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rinadragomir · 9 months

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It's me trying to convince y'all to get invested in the Sword Catcher, read it all cause I tried!

1) I need someone to talk about it + see your theories/memes/edits, I NEED MY FRIENDS IN THIS FANDOM okay?!

2) listen, we have to wait about 2 years before The Wicked Powers, let's try to distract ourselves with something exciting!!

Reviews from George Martin (my beloved, listen, this man knows a good fantasy book when he sees one, trust him), Holly Black and Leigh Bardugo

Synopsis (read the full detailed version here):

In the vibrant city-state of Castellane, a young orphan named Kel is stolen from his old life to enter a new one of luxury and peril. He’s to become Prince Conor Aurelian’s body-double, shielding the Prince from all dangers. As his ‘Sword Catcher,’ he and Conor become close as brothers – yet Kel lives for one purpose: to die for Conor.

Lin Caster is an Ashkar physician, part of a community ostracised for its rare magical abilities. But events pull her and Kel together and into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King who rules Castellane’s criminal underworld.

Together, they’ll discover an extraordinary conspiracy. But can forbidden love bring down a kingdom? And will their discoveries plunge their nation into war and the world into chaos?

Here, a boy lives to protect his Prince with his life. A girl is destined to return lost magic to the world. A Prince must choose between his heart and his duty. And thrumming beneath it all, the heartbeat of a city unlike any other. Welcome to Castellane.

Known characters: (from top to bottom, from left to right, please appreciate the wonderful arts below)

Kellian Saren - our protagonist~ was kidnapped from his family when he was 5 and brought to the palace in order to be the Sword Catcher, the body double for the Crown Prince(🏳️‍🌈?). Used to have a crush on Antonetta, now too busy spending time with Prince Conor (🏳️‍🌈?). Big spoon energy

YOU'LL SAY: Rina... bestie he looks exactly like the second guy a bit lower, why so many Will Herondale cosplayers🤨 YES YES, THAT'S THE POINT, THEY HAVE TO LOOK ALIKE, IT'S LIKE Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman in Star Wars

Lin Caster - female protagonist, doctor, is skilled in healing magic (Catarina & Clary's daughter🤨?). There is a prophecy surrounding her, that says a very powerful goddess would return one day and it would be one of the girls from her community, ~possibly her~

Antonetta Alleyne - Heir to the wealthy silk charter, her mother dotes on her, dressing her in lace and grooming her to marry Prince Conor (the next guy). Her, Kel and Conor used to have this gang😎 when they were kids, but then her mother decided to turn her into a Kendall Jenner and now she's 💅🏻not like other girls💅🏻 and makes this ew sound everytime our protagonist walks by (secretly feels something else towards him....I guess?...)

Conor Aurelian - our Prince🤴🏻definition of: So you're a tough guy, Like it really rough guy, Just can't get enough guy, Chest always so puffed guy. What else? Oh, everyone tries to kill him and he hides behind his boyfriend's back. Little spoon energy

Joss Falconet - some lazy whore, idk. He has been friends with Conor and Kel since they were all small children. He loves parties, a good time, and ridiculous exploits, but there may be rather more to him…Matthew Fairchild core?👀✨ maybe....

The Ragpicker King - he's so 😋😩🤤he lives his dark emo girl aesthetic life. Doesn’t have a name or real identity. He lives in a big black mansion in the middle of Castellane and runs the crime scene. My future husband btw

Merren Asper - part-time student, full-time poisoner, and hopeless romantic. Merren has a dreamy, cheerful personality, despite being a poisoner. Well good for him, god bless🌿 he seems like a mixture of Kit Herondale and Wylan Van Eck

I'm going to update this post in case Cassie shares some new information!

The first book comes out on October 10 THIS YEAR so~ you can pre-order🌟✨for example, I can't so I'll just wait till someone sends it to me once it's out.

I REALLY hope I managed to get you slightly invested. It seems like a really nice fantasy series and I'd like to support Cassie's new work. She gave us our beloved TSC world and I have a strong faith in her. I know it's hard to dive into a new series but let's give it a chance!

@chibi-tsukiko @hahahax30 @roseofthomas @queenhelenblackthorn @not--a--pipedream @tea-and-a-clandestine-agenda @spacehero-23 @tys-kitty @carelessflower @dustandducks @one-fond-mortal @magnus-the-maqnificent @delightfullyterrible @learningshelfcontrol @thewolfnephilim @literallytypogod @gayforcarstairsgirls @clockworkbee @elettralightwood @captainswanandclintasha @radisv @lord-jethro @luciehercndale @bytheangell

#sword catcher #cassadra clare #the wicked powers #tsc #merren asper #the ragpicker king #joss falconet #Conor Aurelian #Lin Caster #Antonetta Alleyne #Kellian Saren

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ofstarsandmoonlightt · 7 months

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They’re so much like the crows:

Ji-An like Inej, with her knives

Merren like Wylan

And of course

Andreyen like Kaz~

#sword catcher #the ragpicker king #andreyen #cassandra clare #ji-an #merren asper #castellane #kel saren #lin caster #conor aurelian #adult fantasy #fantasy books #books #six of crows #crooked kingdom #six of crows duology

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luciehercndale · 6 months

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2023 books - sword catcher by cassandra clare

But his loyalty was to House Aurelian, not the Charter Families. He would place his words between them and Conor, just as Kel placed his body between Conor and danger.

#2023 books #sword catcher #kel saren #conor aurelian #lin caster #the ragpicker king #antonetta alleyne #cassandra clare #bookedit #fantasyedit #litedit #my posts 3

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thestarkster1465 · 7 months

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Just finished Sword Catcher and I am LIVING for the Jem and Will dynamic that Kel and Conor have like asdfghjkll I see what you did there CC

Kel, like Jem is precious and deserves all the world and I will protect him with my life i-

Lin is an absolute queen and I am cheering her on like nothing else

I like Conor and Kel's dynamic but oh god he's a fucking ass to everyone else. Will was trying to be cruel on purpose because of his curse, but Conor is just a fucking jerk. I love how Lin deals with him but he has a looong way to go. Hopefully he pulls a Darcy and gets his head out of his ass.

I also like Falconet? I guess? For now, at least. Antonetta is pretty cool too ngl but all the other Charter folks are... worthy of being stabbed, let's say. Especially Charlon.

So many unanswered questions and we're going to have to wait a whole year to get any answers

I'm going to die of curiosity

#sword catcher #kellian saren #kel anjuman #conor aurelian #lin caster #linnet caster #joss falconet #antonetta alleyne #no spoilers

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kaitcreates · 6 months

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Over analyzing the Sword Catcher official art because I can.

First up Kel. He has his sword catcher medallion on and his clothes look blue then green like he’s described wearing in the book because the Queen wanted him to wear her home country’s colours and it doesn’t look like what we see Conor wearing in his portrait so Kel might’ve picked this outfit himself. The coat also ruffed up’s little, one of the sleeves even has a tear in it, he doesn’t start getting into any serious fights in the book until he sides with the Ragpicker King, around the same time he starts finally exploring his own identity if only slightly so this’s probably around that time frame. He has the scar on his eyebrow that Conor is described as having which I can feel has some sort of importance to their characters. The background is some waves, clearly referencing his love of the ocean and sailing, along with swords indicating his sword catcher title. His foreground is one of the less interesting with just a pile coins for his wealth as the prince’s fake cousin, a pile of scroll for how much reading he does, and a pile of something back that I’m not quite sure what it is. It looks like it might be some black powder but he hasn’t done anything with black powder yet in the story. Maybe it’s a metaphor for life as he knows it getting blown up as the story goes along, who knows. It’s also worth noting that he doesn’t have any flowers in his portrait, this might be nothing but it’s almost like a theme with most of the other portraits so it’s worth noting.

More characters under the cut because this got long:

After that we have Conor. His clothes and jewelry aren’t anything to write home about, it looks properly royal with plenty of jewels showing of his wealth. Though I do take not that the eyebrow that has a scar though it is covered in his portrait. His background depicts the Castelane lion on top of the city state’s national colour of red obviously a nod to him being the prince of the City-State. The hour glasses seem to represent his limited time as pressure begins to build on him, and I’m not quite sure what the falling rings represent, maybe they’re supposed to be coins and represent something about his debt. Again the piles of money, books, and scrolls represents his wealth and being well read. We can see what one do the scrolls says but it’s not very clear and seem to be written in one of the world’s fictional languages, if anyone can translate it please send it to me but it might not be anything special. The banner/flag in the corner is certainly important but I can’t remember anywhere that it would belong to at the moment so again if you can think of anything that would be a huge help. It’s also once again worth noting he’s one of the few character to not have flowers in his portrait.

Lin’s is arguably the most obvious. She has her mystery-stone brooch, her ashkar ring, is wearing the ashkar’s mandatry colours of blue and grey, and her medical satchel. The background has a glyph behind her with runes in it since she’s trying to bring magic back, the golden whisps also look magical, and the herbs and plants are for healing. There are diagrams of human anatomy behind her and the flowers have vials of what I presume is medicine strewn in them. This is also the first showing of flowers in a characters portrait, I thought it was representing her medical herbs and flowers. In the flower bed you can also see a split open pomegranate which could symbolize her growing doesn’t into darkness and crime as she tries to find a cure to Mariam similar to Persephone and the underworld.

Antonetta’s is relatively simple. Her outfit is what her mom forces her to wear throughout most of the book and she’s wearing her heart locket. Her background is also pretty simple with no special patterns or symbols to speak of, just some lace patterning at the edge of the circle similar to her outfits. It’s really the foreground that interests me. The perfume bottle is slightly odd as we never get any focus on her using perfume or smelling nice, but it does fit the perfect noble woman image so it’s not out of place. The sword being mostly hidden except the hilt is a nod to the secret sword lessons she takes, which she’s hiding from nearly everyone. The rose is obvious symbolism for looking beautiful and pretty but having thorns if you try to grab it. Around this I started thinking that maybe the flowers represented characters who were trying to get more then their current position in life was giving them. The most confusing thing about her portrait though is the bloodied handkerchief and golden locket around it. Bloodied handkerchieves are pretty much solely used in fiction for someone with a deathly illness but as far as I know Antonetta isn’t sick in anyway and defiant not of the fatal kind. Maybe it’s a nod to her friendship with Mariam.

For The Ragpicker King I would like to bring your anterior to his right hand. As you can hopefully see it looks like some slights scars are peaking out from his sleeve. What does this mean? I don’t know. I have no memory of this being described in the book, and was just something interesting I noticed. In the background you can see something that almost looks like a jail cell, likely referring to him being a criminal. There are also many playing cards flying around behind him for some reason, I’m not really sure since it’s never made note of him being especially in to card games or to use card metaphors in his plans. The piles of envelopes are likely his letters to and from the King and the books represent him once again being well read and his enjoyment of research. The evolvement of flowers once again confuses me because from what we see he seems perfectly content in his current life. Maybe it’s about how he escaped a life he was unhappy in.

Ji-an doensy have much going on, neither do most of the characters moving forward. The most interesting thing I could find about her appearance is that she’s wearing makeup. She has the two black swans, which I’m pretty sure I’m not remembering the full importance of, from her line about the swan pulling her carriage. She has a variety of swords in the back ground, one of which is she is holding. This could both represent her status as a killer but also as sort of like ghosts of the family she killed. Her flowers continue to feed into my “escape from current life/escaped from past life” theory and there isn’t much else to say.

Merren has nothing super interesting about his appearance in this portrait. It suits his personality and that’s about all I could say. The background is an obvious nod to his poisoner status with the wisps of smoke(possibly from hot tea?) leading up to a skull. I’m not entirely sure what the quills are supposed to represent, maybe it’s supposed to be because he’s a student so quills are like pencils in their world. Mostly his foreground also just seems to be about him being smart if a little messy when it comes to parts of his life outside of poisons and antidotes. The most specific thing I can find is the spilt concoction which is likely poisons. Once again the flowers are confusing, I had a theory that the flowers represented someone studiously seeking out knowledge, except Ji-an and Antonetta don’t follow this pattern. Merren also doesn’t fit into the “run/ran away from a life they didn’t like” theory unless there’s a part of his backstory that we don’t know about that fits into it. If anything he was pushed out of a life he liked. The flowers aren’t a super big part of the portrait and more of just an accessory anyways so fine, maybe it’s not meant to connect to the other flower portraits.

Joss’s portrait has two elements worth taking note of. First, the abundance of arrows and bows. This is mostly likely a nod to indoor archery, but I do hope we get more archery in his character and fighting style down the line. Second, he has some flowers in the foreground. Which just adds to the confusion because, as far as we know, he’s pretty happy with his current life and he almost definitely hasn’t ran away from an old life.

And the flowers continue to be confusing. Vienne is special in the fact that the flowers are pretty much the only other element of her portrait outside of herself. They do kind of make it look like she’s buried in flowers, especially with her helmet resting on the bed, and does work with the fact that she died at the end since giving flowers is a common way to pay respects to the dead, at least in western culture. In my admittedly short research session, the flowers seem to be Marigolds. These flowers are commonly used in day of the dead and symbolized grief and mourning in the victorian era, continuing the idea that these flowers are being used to represent her death. In renaissance times(the time period Cassie says she took the most inspiration from for those world) Marigolds were gifted to woman that men wanted seduce. What this means for Vienne I have no idea but it felt worth mentioning.

Now at this point you might be thinking “Couldn’t the flowers not actually mean anything and instead it’s the lack of flowers that represents something?” And I was think that too until Jerrod and his lack of flowers came along! Why are the only characters without flowers Kel, Conor, and Jerrod?! In other news Jerrod has basically nothing to take note of. His fingers look much paler then the rest of his hand from the chalk and the daggers facing towards his head could either represent that he’s being threatened or that he’s threatening. That’s really it. The rope and keys seem to be vaguely related to being able to get into places, but at the current moment they don’t seem to really be that personally connected to him.

So over all I have three main questions after this:

What in the world do the presence or lack of presence of flowers mean?

Were the details that don’t make sense to us right now cut after the art was made or are they hinting at future developments?

Why didn’t Mariam get a portrait?

#sword catcher spoilers #sword catcher #sword catcher deep dives #conor aurelian #kel saren #lin caster #antonetta alleyne #joss falconet #merren asper #kang ji an #jerrod belmerci #the ragpicker king #tcoc #the chronicles of castellane

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incorrectswordcatcherquotes · 6 months

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Kel: Don’t worry, I have a few knives up my sleeve. Lin: I think you mean cards. Conor: No, they do not. Kel, pulling knives out of his sleeves: No, I do not.

#cassandra clare #sword catcher #sword catcher incorrect quotes #incorrect sword catcher quotes #kel saren #conor aurelian #lin caster #source: unknown #the chronicles of castellane #tcoc

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alastairstom · 6 months

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I'm not saying that Conor and Lin are my favourite ship - Thomastair and Wessa blow them (and any other ships in all other media) out of the water for that title. But dare I say that Conor/Lin is the spiciest ship. Like every time they look at each other it's 🥵🥵🥵. A single glance is like Lin pressing Conor up against the wall and having her way with him

#and yes i stand by my characterization of lin being the pusher #sword catcher #lin caster #conor aurelian #im gonna reread sc soon for Them

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galamerapple · 2 months

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conor aurelian, master flirt:

#it's about being mutually pissed they're attracted to each other klasflskdkds #sword catcher #chronicles of castellane #conor aurelian #lin caster #conlin

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julescarstairs · 6 months

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But seriously though, all in all, I think that Sword Catcher was phenomenal. It’s easy to see why CC took her time with this project, because there’s been time and effort and, I imagine, countless amounts of research put into each and every aspect of the story: the setting, the characters, the plot, the magic. The lore and religion. The history. The intricate social web of Castellane and its surrounding neighbours: Marakand, Malgasi, and especially Sarthe (as we see in the closing end of the story.) It’s a far cry from the modern angst of the Shadowhunters world (which I do so love) but it’s so refreshing to read up on an epic fantasy world with such a familiar writing style behind it. If you haven’t already guessed from my spam, Conor takes the cake for my favourite character, and reading all the fandom analyses of his personality and the consequences of his upbringing only drives home why I love him so much (also because his character design is stunning. I’m in love! What can I say?.) But I also adore each character in our lineup, if I’m being honest. CC has taken the time to develop and give each and every character — From Kel and Lin, to the Ragpicker King’s ragtag team, to even the one-hit-wonder characters of the Malgasi procession — their own flair, their own depth. Because each character is so well loved and thought out, their dynamics and interactions feel authentic and humane. Sword Catcher took me for the ride of my life and is easily one of my favourite reads of 2023. For the plot, the world, the character dynamics and the very discreet, underlying promise of romances to come in the future books.

#sword catcher #Cassandra Clare #book review??? kind of???#conor aurelian #kel saren #Lin caster #joss falconet #the ragpicker king #Merren asper #the chronicles of castellane

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rhiannons-bird · 1 month

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Lin & Conor have an iron grip on me I cannot put into words how insane they make me

#OUT OF NOWHERE #idk what cassie put in them but it’s fast-acting and highly addictive #at first i was a little sceptical #but now i’m HOOKED #lin caster #conor aurelian #sword catcher

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clockworkbee · 6 months

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Cardan Greenbriar 🤝🏻 Conor Aurelian

stupid princes who find planning “someone's humiliation” too much work for their lazy asses charming selves

#cardan greenbriar #conor aurelian #quotes #jurdan #lin caster #jude duarte #linnet caster #small parallels #tfota parallels #sc parallels #the wicked king #the folk of the air #tfota #sword catcher #holly black #cassandra clare #handshake meme

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rinadragomir · 6 months

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15 Reasons to read Sword Catcher

1 - DRAMA, no one stopped Cassie so she had an opportunity to show off. Royal intrigues, criminal secrets, whispers of forbidden magic which is about to return

2 - bisexuals💙💜lgbtqia took over this book and refuse to leave, good for them

3 - perfect multilevel world-building, CC spent lots of time exploring historical materials, complicated fantasy series and it shows. Makes your brain work, which is always a plus

4 - Will/Jem vibes between Kel/Conor🥺

5 - enemies to lovers to enemies to— they're driving me INSANE

6 - POC characters, two of the main characters have brown skin, the queen has black skin, lots of characters whose appearance is probably inspired by people from the Middle East. Asian killer girl, my beloved🫶✨

7 - Political games, if you loved Game of Thrones/ House of the Dragon/ ARCANE, you'd love this one too!

8 - A high delusional society coexisting with a much poorer majority. Provocative grotesque parties/ fancy balls VS Brutally beautiful criminal city/ local dance holidays with magical roots

9 - The main girl is apparently Cordelia/Catarina's lovechild. She came here to show her dangerous dance skills and heal you🤗. Everyone is scared of her and she's scared of her weird dreams about sex & apocalypse🤔

10 - Main character being a sweet silly cinnamon roll...but like "randomly criminal whore" edition. He's either too smart or too silly & horny, no in the middle. Always kind🌻savage little marshmallow that needs to be held and protected

11 - Glittery outfits, Bridgerton X Euphoria? Marie Antoinette X Great Gatsby?

12 - Magic, necromancy 🔮🪦 Magic was common centuries ago until it became too powerful and destructive, which is yay for me, but for some reason, no-no for everyone else. The last battle between enemies/lovers and boom👁️👁️the land was destroyed, magic is gone. Which is what legends say. BUT IS IT GONE THOUGH🤨

13 - "I know we've just tried to kill each other/threatened to kill, I know this is our third meeting, but what about a kiss?👉👈" AND IT'S ABOUT AT LEAST TWO COUPLES

14 - You know that character, who's like mysterious✨ minor/third main character✨he lives in an emo mansion and feeds all stray kittens🫶and everyone who bothered him was killed brutally or disappeared under mysterious circumstances for some reason...oh these silly little coincidences☺️

15 - because I ask you🥺

#sword catcher #sc #cassandra clare #tsc #kellian saren #kel saren #conor aurelian #lin caster #the ragpicker king #will herondale #jem carstairs #cordelia carstairs #catarina loss #merren asper #antonetta alleyne

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