn’t told anyone about what he did to Charlotte and his unborn sibling in GotSM and feels immense guilt for what happened

He cares deeply for Cordelia, and may even believe himself to be in love with her (think about what he said to Magnus at the end of the book)

Now, here’s what’s super sketchy - did anyone else think Matthew’s feelings for Cordelia developed out of nowhere? I mean, Cordelia is very lovable, but I just found it a little jarring and unexpected when it popped up in the middle of the book, until I realized that his most obvious feelings for Cordelia developed after Grace kissed him.

What if Grace is using her power to try to get Cordelia to fall in love with Matthew, and thus leave James open for her to control? It makes sense, especially if Belial needs Tatiana to give him James with the bracelet on and Cordelia (and, by extension, Cortana) out of the way.

What does this mean for Matthew? Y’all know I’m the biggest Lucie and Jesse shipper, so even if Matthew “falls out” of the spell I don’t think he’ll care for Lucie anymore, and that’s totally okay!! I think it’s great for authors to show (especially in YA) that your first love doesn’t have to be your last love, and that you can always grow to love again. I think Matthew needs to work on himself before he can be in a relationship, and I truly hope he can become sober and come clean about his mistakes.

However, it’s Cassie, and she loves to break our hearts.

I had a theory years ago that Matthew Fairchild was actually Malcolm Fade (which is clearly incorrect, as they talked in Chain of Gold), but I still think he could end up either turning into a downworlder of some sort or dying at some point during the series - I really hope not, but honestly at this point none of these characters are guaranteed to survive (no matter what is on the family tree) :(

What do y’all think will happen to Matthew? Is he under a spell and being controlled by Grace, or is the spell just to keep him out of her marriage with Charles? What if even going on with these characters?? Comment on this post or message me your theories, and thanks for reading!!

Check out my other Crackpot Theories!

The Last Hours:

Lucie/Jesse in TLH -> Another necromancy theory (plus OTP-level romance, *insert heart eyes*) -> CONFIRMED (ChOG)

The “Villain Being a Force” in TLH -> THE PLAGUE?!? (This one puts demon pox to shame. Sorry Will!) -> Kind of right? (ChOG)

The Jordelia Marriage!! -> …Kind of right…? (ChOG)

Sona Carstairs -> So it turns out the quote isn’t by her, but there’s still something sketchy about her past!

Lucie’s Power

The Dark Artifices:

Necromancy in QoAaD -> Is the whole gang coming back? (Hopefully, cause I miss my boyfriend Will Herondale!) -> My new theory for TWP tbh

Malcolm Fade/Matthew Fairchild -> Are they secretly the same person? (probs not, but you can still check it out if you want!) -> Confirmed incorrect

95 notes · View notes