Just like last year, Kris and I put together a post a couple weeks ago featuring Our Completely Biased and Totally Uninformed Oscar Predictions 2016, which included a wager based on who correctly predicted the most winners. Unfortunately we tied, which means that though neither of us lost, neither of us really won either. Therefore, we will both be writing our Oscars Bet Loser posts (as opposed to last year when Kris lost and had to write 5 Reasons to Give Nicolas Cage a Chance). So welcome to my post about why Alec Lightwood is the best character on Shadowhunters/in The Mortal Instruments series.
I think I will start by straight up admitting that Alec is definitely not my favourite character either on the show or in the book series (I mean, there’s Jace ?… and Isabelle ?ﾟﾏﾻ… and Simon ?… and Magnus ?… and, well, pretty much anyone). But today I have to write about why he is the best. This is not so easy to do when you don’t really agree with that statement.
Before I read the book series for the first time, Kris had enthusiastically let me know that Alec Lightwood was her favourite character. At this point I figured he probably wouldn’t be mine since Kris does typically tend toward liking very different characters from those I select as my favourites. She also told me that there was a point in the books where Alec is injured and just disappears for chapters upon chapters. Ages pass before the reader gets any sort of update on his condition, and when you do, it just kind of skips over the fact that he was, like, dying. Fast forward to my first experience reading the books – I honestly didn’t even notice that Alec was missing from the story throughout this whole section, though I figured out later what Kris had been in emotional turmoil about.
While reading the books, I found Alec to be annoying and a bit of a wet blanket, always wanting to follow the rules and such, even when the fate of the world was at stake. I imagined him to be shaggy, dressed in gross clothes, hopelessly in love with Jace, and for some reason always wiping his nose on his worn sweater sleeve (does he do this at some point? Is this why I imagined it?). I had no idea that Alec Lightwood was supposed to be as gorgeous as he is on Shadowhunters. Where did this steady, brave, extremely beautiful guy come from? I mean, I guess he is a Shadowhunter so I should have assumed a base level of hotness.
I’m still not the biggest fan of Alec overall, but I adore his love story with Magnus, which is a great thing to be front and center in teen fiction stories. I can also appreciate how easy he is on the eyes, but most of all, he looks a lot like Will Herondale, who I had not yet met and fallen in love with the first time I read The Mortal Instruments. Will is one of the main characters in The Infernal Devices, the prequel series to The Mortal Instruments. And our team at least is all just hoping that Shadowhunters does well enough that we can somehow see Will Herondale on the small screen.
So I guess this is my reason why Alec Lightwood is the best… because he is reminiscent of Will, who I love more than any character in Cassandra Clare’s world. He’s better than Jace. He’s better than Jem. He’s better than Simon. For Alec, all of this added together means that he is at least not as insufferable as I used to think he was. And I can stomach admitting that he might be “the best” as long as Will himself isn’t in this particular series (even though I’m really more of a Jace girl when it comes to TMI).
There you have it – Why Alec Lightwood is the Best (My Oscar Bet Loser Post). What do you think? Did you have this vision of hotness in your head the first time you read about Alec? Share in the comments!
Cheers,
KG
Photo sources: Featured Image
