VOTE: Jem in the YA Tourney

When most people dream about their fave person in the Infernal Devices series, many go for the Will Herondale. I, however, look to the other side of the parabatai duo, James Carstairs, as my choice for the most amazing character in the YA Crush Tourney. 

There's so many reasons to love Jem and so many reasons why YOU should vote for Jem. I asked fans what qualities they adore in him: 

Sweet, caring, reliable, talented, honorable, musically driven, charming, good-hearted, dedicated to his parabatai bond, loving, accepting, generous, (can be) soft spoken, mysterious, GORGEOUS!

All quotes below this are from The Infernal Devices series.

Jem is passionate! He is a true poet at heart. "He wanted what his father had had - the sort of love poets wrote about." What Jem truly desires is that once-in-a-lifetime love that sweeps you off your feet and carries you away for the rest of your life. Because he worries of his impending death, Jem just truly wants to spend the rest of his life loving Tessa with all his heart - 

"You speak of sacrifice, but it is not my sacrifice I offer. It is yours I ask of you," he went on. "I can offer you my life, but it is a short life; I can offer you my heart, though I have no idea how many more beats it shall sustain. But I love you enough to hope that you will not care that I am being selfish in trying to make the rest of my life - whatever length - happy, by spending it with you. I want to be married to you, Tessa. I want it more than I have ever wanted anything else in my life." He looked up at her through the veil of silvery hair that fell over his eyes. "That is," he said shyly, "if you love me, too."

Who wouldn't completely fall for someone who said this? 

"When two souls are as one, they stay together on the Wheel. I was born into this world to love you, and I will love you in the next life, and the one after that."

Jem fights tries hard to deny himself daily of the drugs that would make him feel better, although those same drugs will eventually kill him. To me this is honorable. 

"Sometimes Jem felt as if he wanted to burn. Sometimes he did not know why he struggled against it, why he valued a longer life of suffering over a shorter life without pain. But then he reminded himself that the lack of pain would only be another illusion: like Jessamine’s dollhouse, like Will’s stories of brothels and gin palaces."

He does it because he feels more for Tessa than he does his own pain. 

"No more. The yin fen has taken so much from me: my family, the years of my life, the strength in my body, the breath in my lungs. It will not take from me this too: the most precious thing we are given by the Angel. The ability to love. I love Tessa Gray. And I will make sure that she knows it.

He also is devoted to Will as his parabatai. The two are indeed of one soul. 

Will rose slowly to his feet. He could not believe he was doing what he was doing, but it was clear that he was, clear as the silver rim around the black of Jem’s eyes. “If there is a life after this one,” he said, “let me meet you in it, James Carstairs.” “There will be other lives.” Jem held his hand out, and for a moment, they clasped hands, as they had done during their parabatai ritual, reaching across twin rings of fire to interlace their fingers with each other. “The world is a wheel,” he said. “When we rise or fall, we do it together.” Will tightened his grip on Jem’s hand, which felt thin as twigs in his. “Well, then,” he said, through a tight throat, “since you say there will be another life for me, let us both pray I do not make as colossal a mess of it as I have this one.”

(i know this is from CP2 but it basically describes their relationship and how fond they are) Jem is wise beyond his years. He not only protects Will to the best of his ability, but he also understands the true nature at the heart of a shadowhunter. 

"Whatever you are physically...male or female, strong or weak, ill or healthy--all those things matter less than what your heart contains. If you have the soul of a warrior, you are a warrior. All those other things, they are the glass that contains the lamp, but you are the light inside."

Jem is sweet. Instead of being snarky or sarcastic with someone he likes, he shares his feelings openly. : 

Jem: I only regret that it came too soon. I-I would have wanted to-to court you first. To take you driving, with a chaperon. Tessa: A chaperon? Jem: To tell you of my feelings first, before I showed them. To write poetry for you- Tessa: You don't even like poetry! Jem: No. But you make me want to write it. Does that not count for anything?

There are a ton of other reasons and examples that could take up a book. When it comes down to it, I feel that Jem is pure. It's so rare to see a male character in a book series that has a pure soul and completely mesmerizes you by his honesty, kindness and compassion. And of none of this pulls at your heart strings, just know this: WILL WOULD VOTE FOR JEM!! :)