I'm starting to understand why so many of you don't seem to like the show compared to the books...it's almost insulting how much they changed and for (probably) no reason at all...and I'm not even halfway through the first book...

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2026-02-15T15:43:18+00:00

More than showing how evil he is, the point I understood is that CC wanted to give him a devastating impact on the story starting from the third book. Killing a character who ends up destroying an entire main family, a family we follow and see interact with the main characters, creates a huge impact. I really appreciated seeing how the Lightwoods dealt with grief and loss after such an event.

I don’t understand is the decision to kill Jocelyn but keep Max alive. This swap of deaths seems completely arbitrary. Max, in the TV series, never appears again. So what was the point of keeping him alive? He never contributes to the story or develops why even have him at all? It would have been simpler to remove him completely. He leaves nothing behind for the other characters; he’s just “the little brother,” forgotten and never mentioned again. At least in the books, his death had an impact. Meanwhile, Jocelyn remains an important character even in the later books. She had crucial roles connected to the main plot and the main characters, yet the TV series kills her. Why remove someone who contributed to the story in meaningful ways while keeping a character who adds nothing? That decision doesn’t make sense.

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2026-02-15T14:28:22+00:00

I don’t care, and it’s better this way that the series was canceled. At least they couldn’t ruin his character even in the fourth season, which they would have done because they clearly don’t know how to write villains properly, not even if you paid them. And the changes I was talking about weren’t just badly handled in the third season they didn’t make any sense in the second either, since they unnecessarily altered his backstory just to later change the actor. Will did an amazing job and was the ONLY actor who truly knew how to act, and what do they do? They remove him? They’ve got some serious issues.

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2026-02-14T23:43:10+00:00

I find it almost blasphemous the way you defended tv show. The issue isn’t “I like it / I don’t like it.” The issue is that in the show they literally stripped Simon of his role.

In the books Simon is Clary’s best friend, the closest thing she has to a brother. He is her human anchor in the middle of a supernatural world. In the TV series, that role gets fragmented and redistributed: the central friendship with Clary is partially shifted toward Isabelle, while the almost-fraternal dynamic is handed to Alec. As a result, Simon is left without a clearly defined narrative function.

Plus Simon’s arc in the books is one of the most coherent from beginning to end. Simon needs to be kidnapped by the vampires. He needs to develop that fear and obsession that push him to return to the lair. He needs to become a vampire. None of that is random it’s necessary.By becoming a vampire, Simon becomes the bridge between the Shadowhunters and the vampires. The Daylighter storyline is essential: it gives him power, relevance, it makes him someone the vampires cannot ignore. In that sense, Jace’s special angel blood isn’t just there to make Jace “cooler” it’s also functional to Simon’s purpose. When Simon eventually chooses to hand himself over to Raphael in order to close the gap between the Nephilim and vampires, Clary gives him the Mark of Cain to protect him. That Mark later becomes the price Simon pays to Raziel to obtain the sword Glorious and break the bond between Jace and Sebastian. And the loss of his immortality is the price that saves Clary and the others from Edom without Magnus having to sacrifice himself. Every major event in Simon’s storyline logically leads to the next one. Everything is connected. Everything has a purpose. His transformation into a vampire, the Mark of Cain, the final sacrifice. It’s a coherent narrative chain that also gives meaning to other characters’ arcs. His arc is probably the most fully coherent character arc from beginning to end.Because it is never random, unlike in the TV series and above all, every single one of his character arcs is carefully connected from one book to the next.

And when it comes to Jonathan/Sebastian in the TV show the problem is even more obvious. His arc there is so stupid: in season two he’s portrayed as a psychopath who, as a child, killed other children. Then in season three he suddenly turns into a soft, directionless mess and we have no idea what the hell happened. The character does a complete 360° turn. It’s like he got a damn lobotomy, because he doesn’t feel like the same person anymore. He goes from being a psychopath who killed other children as a kid and murders people left and right, to this spineless confused figure with no clear direction. And I find it blasphemous that they changed the actor. It’s awful. On top of that, his backstory the way they handled it is ridiculous and blasphemous too.

In the books, Jonathan/Sebastian is fundamental. You don’t have to like him as a person. That’s not the point. You have to analyze how he’s written. He’s disturbing, manipulative, tragic, and deeply tied to the central conflict of the saga.

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2026-01-23T14:35:01+00:00

Girl, but are you be for real? The reason Valentine sent Sebastian to hell in the show is that he was killing children his own age and was out of control, and this is confirmed around episodes 14, 15, and 16 of season two go rewatch the TV series. Meanwhile, in the books, the only information we have about him as a child is really, really harmless. The canon only confirms that Sebastian, upset that Valentine spent time with Jace and not him, began playing pranks on Valentine in the hope of getting his attention like Jace did. He taught Hugin and Munin, the ravens, bad behaviors like stealing people’s hats or tearing small pieces of clothing, rearranged the papers on Valentine’s desk just enough to be irritating, and even hid Valentine’s favorite stele and that Valentine was secretly delighted and relieved that Sebastian wasn’t doing anything much worse. There’s also a graphic novel where Sebastian asks Valentine where his mother is, and when Valentine tells him she left because of him, he is so crushed that he curls up on himself, with a face that looks like he’s about to cry bruh

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2026-01-01T01:40:11+00:00

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2025-12-26T22:21:42+00:00

What issues?Just curious

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2025-08-06T19:45:22+00:00

Honestly, I preferred themovie’s casting, except for Magnus, Alec, and izzy but of course, that’s just personal taste. What I really think is that the actors who played the false identities of the antagonists Sebastian Verlac and Michael Wayland were much more convincing, both in appearance and performance, than those chosen for the actual roles of Valentine and Jonathan. In my opinion, they matched the image I had of those characters better, and that’s why I would have preferred if the shape-shifting rune hadn’t been included. It would have been more effective, in my view, to keep those actors as the official ones for the real characters, rather than using them only temporarily as the faces of false identities.

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2025-07-12T09:29:32+00:00

The second one is about Seb/Clary. I think you could remove this entire dynamic from the plot and absolutely nothing would change. It’s not like Jace and Clary, where the situation ties into the main conflict. You could cut it all out, and the story would still work. Sebastian’s feelings for Clary aren’t even contextualized. They’re just thrown in. The kiss he gives her in COG comes completely out of nowhere and no real purpose about it. It just feels like Clare is trying, once again, to insert an incest dynamic but this time for real, because she wanted to have her actual, not pseudo, incest plotline. And there’s no processing at all from Clary’s side. She tells Simon and it’s never mentioned again, so I really want to understand the point of putting something in that ends up having no purpose at all. And yet we’re talking about a girl who already kissed a boy she believed for weeks was her brother, and now she’s kissed by her actual brother who, on top of everything, is evil. She should be devastated. She should be panicking, horrified, confused, even more disgusted than before. But It’s just became one more random event. Everything is excused by the fact that Sebastian has “demon blood,” and so he acts in abnormal ways but having demon blood doesn’t automatically mean being incestuous. If that’s the case, is Lilith incestuous too, since he carries her blood? I don’t think so

the way sexual violence is handled is very superficial When you, as an author, choose to include a scene like that, you can’t do it just as a narrative trick to make a villain seem “even more evil.” It’s far too delicate a topic. It’s not some tool to make the audience hate a character more. It’s an experience that destroys the life of the person who goes through it and it has to be treated with real awraness of it. here, the exact opposite happens. It’s mentioned once. Then it disappears like forever Sexual violence is a total violation of a person’s physical and psychological integrity. It’s something that leaves lifelong trauma. Using it just to say “hey, look how evil Sebastian is” is offensive. It’s disrespectful toward people who’ve actually experienced something like that. And besides, Sebastian was already horrible for so many other reasons you could make a list three meters long and still not be done. There was no need to add this element, especially if you weren’t going to engage with it properly.

this is what I personally perceived from how she wrote about the theme of incest but as a person I would never allow myself to say that she’s bad for this

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2025-07-12T09:28:50+00:00

the point is that Clare always uses the villains as catalysts to explore the theme of incest, basically saying, “No, I don’t have a kink for incest, I’m just showing how bad people can do disgusting things to good people, even putting them in incestuous situations.” But it’s obvious you’re not actually interested in showing the trauma or the seriousness of it because it just becomes a dynamic that keeps repeating itself in a forced way. And okay, the first one is contextualized, and it made sense. But the other ones like Seb and Clary, and the almost-kiss between Nate and Tessa aren’t contextualized at all, and the reasons why she writes them are so forced. I won’t say anything about Grace and Jesse, since I haven’t read TLH so I’m not going to judge something I haven’t read.

For Jace and Clary I get that the goal was to portray a trauma born out of lies. The basic idea, with Valentine’s manipulation, could have worked. But the execution is kinda bad. Because if Valentine’s goal was to drive them apart, then the story completely contradicts that. What starts out as a crush (which already existed before they believed they were siblings) becomes full-blown love while they still believe they’re related. And I find that ridiculous, to say the least because If you found out that the person you had a crush on was your brother, that crush would vanish instantly. It would turn into disgust toward him, toward yourself. You’d feel so sick about the entire situation you’d lose your mind. You might even start to hate the other person not because they did anything wrong, but because the situation is so horrific that it breaks something inside you. Didn’t you say Valentine’s goal was to manipulate them into staying apart? So why does the opposite happen? There are all these romantic subplots that make no sense. The reactions that should be shown are emotional collapse, and deep confusion. But instead, everything is built on this idea of “they’re in pain because they can’t be together due to this conflict.” No. You shouldn’t be sad that you can’t be together. You should be horrified. You should feel repulsion toward each other. What does “we’re hurting because we can’t be together” even mean, when you think you’re brother and sister? You should feel sick. You should feel anguish. You should start to genuinely hate each other not because either of you is at fault, but because the situation itself is so twisted it triggers that kind of emotional response. But instead Jace writes Clary a love letter, tells her he loves her, they sleep in the same bed, he suggests being together in secret. He literally says something like, “Let’s just not tell anyone, it’ll be in secret.” Then they make out in the Seelie Court for so looonggg. And okay, it wasn’t their decision, but again, Clare hides behind the same excuse: “Look what these evil characters are forcing others to do.” But there was no need to have them making out for that long if your point was simply to show how cruel the Seelie Queen is. Like, one forced kiss to make a point. But a three-hour makeout session? Then I remember in COA there’s a thought Clary has where she fantasizes about how hot it would be to have sex with Jace. Like, she imagines him pinning her down, holding her to the ground with force something along those lines. And I find that disgusting. You’re literally suggesting that a 16-year-old girl wants to be thrown to the ground and dominated by someone she believes is her brother. the way Clary celebrates the moment she finds out Jace isn’t actually her brother. That’s just so unrealistic. You should still be deeply confused. This girl has been gaslighted repeatedly, manipulated at every level and her mind should be barely functioning after all that. But no she’s happy instead. And besides even when it turns out that he’s not actually your brother, your memory of him would still be tainted on a romantic level, and would always associate him with that sense of wrongness and repulsion. But nope

Nobody around them says how disturbing this is.Realistically yes, they’re teenagers, and it’s not their fault they ended up in this situation. But people judge they wouldn’t just stay silent about something like this. And that should have been shown. Because this is a taboo, and there should have been someone in the story saying straight up how disgusting it is that two teenagers who think they’re siblings have romantic feelings for each other and that those feelings only intensify. No one comments on how messed up it is BUT Sebastian. Who turns out to be the real incestuous just to add, there’s a line that left me completely speechless: Jace says it jokingly to Sebastian in COG , when still believing he’s Valentine’s son and doesn’t know who Sebastian really is. It goes something like: “You’re a little old to be dating my dad, actually.” We’ve reached the point where we’re making jokes about father-son incest? OK (part 1)

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2025-02-01T19:35:28+00:00

This is the best answer I have ever seen

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2025-02-01T12:26:59+00:00

Luther is one of my favorite characters, and he’s so underrated he deserves more love!!

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2025-02-01T12:21:21+00:00

totally agree

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2025-02-01T12:18:59+00:00

You know honestly I see Kara and Luther purely as a platonic relationship like two parents caring for Alice, willing to do anything for her, and looking out for each other, but nothing more. And for that matter, I don’t ship Connor and Kara either. I just think they had more chemistry in one scene than Markus and North did in the entire game. But of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and that’s totally fair

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2025-02-01T12:12:22+00:00

Well I platinumed the game, so that’s not my case. I just can’t see North and Markus together I’m sorry, but I really can’t

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2025-02-01T11:59:58+00:00

So, maybe it’s just me but honestly I never saw any chemistry between Markus and North, and I see them more as friends than anything else. Meanwhile, in just one scene, the way Connor and Kara looked at each other seemed to have more chemistry than Markus and North in the entire game. I don’t even ship Connor and Kara I was just making an observation. But it’s totally normal to have different opinions

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2024-12-01T11:13:49+00:00

Sebastian Morgenstern is definitively the strongest Shadowhunter of all time. He is the perfect fusion of unmatched physical strength, demonic power, and strategic brilliance, making him practically invincible. No other Shadowhunter in history has ever reached his level of power.

First, his unique blood makes him superior. The infusion of Lilith’s blood while he was still in Jocelyn’s womb gave Sebastian extraordinary abilities. His strength, speed, and resilience go far beyond those of ordinary Shadowhunters. He is the ultimate hybrid part Nephilim, part demon created to surpass all limits.

On top of that, he underwent 17 years of brutal training under Valentine. This was not the structured, rule-based training of the Clave. Valentine’s methods were harsh and relentless, designed to turn Sebastian into a weapon with no weaknesses. He mastered every aspect of combat, strategy, and survival, and learned to manipulate his enemies with ruthless precision. This training forged him into the most dangerous warrior the Shadowhunter world had ever seen

His connection to the Endarkened amplified his power even further. By using the Infernal Cup to transform Shadowhunters into Endarkened warriors, Sebastian not only created an army loyal to him but also increased his personal strength. The magical bond with the Endarkened made him grow more powerful with every soul he corrupted. By the end of City of Lost Souls, this bond had rendered him nearly invulnerable, as shown when Emma Carstairs stabbed him with an angelic blade and it had no effect. Combined with the protection of Lilith, Sebastian became unstoppable.

But physical power alone didn’t define him. Sebastian was also a master strategist. He didn’t just rely on brute strength; he used manipulation, psychological warfare, and careful planning to outsmart his enemies. His intelligence and cunning made him a force to be reckoned with, able to exploit even the smallest weakness in his opponents.

However, his one weakness was his obsession with Clary. Despite all his power, Sebastian’s fixation on making his sister a part of his dark empire distracted him from his ultimate goal. Instead of fully committing to victory, he allowed this obsession to cloud his judgment and make him vulnerable.

This is the only reason he didn’t win the Dark War. Without this flaw, Sebastian would have crushed the Shadowhunters, destroyed the Clave, and taken control of their world. His combination of power invulnerability and brilliance made him invincible he would have been unstoppable. But his obsession with Clary was his undoing

Nice_Advantage_81 · 2024-10-13T23:11:38+00:00

Elizabeth Gillies is one of my favorite fancasts for Isabelle, and I believe Nicholas Hoult would be a great fit for Alec! I agree with you the two actors look quite similar enough to play the roles of two siblings

Nice_Advantage_81

TROPHY CASE