The Mortal Instruments
Plot Summary, Characters, Movie, Vocab, & about the Author
The Mortal Instruments - City of Bones Summary
Have you ever thought that there was a world concealed in our own, a world that you cannot see? Meet Clarissa Fray, an artistic teen with a temper as fiery as her hair. One night Clary goes to a club called 'Pandemonium', and a brightly blue haired boy catches her attention, making her watch his every move.
The strange partygoer gets pulled into a storage room by a lovely teenage girl in a white dress. Alerting her best friend Simon to alert the bouncer if any trouble happened, much to her curiosity, Clary followed them. She finds that the beautiful girl is with two other boys and watches from the safety of a few boxes as the teens bound the blue haired boy in ropes. Sensing the boy was in danger, Clary steps in front of the blue haired boy. The teens stared at her in confusion, but it didn't stop them from doing their job. They slayed the demon right in front of Clary. Isabelle and Alec warned Jace, not to tell Clar to much. But Jace was stubborn. He explained that they were all shadowhunters.
Simon returns to the storage room with the bouncer, and when she looks back at where Isabelle, Alec, and Jace were standing, they're not there.
Returning home, she witnesses her mother in a peculiar mood. Ms. Fray orders Clary to pack all her things, since they were leaving New York for the countryside for the rest of the Summer. Luke, who has been her dad ever since hers died in war, tries to persuade Clary to come. Infuriated, Clary snatches her satchel and storms out the local café, Java Jones to hang out with Simon.
Clary was still a bit frazzled from last nights encounter, but she knows she's not hallucinating, when she sees one of the shadowhunters she saw at Pandemonium, Jace. Beckoning Clary into an alley, Jace speaks to her, but is interrupted from a phone call from her mother. Ms. Fray is frantic at the other end, warning Clary not to come home in a series of shouts and screams. The there a few thumps, and the line goes dead.
Clary, frozen in shock, drops her phone on the ground, breaking it. She grabs the device in Jace's hand, which looks like a phone, and runs towards her apartment without ever asking Jace for it. Arriving at her apartment, she finds it in ruins. This surely wasn't a flimsy robbery. Despite all the torn up pillows and paintings, everything was there except her mother.
Then, Clary hears slithering in the room next to her. Moving cautiously, she slowly opens the door... and a creature pounces on her! Both wrestle to the ground, and Clary sticks the device she grabbed from Jace into the creatures mouth. She kills the demon and it melts, but not before it bites her back.
Vulnerable and unconscious, Jace finds Clary back at the apartment. He carries her all the way to the Institute, which is hidden with a glamour that makes it look like a junk yard.
When Clary awakes, Jace introduces her to the rest of the shadowhunters in the Institute. There is Isabelle, the beautiful girl in the white dress she saw at 'Pandemonium', Alec, a strong willed boy that looks just like Isabelle, and lastly, Hodge Starkweather, the adult of the Institute. They discuss Valentine, who has is an outcasted shadowhunter, leader of Circle, a group who despised Downlworlders.
When Clary regains her strength, she is desperately worried about her mother. She persuades Jace to come with her back to the apartment. When they both get there, they're attacked again. They run for cover to Madame Dorothea's apartment downstairs.
Jace and Clary find out that she is a witch who has strong ties to the Nephilim. While Clary is poking around, Madame Dorothea shows Jace a tarot card deck.
Clary finds a portal behind one of the many curtains in Madame Dorothea's department, and jumps through it, thinking her mother might be somewhere in there. Jace, giving an exasperated groan, jumps in after her.
They land in a bush, on top of each other. Crawling over the fence that surrounds the building they have portaled to, they land on another bush. At least that's what it looks like; it's Simon! He explains that he's been waiting outside Luke's house ever since Clary disappeared. Clary, Jace, and Simon head back to the Institute. According to Hodge, Simon is the first ever mundane to enter the Institute.
The gang travels to the City of Bones, to consult the Silent Brothers for further information. They find out that Clary has a block in her mind, stopping her from seeing everything Nephilim related. Jace, Isabelle, Simon, Alec, and Clary suit up for
Characters
Clarrissa Fray
The main character of the Mortal Instruments, Clary, (her nickname), is very artistic and has been hidden from everything Nephilim related, and kept in the mundane world by her mother. She regained 'The Sight' the day before she went to the club 'Pandemonium' with Simon.
*Shadowhunter
Jace Wayland
Jace Wayland is a natural born shadowhunter, brought up by the Lightwoods. Little does he know, he's an experiment of Valentine's. He's part angel, and has a big ego. His true love is Clary, and he wouldn't have it any other way, even when he's tricked into believing Clary is his sister.
*Shadowhunter
Simon Lewis
Simon Lewis is Clary's best friend, and has known her since they were five. An ultimate geek in video games, Jace who has seen the real, and Simon who has only seen the screen, don't get along to well.
*Mundane/Vampire
Isabelle Lightwood
Isabelle Lightwood is a fierce, beautiful, and prideful shadowhunter. Her nickname is 'Izzy'. The sister of Alec Lightwood, and the half-sister of Jace, she is very protective of her kin. Her weapon of choice is her golden whip.
*Shadowhunter
Alec Lightwood
Alec Lightwood is strong willed and persistent, though he has never killed a demon in his life, usually because Izzy and Jace have been protecting him since they were brought together. Alec is gay and has had a crush on Jace before, but now his eyes are set upon Magnus Bane, and luckily, he loves Alec back. His choice of weapon is his bow and arrow.
*Shadowhunter
Jocelyn Fairchild
Jocelyn is the mother of Clary, and the wife of Valentine. She is a former member of the 'Circle'. In a desperate pursuit to protect Clary and the Mortal Cup, she hid both in the Mundane world and hid everything Nephilim related from her new life so Valentine could not find Clary and her.
*Shadowhunter
Lucian Graymark
'Luke' has been in love with Jocelyn since they were both in the 'Circle', so he ran away with Jocelyn into the Mundane world. He has acted like a father to Clary to make up for Valentines folly.
*Werewolf
Magnus Bane
Magnus is the high warlock of Brooklyn, and the potential lover of Alec Lightwood. He's there for Clary and her shadowhunter friends whenever they're in a tight spot, mostly because of the memory of Clary as a child, and Alec.
*Warlock
Hodge Starkweather
Hodge was a former member of the 'Circle', and was exiled to the New York Institute for eternity by a curse from the Clave. He betrays Clary and Jace by handing the Mortal Cup to Valentine, and letting him take unconscious Jace, and imprisoning Clary.
*Outcasted Shadowhunter
Judith Remelt
Judith Remelt is the author of the Mortal Instruments series, and is better known by her pen name Cassandra Clare. She was born in Iran to American Parents, and lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with her husband, Joshua Lewis, and their three cats.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cassandraclare
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cassieclare
Website: http://www.cassandraclare.com/
Movie
The first movie ever to be released is based on the first book of the Mortal Instruments series, City of Bones. The actors are:
Lily Collins - Clarissa Fray
Kevin Zegers - Alec Lightwood
Jamie Campbell Brower - Jace Wayland
Lena Headey - Jocelyn Fray
Robert Sheenan - Simon Lewis
Jemima West - Isabelle Lightwood
Jared Harris - Hodge Starkweather
Godfrey Gao - Magnus Bane
Jonathan Rys Meyers - Valentine Morgenstern
Aiden Turner - Lucian Graymark
Kevin Durand - Pangborn
C.C.H Pounder - Madame Dorothea
Stephen R. Hart - Brother Jeremiah
Robert Maillet - Blackwell
Chad Conell - blue haired demon
vocab for shadowhunters
The Clave
The Circle
The Circle was a group made by Valentine well into his high school years. Its purpose was to slay and rid the filth of downworlders.