“Give Me To Be Beautiful Within,” Socrates Had Prayed, “and For Me Let Outward And Inward Things

somewhere off in the distance i can hear the herondales readying to battle the man behind this account

The way it was talked about before the book came out made me think there was going to be more of Elias and his interactions/relationship with Alastair and Sona. I mean, there must've been a scene where they each first interacted with him alone. Idk, it felt really meh to just have a total of about 3 scenes wherein Elias was either being weird, drunk or just horrible and then he dies. Like, "here hate him for being bad before I kill him." I think the whole thing should've been explored more, idk.

We also get one line that suggests he doesn't want to have the new baby, which is another thing that was hinted at a bunch and which I thought would actually be talked about openly at some point and explored, not just tucked away in a rant before he dies and never really formally addressed. And I might be misremembering, but weren't Alastair and Cordelia going to have secret and important meetings about him or something? There was one scene where they talked after dinner but that's it? And Sona was so sure he'd changed and needed to be given another chance - - why?

I realize the writing must be based around whatever drives the plot, so such scenes would seem add-on but that only calls into question why Alastair isn't so much more important to the plot 😤 smh,,,, I just think there could've been a lot more Carstairs scenes in the book that would've helped in understanding each of the Carstairs characters.

if Cordelia really did give Cortana to Alastair, that would solve the mystery of how the blade stays in the Carstairs family and reaches Emma. Cordelia might even be able to wield it later on (assuming she finds a way out of her situation) but I think she might just tell Alastair to keep it in the end, if not for himself then for their sibling.

cordelia was basically anna in ‘do you wanna build a snowman’ that time alastair came home and wouldn’t talk to her lol

I wonder what Alastair and Cordelia would think of Emma. I like to think there are bits of Alastair that shine through in Emma and that Jem eventually tells her about them.

Shâh-mât

The King is down

Scene from Chain of Iron by @cassandraclare

The Water-Lily Pond by Claude Monet (1899)

lost in the citadel by lil nas x is the perfect song for alastair and charles, i mean there are lines like:

"I remember when I met you, thought the universe sent you, thought you were someone I could vent to, so I hit your line, what you getting into?"

"I need time to get up and get off the floor, I need time to realize that I can't be yours, I need time to give up just like before, I love it how you know I'd only come right back for more."

"Why I thought it was forever? I only see you maybe never.

Why I thought we'd be together, when you treat it like whatever?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, my love is fallin' down, playing the victim when all my envisionings come slowly tumbling down, putting me back on the ground."

i just feel like it describes how Alastair feels at certain points

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better

Thank you @rottenlaertes for tagging me!

3 Ships You Like:

Laurie Odell/Ralph Lanyon (The Charioteer)

Laurie Odell/Andrew Raynes (also The Charioteer)

I cannot think of a third tbh, maybe Ralph Lanyon/Alec Deacon? (Also the Charioteer -- can you tell I've read it recently?)

First Ship Ever: I don’t really remember. I know it's locked in my memory somewhere, but I probably haven't thought about wherever it's from in forever, so it's not coming to me now

Last Song You Heard: Sang-Hyun’s Prayer by Jo Yeong-wook, from the movie ‘Thirst'

Favorite Children Book: The Giver by Lois Lowry!

Currently Reading: The Phaedrus, so I can reread the Charioteer right after lol

Currently Watching: The Legend of Korra!

Currently Consuming: I’m having tea!

Currently Craving: Coffee!

honestly, all the people I would want to tag in this have already done it so anyone else who wants to can!