open/close all folders
Click here to return to the main page.
In general
- Creature Hunter Organisation: The Shadowhunters were tasked by the angel Raziel to kill all demons and this is the main job of most Shadowhunters.
- Demon Slaying: Keeping the world safe by killing demons is the main purpose of the shadowhunters.
- Everyone Is Related: Since the Shadowhunters have been a historically small community, most Shadowhunters are related to each other by blood. As an example, the Herondale, Lightwood, and Blackthorn families since the late 1800s are related, as Cecily Herondale marries Gabriel Lightwood, passing the genes of her black hair and blue eyes to their descendants (hence why Magnus notes that Alec has the same blue eyes as Will, Cecily's brother, and why contemporary Lightwoods have black hair, as Lightwoods are mostly brunets in the 1800s).
Jonathan Shadowhunter
The very first Shadowhunter, who formed a pact with Raziel to be able to slay demons. After being given the Mortal Instruments, Jonathan turned his sister Abigail and best friend David into Nephilim as well. The three of them would go on to form the Clave.
- All There in the Manual: Most information regarding him is found in The Shadowhunter Codex.
- Evil Counterpart: The Jonathan Shadowhunter of the parallel Earth now known as Edom was this. Described as being a "divider", he apparently had some similarities to Valentine, and when the demons invaded his world in force, most of the Downworlders sided with them against that world's Shadowhunters, leading to the demons being victorious and the whole world being laid waste.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With David the Silent, inspired by their Biblical namesakes who were also examples of this trope. They were the very first parabatai.
- Shrouded in Myth: Lived during the Middle Ages and the details of his life have been heavily mythologized in the thousand years since. This is one of the reasons nobody knew what the Mortal Mirror was, because the specifics of how he summoned Raziel (with the help of a warlock) had been buried beneath idealized legends.
The Ashdown family
Cameron Ashdown
A member of the Los Angeles conclave who had on-again off-again relationship with Emma Carstairs.
- Cain and Abel: The Abel to his sister's Cain, as she supports the Cohort. However, the two leave Idris together when Alec decides that the anti-Cohort faction is better off staying away from Idris.
- Clashing Cousins: Cameron's cousin Vanessa is a fierce supporter of The Cohort, so when Cameron sides against it, she stabs him with a poisoned blade. He survives though.
- Dogged Nice Guy: He is this to Emma, being kind to her and calling her multiple times after they break up for good, asking for reconciliation. By Queen of Air and Darkness, however, he and Emma have come to a mutual agreement not to pursue each other again.
- Relationship Revolving Door: He and Emma broke up and got back together again every four months or so until Emma finally breaks up with him for good.
- Romantic False Lead: Subverted. At first, we're led to believe that Cameron will be a significant roadblock in Emma and Julian's forbidden relationship. However, after the opening scene of Lady Midnight, Cameron doesn't appear again until the third act of Queen of Air and Darkness, by which time Emma and Julian's relationship has solidified. Besides, it's made clear from the start that Emma views him as a good friend, but not a boyfriend.
- White Sheep: He is the only one of his family that doesn't side with The Cohort, instead supporting the pro-Downworlder faction.
Vanessa Ashdown
A Centurion and member of the Cohort. She is Cameron and Paige's cousin.
- Clashing Cousins: She clashes with Cameron, who is an avid anti-Cohort faction member.
- Fantastic Racism: As with the rest of the Cohort, she is extremely racist against Downworlders.
- Slut-Shaming: At one point, she calls Emma a "boy-crazy slut" referencing her on-again off-again relationship with her cousin.
Paige Ashdown
Cameron's younger sister who supports the Cohort.
- Cain and Abel: The Cain to her brother's Abel, as she supports the Cohort. However, the two leave Idris together when Alec decides that the anti-Cohort faction is better off staying away from Idris.
- Heel–Face Turn: She makes a last-minute decision to leave Idris with Cameron, against the wishes of Vanessa.
- Kick the Dog: In the past, she made Ty believe that she shared his interest in cars and invited him to the Ashdown residence to play with her. When he did go, all he found was Paige laughing at his gullibility and calling him an idiot for trusting people so easily.
The Blackthorn family
Annabel Blackthorn
Annabel Callisto Blackthorn
A Shadowhunter from the Cornwall Institute who lived in the early 1800s. The daughter of Felix Blackthorn, she fell in love with Malcolm Fade, a warlock who was adopted by the family. Unfortunately, the two lived before the time of the Accords, which meant Shadowhunter-Downworlder marriages were forbidden. The couple planned to leave together by stealing the Black Volume of the Dead, but the two were captured. The Clave sentenced Annabel a life of exile as an Iron Sister, but Felix, already ashamed of his daughter's relationship, killed her before the order could be carried out.
Two hundred years after Annabel's death, Malcolm began planning to resurrect his beloved Annabel. Supposedly, she was the inspiration of Annabel Lee, the last poem written by Edgar Allan Poe. She is also the titular character of Lady Midnight and Queen of Air and Darkness.
- Ax-Crazy: She has gone a bit, uh, unhinged since her resurrection. At the end of Lord of Shadows, she initiates an orgy of murder inside the Gard simply because she is given little space to talk.
- Back from the Dead: Malcolm successfully resurrects her in Lord of Shadows.
- Berserk Button: Since the circumstances of her death involved a lot of deception, Annabel, to put it mildly, hates lies. In Lord of Shadows, Julian promises that she can testify at the Clave under the protection of Magnus and she will be able to access the Blackthorn Manor. When both are unfulfilled, she experiences a violent mental breakdown and ends up murdering Robert and Livvy.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: She has very pale skin and very long dark brown hair. Julian is briefly creeped out when he meets her in the London Institute's library, going so far as to compare her with Sadako Yamamura.
- Interspecies Romance: She is a Shadowhunter, while Malcolm Fade is a warlock.
- Lady in Red: As shown in the cover of Queen of Air and Darkness, Annabel prominently wears a red dress during her time in Thule.
- Mama Bear: Upon meeting Ash, Annabel is enchanted by his natural charm and becomes dedicated to protecting him.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Malcolm planned her resurrection for years, during which he only managed to bring back her decomposed body. All the while, Annabel was perfectly aware of her surroundings, but could not do anything. As it turns out, Malcolm did the resurrection more for himself and never considered that his lover might not be okay with it. Small wonder she decides to kill him the moment she is fully resurrected.
- Offing the Offspring: Has no qualms whatsoever when she murders Livvy, her younger cousin many times removed.
- Super-Strength: She is much stronger than she appears to be, as shown when she casually tosses a Rider who charges at her at full speed. It's implied that this is a side effect of the spells used to bring her back.
- Wild Card: In Lord of Shadows, she doesn't align herself with any side, though she is willing to hear Julian out and cooperate with him to provide testimony regarding the Cohort's deception. However, when the Cohort hound her, she snaps and commits mass murder against the Clave, making her their enemy. In Queen of Air and Darkness, she is forced to ally herself with the Unseelie King until she escapes to Thule, where she works together with Sebastian.
Rupert Blackthorn
The husband of Tatiana Lightwood. He dies when his father-in-law, Benedict Lightwood, succumbs to demon pox, turns into a demon, and eats him.
- Cavalry of the Dead: Post-mortem, Rupert's soul goes to a very distant afterlife, far enough that even his son Jesse, who is trapped in the in-between world after he succumbs to his first rune-marking ritual, never contacts him. Lucie still manages to bring his ghost into the mortal world to stop Tatiana's rampage in the London Institute.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Demon Benedict tears his body apart and eats most of it. His leg is found in the bushes of the Chiswick House.
- Disappeared Dad: To Jesse and Grace Blackthorn.
- Posthumous Character: We never actually see him alive in The Infernal Devices, and we only learn about him post-mortem.
- Unfinished Business: After Lucie summons him, Rupert's ghost wanders in the living world for decades until he is finally put to rest by his descendant Julian Blackthorn and Emma Carstairs.
Tatiana Blackthorn (née Lightwood)
The younger sister of Gideon and Gabriel Lightwood. She married Rupert Blackthorn and they had one child (Jesse) together. She also adopted Grace Cartwright after her parents died.
- Abusive Parents:
- She is abusive towards Grace, forcing her to endure brutal training regime to make her the perfect weapon. She also doesn't hesitate to threaten Grace's life if it means that she can get what she wants.
- Though she appears to hold a soft spot for her son, it is revealed in Chain of Iron that she considers Jesse just as much of a weapon as Grace is, allowing Belial to possess him as his temporary vessel and then urging Grace to put her charm on him so he can be controlled.
- Deal with the Devil: In the epilogue of Chain of Gold, it is revealed that Tatiana is working with the Prince of Hell Belial to destroy the Shadowhunters.
- The Dragon: To Belial in his plans to grace the Earth.
- Excessive Mourning: She still mourns for Rupert after 25 years and speaks of Jesse in the present tense, as she plans to bring the latter back.
- Evil Aunt:
- At the end of Chain of Gold, it is implied that she ordered Belial to target her niece, Barbara, first, which eventually led to her dying, possibly to spite her brother Gideon.
- In Chain of Thorns, she kills her nephew Christopher by stabbing him with a poisoned blade.
- Evil Matriarch: To Grace and Jesse. By the events of the third book, they have disavowed her completely by siding with the Shadowhunters against Tatiana and her demon army.
- Hates Everyone Equally: She hates everyone, up to and including Grace, whom she abused so she became her "weapon".
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Starts as a beautiful, pride heir of the Lightwood family, she goes mad with grief after her husband is killed and becomes hateful to everyone, including her brothers. She refuses to have anyone clean her residences in both Idris and London, living in a squalid mansion with only her daughter for company.
- The Heavy: She provides Belial the means to attack the Shadowhunters by entering the mortal world, the first and the foremost by letting her son become his vessel.
- Locked Away in a Monastery: In the epilogue of Chain of Gold, Tatiana is forced to become an Iron Sister. She escapes from this in the epilogue of Chain of Iron. It's later disclosed that Tatiana willingly became a Sister so she could gain access to the Iron Tombs and fulfill Belial's plan to insert the Chimera demons into the corpses of the dead Silent Brothers and Iron Sisters.
- Necromantic: Chain of Thorns reveals that everything Tatiana did up until then, from serving Belial, to planning for Jesse's resurrection, to attacking London with the help of demons, was so her long-dead husband, Rupert, can rise and live with her again.
- Outliving One's Offspring: She outlived her son and never moved on from it, as she immediately began preparations to resurrect him.
- Rapid Aging: Even though she is merely in her forties, she looks incredibly frail by the time of The Last Hours series, thanks to years of grieving and hating everyone.
- Puppy Love: When she was twelve, she developed a crush on thirteen year old Will Herondale.
- Reduced to Dust: After Cordelia slits her throat with Lilith's sword, she disintegrates to ashes.
- Teen Pregnancy: She was already married and pregnant at age sixteen.
- Villainous Breakdown: She experiences one when Rupert's ghost is summoned by Lucie and disowns her for committing multiple crimes all the in name of resurrecting him.
Jesse Blackthorn
The only child of Rupert and Tatiana. He died when he was sixteen years old.
- Afterlife Antechamber: After the failed ritual to mark his first runes, Jesse's soul entered a sort of limbo, separated from his lifeless body, which is preserved by his mother. Lucie bringing Jesse back to life technically does not count as necromancy, as she is merely "merging" his body and soul together.
- Back from the Dead:
- Implied, a family tree released in some editions of Clockwork Princess says that Jesse married Lucie Herondale before dying at the age of 59, but in The Midnight Heir it is revealed that Jesse died at age 16 and that his mother is preparing some sort of dark ritual.
- This comes true in Chain of Iron, though instead of the dark ritual, Jesse is resurrected by Lucie, who is able to pull him out of the limbo where he is in.
- Big Brother Instinct: He taught Grace how to use Shadowhunter weapons and comforted her when she became abused by their mother. He was the only source of light for Grace during her miserable life under Tatiana.
- Boy Meets Ghoul: With Lucie in Chain of Gold.
- Demonic Possession: Chain of Iron reveals that Belial, through Tatiana, has been grooming Jesse to become an emergency vessel in case the plan to turn James to their side doesn't work. By putting runes on his body, Belial can possess a vessel who is immune to Cortana.
- Disappeared Dad: His father died before he was born.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In Chain of Gold, he gives the pendant that contains his last breath to revive a dying James, which causes his tangible form to disappear. He still manages to appear as a ghost, but is incorporeal.
- Older Than They Look: He is chronologically 25 years old, but is stuck in age because of his death. When he comes back in Chain of Iron, he looks the same 16 year old boy that Lucie encountered many years ago.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: After the fatal ritual to give him his first runes, Jesse entered a state of between life and death, more than a ghost but less than a human. He is able to physically interact with people, but has severe restrictions in other areas. In a way, he is like the Livvy that Ty attempted to bring back in Queen of Air and Darkness: not quite dead but not quite alive either.
- Strong Family Resemblance:
- Jesse is a spitting image of Rupert, his father. A plot point in Chain of Iron is how a few victims of Belial's murder spree recognize their murderer — that is, they mistake Jesse for Rupert, even though the latter died 25 years ago.
- He also bears a strong resemblance to his distant descendant, Tiberius Blackthorn.
Grace Blackthorn (née Cartwright)
The adoptive daughter of Tatiana, and adoptive sister of Jesse, who was taken in by the Blackthorns after the deaths of her parents. She is also a secret childhood friend of James Herondale.
- The Beard: At the end of Chain of Gold, she becomes engaged to Charles Fairchild, a gay man, so that she can secure the protection of the Consul against Tatiana.
- Charm Person: Belial gave her some kind of a siren-like ability that allows her to manipulate men into falling in love with her. Her charm initially does not work on James because of his demonic blood, but a certain demonic bracelet (which she claims to be her birth family's to deceive James) is able to negate its influence.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: She exhibits a mild possessiveness of James and is exasperated at his closeness with Cordelia. It is revealed in Chain of Iron that this is just a ruse, as she deliberately stalls their budding romance so she can turn James to her side and fulfill Tatiana's deal with Belial.
- Conflicting Loyalty: She is torn between her loyalty to her adoptive family, and her concern for James, as she has begun to care for him over the years.
- Damsel in Distress: Despite being Tatiana's "blade", she was never formally trained as a Shadowhunter, and finds herself always having to be rescued when confronted by demons.
- Dirty Business: Tatiana's deal with Belial forces Grace to make James fall in love with her. Although she cuts ties with her mother at the end of Chain of Gold, she still follows the deal by putting James back under the influence of her power and promising to come to him after his one-year marriage with Cordelia.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: A major part of her motivation in resurrecting Jesse. Tatiana was both physically and emotionally abusive towards her, and she has few if any real friends. Jesse was the only person who loved her without being influenced by her power, and she will do anything to bring him back.
- Liar Revealed: At the end of Chain of Iron, all of her lies to James come out in one fell swoop. He does not handle it well, outright calling her a "criminal" while calling for the Clave to interrogate her.
- Odd Friendship: With Christopher, who helps Grace find the inner scientist within her, and is willing to look past her previous misdeeds to genuinely care for her. It is implied that the two are on the precipice of an affair when Christopher dies.
- Puppy Love: Ostensibly fell in love with James at a very young age.
- Romantic False Lead: Ultimately one to James, as Grace harbors no romantic feelings for him, while his one true love was, is, and will always be Cordelia.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She is the one who tells Malcolm Fade the truth about Annabel Blackthorn's death, which kickstarts his century-long plot to resurrect her.
Arthur Blackthorn
Andrew's brother. After Andrew died he became the new head of the Los Angeles Institute and the guardian of Andrew's children.
- Accidental Misnaming: In his madness, he often wrongfully identifies people. He tends to call Julian by his father's name, while Kit is called "Stephen". Later, when Zara visits him, he calls her "Amatis".
- Adults Are Useless: He has become pretty useless since his horrific experience in the Land of Faerie. He spends most of his time in his attic office, studying the classics and philosophizing, while largely leaving the run of the Institute and taking care of the younger children to his nephew Julian.
- Badass Bookworm: Like his brother, he is very invested in studies of Classical Literature and History.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Malcolm is going after the Blackthorns, because he needs to sacrifice one of them to reach his goals, so Arthur offers his own life in exchange for the safety of his nieces and nephews. Malcolm accepts and slits his throat.
- Mind Rape: What his tribulations in Faerie consisted of. He was thoroughly tortured that by the time he came to Earth his mind is never the same again.
Andrew Blackthorn
The head of the Los Angeles Institute and the father of Helen, Mark, Julian, Livia, Tiberius, Drusilla and Octavian.
- Badass Bookworm: He is very interested in Classical Literature and named his children after Classical figures. That said, he is still a Shadowhunter, which automatically means badass.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Sebastian forced him to drink from the Infernal Cup irreversibly turning him into an Endarkened. This caused him to lose his free will and fall under Sebastians control. During his time as an Endarkened he fought for Sebastian and even tried to kill his own son Ty, but before he could do so, his other son Julian trew a knife in his chest, killing him.
- Interspecies Romance: With Nerissa, a Seelie faerie. They even had two children together: Helen and Mark.
Eleanor Blackthorn
The wife of Andrew Blackthorn, the stepmother of Helen and Mark and the mother of Julian, Livia, Tiberius, Drusilla and Octavian.
- Good Stepmother: She raised and loved Helen and Mark like they were her own.
- Posthumous Character: She died from cancer several years before City of Heavenly Fire, but she is still important because of her relation with her (step)children.
Helen Blackthorn
Helen Penhallow Blackthorn / Alessa
Played by: Sydney Meyer (Shadowhunters)
The first child of Andrew Blackthorn and Seelie faerie lady Nerissa. She is the older sister to Mark and the older half sister to Julian, Livvy, Ty, Dru and Tavvy. She grew up in the Los Angeles institute with her father, stepmother and siblings. After the Seelie court sided against the Shadowhunters in the Dark War, Helen got banished to Wrangel Island for her faerie blood even though she had fought against the other faeries in the war.
- Action Girl: She has demonstrated prowess in both battles she's participated in.
- Battle Couple: She and Aline become this.
- Big Sister Instinct: She is very protective of her younger siblings.
- Family Theme Naming: Due to her father's fascination for classical history and mythology, she and all of her siblings are named after Greek and Latin historical figures. Helen is named after Helen of Troy.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She has blond hair and is a very sweet woman.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: After the Cold Peace starts, the Shadowhunters distrusted her, because of her faerie blood and the faeries distrusted her for her shadowhunter blood. Her brother Mark has the same problem, except that he is whisked away to Faerie before the Dark War ends.
- Lipstick Lesbian: With Aline, whom she marries.
- Parents as People: An older sibling example. As the eldest Blackthorn sibling she is expected to take care of her younger siblings after their parents die. However, before she even has the chance to do her job she is Reassigned to Antarctica, only returning five years later. By that time, her then-child siblings have grown into teenagers and have basically become strangers to her, as shown in Queen of Air and Darkness.
- Plant Hair: When she is first introduced as a background character in City of Glass, her hair is described as being "made of flowers".
- Practically Different Generations: She is 16 years older than Tavvy.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: After the Dark War, Helen is exiled to Wrangel Island, officially to help recreate the runes, but unofficially because of her half-faerie heritage, as the Fair Folk supported Sebastian during the war.
- You Are in Command Now: After Arthur dies, she is given charge of the Los Angeles Institute, leading it together with Aline.
Mark Blackthorn
For information on Mark click here.
Julian Blackthorn
For information on Julian click here.
Livia Blackthorn
Livia "Livvy" Blackthorn
The fourth child of Andrew Blackthorn (and the second with his wife Eleanor) and Ty's twin sister who lived at the Los Angeles institute with her siblings. She died at age fifteen when Annabel went insane and stabbed her in the chest. Her twin brother Ty refused to accept that she was gone and tried to bring her back from the dead, but something went wrong and she returned as a ghost instead.
- Back from the Dead: Subverted. After she is killed, Ty immediately tries to bring her back using a spell from the Black Volume of the Dead. However, because one of the ingredients is defective, the spell fails to work completely and Livvy can only come back as a ghost.
- Big Brother Worship: For her older brother Julian. She really looks up to him and she wants to run an institute when she is older, because she wants to be like him.Livvy to Julian: "I realized something. I want to be like you, Jules. Not this second, not right now, someday. I want to take care of people, other Shadowhunters, people who need me. I want to run an Institute."
- Came Back Wrong: Her brother Ty tries to bring her back from the dead, but because of a corrupted catalyst she comes back as ghost. She is 'alive' again, but she can't age or touch things and most people aren't able to see her. She is also connected to Ty with a necromantic bond now, which is very dangerous.
- Family Theme Naming: Due to her father's fascination for classical history and mythology, she and all of her siblings are named after Greek and Latin historical figures. Livia is named after a Roman empress.
- In-Series Nickname: "Livvy".
- Sibling Team: With her twin brother Ty. They always do everything together and they work really well with each other.
Tiberius Blackthorn
Tiberius "Ty" Nero Blackthorn
The fifth child of Andrew Blackthorn (and the third with his wife Eleanor) and Livvy's twin brother who lives at the Los Angeles institute with his siblings. Ty is highly intelligent, but has some trouble with understanding social interactions.
- Angsty Surviving Twin: After Livvy is killed, Ty flat out refuses to accept that her death is permanent and immediately begins work to resurrect her. However, he only manages to bring back her ghost, so he will have to accept that his sibling is gone for good.
- Badass Bookworm: Despite preferring to work behind the desk, Ty is no slouch in self-defense skills, although his agoraphobia necessitates him wearing headphones whenever he is sent into a fight.
- Family Theme Naming: Due to his father's fascination for classical history and mythology, he and all of his siblings are named after Greek and Latin historical figures. Tiberius is named after Tiberius Claudius Nero, a Roman politician.
- Headphones Equal Isolation: Because he can't stand loud noises, Ty always carries headphones whenever he goes. Half of the time, he puts them on.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: He slowly becomes one with Kit, especially after Livvy's death.
- In-Series Nickname: "Ty".
- Literal-Minded: Ty is highly intelligent, but he often doesn't understand slang or figures of speech until they're explained to him, and he doesn't see the purpose of certain societal conventions such as looking at people in the eyes when you speak to them. He will do it if he feels it's necessary, however, because he understands that these conventions are important to people.
- Manchild: In-universe, everyone who isn't used to Ty's mental issues sees him as quite childish for a fifteen-year-old.
- Sibling Team: With his twin sister Livvy. They always do everything together and they work really well with each other.
Drusilla Blackthorn
Drusilla "Dru" Blackthorn
The sixth child of Andrew Blackthorn (and the fourth with his wife Eleanor) who lives in the Los Angeles Institute.
- Big Sister Instinct: Though she complains about having to babysit him, Dru genuinely cares for her little brother Tavvy. During the attack on the LA Institute in City of Heavenly Fire Emma finds her standing guard over his crib with a borrowed sword.
- Family Theme Naming: Due to her father's fascination for classical history and mythology, she and all of her siblings are named after Greek and Latin historical figures. Drusilla is named after Caligula's sister.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: While she understands why she had to leave them, she still resents Helen for leaving the family when they were kids and spends most of their time after Helen completed her exile acting passive-aggressive around her. However, they manage to reconcile during the Battle at the Imperishable Fields, when Helen agrees with Dru's plan to restore the transformed Emma and Julian back.
- In-Series Nickname: "Dru".
- Middle Child Syndrome: She gets hit with this. She is not old enough to be considered mature, yet not young enough to be considered helpless. Also, while Mark and Helen share the same status as "outsiders", Julian and Octavian have a very parent-children relationship, and Livvy and Ty being obviously close due to their status as twins, Dru is not really close with any of her siblings and has no real distinguishing feature other than her love of horror films. This is played up in the latter half of Lord of Shadows and Queen of Air and Darkness, as Dru gets her own viewpoint and she tries to explore ways to carve her own personality.
- Nightmare Fetishist: She loves horror films.
- Secret-Keeper: She is one of the few people that knows about Ty's failed attempt to bring Livia back to life and that she is a ghost now.
- Ship Tease: With Jaime Rosales.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Dru is said to greatly resemble her mother, Eleanor.
- Wise Beyond Their Years:
- In Lady Midnight, she is the first person to suggest that the Guardian is trying to resurrect "Annabel Lee", long before any of her siblings learn that it is indeed true.
- In the climax of Queen of Air and Darkness, when Emma and Julian transform into the mythical Nephilim, it is Dru who suggests the Blackthorns usd the Family rune to bring them back.
- Younger Than They Look: Since Dru went through puberty very early, she is already pretty tall and curvy at age thirteen. This caused several people to think that Dru was seventeen or eighteen.
Octavian Blackthorn
Octavian "Tavvy" Blackthorn
The seventh and youngest child of Andrew Blackthorn (and the fifth with his wife Eleanor) who lives at the Los Angeles institute with his siblings.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Tavvy is the youngest of his sibling and only seven years old during the events of The Dark Artifices. This means he is the only one of his siblings that does not help in the fight against the Guardian or the Cohort.
- Family Theme Naming: Due to his father's fascination for classical history and mythology, he and all of his siblings are named after Greek and Latin historical figures. Octavian is named after Gaius Octavius, better known as Augustus, who was the adopted son of Julius Ceasar and the first emperor of Rome.
- Practically Different Generations: He is 16 years younger than Helen and 14 years younger than Mark (though the latter is physically only 9 years older, thanks to spending time in Faerie).
- In-Series Nickname: "Tavvy".
The Bridgestock family
Maurice Bridgestock
The Inquisitor during the 1900s and Ariadne's adoptive father.
- Blackmail'': He blackmailed Charles by convincing him to turn against the Herondales in exchange for not outing his sexuality. It nearly succeeds until Charles, with some prodding from Alastair and Matthew, chooses to come out to the Clave himself and expose Maurice's plans.
- Fantastic Racism: He claims to have never trusted the Herondales for consorting with Tessa, a Downworlder. In Chain of Thorns, he uses the opportunity of the Clave being blindsided by the revelation of Tessa's father by holding a formal trial for Tessa and Will to be interrogated by the Mortal Sword.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Maurice wants to interrogate the Herondales so they'll be banished from the Clave. Instead, the trial goes smoothly and Charles confesses the blackmail he received from Maurice, causing him to be deposed from his post and exiled to Wrangel Island.
Flora Bridgestock
Maurice's wife and Ariadne's adoptive mother.
- Big Damn Heroes: She is one of the Shadowhunters who answer Grace's call for help by coming to the London Institute to help battle the Watchers.
- Housewife: She is introduced as one. In Chain of Thorns, Ari expresses surprise when she sees her mother in full battle gear arriving to help the London Institute fend off the Watchers.
- Open-Minded Parent: Although she has trouble accepting Ariadne's coming out, it is more because she fears it will condemn Ari into a second-class life, as she knows that "deviant" people like her will not be tolerated by society. Over time, however, she chooses to come around and reconcile with her.
Ariadne Bridgestock
Ariadne Bridgestock (born Kamala Joshi)
The adopted daughter of Inquisitor Bridgestock who desperately tries to hide the fact that she is attracted to girls.
- The Beard: Her engagement to Charles is this on both sides, as Ariadne is a lesbian, while Charles is gay.
- Fowl-Mouthed Parrot: She owns a parrot named Winston, who seems to have learned some bad words being around Ari's friends.
- Meaningful Rename: In Chain of Thorns, she renames herself "Ari", as a way to cast off her previous life in the Bridgestock house.
- Nice Girl: She's a genuinely kind and open person, who no one in the Conclave seems to have a bad thing to say about. She even makes strides in befriending Grace Blackthorn, who became engaged to her ex-fiance Charles while she was in a coma.
- Secret Relationship: She and Anna Lightwood had one, since homosexuality was not accepted in their time period (the early 1900's. While Ariadne wanted to continue their relationship during her engagement to Charles (with the plan to break it off before the wedding) Anna turned her down, refusing to just be a temporary secret. They seem to be slowly mending their relationship as of Chain of Iron.
- Token Minority: She is ethnically Indian; the Bridgestocks adopted her from the Bombay Institute.
The Carstairs family
Elias Carstairs
The patriarch of the Carstairs family during the late 19th century, brother of Jonah, and uncle of Jem. Through his wife, Sona, he is father of Alastair, Cordelia, and Zachary Carstairs.
- The Alcoholic: Has a very bad case of this. His drunkedness is compared many times with Matthew's own by Cordelia and James.
- Awful Truth: Elias has been drunk for most of Cordelia's life, but Alastair and Sona deliberately hid this from her because they didn't want to break her heart. When she learns the truth, she is horrified and wonders if she can even begin adoring her father the same way that she used to do.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Elias used to be a respected Shadowhunter known for vanquishing Yanluo, the greatest demonic threat in China, but years of drinking had completely shattered his reputation. He is compared to Ke Yiwen, his sister-in-law, who was part of the team that killed Yanluo but, unlike Elias, kept her reputation and became the head of the Shanghai Institute.
- Killed Off for Real: The fourth victim of Belial's murder spree.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: In his first and last conversation with James, he demands him to pay for his debt amounting 5,000 pounds under the threat of slandering the Herondales' reputation.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: He killed the Greater Demon Yanluo, who terrorized Shanghai, alongside Ke Yiwen, his sister-in-law.
Sona Carstairs (née Turan)
Sona Turan Carstairs (formerly Verlac)
The wife of Elias Carstairs and mother of Alastair, Cordelia, and Zachary. She was born into a prestigious Persian Shadowhunter family from the Tehran Institute. She was previously married to the late Theodor Verlac.
- Black Widow: Because her first husband died so soon after their marriage, rumor spread that she had poisoned him. However, it's never confirmed, and Elias married her without believing that.
- Good Parents: Wardrobe aside, Cordelia views her mother in a positive light.
- I Choose to Stay: Upon the birth of her third child, she chooses to stay in London over returning to Tehran, apparently, after her relatives paid her a visit.
- My Beloved Smother: She handpicks which dresses for her daughter to wear, which always fit her badly. Dialogues imply that she raised her children in a strict household, too. Possibly a stereotype of Middle Eastern/Southern European domineering mothers.
- Parents as People: Subverted. While she loves her children, she also expects them to bring prestige to the Carstairs family. Their move to London, is, after all, to gain enough allies so they have witnesses for Elias' trial. However, it is later revealed that she moved the family to London because she wanted her children to make allies for themselves, as she already considered Elias a lost cause.
- The Pollyanna: Despite Elias' drunkedness and gambling habits, Sona continues to believe that he can be redemeed, much like how he agreed to have a child with her for the third time.
Jem Carstairs
For information on Jem click here.
Alastair Carstairs
Alastair Esfandiyar Carstairs
Son of Elias and Sona Carstairs and older brother of Cordelia. He was educated in the Shadowhunter Academy, where he was a notorious bully to what would later become the Merry Thieves: James Herondale, Matthew Fairchild, and Thomas and Christopher Lightwood.
- All of the Other Reindeer: What he suffered at the Shadowhunter Academy at first. He was outcasted for his family’s lack of money and his race.
- Aloof Big Brother: What he became to Cordelia after his first year at the Academy.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Has tons of this with his frenemy, Thomas.
- Big Brother Instinct: He loves Cordelia and is mad whenever people mistreat her, at least in his eyes.
- Break the Cutie: As a child, he was quite good friends with his little sister Cordelia and loved Persian culture and music, but years of having to take care of an alcoholic father and facing discrimination at school made him bitter and very reserved.
- Broken Bird: Very much due to having to deal with an alcoholic father and being surrounded by racism and homophobia during his childhood.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: A male/male version. What his interactions with Thomas come off as.
- But Not Too Foreign: His father is white, while his mother is Persian.
- Cultural Cringe: While he has nothing against Persian culture, he hates how he looks obviously ethnic in Edwardian Britain, preferring to dye his black hair blond to look more white.
- Freudian Excuse: When he was younger, he thought his bullying of the Merry Thieves and other children at the academy was justified by the ‘hunt or be hunted’ logic.
- Gayngst: Not only is he a minority, he also happens to be gay, which doesn't bode well for someone in early 20th century Britain. So far, the only people who know his sexuality are Charles (whom he fancies) and Cordelia.
- Jerkass: He has zero redeeming qualities during Academy days, as he torments students, is a bigot towards James for his demonic heritage and insults Tessa repeatedly, calls Thomas a weakling, and finally, questions Matthew's parentage by claiming that he is a bastard son of his mother and Gideon, which indirectly results in Charlotte's miscarriage. Small wonders none of them are in the mood to be friends with him, even after he matures into a (somewhat) reasonable man.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: By the events of Chain of Gold, it's obvious that he has matured from being the jerkass that he was during his Academy years; though he is still standoffish, he is no longer prone to insults. His protectiveness towards Cordelia is also given much more focus.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: While his sister Crodelia is warm and affectionate, Alastair is the complete opposite. As stated by the author herself, Cordelia has a dog personality and Alastair a cat personality.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: For most of the side stories and Chain of Gold, he’s quite rude and mean, but then there are also rare scenes with Cordelia and Thomas were he shows some tenderness.
Cordelia Carstairs
For information on Cordelia click here.
Zachary Carstairs
Zachary Arash Carstairs
The third child of Elias and Sona Carstairs, and Alastair's and Cordelia's younger brother.
- Practically Different Generations: He is 19 years younger than Alastair and 17 years younger than Cordelia.
- Someone to Remember Him By: Born several weeks after Elias' death.
Emma Carstairs
For information on Emma click here.
Mina Carstairs
Wilhelmina "Mina" Yiqiang Ke Carstairs
The daughter of Jem Carstairs and Tessa Gray, born six years after Jem turned back to human from a Silent Brother.
- Dead Guy Junior: Wilhelmina is chosen to honor Will. Yiqiang, meanwhile, is Chinese for "remembrance", which honors Kit's mother, Rosemary, as rosemaries symbolize remembrance. It's also noted that Zachariah, Jem's Brother name, means "God remembers" in Hebrew.
- Posthumous Sibling: Her older half-siblings are long dead by the time she's born.
- Practically Different Generations: Her half-siblings, James and Lucie, have been dead for more than forty years by the time Mina is born. Jace Herondale, who is James' great-great-grandson and therefore Mina's great-great-grandnephew, is over twenty years older than she is.
- Uneven Hybrid: Her father was a Shadowhunter (he became a mundane thanks to the heavenly fire), while her mother is a Shadowhunter-warlock hybrid.
The Dearborn family
Horace Dearborn
Horace is the leader of the Cohort, an organisation that wants to restrict Downworlder rights. He is Zara's father.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The transformed Julian picks Horace up and snaps his spine in half.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He is a horrible person, but he does seem to genuinely love his daughter.
- Fantastic Racism: He is racist against Downworlders even by Shadowhunter standards. He wants to restrict the rights of all Downworlders and force them to get registered.
- Killed Off for Real: He is killed by a transformed Julian during the Battle of the Imperishable Fields.
- The Leader: He is the leader of the Cohort.
Zara Dearborn
The daughter of Horace Dearborn, the leader of the Cohort. She is a fanatical member of the Cohort herself and supports her father in his anti-Downworlder agenda.
- Arranged Marriage: She and Diego Rosales almost had one. They don't love each other and only got engaged for practical reasons. To be specific Zara wanted an heirloom from the Rosales family, which she believed only a Rosales could use. They never did got married though, since Diego turned against the Cohort and broke off the engagement.
- Daddy's Little Villain: She completely supports her father in his plans to get rid of all Downworlders.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She is a horrible person, but she does seem to genuinely love her father.
- Fantastic Racism: Zara is racist against Downworlders even by Shadowhunter standards. She views Downworlders as inferiour beings and supports her father proposal to force all Downworlders to get registered.
- Last Disrespects: She is seen giggling during the funerals of Robert Lightwood and Livia Blackthorn.
- Missing Mom: Her mother died when she was very young.
- Sore Loser: Even though Alec got elected as Consul by a fair election, Zara and the other Cohort members refused to accept this and threatened to commit suicide if Alec and his supporters didn't leave Idris.
- Stealing the Credit: She often took the credit for the achievements of other Centurions to make herself look better. If the other Centurions protested, she just discredited them and had her friends back up her claims.
The Fairchild/Fray family
Charlotte Fairchild
Charlotte Mary Fairchild-Branwell
Head of the London Institute in the 1870s. Kind and loving, she does her best to care for the orphaned Shadowhunters who live under her roof and runs the Institute with a capable hand, while hiding loneliness from her absent-minded husband, Henry Branwell she loves. It seems as if there's nothing Charlotte can't manage—until Tessa's search for her missing brother begins to uncover a web of corruption and deceit in London's Downworld that threatens to tear London's Conclave of Shadowhunters apart.
At the end of The Infernal Devices series, Charlotte is promoted as Consul, replacing Josiah Wayland, who is killed during the war against the automatons. In the process, she drops the Branwell surname in favor of her maiden name. She also becomes a mother to two sons, Charles and Matthew.
- Absurdly Elderly Mother: In the epilogue of Chain of Thorns, Charlotte tells Matthew that she is pregnant with twins. She is 48 years old by this time.
- Action Girl: A capable Shadowhunter in her own right, and particularly skilled with the whip.
- Action Mom: She is, for many years, Consul while being the mother of two sons.
- Brainy Brunette: Dark-haired and extremely intelligent, though she's more practical than her absent-minded Gadgeteer Genius husband Henry.
- Deadly Disc: Uses two on the battle after Blackfriar Bridge.
- Good Parents: She cares deeply for both of her sons, doing her best to treat them equally despite Charles' blatant pandering to her good graces.
- Happily Married: Despite Henry's absent-mindedness, it's clear that the two of them love each other.
- In the Blood: It's mentioned in passing that her father was the previous caretaker of the Institute.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: It's offhandedly mentioned in Chain of Iron that she and Henry tried to conceive another child many times after her daughter's miscarriage, but it hasn't worked and (considering her age) probably never will. It is just one the many things that Matthew is blaming himself for.
- Like a Son to Me: It's almost as if Will, Jem, and Jessamine were her own children, except, according to her,
for the part where they were required to love her. - The Maiden Name Debate: Played With, Charlotte initially changed her last name to Branwell after she married Henry, but after she became Consul, she went back to her maiden name after his parents reacted poorly to her becoming Consul.
- Parental Substitute: Raised Will, Jem, and Jessie since they came to the institute. Will says that she would have been called a governess had she not been so intelligent and if she didn't have the ability to chop one into pieces.
- Pregnant Badass: Throughout Clockwork Princess, she fights Mortmain's automatons while heavily pregnant.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Unlike most other Clave members, she is really reasonable in her job as Consul and always attempts to hear all parties before making assumptions.
- Team Mom: Her main function in The Infernal Devices is basically making sure everybody doesn't kill everybody.
- Tragic Stillbirth: In Cast Long Shadows, Charlotte is pregnant with a baby girl when Matthew unwittingly gives her a faerie poison, believing it to be a Truth Serum, that will allow him to confirm whether or not he is the product of an affair with Gideon. Charlotte survives but miscarries the baby, causing Matthew to feel deeply guilty for the rest of his life.
- Younger Than They Look: Charlotte's small size is countered by the air of competence she exudes, and Tessa says she had assumed her to be much older than twenty-three.
Charles Fairchild
Charles Buford Fairchild
Charles Buford Fairchild is the firstborn child of Henry Branwell and Charlotte Fairchild and Matthew's older brother. Charles is a serious young man with the ambition to become consul like his mother.
- Aloof Big Brother: To Matthew, who regards him as a ruthless authority figure.
- The Beard: His engagement with Ariadne Bridgestock, and later Grace Blackthorn. Charles is a gay man, who begins Chain of Gold in a Secret Relationship with Alastair Carstairs.
- Blackmail: He was blackmailed by Inquisitor Bridgestock, who threatened to reveal Charles' sexuality if he did not agree to discredit the Herondales.
- Black Sheep: He is the only one among his extended family to side with the Clave when they decide to interrogate Will and Tessa for apparently consorting with demons. It's later revealed that Charles was blackmailed by Inquisitor Bridgestock to do it, under the threat of losing his political standing.
- Embarrassing Middle Name: Buford. His father wanted it to be his first name, but his mother objected. They compromised by making Buford his middle name.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Because of his abrasive personality and fixation on his political career, the Merry Thieves (along with Lucie and Cordelia), dislike him.
- The Narcissist: Somewhat. He has a tendency to claim other people's success as his own, downplaying James, Christopher, and Cordelia's actions in the fight against the Mandikhor in favor of his leadership as the temporary Consul.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Charles is serious, rule-bound and closer with his mother, while Matthew is fun loving, a rule breaker and closer with his father.
Matthew Fairchild
Matthew Fairchild is the second child of Henry Branwell and Charlotte Fairchild and Charles' younger brother. He is parabatai with James Herondale.
- The Alcoholic: Though he's higher-functioning than Elias Carstairs, Matthew is rarely seen without a drink in hand, and it has begun to impact his abilities as a Shadowhunter.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Near the end of Chain of Gold, it is revealed that Matthew has a crush on Cordelia, who only has eyes for James. He confesses his love for her at the end of Chain of Iron.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: His brother Charles sees him as this, as he thinks Matthew is too irresponsible and immature.
- Dead Guy Junior: Matthew was partly named after his great-great aunt, Matilda, who shared his gold-colored hair.
- Drowning My Sorrows: After he unwittingly caused Charlotte's miscarriage, Matthew became lewd and developed the habit of drinking almost all the time.
- Going Cold Turkey: Tries to do this in Chain of Thorns, but he learns the hard way that an addiction cannot be undone in a single day. He experiences a very painful alcohol withdrawal syndrome that nearly kills him until the Merry Thieves step in and help him to recover in a gradual, safer way.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With his parabatai James Herondale.
- In Touch with His Feminine Side: He has an interest in fashion. Unsurprisingly, he idolizes Magnus Bane.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Although he says that he will always love her, he ultimately accepts Cordelia's decision to be with James.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: When he was still a student at the Shadowhunter Academy, he was taunted by Alastair regarding his parentage. Alastair questioned how the blond Matthew could have been the child of the brown-haired Charlotte and the red-haired Henry, suggesting that Charlotte had an affair with the blond Gideon Lightwood. As it turned out, Matthew's hair color actually came from his father's side; Henry had a great aunt who had gold hair.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Charlotte's miscarriage of his little sister was caused by Matthew accidentally feeding her faerie poison in an attempt to learn the truth about his parentage. Made worse by the fact that Matthew had previously admitted that he has always wanted a sister.
- Off the Wagon: He pretends to quit drinking while traveling with Cordelia in Paris, but in reality, he continues drinking behind her back, after experiencing an acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome when he tried to stop drinking for a day.
- Unknown Rival: Even years after he was expelled from the Shadowhunter Academy, he still hates Alastair with a passion, since Alastair's bullying was what incited the tragedy with Charlotte's miscarriage. Alastair, who has become a somewhat better person and tries not to dwell on his past, is confused as to why Matthew keeps antagonizing him at every turn.
Jocelyn Fray (née Fairchild)
Jocelyn Garroway (née Fairchild, formerly Morgenstern, later Fray)
Played by: Lena Headey (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones), Maxim Roy (Shadowhunters)
Clary's overprotective mother. She was a member of the Circle, a fascist organization headed by her husband, Valentine Morgenstern. However, she became increasingly disenchanted from its teachings and later escaped when the Uprising happened, renouncing the life of a Shadowhunter in favor of a reclusive mundane life in which she raised Clary.
- Action Mom: Subverted at first, as Jocelyn already quit her Shadowhunter life before Clary was born. Played straight after she wakes up from her self-induced coma in City of Glass; though she is not part of the Clave, she resumes her active Shadowhunter life now that the cat's out of the bag.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: In the books she has green eyes. In The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, she has brown eyes, also her red hair is darker than described appearing almost brownish.
- Comatose Canary: She is aware of her surroundings while she is in her self-induced coma, but can't respond to them.
- Convenient Coma: In City of Bones, she induces a coma on herself to avoid anyone squeezing information out of her about the whereabouts of the Mortal Cup. The only person who knew how to revive her aside from the warlock that cast the spell was an old acquaintance, who gets killed early on in City of Glass.
- Damsel in Distress: In City of Heavenly Fire, she and the Downworlder representatives are kidnapped by Meliorn and taken prisoner at Sebastian's fortress in Edom.
- Hidden Badass: Under the overprotective stance, Jocelyn was a powerful, talented Shadowhunter who plotted to overthrow her husband during the Uprising. Not to mention she ran away from Valentine to prevent his turning Clary into a "monster" like he did Jonathan.
- Interspecies Romance: She eventually hooks up with Luke Garroway, a werewolf.
- It Was a Gift: The tarot card she gave Dorothea which contains the Mortal Cup.
- Meaningful Rename: She changed her surname from Fairchild to Fray, the "-ray" part to honor Tessa Gray, who helped her settle down and put protective runes on baby Clary after the two fled Alicante for New York. The surname has no meaning, which is the point; she'd rather took a meaningless surname rather than be reminded of her past life.
- My Beloved Smother:
- To the point of being paranoid. She wanted Clary to have absolutely nothing to do with the Shadow World, right down to wiping her memories every few years. Also, despite living close to an Institute, she refused to be in close correspondence with the Lightwoods, under the fear that Clary would be involved in Shadowhunting. When she finds out the truth, Clary is understandably angered and calls her mother out.
- She does this again in the second half of The Mortal Instruments, when she disapproves of Clary's relationship with Jace because he was raised by Valentine. By the end of the series, however, she finally accepts him.
- Mystical Pregnancy: Valentine experimented on her while she was pregnant both times, giving her son Jonathan demon blood and daughter Clary angel blood, giving both enhanced supernatural powers.
- Outliving One's Offspring: She outlives Jonathan twice, though she doesn't get to see his death the first time.
- Relationship Upgrade: With Luke. Were it not for protecting Clary, they would have married after both fled Idris for America. They plan to get married in City of Fallen Angels but the marriage is postponed indefinitely, with Jace's possession by Lilith and subsequent disappearance. They finally hold their wedding in the epilogue of City of Heavenly Fire.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the Circle uprising, Jocelyn fled Idris with no intention of ever returning and gave up her life as a Shadowhunter.
- That Thing Is Not My Child!: Valentine injected her with demon blood whilst she was pregnant, causing her to give birth to a demonic child who she was convinced was monstrous and evil. She turns out to be right, since Jonathan grows up to be a sadistic psychopathic murderer.
Clary Fairchild
For information on Clary click here.
The Herondale family
Main branch
Edmund Herondale
Edmund Herondale was a shadowhunter who lived at the London institute. He fell in love with a mundane woman, Linette Owens and decided to marry her even though it meant giving up his life as a shadowhunter. Together they had three children: Ella, Will and Cecily Herondale.
- Interspecies Romance: With Linette Owens who is a mundane woman.
- Killed Offscreen: In Chain of Gold, it is offhandedly mentioned that Edmund and his wife died of influenza when James was 13 and Lucie was 12.
- Outliving One's Offspring: His daughter Ella died when she was fourteen, long before his own death.
- You Are Worth Hell: He was willing to have his Marks painfully stripped away if it meant he could live a mundane life together with his beloved Linette.
Ella Herondale
The firstborn child of Edmund Herondale and Linette Owens and the older sister of Will and Cecily. Ella tragically died at age fourteen from demon poisoning.
- Big Sister Instinct: When her younger brother was about to be attacked by a demon, Ella didn't hesitate to step in front of him and attack the demon with a seraph blade even though she didn't know how to use one.
- Posthumous Character: She died a several years before the start of The Infernal Devices.
Will Herondale
For information on Will click here.
James Herondale
For information on James click here.
Lucie Herondale
For information on Lucie click here.
Imogen Herondale (née Whitelaw)
Played by: Mimi Kuzyk (Shadowhunters)
A high-ranking Shadowhunter who became the Clave's Inquisitor some time after The Uprising. She has a burning hatred for everyone with connections to The Circle, because she blames them for her son Stephen's death.
- Break the Haughty: She gets a glorious one. After being nothing but condescending to Jace merely because he's the son of the Big Bad, she finds out that her plan to trade Jace to Valentine for the two Mortal Instruments that he has isn't going to work, because despite what she thought, Valentine doesn't care about Jace, only the instruments. This causes her to have a Freak Out and a bsod until Maryse snaps her out of it.
- Cool Old Lady: Her age does not stop her from being an extremely competent Shadowhunter.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Starts out frosty and unapproachable, but suffers several humbling failures and by the end of City of Ashes she performs a Heroic Sacrifice to save Jace after learning that he was her grandson.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: While not the most morally good character in the series, she pursues a plan that multiple people warn her will not work because she cannot comprehend that Valentine would not love his son as much as she loved hers.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Pulls one to let Jace escape on the ship, knowing that he was Stephen Herondale's son.
- Killed Off for Real: She gets killed in City of Ashes.
- Mama Bear: Despite her hatred for children, she acknowledges this trope, coming to the conclusion that Valentine would do anything for his son like she would.
- Smug Snake: A racist Evil Chancellor and Manipulative Bitch with a pathological hatred of children. She thinks she's playing everyone throughout City of Ashes but her grand plan fails spectacularly and Valentine Morgenstern viciously humiliates her until she breaks down. Unusually for this trope, she is revealed to have a sympathetic side and ultimately redeems herself by sacrificing her life to save Jace.
Stephen Herondale
Stephen William Herondale
Imogen Herondale's much-beloved son, deceased by the beginning of The Mortal Instruments. He is the true biological father of Jace; Valentine adopted Jace, taking him from the womb of his deceased mother Céline, who committed suicide, and raising him in the Wayland Manor. Stephen never got around to see his son, as he was killed during the Uprising.
- The Ace: He was the "golden boy" of his generation and everyone adored him just as much as they adored Valentine.
- Everyone Went to School Together: He attended the Shadowhunter Academy along with Robert, Maryse, Jocelyn, Valentine, Luke, Amatis, Michael, etc.
- Face–Heel Turn: Stephen started with a progressive attitude towards Downworlders and a love for mundane culture. However Valentine's toxic influence caused him to denounce his former beliefs and he joined the Circle, an anti-Downworlder hate group.
- Happily Married: He and Amatis were genuinely happy together, until Valentine manipulated him into divorcing her. The letters he sent her showed he never quite got over her, though, and while he loved Céline his love for Amatis was something very different.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Implied to be this to his second wife Céline, to the point that she committed suicide upon learning that he had died.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: City of Glass reveals that he is Jace's actual father.
- Number Two: To Valentine when he was still alive, after Valentine cast out Luke for becoming a werewolf.
- Posthumous Character: Despite being dead for years at the beginning of the series, we learn a lot about him through recollections and his relationships with other characters.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Jace really resembles him, except for his eyes, which resembles his mother's.
Amatis Herondale (née Graymark)
- Black Eyes of Evil: When under the influence of the Infernal Cup.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: In City of Lost Souls, after Sebastian captures her and forces her to drink from the Infernal Cup, turning her into a Dark Shadowhunter.
- Composite Character: In the TV series, instead of an older sister, Luke has a younger sister who became an Iron Sister called Sister Cleophas. Cleophas is actually Luke's and Amatis' mother in the books.
- Dark Action Girl: As an Endarkened Shadowhunter, she is Sebastian's top lieutenant and willingly follows him wherever he goes.
- Everyone Went to School Together: She attended the Shadowhunter Academy along with Robert, Maryse, Jocelyn, Valentine, Luke, Stephen, Michael etc.
- The Dragon: To Sebastian/Jonathan Morgenstern while under the influence of the Infernal Cup.
- Fantastic Racism: She rejected her brother Luke after he became a werewolf despite being very close with him before this.
- Happily Married: She and her husband Stephen Herondale were genuinely happy together for a few years, until Valentine forced him to divorce her.
- Killed Off for Real: Because her life is tied to the Infernal Cup after she is turned into an Endarkened, she drops dead the moment Jace destroys the Cup.
- Long-Lost Relative: To Luke, more or less, although it's more of the fact that they're estranged siblings and Luke's afraid that she'd blame him for her divorce.
- Minor Flaw, Major Breakup: Valentine convinced Stephen to divorce her because of her "undesirable family connections" — her brother was a werewolf — and convinced him to marry Céline instead.
- Promoted to Parent: After her mother took the vows of the Iron Sisters, Amatis became Luke's primary caregiver.
Céline Herondale (née Montclaire)
Stephen Herondale's second wife, a beautiful woman from an abusive family. She is the biological mother of Jace.
- Abusive Parents: Her parents were very abusive in training her. They let her fight against werewolves and demons all on her own from a very young age and they punished her by beating her or locking her in the basement if she made mistakes. They also refused to give her Iratzes to heal. This caused her to run away to Paris several times, but she always got send back to her parents again.
- A Day in the Limelight: Short story "The Wicked Ones" is told partly from her point of view and gives more details about her childhood, her relationship with her family and why she joined the Circle.
- Driven to Suicide: She killed herself when she heard about her husband Stephen's death, despite being pregnant at the time. Valentine cut her son Jace out from her body and raised him as his own.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Had blond hair, and according to Jocelyn was sweet, lovely, and made everyone want to protect her.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: She went along with Valentine's whims and landed Stephen as a husband because of the trauma caused by her abusive family that made her desperate for love and affection.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: She committed suicide while pregnant. Her baby survived and was taken care of by Valentine.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: She did not speak out when her parents were sentenced by the Clave for a crime they didn't commit even though she knew they were innocent, because of their mistreatment of her.
- Mystical Pregnancy: Like Jocelyn, she never knew that Valentine drugged her with angelic blood while she was pregnant with Jace, only assuming that Valentine gave her pregnancy drugs to make her healthier and thanking him for it.
- Posthumous Character: Her suicide takes place long before the story proper, but her relationships with current characters make her important. It's also implied that her suicide might have actually been murder, since reports vary on exactly how she killed herself, but it's never confirmed In-Universe.
Jace Herondale
For information on Jace click here.
Lost branch
Tobias Herondale
An infamous Shadowhunter who lived in the early 19th century. His name was forever stained in Shadowhunter history when he supposedly left his comrades to die during a rogue warlock expedition while he ran off. In reality, Tobias suffered from visions of his family's death during the same warlock attack, which drove him mad. Nevertheless, Tobias fled to a forest and was never seen again, leaving his pregnant wife, Eva Blackthorn, at the mercy of the Clave. Before Eva was executed, however, Catarina Loss managed to save her baby, Ephraim, and brought him up in America, where he became the fabled "Lost Herondale". He is related to Will Herondale through the latter's grandfather and namesake, William Sr., who was Tobias' brother.
- Adaptational Villainy: In-universe. Shadowhunters regard him as nothing more than a coward who left his comrades and family to their fates, when the truth was more complicated.
- Mind Rape: A warlock made him see visions of his wife dying, which led him to abandon his comrades and eventually drove him mad.
- Never Found the Body: After he went mad, he disappeared into the woods and was never seen again.
- Posthumous Character: Died long before the franchise stated.
Rosemary
An unspecified descendant of Roland Loss and the faerie Auraline, she was the Lost Herondale during the 1980s. She married a mundane, Johnny Rook, with whom she became the mother of Christopher "Kit".
- Fantastic Racism: She despised Shadowhunters and wanted her and her family to not have anything to do with them whatsoever.
- Heir Club for Men: Discussed and subverted. Most people thought that the line of the Lost Herondale consists of only men, since Shadowhunter surname customarily passes from father to son. As a result, Jem was deluded into thinking that Johnny Rook was the Lost Herondale of the 1980s (not helped by the fact that he had blond hair, like Stephen), when in fact it was his wife.
- Missing Mom: To Kit. Although she was still alive until Kit when 15, she was only there in his life for a few years, because she did not want to risk his safety while they were hunted by the Riders of Mannan.
- My Greatest Failure: Jem never forgives himself for not protecting Rosemary further, only managing to come to her on her deathbed. This is the reason why he is so insistent in protecting and taking care of her son, Kit.
- Posthumous Character: Died before the events of The Dark Artifices.
- This Is Unforgivable!: Like the Herondales before her, she was raised to hate the Shadowhunters for having exiled her ancestor, Tobias, and distorted the truth regarding what really happened.
- Uneven Hybrid: She had some amount of faerie ancestry.
Kit Herondale
For information on Kit click here.
The Joshi family
Divya Joshi
A graduate of the Scholomanche and a member of the Centurion. She hails from the Mumbai Institute.
- Clashing Cousins: Her cousin Anush is part of the Cohort, while she isn't. She calls him out on this.
- Nice Guy: She is kind and does not share the views of the majority of the Centurions regarding Downworlders, refusing to join the Cohort. She is one of the few people Diego trusts in the organization.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to her cousin Anush, who is part of the Cohort, telling him that he of all people should know what it is like to be treated unfairly.
- Ship Tease: At the end of Queen of Air and Darkness, she seems to be hooking up with Diego.
- Those Two Guys: Almost always described with her friend Rayan Maduabuchi.
Anush Joshi
A graduate of the Scholomanche, member of the Centurion, and a recruit into the Cohort. Like his cousin Divya, he hails from the Mumbai Institute.
- Boomerang Bigot: Divya's criticism at his choice to join the Cohort implies that he or his family might have been persecuted sometime in the past.
- Clashing Cousins: With his cousin Divya, who is not a part of the Cohort.
- Heel–Face Turn: He eventually switches sides and joins Livia's Watch during the Battle of the Imperishable Fields. He also leaves Idris along with the other anti-Cohort Shadowhunters.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: He is forced to do manual labor after he deserted the Cohort during their capture of Diana and Jia. This causes him to switch sides for good.
The Ke family
Ke Yun
The matriarch of the Ke family, she is the youngest granddaughter of Ke Yiwen, Jem Carstairs' aunt and the person responsible for killing Yanluo, a notorious Greater Demon in China. She is also Tian's grandmother.
- Never Mess with Granny: She is ancient but still kicks ass, having personally mentored her grandson Tian.
Ke Yi Tian
- Face–Heel Turn: Ostensibly makes one during a pivotal moment in The Lost Book of the White, when Sammael lauds him for bringing Magnus and Alec deeper down into Diyu. Then subverted when it is revealed that Tian did it to earn Sammael's loyalty so he can backstab him when the moment is right.
- Interspecies Romance: He is dating Jinfeng, a faerie.
- Knows the Ropes: His signature weapon is a rope dart, a long rope with a metal dart at the end which functions as a long-range weapon.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Tian is dating a faerie which was illegal by the Clave and could get him and his family in serious trouble. He also claims that he works for Sammael because of this, but that turns out to be a ruse.
- The Mole: Tian joined Sammael merely to gain enough information to subvert his activities.
Ke Liqin
Ke Liqin / Laura Ke
Tian's younger cousin who was born in Australia.- Hero Worship: She idolizes Clary, though she is a little shy when he gets to meet her in person.
- Land Down Under: She speaks with an Australian accent.
The Larkspear family
Elena Larkspear
The mother of Dane and Samantha Larkspear.
- Outliving One's Offspring: She outlived both her children. Dane got killed by Julian Blackthorn and Samantha commited suicide.
Dane Larkspear
A Centurion who is a member of the Cohort. He is the twin brother of Samantha.
- Asshole Victim: He got killed by Julian and then a Kelpie ate from his corpse, but since he was such a jerk you don't feel any pity for him.
- Fantastic Racism: He supports the cohorts anti-Downworlder agenda.
- Jerkass: He is rude, racist jerk who makes a lot of sexist comments.
Samantha Larkspear
A Centurion who is a member of the Cohort. She is Dane's twin sister.
- Driven to Suicide: After she had gone mad due to her experience in the Hollow Place, she got sent to the Basilias. There she committed suicide by jumping out of a window.
- Fantastic Racism: She is a supporter of the Cohort, an anti-Downworlder organization.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: She fell into the pool in the Hollow Place which makes people feel all the evil/pain they inflicted upon others. This caused her to lose her mind and go mad.
The Lightwood family
Benedict Lightwood
One of the older members of London's Enclave and the father of Gideon, Gabriel, and Tatiana. Benedict questions Charlotte's ability to run the London Institute.
- Archnemesis Dad: Becomes one to Gideon by Clockwork Prince, as the latter shows more and more loyalty to Charlotte.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Demon pox is the Shadowhunter version of HIV or syphilis.
- Forced Transformation: In Clockwork Princess, he is gradually driven mad and finally turned into a gigantic serpent-like demon as a result of the demon pox.
- Interspecies Romance: With an unknown number of demons.
- Jerkass: He knowingly infected his wife with demon pox.
- Killed Off for Real: In Clockwork Princess, he succumbs to his demon pox and turns into a demon, forcing Gabriel to kill him.
- Manipulative Bastard: He lied to the Clave regarding his wife's death, twisting the story so the Faichilds are involved, as he has long coveted the position of head of the London Institute.
- Stay in the Kitchen: One of his claims against Charlotte's leadership is that women are incapable of running the Institute.
Barbara Lightwood (née Pangborn)
The wife of Benedict Lightwood and the mother of Gideon, Gabriel and Tatiana.
- Driven to Suicide: She committed suicide out of shame after she found out she had contracted the demon pox (an disease acquired by 'inappropriate contact' with demons) from her husband. To cover this up Benedict told everyone she died from grief after the suicide of her brother Silas.
- Posthumous Character: She died more then ten years before the start of The Infernal Devices, but she is still important because of the effect her death had on her children.
- The Reveal: Barbara didn't die from grief over her brother's death. She actually committed suicide, because she had found out that she had contacted the demon pox from her husband.
Gideon Lightwood
Gideon Arthur Lightwood
Benedict and Barbara's first child and Gabriel and Tatiana's older brother. He used to be a Jerkass who was very loyal to his father, but his time Spain seems to have changed him. In Clockwork Prince, he is summoned by his father to help teach Tessa and Sophie how to fight. He becomes close with Sophie and marries her after she undergoes Ascension. They have three children together: Barbara, Eugenia, and Thomas.
- Big Brother Instinct: Towards his younger brother, Gabriel.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Justified given that he did spend time in Spain, so he probably picked up some of the language.
- Informed Flaw: Is supposedly an even bigger Jerkass than his little brother, although he's shown himself to be nicer than Gabriel. Considering that was Will speaking, it's no wondernote .
- Interspecies Romance: With Sophie who is a mundane. At least until she ascends and becomes a shadowhunter herself.
- Jerkass: Will claims that he is even worse than his brother Gabriel. It's possible that he used to be this, but in Clockwork Prince, it appears he got better while he was in Spain.
- Outliving One's Offspring: In Chain of Gold, he outlives his eldest daughter, Barbara, who dies of demon poison.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: With his brother Gabriel. Gideon is calm, nice and distrustful of his father. Gabriel is Hot-Blooded, a bit of a jerk and fiercely loyal to his father.
- The Stoic: He is a lot calmer than his brother Gabriel.
Sophie Lightwood (née Collins)
Sophia "Sophie" Lightwood (née Collins, formerly Ashdown)
Sophie is one of the mundane servants working for the Shadowhunters at the Institute in London. Charlotte found her roaming in the streets of London after she was fired from her previous job as parlor maid for rejecting her mistress' son's advances. At the end of the Infernal Devices series, Sophie undergoes Ascension to become a Shadowhunter, taking the Shadowhunter name of Ashdown. She later marries Gideon Lightwood, with whom she has three children: Barbara, Eugenia, and Thomas.
- Badass Normal: Because she is a mundane, she cannot bear Shadowhunter runes. That doesn't stop her from being a formidable defender of the London Institute.
- Blemished Beauty: She has a noticeable scar on her face from a spurned suitor. Tessa's narration emphasizes her beauty despite this.
- Deadpan Snarker: Oh, so much. Especially to Will.
- If I Can't Have You…: The reason for her scar - the son of her previous employer wanted her and when she refused his advances, took a knife to her face so that nobody could have her beauty.
- Interspecies Romance: With Gideon.
- I See Them, Too: She has a touch of the Sight, which is how Charlotte let her work for them.
- Oblivious to Love: Likewise, she had no idea that Thomas was sweet on her.
- Outliving One's Offspring: In Chain of Gold, she outlives her eldest daughter, Barbara, who dies of demon poison.
- Scars Are Forever: She has a huge one running down the left side of her face that distorts her beauty. She seems to be more or less okay with it, though, saying that whoever would love her now wouldn't love her just for her looks.
- Sliding Scale of Beauty: She is an Imperfect beauty example. She used to be beautiful and still is, but has a scar stretching across her face.
- When She Smiles: According to Tessa, Sophie has a downright amazing smile that makes her beautiful despite her scar.
Gabriel Lightwood
Benedict and Barbara's second child, Gideon's younger brother, and Tatiana's older brother. He has a bit of a rivalry with Will Herondale. At the end of The Infernal Devices series, he marries Will's sister Cecily, with whom he has three children: Anna, Christopher, and Alexander.
- Big Brother Instinct: Will says the reason Gabriel hates him so much is because he compromised the latter's sister's virtue. But then again, it's Will, so we don't know if that's true or not. As of the second book, it's apparently because Will rejected his little sister's advances in a particularly cruel way (by stealing the lovesick tweleve year old girl's diary and reading it aloud in public) then broke Gabriel's arm when he tried to put a stop to it.
- Heel–Face Turn: He stops supporting his father after his father is turned into a demon by the demon pox.
- Hot-Blooded: In direct contrast to his brother, Gideon, who is The Stoic.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's surprisingly patient with Tessa while training her. Of course his Jerkass side comes out when he's frustrated and he is prone to taking out his anger on other people, though overall he's a Jerkasss To One, with the one being Will. Even before the incident above, Gabriel had talked about Will behind his back, specifically in regard to his upbringing. He becomes much nicer in Clockwork Princess when his father is turned into a demon as a result of demon pox and he is forced to stay at the Institute.
- Outliving One's Offspring: In Chain of Thorns, he outlives his firstborn son, Christopher, who is poisoned to death by a blade thrown by Gabriel's sister, Tatiana.
- The Rival: To Will. They gradually learn to respect each other in Clockwork Princess. Will doesn't have much of a choice, since his younger sister ends up marrying Gabriel. By The Last Hours, the two have become nothing but normal in-laws.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: With his brother Gideon. Gideon is calm, nice and distrustful of his father. Gabriel is Hot-Blooded, a bit of a jerk and fiercely loyal to his father.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: From what we've seen, he is this to Will.
- Thicker Than Water: Gabriel puts strong emphasis on staying loyal to family. At the end of Clockwork Prince, Gabriel chooses to stay with his father while his older brother Gideon deserts him for the Institute. In Clockwork Princess, he finally understands that he was wrong to trust his father so much.
Cecily Lightwood (née Herondale)
The third child of Edmund and Linette Herondale. Cecily grew up with her older sibling Ella and Will, but one day Ella died and Will ran away and decided to stay with the Shadowhunters from the London institute. Years later Cecily heard from her brother again and decided to go to the London Institute and convince him to come home, but while she was there she discovered that she may like the Shadowhunter life more than she expected. At the Institute, she becomes close with Gabriel Lightwood, Will's archenemy, and eventually marries him. With Gabriel, she has three children: Anna, Christopher, and Alexander.
- Action Girl: She is a very good fighter like most Herondale's. She even assists in killing the demon Benedict Lightwood turned into and that was before she had any training.
- Affectionate Nickname: She is called "Cecy" by Will and later Gabriel Lightwood.
- Blood Knight: A milder example of this. Gabriel Lightwood notes that Cecily seems to enjoy fighting.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: Sibling example. She becomes close with Gabriel Lightwood, something that exasperates her brother, who has a heated rivalry with him. However, the hatred seems to have died down precisely because of this; when she is officially dating Gabriel, he and Will have mellowed down and mostly resort to light jabs at each other.
- Deadpan Snarker: Just like her brother.
- Hot-Blooded: Will describes her as being stubborn.
- Open-Minded Parent: She accepts Anna's lesbianism and her unusual fashion sense, even gifting her new men's clothes so she doesn't have to borrow Christopher's own.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Outlives Christopher when he dies during the demon attack on the London Institute in Chain of Thorns.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: She has black hair and white skin.
- Strong Family Resemblance: With her brother Will and their mother. They all have black hair and dark blue eyes.
- What Beautiful Eyes!: She has beautiful dark blue eyes just like her brother. The recent generations of Lightwoods (except for Isabelle) all owe their blue eyes to her.
Barbara Lightwood
The first child of Gideon and Sophie Lightwood and older sister of Eugenia and Thomas. She is engaged to Oliver Hayward of the York Institute.
- Dead Guy Junior: Named after Gideon's late mother.
- Killed Off for Real: She is infected by the Mandikhor poison and becomes the first person to succumb to it.
- Of Corset Hurts: Cordelia at first thinks that she faints during the ball because of this. It's actually because she was briefly dragged by Belial into his realm.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Her death establishes that neither the Merry Thieves nor their close families are safe from suffering a horrific demise. In the epilogue of Chain of Gold, it is revealed that Belial deliberately targeted Barbara as a gift to her aunt Tatiana (who is antagonistic to Gideon).
- Together in Death: With her beloved Oliver, who follows her several days after her death.
- Too Happy to Live: Unlike her siblings, cousins, and many of her peers, Barbara had a happy upbringing and leads an equally happy life as an adult, being engaged to a man she loves. So it's not surprising that she is the first of them to kick the bucket.
Eugenia Lightwood
The second child of Gideon and Sophie Lightwood, younger sister of Barbara and older sister of Thomas. Because of a past scandalous relationship, Eugenia mostly resides in Idris and rarely goes to Britain.
- Big Sister Instinct: She embraces Thomas' sexuality, and backs him up when he decides to come out to their parents, saying that if Gideon and Sophie refuse to accept it, she and Thomas will leave the family together.
- Defiled Forever: It is implied that years ago, Eugenia had a relationship with a man who ultimately did not propose to her. Since this is the early 20th century, this was basically the same thing as fornication, causing her to be shunned by the Shadowhunter community.
Thomas Lightwood
The third child of Gideon and Sophie and the younger brother of Barbara and Eugenia. Thomas is a shy boy who is friends with James Herondale, Matthew Fairchild and Christopher Lightwood.
- Affectionate Nickname: He’s sometimes called ‘Tom’ by his close friends and family.
- Big Little Brother: Towers over both of his older sisters, as a result of his growth spurt just prior to the start of the series.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Has one to Alastair in Chain of Iron. Actually, it is not just a simple declaration of love but also his coming out.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Has tons of this with his frenemy, Alastair. Not that he has noticed. This turns outright text in Chain of Iron when he confesses his feelings for him.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Yeah, he might be the kindest and most polite out of the main cast, but when angered you better run.
- Big Brother Instinct: Towards his younger cousins, Christopher and Lucie.
- Break the Cutie: Because of his eldest sister’s death. Even so, he is able to maintain his composure and remain as calm and kind as always.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: A male/male version. What his interactions with Alastair come off as.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He tends to be the one looking after Christopher and making sure that nothing explodes.
- Dead Guy Junior: He is named after the late Thomas Tanner, a good friend of his mother.
- Gratuitous Spanish: He spent his travel year in Madrid.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: He seems have this going on with his cousin Christopher.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Thomas and Lucie’s friendship. Thomas is 6’5” and Lucie is 5’4”.
- I Got Bigger: He was known to be quite short and skinny for his age and the smallest of his friend group for a long time. However, by the time he’s eighteen and back from his travel year in Spain, he’s towering over every other character in the series and said to have very broad shoulders and a very muscular built.
- Inconvenient Attraction: Being attracted to your childhood bully and your friend’s archnemesis is certainly not the best idea.
- Nice Guy: It is stated many times that he has a very kind heart and always tries to be polite and nice to the people around him.
- Odd Friendship: He and Alastair Carstairs have one. Alastair is a bit of a jerkass, while Thomas is very kind and Thomas' other friends and Alastair strongly dislike each other.
- Only Sane Man: Although does join in his friends’ schemes, James claims that Thomas grounds them in a way. Out of four the Merry Thieves, he for sure is the most level-headed.
- Opposites Attract: A textbook example with Alastair, at least as far as their personalities are concerned.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The calm, polite Blue Oni to Alastair’s sharp and bad-tempered Red Oni.
- She Is All Grown Up: Thomas went from being the smallest and shortest of the Merry Thieves to being the biggest and tallest of them. Everyone who meets him upon his return from the Madrid Institute is shocked to discover his growth spurt.
- Sickly Child Grew Up Strong: Since he was so weak and small since birth, throughout all his childhood, everyone was worried when he went away to Spain, all alone, for his travel year. To everyone’s surprise, he came back as the tallest and most muscular of the cast.
- Sole Survivor: For a brief time in Chain of Thorns, Thomas believes that he is the last surviving Merry Thief, after Christopher is killed, while James and Matthew are kidnapped by Belial. Fortunately, this isn't true.
- The Big Guy: Among the Merry Thieves.
- The Heart: One of his roles in his friend group.
- The Reliable One: Since most of his friends and family are quite chaotic.
- Tranquil Fury: Even when deeply angered, he is able to keep his composure, while at the same time coming off as incredibly cold.
Anna Lightwood
The eldest child of Gabriel and Cecily and the older sister of Christopher and Alexander.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: Thanks to donning men's clothes all the time, girls after girls fall in love at her seemingly without knowing that she is female.
- Big Sister Instinct: Feels this way towards her brother Christopher, and the rest of the Merry Thieves. Anna is someone that they frequently turn to when looking for help or advice.
- The Casanova: Flirts with practically every woman she meets.
- Cool Big Sis: The Merry Thieves, Lucie, and Cordelia think of her as this, especially when compared to Charles.
- First Love: Ariadne Bridgestock was the first person she really fell in love with and had a relationship with until Anna broke up with her after she found out Ariadne was engaged. They seem to be rekindling their relationship in Chain of Iron.
- The One That Got Away: To Ariadne Bridgestock. The two of them had a Secret Relationship that Anna ended when Ariadne became engaged to Charles. After Ariadne wakes up from her coma at the end of Chain of Gold she becomes determined to win Anna back.
- Practically Different Generations: She is sixteen years older than her brother Alexander.
- Secret Relationship: She and Ariadne Bridgestock had one, since homosexuality was not accepted in the early 1900s. Anna broke it off after Ariadne became engaged to Charles Fairchild.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Her crossdressing is not really commented upon. When it is, it's always spoken of positively.
Christopher Lightwood
The second child of Gabriel and Cecily, younger brother of Anna and older brother of Alexander. Christopher is a smart boy who is good friends with James Herondale, Matthew Fairchild and Thomas Lightwood.
- Badass Bookworm: Despite primarily being a scientist, he is perfectly capable of fighting on the front lines.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Spends most of his time thinking about his inventions, which often results in him being out of tune with the rest of the conversation.
- Gadgeteer Genius: He is very good at inventing things and making gadgets, especially explosives.
- Generation Xerox: Despite not being related to Henry Branwell, he might as well be Henry 2.0, up to experimenting things that tend to explode. Though he seems to be less absent-minded than Henry.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Seems to be one with his cousin Thomas.
- Odd Friendship: The loner and withdrawn Grace Blackthorn surprisingly bonds with Christopher, and it is implied that the two are building a romance that is sadly ended when Christopher is killed.
- Practically Different Generations: There's a thirteen year age gap between him and his brother Alexander.
- Sacrificial Lion: Tatiana kills him with a poisoned blade in Chain of Thorns, underscoring just how dangerous she and the demon army are to the heroes.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Christopher wears glasses and he is very smart and good at science.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: He’s the kindest of the Merry Thieves and arguably of the main cast. He’s a cheery Cloudcuckoolander who offers understanding and a path towards redemption for Grace. So naturally, he dies in the third book.
Alexander Lightwood
The third child of Gabriel and Cecily, younger brother of Anna and Christopher.
- The Baby of the Bunch: He is 3 years old as of the events of Chain of Gold.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted, as he shares the name of another, much recent member of his family, though the latter is better known as Alec.
- Practically Different Generations: Is sixteen and thirteen years younger than Anna and Christopher, respectively.
Robert Lightwood
Played by: Paulino Nunes (Shadowhunters)
Alec's, Isabelle's, and Max's father, who leads the New York institute along with his wife Maryse. He was a member of the Circle, where he was close friends with Valentine, and participated in the Uprising. Because the Lightwoods were an important Shadowhunter family, he and Maryse were given Lo lenient punishment and merely exiled from Idris to New York. Despite this, he spends most of his time in Alicante as ambassador of the New York Institute, partly because his marriage with Maryse has been strained for various reasons. He succeeds Aldertree as Inquisitor after his death during the Mortal War. He and Maryse officially separate after the Dark War.
Robert is killed by Annabel Blackthorn in 2012, when his attempt to question her with the Mortal Sword goes awry.
- Battle Couple: With his wife Maryse, as veteran married Shadowhunters, although they're not given a lot of screentime as such.
- Everyone Went to School Together: He was a member of the Circle alongside Clary's and Jace's parents.
- Friendless Background: Before he met Valentine, his only friend in school was Michael Wayland, because everyone made fun of him for his weakness towards Shadowhunter runes.
- Happy Marriage Charade: Only pretends to be Happily Married, when in reality his marriage has nearly fallen apart at least thrice: once when the Circle disbanded and Robert blamed their wrecked lives on Maryse, twice when Robert was caught cheating (but Maryse told nobody save her daughter), and thrice when their youngest son dies. The general distrust between them lead to their daughter; Isabelle's "all-men-are-untrustable" attitude.
- Heteronormative Crusader: He was disgusted when Michael Wayland confided that he was in love with him and later questions Alec what made him gay, though he eventually comes around to accept Alec's sexuality.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: He was this with Michael Wayland, his best friend and parabatai. Except it turned out that Michael was not really heterosexual. When he admitted to Robert that he was in love with him, Robert told him it was disgusting and that he should never talk about it again. Their friendship never really recovered from it, though Robert agreed to adopt Jace partly to honor Michael.
- I Want Grandkids: Maryse and Robert in the Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy story "Born To Endless Night", despite agreeing on very little else. To the extent that even with their history of Fantastic Racism, they are positively ecstatic when Alec and Magnus adopt an abandoned warlock baby. The head of the New York Institute and the Inquisitor of the Clave — both former members of Valentine's Circle! That they approve of the adoption the instant they find out about it, and proceed to drown Alec and Magnus in parenting advice, while imposing time limits on which of them gets to hold the baby for how long, makes it clear that they consider a warlock grandchild better than no grandchild.
- Killed Off for Real: He dies at the end of Lord of Shadows when Annabel goes insane and stabs him through the chest.
- Nepotism: He and Maryse were given pretty lenient sentences for their involvement with the Circle due to their connections with influential Shadowhunter families like the Penhallows.
- Outliving One's Offspring: His youngest son Max dies before him.
- Together in Death: In Queen of Air and Darkness, Michael's ghost stays near his casket during his funeral.
Maryse Lightwood (née Trueblood)
Played by: Nicola Correia-Damude (Shadowhunters)
Alec's, Isabelle's, and Max' mother, who leads the New York institute along with her husband Robert. Like Robert, she was a member of the Circle and participated in the Uprising. Unlike many other Circle members who were imprisoned or faced harsh charges, because of the Lightwood's prestige, her family were merely exiled to the New York Institute, where she is given the task to manage its day-to-day affairs while Robert serves as ambassador to Idris.
She separates from Robert after the Dark War. Later, she retires from her position, with Clary and her adoptive son, Jace, replacing her.
- Action Mom: Maryse is as competent a Nephilim as her husband.
- Badly Battered Babysitter: In The Lost Book of the White, she and Kadir are given the job to babysit Max while Alec and Magnus go for a mission in Shanghai. By the end, despite their assurances, Alec notes that it's taken a toll on them.
- Doting Grandparent: She positively coos over baby Max the warlock.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Was a member of the Circle alongside Clary's and Jace's parents.
- Happy Marriage Charade: Only pretends to be Happily Married, when in reality her marriage has nearly fallen apart at least thrice: once when the Circle disbanded and Robert blamed their wrecked lives on Maryse, twice when Robert was caught cheating (but Maryse told nobody save her daughter), and thrice when their youngest son dies. The general distrust between them lead to their daughter; Isabelle's "all-men-are-untrustable" attitude. In City of Heavenly Fire, Robert announces that he and Maryse are officially separating.
- I Want Grandkids: Maryse and Robert in the Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy story "Born To Endless Night", despite agreeing on very little else. To the extent that even with their history of Fantastic Racism, they are positively ecstatic when Alec and Magnus adopt an abandoned warlock baby. The head of the New York Institute and the Inquisitor of the Clave — both former members of Valentine's Circle! That they approve of the adoption the instant they find out about it, and proceed to drown Alec and Magnus in parenting advice, while imposing time limits on which of them gets to hold the baby for how long, makes it clear that they consider a warlock grandchild better than no grandchild.
- Nepotism: She and Robert were given pretty lenient sentences for their involvement with the Circle due to their connections with influentual Shadowhunter families.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Her youngest son Max died before her.
- Supreme Chef: Maryse is very good in the kitchen.
Alec Lightwood
For information on Alec click here.
Isabelle Lightwood
For information on Isabelle click here.
Max Lightwood
Maxwell "Max" Joseph Lightwood
Played by: Jack Fulton (Shadowhunters)
Maryse and Robert's youngest child and younger brother of Alec and Isabelle.
- Big Brother Worship: Really looks up to his adopted older brother Jace.
- Dead Guy Junior: Non-dead example. He was named after Max Trueblood, Maryse's brother who became a mundane.
- Death of a Child: In City of Glass, all the teenage protagonists survive the final battle.... but Max; the cute, manga-reading youngest Lightwood who wasn't allowed to fight is brutally murdered.
- He Knows Too Much: On the night of his death, he tells Isabelle he saw someone climbing the demon towers at night. That someone was Sebastian, his murderer.
- The Lost Lenore: Max's death becomes the last straw for Robert's and Maryse's troubled marriage. Just a year after his death, Robert announces that he is separating from Maryse.
- Sacrificial Lion: Max, who is killed off in the third book to establish Sebastian's evilness and emphasize the personal threat to the main characters.
Rafael Lightwood-Bane
An Argentinian Shadowhunter. As a baby, he was orphaned during the Dark War and was subsequently cared for by a werewolf from the Shadow Market. Alec Lightwood comes across Rafe while he is on a mission to Buenos Aires five years after the Dark War. Having planned to have a second child for a while, he decides to adopt him after his werewolf foster mother dies.
- Dead Guy Junior: Interestingly enough, inverted. While Raphael Santiago was indeed a friend of Magnus, Rafael was born with his name. What makes Alec interested in him in the first place is because he shares the name of Magnus's late friend.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Seems to have shared Raphael's moody but well-meaning personality.
- Parental Abandonment: His parents died during the Dark War.
The Lovelace family
Jessamine Lovelace
Jessamine Gray (née Lovelace)
Jessamine's parents, like Will's were Shadowhunters who left the Clave. Their deaths in a fire orphaned her, leaving her to be brought up in the Institute by Charlotte and Henry. Jessamine hates everything about being a Shadowhunter, from the training to the danger to the existence of demons, which she sees as "smelly and disgusting." Armed with a razor-edged parasol and an equally sharp tongue, Jessamine can be dangerous if she wants to be—to herself as much as to the supernatural creatures she's sometimes forced to encounter.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite trying all she can to be The Load, she can't deny her Shadowhunter heritage.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: In Clockwork Prince.
- Dumb Blonde: Subverted. While flouncy and just a tad spoiled, Jessamine is a perfectly capable Shadowhunter in her own right.
- English Rose: Tessa Gray is a New Yorker who travels to Victorian London, and she describes Jessamine as an English Rose. Jessamine strives to be a Proper Lady and has many lady-like attributes (like her Parasol of Prettiness), but ultimately she fails to be a straight example because she's something of a Spoiled Brat.
- Et Tu, Brute?: She betrays the Institute for Nate and gets imprisoned in Silent City for her trouble.
- The Fashionista: Jessamine is very concerned about how she looks, and it's she who takes Tessa out to buy new dresses.
- Ghostly Goal: After her death, she becomes the London Institute's ghostly guardian, intending to make up for what she did in her life. In City of Heavenly Fire, she successfully repulses the attack on the Institute by the Endarkened.
- Hates Everyone Equally: She antagonizes pretty much everyone she meets, with the exception of Nate, with whom she falls in love.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Implied to be her motivations for her actions in The Clockwork Prince.
- Improbable Weapon User: She uses a parasol Henry made for her. The fabric is edged with electrum, though.
- Interspecies Romance: She develops feelings for Tessa's brother, Nate, though this may just be out of her desire to be a Mundane.
- Killed Off for Real: She is murdered by Mortmain's automatons in Clockwork Princess.
- The Load: Played with. She actively tries to be this due to her hatred of being a Shadowhunter, but she also demonstrates that she's a very capable fighter.
- Love Freak / In Love with Love: She wants someone to take her away from the Institute.
- Love Martyr: For Nate - she continues to feed him information despite Tessa's repeated insistence that he loves no one but himself.
- The Mole: She was secretly spying for Nate and Mortmain.
- Parasol of Prettiness: Aw, look at Jessamine's parasol! It's so pretty and pink and it even has flowers on it...
- Parasol of Pain: ...and the edges are laced with electrum. Ouch.
- Proper Lady: Strives to be this. She fails because of her attitude.
- Razor Floss: Edges her parasol, turning it into an effective weapon.
- Reluctant Warrior: Although she's no Actual Pacifist. She just really, really hates the Shadowhunter world.
- Secret Relationship: With Nate in Clockwork Prince.
George Lovelace
Simons roommate at the Shadowhunter Academy. George is actually a mundane who got adopted by the Lovelaces, so you can find his tropes here.
The Morgenstern family
Valentine Morgenstern
Played by: Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones), Alan van Sprang (Shadowhunters)
The Big Bad of the first three books, a powerful and charismatic Shadowhunter who aims to destroy all Downworlders.
- Abusive Parents: Of the emotionally abusive variety. He also beat Jace on alternate Thursdays.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: In the books he has white-blonde hair and black eyes. In The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones he has dark brown hair and blue eyes.
- Big Bad: Of the first three books.
- Black Eyes of Evil: His eyes are described as black. He's also the genocidal Big Bad.
- Cradling Your Kill: In City of Glass, he holds his adopted son Jace (who he's just stabbed through the heart) while he dies, whispering, "My son. My boy."
- Dead Person Impersonation: He killed Michael Wayland and his infant son (using that baby to make Jocelyn believe her son Jonathan was dead) and took over Michael Wayland's identity while raising Jace (who was Stephen Herondale's son, whom he cut out of her dead mother's womb). It's complicated.
- Dissonant Serenity: He is always calm, even sarcastic, even when ripping out people's hearts.
- Driven by Envy: Despite the fact that the Shadowhunters are effectively the dominant power in the supernatural world, Valentine greatly resents the Downworlders for their unique abilities, such as the vampires' ability to change shape or the magic wielded by the faeries and the warlocks.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He seems to actually care about Jace. That doesn't stop him from killing Jace. He is sad afterwards and tried to keep Jace from forcing him to, though. He also seems to care for Clary, Jocelyn, Sebastian/Jonathan and Luke in his own twisted way.
- Fantastic Racism: Even by Shadowhunter standards, and that's saying something. He hates Downworlders enough to ally with demons to eradicate them.
- Faking the Dead: While posing as Michael Wayland he faked his own death to strengthen Jace.
- Guinea Pig Family: Experimented on his own children in the womb to create better Shadowhunters. He infused Jonathan/Sebastian with demon blood, which made him horrifically strong but had the unfortunate side-effects of making him soulless and Jocelyn depressed. To make her feel better he gave her angel blood, not knowing she was pregnant with Clary at the time...
- Hunting "Accident": When his Number Two Lucian starts questining him to much, he decides he needs to get rid of him. So when he and Lucian go werewolf-hunting he "accidentally" lets him get bitten by a werewolf. After it turns out that the bite infected him he hands Lucian a dagger and tells him to kill himself.
- Hypocrite / Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Expresses hatred and disdain for the mixed-breed Downworlders, and contends that the Shadowhunters must keep the world safe from demons even if it means committing genocide against them all. But he deliberately taints his own son with demon blood, making him into a strange human/angel/demon hybrid, and even tried using demon blood to change himself with unclear results. He also readily summons and uses large numbers of demons to fight for him, as well as dealing with the powerful Greater Demon Lilith. And finally, he attempts to summon and forcibly enslave the angel Raziel (the patron angel of Shadowhunters) to make him do Valentine's will, to say nothing of Valentine's earlier role in the torture of another angel. Raziel calls Valentine out on much of his bullshit and the fact that Valentine is really just a monster of a Glory Hound hiding behind a veil of self-righteousness, and then kills Valentine where he stands pretty much on principle.
- Karmic Death: In City of Ashes he arranges the death of a teenage warlock whose blood he needs by tricking the kid into summoning a demon that will be able to bypass the magic circle used to contain it. In City of Glass, Valentine has setup his own magic circle to summon the Angel Raziel to force it to remove the powers of the Shadowhunters that refuse to serve him. His daughter Clary, whom he has effectively bound and gagged nearby, manages to alter the circle, allowing Raziel to smite him in punishment for his evil deeds, but only after giving him "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
- Killed Off for Real: In City of Glass. Thank you, Raziel.
- Long-Lost Relative: He is Clary's biological father.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: He is Clary and Jace's father. Though City of Glass reveals that Jace's father was actually Stephen Herondale. Valentine adopted him after his mother died, and raised him under the guise of Michael Wayland.
- Light Is Not Good: White-blond, handsome, talented...and very evil.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: See Hunting "Accident". It's also implied he may have a hand in Stephen and Celine's deaths in this manner.
- Meaningful Name: "Morgenstern" means "morning star" - signifying, of course, Lucifer.
- Names to Run Away From: His last name means "morning star", referring to the fallen angel, Lucifer. You'd think that an organization as biblically based as the Shadowhunters would have been a little concerned when the guy who's last name essentially meant "Lucifer" began to gain so much power...
- Never Found the Body: In City of Ashes, after his ship is destroyed - which naturally means that he's still up and kicking. That is, until he gets stabbed by the angel Raziel in City of Glass, is cremated and has a funeral. He is dead for good. Unlike his other son.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: In City Of Glass, he avoids this by using a magic rune to keep Clary quiet so he can monologue without interruption. She eventually gives a rebuttal by writing in the dirt.
- Straw Hypocrite: Was this in his younger days when he formed the Circle. Although the stated goal that he used to woo his followers was to reform the Clave (by taking it over), his real objective was simply to set himself up as their ruler. But he ditched his followers the moment the odds turned against them. Once he reappeared years after the Uprising and his failed coup attempt, he was a good deal more open about his true objectives.
- White Hair, Black Heart: White-blond and, oh, aims to wipe out all Downworlders.
Sebastian Morgenstern
Jonathan Christopher "Sebastian" Morgenstern
Played by: Luke Baines (Shadowhunters)
Valentine and Jocelyn's son and Clary's older brother who was experimented on with demon's blood. Cold, sadistic, and ruthless, he's his father's agent through and through. In the first half of City of Glass, he poses as Sebastian Verlac, a cousin of the Penhallow family.
- Abomination Accusation Attack: In City of Glass, he openly denounces Alec Lightwood for his homosexuality, which the latter feels very insecure about because it is strongly frowned upon in Shadowhunter society. This is more than a little hypocritical on his part however, seeing as how he himself has Brother–Sister Incest desire for Clary.
- Alas, Poor Villain: In City of Heavenly Fire, Sebastian goes down quickly, but Jonathan, the good within him, arises, tells Clary how to destroy the Infernal Cup, talks about what might have been, and then dies.
- Almost Dead Guy: When sustaining Death Equals Redemption, he gets to talk about the real him that never got a chance because of Valentine and the demon blood.
- Ancestral Weapon: In City of Heavenly Fire, he has Phaesphoros, one of two swords his father commissioned that was specifically meant to be an Ancestral weapon. Clary gets the other, Heosphoros.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Thanks to the demon blood, he had these at birth. Jocelyn was so repulsed by him she refused to care for him. As he dies for good, his eyes turn to green, the same as Clary's and their mother's.
- Brother–Sister Incest: In City Of Lost Souls, he is shown to actually want Clary, backing her up against a wall and forcefully kissing her, while going on about how they can be evil and rule the world together.
- Cunning Linguist: Like Jace, he's fluent in several languages.
- Dead Person Impersonation: The real Sebastian's actually been Dead All Along, with Jonathan Christopher having taken over his identity after he murdered the former.
- Death Equals Redemption: The Heavenly Fire burns the evil out of him. But what little good there was in him is not enough to keep him alive, unlike Jace who was similarly burned in it. He does use his command of the Endarkened to keep them from hurting his former captives, and tells Jace how to destroy the Infernal Cup before he dies.
- Devil in Plain Sight: In City of Glass, nobody suspects or becomes suspicious about his identity, even though his impersonation as Sebastian Verlac amounts to nothing more than dyeing his hair black.
- The Dragon: To his father in City of Glass.
- Dying as Yourself: He regains the personality that might would have been his were it not for the influence of the demon blood and makes amends with his mother and Clary. His eyes also turn green, the same as Clary's.
- Early-Bird Cameo: In Clary's dream in City of Ashes, she sees Jace standing with white wings (a reference to his angel blood) and, behind her, a dark-haired boy with blood-tipped wings - Sebastian.
- Foil: To Jace: He was experimented on with demon's blood while Jace was experimented on with angel's blood. Valentine raised him to be cold, cruel, and sadistic, while Jace is more compassionate and kind.
- Interspecies Romance: He has a brief fling with the Seelie Queen in City of Heavenly Fire. The union nevertheless produces a son: Ash.
- Long-Lost Relative: He is Clary's actual brother.
- The Mole: He was the reason Valentine knew what Jace's group was about to do. He killed the real Sebastian Verlac and posed as the Penhallows' cousin in order to get information.
- Nice Guy: Averted, this only applies to the real Sebastian, who by now is a Posthumous Character.
- Not Quite Dead: In City of Fallen Angels, it turns out that he isn't exactly dead because of Clary's wish at the end of City of Glass to bring Jace back to life, which screwed up the balance of life and death. This allowed Lilith to fully resurrect him.
- Polyglot: Like Jace, he's also fluent in a variety of languages.
- Romantic False Lead: In City of Glass, he is a love interest to Clary. This turns to Squick when he is revealed to not only not what he seems to be, but also Clary's brother.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He is almost a carbon-copy of his father, including white hair, the same face and skin tone, right down to having his Black Eyes of Evil. However, after the heavenly fire purifies him, it turns out that, without the demonic blood, he actually did inherit Jocelyn's green eyes.
- Superpower Lottery: Sebastian basically has all the capabilities of a Shadowhunter dialed up. Rather than being slightly stronger, faster, more agile and more durable than mundanes like regular Nephilim, he has actual Super-Strength, Super-Speed, Super-Reflexes and Healing Factor, plus Jump Physics, Flash Step, Super-Senses and the ability to use various forms of Geometric Magic (including demonic runes). Even vampire Simon is surprised by how strong and fast Sebastian is. He can deliver a Curb-Stomp Battle on Jace, who is otherwise one of the best Shadowhunter warriors around!
- Tangled Family Tree: Valentine did in fact have an actual son with Jocelyn, Jonathan, whom he raised in secret. Jonathan disguises himself as Sebastian Verlac, a cousin of the prominent Penhallow family. Later he magically coerces Jace into regarding him as a brother. Jonathan also has a Brother–Sister Incest vibe with Clary.
- Tap on the Head: Kills Max and knocks Isabelle unconscious this way.
- Walking Spoiler: Anything about him from the later part of City of Glass spoils several plot points like: Jace and Clary aren't really siblings, the real Sebastian Verlac has been Dead All Along, and Valentine fed Jocelyn demon blood while she was pregnant.
- White Hair, Black Heart: White-haired and just as evil as his dad.
- Would Hurt a Child: He kills nine year old Max Lightwood without any regret.
- Yandere: BOY HOWDY. Jonathan goes above and beyond this trope. Let's begin with the fact that he forcibly tried to kiss his own sister in City of Lost Souls, talking about how the two of them could rule together after he takes down the shadowhunters. Then he kidnaps Jace in an effort to lure Clary onto his side. It works, but then when he tries to make sexual advances on her and she refuses him, shit hits the fan as he attempts to force himself onto her, but fortunately he doesn't succeed. In the end, when they're in Edom, he forces Clary to come rule by his side, or her friends die.
Ash Morgenstern
The secret son of Jonathan Morgenstern and the Seelie Queen, he was conceived when the two were allied during the Dark War. He was kidnapped by the Unseelie King and subjected to experiments using spells from the Black Volume of the Dead.
- Charm Person: Ash has a mysterious ability to compel people to care for him. He very effectively uses this towards Annabel, who becomes his caretaker for seven years in Thule.
- Good Wings, Evil Wings: Queen of Air and Darkness reveals that Ash has a pair of wings colored black with silver at its tip.
- Heinz Hybrid: He is half-faerie through his mother and half-angelic, demonic and mortal through his father.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: According to his last dialogue with Emma, he betrayed Thule-Sebastian because the latter wanted to kill him.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Ash suddenly sports wings when he helps Emma kill Thule-Sebastian. After the battle ends, he flies away while carrying Thule-Jace.
- Rapid Aging: Because he was raised in Faerie, where time is a train wreck, Ash grew to double his age. Then when he enters Thule, he is transported three years back in time, while Emma and Julian are transported to two years in the future, so when the two meet him, he has aged up an additional five years. As a result, instead of being a 5-year-old, he is in his teens as of Queen of Air and Darkness.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He inherited Sebastian's white hair, his mother's pointed ears, and his grandmother Jocelyn's green eyes (Sebastian too would have had green eyes if not for his demonic blood, as shown after the heavenly fire purified him).
- Take Over the World: While his position on the matter is ambiguous, as shown in Forever Fallen, Janus is grooming Ash to rule over the main universe. In return, Janus will be able to get close with Clary, whose Thule counterpart he lost years ago.
- Wild Card: His loyalty is currently undetermined. He is hostile to Emma and Julian when they attempt to save him in the Unseelie Court, but helps Emma while she is fighting Thule-Sebastian. Then in the epilogue of Queen of Air and Darkness, he returns to the main universe alongside Janus, who wants to meet with Clary. In Forever Fallen, it is revealed that Ash is being groomed by Janus to Take Over the World.
The Penhallow family
Patrick Penhallow
Jia's husband and Aline's father.
- Arranged Marriage: He was supposed to marry a woman his parents had picked for him. Instead he ran off to the Beijing Institute and married Jia, causing a bit of a scandal.
Jia Penhallow (née Ke)
Played by: Françoise Yip (Shadowhunters)
Aline's mother who became the new Consul after the Mortal War. She previously headed the Beijing Institute.
- Frontline General: In Queen of Air and Darkness, she leads the Shadowhunters who remain in Alicante against the Cohort.
- Good Parents: She is a really good mother to Aline. She is supportive when Aline reveals that she is lesbian. She even agreed to be Aline's suggenes when she marries the half-faerie Helen Blackthorn, which because of the Cold Peace is controversial.
- Prematurely Grey-Haired: When she becomes Consul, her hair is still fully black. By the events of The Dark Artifices, she is noticeably gray-haired, no doubt because of the stress of the Cold Peace.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: One of the most reasonable authority figures in the Clave. Despite being a Consul, she never abuses her power and always willing to hear out pleas even from people traditionally excluded from the Clave, i.e. children and teenagers.
Vivianne Penhallow
The dean of the newly opened Shadowhunter Academy. Patrick's second cousin.
- Character Death: She died in the Dark War in The Dark Artifices.
- Nepotism: Since she is very young and inexperienced, Simon suspected she got her job as Dean through her connection with Consul Jia Penhallow.
Aline Penhallow
Aline Blackthorn Penhallow
Played by: Jacky Lai (Shadowhunters)
The only child of Patrick Penhallow and Jia Ke and a family friend of the Lightwoods.
- Asian Airhead: She isn't the smartest stele, although this comes off more as naivety. No longer this in The Dark Artifices, where she is one of the most level-headed character in the cast and can control the younger Blackthorns' temper tantrum more than their sister Helen can.
- Attempted Rape: Nearly raped by a demon. Fortunately Isabelle saves her.
- Battle Couple: Becomes this with Helen, especially when they fight side by side together in the battle of the Burren.
- But Not Too Foreign: Is half Chinese/half Caucasian.
- Cool Big Sis: Dru and Tavvy definitely think she is an awesome sister-in-law, after she delivers an epic roast at them for breaking Helen's heart.
- Foil: To Isabelle; she's conservative and shy where Isabelle is outspoken and outgoing.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Heavily implied in City of Glass. Although she is seen kissing Jace, she tells Clary later it was merely a test to see if any guy was "her type". Confirmed in City of Lost Souls, where she appears with her girlfriend, Helen Blackthorn, and it's revealed she came out the closet, inspired by seeing Alec do so.
- Motor Mouth: She talks a lot, and according to Clary is one of those people who says whatever comes to mind.
- Nice Girl: Apart from her rude questions to Simon, which are probably due more to naivety and Fantastic Racism than genuine malice, she's fairly polite and even explains to Clary why she kissed Jace.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one of these to Dru and Tavvy after they insulted Helen in Queen of Air and Darknes. It only makes them admire her more.
- Romantic False Lead: For the Jace/Clary pairing.
- The Proud Elite: Her behavior towards Simon is neither actively malicious nor self-consciously snobbish. But the way that she talks to, and about (in his presence), him bears a distinct resemblance to a member of an old-fashioned aristocracy meeting her very first peasant.
- Screaming Woman: In City of Glass. Despite being a Shadowhunter, from a prestigious Shadowhunter family, her reaction to Alicante being besieged by demons is to basically panic, adding her to the roster of people in need of rescuing as opposed to helping with the defense. She grows out of this eventually.
- You Are in Command Now: After Arthur dies, she is given charge of the Los Angeles Institute, leading it together with Helen.
- You Are Worth Hell: She follow Helen into exile on Wrangel Island.
The Rosales family
Carmen Rosales
Carmen Rosales Delgado
Cristina's mother who heads the Mexico City Institute, succeeding her brother, Tomás, who died during the Dark War.
- Action Mom: She leads the defense of Alicante together with Patrick Penhallow. Rumor has it that she climbs the walls of Alicante to shoot arrows at the Unseelie redcaps and punches Horace Dearborn in the face.
Diego Rosales
Diego Rocío Rosales
Cristina's ex-boyfriend and Jaime's older brother. He is one of the youngest people ever to graduate from the Scholomance. He is distantly related to Cristina through his mother.
- The Ace: Handsome, from a rich family, and he has the skills to back it up, being among the youngest Centurions in history.
- Arranged Marriage: His engagement with Zara Dearborn was this. They didn't love each other and only agreed to the engagement for other reasons. Diego agreed to marry her because of the pressure of the Cohort and Zara agreed to marry him because she was told that only a Rosales could use Eternidad and the Cohort really needed it.
- Embarrassing Nickname: "Perfect Diego". He obviously doesn't consider himself perfect.
- The Leader:
- Since he has the most experience among the people at the Los Angeles Institute, he tends to make decisions on his own and likes to clarify things many times, which annoys Julian.
- In the epilogue of Queen of Air and Darkness, Diego says that Alec nominated him to become the new Inquisitor. He feels reluctant because of his inaction over the Cohort's rise of power, but Cristina reassures him that he is fit for the job.
- Nice Guy: He is unfailingly polite and always prioritizes others' safety before his own.
- Ship Tease: At the end of Queen of Air and Darkness, he seems to be hooking up with Divya.
Jaime Rosales
Jaime Rocío Rosales
Diego's younger brother. Like him, he is distantly related to Cristina through his mother.
- Ship Tease: Has one with Dru.
- We Used to Be Friends: He and Cristina used to be the best of friends and planned to become parabatai. However their friendship ended when Cristina overheard Jaime saying that he only wanted to become parabatai with Cristina because of political reasons and didn't actually care about her. It's later revealed that the conversation was taken out of context, but Cristina never forgives him for saying it and has since moved on, finding another best friend in Emma.
Cristina Rosales
For information on Cristina click here.
The Starkweather family
Aloysius Starkweather
The ancient head of the York Institute during the late 1870s. He is a certified bigot, taking pride in the fact that he has killed many Downworlders. He became grumpy ever since his granddaughter, Adele, died while receiving her runes. In actuality, Adele was switched with a sick mundane child by the Fair Folk in revenge of the transgressions he did against them. Adele grew up as Elizabeth Gray AKA Tessa's mother, making Aloysius Tessa's great-grandfather.
- Die Laughing: He dies laughing as his assertions about the automatons are proven correct.
- Grumpy Old Man: Acts rude against everyone, especially Charlotte.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: His massacre against faeries directly resulted in the Fair Folk changing his healthy granddaughter with a sickly mundane one.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Clockwork Princess reveals that he is Tessa's maternal great-grandfather.
- Racist Grandma: Goes beyond racist, he takes a near-genocidal stance when it comes to Downworlders. He also takes pride in his large museum of Downworlder Spoils.
Adele Starkweather
Elizabeth Gray (née Moore, born Adele Starkweather)
The granddaughter of Aloysius Starkweather. She got switched at birth with Elizabeth Moore (click here to see information on her) so she grew up as a mundane, never knowing about the Shadowhunter world and never receiving Marks. She eventually married Richard Gray and with him was briefly involved with the Pandemonium Club. The Club's leader, Axel Mortmain tricked her into having intercourse with a Greater Demon who posed as Richard, resulting in the birth of Tessa — a miracle, because Shadowhunter-demon breeds are almost always born dead.- Changeling Tale: As a baby, she was switched with the real Elizabeth Moore by the Fair Folk.
- Family Relationship Switcheroo:
- As revealed in Clockwork Prince, her 'son' Nate is actually her nephew. Her sister Harriet had sex with her fiancé before they got married. Then her fiancé died before the wedding and she found out she was pregnant. To avoid a scandal Elizabeth and Richard who were already married pretended the child was theirs.
- Complicated even more in Clockwork Princess, when it is revealed that she was actually a Shadowhunter named Adele Starkweather who got Switched at Birth with the real Elizabeth and is thus not actually related to Harriet or Nate.
- Missing Mom: Died when Tessa was very little.
- Posthumous Character: She and her husband died in a carriage accident almost fifteen before the start of The Infernal Devices.
- Switched at Birth: She got switched with Elizabeth Moore, a mundane child.
Hodge Starkweather
Played by: Jared Harris (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones), Jon Cor (Shadowhunters)
The tutor at the New York Institute, who taught Alec, Jace, and Isabelle everything they needed to know about Shadowhunting.
- Age Lift: In both adaptations.
Word of God states that Hodge is around 36, but Harris was in his early fifties. On the opposite end, Cor is only 30; this is especially notable since his students, Jace and the Lightwoods, are now older in the series. - Expy: Of the The Draco Trilogy version of Peter Pettigrew.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: It is shown that he cares about Isabelle, Max, Alec, and Jace. Doesn't stop him from betraying them to Valentine, although he does send a message to Magnus Bane who is able to heal Alec from the demon bite.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Was school friends with Clary's, Jace's, and the Lightwood siblings' parents.
- The Mole: Valentine's spy.
- Mr. Exposition: In the first book.
- Redemption Equals Death: Had the beginnings of a Heel–Face Turn by revealing what the mirror was, but Sebastian/Jonathan Morgenstern kills him first.
The Wayland family
Josiah Wayland
Josiah Wayland is the Consul at the time of The Infernal Devices.
- Asshole Victim: He doesn't really deserve sympathy by the time of his death, preferring to focus on dethroning Charlotte rather than saving the world.
- Blackmail: He tried to blackmail Gideon and Gabriel Lightwood into spying on Charlotte, threatening to reveal that their father was responsible for their mother's death, which would lead to their banishment and the erasure of the Lightwood family name from the Shadowhunter records.
- Evil All Along: It turns out that his previously civil relationship with Charlotte is just an act. He showered Charlotte with promotions and protection because he expected her to be subservient to him. When it's clear that she is her own woman, he increasingly antagonizes her and attempts to sabotage her chance to succeed him as Consul, culminating in him attempting to remove her as head of the London Institute, before he gets unceremoniously killed by the automatons.
- Off with His Head!: He gets decapitated by automatons.
- Skewed Priorities: Instead of investigating Mortmain's headquarters, he assembles the Clave to dethrone Charlotte, the only person who has the guts to go there by herself, purely out of selfish reasons.
Michael Wayland
Robert Lightwood's deceased parabatai. He was previously held to be Jace's biological father, which is why Jace goes by Jace Wayland at the start of the series. It is later disclosed that Michael's infant son died during the Uprising, so Jace is not really his son after all. Nevertheless, Jace was raised in the Wayland Manor until he was 11 years old, albeit by Valentine.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: He was this with Robert, his best friend and parabatai. Except it turned out that Michael was not really heterosexual. When he admitted to Robert that he was in love with him, Robert told him it was disgusting and that he should never talk about it again. Their friendship never really recovered from it, though Robert did adopt Jace because he thought he was making amends with Michael by taking care of his son.
- Incompatible Orientation: He was in love with his straight best friend Robert.
- Only Friend: He became this to Robert after the latter became an outcast when his first mark nearly killed him.
- Posthumous Character: He died during the Uprising.
- Together in Death: In Queen of Air and Darkness, Michael's ghost attends Robert's funeral and stands near Robert's casket until it is cremated.
Other Shadowhunter families
Inquisitor Aldertree
The new inquisitor after Imogen Herondale died.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He acts cheerful and nice, but reveals his true colors after he captures Simon.
- Blackmail: He tried to blackmail Simon into (falsely) testifying against the Lightwoods.
- Killed Off for Real: Valentine kills him through an enchanted projection.
- Last-Name Basis: His first name is never revealed. He is always just referred to as Inquisitor Aldertree.
Lazlo Balogh
The head of the Budapest Institute and a Cohort sympathizer.
- Fantastic Racism: He is the one who suggests that Helen and Mark Blackthorn should be punished for their half-fey heritage, despite the former's standing against the faeries. Initially, he wants Helen to be turned into a mundane, but she ends up being exiled to Wrangel Island instead.
- Hypocrite: He objects to Alec's nomination as Consul because his father used to be part of the Circle, only to be pointed out rightly that he had no problem voting for said father, Robert, to become Inquisitor several years ago.
Julie Beauvale
A student at the Shadowhunter Academy in Simon's year.
- Back for the Dead: She returns in Queen of Air and Darkness only to die during the Cohort's parley.
- Fantastic Racism: She hates all faeries, because her sister, Elizabeth, was killed by one.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: She and Beatriz Mendoza become parabatai.
Madeleine Bellefleur
A close friend of Jocelyn Fray until they drifted apart after the latter married Valentine Morgenstern. She was trusted to keep the secret about how to wake her from her self-induced coma, because of her opposition to Valentine.
- The Cassandra: She told Jocelyn to stay way from Valentine, as she sensed that he was an unstable, hateful man. However, Jocelyn accused her of being jealous, causing them to drift apart. Madeleine's prediction turned out to be much more accurate than anyone would have wanted.
- Chekhov's Gunman: In City of Ashes, Clary runs into Madeleine several times, but it isn't until the epilogue that she approaches her to reveal the truth about Jocelyn.
- Childhood Friend: She was close with Jocelyn during their years at the Shadowhunter Academy.
- Killed Off for Real: She is killed by a demon sent by Valentine to intercept the New York Shadowhunters from portaling to Alicante.
Henry Branwell
Henry Jocelyn Branwell
Absent-minded and brilliant, Henry spends his waking hours in the crypt of the Institute, inventing fabulous machines and weapons out of cogs cams and gears. Unfortunately just as many of Henry's inventions don't work as the ones that do, and Henry is as likely to set himself on fire as he is to invent something new and amazing. When Tessa finds herself followed by a silent band of assassins who turn out to be automata—human beings made from clockwork parts—it is Henry who must decipher how they work in order to find the demonic mechanical genius at the heart of the most evil plan London's supernatural world has ever seen.
- Absent-Minded Professor: While not really being a professor in the first place. But he's a brilliant inventor who just happens to forget things.
- Gadgeteer Genius: His defining character trait.
- Genius Ditz: Big time - Henry is as absentminded as they come, but when it comes to mechanical stuff, he's your guy.
- Phlebotinum Breakdown: What most of his inventions end up doing.
Clive Breakspear
The head of the Buenos Aires Institute.
- Bad Boss: He doesn't tolerate any criticism and everyone who disagreed with him had to leave the Institute.
- Fantastic Racism: He looks down on Downworlders. He refused to let vampire Lily Chen stay at the Institute even though she was traveling with a Shadowhunter.
- Nepotism: He got his position as head of the Buenos Aires Institute through his friendship with Horace Dearborn.
Jon Cartwright
Jonathan "Jon" Cartwright
A student at the Shadowhunter Academy in Simon's year. He later studied at the Scholomanche and graduated as Centurion.
- Back for the Dead: He makes an appearance in Lord of Shadows as Malcolm's first Centurion kill.
- Blatant Lies: He claims that he knows Jace Herondale and that he even taught him a couple of things. Simon (who really knows Jace) knows this is a complete lie.
- Fantastic Racism: He really looks down on mundanes, calling them dregs. Though he does get less racist later due to his contact with mundanes Simon and Marisol. By the time of Lord of Shadows, he has moved on from his old views completely and is one of the Centurion members who do not support Zara's position regarding Downworlders.
- Off with His Head!: Malcolm kills him this way.
- Ship Tease: In Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, he gets a couple with Marisol. Lord of Shadows reveals that the two are engaged.
Filomena di Angelo
A recently come-of-age Shadowhunter from Italy who arrives to the London Institute as part of her travel year.
- The Determinator: Unlike Belial's other victims, Filomena puts up a good fight, even managing to injure him, and nearly reaches the London Institute before Belial has no choice but to brutally murder her.
- Gratuitous Italian: Justified since it's her native language.
- Shout-Out: Cassandra Clare's foreword has her thanking Rick Riordan for allowing her to use "di Angelo" for her character, reciprocating his usage of "Magnus" earlier for his mythology books.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: She is killed not long after arriving at London.
Malachi Dieudonné
The Consul in the first half of The Mortal Instruments series.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Clary spots him negotiating with Valentine, as he is afraid that the latter will turn all Shadowhunters into Forsaken.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: He is killed when he falls into broken glasses, which stab his neck.
- Properly Paranoid: While Malachi's fears of Valentine turning Shadowhunters into Forsaken isn't true, his son, Jonathan, succeeds in turning many Shadowhunters into Endarkened, which is basically the same thing.
Rayan Maduabuchi
A Centurion. He hails from the Lagos Institute.
- Nice Guy: He does not share the Cohort's views on Downworlders and is one of the few Centurions Diego trusts.
- Those Two Guys: Almost always described with his friend Divya Joshi.
Beatriz Mendoza
Beatriz Velez Mendoza
A student at the Shadowhunter Academy in Simon's year.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: She and Julie Beauvale become parabatai.
- Lonely Together: She and Marisol are seen building sandcastles together during Magnus' and Alec's wedding. Emma notes that they have become close due to their shared loss of an important person.
- Nice Girl: Beatriz is a nice and friendly person, unlike the other Shadowhunters in Simon’s year, who are all very arrogant.
Amelia Overbeck
A Centurion and member of the Cohort.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Emma thinks her death this way. Nobody moves to help or mourn over her as she dies. Not even Zara, who told her to commit suicide in the first place.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: She clearly thinks that killing herself is this, even though the anti-Cohort faction is willing to give her lenient punishment.
- Honor Before Reason: She is willing to kill herself to thwart her opponents the satisfaction of punishing her.
- Last Disrespects: She is seen giggling during the funerals of Robert Lightwood and Livia Blackthorn.
Silas Pangborn
A Shadowhunter who fell in love with his parabatai Eloisa Ravenscar. He is also Barbara's brother.
- Driven to Suicide: He comitted suicide, because he and his love Eloisa could never be together.
- Platonic Lifepartners: When he and Eloisa became parabatai, they swore to only love each other as friends or family. However some time later they did fall in love in a romantic way.
- Starcrossed Lovers: He falls in love with his parabatai Eloisa, which is strictly forbidden.
Eloisa Ravenscar
A Shadowhunter who fell in love with her parabatai Silas Pangborn.
- Platonic Lifepartners: When she and Silas became parabatai, they swore to only love each other as friends or family. However some time later they did fall in love in a romantic way.
- Starcrossed Lovers: She and her parabatai Silas fall in love, which is strictly forbidden. It doesn't end very well. Silas commits suicide because they can't be together and Eloisa dies soon after.
Joaquín Romero
Joaquín Acosta Romero
An Argentinian Shadowhunter who becomes the new head of the Buenos Aires Institute after Clive Breakspear was arrested.- Interspecies Romance: He gets into a relationship with werewolf Juliette.
- Love at First Sight: He is immediately attracted to Juliette when they first meet.
- Rank Up: During The Land I Lost he goes from an ordinary Shadowhunter to the head of the Buenos Aires Institute after the previous head and all of his friends got arrested.
- Token Good Teammate: One of the only good people from the Buenos Aires Institute.
Kadir Safar
The second-most senior Shadowhunter of the New York Conclave. He is Maryse Lightwood's close adviser and friend. His brother, Malik, dies fighting Valentine's demon army in City of Ashes.
- Badly Battered Babysitter: In The Lost Book of the White, he and Maryse are given the job to babysit Max while Alec and Magnus go for a mission in Shanghai. By the end, despite their assurances, Alec notes that it's taken a toll on them.
- The Comically Serious: He feels personally betrayed when the children's book Alec gives him turns out to be less than cheery.
- Ship Tease: There seems to be something going on between him and Maryse, especially after she separates from Robert.
- The Stoic: He is a cold person, though not unkind.
Delaney Scarsbury
The training master at the Shadowhunter Academy.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: He is in charge of training the students at the Shadowhunter Academy to fight and he is very intimidating and rude.
- Fantastic Racism: He is very condescending towards the mundane students. He is also implied to be a Cohort sympathiser, since he voted for Horace Dearborn for Inquisitor and nominated Lazlo Balogh to be Consul.
Marisol Solcedo
Marisol Garza Solcedo (formerly Rojas Garza)
One of the mundane students at the Shadowhunter Academy in Simon’s year. After her ascension she chose Solcedo as her Shadowhunter name.
- Badass Normal: Even before her ascension she can definitely kick some ass, even though she is still a mundane at that point.
- Lonely Together: She and Beatriz are seen building sandcastles together during Magnus' and Alec's wedding. Emma notes that they have become close due to their shared loss of an important person.
- Ship Tease: She had this with Jon Cartwright whom she was constantly teasing. Lord of Shadows reveals they are engaged.
Sebastian Verlac
Played by: Will Tudor (Shadowhunters)
Aline Penhallows cousin who lived with his aunt Elodie at the insitute in Paris. He gets murdered by Jonathan Morgenstern, who steals his identity.- Dead All Along: It turns out that the Sebastian we meet in City of Glass is actually Jonathan Morgenstern, who killed the real Sebastian to steal his identity. The readers never learn much about the real Sebastian.
- Nephewism: He was raised by his aunt Elodie after the death of his parents.
- Parental Abandonment: His parents were killed by demons shortly after arriving in France.
Manuel Villalobos
Manuel Casales Villalobos
One of the members of the Cohort who is part of Zara's inner circle.
- Dirty Coward: When Emma and Julian become the mythical Nephilim, Manuel hides under Horace's corpse throughout the duration of the battle, clearly scared that, being part of the Cohort, he is doomed.
- Fantastic Racism: Averted, he doesn't actually believe in the Cohort's anti-Downworlder agenda. He just sides with them to increase his personal power.
- Nice Guy: Subverted, he seems nice at first, but it is all just an act. In reality he is cruel and sadistic.
- The Starscream: He has a hidden agenda on his own, separate from the Cohort, namely that he enjoys having personal power.
Diana Wrayburn
Diana Wrayburn (born David Laurence Wrayburn)
The tutor of the Blackthorns at the Los Angeles institute.
- Meaningful Rename: Upon transition, she took the name Diana, as she admired the Roman goddess.
- Supernaturally-Validated Trans Person: Inverted. In order to lead the Institute, one must hold the Mortal Sword and speak their birth name - in Diana's case, doing so would out herself as a trans woman to all of Clave, so she refuses.
The Iron Sisters
In general
Female Shadowhunters who craft the steles and weapons used by Nephilim. They were founded by Abigail, older sister of Jonathan Shadowhunter. Other than Abigail, the known Iron Sisters are Cleophas, Dolores, Magdalena, and Emilia.
- The Blacksmith: A whole order of them. They're the only ones who can handle adamas, the heavenly metal from which Nephilim weapons are forged.
- Distaff Counterpart: To the Silent Brothers.
- Ethereal White Dress: They wear long white gowns that blend in with the mists of their home, so when summoned they look like they appear out of nowhere.
- Impartial Purpose-Driven Faction: They don't take parts in the disputes of the Clave and Downworlders, instead residing in Idris and forging weapons.
- Meaningful Rename: Like the Silent Brothers, women rename themselves upon becoming Iron Sisters, to show that they choose to separate themselves their previous lives.
- Really 700 Years Old: Like the Silent Brothers, the Iron Sisters are basically immortal.
- Retired Badass: Most of them are retired Shadowhunters. Abigail Shadowhunter, in particular, founded them because she was frustrated at becoming this, and still wanted to help in the fight against demons.
- Technicolor Eyes: Becoming an Iron Sister means getting orange eyes.
Sister Cleophas
Portrayed by: Lisa Berry (Shadowhunters)
An Iron Sister who acts as a middlewoman between the order and the Shadowhunters. She is actually the mother of Amatis and Luke Graymark.- Composite Character: In the TV series, instead of an older sister, Luke has a younger sister who became an Iron Sister called Sister Cleophas.
- Missing Mom: She took her vow and left the Graymark family when Luke was a kid, forcing Amatis to become his caretaker.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Like the other Sisters, Cleophas is the name she took upon becoming a Sister. Her name before then is unknown.
- Outliving One's Offspring: She outlives Amatis, who is turned into an Endarkened and dies in 2007.
- Supernaturally Young Parent: As an Iron Sister, she ages extremely slowly, presumably looking younger than her middle-aged children since the Sisters are described as looking "ageless".
Sister Magdalena
A rogue Iron Sister who supported the Circle. After the failed Uprising, she left the Adamant Citadel, settling in Paris.
- The Exile: She left the Adamant Citadel after the Uprising, knowing full well that she would be disgraced if her cooperation with the Circle was found out.
- Fate Worse than Death: After she is murdered by Jace, a demon bearing her likeness is cursed to wander Edom forever as a result of her sins in life.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Sebastian orders Jace to kill her after she finished working on the Infernal Cup.
Sister Emilia
An Iron Sister who is sent together with Brother Zachariah (Jem) to investigate a mysterious Shadow Market in Tennessee in the 1930s.
- Above the Influence: She manages to resist Belial's temptation, wanting to pursue her career as an Iron Sister on her own.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Forces Belial, a Prince of Hell, to give Jem a chance to briefly meet with Will by threatening that she will make a weapon strong enough to kill him. It works!
The Silent Brothers
In general
Male Shadowhunters who devote their lives to medication and archiving of Nephilim. They reside in the Silent City and keep watch over the Nephilim dead. They were founded by David, former parabatai of Jonathan Shadowhunter. Other than David, the known Silent Brothers are Jeremiah, Enoch, Cimon, Shadrach, Micah, and Zachariah.
- Impartial Purpose-Driven Faction: They don't take parts in the disputes of the Clave and Downworlders, instead devoting their time to writing all of it down.
- Mouth Stitched Shut: They have their mouths sewn shut. They give up their speech for telepathy.
- Really 700 Years Old: The Silent Brothers age very slowly. So slow that even after hundreds of years, they still look the same as they did when they first became a Brother.
- The Speechless: They cannot speak due to Runes that mutilate their appearance, instead communicating through Telepathy.
- Theme Naming: Silent Brothers give up their birth names upon joining, instead taking on the name of a man from The Bible.
Brother Zachariah
A Silent Brother who appears in the last three books of The Mortal Instruments. He holds a special regard for Herondales, hence why he takes great lengths to keep Jace safe. He is actually Jem Carstairs, who was turned into a Brother to save him from the effects of yin fen, which was about to kill him when the ritual was conducted. For information on Jem click here.
