Herondale men are overrated and the narrative hyping them up at every opportunity and glossing over most of the crap they do makes them super unlikable
Pretty much. The narrative exempts them from a lot of things it holds other characters accountable. The suffering of any other character is never on the same level with theirs. I feel this strongly with Will when, for instance, you compare the writing of his character to Gabriel Lightwood’s. I wrote once in a post that
in case of Gabriel, for example, he isn’t surrounded by these typical manipulative elements that shoehorn the readers to sympathize with his character. He is not written wallowing in angst for the sake of his nightmares or his family falling apart or his mother’s suicide (oddly?). The week he spent in fear of his father finally going mad with the disease is played as a punchline to a joke Will’s been on about for the whole series so far. Moreover, it is a scene where none of the other characters show Gabriel the plentiful sympathy that is shown to, well, any of the London Institute.
In comparison, Will and Tessa’s pains are always made abundantly clear, and to enhance the image of their endless torment and incredible pain there is always another character to validate it. There is no ten-page ruminating over Gabriel’s experiences or feelings or emotional life when he deals the kill blow to his father. This versus Will living in torment for thinking it’s on him that his sister is dead.
I’d say this applies to Jace in general sense. It is his suffering that is central for readers (and the other characters) to feel and know about. In this regard especially, it’s hard to not think there is a bias when it comes to Herondales, though Will and Jace are just the two most prominent examples, and I’m not interested nor probably ever will be interested in James (or any other Herondale man pain).
Then I thought, Perfect Diego is a funny character because his perfection is a joke, and other characters don’t swoon over him. It’s a source of annoyance for them. But when it comes to, say any protagonists or those of the name Herodale, it is the most serious business to come across. Sometimes it feels as though the writing forgets to be self-conscious about them and becomes gratuitously self-indulgent.
Stephen is more obscure of a character, and the story doesn’t bring him a lot forth. Maybe it is because his supremacist and racist views, but even in “The Last Stand of the New York Institute” the writing never fails to recognize a Herondale:
“Magnus looked again at Stephen and realized why his face was so familiar. Gold hair and blue eyes–he was a more ethereal and slender version of a young Edmund Herondale, as though Edmund had come back from heaven, twice as angelic.”
“Magnus looked at Stephen, at his beautiful face and his weak mouth.”
I am sort of hopeful about Kit though, even though I do feel like he gave into being a Herondale way too easily than his earlier characterization let on. He didn’t want it, asked not to be called by his Herondale name but Tessa and Jem (mainly) still pushed on it. Anyway, since Kit hasn’t been much of a protagonist yet, and we haven’t had such a central focus on him as a main character without Emma and Julian’s mess and drama, I am hopeful that I will still like him in The Wicked Powers or what ever it will be.
But then there’s my logical brain that knows how these things will pan out with Clare’s writing and side characters being pushed into that same protagonist mold…
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