City of Ashes

Death, transformation, and The Complicated Conflict Between Good and Evil feature prominently in the last section of the novel. The last three chapters also resolve certain important plot points and narrative arcs while leaving others open-ended to continue the rest of the series. A few plot points that are resolved are the nature of Luke and Jocelyn’s relationship and Maryse’s ambiguous attitude to Jace. In the end, Maryse sheds her ambiguity and accepts Jace wholeheartedly, even though Jace continues to be irritated by his adopted mother’s former lack of faith in him.

Another plot point that is seemingly resolved for now is the question of Jace’s love for Clary. Since Jace too is growing up, he realizes that a clandestine, forbidden relationship with Clary would be irresponsible. Thus, he promises to love Clary only platonically from this point on. However, his decision plunges Clary in despair, since she continues to love him romantically. This suggests the resolution of their dilemma is temporary, and the conundrum will extend in City of Glass, Book 3 of the series.

Though Jace and Clary are star-crossed lovers for now, the narrative foreshadows a happy ending for them. It is increasingly clear that Jace’s parentage is not what Valentine previously suggested. Imogen’s response to the scar on Jace’s shoulder, and her continuing disbelief about Valentine’s abdication of Jace, all provide clues that Jace is not really Clary’s biological brother.

An important emotional arc that is resolved in this section is Jace’s fear that he is like Valentine, invoking The Dynamics of Family Loyalty and Betrayal. Since Jace was brought up by Valentine, he often craves his approval and cannot help mirroring him at times. For instance, Jace’s guarded, flippant attitude is a direct consequence of Valentine’s harsh upbringing and his maxim that love is destructive. Each time Jace faces Valentine, he experiences a mixture of defiance and longing, both hating and loving his father. However, his last meeting with Valentine in the demon ship proves a watershed moment for Jace’s growth as a character. Jace rejects Valentine, thus proving himself different from his father.

Jace’s complete rejection of Valentine is illustrated by two events, the first being his conquest and defeat of Agramon. Significantly, Agramon now appears to Jace as Valentine, rather than Clary, showing that Jace’s biggest fear is turning into his father. The reason for the change could be that Jace is no longer ashamed of his romantic feelings for Clary. Ever since the kiss at the Seelie Court, Jace has accepted his love for Clary as a part of himself. Further, since Valentine knows about Jace’s romantic feelings, Jace has nothing left to hide. Clary’s Fearless rune possibly filters out all other fears. By overcoming and killing Agramon, Jace metaphorically kills Valentine and emerges his own person.

The other important event is Jace’s revival of Simon. The fact that Jace uses his Nephilim blood to revive the vampire is sacrilege for Valentine, who is obsessed with “pure” bloodlines. By mingling his blood with that of an impure, demonic creature, Jace busts all his father’s taboos, showing that he is capable of ushering in a new world order. Simon’s revival reflects the nature of death and transformation in the text, inspired by the practice of alchemy. In the text, death is not necessarily final, but a step in change, reinvention, and transmutation. Just like a baser metal can be turned into gold in alchemy, the person and the spirit too can evolve.

While Jace and Valentine have met previously in the text, the final section contains the book’s first meeting between Valentine and Clary and The Struggle for Identity. Expanding on the text’s interest in fathers and children, Valentine relates to Clary as a typical, conservative patriarch to a young woman. Valentine, representing the manipulative, coercive elements of patriarchy, talks down to Clary, frequently cutting down her opinions. When Clary tells Valentine that Luke has never been a monster to her, Valentine patronizingly responds: “It seems to me, Clarissa […] that you’ve had very little experience of what a demon is and what it is not” (365). Clary observes that Valentine is a master of gaslighting, so much so that he makes her doubt her own beliefs and reality.

When Valentine describes child-eating demons to Clary, his behavior mirrors how real-world dictators and unethical politicians demonize minorities and immigrants. Minorities and immigrants are depicted as monstrous, and, thus, a dictator is justified in doing anything to protect the innocent “natives” against them. Valentine’s portrayal in this section thus represents the suffocating forces of patriarchy and authoritarianism. Clary’s use of the powerful ship-wrecking rune is an emphatic metaphor for her rejection of Valentine’s values. It underscores the new world order rising against the old, power-hungry world of selfish fathers.

Clary’s creation of the Open rune is wreathed in intrigue and metaphor. The powerful rune appears to Valentine as an Aramaic verse from the Bible (Daniel 5:25-28). In the Bible, “Mene mene tekhel upharsin” appears as writing on the wall and conveys that a dictator’s kingdom has ended (384) , his feast over. Though Clary meant to find the rune for opening a portal out of the ship, she ends up creating a rune that ends Valentine’s “feast.” The ship is torn to shreds. Valentine understands the importance of Clary’s power with a “look that mixed triumph and horror” (384). He knows his plan to convert the Sword has been ruined, but he is also triumphant that Clary has all the powers he intended for her to have. Thus, the novel ends on a cliffhanger, heralding Clary’s ascendancy. From the sheltered girl with no training or Marks, Clary emerges as one of the most powerful Shadowhunters of the younger generation.