Recent Cassandra Clare Posts

Hi Shadowhunters! Just in case you missed them, check out some of Cassie recent posts via her Tumblr page. 

Jem and Brother Zachariah

(spoilers for Lost Souls and Clockwork Princess)

I write to you for my third time to discover something that I began to wonder not so long ago. I know that everybody says this to you, but honestly, your books changed my life. I realise that you probably know nothing about the City of Ashes movie news, so I won’t even ask. I write to you today, to ask about James Carstairs. Obsessed is truly what I am with him. He is probably my favourite character of all the books I’ve read (and that’s a lot.) So the question I have for you is: why didn’t you kill him? Of course I’m glad you didn’t but it got me thinking. Jem could’ve easily died in Clockwork Princess and Brother Zachariah could be just a normal Silent Brother that just so happened to be a little more human. I really hope you answer my question, because that is something I really want to know. The way the events were written, nobody knew that the Silent Brother was actually him and it could remain unknown even if he survived. I just need to know, why didn’t you kill him. Why didn’t he die? I thank you in advance for your reply (I seriously hope I receive one). In my heart I am silently hoping that your reply would be something in the lines of “I couldn’t” and not “It wasn’t in my plan.” Either way, thank you for the books, thank you for the reply, thank you for everything. I can’t wait to read all of your books. And if the rumours are true, that Julian is more like Jem than Will, I am in serious trouble.

With sincere love and gratitude,
the first and now not the only Slovenian ShadowhunterHello!

Thank you for not asking about movie news. You are correct that I don’t know anything!

I’m so glad you like Jem! He is very dear to me, too. I hope you will like Julian, who is the closest to Jem of all my previous heroes though he is very much his own person. Because people kept asking if he was like Jace I eventually said “More like Jem …?” mostly because it’s very hard to describe a character that readers haven’t met yet rather than because they are that much alike.

I’m so sorry if this upsets you, but I must confess Brother Zachariah was always created to be Jem: every scene I wrote about him, was written knowing he was Jem, and that’s why he acted and looked the way he did. (When he spoke of the two people he would have died for to Jace, for instance,  I knew he meant Will and Tessa. And he dropped heavy hints about owing the Herondales, etc.)

Unless Brother Zachariah was Jem, there was no reason for him to be in the story. His part could have been filled by Brother Enoch; everything he does could have been done by someone else. Adding characters to an already large ensemble cast isn’t something we really do at random: they need a reason to be there. And having him not be Jem would mean he was never released from being a Silent Brother and could never be with Tessa, and I wanted better for Jem than that. He’s so great, and he’s suffered too much!

I hope my answer is ‘both’ to the question of whether it was love for Jem or my plan which motivated me—I love Jem and never wanted to kill him, and I never intended to. My plan doesn’t mean I love Jem any less.

I owe it to my readers to plot out my books so it all feels natural, yet surprising, and I feel I also owe it to my characters, to put them in a story that is planned and not random. Jem was always intended to have a wondrous strange life: I hope that does not disappoint you too much!

Awwwww... Cassie shared this fan art here. 

cassandrajp:

"It’s part of the parabatai oath. My blanket shall be your blanket."

"Yeah, sure."

—

Excuse me but have you let Waywood into your life? *stands before you with the Waywood bible* 

(Cutey-pie dialog written by cassandraclare)