#amatis graymark

[allthestories]

I was reminded about Stephen Herondale’s story and how he fell in love with Amatis Graymark and married her only to divorce her and remarry some 18 year old and have a kid with her at Valentine’s behest because of Luke

And all I can think about is how Will and James are ROLLING over in their graves because they would sooner kill themselves or become mundanes than sacrifice what they had with Tessa and Cordelia. Like no person no matter how influential or popular is convincing them to cut ties with their wives much less marry someone else.

[tiredandoptimistic]

Sometimes I start thinking too hard about the ages of everybody in the Circle. These is their canonical ages during The Evil We Love (spring 1984), and what grade they'd be in American secondary schools:

Robert and Michael: 18 (12th grade)

Stephen: 17/18 (11th or 12th grade)

Amatis: 16/17 (10th or 11th grade)

Valentine and Maryse: 15 (9th grade)

Jocelyn and Luke: 14 (8th grade)

Hodge: 13 (7th grade)

Celine 12/13 (6th or 7th grade)

Like. Valentine is a fucking freshman. Jocelyn and Luke should be in middle school. Hodge and Celine are actively acknowledged to be younger than the others, but they're closer to Valentine's age than Robert is.

I don't really have a point here, I just think it's noteworthy that TSC treats them all as the same age: "teenagers" with Celine and Hodge as the tagalong youngers, but they're actually at wildly different developmental stages.

[serathereadaholic]

Incorrect quotes featuring the Circle of Raziel-

[oneluckygoose]

Pain is realizing that Luke was the predominant father figure for Simon too

[dayque]

"Poor little baby Hodge can't see any more flowers." "Robert can't go back to Idris." "Maryse barely made it out of institude." THEY COMMITTED GENOCIDE. They killed people just for not being like them, stole their possessions, and looted their homes. THEY TRIED TO START A CIVIL WAR. The Clave was benevolent because they were RICH. But I want you to tell me if you would have thought it's fair that someone who murdered YOUR family and your own kind in cold blood would only be made the DIRECTOR or advisor of one of the most important political figures of shadow world.

Is like saying that Cortés, Franco Musulini or Hitler were "just having a bad time".

I undertand if you love them, I really like Robert and Maryse, I respect Jocelyn, I love to read fics about them all the time. I also respect a lot writters who can create a different POV about or for them.

But canon Circle of Raziel where horrible humans that kill with no mercy. Please never forget that facism is not an opinion, IS VIOLENCE FROM PRIVILEGE, is what shadowhunters is about.

[bluecookieeggspizza-blog]

[bookishjules]

the tsc eldest daughter curse goes crazy actually.

ella herondale: killed by a demon at 14

barbara lightwood: killed by a demon plague at 24

anna lightwood: alive and well but also not quite a daughter in the truest sense of the word

aria wrayburn: killed by demons at 19

amatis graymark: was used as a pawn by both valentine and his son, forced to divorce the only man she ever loved and watch him marry another, forced to become the first of sebastian's endarkened, killed at 40

rebecca lewis: alive and well but also just a mundane

helen blackthorn: exiled for having faerie blood and forced to spend 5 of the most important and trying years of her siblings' childhoods apart from them

amatis, rebecca, and helen.. even tho they all at least lived longer, they each lost a parent young and had to step in for their younger siblings, only for downworlder blood to cause fissures in their families in one way or another. the rest of them--ella, barbara, aria--were also separated from their siblings at a young age, only it was their own deaths that caused it, or, in anna's case, the death of her only sibling.

and idk i just think it's interesting and so sad that whether by death or other immutable factors, each girl ends up alone or apart. (provided i haven't forgotten any eldest daughter outliers)

[what-about-the-circle-1985]

I’m a fan of the Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, and to me, The Circle of Raziel will always be the most delicious part of the world she has created. TSC operates in a system of eras- each series introduces a new cast and a new world-threatening conflict, and different eras obviously speak more to different fans. By that token, “The Secret Treasons” (as Cassie titled her abandoned graphic novel about the Circle, and which I just so happen to think is a perfect title for this time period as a whole) represents a “missing” era- an era in which the conflict and characters are as clearly defined as they are in any of the other series, an era that continually haunts the narrative of everything that takes place after it- but with the major difference of only having around 350 pages of establishing story vs. the 2,000-or-so pages that every other era gets.

Being a fan of this era is almost maddening, because I can never decide if I actually want more content about The Circle or not. On the one hand, I’m like: “yes, give me more!” But on the other hand, I feel like too much more content could only ruin what I find so compelling about it. Part of me loves that we as the audience know so little about what actually happened because everyone in the Circle who has ever had a POV about it (Robert, Celine, Lucian, Jocelyn, etc) is an unreliable narrator. Which is great on its own, and even better when considering that it narratively serves to make the Circle members very human with a sort of “it’s not just purely evil people that can fall prey to hateful ideologies and become complicit in neo-naziism” flavor, while also preventing their cause or actions from seeming “understandable” to edgelords with limited media literacy. Some of that magic would undeniably be lost if we got a whole series about the Circle that laid everything out in graphic detail. So in a way, I’m happy with the content we do have- it leaves me wanting more in a good way. But oh boy, does all that negative space leave a lot to mentally chew on.

So here is a place for me to shout some of the thoughts I have about it out into the void (or to anyone who happens to be on the same wavelength) and also to post any other random Shadowhunter-related tidbits that strike my fancy. I hope you enjoy, and as always, please help me keep it a respectful and hate-free space 💜