City of Groans

I've always been staunchly of the opinion that Jem should have been bald and mangled like a proper fucking Silent Brother. Even if he’d become mortal again, he should’ve been just as scary-looking and hideous as everyone regards the Silent Brothers to be. I dislike that Jem gets to keep his handsomeness because of conveniences, and Tessa never has to face her shallowness for commenting on how it’s hardly worth to live a long life and look the way the Silent Brothers do. As if their service to the Nephilim is about serving looks instead of scholarly work and healing.

There’d be something bittersweet and much deeper if Tessa would’ve remained alone and Jem would’ve become fully a Silent Brother, eyes sown shut and all. They would’ve remained as such, both immortal, forever together but forever apart. After all her losses, I would’ve wished for Tessa to invent herself again instead of going full circle back to Jem and playing house with him this time around. To have that actual tragedy of loss present in their lives and changing their futures permanently. There being nothing to go back to and that actually forcing them to move forward. But Clare never truly forces her characters in these matters.

Jem never becoming fully a Silent Brother set him aside for a time so Tessa got to have her life with Will, who was always the obvious first choice. As convenience dictates it, because of yin fen Jem may continue being handsome and later be magically cured and have his great love with Tessa, who doesn't have to love a ghastly bald man. Clare effectively makes the choice for Tessa because Jem has to initially remove himself from the equation, and they still get their “happy ever after” with each other too. Tessa’s renewed relationship with Jem is merely veiled into bravely choosing love again despite Tessa having lost her greatest love and her children to old age and whatnot already once.

Jem getting his turn with Tessa is filled with those same contrivances and discrepancies because all that they’ve lost to time seems to weigh nothing at all despite the fact that they were exceptionally deep and significant relationships and events for Tessa (i.e., unlike other characters). Tessa’s grief is brought up when convenient, but not that it stops her from exposing herself to it again (because of bravely choosing love again) or once again opting for a life where her husband and children potentially die before her, as she’s assumedly going to outlive them too. That, unless Clare decides to end Tessa’s story with her becoming mortal, as there was an option like that on the table (at least with Magnus saying so). Then Tessa gets to be brave and bravely choose love again and, oh oops, become mortal and still reap the benefits for her characterization of being bravely brave and loving love.

I'm glad you liked it. Here's one for the books. 😄

None of the other characters constantly think about what their parents would say about the stupid shit they get up to. Jace never thinks "God, Maryse would hate this". Clary, who's an only child and the centre of her mother's world (allegedly) isn't half as obsessed with Jocelyn's opinion.

It's embarrassing how much Julian's role has to be exaggerated by the other characters, because he's an author favorite and Clare knows it doesn't hold up on page. There's such a lack of confidence in the audience and the writing itself.

Outisde of the first few chapters, Julian didn't have time to be any kind of caretaker for his siblings with all the scooby doo shit he was doing. But the characters keep reiterating what a great parent he is. Because the character she wants to write doesn't fit in the story she wants to tell.

I also refuse to belive he's had this much of an influence on Dru specifically. The only sibling Julian cared less about than Dru was fucking Livvy.

He hasn't even been her pseudo guardian for years now. Where are Helen's little nuggets of wisdom, hmm?

Scooby doo shit. I’m dying. 😂 I didn’t even actually think of that. I probably genuinely don’t regard Julian as a parental figure in any way, so it went past me completely. I know it as a fact but don’t feel it in my heart, lol.

Very well illustrated by comparing his position to the other characters' attitudes towards their own parents. No one’s relationship with their parents is like that in the series. Parents don’t occupy a sliver of a page in their minds in a way that would somehow affect their decision making or behavior or anything of significance really. No that it did with Dru either, but she was mindful enough to consider it.

I mean, Clary barely even thinks of Jocelyn even though her one and only mission in life should be figuring out a way to find Jocelyn and then wake her up. In City of Bones, after the Ravener attack Clary should wake up asking about her mother but we get to Jocelyn like pages later and so casually, without any urgency. Jocelyn could be dead for all she knows, but Clary pays no mind at all. Luke, who she regards as father, is obviously more present in the story for being around and awake and all, but I’m pretty sure Clary has issues with object permanence, because Luke is mostly in her thoughts when he is physically present in the scene. (I will not fact check that, going with vibes only.)

Dead parents are thought of when the character can draw angst from them dying or some shallow lesson they once taught. The Blackthorns barely think of their own parents, less so their mother (though I get some of them where really young when she passed). Julian is the sun, the moon, and the stars to them, even though most of them are old enough to remember their actual dad, Andrew. As much of Julian’s relevance as a caretaker (that somehow centers on either Ty or Tavvy) and a Handler of All Institute Business is off page too, you said it so well—it doesn’t hold up without it being repeated constantly by the other characters.

Well, I’m with you there. There is a big and a sudden jump from Mark who returns form the Hunt back to his family and speaks faerie-like to Mark who is back to being more Shadowhunter. It was from Lady Midnight going to Lord of Shadows where that change is so noticeable and abrupt that it threw me off from the initial impression I first had of him. It's hard to get a grip on a character that doesn't have a clear and cohesive course and makes such leaps in his development.

Moreover, there’s a weird dichotomy between the entire concept of the Wild Hunt and Mark who freshly returns from his time in it. The Wild Hunt is affiliated with the old and wild magic, with gathering the dead and riding with them. They abide by no rules, are bound by no laws—they by very definition are wild and only subject to the will of their leader. They are in “mad pursuit” of an eternal hunt, anticipate battles from which to gather the dead to claim riders for the hunt. They are harder than other ordinary faeries, not susceptible to the same weaknesses like salt and iron as them. The writing associates them to ferity, unpredictability, death, violence, and battle. Their arrival is sounded by hunting horns, shouts, and battle cries. Their horses are black with scarlet hooves, they have massive wild hounds with orange eyes, and they ride black carriages drawn by skeletal steeds and motorcycles (lol) with onyx and bone—all very dark themed things.

Before Clare completely makes nice boys out of them, the Hunt is almost like this barbaric and uncontrollable force. And then there’s Mark the Shadowhunter, back home, afflicted with such naivety and guilelessness that it’s unbelievable he was ever associated with the Wild Hunt as described. His trauma is with him constantly, how he was ripped away from his family who the faerie falsely claimed dead, how he was tortured to the point of giving himself to the faeries, and how he was then claimed by the Hunt—all against his own will or want had he known the truth. Even when he was tied to the Hunt and unable to leave to reunite with his siblings he was brave and warned the Clave about the faeries’ conspiracy. There was never a guarantee Mark could ever return, that Gwynn would ever allow him to leave even at the behest of the Clave, even if the Clave hadn’t ended up abandoning him to the Hunt.

Nowhere in this equation is it reasonable to blame Mark for being separated from his family. Clare developed the story elements precisely so that Mark had no other options and a situation where his character could believably surrender to Hunt, believing having lost everything dear to him. And that is the tragedy. Had he just known earlier. Had he not been taken captive. Had he been stronger. All the ifs in the world cannot change the end for him, and that’s with the Hunt. It’s not dissimilar to the way Clare manufactures tragic circumstances to her leading male heroes, leaves them supposedly with no choice but to do what they do (false), but comparably Mark’s circumstances are not wallowed in. He is barely given sympathy, barely receiving understanding from his family, and it doesn't seem extremely significant in terms of Mark's character or his narrative because of that one sudden major change in the way he was suddenly written.

As a disclaimer, I am well aware that the characters in the series are young, possess the emotional intelligence of a pebble, and react differently for having all suffered trauma themselves as well. But the way Mark’s family treated him, joked about him, and treated him like a freak was just too much, especially when none of that was recognized as such. I don’t remember Julian being that concerned when it is Julian’s narrative and his pain that primarily shapes everyone else’s. (Clare barely even developed Mark and Julian’s brotherhood the way that whatever it has progressed to in Secrets of Blackthorn Hall is warranted.) Besides, it would be nice if sometimes the characters knew how to react in any other way than with overwhelming emotions and without blaming the wrong person. That repeats itself in every conflict, and I’m pretty sure there are many other ways to develop them, but anyway.

You do get the sense that while Mark was in the Hunt, he didn’t get to handle everything that happened to him appropriately. Trauma can manifest as regression, and with trauma-related age regression, you revert backwards to earlier stage before the trauma was first experienced. But like you said, it's not at all about forgetting how the world works. I’m not even sure whether Clare intended to portray some type of regression with Mark, but is so, it’s an incredibly bad portrayal. If we consider the suddenness of the change in his character come LoS, it’s even more unbelievable, hasty, and just strange.

Kieran obviously has a different background and so different struggles, though I’m not really sold on the emotional aspects of them. Kieran’s narrative function is so limited at first, and even his character development leaped a mile when he became more relevant to the plot again. Throw Cristina into that mix and nothing sensible as to emotional processing gets done when the romance is prioritized.

Helloo! Fork found in the kitchen, indeed. Though anime and manga are different beasts in their own context to discuss, it's notable that when female characters are portrayed as multifaceted or just in any way better in the manga, somehow the anime adaptation comes along and removes scenes or character traits and/or changes important details about the character, and so ruins that original portrayal completely just because. Orihime in Bleach and Sakura in Naruto as major examples.

It’s unfortunate but comical that Clare herself as well resorts to accusing readers of misogyny when they are unable to connect to her female characters that she constantly utilizes just to observe and explore the male characters and obsess over their looks and the attraction they have. What is Clary’s identity as Morgenstern and Fairchild to Jace’s ever-going identity crisis (and obsessing over his looks)? What is Tessa’s identity as a Downworlder surrounded by the supremacist Nephilim when Will needs constant coddling and rescuing from his self-destruction (and also obsessing over)? What is Emma’s journey from loss to revenge to healing when Julian’s problems and Blackthorn family issues eventually overshadow her and take over her story (and also her obsessing over Julian)?

Clare seems barely interested in her own heroines, at least nowhere near with the equal intensity as their romantic male counterparts, but I do believe she thinks she is writing them deeper than apparently some readers are able to comprehend as her go to reason for people disliking her main female characters is always misogyny. As if her very lacking capabilities as an author have not caused readers to find her heroines vapid, aimless, soulless, and sometimes even mean-spirited husks. Before I got to the end of your message, I thought too that Cordelia is somewhat an outlies as she does in some ways escape that mold—she outshines James every time. Outshining James is not difficult, though, as he is as exciting as raisins in cookies, and sometimes it seems that Clare thinks giving more limelight to her heroine means describing her curves and breasts to a disturbing degree.

What this reminded me of is when I wrote this post on Sebastian’s character, I read a discussion thread about him. A similar thought process of completely removing the responsibility of the author from the equation repeated itself there. One of the commenters was angry at other readers for creating a dumb narrative, not understanding the rules of his demon blood or his complexity as a character and thus breaking the lore, when this entire impression is solely based on Clare’s own contradictory portrayal of the character and any rules surrounding him. It’s just as unfortunate but comical to ascribe no blame to the one creating and writing this and blame readers for being dumb for not understanding when the entire narrative hasn’t seen an intelligent day in its existence.

guess i've written too much without getting to a real point but i don't know 😅 food for thought

Considering how much City of Bones has changed from its first edition, how little the world was developed even within all of the six books encompassing The Mortal Instruments, “rushed” is an apt word to cover part of the problems at the base of The Shadowhunter Chronicles. Or at least where the problems mainly begin, like slipping a new coat of paint over what Clare originally wrote as a fanfiction, though she does deny it even though part of the first book and some of the prose was lifted straight form her fan works.

What plagues the other contemporary works with a background in fanfiction is that rewriting fanfiction into published work often damages the character and world building. With fanfiction, you’re already familiarized with the characters, are emotionally invested in them—it’s not difficult for a fanfic author to make readers care about the characters they already know and consciously seek out to read stories about. The assumption is that the readers are familiar with the source material and know the ins and outs and the lay of the land, so to speak.

That all is gone when fanfiction is turned into a published writing. That base knowledge no longer applies and has to be replaced with original concepts and ideas. No established world or characters to carry the load for you. From the beginning Clare could not write what stood alone, and some of her success is without a doubt for her already developed reader base knowing it being former fanfiction.

So what we get are these heroines without goals or clear path ahead acting as an observer to the male main character, other cardboard characters who serve one or two purposes, caricatured antagonists and villains which are used to show how much better the main characters are in comparison—characters in general, whose characteristics are crystallized into a few traits that, like you exemplified well, are intensely focused on. Part of the way Clare crafts her characters is very simplistic in too. Like she things any trivial information is enough to make them interesting and likable (Jace likes to be barefoot, Alec and Isabelle are allergic to flowers, Simon has a cat Yossarian, Tessa dislikes chocolates, Cordelia’s favorite cat is (surprise everyone) Persian, Herondales have a generations long feud with ducks (except Kit?), Emma is left-handed and dislikes video games, or Julian hates lettuce and horses). Essentially any type of information that could be replaced with another Fun Fact as they play absolutely no part in their characterization, motives, goals, aspirations, behavior, stories etc. but are akin to headcanons what fans typically come up with.

To talk bit more about the world building part and why rushing is only a part of the problem, it’s that it can only explain the beginning, I think. Over a longer period of time, reality manifests itself as Clare’s inability and disinterest to do more with her world and characters. With each new series or novella or any other writing she gets to retroactively apply a greater context and meaning to the original or preceding ones without having to have given a single thought to them before that. Yet her readership treats Clare like she had planned them from the start when she has demonstrated time and again how little she is capable of any foresight in any subsequent series. The only time there are no heaps of exposition concerning a concept or a topic is when Clare tries to sneak in a new one that should’ve existed already if the worldbuilding has been even a little bit adequate.

Here are few notes that come to mind on some of the concepts and things that are so basic that they should’ve existed from the get go (or at least from more reasonable beginnings than where they were first introduced):

— Jace’s Herondale scar is not a part of his character or casually introduced already in City of Bones, only in City of Ashes when it becomes relevant for Imogen to notice it and hint at Jace’s true identity.

— The Wayland/Morgenstern ring going through ridiculous rewriting and conveniences from the original edition to the newer ones because nothing about it made sense to begin with.

— The way Shadowhunter culture works, the position of women in their society going through quite the change as the following works would’ve contradicted the original version.

— No rules how runes/Marks work, limitations, expectations, any possible feature you can ask about them remains mostly unanswered

— How the newer steles are better than the older models. No information on what makes the older steles “worse” or “not as good” as the newer ones, as Luke implies when he gifts Clary Jocelyn’s old one. What properties have the Iron Sisters changed?

— Shadow Markets are introduced way later into the overall series considering how much they are featured in every subsequent work after Lady Midnight and retroactively applied to the lives of characters in TMI and TID though this concept never existed during their respective series.

— Werewolves in their human form have gold ringed pupils, a fact introduced off-handedly in City of Lost Souls. This should’ve been a part of Luke’s character description from the very beginning, but all his eyes are ever described as is blue (or “Luke-blue”) without any mention of central heterochromia.

— The Iron Tombs coming in Chain of Iron when the plot requires, previously not much thought given to the Iron Sisters or Silent Brothers or their death and burial. If I’m not completely off, readers just assumed they are buried in Silent City like the rest (or the most) of Nephilim. Not that they don’t ever decay (are apparently nonflammable) because the plot of one book needed zombie opponents.

— The entire concept of parabatai in general but more specifically the rule of them not being allowed to fall in love. I don’t remember where the rule was first introduced, but it obviously becomes a relevant factor in TDA whose only obstacle to the main characters' romance is based on. However, the other books in the series do not hint at the truth behind the ban. There is no attempt to find a reason. It is only in the part where the truth is revealed that a single character suggests that they know it. And then Jem just conveniently finds out the rest and explains it. The only thing that points to the outcome is that the runes are more powerful than normal because of their love, but Queen of Air and Darkness doesn’t take that into consideration when explaining how the parabatai used to utilize the power of true Nephilim forms.

— The entire canon (to TSC) lore behind Lilith. She was alluded vaguely and the warlocks called Children of Lilith without much other context. Then her entire backstory was dumped in the instalment where she first appears and then her earthly form is destroyed.

— Greater Demon blood and Magnus’ parentage that the first edition of City of Glass completely contradicts given that the detail of Magnus being “not part Greater Demon” was changed in later editions. Not that Jace was just wrong and didn’t know but we couldn’t have that. It would’ve also affected Tessa’s parentage in TID, which is weird because Tessa makes an appearance in that book, creating a bridge to the in-coming Clockwork Angel, so… Tessa wasn’t also part Greater Demon then originally? At that point at least?

— The major plot hole regarding the Book of the White and how Jocelyn ever came to have it. (And what the White even is…)

I did like them during the time TDA was being published and I waited to get my hands on Queen of Air and Darkness. I felt that Kit was more interesting character to be companied with Ty, a Herondale refusing that Herondale trademark everyone was so insistent on pushing on him despite that he continuously said no. There was certain charm and innocence to the friendship and relationship because the characters were, you know, just kids at that point. Admittedly doing very unsuitable activities for kids.

Now that they’ve become more front and center and Kit has embraced that Herondale-ness, as if genetics determined every Herondale man down to the last, I’ve lost a lot of that interest in seeing where they’ll go. Somehow they’ll end up together, but it really doesn't matter how at this point. Livvy’s ghost has lessened a lot of the interest I initially had in Ty’s journey as well.

I guess the story beats in general have become tiresome. The more things get added, the more disinterested I become. For example, Tessa and Jem orbiting Kit and being so present in his narrative has taken the flavor out of Kit’s character. Kit is so far removed from the Herondales they know that the only thing tying Kit and Jace (i.e. Tessa and Will’s line) together is the surname and the same ancestors/known progenitors over at least like eight generations ago. That in essence is nothing, but these characters are acting like this is Jace’s clone, like William Herondale has personally molded this boy out of thin air and they must do everything to protect him because he is, after all, Herondale.

Clare being extremely prone to her own biases and favoritism towards specific characters really underline the lack of equal treatment of her characters. She heavily lacks consideration in matters that affect other characters than her own favorites: Her favorites would not realistically be treated the way she wants if any of the others were given agency and space to experience any true and accurate scale of thoughts and emotions, especially here considering the oppressor-oppressed dynamic that is supposedly portrayed in the series.

Clare refuses to hold her main characters accountable even by characters that are on the same side, and only way she addresses any criticism towards them is by making an antagonist do it, simultaneously making the antagonist seem bad and disagreeable, a point of constant comparison and an object from which to draw superiority for the protagonists. Clare does not entertain possible or even realistic conflicts between characters that would be a detriment to her favorites. She does not acknowledge, recognize, or value those thoughts that criticize or question characters she herself has always prioritized over a truthful and inclusive narrative.

Even in City of Glass the efforts of both Shadowhunters and Downworlders to resist Valentine’s demon forces centers on the Shadowhunters. The Downworlders effectively gain nothing from pairing themselves with the Shadowhunters who, in turn, gain Downworlder abilities to aid them in battle. Aren’t the Marks supposed to do that anyway? What is the net sum of this nonsense truly?

The main characters of The Dark Artifices aren’t even developed in a way that leading a resistance would be a plausible option for them. That suddenly they are spearheading this coalition formed to overthrow the Cohort. Makes the scope of the series incredibly small because it centers itself on these few characters that should not hold the positions they are given by the story. The Downworld side of things is effectively ignored. They are not presented in a realistic manner where they are given even a voice. Many other major characters in the series are stripped of choice and reactions to anything that would reflect badly on the main ones, so of course these Downworlder side characters don’t fare better either.

Then Julian paints them a banner, replicating already what Clare did with Clary and the Council. Both equally juvenile attempts at making these characters suddenly seem important and in the epicenter of things they had no part in and no true coherent motivation to be part in previously. They have not earned the position of such importance, and Livia least of all has earned the right to be commemorated the way she was by Julian. All of it is underserved and takes the focus away from (Downworlder) characters that would and should have acted independently from the Nephilim already.

Something realistically would’ve been already initiated years before Julian Blackthorn, of all people, calls for a war council when things—once again after years of brewing—finally come to head in Queen of Air and Darkness. And then it’s not even the Nephilim-Downworlder Alliance that has established itself at that point that takes action. What the hell have they been doing all this time? Make nice? Julian, having acted as Arthur, uses his influence to rally potential allies. It surely is a nice payoff for Julian having done all the managing for the Los Angeles Institute in Arthur’s place but has no true weight or meaning when we have never seen him actually do any of it. Like this anon made a great point:

“I can't understate how stupid it is that anyone came to the meeting he called in the last book. What do you mean "I know them". No, you don't. You've been writing letters to them about administrative work. And they think they've been talking to a grown man, who's now dead. They'll either have no idea who you are, or be pissed about being lied to for years. The narrative tries to paint him as smart and manipulative when it's just everyone around him unreasonably falling for obvious bullshit.”

Even people subjected to lies and deceit fall in line because they must. No consequence, no questioning, nothing. Then there’s the over-inflated and baseless importance Jace and Clary have in the Clave that somehow plays a major part in the Cohort’s plans. I’ve said previously regarding the whole Livia’s Watch that imagine being a random Downworlder from any faction joining the cause and not knowing who the hell this person even is. It focuses too much of a big cause on one person who really had nothing to do with any of the relevant political issues. Everyone has lost someone, and Livvy had the privilege of being raised onto a pedestal above everyone else because she was Julian’s sister.

Though Magnus is deeply involved with the Nephilim politics, Tessa and Luke remove themselves from the narrative whenever they please. Jem and Jocelyn teeter at the edge of being Shadowhunters but not really as they aren’t in an active role. They pick and choose their battles while behaving like that life is behind them. Which is all fine if they ever examined that position they are in, where they get to choose who to fight for and who to protect. Luke is always written leaning more to his Shadowhunter side than werewolf one, which could be an interesting aspect to his character if it ever had a narrative cost, i.e. his pack ever taking issue for their leader bending over backwards for people who do not have their interest at heart. I still can’t get a hang of Tessa and what is her purpose in anything.

Jace gets a lot of sympathy because of his traumatic and abusive upbringing but I feel like people have come around a bit on letting characters get completely away with shitty behavior because of that. There's still some responsibility expected of him while Will is given a magical curse that ruined his life so I think that contributes some in the way people treat them.

Also I think Will comes across as goofier than Jace and that endears him to people a lot more.

That whimsy and his general capability of being more amiable with the people around him certainly carry Will’s character a lot further on the likability scale. Will at least had manners. Jace was a shithead even to Clary until he wasn’t. When it comes to Herondales, it is a long-standing tradition to excuse their behavior with their trauma. Even with Céline.

The point of the curse on a narrative scale is to keep Will and Tessa apart long enough, create conflict, and garner Will sympathy for circumstances mostly of his own making, but not enough that it would cause something irreversible and detrimental to his character. Will causes most of the internal harm he goes through himself, and the impact the curse has is majorly between him and Tessa. Albeit Will has abandoned his family because of the supposed curse, grieves the loss of his sister, there’s no true narrative cost as to Cecily or their parents. No true narrative cost as to any other people around him. If Will’s curse was actually real, it would have warranted his distance in a way that wouldn’t have ended up being a manufactured, artificial angst factor to garner him sympathy and hamper his romance with Tessa.

I don’t think I’ve previously gone too much into detail why I think so. I’ve previously noted that the rules of the curse are vague and applied very selectively, because the only time the curse is supposedly seen taken effect is when Ella dies. As was later revealed—and as no one, no one before Magnus was able to deduce or even question it themselves—Ella died as a direct consequence of Marbas attacking and poisoning Ella when she tried to protect Will from the demon. The curse was as follows:

“All who love you will find only death. Their love will be their destruction. It may take moments, it may take years, but any who look upon you with love will die of it. And I shall begin it with her.”

The indefinite amount of time it might take for someone to die because of loving Will gives a lot of leeway narratively. Of course, on the other hand, it keeps Will uncertain of who will be hurt and when. Will’s first action was to protect his remaining family and join the Shadowhunters despite that he had grown up believing they are bad people. It’s interesting to note that you’re still surrounding yourself with people whose emotions and emotional bonds towards you cannot be controlled, but a twelve-year-old cannot live a life or a hermit either, I get that. But. Like hope, love is often uncontrollable in the way that we cannot help but feel it. Will is taking a chance that someone will love him back despite his best (and worst as people love him anyway) efforts to keep everyone at bay.

Will eventually forms a deep bond with Jem despite all his efforts to prevent it, but at the same time I think Will’s love for Jem contradicts what Will believed his curse was about. He abandoned his family, kept everyone at the Institute at arm’s length but it was alright to love Jem, for Jem to love him back, and become parabatai with him while simultaneously acting like a giant asshole to everyone just because Jem was going to die anyway at some point? Despite that he could’ve knowingly and potentially hastened Jem’s death? And when Jem would finally die—Tessa in the picture or not—would Will feel guilt or that his curse had a part in it? (Obviously, because what is his angst without all the self-sabotage.) Or did the curse not suddenly matter because Jem was deathly ill anyway?

Am I supposed to feel sorry for Will who, despite knowing the fate he could cast on Jem, made these choices knowingly? We could go even further and feel sorry for Will, because of course he was lonely, of course he was desperate, and of course Jem would be his one selfish choice. Will does say in the series that Jem is his “great sin”, but it’s still a sin made in full understanding of his circumstances.

Will as a child was evidently easier to fool and losing his sister was so groundbreaking that there was no other outcome for him than to leave and abandon his family, believing he would be protecting them by doing so. Marbas, however, was weakened by the years he spent in the Pyxis. A fact that only Magnus catches on when the timing is convenient for the story. When Marbas reveals to Magnus that the curse wasn’t real, Magnus insinuates that it could’ve been had Marbas been stronger at that time, which, alas, he still wasn’t. Could’ve been, but wasn’t because of this crucial fact that no one ever conveniently brought to question, helped by the secrecy surrounding Will’s true reasons, of course. Where would these plots go if people were honest and didn’t withheld integral information that would solve their issues?

After this revelation, Will laments all the terrible things he has done to the people around him, most of all to Tessa, but none of it has narrative weight. It’s only useful for Will’s internal conflict, because any meaningful external factor does not respond to him with any significant consequence. Magnus consoles Will after the moment of revelation and presents the fact that Will was a child knowing nothing about the Shadow World as the reason why he would even believe Marbas in the first place. Which is fine, but Magnus continues to justify Will’s actions and belief in the curse further in the scene and feel sorry for him.

Every aspect of the curse is manufactured to support the narrative of Will’s assholery being flipped over and turned into this grand sacrifice and a testament to the selflessness of his character. Simultaneously acting as a foil in his budding romance with Tessa that readers are supposed to favor. At the same time, the plot doesn't really deepen or expand the relationship between Tessa and Will. It’s used for already baseless yearning only.

The curse plot didn’t challenge Will as a character or offer him opportunity for growth. As I said here before, Will’s actions in the light of his curse have no true narrative cost—the cost is only temporary and rests solely on Tessa’s perception of him. It is not something Will needs to overcome or compensate for later on. No damage to undo that is not guaranteed. Will’s arrogance and trauma do not cause narrative tension as they are in service of coddling him and urging readers and other characters to feel sorry for him, even if the anguish he experiences is self-inflicted. Tessa is built to sympathize Will and her narrative is engulfed by him. The same theme continued further on in The Perfect Storm where Will’s completely self-inflicted harm causes pain for them both and yet we are supposed to feel sorry for him for doing what he did, as if Will’s pain and sadness are enough alone to justify his actions in either of these cases.

Once the curse plot is resolved, it has no lingering effect on the general narrative either. No other relationship, perception, or character is affected truly by the change. It is the revelation of the truth that further services the obstacles the relationships go through but this plot itself does not have an effect any further than that. Will has nothing to learn from it, and it has cost him nothing but time and anguish (internal problems he has to accept himself). Generally the narrative surrounding the curse plot doesn’t really ask too many questions, doesn’t pick its own credibility apart to the point it would justify itself fully, because it simply cannot without falling apart or, more like, revealing its artificiality, superficiality, and true purpose.

True to Clare, the plot is concocted in a way that when you question it, someone has the answer no matter how flimsy. What the writing does not even care to question or explain are:

i. Ella was stung—how did she not feel that, feel worried about that, ask for help, especially feeling ill after a demon attack? (All have easy and probable answers but ones the series does not account for)

ii. Why did Edmund keep such a dangerous object such as the Pyxis in his home and why no one thinks to blame him for alienating Will? He does turn to alcohol and self-destruction the Herondales inevitably do, but why no one thinks to mention that it was truly him that caused all this? (He is an irresponsible father that is never treated as irresponsible father nor does his irresponsibility cross anyone’s, even less so Will’s mind).

iii. Edmund’s children know of the Shadow World and Shadowhunters, enough for Ella at least to face the demon with a Seraph blade (despite not knowing how to use it), but they still lack basic reasoning skills that they cannot see the cause and effect between Marbas attacking Ella and Ella dying?

iv. Does Will think that the curse causes people who love him bloat in death like Ella? Does he expect to find Jem’s bloated corpse one day?

v. The curse does not define love, so what if someone is completely smitten by Will’s dashing looks and falls deeply in love with him because of his beauty? It is such a nuanced but incredibly loose curse to begin with, and Will never questions it. He surrenders himself completely to this fate and doesn’t fight back or try to solve it himself.

Yes, and it’s not even that gold, silver, lavender, amber, you name it is described any differently from that. The Golden Jace exists solely because the word “gold” or “golden” just get repeated to death each time Jace is described in such detail. The Last Hours can probably top that count with James’ eyes, Matthew’s hair, and Cortana. But that’s three against one.

Whenever darker features are described, the language used is different, more blasé contrasted to the overindulgence with basically any other color on color wheel. Be it hair, eyes, skin, clothes, milieu, the over-abundance of colors is ever-present. In TLH, (oddly) specifically it’s often with the same formula “of this and this and this” with give or take two or three colors. In general, the series is so obsessed with hair and eyes that it’s like a brand Clare is proud of. She must be because she still keeps writing constantly about hair and eyes. The visual is more important than getting into the scene with other methods. And this is regardless of whether it is a male or female character.

The characters with dark or any type of brown features tend to have belittling and negative attitudes towards their own looks, most notably Isabelle, Alastair, and Lucie. Isabelle wishes her eyes weren’t dark brown instead of like Alec’s and their parents’: blue and thus “more interesting”. Lucie’s hair is “plain brown, like her mother’s”, and she sometimes wishes it was like Cordelia’s instead—radiant, looking like sunset. Rarely, if at all, do the characters with red, blonde, golden, silver, you-name-it hair or eye color express similar feelings about theirs or are envious of darker shades. There is always comparison that is presented in a negative form. Plain is bad. Ordinary is bad. Or at least worse in comparison with whatever they are envious about. Though Jesse and Lucie do have the following exchange in Chain of Iron:

She felt herself blush. “It’s such dull hair. Just brown, not an interesting color like Grace’s, or—” “It’s not ‘just brown,’” he said. “It glows like polished wood, and it has all sorts of colors in it—bits of gold where the sun’s touched it, and strands of chocolate and caramel and walnut.”

I honestly think it’s because we cannot badmouth Tessa’s hair color without instant rectification. Tessa doesn’t have dull hair (even if Jessamine did also call it that in TID). It’s not just any light brown. It has all these interesting details in it. Except if you’re Lightwood of the Victorian or Edwardian era, then your hair just light brown (“sandy” thrown in there for good measure), bar in winter when Thomas’ hair is nut-brown as the sun no longer bleaches it for him (a separate realization Cordelia has to make for some reason). Of course, hair colors can and do have hues, shades, and details that come out differently in different lighting, but then it’s these shades of gold, red, chocolate, caramel, sunlight, moonlight, fire, whatnot that are highlighted over the base color anyway.

Additionally in Clockwork Angel, it is said that “Tessa had always been perfectly content with her own smooth brown hair and steady gray eyes. Jane Eyre had had brown hair, and plenty of other heroines besides.” Of course, since Tessa is modeled after protagonists in classic literature, it’s fine because they did have the same hair color. But to note that someone else’s, albeit a deceased person’s, hair was described as “dull-brown mousy hair” which carries more negative connotation, like whyyy do you keep doing that. I get that the girl has passed, but with Clare’s track record I’m giving this a side eye.

Hair and eyes are almost like characters in the scene, bringing absolutely nothing to the table or changing the mood somehow to justify the amount of time any type of hair or eye color is being described or mentioned. In Chain of Iron, Cordelia thinks her best feature is her hair, i.e. the only feature that is not dark or brown and that is constantly mentioned and featured above all else. When it comes to some of the other characters in said series, for example, Ari’s hair is described only as dark. I’m not kidding, I think I checked every instance Ari’s hair color is mentioned and it’s always “dark”, her “amber” eyes weirdly not getting at all dedication. But to be fair on the account of black hair, most characters with black hair are described with either “dark” or “black”, unless it’s the crow-black or Herondale black, then that warrants a separate notion.

In Clockwork Princess, Jem’s hair is described as “brown-black” when he becomes mortal once more, and in the epilogue he is described with “raven-black hair, curling slightly in the humid air, and dark brown eyes with glints of gold in the irises” because, of course, he has glints of gold in his irises. I cannot say there is the same abundance of descriptions with similar vigor of Jem in any subsequent works he is featured in compared to all three books of The Infernal Devices. To also note on some other characters as well, Jessamine, Charlotte, and Gabriel (or Simon for that matter), though being white characters, don’t really get anything further than “brown” either when it comes to their hair and/or eyes. Maybe with a preceding adjective or any other descriptor attached to it. In any case, black and brown clearly lack the same verbosity and indulgence in comparison to any other that is used gazillion times over.

Alastair’s relationship with his hair is a more complicated one that actually relates to his character arc. It’s about internalized shame, trying to be something else, an attempt at assimilation after being bullied for moving around and his mixed heritage, but also his eventual growth and self-acceptance, which is symbolized by him dying his hair back to its natural color. Highlighting his hair has actual merit. It’s an integral and emblematic part of his story and progression as a character. Somehow, however, it is forgotten and almost lost among all the other writing. Meanwhile Cordelia's red hair is described for the fifth hundredth time with roses, rubies, blood, and fire, without giving any added value, depth, or actual content to Cordelia's character.

Another point this youtuber brought up is that Mark and Helen should've been the protagonists of TDA. Honestly I never thought about this before, but when I think about it, it makes sense. The main problem with TDA (apart from its many plotlines) is that it has too many main characters which is why so many of them feel underdeveloped. And it seems like CC tries to make every character into a main character. For example: Kieran, Cristina, and Diana. I think these 3 would've been fine just as side characters, the focus doesn't really need to be on them. But CC tries to make every character relevant to the story somehow and gives them their own background and storyline. I don't think Cristina and Diana needed to have romantic plotlines, I don't see how focusing on their romantic lives serves the overall story. It honestly could've been in the background and it wasn't necessary. It looks even worse because it seems that their purpose in the story was just to be love interests. (For Kieran, I guess his romantic plotline was kind of relevant, since it relates to Mark. But again we didn't need to focus on him.) The youtuber explained that Mark and Helen should've been the protagonists because for a story that is so heavily focused on Faerie, it would've been more insightful to have 2 characters who are half fae. Especially since the recurring sentiment is that these 2 don't really fit in with shadowhunters or faeries. The book is also heavily focused on Downworlder, faerie, and shadowhunter politics (now, whether this was executed well is a different story). It's been a while since I read TDA but from what I remember, Mark leans more into his faerie side and Helen leans more into her shadowhunter side. And they are also the only ones who understand each other. So I really do think this would've added layers to the story. Helen being banished to Wrangel Island for like 80% of the series was also a cheap move by CC, it does feel like she wanted an excuse to write this character off. And wdym the only sapphic character (and couple) in the series is banished?! I believe that the only protagonists in the series should've been Mark, Helen, and Kit (I say Kit because he is relevant to the necromancy thing as well as the events leading up to TWP). Everyone else like the other Blackthorn siblings, Emma, etc could've been side characters. The Blackthorn siblings and their relationships feel so underdeveloped, it would've been better anyways.

Lol thanks for coming to my ted talk! I didn't realize how long this would be haha

Fantastic TED Talk, thank you for having me. 😂☺️

Emma and Julian’s parabatai bond is relevant mostly for the conclusion of the final battle in Queen of Air and Darkness—them turning into True Nephilim, which conveniently ends the fight. And, admittedly, solves the old mystery of why parabatai aren’t allowed to fall in love with each other, sure. Yet even for such a “payoff” their bond seems so over-pronounced because, as you just said, there were all these other more relevant things going on that their bond had absolutely nothing to do with. It’s a busy plot but with points that never tie together as a sensible whole. In regards to those, their relationship and the room it takes in the series feel somewhat out of place alongside all this other stuff happening as well. Emma and Julian were the designated main romance is all.

I’ve also previously noted how strange it seems that Emma was the protagonist of TDA in the first place. Julian and the Blackthorns—which sounds like a band—hijack Emma’s place as the heroine and the story moves to revolve around problems the Blackthorns specifically face. The story eventually ignores Emma as the main character, whose parents’ death was the event that drove the entire plot of the series to begin with. It was her pain and her revenge that begins the trilogy and carries the story onward. Once Emma’s apparent problem is resolved after Lady Midnight, Emma becomes like a supporting character in the series of which she is the heroine. Emma is no longer driven by anything of her own other than her romantic relationship with Julian.

Few months back in this deep dive into the faeries in TSC, I said:

Then there is the issue with Mark and Helen and their faerie blood, which is such a good conflict arisen organically from the story itself: the faerie and the Shadowhunters are two opposing forces currently engaged in conflict that has stemmed from betrayal and distrust following that. Now these two people with heritage from both are left in the middle of the conflict and abandoned because of what they could never even control. They are embraced by neither and are effectively abandoned by both. The absolute injustice of their circumstances are extremely compelling, and you want to see them vindicated in the end. But what do we end up doing with their characters instead? Romance, drama, romance drama, family drama, unjust behavior coming from their family and leaving most of that subtext unexplored—especially when it comes to Helen because she is a female character, unlike Mark who is utilized in the romance dramas around him. It’s weird in a sense that the series barely fixate on Helen and Mark. In retrospect their position would’ve been better and more fitting for the protagonists for the series considering the current state of the geopolitics. Their struggles would’ve been more relevant and should’ve been more in front and center. They should’ve had the absolute attention and visibility over everyone else, because now I feel like the narrative in TDA ignores this aspect and its effects in favor of Julian and Emma and relationship angst in general.

When comparing these two set-ups—Mark and Helen, Emma and Julian—they are world’s apart, which just underlines how incredibly unfitting Emma and Julian were as the main focus. Queen of Air and Darkness overall was a Mess. The book is oversaturated with irrelevant language, characters, details, you name it. It overcompensates for many characters, especially TMI ones who already had their time and space in their own series, and features way too many stories and romantic plots and scenes than was favorable for the conciseness of the overall story—all which took unnecessary amount of space from characters and aspects that could’ve been highlighted and explored more thoroughly. The focus is completely lost somewhere along the way. Lady Midnight, I remember thinking, was the most concise of the three, but after that, when we get to exploring all six different plots with little connection with each other, that conciseness is lost altogether.

As to Mark and Helen, I think Mark seems to lean more to his faerie side because he was taken and given to the Wild Hunt whereas Helen, to whom Clare has never shown true interest at all, was conveniently excluded from the story, from the faerie, ostracized to Wrangel Island, and never let to explore her faerie side to the same extent Mark’s circumstances and plot-relevance allowed him. I mean, obviously, but Clare never tied Helen to the plot to the same extent Mark was or gave Helen the time of day she did for him. Helen’s characters lacks much of the substance that is given to Mark’s character instead, this comparison existing in my mind because he is a character in similar position as her (before the story takes them on separate journeys and far apart from each other).

It’s not that I don’t get that some characters are more relevant and important than others, that’s given. I just greatly dislike the male centeredness exhibited time and again, especially here with characters that had the props to actually carry the series. How interesting it would have been to see both of their perspectives and experience the story from their PoVs? The faerie side and Shadowhunter side juxtaposed, symbolizing their characters that are half of both. What the hell do we care about some obsessive love story when there is a mother who was faerie nobility? When there was an opportunity to finally reveal more about the workings of faerie courts and lands?

Even so that we are introduced to their faerie aunt—not Julian’s nor Emma’s—Nene interacts with Mark and Helen on page like once. The scene does not even encompass any emotional aspects or context each of them possess. It doesn’t behave like this is actually a remarkable meeting. It just goes almost straight to the plot, and scene. Nene had sworn off love entirely because love had in one way or another destroyed all her sisters, and she didn’t wish to suffer for it as they had. Because of that choice, she later on had to face the regret and the loss of never getting to know Helen or Mark. Why don’t we see this more intimately? Sure, Nene previous to the story has reconnected with Helen off-page, and most we see of her is with Emma and Julian. All of this is just exposition, and what takes place on the pages of the book is in relation to Emma and Julian’s quest.

Honey, I'm home! I understand we are talking about The Last King of Faerie - Chapters One and Two - Google Docs?

The snippet was made available in 2024. It’s obviously subject to change. But as it is, and as is and has always been very native to Clare, there’s a lot that makes the writing clunky. And this is the clunkiest writing as ever. What I suspected would be the unfortunate fate of the opening chapter, there’s the constant oversharing of every tiny bit of information from the get-go.

The writing keeps stopping to explain instead of getting on with the actual scene the chapter opens with. Also peppering exposition bits here and there never stops. There’s stating the obvious, repeating information twice just in different form, and all the unimaginative ways you could describe the events and actions.

It’s really rough.

It doesn’t function at all. Though Clare does present criticism towards the Nephilim society throughout the series, it’s always left at surface level at best because she is unwilling to fully hold Shadowhunters accountable. The scope of the series itself is so wide; the focus is off from where it would count, so it naturally takes room from all issues it likes to include but fails to handle adequately and, above all, honestly. I believe it’s also because Clare is not interested in presenting the Downworld-side fully or the Shadowhunters as the bullies they legitimately are, which creates a disproportion between the supposed allegories and the general commentary she intends to deliver with this underlying message. It’s half-hearted at best, pretending to be deeper and more satisfactory than it is.

The book series as a whole covers the topic of bigotry extensively, presenting situations and injustices that still prevail between the Shadowhunters and the Downworld. For example, The Infernal Devices mentions spoils the Shadowhunters used to take from the Downworlders and how that practice was used to accumulate their own wealth. The series overall extensively depicts several different conflicts, presents reasons why the Downworlders do not trust the Nephilim, and shows the Nephilim behaving and speaking in derogatory ways towards different Downworlders. You’d think that it’s good and enough, right, since the series also does sometimes depict the main cast trying to build new bridges, right some wrongs, and mend old hurts.

The narrative, however, mostly focuses on the good guys feeling bad about how Clave functions, and them condemning the actions of this incredibly vague governing body. A governing body that is kept vague so it can be used as a scapegoat, so the main cast can also experience oppression, resistance, and conflict imposed upon them by it. The Clave can be held responsible for reprehensive things, so the main cast doesn’t have the be, even to the extent that the bigoted behavior and language used by the main cast is left unacknowledged or otherwise quickly ignored or forgotten. The problem, as in many other matters, is about characters not taking full responsibility or assigning it to the right people. Here are few examples that come to mind right now:

➰ Luke blames Clary’s bigoted way of talking on the Lightwoods she has never met and their kids who talked shit about and looked down upon mundanes. Clary’s accountability ends when she changes topic to her grandparents, to whom she never shows the slightest interest after that.

➰Jace sabotages vampire bikes for fun, even steals one, knowing he’ll never get in real trouble for it. Would probably work better if the target group wasn’t in such an unequitable position.

➰Maia is written being in awe of Jace’s excellence and beauty as a Shadowhunter after Jace initiating conflict and antagonizing the werewolf pack himself because of his pain that everyone should be an audience to. Subsequently Luke fails to be a pack leader and defend his own people. Instead, he admonishes them for being angered by a kid (Maia also being a kid but who cares) and defends and takes care of Jace. Luke neither scolds Jace nor holds him accountable for coming into their space and accosting his pack for nothing.

➰Luke is always written leaning more to his Shadowhunter side than werewolf. Understandable, could be an interesting aspect to his character if it ever had a narrative cost, i.e. his pack ever taking issue for their leader bending over backwards for people who do not have their interest at heart. The New York pack's involvement in the story is also very limited. The werewolves don’t have thoughts or opinions on anything. The magic binding them to the pack leader is swept under and explained as if by some blind loyalty.

➰Magnus is used as the warlock help whenever the main cast needs it. The character himself says this, everyone acknowledges it, but the writing does nothing substantial to break that dynamic even after that. Magnus is written critical of and sometimes even spiteful of the Shadowhunters, but in the end he always helps them, befriends them, and stands beside them despite their unchanging, oppressive government. As long as his friends and acquaintances are good guys.

➰Jace’s supremacist and bigoted behavior towards Simon is a battle Simon has to fight alone because no one is interested in standing up for him and acknowledging that the language Jace uses is bigoted and degrading. That would make Jace look bad even though he already is a violent bully. The narrative in these instances fails to realize or acknowledge the existence of its own underlying theme.

➰The Dark Artifices sets out to handle discrimination and oppression towards the faeries, begins on this huge conflict after a war and the sanctions following it, but you barely see the faeries experiencing the effect of it. Clare failed to initially involve the Unseelie Court to the extent that the faeries harboring unkind intention towards the Clave later on would seem credible. The cause-and-effect theoretically makes sense, but in terms of implementation it does not because those elements aren’t present in the story. More on this HERE on this post about the Cold Peace.

➰Jocelyn marries a bigoted and supremacy-oriented man who becomes radicalized later on. She even attends ceremonies of his personal cult wearing ceremonial red, but the writing fails to make any comment on Jocelyn’s person or thoughts on how she justified such conflicting ideology if she never possessed one herself. Jocelyn’s (and Luke’s) responsibility is waved off by having a closer association with Valentine but never is that initial relationship brough to question when the mission of the narrative is to absolve her as quickly as possible. Tessa holds Jocelyn accountable for two minutes just so it can be presented as Jocelyn having at least some comeuppance (and it would be ridiculous for Tessa not to make a comment on the Circle at all to be fair).

The topic reminded me of an older post that discusses this very idea and how “lazy” people are when they consider Jace and Will, in essence, the same character. In many prospects, they are the same where the narrative works and tonality are considered. While I still dislike how some readers singing Clare’s praises for writing two Wildly Different and Complex Male Heroes like to ignore said mechanics, you’ve brought up the fandom’s perception. While I’ve also previously argued why Jace and Will are similar enough for readers to regard them as the same and gone against the grain just because I dislike seeing those notions disregarded, it is worthwhile to consider where the two actually differ so integrally and why does it affect the readers’ response to their characters so much.

Previously I’ve pretty much looked at it solely from the perspective of narrative goals and treatment of characters that I didn’t really consider how the readership experienced the differences between the execution of these characters that are, no matter how you slice it, iterations of one particular archetype. For this, however, I had to consult different discussion forums on the topic because I had difficulties pinpointing the reason as I don’t personally experience Will or Jace much differently, though my reasons for disliking them are in some respects very different (though in narrative respect the same).

One particular response from a reader mentions how well written Will is, his character arc being better in comparison to Jace, about which we all can have many different opinions, of course. Jace, according to several other notions, is just like any other love interest featured in Young Adult literature—essentially everything that is seen before and even reiterated after. Will seems much loved for his dramatics and angst that somehow remain uncaptured by any other male protagonist, and his relationship with Jem feeds into that idea quite a bit.

Jem, in fact, is highlighted a lot. He seems to bring a dimension to Will’s character that makes him more likable over Jace. This I get and agree with because by comparison Jace lacks much of that warmth and caring with Alec, his parabatai and a character in a position more comparable to what Jem is to Will. Which then in turn brings more humanity and warmth to Will whereas Jace remains cold and insensitive to Alec and his issues most of the time. This despite that obviously their relationships and premises are very different. Excluding parental figures to focus more on his peers, Jace expresses caring and attachment mostly with Clary and only here and there with Isabelle.

Jace’s snark is seen as his true character whereas for Will it is a facade, but this I don’t fully agree nor disagree with. The same sense of sarcasm and humor still exudes from them both, and Will is just as insensitive towards people he has no real friendship or emotional connection with, sounding and being just like Jace, though I do agree it isn't necessarily to the same extent and degree. That is still Will’s true self even if his behavior differs from the one he presents with people he truly cares about and loves. Will’s reasons for his behavior, however, seem more understandable, and readers get better where he is coming from that they do with Jace. Essentially Jace has more growing to do while Will has figured it all out, merely pretending otherwise. A kid versus a more emotionally mature and empathetic person is the thought at the heart of it.

While I’ve seen Tessa being mentioned less, she and Jem both really seem to build up Will’s character more. Their dynamic is more favorable, which is a fair notion, because the narrative surrounding Jace is so incredibly jealous and possessive that it isolates him from everyone else other than Clary. Jace cannot have such caring or close relationships with anyone else because, like I’ve noted before, his relationship with Clary exists based on comparisons to others and at their expense, as if something is taken away from it if Jace cares even a little bit about someone other than her.

Every other bond serves as a measuring stick to how amazing and deep the one Jace suddenly shares with Clary is. Will’s situation with Tessa and Jem seems more balanced in contrast. This obviously is so, because the approach and so the emphasis from the beginning was fundamentally different that it evens out the wrinkles and saves their intercharacter dynamics from the same issues Jace particularly had with other people in his life. Jem, despite the imbalance between him and Will as to Tessa, was not a rival everyone in Jace’s life initially seemed to be for Clary's character.

The clearest difference here is in the co-existing feelings for others. With Jem and Will what excludes the jealous narrative ever becoming a thing is that they are both Tessa’s romantic interests and future partners. Though that doesn’t exclude other characters such as Sophie from being used as props to underline how exclusive Tessa has it with Jem. Different characters used for the same narrative ends never cease.

One more aspect I’d like to bring up is their skills as Shadowhunters. Jace’s excellence on the battlefield is overpronounced and sometimes even without any proper backing. Clary absolutely over-hypes Jace any chance she gets, at times to the degree of implausibility given the time she has known him. Jace’s excellence as a fighter also bleeds over into Simon’s point of view constantly, and even Jace’s direct opponents cannot help themselves but be in awe of his superiority and beauty as a Shadowhunter. What essentially makes Jace perceived as “Gary Stu” doesn’t really happen with Will.

Will being the best, or at least one of the best of his generation, is such a miniscule part of his character and the overall story that at one point I forgot that was even a thing and, heaven forgive me, called him an average Shadowhunter. As with Emma, Will being the best doesn’t really play significantly into anything. It’s just there for him being the main male character, lest we ever have the audacity to think the Herondales are nothing but the greatest fighters the Nephilim have had a blessing to have in their midst.