| “ | When I was a girl, I had so many dreams. Dreams of heroism, of glamour, of travel. Layla—what I want for you above all things is that you follow the truth of your dreams. No scorn, no shame, no part of society's opinion matters more than that. | ” |
–Sona to Cordelia, Chain of Iron | ||
Sona Carstairs (née Jahanshah) is the Shadowhunter wife of Elias Carstairs and the mother of Alastair and Cordelia.
History[]
Sona was born in Tehran, Iran. Being an only child, she was spoiled and accustomed to getting her way.[1] She had dreams of being a hero, traveling the world and of glamour. Yet at some point she gave those dreams up, presumably because of societal expectations and opinions.[2]
At one point, she married Elias Carstairs, whom she only knew as a great hero. It wasn't until after their marriage that Sona realized he had a drinking problem. Embarrassed, she distanced herself from her family in order to hide it.[2]
She went on to have two children with him and they raised them together, traveling constantly. In 1903, Sona became pregnant with her third child with Elias.
Around July the same year, Elias was arrested for an incident during a Clave expedition that ended in a conflict with vampires, risking the breach of the Accords. Sona went to London with her children, hoping that their family would be able to make allies to stand by them or at least maintain some honor once he was convicted. Through all this, Sona and Alastair hid the truth of Elias's alcoholism from Cordelia, who adored him.
Sona hoped to marry Cordelia off to someone influential as soon as possible to save her from the shame of Elias's conviction, though she later told Cordelia that she didn't have to if she did not want to. Sona was distressed when they were led to believe that Cordelia and James Herondale had spent the night together but nonetheless gave her blessing when she learned of their engagement.[3]
Over the next several months, she worked hard with Tessa to plan the wedding ceremony. The week before the wedding, however, she spent waiting by the window for Elias to return home from the Basilias. She was overjoyed when he arrived the morning of the ceremony and believed his excuses as to his delayed arrival. When Elias collapsed at the reception, Sona was concerned and visibly upset. However, as soon as he was escorted out of the room, she went on as if nothing had happened, chatting happily with some of the older guests.
In the following weeks, Sona was put on bedrest and Elias claimed to stay by her side. One night, after getting drunk at a bar, Elias was murdered by the serial killer that had been plaguing the London Shadowhunters. Sona was devastated and rushed to her daughter's new home to tell her the news. Together, she, her children, and James went to the Silent City to see his body before his autopsy. As Brother Enoch explained what they were able to tell happened, Sona became distraught and began grabbing at Elias's shirt, asking why he did not fight his attacker. Alastair managed to calm her down and they spoke the traditional Shadowhunter farewell. Sona cried the rest of the night, upset that Elias would never meet his third child and that he had died alone, not knowing he was loved.
During her grief, Sona had time to think about the recent events of her and her children's lives and realize a few things. She pulled Cordelia aside after the battle against Leviathan to give her some motherly advice. She told her she knew that her marriage was not entered into the way it should have been but because of scandal and that that was not what she had wanted for her. She told her that the only thing that would make her happy is if Cordelia pursued her own happiness, ignoring what society may want from her. As well as that she did not want her or Alastair hovering over her until the baby came.[2]
Physical description[]
Sona always wears a roosari and has brown skin and light brown eyes. As a child she had red hair like her daughter's; in adulthood it is a darker color and nearly brown.
Appearances[]
- Chain of Gold (first appearance)
- Chain of Iron
- Chain of Thorns
- Secrets of Blackthorn Hall (alluded to)
Trivia[]
- Sona's favorite weapon is the shamshir.[1]
- She was put on bedrest for all three of her pregnancies.[2]
- Sona is Persian (or Iranian, as she would be known in modern times).
- Having lived in Persia, some Islam and Qur'an stories have been blended into Sona's beliefs,[4] though she is not exactly Muslim as Shadowhunters do not conform to any mundane religion and have their own where they worship Raziel.[5]
- Sona learned English from a British tutor.[6]
- She had cold-feet the night before her wedding to Elias and nearly escaped to Constantinople on a milk train.[2]
- She apparently knows a lot about medicinal plants and taught her daughter of them.[3]
- According to a found family tree:[7]
- she supposedly died in 1911 at the age of 60 or 61;
- her name on the family tree was Colette Verlac — this was retconned in favor of a name change;
- her daughter Cordelia married James Herondale and, through them, had a grandson named Owen Herondale.
- Also according to the tree above, as well as the companion book An Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters & Denizens of Downworld, Sona was born in 1850, which would make her 52/53 in Chain of Gold set in 1903. However, Cordelia believed her to be 42 in Chain of Gold, which would have her birth year fall around 1861.
- Sona was originally intended to be of the Turan family and a widow of Theodor Verlac whom she may have murdered. This was later retconned in The Last Hours.[1]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 An Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters & Denizens of Downworld
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Chain of Iron
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chain of Gold
- ↑ Character who practices Islam: [1][2] — Cassandra Clare on Twitter
- ↑ Shadowhunters and religion — Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
- ↑ "Her dad is British and her mom learned English from a British tutor" Cassandra Clare in a comment on Instagram
- ↑ "Found" family tree, a Clockwork Princess extra