Character Post- Will Herondale

Based on some textual evidence from Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince both by Cassandra Clare, I would characterize Will Herondale as careless. At first he acts as though he doesn't care what other people think or what people do to him. But as the story progresses we see Will changing as well.

Here is an example, from a part where Will was very down and went to a factory which they produce drugs that are highly addictive and dangerous and is an example of Will's carelessness. To understand how this is especially careless, you will need background information. A while back Jem's, Will's parabatai, or blood brother, parents got murdered and Jem got kidnapped by a demon. The demon each day slowly injected him with a drug called yin fen. When Jem was rescued he was sent to the London Institute at a very young age. Because he has had so much of this drug he is unable to withdrawal because it will kill him and there is no cure that has been found.He will be able to live longer by taking certain amounts of this drug each day depending on what he is doing. To fight it would take more. The drug is slowly killing him everyday and is a very sensative topic. The quote is, "Lying in the bunk was Will, half-tangled in a dark, ragged blanket. He wore nothing but trousers and a shirt; his weapons belt hung on a nail peg inside the bunk. His feet were bare, his eyes half-lidded, their blue only slightly visible beneath the fringe of his dark lashes. His hair was wet with sweat, pated to his forehead, his cheeks bright red and feverish. His chest rose and fell raggedly, as if he were having trouble drawing breath." (Clockwork Prince, 143-144) This excerpt shows Will's carelessness because he obviously didn't think before he went to the drug factory and took the same drug that is killing his best friend, Jem. Will is hurting the ones he loves without knowing. He doesn't seem to care that he is hurting Jem, and this is an important part of the plot.

An example of Will caring is when he realized that Jem was hurt by Will's actions. He didn't directly mean to harm Jem in any way. Jem was Will's parabatai, which means they are sworn together by oath. They both swore to protect each other even if it means their own life. This is Will apologizing to Jem, "'I...' He swallowed, looking for the words. It had been so long since he had searched for words that would earn him forgiveness and not hatred, so long since he had sought to present himself in anything but the worst light, that he wondered for a panicked moment if it were even something he was still able to do." (Clockwork Prince, 183-184) This quote shows how Will actually does care because he is earching so hard for the words to apologize to Jem, someone he loves. And he is actually questioning himself and wondering if he can find the words to apologize after not wanting people to like him for so long. Which later on in the book will be explained why he does not want people to like him.


Will's Attitude/Carelessness

I know this is a wiki website, but I think this "blog" is well written and has a lot of good points. If you're intersted in more about Will click on this link above.


A text to film connection I have made is Clockwork Angel/ Clockwork Prince/ Clockwork Princess's character Will Herondale who I connected to Forrest Gump's Jenny Curran. In the books I have already proven my point as to why I think Will is careless. As to why I think Jenny is careless is for a long time Jenny was Forrest's best friend who would do anything for him. As the movie goes on, Jenny gets older and changes and grows away from Forrest. But Forrest has not grown away from Jenny. Throughout the movie Jenny continues to question herself and who she is and doesn't care if she hurts Forrest through her actions like when she agreed to stay with Forrest but then after a while they got too close and Jenny up and went. I think Jenny and Will have a lot in common. Because in the end they really do care about whoever they harmed and they didn't want or mean to.

Forrest asks Jenny for marriage but she thinks he deserves someone better. He thinks that she refused because he is not smart so he simply tells her "I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is."