Chain of Gold

Red-haired, beautiful, and a Nephilim of Persian (modern-day Iranian) origin, Cordelia Carstairs is a protagonist of the novel. She is the younger child of Shadowhunters Elias and Sona, and her family has led an itinerant life unlike most other Shadowhunter families because of what Cordelia initially believes is the ill-health of her father. After Elias is put on trial for a misadventure, Cordelia arrives in London with her mother and brother so that she can become Lucie’s parabatai. Though Cordelia grew up close to her older brother and her mother, she now feels alienated from her family, but she finds a new family in James, Lucie, and their friends Matthew, Christopher, and Thomas. As the narrative opens, Cordelia is unsure of her place in London society and is focused on making a good impression. However, she soon loses her need for social approval and comes into her own, finding affinity with free spirits like Bohemian Anna Lightwood and flamboyant Matthew Fairchild. Cordelia is fierce in battle with a tendency to throw herself headlong into situations, in her mother’s words.

She often comes to the rescue of James and her other friends and is identified by her unusual sword Cortana. Cordelia feels burdened by societal expectations of gender, rebelling against the corsets prescribed for formal occasions, and the pressure for a woman to maintain her reputation (far from merely fictional, these struggles are the author’s direct social commentary). Cordelia emerges as the emotional heart of her friend group and offers unusual, valuable insights to other characters, such as when she tells Matthew, “You decide the truth about yourself. No one else. And the choice about what kind of person you will be is yours alone” (535). Cordelia’s chief flaw is her occasional slowness to see the truth about people, especially those she loves, such as her father, whom she ultimately realizes has a destructive alcohol addiction. However, she is capable of selfless, unconditional love and loyalty, such as when she accepts James’s love for Grace despite the pain it causes her.

The youngest child of Shadowhunters Will and Tessa Herondale and sister to James, Lucie Herondale is another protagonist. Brown-haired, blue-eyed Lucie is ebullient, kind, loyal, and creative. She dreams of being a great writer and has been writing a long romance called The Beautiful Cordelia—based on her best friend and chosen parabatai—for years. Though she is only a year younger than her brother, James and his friends sometimes treat her as a child, which irks her considerably. Lucie wants to prove that she is as much of a valiant hero as James and her parents. Coupled with her love of adventure, this desire drives her to take quick—and sometimes, rash—action.

As the narrative advances, Lucie discovers her unusual and great power of commanding the dead. She forms a close friendship with Jesse Blackthorn, the ghost of Tatiana Blackthorn’s son, and swears to protect the secret that he is being kept alive through dark magic. However, her powers go unnoticed by her friends and family, mostly because they tend to assume Lucie has no problems. However, Lucie often shows surprising insight and maturity, such as when she confronts Matthew about his unhealthy alcohol consumption. Like Cordelia, Lucie is very much the action hero and comes to the aid of her loved ones in moments of crisis. The narrative suggests that Matthew was once in love with her; however, Lucie senses he may have outgrown those feelings. Though she loves the idea of romance, Lucie yet has little interest yet in her own romantic life. She pursues the philosophy that life and art should be separate; life being full of tragedy, art should provide an escape.

Matthew Fairchild is the son of Henry Fairchild and the Consul Charlotte Fairchild. Younger brother of Charles Fairchild and parabatai of James Herondale, Matthew is handsome, witty, fashionable, and self-deprecating. He is fond of the good life and is a foil to the serious, brooding James. However, Matthew’s merry exterior hides dark secrets and a keen intelligence. He often makes uncanny observations, such as when he tells Cordelia, “Do not confuse conditioning with a native inability” (255).

He forms a friendship with Cordelia, who sees through his flippant front (modeled on the characters of the writer Oscar Wilde). In turn, Matthew falls in love with Cordelia, but he respects his parabatai too much to interfere while James and Cordelia are together. Parabatai with the same love interest is a common trope in Clare’s Shadowhunter novels. Matthew often wears a green carnation, which he feels symbolizes his sexual attraction for both men and women. He loves the world of the Downworlders, being fascinated with magic. Matthew has a terrible secret that he does not reveal to anyone in the book and that drives him to alcoholism, giving him an air of tragedy.

The chief initial love interest of protagonist James Herondale, Grace Blackthorn (born Grace Cartwright) is the adopted daughter of the reclusive, tyrannical Tatiana Blackthorn. According to Grace, demons killed her parents when she was eight, after which Tatiana took her in. Described as a frosty, pale-haired, ethereal beauty, Grace plays a pivotal role in the plot yet remains a mystery as a character. She has grown up in complete isolation in Idris and has no Shadowhunter training. James is her only friend; however, the Merry Thieves dislike her when she arrives in London.

Grace gradually emerges as a damsel-in-distress stereotype, in opposition to Cordelia and Lucie’s fiery heroism. While she is often described as useless in battle, Grace is not without power and intelligence, as it is suggested she uses beauty and magic to engineer an escape from her mother’s clutches. Grace can be deeply manipulative, such as when she makes James wear a bracelet that bewitches his love for her. Despite her manipulative nature, however, she is not an altogether negative figure like her mother. Grace’s character is redeemed by a deep love for her dead brother, Jesse. She even briefly removes her bracelet from James’s wrist, suggesting she tried to do the right thing, before being forced by Tatiana to make him wear it again. Grace is the author’s interpretation of Charles Dickens’s heroine Estella in Great Expectations. Not a fully rounded character in Chain of Gold, Grace remains a cipher till the end.

Alastair Carstairs is Cordelia’s older brother and the son of Sona and Elias Carstairs. Though dark of hair, he dyes his hair a bright blonde to avoid bullying for his Iranian heritage. One of the most complex characters in the book, Alastair initially comes across as cold, arrogant, and sardonic. He has grown distant even from his beloved sister, Cordelia. The Merry Thieves dislike him since he was a terrible bully at school, especially towards Thomas.

However, as the narrative unfolds, his character becomes more three-dimensional with a traumatic background. Alastair is in love with Charles Fairchild, who refuses to make their love public and is engaged to a woman. Cordelia also learns that, for much of her life, Alastair has been protecting her from learning of their father’s alcoholism. To keep his many secrets, Alastair has developed an affected front. He redeems himself by fighting with the other Shadowhunters, acting kindly towards Thomas—with whom he shares unspoken feelings—and refusing to keep up his farcical relationship with Charles. However, as the book ends, Matthew reveals to the Merry Thieves the depth of Alastair’s bullying, causing Alastair’s expulsion from the friend group once again.

Bohemian, brave, and witty, Anna Lightwood is the oldest child of Shadowhunters Cecily and Gabriel Lightwood, and the sister of Christopher Lightwood. Anna’s friend Matthew Fairchild describes her as “oddly beautiful.” Striking in appearance, she dresses in fashionable men’s clothes and dates women, and she lives by herself in a flat—an unusual arrangement for a woman in her time. Anna is shown to date—and jilt—a series of girls. However, she seems to have deeper feelings for Ariadne Bridgestock.

Despite her sardonic front, Anna can be extremely kind and insightful. She makes Cordelia feel comfortable in London society, and she immediately strikes a friendship with her. Unbound by rules, Anna also has friends among the Downworlders, which proves very helpful to James, Cordelia, and Matthew in their quest to stop the demon attacks in London.

Jesse Blackthorn is the son of Tatiana and Rupert Blackthorn and the brother of Grace Blackthorn. He appears as a ghost in the first scene of the book, having died several years before 1903, the year in which Chain of Gold is set. Pale, dark-haired, and green-eyed, Jesse is kept alive by his mother’s dark magic. He awakens during the nights to speak to his mother and sister, but he is invisible to all else except Lucie, who has unusual power over ghosts.

Jesse and Lucie become friends, Lucie guarding the secret of Jesse’s existence, and Jesse frequently provides Lucie valuable intelligence about his mother’s doings. He selflessly gives up his last breath to save Lucie’s brother, James, after James is infected with demon poison. Thereafter, Jesse fades away. His loyalty to Lucie and his sister, Grace, paint him as a positive character. He is testament to the book’s overarching theme that choices, rather than family lineage, define a person.

The middle son of Cecily and Gabriel Lightwood and younger brother of Anna, Christopher Lightwood is one of the Merry Thieves. Smart and inventive, slender Christopher has a passion for science and invention. He is frequently shown tinkering with objects to create new things, sometimes to disastrous results. However, he is the Shadowhunter who discovers the antidote for the demon poison that has infected many Shadowhunters. Christopher is himself badly injured in a demon attack but gets saved in the end.

Thomas Lightwood is the son of Sophie and Gideon Lightwood and the brother to Barbara and Eugenia. One of the Merry Thieves, Thomas is exceptionally tall and muscular. Seen as gentle and kind by other characters, Thomas may be secretly in love with Alastair Carstairs, whom the rest of the Merry thieves intensely dislike. While Alastair bullied Thomas in school, the two later form a special bond. The character has a tragic element as he is pained by Alastair’s relationship with Charles Fairchild, and his beloved sister Barbara dies of demon poison. However, Thomas redoubles his effort to stop the demon attacks after Barbara’s passing, showing he has a brave, stoic streak.

The daughter of Benedict Lightwood, and sister to Gideon and Gabriel Lightwood, Tatiana Blackthorn is one of the book’s two chief antagonists. Described by Cordelia Carstairs as tall and “thin as a scarecrow” (68), Tatiana often wears strange, old-fashioned attire, which signifies her being stuck in the past. After Tatiana’s father, Benedict, turned into a demonic creature and killed her husband, Rupert, Benedict was slain by her brother Gabriel. Since then, Tatiana has withdrawn from Shadowhunter society, nursing a grudge against its prominent families.

After her son, Jesse, dies, Tatiana’s behavior turns even more extreme. She tyrannizes her adopted daughter, Grace, and keeps Jesse alive through dark magic, which is forbidden to Shadowhunters. Tatiana seems to have little regard even for Grace, which paints her as an outright negative character. As the narrative closes, The Enclave discovers Tatiana’s dark doings and exiles her to the Adamant Citadel. However, it is revealed at the end that this was part of the plan of the Prince of Hell Belial—Tatiana’s ally—to strike at the heart of the power of the Shadowhunters.