#esme hardcastle | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rinadragomir · 10 months

Text

Saga of finding out Matthew's endgame love interest🔎 join the investigation!

Volume Ⅰ

➤Esme Hardcastle

I'm starting with chronological order. We know that she used to have a crush on Matthew during the "Academy era".

Nothing but shadows:

Matthew's friendship made other friends creep forward, too. Esme cornered James and told him how sorry she was that Mike was being an idiot. She also told him that she hoped James did not take this expression of friendly concern in a romantic way.

"I have rather a tendresse for Matthew Fairchild, actually," Esme added. "Please put in a good word for me there."

Unfortunately, we haven't seen any of her interactions with Matthew during TLH🤷🏼‍♀️ But who knows, maybe after he returns to London we'll get something?👀 Personally, I found this idea pretty interesting, Esme seems like an adorable and confident girl✨

Volume Ⅱ

➤Eugenia Lightwood

Listen, listen. First of all I should mention what @roseofthomas validly pointed out: Matthew is officially 17 in the beginning of Chain of Gold and Eugenia is 21. And I also would be against anything romantic between them if it stayed this way. But TLH plot covers an entire year. So in Chot epilogue Matthew is already 18. And he leaves London for at least one year. So when he comes back he's 19. So what we got is ~ 19/23. Which is not a huge gap and Matthew will be an adult. Everyone remembers Malec's age gap? Diana & Gwyn? Yeah...So everything I'm talking about below I say in the context of Matthew being 19. Deal?🌱🌿Deal🌸🪷

I reread every part where she's mentioned. And I can confirm that we didn't get any info on how Matthew sees Eugenia except "she's a good girl". We know that she's not exactly a part of "the gang", at least before Chain of Thorns. She had her own group with Catherine, Ari and Rosamund and Barbara. So it's unlikely that Matthew sees her as some older cousin like James does.

Interactions:

1. Thomas’s sister Eugenia had danced with Matthew, tossing her long dark hair.

2. It was Eugenia, who had come up to them, her yellow cap askew on her dark hair. “Never mind. I am not interested in your dull friends. Matthew, will you dance with me?” “Eugenia.” Matthew looked at her with a weary affection. “I am not in a dancing mood.” “Matthew.” Eugenia looked woebegone. “Piers keeps stepping on my feet, and Augustus is lurking about as if he wants a waltz, which I just can’t manage. One dance,” she wheedled. “You’re an excellent dancer, and I’d like to have a bit of fun.” Matthew looked long-suffering but allowed Eugenia to lead him out onto the floor.

✨Parallels✨

1) Eugenia was kinda "dating" Augustus Pounceby, who actually loved Catherine but still gave Eugenia an idea that they can work. Apparently he saw her as an "if I can't get Catherine, I can at least have Eugenia"

Matthew was kinda "dating" Cordelia, who actually loved James but still gave Matthew hope for her affection. Apparently for Daisy it was "if I can't have James, I can at least be with him"

2) Eugenia leaves London after Augustus proposes to Catherine. She feels humiliated and wants to be away from Enclave to get some peace.

Matthew leaves London after Cordelia breaks up with him and comes back to James. He wants to heal and doesn't really want to be around Jordelia for some time, cause he's still getting over Daisy.

3) Eugenia returns to London after a few months and acts pretty confidently. It's implying that she healed mentally in Idris and is ready to be back in action. She's slowly becoming a part of the gang but it still looks like she spends more time by herself.

I believe that Matthew eventually returns after a year or so and I expect him to act pretty much the same. Like he feels healed, has more confidence in himself and is fine with being around kissing Jordelia. But he still feels a bit lonely (my theory)

--------------------------------------

My bestie @afloralrib mentioned that their relationship has "Penelope & Colin" vibes and has some valid parallels WHICH IS TRUE

--------------------------------------

Volume Ⅲ

➤Claude Kellington

Exes, exes...like yeah BUT CASSIE said "no obvious love interest". And I believe that ex is someone who immediately comes to mind, so idk....and he broke his heart🥺. Still possible tho~

Volume Ⅳ

I remember someone mentioned Matthew/Grace but...I really don't think that it can work between them, even though he forgave her. So we'll just have to wait and see🌿🌱

𓇬Epilogue𓇬

That's it, my researchers. Thank you for joining me in this pointless adventure 🫶 cause Cassie will probably say that his true love is Claribella and leave it be💅🏻

#matthew fairchild #tlh #the last hours #chain of thorns #eugenia lightwood #esme hardcastle #claude kellington #grace blackthorn #cassadra clare #chot #cordelia carstairs #james herondale

89 notes · View notes

daisymydaisycarstairs · 9 months

Text

I’m really digging James and Esme’s friendship. Yeah we first saw that in Nothing but Shadows and then the next time they talk it’s in Chain of Thorns, and that’s exactly what I’m saying.

Like they haven’t spoken in years and james is an established introvert but the way he says “that family tree isn’t going to come out right if you’re going about it like this, Esme”

I can picture him rubbing his temple with his eyes closed when he’s saying that, and he has this very exasperated-friend vibe and that’s so adorable. He’s been portrayed as a well mannered gentleman since the start of tlh who says what he’s supposed to say to people who’re not his family or friends but he says this to Esme, this girl he hasn’t spoken to in years but he speaks to her freely like he still remembers their friendship, and he just assumes that that bond is still there. It’s so endearing, really.

And I think it speaks to James’s character when he’s not wearing the bracelet anymore.

and if you look at it, it’s like an unexpected sort of bridge between pre-bracelet James and post-bracelet James. I felt like that tiny interaction in Chain of Thorns between James and Esme was a restoration of James back to his Nothing but Shadows self, who he’d have grown up to become without Tatiana meddling. And maybe it would remind James of who he was? NBS James was this sweet, lovely, shy, heart-on-his-sleeve boy with a refreshing outlook on purpose and hope.

And I’d really love to see James and Esme interacting in the future.

#james herondale #esme hardcastle #tlh #chain of thorns

46 notes · View notes

belle-keys · 1 year

Text

There are many things I will not be forgiving Mrs. Clare for very soon, like giving Cordelia a UTI, having the Family Tree just be the result of Esme Hardcastle on shrooms (obviously), letting the globe necklace's secret be holding four lines by the most generic of the english angstlords, and of course having Kit's death be the way that it was. But what I will take to my grave is the fact that we didn't get a peep of "to the last hours of my life, Daisy".

#tlh #the last hours #chot #chain of thorns #chot spoilers #chain of thorns spoilers #jordelia #herondaisy #james herondale #cordelia carstairs #esme hardcastle #christopher lightwood #tsc #the shadowhunter chronicles #chain of iron #cassandra clare

100 notes · View notes

lesbocrocker · 1 year

Text

All the stories are true, unless Esme Hardcastle was involved in any way, then they are 100% FALSE.

#esme hardcastle #the last hours #tlh #the shadowhunter chronicles #tsc #chain of thorns #chain of thorns potential spoilers #chain of thorns spoilers #chot #chot spoilers

71 notes · View notes

faithfromanewperspective · 9 months

Text

something like a snippet, i can never keep/ideas in a line and plot of what i see

(to the tune of starting line by luke hemmings)

i was thinking a lot about discovering myself as a musician and an athlete and a way that works for me with my ideals and my neurodivergence and just being in that space where my whole body is burnt out and all but the most authentic options are limited. and also about how gifts that you don't have autonomy over aren't gifts at all and it's natural to get traumatised by things that others who don't know your circumstances don't--

and this came. it's part of a fic going on to 50K words that you will get to read in its entirety once it has a semblance of structure to it. in the meantime it's full of holes, like the stereotype of cheese. this is a flavoursome bit i hope? and i hope it makes sense without whatever background i may or may not have half written for it. i hope it sheds a bit of light on Important Things To Talk About too:

The adults in the enclave had really stepped up, James thought, compared to the last year or so when London went from having no demons, to being overrun with Khora and then being Belial’s plaything. It had taken them a while to realise and acknowledge all the bad decisions that were made during that time, but they had. He’d lost track of all who had come to him about it, apologised for all he and his friends had gone through at the hands of Belial and Tatiana. He drew an iratze on his wrist, cutting through the fog (and ignoring an intrusive thought wondering how much longer he might have to do this for). Still heavy with grief and what he assumed was his body simply processing all that had happened to them, he made his way up to the training room to get in some throws before Matthew and Jesse arrived.

In another world, the three of them might train with Christopher as well, and James would continue for hours with the novelty of a slightly modified weapon that he and his cousin were working out how to use—it would be useful, eventually, after a few more modifications, Kit would promise, but James would just try again and again to adjust his stance, his grip, to whatever new thing this was even when Matthew grew bored and Thomas sat down with him. Back when Thomas was still small, still discouraged at the idea of ever being a great Shadowhunter. Before he got it in his head that chasing murderers alone was a good idea and Alastair had come along and, unexpectedly, been the catalyst along with the year in Spain that brought Thomas out of his shell. When had they lost that? Was it normal for friendship to be like that at their age, each too caught up in their own struggles to see what was going on below the surface, behind the facades of the boxes one put one’s friends in just to feel like one had a handle on how the world worked, and feel like something was predictable?

They had gained a much bigger group of friends than they knew how to handle, roles they hadn’t yet grown into, and no life-changing battle (or three) was without casualties. James couldn’t thank enough whatever turns of fate had brought Cordelia to him, even if the events actually had been Elias’ blunder and him burning a house down at Grace’s request. He hadn’t realised how seventeen years of pent-up frustration and disconnect from the world (which weren’t anyone’s fault, not his, nor that of anyone who loved him) could wear one down slowly. And it took being around those who saw every part of his being, who loved him and let him be free entirely, finding his own way in the world without the pressure of living up to his parents’ legacy, to realise how much he’d been suppressing the urge to escape he never felt like it was possible to fulfil—and that he could live a life of little joys among the responsibilities of protecting mundanes from supernatural dangers.

He'd been resting a lot lately, breathing through nightmares in which Belial was still at large—either possessing him or taunting from afar—just to wake with Cordelia by his side, in a world filled only with the smaller demons he’d learned from young to defeat. He found solace once again in the stories of mundane magicians who, like him, faced discovery of mystery and of a world no one else seemed to be impacted by. Occasionally he’d wonder if there was a future where Shadowhunters or warlocks could counsel these curious mundanes through what they had found as Jem had done for him—surely that would work towards the same end as killing demons? But for now it was enough to know that there was a vast world of human experience, far broader than the narrow-minded and sheltered enclave of London would have him believe. There were people out there restless, searching for more, with a curiosity stronger than their instinct to survive.

James’ throw missed its mark, and he tried to concentrate on the next one. His mind was loud today, and in the last months he’d realised that sometimes it was more beneficial just to pause and let himself think for a bit than try to control it like he did with everything. There were limits to control. That doesn’t mean a world you don’t have control over is too scary or unbearable, he told himself, and he'd keep telling himself until he believed it.

He positioned his feet for the next throw, and as he shut his eyes to feel his body, he saw on the back of his eyelids something he didn’t know why he’d been thinking about so much. A magician called Roland the Astonishing, advertised on posters around the city. Mundane magicians were largely ignored by Shadowhunters, except in rude offhand statements loaded with exasperation: exasperation that they were doing what they were doing, endangering themselves and others, and Shadowhunters like himself were powerless to stop them.

But maybe stopping them just wasn’t the right answer. He missed Christopher in that moment, Christopher who would simply say that if one potential solution did not work they should simply try another.

Another solution. Another path to a world where James Herondale could still be a Shadowhunter. He opened his eyes and in an instant before he could think too hard about it, let the knife fly. Bullseye.

Maybe the way he was training right now just wasn’t what he needed. More of the same thing he’d done since he was a child. Maybe the way that he felt when Shadowhunters around him—competent, as they were, about keeping the city free from demons—spoke of mundanes and Downworlders, especially those who tried to meddle in worlds that weren’t there—was to be expected knowing his heritage.

Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing. Maybe it was a gift, like the shadow powers he sometimes wished he could have discovered at his own will, learn to manage the way one would manage a horse or a motorcar when driving. Rather than only ever learning skills that were more akin to someone learning how to flip out of the way of and mislead and even land on to try to have some influence over, a tiger you were trapped in a cage with. He was still learning to release that stress, that terror, from his body. Surely that was why this magician seemed to resonate with James in such a profound way. He was free, yet likely felt lost at the same time. And there was something about him. James wasn’t an artist, not by any stretch, so he couldn't use an artist's eye to ask himself: why did his face look so familiar?

He could ask Matthew, he supposed, but somehow—this was something he had to figure out on his own. Not with the assistance of any other Shadowhunter (he would tell Cordelia about it when she was finished training with Lucie for the day, but she would simply listen and thank him for telling her, which didn’t count). At least, not anyone who was born a Shadowhunter.

James threw another knife. Another bullseye. He knew he didn’t get as energetic as Matthew or even Lucie or Christopher did when they were excited, but he could feel it in his veins already: something freeing, something a bit like possibility and hope and the excitement of a new perspective that might just give him a new insight into exactly who he was and what his place was in the world. Something he remembered snippets of amid the crushing dread and shame and tiredness not unlike what he now felt, back when he and Lucie had stayed in Cirenworth Hall after the Academy. If he ignored the scalding fever and the way it left holes in his memory even now, he could imagine the warmth and hope building up in a crescendo like Jem sometimes played on his violin: right up until the moment he fell in love with Cordelia.

Before Grace had killed it with that spell and his life was once again marked by dull despair punctuated only by the pain of being apart from her, and the small relief he felt being around his friends and Cordelia.

Now wasn’t the time to think about Grace. He scribbled a note to Matthew and Jesse—training with three people could be awkward anyway—and set off to find another old friend from his time at the academy who was well versed in everything about mundanes, magicians, the experience of discovering the Shadow World, and might just have some ideas about how it might relate to him. She might even be able to point him to why this magician even looked so familiar (if not for some shared longing in their souls).

James threw another knife and didn’t even bother to retrieve it from the wall (where it had struck the target for the third time), before going to find Esme Hardcastle.

#james herondale #esme hardcastle #the last hours fanfic #teasing the friendship some of you've been talking about #roland the astonishing #hopefully realistic post war processing #you are my unfinished business #comedown #i really am obsessed with wfttwtaf

21 notes · View notes

hahahax30 · 1 year

Text

Esme Hardcastle: professional theorist and horrible scapegoat

This is my Official Essay-Post complaining about the absurdity that was the family tree. I'll be trying to explain my thoughts in a well-structured manner.

Firstly, I think we can all agree that making that goddamn family tree was one of the greatest mistakes CC's ever made, if not the greatest. It's been haunting her and us since tlh was announced and, frankly, should never have seen the light of day. However, once it did, it was a reality whose incorrectness the story had to live with and explain. And CC explained it, but in the most underwhelming, unsatisfactory way possible.

We're told that Esme Hardcastle, an ascended mundane James first meets in the shadowhunter academy, was the mastermind behind the family tree and that her mind is, actually, quite underdeveloped, hence why the family tree is full of errors. Well, that is a good way to explain certain aspects of the family tree, for example:

Why Alastair's name is misspelled as 'Alistar' -> many English names have different spellings and Esme might not have known which one to go to for Alastair; or perhaps she just made a typo because she was writing the family tree too fast

Why Sona's name is way off -> Alastair is a bitch and who knows what lies he could've told her to get her to leave him alone

Why some people (like Thomas) are supposed to die earlier than we now can expect them to -> she got angry and shortened their fictional lifespans

If the family tree had only silly mistakes like those, then Esme's existence would be nice, but nope. The family tree royally fucked up.

For once, it shouldn't contain info up until tda, since Esme surely didn't get to live until 1995 (when Emma was born), but also, she's a real character in-universe. She's supposed to know everyone in tlh, she should know that Barbara and Christopher died in 1903, she should know that Christopher certainly didn't get to marry Grace nor have children with her (even if they'd married they wouldn't have had any because they're both ace). Why, then, did she write that?

Esme is stupid, but she's not blind ffs. If CC really wanted to make her the reason behind the family tree, she should've explained further why Esme went full happy-flower-power mode and imagined a whole future for a guy who died at sixteen: is she a hardcore gracetopher shipper? A conspiratorial theorist who, in spite of seeing Christopher's body literally burn in a pyre, still thought he was alive? Both? I guess we'll never know.

This is all, for obvious reasons, frustrating.

I'm beyond overjoyed that she won't make another family tree. I wouldn't be surprised if she actually wrote a trilogy about tlh's children after twp (since her idea of it being the last shadowhunter trilogy has pretty much disappeared) and I don't want her to have to make up any other stupid reasons for why xyz info is wrong because Idiotbrain McStupid wrote it to compliment his real-person fanfiction of the next generations.

#chot #chain of thorns #anti cc #anti cassandra clare #(just to be safe I'm actually not an anti)#esme hardcastle #tlh #the last hours #christopher lightwood

57 notes · View notes

luciehercndale · 10 months

Text

Uhm, I interpreted CC saying "Matthew had no obvious romantic interest" like this: even though we saw him fancing Cordelia or Lucie or someone else in TLH, these people weren't his romantic interests to CC, but just people Matthew liked because he knew he couldn't have them. So she confirmed Matthew's interest towards these characters was an infatuation and not romance. Perhaps we've already met the person CC meant to make his love interest and I also hope it's Esme!

#tsc #tlh #matthew fairchild #the last hours #chain of thorns #esme hardcastle

23 notes · View notes

alastaircarstairsdefenselawyer · 2 years

Text

apparently it's now canon that the reason elias' death year is wrong on the family tree is because some bitch named esme hardcastle asked alastair when his father died and he was like "idk he's been dead to me since like 1894" and she said "okay bet"

#still dont understand barbaras #esme hardcastle #alastair carstairs #elias carstairs

174 notes · View notes

alastairstom · 5 months

Text

Listen, regardless of what you think of Cassandra Clare, you really gotta cut her some slack for the family tree thing. She had no concept of TLH when she made it and it is in fact a GOOD thing that she didn't let it limit her when she wrote the books. I'm not only saying this because I'm relieved that my blorbo didn't die at 30. I also am saying this because we'd have gotten a forced piss-poor story with no diversity whatsoever, and coming up with an explanation for it would have been trying to shove a square peg into a round hole for 3 books straight.

The Esme thing was a really funny way out of it and honestly the best thing she could do to do away with it without horribly finegling the plot and relationships into something they shouldn't be. This really isn't something we can or should take seriously.

#hot take BUT #yeah #tlh #the last hours #esme hardcastle

25 notes · View notes

kit-herondale-blackthorn · 1 year

Text

I’m actually so angry at the resolution of the whole incorrect family tree thing. One of the main reasons I got invested in TLH was to find out exactly how the little mistakes in the family tree happened.

I was so ready for the PLOT TWISTS, so ready to see people fake deaths and change identities, to see past secrets revealed, to see people turn into vampires or disappear into faerie.

Instead we got a half-arsed and forced explanation of a too-imaginative random Shadowhunter who very conveniently just made everything up. This was just so lazy and I’m so incredibly disappointed.

#the last hours #tlh #chain of thorns spoilers #chot spoilers #chain of thorns #chot #esme hardcastle #cp2 family tree

73 notes · View notes

rinadragomir · 10 months

Note

Do you have any ideas for who Matthew’s love interest might be?

I'M LITERALLY MAKING A POST RN I'M EVEN PLANNING TO MAKE AN EDIT TOMORROW

If Cassie says "no OBVIOUS love interest" it can mean that we've already met that person. So it's either Eugenia or Esme (she used to have a crush on him). Which is a win win either way, we stan confident women💅🏻✨

I JUST HOPE IT'S NOT CLAUDE cause we got a hint that he hasn't been treating Matthew right. I have some theories and I'm gonna add proofs! My friend also made a good parallel with a couple from one popular TV show and Matthew&some girl AND IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻

#tsc #tlh #matthew fairchild #eugenia lightwood #esme hardcastle #asks✨

27 notes · View notes

kaitcreates · 28 days

Text

Esme

Jordan

#shadowhunters #the shadowhunter chronicles #tsc #the mortal instruments #tmi #the last hours #tlh #esme hardcastle #jordan kyle #shadowhunter character showdown 2024

4 notes · View notes

readitwatchitwriteit · 2 years

Text

Working chain of thorns theories:

1.) Matthew will die, get his ruins stripped (honestly what good has being a shadowhunter ever truly brought him, besides the herondales and daisy, but pain), or become a vampire. (Cassie said one or more could have this end.)

2.) Charles will die.

3.) Lucie will get her ruins stripped. (This could be one of the reasons the Blackthorns great aunt is so bitter. Someone may have treated her or her family as lesser than because of their bloodline and status as outcasts because of her parents.)

4.) Eugenia will (also) be turned into a vampire. This would be amazing as we could follow her point of view for a book or so as I feel she has a lot more story to tell.

5.) If Charles and Matthew are both unable to carry on the family line the last maybe Charlotte and Henry do have other children (twin girls). One of whom follows in Charlotte's foot prints and that is how tha family name is carried on.

6.) Cordelia's mom will die in child birth. Alastair will raise the child (a girl who may also take the same path as Charlotte did and that is how the family name will be carried on).

7.) Alexander Lightwood will be the husband of one of these amazing girls. (This is a fun theory just for me lol.) Though it would also help to reinforce that all shadowhunters are related if you trail far enough up the line.

8.) If Matthew does survive and continues to be a shadowhunter (which I find very unlikely) he will continue the family name with Esme Philpott (James' friend from the academy that was a mundane who assended and is obsessed with the family tree's).

Please let me know what you think of my theories and respond with your own!

#the merry thieves #infernal devices #christopher lightwood #james x cordelia #james herondale #matthew fairchild #chain of thorns #esme hardcastle #the shadowhunter chronicles #the last hours #charles fairchild #alastair carstairs #lucie herondale #jesse blackthorn #euginea lightwood #tlh #tsc theories #tlh gang #tlh theories

64 notes · View notes