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Cassandra ClareA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The morning after Jace met Valentine on the demon ship, Maia and Luke wake up at Luke’s place, their injuries mostly healed. As Clary talks to Maia, Maia begins to cry, remembering her poor treatment of Simon. Jace returns with Alec and speaks rudely to Maia, calling her a crybaby. Clary chastises Jace, while Luke wants to know how Jace and Clary managed to fend off the Raum demons.
Clary tells the group an original Mark appeared on her arm and repelled the demons. Everyone is skeptical of her claim. Clary reminds them that the Seelie Queen had said she had the gift of unspoken words, which she thinks refers to runes. Clary thinks she can create runes that are not in the Gray Book. Whatever experiments Valentine performed on her mother when Clary was in Jocelyn’s womb have given Clary special powers. Luke and Magnus ask Clary to draw an original rune.
Clary brings her sketchpad and colors and lets her mind roam as her hand doodles. She finds herself muttering the word “Fearless” (258) and sketches the corresponding rune. To test if the rune works, Jace copies it on Alec’s upper arm with his stele. Just then, Robert Lightwood—Alec, Isabelle, and Max’s father—walks in with Maryse and the Inquisitor. Alec begins to tell the Lightwoods nonchalantly that he is seeing someone—referring to Magnus—but Magnus realizes this is Clary’s fearless rune working and distracts Alec. The Inquisitor charges Magnus with failing the Shadowhunters, since he let Jace meet Valentine last night.
Everyone is stunned at the reveal, and Magnus walks out in anger. The Inquisitor tells the rest of the group she never trusted Jace, which is why she secretly put a tracking rune on the piece of portal mirror Jace carries everywhere. Jace is to return to Idris with the Inquisitor the next morning, where he will be tried for conspiring with Valentine.
When Clary and the Lightwoods try to defend Jace, Jace asks them to stay out of the matter. Alec seemingly supports the Inquisitor, much to Isabelle’s anger. The Inquisitor draws a rune on Jace’s wrists—manacling him with circlets of flames—and leaves Luke’s house with him. The distraught Lightwoods follow her.
After the Lightwoods leave, Maia, who’s been hiding in Luke’s room since Jace spoke rudely to her, decides to exit as well. She leaves Luke a note that she has gone to make amends, and she jumps out of the window. As she runs through the streets, she feels unnaturally panicky.
Near an abandoned factory, she sees her dead brother Daniel materialize from the shadows, taunting her that he will cut her with a glass shard. Maia falls in terror, and Valentine asks Agramon to stop. Daniel disappears and Valentine asks Maia her age. When she tells him she is 15, Valentine is pleased; this means Maia is a child and her werewolf’s blood is available for the ritual. Valentine strikes Maia and takes her away.
Meanwhile, Clary and Luke find Maia’s note. They conclude she may have gone to Simon’s to apologize to him. Clary calls Simon to enquire about Maia. Simon tells her someone is trying to break into his house. Clary hears a loud crash, and Simon grows silent. Valentine speaks into the receiver and tells Clary a Shadowhunter girl like her should not hang out with Downworlders. He hangs up.
The Inquisitor asks Jace to stand in the middle of the training room at the Institute. She pins four seraph blades along the points of the compass around him, and draws a rune in the middle. The rune emits a tinkling sound and the blades shoot light, weaving a Malachi Configuration prison for Jace. When Jace’s shoulder brushes the glowing wall, he gets a sharp, electric shock. The Inquisitor tells Jace that escape from the prison is impossible. She surprises him by revealing that they are not going to Idris at all; she plans to offer Jace to Valentine in return for the Mortal Cup and Sword. The Inquisitor is sure Valentine will accept her offer, as she will threaten him with Jace’s death. The fear of holding his dead child in his arms will break Valentine. Jace tells the Inquisitor that Valentine will never accept the offer, because he doesn’t value Jace so highly. She refuses to believe Jace.
Alec visits the training room and reveals that his support for the Inquisitor was a ruse to distract her. The two boys discuss a way for Jace to escape the light-prison. Alec points out that there is no top to the cage. If Jace can manage to jump up and clear the space between the light-walls and the ceiling of the training room, he can escape. Jace gathers his strength, visualizes himself light as an arrow, and jumps 30 feet over the cage.
When Clary and Luke reach Simon’s house, they find signs of a struggle and a phone with a cracked screen displaying the message: “Now I have them all” (296). This means Valentine now has all the Downworlder children required for the Ritual of Infernal Conversion. Clary notes that Valentine is acting with a fresh haste, going out of his way to seize Simon. This means something has recently annoyed him, and they believe that something is Jace.
Angry with Alec for siding with the Inquisitor at Luke’s house, Isabelle has shut herself in Max’s room. Alec gets her to open the door and tells her his support was an act to throw the Inquisitor off his trail. He has helped Jace escape. Jace joins them and Isabelle hugs him in relief, tending to the burns the flame manacles left on his wrists.
Isabelle gets a call from Clary about Maia and Simon’s abduction. Jace asks her to drive up to the Institute and wait for him outside. Alec is to call Magnus and ask him and Luke to meet Jace at the Brooklyn waterfront, where Valentine’s ship is floating. Alec and Isabelle are to stay at the Institute and deal with the Inquisitor. Jace arms himself with weapons, including circular chakrams, and jumps out of the window of Max’s room, disappearing into thin air. He reappears on the roof of the Institute and teleports again to greet Clary and Luke in Luke’s approaching truck. The group speeds away to the Brooklyn waterfront.
Simon and Maia awaken in a cabin in the ship, chained separately to metal pipes. Maia apologizes to Simon for attacking him earlier. She tells him her brief dislike of him was rooted in her having watched two vampires rip apart and eat members of her pack. Simon says he understands; Maia should never forget that both of them are still human in all the ways that count.
Valentine enters the cabin a few hours later, armored and geared up from head to toe. When he roughly asks Simon and Maia to sit up, Simon snaps at Valentine. Valentine blows silver dust on Maia—silver is corrosive to werewolves—leaving her bloodied and writhing in pain. He brings out the Soul-Sword and uses it to slash Simon’s throat.
Clary asks Jace about his teleporting ability. Jace replies that he did it unconsciously, much like Clary’s drawing the Fearless rune. The truck reaches the waterfront. As Luke, Clary, and Jace await Magnus, Jace lays out all the blades with which he armed himself at the Institute. He says the names of the blades to awaken them, and he also sends a message to Valentine across the water.
Clary and Jace ask Luke about Imogen Herondale, the Inquisitor. Jace suspects Imogen has a traumatic past with a child, since she seemed so insistent that Valentine would do anything for Jace. Luke tells them that Imogen blames Valentine for the death of her beloved son Stephen, Luke’s peer. After Luke was turned into a werewolf, Valentine made Stephen his parabatai. Willing to follow Valentine to the ends of the earth, Stephen was killed in a Circle raid on a vampire nest. His pregnant wife, Celine, died by suicide, and Imogen’s husband died of heartbreak. Having lost all her family, Imogen turned bitter and wrathful toward Valentine. However, Luke believes that Valentine never forced Stephen to follow him. Stephen made a choice, much as Jace did, when he refused to join Valentine. Jace is surprised Luke knows his decision and laments that he has become too predictable.
Magnus, clad in discreet battle gear, joins the group and draws a rune in the bed of the truck, which will enable it to sail on water. Jace asks Clary to draw the Fearless rune on him so he can face Agramon, the fear demon. In turn, he marks Clary with protective runes as well. Jace and Clary share a fleeting kiss as the truck begins to approach Valentine’s boat. Jace spots pterodactyl-like demons fly off from the railings of the boat. The group begins to fight the demons, flinging blades at them. They seem to have fended off the demons temporarily, when one sneaks up on Clary, carrying her away in its talons. Jace suspects the demon is retrieving Clary for Valentine, and he jumps into the water. Luke dives in after Jace.
At the Institute, Imogen discusses with Maryse her plan to offer Jace to Valentine. Maryse is outraged. They have a shouting match when a communication globe lights up. Valentine’s projection appears by it. Imogen offers Valentine Jace and he refuses, much to her shock. When Imogen calls Jace Valentine’s spy, he scoffs, saying he has far more powerful weapons in his arsenal. He now plans to take down the Clave with the help of his demon army. Valentine disappears.
The Inquisitor realizes she has wasted precious time on Jace instead of focusing on Valentine’s growing powers. The Clave—and humanity—are now in immediate danger from Valentine’s demons. Robert Lightwood asks everyone to armor up and gather all the Shadowhunters they can. He asks Imogen to free Jace. Alec tells his parents that Jace is already free.
Part 3, titled “Day of Wrath” (247), continues the text’s important motif of literary and religious allusions. The title is taken from “Dias Irae,” a 19th-century poem by Abraham Coles, describing the final day of judgment in biblical eschatology when God delivers his justice. The reference to the poem alludes to the fact that Part 3 will contain an apocalyptic event and mark the end of the book. Other literary references in this section include chapter titles like “A Stone of the Heart” (294) and “East of Eden” (314), which reference “Easter, 1916” by W. B. Yeats and East of Eden by John Steinbeck, respectively.
One of the most important events in this section is Imogen Herondale’s discovery of Jace’s meeting with Valentine. As foreshadowed in the previous section, Jace’s unilateral action has an immediate consequence: Imogen not only captures Jace, she also condemns the Lightwoods. Thus, Jace’s secretiveness is shown to have a cascading, negative effect. The sequence of events that follows also illustrates The Dynamics of Family Loyalty and Betrayal. Once Jace is in trouble, the Lightwoods, including Maryse and Robert, band around him, as does Clary. Alec pretends he disapproves of Jace, which makes Isabelle furious with him. When Alec later tries to explain himself to Isabelle, Isabelle hits him with her magic whip, accusing him of breaking the bond of family loyalty: “There’s a higher law than the Clave, Alec. The law of family. Jace is your family” (298).
Isabelle’s statement shows the importance the text and the characters place on bonds of family, love, and friendship. Isabelle is mollified only when she sees Jace is free and learns that Alec helped their adopted brother escape. Meanwhile, Imogen’s cruelty toward Jace shows how grief, trauma, and unresolved rage have acted upon her psyche. Having lost her own son Stephen and the rest of her family, Imogen converts her grief into fury. She hates Jace simply because he is Valentine’s son, and does not pause to consider that he is just a 17-year-old boy. She imprisons him in a deadly cage and binds his wrists in flames, which burn Jace’s skin.
Imogen’s characterization is complex. Her portrayal suggests how preconceived notions and prejudice hamper rational, clear thought. Imogen is so convinced that Valentine will return the Mortal Instruments for Jace that she does not pause to consider facts: Valentine is hardly the loving father Imogen makes him out to be; he has abandoned Jace on multiple occasions, including when Jace was just 10 years old.
In this section, the roles between teenagers and adults are somewhat reversed, with adults often behaving in a clueless or blinkered manner. It is then left to teenagers and Downworlders—rather than the “esteemed” Nephilim—to take charge of the situation and save the day. This role-reversal is tied up with the coming-of-age narrative arc and The Struggle for Identity for several characters. In keeping with this arc, Jace and Clary both discover the extent of their powers in this section. Clary creates the Fearless rune, while Jace displays extraordinary agility and teleporting abilities. The special powers of both protagonists are a symbolic representation of how they are coming into their own, unique identities.
As the events build toward a climax, the action and thrill sequences proliferate, including Jace’s escape from the Malachi Configuration and the group’s arrival on the demon ship. The stakes are raised in the form of the abduction of Maia and Simon, with Valentine’s cruelty deliberately emphasized to reinforce The Complicated Conflict Between Good and Evil. Valentine stomps on Maia’s wrist, chains her and Simon in the ship, and slits Simon’s throat. Valentine’s cruelty is a reminder of why the battle against him is so important.
The suggestion that Jace is not Valentine’s biological son becomes more prominent in the sequence in which Valentine refuses Imogen’s offer. A disbelieving Imogen repeats that she cannot understand Valentine’s refusal as Jace is his child and his spy. Her disbelief also hints that Valentine—so obsessed with “clean” and “pure” bloodlines—devalues Jace precisely because, unlike Clary, Jace is not his blood. At the end of this section, Valentine’s demon carries Clary to the ship. While this may seem like a part of the battle, Jace clarifies Valentine’s motive when he tells Luke that the demon is retrieving Clary for her father. Having given up on Jace, Valentine now wants to seize his own daughter.
By Cassandra Clare