From the Merry Thieves to iconic parabatai pairings there are TONS of amazing friendships in Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunters series, so it was a challenge to narrow them down to just the top nine! Did your fave friends make this list?
Top 9 Shadowhunters Friendships
9. The Merry Thieves
He could hear Christopher and Thomas breathing, sense their worry; he felt Thomas’s hand rough against his hair—Thomas was trying to comfort him, James realized, though Thomas was the one in trouble. These are my brothers, he thought, all around me; I would do anything for them.
8. Magnus, Ragnor, and Catarina
“Magnus, Ragnor, I heard a cat making a most unearthly noise,” [Catarina] exclaimed. “From the sound of it, the poor creature must be direly sick. You have to help me find it!”
Ragnor immediately collapsed with hysterical laughter on his windowsill. Magnus stared at Catarina for a moment, until he saw her lips twitch.“
You are conspiring against me and my art,” he declared. “You are a pack of conspirators.”
– “What Really Happened in Peru,” The Bane Chronicles
7. Emma and Julian
“We are bound together, Emma, bound together—I breathe when you breathe, I bleed when you bleed, I’m yours and you’re mine, you’ve always been mine, and I have always, always belonged to you!”
6. Kit and Ty
“Tell me,” Kit said. Tell me what you need.
“Put your arms around me,” said Ty. His hands were pale blurs in the air, as if Kit were looking at a time-lapse photo. “Hold on to me.”
He was still rocking. After a moment, Kit put his arms around Ty, not quite knowing what else to do.
5. Lucie and Cordelia
Lucie pushed Cordelia’s hair out of her eyes and smiled at her.
“There is no need ever to do it yourself,” she said. “Runes given to you by your parabatai are best.”
“Ghastly,” said Matthew. “Look at them, affirming their eternal bond of friendship. In public.”
4. Jace and Alec
Alec said nothing, but his grip on Jace’s hand tightened. “You don’t need to swear,” he said, and with his free hand touched the parabatai rune near his collarbone. “I know. I can feel it. I don’t feel like I’m missing a part of me anymore.”
“I felt it too.” Jace took a ragged breath. “Something missing. I felt it, even with Sebastian, but I didn’t know what it was I was missing. But it was you. My parabatai.”
3. James and Matthew
“James had thought how lucky he was, to have a parabatai who was always there for him. He could never truly fall with Matthew to hold him up.”
2. Clary and Simon
Something was missing from the pattern of Simon’s life, without Clary, and it would never be right again, unless she was restored. My best friend, Simon thought. Another thing worth living in this world for, worth being a Shadowhunter for.
– “Nothing But Shadows,” Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy
1. Will and Jem
“I thought I would walk with you a little way, my parabatai.”
How far? asked Jem.
Will smiled. “Need you ask? I will go with you as far as I possibly may.”
– “Cast Long Shadows,” Ghosts of the Shadow Market