#izzy lightwood meta

[lord-montgomery]

hating on or condemning simon because he "cheated" has always felt like just such a clear misread of the situation to me. i'm not gonna say he didn't fuck up but he also didn't ..cheat. if isabelle could date multiple people at once why couldn't he? he was just matching the energy isabelle brought to the table. and honestly i think it was his right to do so, maybe not with maia, but no one told him that was a rule.

and as he noticed things were getting more serious he did have instincts knocking at his heart telling him he needed to break it off with one of them. he just put it off too long. the reason we're given for this is that he didnt want to hurt either of them, and while i'm sure that's true, i don't think that's the whole story. because lbr by cofa the choice was clear. but that choice would also be an admittance that he wants isabelle more than she wants him. and he's been through that before. he's been the guy always prioritzing someone who has other priorities. and he can't be that again.

when everything does come to a head, both girls do get upset, but maia forgives him so much faster than isabelle does. and i think it's izzy's reaction that a lot of people base their perception of this situation on. but the thing is.. simon didn't know about izzy's cheating-based trauma. or that what he did would get mixed up in that. and ik i've said this before but her reaction also had a hell of a lot to do with anger at herself for letting simon have that kind of affect on her, rather than the simple facts of his actions. she went into self-preservation mode.

i just don't think the severity of his misdemeanor can be measured by the black and white metric of dating two people = cheating and cheating = unforgivable. even if it cut izzy deeper than expected.

[faejilly]

so I wanted to riff off of @alexanderlightweight's response to the Alec/Bow/Quiver/summoning meta post by @ralfstrashcan that I reblogged recently, but also I didn't want it to get lost in an increasingly long reblog chain, so I'm gonna quote and start over here:

100%

my headcanon is that it's alec's shadowhunter ability like clary's rune ability and apparently the herondale ghost talking ability(??)

if we really want to take it a step further. we can even talk about how izzy has specially made weapons that have to be super tricky to use which means weapons ability

but that's just my brain. which made that one scene where alec goes back to the institute make no sense, to retrieve his bow because literally every other time he doesn't need to (they just wanted to give clace the training moment and set up the whole hodge thing)

1: I also think Alec's 'have to go get a bow' is just an excuse, but he's using it to a) get away from Jace behaving incomprehensibly & Clary being So Very Clary, AND b) to cover their tracks now that he's realized just HOW comprehensively his siblings are going to go off the rails in the next day or so. (And on a narrative level I really like the scene with Hodge so I'm glad it exists. 😅)

2: I headcanon that part of the reason Alec (& to a lesser extent but still noticeably so, Izzy) can get away with pushing so many Clave/Nephilim boundaries without actually getting deruned despite their parents being on Thin Fucking Ice™️ with well, everyone, is that they have inherited both Family Traits and that's valuable enough (especially after all the losses during and after the Uprising) that the Clave really really doesn't want to get rid of them.

(Similarly, there's some hope that Jace and/or his expected children might show signs of the Wayland traits coming to life again as they've died out otherwise. Obviously that goes a bit sideways once they finally pick up on How Very Herondale he is, but luckily he's Herondale so that's still a benefit.)

Truebloods: very literally truth-tellers. Variations on their skills include the ability to recognize lies, off the charts charisma when they are invoking what they believe to be the truth, and an ability to make the most awkward truths palatable to audiences that normally wouldn't want to engage with them. They were traditionally the guardians of the Soul Sword whenever it left the City of Bones, but that honor faded away over the years as the Council with the Consul/Inquisitor as heads centralized power in their own hands.

Izzy can be seen doing this during her trial, because even when her personal behavior has included digs & microaggressions against Downworlders, she believes that they as a people can and should do better and her speech clearly works in-universe because of that resonance of truth.

(She even occasionally manages the sincere/heart-felt clunky dialogue that works despite being clunky that Alec's so good at, and poor Jace doesn't, despite his best attempts, because for all he's a Lightwood in every other way that matters, he's not actually part Trueblood.)

Maryse has several hints of Alec's same blunt (inexplicably successful) sincerity once she lets herself stop hiding behind Politics & Expectations. When she's upset with Izzy about spending time with the Seelie in s1, she has a line that always felt very self-recriminating to me; (I'm paraphrasing here since I'm too lazy to pull up the script or episode): 'never trust a people who can't lie, they'll find more imaginative ways to stab you in the back'. She knows this about the Seelie because it's what she's always done.

(Alec's shock at his parents being in the Circle can't be because it's against their politics as they've never really tried to behave better. Perhaps it's because it never occurred to him that they could lie that well. Especially his mother, since he has a much better relationship with her than Robert.)

This means that Maryse buying into Valentine's rhetoric was invaluable to him, because she could back him up and help make sure people would fall for it, because she was a Trueblood. Equally, when she turns, that is part of why the Clave lets them back in. Her vow to now toe the party line is completely believable, because she promised on her children... who are also Truebloods.

This also means that their bloodline is one that would not always be popular since they can call out power when it's behaving badly; thus the apparent decline of Trueblood standing in the way that the show refuses to ever really acknowledge it in the present day timeline, and instead talks about Lightwood honor.

(But countered in the way The Clave doesn't move directly against Alec Lightwood, HotI, despite gay and living with a Downworlder, despite how much clear disdain he has for so many of them and their policies. They aren't willing to risk what a Trueblood could do if pushed into active rebellion.)

Lightwoods have a much more palatable martial gift. Their affinity for the adamas in their weapons means they can bond with them, sometimes strongly enough to summon them, manipulate them in the field, adapt them and rune them and enhance them in ways most Shadowhunters can't. (We never see anyone doing anything resembling Alec runing his arrows in s1 after all. What if most of them can't?)

As shown by Izzy in s3 as Weapon's Master, in Alec's ability to beat his parabatai (the supposed best fighter of a generation) when they're sparring with weapons even if he loses once they get to hand-to-hand, Izzy's unique skill with a whip, Alec fighting with everything he gets his hands on, from seraph blades to his signature bow to actual arrows for stabbing. (As seen in everything in ralf's original meta post and delightful fic.)

There's even something in the fact that Izzy was interested in joining the Iron Sisters (which while prestigious also involves even more sacrifice from a people who have to sacrifice a lot already and are thus vital enough that they let Cleophas join despite her past because they needed her) and yet Izzy stayed active duty -- and presumably eventually marriageable.

(I frequently wonder if part of why she chose to make herself as unpalatable as possible for a traditional/political match was a lingering bit of awareness that that was what The Clave most wanted from her, regardless of who she wanted to be.)

ALSO! There has to be a reason that Robert Lightwood was valuable enough to keep even when they got rid of Maryse, a reason the show reiterates Lightwood honor over and over again, a reason he & Maryse got to be co-Heads of an Institute (even if the general fanon that they were more constrained than most Proper Heads does fit what little we see), and we never actually see Robert fighting or sparring, but we are repeatedly told that his children are the best of the best.

But it's seldom mentioned as a compliment, is it? More like an expectation. They're Lightwoods, they have to be the best with their weapons, or what is the point of them? It's just another weight added to Alec's so-called crown, another expectation Izzy has to both flaunt and fight against every day so she can have at least a little bit of herself left to hold onto.

(The one thing Jace is good at, the one bit of the monster his father built that helps; he's as good with a blade as a Lightwood. It's the only thing that gives him hope for redemption, the only thing that gives him enough conviction to ask Alec to be his parabatai and protect his soul from himself.)

[alexanderlightweight]

hello~ wensday prompt: what happens if alec was 6-7 years older. he wouldn't be parabatai with jace because he will be 18 and jace like 12 ? or he start date magnus much earlier before clary show up?

I hope you doing great! also have you seen "bodies bodies bodies"? great comedy horror. recommend to see it~

thank you for writing all of these prompts 💕

Hello! you are not the only person to be interested in that idea and i love it! in my opinion, an alec who was 6-7 years older than izzy wouldn't be raised by maryse and robert. alec and jonathon were born during the circle, after they left. so this is part of a universe called walls of adoration, claws of desperations

there is another porition of this written and jsyk it's alec and magnus secret relationship.

also valentine wants soldiers and experiments, he'd encourage his soldiers to keeps the kids, maybe even convince them. but maryse wouldn't take a toddler or a baby with her, it would be a tactical error and distraction.

in my opinion and headcanon, alec is left with the trueblood or lightwood grandparents and if i'm going to go with either, i'm gonna go with the trueblood tbh. i'm biased cause i like maryse better than robert. alec has been living in idris with the disgrace of circle member parents because this is before its hidden. he's about to get his first rune and he's been raised loyal and to disdain his parents because they're traitors.

he's going to refuse to go with them and he's about to get his first rune and maryse is pregnant and will have another heir and the truebloods need one.

so yeah, thats kinda my meta for the background and hows and whys of this.

i am doing great! thank you so much for asking and today has been lovely and i have so many prompts i'm excited about.

I really am enjoying them so you're welcome and thank you for sending in a prompt

also i have not but it is now on the list!

<3 lumine

-

Alec prefers the parts of his life that are him living in the outskirts of Alicante. His grandparents have passed and while he is sent to train hunters at Institute’s across the world, he’s had no real interest or reason to officially be called to serve as a Commander.

At least until now.

With Maryse and Robert Lightwood being recalled to Idris, Alec is the only one related who has the qualifications and the right background for it. Robert and Maryse won’t be able to claim the clave is trying to strip the Institute from their family, not when Alec is heir to one of them.

Which is fine, it’s not the worst thing Alec has done and while he dreads the tedium of bringing an entire Institute full of hunters up to his personal standards, it’s not the worst thing he’s done.

It’s a bit annoying to have to stop his current study and projects and while Aline promised to keep him updated, Alec hopes that Sebastian will help remind her. Otherwise, he’ll be hearing about things once every six months.

Alec isn’t interested in politics the way his parents are.

He’s seen what they did to Maryse and Robert and now that he’s older, he understands things better and dislikes them more.

So, it’s with indifference that he goes to New York and it’s with prejudice that he kicks shadowhunters back to New York.

Izzy thinking she’s a shadowhunter informant at fifteen and that she can seduce information from seelies is the ridiculous thing Alec’s ever heard and while she wails and begs, he ignores her petulant whining. She’s her parent’s princess and he knows she’s rarely been told a ‘no’ that she didn’t ignore.

Jace is just as stubborn and the third time he gets himself and other shadowhunters injured, Alec has him with Izzy, Starkweather, and about a fifth of his Institute ready to be shipped back to Alicante.

“It’s a conflict of interest.” He tells Jia with a smirk over the video call that night. “They’re my precious little siblings, Jia. How could I put them through the same kind of training as the others?”

“You just don’t want to deal with them.” Jia accuses, having apparently already found out how much of a headache the two are.

Alec merely raises a brow because it is a conflict of interest and Jia knows it. Everyone knows it, which is why it’s hilarious that she’s still trying.

“Fine. But did you have to send us Starkweather? This is a mess, Trueblood.”

Alec simply hums and signs off, because at least now it’s not his mess.

[normal-thoughts-official]

what are your thoughts about izzy and alec’s sibling bond from the scenes we got from the show

i liked their relationship a lot, actually. which is not to say that it was flawless, but the flaws we got to see were honestly some of what made me the most interested in them. and then of course sh dropped it like a hot potato, but like... it was still pretty interesting to me

disclaimer that this is my own Abused Kid™ stuff projecting for sure, but i still think the way i see their relationship makes sense (or well, i'm not sure if i would say my parents were abusive, but they are quite a lot like the lightwoods in their own way and i definitely consider the lightwoods abusers, so it doesn't really matter that much). so like this will probably feature a fair amount of oversharing lol

anyway! so what i find really interesting and really like about alec and izzy's relationship is that despite the fact that them having abuser parents who honestly put them in very specific "kid who always fucks up" vs "kid who is expected to do everything perfect" roles, they managed to still be friends and on each other's side and have an overall very loving and supporting relationship. i think that's what attracted me to their sibling bond the most, because for decades me and my brother didn't really manage to be close or build a relationship precisely because of those roles. in our case, my brother was the fuckup kid, i was the kid who had to always be perfect (in my case, lowkey to "compensate" for him) and it led to him resenting me and being all but afraid of me because everything i did seemed to be so much better than him in my parent's eyes, so... yeah

so it always struck me as pretty interesting that alec and izzy seemed to be genuinely so close. izzy is one of the few people who gets alec to smile and who gets to ever touch alec, and although they have a lot of differences, it always came down way more to teasing than to actual fighting between them

but also - which is partially why i said that their flaws were part of what drew me to them the most - the tensions that emerged from that abusive background were very much there, and i found that pretty interesting

another disclaimer that i tend to relate to alec more, because i was in the same role as him, but also tend to be very forgiving towards izzy because i see my brother in her and i blame myself for our relationship way more than him since he was the weakest link there lol. but also in part i think i project unto her in the sense that i kept trying to make things easier to my brother, but i kept fucking up because i didn't fully understand his situation, and i definitely think that's what went on with izzy and alec

so let's get into the details of how the whole "fuckup kid" vs "golden kid" (and disclaimer before ppl come yell at me again: i'm not saying that alec was treated well by his parents or that they treated him like he was good enough, because they definitely didn't. i'm saying that when compared to izzy he was considered the kid that had potential, that could be trusted, and who had the most amount of pressure put unto. again, that was how i was treated by my parents, so miss me with the "wow you think alec had it easy?" shit because i know damn well he did not lol. the "golden kid" is an abuse archetype and therefore it means you are abused. calm down) thing affected their relationship in particular

so alec was the eldest, and i think from very early on he latched unto the expectations his parents had for him as a way to protect himself and make sense of the world. i was telling autistic alec anon just today how i think that the fact that shadowhunter culture was so black and white and gave alec such a clear sense of what he was supposed to do and who he was supposed to be kind of helped him navigate the world because it made it easier for him to figure out the path to follow when everything else was just so confusing and the expectations were so crushing and everything he felt was so complicated. i think alec's always known that he didn't conform, and because he didn't have a safe outlet to let that out, he decided to just go by the book to protect himself. which is valid

that being said, i think the other half of the reason why he decided to pursue the "perfect shadowhunter" existence so hard was exactly because of izzy (and later jace and max). because again, alec is the eldest, and he was already being crushed by expectations of upholding the lightwood name and following the rules and whatnot. like, maryse and robert basically expected their kids to undo all the shit they had done when they joined the circle, and they didn't even tell them that that was the reason, so they were probably just taught that they should do what the lightwoods said because and that was that. and because there were all these stakes that they didn't even understand or know about, the pressure was harder

and alec was already being taught to be a leader, and he loved his sister, so he probably wanted to shield her from all the pressure of those expectations, because he knew he was out there fucking killing himself for it. so i think part of the reason he tried so hard to be perfect was because, if he was perfect, izzy (and then jace and max) would get to breathe a little bit. alec is pretty self sacrificial and definitely has a tendency to shoulder suffering in the place of ppl he loves, so i don't think that's far fetched. also, we saw how alec literally shouldered all the blame for jace's fuckups, despite the fact that jace did it all behind alec's back and with alec telling him not to do it (i'm saying jace because from what i remember what got alec punished in particular was something that jace and clary did, not izzy, but izzy was definitely also going against whatever alec told her to and i have no doubt that he would shoulder the blame for her as well, although i don't think she would use that against him, unlike some people. but i digress). but alec just allowed himself to be punished for it like it was on him, so i think it makes sense to believe that alec tried to take the brunt of their parents' pressure so izzy wouldn't have to

and the thing is that i think that izzy... never realized that. i mean, i'm sure she realized that alec was trying way too hard to be what their parents expected of her, but she never realized that she was part of the reason. and she tried to get him to rebel a little bit because she thought that he needed it, and i mean, she was right, but what she didn't realize is that the fact that alec didn't rebel was so she could. not that izzy was not facing consequences for her rebelling, because we saw how maryse treated her versus how she treated alec and jace (it's very interesting to me also how once jace came into the picture he became an actual golden kid, not a "golden kid" like the abused kid who is put as impossibly better than the other one but still never good enough, but actually good enough, and how that was used to put alec in that position where he had to work even harder as well. but that's for another post)

and that's the frustrating part (and i think the part i relate to izzy for the most) because i think she was genuinely trying to help? but she never really understood alec. i was also talking earlier today (or was it yesterday? rip my time blindness but it was definitely recent) about how many people seem to understand alec's coming out story as an internalized homophobia story, and how i don't think that's how it was at all. i don't wanna repeat myself so if anyone's interested in that it's here. and the thing is, i think izzy made the same mistake. she falsely assumed that alec didn't rebel because he genuinely internalized that being gay was bad and because he was lying to himself about it, but that wasn't the case at all. alec knew he was gay and accepted that, he just decided to stay in the closet and live life that way. which obviously is horrible and traumatic, but it's different, and because izzy couldn't tell the difference, she made it worse

izzy kept trying to make alec "accept" himself, but alec didn't really have a problem accepting himself; he just wanted to keep that a secret to protect himself. but because she thought that he was in denial, she kept trying to push him to... not exactly admit because i wouldn't say she was all like "alec just say it you'll feel better" but to maybe "face" it, and alec interpreted that as her demanding that he came out of the closet, which he couldn't do. so he kept closing off and she kept interpreting that as him being in denial, so she kept pushing, and she made things infinitely worse for him even if i am 100% sure her intentions were good (just look at how protective she was of alec and magnus during the beginning of their relationship, or how she tried to get maryse and robert to marry her off instead of alec, or the difference between how clary and jace talked about it - "you're in love with jace"; "this is about your feelings" - and how izzy talked about it - "alec, it's okay") but as we say in brazil, hell is filled to the brim with good intentions

that is not to say that izzy didn't go on that straight shit from time to time ("we all got our things, don't we?" comes to mind, but i gotta say it really pisses me off how everyone talks about izzy being homophobic in that scene and completely ignores how openly racist alec was. like obviously both are fucked up, but yall clearly seem to think only one of these is a problem. but that's for another post) but i think that generally her intentions were always to get alec to be more comfortable with himself/happier. she noticed how much the lightwood's expectations were crushing him, but again, she didn't realize that alec was choosing to take the brunt of these. she didn't realize that he couldn't rebel like she did because of her. not until it was too late

i think izzy only started to realize that - particularly how much of her rebelling was only allowed because alec was there as a safe option so they couldn't afford to have a "fuckup child" even if obviously they still hated that they couldn't control izzy - when she tried to get the lightwoods to marry her instead of alec and they were like... lol? it's alec who's supposed to save the lightwood name, not you. you are worthless as a bride and as a peace offering

and that's when it hit her that alec was taking a role, a role that he had been effectively protecting her from having to take, but that also meant she couldn't help him

i think that's when she realized, because you can see the change in her behavior, you know - "you stood by me, so now i'm standing by you, big brother". she understood that alec was trying to protect her the same way she had tried to protect him and never realized, but that by trying to get alec to just stop without thinking about what the greater picture was for him, she was just making things harder for him. i think that was some very interesting growth we got to see

and on the other hand alec didn't realize that izzy had been trying to protect him as well. like i think that she definitely laid the whole "fuckup kid" thing too thick, which was partially for herself, like, basically embracing the role because she would never be good enough for the lightwoods so why not just accept that she was a fuckup and be everything they despised? but i think she also partially did it for alec, because she wanted to show him that it was okay. that there could be a life that wasn't just doing what your parents expected you to. and like, sure, she got treated like shit for it, and she faced some forms of abuse that alec didn't (mainly touch/affection withdrawal from what we got to see in the show, but also considerable more verbal degrading. again im not saying alec had it easy, especially because we know that the parts where maryse expressed "pride" over him were basically used to make him do what she wanted; but still, the difference in treatment is very clear), but she was still standing, so it was possible, see?

i don't even think this is something i had to defend a lot because she said it so many times? she was always telling alec that he could loosen up, that it was okay (she said the exact words "it's okay" many times). she had a kinda, idk, sassy attitude over it, generally treating it like a joke, but imo that was because she knew that if she talked about it in all seriousness alec would shut down, like he had many times. so i think by making it into a joke and playing the mindless "woo i don't care about anything" character she was trying to have that conversation in a more subtle way. at the very least, alec was amused

and i think a huge part of the fandom also misinterprets izzy as being exactly that shallow person who only thought about immediate gratification that she pretended to be but honestly i don't see that at all? throughout all of season 1, the single thing that drove izzy's character was her desire to protect alec, except for when she tried to save meliorn from him, which was like.... just the decent thing to do. and izzy is not a shallow character. she is not stupid. and she is not primarily driven by her own desires. that is not to say that izzy was never selfish (see: how she treated raphael, so much shit about sizzy), but she is not the kind of character who only does whatever the fuck she wants to because it sounds more fun that's jace and clary. most of the time, her primary motivation was to help alec or clary, aka people that she loves. i think that, like alec, she is the kind that only extends that protectiveness over the people closest to her and is not really the "helping everyone out" type, but she is also not completely self-absorbed like she pretended to be. and i don't think she even cared all that much about parties and whatnot. like when did we see her going to one on her own without it being a mission? when did we see izzy actually pursuing one night stands? that is not to say that these things are bad, but if izzy were that girl who only cares about sleeping around and having fun like she pretended to be, then one would think we would see her actually doing that instead of just performing that shallow mindless sexy girl stereotype?

and like look i know that she was written to be a sexy lamp or whatever but if the writers aren't gonna care enough about her to make that consistent and show her doing that beyond what she says i might as well go there and give her the depth that she deserves. especially because we got to see izzy talk about that so much. like her saying that one of the things that attracted her to raphael was that for once in her life it didn't feel like everything was all about sex. i find it appalling that people genuinely think that that's all she's about when she made it so clear that it bothered her. like imo izzy took on that role, again, to piss off her parents, and also because it was something that she was good at. she was good at being sexy and she got gratification and positive feedback over that, which she was obviously starved for since her own mother wouldn't even fucking hug her. it was the one thing she didn't fuck up at and that got her to feel like she was treasured, even if really she was just desired

not just that but izzy also consistently made hard choices for those she loved? like im not gonna say that izzy going to save meliorn from torture was anything less than the bare minimum but if she were that shallow self centered persona that only wanted to have fun and didn't care about the consequences she wouldn't have put so much on jeopardy to save them. or risk being deruned and losing everything so she could call the clave out on their bullshit. or break up with meliorn (someone we know she genuinely liked) so she could offer herself to be married off to someone in alec's place. the one thing that we know izzy would be miserable over, because that woman was not born to be no one's trophy wife. and she was fully ready and willing to throw her WHOLE life away for alec. that would be FOREVER. miss me with that "izzy is a shallow girl who only cares about herself and partying" shit

like to me it's very clear that that was a front (especially because the way she talked about it was SO over the top too, like, it sounded so fake. and when we got scenes of her talking to alec or to clary she was a wholly different person, way less confident, way softer. honestly izzy could have been such a great narrative about woc and hypersexualization and the traps of taking over that "femme fatale" role as a form of empowerment or whatever, but of course sh doesn't have the range for that) and i think that front was first and foremost for alec's sake. she was trying to break him out of the lightwood's brainwashing. what she didn't realize was that he wasn't brainwashed, he was making a choice between the very bad options that he had. and alec in turn didn't realize that izzy acted the way she did, in great part, for him, not for herself. i wouldn't say that alec bought that izzy was a shallow girl because we know how much he loves her and that he knows her better than anyone, but i think he also didn't realize she was trying to help/protect him

so it was such an interesting miscommunication issue and i would have loved to see that actually addressed and worked on, but alas. the most we ever got was them talking about being honest to each other about the yin fen. and izzy pretty much didn't get real plotlines or character development anyway daoijdaoij except for the absolute bullcrap that was the yin fen which i am not going to get into because it makes me so angry and i hate it so much

and then of course sh didn't really get into it and basically considered the problem solved once alec came out, which i mean, i guess does take that out of the way when it was the main miscommunication problem between them, but still, they should have had a talk and realized what a stupid dance they were both having and how they would have both benefitted from working together instead of in the name of each other. which is a frequent trope for alec in relationships anyway, too, so it could be a good introduction to these issues, but alas!

in short: i think both alec and izzy love each other very much, have each other's best interests at heart, but weren't really seeing each other as they were. and they both put a front for each other (izzy in particular) that made communication pretty much impossible. and they ended up not being very good for each other (particularly izzy for alec, but i think alec also made her feel alone and like he saw her as.. just some stupid girl, you know?), but i loved to see how these things were there simultaneously. the wanting to help each other and the effectively only making things worse. the love that was so present and so strong despite all of that. the way that they never became competitive or resented each other like kids who are raised with those dynamics usually get. i just love how there was so much going on and so many problems but still so much love between them. i really wished we got to see it actually get some sort of closure and more exploration, but. fuck me i guess

[ketzwrites]

I sometimes think Isabelle only respects the downworlders when it benefits her. Otherwise she's low key like the rest.

I wouldn’t say “when it benefits her” per say. It’s not that Izzy is consciously racist or that she actively subscribes to the idea that Shadowhunters are better than Downworlders. In fact, she would - and has - called out and fought against discrimination when she saw it happening. She was almost deruned for doing exactly that.

In my opinion, what happens is that Izzy has internalized racism like all the Shadowhunters. She thought it was fun to kill vampires as a distraction, she mocked a defeated werewolf by saying, “Stay. Good doggy.” and she equated Raphael asexuality with him being turned into a vampire. All of those are bathed in racism against Downworlders. 

However, the show has failed to recognize that. From the start, Izzy has been presented as the more “woke” of the Lightwoods: she was in an open relationship with Meliorn, she called out racist or unfair decisions when the Clave (represented by Maryse or Lydia) took them, she was very supportive of Alec when it came to his sexuality.

Only, Izzy is in a position of power as a Shadowhunter and that influences her actions and the repercussions of those actions. Usually, Izzy’s racism shows up when she’s fighting or having a supposedly badass moment. But they are not when put in context.

It doesn’t even have to be only about Downworlders. Izzy’s fight against the mundane in 2x01 was framed as a kick-ass moment. And, visually, it was. Emeraude is a small girl and watching her dominate a fight against a mountain of a man was impressive. Only, in context, that was a highly trained and runed Shadowhunter fighting a mundane. The unbalanced odds of that fight favored her, not that guy.

That lack of considering the context is all over the way Izzy is written. And it goes against the idea the show wants us to have of the character. Worst still, it misses the opportunity to show that even a well-intended and progressive person can still say racist things or abuse their privilege. All of the Shadowhunters have to unlearn the discrimination they’ve been fed with their whole lives and Izzy is no exception, despite the show’s belief that she is.

[peupeugunn]

i have so many questions about how shadowhunters travel across the city because yeah on the one hand they have speed and endurance runes but on the other hand. cities are Big.

like, what happens if someone's injured and needs more medical treatment than a rune, how do they get transported? piggy back style??? what about apprehended criminals? are they just walked halfway across the city to the institute?? they could so easily escape in that time?

and what about just. travelling here and there? izzy, jace, clary, alec, and simon took simon's van to the city of bones in the show but. was that cause it's too far away? because they finally had access to a vehicle? because they didn't want simon to lag behind if they were running???

surely shadowhunters have vehicles in the institute? maybe they aren't used much because traffic would be a hindrance but for non-emergency stuff.

do shadowhunters have personal vehicles? maybe, like i bet that if they can afford it with their own money, they can buy one. but that would mean that the institute has a parking lot. which is funny to me for reasons I don't understand.

izzy has a bike. i know it. i can feel it in my bones. jace isn't allowed to drive anything because. no (he knows how to ride a bike but he isn't allowed to). alec doesn't have a car or bike because what he does have, is road rage. in spades. but he does know how to ride a bike and drive a car.

[poemsfromthealley]

probably unpopular opinion but despite being supportive of Alec in s1, Isabelle acted like such a well meaning Straight Person (tm) it was a bit uncomfortable to watch sometimes.

It is possibly an unpopular opinion, but you’re right. This is an aspect I kind of have to fanwank into the Best Version, because while season 1 is Izzy’s most solid season overall, they take some episodes before they settle into what they want to do with her.

But if I was to think about this from an in-world perspective, I would consider the following:

While Izzy has her secrets, she’s also emotionally open, she pokes herself into other people’s problems, she’s a rebel child. Her solution to most problems is to tackle them, prod and peel and analyse. So she approaches Alec’s closeted identity as something to break open. She understands, on a general level, why he chooses to remain silent about it, but she doesn’t have any personal idea of how much it alienates him. She knows, right? (I take it to be canon that either Alec told her or she intuited it herself.) Surely he could also tell other people and they’d be okay with it.

After all, she is aggressive and open about her own breaking of the mold. She rebels freely and often and still has her position at the Institute, so how hard could it be for Alec to make them accept him as he is, too?

Except in Alec’s case, his rebellion is not just about something he wants to do—flaunt the rules, express himself freely, have casual liaisons with Downworlders—but something that he is. He can’t be true to himself and conform to the narrow framework of what makes a good, commendable Shadowhunter. In this society, queerness is silence. It’s denial and negation and absence in a way totally different from the ways in which Izzy is bucking the system.

(It is a bit of a stretch of canon, but I’m pretty sure that the nephilim are quite okay with casual sex. You just have to keep your proclivities on the down low. It’s the public association with Downworlders that finally breaks the camel’s back in Izzy’s case, because that feeds into her image and that of her family.)

So she can’t understand why Alec is silent. Their society gives neither of them the tools for making a space for him in it. Alec is, at least in the NYCI, the first person to start fashioning those tools, let alone the space he can make with them, and it takes Magnus’s influence to open him to the idea that he can do it.

It’s a clash between both their personalities and what they want. Izzy makes several pretty lewd (if, from her POV, well-meant) comments about how Alec should get laid.

Alec, however, doesn’t want to get laid. He could go pick up a guy and have his fun covertly. (We pretty much know this is a thing that happens, see: Underhill, who’s served for years but has had to hide his relationships.) He wants, ultimately, to be with the man he loves openly and without secrets. He doesn’t do casual, he doesn’t do things halfway, and so he has to stay at the back of the closet until he finally flings the door wide open and smooches a warlock in front of the entire Institute.

So there is the disconnect between what Izzy thinks Alec’s issue is and what it actually is, and then between how they approach breaking the rules, and then between how they approach love and relationships.

Now this has gotten long and is probably not very coherent. I find this an interesting point, and while it doesn’t invalidate that Izzy loves Alec and wants the best for him, it does demonstrate that she has privilege and safety here that he is denied, and that his reluctance to talk to her openly prevents her from really understanding the problem.

[orangeyjuicy]

Alec and izzy are such important examples of children who overcame their parents prejudices. And yes, I mean both of them.

Alec loved and trusted his parents. Desperate to make them proud, he parroted everything they said without thinking about whether or not it was true. Even their prejudices, even the ones against him. He never questioned anything and gave the clave his blind faith and loyalty. Alec was very obvious in his biases. In comparison, izzy might have seemed like she shed her prejudices but they affected her just as deeply. To her, interactions with downworlders and mundanes were an act of rebellion, not a serious exchange with a group her people looked down on. They were cute and distracting but that's all. In a fight, her biases tended to leak out ("typical vampire"). Turns out, sleeping with someone doesn't erase prejudice. So while alec openly treated simon with distrust and disdain at first because he was a mundane, izzy basically took to treating him like an adorably dumb child instead of like a grown man. Due to their upbringing, alec was unable to trust people who weren't like him and izzy wasn't able to take them seriously

But the second they started to really immerse themselves in other cultures they started to reevaluating themselves. Alec came to see that just because his parents and the clave believed something doesn't mean it's true and that its not right for him to absorb their hate and fear. Izzy came to understand the downworlders weren't just a fun group to party with, that their lives were more important than that and they deserved respect. In the end, the fact that they were good people who were willing to admit when they're wrong and learn from the past overshadowed their upbringing

[enkelimagnus]

Izzy is a young Maryse.

When people look at her they see Maryse at her age, her passion, her fire, the riot and rage under her skin. They see the woman who wanted to change the world, no matter how. They see her.

Maryse was as much a rebel as Izzy was. She was swept into a mess of a situation, but there was the same fire inside of her as there is in Izzy.

It’s a flame that can and will burn everything in its path. Maryse tried to extinguish it instead of taming and the frustrated rage turned on her family.

Izzy will hopefully do better.

[tempest-nova]

I like Charlie just fine. If Isabelle really didn’t like him she would’ve never gone out on those dates with him or texted him. It is temporary I can tell and that is ok. With Ollie and maybe Charlie I am glad we are seeing why regular humans getting mixed in the shadow world is just bad. It was bound to happen and I refuse to think Shadowhunters are super clueless to the human world or events. I think integrate enough but still stay at a distance.

Ehh – I don’t hate Charlie but I could do without him. Like I can kind of see both of the main two interpretations that the SH fandom is having right now.

1) Izzy is genuinely interested but is so focused on her job and moving past her addiction (and Raphael, honestly) that she doesn’t want to admit it. Charlie is correctly reading her (somehow) and that’s why he’s being kind of pushy.

2) Charlie is being very typical male who won’t really take no for an answer although he’s trying to be charming about it and thinks he deserves bonus points for that fact. Izzy is truly saying what she feels – she’s not terribly interested but he’s not horrible seeming so “ehhhh … why not? *shrug*”

I think the problem is that the INTENTION of SH is scenario 1. However scenario 2 is how it’s really coming across! Idk if it’s because the showrunners don’t know enough about how this happens all too often in real life to subvert it correctly or it’s a combination of acting, writing, and editing that just isn’t hitting the mark but it’s really, really coming off via the latter scenario.

I mean the purest line Charlie ever had was him saying he followed Izzy because he was worried about her getting caught up in the Owl-related murders happening. That one thing showed him as a decent guy (a virtuous guy, even) while pretty much everything else has shown him as just a typical dude trying to get the girl to pay attention to him.

I do like having Charlie, Ollie, and Sam being involved with our intrepid heroes to show the mundane side of things, so that is a plus to him being there. While I do want all 3 of them to survive the season; I really hope that Ollie and Sam will be okay – things seem a lot more dicey for them atm.

Also, if Charlie does survive the season I look forward to him accusing Izzy of being part of a Mafia Crime Family. :D 

If he sees Alec do something that screams HolyShitHe’sGoingToKillSomeone (typical Alec, really!) and then later asks Izzy if Alec is her “boss” I’m going to laugh at the look on his face. I don’t think that would really happen but it would be hilarious!!!

[faejilly]

Tangential Prompt Requests!

Inspired by @alexanderlightweight's "Writing Wednesday" I am opening up my askbox for requests! With the usual caveat that whatever I come up with may bear very little resemblance to whatever you thought you had in mind.

(Or, as I have previously put it when making things: the voices in my head are smarter than I am, and they do NOT tell me what they're doing, so we all get whatever we get and can be surprised together!)

Feel free to ask about any of my published fic, or request new ones. You may cruise my #prompt requests tag for ideas if you'd like, just be sure to tell me which meme if applicable. If you're a relatively recent follower/lurker my writing tag is #jilly writes and my ao3 is here.

I am accepting:

Writing Prompts!

Questions regarding: lore, worldbuilding, headcanons, OC's etc. (I do have a specific SH meta tag, #my sh rambling, but for all the rest it's just kind of... somewhere? 🍀)

Fanmix/Podfic requests (LMK if you need more clarification on that one.)

Primary Fandoms:

Shadowhunters: I tend to write Malec, and I probably won't write either Alec or Magnus with someone else, but I enjoy the entire extended (TV) cast so feel free to go wild.

BioWare: Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Jade Empire

Secondary Fandoms are too numerous to list and include an eclectic range of books/TV shows/movies/video games. Feel free to ask about anything, especially if you've seen me flail about it here or post something on ao3/spotify. I will enjoy the question, even if don't have an opinion, promise!

If you'd like some suggestions about stuff I'm currently working on?

Highlights From The Unending WIP List of Doom™️

#apples vs oranges (not on AO3 yet) A Malec a/b/o story with Nephilim!wings and weird lore and fantasy politics. (Yeah, I will eventually manage a better blurb for that.)

d.c. al coda: DA2 epilogue(s) (Adelaide Hawke/Sebastian Vael)

they have hung my heart with a sunset reasonably canon compliant Shadowhunters epilogue with Inquisitor Alec Lightwood & High Warlock of Alicante Magnus Bane in Alicante

Floralegia: Weaver Shepard from Mass Effect (original trilogy, f!shenko, earthborn, war hero, paragon, nerd, etc.)

clizzy!AU a very much not canon compliant Shadowhunters epilogue where-in they are all still in NYC and also eventually I will get Clary & Izzy to make out. Hopefully.

Anything 7KPP!

mer!Alec

Sagacious Zu/Spirit Monk (#Icy Yaling) from Jade Empire

I have discovered, these last few weeks, that I am kind of terrible at doing one-shot scenes anymore, even though I used to write them all the time. So I may write several fills and make sure I know how they go together before I start posting. If you're ever curious whether I got your prompt, or what the status is, feel free to ask and I'll check. ❤️

[normal-thoughts-official]

Izzy and magnus brotp headcanons if u have any bls

i do! i dont think ive ever been asked about them before so yay!

mandatory disclaimer that this post is about the show, not the books, and idc what happens in the books and wont be taking it into consideration here

okay so i think my brotp tag for them ("crazy scientists but make it glam") pretty much sums it up. i love the concept of crazy scientists magnus and izzy. like... if magnus and alec lose braincells when theyre together, magnus and izzy gain braincells, but lose Common Sense

because they are both so into similar things like physics and biochem and technology and magic, so if the subject comes up they will start excitedly talking about idk the possibilities for time travel or something, and alec of course has no interest in those things so hes like "k imma get a drink" and when he comes back magnus and izzy are Actually Seriously Planning On Launching Themselves To Mars and he has to be like "or maybe we could discuss this here on earth???" and alec is really not used to being the voice of reason when it comes to magnus but alas

and i just love magnus and izzy as that duo who can like spend hours talking in depth about the mechanisms of time travel or cures for magical diseases or whichever subject theyre focusing on at the moment and who make a mean team when working together but who can also get Too Excited and lose it a little

other than that the other thing i like about magnus and izzy is that they can relate to each other on that sense of being reduced to The Hot Fashionista, you know? like magnus is called a lothario and izzy is always treated like her one personality trait is Sexy™ and i think both of them kind of use that perception as an armor for themselves. i have talked about that in relation to magnus several times so i dont think it bears repeating because he himself compared his eyeliner to tiger stripes and magicked makeup on when he was feeling bad and alec was coming, so. but anyway my point is that izzy is no different and that was addressed in the sh that is good and lives in my head instead of her just being reduced to eye candy the whole show

like it's obvious that izzy's whole thing with being Sexy™ is something that she uses as part of her rebel act. like, her mom is gonna reduce her to a stupid slut anyway, so why not act the part? case in point: twi!izzy. in the world where the lightwoods weren't making her and alec's life hell, she allowed herself to be a lot more casual. also the way she is always talking about how she can do everything they do in heels, how she always uses her body to be "the distraction" and/or to gather information, to lure in demons even tho thats unnecessary, etc. like i think a part of izzy feels like sex is all she's good at and so she lays that in as thick as possible. she even kind of said so when she said that one of the reasons why she liked raphael is because she knew that sex wasn't a part of the equation for him

disclaimer! dressing in revealing clothes and/or sleeping around is not bad and doesnt inherently mean that the person has Unresolved Issues that end up manifesting like that, or whatever. i think izzy also dresses as she does because she likes it and good for her! she also clearly likes sex and good for her!!!! and it definitely doesn't mean her relationships are shallow because we saw how fiercely loyal she is to those he loves, platonically or romantically. i just think that the way she built her identity around that is partially because it is a good armor - if she presents herself as shallow and concerned only with instant pleasure and looking pretty, people won't get too close. and when they treat her as such, it doesn't hurt as much because she IS laying it on thick and she IS sexy and she can use it to her advantage, even to manipulate people, so whos laughing now?

for example, in s1 in particular izzy was always acting like she cared about nothing but having fun and going to parties, yet it was obvious that izzy actually cared way more about saving the downworld and helping those she loves, particularly alec. like she presents herself as shallow and unconcerned with anything but her own pleasure but it's clear that she's willing to throw all of that away - even give herself up to get married to whoever her parents choose, her own worst nightmare - for what actually matters and drives her: her loved ones and what she thinks is right. she was okay with getting deruned for what she believed in, thats not a shallow person. so obviously that whole thing was an act, and well, why put up an act like that when it borders on annoying honestly? i think it's to protect herself, for the reasons listed above

plus, it makes her mom mad, and a part of her is obviously defining herself in opposition to her mom. if her mom wants something out of her, she does the opposite, and that applies to her clothing too

anyway all of that is to say that magnus and izzy have a similar relationship with 1- their "lothario"/"slut" personas, and 2- the way they understand fashion and clothing. it's about expressing something to others, something that protects their vulnerabilities, for the both of them. and while i don't think they (particularly izzy) are exactly dying to go deep into that subject and their armors, there is that understanding between them, you know? and under the right amount of alcohol and in a safe enough environment when its just the two of them they might even talk about it and its nice to have someone who completely understands it, you know, that pretty specific defense mechanism and being reduced to sexualized stereotypes (especially since both of them are bi. id mention both of them being brown too but izzy's racial belonging in the show is uhhhhh weird to say the least so i wont get into that)

and also just the silly things! going to parties together, going shopping together, remember when magnus and izzy were both wearing the exact same color scheme and pattern? obsessed with the idea of them color coordinating just for like, the challenge of creating outfits that dont look the same or even like theyre supposed to match but that have similars colors and textures and patterns, you know?

also they are fantastic at gifting each other and somehow always know Exactly What The Other Has Their Eyes Own. like izzy will give magnus some eyeliner and he'll be like "how did you know ive been meaning to buy that?" and she'll go "i didnt" and wink at him, and the opposite is also true. or alternatively izzy will get him a book on astronomy and he'll be like "how did you know i was hyperfixating on black holes??" and she'll be like "i didn't" and the other way around as well. alec asks for their help buying gifts for the other more often than not, but izzy realized a long time ago that magnus likes alec's gifts better than hers, because even tho they aren't always a perfect fit, they are always so thoughtful and blow him away even tho that was in no way alec's intention (see: the omamori)

also izzy is fiercely protective of alec, magnus, and their relationship as a whole, which sometimes really warms magnus' heart when she just. jumps in to their defense when someone is being bitchy, you know? it's nice that she has their back

and i think thats all i have for now but aaa i love them

[ketzwrites]

I agree with what you say and that sort of the point I was making. Every time she raised her voice in favour of the downworlders it's been personal. She almost got deruned because of meliorn and she was in a relation ship with him. Alec is her brother, the person she's probably closes to so she's accepting of Magnus. Simon is someone she is canonically going to be with so she's always helping him. What she did to rosa then was just shitty. Aside from these I don't remember her being nice to them

Hm, I get where you’re coming from, but the opposite is also true. Every time Izzy was condescending or outright racist, she was in a position of conflict against a Downworlder. That doesn’t excuse her behavior, but it explains why the writers would have her “assert dominance.” It’s the worst way possible to do it, but it doesn’t happen every time she sees a Downworlder.

Izzy has interacted with Maia, Catarina, and Luke outside of fighting scenarios and didn’t talk down to them in those moments. When she went after the vampires under the effects of craving their venom, Izzy didn’t demand that they gave her what she wanted or acted as if she was entitled to their bite. She was the only Shadowhunter besides Clary that went to see Simon’s performance in the Hunter’s Moon, a typically Downworlder bar, and she took Max to train with her and Simon at the Jade Wolf, a place surrounded by werewolves.

Now, I agree that Izzy speaks up more for the Downworlders that she knows personally. But she did steal the Mortal Cup from Alec instead of turning it in back in Season 1. Doing so would’ve saved Meliorn from being tortured, but Izzy believed the Clave would use the Mortal Cup to harm other Downworlders as well:

“If the Clave is willing to subject Meliorn to the Silent Brothers, if they are willing to go this far, what do you think will happen if they get the Cup? This affects everyone.”

Izzy to Magnus, 1x09

I do believe that if it wasn’t Meliorn but another Seelie, Izzy would have acted against the Clave’s orders as well. But we haven’t seen that happen yet, so it’s a matter of interpretation. To me, Izzy’s racism is internalized and it slips out whenever she is “asserting dominance” more than something that she extends to all Dowsnworlders but for those she knows personally. 

[theravennest]

I don't really hate S/zzy per se (honestly they’re just whatever to me) but lowkey-highkey they were such a Pair the Spares (TV Tropes) couple in the books and had such a weak ass foundation that it did nothing for me.

Plus Simon was literally such an awful person in the books (the cheating, the Nice Guy-ness, and the abuse apologist attitude with Jordan) so I just could not get into any of his romantic relationships. I’m anywhere from lukewarm to disgusted by most of them.

Plus it felt like CC did a personality transplant on Izzy to make her a geek girl so her and Simon could be a geeky couple even though Simon and Maia were already that geeky couple. 

But that’s because CC also wrapped Izzy’s childhood damage up in her sensuality, slutshamed/womanbashed her via Clary for several books, and wrote the evidence of her “growth” as Izzy becoming geeky cuz of falling for Simon.

Of course, this is all ignoring that it makes no sense for Izzy to be endgame with a man who cheated on her after CC wrote that a huge chunk of Izzy’s childhood damage was because her father cheated on her mother. 

It was all clunky as hell, tbh.

Now the show is a little different because Simon isn’t the absolute Worst boyfriend material and the writers spent some time building Simon and Izzy as friends and confidants. There are several times where they connect on a personal level.

The problem that the show did was that awful stuff S/zzy did to Raphael’s senile and elderly sister. It was disgusting. Like...sorry but that did a lot of damage for me in terms of S/zzy and Izzy in general. 

I also didn’t appreciate Izzy’s conversation with Maia, assuming a bunch of shit about her even though they literally met twice in the whole show. 

I could see that the show writers were trying to showcase Izzy’s usual Advice Mode but it came off as intrusive and unwanted because 

Izzy doesn’t know shit about Maia. Maia is not Alec or Jace or Clary. Izzy and Maia are not friends.

Maia’s past involves intimate partner abuse which is more complicated than Izzy was assuming (Cuz she doesn’t know Maia!!!).

Maia was distancing herself partially because Simon has already curved her once before for Clary.

The audience knows Izzy is technically endgame for Simon so the scene had a distasteful flavor because we know eventually Simon and Maia will split in order for S/zzy to happen.

The final nail in the S/zzy coffin for me might be this fandom’s reaction to Saia and to Alisha’s affection for it (which mirrors their reactions to Jaia, tbh) that reads as really anti-Black and gross.

Especially since so many book stans keep bringing up Jordan and Maia as a ship to preserve the S/zzy ship. And those that don’t use Jordan/Maia will use the Bat/Maia ship but give off the feeling that the only reason they like it is so that they can shuffle Maia off to the side to preserve S/zzy. 

(I’m ok with Bat/Maia but it didn’t get nearly enough book real estate to develop properly. Hopefully the show does better.)

IDK, man, I’m just souring so much to the entire idea of S/zzy and this fandom is not fucking helping at all.

[dani-dabbles]

2x20 - how it should go down

Okay I have to get this out of my system cause it’s how I want/visualize the finale playing out

We know that the dragon demons (Wraiths?) are ransacking NYC. And our Shadowhunter squad is going out to fight them off…unsuccessfully

So this is where they all split. Alec and Izzy stay to defend the city from demons. Jace and Clary go off to find Valentine (cause obv he is behind all this)

And we now know that Alec will seek out Magnus to help them close off the riff between our world and Edom (!!!! the fandom was right).

So I think Magnus will meet up with Izzy and Alec at the Institute. And we’ll get this then:

I don’t feel like this is Jace’s death. We hyped up the whole “Alec-thru-a-wall” scene and it turned out to be minor. I don’t think they’d spoil Alec reacting to Jace’s death. I do think that this is Alec feeling some sort of trauma/injury. And we’ll see Alec fight his instinct to run to his parabatai and stay to defend the city instead (ie him being a leader vs following his heart)

Meanwhile we have Jace and Clary dealing with Valentine and the Circle. It’s been forever since I read the books so I’m hazy how this played out there. But I think here Dear Ol Dad is only threatening Clary to get Jace to sacrifice himself? Idk…just a thought.

While they are planning Raise Raziel at Lakr Lyn - Magnus, Izzy and Alec have portaled to the rift to Edom and are dealing with a hoard of Wraiths and trying to seal it off.

Back at the Lake Lyn, Valentine makes his move against Jace….and the Thing™ happens

Back on the beach we see Alec scream, stumble…and fall.

Now I really want to say that he’d fall into Edom BECAUSE I WANT MAGNUS BANE TO LITERALLY GO THRU HELL TO GET HIS BOYFRIEND BACK. But i dont think they’ll do that. I think Magnus will save him tho. And Alec will be all WHY? WHY DID YOU DO THAT - YOU DONT EVEN CARE. Then cue Magnus grabbing Alec with out a word and *reunion kiss*

—————————————————————-

WHY? BECAUSE:

- Dom said something about that parabatai connection having badly timed effects

- There have been hints or at least heavy speculation from the fandom that maybe the parabatai bond would be broken between Alec and Jace. And this Jace ran thru with a Mortal Instrument (and *if* Alec were in Edom…the bond would essentially be voided or ineffective.) Idk but I’d like to see the show explore this?

- We need the Edom storyline for Malec and Izzy next season there is nothing for them in the books (this would work better if someone actually fell into Edom tho) but it could be a good lead into the Edom/Asmodeus storyline.

What do think? I need someone to talk with me about this cause I’m !!!!!!!

[none of theses gif/pics are mine fyi]