The horrible things people do when they're afraid of losing love feel like it's definitely a central theme of TDA, and I like how it's reflected in all of the main dynamics. Malcolm goes on a murderous crusade to revive his lost love, Kieran betrays Mark in order to keep him close, Julian constantly lies and manipulates people in order to hold on to his siblings, Emma clings to vengeance because it's the only way she can feel close to her parents, Ty turns to necromancy because he can't lose Livvy. They're all focused on keeping their love, not on what's genuinely good for the other person.
sometimes I think about all of the many things that led to malcolm's descent and randomly remember "I don't ever want another love" and it just makes me sad for the poor kid that got hurt cos bigotry
The thing about Malcolm in TRSOM is for us, the reader, he’s haunting the narrative with his future necromancy cult. For Magnus however he’s haunting the narrative because he’s one half of the warlocks Magnus knows who fell in love with a shadowhunter and also one half of the warlocks Magnus knows who have never and likely will never get over their old love. The other half for both of course being Tessa, who is also haunting the narrative, and despite only dating Alec causally for two months at this point these precedents are very much stressing Magnus out
The Dark Artifices is an insanely gothic series, and I felt really silly when I realised how much I'd missed the first time I read the books.
Starting with the obvious: the multiple references to Annabel Lee and Thule and every chapter title being from an Edgar Allan Poem. Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery' mentioned in 'Lady Midnight'. Emma and Jules stay in an isolated cottage on the edge of the stormy Cornish sea, as in many Daphne du Maurier novels. The wild, cold, inhuman natures of the fae as a throughline that reference both folk tales and ballads, and the untameability of nature. There are multiple orphans, and a mad-uncle in the attic, akin to 'Jane Eyre'.
But the deepest and most enduring parellels have to be to 'Wuthering Heights'. Malcolm and Annabel are literally Cathy and Heathcliff; neglected children brought up as siblings by an uncaring family, who are able to find freedom in nature and in each other, but who have a clearly enforced social divide between them, meaning they can never be permitted to choose each other. Malcolm, like Heathcliff, is a marginalised Other treated as less than human and never worthy of a (Shadowhunter) lady. Annabel, like Cathy, dies young and imprisoned, and Malcolm/ Heathcliff spends longer with his lover's memory than he ever did with her. Heathcliff wants Cathy to haunt him, and Malcolm, who lives in an urban fantasy world, wants to bring Annabel back; both of them grow increasingly unhinged and detached from reality with time.
But of course, much of the text of 'Wuthering Heights' is about Heathcliff blaming even the next generation for his lover's death, and visiting his revenge upon them, just as Malcolm does with Emma and the latest generation of Blackthorns. Julian and Emma and have their parallels in Catherine II and Hareton, who are also neglected, treated as siblings, and manipulated against each other, but who ultimately manage to break the cycle and find love and support in each other.
Deep, repressed feelings that cannot be named, and textual and subtextual incest are also very gothic features, and they are recurring motifs in Cassandra Clare's work. Although there are more overt examples (Clary making out with both her her real brother and her perceived brother), Emma and Julian's subtextual incest born of growing up together, being parabatai and reproducing a family unit in the absence of responsible adults is the most emotionally involved example (to be clear, I love Emma and Julian and I find this an interesting choice).
Catherine II and Hareton have an unhealthy relationship not because they are cousins, or inherently bad for each other, but because wider social forces and Heathcliff's machinations cause divides and resentment between them, even while circumstances constantly force them together. The dangers posed by the authority of the Clave (like the separation of the Blackthorns and the institutionalisation of their uncle) and the specific secrets that both Julian and Emma are keeping (Emma wanting to avenge her parents, Julian running the institute, secretly being in love), are what allow barriers to be created between the two of them. Once they break through these, and manifest the parabatai curse, they are literally unstoppable.
I would argue that TDA's climax, where Emma and Julian almost destroy themselves but manage to break the curse isn't an argument for romantic love being more important than platonic, but for the idea that one person should never be your everything. Cathy and Heathcliff have a gothic, all-consuming love that doesn't consider the feelings of anyone else, or often even of each other. Emma and Julian's relationship is at its most dangerous when they are each other's entire support system. But throughout TDA we've seen both of them become able to rely on other strong bonds. Julian's older siblings have come back into his life, and his younger siblings have started to assert their right to look after him for a change. Emma has met Cristina, and is finally old enough to be Clary's equal. Both of them have become less wary of forming alliances and building connections that they never would have made at the start of the series.
We even see an example in the Thule versions of Emma and Julian of Cathy and Heathcliff's kind of self-absorbed love. Thule Emma and Julian are devoid of morality or care for others, but are still able to hold on to a selfish romantic love, at the expense of all else. When Julian kills his alternate self, he is metaphorically rejecting the version of him that cares only for Emma.
In the end of Wuthering Heights, Cathy and Heathcliff abandon themselves to cling to each other, forever as ghosts, but at the end of TDA, Emma and Julian are talked down by the Blackthorn family and friends; saved by their bonds to those around them.
Anyway, it's wild that CC set up the most incredibly gothic trilogy, then decided 1.3 books in, that the real villain was Shadowhunter Trump.
Some of you have never married a girl you thought you didn't love to protect her reputation then realized you were actually always madly in love with her but she had run off to Paris with your best friend who was also in love with her and your dad didn't let you go to Paris because your little sister had run off to bring back from the dead her ghost boyfriend with the help of a crazy-looking immortal purple-eyed man and it shows.
‘he taught me that there's a place on a man's back where, if you sink a blade in, you can pierce his heart and sever his spine, all at once.’ — sebastian morgenstern
the morally questionable characters aesthetic series:
For this analysis, I will use the P.A.W.E scale, which I have developed below. Each tier will have a scale of 1 to 5, and to determine the overall result (the number in the upside-down triangle), I will combine all the points and divide by 4.
Picture this as the Spiral Labyrinth's file of prominent warlocks, assessing their capability to prepare to deal with them if they ever turn rogue (like Batman keeping tabs on the Justice League)
9. Maxwell Lightwood-Bane
An extremely young warlock with little experience in practicing magic. He still has a long way to go.
8. Hypatia Vex
A powerful warlock with skills and experience to boost; however, her magical feats aren't featured very much in the book.
7. Catarina Loss
This doesn't mean Catarina is weak; she's fairly powerful on her own. However, she always focuses on the more healing side of a warlock.
6. Aldous Nix
With 2000 years of experience (aside from the warlocks who were there when the shadowhunters first appeared), he could be considered one of the oldest warlocks and would've been number one. However, his instability got in the way.
5. John Shade & Malcolm Fade
Point for trapping an angel spirit in a piece of jewelry and his invention.
Eventually, he managed to bring both Annabel and himself back to life; however, it took centuries of work (in comparison to others who figured out nercomancy faster), and he was killed permanently afterwards.
4. Shinyun Jung
Slightly below other contenders because she was unable to blast Asmodeus away or kill Magnus as easily as she expected. She is also only able to turn into a greater demon after Alec stabbed himself with the Svefnthorn and helped Magnus.
3. Ragnor Fell
If we only talk about mastery and knowledge, as well as possessing a well-rounded set of skills, Ragnor would win, no doubt.
2. Magnus Lightwood-Bane
The full 5 on expertise is due to his invention of an entirely new brand of magic that is incredibly important to the Shadoworld. His raw power gets a 4.5 because of his limited demonstration of it.
Tessa Gray
Her expertise and power get two full 5s and a plus 0.5, as she's the only warlock who managed to survive in Thule and only died in an act of self-sacrifice. Without the plus 0.5, her score would tie with Magnus, making a very interesting discussion on how a showdown between the two would go.
While her shapeshifting ability will allow her to take on any form and power, it entirely depends on what item of said person she manages to get. Tessa is also not well-equipped and experienced in some fields of magic, as Magnus (in Secrets of Blackthorn Hall, when she needed Magnus's help summoning the spirit). Both are offspring of the Princes of Hells, and have yet to use their capabilities to their full potential.
