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When young Clarissa ("Clary") Fray sees three teenagers seemingly commit murder in a nightclub, she is immediately intrigued by them and their strange mannerisms - such as their talk about demons and Downworlders. She later shrugs it off, preferring to live life normally with her [[Overprotective Dad|overprotective mother]] Jocelyn and her [[Geek]] best friend Simon.
That is, until Clary meets Jace again, and she goes home to discover that her apartment's been trashed and her mother's gone missing.
When she unknowingly kills the demon that trashed her apartment, Jace brings Clary back to the Institute and she meets the other two teenagers at the nightclub - Isabelle and Alec Lightwood, both beautiful and dangerous. Their tutor Hodge Starkweather explains their world to her - that yes, mythical creatures such as vampires and werewolves do exist, known to them as Downworlders, and that Shadowhunters are a special "breed" of people that act like supernatural detectives, making sure that the [[Muggles]] of the world are safe and never find out about the demons that inhabit several dimensions.
But things aren't over for Clary just yet. There's a war on the horizon - the Shadowhunters against massive demon forces conjured by the [[Big Bad]] of the series, Valentine {{spoiler|who just happens to be her father.}} But other than that, Clary's personal life is not without its own drama - how will she cure her mother? What about her relationship with Simon, which is slowly getting more and more complicated? And what is she to do about the beautiful and elusive Jace, who seems ''very'' attracted to her?
This (former) urban fantasy trilogy by [[Cassandra Clare]] (otherwise known as [[The Draco Trilogy|Cassandra]] [[The Very Secret Diaries
A [[Film of the Book|film version]],
{{tropelist}}
* [[Adults Are Useless]] - Every single higher-up is at a Clave meeting. ''All of them.'' While Jace's group of inexperienced youths are pursuing the Mortal Instruments, the maniacal Valentine, and attempting to stop [[The End of the World
▲* [[Adults Are Useless]] - Every single higher-up is at a Clave meeting. ''All of them.'' While Jace's group of inexperienced youths are pursuing the Mortal Instruments, the maniacal Valentine, and attempting to stop [[The End of the World As We Know It]]. Anyone who isn't is either insane with power, revenge, or a spy.
* [[The Ageless]]: Warlocks and vampires do not age after reaching maturity.
* [[All Myths Are True]] - Lampshaded explicitly several times.
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* [[Animorphism]] - Simon is turned into a rat in the first book, and Magnus can turn into a cat
* [[Anguished Declaration of Love]] - Clary gets one from Simon and another from Jace, while {{spoiler|Jocelyn gets one from Luke in the third book}}. Magnus's is more of an Irritated Declaration Of Love, when {{spoiler|Alec demands to know why he hasn't called him back}}, resulting in this exchange:
{{quote|
{{spoiler|Alec}}: Is ''that'' why you didn't call me? Because I'm an idiot?
Magnus: No. I didn't call you because I'm tired of you only wanting me around when you need something. [[All Love Is Unrequited|I'm tired of watching you be in love with someone else]]- someone, incidentally, [[Incompatible Orientation|who will never love you back]]. Not the way I do.
{{spoiler|Alec}}: You ''love'' me?
Magnus: You stupid {{spoiler|Nephilim}}. Why else am I here? Why else would I have spent the past few weeks patching up all your moronic friends everytime they got hurt? And getting you out of every ridiculous situation you found yourself in? Not to mention helping you win a battle against Valentine. And all completely free of charge!
{{spoiler|Alec}}: I hadn't looked at it that way.
Magnus: Of course not. You never looked at it in any way. I'm seven hundred years old, {{spoiler|Alexander}}. I know when something isn't going to work. You won't even admit I exist to your parents. }}
* [[Applied Phlebotinum]]: The runes.
* [[As Long
* [[Author Avatar]] - It's probably not a coincidence that the heroine is named Clary while the author's name is Cassandra ''Clare'', which would [[Brother-Sister Incest|result in some interesting implications if Cassandra Clare has a brother]].
* [[Battle Couple]] - {{spoiler|When Alec and Magnus go into the final battle as partners}}
** Also Luke and {{spoiler|Clary's Mother}}.
** Also Maryse and Robert Lightwood, though not explicitly given screen time as such.
* [[The Beautiful Elite]]: All the Nephilim are somehow good-looking (with the possible exception of Hodge and {{spoiler|The REAL Sebastian Verlac}}). The vampires, too.
* [[Beta Couple]] - Alec and Magnus; Luke and {{spoiler|Jocelyn}}. {{spoiler|Simon and Isabelle}} at the end of thr third book and during the fourth.
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* [[Foot Focus]]
* [[Fur Against Fang]]: The vampires and werewolves do not get on well; this is because the two demon species which originally infected humans, giving rise to the vampires and werewolves, were rivaling species who hated one another.
* [[A Good Name for
* [[Idiot Ball]] - 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.
** Arguably, Simon's little incident with the vampires in City of Ashes counts.
* [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]]: All of the books in the series are called "City of X". The titular ''City of Bones'' is the Silent City, while the titular ''City of Glass'' is Alicante.
* [[Infant Immortality]] - Horribly. Brutally. Subverted.
* [[Interspecies Romance]]: Isabelle with Meliorn, a fairy knight. Part of [[Dating What Daddy Hates]].
** Also, Alec and Magnus, one being a warlock and the other a shadowhunter
* [[Invisible to Normals]] - Idris and the rest of the Shadow world.
* [[Lie Back and Think of England]] -Jace tells Clary to do this before they kiss in front the fairy court. More like "Close your eyes and think of England."
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** Though ''City of Glass'' reveals that {{spoiler|Jace's father was actually Stephen Herondale. Valentine adopted him after his mother died, but [[Secret Other Family|he kept him a secret from the ''real'' Jonathan, and vice versa.]]}} Cue the relieved sighs of shippers.
* [[MacGuffin]] - The titular Mortal Instruments: A cup, a sword, and a mirror
* [[Masquerade]]
* [[Mind Rape]] - {{spoiler|Lilith to Jace in Book 4}}
* [[Moment Killer]] - Every time Jacy and Clary seem to be about to exchange a moment that could turn into a [[Relationship Upgrade]] it is inevitably interrupted.
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* [[Mundane Utility]] - Jace to Magnus: "Nearly unlimited supernatural power, and all you do is use it to watch reruns. What a waste."
* [[Noodle Incident]] - How exactly did Magnus get himself banned from Peru? <ref>According to [[Word of God]], it has something to do with a [[Inherently Funny Words|llama.]]</ref>
* [[Not Listening to Me, Are You?]] - In the first book. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Simon does this to Clary]], who's looking at a good-looking mystery man
* [[Official Couple]] - Jace and Clary
* [[Old Shame]] - You know, it might be easier for Cassandra Clare to erase all memories of that NC-17 [[Harry Potter|Ron/Ginny]] [[Brother-Sister Incest|Incest Fic]] if she didn't go and give her published series the exact same name.
** And boy, does it ever show on the Amazon reviews.
** It would likewise have been easier for her to ditch the whole plagiarism debacle attached to the Draco Trilogy if she'd either used her real name or else gone with a different pseudonym. She's one of the few writers who had a pre-built [[Hatedom]] and [[Fan Wank]] before she even got published.
** But she also had a built-in fandom and she got her book deal because of her fandom fame, so it's a bit of a double-edged sword. The fact that so many characters are [[Expy|Expys]] from her best-known work, not to mention the copy/paste of scenes from the same into this series, would make it a little hard for her to get away with pretending to be someone else anyway.
* [[Only in It For
* [[Operation: Jealousy]] - Simon hangs around Isabelle to make Clary jealous when it seems like she's not interested in him.
* [[Our Angels Are Different]] - In many ways.
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* [[Shape Shifter]] - Eidolon demons, Magnus
* [[Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?]]
* [[Shout-Out]]:
** Val and Luis from Holly Black's [[Modern Faerie Tales
** A badge on Clary's bag says 'Still Not King', a reference to Clare's famous ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' fanfic ''[[
*** A "Still Not King" pin is also seen in Ruth's bag in ''Valiant'' in a reverse shout-out (shout-back?)
*** The "Still Not King" badge could also be a [[Shout-Out]] to Roy Mustang of [[Fullmetal Alchemist]].
** Best of all, two extra characters have a debate on which fictional gay wizard would win in a fair fight, [[Harry Potter|Dumbledore]], or Magnus.
** A reference to ''[[Hellsing]]'' is made when Clary thinks about how a church looks like "one of her favorite anime scenes involving a vampire priest".
** Max is frequently seen reading ''[[Naruto]]''.
** Happens often with animanga, given that Simon is characterized as a typical [[Geek]]. At one point Clary asks him if he wants to spend the evening with her watching ''[[Trigun]]''.
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* [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]: In the third book, Valentine avoids this by using a magic rune to keep a character quiet ''so he can monologue without interruption''. The character eventually gives a rebuttal by writing in the dirt.
* [[Similarly Named Works]] (The third in the trilogy is presumably not related to [[Paul Auster]] 's classicly surreal postmodern detective novel.)
* [[
* [[Suetiful All Along]] - Clary is convinced that she is not attractive, despite repeated assurances that she is attractive and looks like her mother, someone Clary does view as attractive.
** Well, she says she considers herself "cute" rather than beautiful, like her mother. And the only person who has called her beautiful was Jace.
* [[Summoning Artifact]]: The mortal instruments.
* [[Summoning Ritual]]: The [[Summoning Artifact|titular Mortal Instruments]] are required to summon the angel Raziel, a ritual that can only be done once every millennium. Once they have all three, Raziel will come to them and will grant any single wish the summoner wants.
* [[Token Minority]]: Simon is [[Nice Jewish Boy|Jewish]], Maia is biracial, and Magnus is part Asian.
* [[Too Dumb to Live]] – Simon. YMMV. Though, breaking into a hotel of murderous vampires that have expressed that they wouldn't mind having an excuse to turn you into hamburger meat isn't such a good idea. Especially if you go alone. And do it at night.
** Sure the {{spoiler|vampire blood was summoning him back to Raphael and he would have given in and sought them out sooner or later}} but if he had only asked Luke, he would have known to wait a few more days {{spoiler|and the blood would have gone out of his system as well as the compulsion it had on him to return to Raphael}}.
* [[Trilogy Creep]]: First, there was the original trilogy (''City of Bones'', ''City of Ashes'', and ''City of Glass''). Then, it was announced that Clare was writing a steampunk prequel trilogy set in Victorian London (''The Clockwork Angel'', ''The Clockwork Prince'', and ''The Clockwork Princess''). Then, a fourth book centered around the Simon character of the first trilogy was revealed to be in the works (''City of Fallen Angels''). Then Clare decided to add two more books to the Mortal Instruments story (''City of Lost Souls'' and ''City of Heavenly Fire'') while also stating that this new trilogy of MI books would no longer focus solely on Simon but rather on the entire cast. This series of somewhat obscure YA fantasy books literally tripled in size.
* [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]] – Simon is this for a time when it seems like Clary and Jace are a thing {{spoiler|until they find out they're siblings}} and then becomes a sort of example of a [[Victorious Childhood Friend]] for a while and then he trips over an [[Idiot Ball]]... it doesn't work out and they go back to being [[Just Friends]].
** Luke is an example as well, for Jocelyn {{spoiler|since, she was, you know, married to Valentine, but now they're set to be married.}}
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* [[What the Hell, Hero?]] - Jace's treatment towards Clary {{spoiler|when they're not snogging}}.
** Luke also calls Clary out (with good reason) at the beginning of the third book.
* [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?]]: Idris.
* [[Who You Gonna Call?]] - Shadowhunters
* [[Will They or Won't They?]] - Jace and Clary, to ridiculous levels. Nothing much ever seems to happen until they figure out {{spoiler|they aren't related.}}
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* [[Wolf Man]] - {{spoiler|Luke}}, Maia and her pack.
* [[World of Snark]]
* [[Wouldn't Hurt a Child]]: Subverted by Sebastian.
* [[Writers Cop Out]]: Even though the {{spoiler|Not Blood Sibling}} reveal is foreshadowed, anytime Jace and Clary are about to have a [[Almost Kiss|romantic moment]] before they know this, it is suspiciously ''always'' [[Moment Killer|interrupted.]]
* [[You Keep Using That Word]]: ''Surreptitiously.''
* [[You Killed My Father]]: Jace to Valentine {{spoiler|which is of course followed by a (false) [[Luke, I Am Your Father]]}}.
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[[Category:Young Adult Literature]]
[[Category:Mortal Instruments]]
[[Category:Supernatural Fiction]]
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