Okay I’m awake again and something that really stood out to me with TSC was how different jean and neil are as protagonists. I expected they would be, but the thing I really noticed was how distinct their reactions were.

So, these books are HEAVY. There are many many traumatic events and the characters spend a lot of time in high-stress situations. Even when they’re not being attacked or threatened or XYZ, they’re often in a state of heightened physiological arousal (their sympathetic nervous system is going haywire). As a psychologist, the thing I find really interesting is that we see very different reactions that are all aligned with different adrenal responses, and I wanted to talk about it.

As a baseline, when your sympathetic nervous system is activated, you typically experience what some psychologists call the four Fs. Fight, flight, freeze, and/or fawn (some people use another word here but I don’t like it and think it’s less accurate to the situation). These can occur simultaneously or alone. And of the four characters who are most showing this response are the ones who are consistently in the highest stress situations, but who are also traumatised in such a way that even when they’re not actively in danger their sympathetic nervous system is overreactive and heightened.

So first off, we have Neil. He’s pretty clearly shown to have two responses: flight and fight. For his entire childhood, he’s been fleeing from danger and in the earlier parts of AFTG, we see this response - he tries to run as far as he can possibly get from anything that might be a risk. As a side point, this is pretty clearly a learned response from his mother. As Neil begins to feel more secure and his flight response is impeded (he can’t run away) we see the emergence of his other primary adrenal response - fight. I don’t feel like I need to explain this one, tbh, we’ve all seen how he runs his mouth. Fight is also typically shown when you believe you can defeat whatever’s threatening you, so I love what this says about how his confidence develops across the trilogy.

Then you have Andrew. He’s not a POV protagonist but I feel like his response might be the most obvious. His primary responses are fight and freeze (Andrew Minyard runs from/fawns for no man). Fight is pretty obvious - he’s a very violent person - but I feel like the most clear example of this is stopping Riko from attacking Neil. Andrew is obviously wired and his instinctive response is to protect. I love that for him. His other primary response, unfortunately, is freeze. Based on the most obvious time we see it (during Drake's attack), this is probably a response he developed as a child, before he felt strong/safe enough to fight back. God, these books make me sad sometimes.

Next is Kevin. He has a slightly more varied response - i can see the argument for him freezing, although i wouldnt say it's a primary response - but his main two responses are fight and fawn. Fight isn't necessarily literal, btw - the most obvious example is covering his tattoo. His fawn response is slightly more expanded on in TSC (mild spoilers if you haven't read that yet) when we see him responding to Riko's attack by begging first Riko and then Jean to intercede and stop the violence. he's trying to appeal to their affection for him, which is absolutely heartbreaking. Kevin i love you.

And finally, we have Jean, whose primary responses are only really made clear in TSC, although they are backed up by his appearances in the trilogy - freeze and fawn. We see freezing in Jean's response to sympathetic nervous system arousal, often from hearing about or recalling upsetting events/information. He closes in on himself and becomes unresponsive. Fawn is slightly more complicated, as we see it somewhat throughout AFTG. when he's loyal to riko and doing things he thinks riko will like in hopes of reducing any potential pain/threat he will experience, i'd call that fawning. an example at usc is him getting on his knees and handing coach rhemann his racket - he's not just submitting to punishment, he's trying to be helpful and well-behaved in hopes of lessening it. it's honestly a really strong response from him and it absolutely breaks my heart. jean in tsc is really struggling and i hope the last book brings him some peace. i also find it really painful that he's the only one of these boys without a fight response - he's never felt capable of winning against his abusers. i really hope the trojans and bee are able to help change that.

the enigma of jeremy knox

after one full read and revisiting some of my annotations (and shoutout to @andrewminyardslawyer for this collection of passages) I have attempted to collect my observations and conclusions/theories about the enigma named Jeremy Knox

please tell me your interpretations

Jeremy’s Dad

Mr. Wilshire is Jeremy’s stepfather (we know from "Bryson is in the sitting room with Mr. Wilshire" and then Jeremy referring to him as his stepfather. I was confused about this at the beginning lol)

This means that Knox is Jeremy’s dad’s name. Why doesn’t he want to be called Knox? Is it the reminder of divorce or his family drama when he’d rather not think about it?

Speaking of Jeremy’s dad: "Dad's been stationed [in Europe] a couple times". Most likely military, then. The tense (“Dad has been”) suggests that his dad is still in his life, not dead or estranged (otherwise I’d expect “Dad was stationed” instead). Unless perhaps Jeremy is going out of his way to hide it? He does avoid talking about his family, but he brings this up unprompted and I get the sense that Laila and Cat would know something that big so I don’t think this is a lie

Jeremy maintaining a relationship with his dad could certainly be a point of conflict with his stepfather and siblings, but doesn't seem to fit the "freshman year exy banquet scandal" we're catching wind of. It's possible his dad was involved, but I don't think it's where my money would go. 

Jeremy’s Siblings

Cat tells Jean that Jeremy has one sister and two brothers. Twice we hear Bryson referred to as “the older brother” and Annalise as his younger sister, so the siblings are:  Bryson, Jeremy, and Annalise-and-unnamed-brother-in-unknown-order. 

Of course, we must address “Jeremy has–three” and Jean “idly wondering what she’d changed at the last minute and why”. It sounds like the number changed (unless I’m missing a possibility here?), so why?

Step or half siblings? There is a stepfather in the mix, so she could have increased it to include step or half siblings, but I lean towards not this. Jeremy says that “the Knox family was duty-bound to dress up and smile bright for [the] cameras”, which would be odd to say if his siblings weren’t all Knoxes. Also, Cat tells Jean this after telling him that her two oldest siblings are half siblings, so imo it would be an odd thing to hide on Jeremy’s behalf

Otherwise, I think we’re talking about a death or estrangement. The unnamed younger brother, probably (though perhaps a fourth sibling). Now this is “broke the family in half” or “destroyed the family” territory. “broke the family in half” could be a death but almost sounds more like a schism, perhaps between Dad & Unnamed Brother and the rest of the family? Or perhaps Jeremy&Dad?

Jeremy & Bryson. What is going on here?

Pretty much the first thing we learn about Jeremy is that he is avoiding his older brother, leaving without his keys to avoid the possibility of an interaction.

Jeremy says that Bryson always spends his summers at home, and also specifically says he’ll be staying at Cat & Laila’s over the summer but then only over on weekends during the school year.

The conversation he has with Lucas: “Do you feel safe with him there?” “He’s my brother” “That’s not what I asked” could be read as him being protective of his teammate, but also could be implying that Jeremy knows what it’s like to feel unsafe around his brother. Learning there have been physical altercations wouldn’t come from left field.

The Fall Banquet Exy Scandal

Speaking of breaking the family in half, what happened at this fall banquet?

Annalise says “Overdue for a new scandal… End the way you started”, so it happened his freshman year. She went out of her way to forget everything about Exy and can’t forgive Jeremy for continuing to play, so she seems to blame Exy as much as she blames Jeremy. 

If it did in fact have to do with the younger brother, did he get hurt badly or die playing? If a high schooler died playing Exy three years before, would we have heard about it from Jean or Neil? Our other two narrators are not what you’d call tuned into the outside world all the time. On the other hand, yes Jeremy compartmentalizes even in his narration, but you’re telling me it never crosses his mind while playing a very rough sport if his brother was severely injured? It’s possible, but I’m not sold on this theory. It also wouldn’t explain why it’s tied specifically to the banquet.

The other thought I have is that something happened at that banquet that was some kind of PR mess. The family-in-politics obsession with being a “picture-perfect family” and Jeremy being unwelcome at dinner after bleaching his hair support this, but the Trojan reputation doesn’t. Whatever happened would have to walk the line between totally unacceptable to the family but also not a blemish on the Trojan reputation. Jeremy is made captain and Jean (who knows who he is and would be aware of a Trojan scandal even if it happened before his freshman year, since he was in the Nest and with Riko and Kevin) doesn’t know about it. Kevin is obsessed with the Trojans and with Jeremy, and Jeremy’s teammates (besides Lucas’ almost-comment about him being gay) show nothing but respect for him and his leadership.

I’ve seen speculation that it could have to do with Jeremy being gay, but this would again seem to contradict the fact that Jean and especially Kevin would know, wouldn’t they? I also don’t think Nora’s gonna do that. She wrote gay, trans, and polyamorous Trojans, which you could argue are accepted because it’s the Trojans, but even Jean doesn’t blink about Cody’s pronouns. It doesn’t really make sense to me that she’d pointedly avoid doing 2007-appropriate homophobia and then turn around and do 2007-appropriate homophobia. Possible? Yes. Do I think it’s gonna happen? No.

Cops

“There was little to no chance he’d know them, and no reason they’d recognize him, but Jeremy kept his gaze forward and mouth shut until they were past”. He’s afraid to be recognized. Is it because of a previous interaction (from the banquet? the scandal?) or because of his family? Is he apprehensive about them reacting to him, or something getting back to his family? 

Later Rhemann offers to send Jeremy away before bringing the cops in after Jean is attacked. Jean has no idea why Rhemann is suggesting it, but it means that whatever Jeremy’s fear of cops is, he knows about it and also assumes Jeremy told Jean. This doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that Just Comes Up with your coach, so it’s probably based on a prior experience in college. The freshman year banquet again sounds like the likely explanation here.

Jeremy and Mental Health

Jean says “Maybe [Grayson] will also kill himself” and Jeremy replies “That isn’t a joke”, with “unexpected ferocity”. Cat winces. This could be Jeremy being well adjusted (A little before this, Cat says, “That’s not a thing well-adjusted people say”, after all), but his tone and Cat’s reaction makes it seem a lot more personal than Jeremy just saying “Suicide jokes aren’t funny”. 

Guys, I think Jeremy’s mystery brother might’ve killed himself. If he played Exy and was bullied or maybe got seriously injured and later killed himself, and cops showed up when it happened, and it was somehow brought up during that banquet and Jeremy said something or reacted somehow that caused a familial rift… I think this is my leading theory.

Initially I didn’t think anything of “There’s been an accident”, but I wonder if maybe that’s how the news was broken to him about his brother. Or if his family insists on calling it “an accident” and maybe what happened at the banquet was Jeremy acknowledging that he doesn’t think it was. 

“The right therapist can be legit life changing–just look at Jeremy for proof”, Cat says. We knew from the first Jeremy chapter that he was in therapy and talked about his family, but “life changing” speaks to the severity of all of it. His mom picking the therapist suggests that either he was off the rails enough for her to intervene (more likely mental health issues than something like drug use, again given the Trojans) or that she’s more supportive or sympathetic to him than his siblings and step father. We hear few references to his mom; just a passing comment about her bookkeeper, a mention that she makes the kids go to fundraisers and other events, and that she’s allergic to dogs. Oh, we also know that his mother didn’t hit him. We know he doesn’t get on with his sister or older brother and is “permanently on his stepfather’s bad side”, but very little at all about his relationship with his mom.

Miscellaneous 

About the floozies, and I actually don’t think this is Jeremy backstory. Cat says it was “in response to some drama my freshman year”. She’s a rising junior, so that would’ve been Jeremy’s junior year. Jeremy’s scandalous exy banquet was his freshman year, so I think this is Catalina backstory, not Jeremy’s. I am obsessed with the fact that the queer Trojans nicknamed themselves the floozy line. Icons

One other line that seems potentially telling to me is, “What’s Grandpa think of this investment of yours”. What did Annalise mean by investment? Jeremy putting his time into exy? His use of money? The last thing Jeremy said was about Jean, could he be the “investment”? I think it’s most likely about exy, maybe how his commitment to it either reflects badly on the family or is seen as a silly endeavor

god, i could not be more excited for tsc2, or for the speculation in the meantime

Jeremy Knox Predictions 🦅🦅🦅

one thing about me is that i LOVE to speculate and spread rumors

so here are my jeremy knox lore predictions (i will probs add onto this and fact check myself at a later date)

things we know

jeremy has beef with cops

jeremy has 3 siblings. an older brother, a younger sister, and a younger brother

we meet his sister, and there is obviously some bad blood between them. he is getting blamed for something and she thinks him playing exy is dumb.

there is very bad blood between him and his older brother. there isn’t an explanation but they clearly have a very volatile relationship even if we never see them interact.

jeremy has beef with his stepfather, and by extension his step-grandfather. his sister seems to be ‘playing nice’ because of the money he has

they have a butler

jeremy says something about his dad being stationed overseas. was he in the military? does he work for the government? is he alive?

he uses his mom’s credit card, but is intentional about keeping receipts to give to her finance person. was there a money fraud thing in the past?

i think his stepdad/stepgrandfather is in a political office?? idr and i dont want to check rn

my predictions

exy killed my grandma his younger brother

somehow said exy accident is jeremy’s fault??

except i have no idea how exy kills someone (we are ignoring the entire mafia thing going on in exy, we are pretending that isn’t a thing bc why tf would jeremy be involved in it)

his dad is either dead or VERY estranged

his mom moved on too quickly after his dad died/left

his dad left because of the younger brother’s dead or died at the same time

mom was involved in money scandal at some point

she married rich husband to get money/her status back

rich husband is dick

his older brother is probably homophobic

Can’t stop thinking about tsc and jean finally asking for help im not sleeping tonight

you and me both!!! also. i know i keep coming back to the parallels/differences between neil and jean but when jean asked for help ofc my mind immediately went to help me/let me in trk and the way these two scenes are emblematic of their individual journeys. neil’s main concern has always been surviving the dangerous Now, and the first time he asks for help it’s a plea for wymack to help him make it through the moment. he’s incredibly close to splintering and he needs someone to hold him together for the time it takes to get back to himself. jean’s main concern has always been surviving the hopeless Future. so the first time he asks for help it’s not a “help me rn” it’s a “help me survive what comes next.” he’s lost and scared, the ground has been pulled out from under him, and he needs someone to help him imagine a future he can live in. a future he can hold in his mind. a future that can hold him together.

TSC Motifs/Themes/Whatever

Dogs

Starved dog, leash metaphors, cardboard dog, obedience. I think Jean represented as an obedient, loyal dog is pretty straight-forward. I think it's interesting that in the extra content, Nora described him as an angry cat when he came to Evermore. He left as a starved and beaten dog. I wonder where this arc goes, though. Like, he takes a chain around his neck from Renee -per Neil's philosophy, is this "collar" his first reason not to slip the [Moriyama investment] leash? Also Jeremy has always wanted a dog. I guess this piece is a little harder for me to wrap my head around, maybe I'm overthinking it, but maybe he's the right kind of [s]Dom[/s] [s]owner[/s] person for Jean. He has the authority "I'm your captain," but he pairs it with an equalizer "I'm your partner". He pushes Jean, but he holds the hard boundaries. He's intrigued by Jean's scoop neck deep blue shirt - I think partly for the personal growth to wear color and partly because it allows him to see Jean's collarbone. He shivers with the sound of "Yes, Jeremy." I wonder if "my mom is allergic to dogs" is foreshadowing his family's reaction to Jean.

2. Safety

Neil's arc was about hope, finding a future in a futureless situation. Jeremy's had an idea of the future, the perfect court, but his big thing is safety. "Safe" and its variations appear in TSC 48 times. This boy is really not asking for much, but Jeremy makes him feel safer which is just too sweet. Also, tighten those screws for safety..

3. Childhood

At the beginning of the book, Jean knows immediately that he is not in the Nest, because he knows every inch of it. He feels like he knows everything about the world and he often insults people by calling them children. His childhood innocence was stolen from him at the Nest, and outside of it, he regains pieces of it. He wonders at the vastness of the world, he learns skills he never had before (shopping, cooking). I had a hard time when I found out he was 19 (ie 14 and 16 at the time of some really unpleasant things). I didn't understand why he had to be two years younger. But the protection and corruption of innocence is a big part of his story. We see that acutely with his sister's story and it allows him to turn on his parents without guilt. The duck/duckling motif is cute too. When he first comes to Evermore, Thea describes him as a little duckling. He associates little yellow ducks with his childhood and baby sister.

4. Air?

Being able to breathe is core to the safety thing. When Jean feels least safe, he can't breathe. One of his earliest revelations about being Riko's pet was the buried alive punishment, and pressing his face against the sparse airholes. Then there's the waterboarding thing. You'll see Jean mentions being unable to breathe when he feels threatened and grabs at his throat. Conversely his happy things include breeze and open sky (rainbow and the open road). When Grayson appears, Jean says he can no longer feel the breeze, and he is particularly disturbed by the neck biting. There are lots of throat and neck things going on in the book too and maybe it's a stretch but burning (ie eating away at oxygen) comes up several times too.

im at my second read of tsc and it really IMMEDIATELY broke jeans heart ehrn his brsin made the compairason of kevin damning them both and thinking renee did so too omfg im gonna cry

I was thinking about the relationship between Alastair and Paris. Paris was the city where he and Thomas met again after the Academy, but it also is the city where Alastair was born. I want to believe that he likes Paris because it is a place where he feels like he belongs because, after all, his life began in that place. He moved from country to country his whole life, and along he brought his cultures: he is Persian, but he is also British. For the sole fact that he was born in Paris, he may feel like he also belongs there. Paris is also, after all, the city where he and Thomas met again. In many ways, it represents the city where their relationship was given a second chance. Paris is the city where intellectuals often retreated and also an "escapist" city. Thomas and Alastair find each other there by chance and use Paris to get to know each other better and they do it by enjoying each other's company with books, with art, with cinema. What they create in Paris stays when they get back to London, and we see how they seem to have formed a friendship there - a friendship that began in Paris. So, Paris, you see, it's a meaningful place to Alastair

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

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

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

Powers Begone

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

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

You Can’t Spell Herondale Without Hero

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

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

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

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

Concluding Thoughts

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

weird deep tsc lore things since u asked for it <3

shadowhunter genetics absolutely work differently from mundane genetics. men’s genes are considerably stronger than women’s (extremely distant family members will look so much alike that one glance is enough to tell which family one belongs to). the herondales specifically have extremely strong genes, for them even personality is almost entirely determined genetically.

(and look. look i know why this is. it’s just bc it’s more fun for readers. however this also has resulted in the strong implication that it’s ONLY the old/important families where this is the case, which leaves the question if the strength of genes is actually related to those families being so important in shadowhunter society.)

despite all of this, virtually everyone has to be related. i feel like this speaks for itself? cc has done a very very careful job of not making any of the present-day love interests related through tid/tlh couples, but there’s a very heavy implication (which is even commented on by characters in cot) that all shadowhunters, especially the ones from the old/important families, are related to some degree. she’s never beating the allegations!!!!!!!

oh, and angels and demons don’t have dna. it’s kinda like the gods in percy jackson. drinking their blood gives you a part of their? idk, essence? but eg clary and jace are (ironically) not related through their angelic blood.

(we’re not getting into what this means for fae, who are half-demon half-angel. i simply don’t have the brain power.)

ok now onto less complicated stuff:

the shadowhunter drinking age is seemingly 16 or even younger. jaime and izzy are seen drinking at 16 and kit drinks at 15 or 16, which isn’t questioned by any of their family members or friends.

shadowhunters more or less live off embezzlement since mundane government officials give them money, but to them it’s unclear who gets it or what it’s used for. if it’s not embezzlement then it’s at least very shady lol

healthcare basically does not exist for downworlders. shadowhunters have the brothers and runes (which, btw, are canonically still extremely lacking compared to mundane medicine). downworlders do NOT. you can go to a warlock but those are notoriously expensive so if you get genuinely ill/injured you just? die i guess?

on the same note, jail doesn’t exist either????? if you commit a crime you generally get straight up murdered (if you’re a downworlder) or, if you’re lucky, you’re given some other freaky medieval punishment like exile or magic confinement to an old church’s walls. sometimes the silent city or the gard or something are used as temporary makeshift prisons but they’re still not actual prisons GUYS JUST BUILD A PRISON

it’s never once explained how the silent brothers are summoned and it drives me nuts. ok this doesn’t really belong here but this has been in my brain since 2014. they’re “called upon” many different times in the series but afaik it literally always happens off-page. the only thing we know is that you can do it from a distance and thats it

shadowhunters are a cult. this one i could write essays about but the whole being cut off from the world and being cast out if you dont enjoy going on a suicide mission every day is not looking good!!

So, Season 2. It's. It's alright ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But like...that's it, lmao.

I did enjoy it! I got WAY MORE genuine laughs out of these first two episodes than I did the entire first season. Magnus is hilarious, I love his whole vibe lmao. Fluffy's character, Kris, he's...man is really out here looking for a father figure and it is deffs biting him in the ASS.

The elves are top tier as per the usual! Betty and Noel are continuing to be THE power couple and I am SO HAPPY ABOUT IT, I love them to death 🥰🥰🥰

My fave thing about the season so far is just everyone out here like Scott wtf are you doing. Wtf, man. I yelled GET HIS ASS so many times lol. The official Get His Ass Count as of the end of Episode 2: 8. 8 whole GET HIS ASS moments. BLESS.

SO RIGHT. NITTY GRITTY. OKAY.

Episode 1

Scott sucked SO BAD this episode. He breaks the SOS on a worldwide level then gets upset when Cal is like "I love Riley! I wished her here! We're hanging out! Riley!! :D" and is like "Bro you should've dusted her."

OKAY SCOTT. WHAT ABOUT THE WHOLE WORLD, SCOTT, HMM? ARE WE DUSTING THEM??? HMM??? YEESH.

Scott aside (you know, his usual boomer-esque old guy who refuses to change shtick with BUT WHAT ABOUT FAMILY! And whatnot thing), everything else was. Mid, tbh. But fun! Santa being like "Are you gonna kill him?" With Carol being like "I can take care of Gary" was hilarious.

Betty and Noel, of course, SHINNED. I love them, they are SO CUTE. Cardboard face cutouts??? ICONIC. Nobody is doing it like them!

Now. Cal. aka, Buddy. I am very worried for him. Like, 4 episodes ago he was having ANXIETY about being Santa? And now this? Carol being like "what if he doesn't want it don't force him to follow in your footsteps" like. I AGREE. HE SHOULD GO OFF TO COLLEGE AND LIVE HIS LIFE!!!! I have a lot of thoughts there but it is late and I need to FOCUS because I need to yell about Cupid in a second, ANYWAY

Magnus Antas. I love this guy. I fucks with him. He takes a 700 year nap and is like "I'm fine" until his toxic bestie is like "I WANT TO KILL" and a kid sasses him for not being Santa/being OLD and he's like "Nevermind. I want to kill now too. Time to MURDER." He has VIBES and I like them!! He also seems like he's was over it until Olga was like "but what if" and some kid was mean to him and tbh, I can't even blame him for getting pissy at the kid lol. I'd also turna kid into "a Roblox" if I could (here for Gamer Mad Santa btw. I'd watch him stream on Twitch)

This is verging into Episode 2 territory, lol. May as well get there, then!

EPISODE 2

So, the LORE DROPS. Um. There was a LOT of it? And it seems to contradict itself/not quite equate with itself? If the NP is a utopia for magic, why is it like that? Was Magnus good, or not? Why do ALL the fairy creatures live there, when they come from so many diverse cuktures and backgrounds? That's a lil messed up! What the fuck happened with the gnomes becoming so (what's the phrase) PROMINENT for Santa? Will we get answers for all of these? Based on past season, PROBABLY NOT! BUT I HOPE WE DO! BC IT IS A BIT ALL OVER THE PLACE! AHH!

RIGHTO. SO SANDRA'S MAGIC. Love that for her! Love that they're actually devoting time to showing her interacting with La Befana and learning about herself and the pair of them discussing things!!! MUCH rather watch that than a 5 minute long auto-tuned elf song which is there just for a Santa/Satan joke! I'm excited to see how her whole arc goes--it looks like she's ACTUALLY GETTING ONE.

I wonder why Befana needs her to tell her parents, like, aside from obvious reasons. She was so insistent on Sandra making sure her parents knew she was training with Befana, that I'm wondering if there's something more to it a la "our powers don't work on other legendary figures". Like, was it to keep her mind clear? Is it like a past thing? Bc Witches are "scary" and often "bad" given that Santa calls Befana a "good one"?

That's another thign! Not sure I vibed with THAT whole thing. Both Claus's being like "yeah witches, they are deffs their stereotypes". Like. Idk. It sits. Not gr8 with me. Feels like performative activism, sorta, you know?

Which is also how I feel about the girl power moments, tbh. Like, it's nice to see them--Carol respecting Befana as a self-made woman, sister solidarity, etc. But it feels very performative! It feels very much like they are checking it off a list, you know? They're STILL like "Carol is trying to find a role for Mrs. Claus" and they go for COP? Wildin. Also wildin that the ELFS are COP EQUIVALENTS? Um, since WHEN?! They are funky little guys with jet packs and no regard for authority. Remember when they broke Santa out of jail and bullied the cop at the front desk? Remember that? YEAH.

OKAY SO NOW MY FAVOURITE PART TO TALK ABOUT. CUPID AND THE COUNCIL!

So as a classics major and a lover of the Cupid/Psyche myth (and personal bias from OCs made bc of said myth) I was unimpressed with the Mrs. Cupid convo. FIRST off, her name is PSYCHE so jot that down. SECONDLY. It was ONE ARROW MEANT FOR HER THAT SOMEHOW GOT LODGED INTO CUPID ACCIDENTALLY WHILE SENT ON AN ERRAND BY HIS MOTHER, VENUS, TO TAKE CARE OF (make her fall in love with a horrible monster/something/someone very ugly) PSYCHE BC SHE WAS SO BEAUTIFUL WORSHIP WAS DROPPING FOR VENUS AND GOING TO PSYCHE.

This resulted in Cupid and Psyche having a very strange romance/marriage in which Psyche's shitty sisters convince her to break Cupid's one rule (which was don't look at me) and he gets injured, HELD HOSTAGE by his mother, and Psyche has to go on a QUEST to free him that involves Venus making her do all sorts of shitty shenanigans, setting the personifications of sadness and despair on her, and trapping her in an eternal sleep. Cupid, afflcited by his own arrow, escapes his mother's house when he hears about this, finds her, and draws the sleep out of her, waking her up and reuniting them.

They then proceed to go to Zeus (not Jupiter despite Cupid being the Roman equivalent of Eros, and Venus roman of Aphrodite? It's interesting) like LOOK WHAT VENUS DID and Zeus goes "Wow, that's a little fucked up, actually. Listen, I'll make her a god and sanction your marriage and tell of your Mom IF you do something a little fucked up for me and help me get ANY woman I want" to which Cupid goes "Sure, that sounds reasonable and not fucked up at all" and then he and Psyche get married and have a fucking rager with the gods and have one kid, Pleasure, aka Hedone/Volupta, or in SOME iterations, THREE kids, Pleasure, Joy, and a third one who's name escapes me (Vanity I think) and presumably live happily ever after! READ FOR YOURSELF!

I am very passionate about this bc uh. this is uh. Dite's whole ass backstory? She is Hedone lmao so I've got some personal attachment here thanks to me own OCs lmao, ANYWAY

So YEAH that got me miffed. As did uh, the whole PEEKABOO and cupid making baby noises back at Riley. The ICK.

But you know what I DID love?? Cupid being like "I'm not spying but also, I am spying and also, the whole ass entire council is like BOI...WHAT THE FUCK". GET HIS ASS! CALL HIM OUT!! BC YEAH, WHAT THE FUCK SCOTT?? SEASON 1?? HELLO??? EVERYTHING BEFORE THAT??? VIOLATING THE SOS BY SHARING ALL THOSE SNOW GLOBES??? AHHHHHHH.

Cupid delivering that 3 month deadline and Council threat I was like. HERE for it. I was like. GET HIS ASS (this was one of the GHA counter moments tbh). Like, this dude is out of control! I think it's high time Scott meets the consequences for his actions! AH!

So YEAH. Excited to see Sandy and for New EB! I hope the whole Council comes back, even if they have to recast, that 5 minute scene would add YEARS to my life that Riley and Cal took away.

Because they are. So icky. I feel as though. There is a scale. And Marie is on one end, and Riley is on the other. This isn't just FIRST LOVE this is just DISGUSTING. Like it was cute at first last season but now Riley is honestly?? Sups annoying. You can tell that they're like, checking items off the list instead of actually putting more thought into them, because Riley is v much a stereotype and they have WAY UPPED her teenager levels. I need them to talk to actual teens. Nobody says OMG like that and also, she's bringing home BIKERS?????????? UM??????? It's like. Why are they so bad at writing love interests? You feel? Tho this could just be a me thing 🤔🤔🤔

They really should've socialized those kids, DAMN. Santa being like "And we all know how that [Romeo and Juliet] went" or whatever the line was had me like "FINALLY SCOTTY BOY. SOMETHING WE CAN AGREE ON!"

AND LAST ON MY LIST. THE SCOTT/SANDRA SCENE.

Finally. Finally. FINALLY. Some good parenting from Scott. FINALLY. Being sups understanding to Sandra? I actually loved it. He finally did ONE (1) GOOD THING. MAYBE HE IS? LEARNING? I DUNNO MAN! WE'LL SEE HOW IT GOES! But yeah, I did like that scene a lot. I'm just really here for Sandra getting her moment!

So YEAH. Overall, season 2 is okay. Gave me more laughs which is WELCOME, and I cannot wait to see how this develops. Especially since the lore was like, really thrown our way, you know? It was a lot for two episodes and again, did kind of contradict itself? Hopefully it clears up once Santa inevitably learns the truth about Mad Santa, probably mostly thanks to Carol who is DOING the MOST.

But yeah, I'm hoping to see the lore tidied/explained a bit better. Especially bc the whole elf lore opening, with the icy tunnels and drab vibes, didn't sit well with me? It...I didn't like it. Not my cup of tea. The lore in general isn't my cup of tea though it's fun to see it there finally, lol. Poor Toots, being named after a fart essentially (I went right to toilet humour, I'm sorry, I am so mature I promise i'm not)

Also, they really kinda. Throw around the head elf title, huh? It felt REALLY WEIRD to not see BMan there, and Toots just being thrown in? Weird it's WEIRD. I wouldn't bring B-Man back for it but MAN IS IT WEIRD. Especially since the new elves, as much as I ADORE THEM, don't have the same kind of like. Old feel to them? As the movie elves did? So I was like "they should NOT be there right now. They should NOT."

Righto. I am going to wrap this up bc I am INSANE and this is very very VERY long for a franchise like this 😅😅😅

a friend of mine was talking about how she was surprised that jean doesn't seem to have any specific issue with cat/laila/jeremy touching him and it got me thinking that he doesn't really react in any way, negatively or positively. the narration doesn't comment on it besides stating that it is happening. jean doesn't think on it basically at all which is FASCINATING because given all we know about his background it seems pretty safe to assume no one will have ever wrapped their arm around his waist to comfort him, but he doesn't react to cat doing so (which is even more interesting because it happens right after he sees the pat/cody/ananya dynamic and gets worried about cody's space being invaded).

this feels like such an intentional choice, because all that negative space, the not-thinking about it, actually says so much. like he can't think about it - negatively or positively. thinking about it would probably mean a lot of the raven-conditioning popping its head back up, about how it's all sorts of detrimental to his exy game. but it would also mean realising he's never had this, never been allowed the kindness of touch, the comfort of it (except maybe with elodie, her little hand in his). and would probably mean feeling like he doesn't deserve it. thinking about it means maybe realising he wants it - that he shouldn't, but he craves it anyway

CC is deliberately making it so that the Blackthorns only contact Kit in sobh when they need something, in order to establish a pattern she'll need to break in twp.

By doing so, she's bringing Kit to an understanding of their relationship where he believes there is some genuine affection on their side, but its not important enough to reach out for him unless they need him; such that, after the inital "i need your help" in twp, there MUST be a moment where they (most likely Ty) will have to reach out to Kit for no reason other than they love him.

In fact, Kit's presence might be detrimental to their goals- with the hints that Faerieland shall be involved and his secret status as the First Heir, his presence with them would be, at best, a bargaining chip and, at worst, another target on their backs.

Still, he's important: to Ty, most of all. And that must be proven.

That would complete the part of his arc where Kit heals from his belief that he must be useful in order to be kept around, with unconditional love that's already started with jessa but that must expand- to become the rule, rather than the exception.

in the language of flowers daffodils symbolize rebirth and new beginnings 😃 they also mean resilience and are the first flowers to bloom after the cold 😃

The sunshine court’s characterisation of Jeremy Knox is fucking sublime btw

• guy who is very chill and friendly not bc of temperament but because he has decided to be chill and friendly and is clinging onto that with his fucking teeth >>>>>>>>>>>>

• the gentle… not quite manipulation, but like conflict resolution and team management?

Jean hangs up on him and he calls back immediately and a) doesnt accuse or chide b) pretends it was his mistake to gently shift the tone and c) maintains focus on his goal. This is like, insane people skills and I wish we got more of it in the latter part. I would KILL to see him dealing with the team in depth

• this man hates 1: cops 2: congressmen (specifically those who are fucking his mum) 3: every fucker who ever said a bad word to jean Moreau and for that we have to give props

• sooooo many plot hooks for this guy. like he has a History and i for one am waiting eagerly to hear it

• canonically gay and horny. we have no choice but to stan.

• has a butler?!?!?!?

Just overall such a good character that managed to walk the line of pleasant surprise but also fulfilling fan hopes based on precious little canon information

Gathering evidence of Jeremy's issues like ✍🏻✍🏻

Ok, so whatever happened it was at the fall banquet 4 years before and probably involved cops. (I don't think there will be *two* major scandals)

Hints of the missing brother.

Other sus stuff

I don't have any big theories. Thinking either brother killed hinself after an argument with Jeremy, crash while driving to get Jeremy out of custody, or cut contact with everyone after their poor reaction to Jeremy's scandal (and I think he was outed, hence the floozies and why he has to stay home during the week)

I’m betting some dude sarcastically bet for the foxes to win while drunk of his ass and still gloats about it every day to his buddies