SHADOWHUNTERS: MAGNUS BANE 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 it 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 High Warlock of Brooklyn, the snarky and mysterious Magnus Bane! Remember every Wednesday is a new character!

ABC Family's Shadowhunters Character Analysis: Magnus Bane

played by Harry Shum Jr.

Magnus Bane

Character Summary: On the surface, Magnus has oodles of snark and dry sass. He shrugs things off, pokes at people and lets the chips fall where they may. But beneath that, he is a deeply wise, cautious and jaded man. He seems to view the world like a well-read book – where once he may have hungrily turned each page, he now knows the pages all too well. He’s no longer waiting for the happy ending because he knows it’s not there. Magnus Bane is a man made deeply cynical by the shitty book he’s been given.

He finds pleasure in life where he can find it – he’s just as likely to DJ at a club as he is to run around naked at Burning Man, but his excessive and expensive nature only reads as a warning sign that he has begun to petrify. The years have been unkind for so long that he’s stopped looking for the light at the end of the tunnel despite how much he wants it to be there, and he’ll only be able to hide behind his sarcasm and humour for so long.

Despite how hard he plays, he takes his job fairly seriously. As High Warlock of Brooklyn, his presence is commanding, and he seems to be a leader among his people – when he talks, everyone stops and listens. He’s deeply connected in the greater network of Downworld and seems to have some pretty big authority within that. He is known by the Clave to have a deep distrust of Shadowhunters.

He’s a wildly entertaining character at face value – and he’ll have the show audience absolutely snickering – but underneath is where he truly shines. He has a darkness there and a completely raw vulnerability holding on for dear life. This Magnus Bane is quietly haunting, and he may just break your heart.

In regards to Clary Fray: Magnus regards Clary with sympathy and regret, having reluctantly cast the memory spell on her as a child. It’s apparent he’s been watching over her for quite some time, perhaps feeling he owes a debt, and though he’s genuinely pleased to meet her again as an adult, he’s concerned to see her in the company of Shadowhunters. He’s fairly staunch in his will to stay out of their plans to track her mother, but he is not immune to her and eventually he relents after seeing her save the life of a warlock child. He tells her in what becomes a rather poignant moment that she is more like her mother than she will ever realise, and effectively hangs up his neutral status to join Clary’s mission.

In regards to Jace Wayland: Jace, in Magnus’ eyes, is a typically arrogant Shadowhunter boy who is nothing but trouble, and he offers Clary his protection, believing he can do a better job than the Clave. Because his main goal is helping Clary, and because he knows Clary can’t do much without his help, and because he understands Clary has Jace under her thumb, Magnus is perfectly comfortable in knocking the Wayland boy down a few notches. They argue and throw half-seething quips back and forth and it’s highly entertaining. Jace is the fly, and Magnus is the gigantic fly swat.

In regards to Alec Lightwood: Magnus is taken, quite literally, by surprise when he sees Alec for the first time. Having narrowly avoided one of Alec’s arrows (which finds itself in the chest of an approaching henchman of Valentine’s), he lays eyes on the eldest Lightwood, fierce and poised with his bow, and then his heart is beating for a different reason entirely. Magnus regards Alec as important early on, and he cuts Jace short to focus on Alec and hear what he has to say. It’s unclear as to what the motivation is – whether he respects Alec and sees him as the true leader of the pack or simply because he’s physically attracted to him – but Malec fans will find both reasons satisfactory. Regardless, Magnus’ unabashed flirting is received with an endearing mix of surprise, embarrassment and interest on Alec’s end, and it’s here that Magnus and Alec begin their long journey together.

Where ABC Family’s Shadowhunters could take Magnus Bane: Like Alec, he threads through several storylines – Jocelyn’s, Luke’s, Clary’s, Alec’s, Valentine’s – as well as his own, so there will be no shortage of Harry Shum Jr on our screens. In fact, his character sides are the longest and clock in at a generous 13 pages. He’ll be our clearest connection to Downworld, as well as one of Clary’s biggest soldiers, as well as play a vital part in Alec’s development throughout the series.

Overall Character Grade: A++

The television rendition of Magnus Bane is far, far more than just the pet warlock we saw in the books – he’s a highly knowledgeable expert in his field, and his authority over the connections he has in Downworld makes him a powerful component in the overall series. The details the writers have given him are lovingly thorough and thoughtfully concieved, and will please the fans immensely. He wields blue magic and a lot of it, his cats eyes are specifically panther, and he is in contact with Tessa which shows an exciting, touching cohesion. Harry Shum Jr’s incredibly multi-faceted version of Magnus Bane will be sure to light up our screens and tug on our hearts.