hi cassie! i’m so excited and thankful for his universe! what is one good quality and one negative quality that ash has inherited from his parents? even janus (step parent vibes)?
That's an interesting question because Ash's "parents" aren't exactly people you'd look to as role models.
What I think Ash inherits from them isn't negative or positive traits so much as qualities that are morally neutral. Those qualities can become virtues or vices depending on the choices he makes and the reasons he makes them.
Sebastian, for instance, is/was extraordinarily determined. He achieved some truly lunatic goals. Determination is an admirable quality in the abstract; it's what lets people persevere through impossible circumstances. But determination without empathy becomes selfish ambition, and that can lead to terrible things. Ash has inherited that determination — but we don't yet know where he'll take it.
The Seelie Queen is incredibly intelligent and politically perceptive. She understands power, people's desires, and how to influence them. None of those qualities are inherently evil; in fact, they're often the mark of a gifted leader. But she uses them primarily to control and manipulate others and she does not limit her cruelty. Ash has inherited her instinct for reading people and her strategic way of thinking. The question for him is whether he uses these insights to manipulate people or to understand them.
Janus probably had the greatest influence on the person Ash became. At one point, Janus genuinely cared for him and protected him in the ways he knew how, but Janus also believes that the ends justify almost any means. He wants Clary and he doesn't much care if she wants him back, or what he has to do in order to have her. He is also willing to use Ash in any way to get what he wants. Janus may have taught Ash some things about love, but all Janus' love is twisted up and eventually destructive. Ash needs to understand that love is an important good, but love isn't not caring about the other person's free will and agency.
Determination can become relentless fanaticism. Political intelligence can become manipulation. Love can become possessiveness. An interesting thing about Ash is that he's got nature, nurture, and magic all tangled up together as influences on him.
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