Julian Blackthorn

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 Julian Blackthorn is a Shadowhunter of the Los Angeles Institute. He is in charge of physical training along with Emma. He is the husband of Emma Carstairs-Blackthorn, the father of John, Cordelia, Marcus, Alyssa, and Clarke, and the brother of Helen, Mark, Ty, Livvy, Dru, and Tavvy.
For years, Julian lived in the Institute with Emma Carstairs, his wife and former parabatai, and his siblings. He acted as the father figure of the children and secretly as the head of the Institute, hiding the illness of his uncle and bearing all of its burden alone to keep his family together.
He is the father of Lyssa, Clarke, Marcus, John, and Cordelia.
== Biography ==
=== Early Life ===
Julian was the first child born to Andrew and Eleanor Blackthorn. Some time after he was born, Andrew's children with the faerie Nerissa—Julian's elder half-siblings Mark and Helen—were sent to the Institute to live with them.
Julian soon met Emma Carstairs, whose family lived in Los Angeles and were good friends with the Blackthorns. He and Emma quickly developed a very close relationship.
His mother died when he was around ten, just after his youngest sibling, Tavvy, was born. During his mother's funeral, while her body was burned in the canyons, Jules was comforted by Emma, who held his hand while he cried. Jules started painting around this time.
In November 2007, when Julian was twelve, he and some of his siblings went to the New York Institute to accompany his older sister, Helen, who was attending a Council meeting at the Institute. Julian, Ty, and Livvy played with the wax in the nave of the Institute, frustrating Helen who opted to go home after realizing their mischief.
Before they left, Jules met Clary Fairchild, and Isabelle and Alec Lightwood. He wondered and asked if they were siblings; when he found out that Clary had no siblings, he asked her if that was why she looked so sad.
=== Dark War ===
Only weeks after their trip to New York, Julian, Mark, Ty, Livvy, and his friend Emma were at the Los Angeles Institute training with their tutor Katerina when Sebastian came and attacked the Institute. When Mark and Katerina left to investigate, Jules opted to contact the Clave through the office and left with his siblings. Eventually, they found out that Sebastian and his Endarkened army had attacked the Institute, and the group of young Shadowhunters escaped.
Being the oldest among them, Jules was the one asked to hold the Mortal Sword for the Clave's interrogation. During the battle in the Accords Hall, Julian had to kill his father before the latter could take his brother, Tiberius.
In the aftermath of the war, his older sister Helen was exiled to Wrangel Island, and his older brother Mark was left at the mercy of the Wild Hunt. Helen entrusted him, as well as their uncle Arthur, with the care of their younger siblings. Unable to bear the thought of being separated from each other, especially after everything they've been through together, Emma and Jules decided to become parabatai so the Consul would have no choice but to let Emma stay in Los Angeles with the Blackthorns.
=== Responsibilities ===
After the war, every year on the anniversary of the Cold Peace, Julian began to send petitions to the Clave to allow his half-sister, Helen, to return home from her post on Wrangel Island, and it was denied every time.
Julian saw the continued decline in his uncle Arthur's mental health as a danger to his family. He suspected that if the Clave found out that his uncle was no longer fit to run the Institute and act as their guardian, the family would be split up to live and be trained in different places. To hide this, Julian began to take on the responsibility of running the Institute while Arthur hid away in his attic. As an added measure, he had the High Warlock of Los Angeles, Malcolm Fade, concoct medication to allow Arthur lucid moments whenever Julian felt that his presence would be needed.
Along with this was the added responsibility of taking care of his younger siblings. Many of them suffered great trauma due to the war, and Jules made sure to take extraordinary measures to help them cope. As previously requested by Helen, Julian also gave special attention to Ty and managed to figure out ways to help him, even making fidget toys specifically made to help him calm down or focus, and constantly assured him that there was nothing wrong with him. He also grew familiar with the habits and likes of his younger siblings, which he often catered to, and together, they developed patterns and routines they all grew accustomed to and expected Julian to uphold. He essentially took on the parent role for his siblings.
=== Cold Peace ===
In 2012, the children indulged their old great-aunt Marjorie by staying with her at her home in England for the summer. Knowing that Cristina Rosales was coming and that Emma would not be alone, Jules hoped to use the summer away to get over his forbidden feelings for his parabatai. While there, Julian began to work on a set of tarot cards depicting his family.
Upon returning to Los Angeles—a day early due to Malcolm's quirks—he realized that he had failed but still tried to distance himself from Emma emotionally.
More surprises came in the form of a visit from Unseelie and Wild Hunt faeries requesting help to investigate recent deaths of their kind in exchange for the return of his brother, Mark. Julian did not have to think long and immediately agreed to their terms, despite knowing that they would have to keep the whole deal a secret from the Clave because of the Cold Peace.
Though Julian and Mark had to adjust to each other—to the changes both had undergone since they were separated, with which Julian also realized that Mark would be unable to take over his responsibilities because of his carefree demeanor—they grew closer during the course of their investigation. Julian was determined to solve the murders so that Mark could stay, knowing that the alternative would break their siblings' hearts; however, he eventually realized that Mark had grown attached to the Hunt and correctly predicted that Mark was planning on leaving them again if given the choice.
Julian's feelings for Emma also grew stronger; his time away had not helped at all. Though they both tried to not act on their feelings, various circumstances during their investigations led them together: in one instance, while at the party at the Midnight Theater, Julian gave signs of his attraction for Emma while they danced together because of the moving faerie music around them. With this came Julian's jealousy of what he saw as Emma and Mark sharing tender moments.
When Emma went to the convergence site alone one evening and ended up drowning at sea, Julian rushed off to rescue her. In the heat of the moment, they ended up sleeping together on the beach. Julian finally admitted to her that he loved her, and the pair agreed to hide their relationship from the others due to the Law preventing them from being together.
Julian struggled with his feelings of self-hatred—a result of his secret dealings over the years: his treatment and manipulation of Arthur, all his secrets in his attempts to keep his family together, the overwhelming stress resulting from single-handedly looking after his family, as well as what was deemed his "wrong" feelings for Emma. Eventually, after Fade told him to come clean to his family about it, Julian admitted some of this to Emma and Mark.
After Fade was discovered to be the Guardian—the one behind the killings, they confronted him at the convergence site and rescued the kidnapped Tavvy. Some time before then, Julian had already planned and prepared for what he would tell the Clave. He had given Arthur a bottle of wine containing his medicine, making him lucid by the time they returned.Having already performed his own investigation of Anselm Nightshade's illegal activities involving his business, Julian explained to Inquisitor Lightwood that Arthur had been preoccupied with the investigation, leading to Nightshade's arrest, and at the same time protecting his family.
Meanwhile, Emma ended the progress of their relationship, telling Julian that she did not love him; though she did not tell Julian that the real reason she did this was that she feared what their forbidden love and their resulting powers would do.
=== Annabel ===
During the next two weeks, Julian grew bitter and angry towards Emma, who had started a relationship with Mark, out of jealousy that she could be open with his brother while he had to hide what he felt. He began avoiding her altogether and only spoke with her when it was necessary, and during the moments they spoke, things were either tense or cold.
Later, when a group of Centurions were sent to the Institute to search for Malcolm's body and the Black Volume of the Dead, Julian rushed to find a replacement for the medicine that Malcolm had been providing for Arthur, though he was unsuccessful.
Distrustful of the Centurions, Julian made sure to keep his family's minor infractions against the Law a secret: Arthur's illness, Ty's uniqueness and unusual behavior, Livvy's skill with a computer, and Dru's love of horror movies.
The situation became further complicated when Gwyn ap Nudd arrived and asked Mark to rescue Kieran from his execution at the Unseelie Court. Though Mark initially refused, he slipped out at night and went. Cristina alerted him and Emma, and they followed Mark to Faerie, using Cristina's medallion to give them access to an entry as well as a way to avoid Faerie's time difference. At the Gate of Lir, the guarding phouka asked a small price from them in exchange for their passage into Faerie, promising something enticing in exchange to each of them. The phouka told Julian that he would find someone who could tell him how to break the parabatai bond in Faerie, and Julian allowed the phouka to take his father's watch that he had worn that night.
Their arrival at the Court, just in time for Kieran's execution, created an uproar. Julian pretended to be sent by the Clave and challenged the King's decision to execute Kieran, whom he said the Shadowhunters owed for helping them with Malcolm, with a trial by combat. After the King gave them a riddle to answer, he chose Emma to be the Shadowhunters' champion. Emma overpowered the King's champion but forfeited when the faerie took the form of Emma's father. Expecting the situation to worsen, Jules held the King's favorite son Erec at knifepoint and held him hostage so they could escape the Unseelie Lands. Jules threatened Erec into telling them how to escape, and though Erec did not back down, he led the way.
Shortly after, the King's riders caught up to them and Erec escaped, and just then, a path to Seelie Lands was opened for them by Mark's aunt, Nene. Nene, Cristina, and Mark looked after Kieran, while Julian and Emma were sent to a separate room to rest. Later that night, while Emma was asleep, the Queen summoned him. The Queen convinced him to look into her scrying glass, and Julian did at the mention of someone going to Malcolm's convergence. Through the glass, Julian witnessed Arthur surrendering himself to Malcolm to spare the children. He then saw Annabel Blackthorn brought back to life, and her subsequently killing Malcolm.
The Queen showed Julian the scene so he would bargain with her. In addition, the Queen tempted hi with the knowledge that she knew how to break the parabatai bond—just as the phouka had promised. However, the Queen told her that it was just not any bond that the spell she knew of would break—it was all parabatai bonds ever made.
The next day, when everyone had been gathered in front of the Queen, she told them that she only wanted the Black Volume of the Dead—which was in Annabel's possession since she killed Malcolm—in exchange for her help against the Unseelie King, that she wanted the book to retrieve a captive of the Unseelie King, and that offering her aid to the Clave would force the end of the Cold Peace should the Shadowhunters accept it. She appointed Kieran as her representative to the Clave and called Gwyn to take them back to the Blackthorns staying at the London Institute.
With Kieran having no memories of his breakup with Mark, Emma saw it fit to "break up" with Mark, shocking and infuriating Julian, who was still in the process of trying to accept their relationship.
Their search for Annabel and the Black Volume led them to Cornwall, Malcolm and Annabel's home country. He was supposed to go with Emma and Cristina, but Cristina's binding curse with Mark forced him and Emma on the trip alone together. They went and found Malcolm's cottage, which he'd built and maintained for him and Annabel. Annabel came knocking one evening and told Julian to not follow her and not come after the Black Volume, claiming that it was too dangerous. Julian was determined, however, knowing that the Volume was what he needed to save his family.
Tensions continued to rise between him and Emma. Still searching for Annabel, the pair were led to Porthallow Church by piskies who knew Annabel. It turned out to be a trap, and they were attacked by the Greater Demon Sabnock. After vanquishing the demon, Julian thought it best to destroy the tainted church. With their combined power, further strengthened by their parabatai bond and their love for one another, their Fire rune became powerful enough to burn through the church's stone structure.
Shortly after came another ordeal: four of the Riders of Mannan, sent by the Unseelie King to retrieve the Black Volume, arrived and fought them. Both Julian and Emma had a hard time against the seasoned assassins. At one point, Julian tried to trick one of the Riders into thinking he'd been corned into a cliff before planning on surprising him with an attack, but this worried Emma, causing her to intervene. This then led to her slaying one of the Riders, the one named Fal, with Cortana, surprising the other Riders and causing them to flee.
Their display of power at the church made Emma realize that they still loved one another, and after the battle with the Riders, she finally told him that everything she'd done was because she found out about the parabatai "curse" from Jem and that she'd been avoiding him and their feelings to protect him. Having cleared things up, the pair was unable to hold back their feelings any longer and slept together once again, and they decided to find a way to be together somehow.
Magnus Bane appeared suddenly in the cottage at one point and Portaled them back to London, telling them of the threat of the Riders on all of them. When the Riders did come to the Institute, they were unable to enter because of its protections, but Emma faced them alone, trapping them all inside to protect them. They all managed to break through eventually, but even with all of them, they stood little chance against the Riders. Suddenly, Annabel arrived with Magnus and helped them. Annabel was able to send the Riders away with a threat to the Unseelie King, claiming she knew his name, and with Magnus's magic an additional protection against them.
Annabel told Julian that a letter she received from Ty convinced her to come to him. With still the Black Volume as his primary goal in mind, he convinced Annabel to testify to the Council that she killed Malcolm, promising her that she could reintegrate herself into the Shadowhunter community and reclaim the Blackthorn manor—all as a ploy to get his hands on the Black Volume once he's appeased her.
Everything fell apart at the Council meeting. The presence of the Cohort made things worse as they actively contradicted everything about Annabel, especially when she told them that she killed Malcolm—a feat that their candidate Zara Dearborn had claimed for herself. They insisted that Annabel be tried with the Mortal Sword but then questioned her credibility, seeing her as a tainted Shadowhunter for the dark magic done to her. This pushed Annabel to the edge, and before Julian could get to her to calm her, she used the Mortal Sword on Robert Lightwood and killed him. Seeing that he needed a weapon to protect himself against Annabel, Livvy ran to them to give him a longsword. Annabel got to her and killed her. Devastated, Julian abandoned everything to cradle his dying sister. His reaction snapped Annabel out of her mania, but Julian seemed to barely notice, even as Annabel disappeared, as he watched Livvy die in his arms.
=== Parabatai Curse ===
Livvy's death drove Julian to seek justice and vengeance for her death. He found, however, that he still felt so strongly for Emma despite the grief; in fear of the repercussions of their love, he asked Magnus to cast a spell on him to make him emotionless and thus not feel his love for Emma anymore. Though he knew what he was supposed to be feeling on many occasions and was sometimes able to act accordingly, he lacked true empathy because of it.
In order for Helen to be sent home instead of returned to exile in Wrangel Island, Consul Jia immediately sent Helen and Aline to the LA Institute to lead and to look after the children in Arthur's place. In exchange, Julian and Emma were asked to stay behind for Horace Dearborn–Zara's father, leader of the Cohort, and the newly-appointed Inquisitor in light of Robert's death–and his investigation into the destruction of the Mortal Sword. Dearborn told them that, upon reading Robert's notes, he learned that the two were in love. He blackmailed the two into agreeing to go to the Unseelie Lands to kill Annabel Blackthorn and retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead.
Armed with a time slippage medallion, the pair went to Faerie without telling anyone about their mission except Simon Lewis and Isabelle Lightwood. Shortly after their arrival, Dane Larkspear came at them in hopes of taking the glory of retrieving the Volume and killing them, for which Julian then killed him, without remorse due to the spell on him.
Having figured out that Dearborn never intended for the two to escape Faerie alive, the pair sought out the protection of the Seelie Queen. With her plotting, the two managed to sneak into the Unseelie Tower where they found what the Unseelie King had stolen from the Seelie Queen: her son, Ash Morgenstern. They were captured by the Riders of Mannan when Emma, driven by the spells on Ash, attempted to rescue him. They found Clary and Jace also imprisoned in the Tower's cells and soon, they were rescued by Cristina and Kieran's brother Adaon.
Adaon took them to the King, coincidentally at the same time as Oban brought Mark and Kieran. Later, they were even joined by the Seelie Queen. The reunion and confrontation of all parties led to chaos when Kieran killed the King when he ordered Adaon's death. Julian and Emma were separated from the others with no way of escaping except into the ruined world of Thule through the King's Portal.
In Thule, Julian and Emma were introduced to the world where Sebastian Morgenstern won the Dark War, and both of them were together but had been Endarkened. Because the world had become devoid of magic, the spell on Julian lost its effect and he found himself overwhelmed with the emotions that the spell repressed for days.
They were found by the Cameron Ashdown of that world along with a living, thriving Livia, and the pair took them to their rebel base, where they also met Thule's Diana. Later, the pair were brought to Sebastian, who pretended to not recognize them as the non-Endarkened counterpart of his followers. After their audience with him, Annabel struck a deal with them, offering to open a Portal, with magic from the Black Volume, to their world if they took Ash with them to save him from Sebastian.
When they found Tessa Gray, they all made plans to reclaim the world's Mortal Instruments hidden away in the Silent City. There, they were ambushed by Sebastian and his army. Following Sebastian's death and the destruction of the Endarkened, Annabel opened the Portal for them but refused to let them through when Ash refused to go with them. Julian killed Annabel, fulfilling his self-promise to avenge Livvy, and he and Emma escaped back to their world.
Upon returning, Julian asked Magnus to remove the spell on him as Emma and his time without the spell made him realize that his plans needed to be partly driven by his feelings. When the Cohort demanded the return of all Shadowhunters to Idris to witness a parley with the Unseelie Court, the group knew that the whole affair was staged and would only serve to display their power, Julian came up with a plan. Julian held a war council at the LA Institute with potential allies looking to oppose the Cohort's rule. Though Jace was reluctant in fear of spies, Julian had been prepared: he held two meetings, one which involved Shadowhunters, and another with only Downworlders. At the first meeting, Julian revealed information he wanted Dearborn to hear from the spy and only gave the entirety of his true plan to the Downworlders and their small, tight group of trusted Shadowhunters at a second meeting.
At the confrontation following the Cohort's parley, Emma was brought to the brink of death by Zara. Julian held her in his arms and refused to let her die, and the pair triggered their parabatai curse, turning them into true Nephilim – gigantic, avenging, and ruthless. They went on a rampage, barely recognizing anyone around them, though they mostly went directly for their enemies; Julian picked out Horace from the crowd and swiftly killed him.
To stop them from getting close Alicante, and to restore them to their human forms before they could get burned by the heavenly fire powering them, their friends and family gathered and went as close as they could to the two. The group tried and succeeded to reach out to them, and they returned to their human forms.
The two were out cold for three days, but when they woke, they found out from Jem that the heavenly fire had burned away their parabatai bond, finally allowing them to be together.
Julian and many others voted for Alec Lightwood to be the new Consul when Jia announced that she was stepping down from the position. When Alec agreed to the terms of the Cohort to prevent further bloodshed among the rebelling children, he ceded his reign's hold on Idris, and so Julian and the rest of the Clave-in-Exile all left Idris. Julian and his friends and family returned to the LA Institute.
Soon, Julian and Emma decided to spend their travel year traveling the world together, with Julian now able to leave the children knowing Helen and Aline were going to be there to look after them.
== Personality ==
Julian is stubborn, confident, and does not open up to a lot of people, though he can also be very considerate and thoughtful. He is also a very loving person. Though he is typically gentle, patient, and sweet, he has his limits and is shown to be capable of yelling even at authority when furious, and ruthlessness when the situation calls for it. Despite trying to follow the rules as much as possible, Julian puts his family over everything else.
As a child, Jules was extremely troublesome, though he often took the blame for his and Emma's mischief. Having lost both of his parents and his elder siblings at the tender age of twelve, Jules has since looked after his four younger siblings. Though he has an uncle to help him, Jules feels responsible for them. Painting, however, momentarily helps him take his mind off his responsibilities.
== Physical Appearance ==
Julian took after his father in appearance. Jules has dark brown, curly and messy hair and the startling Blackthorn blue-green eyes. He is described as tall, slender, and muscular; he has broad shoulders and high cheekbones. His hair is the color of dark chocolate and wildly wavy. As an artist, he is usually seen untidy or splattered with paint, and his nails are bitten.
== Trivia ==
* He used to have a crush on Isabelle Lightwood.
* He developed a habit of biting his nails due to stress.
* Julian hates lettuce.
* He cuts Tavvy's hair himself.