Clockwork Angel

William Herondale is a 17-year-old Shadowhunter who ran away from home and now lives at the London Institute. Tessa describes Will as having “the most beautiful face she had ever seen [...] tangled black hair and eyes like blue glass” (36). Other characters, like the vampire Camille Belcourt, also note Will’s good looks. Will is flirtatious, unpredictable, and guarded. He often makes jokes during dangerous situations or intentionally antagonizes his allies during times of stress, “amusement that didn’t seem to pass beyond the surface of his features, as if he found everything in the world both infinitely funny and infinitely tragic all at the same time” (91). He is loyal to Jem Carstairs, his best friend, and feels protective over Jem and Tessa. Despite his care for them, Will routinely lies to them about his feelings and whereabouts. Will’s determination to push those close to him away culminates in denying his romantic feelings for Tessa.

Will and Tessa share several intimate moments, including a kiss after a vampire attack and an embrace after Tessa defeats Axel Mortmain. Both times, Will initially embraces their closeness, then abruptly pushes Tessa away. The novel, told in the third person, provides only a few clues to explain Will’s behavior. After Tessa defeats Mortmain, the two embrace, and Will almost shares something:

He opened his mouth. The words were there. He was about to say them when a jolt of terror went through him […]. The way she was looking at him—she could read what was in his eyes, he realized [...] There had been no time, no chance, to hide it (449-50).

The novel alludes to Will’s fear of love and being loved and suggests that there is some supernatural reason for his fear that will be explored in the following books.

James Carstairs is a 17-year-old Shadowhunter who moved to the London Institute after his family in Shanghai was killed by the demon Yanluo. Jem is pale with hair a “bright silver color, like an untarnished shilling” and “eyes [...] the same silver color” (4). Jem’s hair and eye color are a byproduct of the demon poison used to torture him by Yanluo. Jem developed a chemical dependency on the poison, requiring ongoing, managed use to keep himself alive. One of the main representatives of The Nuanced Effects of Addiction, Jem is careful not to let his addiction to the demonic poison harm anyone around him, making Jem a foil to Tessa’s brother Nate, whose gambling addiction causes Tessa great harm. Jem is also a foil to his best friend, Will. Whereas Will is mercurial and secretive, Jem is calm and rational and openly shares his history with Tessa. Jem has a flat character arc in Clockwork Angel; he represents Tessa’s choice to trust the Shadowhunters and embrace her identity, confusing as it might be. He tells Tessa that she is human, “in all the ways that matter” (320), and that “one can build one’s own family” (472). He also shares his own experience growing up as a biracial Shadowhunter. Though Will and Tessa’s growing relationship is the focus of the novel, the author alludes to Jem’s feelings for Tessa at several key points, foreshadowing the love triangle between Jem, Will, and Tessa that develops throughout the series.

Charlotte Fairchild Branwell is a 23-year-old Shadowhunter and Head of the London Institute along with her husband, Henry. Charlotte has run the Institute for five years, after succeeding her father in a controversial decision by Consul Wayland, a leader of the Clave. Charlotte is a mentor figure for Tessa, representing the possibilities and challenges of Women and Power in Victorian England. Charlotte is nurturing and capable, challenging the Clave’s distrust of her as a woman in leadership. When Tessa arrives at the Institute, Charlotte treats her injuries with the help of Brother Enoch, and offers to help her find her brother and discover more about her past. Charlotte believes in the Shadowhunters’ mandate to “protect the citizenry of this city from [...] demons and other supernatural dangers” (59). After the events of Clockwork Angel, Charlotte’s position as head of the Institute is threatened by a powerful Shadowhunter family, the Lightwoods, and she asks for Tessa’s help to rebuild the Institute’s relationship with Downworlders.

Nathaniel Gray is Tessa’s older brother and a follower of the novel’s antagonist, The Magister, Axel Mortmain. At the start of the novel, Nate invites his sister, Tessa, to live with him in London after the death of their aunt. Nate is Tessa’s only remaining family, and when it seems he has been kidnapped by the Dark Sisters and the Pandemonium Club, Tessa fights to save him. The author characterizes Nate through Tessa’s perspective, hiding his true nature from both Tessa and the reader. Along with Jem, Nate is the main representative of The Nuanced Effects of Addiction. Unlike Jem, Nate’s addictions control his life, frequently causing harm to the people around him. Nate has an addiction to gambling and alcohol, and Tessa reveals that she and her Aunt Harriet have both enabled Nate’s addictions and hidden the consequences of his behavior from him for most of his life. Once Nate has been rescued and brought to the Institute, he lies to Tessa about how he came to be at the Pandemonium Club. The truth is that Nate works for Axel Mortmain and is helping him recapture Tessa to force her to marry the Magister. Nate values power and money over his relationship with Tessa. Nate’s betrayal pushes Tessa to embrace the Shadowhunters as her found family and challenges her to pursue relationships with people who are worthy of her love. At the end of the novel, Nate successfully steals the Pyxis and disappears.

The Magister is Clockwork Angel’s antagonist, but his identity remains a secret until Axel Mortmain reveals himself to Tessa and the Shadowhunters in the final battle. At the beginning of the novel, The Magister is the shadowy mastermind behind the automaton servants and Tessa’s kidnapping at the hands of the Dark Sisters. He is also the head of the Pandemonium Club. The Dark Sisters reveal that The Magister plans to marry Tessa but requires her to come into her power fully before their union. As the novel unfolds, the Shadowhunters come to believe that The Magister is the vampire de Quincey. They organize a raid on de Quincey’s party, where they discover evidence of a spell that will imbue the automatons with demonic energy, and they find a beaten and bloody Nate Gray. All signs point to de Quincey, including the testimony of businessman, mundane, and Pandemonium Club member Axel Mortmain.

In the final chapters, Axel Mortmain tricks the Shadowhunters into leaving the Institute unguarded then arrives to recapture Tessa with Nate’s help. Axel Mortmain is revealed to be a human obsessed with the occult. He orchestrated Tessa’s mother’s union with the demon, which created Tessa and her powers. He threatens lives unless Tessa uses her power for him. In the end, he is arrested when Tessa tricks him into believing she is dead. It is unclear at the end of the novel what his ultimate plan might be.