Shadowhunter's Alternate Universe

I’m dying to write this story about Magnus and Alec in the alternate universe that Clary visits towards the end of season 1. I want to watch Alec and Magnus get together in that world so much because there isn’t all the complicatedness of Alec’s involvement in the Shadowhunters, but there would still be struggles. Magnus is an immortal warlock, probably one of the few because in that timeline demons were pretty much banished and since Warlocks are the offspring of humans and (Greater?) demons, it’s unlikely that many more Warlocks had been born after the demons were banished in that universe. There are still vampires and werewolves if I’m not mistaken, but they are, or at least seem to be, self governing enough that they aren’t an issue for humans.

 

I do have a few struggles with that episode, in general. I find it hard to believe that Valentine would’ve been sane and stable and not a total narcissistic asshole if it hadn’t been for the existence of the Downworld and his frustrations and that Clary’s mother would’ve stayed with him. Here’s the thing, I think Valentine simply isn’t an okay guy. I think he would be as tightly involved with something subversive in this world as he is in the Shadowhunters realm--it would just manifest differently. He’s the type of guy who would get laws enacted that would allow him to lock people up before they commited a crime. He’s the kind of guy who makes you believe he loves you when really the only person he loves is himself and he just wants to use you so he’ll do whatever he has to do to in order to get what he wants.

 

What he wants, his ultimate goal may change because there’s no longer demons and, more importantly, no Shadowhunters, but I can’t see the man remaining sane and non-narcissistic just because he no longer wants to kill demons. And let’s be real, his desire to “cleanse the world” is not a altruistic desire. He wants glory and power. He wants an army for himself. He wants to reign over everything. His willingness to experiment on pregnant women, their unborn children, and newborn babies with the very substance that he wants to wipe from the earth shows how very much it’s not about the safety of humans. And I’m sorry, just because there are demons in the world, or angel blood in your veins doesn’t mean that you’re suddenly a great dad, an exciting boss, or a good person.

 

My other issue is that, Jace and Clary are dating in the other world and it strikes me as funny that Clary doesn’t think about that when Valentine says he’s Jace’s father and that Clary’s mom is also Jace’s mom in the Shadowhunter realm. If that had been true, she and Jace would’ve grown up as siblings in the other world. Of course, her actual brother Jonathan isn’t in the other world either--at least not that we see. I would’ve liked to know what Jonathan would’ve looked like and been like if he hadn’t been experimented on, given demon blood, tortured and manipulated by his father, and then sent to hell to be tortured more. It seems a lot more likely to me that he would’ve been a relatively normal, maybe even good person, had it not been for all the things that happened to him as a fetus, newborn, and child, teenager.

 

To me, Jonathan’s situation is not the same as Valentine’s, at least not to me. Yes, Valentine has angel blood and is faced with demons and demon decadents creatures in the Shadowhunters universe. I’m not saying that these things couldn’t have gone towards messing him up. It’s certainly possible that he has some sort of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome in the Shadowhunter’s universe that is causing issues. And over and over again, we see that Shadowhunters are still human and can be just as evil and fucked up as anyone or anything else in their universe so I know that angel blood wouldn’t make him immune to evilness.

 

I’m not saying that Jonathan wouldn’t still have been fucked up. First, demon blood doesn’t make you evil either. Warlocks have it, vampires have it, and werewolves have it and there are more than a few examples of characters having that kind of blood being absolute gems. I’ve talked about my love for Magnus and Luke in the past and they’re perfect examples of the kinds of good people Downworlders can be.

 

Torture doesn’t make you a bad person either. Most people probably just end up being traumatized and scarred. Manipulation doesn’t mean you’ll be evil either.

 

But that is a lot of stuff that Jonathan would not have had going on in the alternate universe that may very well led to him having been a different person.

 

If you look at Izzy and Alec and Jace, I think you can see really good examples of how having “mundane” lives shaped them differently than being Shadowhunters did in the TV show universe. Izzy is brilliant and driven, but she’s allowed to be a soft little nerd. Alec is still hella intense, but he came into comfort regarding his sexuality far earlier--at least that’s my headcanon--and he doesn’t have this giant complex about “upholding the family name in the eyes of the Shadowhunters” that causes him so much pain and grief in the Shadowhunter’s universe. His intensity goes into planning parties and going after the life he wants and the people he wants.

 

I guess that brings me back around. I want to give that Alec and that Magnus a story, but I’m struggling to get it out. I keep tinkering with them but I haven’t figured out how to make things move along. I keep trying to go in one direction, but there’s a lot of resistance which makes me think maybe I need to go about things a different way, but I’ll be damned if I can figure out what that way is. I guess I’ll just have to keep tinkering with it.

 

The other issue I have is Luke Galloway not being in Clary’s life. I’ve talked about how I still think Valentine would’ve been an evil, manipulative, narcissistic asshole even if it’s an alternate universe, but that leads me to mention that it’s weird to me that Luke and Valentine aren’t best friends in the alternate universe like they were before Valentine went off the deep end. No, they would’ve have had the Shadowhunter institute to bring them together, but the universe brought Simon, Clary, Alec, Jace, and Izzy together without Shadowhunters so why wouldn’t it still bring Luke into Jocelyn and Clary’s lives? Luke is like the best person in any universe and he’s been a father not only to Clary but to Simon as well. Maybe you could argue that Valentine ended up filling that roll instead, but I still say Valentine wouldn’t turn out to be a good person just because he doesn’t deal with literal demons on a daily basis.

 

I’m sure I’ll rant more about this later, but for now I need to sleep. Early day tomorrow.