themerrythleves

[themerrythleves]

[themerrythleves]

Chain of Iron snippet

“You should have told us,” said Thomas. “We would have helped you move your things. I’m exceptionally good at carrying large objects.”

“And think of all those hairbrushes you would have had to relocate,” Lucie said. “Haven’t you got six or seven?”

Matthew glowered at her affectionately. “I try to be at least as stylish as our local ghosts.”

[themerrythleves]

You: Tlbotw epilogue

Me, an intellectual: Obey me! Shall we date? - Anime Otome Dating Sim prologue

#MDBSKSHSK #M E

[themerrythleves]

tlbotw spoilers

that's how i imagine the epilogue scene:

[themerrythleves]

Cassandra Clare and Autistic Characters; The Problem

Before I start, I’d like to highlight that I’m autistic myself, and if you’re not autistic, you don’t have the right to comment your opinion on this issue. Of course, feel free to reblog. If you’re autistic and disagree in any way, or have another opinion, you can feel free to contribute and reblog or reply with your point of view. I’ve turned off anons because I’m a minor and I’m not ready to face hate due to this post, so if you want to ask me anything just send me a non anon ask.

There are two reasons I decided to make this post. Firstly, there are a lot of problems with autistic characters in Cassandra Clare’s work. (Yes, that is characters plural. I’ll get into this later.) The second reason, and the reason I consider this especially important, is that Cassandra Clare is praised by a lot of people for her autistic representation due to the canonically autistic character Ty Blackthorn. Therefore, as an autistic person, I feel it is important to speak about why I personally don’t consider him good representation.

First, I would like to talk about Ty specifically. The main reason people regard him as such amazing representation is because he’s one of the only explicitly autistic characters in mainstream young adult books - especially in a fantasy book that’s plot doesn’t centre around the fact that Ty is autistic. It saddens me that the bar is so low that any character who is canonically autistic is considered revolutionary. Whilst I can’t criticise everything about Ty - the fact that Cassandra Clare chose to include an autistic character IS good, and I like how his interests are things that are traditionally ‘feminine’ - animals and mystery books - instead of the autistic science nerd stereotype, I still find him a very stereotypical and unoriginal autistic character archetype.

Ty is a skinny, smart, white boy. Whilst his sexuality does set him apart, these other traits apply to every other autistic character in mainstream media. He’s shown as being non empathetic and even, at times, robot-like. This is completely unrealistic and is an untrue stereotype found in almost all autistic characters in popular media. 

At times, his character is presented as being a burden to his family - specifically Julian, who Ty’s character is used to highlight how much weight he carries on his shoulders after being forced to become the father figure to his younger siblings. This encourages the ableist belief in readers that autistic people are burdens on their loved ones, and that those close to them are angels for putting up with them. I’ve seen this reflected in the way the Shadowhunters fandom interprets the ship Kitty (Kit x Ty) and treat Kit like some kind of angel for being friends with Ty and ‘putting up with’ his autistic mannerisms. 

Throughout Queen of Air and Darkness, Kit deceives Ty, pretending to be on his side and that he wants to help him revive Livvy, when in reality, he’s trying to stop Ty. At the end of the book, he suddenly leaves Ty without an explanation to live with Jem and Tessa after the events of the book. Whilst Kit has his own personal reasons for doing these things, it’s a horrible, insensitive and selfish way to treat and deceive an autistic boy who is in mourning, especially considering how Kit is set up to be very knowledgeable about autistic people. Ty’s life is built on honesty and he will instinctively trust those close to him, especially Kit, who he considers his best friend. If he found out that Kit had been lying to him, he would be devastated and become unable to trust anyone, because he won’t know if they too are lying to him. Furthermore, by leaving Ty without an explanation, he’s making Ty think that he’s done something wrong to Kit, one of the people he cares most about in the world, leaving him wracked with guilt.

The problem here isn’t that Kit did these things; he’s a literal fifteen year old boy, of course he’s going to make mistakes. What annoys me is how the narrative treats Kit’s behaviour, especially his lying to Ty about his intentions with the Livvy necromancy subplot, like it’s acceptable and the right thing to do. When he leaves Ty, it’s more of an angst point to set up the next series than the utter betrayal it would be in real life. If Cassandra Clare had done substantial research about autistic people or had her books sensitivity read by them, this would have been pointed out and should have been rewritten.

Which leads me onto my next point; Cassandra Clare’s research doesn’t appear to be satisfactory. According to this tweet from 2016, the year Lady Midnight was published, for her research, she spoke to ‘parents of autistic children.’

If you’re not autistic, you probably won’t understand the problem here, so I’ll try to explain it as simply as I can. Parents of autistic children are notoriously unreliable. They tend to make assumptions about their children and say things that autistic people would wholeheartedly disagree with. It’s common for parents of autistic children to view autism as a problem or tragedy, or something that children need to be taught out of. Cassandra Clare could have spoken to actual autistic people, who would have given her a much more well rounded view of autistic people and how to write Ty. He’s a teenage boy; there are many autistic teenagers, myself included, who would be more than happy to tell her what and what not to include, and how to realistically write autistic characters. 

She is clearly aware she is not the most experienced person on the topic of autism; she chose not to include Ty’s pov at any point in The Dark Artifices because she doesn’t feel confident writing from an autistic perspective. Here is a screenshot of her admitting it on her blog a few years ago.

Therefore, she should have gone to the many autistic people who could give her advice, instead of parents who have no idea what it’s like to be autistic themselves.

Now, I would like to talk about Henry Branwell and Christopher Lightwood, from The Infernal Devices and The Last Hours trilogies. Both are very heavily autistic coded. This means that they show a lot of autistic traits, to the degree where autistic readers become certain they’re autistic. A lot of the time, this is when autistic readers headcanon a character to be autistic. However, in this instance, they show so many autistic traits it would be hard for me to believe they’re not autistic. I won’t go into specifics too deeply, but many other autistic fans have also noticed this. For example, both Christopher and Henry can get so lost in their work they don’t notice other things taking place, and also don’t understand social signals.

I find it offensive that Cassandra Clare, who has been hailed as an autistic representation saviour because of Ty, could write two characters who are so clearly autistic and refuse to confirm or deny it. Historical accuracy is irrelevant, she could easily discuss this on her tumblr, where she regularly answers asks about other aspects of her books. I have sent her many asks politely asking if Christopher is autistic, and have been ignored every time, despite the fact she’s answered all my other asks about other things. She cannot consider herself a true autistic ally if she writes two characters who show many autistic traits and refuses to acknowledge it.

In conclusion, Cassandra Clare’s books do not contain the incredible autistic representation that many people paint them out to. Whilst I do appreciate that she included Ty, who would be the first autistic character many readers had ever encountered, we need to acknowledge the many flaws in her representation, not only for autistic characters, but her lgbt+ characters and characters of colour as well. I hope that if she sees this, she doesn’t take this as mindless hate but takes into consideration what I’ve said and takes more care researching and writing Ty in the upcoming Wicked Powers trilogy, and speaks about her autistic coding of Christopher and Henry, especially considering Christopher will be a main character in two more books that are still to be released.

Thank you for reading! It would be very helpful if you could reblog this to help spread the word.

Edit: I’m really sorry that I didn’t include this in the original post but if you’re autistic and you love ty and consider him great rep that’s totally valid and this is just my personal opinion, and I’m really sorry if I made anyone feel guilty for liking him, every autistic person’s view is valid

[themerrythleves]

If it isn’t the two lovebirds, he drawled. He glanced at Emma. I haven’t really seen your face before. You’re friend here has been too busy sucking it.

Julian replied in a flat monotone. Sorry to have annoyed you, sir.

It doesn’t annoy me. Sebastian said. Just an observation. - Queen of Air and Darkness, @cassandraclare 

[themerrythleves]

In the beginning of TWP, will Kit and/or Ty be dating other people?

Maybe. ;)

#CASSIE WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING

[themerrythleves]

now whenever people are talking about christopher herondale idk who people are talking about sometimes because cassie gave them both the nickname kit :(

#tsc

[themerrythleves]

[themerrythleves]

petition that they make the Infernal Devices into a BBC drama 

#i

[themerrythleves]

THE SHADOWHUNTER CHRONICLES

[themerrythleves]

cut scene from Chain of Gold

London, Grosvenor Place, 1901

Once upon a time there was a prince with golden hair and dark green eyes. He was happy, until a prince from a neighboring kingdom told him that his mother the Queen had been unfaithful to his father the King.

In despair, the prince purchased from a faerie woman a potion that would force his mother to tell the truth. But when he gave it to her, she swooned away, near to death. The royal physicians came, and in their silence, they cured the Queen, but they could not save the child who would have been the next prince or princess of the realm. And worse, the truth was soon revealed: the Queen had never been unfaithful to the King.

It was then that the prince learned that innocence lost cannot be regained. There are stains that cannot be washed away. Not after years of repentance. Not in a whole lifetime of regret.

[themerrythleves]

"I was a woman possessed. I spent about 80% of my time talking about Chain of Gold, and the other 20% of the time, i was praying for someone else to bring it up so i could talk about it more. I could hear people getting bored with me, but i couldn't stop."

#ME

[themerrythleves]

So basically Lucie is writing an AU fanfiction about her best friend!? 😂

[themerrythleves]

Random noise in the house

Me: Jesse it's you?

[themerrythleves]

Got Malec? ;) 

[themerrythleves]

COG SPOILERS MATTHEW

sweetyreads said:Heyy Cassie! I have completed CoG and I loved it so much. My heart breaks for Matthew…

Keep reading