History Literature / TheMortalInstruments

* NayTheist: Jace in particular, but the Clave as a whole is extremely agnostic considering that they are a group of enhanced humans whose gifts were very explicitly granted to them by an archangel. While they show a notable interest in angelology, and can name more angels than most people who are not professional theologians, they tend to steer clear of discussions about {{God}}. The Nephilim have no churches, synagogues, mosques, etc in Idris, and when seeking consecrated ground for their Institutes they are prone to using sites that were formerly mundane locations of worship. They also rely heavily on holy water, but do not produce it themselves, instead getting it from various mundane religions.

There is also a television series entitled ''Series/{{Shadowhunters}}''. The first episode was aired in Jaunary, 2016.

%% * EvilPlan: Driving the plot in every book. In the first three it is Valentine's. In the fourth it is [[spoiler: Lilith's]] and the fifth and sixth center on [[spoiler: Sebastian's ]]

** At the end of ''City Of Glass'', Clary decides to [[spoiler:wish Jace back to life. Which is great except she seems to have forgotten about all the other shadowhunters that died.]] Real considerate there, Clary. Though considering what happens [[spoiler: it causes Jonathan to come back to life and create an anti-nephilium group]], this might have been such a bad thing.

* InvisibleToNormals: Shadowhunters, demons, and Downworlders are all invisible to normal people, or 'mundanes', until they've been bitten by a werewolf, forced to focus, or turned into a vampire

** Clary Fray from is often almost insanely self-absorbed. Even though she is unconcerned about things like popularity, she can be rather spectacularly heedless of other people's feelings, tends to jump into dangerous situations without thinking about it and will do whatever she wants even if it literally results in endangering the entire world. Luke calls her out on it one time, [[spoiler:when she tries to blindly Portal to Idris]] and she is shocked because he has never chastised her before.

%% * EvilPlan: Driving the plot in every book. In the first three it is Valentine's. In the fourth it is [[spoiler: Lilith's]] and the fifth and sixth center on [[spoiler: Sebastian's]].
%% * {{Expy}}: Most of the characters are expies of Literature/HarryPotter characters [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation as]] [[DivergentCharacterEvolution inter]][[{{Jossed}} preted]] by Creator/CassandraClare's old fanfic The Fanfic/DracoTrilogy:
%% ** Clary Fray is Ginny Weasley.
%% ** Jace Wayland is Draco Malfoy.
%% ** Simon Lewis is a CompositeCharacter of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Seamus Finnigan.\\
%% \\
%% In universe he starts to take on many aspects of the biblical Caine thanks to Clary inscribing His mark onto him.
%% ** Isabelle Lightwood is Blaise Zabini.
%% ** Alec Lightwood is Harry Potter.
%% ** Valentine Morgenstern is a CompositeCharacter of Lord Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy.
%% ** Luke Garroway is Sirius Black.
%% ** Jocelyn Fray is Narcissa Malfoy.
%% ** Hodge Starkweather is Peter Pettigrew.
%% ** Sebastian is [[spoiler:Tom Riddle]].

* FourLinesAllWaiting: The series devolves into this in the later books, due to the introduction of numerous point of view characters with each their own subplot, and most of them showing up in every chapter. Something as simple as driving out of town to get a healing salve takes up a fourth of a book even though no obstacle presents itself.

** At the end of ''City Of Glass'', Clary decides to [[spoiler:wish Jace back to life. Which is great except she seems to have forgotten about all the other shadowhunters that died.]] Real considerate there, Clary. Though considering what happens [[spoiler: it causes Jonathan to come back to life and create an anti-nephilium group]], this might not be a bad thing.\\
\\
She usually grabs the IdiotBall and runs with it whenever Jace is involved, [[spoiler:like when possessed!Jace is able to trick her into mind-control just by batting his eyelashes at her and playing on her hormones]].

* InvisibleToNormals: Shadowhunters, demons, and Downworlders are all invisible to normal people, or 'mundanes', until they've been bitten by a werewolf, forced to focus, or otherwise pulled in.
%% * ItsAllAboutMe: So pervasive that listing all the characters this trope applies to would be natter.

** [[invoked]] Jace and Simon are devoted to Clary, despite her being a DamselScrappy. Simon in particular [[IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy hangs in there]] even after it is absolutely clear that Clary wants to be with Jace and he himself begins to date other (supernatural) girls.

* NarrativeProfanityFilter: The series uses this. Examples include, in ''City of Bone'', Alec said something that sounded like 'ducking glass mole' and in ''City of Ashes'', has Jace suggested that the whole cast of Gilligan's Island could do something anatomically possible to themselves.

* NotGoodWithRejection: Really, it gets to the point where should-be TrueCompanions are abandoning each other to vampires and demons for slights like "I can't believe you like her/him more than me!" and "It wasn't my fault!" Kind of sends the underlying message that this is all teens are capable of.

* PurpleProse: Clare's writing is on the borderline of this. She seems to be [[TropesAreTools completely aware of this]], and occasionally uses it for comic effect or to [[GoshDarnitToHeck skirt around curse words]]. Prime example:

* TokenMinority: Simon is [[NiceJewishBoy Jewish]] ([[spoiler:this is especially hard for him once he becomes a vampire]]), Maia is [[ButNotTooBlack biracial]], and Magnus is part Asian.

* TwoPartTrilogy: ''City of Fallen Angels'' was originally supposed to be a one-shot [[ComicBookAdaptation Graphic Novel]] follow-up to the original trilogy, until Creator/CassandraClare decided to make it the start of a second trilogy. It shows.

* BrattyTeenageDaughter

* BrattyTeenageDaughter:
** Clary Fray from is often almost insanely self-absorbed. Even though she is unconcerned about things like popularity, she can be rather spectacularly heedless of other people's feelings, tends to jump into dangerous situations without thinking about it and will do whatever she wants even if it literally results in endangering the entire world. Luke calls her out on it one time, [[spoiler:when she tries to blindly Portal to Idris]] and she is shocked because he has never chastised her before.

* DieOrFly:
** Drinking from the Mortal Cup and undergoing Ascension will turn a mundane into a Nephilim -- ''if'' they don't die from it. The risk of this goes up the older the mundane is.
** Inverted with vampires. It is a case of Die ''and'' Fly. Basically vampirism is a demonic disease transmitted via bite. The disease is technically fatal, inasmuch as vampires are undead. But hey...flight!

* SuperEmpowering: Several means exist.
** Ascension, drinking the blood of Raziel from the Mortal Cup can transform mundane humans into Nephilim. It is a case of DieOrFly though, as not everyone survives the process, and it apparently is riskier the older the mundane is.

* CastingGag: In the film, all of the Shadowhunters have British accents. Clary who is the daughter of one is played by Creator/LilyCollins who is also the daughter [[Music/PhilCollins a Brit]].

* FollowTheLeader: The film was green-lit as an attempt to fill the void of "teen paranormal romance" films left behind once the last ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' film was released.

A television series entitled ''Series/{{Shadowhunters}}'' has [[http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/constantin-to-produce-tv-series-based-on-resident-evil-mortal-instrument-franchises-1201328293/ been announced for development]].

** In ''City of Glass'', Max is also seen reading Angel Sanctuary, a manga about a reincarnated angel who is in a romantic relationship with his sister. It has a case of Does This Remind You of Anything as well as bringing to question why a nine year old with fairly strict parents would be reading it. But then again, his parents have quite a lot of marital issues. So his reading choices likely passed largely unnoticed. Besides, they probably thought that that something called AngelSanctuary would be clean and proper.

* DemonLordsAndArchDevils: [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]], Azazel, Samael, Asmodeus, {{Lilith}} and many others. At least some are [[FallenAngel fallen angels]]. Asmodeus in particular is one of the nine most powerful, and subordinate only to [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]].

* JesusTaboo: Judeo-Christian theology is frequently referenced as background. {{God}}, ArchangelMichael, ArchangelGabriel and other CelestialParagonsAndArchangels are explicitly stated as being real characters. The same goes for {{Satan}}, {{Lilith}} and various DemonLordsAndArchdevils. Jesus, however, is mentioned only once, and in jest.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Happens in various places.

** Witchlight stones will only illuminate in the hands of those who have angelic blood, and are thus typically only used by Shadowhunters. However, [[spoiler: when Alec drops his, Magnus picks it up and it proceeds to glow, albeit in changing colors rather than pure white. Magnus's father, Asmodeus, is not one of the demons spawned by Lilith, he is a FallenAngel, one of the ones that originally rebelled against {{God}}]].

* In ''City of Bones'', Simon makes a joke about Jewish Vampires. [[spoiler:That's exactly what he ends up becoming in ''City of Ashes'']].
* Witchlight stones will only illuminate in the hands of those who have angelic blood, and are thus typically only used by Shadowhunters. However, [[spoiler: when Alec drops his, Magnus picks it up and it proceeds to glow, albeit in changing colors rather than pure white. Magnus's father, Asmodeus, is not one of the demons spawned by Lilith, he is a FallenAngel, one of the ones that originally rebelled against {{God}}]].

* AppliedPhlebotinum: The runes, though there is some stuff that they can't do.

* BeleagueredAssistant: It could be argued that Alec and Isabelle are this for Jace. While he ''is'' a very talented DemonSlayer, he is also extremely reckless and very frequently ends up as a DistressedDude. Early on it is noted that Alec has never killed a demon, despite being the oldest of their PowerTrio, mostly because his attention is focused on keeping Jace (and to a lesser extent Isabelle) from serious harm. This trope spreads, almost like a disease, when Clary enters the picture, giving her her own set (mostly Simon and Luke, although Isabelle and the others also take turns). Magnus eventually starts feeling like this for the entire group, since [[AWizardDidIt his magic]] is needed by just about everyone.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In ''City of Bones'', Simon makes a joke about Jewish Vampires. [[spoiler:That's exactly what he ends up becoming in ''City of Ashes'']].

* BreakoutCharacter: Magnus Bane, who also appears in the prequel series and gets a series of short stories that are told from his perspective.

%%Zero Content Examples are not allowed on wiki pages and have been commented out. Please add sufficient context before uncommenting.

* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** In ''City of Bones'', Simon makes a joke about Jewish Vampires. [[spoiler:That's exactly what he ends up becoming]].
** [[spoiler:The Lightwoods have a history of marital troubles. Isabelle is noted as wishing she had her parents' blue eyes instead of her own dark ones. Blue eyes are a recessive genetic trait, it's unlikely for two blue-eyed parents to have a child that's not blue-eyed]].
*** [[spoiler:However, [[WordOfGod the author herself]] has [[http://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/post/116126100304/about-isabelles-eye-color confirmed that Isabelle is Robert and Maryse Lightwood's daughter and Alec and Max's sister.]]]]

** [[spoiler:The Lightwoods have a history of marital troubles. Isabelle is noted as wishing she had her parents' blue eyes instead of her own dark ones. Blue eyes are a recessive genetic trait, it's impossible for two blue-eyed parents to have a child that's not blue-eyed]].

** [[spoiler: Amatis Herondale in ''City of Lost Souls'', after Sebastian captures her and forces her to drink from the Infernal Cup, turning her into a Dark Shadowhunter]].
%% ** [[spoiler:Jace in ''City of Fallen Angels'', courtesy of Lilith.]]