Victor Aldertree is a major antagonist of the Freeform TV series Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, serving as the secondary antagonist of Season 2A and the overarching antagonist of Season 3B (specifically the main antagonist of the episode "Heavenly Fire").
Aldertree is a former Clave representative and a high-ranking official with maximum clearance to almost all Clave affairs. He temporarily took over the New York Institute after the rogue Valentine Morgenstern obtained the Mortal Cup to start a war against the Clave and the defection of Jace Herondale, who had reluctantly joined his cause after he threatened the lives of his friends, leading Aldertree to lead a manhunt against Jace, believing him to be a traitor.
He is played by Nick Sagar in his first villainous role.
Biography[]
Beginnings[]
Aldertree used to be a field medic back at the London Institute, before climbing up the ranks and become a diplomat.
At some point, he met and fell in love with a werewolf named Eva. However, he was forced to kill her after she was unable to control her lycanthropy that led her to senselessly become violent and attack Aldertree. He came to the conclusion that Downworlders were very dangerous species, having seen their nature differently, and felt that Shadowhunters should never be with them.
Later on, he started working on the Heavenly Fire project, dubbing it an "off-the-books", secret Clave program that was far beyond the knowledge of any others. However, oblivious to even Consul Penhallow, the project consisted of subjecting unwilling Downworlders to torturous experimentation with heavenly fire, his ultimate goal being the development of a serum that would turn Downworlders into mundanes even if they don't want to.
Becoming head of Institute[]
In light of Valentine's recent acts of war after retrieving the Mortal Cup and Jace Wayland, who was revealed to be his son, defecting to his side, Aldertree was sent by the Clave as a replacement for then interim head of the New York Institute, Lydia Branwell (who suspects that Maryse went behind her back), deeming her previous leadership "wholly ineffective". His first act as head of was interrogating those Shadowhunters who had gone on missions with Jace to prove whose side was he on, also putting the Institute on lockdown. In the end, particularly after hearing even Clary's testimony about Jace unsuccessfully trying to explain why he did what he did, Aldertree concluded and annnounced to everyone that Jace was a traitor, launching a hunt and kill order on him, stating that he knew about the trap and had multiple chances of killing Valentine, but didn't.
He also sets some new unfair rules: No Downworlders are allowed inside the Institute, which means no Simon (vampire), Magnus (warlock) and Luke (werewolf), despite Luke offering his previous Shadowhunter knowledges and NYPD cop services to assist and Simon both having nowhere to go, including the exposure to the sunlight; however, Aldertree shows no sympathy to both of them. Clary and company are forbidden from parttaking in the search and, to make matters worse, the lockdown is lifted for everyone except for Clary and Jocelyn, whom Aldertree wants to watch very closely due to their relation with Valentine and Jace. When Alec and Isabelle try to object, Aldertree refuses to hear about it and threatens them with de-runing should they dare challenge his leadership. Even Jocelyn gets Clary to back down and Maryse convinces Alec to forget Jace. When Jace and Valentine eventually reach land, Alec and Isabelle insist on bringing Jace back themselves, but Aldertree and Maryse have them both detained by the guards before Lydia apologizes to them, promising to do what she can to help Jace.
When Reggie's was discovered to be a vampire den, Aldertree interrogated Simon, whose unclear answers made Aldertree assume that the new leader of the vampire clan, Raphael Santiago, had something to do with it and got him in trouble with the Clave. Eventually, Aldertree "invited" Raphael to the Institute. Raphael was bound to a chair and tortured by Aldertree with a ray of concentrated UV rays for interrogation. Despite truthfully assuring he had no idea where Camille was, Aldertree did not believe him and kept on interrogating the vampire, who reminded Aldertree that torturing Downworlders is against the Accords. Nevertheless, Aldertree confidently responds that it is only "motivation" to get Raphael to cooperate, before burning his face with the UV rays, stopping only after he got heavily mutilated.
Arresting and distrusting Jace[]
After an attempt to track Jace via parabatai bond goes awry, Alec's life hangs from a thread when he lies on a comatose state. Aldertree is completely against recommending further treatment for him in Idris, so he has Raj guard the room and force Magnus out of the premises should Alec's health does not improve. As Magnus keeps protecting Alec with his magic, Raj tries to make Magnus leave, enraging him to the point of choking him with his magic. He and Isabelle would later disguise Raj as Alec for them to portal the real one to Magnus's place and await Jace's arrival there, knowing that Jace would be arrested on sight shortly after setting foot inside the Institute. After a while, Aldertree sees through the ruse and deactivates the disguise rune on Raj. With no more options, Isabelle strikes a deal with Aldertree to protect Jace from werewolves, particularly Maia Roberts, hunting him on the mistaken conclusion that he has killed one of their own in exchange of his surrender, and also allowing to save Alec's life. Aldertree then arrested Jace after a short reunion with the revived Alec.
Aldertree interrogated Jace at the Silent City, during which he made Jace admit that he had feelings for Clary, his then believed sister, that he partly believed in Valentine's cause, and that he cannot fully pledge his loyalty to the Clave. At the end of it, Aldertree decided to recommend to the Clave to sentence Jace to life. Before he could leave, Valentine infiltrated the City to steal the Soul-Sword and he was held at knife point as leverage against Jace. Despite Aldertree telling Jace to retrieve the Sword, he instead decide to save Aldertree's life, allowing Valentine to escape with the Sword. They both later returned to the Institute where Jace was exonerated by the Clave. Despite this, Aldertree still remained suspicious of Jace, believing he deliberately let Valentine escape with the Sword and Jace calls out his ungratefulness of his life being saved. Their argument ended with Aldertree demoting Jace to ichor duty. As many started giving Jace the cold shoulder because of them believing Valentine's claim that he had demon blood, Jace confronted Aldertree about this, resulting in Jace leaving the Institute.
Yin fen addiction and Attack on the Institute[]
After a a demon attack that claimed the lives of most Shadowhunters, Isabelle got injured but still insisted on taking the mission to the Adamant Citadel alongside Clary, but Aldertree refused to leave her in that state and prescribed a dose of yin fen, saying that the wound would be healing fast enough, also asking her to spy on Clary during the course of the mission. However, the drug, which was actually made out of vampire venom, prevented her from entering the Citadel after being submitted to a "purity trial", which Clary managed to pass but Isabelle did not because of the yin fen. Isabelle confronted Aldertree, who apologized and stated that the only wanted to "help", although Isabelle didn't tell him about Clary's rune-creating ability, which she had witnessed from afar. Aldertree secretly became aware of Isabelle's addiction to the drug and kept on taking advantage of her unstability. After Alec was alerted about this piece of information, he became enraged (if most), immensely protective of his sister and decided to use this as leverage to regain control of the Institute from Aldertree, who defiantly refuses to take any orders from him, but is forced to relent and cooperate after Alec threatens him. When Valentine infiltrated the Institute, Aldertree was able to hide away safely and worked with Alec to get past Valentine's men and to the rooftop in an attempt to shut off the Institute's angelic power core to hinder Valentine's plan to use it. They were then outnumbered by Valentine's men, until Isabelle arrived and defeated all of them before collapsing to the ground.
Consequences[]
Jace, still believing that he has demon blood, grabs the Soul-Sword in an attempt to destroy it, but unintentionally charges it. Valentine then gets ahold of the Sword and activates it, killing a party of Downworlders storming inside the Institute to attack the rogue Shadowhunters, save for Simon (who was unwittingly spared by his inmunity to the sun), Raphael (who quickly escaped unharmed), Luke, Maia and Meliorn (who were accidentally left behind while fighting off some of Valentine's goons). The enraged Jace confronted Valentine outside, realizing he actually has angel blood and was lied to about it, but also shocked to discover that Valentine is not Jace's father, meaning that neither Clary nor Jocelyn are related to him. During a brief scuffle, Jace overpowers Valentine and attempts to kill him, only to be stopped by Clary as they needed him to disclose the Mortal Cup's whereabouts before turning around to see that the Soul-Sword is gone. After the attack and Valentine's arrest, Aldertree was stripped from his job as head of the Institute, and sent back to Idris to face reprimand for his controversial actions.
Heavenly Fire[]
Relationships[]
Allies[]
- Eva † - Former Girlfriend turned Victim
- Raj - Former Subordinate
- Maryse Lightwood
Enemies[]
- Shadowhunters
- Jace Herondale - Former Target, Temporary Prisoner and Savior; enemy and first successor
- Isabelle Lightwood - Former Love Interest, drug abusee
- Alec Lightwood - Second Successor
- Clary Fairchild - Enemy
- Jocelyn Fairchild †
- Aline Penhallow
- The Clave
- Malachi Dieudonné † - Former Superior
- Jia Penhallow - Former Superior
- Imogen Herondale †
- Helen Blackthorn
- Lydia Branwell - Predecessor
- Downworlders
- Simon Lewis
- Magnus Bane
- Raphael Santiago
- The Circle
- Jonathan Morgenstern †