It's interesting to see how people react about Jordan Kyle. It's a more bigger issue mostly bc IRL even if werewolf don't exist, there are thousand women in the world who died bc their ex bf couldn't handle to see them as independant being.
Yes. I guess my absolute favorite thing about fantasy and genre fiction in general is the freedom the creators have to represent real-life issues in ludic ways. That doesn’t detract from the seriousness of the issues, it’s just a way to illustrate them in a more visual media.
So whilst werewolves aren’t a real thing, anger issues, subsequent violence, and entitlement are. Jordan’s character is very much a representation of those characteristics, only heightened by the fantasy element of lycanthropy. Maia and Jordan’s story is not a story about werewolves. It’s a story about domestic violence and how even charming, handsome dorks can be abusive.
Jordan becoming a werewolf could’ve been Jordan losing his job, Jordan being rejected from his dream university, Jordan having anger issues, Jordan losing all of his money, Jordan getting an STD. Any one of those stress-inducing elements could’ve played the part of setting him off balance, which, in turn, would have Jordan mistreating Maia, willingly putting her at risk, wanting to isolate her while keeping her in the dark, and then continuously stalking her after she broke up with him and explicitly told him to leave her alone.
That is the story being told. And it’s good that this is story because it’s a representation of what happens to real people - women and men - when their partners abuse them. I’m glad Jordan exists in Shadowhunters and I think he is a great character. He is not the typical easy-to-despise unapologetic abuser. Oh, no. Jordan sees himself as the victim. He has the potential to be a nice, caring person. He regrets his wrongdoings.
But he continues to do them. Jordan has left Maia when she needed him, he would’ve left Simon if it wasn’t for Maia, he was about to leave the Praetor Lupus if the vampires hadn’t attacked. That’s the key to see Jordan as someone who is not in the road of redemption, who does not deserve Maia’s forgiveness, who should not be excused by the audience. Jordan’s character is designed to show that saying “sorry” means nothing if you don’t change your behavior. That has absolutely nothing to do with which supernatural creature he is.
