Music Monday #25: "Up In The Air" by 30 Seconds to Mars

I'm starting to compile songs for my character playlists, and I'm looking at songs that fit our central villain in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Valentine Morgenstern. As you can hear in this song as you listen along, you can see why I selected "Up in the Air" by 30 Seconds to Mars as my Music Monday song of the week.

Valentine Morgenstern, that egotistical maniac hell bent on destroying the Downworlders and eventually planning to create a new type of dark Shadowhunter, embodies a lot of elements of this song. As lead singer Jared Leto, that handsome devil he is, belts out pure emotion, I can hear Valentine thrashing around trying to "explain" the reasons of what

Let's take a look a few of the lyrics:

I've been up in the air
Out of my head
Stuck in a moment of emotion I destroyed
Is this the end I feel
Up in the air
F*cked up on life
All of the laws I've broken
Loves that I've sacrificed
Is this the end
I'll wrap my hands your neck so tight with love, love
A thousand times I've tempted fate
A thousand times I've played this game
A thousand times that I have said today, today, today

I think Valentine took the things he thought was important - his love for Jocelyn, his connection with Luke, his need to fix what he felt was a broken world - and twisted his beliefs down a dark, dangerous path. Was he ever truly a good person? One seems to think he probably was, but I guess we won't get true insight unless Cassie does a prequel with Jocelyn, Luke and Valentine (crosses fingers for such a treat).  

 I've been up in the air
Lost in the night
I wouldn't trade an eye for your lies
Your lust for my life
Is this the end?

 You were the love of my life
Darkness for light
This is the portrait of a tortured you and I
Is this the, is this the, is this the end
I'll wrap my hands around your neck so tight with love, love, love

Finally, I feel like Valentine could be saying that he realizes that his miguided hopes could all be dashed by the hands of one very clever Shadowhunter, Jace Wayland:

 I've been up in the air

Is this the end I feel?
Up in the air
Chasing a dream so real

What are your thoughts on this song by 30 Seconds to Mars? Could you hear this on the soundtrack to The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones? What other songs do you think of when you think about Valentine? What about the other characters? Weigh in below in the comments section or talk to me on Twitter at @TMI_Institute.