You know whose deaths hit me the most in TSC? The characters that we just barely saw before their lives were cut short. The ones that don't get brought up much and we don't see a ton of grief over in most of the books. The ones you can't even really find fanart for. It's characters like...
Jon Cartwright - I hated Jon Cartwright in Tales From the Shadowhunter Academy. Then I loved him so much it hurt. He began as this elitist, thick necked lunk that you were designed to intensely dislike from the start. He went from regularly spewing awful things about Downworlders and harassing the dregs in the Academy to a guy who carried Marisol Garza's lunch tray around while she told him about mundane culture and who the Cohort hated in TDA. A guy who cried whenever they would reminisce about George, a mundane who failed to ascend. He showed so much growth, could have been such a help in reforming the members of the Cohort.
George Lovelace - Where do I even start with George? It was impossible not to root for him. He was such a constant friend for Simon in that shaky time when he didn't have his memories and was finding his way. He was so kind and there was so much potential to explore his character further in the successive books. For him to be a solid reference of an ascended mundane who turned into a true Shadowhunter hero. Then it all ended before it could even truly start even though his flower card reads future promise. George Lovelace, you deserved so much better, you will always have a place in my heart.
Max Lightwood - With Max, I know that we do see people grieve over him in the books but it just hits me so hard how much potential he had, all the things he didn't get to do. How we didn't get to fall in love with his siblings-in-laws Clary and Simon who would have taken him to Forbidden Planet and turned him into a proper nerd. How he never got to meet Magnus or the Alec that was sure of himself. How he didn't get to be a part of the TWP gang who he was the same age as. My heart aches at the loss of all those special moments that never to be for Max Lightwood.
Julie Beauvale - I don't know why, but her death hit me the hardest in TDA even though it was only touched on briefly in two separate paragraphs (which I know sounds insane because of everything that happened at the end of LoS and into QOAAD). It's just, she had such an arc. Like, she was traumatized by seeing her sister die at the hands of a faerie and clearly hated them deeply when she first arrived at the Academy. She was also very classist/elitist. But did she stay like that? No, no she didn't. Through the friendships she made at the Academy she changed and let go of that part of her. Julie fought for Livvy's watch in QOAAD even though she almost definitely would have been a Cohort member if it wouldn't have been for her time at the Academy and meeting Simon. So how did her story end? By intercepting an arrow that was shot by a faerie and meant for his faerie brother. Her life coming to a close because of the people she had spent so much of her life hating but came to respect and appreciate to the point that her last moments were spent fighting against people whose entire identity was based around hating them. It was just such an awful full circle moment.
Ave atque vale Jon Cartwright, George Lovelace, Max Lightwood, and Julie Blackthorn. Hail and farewell you dear souls.
There's no art to be found on the internet of Jon or Julie, especially not official art :(
