Valentine Morgenstern
Portrayed by Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Biographical Information
Full name:	Valentine Morgenstern
Age:	38
Status:	Deceased
Cause of Death:	Angel Raziel
Alias:	Michael Wayland Jonathan Clark
Affiliation
Species:	Nephilim
Occupation:	Shadowhunter
Residence:	Idris
Allegiance:	Himself/None
Parabatai:	Luke Garroway (pre-werewolf)
Relationships
Significant Other/s:	Jocelyn Fray (ex-wife)
Children:	Jonathan Morgenstern Clarissa Morgenstern
Mother:	Seraphina Morgenstern
Physical Description
Gender:	Male
Hair color:	White Blond Brown (Movie)
Eye color:	Black
Character Information
First appearance:	City of Bones
Latest appearance:	City of Glass

Valentine Morgenstern is the main antagonist of the first half of The Mortal Instruments series. He was Jocelyn Fray's husband and the biological father of Jonathan and Clary. He was parabatai with Luke before the latter became a werewolf.

BiographyEdit

Early LifeEdit

Valentine Morgenstern was born to Seraphina Morgenstern and an unknown man. He was raised Moreover it seems that Valentine's family was wealthy.

When he came of age, he went to the Shadowhunter Academy in Alicante where he excelled. His good looks, charisma and charm made him popular among both staff and fellow students.

There, with his manipulative and charismatic personality befriended a large group of unpopular students who then formed the Circle, an organization with the goal to reform both the laws and society of the Shadowhunter world.

This changed, however, after the death of Valentine's father. The central ideal of The Circle changed from reformation of the Shadowhunter's world to the destruction of all Downworlders, with the belief that the humans were the superior beings in the planet. Valentine's extremist beliefs intensified to the point that he came to believe that Downworlders were demons in human form who should be exterminated altogether to cleanse the world.

At a young age, he married Jocelyn Fairchild. He then moved into the Fairchild manor.

Eventually, Valentine began to experiment on both Downworlders and demons in secret. Through this experimentation, Valentine found out that by drinking a demon's blood, his powers were enhanced for a short period of time. This revelation led him to summon the greater demon Lilith to ask for her blood to use on his first, unborn child to make him the strongest Nephilim warrior. However, Lilith warned Valentine that by doing this, the child would lose all his humanity.

At one point, he also got a hold of the angel Ithuriel, whom he kept imprisoned. He found that after getting some into his system, it not only gave him incredible strength but also a feeling of sudden euphoria and happiness.

During Jocelyn's pregnancy, Valentine did give Jocelyn Lilith's blood without her knowledge, hoping to affect their unborn child. This, however, gave her nightmares.

Suddenly suspicious of her husband's strange actions, Jocelyn told Luke, her best friend and Valentine's parabatai. Luke, after hearing Jocelyn's fears, confronted Valentine. Valentine, now understanding that his friend knew too much, took him on a werewolf hunt and left him to be bitten.

After the first full moon, Luke visited Jocelyn and Valentine. Valentine, seeing that Luke was a werewolf, led him to the nearest forest and asked him to kill himself. Luke refused and left, but Valentine, upon returning home, told Jocelyn that Luke killed himself because he was ashamed of his lycanthropy.

The months passed and Jocelyn gave birth to a small boy, Jonathan Christopher. However, when she held him for the first time, she understood that something was wrong with their child. Jocelyn could not do anything though as Valentine, obviously, adored his experiment.

Valentine, wanting to soothe her pain and despair, spiked her food with angel blood, not knowing that she was pregnant at that time and unwittingly giving their second, unborn child some more angel blood. The angel blood also gave her the strength she needed and soon began to secretly search for Luke, believing that her husband lied to her.

At one point, Valentine appointed Stephen Herondale as his new right hand man, replacing Luke. Since Stephen was married to Luke's sister, Amatis, Valentine convinced Stephen to leave her since her brother had become a Downworlder and marry Celine Herondale instead.

Eventually, Celine became pregnant. Wanting to see the difference, Valentine began to give her Ithuriel's blood in the guise of potions for her unborn child.

When Stephen is killed during one of their raids, Celine slit her wrists and bled to death. Since she was already eight months, Valentine, with Hodge's help, managed to cut the child out of her womb. Hodge then temporarily took care of him.

During this time, the Circle's plans took a terrifying turn, with Valentine wanting to destroy all Downworlders to pass a strong message to the Clave. The plan was simple: he, with his followers, would trap the Downworlders in the Accords Hall at the time the Accords would be signed, and kill them all.

Unfortunately for him, Jocelyn, with Luke's help, who she found with Ragnor Fell's assistance, was able to thwart the attack by warning the Downworlders and having backup for them. The result was the death of most of the Circle members and the Downworlders, and this event was written in the Nephilim history as the Uprising.

Valentine, realizing his wife's treachery, burned the Fairchild manor and faked his and Jonathan's death by placing the bones of Michael Wayland and his son in the fire.

Taking the identity of Michael, he then moved to the Wayland manor where he raised Stephen and Celine's son, whom he raised as Jonathan Wayland, cold-heartedly and without remorse. As for his real son, Jonathan, he raised him in a small remote cottage outside Alicante.

Ten calm years passed, until Valentine received a message telling him that somebody knew his true identity. Upon this revelation, Valentine again faked his death, staging it in front of Jace. Jace was then sent to the New York Institute under the care of the Lightwoods, believing that Jace was Michael's son.

Valentine has since then stayed in their cottage with Jonathan and was then able to focus on training his demonic son. He trained him both in the art of killing and deceiving, instilling his ideals in him, hoping to make him a spy for his future plans of destroying the Clave.

The Mortal InstrumentsEdit

City of BonesEdit

He reappeared seven years later with an army of Forsaken. His plan was to obtain the Mortal Cup and with it create an army of Shadowhunters to defeat The Clave, conquer the world and rid it of Downworlders (in that order). He manipulated Hodge Starkweather to obtain the Cup and abducted Jace Wayland, who he took to his headquarters in Renwick's. Clary Fray and Lucian Graymark led an army of werewolves to Renwick to defeat Valentine and rescue Jace, along with Jocelyn Fray, Clary's mother, whom Valentine had also taken captive. They also kill Pangborn and Blackwell, two most faithful or at that time, the only two supporters of Valentine and his ideas. In a terse confrontation between Valentine, Jace and Clary, it was revealed that Jace was in fact Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern, son of Valentine and Jocelyn, and that Clary was his sister.

Valentine raised Jace as his son under the alias of Michael Wayland. Ultimately Lucian's werewolf army defeats Valentine's legion of Forsaken and Lucian himself engages Valentine in battle but is mortally injured. Jace turns against Valentine who flees through a portal to Idris and invites Jace to accompany him. When Jace refuses Valentine calls him weak and destroys the portal.

City of AshesEdit

In City of Ashes, the second book of the series, Valentine acquires Maellartach The Soul-Sword, the second of the Mortal Instruments with which he plans to unleash an army of demons. He also uses the Mortal Cup to summon and control Agramon, the Greater Demon of Fear.

With the Sword in his possession he is able to summon many more demons to protect him as he performs the Ritual to unleash his demon army. Valentine once again attempts to seduce Jace into joining him but fails. Jace, Clary, Lucian Graymark and Magnus Bane lead the Clave to Valentine's ship where an almighty battle takes place. It is also revealed that Valentine performed some sort of experiments on Clary and Jace which gave them supernatural abilities beyond those of an ordinary (so to speak) Shadowhunter.

Jace appears to have superhuman strength, speed and endurance while Clary has the unique and rather useful ability to create Runes. She creates a powerful Rune to rip open Valentine's ship, ruining his plans however Valentine once again escapes.

City of GlassEdit

In the third book of the series, the true battle against Morgenstern begins as the world slides towards an epic war. With two of the Mortal Instruments in his possession, Morgenstern is now able to summon unparalleled numbers of demons which attack Idris where Clary, Jace, and the Lightwoods have gathered for the final confrontation but this is merely to distract from Valentine's true goal; acquiring the last of the Instruments: the Mortal Mirror, so that he can put his master plan into action.

Using a spy in the Clave, Valentine has the Wards around Alicante taken down so that he may invade. With the Clave surrounded and outnumbered, Valentine murders their Inquisitor, Aldertree, and issues an ultimatum: all Shadowhunters must surrender, accept Valentine's sovereignty and rule and allow for a permanent loyalty Rune to be placed, binding them to him. Ultimately Valentine's spy is revealed to be Malachi, a high-ranking member of the Clave who shares Valentine's elitist attitudes. When Clary discovers Malachi's secret, he attacks her using Hugin, when Malachi goes to beat him away, Hugin (Hugo) becomes enraged and savagely kills Malachi.

Meanwhile Valentine unleashes the full force of his demonic armies and sends them against the Clave. As battle commences, Valentine prepares for the final stage of his plan: the Mortal Mirror is revealed to be the lake on the outskirts of Idris. If Valentine stains the Cup and Sword with the blood of a Shadowhunter and casts them into the Lake, the Angel Raziel will appear to him and grant a wish. Valentine plans to wish for the Runes to be removed from his fellow Shadowhunters, causing them to become Forsaken, easy prey for his demon army.

With the Shadowhunters out of the way, Valentine will be free to conquer and rule the world and rid it of Downworlders. Clary and Jace attempt to stop him but Jace is already wounded by Valentine's treacherous son, Jonathan Morgenstern. Clary is taken captive by Valentine and when Jace attempts to free her, Valentine kills him with the Mortal Sword before using the Sword and the Cup to summon Raziel using Jace's blood.

This is where Valentine's plans begin to unravel. Raziel realizes that Valentine is corrupt and evil, and thanks to Clary changing the binding rune around the ritual spot, he now only has to answer to her. Raziel strikes Valentine dead. Valentine's armies are defeated and most fled soon after, and his body is later cremated in a quiet, civil ceremony attended by his remaining son and those who once counted him as a friend. Clary does not attend this ceremony.

PersonalityEdit

Valentine embodies the classic evil overlord traits: charisma, a genius level intellect and a narcissistic sense of entitlement. He is sadistic and power hungry and driven by a furious rage and hatred brought about by his father's death. Despite this deep-seated anger, he usually maintains great emotional restraint in the face of dramatic situations, maintaining a demeanor of cool calculation and icy composure.

He is also extraordinarily manipulative, able to bend others to his will with relative ease. He views no one as his equal and sees others as either tools to be used or obstacles to be demolished. With all these traits it may be accurate to describe him as a sociopath. Despite his vindictive nature, Valentine presents himself in a cultured and sophisticated manner, dressing in expensive suits and speaking in a polite, civilized, almost old-fashioned manner. Jace remarks that Valentine is particular about "what type of cut crystal his decanters are made out of." He also exhibits a very dry, dark, cruel wit.

It is interesting to note that Valentine does not consider himself evil, instead justifying his actions as for the good of humanity and the world despite the numerous atrocities and acts of genocide he has committed. He views himself as a heroic figure, willing to challenge the gods.

It has been implied that Valentine is perhaps not completely evil as Jace maintains some happy memories of his father from when he was a child, though most of the time Valentine treated his son in a manner that bordered on emotional and psychological abuse. Jace himself shares many of Valentine's personal traits such as his vain and narcissistic side, his love of battle, his skill as a Shadowhunter and his sardonic wit. Valentine himself notes that Jace is like him and that they "poison and destroy" everything they touch.

It is possible that Valentine inherited his domineering ways from his father.

SimilaritiesEdit

While he is very much a character in his own right, Valentine's persona incorporates elements from many other fictional villains such as Lucifer from John Milton's Paradise Lost which seems to have had something of an influence on Cassandra Clare. Valentine's surname, Morgenstern, is German for Morningstar, another name for Lucifer before his transformation into Satan. Valentine himself identifies with Milton's depiction of Lucifer and likens himself to the character on numerous occasions. Jace mentions that Valentine made him read Paradise Lost "ten times" when he was a boy.

The Harry Potter series has also had an effect on Cassandra Clare, the author of The Mortal Instruments saga. As such the character of Valentine is very similar to that of Lord Voldemort. Both are prodigies who began gathering followers while still at school and harbor racist views and megalomaniacal aspirations. Both are able to use their charisma and charm to their advantage and exhibit an expertise with magical devices, in Voldemort's case horcruxes, in the case of Valentine, the Mortal Instruments. Another character from Harry Potter whom Valentine resembles is Lucius Malfoy who shares Valentine's elitist, snobbish attitude.

Fans of The Mortal Instruments enjoy linking its characters to characters from Star Wars. As such Valentine is often compared to Darth Vader. Both were powerful young adepts who belonged to an order that protected society but were corrupted by ambition and greed, ultimately resulting in their rebellion. Both led attacks on the headquarters of their respective orders, in the case of Valentine Alicante, in the case of Vader, the Jedi Temple. Both are also the parent of the central protagonist. Another character from Star Wars whom Valentine resembles in terms of characterisation is that of Palpatine, who like Valentine is a highly intelligent, arrogant and Machiavellian leader with ruthless ambition to achieve power and also attempts to seduce others into joining them.

Another influence on Clare is The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R Tolkien. The character of Valentine bears similarities to Sauron and Morgoth, in that they are dark lord characters with fallen angel style back stories. He is also similar to Glaurung Firedrake in his habit of telling lies and half-truths to manipulate people and events. The scene in which he reveals that Jace and Clary are siblings is reminiscent of the story of Turin Turambar from Tolkien's The Silmarillion.

Film AdaptationEdit

Jonathan Rhys Meyers is going to play Valentine in the film adaptation of The City of Bones.

Morgenstern ring