#sh meta

[faejilly]

so @foodsies4me mentioned wanting more headcanons

and there's this combination of things that have gotten all tangled up in my head that were supposed to be a fic, but I haven't written enough at a time to be able to remotely untangle the strings into a story and it's just so much nonsene but it's emotional nonsense, yk?

it's about runes and magical bonds and virgin shadowhunter energy as an aspect of same, about how white isn't just for mourning, because the Iron Sisters wear it too, Angels bear it, white is untouchable, like grief, but not just grief

What does that mean for Alec and Lydia, who both wore white to their unfinished wedding? what did the Clave make of that, watching them both declare themselves untouchable even as they walked toward each other? (was that why it wasn't just Alec who was relieved when neither of them could go through with it?)

Nephilim get their first rune, graduate from children to Shadowhunters, at approximately what, ten? There's a lot to unpack there, about child soldiers and martial societies and family bonds that are inherently also about the chain of command...

But there are also questions there about how angel blood and runes and human bodies work (or don't work?) all together. They are born with angelic grace, but they can't wear runes immediately.

Nephilim are never just human, but they're hidden away in Institutes and Alicante as children, hidden away until they're runed, until they're protected.

Until they're controlled?

Runes as bonds, to Raziel and Alicante and duty. The first rune, your enkeli or voyance bonds you to the Shadow World, to Shadowhunter duty, to seeing everything that's really there, whether you want to or not.

Seelies can't lie, and the Devil can't betray a contract (just manipulate the fine print before you sign), and Nephilim runes are bonds, are promises, and their vows are unbreakable.

What does that mean for Clary, who wasn't runed until she was an adult, who has more power thanks to Ithuriel's blood and is yet less bound than any other Nephilim on Earth?

Angels are about devotion to their duty, (messengers of God), Fallen Angels broke that bond (refused to pass along the message); Nephilim are devoted to their Covenant, their fight against Demons, their very blood that makes them Angelic.

Nephilim are only human, and can only endure and uphold so much devotion, can only contain so much within flesh and bone, must break up the singular devotion of the angelic into something at least a little more human. So they bind their mind to their cause or their soul to a parabatai or their heart to a spouse.

But only once. The weight of those vows can be so so heavy. But breaking any one of them can easily be fatal.

So most Nephilim only bear one, that first one, to duty. If they bond their soul, they both agree it's to support their duty, and if one of them dies, the other probably follows.

Nephilim only love once; that's not about emotion, that's about the wedded union rune.

If they risk another bond, a spouse, the rune binds their magic and their strength, and part of why divorce is so rare is because if it's broken you can never have another one, and what soldier can choose to be weaker tomorrow than they were today, even weaker than time itself will make them?

Nephilim wed for children and strength and politics, but seldom love, because a broken heart on top of a broken bond...

Falling isn't something Angels recover from.

What does that mean for Alec, who shared his power with a Warlock he barely knew, who made that promise even without a rune, without a bond?

Because he doesn't need a rune to make a vow, not Alec with his singular ability to commit and accept his devotion once given and never waver in a way even Nephilim can't usually do, (in a way that frequently punishes the parts of him that are human, but he places so little value on those, that's not going to make him stop) even if that vow is just to himself and he never ever expects it to matter to anyone else.

[buffyspeak]

this is a thought that stems more from having rewatched season one than where i am right now but: maryse and robert keeping their involvement in the circle from their children becomes even more brutal when you realize how much it affected alec and izzy as people.

i think it’s fairly standard to headcanon that alec and izzy were pretty isolated growing up. not to the degree jace was in the first ten years of his life but in the entire show, we only learn of ONE real friend they’ve had that’s part of the shadowhunter community and not in their family. and alec notes that “it’s been years” since they’ve seen aline when the audience meets her in season two.

it’s not hard to imagine that other shadowhunter children were warned away from getting to know the lightwood children, that even if their parents didn’t explain to them why they were bad news (which some probably did), they made sure to impress that they were.

this is more conjecture than anything but i personally headcanon that alec and izzy spent their entire childhoods in new york—meaning they didn’t go to the academy in idris. they likely thought their parents had made this request so that they could build their own lessons for their children’s tutelage under hodge. but in reality, it’s punishment for the lightwood line.

and all of this might seem like it’s really reading into things and maybe it is—but it’s not hard to see how it might have affected them in the show itself if true? like.

izzy’s clearly an outlying shadowhunter when it comes to willingly and regularly socializing with downworlders. it’s so easy for me to imagine her being very lonely and very angry and very defiant as a young teen and deciding, ‘fine, then, you don’t want me? i can make friends elsewhere’ and never really looking back.

whereas alec is so obviously Not Interested in making friends at all at the start of the show and only really seems to hang with his siblings. i really do think he almost took an opposite approach to izzy, he folded in on himself, drew back, and said ‘friends who? i don’t need friends, i’ve got my family, that’s all i need’

which leads to my other long-standing headcanon that the lightwood siblings are actually considered pretty Weird for being so close. shadowhunters are supposed to care about family loyalty and honor and tradition, but they’re not supposed to be Friends; and they’re always supposed to choose the mission and the clave before each other.

[rainyhuman]

i am ONCE AGAIN thinking about how different and bright and happy magnus’ clothing and makeup was in malec’s last scene

the fact that right after he and alec kissed (actually even before that, which implies it might have been due to the circumstances and the fact that valentine was once again a threat, ty to our hero lêx for this hc) which might be because he didn’t want to be too much, too much for alec who is a gay shadowhunter who got enough shit for being gay from his people as it is and didn’t need a flamboyant warlock boyfriend to make things harder for him 

and then the painful return of the colours in his outfit and makeup in 2x13 after the body swap which made it seem like he was putting on an armour which he WAS but which i think was more about wanting to feel like magnus bane, the high warlock of brooklyn, wanting to be that person everyone thought they knew 

and then the actual return of the colours after the one year jump, magnus, married to the love of his life, happiest he has ever been, wearing bright colours in fucking alicante because he is that happy and yes his clothes are an armour but also, he wears colourful clothes and makeup for himself not for anyone else and the fact that he was wearing the brightest blue eyeliner and had blue nails and blue streaks in his hair and he was wearing gold really really showed that he was back to feeling like himself and that he was happy!!!!

[normal-thoughts-official]

What do you think of Raphael and Camille's relationship?

not much i guess? at least not much i havent said before. i think its pretty clear that raphael has no loyalty for her and if anything had been waiting to dethrone her for a long time. i think rapha had been working to earn her trust and get rid of her for years now

first of all because like i know that's sh's writing being bad but his little coup over her was just so easy? it sounds to me like he had been getting ppl on his side and ready to overthrone her when the time came for quite a while. plus it's obvious that he was never in accordance with her shit - he went behind her back SO MANY TIMES and it was always for ppl he doesnt even know and has no reason to help? in fact has reasons to hate, since theyre shadowhunters

plus rapha knows about magnus and camille's history (remember how he deliberately didn't involve magnus in the clan thing because he didnt want magnus to have to deal with her? yeah) so of course he fucking hates her lmao. it is one of my treasured hcs that he joined her clan Exactly To Dethrone Her. rapha can play the long con, and i dont see a reason why hed join her clan as opposed to any other when she wasn't his sire and he had a home with magnus. i mean sure being in the NYC clan is convenient but ur telling me theres one (1) vampire clan for this entire town???? im calling bs like sorry

anyway yeah thats it. as for Camille's feelings towards him, i think she thought she had him wrapped around her finger and that he was no threat, which is a testament to how well rapha managed to play the long con, ESPECIALLY since he was going behind her back and freeing simon and giving his body back to the shadowhunters and all that crap. again he didnt even know him. like i know he did it because rapha believed it was right and he didnt want that to weight on his conscience but still, its obvious that he had to do a lot of shit he doesnt agree with for camille because shes a weirdo like that, and still he managed to go out of his way to help her victims AND have her trust pretty much until the end while organizing an uprising against her. like we have to stan

not that like camille liked him, by "trust" i mean mostly that she believed he was harmless which is why he was her second-in-command imo. not like, something meaningful udndidndod but still. and god knows how many years or even decades hes spent in her clan, so like. props to him? yeah

and to some point i think this has to do with rapha's moral standing. i had always thought that hes one of the most complex characters in shadowhunters because we got this guy who at the same time is obsessed with attoning for his Sins™ and self harms on the regular and blames himself for everything but whos also like. willing to kill and even turn on the ppl he loves to do that (like when he basically held magnus down and tried to kill clary during the soul sword thing)

and like once again! rapha was right lmao like im sorry but he was, her existence was a threat to millions of ppl and she was being so reckless like she didnt CARE and choosing to save her over millions is just. some MC bullcrap. but youd expect that someone with so many guilt issues and a sense of loyalty as strong as rapha would at least have a hard time taking that decision

and like i know it's the racism and the need to villainize him because hes a vampire! but in the good shadowhunters that exists in my head, it's because living with camille for so long he was forced to do a lot of shit that he would rather die than have to do, shit that compromised his moral standards to their very core, and in doing that he was still helping keep the world safe because he was no good if he didn't earn camille's trust so he could get rid of her and save the vampires. and also a part of him already feels so tainted by all the things he had to turn a blind eye to, i think its kinda like. might as well add another sin. better him than someone who still hasn't had to compromise, know that pain. and at the same time that only makes his obsession with atonement stronger

(because this is the good sh that exists in my head, mandatory disclaimer that im ignoring the heidi plotline because it was not only ooc nonsense but also like... nonsense plot-wise? i am once again asking why the fuck hed experiment on heidi who wasn't a daylighter when he could have gone for simon since he's so evil and willing to do terrible things for his sister or whatever. also this post is about the show not the books and idc what happened in the books)

anyway no wonder he was ready to fucking kill simon when he freed her like could you imagine spending decades compromising ur own beliefs and moral standards just so in the end you could get rid of an evil dictator and then some MOTHERFUCKER just fucking frees her because of his stupid childhood crush?????? bruh id be fucking livid. and thats not even considering what it meant for those he loved - his clan, magnus, etc

but anyway yeah those are my thoughts basically. i think rapha had always intended to take her down because 1- she was fucking terrible and hurting so many ppl including vampires: 2- he knew of her past with magnus and he was Protective. and he was very clear headed about it and managed to play a long con in a mind destroying game pretty well and just like damn we stan. thats all hdbdjd

[thesorrowoflizards]

i think clary was originally supposed to sort of be this character that like. she’s an outsider in this world rediscovering her bloody heritage and she’s horrified by it, and she holds sympathy/empathy for downworlders where other shadowhunters don’t, she sees how badly they’re treated and wants to help, work with them and instead of against them, and using the fact she’s apparently super powerful/related to old shadowhunter families, she can try and reform the clave from the inside or whatever. you know what i mean. she’s supposed to be kind and free of the prejudices that other shadowhunters have, because she didn’t grow up with it. 

like, how in grimm, nick was supposed to be an outsider who discovered this world and discovered he was supposed to just straight up murder any wesen he found, and was like “hey, that’s fucked up, i’m not gonna do that”.

except, like in grimm, this completely and absolutely fails.

first of all, while i think that kind of narrative is compelling, it is very easily in danger of getting white savior-y. 

second of all, they completely skip over the parts that make it worthwhile and focus entirely on basically trashing it, while still managing to keep some of those gross white savior vibes anyway (like how people seem to just feel indebted to clary for no real good reason or helping her and so on right) 

like.... clary is not really sympathetic/empathetic/kind at all. she’s consistently terrible and selfish, she basically dive-bombs right into fantasy racism and buys into it immediately, and she just generally sort of sucks, both in the fantasy way against downworlders and in the normal way (her treatment of alec being gay was INCREDIBLY YIKES y’all i’m not saying she’s necessarily A Homophobe(TM) but i feel like she was still being homophobic, you feel?) and just like in general! in her treatment of others! (particularly simon and luke, but also just people around her like magnus and alec and random people) 

i feel like a lot of people, particularly young teens in minority groups who are like involved you know, would, in discovering this underground world would immediately see the parallels here between the downworld and the mundane world. and i feel like a lot people would have sympathy for that, like.... i get clary was taken in by shadowhunters first so she got that narrative first, but if someone kidnapped me and told me “we, the mostly white cops of the down world who Keep Order and have angel blood, are the good guys. the demon-blooded people are monsters/decadent/lazy/etc. and we keep them in line” i’d be, hm, a little suspicious. and even if they didn’t directly state it like that, it was not hard to read between the lines.

i can give her the benefit of the doubt and say as an uninvolved audience, we see more clearly than she would. not to mention she’s a teenage girl who’s mom has just gone missing, it might not be fair to expect her to be perfect. but like ok, first of all, she’s a fictional character. if the story were a complicated nuanced story about a flawed main character who has these struggles and is selfish on purpose and dealt with that and didn’t make excuses, then maybe it would work. and if not, then as a fictional character, the point is that she’s extraordinary and you are telling this story, you know? 

and i feel like stories driven by a kind and sympathetic/empathetic character are more compelling. making kindness and compassion central themes is great. and if done carefully, a story wherein someone like clary discovered this world and looked at the shadowhunters and looked at downworlders and went “hey, this is fucked up” could be interesting. hell, i think if you swapped simon and clary (although simon is not entirely innocent here either, i do think he is generally more empathetic/sympathetic/compassionate than clary, and also in canon she’s a cishet white woman, he’s jewish so that could contribute his view on the downworld, you know?) you could have gotten closer to that narrative, or even like. i have no idea how this would work, but someone like maia would have been cool as hell, you know? and like, i’m not really qualified to tackle this, but maybe even having this sort of main character being a person of color rather than yet another white person for a very white savior-y feel would have worked better. (although placing a POC in the position of shadowhunter/the “oppressor” class has problems, i mean, i guess intersectionality could come into this? idk. like i said, not entirely sure i’m qualified to handle a meta on that, but i think it’s worth posing the question? yeah.)

idk it kind of sucks bc i feel like that could have been good had they actually done it, though i’m not surprised it didn’t. and as it stands, i just. really don’t like clary, even though she has potential in fanworks to be a really fun character. she’s hardly my least favorite character, she’s not even my least favorite of the ones you’re supposed to like (that would be jace, lmao) but she just... i think she gets a pass for a lot of her behavior and sometimes even gets taken as this potential clary that never happened, or rockets past it into the clear white savior territory, and it sucks. 

[maiaisbia]

it is bi visibility day so i am thinking about magnus bane and bi representation in general

bi rep is still hard to come by, and magnus is some of the best i have found. why is that? i am not sure quite where to begin...

i think the hardest thing in speculative fiction stories of all sorts is often lack of representation. everyone wants to see themselves incorporated in the fantastical, those big dreams and fantasies that follow us from childhood. we want to get to be the hero, the scholar, the ship captain, the magic user. that’s on the big scale of media, and shadowhunters, while often less than perfect, has some breakthrough representation that will hopefully only lead to more in other shows.

magnus bane is good rep because he is so much more than just bi. he is a well rounded character, a character who has been through hardship and only come out stronger, kinder. he has so many facets, wants and fears, that motivate his actions. he’s an amazing character who also is bi.

these are more rambling thoughts than a specific point, except to say that’s the kind of representation i want to see more of. also to say to my fellow bis: you’re magical and deserve the world.

[soldieronbarnes]

what are you're top 5 malec kisses?

First off, I wanna thank you for effectively derailing all my plans to work on my fics tonight - I spent like an hour contemplating this and then searching for appropriate gifs (bc I didn’t have time to make my own - I’ll cite the gifmakers below) and it was a super welcome distraction! Also, I’m going to cheat a little because #5 was a little hard to decide on, so I’ll give you three options.

 5. #it’scomplicated

(@daeneryskairipa)  My personal favourite for this place, I think, is the cheek kiss from 3x11. The casualty of it, implying they’ve done this a million times before, how attuned they are to each other, Alec’s happy smile because he managed to compliment his future husband and make him smile. It’s such a soft moment between these two and it always makes me smile.

Other strong contenders for this place were the break-up kiss from 3x18 - 

(@ahoyspn) I mean, how could it not? Magnus’ desperation, the fact that you can see that Alec so desperately wants to give in and kiss him back but can’t even bring himself to look at Magnus because he thinks he has to to this, it’s the only way to make Magnus happy in the long run….ouch - 

and the reunion kiss from 3x20 - 

(@eternalalec) just, the way Alec immediately can’t hold back when Magnus says that his father isn’t a threat anymore and he forgives him - he was trying to hold back so much before, and he literally couldn’t even wait for Magnus to finish explaining because he missed kissing his boyfriend so much, we stan.

So it’s a tie between these three.

4. The wedding kiss from 1x12

(@magnusandalexander) But Rena, you say, why is this so low on the list? Listen, it’s a fantastic kiss and an important stepping stone for their relationship (I MEAN; WHAT A FIRST KISS!!!) and it has a lot of passion, and a lot of meaning because Alec’s finally breaking free of his upringing and culture to choose Magnus and his own happiness but I think this is only the first kiss that paved the path to even greater heights (kisses)

3. The training scene kiss from 3x12

(@baneedom) This is….possibly the Malec scene I have rewatched most often because I am weak, but also because it’s not only hot but fun and flirty and PERFECTION (if you ignore that 3x11 implied that Magnus didn’t know how to fight without Magnus and then turned out to be great at it but fuck continuity, it’s worth it for this scene). 

I think part of why I love this kiss so much is because I feel like in most modern media, even though we have come a long way, gay couples are either hypersexualised or desexualised (and SHTV has been guilty of it - what was it with this phase where they were only allowed to touch shoulders during kisses???) but this scene clearly establishes that this is a couple that not only adores each other, is very in tune with each other, but is also sexually active and very familiar with each other (LMAO, you know how they get) and - yeah, you know from this scene that this is something they do regularly, without making the scene (or their relationship) all about sex. 

2. Alec choosing Magnus in 2x06

(@magnusalxander) “Better than the wedding and training scene kiss??? No way!”  I hear you scream. 

YES. Let me explain. This is the moment Alec actually, consciously, chooses Magnus. The series touches on it, and I’m glad it does: when he kissed Magnus at the wedding, it was less for Magnus than for himself, a statement that said fuck you, this is who I am, this is who I’ve always been, I will live my truth. That’s very powerful, and I love it, but this: this moment, is so much more meaningful. Because they went on their first date and discovered that, while they have several personality traits in common, there are also a lot of things that separate them aside from outside influences. 

Alec could’ve easily chosen a different path - he could’ve tried to find a gay Shadowhunter whose lifestyle and experiences were closer to his own. And just before the kiss, you could tell that Magnus wanted to call him back and try to convince him to give them another shot, but couldn’t do it, either because he couldn’t take being shot down, or because of resignation, thinking that this was actually better for both of them, that they didn’t fit. 

It would’ve been easier for them to leave it at that, to walk away at that point, but after all the times that Magnus put himself out there for Alec, Alec decides to take that leap of faith and actively choose Magnus, and it changes everything, so this is arguably THE most important scene for them in the entire series. 

1. Their first time kisses in 2x18

Am I predictable? Yes, yes, I am, and I’m not ashamed of it. I’m not even mad that I can’t even choose one particular kiss from this scene, because I honestly believe this scene is the best first time scene of any couple ever shown on television and I’m not sure anyone will ever top it.

Exaggeration? Maybe. Probably not. I mean, just look at these goofballs:

(@ahoyspn) The entire scene is made so perfect by how NOT perfect it is. They are struggling to get out of their clothes - they are not smooth. They can’t stop kissing, and they are giggling at each other because they are just so fucking happy to be with each other. Props to whoever directed/edited this episode and decided to leave the mishaps in because it makes it so much more organic and real. 

And then this

(@archieandrew) This is the one that actually killed me dead and that I could rewatch in slow motion all day, every day, for the rest of my life because ???!!jksfhsdjkfh??!! I honestly always imagined that Alec would by shy/reserved because of his lack of experience but nope, here he is, literally lifting himself off the bed and pressing into Magnus because he can’t be close enough to him and ughhh it’s just such a good scene in general. 

There’s a really good post that sums up everything I feel about their first time >here

This is way too long and rambly, and I apologise and am gonna wrap it up now…if you don’t agree you can come yell at me, but don’t expect me to change my mind. 

[lightwormsiblings]

I’ve been thinking about the Malec first time scene a lot lately. Every part of it is just perfect and it really makes me wonder how much of it was scripted and how much was Matt and Harry now that we know that they rewrote some parts of the script.

Either way, this scene is just pure happiness and it always makes me smile, which is an interesting reaction to a sex scene but it’s what happens. I mean how can you not smile over this tall Shadowhunter tripping over himself trying to undress while continuing to kiss Magnus? And then Magnus just being fondly amused by it and tumbling them into the sheets.