Characters

Clary Fray is a shadowhunter, but she doesn't know it. She has been brought up in a world without magic, her mother's choice to try and protect her from her heritage. When her mother is kidnapped and the spell begins to wear off, Clary meets other Shadowhunters and embarks on her quest to use her new gifts to help her mother. However, not only is Clary a shadowhunter, she is actually a very talented shadowhunter with a gift for not only writing runes which she doesn't know, but for creating them.

Jace Wayland is an orphaned shadowhunter who was brought up brutally by his father, and is now in the care of the Lightwood family at the Institute in New York City. It is Jace who kills the demon in the opening pages of the book, alerting Clary to the strange goings on around her. Jace is presumed for a significant part of the books to be Clary's brother, but this is only found out after they embark on the beginnings of a relationship.

Isabelle Lightwood is incredibly beautiful and at first she is intimidating to Clary- neither are used to being around other girls. Isabelle is a skilled demon fighter whose weapon of choice is a gold whip. She is fiercely protective of her brothers and sees Jace as her brother as well.

Alec Lightwood is Isabelle's older brother. He is painfully in love with Jace, and is threatened when Clary joins the group, but later embarks on a relationship with Magnus Bane. He is not as strong a fighter as Jace and Isabelle, because he spends so much time trying to protect them.

Magnus Bane is the warlock who was responsible for cloaking the shadowhunter world from Clary. Initially hesitant to have anything to do with any of the group, his interest in Alec draws him in. He is very old and will also feature in the prequel series.

Simon is Clary's best friend. He is in love with Clary and is also interested in Isabelle. He is continually drawn into the shadowhunter world even though it is not his destiny the way it is Clary's. Owing largly to bad luck he becomes a vampire, a fact he tries hard to hide from his mother.

Jocelyn is Clary's mother, who was married to Valentine and fled fifteen years ago, when pregnant with Clary. She cut all ties to the shadowhunter community, preferring everyone think she was dead. Her only tie to that life was Luke.

Luke is Jocelyn's childhood friend. He has lived in exile from the shadowhunters for many years, since becoming a werefolf, and Clary grew up with him playing something of a father figure.

Sebastian poses as a normal shadowhunter boy but is really Valentine's son, and spy. The real Sebastian is killed.

Valentine Morgenstern is the main opponent in the books. He turns up alive, having faked his death some years before and tries to steal the Mortal Cup from Jocelyn with the plan to cleanse the world of downworlders.