From powerful weapons to a family heirloom, these magical artifacts from the Shadowhunters series are almost as iconic as the Shadowhunters themselves! Did your fave magical object from Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunters books make this list?
Top 10 Magical Artifacts from the Shadowhunters Series
10. Electrum
Used in some weapons, like Izzy’s whip and Jessamine’s parasol, electrum is a good conductor of magic.
Magnus took the whip carefully, laid across his palms like a snake, and he carried it to his closet door, which he opened. He drew out a special potion, one that he had paid an exorbitant price for and that he had been saving for something special.
He tipped the potion—faerie dust and blood taken in one of the old rituals, hematite and hellebore and more besides—onto the whip.
In the last extremity this weapon will not fail you; in the darkest hour this weapon will bring your enemy low.
Magnus carried the whip back to Isabelle when he was done.
“What did you do to it?” Isabelle asked.
“I gave it a little extra kick,” said Magnus.
“What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything (And Who You’re Not Officially Dating Anyway),”The Bane Chronicles
9. Pyxis
Shadowhunters of the past used the pyxis, a special box that could contain demon energies, to transport and hold demons captive.
“A Pyxis?” Cordelia was startled. Long ago, Shadowhunters had developed wooden containers called Pyxis boxes to trap the essence of demons they hunted; after the Clockwork War, when Axel Mortmain had used a Pyxis box to transfer demon souls into clockwork monsters, they had been abandoned as a tool by the Nephilim. No one had used them for years.
8. Lightwood Family Necklace
The ruby necklace pulses and glows when in the presence of demons. Currently owned by Isabelle Lightwood; previous owners include Cecily Herondale Lightwood and Anna Lightwood.
The ruby necklace pulses and glows when in the presence of demons. Currently owned by Isabelle Lightwood; previous owners include Cecily Herondale Lightwood and Anna Lightwood.
[Will] stepped toward Cecily and drew the glittering chain over her dark head. The ruby fell against her throat as if it were made for her. She looked at him over it, her eyes serious. “Wear it always. It will warn you when demons are coming,” Will said. “It will help keep you safe, which is how I want you, and help you be a warrior, which is what you want.”
7. Witchlight
All Shadowhunters carry this flat, smooth gray stone that gives off light when they hold it.
In his right hand he held a sort of glowing stone—it was shining, providing the light in the room that had nearly blinded Tessa.
6. Adamas
The hardest metal known to Shadowhunters, adamas is used to make many of their weapons, including seraph blades. It can only be forged by the Iron Sisters of the Adamant Citadel.
Jace had seen the Adamant Citadel before only in pictures. Carved out of the same stuff as seraph blades, the Citadel glowed against the night sky like a star; it was what Jace had mistaken for the light of a bonfire. A circular wall of adamas ringed it, with no opening in the wall except a single gate, formed of two huge blades plunged into the ground at angles, like an open pair of scissors.
5. Seraph Blade
The seraph blade is the Shadowhunter’s weapon of choice. Made of adamas and named for Angels, seraph blades are excellent at killing demons.
Emma swore and pressed her only seraph blade into [Mark’s] hand.
“Name it,” she said, breathing hard, pulling a knife from her belt. She clutched it in her right hand, Cortana in her left.
Mark nodded. “Raguel,” he said, and the blade exploded with light. The Mantids screeched, crouching down, wincing away from the glow, and Emma leaped from the rock.
4. Stele
Used by the Shadowhunters to draw runes on their skin, which in turn give them supernatural abilities, like being able to see long distances clearly or healing quickly.
“My stele,” [James] said roughly. “Inside my breast pocket. Barbara needs a healing rune.”
For a moment Cordelia wondered why he couldn’t fetch it himself, but his hands were clenched at his sides, hard as stones. She reached out and fumbled nervously at his chest. Silk and cloth under her hand, and the beat of his heart. She seized hold of the slim, pen-shaped object in his pocket and held it out to Thomas.
3. Cortana
Cortana is the sword that’s been passed through many generations of Carstairs. Its bearers include Cordelia Carstairs and Emma Carstairs. This sword has the power to cut through anything.
“Cortana has one sharp edge and one dull one,” [Cordelia] said. “Because of that, it has often been called a sword of mercy. I want to be a merciful hero.”
2. Mortal Sword (Maellartach)
Given to Jonathan Shadowhunter by the Angel Raziel, the mortal sword can be used to compel Shadowhunters to tell the truth.
Thomas struggled for breath. The weight of the Sword spread through his chest, and it was more than weight, it was pain—a dozen, a thousand small needles stabbing and dragging at his skin. Words spilled from his mouth, uncontrolled and unpremeditated: he understood now the way in which Maellartach made it impossible to hold back the truth.
Will gave Thomas a hard look and, after a moment, said intently, “Is Gideon aware that he still owes me twenty pounds?”
“Yes,” said Thomas, without being able to stop himself, “but he is pretending not to remember.”
1. Mortal Cup
Given to the Shadowhunters by the Angel Raziel, the Mortal Cup can be used to turn mundanes into Shadowhunters, if they are worthy.
“You are Nephilim now. I name you Simon Shadowhunter, of the blood of Jonathan Shadowhunter, child of the Nephilim.” He was the same person he’d always been . . . and yet. He wasn’t Simon Lewis anymore. He was someone new.
“Angels Twice Descending,” Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy