Character Similarities

By: MayaHelen (edited by: Ace.Ven & MacNCheese)

Cover art by: Em The Hunter

A while ago, I spoke with a friend of mine who was reading The Infernal Devices. I had a feeling that she would enjoy Will’s character arc, so I asked her about it. What she said surprised me. She responded that she loved his arc, until she realized that it was pretty much the same as Jace’s. I had always seen the similarities between those two characters, but never really thought about it much. So, as I pondered that thought, I realized that they were indeed very similar, and I understood how Jace’s arc might make Will’s fall flat, at least in the first half of TMI (which was all that my friend had read). However, I forgot about that conversation pretty quickly, until about a week ago while I was reading Chain of Gold and noticed the many parallels between Matthew and Will. I did a bit of research, and, as it turns out, a lot of people dislike the chronicles due to the character similarities between said characters along with others, including but not limited to Jessamine and Izzy, Clary and Tessa, Nate and Sebastian, and Valentine and Mortmain.

Now, I’m going to be frank - it’s ridiculous to judge an entire franchise based on character similarities, and even more ridiculous to judge those characters solely because of this fact. Yes, these characters are all pretty similar, but there are reasons behind this, and it’s no reason to pass judgement on a series without examining its other portions (plot, use of setting, world building, etc.). But there was definitely some truth to the posts I read, so I thought I’d take a look at the characters everyone seemed to be comparing and share my thoughts.

First up, Jace/Will/Matthew. As soon as my friend pointed this out, I really did see it. All three characters are driven by forbidden love caused by something that they can’t control, whether it be blood in Jace’s case, or a mistake from the past in Will and Matthew’s. Matthew seems a little different, though, because his love for Lucie isn’t his issue so much as his love for his family and himself. Plus, he doesn’t fit the same role in the story that Will and Jace do, because CoG doesn’t have the same setup as TMI or TID, so I think that can really disqualify him from the group. Also, and this is just my opinion, Cassie’s improved a ton over the years, and we can really see it with these three. Jace’s arc might follow the same setup as Will’s, but Will’s is undeniably better written. I know that Cassie wrote the second half of TMI and TID while alternating between books, like she plans to do with Sword Catcher, but I definitely would say that between Will’s original arc, his few scenes in TLH so far, and all the short stories Cassie has published, Will has grown much more than Jace did. Will also appears to be much more of a fan favourite than Jace. And, honestly, while I probably need to wait for the rest of TLH for me to make this decision, I think that between what we’ve read about Matthew in Ghosts of the Shadow Market and in Chain of Gold, he may just be better written than Will.

Next, I want to talk about Clary and Tessa. These two, much like Izzy and Jessamine, who I’ll get to momentarily, are really quite different. The similarities that they share are mainly just their purpose in the story. Both women go through a classic “Hero’s Journey” arc and have similar character traits, but the traits are presented in different ways, mainly because of the different time periods. Clary, being a strong-willed female artist, isn’t very distinguished in the modern time period of TMI, but Tessa can be seen as rebellious and brave as combat and adventure is not typical for a woman in the time period of. So, yes, these two are similar, but mainly just because they need to be in order to go through the journey that Cassie needs them to complete, and by changing the effects that they have on the people around them, they feel like legitimately different people. I love both Clary and Tessa as characters, but prefer Tessa, probably because of her relationships with the people around her being different from Clary’s. That's just my opinion, though, and I know many people with the reverse thought process.

As promised, Izzy and Jessamine. This is both the same and different from Clary and Tessa. On one hand, Izzy and Jessamine have the same purpose in the stories - to be the female character who doesn’t quite fit into the society the MCs are now a part of, but are also the first female characters for the MC to meet. But, if we’re using that as a structure, we’re also saying that Charlotte and Maryse are virtually the same person, and that couldn’t be more incorrect. Izzy’s character is completely different from Jessamine’s, and not just like Clary and Tessa’s. Izzy feels like she doesn’t quite fit in because she wants to be seen as an equal among Jace and Alec, both of whom are older boys and basically the only fellow young shadowhunters she interacted with in her childhood. Jessie, on the other hand, wants nothing more than to leave it. These two share the same plot relevance, but not the same character. Therefore, I disagree with the claims about them.

Nate/Sebastian and Valentine/Mortmain are all classic villains. Valentine and Mortmain are villains from the start to the finish, which makes them pretty similar. They have the same sort of ambition, but from different angles, and they’re both well written villains (though Mortmain more so), so yeah, I guess I agree. But Nate and Sebastian are pretty different. Nate was what’s called a twist villain - he started out as a good guy, and then turned bad. Twist villains are everywhere in pop culture these days, especially since Pixar uses them a lot, usually effectively. But Nate is a special case, because we never really get to spend much time with him as a hero. We know he’s a hero to Tessa, and we like her, so that’s all we really need to know about him. This was a brilliant move on Cassie’s part, in my opinion, because we only got to see him through other character’s eyes. It wasn’t a jarring twist, but it was still unpredictable. Sebastian wasn’t a twist villain, he was a flawed hero who took the place of a villain and performed villainous actions (I’m in no way advocating for Sebastian). He was a villain from the start, but in the end, after he had been rid of his demon blood by Heospheros, Clary learn to accept the good part of him as her brother and he lived on in their memory with green eyes instead of black. They may have similar characteristics, Nate and Sebastian, but they’re pretty similar to Valentine and Mortmain in that sense, too. So, yeah. Cassandra Clare writes good villains with different plot elements making them all at least a little unique.

Another thing I wanted to mention was that in my research for this article, I saw almost no complaints about TDA characters. People are saying that The Cohort is just The Circle again, and Zara is pretty similar to Valentine, but I think that was purposeful. No one compares Emma to Clary and Tessa, because she’s different. Not one compares Julian to Will or Jace, because he’s different. Part of this is the plot structure being different in TDA, but it’s pretty similar to Chain of Gold’s plot structure, and I’d laugh if someone said Cordelia was the same as Emma. They wield the same sword, and are both Carstairs, but their characters are miles apart. This is, at least, I think, because Cassie is really improving her writing. It was great before, but it’s even better now. The people that she creates out of her imagination seem more real than ever before, and their relationships are better developed. We are attached to them and love them, all of us; and if we can’t love the characters, we love the world. We believe that all the stories are true, and want to live in those stories, at least until we finish whatever book we’re reading. Even with the characters being similar, we still love the books Cassie writes, and we read them when they’re new. So, I stand by my first point. It’s silly to judge a whole franchise by one element. If Tessa’s too much like Clary, focus on Blackfriars Bridge. If Will is too much like Jace, focus on Magnus, because he’s in everything. The Shadowhunters Chronicles are bound to have at least one element you’ll love, even if the characters aren’t it. So, pick up that book, read a little, and enjoy it. You never know what you might think of it.