Demon Casserole

i think this is a really interesting perspective to look at james and how he varies from story to story, but to me, the more i think about it the less sense it makes.

actually to me there is no arc at all. think of the earliest appearance of james (age wise, other than being an infant):

at the shadowhunter academy he is extremely introverted and insecure, he is constantly described as incredibly awkward and clumsy with words & people. alright, this can change over the course of four years, of course it can especially with such a constant & supportive family & friends, but here’s another thing:

his incredibly complex relationship with will, the expectations people have in him for being will’s son which he resents. they pressure him and quite frankly make him distant internally himself from his farther, while also having so much love and admiration for him at the same time (i love their dynamic and jamie’s relationship to will in tftsa)

these two aspects are so huge and monumental in nbs, to me they were setting up a big arc of self acceptance for james during tlh.

enter tlh, and james is everything he wasn’t in nbs: confident, stunningly gorgeous, london’s most eligible bachelor, a smooth tongue and popular.

now, don’t get me wrong! i love that for him, he’s not actively hating himself and being very insecure, good for him!

but GOD his entire arc was SKIPPED. everything that made him, on his own, as a person, even remotely interesting, complex and relatable was just resolved between tftsa and tlh.

i was so looking forward to his inner conflict about himself as a herondale, him being his farthest son but somehow not living up to it, him being awkward and having a hard time making friends, not being as sharp tongued and quick as the other herondale boys, just for CC to sweep in and make a barely character out of some dull middle ground between jamie in the short stories and her carbon copy idea of a herondale.

i want the old jamie back and i mourn the potential he’s had for tlh that was just skipped every day.

easy!

so obviously his autism shows in really different ways than his dad’s but here goes:

special interest: oscar wilde (duh)

severe masking: him acting all high and popular at the academy

missing social clues: him trying to impress & befriend jamie at the academy

other points that are not as striking to me but noteworthy: autism can be hereditary (his dad is on the spectrum), he’s good with animals, also there have been some studies suggesting a link between a more extroverted person with asd & alcoholism

this is very spontaneously thrown together but yea if anyone wanna add anything feel free