Can this fandom just...not? For one week, just stop blowing everything up into a huge crisis?
First of all, the sneak peek ends after that line. We don’t know how Magnus replies, we don’t know if he challenges that line, we don’t know if Alec accepts or acknowledges that challenge. The context we have is limited. So relax.
Second of all, this is Alec. This is what Alec does. He defines himself by his ability to protect the people he loves and he will sacrifice anything for them. That is who he is.
Whether or not Jace is worthy of that love is a different discussion, and not particularly relevant right now, because whether we as fans like Jace or not doesn’t matter.
What matters is the characters being written consistently, and this is 1000% consistent with everything we know about Alec. Alec wouldn’t be Alec if he weren’t ready to put it all on the line to save someone he loves. He’d do the same for Magnus or Izzy.
To Alec, there is no choice here. Someone he loves is lost, he has to find them, end of. It’s not a statement about who is the most important to Alec, it’s just Alec being Alec. He doesn’t love by half-measures, not Jace, not Magnus, not anyone. He loves them all with everything he has and will stop at nothing to save them and that’s just...that’s just all there is to it.
okay so i love when people put characters under hogwarts houses and i was wondering why did you put magnus in slytherin and alec in hufflepuff?
oh shit i was hoping no one would call me out on this... also i only sorted alec??? unless i’m forgetting something i’ve said??anyway, alec is fiercely loyal to those who are close to him and those he cares about. he is hardworking and very dedicated to whatever he has put his heart to at that moment. also, i think he is very patient (even with clary on that one mission they went one). also hufflepuff trait “corresponds roughly”* to the earth element, and alec is def a virgo (zodiac sign, also don’t fight me on this, i know more than one person who will support this) and the virgo zodiac element is also earth so yeah...but yes, magnus is definitely a slytherin. he is clever and extremely resourceful. he is both ambitious and cunning, and would without a doubt use less that fair tricks as a means to an end if he thought it was the result was worth it/if it was the right thing to do. he would never rush into action, but rather take his time and weight the pros and cons before. he is a great leader, but he also has a strong sense of self preservation. also have you seen him with a snake??? (the snake thing is not proof but damn, magnus would definitely be able to speak parseltongue)*quote hp wikia lmao
Sorry if you're getting tired of the Sebastian talk. I assumed that somebody, most likely Alec, must have talked to Aline about Sebastian because she showed up completely unannounced in 2x15. Alec and Izzy were surprised by Aline's visit, but they weren't surprised that Aline knew Sebastian was at the Institute. In that episode, Aline was fooled by Sebastian as well because he knew her secret. But I agree that it would have been nice to have a throwaway line confirming all of this!
It’s not that I’m tired of the conversation, nonny, but those last messages on the subject a couple nights ago came at the end of a day when I was once again flooded with anon harassment because apparently someone over on another platform likes to stir the pot by sending people messages claiming I said things I never said and taking everything I have said out of context.
When you’ve been dealing with months of incessant harassment erasing your sexuality and attacking your looks, your age, your weight, your parenting, your professional writing, and God only knows what else, you tend to take a default position of hostility toward anyone sending an anon message.
When that has happened because you dared make the OUTRAGEOUS claims that:
1) maybe the writers aren’t doing their jobs as well as they should and the characters were coming acress as weaker and less competent for it, and 2) maybe the producers’/directors’ inherent homophobic bias was showing in the way the prominent gay couple on screen was being routinely sanitized in comparison to the prominent het couple
And then someone comes in your inbox trying to discuss one of those issues, that’s going to make you tense and perhaps less willing to extend the benefit of the doubt as to that anon’s intentions.
Honestly, the only reason I don’t turn off anon and leave it off is because there are some perfectly nice people who just aren’t comfortable interacting off anon.
So, anyway, if you feel the need to interact on anon, I highly recommend you do so with the understanding that the moment I see an “Anonymous asked maleccrazedauthor a question” notification in my email, I start to get anxious and prepared for a confrontation, and be very careful to make it clear that you’re not One Of Those Anons.
As for the issue of whether or not Alec contacted Aline, sure, that’s a perfectly valid headcanon. My point is that we shouldn’t have to headcanon it. There are things it’s okay to sidestep with the writing, and things it’s not, and how--in the course of two episodes--Alec went from “I don’t trust this guy” to “I just made this guy head of security” is one of the things it’s not okay to sidestep. Because sidestepping it makes it look like Alec can’t do his job well, and I’m not okay with him being written that way.
The thing is, Alec didn't trust Seb, and when he said that Izzy andeveryone else immediately jumped down his throat. I think after what happened with Izzy in 2a, and how she blamed him when he found her in 2x09, he was trying his best to not go against her. that doesn't make him incompetent
There are huge leaps and bounds of difference between that moment of “this guy showed up out of nowhere and I don’t trust it” in 2x12 and “imma make him head of security right as we’re hosting a major diplomatic function” in 2x14. Especially when the Institute has been having issues with security breaches over the last month or so.
So, yeah, that’s a bigger turn around than I’m comfortable just handwaving as him being unwilling to risk irritating his little sister, who would be as deeply in danger as anyone else if there’s another security breach.
There’s also a ginormous difference between saying:
(A) “Alec is incompetent”
and saying
(B) “the writers often diminish Alec’s canonical competency by taking short-cuts in order to advance the plot or make other characters look shiny.”
See the difference? People need to re-read that paragraph over and over again until they get it, because I’m tired of people jumping down my throat for saying A when what I’m actually saying is B.
I’m not saying Alec is incompetent. Alec is supposed to be hugely competent. We’re told in the text Alec is hugely competent.
But often what we see happening on screen isn’t what we’re told in the text is supposed to be the case. And the reason that happens is because of lazy writing.
tenderlynch replied to your post “no one wants to listen to me but i’m telling you!!! alec being able to...”
Honestly though ??? Its literally his sh instincts taking over, he doesn't even flinch away from it
exactly like he doesn’t have time to get afraid of being hit cause if he was actually being attacked that fear would just be a distraction from staying alive or fighting back
can we just talk about how alec is doing that little finger rubbing thing after he dodges that ball of magic? cause he came to apologise and he is obviously nervous about how magnus will react, if he even wants to talk to him. and i mean with that welcoming ball of death flying by my head (accidental or not) i might have been a tiny bit nervous too. but god, that little mannerism is just too much and i’m glad it’s back in the season.
This post was born of a (now lost) converstation I had with particlenumber13 about Alec and Max's relationship, and why it's so strained.
Particle pointed, and I agree with that, that Alec and Max's strained relationship contradicts Alec's (admitedly erratic) characterization as a loving person and brother, and so it got me thinking, and while I am firmly convinced Jace's arrival didn't help anything between the two brothers, I think the reasons for Alec's distance toward Max didn't start with him.
The facts are these :
When he was two, Alec had to live through moving from Idris to New York (It's relevant, promise)
Alec was around nine when Max was born.
Max was conceived either shortly before or during Robert's affair with Annamarie Highsmith.
So when Maryse and Robert took part in the Uprising, Alec was only a toddler and therefore probably doesn't have many memories left of that time. However, we're told that Alec is a very perceptive person, and some kids are pretty perceptive even at a young age, so it's safe to theorize that Alec picked up on the tensions in the house.
At this time, Robert and Maryse had just lost several/the majority of their friends either to the Uprising itself or because of their trials where they were imprisoned/exiled/sentenced to death. Add to that the fact that they had to organize an undesired move on the spot with little to no support and probably lost most (if not all) of their social standing, it's probably safe to assume baby Alec ended up going from pretty affectionate parents –Maryse, at least, is stated to have been the nurturing kind in COA- to parents who simply didn't have time to spend as much time with him as they used to/wanted to.
See exhibit A:
[Jace] didn’t move. “Do you remember that song you used to sing to Isabelle and Alec—when they were little and afraid of the dark—to get them to fall asleep?”
Maryse appeared taken aback. “What are you talking about?”
“I used to hear you through the walls,” he said. “Alec’s bedroom was next to mine then.”
She said nothing.
“It was in French,” Jace said. “The song.”
“I don’t know why you’d remember something like that.” She looked at him as if he’d accused her of something.
“You never sang to me.”
There was a barely perceptible pause. Then, “Oh, you,” she said. “You were never afraid of the dark.”
—Jace and Maryse, City of Ashes, Ch 1 : Valentine's Arrow.
From this exchange, we can deduce Maryse singing to her children was a common enough occurrence that Jace actually got kind of jealous over it, which means Maryse had to spend some time with them and care about whether or not they felt comfortable/safe/etc. Hence, nurturing mom.
And then the exile happens and suddenly Alec's parents don't have time for him anymore.
So the abrupt change in behavior from his parents plus the unexpected change, I think, played quite a role in Alec's later tendency to make himself invisible, because children learn things surprisingly fast and even just a couple of weeks/month at such a young age can make a life-long impression on someone. Additionally, this might be part of why Alec became so protective of Isabelle –if, during that time, he's been asked to take care of his sister, he could very well have made it part of his thoughts process and simply never stop.
Not to mention Shadowhunters are supposed to be a pretty sexist society, see this :
“Because,” Jace said slowly, “it’s only been recently that women have been Shadowhunters along with men. I mean, there have always been women in the Clave—mastering the runes, creating weaponry, teaching the Killing Arts—but only a few were warriors, ones with exceptional abilities. They had to fight to be trained. Maryse was a part of the first generation of Clave women who were trained as a matter of course—and I think she never taught Isabelle how to cook because she was afraid that if she did, Isabelle would be relegated to the kitchen permanently.”
—Jace to Clary in City of Bones, Ch 9 : The circle and the Brotherhood.
So yeah, pretty sexist, and only just recently changing. The thing is, patriarcal societies have a tendency to place a lot of responsibilities and expectations on boys. If Alec has been told to be 'the man of the house' while his father was away, maybe to organize their moving or whatever, it could very well have drilled this sense of responsibility into him.
This would also have created a precedent in Alec to think that change is bad, and it could also have put him in a mindset where he has to try and avoid creating problems/being a problem to his parents –not, I think, that Robert or Maryse would have put it that way, but a two years old boy with busy parents can easily make that kind of assumption, unfortunately.
Fast-forward to seven years later and little Alec and his sister have settled in New York. They're living alone with Maryse and Robert, at least one of whom spends a lot of time with them and cares about making them feel safe, about making them feel loved... then little Max comes in. Now, the change could have been difficult to handle even if Maryse and Robert had been completely happy, because sometimes kids aren't happy about new siblings from the get go for plenty of reasons, especially when they come late in the game and come disturb a well-established routine.
Furthermore, considering the huge age gap, the siblings were bound to hit rough patches for purely developmental reasons : their different needs and interests would have come in the way, which is perfectly normal and not necessarily the sign that there is a problem as far as I know.
But the thing is, these aren't ordinary circumstances.
“Well, you know [Robert and Maryse] were both in the Circle. But I bet you didn’t know it was all my mom’s idea. My dad was never really enthusiastic about Valentine or any of it. And then when everything happened, and they got banished, and they realized they’d practically wrecked their lives, I think he blamed her. But they already had Alec and were going to have me, so he stayed, even though I think he kind of wanted to leave. And then, when Alec was about nine, he found someone else.”
“Whoa,” Simon said. “Your dad cheated on your mom? That’s—that’s awful.”
“She told me,” said Isabelle. “I was about thirteen. She told me that he would have left her but they found out she was pregnant with Max, so they stayed together and he broke it off with the other woman. My mom didn’t tell me who she was. She just told me that you couldn’t really trust men. And she told me not to tell anyone.”
—Isabelle to Simon, City of Fallen Angels, Ch 12 : Sanctuary
From this exchange we know that by the time Maryse found out she was pregnant with Max, she already knew Robert was having/had had an affair with Annamarie Highsmith, who died during the events of City of Glass. This means she was probably pretty frustrated with Robert, who was most likely frustrated right back at her, meaning that the Institute was probably not the most pleasant place to live in at the time.
(There's also a possibility that Hodge, being at Valentine's service, tried to fan the flames so as to create further tension in the apparently limited population of Shadowhunters and prepare for Valentine's return. Of course, that could only have happened IF he somehow knew about the affair, which we don't know about. I'm just saying, if her knew, that's a possibility.
And of course, there's no telling whether or not Maryse managed to get pregnant specifically so Robert wouldn't leave, but considering the huge age gap between Alec + Isabelle and Max it's safe to assume Max was likely not a planned event. Whether he was a complete surprise or not is a topic for another post.)
Now, Alec is described and shown as a pretty compassionnate person, who picks up on others' moods rather easily –the scene in City of Bones where Magnus talks about his mother comes to mind first.
It doubt this trait of his developped late in life, so I think he picked up on the fact that his parents were having problems with one another, but didn't know why. Then Maryse tells her children they're going to have a new sibling, but that wouldn't be enough to erase the rest, and she and Robert would still be pissed at one another, particularly if Robert stayed out of concern for his reputation/his honor/Max's welfare –we just don't know why he stayed.
I imagine Alec would have noticed the changes that occurred in the house after they learned his mom was pregnant –maybe Robert grew more distant, maybe he and Maryse stopped sleeping in the same bedroom, that kind of things.
And Alec, who had to deal with his parents feeling tense about a certain topic, would probably want to avoid getting involved with the new source of problems again.
It's possible that, much as he would have stopped asking about friends of his parents' he was used to see before they left Idris, he decided to kind of stay away from the new baby, who had the misfortune to be born at the same time Maryse and Roberts started having problems in their relationship (at least to Alec's eyes) and who Alec could easily have subconsciously labeled as the source of their problems.
This would mean that for the first few months or (more likely) years of his life, Max would have grown up with an older brother who didn't appear to care much about him, possibly even acted stiff around him (I would imagine, at that point, Alec was pretty conflicted about Max. If Maryse and Robert used him to kind of fight and/or get back at one another, through his name for example*, it would only have made things worse.)
Imagine baby Max with two siblings, one of whom is clearly more interested in spending time with him than the other, who is a lot less forthcoming, who do you think he'd be closer to ? That's right.
Then when Jace comes along and turns out to be the "perfect" Shadowhunter who also, possibly, lets Max trail behind him like a duckling (I think baby Jace was probably a profoundly lonely kid, whether or not he expressed/realized it) which I suppose is better than nothing.
Just this is already ground enough for the two Lightwood boys to grow into more distant brothers (even if Alec tries to bridge the gap later on, which isn't certain, he might not be able to) but then, when you add the fact that Jace is constantly loaded to be this super perfect guy while Alec is a lot more withdrawn and therefore more easily forgotten about (which would sound like disapproval by default compared to what Isabelle and Jace get) then I guess it isn't surprising Max would develop a sort of hero worship of Jace as is canon (though I don't remember where it was stated ><).
And as an older brother who is already shy with self-worth issues and a tendency to be overly accomodating, I don't think Alec would be the kind to react to Max's dismissal/indifference toward him by insisting they do more things together—I think he would tend to set himself aside even more and leave the brotherly stuff to Jace, hence an even more distant relationship.
And for the record ? I think after Max's death, that attitude is going to come back to haunt him.
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*Particle has a headcanon/theory for why Max is named after Maryse's brother (other than her brother being lost to her, that is) which I think makes sense and have therefore kind of adopted :
I actually have a name head canon for Max. If you look at the clockwork princess there is a family tree and you can see where Alec and Isabelle get their full names from. Maryse and Robert named their two eldest children on some of the Lightwood ancestors. Whereas Max’s full name is Maxwell Joseph, which do not appear in the family tree. I think she was fully claiming Max as hers and showed it through their naming convention. After all, she named Izzy and Alec after her husband’s family and then he cheated on her.
