So, what I really should be writing about right now is The Fault in Our Stars, because I read that on Thursday/Friday (the 12th/13th), but I'm still having trouble coming up with coherent thoughts about it. And this might be a permanent condition, because I feel like nothing I write could do it justice. I sometimes feel like I use the same words over and over again to describe certain books, and I don't want that to happen with TFiOS. Just read it.
Thus, I'm going with something completely different and unrelated. I'm compiling a list of questions that need to be answered between the Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices series (mainly dealing with family trees and the like).
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| Source: palnk |
1. What is Tessa?
2. How are Jace and Will related?
3. Why does Alec look like Will?
4. If Alec looks like Will because they are somehow related, how did someone with Herondale blood become a Lightwood? --A theory I'm currently entertaining about this is Cecily and Gabriel. But the mingling could have happened later than that, so maybe not. I actually think it would be very entertaining, if Gabriel married Will's sister... after, you know, what Will did to Gabriel's sister.
---a NEW theory I just thought of: Gideon and Sophie have a son; Will and Tessa (or, you know, someone else... but no) have a daughter; Gideon's son marries Will's daughter and BAM, Herondale--> Lightwood. Personally I'm a fan of this theory.
Crap. I just realized something. See #10
5. So like, Jocelyn is a Fairchild, right? So technically that means Clary is related to Charlotte. I guess that's not really a question, just something I discovered whilst writing it.
6. What happened to the Branwell name? Are the Branwells just not in the Mortal Instruments because they stayed in London?
7. ^^This question again, but replace "Branwell" with "Carstairs." ...although I think I know the answer, and I'm not completely sure I want it. [UPDATE: NEW INFORMATION HAS SURFACED. DARK ARTIFICES MAIN CHARACTER IS A CARSTAIRS. MY BRAIN IS DOING SOMERSAULTS INSIDE MY HEAD AND I KIND OF LIKE IT. I mean, I am pretty sure Jem is an only child... but his father could've had a brother, I guess? But then why wouldn't Jem go to live with him instead of at the London Institute? I love how answers to questions only bring more questions.]
8. Tessa is the type to get attached to people, so how can she handle being immortal? I mean, she has to choose Someone (because I refuse to believe that she would accept choosing No One on account of that would be cruel to both her and them), but then they will die. It's just not right.
9. Is Valentine related to Mortmain? I can't help but idealize it so that there is only one family with such evil.
10. So neither of my Lightwood/Herondale theories are probably true, considering Maryse has the Will looks, not Robert. So the mingling somewhere along the line was between a Herondale and a Trueblood. Which is just SO much less fun, because who the frick are the Truebloods?!
11. How did the Herondales get the London Institute?
12. Silent Brothers. Why? How? I do not understand the reasoning behind people thinking that Will and/or Jem become(s) [a] Silent Brother(s). Will, I could maybe understand because he's into that self-punishment thing-- but what would he be punishing himself for? And also, it would be completely wrong to get rid of those eyes. And Jem... Jem has had time to accept his mortality, so I don't see why he'd want to exchange it for life as a Silent Brother.
13. Does Tessa only seem familiar to Clary in the same way as the runes she "creates" are familiar to her? As in, she knows them from some kind of distant memory that she probably didn't even experience, but knows them just the same-- even though they're not in the Gray Book? Also... is the name of the Gray Book a coincidence? What I'm saying is that maybe she has never had the experience of meeting Tessa before, just as she has never actually seen the runes before, but she feels familiar anyway, just like the runes?
13. Does Tessa only seem familiar to Clary in the same way as the runes she "creates" are familiar to her? As in, she knows them from some kind of distant memory that she probably didn't even experience, but knows them just the same-- even though they're not in the Gray Book? Also... is the name of the Gray Book a coincidence? What I'm saying is that maybe she has never had the experience of meeting Tessa before, just as she has never actually seen the runes before, but she feels familiar anyway, just like the runes?
14. What was Tessa doing in Idris? Was she somehow part of the Downworlder force? (This goes back to Question 1)
That's all I've got so far.
Update: Well, I just finished reading City of Fallen Angels, so now I have read all published Shadowhunter books, and obviously this leaves me with more questions.
1. When Brother Zachariah said that the Silent Brothers have ties with the Herondales from long ago or whatever, what is he talking about? This further begs the question of Will/Jem becoming a Silent Brother, but I still honestly don't think Will does (more on that in the next question). If anything, I think Jem may become one-- but not necessarily Brother Zachariah. We haven't met all of the Silent Brothers yet. To be fair, though, Brother Z [that's his rap name] does seem to be the most likely option thus far because he appears younger than the other ones, and the only reason I can think of that Jem would become a Brother is because he's dying already, and he's only seventeen.
2. When Camille is talking about a way for a Shadowhunter to become immortal without turning into a vampire, what is she talking about? Is this something Will could have done? They talk about Will like he's dead, but neither of them specifically confirmed it. Maybe they just don't see him anymore, for whatever reason. Magnus says that Tessa is one of the few remaining constants in his life, not that Will and Tessa are, so I can only assume that Magnus doesn't see Will anymore. But the reason for this has not been identified.
3. Another Magnus-related question about Will/Tessa: When he remembers London, he remembers the black-haired, blue-eyed boy and the brown-haired, serious-faced girl. No mention of anyone else. Not the Branwells or Jem or Woolsey (though he mentions him later) or anyone but Will and Tessa. Why? I get that maybe he was more familiar with them, but the way he thinks about them, it's like they're an epic love story. It makes me a little bit giddy.
4. In CoFA, there are a lot of references to things that happen in Clockwork Prince, even though CP hadn't come out yet when CoFA was published. Does this mean that there will be Clockwork Princess references in City of Lost Souls? Because I think that would be awesome. [UPDATE: THE ANSWER IS YES.]
ANOTHER UPDATE, POST-COLS:
1. I have already written about this extensively in another post, but I have to add here that the Brother Zachariah suspicion has gotten stronger. Except he could either be Will, Jem, or Stephen Herondale (Jace's father). It's up in the air.
2. A difficult question: would either Will or Jem really want to become immortal? I mean, if it's only one of them who does it? Because they're always talking about meeting each other in another life, as Jem believes in reincarnation and "when we rise or fall, we do it together." Does that apply if only one dies? Can the person who dies be reincarnated and meet the other person again if that person is still the same?
3. What is Emma Carstairs's FATHER'S first/middle name??? Could either one be JAMES????
4. An update to my Magnus-doesn't-see-Will-anymore theory: Brother Zachariah tells Clary to ask Magnus about memories that time cannot erase. So, if Brother Z is Will, does that mean Magnus doesn't know? And why wouldn't they tell him?
That's it for the questions, but there's one more thing I want to discuss. More for myself than anyone else. You see, there has been a lot of debate about the differences between Will and Jace, and many people have come to their defense with factoids and well-written arguments about how they are not the same person. But I have often wondered myself how they are all that different. I have thought about it, and I'll tell you how I know they are different: I love Will. I like Jace.
What, that's your big argument?
Yes. If you love one character and only like another, can they really be that similar? I'll tell you something: nothing Will has ever done has infuriated me to the point of wondering why people tolerate him. Even when he was completely horrible to people, like that time he basically called Tessa a prostitute, I always felt like there was something beneath that horribleness that made him act that way. Something bigger than self-hatred or bitterness. To me, Will's sarcasm and apparent ruthlessness has always been endearing. Even now that people know the reason behind his Will-ness, I hope that he keeps being the same person.
But Jace... sometimes I just wish he'd stop being the way he is. Just when you think he's realized that he's not a bad person, he goes and doubts himself again and pushes people away. And not the way Will pushes them away-- for their own good-- but in a way that seems, to me, more self-centered. He pushes them away because he doesn't think he deserves their affection. He thinks there's something wrong with him, so they don't get to love him. Maybe he thinks he's helping them, but in that case I say he needs to wake up. Pushing them away is only hurting them, so he should probably get over himself. If he really had any Valentine in him at all, these people wouldn't trust him; they wouldn't want to be part of his life. But they do. And yet, Jace keeps punishing himself-- and by doing so, he punishes them too. It's like he lets them care about him until he thinks he's not worth it, but by then it's too late and they care too much not to be hurt by the way he deals with feeling unworthy.
Update: Well, I just finished reading City of Fallen Angels, so now I have read all published Shadowhunter books, and obviously this leaves me with more questions.
1. When Brother Zachariah said that the Silent Brothers have ties with the Herondales from long ago or whatever, what is he talking about? This further begs the question of Will/Jem becoming a Silent Brother, but I still honestly don't think Will does (more on that in the next question). If anything, I think Jem may become one-- but not necessarily Brother Zachariah. We haven't met all of the Silent Brothers yet. To be fair, though, Brother Z [that's his rap name] does seem to be the most likely option thus far because he appears younger than the other ones, and the only reason I can think of that Jem would become a Brother is because he's dying already, and he's only seventeen.
2. When Camille is talking about a way for a Shadowhunter to become immortal without turning into a vampire, what is she talking about? Is this something Will could have done? They talk about Will like he's dead, but neither of them specifically confirmed it. Maybe they just don't see him anymore, for whatever reason. Magnus says that Tessa is one of the few remaining constants in his life, not that Will and Tessa are, so I can only assume that Magnus doesn't see Will anymore. But the reason for this has not been identified.
3. Another Magnus-related question about Will/Tessa: When he remembers London, he remembers the black-haired, blue-eyed boy and the brown-haired, serious-faced girl. No mention of anyone else. Not the Branwells or Jem or Woolsey (though he mentions him later) or anyone but Will and Tessa. Why? I get that maybe he was more familiar with them, but the way he thinks about them, it's like they're an epic love story. It makes me a little bit giddy.
4. In CoFA, there are a lot of references to things that happen in Clockwork Prince, even though CP hadn't come out yet when CoFA was published. Does this mean that there will be Clockwork Princess references in City of Lost Souls? Because I think that would be awesome. [UPDATE: THE ANSWER IS YES.]
ANOTHER UPDATE, POST-COLS:
1. I have already written about this extensively in another post, but I have to add here that the Brother Zachariah suspicion has gotten stronger. Except he could either be Will, Jem, or Stephen Herondale (Jace's father). It's up in the air.
2. A difficult question: would either Will or Jem really want to become immortal? I mean, if it's only one of them who does it? Because they're always talking about meeting each other in another life, as Jem believes in reincarnation and "when we rise or fall, we do it together." Does that apply if only one dies? Can the person who dies be reincarnated and meet the other person again if that person is still the same?
3. What is Emma Carstairs's FATHER'S first/middle name??? Could either one be JAMES????
4. An update to my Magnus-doesn't-see-Will-anymore theory: Brother Zachariah tells Clary to ask Magnus about memories that time cannot erase. So, if Brother Z is Will, does that mean Magnus doesn't know? And why wouldn't they tell him?
That's it for the questions, but there's one more thing I want to discuss. More for myself than anyone else. You see, there has been a lot of debate about the differences between Will and Jace, and many people have come to their defense with factoids and well-written arguments about how they are not the same person. But I have often wondered myself how they are all that different. I have thought about it, and I'll tell you how I know they are different: I love Will. I like Jace.
What, that's your big argument?
Yes. If you love one character and only like another, can they really be that similar? I'll tell you something: nothing Will has ever done has infuriated me to the point of wondering why people tolerate him. Even when he was completely horrible to people, like that time he basically called Tessa a prostitute, I always felt like there was something beneath that horribleness that made him act that way. Something bigger than self-hatred or bitterness. To me, Will's sarcasm and apparent ruthlessness has always been endearing. Even now that people know the reason behind his Will-ness, I hope that he keeps being the same person.
But Jace... sometimes I just wish he'd stop being the way he is. Just when you think he's realized that he's not a bad person, he goes and doubts himself again and pushes people away. And not the way Will pushes them away-- for their own good-- but in a way that seems, to me, more self-centered. He pushes them away because he doesn't think he deserves their affection. He thinks there's something wrong with him, so they don't get to love him. Maybe he thinks he's helping them, but in that case I say he needs to wake up. Pushing them away is only hurting them, so he should probably get over himself. If he really had any Valentine in him at all, these people wouldn't trust him; they wouldn't want to be part of his life. But they do. And yet, Jace keeps punishing himself-- and by doing so, he punishes them too. It's like he lets them care about him until he thinks he's not worth it, but by then it's too late and they care too much not to be hurt by the way he deals with feeling unworthy.
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