Infernal Devices References in Mortal Instruments & Beyond
Brother Zachariah in Mortal Instruments:
- “Would that I had been here, he said, his voice unexpectedly gentle, when you were growing up. I would have seen the truth in your face, Jace Lightwood, and known who you were.” (Brother Zachariah, CoFA)
(this is actually one of my favorite ones because it shows how Jace must resemble Will or the Herondales or something)
- ”He didn’t look like Brother Jeremiah had, with his hollow eyes and stitched mouth. Brother Zachariah’s eyes were closed, his cheekbones each marked with the scar of a single rune. But his mouth wasn’t stitched shut either. It was hard to tell, with the hood up, whether she was seeing shadows or dark hair” (CoFA Ch.6)
- “We cannot and should not harm the boy. Old tie exist between the Herondales and the Brothers. We owe him help.” (CoFA Ch.13)
- “Zachariah’s fingers were slim, unlined – a young man’s fingers.”(CoFA Ch.13)
- “Not possession. Influence. I suspect that a powerful demonic power whispers into your ears, Jonathan Herondale. You are strong, you fight it, but it wears you down as the sea wears down the sand." (Brother Z, CoFA)
- Magnus thinks this in CoFA, clearly referencing the characters of Infernal Devices:
“She smiled. Her skin looked whiter than he recalled, and dark spidery veins were beginning to show beneath its surface. Her hair was still the color of spun silver and her eyes were still green as a cat’s. She was still beautiful. Looking at her, he was in London again. He saw the gaslight and smelled the smoke and dirt and horses, the metallic tang of fog, the flowers in Kew Gardens. He saw a boy with black hair and blue eyes like Alec’s, heard violin music like the sound of silver water. He saw a girl with long brown hair and a serious face. In a world where everything went away from him eventually, she was one of the few remaining constants.
And then there was Camille.”
― Cassandra Clare, City of Fallen Angels
- "I will say nothing to the Clave or Council of anything that transpires tonight. If the chance comes before me to save the last of the Herondale bloodline, I consider that of higher importance than the fealty I render the Clave." (Brother Zachariah, CoLS) (one of my personal favorites)
- We have his lovely conversation with Maryse when Jace is missing:
Brother Zachariah: "I was once a Shadowhunter like you. I lived like you do. And like you, there were those I loved enough to put their welfare before anything else-any oath, any debt.”
Maryse: “Did you….” Maryse hesitated. “Did you ever have children?”
Brother Zachariah: “No. No Children.”
Brother Zachariah: “Do not be. And try not to fear for Jace devour you. He is a Herondale, and they are survivors.” (pg. 278-279 CoLS)
*Maryse gets annoyed after this and tells Brother Zachariah to stop calling Jace a Herondale because he is a Lightwood, Brother Z responds by saying that he didn’t mean to imply otherwise*
- “Brother Enoch? He is senior to me, but I thought perhaps that your call might have something to do with the disappearance of your adoptive son. I have a particular interest in his well-being." (Brother Z explaining to Maryse why he responded to her call instead on Enoch, CoLS)
- “Being a Silent Brother is life, Clary Fray. But if you mean I remember my life before the Brotherhood, I do.
Clary took a deep breath. “Were you ever in love? Before the Brotherhood? Was there ever anyone you would have died for?”
There was a long silence. Then:
Two people, said Brother Zachariah. There are memories that time does not erase, Clarissa. Ask your friend Magnus Bane, if you do not believe me. Forever does not make loss forgettable, only bearable.” (Brother Z, CoLS)
- and here is an extention of the previous quote:
- “I know about parabatai,” said Magnus, an angry, dark undercurrent to his voice. “I’ve known parabatai so close they were almost the same person; do you know what happens, when one of them dies, to the one that’s left —?” (Magnus Bane, City of Lost Souls.)
- "He still loves you. You are the central point about which his world spins. That has not changed." (Brother Z talking to Clary about Jace’s possessed state in CoLS)
- "…The Silent Brothers were called in, Brother Zachariah said he didn’t know how temporary it would be. And I burned him—he was touching my hand…A minor burn” (Clare 525)
- He is there at the end of CoLS with the angel wings incident with Maryse. Brother Zachariah is the one who reads the note from Sebastian.
- “‘Okayyyyy,’ Isabelle said in a low voice, 'When did Brother Zachariah get hot?’” (CoHF snippet)
- “A parabatai. Like he was. And Jace knew, too, what that faded rune meant: a parabatai whose other half was dead. He felt his sympathy leap toward Brother Zachariah, as he imagined himself without Alec, with only that faded rune to remind him where once he had been bonded to someone who knew all the best and worst parts of his soul.” (CoHF snippet) (yeah, I know, this one is particularly soul crushing).
- “Did brother Zachariah just steal our cat?” (CoHF snippet)
-And of course we have this lovely little art snippet from City of Heavenly Fire (there is more to the scene, I only posted one part for space reasons):
And here’s more art by Cassandra Jean. I’m not sure if it will be in CoHF, but a lot of what she draws is based on what Cassie tells her. I like to think that Jem is seeming Will in Jace in this one.
More Brother Zachariah and Tessa:
- Cortana, the sword that Jem’s uncle offers Will in Clockwork Princess, ends up belonging to Emma Carstairs in TDA.
- Emma Carstairs’s father played the violin
- and here is a non Mortal Instruments Brother Zachariah post… This was released not long after Clockwork Princess, and it collectively broke the fandom’s heart.
- This doesn’t have to do with Infernal devices, but it is VERY interesting foreshadowing from Clockwork Angel
“Jem leaned forward and looked at her. The red Marks stood out like fire on his pale skin, making her think of the patterns that traced the edges of the Silent Brothers’ robes” - Clockwork Angel, p.476
- There is an extra at the end of some editions of Clockwork Prince. It takes place in present day from Magnus’s POV. Magnus looks back at a surviving photo of the Infernal Devices gang. It’s a really sweet scene, but something he does point out something quite interesting. He says that Alec has Will’s eyes, but he also comments on how much Jace resembles Will.
The Last Stand of the New York Institute:
- This one was said by Tessa in the Bane Chronicle The Last Stand of the New York Institute. The story was about Jocelyn running away from Valentine with Clary. She shows up at Magnus’s house looking for help, and Tessa happens to be there. When they are talking about the protection ceremonies, for Clary, this is what she says:
“I will help you with the ceremony. I know a Silent Brother who will keep any secret, if I ask him to.”
- “Tessa padded toward them silently and stood by Jocelyn. Even though she wore black leggings and an oversize gray T-shirt that read WILLIAM WANTS A DOLL, she still always carried an air of formality and authority about her. The shirt, as it happened, was a feminist statement that boys liked to play with dolls and girls with trucks, but Magnus suspected she had chosen it partly because of the name. Tessa’s husband had been dead for long enough that his name brought back happy, faded memories instead of the raw agony she had felt for years after his passing. Other warlocks had loved and lost, but few were as hopelessly faithful as Tessa. Decades later she had not allowed anyone else to even come close to winning her heart.” (Magnus’s POV, The Last Stand of the New York Institute)
- “I am Theresa Gray, daughter of a Greater Demon and Elizabeth Gray, who was born Adele Starkweather, one of your kind. I was the wife of William Herondale, who was the head of the London Institute, and I was the mother of James Herondale and Lucie Blackthorn. Will and I raised our Shadowhunter children to protect mundanes, to live by the Laws of Clave and Covenant, and to keep to the Accords.”
Tessa’s Appearance in City of Glass:
- Alec glanced toward the mini-forest, the colored lights reflecting in the blue irises of his eyes. Magnus stood in the shadow of a tree, talking to a girl in a white dress with a cloud of pale brown hair. She turned as Magnus looked toward them, and Clary locked eyes with her for a moment across the distance that separated them. There was something familiar about her, though Clary couldn’t have said what it was. Magnus broke away and came toward them, and the girl he’d been talking to slipped into the shadows of the trees and was gone. (pg. 525 in CoG)
- I would HIGHLY recommend reading this Bane Chronicles installment. It introduces us to the tragic James Herondale while also showing us what Will, Tessa, Brother Z, Tatianna Blackthorn, and Magnus are up to these days. It is from Magnus’s POV.
- “There isn’t any chance that you are rather a nice fellow who believes he is cursed and must make himself seem unlovable to spare those around him from a terrible fate? Because I have heard that happens sometimes.” (Magnus to James)
- “DUCKS, EMBRACE ME AS YOUR KING!” (James Herondale)
- “We are but dust and shadows, as the saying goes,” said James. “Of course, the saying does not add, ‘Some of us also turn into shadows occasionally, when the mood takes us” (James Herondale)
- Magnus finds James and returns him home:
Magnus: I caught up with him, he had wandered into Hyde Park, waded into the Serpentine, spread his arms wide, and was shouting, “Ducks, embrace me as your king!”
Will: Dear God, He must have been vilely drunk. Tessa, I can bear it no longer. He is taking awful risks with his life and rejecting all the principles I hold most dear.
- Probably my favorite part:
James Herondale: Hello, Uncle Brother Zacheriah, I would say I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m sure this is the most excitement you’ve had all year. Not that lively in the City of Bones, now is it?
Will Herondale: James! Don’t talk to Jem like that.
Jem: As if I am not used to badly behaved Herondales.
- “Call for the Silent Brothers,” Will finished. “You mean call for Jem,” Tessa said, dropping her voice, and she and Will shared a look"
- “Tessa laughed and stifled the laugh against her hand, and Will grinned, looking pleased with himself, as he always had when he’d managed to amuse Tessa.”
- “You’re here,” said Will, and implicit in the words was the sense that Will’s contentment was complete. Now Jem was there, all was right with the world.“
- "He cleared his throat. “Still a Silent Brother, then, is he?” Will gave Magnus a withering look. “It does tend to be a permanent state. Here, give me my son.”
Other Crossovers With Mortal Instruments:
- It is mentioned that Tessa’s clockwork angel is on display in the NY institute’s library
- Isabelle wears the Ruby necklace the Magnus gives Will (and he later gives to Cecily).
-Church, the cat Jem rescues in Clockwork Angel, lives in the NY institute
- Jace has the Herondale family’s star shaped scar
- Camille mentions Will Herondale in CoFA and Alec gets jealous. Camille says that he has the same coloring as Will and implies that Will and Magnus were lovers (even though they weren’t). This eventually leads to a lot of suspicion on Alec’s part, and later, their break up.
-Both Will and Jace hate ducks
- Cassandra Clare basically said that Jace, Will, and James all have the same bone structure
- It seems like Jace may have gotten James Herondale’s eyes
Jace Reads a Tale of Two Cities to Clary in CoLS:
"He scooted back against the pillows, reaching for the stack of books by the bed. “Anything particular you want to hear?” With a flourish he picked up the book on top of the stack. It looked old, leather-bound, the title stamped in gold on the front. A Tale of Two Cities. “Dickens is always promising…”
“I’ve read that before. For school,” Clary recalled. She scooted up on the pillows beside Jace. “But I don’t remember any of it, so I wouldn’t mind hearing it again.”
“Excellent. I’ve been told I have a lovely, melodic reading voice.” He flipped the book open to the front page, where the title was printed in ornate script. Across from it was a long dedication, the ink faded now and barely legible, though Clary could make out the signature: With hope at last, William Herondale.
“Some ancestor of yours,” Clary said, brushing her finger against the page.
“Yes. Odd that Valentine had it. My father must have given it to him.” Jace opened to a random page and began to read:
“He unshaded his face after a little while, and spoke steadily. ‘Don’t be afraid to hear me. Don’t shrink from anything I say. I am like one who died young. All my life might have been.’
“‘No, Mr. Carton. I am sure that the best part of it might still be; I am sure that you might be much, much worthier of yourself.’”
“Oh, I do remember this story now,” Clary said. “Love triangle. She picks the boring guy.”
Jace chuckled softly. “Boring to you. Who can say what got Victorian ladies hot beneath the petticoats?”
“What, about the petticoats?”
“No. That you have a lovely reading voice.” Clary turned her face against his shoulder. It was times like this, more than when he was kissing her, that hurt—times when he could have been her Jace. As long as she kept her eyes closed.”
“All that, and abs of steel,” Jace said, turning another page. “What more could you ask for?” (City of Lost Souls, Cassandra Clare)
- LET ME PICK OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE:
- “He flipped the book open to the front page, where the title was printed in ornate script. Across from it was a long dedication, the ink faded now and barely legible, though Clary could make out the signature: With hope at last, William Herondale.” (CoLS)
- I ACTUALLY TEARED UP AFTER I READ THIS PART. SO. GENIUS.
I’m sure that I’ve missed some, but here are most of the Infernal Devices references in the shadowhunter universe!
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