Magnus Bane from Mortal Instruments: City of Lost Souls (Evil on the Part of the Heroes Part 2)

Lately in books (and when I say lately, I mean in the last four or five years) I've noticed a disturbing flaw in a lot of the things I read: the lack of repercussions falling on characters after serious offenses of some kind. Granted, I've also seen this in movies and books, but not really. It's far more prevalent in novels. And this bothers me, because it usually results in one of two things: either unrealistic writing, or previously-likeable characters becoming bad guys without the author intending it to be this way.

And it isn't just beginner authors who do this, though they've done it, too. Even some of the most experienced authors have made this mistake sometimes. And of course authors in between the newbies and the veterans do it too. We're going to take a look at one of them now: Cassandra Clare.

I've read the first five Mortal Instruments novels, and the original trilogy (Bones, Ashes, Glass) was beautifully written and I loved it; I'd give the trilogy as a whole a 4.5 rating. But book four dropped down from 4.5 to a 3.5 with some of the stunts she pulled (I'll review that book later), and then when I read City of Lost Souls, it dropped to a 2 for so many reasons. But we're going to focus on one plot point from that novel in this essay about character repercussions—Magnus Bane and his villainy.

Now 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 Heavenly Fire). I'm not. Let me say that first. I promise by all the godlets of bookworms, this blog is not a spoiler about Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn, turning evil or joining the evil Shadowhunters or whatever.

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 for anyone who hasn't read City of Bones yet,
you're in for spoilers galore.

You have been warned.

And now onto my point.

Magnus Bane has, for eight books of the nine-book Shadowhunter series by Cassandra Clare, been a good guy and a hero.

— He's a friend to Will Herondale, one of the two male leads from The Infernal Devices

— He is apparently on amicable if not downright friendly terms with Jocelyn, Clary's mother, before the start of City of Bones, since he was willing to wipe Clary's memory nearly every day of her entire life just because Jocelyn asked him to

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

— Also in City of Ashes, he claims to be in love with Alec, Jace's parabatai

— You learn that Magnus is allied with the local werewolf pack, headed by the man who becomes Clary's stepdad, in City of Ashes

— Near the end of City of Glass, he becomes the open boyfriend of Alec; they pretty much declare their love in front of the entire Clave

— He holds the warlock seat on the new council between vampires, warlocks, werewolves, fairies, and Shadowhunters that is formed between City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels

— In City of Fallen Angels, Alec and Magnus are officially an item

— Magnus is also an ally of the Clave, the Shadowhunter ruling group

— During City of Lost Souls, he has all these ties—ties to Alec, to Clary, to the surviving two Lightwood kids (Isabelle and Jace), to the Clave, to Simon—and helps in the great big battle near the end

Basically, he's thrown in his lot with the good guys. The end. He's someone his friends can count on. He's brave, he's compassionate, and he's a good friend and good guy.

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, so it's not like I'm hating on him because of any romantic slash-yaoi love. With that said…

Alec is eighteen years old. A fresh eighteen 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 with romance and life in general.

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 goes and dumps him like some prissy preteen girl who, like, omg, can't believe Alec would do that.

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 mom.

With Clary's adopted dad.

Now, keep in mind:

Magnus has been a friend of Jace's bloodline (Will Herondale from The Infernal Devices 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.

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.

He's the warlock representative to the Shadowhunter Council.

He's an ally to the local werewolf pack, headed up by Clary's stepdad and Magnus's friend.

Yet because of a lover's spat, because of his personal problems that have nothing to do with anyone but him, Alec, and this one chick who's dead so she doesn't count, 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 keep his commitments. 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), seat-holder on the Council, veteran of the Valentine-Demon War, is going to go off and sulk about his hurt feelings while people he supposedly once cared about 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 eight books, but I'm ticked off at my ex-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 enjoyed reading (until City of Fallen Angels…but that's another story). 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. And it kinda sucks for him, too, because there's a special place in Hell for traitors, which is exactly what he is.

— LA Knight