In this article, we will examine the runes of the Shadowhunters and their significance, Cassandra Claire detailed this topic in her books. The famous writer claims that the symbols of Raziel are a complex runic language that gives strength in the fight against demons. They are the most common weapon of its heroes.
Who are the Twilight Hunters? This is the Nephilim race, which appeared several thousand years ago. In those days, the angel Raziel shared his blood with a mortal man and handed him the Gray Book with runes and the Mortal Instruments. No one has been able to create new characters so far.
Signs
What are runes? These are marks that give creatures supernatural powers. They consist of well-known angelic and demonic runes that give Twilight hunters a hundred times more power than primitive ones. Marks are burned on the skin of warriors with the help of steles and are often used by them in the fight against demons.
Chronicle
So, the first generation of heroes of the books of Cassandra Claire received from the angel Raziel an instrument for fighting the demons whom they were entrusted with to destroy. Each rune is found both in the Covenant book and in the Gray Book, which is a special edition. A copy of this collection is very difficult to find, since it needs to be specially made due to the fact that the steles created from the holy metal of Adamas burn plain paper.
Cain's mark was the very first recorded character. She protected him from harm: any evil directed against the master returned to the offender in seven times.
In 2007, Sebastian Morgenstern, with the help of the Cup of Hell, turned the Shadowhunters into the Dark, thanks to which the angelic runes disappeared from their skin. Thus, the Dark Twilight hunters after the conversion were able to inflict only demonic symbols on themselves.
Information
The runes of the Shadowhunters and their significance are sought by those who are interested in the fate of the Nefelim race. It is known that some characters inflict a minor stinging pain on the wearer, but most tags are completely harmless. Nevertheless, Mark Blackthorn, who is fifty percent fairies and has the blood of a Lower World creature, was inflicted with unbearable pain.
The Twilight Hunter gets his first mark at the age of ten, when he begins to officially train. This is usually the rune of Focus. In special cases, it can be replaced by another symbol. So, once it was decided that the sick Adele Starkweather provide first the rune of Strength. The first rune on the heroes of the books of Cassandra Claire, as a rule, is applied at a solemn meeting held by the Silent Brothers.
Application
What are the runes for? Twilight hunters gave them various effects and abilities, inflicting them on their own bodies or on physical objects. Many of these signs were applied to the weapons of the heroes of books so that the demons could not recover from wounds received in battle. Sometimes runes were used to lock and unlock doors, ignite various objects and other actions.
The Nefelim are exceptional creatures that can use Angel tags. When runes are applied to ordinary people, they burn the skin. The powerful symbols of the common man drive them crazy and turn them into the Renounced, and in werewolves they cause a demonic disease that develops into lycanthropy, and then the effectiveness of the label disappears.
Other creatures marked with the Lower World are also not able to use the runes, as they can die. The only exception is the rune of the Alliance: it was specially created for use by the Nefelim and the creatures of the Lower World. Magnus Bane said that symbols can only be applied to hunters, because they are half angels.
Law violation
What else are the runes famous for? Twilight hunters claim to be an integral part of personality. If someone leaves the Nefelim community of their own free will, they remove the marks from him - this is a very painful process. Characters are also deprived of those who are expelled due to violation of the law. Thus, Twilight hunters turn into primitive. There were times when the Clave insisted on turning the exiles through torture and punishment, although this was prohibited by law.
Twilight hunters sometimes use labels that are only symbolic. The Rune of Love, for example, serves as a simple sign for two people and cannot start a real feeling, and the Rune of Sorrow only reduces the feeling of loss of the master, displays mourning and honors the dead.
Typically, labels are displayed in their entirety, but there are characters that can be partially drawn initially. When the carrier wishes to activate the sign, then he completes it completely.
Efficiency
So, we continue to study the runes. Twilight hunters have an innate talent for symbol magic, which is associated with the power and effectiveness of these extraordinary marks. The more accurately the sign is drawn, the more effective it is.
The power of the runes is affected by their arrangement: the closer the drawing is located to the heart, the more powerful it is. Separate tags are placed on the arms and legs. By the way, the more power was used in the process of applying runes, the longer they will last.
When Twilight hunters become bosom friends, they may be called a parabatai. In fact, they turn into brothers and even more. If the mark is applied by someone's parabatai, it is of tremendous power. There are also runes that can only be used by parabatai - with their help they draw strength doubled from each other.
It is known that Clary Frey is able to apply marks, which are much more powerful than the characters used by Shadowhunters. She has additional angelic blood, which gives her the strength necessary to create new runes, although this ability takes away a lot of energy from her.
Duration
When do runes disappear? Twilight hunters paint them in different colors: red, blue, silver and gold. Fresh characters are black. Many of them are short-term and therefore disappear after a certain period of time. They always leave behind a cloudy silver or white scar that has the outline of a symbol. To feel the effect again, the rune must be applied again.
Interpretation of runes is quite an interesting activity. Thus, the signs of Focus, Mnemosyne, as well as those intended for mourning, marriage, and parabatai rituals are permanent. They never disappear and are always effective for their owner.
Marriage marks are unchanged, but can be very painfully divided into two parts. The same thing happens with the parabatai runes: they disappear when the connection is broken (something much more serious than the end of the marriage). This happens, for example, when someone becomes a Silent Brother or Iron Sister. The runes of the marriage dissolve when the marriage is annulled.
Counteraction
What other properties do the Shadowhunter runes possess? The gray book contains many labels that, thanks to the instinct of the owners, take root on the body. Some hunters resist marks, others experience slight pain. It is known that for individuals the first characters could be completely rejected, which plunged them into madness or caused shock, unbearable pain, agony. The owner fell ill with such a strong fever that his life could be saved only by erasing or cutting the rune.
Those who could not bear the tags were forced to live their lives as primitive after their removal. The fever could last an indefinite amount of time (week, month, perhaps eternity). Of course, the Shadowhunter could die, but if he survived, then his body no longer resisted the runes.
Knowledge
The only runes allowed are only those that are in the Gray Book. Demonic runes, often used in summons and accessible to sorcerers, are prohibited by law and cannot be used by Shadowhunters. Also, angel blood negatively affects them.
There are other runes of the messengers of God, which, apparently, appeared in time immemorial and were not given to the Nephilim. The most famous of these are the Cain label and the First label.
Only frequently used signs are indicated by their real name, while the rest have unofficial names. Their real names are written in the language of Heaven and serve as exceptional words from the language that people are allowed to know.
There are also some very powerful runes available only to the Iron Sisters and the Silent Brothers. They are hidden in the secluded corners of the Gray Book and give the owners another magic with which they can perform special actions.
Clary Frey
The main language of labels is incomprehensible to Shadowhunters, so they do not know how to create new characters. But Clary Frey has a talent for recalling ancient runes not recorded in the Gray Book. This talent was endowed with the angelic blood of Ituriel, which her father gave her mother at the moment when she was pregnant with Clary.
The girl is associated with the angel Ituriel, and he gives her the images of those ancient runes that are not in the Gray Book. These characters were known long before the Shadowhunters appeared. Perhaps they are the Heaven runes that arose during the time of the angels. These include the marks of Fearlessness, Resurrection and Alliance, Cain and others. These signs come to Clary in dreams or visions, usually when she calls to them, thinking about something, or spontaneously if necessary.
Raziel
Raziel is an angel in Judaic mythology. It is known from kabbalistic and post-biblical sources. He is called the "angel of mystery" or "guardian of secrets." It is compared with the Sefira of Hochma in the Olambria, one of the worlds of the Kabbalistic spiritual world order. Sometimes it is called Akrasiel ("herald of God") or Galizur ("unlocking the rock").
Gray book
What is the Gray Book? This is a volume containing an exact copy of the book of Covenant, in which the angel Raziel inscribed the runes permitted for use by the Nephelim. It was previously known as the book of Gramarai.
To make this collection, special paper is used that can withstand the power of the runes. Each institute and Magnus Bane, Brooklyn’s archmage, own their own copy of this masterpiece.
All young Twilight hunters must know the tags by heart. But since the human mind is too fragile, most babies grow by studying one rune for several years. Reading many runes at a time seems to cause the student a headache.
The Dark Twilight Hunters are the Nefelim who drank a mixture of the blood of the Great Demon Lilith and Sebastian Morgenstern from the Cup of Hell. They became stronger and more agile than the Nefelim, but their alliance changed from angelic to demonic. They could no longer use the blades of the messengers of God, who knew how to invoke the name and spirit of the Cherubim, their runes faded on their bodies. Dark Nefelim could use only demonic tags.
Since their lives were connected with the Cup of Hell, its destruction led to the death of every Dark One that she created.