You and I have such different opinions on Livvy’s fate, please tell me more about your thoughts surrounding her fate at the end of twp🙏
we really do 😭
I mean, first and foremost, I would just really like Livvy to get a happy ending, everything else be damned lol. but also... tsc isnt a tragedy. happy endings are kinda required.
i'll might make a post explaining this more in depth at some point, but there's this literary theory that really prevalent in Canadian literary studies where all stories broadly exist in a cycle. the two main genres in this cycle are Comedy (importantly a different thing than modern comedy) and Tragedy, which are opposites; the rise and the fall.
in stories that are comedies, the very worst thing cannot happen because then it would stop being a comedy and become a tragedy. it can get close, but it inherently cannot cross that line. think Julian's arc in TDA: the worst thing that could happen is losing Emma, something that comes very close to happening (Emma dying in his arms in QOAAD) but ultimately it is averted. there can be multiple worst things, like you can substitute that same arc for the Parabatai curse being the worst thing.
now for Livvy specifically, there's no guarantee she gets a happy ending because its entirely possible to have tragic characters within comedies. however, usually the arc of the main character(s) does follow the arc of the overall story, and therefore Ty's character arc would likely be comedic. he does get a happy ending where the very worst thing does not come to pass, and at least in QOAAD that thing is losing Livvy forever. of course that could change within TWP, and this does involve a lot of generalising especially using it as a predictor instead of a basis for analysis lol.
on a different hand, Cassandra Clare uses resurrection a lot in tsc. there are so many instances of characters returning from the dead either fully (Jace, Simon, Jesse) or in another form (Jessamine, Livvy at this moment), or their deaths being fake outs (Jem, Ragnor). very few characters that aren't antagonists die and remain dead completely, and she usually has characters return if she can. obviously this already applies to Livvy but her current situation is incredibly unstable so it has to change, presumably to being properly brought back or fully passing on. if she was going to change it up would TWP be the time to do it? maybe, but not necessarily.
in my head Livvy and Jace are very tethered, so i do think about Livvy & her fate through that lens. I also see TDA and TWP specifically as being two halves of the same storyline, and together they are a six book series like TMI. Do COFA and COLS suck massively for Jace? yes, but the important thing is he ultimately survives it in the end. I could absolutely see Livvy have a comparable arc that makes sense within the larger story, however that ends of taking shape.
also most of stories associated with TWP have themes of resurrection & returning. one of the most notable part of Arthurian myth is the notion King Arthur will one day return; one of the most well know Sherlock stories is the Return of Sherlock Holmes where he is miraculously revealed to survive near certain death. even in the fairytale book (which is. just vibes I know 😭) Ty & Livvy are Hansel & Gretel, a story where they avoid their own deaths by killing someone else in their place and successfully return home afterwards. there's at the very least precedent for a storyline of an unlikely triumphant return from death.
mostly tho I just want a ending that's good (and happy!!) for Livvy as she is now beyond just servicing other people's arcs lol
