The Wicked Powers is an upcoming trilogy by Cassandra Clare. The fifth in the series chronologically, it is so far set to be the last and concluding series of The Shadowhunter Chronicles.[1][2][3][4][5][6] The title is derived from a Shadowhunter children's rhyme: "And bronze to summon wicked powers."
The series will follow Dru Blackthorn, Kit Herondale, and Ty Blackthorn from The Dark Artifices as they are drawn into the final massive conflict between demons and angels. As they face down the biggest threat they have ever faced with the help of their friends and family, they will change the Shadow World forever.
The publishing rights to the series were obtained by Random House in the US and Walker Books in the UK. The first book is scheduled for release in spring of 2026.[7]
Books[]
The following are the working titles of the books in the series:[8]
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Information[]
To reiterate, TWP is currently in the works. Information listed below may be subject to change.
- The main characters are going to be Kit Herondale, Ty Blackthorn, and Dru Blackthorn.[9]
- It is expected to take place three years after The Dark Artifices,[10][11][12][13][14][15] in 2015.[16][17] Kit and Ty are going to be about 18 years old while Dru will be about 16 or 17 years old.[14]
- The series is meant to be connected in some way to The Last Hours series[18] and we will see references to it, such as similar magic and some of the character's belongings like the Blackthorn sword and Cortana's scabbard.[19]
- Jaime Rosales is set to be a significant character in this series.[20][21]
- Ash will appear and have a significant role moving forward.[21][22][23][24][25] The trauma he has been through will be explored and a commonality between him and Dru.[26]
- Clare hopes to have a group of friends around Dru outside of her siblings,[21] including Thais Pedroso,[27][28] as she has been attending the new Shadowhunter Academy,[29] though most of these classmates will be unimportant.[30] She will have multiple love interests[31] and is set to be seen struggling with anxiety and panic attacks from her past trauma.[32]
- Thais is currently set to be Dru's roommate and will have her own love interest and adventures.[33]
- Ty will be shown in the Scholomance. His grief and trauma over the events of The Dark Artifices and Livvy's death will be addressed.[34]
- Kit will still be figuring out his faerie powers—their nature, what they do, and how they work will be his first step in the series.[35] James Herondale's gun will come into play with this as he is able to use it.[36][37]
- Kit will also not be completely ignorant of Shadowhunter life, having been tutored by Jem Carstairs and Tessa Gray.[38]
- At some point, Kit and Ty will go on a road trip together.[39]
- Certain plot points left off in Queen of Air and Darkness lead into this series, including Thule,[40] the new dynamics of The Clave,[41][42] Kit's heritage,[43][44] the consequences of Ty performing magic and his link to Livia,[45] among others.
- The epilogue of The Lost Book of the White is meant to point towards the events of TWP[46]—Lucifer will make his debut.[33]
- The third book of The Eldest Curses is set to take place during the timeline of this series;[47] presumably during the first book as something is meant to happen to The Mortal Instruments characters that takes them out of this main story line and into their own.[33]
- Janus will play a big role in this series,[48] particularly his relationship with Ash will influence what occurs in the series.[49]
- What happened to the Simon Lewis of Thule will be learned.[50][51] The existence and/or fate of the Kit Herondale of Thule may also be revealed.[52]
- Helen and Aline are set to return, possibly with children.[53] Mark, Cristina and Kieran are also set to make an appearance.[54]
- Tessa Gray and Jem Carstairs will have an encounter with Will Herondale at some point in the series.[55]
- The Eternidad seemingly will make an appearance and more information on how it works will be discovered.[56]
- Being the final series installment, Cassie has plans for all the characters who are still around to face the greatest threat they've ever faced. The characters from different generations of the Shadowhunter Chronicles will have to unite and join forces in the biggest battle they'll ever have to take it down,[57] that something will happen that will change the nature of Shadowhunters and what they mean,[58] and that "the Shadowhunter world will change forever" and would bring the series to an end.[1][59][60]
Snippets[]
"I don't think I'm going to be able to let you off with a warning this time, Drusilla," said Luke Garroway, taking off his gold-rimmed spectacles so he could peer more closely at Dru.
Dru crossed one leg over the other. She wished she was wearing something a little more dignified than ripped fishnets, boots, and a t-shirt dress that said SURELY NOT EVERYONE WAS KUNG-FU FIGHTING, but she hadn’t expected to be pulled into the Headmaster’s office so unceremoniously.
Dru shrugged. "But it's true. I'm impervious. I cannot be perved."
"He looks so much like Jesse," Jem said.
Art[]
Trivia[]
- The Wicked Powers will feature a plot inspired by and very loosely based on Arthurian legend, following the "parallels" tradition of other series[61] and in a smaller sense as it focuses on the apocalypse and biblical sources.[62] It will also return to The Mortal Instruments' references of Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno.[63]
- Cassandra Clare considered turning the series into a tetralogy before officially starting to write the books.[64]
- This will be the first and only series of The Shadowhunter Chronicles not to be printed by Simon & Schuster in the U.S.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Then the Shadowhunter world wraps up with The Wicked Powers. (That's the plan, anyway.)" Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "It would end with TWP." Cassandra Clare on Twitter
- ↑ "The Wicked Powers. Ideally it would be the fifth and last Shadowhunters series." Cassandra Clare on Twitter
- ↑ "... wrap up permanently with an installment called The Wicked Powers," Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "But that would be the last series about Shadowhunters." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "You could think of TWP maybe as the last 3 books." Cassandra Clare on Twitter
- ↑ Cassandra Clare's April 5, 2024 newsletter
- ↑ Cassandra Clare's B&N Union Square event
- ↑ Cassie panel at Bookcon 2017 — Fangirlish video on Twitter
- ↑ "... about three, in book time." Cassandra Clare on Twitter
- ↑ "It's always been set three or four years after TDA," Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "Three years after TDA." Cassandra Clare on Twitter
- ↑ "... how many years after TDA does TWP take place?" "Three." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Around three/four years. [Ty and Kit will] be about eighteen, Dru about sixteeen/seventeen." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "It is set three years later," Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "The Wicked Powers, if I get around to writing it: 2015" Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "The Wicked Powers is set in 2015 or so. Three years after Queen." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "TLH and TWP are especially connected." Cassandra Clare in a comment on Instagram
- ↑ "Are there any hints about what will happen in Wicked Powers in Chain of Thorns?" Cassandra Clare on Instagram
- ↑ "Yes, Jaime is in fact a more significant character in TWP –" Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 "Jaime and Ash are definitely both going to show up in her plotline, though!" Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "Ash is important to the ongoing story." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "You'll definitely see more of Ash," CC on Tumblr
- ↑ Queen of Air and Darkness
- ↑ "In Wicked Powers, definitely." CC on Tumblr
- ↑ "We definitely get to explore [his trauma], especially as it's something he and Dru have in common." CC on Tumblr
- ↑ " you will glimpse one of Dru's new friends in TWP in a crowd scene." CC on Tumblr
- ↑ "Yes, she's Dru's future good friend, Thais," CC on Tumblr
- ↑ "She's at Shadowhunter Academy (now relocated to upstate New York.) She has a lot of friends there," CC on Tumblr
- ↑ "They may get commented on but that's about it." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "Dru has at least one love interest as the books begin but she'll add at least one more before they're over!" Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "She has anxiety and panic attacks that she keeps to herself." CC on Tumblr
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 Cassandra Clare on Instagram Live
- ↑ "His grief, his trauma, will be addressed, but not from the perspective of self-harm specifically." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "Kit doesn't know what his faerie powers exactly do, he only knows they work sometimes, and not always. No one else knows either, so figuring out the exact nature of his power is the first step in TWP." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ Secrets of Blackthorn Hall
- ↑ "Is James's gun important in The Wicked Powers? Cassandra Clare on Instagram
- ↑ "Kit also gets tutored by Jem and Tessa in Shadowhunter stuff" — Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "They do take a road trip" — Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ Recap of Cassandra Clare in Germany — TMI Source
- ↑ INTERVIEW WITH CASSANDRA CLARE. — emmmabooks on YouTube
- ↑ "… but the whole government of the Shadowhunters' world changes. And definitely a lot of that happens in Queen." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "It's a fairly significant part of Kit's story," Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "... all the ways in which this enormous secret plays out… well, that's for The Wicked Powers." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "Ty [raising Livvy's ghost] makes Wicked Powers possible." CC on Instagram
- ↑ "Moment at the end of Lost Book points towards events in TWP." CC on Tumblr
- ↑ "Scheduled to be time-wise during TWP." CC on Tumblr
- ↑ "... he serves a bigger one in TWP (besides just being the parent that shaped Ash, more than anyone else has been.) I think it's fair to say without him, TWP could not happen." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "[Ash and Janus's] relationship powers a lot of what happens in the books," Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "Where he is now is a mystery. But not one that won't ever be solved." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ Forever Fallen
- ↑ TMI Source's 10 year anniversary chat with Cassandra Clare
- ↑ "You will see them ... in TWP — maybe with children," Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ “We will certainly see them and learn more about them” Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "TESSA AND JEM WILL HAVE AN ENCOUNTER WITH WILL IN THE WICKED POWERS!" — TMISource at CC's Sword Catcher London tour stop
- ↑ "it doesn't really come up till the Wicked Powers...we will discover, it is true in some parts." CC on Tumblr
- ↑ "The Shadowhunters will face the greatest threat they've ever faced, and the generations will have to unite to take it down." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ Cassandra Clare and Holly Black at a signing in Sydney in 2015 — Aussie Shadowhunters on YouTube
- ↑ "It will bring the Shadowhunter Chronicles to an end. The Shadowhunter world will change forever." Cassandra Clare on Twitter
- ↑ "A BIG change!" Cassandra Clare on Twitter
- ↑ "It's very early days, but I'm going to say Arthurian legend." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "Is The Wicked Powers based on Arthurian mythology?" Cassandra Clare on Instagram
- ↑ "A lot of what happens turns on various pieces of biblical mythology (since we're dealing with Lucifer!) and references to Paradise Lost/Dante." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "I had been considering making it four books" — Cassandra Clare on Tumblr