The Shadowhunter's Codex

This is the training manual that the Clave hands to young Shadowhunters, and the copy on these pages belongs to Clary Fray. The official text covers the history of the Nephilim, the demon languages, and how a stele is used to draw runes.

Further sections cover the Downworlders and the places of Idris. Clary has filled the margins with her own sketches and notes, so the Clave's account never stands alone on the page.

Jace Herondale and Simon Lewis have added comments of their own, and they do not always accept what the Clave tells them. Their remarks interrupt the formal prose and set the institutional view against the opinions of the people it is meant to train.

The book is a companion volume to the Shadowhunter Chronicles, compiled by Cassandra Clare and her husband Joshua Lewis. It was first published in 2013 by Margaret K. McElderry Books. It reads as part encyclopedia, part history and part training manual, and it suits readers who already know the world of The Mortal Instruments.