#i am having so much fun reading tsc

[shuutingstar]

HELP I CANT BREATHE

[prettypipedream]

I just wanted to add my little two cents about the tsc discourse.

I already did in a reblog but I wanted to make my own post about it so here it is :))

I love me some jerejean, looooveee it. love the dynamic, love the fanart, love the fics, love all of it!!

However, i am well aware that it most likely won’t be canon, and i am totally for Renee and Jean.

I don’t understand why people have such a problem with the canon relationships. I feel like this fandom forgets that most of the characters are not canonically queer, or are not in canonically queer relationships. And that’s totally fine.

It’s more realistic to a degree, and those pointing out the fact that if Renee and Jean were a mlm couple people wouldn’t have as much of a problem with it aren’t really wrong.

I love Aaron and Katelyn, I want to see more of the dynamic between Kevin and Thea. These characters are written into straight relationships and just because it doesn’t line up with your ideal doesn’t make them any less real or beneficial.

But that’s the thing about shipping culture and fanon, it’s meant to exist independent from the authors vision.

For example, I don’t like kandriel, I never have. It’s huge in fanon, and I don’t vibe with it. I like the idea of Allison and Kevin together, I think it would fucking hilarious and dramatic. That’s my little headcanon that I can kick my feet to.

In my head Jeremy would have a secret dark side and a complicated/bad family situation, shining brightly regardless, even though canonically he’s probably gonna be the most average guy ever.

The whole point is it’s fun to speculate and read about these things that are just fan created interpretations. It’s fun to divulge in your fantasies and headcanons.

But canon is canon.

Nora wrote this story with a specific vision in mind and as readers who enjoyed her books we need to respect that.

I will read the shit out of tsc and love it because I love these characters and I love this story. I will also continue to read fics and look at art of the non canonical couples like jerejean because I like them.

I can live in both canonical and fanoncial spaces and be happy.

If you can’t to do that without getting up in arms and attacking the author for not writing their own story the way that you would, then don’t read the book. Or learn to live with it.

xoxo

[ofstarsandmoonlightt]

Alright guys here I am back from thinking about those titles.

Before we begin; wasn’t this gonna be more than just a trilogy, didn’t cc say something about it being four books?! ah

So the one repeated word here is “Last” which I assume emphasises that this is the last series in the Shadowhunter Universe and brings everything to a close.

Kind of sad that it’s ending because despite some controversial stuff (lol) this universe for many of us holds so mich joy and fun. We all grew up reading TMI, cried in TID, had so much fun in TDA and well TLH was nice; what I mean to say is this will be the end of a great era, and I don’t think another series can ever replace what TSC is to me and I’m sure for most of you too. (got a bit emotional writing this hehe)

Now for the titles:

1. The Last King of Faerie: This no doubt refers to the one and only Kit Herondale as its written just Faerie (and its not Ash or Kieran because they belong to only one court, Seelie and Unseelie, respectively).

My theory, kinda: So now we know this, I’m thinking maybe somehow, despite Jem and Tessa’s efforts to keep it low, rumours get out and people know about Kit’s heritage and his life somehow gets threatened. I’m thinking he may have to go in hiding and then Ty probably has his own stuff going on and has a problem, has to seek Kit’s help. I’m predicting they meet about two thirds of the way through the book? Let’s see what happens.

2. The Last Prince of Hell: We all know this, not anything new. I think in this book they actually find out about the big threat (i.e. Lucifer) and band together with Dru and Ash maybe Jaime too.

3. The Last Shadowhunter: Now this is the one everyone’s freaking out about. Of course we know that the shadowhunters are to come to an end. The question is why tho. Maybe after defeating Lucifer they’ll close the doors/portal whatever (maybe not exactly defeating him but making some kinda deal w him?idk) and no demons means no need for nephilim! It’ll be a bittersweet moment for them. It’ll impact everyone differently; example for people like Jace and Emma it’ll be heartbreaking because they’re warriors and for others it’ll be beneficial like no more prejudices for people who want to do something else than just fight, like Matthew, Henry, Christopher and Ty.

I’m assuming the downworld stays the same though there are no more demons so I don’t think there’ll be more new warlocks, but werewolves and vampires can be made. I also think the doorways to Faerie will be closed. So yeah.

There’s the end. And yes Kit and Ty will be endgame and live happily ever after i just asked Cassie herself!!!

[kiss2012]

tsc thoughts under the cut cause i finished

i literally cannot wrap my thoughts around my overall opinion of it i feel like i absolutely need to reread it first

but also i need to reread tfc because I MISS TFC SO BAD ➡️ girl who reread it last may. i do think i spoke tsc into existence by doing this because i hadn’t looked at the trilogy since 2019 and then all of a sudden i decided to reread and found that unfortunately they still make me batshit crazy. what is in those books.

however i do like tfc better 🤷🏽‍♀️ so if i did reread tfc after this and read tsc again i would just want to read tfc again

this is not fair to say at all because tfc is a whole trilogy and this was only book 1. and i rlly need to start saying aftg instead of tfc cause it’s getting confusing because like i do think tsc is better than tfc (the first book). however i just…like aftg better? i feel like it’s more fun which is probably a weird thing to say considering it’s a lot More than tsc is. and obviously this book was more about jean’s recovery. but more happens in aftg. idk we’ll see tho

i do love jean and the trojans but i miss neil and the foxes every page. i feel like it’s harder to connect to the trojans because there r so many of them. and idk sports so the three coaches is probably normal for a team of this size i really wouldn’t know lol but i couldn’t keep the coaches straight in my head either

point is the foxes r my everything 4ever. i love jean jeremy cat and laila and i see what she was trying to do by introducing the floozy line (cute name) however i dont really have a strong feeling about them because we met them for like 5 minutes

i do love nabil tho why is he not part of the floozy line :(((((

i think cat and laila were absolutely perfect. they’re given a lot of depth especially cat and they’re so important to me. they’re better here than in fanon i think but i feel like fanon did get their personalities and relationship down mostly right. apart from cat not just being called alvarez LMAO bless neil only calling her that and fanon having no choice but to do the same because no one agreed on one single name. i remember sara was one that i saw a lot but i like catalina way way better i love cat <3 i love laila <3 their friendship with jeremy <3

an evening breeze rainbows open roads friends 😭😭😭😭😭😭

bi jean is so dear to me

also jean rooming with cat and laila (and then jean) literally perfect omg. no one ever put that in fics but i think it was the best thing to do. sorry for having to compare tsc to fanon im not trying to say one is better than the other at all but what you have to understand is how many fics about jean post tkm are out there and how many of them i read so my mind is going to go there. i wasn’t rlly obsessed with jerejean but i was (and am) a jerejean girl. and i had (have lmao) very high standards for fic so i stand by a lot of those fics WHILE still standing by everything tsc is

by which i mean i cannot get poc jean out of my head thanks to that one fic where he is moroccan. in that same fic jeremy was also spanish and i sort of adopted that into my image of them so i am trying to let go of it but i mean even the hatfords being pakistani still lives in my head despite how unlikely it is. and most of the time i pictured jeremy with golden hair (sometimes curls) so even though i think nora’s compromise being to have naturally brown-haired jeremy bleaching his hair is hilarious and iconic. sort of impossible for me not to picture him with golden hair.

however when jean was all startled and went “blond” when he saw jeremy’s hair. reader i died

english major jeremy is still a gift to me personally

kevin bargaining and arguing for his history major..my baby…the mentions of kevin and kevin’s actual appearances in tsc are everything. the postcards and magnets…kill me

every time neil showed up i lost my mind i love him SO MUCH!!!

see my problem is i wish the foxes showed up more even though it makes no sense for them to. i want kevin jeremy and jean in a room together. i will kill for jean and allison interaction especially if they talk about renee (yes i am holding onto renison still). i want jeremy and cat and matt and dan to hang out. i need laila to meet andrew. i need more renee I LOVE RENEE we did get a good amount of her though i think. she was everything.

genuinely think the way jean and renee was handled here was so perfect. i totally see the merit of it if they end the series together. i also see why jean might end the series without being with anyone romantically. but narratively i cant help but feel jerejean is what makes the most sense. the reason i liked them in the first place is their narrative appeal. and they were genuinely so good in this. so. idk. can’t think about that too much.

i have some problems with the writing like i did with the og series but um the thing is i cannot view these books objectively because they impacted me so much at a young age. i will say i wish tsc could have had a professional editor lol.

i also have some issues with the pacing tho because i did not expect it to end there at all? im so glad she started it where she did but when it ended i was like WAIT WHAT

i have a feeling the reason riko did what he did with the backliners is because he saw jean looking at kevin. could be wrong here but judging from how often jean talks about learning his lesson about looking at guys too long. well.

the main thing for me is that i don’t see how we’re going to get to championships in 2 books if this book only covered till the summer. you could argue exy games arent that important for jean’s story but i do think they are insanely important for jeremy’s story. and if he’s a pov character i want more about him!! that man is keeping his issues locked up (I NEED TO KNOW WHAT THEY R) but we can tell he loves exy and he needs to win his last year

my memory of the extra content is so dim and some of it i have voluntarily chosen to forget or just not consider plus i think some of it will/has changed. but i think i remember reading that trojans win for their last year and i Need that to happen. cause in my head it went: foxes win neil’s first year and trojans win neil’s second year and jeremy’s last year. idc for the rest i want neil to have won championships twice or at least once as captain so that’s what happens in my head.

like i need more about jeremy teaching jean to love exy again and more about jeremy’s apparently complicated family issues with exy???? jeremy let me in.

anywayy. this book feels like a fever dream and im going insane

[jeanmoreaux]

okay enough time has passed: theories predictions hopes dreams fears what are you expecting from TSC

so. while my mind is still processing the tsc announcement i think i am finally read to try and answer this ask djdjdjjdjd ((had to add a read more because this got longer than i intended 🧍🏼‍♀️))

nora said it’s about jean learning to live, so i assume the story will either overlap a little with the og series’ timeline or begin with jean’s start at usc (or somewhere close to that). i don’t expect a bigger time jump than that tbh. also, thinking about pov i assume it’s single narrator/main focalizer (hopefully jean!). i’d be very surprised by a multiple pov narration happening—doesn’t really feel like a nora thing to do. to me. also i assume it's gonna be a one book thing. not a series.

i do not expect the foxes to be a big part of the story beyond maybe seeing them at a banquet or championship game. i cannot even see renee being a big part of the plot tbh. ((but don’t be fooled i will eat up these glimpse for sure)) nora seemed so. hesitant? to touch tfc that i don’t assume she wants to include them much.

we have no idea how long the book is going to be, but i assume it’s not gonna be longer than tkm? so as much as i love jerejean i don’t think it’s gonna be a thing nora is going to explore with this story. not just because of things she said in the past, but also because i think it would be hard to deal with jean working through his trauma and moving on to live life and not just exist AND develop a relationship. ((same goes for the renee/jean pairing tbh)). and i am fine with that. the most important thing for me about this book will be jean and seeing him heal and adjust and get better. i don’t NEED more. if we get more that’s great too, but i have my doubts about that.

i assume we will still get a decent amount of jeremy and jean interactions because i can really see jeremy (as captain but also just as the person i assume him to be) to take on the responsibility of caring for jean and help him recover from everything he has been through with riko and tetsuji. i think not matter what happens he’ll have a big part in helping jean navigate his new environment.

and omg do i expect jean to STRUGGLE!! the trojans are THEE anti-thesis to the ravens in attitude so i see jean really being a slightly disruptive force at first. while i think he’ll adjust to the trojan way i cannot see him being like the others. he’ll always be a little different but i think it will make the trojans stronger (i can totally see jean teach them raven drills lol).

now moving on from that and more into trojans and exy territory I WANT TO SEE THE TEAM DYNAMIC SO BAD. and i am sure we will see it. i want to see the trojans be soooo patient with jean and absorb his anger and hurt and trauma and transform it into something bearable. i want for jean to HAVE FUN playing exy and not just play it because he has to. i want him to really fall in love with the sport in a way that is not affected by the fact that the moriyama still own his game.

at the same time i want to see him build a life outside of exy. i want him to de-centre exy and find hobbies that fulfill him. i want him to have genuine friends. i want him to spend time like other 20 somethings. i want him to get a taste for a normal life and mundanity. and i want him to like it. i want him to learn to sit in that feeling of just. being okay. without the fear of things going sideways at any time. i want for tenderness and not violence to become the norm.

as for stuff i’d LOVE to see. i know i just said i don’t expect to see much of the foxes, i would kill for a jean and kevin interaction that has them Talk to each other about the past and the present and maybe even the future. not sure we’ll get that but a girl can dream. i honestly don’t expect a neil and jean reunion. but who knows? ((also. maybe jean reuniting with his sister??? that would be something wouldn’t it.))

i am a little scared and a little nervous to see what tsc will be about and how jean’s story will play out, but i do trust nora to do the characters and the story and us justice. ((that doesn’t necessarily mean giving us what we want but the story as a whole being a good fit for her characters and the aftg thesis of exploring life after trauma)). i also hope she won’t mess with aftg too much. i don’t think she will. but just to have it said.

in the end the only thing i want out of tsc is jean getting to a point where he feels okay and sees a future for himself that makes him want to live rather than simply exist. i want to see him embrace his new found freedom and get hobbies and interests and friends and break out of ravens’ nest MENTALLY for good. i want him to be able to look at himself in the mirror and be okay with the person he is. and excited to become the person he’s slowly becoming. i want him to learn to live life in the sun <3

[darcyolsson]

In the shadowhunter universe i think the circle has the most amount of fucked up relationships. Like everybodys got complex outside the norm relationships with at least two other members. The circle is so fascinating to me. The most popular and charismatic guy is evil and the few people who figure it out takes forever to do so. People are properly rebelling against their parents. They make themself a big menace as teenagers. And on the other side youve got the downworlders reaction to this. Tessa and Magnus are heartbroken. They give up on Stephen. There is so much going on but we are given so little.

YEAH i think the circle is such an underexplored aspect of the tsc universe!! i highly doubt we'll ever get any sort of series or even a full side book dedicated to them but the tidbits of info we do have from the short stories are so fascinating. it honestly brought some much-needed nuance to the tmi parents, bc even though we do have a few details about what went down (like the circle originally not being anti-downworlders, but sort of gradually moving in that direction after valentine's father died) i did feel like tmi left me wondering a bit how they all ended up as a part of an extremist group.

my favourite thing about the circle is that, at least at the start, they all have very similar views to the tmi gang: that the clave is corrupt in many ways (objectively true), and needs to be reformed. especially in tftsa it's a statement we hear simon say over and over and over again and i just LOVE that juxtaposition, the implication that if a different kind of person had gotten a hold of simon & clary and even the rest of the gang they could've ended up exactly like their parents.

and tbh, i just love reading about the circle and their drama and misery, lol. i love it when characters act really terribly i love it when characters manipulate & get manipulated and are then eaten alive by guilt. the evil we love is a gem, just robert experiencing flop after flop and ruining everyone's lives. and then becoming miserable for the rest of his life because of it. genuinely very fun. i think cc does morally gray characters very well (when she wants to, which is rarely </3) and i just love to watch miserable people be miserable what can i say!!

also, so true what you said about fucked up relationships. the circle didnt fit into the big love web i made for all of tsc because there's nothing linking them to any of the tmi/tid/tda/etc characters (thank god lmfao), but behold, i made them their own tiny love dodecahedron for funsies:

is it more contained than the 74-people big tsc love web*? perhaps. is it any less insane? absolutely not.

*which, by the way, misses many people, as i've found out in my tmi and novella reread. but they dont fit on there so i'll have to recreate it in its entirety if i want everyone to fit, which is not something i want to spend my time doing, because i am insane but not that insane

[safyresky]

I am once again asking if tscs even knows what pacing is

Episode 4 once again has my brain itching and not in a good way. I'm so infuriated and also perplexed and also very much just. What?? Did I just watch????

Part of me is like "Man, maybe I should stop watching this show. I dislike it it. Every episode takes down my hp permanently. my brain KEEPS ITCHING AND YOU CAN'T SCRATCH YOUR BRAIN WITH YOUR FINGERS UNLESS YOU DO SOME QUESTIONABLE SHIT THAT WOULD GET A MEDICAL LICENCE REVOKED!!!!" and the other part of me is like "You know what's fun? Getting angry while also still wondering if perhaps it will get better!"

SURVEY SAYS. IT AIN'T GETTING ANY BETTER FOLKS!

I don't even know WHERE to begin, so I'm just gonna point form this bitch and see what happens (chaos I imagine)

UM. CURTIS EXPLODED????

I REMEMBER READING THAT IN A FIC SOMEWHERE and I can't remember what fic it was, but the OC that was the head elf before Bernard exploded into confetti bc of stress. I gotta find that fic again.

BUT UM. CURTIS-ITIS??? WHAT A WAY TO GET WRITTEN OFF THE SHOW. KINDA SAD FOR THE LIL GUY, HE WAS STRESSED BUT DIDN'T DESERVE TO BE EXPLODED ):

Hey. Don't cry, don't cry. I have a list of misdemeanours Scott has done that would surely get him in trouble with the Council. Wanna see it?

YOU'RE GONNA.

Based on really shitty math that I did NOT fact check, about 2 billion counts of exposing the SOS (giving snow globes to all the families that celebrate Christmas to rejuvenate Christmas magic, that HAS to go against magical secrecy things)

Turning EB into a BB. Yes, Sandra did it, but given the "family business" angle...¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(one count of Legend-napping?)

Breaking into EB's house

Stealing his basket of tricks

Taking over his holiday and not telling the Council

Using Legendary Figure's powers on and against them

Lying. So much LYING.

So that's about 2 billion and 5? Ish? Penalties?

HMMM.

In Jack voice: I commit 273 acts of upstaging of Santa and I nearly get booted from the Council, but when SANTA commits two point five billion injections, he gets off scoot free! Unbelievable.

So, yeah. I am mad about that. And on the SUBJECT of Jack Frost on this Jack Frost Stan Blog, WHY ARE ALL THESE SANTA'S MAKING SNOW???? I KNOW IN TSC2 SANTA MADE SNOW BUT IT WAS OBVI FAKE AF AND BAD. AND NOW THIS???? JUST, MAKING FLURRIES AND LETTING IT SNOW AND SNOWBALLS AND THE ICICLES FROM LAST SEASON??

AHHHH

Okay. I'm cool. I'm chill. I'm calm. Uh

(clearing my throat)

The way. The ladies are all interacting. Is ICK. It's like, trying to be woke and then going back and doing the EXACT OPPOSITE. Like. Just. I can't DEAL with every woman to woman conversation, especially when Carol is involved. She just keeps going back on things she says, and I dislike EVERYTHING about the ladies and ladies chats. I was SHOOKETH when they went "Let's use EB's house as a rage room!" THE MAN WAS KIDNAPPED AND BUNNY'D GUYS. COME ON! The Claus's really are out here just CRIMING IT UP, HUH.

Man. I haven't done a second watch and I'm not sure I'm going to??? I may attempt it again tomorrow. But it really really does seem like the plot is getting kinda lost. I honestly thought Mad Santa would make it to the Pole this episode, and my guess about him getting there end of episode 5 or beginning of 6 was like. NOT CORRECT

BUT FELLAS. I THINK IT WAS CORRECT. I THINK THEY'RE REALLY GONNA LAST MINUTE THE PLOT. AH.

Seeing Sandman was fun! I thought the elves lulling him to sleep was goddamn funny as FUCK. I did NOT like hoe easily he gave into Scott's gaslighting.

Also, holy hell. If Santa can't look like Santa delivering eggs, then perhaps maybe you should uh. MAKE THE WATCH TURN HIM INTO A BUNNY? NOT INTO REGULAR SCOTT CALVIN? HATE THAT. I have always had a hc that Santas totally could poof into their civilian selves for whatever reason, BUT NOT LIKE THIS. And I know it's just bc TA doesn't like the Santa prosthetics. Every single instalment of this franchise has him not being Santa-ie at some point and it is. EXHAUSTING. Scott's just exhausting. I miss movie Scott so gd much y'all

Also love that Mad Santa's plan was "maybe he'll notice me" lol. That's fucking funny. The elves sure did! But they don't want to be EXILED and I'm like, uh, I KNOW there was a clause for it but Scott doesn't know so maybe you guys need to chill? IF SANTA DOESN'T KNOW HE CAN EXILE YOU THEN YOU ARE SET!

Also x2, it has just occurred to me that we are 4 episodes in and have yet to:

meet the other gnomes

see this amulet Magnus keeps talking about

see Kris have any other part that isn't just "look we got fluffy on here!"

see ANYONE make the EB was kidnapped connection

See Befana put EB back

be given more substance on being exiled as an elf

like. do exiled elves turn into gnomes? given Olga's like of marshmallows?? HMM

Man y'all, I'm all over the place, much like this episode. I wonder what the heckeros is going on behind the scenes. I feel like the plot is so derailed and uh also. THEY EXPLODED MY BOY!!

[aphroditelovesu]

Can I have a hermes yandere please

❝⚡️— lady l: Here it is, hope you like it anon. As it wasn't specified, I made it in the form of an imagine, but if you want a hc of yandere Hermes, just ask and I'll do it. As always, English is not my first language and may contain errors that I missed, so I'm sorry. Good reading! :)

❝tw: yandere themes in general, obsessive and possessive behavior, torture and implicit slurs. If any of these topics bother you, I recommend not reading.

❝⚡️word count: +1k.

The god of travelers smiled smugly as he watched you. It was so much fun watching you trying to run away from him, the god of travelers. Hermes couldn't describe how pleasurable it was to see you clinging to the little thread of hope that existed in you, that you could escape and get away from him. If he weren't so treacherous, Hermes would be irritated by yours failed attempts to escape. But not him, he was amused because as soon as you got tired of running to get caught every time, he'd have you blushing and embarrassed, completely at his mercy.

''Oh, my sweet and precious Y/N, what am I going to do with you?'' Hermes yawned as he held you by the waist. Tears streamed down yours beautiful eyes as he tried to hold back the screams that, once he pushed you hard enough, you knew he would utter. ''Why do you keep wanting to play cat and mouse with me, my love? Haven't I warned you countless times that you can't escape me? Tsc, tsc…'', although the deceitful smile remained on your lover's lips, the frustration and slight anger in his voice could not hide the cruel truth from you, again you would be locked up.

"I-I'm sorry, Hermes…", the way the god's name left his lips irritated you, like a low, desperate whisper.

''Hm, are you sorry Y/N? I don't know if I really believe that…'' he sighed dramatically, but you wouldn't be fooled. ''This isn't the first time you've told me this.''

You flinched in the divinity's crushing grip, terror coursing through your frail body. But at least, as a form of consolation, you shouldn't fear the physical pain, Hermes could never physically hurt you, he just loved you too much for that. The god's preferred form of punishment was the psychological joke he would play on you, seeing you trembling in fear of being hurt, while he would just hug you and whisper oaths of love in your ear. It was always so pleasurable to watch you getting confused and grateful that you hadn't been hurt, so you'd wrap yourself around your neck and the two of you would hold on until the notion took hold in your brain and you'd try to run away once more. And so, once again, the whole cycle would begin.

However, the main reason you kept trying to escape was precisely the lack of physical pain. Hermes is not stupid, he knows that very well, but he loved seeing that hopeful and naive expression on your face, it was one of the main characteristics that made the god fall in love with you. How could he destroy something he loved about you?

''I won't be so benevolent this time, Y/N.'' Hermes uttered in a hard voice, and after a long time, you really got scared of him. Perhaps, just now, he would show that ruthless and cruel side that only a few unfortunate people have known.

''W-What?'' The words were like a whisper, his hands, involuntarily, clutching at the god's cloak.

''You will be punished severely for your insolence towards me, my love.'' Hermes smiled, kissing your forehead softly. ''But don't worry, I won't hurt you. I could never do that, but there are other people who are more than willing to earn my blessing.''

''Y-You mean that…''

Hermes laughed, before finally pulling you away. ''That's right, little maiden. My followers. Thieves, merchants or just passers-by. They all want to be blessed by me.''

''Are you going to let them hurt me?''

''Oh, don't worry, Y/N. I'll make sure that they don't hurt you too much, you know, don't leave marks all over your body.''

''B-But you said you'd never hurt me…'' You protested weakly.

''Yes I do not. But that doesn't mean others can't punish you.'' Seeing your confused look, Hermes sighed and said, 'I, Hermes, god of travelers, roads, magic, fertility, herds, patron of thieves, I could never lay a single finger on my most precious jewel. I made a promise never to hurt you and I will honor it, but you must be punished to stop being so stubborn.''

''NO! H-Hermes please! I promise never to run away again! Just… Please…''

''I know you won't run away anymore, little maiden. I'm going to hate to see her cry, but it will be necessary. To protect our love.” The god took hold of you again, pulling you by the waist tightly, as he gave the command for your winged sandals to start flying towards the Temple of Hermes.

Your cries and pleas were completely ignored by the god who flew at full speed to his most famous temple. As they approached, it was able to hear the murmur of the crowd that they had come to pray to the god.

Hermes approached discreetly and dropped you gently to the ground. When you finally managed to get up, your eyes widened as you saw all of Hermes' followers staring at you in ecstasy. After seeing all those people were come near to you, as if they were in a trance.

''Don't hurt me please…'' Your voice was shaky, you knew there was no use begging for mercy, you knew you wouldn't have any piety, but you couldn't help but cling to the small hope. But you were very naive, the very god they worshiped asked them to punish you, why would they listen to a human?

You didn't know what had happened because for the next few minutes, all you could hear in the temple was yours screams and the voices of people telling them to rip, cut, mutilate. Your clothes were completely ripped, torn to shreds on the cold floor, mixing with your tears. Purple and yellow bruises appeared on your arms, as an excruciating pain grew more and more. Eventually, you stopped crying, your throat sore from the screams, you didn't even notice how the crowd slowly dispersed, and after what seemed like an eternity, you were left alone in the temple.

You didn't even notice how strong arms pulled you into a warm, protective embrace.

''Don't worry, my love. I am here. No one else will hurt you.'' Hermes kissed your dry and cracked lips lovingly. ''And I promise to take very good care of you.''

[rinadragomir]

I fully understand your feelings about not being able to say that you liked Chain of Thorns, even if it’s only a little bit because I feel the same way. People are allowed to have hated the book, dislike the book, feel meh about it, like the book, love the book, or have whatever feelings towards the book that they want, but when it’s gotten to the point where the people who enjoyed the book feel like they can’t say anything, that’s a problem. The people of this fandom are the reason that I stay out of it and don’t come near it. I create my own person bubble, and I am perfectly content there.

Me, I’m personally someone who loved the book, but that’s because I threw out any theories or expectations that I had prior to reading it. Like sure, I had them, but I knew I had to go in with an open mind, just like I do every book I read, whether it’s part of a series or not. Was the book perfect? No, what book is? (The day a book is considered perfect is the day that I win the lottery). For me, however, I was satisfied with it. I couldn’t put it down, and when I can’t put a book down, that tells me that it’s something that I will love the rest of my life. The only expectation that I had of Cassie was for her to give me a book that I enjoyed, and she gave me that. Point blank.

Nonono I'm not afraid to say I loved Chain of Thorns. Like GUYS🤌🏻 if I'll make a post where I'm complimenting this book AND ANY OF YOU DECIDE TO FUCKING SEND HATE?! - YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD🔪 I'm gonna bully you for the rest of my days, you'll regret even thinking about sending hate

The thing is: I don't feel like posting about chot AT ALL🤷🏼‍♀️ I'm trying to make edits, reblog sth interesting I find on my dash sometimes, but I refuse to go through any TSC tags, especially Chain of Thorns (cause someone can make a hate post about for example Lucie and then casually use #tmi #tid #tda. The dander is everywhere)

I thought I was strong enough to make positive content by myself, I know there are people who wanna enjoy a fun Tumblr experience just like me and I really want to give them such an opportunity. But I literally can't find any motivation or strength to start it. The hate wave was just TOO OVERWHELMING.

I was online 24/7 the first week after chot was released and it was the worst post-book online experience in my life😮‍💨 You read sth -> you open Twitter/Tumblr to see people's reaction on this scene -> you see hate. You wanna chat with your moots about certain scene you liked -> you text them -> you see "yes but you know what I hated about it-". And i was going through this for more than a week. I was hoping sth might change. But nothing changed.

It doesn't matter how much you like something, if it's surrounded by SO MUCH HATE DAILY - you simply can't be as excited as you were in the beginning ;-;

People are allowed to express their opinions, react to sth, even if their reaction is posting hate daily for the entire month☝🏻 (but if you think sending hate to the author is okay - there's sth wrong with you, you need professional help). And no one is allowed to stop them, they're not doing anything illegal! But my mistake was that I ALLOWED them to ruin MY exciting experience. So I'm not making the same mistake twice. My choice - to avoid anything that can make me feel bad.

[thousand-winters]

What are your favourite tlh characters and why?

Hi there! ✨

If you have seen my blog the past few weeks, you probably can guess some of them, but here we go:

Grace

I feel like Grace is one of the most complex characters we've ever gotten in TSC and it feels like such a breath of fresh air. Don't get me wrong, I am perfectly aware that these are YA novels, so I generally don't expect the books to be super amazing, I know what I'm signing up for, but that's precisely why I like her so much. Her personality is very unlike other female characters we've gotten in the series and I don't mean that in a "not like other girls" sense but in the sense that it caught my attention immediately, because CC doesn't have the best track of giving her girls gray morality without treating them like they suck for that.

I guess I was always curious about her? Even in CoG she gave the impression she was more than she seemed, and reading her backstory in CoI just made me hurt for her and root for her to have a happy ending after so much misery. There's something really satisfying about characters that have faced so much hardships finally getting a chance to simply be.

Alastair

Oh, boy. When I first read CoG and I read about Alastair, he felt to me so much like my older brother that I loved him immediately. It helped that I found his snark incredibly funny. However... as I kept reading TLH, he actually started reminding me of, well, myself. For many reasons, but let's not get too personal here, haha, let's just say I found his flaws, his struggles, and his stubbornness to go on in spite of that very relatable. How could I not love him deeply and dearly?

Aside from my biased reasons, I also find that his character is written very consistently and I loved his character arc (I stand by how simplistic some things felt in COT, but even so), how he had his highs and his lows, that was very nicely done. He also feels like a complex character because he's allowed to fuck up badly and it doesn't get swept under the rug, though I would say they go the other way with him and Grace by being too harsh, but I'll take my wins where I can.

Christopher

Oh, Kit, sweet Kit, you were the best of them all. Christopher is such a great character because, while mostly ignored the first two books, he's endearing practically without trying. CC's books have this thing where sometimes they try to convince you a character is likable for X reasons and it simply doesn't work for me that they tell me that I should love a character.

Christopher doesn't have that problem, they kinda present him to you as this klutzy nerd, but he's so much more than that. His logic helps him be the most compassionate and kind from the group, no matter what the narrative tries to tell you. He's perceptive, he's fair, he's fun. Who doesn't like Christopher even if he isn't their favorite? He knows what he is and what he wants and he follows through with it, he's such a pillar of the group that passes unnoticed because he's always in the background, but by the gods, he's so good.

Honorary mentions

Thomas and Ari.

I adored Thomas in CoT, though I must admit he doesn't spark my curiosity and excitement quite like the other three did, in the way that I would get immediately engaged the second I saw their names on the page. Nothing wrong with him, just my personal preferences, but he was truly funny and sweet and I quite liked that!

Ari... I do like her, in a way, I wanted to like her so bad, but she's trapped as the love interest in Anna's narrative, and given that I have no love for Anna's character or their pairing, it was hard for me to enjoy her appearances. She didn't have a chance to shine on her own, but when I think of all the ramifications of her story, I swoon a little. She could be so interesting.

[annabeth-my-beloved]

One of the more interesting effects of reading Chain of Thorns was the crisis about mortality it created (what fun, I know).

When you read book series that don’t consist of fifteen main story books spanning over approximately a century and a half, you don’t really notice it, but obviously TSC has a really long timeframe, and that throws off my internal assumption that the characters are living, just as I am (this post is going to be ironic in about 80 years (unless we get some serious scientific advances))

When you read, for example, Pride and Prejudice, you don’t really think of the characters as dead. As far as I’m concerned, Elizabeth and Mr Darcy and living a happy life, not yet among the shades of Pemberley. Even Romeo and Juliet don’t inspire a crisis about one’s mortality, because they die in their own time, as anyone could.

No, it’s something about knowing that canonically, all the TLH characters are dead that gets me. The same is true of the TID series, although to a lesser extent, as both Tessa and Jem live to the present day, so I didn’t consider it much. By the time that Clary, Jace, Emma, Julian, and co. are all mucking around fighting demons, James, Cordelia, Lucie, Thomas, Alistair, Matthew, and all the others are long dead and almost forgotten (if CC had written TMI after TLH I’m sure they would have featured more, but that’s not how it is), and that makes me sad. All the characters that I love are properly dead, they don’t get to live forever in some nebulous timeframe parallels to my own. I live at roughly the same time as the TWP kids (when that series finally comes out), but I know that, in this world, there is no illusion that they will live forever. In another hundred years, I, as well as Kit, Ty, Dru, and even Tavvy, will be long dead (although, mind you, I don’t actually know much about most of the younger Blackthorn siblings, I’ve only read the main series books).

Anyway that was some fun light reading for you. Sleep well tonight.

[thevagabondexpress]

some closing thoughts on delusions (and terrible fictions) (my genderbent tlh rewrite)

Whoo. This has been a long ride. A very long ride indeed.

When I started writing this back in June of 2021 (a couple years ago now), I hadn't realized I was genderfluid yet, neither had I realized that the only consistency in my experience of gender would be a never-ending byronic crisis about it. I brood about my gender like James Herondale broods about being damned and I am proud enough of this to make no apologies.

But I was very much aware that I was in the middle of an existential gender crisis and that meant I had gender thoughts very much in the forefront of my mind when I read Chain of Gold and Chain of Iron for the first time. So of course, it stuck out to me that the 'fake marriage' plot was really gender-specific and would not have worked (certainly not the same way as it was set up in canon) if Cordelia had been, say, Claude.

So, of course, I saw a challenge. I had to figure out how to make these books work if the characters' genders were swapped around. Then I stumbled across a) Cassandra Jean's genderbent Mortal Instruments art, and b) someone else writing fanfic about it, and that was the catalyst I needed. And because it's been my favorite series, I chose to start with TLH.

I gave up on Great Expectations. I knew the books are a pseudo-retelling of it and I didn't have the time and energy to read the story, besides which I knew it would come out very differently. So d&tf's inspirations are instead a hash of We Have Always Lived In The Castle, Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen, and a Radiohead song, among others.

I chose not to wait for Chain of Thorns. I said, to heck with it, I've been watching these genderbent characters disperse in very different directions from their canon counterparts and while some of that (the existence of Fields, Felice's survival) was my deliberate fault, a lot of it was simply me listening to the story and taking it where it felt like it should naturally go. So, before we even had an official ChoT summary, I threw my hands up and decided to just write my own take on a final installment. Looking at what became of Chain of Thorns, thank goodness I did. There's so much about ChoT that would not have worked with the characters I had and the directions I was pushing them in.

This is not, by far, my best writing. It's messy, it's sloppy, there are things I could've done a lot better and different decisions I could've made and I could've done better worldbuilding and used the historical realism of a genderbent rewrite concept to push it even further away from the original TLH. I may go back and edit/rewrite someday, but not now. For now, let's just sit here and consider that I actually saw this through.

I may do more TSC Genderbent Editions if people want them. TID also has a very gender-specific plot that could be fun to wrangle, and while TMI doesn't in the same way, I've come to realize this series is also serving a fantasy for women who like shorter men so I may have to do it for that reason alone.

So I dunno, let me know if you want more of these rewrites (or additional/ongoing content for Judith + Claude, Michelle + Fields, Jackie + Lou, Alice + Tracey, Christa + the deep blue sea, etc.) because you bet I will listen.

[pinkpeony1]

an overly long analysis of Matthew and Alastair part 2 - this time making even less sense (i think)

tldr: their relationship is a cycle of pain and hurt, Matthew can’t heal without reconciling with Alastair, while Alastair has already done so. also i am scared for their ending and want them to both be happy but idk if they both can 😭

thinking once again about how Matthew and Alastair’s dynamic. i love Alastair, he is such a complex character who has changed the most during the time we first meet him till now than I think any other tsc character, and when I first read tftsa I did not like him (i’m sorry, i’m now a Stan) on the other hand, i love Matthew so much, and I can’t help but feel sorry for him over what happened with Charlotte and his sister, but also i hate him for what he did to Alastair and also turning the merry thieves+co against him/making them dislike him and leading to Alastair being miserable and also costing him potential friendships with people that would understand him.

because like James and Alastair I think would be good friends under different circumstances, if they actually interacted for the first time post shadowhunter academy. they are both the protective order brother who is a sweetheart that wants the best for their family but is terrible at opening up, care for Cordelia and Thomas—in different ways lol—and is also quite dramatic and also a lit nerd. and Christopher and Alastair is dynamic that hasn’t been explored but I feel they would have a fun grumpy/sunshine friendship going on.

but Matthew’s trauma led him to hating Alastair and blaming him for everything wrong in his life even if it wasn’t his fault or was the result of his own actions, which in turn made Alastair’s life even worse. taking out his anger towards himself and his situation on Alastair instead of using a healthy coping mechanism. and then the fact that Matthew if he doesn’t get the help he needs could so easily turn into Alastair’s father (Silas right? idk). the way that their stories are so similar in that how they deal with tragedy led them to where they are. how their actions as children have caused them to be so guilt-riddled, working through it by bottling it up (and then lashing out in Matthew’s case) but never wanting to burden them, when the original incident at the academy was really neither of their faults, more so the environment they were in that led them to it.

I really don’t know how Cassie has planned on resolving their arcs, in the past, a bad relationship in the beginning led to a really fun and caring friendship (like Gabriel and Will and also Clary and Alec), but there is also like no way for Matthew in particular to get to the place where he can work through what he did and apologize for his actions. Alastair is already there—he knows the reasoning for his actions, he is working through his trauma, he’s forming healthy non-familial relationships for the first time.

but even with all of the pain and hurt between them i still almost want them to be friends? like Matthew has deeply hurt Alastair, but tsc, for me, has in part always been about owning up to your mistakes, doing what you can to reconcile with your past and the people who you hurt.

with Cassie making the ending less tragic i have no idea what to expect from their dynamic and their arcs, i can really only hope they find happiness peace within themselves and (at least in Matthew’s case because Alastair didn’t know what he unwittingly did to Matthew) apologize. like literally thinking about Matthew’s ending stresses me tf out😭. like I want the best for both of them, but I can’t help but fear a happy ending for one means the other won’t get theirs.

also like I said last time because it is the one thing we know they agree on and i think it’s fun to say (i’m overly excited for the scene in which they both yell at him): fuck charles

[branw3lls]

cp2 thoughts!

-i’m stressed!!!!! theres no chain of gold audiobook available at any of the 3 libraries i’m a member of and it’s gonna take me too long to read during the week. i want to read CoT when it comes out, i am so bad about staying offline when i know there are spoilers but i want to give myself time to process my re-read. tlh books are so fucking long! thankful but i’m stressed!

- again listened to the audiobook and forgot it’s daniel sharman of teen wolf fame lol but he’s very good! was he another will fancast of the time? does not sing the irish ballads but he has a very nice voice and does all the accents well. does will with a welsh accent, you gotta love it

-this book this book this book. it’s gut punch after gut punch

“though i am the consul and lead the clave, it seems very much to me that this will go down as the time as charlotte branwell, and my legacy will be lost.” WELL! 

-consul wayland’s turn is still very abrupt to me, at least how it escalates from clockwork prince. he really turns to comically evil and i feel like we’re getting that with bridgestock. bridgestock has been much more straightforwardly a dick and but still. god will she ever catch a break 

-curse-less will is so heartbreaking and wonderful to see. makes me love dad!will even more. he’s just a goofy guy 

-‘that is what it means to be consul, charlotte’ i really think chain of thorns is going to put charlotte into more duty over family/loved ones whether that’s lucie being charged w something for necromancy or the inquisitor learning about matthew’s secret and forcing her hand in front of everyone to have him punished and to hurt her. i don’t think she’d punish either of them but i do think it’s going to be put in front of her. she will always bend the law for the ones she loves but how long/to what degree is she able to do that and still be consul. i’m scared!!!!!!!

-‘even his tufts of ginger hair radiating anxiety and love’ charlotte and henry showing small little affection towards each other makes any onlooker have to look away from them almost every time. their power

-can’t believe cecily is only in one book and is still such a big presence. gabrily forever! they fucking rock. charlotte gave gabriel one comforting hug and he said ok actually, i would die for you queen 

-i love these siblings and i love that tlh is even more about siblings and families

-charlotte interrupting literally every couple’s tender moments by abruptly swinging the library door open. i can’t imagine the institute after clockwork princess, too many couples, everyone had to be secretly making out in corridors constantly

-gewgaws!! gideon writing these letters to the consul about charlottes fake spending habits is soooo funny. lucie needs to ask her uncle gideon to be her editor

-mortmain is a fun villain. it’s almost scarier that he’s just a mortal human man who has twisted technology and dark magic and created something more sinister than a supernatural villain would and his motivations are all very tragic. i like exploring more of the downworlder tension/ shadowhunter relations and how that’s always an undercurrent of all these series

-bridget daly what the hell are you, sister

-the cadair idris battle scene kills me every time every time! “i am not mad! he is alive! he is alive and i will not leave him!” henry and charles both have been brought back from the brink of death by warlock magic and if charlotte has to also hold matthew while he’s injured and dying, i’ll lose it. no more gravely injured fairchilds! 

-it does feel like this book has about 6 different endings but i kind of always love that about tsc books. the big climax/battle is almost in the middle of the book and there’s plenty of fallout. like as much as there will always be angst and people we love dying, cc will always give us so many small sweet scenes as a balm. not that CoT will end happy per say but that’s a long fucking book. christmas at the institute is so so beautiful and i am dreading this christmas party at the institute where ‘terrible things happens”

-do you think callida fairchild died at the clockwork attack at the council meeting

-the god damn epilogue....nothing has messed me up quite the same way since. traumatizing truly. herongreystairs really is something else.  tessa leaving really makes me cry cry cry.  i know will’s death scene is not to be referenced for any tlh outcome anymore but “fairchild sons and daughters with curling red hair like henry’s had once been” i choose to believe this not referencing henry being dead but actually henry’s hair is just grey at that point

[gayforcarstairsgirls]

First of all my congratulations 🥹✨🌟⭐💫you deserve this and SO MANY MORE🥹

Um👉🏻👈🏻 what about 🍏Ghostwriter?

Thank you so much Rina 🥹🥹🥹🥹

OOOOOH YES THAT'S A GOOD REQUEST THANK YOU

Oki oki oki

🍏 - Ghostwriter

Ok ok, I LOVE ghostwriter, they are one of my absolute favourite tlh ships!!! I have a hard time really connecting with some of the characters in tlh, idk why I'm just not as invested in all of the ships?? But ghostwriter I am fully invested in, if anything happens to them I will literally just like... something will be set in fire if they don't have a happy ending ok. I just think their romance is so like, soft? Like he brushes her hair and their love is secret and special and they're just fighting to even be together and alive, and also they are gonna be such troublemakers in chot now I can see it. I also love their dynamic, cause Lucie is so chaotic (love that for her) and Jesse is sort of calming for her?? Whilst also being equally as mischievous.

At first I was a little concerned by their age gap, but then I was like ya know what if I can get behind Malec I can get behind these two, he's been frozen at that age and he's literally dead I'm just gonna look past it

Also fun fact, my absolute favourite couple of lines from tsc are said by ghostwriter!!

Idk why it's just the most beautiful thing I've ever read, and I think it just sums them up for me :)

So in conclusion: 10/10, absolutely love them, as far as I can remember I loved them from the beginning of their relationship and they had better get a happy ending

This has made me want to go back and read chog and choi now I miss these two

[jeanmoreaux]

literally yes to all i could not fall asleep either 😭

i think what's so bRILLIANT about tsc (besides, like, everything) is that nora seemed really nervous that her vision for the story and characters would get swallowed by the HCs the fans have been cooking for years, and while that still could happen in book 2, i felt like while i was reading it her vision was my vision - like i am positive we as fans have influenced her story and maybe jerejean won't turn into anything (i'll eat my arm fr) but that bitch at the very least was like "okay sure fine i'll give you mutual attraction" "i'll give you jerejean friendship and intimacy even if i may not give you sex or romance (just yet)"

and i think the other thing i was so overjoyed about was that even though the og AFTG is definitely (clearly) very queer, nora really stepped up and took it to a whole new level in this one with both the representation and just the overall tone - that like not only are a lot (all????) of the trojans open and together and so incredibly gay, but they're shaping the story and jean and making it less shameful to be gay in exy. like og aftg spent a lot of time being like "don't be gay! this is bad! you can't do this!" and while jean still harbors that (for his own fucked up reasons i'm gonna kms) it's obvious that the tone for this book is so much brighter and gayer.

and! the parallels between neil's story and jean's!!! like obviously we could write essays on that topic alone but in conjunction with that point i just made - seeing the similarities between the house taking in jean and the foxes taking in neil (his lack of possessions, their protectiveness, their attempts to normalize him, their creation of a safe space for him) literally made me want to gouge my eyes out it was so beautiful and sweet and fun and QUEER. like aftg always had aroace undertones and such a huge part of the aro/ace experience is friendship and queer friendship at that and so to get to see this kind of found family play out AGAIN but in a slightly different way with a whole group of gays who are out and proud and happy is just......everything

like it's not that i was *worried* persay because i do trust nora but you never know what you're gonna get with spin-off sequels and this fandom is like a rabid dog and so for her to bravely return to this world after years is amazing in itself but to do it in a way that is.......dare i say.......almost......better than the original.......it blows my mind. and it makes me appreciate the original series in new ways now that we'll have more info on the ravens and all of their bullshit. like i literally am sitting here being like....so....series reread tn queen????

if i wasn't insane before (i was) then i sure as hell am now

~

also. can we talk about jeremy's cheesy af dialogue that makes me squeal? thinking about him saying hecka with his full chest....i love that man

holding hands 🤝✨ felt alive yet so dead once i was done.

also what a glorious ask. i can co-sign all of this and i don’t think i have anything to say that adds value to your points. you’re so right.

nora is so brave for letting us back into that world. because as much as i love and adore this fandom’s passion, it can be intense is a quite negative way at times. so yes, nothing but respect for nora coming back and giving us Her version of the story. the small nods to us (blond jeremy, frosted tips, the cardboard dog etc.) were so very endearing. and i don’t want her to betray her integrity just for the sake of fanservice. i trust her to deliver a great story, even when some of the things i might want to happen will not end up being anything (e.g. jerejean). nora’s vision will feel right because whatever she decides to do and wherever she decides to take this story i know will make sense. it’s very funny to me that you mentioned how you think tsc might be better than the original because i had the same thought. i am hesitant to really settle on it one way or the other yet; mainly because i tend to get very excited about new, shiny things, but also because we don’t have book 2 yet and i think to really Know i have to consider the story as a whole. but you can definitely see that nora improved as a writer in general (which ofc makes sense.)

i fear this will remain THEE aftg year for me. i am already tempted to reread. i don’t think i’ll know a moment of peace from this story in the foreseeable future but i am not gonna complain i’ll just lean into it and indulge.

~

godddd i expected to love jeremy but i didn’t expect to fall for him this hard. several time i caught myself studying his way of engaging with people and made some mental notes. he’s so special to me. i think once we get his backstory it will get even worse. and he does offer a very different perspective and attitude that’s so very refreshing while still being in tune with what we are used to.