Magnus Bane Is a Villain

So some people might be freaking out, thinking I'm giving away spoilers for one of the three latest Mortal Instruments novels (City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, and book 6, City of Whatever It's Called). I'm not. Let me say that first. This is not a spoiler about Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn, turning evil. However, there is a plot point revealed in this blog from City of Lost Souls, so if you don't want it spoiled, do not continue.

And now onto my point....

Magnus Bane has, for 7 books of the Shadowhunter series, been a good guy and a hero.

-He's a friend to Will Herondale from Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince.

- He's a friend and ally to Clary and the gang in City of Bones and City of Ashes.

- In City of Glass, he becomes the boyfriend of one of the secondary characters, Alec Lightwood.

- In City of Fallen Angels, they're officially an item and he is also an ally of the Clave, the Shadowhunter group.

- During City of Lost Souls, he has all these ties - ties to Alec, ties to Clary, ties to the surviving two Lightwood kids, ties to the Clave, ties to Simon - and helps in the great big battle. He's thrown in his lot with the good guys.

How is he a villain, then, you may be asking?

Before I go further, allow me to state that for my own personal reasons, I actually don't like the pairing of Alec and Magnus. With that said....

Alec is 18 years old. A fresh 18 who's never had a relationship before, who will one day grow old and die because Shadowhunters are not immortal. Magnus is an immortal warlock, who is hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. He has centuries if not millennia of experience. Yet because Alec briefly considered - and then discarded - a spell to make Magnus mortal so they could live their lives together until one or both of them died, Magnus dumped him.

Well, okay. Not quite villainous, no. Immature and pathetic (all of Magnus's accusations about Alec could all be turned around by Alec and used on Magnus; hypocrisy in a relationship irritates me. Lack of forgiveness for anything less than deliberate spousal/domestic abuse also irritates me), but not villainous. No, it's what Magnus does after he dumps his young live-in boyfriend that infuriates me.

Magnus cuts ties with everyone. With Jace, with Clary, with Alec, with Simon, with Isabelle, with the Clave, with Clary's parents. Now, keep in mind, Magnus has been a friend of Jace's bloodline (Will Herondale from Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince is Jace's ancestor) for at least a couple hundred years. He's been friends with Clary and her mom since Clary was a baby (Magnus is the one who'd been helping blank out Clary's memories of the Sight and the Shadowhunter world until the events of City of Bones). And as the High Warlock of Brooklyn and a survivor of the battle from City of Glass, he has a whole lot of important ties to the Clave. I may be wrong, but I think he might even be the warlock representative to the Shadowhunter Council.

Yet because of a lover's spat, he severs ties with all of those other people. He even says in the break-up conversation that a big, dark war is coming, one that will pretty much smash into everyone and everything on the planet, and that it's going to be super-super bad. Yet because of him being angry with Alec, he's not going to help. He's not going to maintain the alliances he's made. He's not going to help the other people who have done nothing to him, whose only "crime" is that they know Alec.

Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn, centuries-old warlock and son of a Greater Demon (probably), is going to go off and sulk about his hurt feelings while people die in this war that's coming, a war that he is obligated to participate in because of oaths made and friendships forged.

I mean, think about what that's saying. "I'm sorry, everyone who's been a friend and ally to me these last 5 books, but I'm ticked off at my boyfriend, so you can all go die in a hole for all I care. I'm going to Paris. Ciao!"

(-_-)

Seriously?

I'm not saying Cassandra Clare is a bad writer. She's actually a brilliant writer, one of few I enjoy reading these days. But I wonder if she realizes just how this looks, what Magnus has done. I wonder if she truly understands the depth of the betrayal he's committed by doing this. That's the only thing.

Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn, just got dumped into Team Bad. Which really, really sucks for Team Good.