#it has been so long since i’ve read shadowhunter academy maybe i need to reread it lol

[clockworkopera]

LORD OF SHADOWS THEORY: PART 5: WHY JEMMA DOESN’T REMEMBER JESSA’S WEDDING

Disclaimer: My theories are built not just on the Dark Artifices, but from all the previous books as a whole, and will contain SPOILERS if you haven’t read them. These ideas are based solely on book canon.

(edit: This was written before the release of LoS. Some ideas may be a little out of date, but still interesting!)

ON THE NAME CORDELIA

I have seen this theory out there—I was glad someone else had it too. All the girls in my family have at least one name dedicated to a favorite grandmother, aunt or other female relative. Emma Cordelia and Cordelia Carstairs. The family trees are said to be either incomplete or a bit misleading, and I was thinking James and Cordelia had a daughter that was never listed, and Emma is a descendent of Tessa on a matriarchal side. Emma’s mother’s name was Cordelia too. That would mean she would have as much demon blood as the Blackthorns and Jace.

And everyone is comparing her to Jace. (I hope that Cassandra Clare puts in a scene where the two practice together—I’d really like to see who would be better!) This will come into play in a bit.

OH, MY GLITTERY MAGNUS ONE:

He’s up to his feline eyeballs in all of this. He’s the Clave approved warlock to call when you want someone to forget something…

Ever since CC told us ‘the wedding’ Magnus has been referring to, (which Emma and Julian have no recollection of) was Jem and Tessa’s I’ve been cobbling clues (LM pg157). I’ve organized the following:

--We know Magnus performed memory magic on Clary; more than just forgetting a simple memory, but a complex continuing spell of forgetting.

--We know he asked Emma and Jules about the wedding—almost as if it were a test to see if his magic was still holding. And if this memory is gone, how many others!?  

***But, here was the big question for me: Was this something Magnus did on his own, or did Jem and Tessa know? And of course, WHY?

I felt a bit like Ty going back and reconstructing a time line. During The Fiery Trial, Simon refers to Jem and his wife Tessa and they’d taught at the Academy as husband and wife in earlier stories. Ergo: Jem and Tessa’s wedding happened BEFORE Julian and Emma’s Parabatai ceremony, yet Jem introduced himself for the first time to Emma there.

***Whatever Magnus did, Jem knew about it—they had to have been in on it together or Jem wouldn’t have felt the need to reintroduce himself at the Parabatai ceremony. And the spell of forgetting happened before the Parabatai ceremony***

Theory: Some event happened that needed a magical cover up by Magnus. It wasn’t until I reread The Fiery Trial that I saw a possibility. Simon and Clary’s first parabatai test was the test of WATER: “The nature of the test requires that you have no knowledge of the test,” and I wonder with Emma’s terror of the ocean coupled with the hallucinogenic water from Lake Lyn (if that was part of their trial too), if something BIG happened during this magically induced rite of passage. Something like when James Herondale ‘accidently’ turned into a Shadow for the first time. This theory could work if Emma is a descendent, and even if she’s not, Julian is. And who knows what could have happened to Julian as he tried to help her. Jem might have then come to their aid. This might be why the book covers are in themes of water and drowning—and Emma’s recurring nightmare!

When Simon describes Emma and Julian’s Fiery Trial, he says that, “the room was occupied by a ring of Silent Brothers, maybe twenty in all…” Plus Jem. It is true that this is the first Parabatai ceremony we’ve seen and it may be standard to have that many Silent Brothers attend each ceremony, but the number seemed just a bit excessive to me. That is unless they were worried about the chance of another ‘incident’ happening.

But, why a cover up?

***Possible reasons why Magnus, Jem and Tessa did this: Julian and Emma had so much of their childhood lost to them, and Tessa having been James and Lucie’s mother knew the toll and responsibility an unusual warlock talent in a Shadowhunter could be for someone so young—especially taking into account the prejudices within the Clave for a family that is already under suspicion because of Mark and Helen’s fey blood. (This would also be a good dovetail as to why CC decided to go back and do a Lost Hours book before she finished The Dark Artifices—James difficulty with his talent I think will be front and center in that series)

Like Clary, maybe an agreement was made to shield them from this knowledge until they became adults: at that point any ancestry with Tessa could be revealed—and anything that may have held hints to the truth was ‘forgotten’. Until then, Jem and Tessa keep their distance not wanting to provoke unintended memories. (It’s always bothered me that they live in L.A. right by the Blackthorns, but have never dropped off for tea or just to say hi—five years and Emma had only met Jem once? And didn’t even know how to contact him? That made no sense to me and I actually found myself disliking Jem and Tessa for it. This explanation would redeem them a bit in my eyes.)

And I wonder if that was why Jem sent Emma the gifts of sea glass that made up Julian’s bracelet—some sort of talisman to anchor Magnus’ magic? There is something about the glass…

And now:

(LM pg311) Cristina: “I heard about you. Everyone said you would be the next Jace Herondale. The next greatest Shadowhunter warrior.”

“I’m not going to be that,” said Emma. Her own voice sounded calm and small and distant in her ears. She couldn’t believe she was saying what she was saying. The words seemed to be coming out without her thoughts forming them first, as if they were creating their own reality by being spoken. “I’m not special, Cristina. I don’t have extra Angel blood or special powers. I’m an ordinary Shadowhunter.”

--If she were descended from Tessa could those words create a ‘façade’ of that belief shown to the world—like she was shape changing into the guise of normalness? Where did those words come from? It sounds like a subliminal hypnosis thing…from Magnus?

There is also this:

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(LM pg43-44) Emma took a deep breath. She remembered Julian telling her once that when things got to be too much, he imagined locking certain situations and emotions away in box. Shut them away, he’d said, and they won’t bother you. They’re gone.

(And she does, but not without consequence) … She imagined placing the box somewhere she could get to it easily, somewhere she could find it and open it again. “Emma?” Cristina said anxiously. “Are you all right? You look a little as if you might throw up.”

Click went the lock on the box. In her mind, Emma set it aside; back in the world, she smiled at Cristina. “Ice cream and bad movies sound great,” she said. “Let’s go.”

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Thinking of Arthur’s Greek influence, it sounds a bit like Pandora’s box.

But, it’s not just Emma, there is Julian too: Julian’s talent is probably more along the lines of persuasion and politics (we still don’t know what Lucie’s talent was). His masks come from his ability to lie; like how he’s managed to convince the Clave that the LA Institute is running fine: (LM pg631) Julian: “How he didn’t know who he was sometimes, how he was capable of doing the things he did, and yet how he couldn’t not do them.” I really hope CC writes more about that in LoS too—that we get to see more from Julian’s POV.

An unintended consequence of this ‘shielding’ is that there are entire aspects of themselves they have learned to hide not just from themselves, but from each other. From the time of their Parabatai ceremony, in my opinion, they have always been in love. Magnus’ work may have hidden it, just out of reach from each other, because they both needed to be normal. It’s also might be what is hiding their growing parabatai magic from the Clave.

(LM pg619): “He hadn’t been a boy in a long, long time. It had been that boy that Emma had thought could be her parabatai. She would never have fallen in love with that Julian. But she had fallen in love with this one, without knowing it, because how could you fall in love with someone you only half-guessed existed.”

AND:

Their night on the beach: (LM pg428): Julian: “We never said we loved each other,” he said. “Not once.”

That couldn’t be true. Emma searched her memories, as if she were rummaging desperately through her pockets for a lost key. She’d thought it. Julian Blackthorn, I love you more than starlight. She’d thought it but she hadn’t said it. And neither had he. We’re bound together, he’d said. But not: I love you.

But, it also makes me wonder who Emma would be if she let her masks fall. And if Magnus’ magic wears off sooner than expected and they begin doing strange things, would Emma believe it was a symptom of parabatai madness? Would they even get back any of their lost memories or are they mostly gone like Clary’s? And if Julian and Emma find out they’ve been magically interfered with how will that effect their relationships with Magnus, Jem and Tessa? Would they feel betrayed, not feel very trusting when it comes to asking for help in really important matters like figuring out the Parabatai curse? Remember how furious Clary was with Jocelyn.

Simon suspects the truth about Julian’s feelings, although he never spoke of it to Clary in TotSA. I can’t imagine it has never come up since. As for everybody else (Magnus, Jem and Tessa)—I think as long as Emma and Julian keep repeating Magnus’ mantra they won’t see it either.

I wonder if Tavvy knows though. Julian stormed off that night to save Emma when she nearly drowned and I don’t think he took the time to lock his secret door behind him. If Tavvy came looking for him or had a nightmare he might have seen Julian’s artwork of Emma—and how many times has Julian fallen asleep with the Law book opened to the Parabatai page. He’s a smart kid who put together who Lady Midnight was and is probably reading about Silas Pangborn and Eloisa Ravenscar in his copy of A Treasury of Tales for Nephilim. I think he’s observed a lot more between Julian and Emma than anyone thinks. I wonder if that is one of the roots for his nightmares—if he’s afraid he’ll lose his family.

Cristina also knows the truth, and I think she saw hints before she even knew: (LM pg80) “The room was full of bright light, and it cast an odd halo over Emma and Julian blurring out their features.” And Jem says in the Fiery Trial, “When a parabatai bond is true, when friendship runs deep and honest, it can be…transcendent.”

***Also, consider all the Blackthorn kids could have a latent talent of some kind. They might be hiding that knowledge from all of them, not just Emma and Julian.

***And if Parabatai aren’t meant to be magicians is that still true with the ones with a warlock flair?

I know these theories are long. Thanks to everyone that’s hung in there. I have two more parts to go:

Part 6:  Predictions on who Dies and Forecast of Final Ships (I think that box of Emma’s, and all Magnus’ protective magic will get smashed if a Blackthorn dies)

Part 7: Miscellaneous Characters throughout the Series Spectrum

Let me know what you think!

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P.S. Treasure hunting in CC’s books is so cool. After I wrote this draft I had a question on TMI Source about Clary using a resurrection rune to raise a Shadowhunter. I completely blanked on it, so I went back and it was in the apropos chapter title of CoFA Wake the Dead. I read through it again and Brother Zachariah/Jem was there :)

But I also found a quote!  (In case you haven’t figured it out yet I like quotes)

(pg127) “Valentine had killed nearly all of them (Silent Brothers) while searching for the Mortal Sword, leaving alive only the few who had not been in the Silent City at the time. New members had been added to their order since then, but Clary doubted there were more than ten or fifteen Silent Brothers left in the World.”

Emma and Julian’s ceremony was only two years later—Even if the Silent Brothers managed to double their ranks in that time and Simon was right about 20 being there, then that could mean almost the entire Silent Brother contingent was at Emma and Julian’s ceremony. Again, is that number normal, or overkill?

Huh, things you didn’t know:)

And again, where might the Silent Brothers find new recruits? Go back to Theories Part 1

#Lord of Shadows Theories #The Dark Artifices #Cassandra Clare #Lord of Shadows #Magnus Bane #Jessa's wedding #Emma Carstairs #Julian Blackthorn #Cordelia #Magical cover up #locked boxes #The Fiery Trial #theories #original post