Groaning dissection of Cassandra Clare's The Shadowhunter Chronicles | Because hindsight is 20/20 | Devoted booklovers, exit stage left. | Currently dissecting: City of Heavenly Fire
have you ever noticed that cassandra clare doesn't allow her male characters to be nothing but handsome or exceptionally beautiful? the herondale men especially. even before you know something about them, you're informed about their good looks, like adonis was in front of you. their beauty becomes almost a part of their character; like jace's eye color, you can't escape the endless descriptions of the attractiveness of the male protagonists. it's annoying, frankly. let the men be ugly, let the herondale be average
Yes, one of the everlasting topics concerning the series for sure. Jace having a chipped tooth was such a poor attempt at counteracting that since Clare herself forgot he even had one. It was such a faux imperfection in the first place that itâs laughable attempt to be honest. It must be noted that it is the major male characters that enjoy the beautiful looks, not necessarily those like Inquisitor Aldertree, Maurice Bridgestock, or Horace Dearborn. Though these characters are more villains and antagonists, it is not to say that all bad guys are not good-looking. Not in a million years would villains like Valentine or Sebastian be described as âpigeon-chestedâ or âbald with shiny head.â They would not be described as âbonyâ instead of being muscular or with disproportionate limbs. The looks of these type of antagonists or minor villains are a point of ridicule, not to genuinely present more average looks.
Not only are the more major male characters incredibly beautiful and handsome, thatâs mostly what there is to them where the writing is concerned. Whenever someoneâand more so their love interestâobserves them, the writing mostly if not always focuses on their appearance. From the get go, City of Bones fails to show readers why Jace and Clary connect and form feelings towards each other in the first place precisely because the initial attraction is solely based on appearances, and more so those of Jace. Nothing in the narrative moving forward manages to deepen the emotional connection they supposedly have because the writing focuses mostly on how everyone looks and feels about each other without doing the legwork to form those points of connection otherwise.
What more underlines the (almost like) need for the male characters to be nothing but beautiful, handsome, or any type of way good-looking is how it was necessary to mention how Will was still handsome even in his seventiesâand dying moment mind you. From the beginning of the series, the fear of aging and age has been evident in the background of the narrative, and this separate note on elderly Willâs looks just emphasizes that. As if to also compensate for Tessa looking still like she is in her mid-twenties. (Also to note that even during some scenes in TID where Jem opens up to Tessa, Tessa merely observes Jem's silver hair and eyes and how he looks like in any given weather.)
It gives the impression that we are watching a movie rather than reading a book. Many things are so externally focused, the importance lying on the looks of things than utilizing all senses and assets of literary elements. The stylistic framework leans more on painting the picture with looks rather than creating impressions with internalization and richer prose. Instead, what is evidently shown through the focus on how characters look any moment, the writing presents the story through more objective lense and relies on (and limits itself on) visual presentation that doesnât allow deeper connection between the readers and the charactersâor even between characters themselves. The style is often more cinematicâsetting the scene, placing the characters, the dialogue, the description of actions, mannerism, a performanceâthan utilizing actual strengths of storytelling in book form.
Many things are limited to being external and the attraction is to those external elements. Eye color, hair color, the shape of someoneâs face or sharpness of their jawline and cheekbones, smoothness of skin, what type of clothes they are wearing etc. All good information, sure, but does nothing on its own when thatâs all the readers are going to get. Even during action scenes that necessitate more urgency there is time dedicated to describing how rooms look like or people look like or weapons look like and, even in some cases, a brief history of said weapons. Iâm sorry, I thought there was something more pressing going on? If a character has the capacity to focus on every nitty-gritty detail about their surroundings during an action scene, how well am I sold of the fact that there is any urgency at all?
Though my next point isnât directly about the topic of male beauty in the series, it sort of gets my earlier point across about bypassing looks and forming an actual and credible emotional connection between two characters. Itâs also my favorite part in all of The Mortal Instruments. In City of Lost Souls, chapter 16 âBrothers and Sistersâ Simon finally meets with Rebecca who has been frantically trying to reach him. Simon then decides to reveal to Rebecca that he is a vampire.
Simon couldnât take it anymore. He stripped off his glove and held his hand out to his sister. His sister, whoâd held his hand on the beach when he was too small to toddle into the ocean unassisted. Whoâd mopped blood off him after soccer practice, and tears off him after their father had died and their mother was a zombie lying in her room staring at the ceiling. Whoâd read to him in his race-car-shaped bed when he still wore footie pajamas. I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. Who once accidentally shrunk all his clothes in the wash so they were doll-size, when she was trying to be domestic. Who packed his lunch when their mother didnât have time. Rebecca, he thought. The last tie he had to cut.
Though the entire scene with Simon and Rebecca is good, this part really brings it home. Itâs more palpable and touching than anything Clare has managed to write about other relationshipsâromantic, familial, or otherwise platonic. These are glimpses of an actual life and specific things that have happened in such a small space to tell so much about Simon and Rebeccaâs life. Not the formlessness of the fantastical childhood Simon has had with Clary but actual tangible and relatable things theyâve experienced, which then also allows the readers to experience what they have gone through together and extrapolate from that.
This is something that is missing from the most of the other relationships and especially the romantic ones. Because the beauty of men takes such a precedence over everything, any opportunity to form these types of connections is buried underneath. Though Rebecca is a character rarely seen and barely spoken about, this scene in City of Lost Souls solidifies the perception of her. Though it is obviously a scene between siblings and relates to siblinghood, Clare somehow doesnât manage this type of bond with any other brothers and sisters or relationships that have lasted long enough to accumulate this kind of history. Because even with those siblings their looks and focus are on their respective romantic relationships that somehow cannot be overshadowed by other meaningfulâalbeit platonic or even familialârelationships.
Itâs apples and oranges on the surface level to compare this scene with Simon and Rebecca to any of the romantic leads, but what Iâm trying to point out here is how successfully the relationship between two characters and the emotional bonds are written when the focus doesn't revolve around appearance and the rigidity it seems to always bring. When characters are allowed to be just as and the narrative focus is on the actual matter at handâthe internal issues, understanding, emotions, observations, contemplationsânot on how the characters look like handling it.
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Do you think Julian and Emma have a unhealthy and maybe toxic relationship? There was this moment in my re-reading of TDA that made me realize that Emma was kind of scared of Julian - it was last year so I don't remember that well, but maybe it was Julian's trick on Nightshade? Or some other calculated move - and wanted to put some distance between them but couldn't because she was too in love with him. In that moment I was so freaked out because you're not supposed to fear someone you love and her feelings remembered me of mine when I was in a toxic relationship and felt the sameâthe uneasiness of seeing someone you love for what they are - a bad person/a not so good person for you - but at the same time being unable to leave them because you're already too attached, so you make excuse for them and their actions. And this is not me going against Julian's character - I've grown fond of him in reading TDA for the first time and despite his faults he's one of my favourites - but I couldn't stop thinking that he didn't deserve Emma. Too many lies, too much manipulation and possessiveness on his part. Emma seemed almost a victim of circumstances to me.
Yes, at least unhealthy in some aspects. The same really goes for all the romances between any of the main characters in any of the series. Personally, the crux of the matter is that the characters have no real identity outside of their (prospective) all-consuming romantic relationships, and the major part of that problem with romance is precisely the deep devotion that turns easily into codependency. Intense infatuation and desire is portrayed as desirable love that in reality neglects other areas of life as well as relationships outside of the romantic one.
Emma is unable to make a decision or act for her own good or even according to her own wants because the devotion and loyalty to Julian always outweighs what she needs. Itâs decided by Clare to portray it so, to depict Emma almost as an enabler to support Julian and shield him from consequences of his own harmful actions that might cause Emma to distance herself from him. Instead of acknowledging that very apparent side of itâas is the proud continuous tradition of the narrative enabling the unhealthy coping mechanisms and skewed personalities and actions of its main male charactersâClare seems to be thinking that she is portraying something else here.
By Clareâs own word, Emma was unnerved by Julianâs ruthless scheming, and that Julian in actuality ended up turning Anselm Nightshade to the Inquisitor for what they wouldnât have usually even bothered to deal with to that extent. It is a disturbing moment for Emma when she actually realizes the lengths Julian will go to keep his family safe. But instead of letting Emma deal with the side of Julian she apparently had no idea about, the capability of him âsacrificingâ his morality and manipulating people, Clare ignores the implications (the sudden change in perception, the foreignness of someone you thought you knew completely, and what all that means as to the already existing feelings) and hitches her to Julianâs side because of her âloveâ. The revelation has no true or longer-lasting effect on Emmaâs feelings for Julian and thus prevents him from taking any accountability or having to adapt to Emma seeing him in a new way.
Here problem boils down to the fact that there is no other outcome than them ending up together, so why do the work and explore more naturally arising issues between themâi.e. Julianâs behavior having a profound effect on Emma and changing her worldview on something she had trusted and thought she had always knownâwhen they can be solved by Emma not really minding Julianâs scheming because she loves him so much and thus cannot distance herself from him. The whole dark magic pizza is such an idiotic and juvenile thing that it drowns out the underlying implication in the scene.
Clare's writing already suffers from flat and one-dimensional characters. When these characters begin the process of becoming a romantic couple, and especially once they do, they lose personal identity and independence. The couple functions as a unit, are always written going everywhere together and doing everything together to the point of parabatai seeming useless when all youâre going to do is fight battles with your romantic partner instead. Individuality is sacrificed in favor of portraying the same type of all-consuming love in each series. Decision-making is entirely influenced by the other of the romantic pair. Any unhealthy or even toxic aspect is only momentary, caused by some circumstances not under your control, and does not reflect the characterâs true self.
Obsession is masked as passion when the romantic couple essentially becomes emotionally fused together. The narrative, especially in that scene with Julian and Emma, filters out the very apparent flaws and potential hardships in favor of this fantasized romance bordering on codependency. And sure, given the history of the characters, that could well be the angle Clare wanted to approach their romance from. In the case of Emma and Julian, they have a war trauma and a deep fear of being separated from each other, having both lost their parents in very tragic ways. Julian's obsession with keeping his family together requires a lot of secrecy and scheming, which in turn leads to his environment being very (consciously) isolated from "outsiders". How could Julian possibly be able to form healthy, trusting, and secure emotional bonds with anyone else when their circumstances and, mind you, Julianâs own choicesâridiculously artificial and engineered for angsty purposes without any proper basis but nonethelessâessentially force him into isolation where he can obsess over his family and idolize Emma without interference? Â
Julian has no one else but his family and Emma. He doesn't want anyone else, and he doesn't trust anyone outside of them. Yet the outcome just isnât honest to what Emma experiences throughout the developments in the story. Neither does the writing portray credibly how this kind of attachment turned into obsessive love eventually balances out into healthier and more stable kind that all of the romances in the series supposedly are. All of this to say because I donât think Clare would admit to any of the main romantic relationships being unhealthy or toxicâmaybe having hiccups and unhealthy moments because the characters have hiccups and at times are unhealthy themselves as well, the same tired old âno one is perfectâ reasoning everyone already knowsâbecause the romance the main characters have is portrayed as the desirable one.
Readers are supposed to root for Emma and Julian, just like we were supposed to root for Clary and Jace, for Tessa and, I suppose, Will, despite that even those romances were exactly the same brand of the all-consuming, intoxicating, and obsessive love. Each of these female main characters cannot function as an individual or act from their innate selves (because they barely have any to begin with considering bad characterizations) but instead they focus their thinking, decisions, and overall behavior around their intended romantic interest. The main female characters in the relationships are incredibly male-centric. Though, for example, while Clary and Tessa do not cosign many of the things Jace and Will do in their self-destructive ways, they do support them and shield them from any true consequences of that behavior having any effect on the relationship between them.
These heroines always, always, always yield to these lame-ass male characters whose behavior warrants no devotion from girls theyâve just met and barely know. It is just another manifestation of taking the hard choices away from the characters and the repeated theme where the heroine is not really the protagonist rather than the observer of the amazingness of the male protagonist.
Perhaps the most central problem I see here is that the way romantic love is presented is very romanticized and overemphasized, especially to the detriment of platonic relationships. The type of romantic love here ignores a lot of obvious problems and problematic behavior on the grounds that nothing could tarnish the readers' image of the ultimate passion between the main characters. And again, that's exactly why a very false narrative is formed that doesn't acknowledge or even seem to notice those issues. I've never subscribed to the way Clare portrays romantic love in her books. It's repetitive, always the same, and always only between the characters Clare likes the most. I feel nausea from boredom every time I read how the Herondales usually only love once, and really deeply and super seriously (even there we got to introduce hierarchy to romantic love).
When TDA begins, Julian hasnât had any meaningful relationships outside of his siblings and Emma. Emma, on the other hand, has had a romantic relationship with Cameron Ashdown. I feel like Cameron was thrown in there as her ex-boyfriend for two reasons: to have more experienced female protagonist in terms of intimate life contrasted to Clary and Tessa, who had never dated anyone before their prospective partners, and to underline the strength of Emmaâs true feelings for Julian and why she could not make it work with someone else. Otherwise Cameron was such a miniscule part of the series that I may need a magnifying glass to see his relevance.
All in all, there is generally a larger issue at play where the romantic relationships and their portrayal in the series is concerned. Clary and Jace embodies most of them, but as said, Emma and Julianâs relationship does carry out many scenes and unhealthy vibes that go completely unchecked.
Hi! Love your analyses of these books. I was wondering what you think about Simon becoming a Shadowhunter after TMI from a thematic/character arc standpoint? It's always felt a little wrong and weird to me. Your thoughts?
Hi and thank you! đ
Iâm not completely offended by it. It's not a bad idea in itself. If we consider the story arc as completely limited to itself, Simon turning from a mundane into a vampireâa Daylighter no lessâand into a Shadowhunter could be interesting as he is the only character having the experience of being all three. Tessa, of course, to some degree but not the way Simon has gotten the short end of the stick, especially with being a mundane and then a vampire. Tessa was never truly treated as mundane or lesser like Simon was, nor was she ever really trashed the way Simon was for being Downworlder. The writing treated them differently. What makes it strange and, by some margin, bad idea is basically everything else surrounding it. These are
â The entire thematic surrounding religion, Simonâs Judaism and personal faith being cast aside by the narrative, the Nephilim religion being nonexistent yet so cult-like, and none of this is acknowledged (of course)
â How none of the concepts and issues surrounding religion go together because of the severely lacking worldbuilding
â Simon not experiencing much of anything relating to his faith after his Ascension and having to adopt the Nephilim religion that is so vague and nonexistent. I think this was ignored by telling that Simon practices both and thatâs that like there wasnât some sort of commentary by him on how the Shadowhunters are so cult-like? This also leaves unaddressed the fact that what is even the point of forcing Ascendants into adopting the Nephilim denomination (that is barely it besides) when people do whatever they please as to religion anyway?
â Simon becoming a recruiter for the Nephilim and looking for new Ascendants to up their numbers for oncoming battles without going through any credible journey from being treated worse by very people he now somehow considers his own
â Simonâs relationship with Clary taking over his character arc because none of his transformations would have happened without him being so insistent on staying with her. The emphasis of Simonâs journey is so much on Clary that itâs ridiculous how largely Clary is the focal point that guides Simon through his many states and motivates him. How he always thinks of her and aids her whenever she needsâthis contrasted to how little Clary is motivated by Simon or really anyone else other than Jace.
â Simon becoming a Shadowhunter is simply not earned. The gravity of his sacrifice and ending in City of Heavenly Fire is completely lost
Simon is in a very unique position for having being a mundane, vampire, and now a Shadowhunter, but Clare does pretty much nothing noteworthy with it. Simon is absorbed by the Nephilim mass he somehow gladly becomes just because he sides with his now friends, the good guys trying to change the Clave for better. Not that it was the Shadowhunters that tried to isolate him from Clary because Clary was like them and Simon wasnât (mind you, the same people he now is friends with and sure, character growth etc. etc. not the topicâŚ.). Everyone tried to close him off from Clary while Clary barely lifted a finger to keep Simo by her side. It was Simon who did the heavy lifting and most of the work in their friendship, even at the detriment of his eventual relationship with Isabelle.
Simon is so easily saved from the fate of amnesia that it completely cheapens how the main characters eventually âescapeâ (or rather are let go) from Edom and Asmodeus. No one loses anything, and thatâs my biggest gripe with Simon becoming a Shadowhunter. Simon becomes a Shadowhunter so Clary doesnât lose anything. Clary begins her journey with Jocelyn, Luke, and Simon. Clary ends her journey with Jocelyn, Luke, and a promise of having Simon back. Simon shouldâve been the cost of Claryâs entrance to her new life. After everything Simon went through because of herâthough by his own volition of courseâand what he gave up to be there for her and aid her whenever she needed, Clary shouldâve lost him because she never âearnedâ him back. There was no true price for her and she eventually got a parabatai too as Clary as the most important Shadowhunter figure couldnât have been left out of such special concept.
Simon forgetting about everything and living his best life with his family, friends, and the band wouldâve been the bittersweet cost for everything Clary did in the series. That wouldâve been a real loss, something Clary couldnât come back from just like that and her life wouldnât have continued as it was. At least something that would alter the course of her life significantly. Letting Simon go was the opportunity for it. But Simon is also Claryâs safety cushion. While Isabelle does point out to Simon how he always chooses Clary first, Simon himself also realizes this, the narrative completely drops it as an issue. Letâs not go thereâthe first aid for anything that would compromise Claryâs success as a character. When Simon turns into a vampire, the writing introduces a conflicting situation with his mother and sister, a prospect of having to abandon them both and thus losing them. How is this then resolved? In an answer few years back I said:
In the extra story in Lady Midnight, The Long Conversation, it is told that after the Dark War Simon became a recruiter whose job is to recruit potential candidates for Ascension, especially Sighted mundanes. When they hold the engagement party to celebrate Isabelle and Simonâs engagement, Rebecca attends the party, and she knows something about the Shadowhunters, but Simon hasnât been able to tell her everything. Simonâs mom on the other hand, like you said, thinks heâs attended a military academy when he was in the Shadowhunter Academy and is oblivious to the Shadowhunter side of Simonâs life. So heâs been able to remain in contact with his family.
If this wasnât the case, Simon wouldâve been obligated to leave his family forever, something I believe other Ascendants have to still do if they become Shadowhunters. With Simonâs circumstances there was a great opportunity to call out these cultish Shadowhunter laws that arenât well justified at all. Instead his character was given a loophole so that Simon doesnât have to say goodbye to his family and can remain in contact with them, as if this does anything to fix the underlying problem.
Even Simonâs circumstances had a nice little resolve. Somehow things just worked out for everyone, to some degree anyway, all of which ties into the other issues surrounding these singular concepts such as Simon becoming a Shadowhunter. A cool idea on its own but falls apart due to poor execution, storytelling conveniences, and lack of consistency in all the other surrounding elements in the series. Itâs a whole that suffers from a complete lack of reason that whenever we address one part of it, thereâs like a hundred other worms in the can trying to escape.
Take your time for your answer and don't worry! I've been following your blog since forever and I don't mind waiting - also: you're always so very nice and polite and for this I very much thank you :)
Now, I needed to ask: have you ever touched on the first interaction between Aloysius Starkweather and Will Herondale in TID? The one where the gang meets the old man at the doors of the Yorkshire Institute and he greets Will with an insult because the boy's speaking the welsh language? Don't you find it strange, that a Shadowhunter man feels the need to belittle another Shadowhunter because of his language and culture? And Jessamine too. In TID she's all oh, William is welsh, that's why he's weird. He's not english as if it is a sin not to be english. Even Jem is frowned upon too because he's half chinese (and therefore a foreign), now that I'm thinking of it. But isn't it a bit nonsensical, all this prejudice between Shadowhunters? Aren't they supposed to be.. let's say, international in a sense? And Shadowhunter culture: why sometimes it mimics mundane culture when the two are supposedly two different things with nothing in common?
Thank you as well and so glad to have you since forever, truly.
I think this topic has been touched upon in other world-building related discussions but in a more general sense. It is weird because while Clare insists on the Shadow World existing enfolded into ours and the Nephilim co-existing within the mundane world, she has never done the legwork to make it credible that the Shadowhunters have adapted mundane ways of thinkingâeven more so western ideologiesâwhen they barely even interact with the mundane world or its cultures in any significant way. They have no true core identity as Nephilim nor hold any connection to their nationalities either. Despite that Jace, for instance, has spent his formative years in Idris, despite that he was forced to move to America, there is all this nonsense about his surname and blood but nothing of the cultural identity or the difference of cultures he experiences in New York compared to how things were in Idris. Because thereâs none.
The Nephilim generally regard themselves separate from the mundanes and do not understand the mundane ways (Jace supposedly doesnât even know what a metal band is in Lost Book of the White for joke purposes yet this humor bites the worldbuilding in the ass really), but the Nephilim are the same everywhere still. Oh, sorry, they do wear dark, shiny burgundy colored gear in China sometimes (and is told to go in and out of use every few generations, which begs the question whether they always ask the Iron Sisters to craft it for them and why other people around the world have not utilized similar tactic of avoiding the plain black gear?).
The Nephilim are portrayed looking down upon regular humans when they even bother thinking about the mundanes. In TLH and TID, the mundanes are utilized as labor and servants because thatâs all they are good for in the Nephilim spheres where they donât generally even belong. Considering that the series in general is dealing with inequality, itâs strange but not surprising that the writing never makes any comment on this class disparity completely constructed by the superior Shadowhunters. The Shadowhunters only interact with places that have Nephilim or Downworld presence. The only mundane people they interact with are the ones who already know more or less about the Shadow World. In TLH Clare goes on and on about decorum that is essentially Edwardian era specific ways of mundane behavior, and I see no reason why the Shadowhunters have adapted to these or even bother themselves with them?
Nothing in the series ever makes it seem that the Nephilim in any way identify with or liken themselves to the mundanes. They have alliances and affiliations with different religious and governmental organizations throughout the world to aid their cause, but nothing to note about their shared cultural aspects or ideologies. Itâs weird that Clare clings onto these sociological and cultural dispositions of our world and presents them as something natural to the Nephilim when there is no perceivable or conceivable way for them to have adapted those ways of thinking. Homophobia, racism, sexism, and misogyny as the biggest examples. Some of these actively going against any logic in the way the Nephilim are presented throughout the series.
Clare writes Jessamine approaching Will with the period-typical mentality of the English people frequently having looked down upon the Welsh and the Welsh language, and how theyâve held rather patronizing attitudes towards Wales in general during 18th and 19th centuries. Not English Shadowhunters experiencing otherness towards their Welsh brethren for specific cultural process which has emerged over time and in their own cultural context, but just for being English and Welsh in general as if the mundane historical and contemporary attitudes and mindsets have any connection to or place in the Nephilim society.
Multicultural peoples throughout history have created some of the most flourishing and historically significant cities and metropolises. Idris in itself isâor at least should beâa multicultural hub where its people are concerned (otherwise heavily Eurocentric). Most remarkable of all has been the lack of culture and cultural differences between the citizens of Idris and the diaspora. Instead Clare focuses on the ethnic and nationality-related prejudices and attitudes without, once again, translating them to fit her imaginary people that fundamentally and physically differ from the ordinary humans and ordinary human societies in which these mentalities have developed over time. For example, historically many religious interpretations have portrayed women as faulty and faulted women for everything evil which has heavily contributed to misogynistic attitudes throughout the time and which still remain today. Outside of religious influences, many social, legal, and intellectual factors as well have functioned to subordinate and restrict the autonomy of women. What are these in Nephilim society? Their world being âenfolded into oursâ is just an excuse for not having to do that leg work.
Clare wants to represent these social issues without translating them credibly into her own world. She writes Cordelia lamenting on how men donât want women to possess power but we have no idea why do the Nephilim men even think this way. Where have they learnt this? When did they figure out that, hey, these mundanes are really onto something by subjugating their women and forcing them into housekeeping and into motherhood and childcare? One of the first of them was a woman, a warrior, who forged weapons of metal only she could work on, in the fires of a volcano no less, and made them swords that answer to the names of angelsâa woman who bore stronger Marks than just any other Nephilim, than the first of them. Like that isn't badass?? Yet even in the original premise that was a separate job to being a fighter just because Clare wanted to ride on the coattails of the feminism movement.
[Also mastering the runes? What is there to master when youâre not going to be able to use half of them for not being a fighter?]
All of this lack of culture, society, and history in general contributes to the bigger problem of, once more reiterated, lack of worldbuilding, which is why the Nephilim knowledge on mundane world and its many cultures is so pick-and-choose. Classical music, literature, and artâanything that is considered elite and high culture to justify the references to classical works, philosophy, music, and other art forms with higher status that excludes the masses it seemsâis considered okay. Especially as the Shadowhunters seem incapable of producing any culturally significant works or persons themselves, but at the same time they abstain from other kind of mundane knowledge like medicine and technology that would only serve them better. The series does a poor job justifying any of this.
What are your thoughts on pre TLH James Herondale?
I've been asked this a few times before, but each time I've been a huge disappointment, lol. I don't really have any proper sense of James before TLH. I have read The Midnight Heir too long time ago by now, but in my recollection it was just another Herondale fest. Herondalesâ exceptionality narrated by some other character, the exceptional love Tessa, Will, and Jem have for each other observed by an outsider to validate it. James in that story was very different than what he ended up being in TLH, almost so Jace-like that the 7 month difference between The Midnight Heir and Chain of Gold feels almost improbable. Angsty and edgy James turning into the piece of white bread that he is in CoG is strange and explainable only by the seven years between the publications between the two works.
Once again I have to say that Iâll get back to this once Iâm doing the companion books later on. đ§
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Is Livia Blackthorn a woman in the fridge? I've been thinking about this a lot lately
[Note: Women in refrigerators is a term that describes a literary trope which involves female characters facing disproportionate harm to serve as plot devices to motivate male characters.]
In a way, I think. And by that definition alone, certainly. At surface level we can argue that both male and female characters in the series go through hardships, obstacles, and tragedies. They face fear and death and loss the amount no one ever should but as book characters are almost required for the stakes to be credible and the events in the story to have actual weigh and consequence. But Clare's writing is very male-centric. Even though she presumably writes strong female characters with their own stories and arcs, somehow we always end up focusing more on the issues and problems of the male characters, especially the male protagonists. Clary is the main character who almost completely lacks her own agency and motivation to act independent and outside of Jace. When things go wrong for Clary or she gets hurt, the narrative focuses on how Jace reacts or how he feels about it and how we as readers should feel sorry for Jace because of it.
TMI almost completely ignores Clary's own feelings, thoughts, goals, and whatevers towards anything other than those relating to Jace in favor of focusing on Jace's problems and crises. TDA eventually completely ignores Emma as the main character, whose parents' death was the event that drove the entire plot 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 the first instalment, the story slowly shifts to focus more and more on the Blackthorn family, Emma becoming 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 (and the conflicts it brings) with Julian. In TID Tessa is just as much of a drag as Clary, a main character who is led along the story as the men acting as her romantic interests chase plot threads for her.
In an older post I said that on paper these heroines are greater in power than their male counterparts, but it means nothing if they donât matter in terms of the narrative you create. Because the narrative constantly bends down to the male characters, what does it matter that Clary, Emma, and Tessa are strong and powerful on their own fronts when most of their time is spend describing the looks and the hair and eye color of their love interest? And if our heroines are written as such, what hope do the supporting characters have?
Isabelle almost had an independent emotional story arc, but that was ultimately tied to her developing romance with Simon who did nothing to earn Isabelleâs trust or care. Isabelle notoriously has no business being around and has hard time justifying her presence in the series to any greater extent than being Simonâs eventual love interest because Clare barely gives her anything worthwhile or productive to do. Cristinaâs premise had her faith in Raziel and interest in the faeries, but nothing she does stems from those. She is not motivated by the âinfidelsâ acting against the word of the Angel. She is not fired up by the injustice of the Cold Peace and doing her most to dismantle it. Her faith and so the medallion she wears is for the convenience of her having the medallion which has the convenient property of protecting her and companions close to the medallion from the time differences between the mortal world and faerie lands, additionally to her getting the access to the moonâs road. What does her faith have to do with any of her character? Cristina couldâve been ânonreligiousâ and just worn it for it being an heirloom (and finding faith through its properties?) and as a character she wouldâve remained the same.
The Wikipedia article features a response from a comic book writer Ron Marz who explains his approach to âfridgingâ the character Alexandra DeWitt:
âTo me the real difference is less male-female than main character-supporting character. In most cases, main characters, "title" characters who support their own books, are male. Historically, male characters have been able to support their own books sales-wise, while female characters have not. I'm not sure this is the case anymore, but I suspect the mindset still prevails to a certain extent. So male characters who support their own individual titles remain somewhat immune to the kind of severe and permanent character changes you're sighting. It has more to do with sales figures than sex bias. So if "main" characters, including Wonder Woman, are generally sacrosanct, the supporting characters are the ones who suffer the more permanent and shattering tragedies.â
and:
âAlex was a character destined to die from the moment she was first introduced in GL #48. I created her with the intention of having her be murdered at the hands of Major Force. I took a lot of care in building her as a character, because I wanted her to be liked and her death to mean something to the readers. I wanted readers to be horrified at the crime, and to empathize with Kyle's loss. Her death was meant to bring brutal realization to Kyle that being GL wasn't fun and games. It was also meant to sever his links with his old life, paving the way for his move to New York. And ultimately I wanted her death to be memorable and illustrate just how truly heinous Major Force was. Thus the fridge. From the reactions, I think I succeeded fairly well at those goals. It's five years later and people are still talking about it. More than anything as a writer, you want the audience to react emotionally to your work, to care. I wrote a villain committing a truly despicable deed. That doesn't mean I endorse or admire that behavior.â
[Relevant parts as to the topic here bolded by me]
Without commenting on the sexism prevailing in the comic book industry, I think this is similar to how Clare approached Livvy dying. She knew from City of Heavenly Fire Livvy would die. According to Clare, the story is about Livvyâs death. Livvy died to underline the injustice of innocents dying, to underline the darker period the Nephilim will experience, to underline the risk and prevalence of dying while hunting demons, to up the stakes of the story and placing fear of death unto other characters as well; to break the very core of the Blackthorn family, the very core need of it staying intact; because the impossible situation they all were placed in lies at the heart of Clave being rotten to the core. Livvy died to draw a straight line from her death to the villainy of the Clave.
Like I said in my post about character deaths, there is certainly many messages conveyed through her death that are necessary for the death to mean something. But what is any of this worth in terms of the story or in terms of lessons in life for the characters? I donât think most of the readers expect stories where only the bad guys die and good guys always prevail, and I donât think any of the questions came from that expectation at all. I believe most readers despite their age understand the injustice of life and loss of innocence is usually at the core of stories like these. More so why specifically her from the point of story mechanics. I donât really have much gripes with what Clare wrote in her answer here, but at the same time it is not necessarily the story she executed to the degree she in her answer presents. Livvyâs death, while having multitude of purposes, is still lacking in value, though I can make one concession: Livvy dying does finally break Julian and his delusion of being able to always keep his family intact. That does change his trajectory and forces him to let go of his obsession. But again, to what end does that happen but to fuel his own issues and those with Emma.
What speaks for Livvy being fridged is the absurdity Clare in her answer presents: to underline the villainy of the government she has constantly presented as the villain, even to the extent of absolving the main characters from their personal responsibility. She also does that here too. None of the characters would do this or be in the situation without the Clave, quite nonsensically, being the way it is. What are you saying here that is new? What are you saying that changes effectively anything rather than remaining just another day of status quo? The Clave responds to the needs of the story, it acts the way Clare needs it for it to even be the villain. And donât get me started on that âtheyâve been in an untenable situation that has been held together as long as it has because of Emmaâs bravery and Julianâs wits, determination, and skill at manipulating, and everyone â Diana, Cristina, Mark, Ty, Livvy â has helped this situation to continueâ part because brother, sister, all of it lies on convenience of storytelling and at the expense of everyone elseâs credibility as characters.
Livvyâs death is a motivating incident for both Ty and Julian. Her death is a catalyst for decisions that would not otherwise be made. Iâve read comments saying how Livvy was such an integral part of the Blackthorn family, and all I need to know is how. Readers experiencing heartbreak over Livvyâs death seem to also comment more on how difficult it is to see Julian and Ty experience it and live on without her. What Julian did while he held her dead body. Itâs still about other characterâs pain and plot-wise itâs all thatâs needed. Male characters experience pain and tragedies for readers to feel sorry for them. Female characters experience pain and tragedies for the male charactersâ end. Livvy barely did anything worthwhile, was sort of there, dragged along because her main purpose is to die.
What speaks for that, aside from having not much important to do with the plot by herself (meaning nothing integral happened because it was Livvy of all people who did it), is also the underdeveloped dynamics between her and her family outside of Ty and Julian. They are the most central characters of the family, so their experiences as a twin and an older brother/parental figure are given plenty of space when Livvy dies. Who was Livvy with the rest of her family? In the end Clare failed to give Livvy an actual intrinsic and meaningful presence in the story. Her death was a tool used to achieve other ends which concern only Julianâs and Tyâs characters. She dies for their emotional pain and for her death to be a motivating incident. Even then Julianâs pain centralized mostly on Emma, Livvyâs death being a catalyst to bring more focus on the depth of their feelings for each other and how impossible equation their love is for them being parabatai. Even the Thule version of Livvy is for Julianâs pain.
Or maybe itâs just me that canât connect to what Clare intended to write. Canât connect to the idea that isnât palpable on the page but logically deduced in retrospect and still lacks emotional weigh. I do think and itâs pretty clear that Livvy was fridged to further Julianâs story arc. Livvy only a little escapes the irreversibility and irreparability of death by fridging because she was resurrected as a ghost. So just a little.
I could have continued the topic at many points, to make the case better, because so many things in the story mechanics are dependent on each other. From point to A, to B, to C. What does each step mean and intend? What is the purpose for A to happen to get to the next point and then the next? What is the true value here and the message conveyed? Each part creates an overall picture that either works or doesn't. Is Livvy's death sad and heartbreaking for some? Certainly. Is there still much missing in its execution (due to a very one-dimensional and undistinguished character)? Absolutely. In the end, and what I'm really left with is that Livvy's death served other (male) characters more, gave more weight to other (male) characters' experiences, pain, and stories, so that the messages that Clare was trying to convey with her death didn't have so much weight. Especially when the points she tried to make werenât nothing the readers already didnât know either. Which leaves me with Livvy's death being more for a shock value and pain for male characters than an outright benefit to the story itself being told.
[On another note: Sometimes I get a sense that the stuff I say may not hold water, and this is one of those moments because I don't specifically and by example address all the possible counter arguments to the topic for the sake of keeping the writing somewhat compact without the usual gazillion tangets. I definitely see validity in the thought of Livvy fulfilling the trope of women in refrigerators, and I will not ever think that her death had a greater purpose to the effect Clare herself intended, no matter how in length she explains it.]
tsctwt is losing its mind over ty's pov in the new books -- or, better said, the lack of. apparently cc promised something she can no longer give? i don't know, i don't follow her like that. but one thing i have to say: i don't really care for ty blackthorn's pov because clearly she can't write neurodivergent characters (she struggles with the straight males already). some fans are saying that we should criticize her for it instead of accepting passively whatever she gives us, but should we? i don't know, man. i've already lost my hopes and eyeballs in reading the way she wrote cordelia, a woman of colour, and i'm glad she decided to take a step back this time. honestly, there's no shame in admitting that you cannot do something when you've already tried. there's no shame in admitting: i can't do the thing. and cc tried numerous times -- i don't understand why the fandom would like her to try once again. i'm happy this way, without having to seeing her slandering another innocent community
Agreed, no shame in it at all. It is commendable to recognize what you can and cannot do, and if the ability or competence is not sufficient to properly implement Ty's point of view, it is better to leave his PoV out (or reduce the amount of them as that seems to be the case). In this answer Clare wrote to the fan posting it here on Tumblr that the change was brought upon by the advice Clare got from her sensitivity readers, and taking their guidance is usually for the best.
I don't actively follow Clare or happenings surrounding her work on social media, so I'm not very aware of what she has promised in the past. As much as I research things and check for updates, I tend to disregard whatever is supposedly in store for the future series because most of the time I have found those teasers unfulfilled, lacking, or misleading after reading the books. Naturally, many things can change and do change during the writing process, initial plans going through transformations when new ideas come along, before the book is even published. So I rather not saturate myself with expectations that are more often let down than adequately met.
In that previously mentioned answer Clare also says that she has never considered point of views to indicate character importance or be a marker of who can be related to bestâa mindset that reveals why this has been a problem in the past where a character who shouldâve been utilized as the PoV one was not and the perspective of some other character was used instead. But I agree with the idea that some specific character having a PoV is not an easy road that always leads to the readers better connecting with them. In Clareâs own words, âPOV can draw people in, but it can also shut them outâ, to which as a reader of her work I can attest to.
I have previously talked about how Iâve been able to enjoy Jaceâs and Claryâs characters more when I donât have to be inside their heads and experience their inner lives anymore. Side characters have been Clareâs strength because they are usually not given a point of view, and so most of their characterization exists in the subtext from which readers can draw more interpretations instead of being handheld to every emotional aspect and action and thought of theirs, which is always the case with the PoV characters (of course depending on the author, their style, and capabilities).
Clareâprobably much like other popular authors and mediasâhas cultivated an audience that can loudly demand what they want without thinking about the quality they get. It seems that those who are most vocally disappointed would be satisfied as long as they get Ty's perspective, regardless of whether it is adequate, good, or even sensitive to representing his autism. Ty is not going anywhere from the story, he is still a main character, and his presence, actions, thoughts, and words through anyoneâs PoV should be able to do what his PoV alone would not.
Will you be reading The Wicked Powers once it comes out?
I wouldnât miss reading it in the world. But as I know myself, I doubt Iâll make it in time for the November release. I have a lot of reading to do with the companion books and bringing myself fully up to date before tackling that one. Or maybe Iâll surprise everyone and myself by crunching through the rest of CoHF, the Tales, and GotSM before the publishing date.
hello! :) i wanted to kindly ask if you've already talked about the unfair treatment of some morally grey characters of clare like jessamine lovelace or grace blackthorn. i was so dissatisfied with their endings as it felt like both characters were being punished for their actions (or inactions). thinking of grace blackthorn makes me remember of christopher and max lightwood also... when someone is, i'd say, seen as 'useless' or not interesting enough, their character becomes someone that has to die in order to have someone else to experience the pain of loss and, in some cases, they become the sacrificial lamb of the group. often i have asked myself: was this charachter's death necessary? and in which way? what does their death means to the ones that survive?
the characters in question get tossed aside after their death, i've noticed. nobody ever remembers them and their name, it seems, is spoken out loud only for someone else in particular to have a reaction to it. there's almost no mention of who they were before, what was their character, who or what they loved. there is no... grief present? no moment of: i've loved christopher; he was funny, he was kind, he was a bit odd; livia? oh i miss her, she loved to... what livia blackthorn loved to do? i don't know. she became a symbol before i could meet her
Hey there. đ
When looking at different story elements and their functionality and impactâwhether discussing the treatment of more morally gray characters or character deaths or bothâI think about their true purpose as well. What impact do they have on the story and characters? How do they appear in the story and change the course of the plot? What actually changes significantly because this specific thing has happened? What is the actual underlying goal that is intended to be achieved? What is it used for? What is it intended for? For whose benefit and for what objective was something written that way? Usually the writing tells on itself eventually, despite that the narrative might try to suggest something else.
To maintain a significant impact to the story, its characters, and the readers themselves, a character death should not be treated lightly. Characters ideally shouldnât die out of the blue, nor should a death of a character be included just for the sake of shocking readers or making them feel bad. When the fate of a character is not seen as something inevitable, it loses its potency and the impact their death is supposed to have in the first place. A well-written and effective character death must have an actual impact to the storyâto be crucial point in the plotâfor it be meaningful. A death that cannot be removed from the plot without breaking it. But I do have a caveat to this: A character death might seem inevitable in the way the plot is constructed, but the intention behind it and so the purpose it serves may be weak, bad, or worthless in that things could have happened plausibly in some other way too, without sacrificing a character just for dramatic purposes. All these factors together determine the whole and its value to the story and the reader.
Many deaths in Clareâs series fail to have any long-term impact on the surviving characters, which makes the deaths feel like cheap tricks used mostly for shock value. Though some of the deaths do serve plot purposes, either the characters that die are very lacking, not rounded, or they have otherwise failed to be engaged with the story more significantly. The surviving characters might reminisce and think about those who have passed, but their present has not palpably changed because of their loved ones or friends have died. Subsequently most of those losses have little bearing on the remainder of the stories as well. You could argue that it is merely the manifestation of the Nephilim culture and way of life, a type of conditioning that life goes on no matter what, but it does strip away the humanity in experiencing someoneâs death and the impact the narrative intends to deliver orâmore likely in the case of this seriesâtries to benefit from. In many cases deaths are used, like you said, to garner sympathy for a character experiencing emotional pain for having lost someone. Additionally to the fact that the grief barely lingers if at all once its true purpose has been achieved.
A character death should do something important, like move the plot forward, instigate character actions, instigate changes in characters, and convey a messageâin some way benefit the story and add value to it. A cheap plot device versus a crucial element that without it the story and its characters would not be the same (and I have to note that the value to the story needs to be more intrinsic, an end-in-itself, not only means to another relatively more idiotic end, though I think many character deaths are more or less a mix of both). Clare ignoring the other charactersâ emotions when processing death is just another addition to the list of why many deaths, on and off page, feel cheap and like they are riding on the coattails of some other bigger concept, tragedy-in-itself, or feeling Clare has failed to translate into her own work or portray adequately.
Clare being extremely prone to her own biases and favoritism towards specific characters (her proclivity of creating and writing hierarchies especially among female 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 the other characters were given agency and space to experience any true and accurate scale of thoughts and emotions. Clare shuts those down because in her mind itâs not realistic. Several characters serve such weird and convoluted rolesâaside from not being well-rounded in the first place for existing for the sake of male leadâs man pain, for instanceâthat the overall storytelling really becomes disingenuous. Especially when those characters are then killed off. The approach to the topic of warfare and battle is incredibly simple and juvenile. The true and heavy losses are not focused on (especially on account of those characters that are most affected by them, sans Julian and Ty to a degree) and are brushed aside if they do not serve the anguish of any main character. Death in battle is trivial and expressly so if it is the nameless/minor characters or the bad guys dying.
I generally regard the treatment of supporting characters, like Grace and Jessamine, just painful. I enjoy characters like these two (and Charles, the absolute legend) because Clare doesnât try to disguise their actions as milder as she does with her protagonists and other favorite characters. On the contrary, I find myself disliking the characters that Clare herself feels sorry for and clearly wants me to feel sorry for while theyâJace, Clary, Tessa, Will, James, Matthew etc.âare given significantly more (unearned) understanding than their more authentically grayer counterparts. Clare doesnât care enough about characters like Jessamine and Grace to coddle them or give them the same unending leniency she constantly bestows upon her favorites. They also serve more antagonistic roles and act as some sort of yardsticks to which the main (female) character can be compared.
What makes Jessamine and Grace differ from other characters is the very point that is the antithesis of every Clare protagonist: Their actions and mistakes have a true narrative cost. Both Jessamineâs and Graceâs characters stem from a specific premise, certain kind of history we eventually learn about and through which we come to understand their misguidances and desperate efforts to escape what someone or something else has predetermined for them. And they both experience character growth through those mistakes and misguidances as their actions have reactions and consequences. Comparably the main characters acting like inconsiderate assholes or otherwise selfish and rude is merely a façade and their true nature remains unhidden because of Some Kind of Pain or Emotional Anguish or Inner Conflict they are experiencing. The main characters are already who they are supposed to be and thus experience no true character development or change (aside from lowering the mask and being openly their true selves) while the more antagonistic characters have to go through that change because they truly arenât there yet.
There is a baseline that is accurate to Clareâs own mindset. The closer a character is to that baseline or a standard (despite that I or anyone else finds it disagreeable or questionable) the less they experience any true character development. The âbaselineâ is where the characters should end up through development and personal growth, but the favorites already start there, remain there, and end their stories there, which is why they donât truly change as people even after going through many ordeals and conflicts. Alec develops as a character that is more amiable to Clary (and rather poorly as he has no room on the page or any actual proper interactions or scenes with Clary that would actualize it by showing the development), because Clary is the standard around which everything eventually conforms. In City of Glass Isabelle thinks Clary is the destructive force that selfishly ruins everything, but in City of Lost Souls Isabelle thinks Clary is merely headstrong and does what she thinks is right despite that Clary has not changed her behavior at all. Isabelle has just changed her mind and thus changed as a character because she needs to conform around Clary for Clary to appear right without Clary herself going through actual character development.
Similarly Jace does not have to recognize what a non-friend, non-brother, and non-parabatai he has been to Alec because Jace especially is the standard. His flaws are cosmetic, addressed solely to make room for why he still remains inconsiderate and self-centered. Having his flaws addressed merely gives him a pass to remain the same. Simon, who is clearly the author's favorite character compared to Alec, is allowed to deviate from the standard from time to time, to have conflicting situations with favorites like Jace and Clary, because in the end he always conforms around Clary's needs and her story. He will always serve her before Isabelle, which funnily enough Simon does think about but never needs to act upon as the writing goes out of its way to never make Simon truly choose. And if it does, itâs such a non-sequitur that doesnât matter or have meaningful weight as to his relationship with Clary if he ends up prioritizing Isabelle. They as characters will never be driven into a conflict where having to choose one (Simon having to choose Clary or Isabelle or Jace having to choose Clary or Alec, for instance) will be a detriment to one of those relationships.
James is a standard from which Alastair heavily deviates in the beginning, but as Alastair develops as a character and approaches the standard, the more accepted and amiable he becomes by the writing. Charles does not, which is why he is constantly ridiculed by the writing and used as a scapegoat and a tool (to remove characters from the story because their presence would interrupt the hijinks of the main characters) for things going awry. Julian may be âdarkâ and âtwistedâ but he still presents the standard set by Clare. Even when they do what is just objectively wrong or stupid, Clare refuses to hold them accountable by characters that are on the same side. Clare does not entertain possible or even realistic conflicts between characters that would be a detriment to them. 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.
What I'm trying to say in a very long explanation is that the characters who initially stand in opposition to Clare's favorites are forced to change themselves (âdevelopâ as characters) into those who suddenly side with these favorites without the favorites having to confront the conflict by changing and adapting themselves. Clary doesnât approach Isabelle or Alec, does not try to befriend them or make nice with them. Both Isabelle and Alec just transform into versions of themselves who accept Clary as she is without Clary, by her own initiative, ever resolving any of the conflicts or problems between them, because Clare would have to acknowledge that Clary is selfish and thoughtless and, in most cases, also the one in the wrong. But because Alec and Isabelle are further from Clare's standard, the norm, only their behavior (that is completely falsified as to Isabelle) and mindsets are criticized more harshly and made to change.
Though itâs interesting to note that while Jace is lenient towards Isabelle all the time, no matter what she says or does (supposedly against Clary for being another girl), he is often very harsh, catty, and vicious towards Alec. I could write another equally long piece about the treatment of Alecâs character alone, lol. But let's move on to the characters you mentioned (and a few others).
Unfair treatment of more morally gray or unfriendly characters, when speaking of Jessamine and Grace, seems to concentrate on their function not only as plot-related adversaries but also as âthe other girlsâ (which also ties into them being used as plot-related adversaries in the first place, going in circles). A point of constant comparison and object from which to draw superiority for the female protagonist. JESSAMINE was one of my favorite characters in TID because she resisted and refused the very predetermined role and lack of freedom the Nephilim so gracefully bestow upon their children. She challenged the inherent âgoodnessâ in the main protagonists, and in her own way and attitude stood up against the ideas of their society, and she was demonized and punished by the narrative for it.
However, Jessamine may be a character whose story ending in death I think is relatively fitting. As to the plot, her purpose of acting as a foil and means to the villain had been accomplished. Even though the course of the events had changed her, beaten her down, and humbled her, she was essentially left with nothing to do with the story after all that. Where to go with her when Clare never intended to use her character for more than that? I'm not saying that all âunnecessaryâ characters should be killed off or otherwise removed from the story (thereâs many about), but Jessamine's story arc was relatively consistent and her purpose fulfilled. Jessamine in her dying moment trying to give Will the final clue where to find Mortmain and so Tessa begins her atonement and (pretty hastily executed) switch to redemption. Jessamine was a girl who loved her dolls and another kind of life and gave up everything for bad people who she believed could give her that any price necessary.
Jessamine doesnât die the foil she was. She dies as someone who regrets and has begun to change away from what she was, and thatâs the tragedy. Thereâs more meaning to it, and itâs also a clear and reasonable end. Reasonable as to her character arc and overall story structure, because otherwise the way Clare treats her is garbage, but this aspect I can see working. What takes away from her characterâs development is the pace in which Jessamineâs end was rushed through. Jessamine returns fragile and broken by the Clave, but we just kind of jump into that change. There is no in-between where that transformation in mindset and character can be observed, which is cheap and a storytelling convenience, not care for her characterâs journey. The plot is structured in such a way (Tessa being kidnapped and held prisoner, Will trying to find and solve all clues as to that, story gearing for the climax etc.) that it doesn't really allow room for Jessamine to remain.
Because Jessamine is the one who holds the answers to the solution (that she cannot outright give to Will because of the mind block), she canât just return and suddenly try give Will that, because now what? Obviously she needed to have that change of heart first to even try revealing the villainâs secrets, but whatâs her point after that? That she has now (suddenly and hastily as to execution) changed her mind after some time away and is willing to hand Will all the keys to the final resolution? All Iâm saying is that in the confines of the way the plot is, Jessamineâs story is concluded. Maybe she couldâve returned heroic on the field of battle, but that was of course reserved for Jem as Brother Zachariah. We canât have that moment taken away and have two heroic returns obviously. Maybe she couldâve have some new defined purpose if Clare had been interested in tying Jessamineâs character to the story in some other sense than as a mean girl and the villainâs henchman.
Jessamineâs death also underlines the thematic surrounding her more than her surviving would. It gives her story and character more gravity for being the pivotal point of change in her. One incredibly touching thing about her death is Jessamine asking Will to make sure her dolls are not destroyed, and Will then making sure they are kept safe and cared for. It is such a tiny but beautiful thing between these two characters who have been at odds all this time but find common ground and a way to express mutual, if not respect then amity at the very end. That no matter what Jessamine did and how the narrative handled her, she was given a proper farewell and treated with esteem in her death by Will, a character so favored by the narrative that it changes something in the way he can be regarded as well.
Additionally that Jessamine didnât let death get in the way of her redemption, and the friendship the two developed after her becoming the resident ghost is nice. It transforms something in them both. Itâs also probably the only aspect I like about Will, because it brings out a new side to Will's character: that he is capable of respect and empathy for someone who is not Tessa, Jem, or any other default and biased protector of his from the London Instituteâespecially one whom he has expressed disdain towards. Itâs also more effective than the lackluster enemies-to-tentative-friends-to-brothers-in-law development Will had with Gabriel. Probably for that Will did not share any emotional scenes or understanding with Gabriel as he did with Jessamine in her moment of dying.
Jessamine becoming a ghost is also an advantage and a storytelling convenience in the respect of character deaths. Unlike many other characters whose deaths are used as a source for (man) pain or other stupid storytelling purposes, Jessamine cannot get tossed aside and forgotten because she is now a permanent fixture in the London Institute. Which also alleviates the grief other characters might have over her death, despite that the story didnât have time or room for the characters to even grieve her in a way that would change them or affect them in any meaningful capacity. Her becoming a ghost and slowly but surely becoming stronger and making her way inside the Institute showcases well her newfound resolve and tenacity.
Having said all that, I just generally dislike how Jessamineâs character was written and utilized, especially considering the rest of the thematic around her and how she was punished largely for nonconformity. Itâs just that no one ever feels sympathy for Jessie because of the life she wanted to escape, the life she never got to live because The Standard. I dislike that no other character truly considers that the solution was not as easy as just leaving the Institute and never looking back (because they told her to just leave if she didnât want to stay but then begged Will to be brought back??). Because the default opinion by the author and subsequently the characters is that the Nephilim society is superior and anyone wanting to leave it completely behind is seen as lesser. The writing never goes to acknowledge the brainwashing every one of the characters go through because Clare herself cannot imagine anything better than being a Shadowhunter or truly acknowledge or even seem to realize the depth and width of the themes she is intent on including in her stories. They are not worthwhile topics for Clare.
Jessamineâs death has potency but maybe itâs more retroactive potency than one experienced right in the moment she dies. Looking back on it and now having known her character longer brings up more feelings than the story itself was able to deliver at the time Clockwork Princess was more recent. Jessamineâs death had a plot purpose but I really donât find any significant message in it other than characters who transgress unwritten rules favoring the main cast face more tragic fates. No character was impacted or changed because of it because Jessamine from the beginning was rather removed from the others of the London Institute.
Although we cannot talk about a character death as to GRACE, we can discuss how the narrative treats her. In a way, she is similar to Jessamine but, then again, not really. Whereas Jessamine was not positioned as a romantic rival to anyone (despite one fairly odd comment made by Will), Grace is just that. She is a foil to James and Cordelia and a means for Jesse and Lucie to connect and find time together. Grace fills a third party role in these relationships of which she is never the main star, especially when Jesseâs loyalty easily and inevitably turns to the side of his future romantic relationship. Grace, who had worked tirelessly and in secret in order to resurrect Jesse, to save her own brother, gets blindsided by his love interest the narrative favors over her. Lucie begins to overtake Graceâs place and authority in Jesseâs story and make decisions over Grace, which is just another example of romantic love overpowering and outweighing familial one.
Because Grace still remains as an outsider (deviates from the standard), makes bad decisions, and acts poorly based on those choices and the influences around her as she is practically isolated from everyone around her because of Belial and Tatiana (a reason that would have been very much hastily utilized to reduce personal responsibility if it were Clary or Jace or Will etc.), she is then admonished and abandoned by Jesse, who out of all people should have understood her and brought her closer to change. Jesse for the longest time is Graceâs only constant, her motivation and guiding light, but he was written the way I feared Cordelia would be as to Alastair. The language Clare uses with Cordelia and Alastair is ridiculous and insinuates that Matthew and James have become much more meaningful for Cordelia for her to abandon Alastair if she learned what Alastair did to them in school. Puh-lease. Clareâs mindset really shines through there.
Jesse, despite lacking any proper character frame or characterization and being a slice of white bread, was still sort of kind and empathetic. Which is why I expected him to be heartbroken for Grace and through his disappointment and sorrow for Graceâs actions coaxed her to choose differently, to help her as her brother. I was a bit bewildered by the admonishment and blatant favoritism of the Herondales he barely even knows. Loyalty is a fickle thing if the one youâre first close to is actually flawed and wrong, not just cosmetically and by pretension. Once again, Clare does not impose a conflict upon Jesse where he would have to choose between loyalty to his sister or to his love, Lucie, because choosing Grace would put him at odds with Lucie. And we donât want that, because who would choose Grace?
The narrative ignores many darker and disturbing themes around Graceâit outright refuses to address them fully or have anyone acknowledge them. Jesse, who was privy to many things Tatiana did and was capable of, was written turning against Grace instead of being horrified how she was used! We are discussing very different actions and on very different levels, but Will was given such leniency for being a child and humiliating Tatiana despite him âacceptingâ responsibility for it, but Grace being a child and having gone through such manipulations by a demon prince and a utterly deranged mother in her formative years is not a factor in anyoneâs mind. Jesse was written choosing people he barely knew via Lucy because they were all the standard. Since Grace has done wrong, manipulated, and used âgoodâ people to get by, Grace doesnât need to be understood. What the story needed more was others rallying passionately around James and fanatical moral grandstanding as if to make it incredibly sure that what Grace did is condoned by none, the least by Clare herself.
One interesting perspective is that Grace, who was deprived of her freedom, then took away James' freedom and what kind of continuum of choices and actions it developed. But why would we care about nuance when we can just directly equate Grace's actions to murder. I wanted to slap everyone but Kit in that scene. Another additional interesting perspective is that Grace is like Gabriel, almost breaking free from Tatiana as Gabriel broke free from Benedict, but why highlight that when Gabriel is a boring adult and has nothing to do with the story. Did these boring adults even try to save the kids from Tatiana but the Clave was a big idiot and Tatiana the evil mastermind that nothing could be done?
Clare is not interested in finishing Graceâs own story rather than use her as a factor in everyone elseâs. Grace remains alone in the end because Clare is not interested in exploring or properly resolving conflicts surrounding her either. The narrative even drops one previously introduced aspect to her, and a rather weighty one at that: Tatiana acquiring/buying Grace like she was a commodity. Like she was a pretty doll, an object to play with and abuse. Even the language around Grace underlines heavily her coldness and likens her to a beautiful doll but does nothing more with the thematic. There is a lot of tragic backstory to Grace that is ignored because it doesnât serve her main function, which is to serve the other charactersâ relationships by being a conflict or helping them move forward.
Alastair, who began in the similar position of being the outlier like Grace, is absorbed by the standard mass. The conflicts between him and James and Matthew become more or less water under the bridge as Alastair begins to date Thomas. As Thomas canât date someone who he would need to choose over the standard. Grace, on the other hand, never fully fits in with them. Even her developing friendship with Christopher was handled in isolation from everything elseâit had no consequence to any other characters. After the relationship conflicts with James and Cordelia and to some degree Jesse and Lucy have been concluded, Graceâs character is sort of just there, puttering about because her character no longer has any clear point or objective. There is no longer a destination for her, a point to go forwardâsans figuring out the fire-messages but that doesnât necessarily have the weight to make her invaluable, as Iâll explain a bit further when discussing Kit.
Iâm glad that Clare did not kill Grace. Her character dying would be worth nothing, say nothing, and do nothing of value. While the same could be said about Jessamine's fate, Grace's death would have really only been about punishment, and the message conveyed through it wouldâve implied that victims like her are deserving of such fate, despite that Clare did fuck-all to acknowledge Graceâs victimhood in the first place. At the same time, however, it must be noted that her survival no longer did anything either other than possibly counteract some expectations readers might have had for her fate. Grace just ends up being around, because the role Clare had for her has been concluded, and Clare failed to plan her path ahead and outside of what she was primarily made for (most likely affected by the general aimlessness of the series itself too). Grace fortunately has that heroic moment in the story when she finishes Kitâs work with the fire-messages, but arguably it never needed to be her nor her alone.
Clare tries to push other characters into being sympathetic despite whatever circumstances while leaving a character like Grace on the sidelines. Everyone holds her to a higher standard than a child she was could reasonably be held. Everyone is ready to battle for James and refuse her side even intellectually. The moral grandstanding and outrage takes such a precedence over understanding her comprehensively, and the only one choosing her, taking her side, understanding her, and giving her and the child she was clemency, is then killed.
CHRISTOPHERâs death was really just for the shock value. Clare said on her Tumblr that she wanted his death to be unexpected, and âshe thinksâ she hinted at it in Chain of Thorns, meaning only in the book it actually happens. Clare also said in that post that Alexander essentially exists so we know who carried on the family lineage, âbecause it was never going to be Christopher.â But Kitâs death is meaningless and weightless when it doesnât affect anything substantial or insubstantial at all. Even his friends and family fail to mourn him properly and the narrative fails to even acknowledge his death with characters most affected by it.
Kit was undoubtedly a character beloved by many, and his death was to evoke sadness and shock in readers. Clare utilized the Shadowhunter family treeâinfamously inaccurate one at thatâand relied heavily on assumptions and hopes readers had based on that, that Grace and Kit would end up together. She played with expectations and guesses as to how that would happen, developed Grace and Kitâs friendship to the direction of romance then to just kill Kit off. What makes this even more absurd is that none of the characters in the story, his extremely close friends and family, seemed to be grieving him at all. Obviously we are told that the characters are sad about it, but nothing in their behavior indicates that, and Cordelia never acknowledges that Kit died saving her. Only one deep in thought about it is Matthew, because Matthew has no romantic partner in the end of the story, so he has more room to ruminate alone on the riverâs edge (but also more to highlight his heartbreak over Cordelia and James).
Why deal such a âheavy blowâ to the characters when you donât even intend it to matter that much at all? The onlyâthe onlyâplot relevant change is that the heroes have initially no way of contacting the Clave and Grace has to figure out the fire-messages alone, to continue Kitâs work, to buy the plot time for other things to happen before she does figure it out. Unlike Jessamine's case, nothing at all would change significantly even if Kit survived and was present for the final battle. He wouldn't necessarily needed to have been so close to a solution with the fire-messages that he and Grace couldn't have figured it out together. Jessamineâs survival wouldâve undermined the plotâher death is also used to make it stronger and more necessaryâbut Kitâs death contributes to nothing at all.
There is no true message about it. The only message delivered is that death can be savage and sudden, happen to anyone at any timeâthe most surface level and useless piece of wisdom to impart on anyone. It doesn't work even as a superficial justification for the choice Clare made with Kit, because his death truly was for no one and for nothing. Nothing significant was gained, it instigated, changed, and impacted absolutely nothing. The more absurd is the authorâs own admission of wanting him to die and having no greater reasons than that. Kitâs death didnât make the story any better or benefit it in any way. Clare simply relied on shock value and thought it alone did the heavy lifting.
As is the proud Lightwood tradition of them dying, BARBARA gets inflicted with a demonic poison, infects her suitor Oliver, and they both shortly after pass away. She essentially dies so the threat of dying from the poisoning in Chain of Gold feels more concrete, so when Kit inadvertently does the same to James, weâd fear for James. Barbara dies for the stakes to seem high, as if we were to play this make-believe that anything truly irrevocable would come to any of the protagonists, most of all to James. She was cannon fodder, Clare not having to sacrifice a bigger character to enhance the sense of (fabricated) danger. Plot relevant? Yes, but her death is so stupidly meaningless, because she was barely mourned by her brother (seen taking any effect in his behavior, reactions etc.) and even more so by her parents that were successfully removed from the story because of the loss. (Sense a theme here?)
Barbaraâs character was so empty. Her perfect Sight was not a neat detail about her character, a world-building element (which begs other unrelated questions about the Sight, but I digress) rather than just another tool to warn the readers of the dangers ahead, especially concerning the one and only James Herondale. Barbara and Kit both dying also seem for the sake of the meme of Clare having something against the Lightwoods and continuously killing them off as well as their children. Hilarious. And yes, lesser character die and are killed for many different purposes all the time. I just wish the series was not so cavalier about it while pretending death of a loved one is severe and painful thing to experience, especially when itâs a child of characters people have known for a long time. As well as supposedly close and loving sister of one major character in the story.
What I mean is that we couldâve seen Thomas taking any setback with the cure hard, explosively even, to showcase his frustration and fear of his sisterâs death being in vain. He having high hopes of making it worth something, to alleviate his pain of loss in any way necessary, and in the end coming in terms with the fact that Barbara just died and thereâs no silver linings in that. But Thomas goes on just as he always was. He does not grieve because such devastation, his devastation, doesnât get room on the page. Not to speak about Sophie and Gideon for that matter. We are told that Eugenia collapses when she hears the news of her sister passing away and that Gideon and Sophie go to be with her in Idris, but none of that has an effect on Thomas or the fact that he chose not to be with them. Thereâs no inner or outer conflict with that decision. That perhaps Thomas stayed to find the cure while his parents and sister wouldâve wanted him with them (though he was an adult), and them going through those waves while the rest of the story unfolds.
Later when we meet Eugenia, itâs as though Barbara had never died. Or existed. Eugenia was a mild comic relief in her bigger moments, and by the time she said any words on page, the series and so the characters had moved on from Barbara.
To take a bit of a detour from my favorite scandalous family of Shadowhunters that is the Lightwoods, letâs return to the modern era and talk about LIVVY. There isnât much to say on the character, to reiterate your point of not really getting to know her. She barely did anything worthwhile, was sort of there, tagging along Kit and Ty who, by comparison, had more plot relevance as to a grander scale of the story. Livvy is there because Ty is there. She gets dragged along because her main purpose is to die.
What speaks for that, aside from having not much important to do with the plot, is also the underdeveloped dynamics between the Blackthorn siblings. Julian and Ty are most central characters of the family, so their experiences as a twin and an older brother/parental figure are given plenty of space when Livvy dies. But Livvy is mostly tied to them, a non-entity still, but who was she with the rest of them? The fact that Clare failed to give Livvy an actual meaningful presence carries onto the absolute boredom I experience with her resurrection as a ghost.
Livvy's death was a tool used to achieve other ends. Naturally, someone has to die for grief to even be a topic that can be addressed in a story. Instead of Julian's perspective focusing on the grief caused by Livvy dying or processing the mixed emotions that he experiences as both a sibling and a caregiver, Julian's story escapes all of them. Because Livvy's death was too much on top of what Julian feels for Emma, ââJulian is forcibly pushed onto a path where he feels nothing at all (plus, this had no consequences in any significant amount, again another non-sequitur). Julianâs pain centralized mostly on Emma, Livvyâs death being a catalyst to bring more focus on the depth of their feelings for each other and how impossible equation their love is for them being parabatai.
As Livvy remains a stranger, though a nice presence in the story but nothing more significant, the purpose of the Thule version of her is even more tasteless. The Thule version of Livvy was a completely different version of a character we barely even knew in the first place. Whatâs there to care about? Why was she the best that was left in a world where all the heroes had perished or disappeared? The Thule version of Livvy is not there for readers to get her back, just for a little bit, to be reminded of her and invited back to the presence of a beloved characterâthe Thule version of Livvy is there for Julianâs pain. Livvyâs character, and all its iterations, is always a proxy for other ends. She is never the end itself. She is there for Julian to feel something about it and subsequently for the readers to feel for Julian.
Livvy is definitely the most underdeveloped of the Blackthorns (excluding Tavvy), probably because Clare knew her fate and did not waste energy or space on her. She barely had any meaningful and relationship-building interactions even with Ty or Julian. Kit was a desperate effort to cement her presence in the story, but even their friendship feels like nothing of substance was lost when she died. Her death was a tragedy, but a tragedy in general sense, not because it was Livvy who died. When she died, I think many readers first thought about how Ty and Julian would react and go on from that, not how Livvy now gone would impact the story at large. Because there is no âat largeâ as to Livvy, which is why naming the coalition as Liviaâs Watch in Livvyâs honor was unfounded and juvenile. Livvy who was no one in particular and did nothing in particular, especially as to Downworld-Nephilim affairs and actions against the Cohort. It was Liviaâs Watch because she was Julianâs sister and she died. Again her death was commemorated for the benefit of Julianâs character by him attaching her name to something she had nothing do with at that.
Because Livvy for the most part was such a nonentity, I donât see the point of her remaining in the story as a ghost. Surely Clare has something cooked up for her that justifies her presence, but that obviously remains to be seen. Her death was for the sake of other characters, acting as a catalyst for Ty and Kitâs issues as well as the conflict with his feelings being muted that Julian then imposed on Emma (no one else was allowed thoughts or feelings about Julian being different or weird, nor did Magnus face any reprimand for his actions in the matter). Livvyâs death was instrumental as to other characterâs relationship experiencing obstacles and conflicts, not that the story or plot went completely and irrevocably off course because of it. Julian and Emma ended up still together despite Julianâs grief, and Kit and Ty will resolve their issues eventually.
You could argueâas Clare herself has used this strange reasoningâthat because of meeting the Thule version of Livvy and experiencing the world without their Nephilim magic under Sebastianâs rule was the turning point why Julian and Emma were able to revert back to their human forms instead of burning out as the true Nephilim. But the writing never made it appear as such nor made a case for it instead of making it seem like the other siblings pleading them caused their transformation back into themselves. And still, as of now, Livvy is for the sake of Tyâs character and aids his character development and story forward. Essentially Livvy still has none of her own and for the benefit of her character alone.
Livvyâs fellow sufferer, ROBERT, also died for inane reasons. Plot relevant reasons but inane. Two major things happen because of his death: Emma and Julian are denied Emmaâs exile with âspecial circumstancesâ and Horace Dearborn is appointed Inquisitor. Because of Horace gaining knowledge of Emma and Julianâs relationship from Robertâs notes, he was able to coerce them into doing his bidding and unknowingly submit themselves to his assassination plan. The plot of Queen of Air and Darkness follows from that. Pretty hard to argueâRobertâs death is crucial to the plot, for Horace to gain control and change the course of the events everyone as well as Emma and Julian experience.
(Robert couldâve been grievously injured or usurped and locked away since the Cohort had enough leg room to gain control of the Clave anyway without much opposition from the Nephilim who also in the end follow Alec out??? But I get that death is more inevitable, leaves less options or open avenues, and people are less likely to rebel when there is no better Inquisitor locked away as a political prisoner since the number of their options is apparently approximately two. Itâs also just convenient that Annabelle kills Livvy and Robert and no one else??? Additionally to being grievously injured â very few characters experience disabilities, debilitating ones even, and go on to live with them. What do the Nephilim do with traumatic brain injuries? Loss of limbs? Everyone but Henry just die. )
Robertâs death has power for to sake of him being a character readers have known from the beginning of the Shadowhunter Chronicles, one who has gone through different motions throughout the series as we have learned more of him and experienced his fallibility and thus humanity. His death also brings his estranged relationship with Michael, their separation, and Robertâs almost lifelong loss to a close by reuniting them (which is also incredibly touching). Robert was a character surrounded by conflict and regret, past and present. By proxy of Alec and Isabelle, at least I think, readers were interested in seeing where the series would lead him. What would he do? How would his relationship with his children mend? Robert was a character whose death would surely have a heavy impact on our beloved characters from The Mortal Instruments. SURELY.
This is usually where things hit a wall. Though we can check out plot relevancy, character death having a purpose and intention, character death being crucial to the plot, and character death instigating action and change in the storyâit is the handling of a death this magnitude where all of the plot related stuff lose their impact. Where the blatant disinterest of the author to actually handle grief rolls right in. Like with Jessamine, like with Christopher, like with Livvy, Like with Max (whoâll follow Robert here)âlike with anyone significant enough to warrant actual, palpable, and raw sorrow from the surviving characters, grief is merely a distant whisper in their lives. Story moves on and the characters march on with it. Almost as if there is no mark of it on their person.
I have previously made a point about Robertâs character assassination from City of Ashes to City of Heavenly Fire and The Dark Artifices. The fact that Julian and the others constantly played Robert and that Julian âmanipulatedâ Robert by referring to Michael when he and Emma went to Robert for help was what revealed that Robertâs character was at that point nothing but a plot device and a tool for Julian to appear like a manipulative mastermind, especially when all of it was laughably juvenile and against the very premise and supposed intelligence Robert previously possessed in City of Ashes. Even more so the fact that in Robertâs funeral, the moment before the pyre ceremony was turned into a gossiping ring by Isabelle, Simon, Emma, and Cristina, as if Isabelle was not just about to attend to her dead fatherâs burning.
Nothing in Isabelleâs person was about grief. Nothing about her or her presence felt or seemed as though she was grieving. Even the actions of Alec were so nondescript that his own grief seemed far removed. Alec kneeled next to Robertâs dead body, and when Magnus went to him, Alec threw his arms around him. When Isabelle sobs against Alecâs shoulder, Alec isnât described doing anything, just being a sobbing stand for Isabelle. When writing emotions, especially as to losing someone, usually less is more. More becomes easily melodramatic, but here the less that Clare went for was actually not much anything. Just because Isabelle cries in one scene and is shown to be heartbroken for the death of her father doesnât mean she can go on like nothing happened the next time we see her and readers should still believe she is actively effected by it.
The surviving Lightwood children are warranted one reaction per child to Robert dying, but after that itâs like nothing ever even happened. He was just not there anymore or elicited further changes, effects, or any lingering feelings in his surviving family. None of them became different for losing him. None experienced anything palpable as to him being now gone. They all go on about their lives just as they would have with or without Robert. It is precisely the handling of these charactersâthe unfair and partial treatment by the authorâthat makes these deaths mean less, have lesser impact, and make the characters just cannon fodder. You could argue that the story was not about the Lightwoods, but once again, why deal such a heavy blow to the characters when you donât even intend it to matter that much at all?
Robert became what the other characters neededâa failure of a father to be reproached to gain moral high ground, an authority to be fooled to others appear smarter and clevererâwhich speaks to the reality that his character was just a necessary evil to be gotten rid of at the earliest convenience. He became a vehicle to the benefit of others, and so did his death.
(â Imagine if Robert was just conveniently incapacitated for Horace to momentarily take his place and the Cohort stuff to happen but he would then recover and resume his position as the Inquisitor of the Clave-in-Exile while Alec is appointed Consul. THE LIGHTWOOD DYNASTY! But no, Clare is intent on cleaning up the older generations and making way for twenty-somethings who know fuck-all about running a government.)
From one Lightwood death to another, letâs then go to the very first one: MAX. His death was a terribly handled one. Maxâs death rides on the coattales of the tragedy of a child dying. He is the cost of war, the loss of innocence in the hands that are brutal. I said before that Sebastian killed Max for no reason. There, of course, was a reason in the story, but it was such a flimsy and unnecessary one that I donât count it as such as it lacks proper justification. Max saw someone climbing up the Demon Towers, but no one even believed him. Everyone just says Max was only dreaming, obviously no one is climbing the Towers. Obviously.
Clare has said Sebastian killed Max for knowing it was him, because he didnât want Max telling anyone. The narrative failed to make this a credible case. There was no reason to think it was Sebastian specifically Max saw (with his bad eyesight no less) as Max doesnât really behave any differently towards Sebastian. He doesnât look at him or seem suspicious of anything. He is conveniently cut off by Isabelle the time he tells about what he saw, and by the time Max is left alone with Isabelle and Sebastian, he doesnât show anything is off with Sebastian either (though supposedly believing Isabelle that he was only dreaming?).
So then incidentally the next thing the main gang sans Isabelle does is go find Simon and discover that Samuel is Hodge. Sebastian arrives at the scene and kills Hodge. He tries to justify it pretty badly, nobody believes him, and he blows his own cover immediately. Before Clary, Jace, or Alec even learn that he has attacked Isabelle and killed Max. In the meantime, Maryse and Robert have already found Isabelle and Max and went to the Accords Hall as that is where Alec, Jace, Clary, and Simon go after their brief fight with Sebastian and find them. Maryse is holding crying Isabelle whoâs almost pulling out her hair, and Robert is holding dead Max, meaning Robert must have carried Max there in his arms. And thatâs fucking heartbreaking.
Maxâs death effectively ends Maryse and Robertâs marriage, a culmination of other issues they have had during their years together. Plot-wise? Terrible and not at all crucial. What speaks for the poor execution is that Clare apparently first intended Max to die in City of Ashes, but how would his death even fit into that? Especially for being an instalment where Max first appears and his scenes fail to make him in any way rounded (but thatâs a tall order as bigger characters also fail at that). Max is essentially introduced as yet another hype man for Jace and hater of Alec, lol. Maxâs death does remain a driving force for Isabelle but what we can mostly experience only in City of Heavenly Fire. Jace draws angst from it as he does from everything even remotely related to his character, but Alec is left out most of the time. Also not to talk about Maryse and Robert as well.
Maxâs death begins the culture of silence and slow severance in the Lightwood family, which Isabelle explosively speaks up about in City of Heavenly Fire. In those ways Maxâs death carries on in the story, has impact to the relationships between the family members, but in generalâjust like in the previously mentioned casesâthe characters themselves do not become different or experience change because of it. Loss of Max is present on a storytelling level, not on character developmental one. Most of what we can see of Alecâs thoughts is in Born to Endless Night, and thatâs way too late and way after the biggest blow has been experienced. The twists leading to Maxâs death weren't set up properly and so it feels like his death was thrown in for shock value, additionally just so Jace can experience pain and consequent sympathy for it.
Maxâs death begins the proud tradition of ignoring feelings and experiences of characters that are mostly impacted by it if they fall outside of being Clareâs immediate favorites. City of Glass itself fails to even resolve anything as it wasnât Claryâs grief so the mourning was cut short. Also the story was on the last leg of the journey, so there was no time for any of the Lightwoods to truly grieve Max either to the same extent because the book needed a relatively happy ending. The happy ending being that Clary got what she wanted while others had to cut their losses.
Aside from his immediate family, Max dying did have another underlying effect which was to cement Sebastian as an unredeemable villain. It seems a bit counterproductive to have him be so unredeemable right from the get go when all Clare tries to do in City of Lost Souls is to trick readers into sympathizing and believing him having changed without him ever truly even regretting killing Max. It just doesnât work and Clare didnât put in the work while trying to profit off from a tragedy that large. Though some of the deaths do serve plot purposes, Maxâs doesnât. Not really. Not justifiably either.
Last character death I wanted to talk about a bit more was ARTHUR. He was a character treated less than. The narrative in Lady Midnight makes great efforts to victimize Julian at the cost of Arthurâs failed mental health and capability as a caregiver he never couldâve adequately been. Arthur was ill, lead to madness by unspeakable torture, yet the writing actively ignores him, makes him the target of Julianâs ire. Though no matter how realistic Julianâs feelings are, the narrative should be capable of nuance and explore Arthurâs side of it as well, offer understanding that he sorely needs but never gets. If the writing wasnât so partial to benefit Julianâs perspective, maybe Arthurâs death wouldâve carried further than his character solely serving couple plot points and being completely forgotten once he dies. Arthur exists for Julianâs scheme of keeping his family together and in order to die for Annabel to be resurrected. The final sacrifice for character that has outlived his usefulness as he was not made for anything more.
Moreover, Arthur is to enhance the image of the hard working, all-giving and all-sacrificing Julian, and once he had fulfilled his purpose, he could be disregarded from the narrative and thus from the characters minds. Arthur must cease existing if his existence could backfire on Julian when other characters become more present in the truth of Julianâs circumstances that he has been hiding from everyone. Not that Julian will ever experience any backlash instead of abundance of sympathy for it, not a word on Arthur in sight.
Arthurâs character was handled in isolation because Julian isolated him. Because the writing isolated him in order for his mental health and death to have no negative consequences on Julian. It is the unfair treatment of Arthur that makes his death seem a mere plot point and a convenience, and no matter how you look at it, thatâs all it is. Clare wasnât interested in more than anguish and pain Julian could experience via Arthur and so failed to make Arthur matter more. Arthur is one those characters that die lacking. He is not well-rounded and has otherwise failed to be engaged with the story more significantly.
Like I said in the beginning of this, a character death should not be treated lightly. Yet I fail to sense any true weigh or consequence in many of these examples discussed here. Maxâs death is heavy because he was a child, but the writing does not carry that heaviness well. Most of these death could be seen as inevitable, but it is because the characters are sacrificed for plot points which add little value to the death itself. Death in itself is a tragedy but I refuse to applaud the writing in the Shadowhunter Chronicles when it shies away from it depending on which character is experiencing grief.
The grief of some characters is elevated above othersâeven ones more immediate to itâand is focused on significantly more. As to the writing in general, here too we can observe Clare's inability to say anything deeper than the surface level nothings. She says nothing gripping, nothing astute, and nothing new. She has no insight or ability to present grief in a way that would be visible in the characters' actions or as a change in their personalities. As if the death of a loved one is just one of the countless adversities they overcome in order to return to a normal routine, a status quo, and a happy everyday life with their friends and romantic partners.
Just a quick update I need to make because it's killing meee even though I've been given nothing but patience and understanding from you guys before. I've been writing answers to your messages, but one is taking me longer than I expected, and I generally try to answer them in order from oldest to newest. For couple weeks now I've been working difficult and busy hours and have had other engagements that do not leave me enough time to sit down, focus, and write. I'm doing my utmost whenever there's a good spot. I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
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i will always be forever thankful to you and your blog, the way you have of expressing your thoughts; you're a true essayist! can i ask if you have any other kind of blog like this one in which you're discussing books or tv shows? i'd read everything
You guys are really testing my humility with such kind messages. Thank you, I appreciate your words, truly. đđЎ
Unfortunately I am giving my all to The Shadowhunter Chronicles with this one blog. I have (for better or for worse) very few interests that I can get really into, this blog being truly years in the making, and it's difficult to find time for all them in the same depth and capacity. Going through TSC turned out to be a fun but hulking task!
Your compliment makes me want to write you about anything though. đĽšđ
Hi :) Iâm not sure if youâve ever written about this on your blog, but I was wondering if you could share your thoughts on how CC represents the conclave. I also want to say how happy I am that youâve recently returned to dissecting CoHF Iâve appreciated your analyses, and I canât wait to read your thoughts on the remaining chapters. In just a few months, youâve become one of my favorite voices in this fandom, and itâs incredibile how much your perspective has enriched the way I see TSCâ¤ď¸
Hey, you. đ My humblest thanks once again. â¤ď¸
It feels like only in this book have I reached the point of implementation that I have always strived for. Maybe the previous method of utilizing images of the text limited my ability to mess with the writing to this extentâit was definitely more work than quotingâbut now nothing holds me back anymore! Which, as I mentioned in the previous dissection, makes me regret how lackluster I was with City of Lost Souls. But life was life-ing back then, and I can always go back if I feel the need to rehash things. Onwards and upwards.
Besides, I doubt much can up the idiocy and incompetence demonstrated in the chapters 6 and 7 of CoHF, lol.
The first contact with the entire concept of Conclave only comes in City of Ashes. City of Bones, the original edition nor the reissue, doesnât even contain the word. We sort of get the idea that Maryse and Robert are at the helm of the Institute (as they were sent there to run it after the exile) but Conclave is not a thing yet in the first book. Even at such an early stage, we can conclude two very clear things: the Institute heads generally seem to be also the leaders of the Conclaves/Enclaves (and apparently if there are many in the area, the leader is the head of the largest Institute) and the New York one was entirely incompetent even back then.
In CoB, Jace basically says that no one else outside of his family has a permanent residency at the New York Institute. So every Conclave member on Manhattan rather pays rent or takes out a mortgage than live there, but I digress. The first character to utter the word âConclaveâ was Magnus when he asks Alec why the Conclave was not at the Institute when the Silent Brothers called for help when Valentine went into Silent City to steal Maellartach. The Conclave, the entire Conclave, was investigating a murder of a faerie. â The New York Institute keeps being unmanned in crucial points because why anyone needs to keep watch or be reachable if someone sends an emergency call? (Aside from couple kids running around. Also why donât the Silent Brothers use fire-messages?? Do they like fax their messages to some dusty corner in the Institute?)
AS AN IMPORTANT SIDENOTE: I have to make a correction to my previous complaining about Jace being in charge of Claryâs training and training her in City of Fallen Angels as if thereâs no one else competent around to do that just because they havenât gotten a new tutor. Like, he was, but rarely. The Conclave members did take care of that mostly. But to double down as I am committed to dissing Jaceâs importance, I would prefer he wasnât at all. Especially for the sake of training-lessons-turned-into-make-out-sessions. Thereâs like at least thirty people in the Conclave. Jace is not needed. Be gone. Go kiss on your own time.
The Conclaves/Enclaves donât really seem to play a big part in any of the series. They are just sort of there as a component for the heads of the Institutes (or Inquisitors) to utilize, but all of them seem as disorganized as the Clave is as a whole. It is unclear which co-head takes lead in missions given that an Institute is run by two people as co-leaders. With Robert and Maryse, it seemed to be Maryse (which fits their characterizations!). But, what if Aline says one thing and Helen other? What if there is discord? Awkward and counterproductive. How do the co-heads divide the duties? What exactly are they aside from administrative and diplomatic tasks? What do these people do all day? I also realize now that Iâm supposed to be talking about the Conclave, not the leadership of the Institutes.
In City of Lost Souls, Clary mentions a local Conclave meeting. Good to know they have those. What do they talk about there? Mission briefs and reports? State of local affairs? Who knows? In TID and TLH the Enclave meetings do take a more concrete shape as they actually meet up in scenes, but these meetings are had on a very random schedule based entirely on the needs of the plot. But mostly they seem to get nothing done. These stories are not build for the successes of the Conclaves or Enclaves.
Their numbers are confusing as well. When what I can only imagine being a part of the Conclave catches the kids red-handed at the entryway of the Silent City in CoA, it is said there is two or three dozen of them there. Then later it is said that Imogen has mobilized like half of the Conclave, but we have no idea how many we are actually talking about. I doubt fifteen. In CoHF, it is said that the whole of the Conclave, meaning ânearly every Shadowhunter in New York Cityâ had evacuated New York, because that is also a solid plan. Yet we still have no idea how many that is. Well, at least thirty.
As to the concept as a whole, I don't really know. They have no proper internal structure. No specific duties or responsibilities divided between the Conclave members. They all seem rather freewheeling agents unless an Institute leader rallies them. Kadir Safar is someone who could be considered almost like a second-in-command to Maryse since Robert was no longer there, but that is nothing official anyway. Whether it is the Clave or any of the Conclaves and Enclaves, they always quarrel the same and leave their posts unmanned as they are not that bright with being organized or very military-minded for such militant people. The simplest answer to how Clare presents them and specifically the New York Conclave: Not well. I donât know what they do half the time and what their purpose is aside from mindlessly running around the city to police people and kill demons.
Do they have working hours? Shifts? Any type of schedules? Probably not. Demon-hunting is a 24-hour profession.
Travel years are such a crazy concept. It sounds like a semester abroad. Are they mandatory? Clary and the Lightwoods never go on one, seeing through their high school dropout to government leaders arcs. We see Christina's travel year in full, but she's just playing detective with Emma and the gang. Julian and Emma's travel year just seems to be them vacationing around Europe, which they cut short to do home renovation. Is there a curriculum? There's no learning or supervison or practical training happening that we ever see. Do they have to pay or apply to go to popular spots? I'm sure the Paris institute is more popular than the Mobile, Alabama institute.
Their education system is in shambles! The concept of âtravel yearâ is, I believe, introduced in Lady Midnight, where the characters discuss their plans for it, and I once again get a feeling like Iâm supposed to know that such a thing as âtravel yearâ even exists. They all basically only consider one destination for the entire year, but once Emma and Julian get to spend their travel year together without a fuss they plan a whole trip basically From Paris to Berlin.
I get the travel year with the idea that itâs extremely beneficial for personal development to immerse yourself to different cultures, languages, and environments. Working in a different place has a great potential to develop adaptability and independence, not to mention expanding your (professional) networks and self-reliance. In general, international expertise is invaluable for such a globalized people as the Nephilim. But.
As a concept, it seems to serve the same purpose as a gap year. A structured break from their training to⌠train elsewhere? From Thomasâ travel year I got the sense that he used it to familiarize himself with different styles of weapons and gain expertize in fighting during his time in Spain. He was sent there by Gideon as he saw it beneficial for Thomas, but looking at the cast of TDA, it seems you can do whatever you want with it? Though different times, I guess.
Who finances the travel years? Families themselves probably. Is there a quota per Institute of how many Shadowhunters spending a travel year there they can house in addition to the entire Conclave/Enclave? (Is there a max capacity in any given Institute? The New York Institute can house 200 people. Then again, all the Institutes are open to all NephilimâŚ) Like you said, Iâm sure thereâs more willing to spend their year in big cities than some Institute in a town with a population of two. It seems like they just decide where they want to go and there isnât any actual process to apply.
It also seems that itâs entirely optional to even do a travel year. TMI and TID had no mention of such (as the concept didnât exist). Alec for one didnât even consider a travel year when he turned eighteen, but then again their circumstances were overshadowed by Valentineâs return and the subsequent wars. Who knows? The travel year is yet another vague concept that was introduced as something that was supposedly known among the characters but was never clearly defined.
I think another possible reason for every trilogy having a parabatai pair is that the readers eat it up. Whenever I venture into the fandom blogs I see that they want every character they like to have a parabatai. A popular fanon one that makes no sense to me is Isabelle/Clary. Even Clare wrote George wanting to be parabatai with Simon.
Thereâs definitely the commercial perspective as well then. It's funny how the fandom's admiration and attention has given the concept more weight than it ever had with Jace and Alec narrative-wise (the fans have always loved them and hated how their parabatai bond was treated in TMI). Would this shift in Clare's attitude ever have happened without fans giving so much love for the concept? If Will and Jem hadn't been such game-changers as characters and friends? Not that it doesn't still seem like Clare is almost forced to write about Jace and Alecâs relationship. The sudden amount of attention paid to them from TDA onwards is almost manipulative. And maybe that's why I'll never be convinced that there's any authentic change of attitude behind this shift.
Speaking of Gary Stus, can we talk about Will's curse for a second? Because I read Infernal Devices before Mortal Instruments, so the whole "woe is me, love is destruction" thing hadn't gotten old yet. And theoretically, a literal curse is a more compelling conflict than whatever was going on with Jace.
Yet, it still sucks. There's not enough commitment to the bit, maybe. I mean, Jessie and Sophie and the Lightwoods think a bit poorly of him at the beginning, which is more consequence than Jace ever faced. I think it's just that I don't buy that Will is tortured by his curse and hates how he has to treat people. He's awful to Tatiana and Gabriel, and I don't think he ever really regrets it. A lot of the time he seems to enjoy it. His greatest concern is not being able to hook up with Tessa.
There was so much potential to explore how the act he has to put on conflicts with the person he actually wants to be, or even how he basically built his personality around being someone others would hate. Would he even be able to stop, just because he finds out the curse isn't real?
It also kind of reflects badly on Jem that he has no real problem with Will's behaviour. He might know there's some shit going on with him, but he's als supposed to be a good and kind person. No moral conflict there at all? The only time he ever really gets mad is when Will spits directly in his face. Charlotte and Henry don't try to correct him, and also don't get any blowback on his behavior as his guardians. His sister doesn't have a problem with it. The only person who maintains a grudge is Tatiana, and we all know how she was treated by the narrative.
The curse reveal does not earn the heaviness the story treats it with. It only how he treats other people, and that has never mattered for a main character in this series.
The lack of true commitment is at the heart of it. The curse exists just enough 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 Will's character. At the end of the day, everyone is still on his side and rally around him. He is never abandoned. He causes most of the internal harm he goes through himself. Will's curse had no significant (if any) meaning or impact on relationships other than the one between him and Tessa.
In one post I said that If Willâs curse was actually real, it would have warranted his distance in a way that wouldnât have ended up being embarrassing and in vainâa manufactured, artificial angst factor to garner him sympathy and hampering his romance with Tessa. Iâve always felt that Will for Jem contradicted what Will believed his curse was about. He abandoned his family, kept everyone at the Institute at armâs length but it was alright to care a lot about Jem, love him, and become parabatai with him while simultaneously acting like a giant asshole to everyone because of The Curse just because Jem was going to die anyway at some point? In what degrees or lengths did Will think his curse then worked if the expected death of Jem was a fine enough reason to get close to him andâwhether the narrative wants it or notâdirectly contradict the very core of the curse? And when Jem would finally die, does Will feel guilt or that his curse had a part in it? Or how come the curse did not suddenly matter because Jem was deathly ill anyway?
The curse also didnât challenge Will as a character or offer him opportunity for growth. As I have said about Jace, Willâs actions in the light of his curse have no true narrative costâthe cost is only temporary and rests solely on Tessaâs perception of him. It is not something Will needs to overcome or compensate for later on. No damage to undo that is not guaranteed. And as with Jace, Willâs 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. Like Clary, Tessa is built to sympathize Will and her narrative is engulfed by him. Even in The Perfect Storm, Willâs 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 Willâs pain and sadness are enough alone to justify his actions in both cases.
When the curse if finally revealed to have been a lie all along, there is only joy for Will as he realizes that he can confess his feelings to Tessa. And then the other kind of emotional pain begins, but the point is that once the curse is gone, it has no lingering effect on the narrative either. It further services the relationship drama but does not have an effect any further than that.
Here are couple other posts that touch on some of this stuff as well:
Side characters in TID
Tatiana as a villain
A side comment on Chain of Thorns (About Will and Tatiana)
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I have yet to finish the book. Still. . . . . :^) I've only read the fist two stories, but I'm going to do something with Better in Black once I'm finally done reading it. I haven't been happy with The Good Storm or The Beautiful Ajatara, and that's unlikely to change with the rest. But we'll see, and I'll get back to this then.
I was reading this list about known parabatai and it's strange how in the text it is said that not every shadowhunter has a parabatai but in every trilogy there's always at least a pair of tormented and anguished parabataiâI'd say that James and Will were the blueprint that started it all because in the first trilogy it seemed like Jace didn't care at all about Alec. With Clare having a minimal cast of characters, the parabatai seem to be the centre of it all and as I said, almost every trilogy has a very important pair and in almost every trilogy who moves the plot? The parabatai. So I don't understand why selling us the idea of parabatai being an exception, a very rare thing amongst shadowhunters when in reality they're the reason of it all (Also, in every trilogy - with Jace and Alec always being the exception - they always seem in love, like head over heels in love with one another, and it's weird given the fact that parabatai aren't allowed to fall in love. I kind of understand Julian in TDA because he's twelve and doesn't want to let go of Emma, but what about the other ones? Why would they chose someone they are clearly in love with to be their parabatai? In other cases the pairings are rather odd. Lucie and Cordelia? What was the point of them being parabatai when their friendship isn't even all that?)
Considering what a huge deal the parabatai have become in the series, itâs weird to go back to the first three books of TMI where it held no meaning at all. It almost seemed rare and unimportant because of the way Jace and Alecâs relationship was written. And sure, relative to the entire population of Shadowhunters on Earth having parabatai probably is rare. But like in Bleach, having a bankai is told to be extremely rare but mostly every major character then having it does not present the case in the right perspective, let alone in a credible manner.
Itâs a fair assessment that the parabatai as a concept we today know it truly began with Will and Jem. Itâs still incomprehensible to me why Clare ignored parabatai for the entirety of the first trilogy, utilizing it only as a measuring stick for Claryâs importance and significance to Jace at the expense of Alec and this supposedly remarkable spiritual bond between them. And now the series canât get enough of it! I donât know what else changed other than Clare coming up with characters she actually liked and figuring that she could use the bond as an extra spice in an otherwise done-to-death love triangle. And then repeat its significance in other romance plots as well (Julian/Emma and whateverthefuck James/Cordelia/Matthew was).
Here are some brief and aimless thoughts on the list of Known Parabatai:
Jonathan Shadowhunter and David the Silent
â The OGs, not much on them, the bond was split by Davidâs Silent Brotherhood. Youâve got to start somewhere I guess.
Amicia of Poitiers and Gundred of Meissen
â Revealed in Shadowhunter Army June 2020 Newsletter, but this means nothing as we have not heard of them or even seen a statue erected to them in Idris. They are essentially nobodies.
Silas Pangborn and Eloisa Ravenscar
â The first male/female parabatai pair mentioned in the timeline. They exists as a warning against other parabatai from falling in love with each other. Their bond was split by Silas killing himself, an act which is entirely related to their forbidden love for each other.
Jem Carstairs and Will Herondale
â Their bond was split by Jem's Silent Brotherhood, but the wiki list separately mentions âand Will's deathâ as the reason. No, no. Just by Jemâs Silent Brotherhood. Their bond was split by that and thatâs it, doesnât matter when Will died thereafter.
â The most codependent pair of the list
James Herondale and Matthew Fairchild
â Why? I donât know. Just so that every Herondale worth their name has one?
Lucas Dupont and Sylvain Verlac
â Totally got spoiled by reading about this one. Pity, but also what bearing does this have? Probably have to read rest of the Better in BlackâŚ
Cordelia Carstairs and Lucie Herondale
â Same as with James and Matthew. They donât even fight together most of the time as their storylines basically isolate them with their respective romantic partners and not that meaningfully with each other that Iâd be somehow sold theyâd become parabatai eventually? Â
Michael Wayland and Robert Lightwood
â Has a minor complicated but somewhat ambiguous romantic element? Only same sex pair that has an authentic romantic aspect to them, not a âbeliefâ one that is told Alec has with Jace. Also split by Robert's exile and Michael's death, but itâs sort of dumb that their bond was so weak that Robert didnât notice Michael dying?? So here Michaelâs death being told to be a cause for the split is not the same as Willâs death mentioned above.
â Personally the most interesting one of these all
Valentine Morgenstern and Lucian Graymark
â Their bond was split by Luke becoming a werewolf. Honestly just another flair for a type of love triangle. They barely have a relationship. They just have history of being affiliated with one another, but no story dealing with their friendship has convinced me of them ever even liking each other or being close enough to become parabatai. Itâs like they are former business associates that now dislike each other greatly.
Jace Herondale and Alec Lightwood
â Where to even begin with these two. So much has already been said on this blog, and so much has been left unsaid on the pages of the books.
Edward Longford and his unnamed parabatai
â I feel like these random people are here just so that we can observe that not only the major characters/main protagonists have parabatai. See! This Edward guy had one! Though they werenât even given a name (or whether they were male or female for that matter). Just like Jasonâs sister.
â Their bond was split by the unnamed parabatai becoming one of the Endarkened. Edward killed his parabatai and then himself. Jem pays respects to them later as he doesnât believe heâd be able to do what Edward did, and I feel once more that Edward and his random companion exist for other purposes, like being used to reflect Jemâs bond with Will. While Edward here is hailed as brave and the end of the pair as devastating, it also seems to be used to prop up Will and Jem. And itâs fine! It brings out different sides to the parabatai bonds and differences to the characters and their capabilities, but these were such momentary and insignificant characters on a larger scale that's a bit silly.
Julian Blackthorn and Emma Carstairs
â Their bond was obviously the major component in TDA and also eventually split by heavenly fire when they turned into true Nephilim
â Another male/female pair where their love for one another is a major component. Which makes it worthy to note that only the other male/female pairs have had true major romantic components in their relationships. Clare doesnât even glance at Michael and Robertâs direction with what sheâs doing here and with Silas/Eloisa and what Clary and Simon had between them previous to them becoming parabatai.
Julie Beauvale and Beatriz Mendoza
â Their bond was split by Julie's death. I donât remember a Julie, because I have barely read most of the Tales, and I have incredibly poor and also selective memory about TDA. Nothing to see here.
 Clary Fairchild and Simon Lovelace
â Ugh. 3/3 male/female parabatai of the known pairs, all that have had romantic relationships between them. Clare has not managed a one man and woman having a parabatai bond without any romance!
And yes, sure. These arenât that many in the grand scheme of things, but they attract disproportionate attention compared to how Clare treated Alec and Jace in the beginning. Of course there is also Isabelle and Ty who neither wanted nor wished ever to have a parabatai, and Livvy who wanted to be Tyâs but was declined by him.