SHADOWHUNTERS: JACE WAYLAND TV SHOW CHARACTER

BEFORE I START: The following character analysis IS NOT MINE. This words belong to a blog I found on Tumblr and I loved so much I decided to share to the people who read mine. All the credit has to be given to - http://tinaliatum.tumblr.com/ so if you want to know more about it, you should definitely follow her on tumblr cause she is amazing, this ARE NOT AND I REPEAT NOT MY words, just sharing it. 

This is the TV SHOW CHARACTER ANALYSIS, not the book one, and are based on the sides of the TV show. Today we are going to be analizing the mysterious  Jace Wayland. Remember every Wednesday is a new character!

ABC Family's Shadowhunters Character Analysis: Jace Wayland

played by Dominic Sherwood.

Jace Wayland

Character Summary: Ohohohooo boy. This dude is yummy. Where book Jace and film Jace came off snobbish, the television depiction of Jace is calm, smirky and confident-in-his-importance without being arrogant. He seems firmly grounded in the Shadowhunter life, comfortable in calling the shots and confident in his abilities.  He has clearly carved out a place for himself dead centre within the Lightwood family dynamic, and he’s comfortable being there. He is a direct parallel of Clary in the sense that he likes his life, believes in his work, but like her, he too can’t help feeling like he’s just going through the motions.

Then one day, there’s a flick of a switch. He’s doing his job, a routine hunt, and then there’s a girl who really shouldn’t exist, but she does, and his immediate response is to shift everything around so he may investigate her further, much to the confusion and resentment of those close to him. He’s sarcastic without going overboard, deadly charming, solid in his sureties and adorably caught off-guard at times. Indeed a charismatic mix on our dearest Jace Wayland.

In regards to Clary Fray: The sides involving his interactions with Clary were most telling of his character. While Jace is initially intrigued by the conundrum Clary’s presence in his world poses, he very quickly acknowledges her sexually, as I imagine he does with most women. He is very chargedin her presence, and the pull he feels between them makes his eye-contact very piercing and direct, he touches her without asking permission, and lays on the innuendos, though they come off less horny and more matter-of-fact. He seems even more intrigued at the notion that he doesn’t seem to affect her the way he usually affects women. His usual dynamic is to lead while everyone follows, so when Clary doesn’t fall into step behind him, he must scramble to fall into step behind her instead, which will be an immensely satisfying dynamic to watch play out. This rendition of Jace Wayland is going to fall hard, possibly harder than we’ve ever seen him.

In regards to Alec Lightwood: While Alec is the oldest of our young Shadowhunters and responsible for the group, between the two of them, Jace clearly calls the shots. Jace knows how to talk to him, how to regard him, how to sway him – and he knows it doesn’t require much effort. On the flipside, his parabatai bond with Alec is something he holds incredibly sacred, and his faith and certainty in Alec shows us a different side of a character that seems to shrug his way through a lot. He isn’t fazed by much, but if he hears someone question Alec, he’s quick to set them right. He holds Alec in high regard and his opinion on the matter is absolute. If anyone is going to complain about Alec, it will be by his own doing – outside of Alec’s immediate family, Jace considers himself the only one qualified to do so. However, this is not to say that Jace and Alec’s relationship will be smooth sailing. Jace’s selfishness and obsession with following Clary down the rabbit hole and obliviousness to the extent of Alec’s struggles will put a strain on them, but I believe the disconnect between the two will make the re-establishment of their bond that much more satisfying to watch. I think the show may be setting up a big-time bromance, so Jalec fans should be pleased.

In regards to Isabelle Lightwood: Not a lot to go on in the sides between these two, though Jace’s authority tone seems to extend to her as well, though purely because they view the job differently. He considers his role as a Shadowhunter to be important, whereas she considers her role as a Shadowhunter just something she does.

In regards to Magnus Bane: Fans are going to love this dynamic. Jace may play the authority card to much success with Alec and Isabelle, but it certainly doesn’t fly with Magnus. Magnus is clearly the top dog in this relationship and Jace doesn’t really bother to fight him on it, though I suspect it has more to do with the fact that both men are really only hashing out issues to get Clary to where she needs to be. Jace isn’t used to being bested, and Magnus manages very effortlessly to do so, and without paying him much attention either. One to watch!

Where ABC Family’s Shadowhunters could take Jace Wayland: We are going to see some serious growth here, I think. Jace’s plotline seems to take a back seat to Clary’s in the beginning, though I believe we’ll learn more about what makes him tick the further intertwined the two of them become. Shadowhunters may very well use Jace’s backstory further down the line, which may serve as a cliffhanger and (hopefully) a thread into season 2. Either way, exciting days ahead.

Overall Character Grade: B+ (Solid start with a nice amount of growth ahead)

Book Jace was enjoyable and complex and poetic in quieter moments, while film Jace came off a little too arrogant, a little too compensating, which, considering the trauma we know Jace had been through in the books was utterly justified – the film script just didn’t have the oomph to justify it. The television rendition of Jace Wayland/Lightwood is a little more reined in – he makes quips, he smirks, he finds things amusing, but it comes off more grounded, more subtle, and it alludes to something quietly intense and deeply painful beneath the surface. Dominic Sherwood is my ideal Jace physically, and I love what the show writers have done with the Clace dynamic. Seeing such a sexually and physically confident young man get left scurrying around after a scrawny red-head is exactly the sort of thing I want to watch, but there’s not a lot else to go on right now. Jace is ultimately intriguing, but for me, his background and memories of his father in the books were a very real piece of the puzzle that helped shape him into the quietly damaged young man beneath the snark that we all fell in love with. The sides so far do not allude to a back story, so the television rendition of Jace comes off a teeny bit bland – though I imagine the inner workings of his character will be a slow, entertaining reveal that spans across the series. His relation to the Lightwood family, and how he regards Alec in particular, give him most of his depth so far, so it will be interesting to see how he grows and struggles and accomplishes