You Could Stay

except the clave outlawed helen and refused to rescue mark because of their faerie heritage even though they were shadowhunters too. except emma was told to accept the clave's explanation for her parents' deaths even though none of the evidence ever fit. except twelve-year-old julian was forced to give up his childhood and keep a secret from everyone he loved out of fear that his younger siblings would be taken away from him. except diana had to watch that struggle without being able to help out of fear of being persecuted by the clave for being trans. except ty was constantly ridiculed by other shadowhunters and warned against acting differently in front of the clave because he's autistic, and livvy was teased for defending him. except all the people kit cares about keep getting threatened, hurt, or killed because of his identity as the lost herondale and the descendant of the first heir. except dru is constantly looked down upon for having a different body type that shadowhunters "should" have. except tavvy was almost murdered for the sins of his ancestors that he had never known or had anything to do with.

books have always and will always be political. being an american, i'm clinging tightly to this idea right now, and the characters i love, these ones among others, that taught me to never stop standing up for what's right. in the words of consul alec lightwood, "i don't need to change. and neither do you [...] it's the world that needs to change, and we're going to be the ones to change it." 🤍

"Very funny."

Julian looked over at her. "No, really, it actually is."

"Seriously? So what's the Herondale family motto? 'Chiseled but angsty'?"

He shrugged. 'If you don't know what your last name is, it's people Herondale'?"

Emma burst out laughing. "What about Carstairs?" she asked, tapping Cortana. "'We have a sword'? 'Blunt instruments are losers'?"

"Morgenstern," offered Julian. "'When in doubt, start a war'?"

For my dear friend Cat of TMI Source.

Jace& Clary (happy birthday, Jace!) from Better in Black:

“Remove your mind from the gutter for a moment,” said Clary. “We have to find Maryse’s brother, and bring him home.”

To her surprise, Jace looked worried. “There’s the chance he won’t want to come home.”

“Of course he will. Think how you would feel, if you spent decades completely cut off from your family, your friends, everyone and everything you know.”

“I think,” Jace said carefully, “that I would feel extremely angry, if my family and friends and everyone I knew made me choose between them or losing you.”

“All the more reason to find him and tell him things are different now. That Maryse is different.”

“What if he doesn’t care? Just because she wants his forgiveness doesn’t mean he’s ready to forgive. And…” Jace looked away. “Sometimes losing someone hurts less than getting them back.”

And some Kel&Antonetta from Ragpicker King:

Kel turned to Antonetta. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shouted at you. I should have thanked you. You saved our lives.”

She took the front of his jacket in her small hands. The wind off the water bit at them coldly; Antonetta was shivering. Kel wanted more than anything to wrap her up in his cloak. “What happened, Kel?” she whispered. “Who were those people? Why were they chasing you? And the people you’re with—”

“Antonetta.” His throat ached, hard, as it had not in years—not since that first time she had turned away from him, at her debut ball, and he had forced himself to show nothing, to give no sign that it hurt. Antonetta, I can’t tell you. I want to, but I cannot.

“Don’t ask me,” he said. “If you demand an answer, I will lie to you. And I am a very good liar.”

Main Tracks

•Fortnight — post TDT & BLLB era Bluesey. not every lyric fits perfectly but the tone/overall subject (requited but forbidden love, especially the implication it’s both literally forbidden (other people involved/kiss curse) and self imposed forbidden (they’re from two different worlds and need to bridge that gap) is so them, pining and yearning, Literally “we can pretend this once then never speak of it again” and then mourning that as they try and keep their distance, also the “your wife waters flowers I want to kill her” bit in my head is Blue being jealous of Henry when she meets him. It makes sense. To me. Primarily a Blue pov song and then the Post Malone bits can be Gansey. 

•The Tortured Poets Department — The Gray Man x Maura, The Gray Man’s post TDT break up anthem. When you give up your hit man life for a woman and she runs off to a cave to find her ex boyfriend, a tree! Will really mess up an Anglo Saxon Poetry lover.

•My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys — DC Party Adansey from both their povs, Adam fearing Gansey only can value him as a possession and can’t love him in a way that Adam would want and Gansey fearing Adam secretly hates him + his heart breaking when Adam smashes the figurines. But the bridge is very Adam pov “I felt more when we played pretend than with all the Kens” Adam’s relationship with projection and both hating Gansey’s facade and being infatuated with and attracted to it, also there are so many ways they pretend seperately and together. 

•Down Bad — Pynch, first verse and chorus definitely Ronan pov in trc, the second verse and chorus as Adam pov in mi then after that could be both of them although still would lean more Ronan pov for the vibes. 

•So Long, London — Noah song. A lot of it could be his pov talking to Whelk, but then the friends he’s referring to could be the Gangsey and the Gangsey pov could be the final chorus saying goodbye to him. 

•But Daddy I Love Him — Niall x Mor. Niall’s pov as he tries to get his mother/his family to accept that he loves Mor. 

•Fresh Out The Slammer — Jordeclan. Self explanatory. 

•Florida!!! — at first I was going to give this one to Blue because of some of the themes about feeling conflicted about your hometown, then I wanted to make it a Hennessy song because some lyrics really fit her, but then eventually I decided this is actually a song about The Fairy Market. Different parts could be from Hennessy Jordan and Declan’s pov and maybe a little bit from Mor’s and/or Henry’s. 

•Guilty as Sin? — this song has both Bluesey and Pynch vibes but to me it’s a Bluesey song overall. Blue pov, yearning for someone you can never touch it’s perfect… 

•Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? — Ronan song fits him in the first two trc books real well imo. In the second verse he’s addressing the Gray Man but he could be addressing a number of people from Declan to Kavinsky to Niall to Gansey throughout the song. 

•I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) — Maura Sargent and her terrible taste in men! First verse and chorus about Artemus and Calla and Persephone shaking their heads in the background, then the second time with The Gray Man Calla again shaking her head. 

•loml — Jordeclan, but specifically a Jordan pov song after Declan chooses death by fairy market over her could either say this is her thought process in a middle bit that we didn’t get to see or an au where Declan did die and/or she did leave him for a bit after this.

•I Can Do It With A Broken Heart — Adam song. I think you could read it as in the first verse / go of the chorus the “him” being referred to is Gansey post DC but then in the second verse/chorus it’s Ronan in mister impossible era. His whole thing with masking/not paying attention to his feelings through both series and literally “faking it to make it” at Harvard… I can pass this test… the tonally upbeat music and devastating lyrics. Soo him. 

•The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived — Rovinsky break up song. I think the first verse and chorus is K pov but the rest of the song is Ronan’s pov. 

•The Alchemy — another song with both Pynch and Bluesey vibes but this one I’m giving to Pynch overall. The whole high school relationship currently long distance but I’ll always come back to you thing. 

•Clara Bow — for a minute I thought I really would have to give up on making this one about trc, but then I thought about the whole theme of women mirroring each other Blue and Gwenllian and the tapestry of girls with Blue’s face, their literal mirror powers, the 300 fox way women and how you see something of all of them in Blue / she’s a product of them, Hennessy and her clones, Mor and Aurora. So yeah general vibes of that theme. 

Bonus Tracks 

•The Black Dog — Pynch divorce bop. Adam pov. 

• imgonnagetyouback — Bluedam, now you may be thinking that I’m just assigning this one because I already think get him back! by Olivia Rodrigo is a Bluedam song (see previous web weaving) and this song is just a worse version of that song, and you’d be right that’s why I’m saying it. 

•The Albatross — Bluesey. Gansey associating the color blue with death, learning Blue is his death, being fascinated by her and falling for her more and more the more he accepts his own death… 

• Chloe or Sam or Sofia or Marcus — this is all about romantic drama/a love square between Blue Henry Gansey and Adam, different parts of it are from Gansey or Adam’s pov primarily about each other but they refer to Henry or Blue at different points. The Adansey divorce to Sarchengsey to Chengsey divorce pipeline song essentially. 

• How Did It End? — Adansey!! literally “he was a hothouse flower to my outdoorsmen, our melodies were such we could not cure them” I won’t just go through every lyric but every lyric just screams Adanseycore, as many of her songs about divorce do. 

•So High School — Pynch. “You know how to ball I know Aristotle” referring to Ronan playing tennis is an especially fun aspect. 

• I Hate it Here — Adam, first verse and chorus could be DC party Adam and then as it goes on it’s Adam at Harvard thinking all the things he won’t say to the crying club, and then it’s Adam about Henrietta. 

•thanK you alMee — Declan song centered on his conflicted grief/hatred of Niall. 

 •I Look in People’s Windows — Adam observing the wealthy/people he envies. 

•The Prophecy — Blue song. Elements of Bluesey obviously but mostly about Blue who won’t let fate define her and is brave when she’s afraid, begging for a different fate for Maura when she’s missing for Gansey and Noah, for herself when she wants things from the future that seem impossible for so many reasons. “And I look unstable gathered with a coven around a sorceress table” so the bath tub scene with her and her mom and Aunts! 

•Cassandra — Gwenllian Glendower anthem! 

•Peter — Adam pov Adansey song 😭 I already made a web weaving explaining this and if I tried to again with words I’d throw up and die, but this is the most trc coded song on the album other than the prophecy. 

•The Bolter — Hennessy song. First verse refers to her childhood trauma, The chorus fits Jordanessy and their mi scene with the cars so well and the whole repeatedly dying thing is obviously very Mister Impossible plot coded and also the cyclical nature of her lace dreams are reflected here. 

•Robin — Adansey. “way to go tiger”. 

Because I think about this series a normal amount, I went through my old copy of "An Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters and Denizens of Downworld" from 2016 and my new kickstarter edition that arrived yesterday, and took notes on every change. Some characters were added, some were given new art or facts, some had their information updated, and some are the same as they ever were. I split all these changes into categories, so you can look up what interests you. Full spoilery details below the cut.

*presses post* *cackles maniacally*