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I saw The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and I was really confused by the ending. It seemed to me that they gave up the Mortal Cup a bit too easily and there was some hints that it wasn't real, what with the replica that Isabelle showed Simon at the beginning seeming to be a Chekov's Gun (much like the card with the cup on it wound up being) and Valentine receiving the cup from Hodge and saying that he had to make sure it was genuine (foreshadowing?). Plus Clary had the card at the end.

However, they never outright said "It's a good thing that we gave Valentine the fake cup!" So did Valentine get the real thing or not? Is this something they explained in the book?

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    I thought Jace's "You better keep that safe" just before they drive off to be pretty definitive...
    – Izkata
    Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 21:47
  • When I heard that, I was really confused because I didn't remember the replica from the beginning (the movie didn't remind us of it at the end) and we never saw Clary put the cup back in the card or anything. The way it was shot, it definitely seemed like Clary gave him the real cup, until she suddenly had the card at the end. (If she did give the fake cup, we didn't see a flashback or hear her tell about it, like movies usually do when they have an off-camera switcheroo). So if it is a fake, how did Clary manage it? An offscreen trip to the armory?
    – Thunderforge
    Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 22:00

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In the movie, we clearly know that the cup given to Valentine is the replica, because we see the card with the cup at the end. If real cup wasn't inside the card, then the card would be empty (this is reasoned by us seeing Clary remove the cup of tea form her drawing bug before).

In the book though, events play a bit differently:

The replica is never mentioned (as far as I can remember) and at the end, Valentine does get the real cup.

I hope that helps clarify things a bit more, let me know if you have further questions about this.

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  • Considering that in the book Valentine did get the real cup, is there any reason that the card at the end couldn't have contained the replica? Maybe she might try that to not worry Jace?
    – Thunderforge
    Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 22:56
  • Well, if you want to go that way, we can only speculate, and in the realm of speculation: why would she chose to lie about the whereabouts of one of the 3 most holly artifacts of the nefilim?
    – Deleteman
    Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 22:59
  • True, it wouldn't make much sense. I guess I just would have wanted a more straightforward explanation, but it looks like the movie just doesn't provide it (I'm sure the already announced sequel will though).
    – Thunderforge
    Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 23:02
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In the book Valentine took the real cup and disappeared. In the second and the third book, he used the cup with experiments. At the end of the third book, the Angel Raziel killed Valentine and Clary took the cup.

They aren't going to make a second movie but a tv-show on MTV is coming. Because there is no second movie, they needed to change the end of the first movie, because otherwise it would end really weird, and then definitely nobody would understand it at all. So they changed the end: the cup is secretly safe, Clary and Jace don't believe they are brother and sister (that was a lie), Jocelynn is getting better, Valentine is gone, the bad guy Hodge is dead, and Magnus and Alec like eachother very much....

I'm sorry if my english isn't good, I might made a few mistakes, but I'm a twelve years old dutch girl, so please forgive me ;/

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Valentine again tried to force Clary to take the Cup out of the card; when Clary continued to refuse, Valentine began to get violent, prompting Jace to finally fight back. During the ensuing battle with Jace, Clary was able to switch out the Cup with a fake one and threatened to drop it into the Portal, transport it to someplace unknown to him. As Valentine tried to desperately reach for the Cup, she kicked him into it; he returned shortly after, only his arms outside the Portal as he tried to grab and take her, but Valentine ended up stuck when Clary froze the Portal with Jace's stele. He managed to break free, destroying the Portal from inside.

This link offers some more detail on the subject.

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    Are there any sources you can find for your answer to provide evidence for you thoughts to strengthen your answer?
    – Edlothiad
    Commented Feb 25, 2017 at 16:22
  • If you read the books it kinda explains it there. The books are a great read too!
    – Basically a Herondale
    Commented Feb 25, 2017 at 16:24
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    I'm sure they are. But an internet user who's passing through may not have the time to read a book to check an answer, consider adding in sources, similar to the accepted answer, to support your own answer.
    – Edlothiad
    Commented Feb 25, 2017 at 16:25
  • will get them now..
    – Basically a Herondale
    Commented Feb 25, 2017 at 16:26
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I believe that she did give Valentine the real cup. Yes, we see the card at the end, but I really don't think that it's the replica either. Clary's mother had drawn the cards. I think she drew the cup on a card BEFORE actually putting the cup inside it. Which means that even though Clary took the cup out, the card would not be empty.

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it's all hinted in very carefully. the card with the real cup slid under the couch while have and Valentine were fighting and while clary sat next to Jocelyn. clary picked up the card and gave a moments thought before the movie barely showed her getting up and moving away. at that moment, she went to get the replica. the movie didn't show this specifically but you would know because that's the only way she would've gotten another cup. the next moment you see clary, she's at the portal with the replica. between her leaving Jocelyn and her being at the portal, Valentine and jace fought for a long enough time for clary to go get the replica. while she was gone, Valentine noticed that she was gone and so was the cup. he sent pangborn and Blackwell to "get the others" meaning clary too. that is why pangborn went into the basement and said Clary's name before finding Luke. and clary made it back with the replica right before Valentine was about to kill Jace.

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