Shadowhunters and Downworlders

Some might say that the theme of incest in the Mortal Instruments is a nonissue, since it is revealed that Jace and Clary are in fact not siblings but rather that Jace is the son of Stephen and Celine Herondale. But to this I say: Nay. For the better part of two novels—the ending of City of Bones, the entirety of City of Ashes, and a majority of City of Glass—the reader is led to believe that Jace and Clary share Valentine Morgenstern as a father, and this pseudo-incest becomes the main obstacle in their relationship. But is the relationship between Jace and Clary really pseudo-incest? Or is it incest-incest?

When it is discovered that Jace and Clary are in fact not siblings, the romantic in us sighs in relief. Finally! They can be together. But nearly at the same time, the reader is informed that Jace and Clary share the blood of the angel Ithuriel, injected into them undiluted by Valentine when they were still in the womb. With the idea of incest so fresh in mind, this revelation is enough to bring the taboo back to the forefront. One type of pseudo-incest is traded for another. “I gave my blood to Valentine Morgenstern, and he put it in his baby boy,” says the demoness Lilith in City of Fallen Angels, referring to Clary’s biological brother, Jonathan Morgenstern. “You might almost say that in a way, I am Jonathan’s mother.” By the same logic, the angel Ithuriel could claim paternity over Jace and Clary, and we’re back in the incest boat. This new claim asks us to look back over the course of the previous novels; it practically begs us to examine what the blood tie means and the ways it may have influenced Jace and Clary’s dynamic. “Blood calls to blood,” the Queen of the Seelie Court says in City of Fallen Angels. And indeed it does, within the Mortal Instruments series, and elsewhere.

The theory of genetic sexual attraction postulates that we are predisposed to find those individuals with similar genetic material particularly attractive, if this predisposition has not been suppressed by the Westermarck effect. It makes sense. The narcissist in all of us finds similarities attractive. We delight in common traits and preferences. So two siblings who don’t know they’re siblings may find themselves attracted to each other on a basic genetic level. Similar pheromones in an unknown sibling may trigger reactions in the brain, as can similar notes in a relation’s voice. Siblings who were separated at a young age and later reunited often report strong and almost instant feelings of attraction, even euphoric crushes so extreme that it seemed impossible not to act on their urges. This is no small phenomenon; according to an article in the Guardian, as many as 50 percent of these reunions result in strong or obsessive feelings. Couples who break the incest taboo and become intimate insist that the intensity of their relationship trumps every other, that it is heightened by their genetic similarities and can’t possibly exist outside of those similarities. Jace and Clary seem to have this level of affection and intensity. Could it be due to their shared angel blood?

From the moment Jace meets Clary, he is unable to stay away from her. It is he, not the other Shadowhunters, who identifies the Shadowhunter blood within her, almost as if he senses it. Throughout the books we (and the characters themselves) are made aware of certain similarities. Both are strong-willed and unlikely to do as they’re told. Though Clary has red hair, their appearances are both described as “golden” in various degrees. And not long after their first meeting, Clary makes note of Jace’s hands and that they are “slim and careful, like the hands of an artist.” Much like her own hands. She also notes a subconscious similarity to her mother in one of his facial expressions, which she calls “scary-calm.” This might not seem relevant, since Jace and Clary’s mother aren’t related, but it is often said that Clary strongly resembles her mother, making Jace’s resemblance actually a resemblance of herself.