A Look Into the Mind of Tatiana Lightwood

By: Krisha (edited by: Alice Bibliofaith)

Tatiana Lightwood, or as she’s more commonly known, Blackthorn. She was the youngest of three siblings and married to Rupert Blackthorn. Shortly after her marriage to Rupert, he was killed by her own father, Benedict Lightwood, who was suffering from demon pox and was in the fourth stage of the disease. Benedict, in his worm form, wreaked havoc among Tessa Gray, William Herondale, Jem Carstairs, and his sons Gideon and Gabriel Lightwood. They eventually were able to kill Benedict. Did Tatiana, having witnessed the death of both her father and husband, fall into a mental state of depression? That is the real question I’m here to explore. We were informed by Cassandra Clare that there are different forms of mental illnesses shown throughout the books.

A possibility that has stayed on the surface of my thoughts was Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD. It is a stress disorder that is normally triggered by a traumatic event. Of course, in this case, it would be witnessing the death of her father and husband. It is revealed that Tatiana avoids meeting with her brothers, who she blames for the deaths of her father and husband. Normally, someone with PTSD would avoid any objects, sights, or people that trigger memories of the event. Perhaps, to her, Gideon and Gabriel Lightwood trigger the memories of the event that she has tried incredibly hard to suppress. One with PTSD is usually in a depressed state for periods of time. Tatiana seemed to be in different states of mind, perhaps from hysteria or depression.

Another mental illness that Tatiana could have been suffering from is bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder that can cause someone to have extreme changes of moods rapidly throughout any amount of time. In an exclusive short story written and released by Cassandra Clare, Tatiana meets Gideon ten years later and greets him wearing the dress she wore the day that her husband and father were killed. It was described to still be stained with the blood from that day. Her mood changed from different stages. The few days after the death husband and father, Tatiana went into a sort of hysteria in which she blamed Gideon and Gabriel for the whole incident. Then years later, in this short story, she is cold and distant from Gideon; almost as though she did not acknowledge the fact that they were siblings.

These, of course, are only possibilities of mental illnesses that Tatiana could be suffering from. She could be experiencing general depression, anxiety, etc. Her actions, as few as they may be, are the only clues we have to figure her out and what exactly has happened to her. The Last Hours will soon be coming out and we will get to know more about her. It will only be then that we get a deeper look into Tatiana Blackthorn.