The Road to ‘Lord of Shadows’: What we know so far

It’s the 16th of May, so we are officially one (!) week away from the release of Lord of Shadows! Since it’s a Tuesday this also means that it’s time for the third installment of our The Road to Lord of Shadows.

I summed up everything (or nearly everything) Cassie has revealed about the book so far so sit back and get ready for lots of information 😉 This post doesn’t include information we got from snippets or the first two chapters that were released today.

First of all, we know the chapter titles and that they are all from Edgar Allen Poe’s poem Dreamland.

Here’s the jacket copy text:

Would you trade your soul mate for your soul?

A Shadowhunter’s life is bound by duty. Constrained by honor. The word of a Shadowhunter is a solemn pledge, and no vow is more sacred than the vow that binds parabatai, warrior partners – sworn to fight together, die together, but to never fall in love.
Emma Carstairs has learned that the love she shares with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, isn’t just forbidden – it could destroy them both. She knows she should run from Julian. But how can she when the Blackthorns are threatened by enemies on all sides?
Their only hope of the Black Volume of the Dead, a spell book of terrible power. Everyone wants it. Only the Blackthorns can find it. Spurred on by a dark bargain with the Seelie Queen, Emma; her best friend, Cristina; and Mark and Julian Blackthorn journey into the Courts of Faerie, where glittering revels hid bloody danger and no promise can be trusted. Meanwhile, rising tension between Shadowhunters and Downworlders has produced the Cohort, an extremist group of Shadowhunters dedicated to registering Downworlders and “unsuitable” Nephilim. They’ll do anything in their power to expose Julian’s secrets and take the Los Angeles Institute for their own.
When Downworlders turn against the Clave, a new threat rises in the form of the Lord of Shadows – the Unseelie King, who sends his greatest warriors to slaughter those with Blackthorn blood and seize the Black Volume. As dangers close in, Julian devises a risky scheme that depends on the cooperation of an unpredictable enemy. But success may come with a price he and Emma cannot even imagine, one that will bring with it a reckoning of blood that could have repercussions for everyone and everything they hold dear.

Cassie’s decription of Lord of Shadows:

The plot

• Lord of Shadows is set two weeks after the events of Lady Midnight.
• Kieran never made it back to the Wild Hunt. He was captured and is now sentenced to death so the characters go to Faerie to save him.
• They are also going to visit Cornwall, London & its Institute.
• Centurions from the Scholomance, Zara, Manuel (from Madrid) and Jon Cartwright from Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, are introduced in this book.
• The Cohort and their anti-Downworlders agenda will be addressed: They “want to register all Downworlders and number-ID them.“
• The characters “face the wrath of faerie kings and ancient immortal warriors, the schemes of the Seelie Queen, the restless dead and the bigots of the Clave”.
• We will meet the Unseelie King, who is in fact the Lord of Shadows, and some of his many children (for example Adaon).

Other information

• Lord of Shadows is 720 pages long. Its first word is “Kit” and the last word is “hour“.
• Cassie described the end of book with “blood” and we know that it is “brutal“. Four characters we know are going to die but the overall headcount is even higher because some characters who are introduced in LoS are also going to die.
• There is a bigger focus on Cristina, Kit, Ty, Dru and other characters.
• There are going to be lots of cute moments.
• The continuation of Emma and Mark’s “Why lie?” talk is addressed.
• There’s a big new aspect about the parabatai bond.
• The identity of the transgender character (a woman) is revealed.
• A building will burn down.
• Cortana does “something in LoS no other sword has ever done.“
• Terms mentioned in Lord of Shadows: “Blackthorn Hall. Thule. The Eldest Heir. The Riders of Mannanan.“

The characters

• Julian’s feelings for Emma will get explored. “He does have a pretty passionate kiss with someone“. He “gets angry about something in front of Emma, Cristina and Mark” and the others will be shocked.
• Cristina is aware that Emma and Mark aren’t a real couple (Lord of Shadows chapter sampler). She is going to dance with Mark and she “has a romantic dance with an unexpected guy“, maybe Kieran? There is a surprise coming for Cristina and Diego’s relationship and she will “sort of” choose between Mark and Diego.
• Mark is going to kiss a lot.
• Kit meets Jace (on the first page) and he will get a Herondale family ring. Kit is going to talk to a ghost (probably Jessamine Lovelace who does show up) and he’ll interact with Kieran.
• Ty’s neuroatypicality is addressed and “in the second book, when Kit mentions to Julian that Ty is autistic, Julian says, “What’s that?”“
• Livvy is protective of Kit, they will become friends and she will “kiss someone“.
• Dru “makes a very important discovery” which is magic-related.
• Diana has a point of view in the book, we get background information about her and find out why she’s friends with Catarina.
• We will find out about Malcolm and Annabel’s past and we meet her in person.
• Helen and Aline will show up. The Blackthorns are still trying to get Helen out of exile.
• We will find out Helen and Mark’s faerie names.
• Jaime Rosales finally shows up and he have an important love interest. We will learn more about Jaime and Diego’s family, “their secrets and their demanding past.“
• Marisol Garza, Jon Cartwright’s girlfriend, is mentioned in LoS.
• Gwyn “has a surprisingly big role to play” and he asks someone on a date. Cassie ships him with someone.
• We will meet new warlocks like Hypatia Vex.
• The Lightwoods’ family motto is revealed and other family mottos are discussed as well.
• There might be a secret prince in Lord of Shadows.
• Jem and Tessa won’t be in the book.

Characters from The Mortal Instruments

• Alec, Magnus, their kids and Robert are going to show up.
• Jace and Clary arrive in Los Angels with a message from the Consul (LoS chapter sampler). We are also going to find out why Clary turned down Jace’s proposal. Jace and Clare will eat Chinese food from the Jade Wolf.
• Rafael and Max are making friends with Tavvy and there will be some happy Bane-Lightwood family scenes.
• The Seelie Queen will return!
  

So that’s what we know. If I missed anything important please leave a link to the information in the comments or tweet me @Catreads.

Catch up on the Lord of Shadows snippets here but bear in mind that not very snippet might have made it into the final version of the book.

Now I need YOUR help for the final installment of The Road to Lord of Shadows. Tell me your predictions/theories or expectations. You can leave a comment here or tweet to @TMI_Source and/or use the twitter hashtag #LoStheories.

I will collect everything and post them next Monday, one day before Lord of Shadows is finally released!