lady multifandom ♡

Thank you so much! (For context, here is the review)

There are many instances where Lucie purposely engages Matthew's attention because she feels it's slipping away from her.

One prime example is in a group scene in chapter 8, when Thomas is talking to Cordelia and expresses the desire to shout:

Lucie randomly jumps into the conversation and throws Matthew under the spotlight, for no apparent reason, pretty much just to say Matthew's name. It's supposed to be a joke, but no one picks it up, and even Matthew dismisses it with disinterest; the conversation goes on. It's interesting that Matthew's reaction is so bland that we don't even get an adjective to describe his expression or tone of voice. He doesn't pick up the provocation so Lucie tries again later.

yes

I think they're due for one. Not a dramatic fight, but a conversation where they finally speak to each other plainly and realize they've both been keeping huge secrets from each other. It will not be pretty. It will be raw. There will be feelings of betrayal and hurt.

They might even decide not to become parabatai anymore. I'm certain they won't ever be parabatai actually, but I would love it if it was because they decided not to instead of being prevented by a Great Evil Occurrence.

Lucie and Daisy have been friends for ages, but mostly they've been penpals who saw each other once or twice a year. They don't even know each other that well, beside what they've chosen to show the other via their letters. Now that they live in the same place, they won't confide in each other or tell the truth, let alone train together. What is the point of becoming parabatai if they're just going to lie and omit instead of sharing things?

The mature thing to do would be to recognize that becoming parabatai was a childish dream they both clung to. It's not like they have other friends to hang out with; for the past two books, they have chosen not to spend time together unless it was on missions. There is a stark contrast here with the Merry Thieves, who spend all of their free time together. Sure, they also keep huge secrets from each other (including James and Matthew), but they know each other much better and still do most things together. They literally have an institutionalized place that they go to so they can be together.

Cordelia and Lucie should have an adult conversation where they admit they've been bad at this. Where they vow to be better. I don't think it will be a fight, but finding out everything the other has been through will surely hurt both. They will not be pleased with each other. And they shouldn't be. I don't think it would be fair for them to just confess, kiss and make up. There need to be consequences and re-evaluation. Not being parabatai doesn't mean not being friends.

If time runs out and Cordelia turns 18 (which is soon), there simply won't be time to train, and they might not be able to perform the ceremony anyway.

It's all well and good to overthink, I do it all the time :)

Personally, I don't believe Matthew is still alive in present day. I am 300% sure he is not, but you should believe what your heart wants you to! Thank you for sending me your beautiful elaborate theory, maybe you'll find some kindred spirits through this!

To address only a couple of your points, I think that we don't hear much about Matthew (save in recent Secrets of Blackthorn Hall entries) simply because Cassie didn't want to spoil anything. Magnus never mentioned him because there wasn't much to mention. True, he mentioned Henry before and a bunch of Lightwoods, but that's because Henry and he literally created the Portal together, he must be reminded of him every time he opens one, and the Lightwoods he mostly thinks about in relation to Alec and Izzy. Magnus doesn't think about Matthew in relation to Clary simply because the last time one of those thoughts appeared in Magus's POV was maaaany years ago, before the plot of TLH wasn't fully established even in Cassie's mind.

It's true, Jem and Tessa have weird reactions when Matthew's name is brought up, but that's a plot necessity, because Cassie can't tell us exactly what happened, but we already know there is tragedy written all over Matthew's life. She can't spoil anything about his fate anyway.

Sometimes we overcomplicate things when they tend to be quite simple. I am guilty of that all the time. I believe Matthew's ending will be very straightforward. He will probably choose to leave the Shadowhunters behind and go on a grand mundane adventure.

I do agree with you that the ending of The Last Hours will be bittersweet. I'm guessing a happy ending for at least one Lightwood, plus James and Cordelia, and exile or self-exile for their loved ones aka Lucie and Matthew. Which isn't bad per se. They will still find joy in their lives, just not with their parabatai and family.

I just think Matthew wouldn't isolate himself from the world. Even if his loved ones were dead or unreachable, Matthew is a lover of art and beauty, of music and poetry; he would choose to live in a big city with a big art (read: gay) scene, probably not in the woods. Matthew is a lover of mundane society (both in our meaning of the term and in the Shadowhunter meaning of the term).

I don't think he would ever live in hiding, alone and away from everything and everyone he loves. If there was a fight, he wouldn't run away from it for the sake of being alive and alone; he'd much rather go down fighting in the hope of being free to be wherever he wants to be.

I'm personally not fully sold on the theory of James and Lucie having longer life spans but it does make sense, so we shouldn't role it out entirely.

I agree that one of them might become an Iron Sister, although my money is more on Grace. Because her other alternative, narratively, is to die in sacrifice, so becoming an Iron Sister is somewhat a gentler fate. Besides, we had somebody become a Silent Brother in TID and we've never seen anyone become an Iron Sister. It would parallel Tatiana's "exile" at the Citadel, and we could argue that Grace's entire existence is an allegory around metal...

If Lucie were to become an Iron Sister, it would explain why we sort of lose track of her throughout history and why her books are not remembered, but I would cry a lot, so I'm not entertaining the thought right now. Because all she would get to create as an Iron Sister would be weapons, tools of destruction, not art. So I'm staying in my little bubble where she is exiled to the mundane world and gets to be a writer. A mediocre one, perhaps, but free to create as she wishes. It's all we humble writers can aspire to.

I maintain that IF Matthew does become a vampire at the end of TLH, he will have died by the 90s. Killed in a raid by Valentine or his Circle. IMAGINE IF JOCELYN FAIRCHILD HAD A HAND IN IT--

Do you guys MEAN to get pain when you ask me questions?????

Personally, I don’t ship them, but I do think they will happen. All the signs are there, and I’m not referring to the family tree.

In Chain of Iron alone, there are two separate scenes (not that they interact much more than that) that are entirely written to foreshadow their wedding:

1) when Matthew sends Kit instead of James to meet Grace in the drawing room before Jordelia's wedding, Christopher and Grace enter the chapel and basically walk down the aisle together... CASSIE YOU ARE NOT BEING SUBTLE

2) when Grace goes to see Christopher in the lab and traces a rune on his arm… that is literally half the wedding ceremony for Shadowhunters

Do I like them together? No, sorry, I don't. Do I think they will happen? Most definitely. Do I think they will be endgame? You know what, it would make sense for one of them to die: Grace could die heroically and "redeem" herself; Kit dying would break us, but one of the main probably has to die, and Kit would solve the issue of the surplus of Lightwoods. These are logical possibilities, but don't lose faith, shippers: there are high chances of both Grace and Kit surviving and getting married later on, something we would discover in the epilogue of COT.

Thank you, I appreciate it :)

Exactly, I would like for Lucie's story to be about more than just being infatuated with an impossible love and being moved by that and nothing else. I would like for her to find a different purpose, for her story to go in another direction than just that love story.

Matthew may perhaps have a fleeting flirtation in Paris with a random artist or Downworlder, but it would be nothing of consequence, just something we may glimpse through Cordelia's POV.

He will for sure not have a new love interest. We don't have enough page time in Chain of Thorns to solve everything and add another b-plot for Matthew, not when his arc needs to be about learning to forgive and love himself.

Because nothing good can come out of necromancy, whether attempted or successful.

Either the universe will punish Lucie, or the Clave will.

That's why I'm worried. I want her to be okay, but somebody has to get hurt before the end of this trilogy, and it may very well be Lucie.