I saw your post in the Malec tag. I think sometimes people forget that Magnus isn't a civilian. If Magnus was a civilian/regular warlock, Alec keeping classified information from him would be understandable and justifiable. But Magnus is a High Warlock and the leader of his people! He's on the Downworld Council, which Alec created. From a professional standpoint, Alec should have told him. I understand Alec's reasoning for keeping it secret, but he did promise total transparency after all.
Thank you! Like this is the other part of it. From a personal standpoint, knowing what Magnus had gone through and knowing what Valentine was capable of doing, he should have told him. In my opinion.
But more importantly from a professional point of view he really should have told! He made the council. He literally said he would make the Clave change. He told them total transparency. Because of this Magnus discloses Valentine being in his body. Risk of uprising or no risk, he should have kept that promise. To show it was true and that he would keep his word.
Imagine if he had told the Council to begin with and they’d had the warlocks to put up that ward from the start. Werewolves to track scent. Vampires. Maybe the seelies as well. But the truth is that Alec still has that mentality of thinking he knows what’s best for the downworld and also putting shadowhunter needs first.
That’s fine, as far as it being a learning curve. That’s he kind of thing he’ll learn to stop doing. But right now that’s still his headspace.
So from a personal perspective you can obviously see why Magnus was so angry and felt so betrayed. And as a leader of his people, he is feeling even more betrayal. Those two things combined, along with the recent trauma of being in Valentine’s body and tortured, make Magnus’ behavior more than understandable, in my opinion. He loves Alec, but he can’t trust him to put the downworld first. He can’t even trust Alec to trust the downworld. And even if he’s hurt and heartbroken too? He’s not going to let that be seen. So yes, he’s angry and salty. He has every right to be. Did he have to be as salty as to look both ways outside the door and pretend that he didn’t see Alec? Well. The debate will never end. 😂