History YMMV / TheMortalInstruments

* CaptainObviousReveal: Many people already figured out that [[spoiler: Valentine was Clary's father]] and that [[spoiler: Clary and Jace weren't siblings]] before it was revealed due to the heavy foreshadowing.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Sebastian gets this in many fanfics where his actions are at best given a poor FreudianExcuse and he is made a badder bad boy than Jace so they can have a love triangle. He was forced to do it by Valentine and/or was abused crops up a lot as an excuse. Other times writers will have him say he can't control himself or at worse ignore that he killed a child or completely hand-wave it. Some writers go as far as trying to make Jace a RonTheDeathEater by having him be a bigger jerk than usual to make Seb seem nicer (which, given that Jace is based on the version of Draco Malfoy that appeared in Cassandra Clare's ''Draco Trilogy'' fanfiction, is deeply ironic).

* DracoInLeatherPants: Sebastian gets this in many fanfics where his actions are at best given a poor FreudianExcuse and he is made a badder bad boy than Jace so they can have a love triangle. He was forced to do it by Valentine and/or was abused crops up a lot as an excuse. Other times writers will have him say he can't control himself or at worse ignore that he killed a child or completely hand-wave it. Some writers go as far as trying to make Jace a RonTheDeathEater by having him be a bigger jerk than usual to make Seb seem nicer.

** The Shadowhunters: Guardians of humanity, or racist, elitist snobs?

* CaptainObviousReveal: The series is rather infamous for these, due to its ''very'' obvious use of {{Foreshadowing}}. The most hated examples were that [[spoiler: Valentine was Clary's father]] and [[spoiler: Clary and Jace weren't siblings]].

* DesignatedHero: The Clave is an entire group of designated heroes. With their FantasticRacism, [[KnightTemplar inventive cruelty]], and [[ItsAllAboutMe massive arrogance]], it's a wonder how we're supposed to root for them in the final battle.

* {{Squick}}: The incest subplot(s).

* WhatAnIdiot:
** The main character, Clary, witnesses a boy her own age tied up (with piano wire) and questioned by people talking about demons and accusing the boy of being one, going so far as to threaten to kill him with a knife.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Her to leave immediately and look for a bouncer.\\
'''Instead:''' She stands and watches, and then ''steps in'' when one of these obviously deranged people brings out a knife.
** Soon after, the tied up boy attacks one of his captors, ''who kills him'', and the boy's body basically implodes into nothing. His kidnappers and murderers continue to say he was a demon, and when her friend and a bouncer arrive she is apparently the only one who can see them.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Clary to seriously question whether or not she was sober at this point, considering she was in a club, and these people keep talking about magic and demons, and you know, ''she's the only one who can see them''.\\
'''Instead:''' She seems to ''accept what these murderers are telling her'', and seems to think her doubts are ''wishful thinking''.
** After leaving the club, Clary's ChildhoodFriend Simon asks her if she's alright. He obviously knows something is wrong with her, and keeps asking her if she has something she wants to tell him.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Clary to confide in Simon, whom she's known for ten years, since what just happened was so traumatic.\\
'''Instead:''' She doesn't tell him anything at all, her reasoning seeming to stem from how the [[TroubledButCute MURDERER Jace]] talked to her.
** The next evening, when talking to Simon in a resturaunt, Clary spots Jace again when he interrupts her conversation with a snort. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking He's armed, she's already seen him]] ''[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking kill someone]]''[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking , and Simon is obviously trying to tell her something important.]] Jace, after interrupting her conversation, gets up and leaves.\\
'''You'd Think:''' Clary would stay with Simon, perhaps very disturbed that her hallucination is appearing again, and maybe tell Simon what she just saw.\\
'''Instead:''' She runs out after Jace. Jace, who she saw kill someone. Jace, who has a knife very like the one he killed someone on him at this very moment. Jace, who apparently only she can see. She runs after him outside. At night. "Terrified that he would disappear like a ghost." And she doesn't say a single word to Simon. She just up and leaves.

* {{Narm}}: It can be rather hard for a reader to take a villain named "Valentine" seriously, unless you're a fan of ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: SteelBallRun]]''.

* {{Narm}}: It can be rather hard for a reader to take a villain named "Valentine" seriously, unless you're a fan of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun''.

* FoeYay: In one scene in ''City of Heavenly Fire'' Sebastian leans in and ''kisses Jace's cheek''. It's meant to be a threat and parallel to how Judas kissed Jesus' cheek to identify him, but it comes off a bit like this.

* {{Narm}}: It can be rather hard for a reader to take a villain named "Valentine" seriously.

--> Jace: "Do you remember back at the hotel when you promised that if we lived, you'd get dressed up in a nurse's outfit and give me a sponge bath."
--> Clary: "It was Simon who promised you the sponge bath."
--> Simon: "As soon as I'm back on my feet, handsome."
--> Jace: "I knew we should have left you a rat."

--> "Well, I'm not kissing the mundane," said Jace. "I'd rather stay down here and rot."
--> "Forever?" said Simon. "Forever's an awfully long time."
--> Jace raised his eyebrows. "I knew it," he said. "You want to kiss me, don't you?"
** Near the climax of ''City of Ashes'', [[spoiler: Jace allows vampire-ified Simon to drink his blood in order to heal.]] This results in Simon with his arms flung around Jace, clutching him violently, and [[spoiler: biting his neck.]] Furthermore, Jace explicitly ''relaxes and pulls him closer.'' Uh...\\
\\
Jace later admits that it ''was'' rather homoerotic, and that he did in fact like it just a little bit.

!![[Literature/TheMortalInstruments The Books]]

!![[Film/TheMortalInstrumentsCityOfBones The Film Adaptation]]
* ClicheStorm: It's nearly impossible to find a review of the film that ''doesn't'' point out how similar it is to earlier properties. Most commonly cited were ''Franchise/HarryPotter'', ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', and ''Franchise/StarWars''.
* OpinionMyopia: Many either think the film failed because it was a half-assed ''Film/{{Twilight}}'' ripoff or think it failed because ''Twilight'' was so bad that it poisoned the well for other, better supernatural young-adult novels being adapted to film.
%% * SoBadItsGood: Common description.
%%* TheyCopiedItSoItSucks:

** Poor Aline. She [[spoiler: consensually kisses Jace ''once'', while he and Clary are still convinced they're siblings, and promptly decides that he's not her type]], is a fairly kind person overall (albeit one with no brain-to-mouth filter), and [[spoiler: it's implied that she's trying to figure out if she's a lesbian, or perhaps asexual]] - yet she is ''constantly'' turned into a cruel, backstabbing, relationship-smashing harpy who gets between Clary and Jace, especially in AU fanfics.\\
\\
The release of ''City of Lost Souls'' helped the problem a little - [[spoiler: it was confirmed that Aline was lesbian,]] and none of the characters felt any hatred to her.

* RootingForTheEmpire: The designated heroes, the Shadowhunters, are descended from the angel Raziel--and pretty damn proud of it. They see themselves as above the very people they're supposed to protect: Downworlders (your werewolves, faeries, vampires, and such) and humans, otherwise known to Shadowhunters as Mundanes (or Mundies, if you want to get really ugly). Honestly, with this sort of FantasticRacism, you'd probably get more love and respect from a demon disemboweling you and dragging your soul straight to Hell; at least demons are ''supposed'' to be cruel. To be fair, the Shadowhunters are called out on this ''all the time'' by everyone who isn't a Shadowhunter. The moral of the first 3 books is that the Downworlders aren't inherently evil and the Shadowhunters aren't inherently good and that they could save a lot more lives if they got over their differences and helped each other. [[spoiler:Indeed, ''City of Glass'' ends with the Downworlders agreeing to help the Shadowhunters defeat [[BigBad Valentine]] in return for the Downworlders getting representation in the Shadowhunter's council.]]
* ShipMates: Fans tend to support the canon Alec/Magnus and Clary/Jace ships, seeing as that takes care of Alec's crush on Jace from early on in the series and leaves Jace wide open for a romance with Clary.

** Simon: Loyal best friend or ExtremeDoormat? Is his UnrequitedCrush on Clary valid, or creepy and possessive?

** Simon: Loyal best friend or ExtremeDoormat?

* CounterpartComparison: Many fans and journalists have noted the similarities between the characters in ''Mortal Instruments'' to Clare's older fanfiction work Fanfic/TheDracoTrilogy. Ginny is Clary, Jace is Draco, Harry is Simon, Luke is Lupin, Valentine is Voldermort, etc.

** Clary: Plucky heroine dealing with being thrown into an unfamiliar world, or {{Jerkass}} MarySue who only defends her best friend when she feels like it?

* CounterpartComparison: Many fans and journalists have noted the similarities between the characters in Mortal Instruments to Clare's older fanfiction work Fanfic/TheDracoTrilogy. Ginny is Clary, Jace is Draco, Harry is Simon, Luke is Lupin, Valentine is Voldermort, etc.

* SuetifulAllAlong: Clary is convinced that she is not attractive, despite repeated assurances that she is attractive and looks like her mother, someone Clary does view as attractive.
** Well, she says she considers herself "cute" rather than beautiful, like her mother. And the only person who has called her beautiful was Jace.

* TheyCopiedItSoItSucks: See ClicheStorm above.

* BrokenAesop: The anti-racism themes tend to ring hollow when Jace and other Shadowhunters use "mundie" as an epithet, treat Simon as an unwanted nuisance, and consider the safety of Downworlders as little more than an afterthought. Then there's Jace's fight at the werewolf bar in ''City of Ashes....''