Clockwork Angel

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s treatment of substance addiction.

Boadicea is a symbol representing women’s power. Will introduces Boadicea to Tessa, telling her, “She was a powerful warrior queen [...] she took poison rather than let herself be captured by the Romans” (93). Later, when Will and Jem leave the Institute to confront the Dark Sisters, Tessa asks to fight with them. When Will says no, she responds, “But what about Boadicea?” Will replies, “You will be Boadicea someday, Tessa [...] but not tonight” (389). The chapter in which Tessa defeats Mortmain by using her power to trick him is titled “Boadicea,” implying that Tessa has accepted her power as a woman and is using it to protect herself and her family, the Shadowhunters. The fact that she does so without consulting Will, and rescues herself and the others before Will can arrive, indicates that Tessa has finally set aside the social mores that expect her to turn to a man for protection or approval, instead embracing her role as a warrior woman.