Literature / The Chronicles of Castellane

(aka: The Sword Catcher)

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The Chronicles of Castellane is a New Adult fantasy series by prominent Young Adult author Cassandra Clare.

Kel Saren is the Sword Catcher. He must protect the heir of the throne of Castellane, Prince Conor, with his life. This involves Living a Double Life very close to Conor, the royal family and the assorted noblesse, as he needs to step in to impersonate Conor from time to time with help of a magical amulet. Lin Caster is a physician within the Ashkar community in Castellane, who uses magic and herblore to treat her patients. Kel and Lin meet when Kel almost literally catches a sword meant for Conor and this gets the plot going.

The first book, The Sword Catcher was released October 10, 2023. A sequel, titled The Ragpicker King, was released on March 4, 2025.

The Chronicles of Castellane contains examples of:

• Action Girl: Princess Luisa's bodyguard, Vienne d'Este. After the assassination of her charge, she starts slaughtering her killers to the point the Castelguard don't have to do anything.
• Always on Duty: Kel's life becomes this when he becomes Conor's Sword Catcher. No matter where he's at or what he's doing, he has to be ready to step in and take Conor's place at a moment's notice.
• Animal Motifs: Crocodiles. They appear in a lake in the Ragpicker King's home, and reside in the seas around Castellane. Crocodiles tend to lay low, but are swift attackers, striking without warning. This certainly applies to the Ragpicker King, who puts on a airs of a Gentleman Thief, but is definitely not someone to cross. It also applies to King Markus, as he spends most of his time in his tower studying the stars, but is brutal when infuriated. He has Connor whipped to the point of scarring for arranging a controversial marriage proposal, executes people by throwing them to the crocodiles, and he throws Vienne Este into a wall when she attempts to kill Conor.
• Appearance Is in the Eye of the Beholder: How Kel is able to pose as Conor despite Conor being the Prince of Castellane. He wears a special amulet that enchants anyone who looks at him to see Conor if they are expecting to see Conor, especially since Kel's complexion is already similar. It doesn't work on those who know about the amulet and its properties.
• Assassination Attempt: Kel takes one for Conor, which is what leads him to Lin.
• Author Appeal: The extensive descriptions of what everyone wears, the colours, ornaments and what fabric it is made of.
• Ban on Magic: Except for gematry, a type of magic only practiced by the Ashkar using gems and stones. All other magic was destroyed in The Sundering, and attempts to rediscover it or learn about it generally results in swift exile.
• Betrayal Insurance: The Ragpicker King reveals that the Charter Families aligned with the Malgasi conspiracy didn't know about the plan for the Shining Gallery massacre. They all thought the plan was to just scare Princess Luisa and didn't realize Elsabet Belmany had lied to them all until it was too late. But locking them out of the loop was done both for operational security and to invoke this trope for the remainder of the plan. Now, none of the conspirators can throw themselves on House Aurelian's mercy and reveal all; even if they were an Unwitting Pawn, they're still accessories to high treason. They'll hang and their Families will be stripped of their wealth and power. The Charter Families are now trapped and have no choice but to continue working with Elsabet and successfully overthrowing House Aurelian.
• Childhood Marriage Promise: When they were fifteen, Kel made Antonetta a ring out of stems and asked her to be his "bandit queen" during a game, which would have likely brought their feelings for each other to the forefront, had Lady Alleyne not stepped in.
• The Chosen One: Kel is the chosen one for being the Sword Catcher.
  • Lin as well for proclaiming herself the Godess returned and then living it out, however It Sucks to Be the Chosen One for her
• City of Adventure: Castellane, par excellance.
• Darker and Edgier: The series as whole is this to Clare's YA universe The Shadowhunter Chronicles, mostly owing to the fact it was written with a more mature audience in mind.
  • Both of these series are Darker and Edgier series to The Magisterium, the middle grade series Clare co-wrote with Holly Black.
• Death of a Child: Eleven year old Princess Luisa is shot dead with a crossbow by a mysterious assassin.
• End of an Age: The Sundering was this for magic being (more or less) available to everyone.
• Ethnic Magician: The Ashkar.
• The Exile: Both Asher and Lin are banned from the Castellane Ashkar society for meddling with magic.
• Fantastic Caste System: The Ashkar are of a lower class than other citizens of Castellane.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Multiple in the setting.
  • Castellane itself has heavy French influences.
  • The Ashkar were written specifically to be a Fantasy Counterpart Culture to Jews.
  • Geumjoseon is this to Korea, specifically South Korea
  • Shenzan is one to China and Chinese culture
  • Nyenschantz is one for Russia
• Fantasy World Map: There's one for the setting in the beginning of the book.
• Friendly Pirate: Laurent Aden.
• Forced from Their Home: The story starts with Kel being forced to leave the orphanage to become the Sword Catcher, though Conor claims he could've turned down the position if he wanted.
  • Lin and Josit were forced from their family home to the Etse Kebeth and the Dasu Kebeth—the female and male schools of the Sault—after their parents are killed.
• Glamour: Kel's ability to be glamoured to look like Conor is how he carries out his duty as Sword Catcher.
• God Guise: The Ashkar believe their legendary queen, who ascended to godhood after saving the world from the tyrannical sorcerer-kings, will return one day as the Goddess Reborn, and each year ask every girl in the community if it's her. By now nobody really expects the answer to be anything but no; asking is just tradition. After her studies into forbidden magic are discovered, Lin escapes punishment by answering yes. Subverted, however, as Lin's strange dreams exactly match the details of the Goddess's last days as a mortal woman, and she has an inexplicably easy time using an artifact normal people shouldn't be able to use—she only thinks she's lying about being the Goddess.
• Got Volunteered: How Kel became a Sword Catcher in the first place—Jolivet picked him out from his orphanage as being the closest in age and looks to Conor (and therefore his amulet would have an easier time casting the spell to make anyone who looks at him think they're seeing Conor). Downplayed, in that Conor explains Kel could refuse if he wanted, after explaining how much better his life would be as a Sword Catcher than an orphan.
• Great Offscreen War: The Sundering. Also the war that turned the Empire into Castellane.
• Honor Among Thieves: The Ragpicker King and—to a lesser extent—his Crawlers. You don't get to be king of a criminal underworld without a little finesse and class.
  • At one point, Lin mentioned being saved from a mugging by a Crawler, on account of the Ragpicker King being fond of physicians.
• Interrupted Intimacy: Antonetta walks in on Kel and Silla about to have sex to inform him that Conor is in danger.
• Lead You Can Relate To: both Kel and Lin were definitely written with this in mind.
• Left-Justified Fantasy Map: Like most others of its kind, the Fantasy World Map in the first book's opening shows a west shore only.
• Lost Common Knowledge: The Sundering left most people unable to perform magic, and ignorant of how it works.
• Love-Obstructing Parents: Lady Alleyne when her daughter starts to develop feelings for Kel, and vice versa.
• Mage Species: The Ashkar are an ethnic minority capable of performing small acts of magic using gematry.
• Magical Accessory: The Ashkar wear one, usually as an amulet.
  • Using one is how Kel is able to pose as Conor during political events and speeches.
• The Magic Goes Away: Again, a consequence of The Sundering, for all but a chosen few people.
• Mangst: Some of Kel's internal dialogue, at least initially, sounds like this.
• Moving the Goalposts: The Maharam does this at the end of The Ragpicker King. While Lin demonstrated her power and fulfilled the Goddess test's requirements, Davit exploits technicalities and loopholes to disqualify her and get her exiled from the Ashkar anyway. While it's partly because of his personal hatred of Lin and Mayesh, Aron also clarifies Davit's being motivated by fear. The Maharam never actually expected the Goddess might reappear in their lifetimes and he's scared of Lin's power. Regardless, that the Maharam betrayed and twisted their people's traditions and laws like this is one of the things that causes the Exliarch to secretly side with Lin and proclaim her the reborn Goddess.
• Muggles: Though most people know magic exists, or used to, few can actually use it now.
• Parent-Preferred Suitor: Lady Alleyne really wants Antonetta to marry Prince Conor.
• Protectorate: The nature of Conor's relationship to Kel, at least initially.
  • Similarly, though less politically-motivated, Mariam to Lin.
• Relationship Reboot: Happens between Kel and Antonetta at the end of "The Ragpicker King" .
• The Reveal: A few of them in The Ragpicker King
  • The Ragpicker King is Asher, the son of the Maharam and an exiled Ashkar. It explains his fondness for Lin and his interest in her study of magic.
  • Seven, who works for Princess Elsabet is Joss Falconet, who has figured out Kel is Conor's Sword Catcher, and uses his working with Castellane's criminal underworld against him to further isolate Conor.
  • Prosper Beck is really Antonetta, who has been building her own criminal empire behind the scenes.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After the death of Luisa, Vienne starts slicing apart assassins to the point the Castelguard simply stand back and do nothing. However, she's not done with just the protestors. She goes to kill Conor, only to be blocked by Kel. It takes King Markus throwing her at a wall to stop her.
• Samus Is a Girl: Prosper Beck's true identity is Antonetta Alleyne.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Antonetta puts on the airs of a Proper Lady and pretends to be jovial and flighty. However, she uses her demure manner to diffuse conflicts and maintain calm in those around her. It becomes somewhat literal during the attack on Marivent, as she's had sword fighting lessons, and uses a dagger to slice apart an assailant, protecting herself and her mother.
• Soap Opera Disease: What Mariam seems to be dying from, as no one knows what it is or how to cure it.
• Unfocused During Intimacy: When Silla takes Kel to engage in some heavy foreplay soon after his initial meeting with the Ragpicker King, Kel keeps having to forcibly keep his mind from returning to his meeting and the suspicions that arose from it during the entire moment, right up until Antonetta comes in with news about Conor as a Moment Killer.
• Vehicular Kidnapping: The Ragpicker King kidnaps Kel in his carriage in order to have a conversation with him.
• Vengeance Denied: Merren gets pretty angry when his love interest Jerrod kills Artal Gremont instead of himself doing it, in revenge for raping his sister Alys.
• Warrior Prince: Elsabet Belamy is a Warrior Princess.
• We Used to Be Friends: After making her debut into high society, Antonetta goes from the rough-and-tumble Tomboy with a Girly Streak friend to Kel, Conor, Joss Falconet, and Charlon Roverge to a prim and proper lady who blows off her old friends (and old Puppy Love with Kel) with a fake smile more befitting a young noblewoman.