Phoebe

... AS IF WILLIAM HERONDALE would not return when he found out that Jem and Tessa named their first child after him.

AS IF he would not become her ghostly guardian, scaring anyone off if he thinks they might be a threat to her. OF COURSE HE WOULD. He would drag himself out of whatever peace he found in death and take up permanent residence by her side because that is the kind of thing he does. Jem being a Silent Brother didn't stop him from making sure Jem was a constant presence in the Wessa family, death won't stop him from being Uncle Will in the Jessa household too.

(also, when Jem and Tessa talk about him now, it's so gravely and reverently... like, PLEASE, that would annoy Will so much because he'd never see himself that way. At some point, he's gonna pop up behind them and throw a hissy fit and Jem will say "WILLIAM" and all will be right in the world again)

Do my eyes decieve me, or is that a statue of A DUCK on the spine of GotSM??? A DUCK?

It seems so fitting that such a defining element of his character is honoured in his name, especially as a Consul, as it's a vital element of good leadership.

I always kinda figured that the characters in the books were mistaken about James Herondale's eyes being somehow demonic. After all, Jace's are clearly from his angel blood and gold in the books is always associated with the angels.

James is the first child of Tessa (who has demon blood but also Shadowhunter) and Will (who was blessed by Ithuriel with the star mark). What if his golden eyes is connected to Ithuriel's blessing? Perhaps it affects eye colour whenever there's a second source of power (demon grandfather or angel blood). That would make sense for both Jace and James.

After all, only Jace had the eyes -the Herondale- and not Clary, and they both had Ithuriel's blood.

Because just think how the rest of the books would have gone if he'd stayed in the Silent City at that time. From City of Fallen Angels onwards, everything would have been a train wreck.

I was thinking about Edom as a parallel dimension, and how Thule had a crisis point where everything was changed. The Battle of the Burren.

With Thule, because it's so similar to the TSC reality, it's clear what the crisis point is, but with Edom there must be a million smaller things and some bigger things that happened differently.

The change happened in Jonathan Shadowhunter's lifetime. And what hit me was that Alec said no Silent Brothers or Iron Sisters were ever created... but the first Iron Sister and Silent Brother were Jonathan's best friend and sister... so in Edom, what happened to them?

Did they even live to become Shadowhunters, or were they gone before that?

Jonathan Shadowhunter in Edom was a very different man. He didn't ally with Downworlders, which the Nephilim should have been doing from the start (with Elphas the Unsteady for instance), so what happened? Obviously it could be anything from during their lifetime, but I at least get the impression it was something to do with a decision Jonathan Shadowhunter made which changed their entire fates. Something that defined him as a leader, a difficult choice between a hazy right and wrong. But what made him choose wrongly? David was his friend and source of wisdom. Did David die? Or were they never friends at all? Was his sister Abigail killed and he was responding to the loss? It could have been anything.

I'm just going on what's loosely described in the stories and particularly in the Codex, so this is all vague speculation, but it makes me wonder.

The biggest crisis point in his lifetime is the moment Raziel appears when they're about to die and asks him what he wants. What if he didn't answer the same? What if his priority had not been to save Abigail and David? What if he had said something else?

That would have changed the course of their history drastically. It would have changed the man Jonathan became, it would have eliminated the effect David and Abigail had on Shadowhunter society respectively, and it could easily have lead to a self-destructive Nephilim like the ones in Edom.

In the Codex, the writers ask you to forgive Jonathan for not asking for something greater than the survival of his friends, as if this was somehow a lesser concern. And for the main body of the Clave, it's always been that way - they are seen as cold and acting superior and often cruel. It's the Iron Sisters, the Silent Brothers, and a handful of open-hearted young Shadowhunters that usually balance them out. But what do you get if you take those things out of the equation?

The friends that Jonathan saved (supposedly unwisely) become key to the survival of the Shadowhunters, and the rest of the world, through the things they did. What's more, that moment where he chooses to save them is a direct parallel to when Clary is offered a favour from Raziel and she chooses Jace's life over anything else.

Perhaps Edom's destruction represents what happens when the Nephilim choose their lofty moral high-ground and solitary superiority over love and unity and friendship. Perhaps it is the extreme of what they would become, if they'd been doing that FROM THE VERY BEGINNING.

And perhaps, to contrast to Clary's guilt over choosing Jace (since it was the only reason Sebastian could be brought back to life, causing the war, the very reason they're stuck in Edom at all), it represents the importance of that choice. That putting the safety of those she loves over anything else is not selfish, but it gives her the humanity and love and strength to make the right choices and win the war in the end.

Am I the only one who is just incredibly excited to imagine the CLOTHES they'll be wearing then?

I mean, it's 1903

We had fun with the late Victorian clothes in the Infernal Devices, but this is EDWARDIAN. Turn of the century. This is s-bend corsets and puffy blouses and high collars and lace and Gibson girl hairstyles. It's a piece of a time where elegance and practicality are gradually mixing more. And plus, so many of the hats are ENORMOUS. It's a time of change for women that is reflected in the clothes, and I am just all up for seeing how this affects our Shadowhunter ladies, and how their strong personalities could be reflected in the styles they wear or what trends they choose to ignore. It's literally one of my favourite decades of fashion!

Obviously the male clothing too, though the changes year by year for them are much less dramatic so I imagine it will be more similar to some of the other books and less distinctive (though considering how dramatic some of the characters are, I fully expect some outrageous fashion choices from them too).

Victorian/Edwardian fashions, particularly for women, went through so many drastic changes. Not just decade by decade, but year by year. It's so everchanging and complex, and every detail has developed specific connotations and context. I really look forward to seeing this next generation's style juxtaposed with demon hunting, too. Blades hidden under too many layers of clothing, weaponised hat pins... after Jessamine and Isabelle, I'll be disappointed if there's not at least one character who knows how to mix fashion with violence. And I will thank them for it.

The glitter that Henry Branwell made for Magnus, idk if he still uses a variation of it... but it's supposed to make ghosts briefly visible.

Spotted this while rereading City of Fallen Angels, and HOLD ON A SECOND.

I was literally JUST thinking about how (since this is right after TRSoM) that this is the second cult Alec has had to deal with in only a short time... and then this happened.

He was fighting Lilith's cult, and it reminded him of having to fight his way through a crowd of Crimson Hand cultists to get to Magnus, which was only weeks ago at this point. And now I just... gahhh.