Crystal Herondale

Check out the full twelve illustrations Charlie Bowater did for Thomas’ Journal! They’re so gorgeous, and will be reprinted in full color exclusively for the Kickstarter, which ends Tomorrow! November 28th at 3pm is the very last time you can pledge, at shadowhunter.army

Grace enjoying blowing things up as much as Christopher did makes me happy ❤️

I know he was going through it and didn't want to be pitied, but sometimes I just wanted to SHAKE this boy! 😅

Wanting to answer that kind of question was what led me to write the Family Tree in Clockwork Princess, a mess that has taken me years to clean up! I think that while I don't currently have plans to write, say, a series about the kids of the characters in TLH, I might someday want to, and I don't want to cut off that option, so I'm going to limit what I say about what happens to these characters after the end of Chain of Thorns.

Updated Flower Cards for Dru and Ash by the spookily talented Cassandra Jean!

Jem, Kit and I are so looking forward to your visit. In preparation, Kit has been attempting to teach Mina to say your name. She’s almost got it, but you may have to content yourself with being called “Agnes,” as she has trouble with the M — very trying for her as she is so advanced in her speech, just as you say Max was. You should have heard them in the kitchen this morning. “Who is coming to visit, Mina?” “Agnes!” I feel that your alter ego, Agnes, would wear sequins and be absolutely deadly at whist.

Thank you for your thoughts about the wards. I will look for labradorite at the gem store in Exeter. I tried what you suggested with the chickens—I was able to borrow a Blue Orpington from a neighbor on the last quarter moon. Since then chickens seem to be avoiding Kit, so maybe it will work on demons too? (Though can you really tell when a chicken is avoiding someone as opposed to just being a chicken?)

Jem and I are endeavoring to walk a narrow line, keeping Kit safe and hidden while also providing him with the most normal life we can. We don’t want to lock him away in a tower like a fairytale princess—he’d be miserable. And Mina would be miserable, she just adores him and rides everywhere on his back, clutching onto his shirt with her little hands. It reminds me of the way James and Lucie used to ride on Will’s shoulders. I suppose times change, but children never do.

We’re trying to allow Kit freedom wherever we can. He’s enrolled at the small school in the village, where a few of his friends know about the Shadow World and others don’t. There’s a local pack of werewolves who we’ve become friendly with, and some of their children go to school with him. I’ve begun to suspect that Kit has a girlfriend, but he’s secretive about it. (I guess that’s another thing that never changes about children—how secretive they are. I just hope he knows he can tell us anything. Especially related to demons, or in Kit’s case, the fey. A hundred and ten years later and I’m still edgy.)

He’s a puzzle, our Christopher Jonathan Herondale. About some things he’s opened up, and is willing to talk to Jem and me about them freely — his father, and what it was like growing up being able to see all sorts of peculiar things but not really understanding why. About being taught to fear Shadowhunters. About his concerns about his heritage — what it means, what kind of power he might have. I think it frustrates him, not knowing.

Other things he won’t talk about. We have asked him about Ty, as you and I discussed, but he’s like a brick wall about their friendship. Whatever happened he won’t speak of it. I think Livvy’s death hit him harder than we guessed, too. I’ve heard him call out her name in his sleep, always in this very despairing way. Sometimes he’ll say Not if you do this. Not if you do this, Ty. I feel like whatever they fought about, it must have been awful. But people can be terrible when they’re grieving; we both know that.

You can probably tell from everything I’ve said how much I — how much we — love Kit. I just love him, Magnus, like he was my own. He is my own. I’d kill anyone who wanted to hurt him, just as I would protect Mina or Jem with my life. I never thought I’d have this again, this perfect family I love so much it hurts. Strange after so many years to be so surprised by one’s own feelings — but I imagine it’s much the same for you, isn’t it? Speaking of which, I hope you and Alec and the kids are well. Please let Max know that we found his superhero cape—it was inside the piano.

I enclose a picture from your last visit here. How adorable they all are!

Love,📷

Tessa

herondaisies said: is it possible that james will help thomas and alastair’s relationship develop? james has shown signs that he might be the first one to (forgive) alastair, and i love the possibility of james helping his (hopefully) future brother in law ☺️

James is in an odd place because he’s stuck between Cordelia, who would of course like him to be helpful to Alastair, and his friends, who are furious at Alastair. Also you are assuming James knows Alastair likes Thomas, which I can only say that as of the beginning of the book, he definitely doesn’t. Maybe he finds out. :) I’d like to think he’d be helpful if so, but he’d have to believe that Thomas wanted him to be.

wendysx said: Hi Cassie, I would like to know if we will get more chapters about Jesse, I love him with all my heart and I would love to see more of him.

And you will!

fairstalrs said: why do matthew and cordelia take a road trip?

Because Matthew is the only one with a car. :) (And they’re seeking a magical item.)

cjfritos said: Will James’s power be explained more? I find it very confusing as the turning to shadow is a side effect of seeing the other world (which is his power) yet he can turn to shadow without seeing the other world. And he supposedly cant control it but has done it many times. Also could we get a Jordelia snippet soon 🙏

Well, actually that’s a bit backwards — seeing the other world is a side effect of turning to shadow rather than the other way around. And indeed, while he has willed himself into shadow in the past — and practiced controlling the power with Jem — that doesn’t mean he can always control it. I would also note that Chain of Iron makes clear James doesn’t just have one specific “shadow” power; he has a connection to Belial that plays out in a bunch of strange magic ways, most of which are not necessarily a beneficial or controllable power but just weird stuff that happens to him because of his connection to Belial. It plays out with Lucie, too: she can see Jesse while nobody else, even James, can, because of her connection to Belial  (a connection James shares, but which doesn’t play out the same way with him) which is separate from but connected to her general command-the-dead power.

As for Jordelia,  I am genuinely running out of non-spoilery stuff! Not all snippets, even if they’re just a sentence or two, are created equal. You can ruin a whole book just by sharing a sentence, if the sentence is key to the plot. So I racked my brain a bit and decided this might work ;-) 

Cordelia hesitated. James’s hands were firm and gentle on hers; she knew he would always be this way, gentle and determined, kind and thoughtful. Her heart beat hard and treacherous inside her chest. He had not been gentle in the Whispering Room. Not gentle with his hands on her body and his lips on hers. That had been the James she wanted, her one glimpse at the James she could not have.

Only two more weeks!

mrswillherondale: Hi Cassie, I just finished my reread of Chain of Gold and the whole necromancy issue with Lucie/Grace/Jesse made me wonder: Will anyone be upset at Lucie and Grace for trying to raise Jesse instead of someone else, like Grace’s parents, or Lucie’s grandparents, or Barbara Lightwood? Will Thomas be angry?

*blink* No. Wow, no. I mean, mostly people will be upset at Lucie and Grace for trying necromancy at all. Second, the only reason they are trying it on Jesse is because he is not literally dead. He has both a consciousness that continues to exist, and a body he could return to. It is a matter of joining up that consciousness and the body, which both still exist in our world, rather than trying to bring back someone whose consciousness has long ago been extinguished, and whose body has been burned to ash. So what they’re doing is not what Ty (with terrible results) tried to do in Queen of Air and Darkness, and anyone who knows them and is reasonable (and Thomas is reasonable to a fault — even Will is reasonable!) would understand that.

Thirdly, necromancy isn’t just a bad idea because it’s bad for the necromancer. It’s a bad idea because it’s potentially really bad for the person they’re trying to raise. There is every chance that necromancy can go horribly wrong. If they were to try it on Barbara, she could be brought back as a zombie, someone possessed by a demon, or in terrible screaming permanent agony. With Jesse, they have an opportunity to do what they’re doing with someone who is aware of the risks and can consent to it. Thomas (and/or Will, or Grace’s relatives) would absolutely be furious with Lucie, and by extension Grace, if they did try to bring back Barbara/Will’s parents with their rinky-dink necromantic attempts. Not the other way around.

rhosyncymreig said: Hi! Can you share with us something about Thomastair? (Non-spoilery of course)

I haven’t shared a ton about Thomastair because anything about them is spoilery. We left them not speaking to each other, so even indicating that they have had a conversation is potentially spoilery. All I can really do — especially so close to the book release — is say that yes, they do talk FRAUGHTLY, and share this particular piece of Cassandra Jean art, a scene from COI of Thomas walking away from Alastair’s house in Cornwall Gardens.

Many have asked to read last week’s letter game in a slightly simpler format. So here it is, for everyone’s enjoyment in plain text, under the cut. The action takes place between Chain of Gold and Chain of Iron. Read on …

The end of the Letter Game! I hope you enjoyed the short story. The last installments can be found here:

Christopher to the Merry Thieves

James to the Townsends

Matthew to James

Lucie to James

Cordelia to Anna

The final letter.

Disclaimer: I have nothing to be jealous of when I deleted my instagram account months ago, but I am genuinely upset at the situation. The fandom (and Cassie) deserves to know the truth.

If you’ve read Cassie’s newsletter this morning (or yesterday, depending on time), then you know she’s started her promotional project for Chain of Iron, called The Letter Game. I won’t go into too much detail because the premise of the idea isn’t what’s important– it’s about who is involved. 

I’m nervous to talk about this but this has to be talked about. For Thursday, tsc.updates on instagram is doing one of the promotional pieces. But if you know who runs the account, then you might know they’re also the person who ran shadowsconfess. And if you were around when that account existed, then you know there was a lot (and I mean A LOT) of controversy that steamed from almost every confession post made. 

When shadowsconfess was a thing, there was a lot of discourse surrounding the controversial things that were shared. One of the biggest things was their hate for Jem, and from that came a lot of people who sought out shadowsconfess as their gateway to be hateful and bigoted towards Jem (and many other characters, specifically POC). Now, I am not saying someone isn’t allowed to dislike a character, everyone is entitled to their opinions, but what I am saying is that shadowsconfess didn’t check those hateful confessions, like the racist ones, or the sexist ones, and it honestly played such a huge role in ruining the fandom and community. Arguments were happening left and right, and it was hard to remain neutral especially when it came to differing opinions (especially about Will, it was considered awful if you disliked him). 

Here is an example of what I mean by allowing bigoted confessions (coloring out usernames for obvious reasons):

Overtime, shadowsconfess would post other opinions of theirs, specifically about their heavy dislike of Cassandra Clare. One of their biggest things was how they hated her, how they were a firm believer of separating the art from the artist. Which is fine, but given the fact that they’re currently working with CC… make it make sense. Shit doesn’t add up.  

They were also known for having the scoop on what CC feels towards her characters, such as her disliking Will (prob because of the CP2 epilogue and jessa being canon in the future books). Going back to the hate on Jem, they has a history of disliking POC characters. Like Maia and Alastair, the former reminding her of someone (same argument made against Jem) and the latter being because he’s a bully and not wanting redemption for him. Like I said, it’s okay to dislike a character but this is a pattern. A racist/prejudiced one. 

There’s also this on their tumblr where they try and compare Alastair’s suffering from racism (he is half-Persian) to his bullying of James Herondale having demon blood in his veins as to being the same thing. Idk what to make of it, but it’s fucking weird. I’m sorry, but that’s not the same thing. Not at all.

When they deleted shadowsconfess and made tsc.updates, they kept their tellonym. And here they went along with others making fun of Cassandra Clare’s appearance, where they berated Alastair’s character, etc. 

There have been other instances where they have been awful, such as comparing Cassie to h*tler and jumping on the bandwagon of hating her because of the incest plotline in TMI. Many people I know have gotten into an argument with her and/or their friends over these issues, and for the most part we’ve asked that a lot of this hate and negativity to stop. But there has been a bruise left on the TSC fandom because of things like this, and now CC has her promoting Chain of Iron, which leads into this point:

I am not making this post to be spiteful, or to “re-hash old feuds,” but instead I am pointing out how unfair it is that someone who claims to hate Cassandra Clare and has caused a lot of damage to this fanbase gets to work with her. There are plenty of fans who would die to have been part of this project, and unfortunately this has turned into one of those things that happens when someone doesn’t research a person they collaborate with. There are a bunch of other things that have been said and done but I know I can’t bring them up without proper proof, but I hope what I have shown here is enough. 

I have been wanting to talk about this since I read CC’s newsletter this morning, but I am nervous to post this due to the way I’ve been treated when calling tsc.updates/shadowsconfess out on their bs in the past. I don’t care that they don’t post confessions anymore, but point still stands that there has been harm done. And on an obvious note, don’t send hate to them. Instead hold them accountable for their actions. Because that’s what this post is for. 

@cassandraclare ignoring their opinions on specific characters, this user has repeatedly said that they hate you, bashed you and your appearance, and apparently has said that they share your updates and pirate your books so that they and others dont give you support for your work.

I understand on the surface it probably looked like a good account to use for the letter game and you gave them an arc for their collab, but tsc.updates should not receive your support, clout, or rewards for this.