What are your
favourite hobbies outside of the performing arts?
Will: Oh, okay. I do a bit of music on the side, but now I
can’t say that! I do a lot of photography which I really enjoy. And travel as
well. I love travel and I haven’t been able to do it enough. So I want to do it
more!
Anna: I love to write. I write a lot. I love spending time
with my dog. Oh, and my boyfriend!
Luke: Dog (puts hand above head). Boyfriend (puts hand below chair)
Anna: Also be with friends and also I hide in my house a
lot. I like being alone. That’s a hobby.
Luke: I also really love photography but I also like going
into a dark room and developing my own photos. I started in high school and
it’s a bit like meditating, cause you’re just on your own in this dark room…
Will: That’s so much cooler than what I said!
Luke: Well basically my whole aim is to just take everything you say and say it better (laughter) And then with any remaining free time – it’s really trite to say, but it’s the truth – I work on my charity stuff as much as I possibly can. It also feels like meditating in a way because it’s so far removed from the performing arts.
Anna: Luke does some amazing work with Oxfam.
Have you ever heard your French dubbing voice?
Anna: Yes! It’s so much better!
Luke: Mine sounds like a Disney villain. (pretends to speak Disney Villain French) Like, what is happening here?
Will: I haven’t heard mine! How have you heard yours?
Luke: You just go to Netflix and you change language
Will: Aaaah. Wait! Do you and me have the same one? Cause that would be amazing!
(Audience says no. Will and Luke are sad.)
Will: Oh. Okay. Is mine any good?
Everyone: NOOOO
Anna: He’s like ‘I’m here guys’. He’s probably sitting in the back, really sad!
Luke: Oh no!
Anna: Don’t be mean to him! Wherever you are, thank you for
your work!
Describe your first
day of shooting
Luke: Mine was hilarious because I had known for a few months that I was going to be Jonathan and I was super excited and then they flew me to Toronto and then I had to wait another two weeks and it was great, I got to work the space, and me and Kat spent time together. And the night before I went for a fitting at 8pm and I ate something bad, so I had food poisoning on my first day of shooting. I was up from 2am and I had to be at the studio at 5am and I was just being sick all day. I was trying to work and the whole time I was just like ‘Don’t vomit on Kat. Don’t vomit on Kat. Don’t vomit on Kat.’ And I remember being in this scene and looking around thinking if I had to vomit, what would I do it in. And there was this big urn… I decided I was going to vomit in that. (laughter) There was a point during shooting where I thought I was going to pass out, I just felt so bad. And then a fire alarm went off and we all got evacuated for an hour, because there was a potential gas leak. There wasn’t. Everything was fine. But I think maybe I made it happen… I think I manifested it, so I could sleep for an hour, because it was the thing I needed to actually finish the day.
Anna: Well I’m sorry you got food poisoning, that sucks!
Once, on another show, the whole cast and crew got food poisoning. It was
really hard. – – Anyway. My first day was just one scene, so I’m going to talk
about my second day of shooting, which was my first real day on Shadowhunters.
We had to do all the black Lilith in the goo and because of scheduling we had
to do black Lilith, then regular Lilith, then black Lilith again. We were
shooting out in the church and I’d just met Brian, the make up artist, and he
said ‘We’re going to get to know each other really well today’ and I was
wondering what he meant by that. So he covered me in goo, but because we’re in
the church, we can’t go back to Base Camp, so we had to go to a hotel room, so
I walked through the hotel lobby, covered in goo. And we all go into a room and
they sent me to the bathroom, telling me to take it off, here’s some make up
remover, but it wouldn’t come off, and we were on such a tight schedule, Brian
and two assistants had to come into the bathtub with me, and scrub my body
clean. My whole body! It was insane. And the bathtub, this gorgeous bathtub,
was turned black and we couldn’t get it out…
Luke: We’ve both been covered in that goo as well! All three
of us have been covered in it and it’s horrid!
Will: My last day of shooting was in the goo. And it was in
a tank. The front was Perspex and there was the entire crew watching me and I
was basically naked except for this tiny.. cloth they give you. And I’m having
this stuff dripped on me from the top and I just thought ‘this is NOT what I
signed up for’. And it stains, doesn’t it?
Luke: I was finding black in my ears! In my hair! And I
remember we had some quick changes and I was standing in the middle of the
studio in this G-string that they give you, and I had three people spraying
this.. I’m not even sure what it was, It was like Windex or something! It was
so gross.
Will: It’s really odd. Like, when it first goes on, you
think ‘oh this feels quite good. This is alright! This could be quite fun’. And
I know this wasn’t quite the question you asked but that day, they called ‘And
that’s a wrap on Will’ and it was my last wrap ever and I was in what felt like
a zoo cage, me covered in goo going ‘aaargh’ and I had to get out, except
everyone was packing up and I couldn’t get out because of the Perspex… Anyway.
My first day of shooting was when I meet Izzy in the alley way and that was a
nice introduction actually, because it was quite cool coming in, doing a big
spin and getting a sword out and attacking people. And it set up the character
of Sebastian quite well. This ideal of what he wanted to project. So that was a
nice contrast to what he became later on.
What’s your Hogwarts
house?
Anna: Oh shit. This is really fucked up guys. I’ve only just
watched the first film!
Will: (in a hero voice) Gryffindor!
Luke: You don’t get to choose that. You’re a Huffelpuff! (laughter) I have been asked this and it’s very contentious because I chose to believe that I’m a Gryffindor. But I have been accused of manipulating the results, so I will get Gryffindor. But the hat lets you choose the house, so I can chose Gryffindor. – – – But also maybe I’m a Slytherin.
Anna: For a newcomer.. How do you choose your house?
Luke: The sorting hat is this ancient hat that you put on-
Anna: Where do you get it?
Luke: You don’t-
Anna: Can I order it?
Luke: No, it’s not on amazon
Will: We should say that this is in the fictional world of
Harry Potter, there’s a sorting hat. Here you can go on a website and find it
out. I’ve done this, and apparently I am a Gryffindor. But while I was
answering the questions I thought ‘I’m such a Slytherin. Everything I was
answering was like Slytherin. Slytherin. Slytherin. And then it came out
Gryffindor and I’m like ‘hehe maybe I’ve tricked the system’
Luke: I am coming around to the idea of being in Slytherin.
Anna: From what I know you look like those people… In a good
way. Like, hot and scary?
Luke: That’s just the one! Crabbe and Goyle do not look like that…
What’s your favourite
French food?
Luke: Oh god, all of it! The butter! So much butter!
Will: The French butter is amazing
Luke: I just use bread as a delivery vessel for the butter.
So much butter, it’s the best!
Dan: Okay, but regular butter, or salted butter, or butter
with the salt crystals on top?
Luke: OH MY GOD the salt crystals? And it’s crunchy? And oh
god! If I moved to Paris, which I desperately want to, I would have a heart
attack I’d say within 6 weeks. But also croissants. Pain au Chocolate.
(Audience interrupts to be outraged about stuff)
Anna: It’s a controversy apparently
(Dan explains the war between part of France using ‘Pain au
Chocolate’ and ‘Chocolatine’ – Luke makes audience cheer for one or the other,
to see how the crowd splits.)
Anna: I’m from Quebec and we call is Chocolatine (lots of
cheering)
Will: But… they’re basically the same thing, right?
Luke: It’s a potato / potahto situation
(Dan ends the fight by saying that it’s a pain au raisins,
not raisintine, so there you are!)
Luke: I made the mistake this morning at breakfast there
was… a croissant with chocolate – I’m not going to say it, I don’t want to take
a side here – but I thought it had chocolate and I bit into it and it was
raisins and I was just so sad. I just felt so.. betrayed!
Anna: I mean, I eat everything and food here is insanity. I
like just a straight up jambon-beurre (ham and butter) sandwich. Tartare de
boeuf. (Will starts jumping up and down on his chair) Frites. Crepes. Fuck,
just everything.
Will: Yes, I just got incredibly excited at the beef tartar.
It’s so good! And also steak here. Just a steak with – I know this isn’t food –
but the wine! It’s so good. Steak. Wine. Butter. And a doctor to help me
through that.
Let us first say that Nicola is incredibly well spoken, thoughtful, kind and down to earth. She also has the most stunning smile you will ever see.
Now, on to the quotes….
Nicola, as soon as she sat down and spotted the person who had made her fanbook: First of all.. My fanbook?!? This lady here is the most incredible woman. Me and my husband were going through it yesterday and just going ‘OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!’ It’s like a work of art, it should be in a museum. It’s phenomenal. Thank you again!!
Fan: I loved that Maryse walked Magnus down the aisle and the emotion you showed in the scene. Did you talk about this beforehand? Walking Harry down the aisle? And how did you feel with where Magnus and Maryse ended up?
Nicola: (blows out a long breath…) I remember getting the script. It was in the script that she was going to walk Magnus down the aisle. But it all happened so fast, the show getting cancelled. We were all told ‘Yay we’re definitely getting a season 4! See you all in August!’ and we’re all ‘Yay great!’ and then that happened so we had no idea what they would do… we all had some ideas what was going to happen in season 4 and we just had no idea how they were going to do it in two episodes. So the scripts came and we’re all like ‘oh my god what’s it going to be??’ and when I got to that point in the script and it said “Magnus comes around the corner” – I got goosebumps reading it then, and I have goosebumps now – so I read “Magnus comes around the corner, escorted down the aisle by Maryse” and literally my husband was in the other room and I went ‘OH MY GOD BABE!!’ I was so thrilled. (Nicola rubs goosebumps on her arm). So I knew. It was in the script.
What was so beautiful about shooting that scene, was that normally we don’t get the music that you hear when you’re watching it, because having music in the backgroundmeans you can’t hear the sounds in the room or people talking. But what the director did that was so beautiful, was that all of the walking down the aisle stuff, all of us, Matt and Paulino who plays… erm… he plays… I forgot my husbands name…
Fan: Robert
Nicola: Yes! Hah! I’ve got Luke now, so I’ve forgotten Robert’s name. But all of it, me and Harry, the flower girl, everything with her.. we hadn’t heard the song yet and the director said I’ve got the song, and I’m just going to play it and you’re going to walk down the aisle and we all just started bawling right away. There was literally no acting in any of the scenes walking down the aisle, that’s just Harry and Nicola crying. Cause the song is so beautiful as well, right?
And in terms of the character development… what’s so beautiful, is that there’s been all this stuff that I’m sure some of you have done as well as other fans, who juxtaposed Maryse and Magnus facing off at the first wedding and then walking him down the aisle at the second wedding and this just makes my heart explode. What’s so beautiful about that relationship is that Maryse was fairly closed and had made a lot of choices about putting business before family, in a way that was detrimental for her and her family and seeing her open up to her family and realise that this was important was one thing, but to have Magnus be the person she relates to the most… After rejecting him, he’s the only one who understood what she was going through when she was de-runed. Luke did too, with what happened to him later, but at the time, the two of them ending up being friends and such important allies is a great symbol for what needs to happen in the world right now. If we could start seeing what we could gainby connecting with people around us, the world would be a different more beautiful place. So for me it was a symbol of everything. It was so important.
And also it was so fun, because Harry and I finally, after having one scene together going ‘I hate you!’ ‘I hate you!!’ and then all of season 3 it was me and Harry hanging out and it was really lovely.
At this point Nicola stops, and realises that her translator has been taking notes, and is frantically scribbling
Nicola: Oh god you have to translate all of this! I’m so sorry!!
After the translation is done, Nicola says (in French) that
she speaks French a little bit, but not enough to do that! But she does understand,
so when she’s nodding along, it is because she does understand
Michelle: Sort of on a similar vein in regards to Maryse’s journey. We’ve got a SH podcast where we did breakdowns of each episode, and since the show got cancelled we’ve been doing character episodes for the 8 main characters and we asked people to let us know if they wanted us to talk about any of the other characters and the most requested character was Maryse Lightwood
Nicola: Awww, great!!
Michelle: So what do you think it is about her journey that makes people connect to her so much?
Nicola: I think Maryse is representative of what can happen if people do what we need to be doing in the world. We’re living in a really scary time, right? It felt like progress was happening and now… especially with what’s happening in the United States and I know there’s stuff happening in this country, too… You feel like we are moving away from progress. Especially with LGBTQ rights, womens rights, acceptance of people, just human rights in general, and that’s without even starting to talk about the climate and everything else…
I think the thing with Maryse is that she starts out in a place that represented pain for a lot of us. She caused her children a lot of pain. She caused herself a lot of pain. And over the course of the three seasons she changes in the way that I think we all wish that people in our lives could do. And they can, but not everyone chooses to. And I think what’s specially about Maryse is that she made a choice. She didn’t wake up one day and was different, because that’s not real. That’s not real life.She chose to work on herself and become a better person.
What I love is for example in season 2, at Max’ rune ceremony, the party at Magnus’ house, you see her trying with Magnus. She’s like ‘oh god, I’m in a warlock’s house. But that’s okay.. I’m going to try…’ and the thing where she goes “I hear you like to drink…” and gives him the bottle and it’s like oh god, Maryse, what are you doing? But she’s trying! She knew she made a horrible mistake trying to get Jace killed. She acknowledges that and she reaches out to him to changes. Her journey is very realistic, to what people need to do. It’s hard work. People don’t just forgive you, you have to earn that. I think that’s why she’s so special. And to me the thing that is really key about Maryse, you see it in my first episode in season 3, when we find out she’s going to get de-runed and Alec says ‘Let’s fight to keep your runes! I’m going to fight for you!’ and Maryse says ‘Don’t fight. Because I did these things. I hurt people. I deserve this punishment so I will take the punishment and then I will make up for what I have done.’
I think if we had that attitude of ‘I admit what I did and I’m sorry and I’m going to do something about it’. That to me is the only way to really apologise and move forward. I think that’s what people have connected with. That it’s possible. Let’s do what she did. And it was written very realistically and we saw the struggle of it. She takes responsibility and it’s something we’re really lacking in all of our culture right now.
Nicola pauses, looks at translator: Can I just add one more thing before you translate? I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!!
What I think a lot of us are dealing with, with sexism and homophobia etc I think is a lot of people say ‘I’m not sexist! I’m not racist! I’m not homophobic!’ and they get defensive. When what we need is for people to say ‘You know what? I think I am a little bit. Or at least I was. And I don’t want to be… so help me fix that.’ And then we could help people fix that. But if we don’t admit it, then we end up with what’s happening in the United States right now, with people going ‘I’m not racist, I just don’t want these people in my country’ and I’m sure it’s happening here too with immigration. Just admit ‘I’m scared’.
Or if a parent, rather than disowning their gay child, could say ‘I just don’t understand… But I want to…’ so if we could just be honest about that and if we could take responsibility, then things could get better really quickly you know?
Fan: What did you put into Maryse, from yourself and what
did you take from her, for your personal life?
Nicola: It’s funny. Maryse and I had very little in common in season 1. I’m a very empathetic person. I hate conflict. That first episode when I come in and I’m like ‘ARGH! You’re all terrible! I hate you!’ and they’re all crying… It’s horrible! It’s fun to play, but so horrible. So we had very little in common, so what I tried to bring to Maryse from the beginning was the element of myself that somewhere in the back of her head was that this wasn’t how she wanted to be.
Maryse season 1 was very hard, but I was trying to have a little bit of Nicola in the back going ‘It could be better’, and I think that’s in the writing as well. That scene with Isabelle where she says ‘you remind me so much of me’ and then the next minute she’s all ARGH again. But there’s those little moments where she’s trying. Maryse and I became much more similar as time went on.
What I also related to with Maryse is the career element. I am a working mum. I have a busy career. I question… I think all working mums… well, women in general. We’re always forced to question whether what we’re doing is right. Am I too focused on my career? Am I not focused enough? So I related to that struggle a lot.
What I got from Maryse was a couple of things. One of the reminder that you can change at any time. Maryse is significantly older than me. When I started the show I was 32 and Matt was like 28. (lots of eyerolling and laughter) Maryse is meant to be about 20 years older than me, in angelic time. So what I’ve taken from Maryse is that as you get older your life changes and sometimes you wonder if you are who you want to be. What I got from Maryse is that you can change your life at any point. It’s never too late to change your life and to reinvent yourself. That has been huge for me and I think about that a lot. The scene with Luke in the bar where Maryse says ‘I’m lost’, and he says ‘We’ll get through it, we just have to figure out what’s next’ – so that was very inspiring to me and I’m trying to take that forward in my life.
Fan: What did you think when they told you Luke was going to
be your love interest?
Nicola: Well we’ve all seen Isaiah… there is NOTHING wrong with that!
There was a rumour that this was going to happen in season 2, when we shot that scene where I apologise to Luke and everyone was like ‘Huh! That’s interesting…’ and the writers wouldn’t tell me anything, and we’re all like ‘oh my god is this going to happen??’
I thought it was amazing, because I think Luke is the best possible person to bring her back to family and that she was the best person for Luke, to have a strong adult in the world that he hadn’t had since Jocelyn died. And I know it doesn’t follow the book, but I think for the story we were telling for Luke and Maryse, it was perfect. I also think it was really nice for the kids, like Clary and my kids, it was nice for everyone. We ended with a real family. Which I thought was lovely.
Fan: In all of your career, which character that you’ve
played is closest to you? And on your website it says you sing, but I’ve not
been able to find any songs..
Nicola: I’m on a TV show that you guys can get in Europe now, called Burden of Truth, and that character is most like me. I read for this character and my husband was helping me with the lines and he was like ‘oh, it’s you. Right. They should give you this, because this IS you’. Loving kids, loving people, she’s very much like me. Sometimes you get to play a part where you’re basically playing yourself and other than the smalltown element, she’s basically me, and that’s nice occassionally!
And with the singing. I was a professional singer until I was about 24. I did a lot of musicals. I recorded a self produced album, but I never distributed it. So it’s out there, with my family, on CD. I have been talking to some friends of mine who are singers about just doing some fun stuff together, but I decided that singing was very personal to me, and I decided that trying to make it a job was too stressful, so I decided to focus on acting as a job and singing as something that I did for myself. But I will see if I can put something online for you!
We are told that that had been the last question, but someone asked if she could just very very quickly ask something related to this, very very quick.
Fan: What’s your favourite musical role?
Nicola: I did a bunch, but I played Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar which was definitely my favourite!
Nicola thanked us all for coming, we took the group picture and she wished us a great rest of the convention.
Magnus may go slightly overboard helping Alec set up for the book club gathering.
Technically, perhaps, he didn’t need to create a signature cocktail or barter a favor to Raphael for O neg blood for the vampires or source the biscotti directly from Italy. But hospitality is important and these are Alec’s friends. He wants to make a good impression.
Or: Alec is in a Downworld book club and Magnus finds this unaccountably fascinating.
“Looks like you got here just in time,” Jace the Personal Trainer says, gaze dragging up from the soles of Simon’s ratty Converse to the fluff of his un-brushed hair. “You know video games aren’t cardio, right?”
Valentine has hidden the Mortal Cup in another dimension. Clary, Simon and Jace go after it, and find themselves stuck in an era of underground clubs, rivaling gin runners, and an upcoming wedding. (A Roaring 20s Speakeasy AU)
Monsters by la_muerta (Magnus/Alec; Jace/Simon; Clary/Isabelle; Supernatural-verse AU)
The Lightwoods have been on the road hunting since their parents and youngest brother died in a mysterious house fire – a fire started by a man with yellow-green eyes, like a cat’s. They hunt the thing that started the fire, the thing that tore their family apart. They’ve been on the road for a year now, but they’ve finally got a name for the monster – the Prince of Hell, Magnus Bane. What Izzy and Jace don’t know, of course, is how Alec got hold of that name.
A post-canon, canon divergent look at Simon and Maia’s lives and the very real struggle to find some time together in the face of all their responsibilities. (Five times life intrudes on Saia’s alone time, and one time it doesn’t.)
Valentine has hidden the Mortal Cup in another dimension. Clary, Simon and Jace go after it, and find themselves stuck in an era of underground clubs, rivaling gin runners, and an upcoming wedding.
Returning home after months deployed overseas terrifies Alec far more than anything he faced in the war zone. What if he is different? What if he isn’t?
Thankfully, he has his team leader, friend, and brother-in-arms there to offer advice and a sounding board for all his concerns. And Luke Garroway has never let him down before.
A post-canon, canon divergent look at Simon and Maia’s lives and the very real struggle to find some time together in the face of all their responsibilities. (Five times life intrudes on Saia’s alone time, and one time it doesn’t.)
Maia hasn’t gotten back on the PATH train since the day she stepped off the platform with everything that mattered to her packed into two trash bags and a black Jansport backpack. She never missed anything she left behind. Or anyone.
Clary grieves via art and demon-hunting, grows a very inconvenient crush, and finds a way under Isabelle’s cool and collected facade. Or, a love story in charcoal and good intentions.
Following the loss of his brother, florist Alec Lightwood wants to do something to remember him by. Enter tattoo artist Magnus Bane who brings beauty and love into his life. What starts as a one-time thing blooms into an expression of love for all the important people in Alec’s life.
“Why did you choose a bow and arrow as your weapon?” Clary asked. Alec pinned Clary with a glare, the effect of which was somewhat undercut by the fact that he was holding a sandwich halfway to his face. “We’re not doing this.” or Alec teaches Clary how to use a bow, and it goes surprisingly better than expected
Isabelle fumes at Max being failed on a test and it’s left up to Alec to teach his little brother the most important lesson of being a Shadowhunter. Clary just happens to learn something as well.
You miss me when I’m gone, but you don’t know how to be close when I’m there. Alec sees the weight of recent events on Magnus, but is stymied by exactly what to do. Going on a mission with Clary provides not so much a solution as a way forward.
After Morning Star. Alec and Clary are having trouble sleeping with everything that’s happened, and by chance they find themselves opening up over ice-cream.
“Looks like you got here just in time,” Jace the Personal Trainer says, gaze dragging up from the soles of Simon’s ratty Converse to the fluff of his un-brushed hair. “You know video games aren’t cardio, right?”
Demons have disappeared from the city and the local Shadow World has discovered the hard way that the only thing worse than demons is an institute of Shadowhunters with no demons to fight. But that situation is (hopefully) temporary. The whole thing with the parabatai bond being weird is something else entirely.
Valentine has hidden the Mortal Cup in another dimension. Clary, Simon and Jace go after it, and find themselves stuck in an era of underground clubs, rivaling gin runners, and an upcoming wedding. (A Roaring 20s Speakeasy AU)
Monsters by la_muerta (Magnus/Alec; Jace/Simon; Clary/Isabelle; Supernatural-verse AU)
The Lightwoods have been on the road hunting since their parents and youngest brother died in a mysterious house fire – a fire started by a man with yellow-green eyes, like a cat’s. They hunt the thing that started the fire, the thing that tore their family apart. They’ve been on the road for a year now, but they’ve finally got a name for the monster – the Prince of Hell, Magnus Bane. What Izzy and Jace don’t know, of course, is how Alec got hold of that name.
When Magnus Bane bought the space for his dance studio, Pandemonium, he had no idea that the wall between it and the MMA Training Gym next door was so thin. Neither did he realize that a dispute over the loud music would lead to him becoming involved in the world of MMA and, more importantly, guide him to the man who would end up changing his life.
The worst part is, Jace can’t regret believing that particular lie.
Closed Doors Don’t Lie by RedOrchid (canon pairings and references to past Alec/Jace – but no romantic Alec/Jace in the fic itself; Parabatai bond)
When the summoning of the Memory Demon reveals that it’s not only Clary’s memories that have been meddled with, Alec finds himself being pushed off the path set out for him and onto a different one.
Alec Lightwood has always been an artist. When he was a child, he’d draw all over his hands and arms. As an adult, if he runs out of paper, he crosses onto his arms. But the best things he writes on himself are the words he exchanges with a faceless, nameless stranger, who lives halfway across the world. His soulmate. Or: In which Alec has a soulmate, Jace is a good brother, and the world really seems to be out to make this whole thing difficult.
Spare Key by cinnaluminum (canon pairings; episode tag: s02e06 Iron Sisters; parabatai bond)
It takes a rare kind of courage to be so explicitly vulnerable, and it’s not the kind of courage Jace has ever specialized in. He knows it when he sees it, though, every time Magnus stands in front of Alec with his big, glittery heart on his sleeve.
Every beat of his heart is Clary. Clary. Clary. Dead. Dead. Dead. Jace thinks it might kill him, so he shoves it down, shoves it within himself as far as it will go, and he stumbles, like a man no longer possessed, back down to the street, ignoring Izzy and Luke and Simon and the world. He needs Alec. It’s the only thing he can let himself think about now. Alec is still breathing. Alec is alive, and that is going to have to be enough for right now.
If Magnus is going to love Alexander (which of course he is) then he’s going to have to understand his parabatai and their bond, at least a little bit better than he does now. But he’s not entirely sure how or where to start…
After Alec’s confrontation with the Seelie Queen puts his life in danger, a desperate attempt to save him has consequences and repercussions the likes of which the Shadow World has never seen.
Children of Nyx – orphan account (canon pairings; non-romantic Jace/Alec; dark fic – read the tags)
There’s a reason parabatai are forbidden from sharing physical intimacy. It’s the reason Alec convinced himself he loved Jace for so many years. The consequences are said to be catastrophic. In the fallout from Lilith’s rampage, Jace accidentally triggers an ancient weapon and sets off a chain of events that threatens to destroy everything: his bond with Alec, Alec’s relationship with Magnus, and the very foundations of the Clave itself. AKA the fuck-or-die fic in which the fucking is somehow the least of everyone’s problems.
Matt: “Does everyone eat? Everyone should take food if they
want food! It’s important to have nutrients!”
Girl is making herself
a sandwich
Matt: “You should take cheese and meat, since it’s your
birthday! Do you have a candle for it? Do you want fruit on there, too? Yoghurt?
Smear it on top? That’s probably gross… Let’s not do that. Instead have two
pieces of cheese! And maybe mustard? Put butter on it and then toast it!”
Michelle: “So it’s actually Breakfast Making with Matt”
Matt: “Yes, absolutely! What you do is you take… What are
those? Yoghurts? Oh, that’s a pretty good choice. They have pretty fruit on
them.”
Fan: (to Michelle) “You don’t have any food.”
Michelle: “That’s because we’re all waiting for individual
instructions. That’s how it works!”
Fan: “Can I have an apple?”
Matt: “You can have… you can have ONE.” (hand over one apple) “No, have as much
fruit as you want. Everyone should have an apple. Or a plum. Just imagine if
the plums are good. That would be a game changer..”
Matt: “Are we missing anybody? Do we have the right number
of people?” (two people are missing)
“Two people? Ok, we’ll wait for them before we get started.”
Everyone helps
themselves to stuff while Matt straddles his chair, than kneels on it and
starts rocking it about.
Matt: “Alright, so how is everyone doing this morning?
You’re all doing well, I can tell. Which condiment do you want? You should mix
them. Mayonnaise and Ketchup is a good mixture. With French fries. Throw in
some tabasco. Spice it all up.” (picks
up HP sauce) “What’s this?”
The non UK people
explain that HP sauce is like BBQ sauce while UK people sit in the corner,
shaking their heads in silent judgement, because it is NOT.
Matt: “Made in the Netherlands. So the Netherlands is making
your HP sauce? What’s up with that? Now the mayonnaise… I bet you didn’t know
any of this so it’s important that you know all of this. This is made in
Dublin. Your mayonnaise is from Dublin. HP is from the Netherlands. The mustard
is made in Germany. And the ketchup… is from the UK, from Middlesex. Well. A
little world tour there of condiments.”
Matt: “So what’s going on? What are we discussing? Does
anyone have any questions? Otherwise I will just ramble..”
Fan: “When did you arrive in London?”
Matt: “I arrived in London on Friday morning at exactly
09:59. At the London Gatwick airport. And I proceeded to take a vehicle that
travelled me to my destination, which is the place where I’m staying. And then
I went and had indian food in a place called Thai Shum. It’s very good. I went
there last time I was in London. They had a special on peppered Lamb, which was
excellent. I also had Roti. Do you guys like roti? I could eat it forever.”
Fan: “I don’t know what Roti is”
Matt: “It’s a flattened bread, like a Naan. Fried bread.
It’s very thin and very good.”
Fan: “You should try the Gun powder potatoes”
Matt: “I saw them on there! But then I’m filling up on
potatoes but I want to be eating the lamb… I mean, you can only eat so much,
but you can try… you can but try…”
(last two people
arrive)
Matt: “Welcome! We actually had one of the most amazing
conversations while you weren’t here. It was all about condiments.”
—
Matt talks about Alec
throwing a birthday party
Matt: “Alec doesn’t know how to throw a birthday party. He
could throw a party but he might get overwhelmed. Did you ever plan someone’s
birthday party?”
Fans: “No.”
Matt: “NO? never?”
Fan: “You don’t plan other people’s, you plan your own.”
Matt: “You plan your own? Yeah, actually that makes sense.
You can be like ‘I want this!’ and you can make demands. I think that’s how it
works in the States, too. One time someone planned a surprise party for me, and
I was very upset about it, because I wanted to stay home… but I had a great
time in the end, anyway.”
Fan: “In America, people take you out and pay for you, in
Europe it’s the other way round”
Matt: “I’ve heard about that! I think it’s a good system
that you’re paying and everyone kind of makes fun of you on your birthday and
that way…”
Fan interrupts and says
that it’s really expensive.
Matt: “Well let’s say you save up all year, you’re saving
money on all these other birthdays. Either way it’s a wash, it’s a zero sum
game.”
Fan: “Don’t buy a car for a birthday”
Matt: (slightly
confused) “Don’t buy a car, no… Just don’t have friends! I see what
you’re saying. It’s financially wise to not have friends!” … “Actually, that is
a terrifying option. You should have friends. Just stop buying them drinks on
their birthday. Any other questions.”
Fan: “There’s the episode where Alec is playing pool with
Underhill and he says Magnus is 800 years old. What does that mean?”
Michelle: “It means Alec was drunk.”
(laughter)
Fan: “Does it mean that Magnus is 800 years old?”
Matt: “No! No no no. I think we randomly throw around his
age. I know there’s a certain age for Magnus but on the show, we like to play
around with ‘what is it? Who knows? He’s old as all hell!’ What really is the
difference between 400, 800, 900 a thousand. Everyone wants to live forever.”
Fan: “Have you ever done the maths for 800 years and 17000
lovers? It’s like one a week.”
Matt: “We did do the math, yeah. We’re on set and we have a
huge amount of time on our hands. We have paper and pencil and we have phones.
We were able to do the maths so we did all kind of calculations. What’s his
minimum given the fact that he could only… engage with one person an hour.” (laughter) “What’s the minimum age?
What’s his maximum age? What would be a normal thing, like one person a year?”
Fan: “Does he say relationships or… things?”
Matt: “Interactions.” (pauses)
“Is everybody in here over 18?”
Fan: “It could be more than one at a time”
Matt: “Of course!”
Fan: “It could be two”
Fan: “It could be three”
Matt: “And some days it may have been a thousand. You just
don’t know.”
(some fans look
shocked at this thought)
Matt: “He’s magical, he’s got magical powers! He can do
stuff.”
Fan: “Does he do stuff?”
Matt: “Does he who? Magnus? Magnus does stuff… Magnus does
all kinds of stuff… Magnus… erm.. Magnus used to do stuff.”
—
Fan: “What was the biggest surprise for you, for Alec?”
Matt: “On the whole show? What was the time I read it and I
was like whaaaaa? I don’t know actually. I don’t know. I’m trying to think. I’m
not sure I ever read the script and went WHOA, what a surprise. I’m starting to
lose track of what happened in season 1. What surprised you guys? What did you
see and think WHOA!”
Fan: “Your face”
(Laughter)
Matt: “Oh, I know! I murdered Jocelyn! I read that and I was
like WHOA!”
Fan: “It wasn’t your fault”
Matt: “I know that, but we were definitely all surprised!”
Fan: “What about when Magnus was Valentine?”
Matt: “I liked that bit. I guess it was surprising but I was
having fun with it. That was great. Working with him was a lot of fun. He kept
throwing that boot against the wall. I’ve told that story but he damaged the
wall and he kept throwing this boot against the wall, even when it wasn’t
necessary and he did it over and over again and eventually we got the take but
we had to keep fixing the wall.”
—
Fan: “What’s Alec’s favourite alcoholic drink?”
Matt: “He’s kind of a man of all flavours. I don’t think he
drinks a lot of beer. I think he’s more into… I think he probably just high
balls. Maybe Manhattans? Oh! I know! Dark & Stormies!”
Fan: “What’s that?”
Matt: “It’s dark rum and ginger ale and something else…”
Ruth: “Usually limes.”
Matt: “Yes, a little lime! It’s very nice. You ever had dark
and stormies? You should have a go, it’s fun! The real place to get a D&S
is down along the eastern seacoast as far down as Florida.”
—
Fan: “Does Alec ever find out that Magnus stole his stele to
give to Jace?”
Matt: “Okay, so that was actually a point of contention
because I remember it was Season 1 and I remember asking ‘Wouldn’t Alec be
really pissed about that? Because it’s a pretty serious betrayal? Disobeying
direct orders and all that? And I never really confront anyone about it so… I
guess the answer is… nooo? I guess he never finds out. And if he ever did find
out he probably wouldn’t be very happy. Water under the bridge I guess. Doesn’t
matter. Life went on. No problem.”
—
Fan: “Kiss, Marry, Avoid – Clary, Simon, Maia”
Matt: “I don’t think he’s capable of kissing Simon…”
(fans debate about
the books)
Matt: “I think he’d avoid.. I mean.. Is murder an option? I
like how you made it kiss, marry, avoid. Like, the real version is far better.”
Fan: “I thought you may not want to do that”
Matt: “No, I don’t want to do that. Nor does Alec. He
doesn’t want to do any of that. It’s not a fun game for him. He doesn’t really
know Maia… Is it just a (demonstrates briefsmooch) like that? Sorted.”
Fan: “We’re not getting an answer?”
Matt: “No!”
—
Fan: “Do you have any plans after Shadowhunters?”
Matt: “I’m working on it but a lot of things aren’t filming
until February/March. It’s a bit tumultuous at the moment. I wanted to extend
my trip out here, but I have to go back, because I’ve got meetings on Tuesday
so I’m just figuring things out for February. You never know what’s the right
choice and what’s not. With TV you never know. This show looks great, but people
may not respond to it. This other show looks terrible but people may hop on the
show and it may be a little rewritten and it may become good. So it’s
stressful. So what are you going to do because you spend a lot of months on
this project and that’s months that could be wasted and if you’re not working
on something that people are interested in and your value decreases and it’s
less likely you’re going to get good projects in the future, so you have to
make good choices and it’s stressful.”
Michelle: “What would you like to do?”
Matt: “I’ve been thinking about that a little bit and
honestly, I think I’d like to stick with TV. Movies have a nice quality to them
because you see beginning to end and that way you can fully develop a character
and go through the full process and that way it’s easier on your mind, if
you’re able to carry through the character to the end. And it makes your life a
little simpler if it’s a finite completion. With a TV show it’s an ongoing
process. You’d hope you’d have a full season of notes ahead of time, if you had
a full 13 episodes you’d know where you start and where you end, but commonly
nowadays they’re writing episodes the week before, like we did on our show, so
you don’t know what’s happening, and that’s frustrating. But I think TV because
you get to do more interesting things to do with your character and it’s more
consistent acting.”
Fan: “What show would you be on?”
Matt: “I don’t know. I’d like to do something with a modern
tone. Maybe something real world. A little comedic. That has elements of
comedy. Nothing too comedy.”
Fan: “Have you ever thought of doing stand up comedy?”
Matt: “Nobody wants me to go on and on about things… I’d
have fun, but the audience wouldn’t have fun”
Fan: “But they could look at your face.”
Matt: “No, no one wants to see me up there. That’s not how
it works. I’d have to wear a mask!”
Fan: “Tell us a joke!”
Matt: “The jokes I would tell would be different. They would
be stories!”
Fan: “About oranges?”
Matt: “Sure, why not. Look, I would bomb! Have any of you
ever done stand up? It’s brutal! It’s BRUTAL! The feeling of not making people
laugh. And at the same time, people will laugh, when they are ready to laugh.
Sometimes a person might go out there and tell great jokes and the crowd will
sit there like ‘meh’, not in the mood. And then you’ve got a guy in the corner
laughing or you’ve got someone with a hilarious laugh, and the audience gets on
board. Stand up is brutal! The stand up people I know, they have it rough.”
—
Fan: “Are we ever going to see the pigeon video”
Matt: “Didn’t I show it to? I showed it to some people! But
I brought my camera… oh I never uploaded it. I was watching it the other day.
It’s on my ipad. It’s at home, back in New York.”
Fan: “Are you ever going to show us?”
Matt: “I might. I do forget things. It’s been a while.
You’ll be old and with a family just wondering ‘what about that perverted
pigeon video’. (to everyone) The
perverted pigeon video is a video of two pigeons trying to have a… you know, a
nice time. And a third pigeon is very jealous of the whole thing and hops up
and tries to join in. it’s really weird. I was in Barcelona and I was filming
it and I’m talking through the process. Anyway. Point is. Pigeons got their
business done. Because you know pigeon… oh god (deep breath) pigeon sex… bird sex is very quick. The process is
that there’s this one opening, which is this little.. (miming) and they use it for a whole lot of things.. (hand movements) so then they (clap) and then they wander off. It’s a
really quick action and then they’re done. It doesn’t really matter to the
pigeon. It’s not about the experience or the emotion or attachment. They just
want to make those fertilised eggs and then go lay them somewhere to make those
hideous babies. Have you ever seen those babies? Horrifying!”
Staff member interrupts to say that the Breakfast is over.
Matt: (pouting) “But I’m talking about pigeons!”
Fan asks about taking a photo. Matt goes to get everyone
together but member of sStaff says that no, the Meet & Greet group gets a
photo, this group doesn’t.
Matt: “Oh. Oh. Ooookay…” (sounding unsure) “Well, I’ll see you guys for the remainder of the day and tomorrow, yeah? I hope you have a lovely time and don’t let that food go to waste. Eat it! It’s free food!!”
Just like Matthew’s thought process, this is in no particular order and with no semblance of structure… enjoy!
Fan: We were hoping you could settle a discussion for us.
Matt: (gleeful) Start a discussion??
Fan: No, settle one.
Matt: Ok, let’s hear it. (laughs) I mean, you are asking the
wrong person
Fan: Well, it is about Alec so you should be ok.
Matt: Okay, let’s see!
Fan: In the scene where they are closing the rift, and the
demon swoops in, and Alec goes running back to Magnus. There’s a discussion as
to why he does it… Some people claim it’s to get help. Some people claim it’s
to protect Magnus.
Matt: Well, well, well, well, well…
Fan: And you better give the right answer.
Matt: Well… Now let’s get into a little discussion here
first. And that’s about the nature of right and wrong. There are right answers
to certain questions. Obviously truth does exist. And in this reality that we
are looking at we’re going to say that there is a kind of truth and that truth
was written down. So there was a written down truth in the script, that
described why he was running back.
But is what is written down by the script really what is true. That depends on your nature. Or your understanding. Or your belief. In how important the script is in defining truth.
Because we can just arbitrarily apply truth to whatever we
want and say that the reason he went over was actually because the previous day
Magnus had said that he had cooked burgers and they were really tasty and Alec
was like ‘You know what, I’m starving in this moment, I’ll deal with that in a
minute. I’m gonna go and get a burger and then come back with a full stomach.’
And that’s whatever you want to make of it. So I think either answer works for
you, if that’s the answer you like it to be.
And I’m not going to settle your discussion. I think it’s good you have a discussion going. I think you should argue until the end of time.
Fan: But will you agree with me on one point?
Matt: I will agree with you on any point you want
Mod: Sorry to interrupt, but they can’t hear you at the back
Matt: (shouting) I can just yell!
Mod gives Matt a new microphone to test
Matt: hello? Hello. Hello! I’m saying things that are so
important!
Mod gives Matt another microphone
Matt: Testing. Testing. Can you hear in the back? That’s a
Yes! So….
You want me to agree with something. Tell me what it is?
Fan: Would you say that Alec Lightwood is the kind of
character who wants to protect others?
Matt: Are you going to use this, to then prove your point?
(laughter) I would say that Alec Lightwood as a character both is interested in
helping others and protecting them, and is interested in seeking help in the
protection of others… (laughter)
Mod: Sorry to interrupt. Anyone who’s got a trio photo, go
now! Trio photo, go now!
Matt: Trio photo with..? With..?
Mod: I don’t know who it’s with Matt, don’t put me on the
spot
Matt: Two other humans… probably Isaiah…
Moderator tries to encourage people to leave. No one is leaving. Fan points out it’s because Matt is here. Moderator tries to explain that people have to leave, because they will miss their photos, if they don’t go now. Matt unhelpfully rambles nonsense in the background.
Fan: Imagine Jace was not your parabatai
Matt: Done!
Fan: Would you chose him to be your parabatai or would you
chose someone else?
Matt: Okay, wait. Under these circumstances we are describing a situation in which Alec Lightwood does not have a parabatai, yet he is the age that he is at the start of the series, and he must chose a parabatai, who does he choose?
Fan: Yes
Matt: No. It doesn’t make sense. The question doesn’t work, because it’s ridiculous. If he’s spending all that time with Jace under the same exact conditions as though that Jace was his parabatai he would chose Jace as his parabatai and he would wonder why he hadn’t done it 10 years before and given a situation in which he does not know Jace then he wouldn’t even know how to choose Jace as his parabatai and at the same time you could say that a parabatai is sort of something that we assume upon birth, at the beginning, it’s inevitable that it would happen and I am sure that at some place, some way its possible that at one point Alec said good God I wish he wasn’t my parabatai and then he would have forgotten about it just minutes later. So Jace is the only option unfortunately just as Magnus is.
Fan: What about Clary?
Matt: What is happening??
(laughter)
Fan: Imagine Magnus has to transfer to Greenwich..
Matt: Greenwich Connecticut?
Fan: Greenwich…
Matt: Greenwich village?
Fan: The one that Asmodeus says…
Matt: Oooooh, London! Not Connecticut. He’s not trying to
hide his taxes by moving out of New York City and moving to Connecticut, where
they have a lower tax rate. Okay. Continue.
Fan: First. Would you let him go or would you want him to
stay?
Matt: Ok, I’ve thought about this a few times. Here’s something… first of all…
Okay. What is the concept of time and distance…
(Audience groans)
…to a warlock, who can create a portal any time he wants and all of you can ‘uuuuuugh’ all you want, it sounds like I’m back at home. But the reality is that what he would do with his house is that he simply put a portal in the middle of it. So when he comes home, we just walk back and forth. In fact the kitchen can be cut in half for all I care. He can wander between. Half of it is in London, half of it is—
Fan: Magnus doesn’t have magic anymore.
Matt: Oh, you mean when he doesn’t have… oh… right.. oh…
(laughter)
Matt: Well, he’s going to have to get on a plane and do the
long distance travel thing. It’s only a 6 hour flight. And I think that one of
the best versions of growing you can do in a relationship especially early on
is to work with that distance. It provides you a lot of ways to connect
emotionally. It teaches you certain skills.
At the same time, no! that’s ridiculous! You want Magnus to
live by himself in London? Where is Alec this whole time? He’s living in Idris?
In New York? What are you trying to separate them? You can’t keep them apart!
Ridiculous! Not happening, not going to work.
Fan: What if Magnus really wants to go?
Matt: Throw a temper tantrum? I don’t know. He’s going to
have to get on a plane!
Fan: You’re going every week?
Matt: Of course you fly every week. It’s ridiculous. He has
to get on a plane. It’s not the end of the world! It’s not like he’s… going to…
Edom or something.
(OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH)
Fan: So what if he did go, what surprises would you do to
keep connecting with him?
Matt: Okay, so… I think what we’re looking at… Is this
happening to you right now? And you’re looking for advice?
(laughter)
Matt: I would recommend Skype. Daily phone calls. Texts. Maybe a nice little random Amazon order that gets delivered to them. Maybe one night you order a food delivery directly to their house. Little sweet nothings. Little reading books together. What did you read? What chapter did you read? What show are you watching. Delightful little things like that. That will work for you!
Fan: Who’s your favourite member of Queen? And my second question is… Alec shoots at very short ranges which I think is very inefficient, so why… why do that?
Matt: Right, a two part question. The two parts are
completely unrelated but I’m going to combine them! Freddy Mercury is my
favourite member of Queen and I think there’s an obvious reason to that.
Whether or not the other members of Queen want to admit it, Freddy was the
heart and soul, the thing that we all loved about the band, he was the
performer, he was the face… Alec Lightwood (Matt pauses. Everyone laughs) is a
performer. He is the face… of… the… New York institute.
He’s not going to go running around without his signature item. Just as Freddy has his voice and has his moves, Alec Lightwood has his bow and his stubbornness. And if you combine the stubbornness with the possession and use of a bow, you may end up using a bow in short range combat.
Fan: But he-
Matt: Da Da Da Da (shushing her. Everyone laughs.) Is it inefficient? Yes of course it is! Does it make no sense? of course it doesn’t! But there’s really a million other things that I could point to, that Alec does that make no sense because he is stubborn. He’s going to continue using that damn bow at very short ranges, he’s going to fire it from three, four, five feet away, it doesn’t matter. He’s not going to pull out that sword because he’s not carrying it anymore. Because why is he going to carry something, that Jace is using? (laughter) The bow is his! It’s his and there is no arguing with that. That’s the end! That’s the end of!
Fan: Wouldn’t it be better to take it and hit the demon with
it, if it’s that close?
Matt: Nah.
Fan: Todd teased that there would be a Malec dance scene.
Can you say anything about it?
Matt: Who? Who teased this? Todd teased that there would be
a Malec dance scene? Ridiculous!
What kind of lies are being spread online? I can think of so many… A dance scene between Alec and Magnus. Ludicrous. Nonsense. How could it even work? How could I? Me? The person who plays Alec possibly dance with Harry, the person who plays Magnus, and not look like a complete buffoon? How would I tolerate this? How would you tolerate this? It would be like watching… like watching.. the… what’s an example of someone at the top of their game? It’s like watching LeBron James play basketball against a two year old. Would it be funny? It would be hilarious. But you would also need to avert your eyes at times…
I think sometimes… lies have a little truth. We’ll see.
Fan: Throughout season 1 we always see Alec bottling his
emotions and putting others first and we see this carry through the seasons.
Why?
Matt: Why does it carry through? Because people don’t just
change all of a sudden. I think underlying qualities, values, things like that
that you’ve established over a long period of time is not something you just
change over night. Really it’s only been a few months. He needs a lot more time
before he gets better at sharing his emotions properly in a healthy manner.
It’ll probably take another few years. You see little spots of it. But at least
now he can have the discussion. People can be like ‘hey, you’re not being
emotionally healthy here’ and he’ll be like ‘Fine!’, whereas in the past he
would have been like ‘No!’
It’s improvement, but it’s ongoing. As all things are. Your health improves gradually, not over night, especially with something as complex as emotions I think.
Fan: When you were studying, did you think about becoming an
actor?
Matt: No.. I think.. it’s… how many of you have jobs?
(people raise hands)
Matt: All of us, right? Right. And all of us have these jobs because we chose to do them, because we love what we are doing so much, right? Obviously, if you’re not laughing, you can tell, that’s not why. We sometimes get jobs, if we are very lucky, that we really like to do. Other times we do jobs because they’re a career and it’s a possible thing that you like to do or something that you tolerate. In the case of economics, I like economics, I liked studying… In this case, actually, I was largely studying finance, which as a title has more application in the real world, especially in New York but that career was not something I was interested in doing long term because… it didn’t provide a livelihood. Economic research would have been more interesting to me but again, not really a livelihood but also was not really what I was in love with doing. Once I realised that acting is what I love doing, it became obvious that this was the only choice, even if it meant I had to work other jobs, that I didn’t want to work, in the meantime.
(Mod interrupts to announce Will photos)
Fan: This question will have an actual answer…
(laughter)
Matt: Let’s see. Let’s try our hardest.
Fan: What do fish never look?
Matt: Fish never look what?
(Matt is confused. Eventually works out if was about his two
week memory spiel the day before)
Matt: The answer I gave yesterday was… fish never look….
Sad?
Fan: Unhappy
Matt: Unhappy! So there’s a little lesson, isn’t it? Because
sad and unhappy are two different things, right? So really if I said that they
never look unhappy yesterday, I think I changed my mind. I think they never
look sad. I think some of them look unhappy. Especially the ones with those
little weird faces.
But I would disagree, I was just doing this for Dom’s benefit because honestly I think he looks like a fish. So yeah. Dom looks like a fish. Ask me tomorrow, if I remember what I think Dom looks like and the answer might be a horse. I don’t know. I’m just going day by day here now. You’re right, two weeks is too long. It’s really an hour. Things are better that way. That way I don’t regret anything from the last 25 minutes!
Fan: My question for you is regarding the Malec relationship
Matt: Understood!
Fan: Obviously we hope for more seasons, but if we don’t get
them, where would you like to see Magnus and Alec at the end of it all? Married
with kids?
Matt: Oh, this is such a common question..
Fan: Sorry!
Matt: Not in a negative way. It’s a common question but I
never really have an answer that I can settle on because I think sometimes
what’s difficult is to say ‘what do I want with my life? What is the thing that
I want in the end?’
Do I want a million grandchildren and a little farm somewhere and they come and visit me every Christmas and I get them little presents and I have a dog and his name is Jim and that’s so funny, because Jim isn’t a name for a dog!
Or maybe I want something entirely different and have no
kids and live on a rock somewhere on the side of a mountain I have no idea! So
what I want for Magnus and Alec is really just that they are doing the thing
that they wanna do most and that they are happiest but I’m not really sure what
that is. And if you have the answer, please tell me! If you know the answer for
what will make people happiest in the long run, I would like you to write a
book! And then sell it to all of us. Because if you nail it, if you have the
answer… a lot of us are going to want to buy that book.
So… whatever makes them happiest which I think is… I don’t know.
You guys tell me. Go on twitter and write what you think will make them happiest. Instead what you’re going to write is ‘Matt said that he doesn’t want them to be happy. He was talking about happy something… I don’t know, I wasn’t listening. He said Magnus and Alec should never be happy! Now you’re going to put that, aren’t you! You’re just writing that in quotes and somebody will say ‘what do you mean??’ and even now, even as I’m saying this, you’re going to pretend I didn’t make a joke about it and it’s going to start a thing… this is why I don’t go on twitter.
Fan: I was going to ask a question about 3b but I’m not sure
you can answer them
Matt: I can try
(laughter)
Fan: So instead I just wanted to say a massive massive thank
you for everything you’ve done. You’ve done so much and I’m sure I speak for
everyone here when I say that you were the best damn Alec we could have asked
for and we are going to miss you. Thank you so much.
I was going to ask for a hug but I’m scared I’m going to get told off but… can I have a hug?
Matt: Yes, because I didn’t spend any time answering your
question.
Matt steps down from stage, Mod steps in, but Matt goes to
hug fan, anyway.
Matt: He gets one! Because I didn’t answer a question!
Their two microphones get too close and emit high pitch reverb
Matt: (jumping back) Get these away from each other!!
(back on stage)
Matt: That was very very sweet, thank you very much
Fan: Kiss, Marry, Kill – Harry, Dom and Kat
Matt: You’re asking me to play Kiss, Marry, Kill with my
three very real, existing coworkers??
Okay, imagine such a question. You go to someone’s house… or their office let’s say! You go to their office and you say ‘oh you work here? Hi! Boss man right there, I know you don’t know me, this person right here, you work with, I’m going to play this game Kiss/Marry/Kill in front of the three of you.’ And you’re trying to work. You’re sitting… whatever it is you’re doing. Let’s say you’re sitting on a ledge where you go… maybe you’re an archaeologist and I say let’s play Kiss/Marry/Kill and the three of you sit next to each other and you have to spend a lot of time with each other over the next six months so you play the Kiss/Marry/Kill game and even though maybe there’s no truth to it and it’s complete nonsense maybe it nags at people. Maybe the one you chose to kill is sitting there late at night wondering ‘Oh my god are they going to kill me?’ The one that you chose to kiss is wondering ‘My god, do they really love me??’ and the one you chose to marry is sitting there thinking ‘Good god, how do I get out of this??? I really don’t want to…’
So this question sets me up for failure from the very get go. Even asking me… even me not answering puts me in a terrible spot because now they’re going to say ‘Why didn’t you just choose me to kiss? Why didn’t you just choose me to marry??’ and somebody else will be like ‘What? You didn’t want to answer because you’re thinking of killing me?!?’
So the question itself has already put me in a spot where
I’m going to have to deal with three very sensible people that I want to kill!
So thank you
Mod: Guys, listen… (turns to Matt) You ok? Do you need a
breather after that?
(Laughter. Matt is fine)
Fan: When does AU Alec learn that Magnus is a warlock?
Matt: Alternate Universe Alec actually.. (soft chuckle) Interesting fact about alternative universe Alec… There are actually only two… although there are many alternate universes, an infinite number, there’s actually only two Alecs. There’s one Alec, the one we all know and love from the majority of the episodes, and then there’s the Alec who is the version we saw in the alternative universe episode. All the other universes are only populated by those two Alecs which is what makes Alec so unusual in the multiverse. Quite an unusual quality. Super weird.
SO… Alec because of this sort of infinite set of knowledge,
knows already that Magnus is in fact a warlock. So his little routine? His
little cat and mouse game he was playing in that episode? (growly whisper) He
knew.
(laughter)
And that was just his way of playing it coy, because he knew
where he was going with that… Now, obviously the Alec from the other universe
is sometimes a buffoon. But other alternate universe Alec. He knows what he’s
doing…
(slightly confused silence)
Matt: Did that make any sense??
Fan goes past stage and reaches for a hug, Matt gets up to
hug her
Mod: Just one second, sorry guys I –
Matt: Anyone who asks a good question gets a hug, it’s the
bad question that don’t get anything
Mod: Two things. I know you all love him. I like him too.
He’s pretty nice.
(Matt looks offended behind her back. Audience laughs. Matt
pulls faces and pretends to leave)
Mod: So listen. He’s lovely. But just like before with Dom or whatever. If you all try and get a hug we will never ever end. And then I get complaints. And number two: photos with Will, go! I know you want to stay here with me, but you have to go! Right, continue, go!
Fan: Yesterday was Magnus’ birthday, right?
Matt: Yes..
Fan: If AU Alec is a party planner…
Matt: Yes…
Fan: What does he do for AU Magnus’ birthday?
Matt: An extravaganza!
(laughter)
Matt: Hang on, which universe Alec? Alternate Universe Alec?
What’s the obsession with alternate universe Alec? He’s not the Alec you know
and love! I’ve established there are two kinds. There’s the alternate universe
Alec who exists in all dimensions and alternate universes simultaneously as
sort of a cross verse monster. Almost like an omnipresent God.
And then there’s the Alec we know and love who is a babbling buffoon and he would throw an extravaganza just as well! Why are you throwing him under the bus?
He would do a great job! What do you think Alec can’t plan a party? Alec can plan a party! It just might be a very sincere party. Maybe no costumes. Come dressed well! There’ll be 3 different kinds of alcohol served! There will be 4 kinds of hor d’oeuvres and they will be served for one hour!
No, he’s not that goal oriented. That’s ridiculous what I just said. It would be terrible! It’d be horrible! He’d throw it in a basement! And there would be (growly voice) no shirts allowed.
(laughter and whooping)
Matt: Yeah. Yeah. Does that answer your questions? Good.
Fan: You and Esther travel a lot. Is there anywhere you’ve
not been you’d really love to go to?
Matt: Oh so many places! We have a list. And in reality you can’t spent all your time travelling, you have to work. Fortunately Shadowhunters allowed me time off between (seasons), where there was set work coming, so it wasn’t like I could do much else in that time off so I figured why not do the thing I couldn’t do when I was younger and wanted to do my whole life so that’s what we did. We travelled a lot.
I want to go to a lot of central Asia. Poland is on the
list. We haven’t done all the countries in northern Europe, Scandinavia. There’s a lot of Latin America we gotta do
down there. Other parts of Spain, Basque country.
(Someone yells Germany)
Matt: Germany is also a big one. (more yelling) We’ve done
most of South East Asia, but we want to go back. New Zealand is on the list.
We’re trying to get everywhere. As long as you have beer and food, we’re
coming, because we’re going to drink it and eat it!
Right, who’s next?
Mod: That was a the last question
Matt: Was it??
Mod: You talk a lot Matt. You’re done, ok? We still love you, but we can’t have any more questions.
