Sera...

From the first time she meets valentine and he’s talking about how he’s her father and how important that is etc she doesn’t waste any time telling him that luke is her real dad and repeats that to valentine and others a number of times throughout the series.

There’s something so special about this being a definite fact in clary’s mind rather than a realization she comes to eventually. Like oftentimes in these types of situations it takes some time and thought and wrestling with it for a bit for a character to come to this conclusion (which is a perfectly valid arc) but for clary it was just a fact of her life that luke is her real dad.

Even when he and jocelyn got married I don’t remember clary ever thinking about how this ‘makes it official’ or anything bc in her mind it’s already a fact of life. In the later books once we get a bit of his and jocelyn’s povs, they both refer to clary as “our daughter” and jocelyn acknowledges it as something she loves about him. He’s the one who taught clary to swim in the lake at his farm, who was always letting clary and simon raid the shelves at the bookstore for movie nights, who took her in and replaced all of her things without a second thought while jocelyn was in the hospital

This took way longer than I expected 😭

Whats the time... jeez, it's almost 4AM wtf 💀

Credits for art: @cassandrajean @phantomrin

And of course it's angsty 😗

@serathereadaholic convinced me to post it, otherwise I would've just posted my other shitpost 🤣

credits for art: cassandra jean, cliff nielson , elisal_art and more (TBA)

I loved what I did with the text, though the transitions, to me personally, are awful now. Might remake this but oh well 😭

“A reasonable reason.” Hmmm. I’m sure that at various points, Stephen thought he was being quite reasonable. His circumstances got way out of hand before he realized just how much trouble he was in. Before he was killed, Stephen recognized his own failings, and regretted them. I wouldn’t characterize his problem as “utter stupidity.” He lacked integrity, but that’s different than lacking intelligence. Look at the people around him. He was raised by Imogen Herondale. We know her as the Inquisitor, bent on revenge after a series of devastating tragedies. But even before those losses, it’s easy to see that she was never a peach. We can only imagine what sort of expectations she and her husband had of Stephen (who refers to his parents as “suffocating”.) Then there was Valentine himself: a master manipulator. He took advantage of many people, and he was especially inclined to prey upon those who had felt they had never belonged anywhere before. Stephen’s difficult home life and Celine’s abusive family made them targets. So did Luke’s early feelings of not belonging. Valentine won their trust and then attempted to destroy them when they were no longer useful to him (and in Stephen and Celine’s case, he succeeded). Is Stephen responsible for the fact that he ended up in way over his head? Yes, because he made choices that led to that outcome. But he was also being manipulated. Valentine had a strong hold on him. Stephen didn’t leave because he felt he had no option to leave. He had nowhere to go where Valentine would not find him. He feared for Celine, and their child, and even Amatis. Stephen knew that if he left on his own, Valentine would exact revenge on the people he cared about. Stephen didn’t see running away with everyone he loved as a realistic option, because it wasn’t. By the time he wanted to escape, he didn’t have the resources or support to swing something like that. Valentine was an expert at isolating his victims. As I’ve said before, Stephen was a jerk, and bigot. He was not a great man. But he wasn’t “stupid”. He ended up in a terrible situation from which he could see no escape. His behavior was no shining example to follow, but not every character is a hero. Not every character can save the people they love. Not every character can save themselves.  

“A reasonable reason.” Hmmm. I’m sure that at various points, Stephen thought he was being quite reasonable. His circumstances got way out of hand before he realized just how much trouble he was in. Before he was killed, Stephen recognized his own failings, and regretted them. I wouldn’t characterize his problem as “utter stupidity.” He lacked integrity, but that’s different than lacking intelligence. Look at the people around him. He was raised by Imogen Herondale. We know her as the Inquisitor, bent on revenge after a series of devastating tragedies. But even before those losses, it’s easy to see that she was never a peach. We can only imagine what sort of expectations she and her husband had of Stephen (who refers to his parents as “suffocating”.) Then there was Valentine himself: a master manipulator. He took advantage of many people, and he was especially inclined to prey upon those who had felt they had never belonged anywhere before. Stephen’s difficult home life and Celine’s abusive family made them targets. So did Luke’s early feelings of not belonging. Valentine won their trust and then attempted to destroy them when they were no longer useful to him (and in Stephen and Celine’s case, he succeeded). Is Stephen responsible for the fact that he ended up in way over his head? Yes, because he made choices that led to that outcome. But he was also being manipulated. Valentine had a strong hold on him. Stephen didn’t leave because he felt he had no option to leave. He had nowhere to go where Valentine would not find him. He feared for Celine, and their child, and even Amatis. Stephen knew that if he left on his own, Valentine would exact revenge on the people he cared about. Stephen didn’t see running away with everyone he loved as a realistic option, because it wasn’t. By the time he wanted to escape, he didn’t have the resources or support to swing something like that. Valentine was an expert at isolating his victims. As I’ve said before, Stephen was a jerk, and bigot. He was not a great man. But he wasn’t “stupid”. He ended up in a terrible situation from which he could see no escape. His behavior was no shining example to follow, but not every character is a hero. Not every character can save the people they love. Not every character can save themselves.  

Totally did not stay up until 4AM for this half-baked edit

GET TF OUT STUPID MOSQUITO

Credits for art: @cassandrajean @hanilezabeth @elisal_art (Insta) Davood Diba (ArtStation) @sophia_volovik (Insta)

"Stephen Herondale died with hate in his heart and the blood of my people on his hands. I can imagine no more horrible way for mine and Will’s line to end."

~ Tessa Gray, The Bane Chronicles (The Last Stand of the New York Institute)

alsoooo i made this maryse ship ranker a almost like a week or so ago and posted it on twt and planned to post it on here and forgot but now that i’m here . here it is .. tag me if u do it pls and thank u 🤥

What i want to see is them trying to get it at least a little. I want Amatis asking Celine about the things she knows Stephen likes, forcing Celine to take her to "the place where they sell bands"

"bands are not...sold? ...do you mean records?"

"i mean bands!"

I want to see Luke and hodge banding together to try and *research* what the fuck the words Stephen uses mean. The libraries in idris are of 0 help.

I want michael not having any idea what Stephen's talking about but going along with things until he finds himself at a concert and stephen abandons him in the crowd.

I want valentine and jocelyn pretending to know exactly what he says and secretly wondering whether he's insulting them. I want Robert calling him weird to his face and turning around to punch a classmate who dared say the exact same thing, Maryse pretending she doesn't care about the weird mundie stuff but secretly really liking the music.

I want Stephen swearing he can drive a car and them finding out he really can't by him crashing through a trash can. I want luke claiming he could do it better and almost running someone over.

I need them to at least try to get it.