The Chronicles of Castellane

***The Chronicles of Castellane***, also known as the ***Sword Catcher*** series, is a high fantasy series written by Cassandra Clare, published by Del Rey Books (Random House) in North America and Pan Macmillan in the Commonwealth.

## Description

The Sword Catcher books form a dramatic epic of power, intrigue and magic. Here, a boy lives to protect his Prince with his life. A girl is destined to return lost magic to the world. A Prince must choose between his heart and his duty. And thrumming beneath it all, the heartbeat of a city unlike any other. Welcome to Castellane.

## Books

### Installments

1. *Sword Catcher* (2023)
2. *The Ragpicker King* (2025)
3. *Untitled*
4. *Untitled*

### Audiobooks

*Sword Catcher* was narrated by Christian Coulson and Fiona Hardingham.

## Adaptation

Sword Catcher's rights have already been sold for a TV project with Cassandra Clare as executive producer. As producer she will have more input on the project. In 2019 a writer was working on the outline and pilot for the network. As of 2024 there has been no further news about the project.

## Trivia

* Inspiration for *Sword Catcher* came to Cassandra Clare when she was traveling in Thailand and watching a reality show where a body double for Saddam Hussein’s son Uday was interviewed. It’s a job where you have no identity and are pretending to be another person and for Cassandra, it was interesting to ask herself what this means for the body double.
* The series is set around the 17th century and Cassandra partly made the clothes up and also made them somewhat accurate to the Renaissance time period.
* In 2017, rights for only the first two books had been bought. So far the series will consist of 4 books, but there might be more.
* The original plan was to publish *Sword Catcher* in spring 2021, however the publish date was changed to 2022 due to the pandemic.
* The books will be edited by Anne Groell, editor of *A Song of Ice and Fire*.
* This is Clare's first solo adult series.
* Cassandra worked with conlangers to invent new languages for the different countries that make up the world, and with mapmakers to create a map of Castellane, and Dannemore.
* The Chronicles of Castellane is very different from the Shadowhunter Chronicles as it's high fantasy, the author had to invent the whole world instead of a secret world within our world. The world-building process included more extensive research, and the creation of a more elaborated world which includes its own religion, politics, geography, weather, food, culture, and languages.
* Some of the tropes that will be explored within the series will be:
	+ The prophecy trope, there is a prophecy surrounding the main female character, Lin, that says there is a very powerful goddess who would return one day and would be one of the girls from her community, possibly her.
	+ The enemies-to-lovers trope.
* The story significantly changed from what was initially announced.
	+ Earlier synopsis given for the series read: "Here, a boy is born to rule a divided city. A girl is destined to return lost magic to the world. And a prince will betray his people to win a crown. They’ll discover the dark side of themselves and those they love, as their kingdom faces war, plague and the end of hope. But the blackest night comes before the dawn." These were Conor Aurelian, Lin Caster, and Bram Aurelian respectively.
	+ Conor was supposed to be a cruel and unworthy prince.
	+ Kellian was supposed to grow up with the crown prince, whom he discovered was a terrible person who would make a horrible king. "He has to deal with being in this terrible position—‘My job is to sacrifice my life for this person I don’t like or respect.’"
	+ Kel was supposed to be kidnapped at the age of 5 from his family and taken to the palace. Instead, Kel was taken from an orphanage at the age of 10.
	+ Markus Aurelian was supposed to be a "despised king."
	+ The series was supposed to cover Kellian's life up until he is twenty-three, twenty-four, which was when the story was set to really start.
	+ Conor was supposed to have a younger brother called Bram Aurelian. He was supposed to be the wise prince and Conor the evil prince. As the trope of "wise prince and evil prince" was to be explored, two princes were heirs to the throne, one was good, and the other was bad, but at the beginning, we cannot be sure who is who.
	+ Conor was supposed to do something terrible to betray Kel in the first book. Kel would have tried to forgive Conor, but it was an eye-opener for him. He started to see more things about Conor that were maybe not so good. At that moment he is approached by the Ragpicker King, who offers him the job of spying on the Royal family in exchange for something he really wanted.
	+ In the first book, Kel was supposed to be nearly killed by an assassin. Instead he is nearly killed by Crawlers.
	+ Mayesh Bensimon was supposed to not let Lin know or use magic.
	+ Lin was supposed to meet the Ragpicker King because something happened to him and she was dragged off to treat him and be her private physician.

## References

1. ↑ "The whole series is “The Chronicles of Castellane.”" Cassandra Clare on Tumblr
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sword Catcher Series on Cassandra Clare's official website
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Clare's announcement on Tumblr
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Pan Mac splashes seven figures on Clare's first adult fiction | The Bookseller
5. ↑ "Sword Catcher... already sold as a TV project, with Clare attached as executive producer..." EW interview Cassandra Clare on embracing her voice in *Queen of Air and Darkness*
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Exclusive Interview: Cassandra Clare talks about *‘Queen of Air and Darkness’*, writing with Wesley Chu and *‘Sword Catcher’* on TMI Source.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Cassandra Clare's livestream with Fae Crate
8. ↑ "I know all of what happens in book 2, most of what happens in book 3, some of what happens in book 4, and inklings of what might come beyond that." Cassandra Clare on Paste Magazine
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 October Interview with Cassandra Clare - TMI Source
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Cassandra Clare's livestream with Niloa Gray
11. ↑ Cassandra Clare's January 2022 newsletter
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfnITX7i8eo
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/book-deals/article/75497-cassandra-clare-to-pen-new-adult-fantasy-series.html