Article contributed by Tessa Qi
St. Augustine once said, ‘The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page’. Reading books can certain transport your mind to a whole new world, but what if you have the opportunity to get to see the places they’re actually based on in real life? Imagine walking on the cobblestone pavement where your favourite characters have walked, investigating their favourite shops and stores, sneaking through secret passageways leading to secret chambers, or simply visiting the place where your favourite character was born.
With that being said, if you, like me, have read Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices series and fallen head over heels in love with it (undoubtedly crying during every reread), these are the top five places that you need to visit to once again relive the thrilling adventures of Will, Jem, and Tessa. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the story, the books follow 16-year-old Tessa Gray who travels to London in the year 1878 in search of her missing brother. Here she encounters a dark supernatural world and a race of beings known as Shadowhunters, half-angel and half-humans sworn to protect the mundane world from demons and other evil existence. Among the London Institute where Tessa took upon residing, she is gradually drawn to and torn between two best friends, Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs. As their search for Tessa’s brother draws them deeper into a whirlwind of secrets and adventures, it seems that the only way to save them all relies upon Tessa…
[Attention: below will contain spoilers from all three books of The Infernal Devices series, and minor spoilers from the short story ‘Learn about Loss’ in Ghosts of the Shadow Market. Readers, beware!]
1. Bride’s Church (Fleet Street, London)
Located on Fleet Street in London, we have the amazing London Institute, which is the largest institute in Europe. Although, St Bride’s Church is not the actual location to where the London institute was built upon, due to the fact that All-Hallows-the-Less Church (the church which the Institute originally built upon) doesn’t exist anymore since it was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and was never rebuilt. It was St. Bride’s Church that Cassie based the shape and structure of the London Institute on. A glamour is cast over the Institute to prevent mundanes from barging in and so the outside of the church appears to be abandoned and destroyed to the mundane eye. It’s not a big church and might be invisible to passersby if you don’t pay attention, which probably have been the reason as to why Cassie chose this. Who knows? Perhaps the residents of the Institute are currently in there enjoying their afternoon tea?
2. Blackfriars Bridge (London)
‘“I know what you’re thinking,” Jem said again, just as he had outside the institute. “The railway bridge, it’s hideous. But it means people rarely come here to admire the view. I enjoy the solitude, and just the look of the river, silent under the moon”’ – Clockwork Angel, p. 335
For all our amazing Jessa fans out there, I bring you Blackfriars Bridge! As we all know, Blackfriars Bridge is Jem’s favourite place in London, he often frequents it just to stop and enjoy the view in solitary since it’s not a popular one compared to London Bridge or Tower Bridge. It is also the first place where Jem started to gain feelings for Tessa, as they stood upon the bridge and watched the Thames glittering under the moonlight. Even when Jem became a Silent Brother, he and Tessa would meet once a year on this bridge for over 120 years, in the year 2008, Jem was finally cured from his yinfen illness and relieved from being a Silent Brother, finally reuniting with his beloved Tessa on this same bridge. Suffice to say, this bridge is symbolic to Jem and Tessa as it has witnessed their love and losses over the period of a century and as the epilogue of Clockwork Princess says, ‘at last, the wheel comes full circle’.
In 2010, they eventually got married on this same bridge. Almost all of their friends attended, though none of them, apart from Magnus and Alec, seem to recall this particular event (The Lost Book of the White features a short story about Jem and Tessa’s wedding).
It might also be interesting to point out that it was on this bridge that ignited the sparks of this breathtaking trilogy as Cassie herself said she had imagined a boy and a girl dressed in Victorian attire standing on the edge of the bridge. In other words, we own a huge debt to this bridge!
I have visited Blackfriars Bridge multiple times, and every single time it brings a new sensation. Truthfully speaking, it’s definitely not the most good-looking bridge compared to others and definitely not the most famous one, but I guess that’s what makes it so intriguing to readers. It’s always the unknown that makes everything more fascinating.
3. Hatchards Bookshop (Piccadilly Street, London)
Now for our equally amazing Wessa fans, I couldn’t possibly forget about you, could I? We all know what both Will and Tessa are huge book lovers just like us, apart from the giant library located inside the London Institute, Hatchards is the one most frequently visited by Will Herondale. After finding out there never was a curse on him, he then proceeded to Hatchards and bought a copy of his and Tessa’s favourite book A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and wrote a lovely letter on the title page proclaiming his love for her.
However, we know that he didn’t manage to give it to her until after the final battle in Clockwork Princess. Although this place was only mentioned briefly and didn’t acquire much attention, it still remains a beloved place for book lovers to indulge themselves in an afternoon of book shopping!
4. Cadair Idris (Dolgellau, Wales)
“Will stood, looking down at the cold, clear waters. In the daylight, he recalled, the view was magnificent: Llyn Cau pure blue, surrounded by green grass, and the sun touching the razor-sharp edges of Mynydd Pencoed, the cliffs surrounding the lake.” – Clockwork Princess, p.397
Okay, so who else was a bit shocked by Cassie’s clever use of ‘Idris’? Giving meaning to both Idris, the Shadowhunter home country and Cadair Idris, a mountain reserve in Wales, Will’s birthplace. That there is enough reason for me to pay this lovely place a visit. Not to mention Will Herondale lived here for 12 years! Need I say more? Will and Cecily had climbed Cadair Idris with their father when they were young and this was also the place where Mortmain had hidden his army of automatons (very clever move, I have to admit).
The little town of Dolgellau sits at the bottom of Cadair Idris and it was one of the places where Will had madly ridden across on his way to save Tessa (*swoon*). There are three main paths up to the top of Cadair Idris (one being from Dolgellau), and at the summit, you could catch sights of the nearby lakes, such as Llyn Cau where the automaton army lay underneath the surface. Obviously, I didn’t dare venture into the lake itself, but the sight is indeed spectacular! This photo was taken when I was standing on the back slope of Cadair Idris, overlooking Llyn Cau at its fullest.
5. Shanghai, China (Minor Spoiler from Ghosts of the Shadow Market!!!)
‘“And we are in a place that I long wished to go with you. This is Shanghai, where I was born. Remember when we used to talk about travelling here together? There were so many places I wanted to show you.”’ – Ghosts of the Shadow Market, p.160
As the parabatai oath goes, “whether thou goest, I will go”, and we can’t introduce Will’s birthplace without mentioning Jem’s, now can we?
Unfortunately, we have little information regarding the actual whereabouts of the Shanghai Institute where he was born and lived for the first 12 years of his life. For all we know, it could have been in the Oriental Pearl Tower itself (shown on the left side of the picture above, the one with the spike at the top). We know that Jem lived in the Institute until the demon Yanluo came and killed his parents, then tortured and poisoned him until he was addicted to the demon drugs. We then have another brief description of Shanghai when Will and Jem were brought back to their youth in a dream, a favour granted by Sister Emilia, and they spent the night exploring Shanghai and feasting upon the bones of Will’s enemies (ducks!!) or at least that’s what we can imagine them doing. If you think about it, this might be the only time they spent together with Jem being healthy and Will knowing there was actually no curse on him (*eyes slowly begin to tear up*). Perhaps in future books, we could get more descriptions about Jem’s hometown and his previous life here.
Obviously, there are still many places in the books that aren’t mentioned above: Westminster Abbey (where the Enclave hold meetings in secret), Hyde Park (where Will’s sworn enemies reside in flocks), Chiswick House (the location of the Lightwood manor), New York (Tessa’s homeplace although we’re not given much information about her time there), and so many more! I even managed to find the site of the demolished Devil Tavern! I wonder where Six-fingered Nigel went?
Visiting the real places your favourite stories are based on and where your beloved characters once lived and breathed leaves nothing but happiness in one’s stomach! Who knows? Perhaps someday you might come across a young handsome shadowhunter in Hatchards with the same taste in books as you!
