#if we don't get a grace redemption arc in chain of thorns i'll never recover

[i-am-trying-my-best-okay]

I’m feeling the need to be a Grace apologist today, so I’m going to defend her with my life as I go through the reasons I see most people dislike her for and argue against them:

What she did to James: What happened to James was terrible, there’s no denying that. But I’d argue that the blame for it doesn’t rest on Grace, but on Tatiana, at the very least in the beginning. Grace was a child, a child who wanted to belong in her new family, so of course she did what Tatiana told her to do, even after she realizes that Tatiana was being abusive toward her and what she was doing was wrong. The idea that she understands what she’s doing is wrong is sort of amazing to me; she didn’t have much of a reference as to wrong and right, but she still had some sort of instinct anyway. That’s hard for anyone in an abusive relation, let alone a child. But she knows, and she lives with that situation, thinking there’s not much choice in the matter, at least not if she wanted to stay with Jesse, her one good and healthy connection. And with that relation with James already established, Grace probably grew used to it in a way. Terrible, maybe, but perhaps the only way to cope with it. 

Her continued manipulation outside of her mother: She did do manipulative things outside of her mother’s orders, as a way to break away from her mother and all. But she is 16 years old, still a child, and still going off the knowledge of what she’d been taught by the adults around her. And yes, as mentioned before she understands what she’s doing is wrong, but she doesn't have the knowledge of knowing who else to be, just trying to save herself and Jesse in the only way she knew how. And she was given the power of this manipulation by Tatiana, and she mentions how much she hates it. She was given it young, and from a young age she would magically seduce men, older men, into liking her. That would be a terrible feeling to have so young, referring to herself as ‘her mother’s blade’. That’s dehumanizing, and when you feel less then human, it’s all the easier to do awful things, thinking you’re already at that level. Strangely enough though, she’s shown to have a level of honesty outside of this magically manipulation, such as when she told Malcolm about what happened to his lover. She could have lied, she could have told him something else, something that would have made him more likely to get him to help her, but she didn’t. I think, outside of the power’s Tatiana gave her, that Grace is a naturally honest person. She only knows how to ‘lie’ to others via her powers, and without that, she’s actually very blunt. Perhaps this is because Tatiana never really taught her to lie on her own, only to use the powers on men and such. I find this to be rather interesting, making me wonder who she could become as she got older. I wonder if when they all grow to be adults Grace will form a reputation of always telling someone the truth of the matter. It would be ironic for sure, and maybe Grace will find a sort of peace in it. But even if she keeps a form of manipulation with her, that wouldn’t be a bad thing either. She just needs to learn how to use it for good, for her allies, for the right people that would treat her well. It’s already shown how loyal she can be to Jesse, literally challenging death itself to save him, so imagine what lengths she would go if she actually made genuine connections with the right people.

Never contributing to the fight: Yes, she is rather weak and useless in a fighting scenario, and she shows no desire to learn. But first of all, she was never taught to fight, in fact, it was sort of discouraged in a way. Tatiana, with her hatred of Shadowhunter's and such, didn’t want either of her children to fight, going as far as what she did to Jesse. So of course she would naturally be against fighting on her own. If she ever got over that mindset and trained, then I believe she would be able to fight on her own just as well as any other Shadowhunter. And second of all, even if in the end she still holds no desire to fight, that won’t necessary make her wrong or a weak character. There are other things one could do to prove themselves useful; she’s already shown an interest in science. And if she has that level of knowledge in the scientific field despite Tatiana never encouraging it, then imagine what she could accomplish if she was allowed to pursue it in full.