Nephilim

**Overview**Shadow WorldMythology
The **Nephilim** (/ˈnɛfɪˌlɪm/; Hebrew: נְפִילִים *Nəfīlīm*) are mysterious beings or people in the Hebrew Bible who are large and strong. The word *Nephilim* is loosely translated as *giants* in some translations of the Hebrew Bible, but left untranslated in others. Jewish explanations interpret them as hybrid sons of fallen angels.

The main reference to them is in Genesis 6:1–4, but the passage is ambiguous and the identity of the Nephilim is disputed. According to the Book of Numbers 13:33, they later inhabited Canaan at the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan.

A similar or identical biblical Hebrew term, read as "Nephilim" by some scholars, or as the word "fallen" by others, appears in the Book of Ezekiel 32:27 and is also mentioned in the deuterocanonicals Judith 16:6, Sirach 16:7, Baruch 3:26-28 and Wisdom 14:6.

## Contents

* 1Etymology
* 2In the Hebrew Bible
* 3Interpretations
	+ 3.1Giants
	+ 3.2Fallen angels
		- 3.2.1Second Temple Judaism
	+ 3.3Descendants of Seth and Cain
	+ 3.4Arguments from culture and mythology
* 4Arabian paganism
* 5Fossil remains
* 6In popular culture
* 7See also
* 8References
* 9External links

## Etymology[edit]

The Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon (1908) gives the meaning of nephilim as "giants", and holds that proposed etymologies of the word are "all very precarious." Many suggested interpretations are based on the assumption that the word is a derivative of Hebrew verbal root *n-p-l* (נ־פ־ל) "fall." Robert Baker Girdlestone argued in 1871 the word comes from the hif'il causative stem, implying that the nephilim are to be perceived as 'those that cause others to fall down'. Ronald Hendel states that it is a passive form: 'ones who have fallen', grammatically analogous to *paqid* 'one who is appointed' (i.e., a deputy or overseer), *asir* 'one who is bound' (i.e., a prisoner), etc.

The majority of ancient biblical translations – including the Septuagint, Theodotion, Latin Vulgate, Samaritan Targum, Targum Onkelos, and Targum Neofiti – interpret the word to mean "giants." Symmachus translates it as "the violent ones" and Aquila's translation has been interpreted to mean either "the fallen ones" or "the ones falling [upon their enemies]."

## In the Hebrew Bible[edit]

In the Hebrew Bible, there are three interconnected passages referencing the *nephilim.* Two of them come from the Pentateuch. The first occurrence is in Genesis 6:1–4, immediately before the account of Noah's Ark. Genesis 6:4 reads as follows:

> The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.
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Where the Jewish Publication Society translation simply transliterated the Hebrew *nephilim* as "Nephilim", the King James Version translated the term as "giants."

The nature of the Nephilim is complicated by the ambiguity of Genesis 6:4, which leaves it unclear whether they are the "*sons of God*" or their offspring who are the "*mighty men of old, men of renown.*" Richard Hess takes it to mean that the Nephilim are the offspring, as does P. W. Coxon.

The second is Numbers 13:32–33 where ten of the Twelve Spies report that they have seen fearsome giants in Canaan:

> And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
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Outside the Pentateuch there is one more passage indirectly referencing *nephilim* and this is Ezekiel 32:17–32. Of special significance is Ezekiel 32:27, which contains a phrase of disputed meaning. With the traditional vowels added to the text in the medieval period, the phrase is read *gibborim nophlim* ("*fallen warriors*" or "*fallen Gibborim*"), although some scholars read the phrase as *gibborim nephilim* ("*Nephilim warriors*" or "*warriors, Nephilim*"). According to Ronald S. Hendel, the phrase should be interpreted as "*warriors, the Nephilim*" in a reference to Genesis 6:4. The verse as understood by Hendel reads

> They lie with the warriors, the Nephilim of old, who descended to Sheol with their weapons of war. They placed their swords beneath their heads and their shields upon their bones, for the terror of the warriors was upon the land of the living.
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Brian R. Doak, on the other hand, proposes to read the term as the Hebrew verb "*fallen*" (נופלים *nophlim*), not a use of the specific term "Nephilim", but still according to Doak a clear reference to the Nephilim tradition as found in Genesis.

## Interpretations[edit]

### Giants[edit]

Main article: Giants (Greek mythology)

Most of the contemporary English translations of Genesis 6:1–4 and Numbers 13:33 render the Hebrew *nefilim* as "giants." This tendency in turn stems from the fact that one of the earliest translations of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, composed in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE, renders the said word as *gigantes.* The choice made by the Greek translators has been later adopted into the Latin translation, the Vulgate, compiled in the 4th or 5th century CE, which uses the transcription of the Greek term rather than the literal translation of the Hebrew *nefilim.* From there, the tradition of the giant progeny of the sons of God and the daughters of men spread to later medieval translations of the Bible.

The decision of the Greek translators to render the Hebrew *nefilim* as Greek *gigantes* is a separate matter. The Hebrew *nefilim* means literally "the fallen ones" and the strict translation into Greek would be *peptokotes*, which in fact appears in the Septuagint of Ezekiel 32:22–27. It seems then that the authors of Septuagint wished not only to simply translate the foreign term into Greek, but also to employ a term which would be intelligible and meaningful for their Hellenistic audiences. Given the complex meaning of the *nefilim* which emerged from the three interconnected biblical passages (human-divine hybrids in Genesis 6, autochthonous people in Numbers 13 and ancient warriors trapped in the underworld in Ezekiel 32), the Greek translators recognized some similarities. First and foremost, both *nefilim* and *gigantes* were liminal beings resulting from the union of the opposite orders and as such retained the unclear status between the human and divine. Similarly dim was their moral designation and the sources witnessed to both awe and fascination with which these figures must have been looked upon. Secondly, both were presented as impersonating chaotic qualities and posing some serious danger to gods and humans. They appeared either in the prehistoric or early historical context, but in both cases they preceded the ordering of the cosmos. Lastly, both *gigantes* and *nefilim* were clearly connected with the underworld and were said to have originated from earth, and they both end up closed therein.

In 1 Enoch, they were "great giants, whose height was three hundred cubits." A Cubit being 18 inches (45 centimetres), this would make them 450 ft tall (137.16 metres).

The Quran refers to the people of Ād in Quran 26:130 whom the prophet Hud declares to be like *jabbarin* (Hebrew: *gibborim*), probably a reference to the Biblical Nephilim. The people of Ād are said to be giants, the tallest among them 100 ft (30 m) high. However, according to Islamic legend, the ʿĀd were not wiped out by the flood, since some of them had been too tall to be drowned. Instead, God destroyed them after they rejected further warnings. After death, they were banished into the lower layers of hell.

### Fallen angels[edit]

Main article: Fallen angel
*The Sons of God Saw the Daughters of Men That They Were Fair*, sculpture by Daniel Chester French.
All early sources refer to the "sons of heaven" as angels. From the third century BCE onwards, references are found in the Enochic literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls (the Genesis Apocryphon, the Damascus Document, 4Q180), Jubilees, the Testament of Reuben, 2 Baruch, Josephus, and the book of Jude (compare with 2 Peter 2). For example: 1 Enoch 7:2 "And when the angels, (3) the sons of heaven, beheld them, they became enamoured of them, saying to each other, Come, let us select for ourselves wives from the progeny of men, and let us beget children." Some Christian apologists, such as Tertullian and especially Lactantius, shared this opinion.

The earliest statement in a secondary commentary explicitly interpreting this to mean that angelic beings mated with humans can be traced to the rabbinical *Targum Pseudo-Jonathan* and it has since become especially commonplace in modern Christian commentaries. This line of interpretation finds additional support in the text of Genesis 6:4, which juxtaposes the sons of God (male gender, divine nature) with the daughters of men (female gender, human nature). From this parallelism it could be inferred that the sons of God are understood as some superhuman beings.

The *New American Bible* commentary draws a parallel to the Epistle of Jude and the statements set forth in Genesis, suggesting that the Epistle refers implicitly to the paternity of Nephilim as heavenly beings who came to earth and had sexual intercourse with women. The footnotes of the Jerusalem Bible suggest that the biblical author intended the Nephilim to be an "anecdote of a superhuman race."

Some Christian commentators have argued against this view, citing Jesus's statement that angels do not marry. Others believe that Jesus was only referring to angels in heaven.

Evidence cited in favor of the fallen angels interpretation includes the fact that the phrase "the sons of God" (Hebrew: בְּנֵי הָֽאֱלֹהִים‎; or "sons of the gods") is used twice outside of Genesis chapter 6, in the Book of Job (1:6 and 2:1) where the phrase explicitly references angels. The Septuagint manuscript Codex Alexandrinus reading of Genesis 6:2 renders this phrase as "the angels of God" while Codex Vaticanus reads "sons."

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan identifies the Nephilim as Shemihaza and the angels in the name list from 1 Enoch.

#### Second Temple Judaism[edit]

Main articles: Book of Enoch, Book of Jubilees, and Watcher (angel)

See also: Second Temple Judaism

The story of the Nephilim is further elaborated in the Book of Enoch. The Greek, Aramaic, and main Ge'ez manuscripts of 1 Enoch and Jubilees obtained in the 19th century and held in the British Museum and Vatican Library, connect the origin of the Nephilim with the fallen angels, and in particular with the egrḗgoroi (*watchers*). Samyaza, an angel of high rank, is described as leading a rebel sect of angels in a descent to earth to have sexual intercourse with human females:

> And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: "Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children." And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them: "I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin." And they all answered him and said: "Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing." Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it ...
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In this tradition, the children of the Nephilim are called the Elioud, who are considered a separate race from the Nephilim, but they share the fate of the Nephilim.

Some believe, the fallen angels who begat the Nephilim were cast into Tartarus (2 Peter 2:4, Jude 1:6) (Greek Enoch 20:2), a place of "total darkness." An interpretation is that God granted ten percent of the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim to remain after the flood, as demons, to try to lead the human race astray until the final Judgment.

In addition to *Enoch*, the *Book of Jubilees* (7:21–25) also states that ridding the Earth of these Nephilim was one of God's purposes for flooding the Earth in Noah's time. These works describe the Nephilim as being evil giants.

There are also allusions to these descendants in the deuterocanonical books of *Judith* (16:6), *Sirach* (16:7), *Baruch* (3:26–28), and *Wisdom of Solomon* (14:6), and in the non-deuterocanonical *3 Maccabees* (2:4).

The New Testament Epistle of Jude (14–15) cites from 1 Enoch 1:9, which many scholars believe is based on Deuteronomy 33:2. To most commentators this confirms that the author of Jude regarded the Enochic interpretations of Genesis 6 as correct; however, others have questioned this.

### Descendants of Seth and Cain[edit]

References to the offspring of Seth rebelling from God and mingling with the daughters of Cain are found from the second century CE onwards in both Christian and Jewish sources (e.g. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Augustine of Hippo, Sextus Julius Africanus, and the Letters attributed to St. Clement). It is also the view expressed in the modern canonical Amharic Ethiopian Orthodox Bible: Henok 2:1–3 "and the Offspring of Seth, who were upon the Holy Mount, saw them and loved them. And they told one another, 'Come, let us choose for us daughters from Cain's children; let us bear children for us.'"

Orthodox Judaism has taken a stance against the idea that Genesis 6 refers to angels or that angels could intermarry with men. Shimon bar Yochai pronounced a curse on anyone teaching this idea. Rashi and Nachmanides followed this. Pseudo-Philo (*Biblical Antiquities* 3:1–3) may also imply that the "sons of God" were human. Consequently, most Jewish commentaries and translations describe the Nephilim as being from the offspring of "sons of nobles", rather than from "sons of God" or "sons of angels." This is also the rendering suggested in the Targum Onqelos, Symmachus and the Samaritan Targum, which read "sons of the rulers", where Targum Neophyti reads "sons of the judges."

Likewise, a long-held view among some Christians is that the "sons of God" were the formerly righteous descendants of Seth who rebelled, while the "daughters of men" were the unrighteous descendants of Cain, and the Nephilim the offspring of their union. This view, dating to at least the 1st century CE in Jewish literature as described above, is also found in Christian sources from the 3rd century if not earlier, with references throughout the Clementine literature, as well as in Sextus Julius Africanus, Ephrem the Syrian and others. Holders of this view have looked for support in Jesus' statement that "in those days before the flood *they* [humans] were ... *marrying and giving in marriage*" (Matthew 24:38).

Some individuals and groups, including St. Augustine, John Chrysostom, and John Calvin, take the view of Genesis 6:2 that the "Angels" who fathered the Nephilim referred to certain human males from the lineage of Seth, who were called *sons of God* probably in reference to their prior covenant with Yahweh (cf. Deuteronomy 14:1; 32:5); according to these sources, these men had begun to pursue bodily interests, and so took wives of *the daughters of men*, e.g., those who were descended from Cain or from any people who did not worship God.

This also is the view of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, supported by their own Ge'ez manuscripts and Amharic translation of the Haile Selassie Bible—where the books of *1 Enoch* and *Jubilees*, counted as canonical by this church, differ from western academic editions. The "Sons of Seth view" is also the view presented in a few extra-biblical, yet ancient works, including Clementine literature, the 3rd century *Cave of Treasures*, and the ca. 6th Century Ge'ez work *The Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan.* In these sources, these offspring of Seth were said to have disobeyed God, by breeding with the Cainites and producing wicked children "who were all unlike", thus angering God into bringing about the Deluge, as in the *Conflict*:

> Certain wise men of old wrote concerning them, and say in their [sacred] books that angels came down from heaven and mingled with the daughters of Cain, who bare unto them these giants. But these [wise men] err in what they say. God forbid such a thing, that angels who are spirits, should be found committing sin with human beings. Never, that cannot be. And if such a thing were of the nature of angels, or Satans, that fell, they would not leave one woman on earth, undefiled ... But many men say, that angels came down from heaven, and joined themselves to women, and had children by them. This cannot be true. But they were children of Seth, who were of the children of Adam, that dwelt on the mountain, high up, while they preserved their virginity, their innocence and their glory like angels; and were then called 'angels of God.' But when they transgressed and mingled with the children of Cain, and begat children, ill-informed men said, that angels had come down from heaven, and mingled with the daughters of men, who bear them giants.
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### Arguments from culture and mythology[edit]

In Aramaic culture, the term *niyphelah* refers to the Constellation of Orion and *nephilim* to the offspring of Orion in mythology. However the Brown–Driver–Briggs lexicon notes this as a "dubious etymology" and "all very precarious."

J. C. Greenfield mentions that "it has been proposed that the tale of the Nephilim, alluded to in Genesis 6 is based on some of the negative aspects of the Apkallu tradition." The *apkallu* in Sumerian mythology were seven legendary culture heroes from before the Flood, of human descent, but possessing extraordinary wisdom from the gods, and one of the seven *apkallu*, Adapa, was therefore called "son of Ea" the Babylonian god, despite his human origin.

## Arabian paganism[edit]

Fallen angels were believed by Arab pagans to be sent to earth in form of men. Some of them mated with humans and gave rise to hybrid children. As recorded by Al-Jahiz, a common belief held that Abu Jurhum, the ancestor of the Jurhum tribe, was actually the son of a disobedient angel and a human woman.

## Fossil remains[edit]

Further information: List of tallest people § Disputed and unverified claims

In 1577, a series of large bones discovered near Lucerne were interpreted as the bones of an antediluvian giant about 5.8 m (19 ft) tall. In 1786, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach found out that these remains belonged to a mammoth. Cotton Mather believed that fossilized leg bones and teeth discovered near Albany, New York, in 1705, were the remains of nephilim who perished in a great flood. Paleontologists have identified these as mastodon remains.

## In popular culture[edit]

Main article: Nephilim in popular culture

The name and idea of Nephilim, like many other religious concepts, is sometimes used in popular culture. Examples include the gothic rock band Fields of the Nephilim, *The Renquist Quartet* novels by Mick Farren, *The Mortal Instruments*, *The Infernal Devices*, *The Last Hours*, *The Dark Artifices* and other books in *The Shadowhunter Chronicles* series by Cassandra Clare, the *Hush, Hush* series by Becca Fitzpatrick, the book *Many Waters* by Madeleine L’Engle, and TV series *The X-Files* and *Supernatural.* In the video game series *Darksiders*, the four horsemen of the apocalypse are said to be nephilim, wherein the nephilim were created by the unholy union of angels and demons. The main characters of the game *DmC: Devil May Cry* (2013), a reboot of the popular original series *Devil May Cry*, Dante and Vergil, are also referred to as Nephilim; being the offspring of the demon Sparda and the angel Eva. In the trading card game *Magic: The Gathering*, the Nephilim are interpreted as Old Gods from before modern society. In *Diablo 3,* the Nephalem were the first humans upon Sanctuary, created as a result of the union between Angels and Demons. In the heist themed first person shooter *Payday 2*, several paintings, artifacts, and far off visuals reference the Nephilim, and a secret ending to the game brings in alien technology supposedly left by the Nephilim. A creature referred to as "Nephilim" appears in Season 2 of the Japanese animated series *Symphogear.* Nephilim (role-playing game) is a role-playing game about powerful elemental entities reincarnating into human beings.

**Shadowhunters**, also known as **Nephilim**, are a secretive race of beings who are humans born with angel blood. They have fought demons and have lived alongside Downworlders in the Shadow World for well over a thousand years, creating their own culture and civilization within human society. Their mandate is to keep the peace in the Shadow World and keep it hidden from the mundane world while protecting the inhabitants of both worlds.

Despite their ancestry, Shadowhunters are mortal and therefore vulnerable to old age and death; however, their angelic blood endows them with special abilities that allow them to achieve feats beyond what's humanly possible through the application of angelic runes.

## Contents

* 1History
	+ 1.1Creation
	+ 1.2Demon plague
	+ 1.3Victorian era
	+ 1.420th Century
	+ 1.521st Century
* 2Home
	+ 2.1Idris
	+ 2.2Alicante
* 3Government and Politics
	+ 3.1Clave, Consul, Council
	+ 3.2The Covenant
	+ 3.3The Accords
	+ 3.4World relations
* 4Mission
* 5Culture
	+ 5.1Life
	+ 5.2Religion
	+ 5.3Festivities
	+ 5.4Training
	+ 5.5Battle
	+ 5.6Ceremonies and Rituals
		- 5.6.1Birth
		- 5.6.2Runes
		- 5.6.3Parabatai
		- 5.6.4Marriages
			* 5.6.4.1Intermarriage
			* 5.6.4.2Ascension
		- 5.6.5Punishment
		- 5.6.6Death
		- 5.6.7Honors
	+ 5.7Motto
	+ 5.8Colors
* 6Known Nephilim families
* 7Trivia
* 8References

## History

In the Bible, the Nephilim were the offspring of humans and angels, although it is unknown if they really existed or not. In the Shadowhunter's Codex, the Angel Raziel is said to have named Jonathan and his new breed after the Nephilim of the Bible, even making references as such, though this too is unknown as no official records exists of what exactly happened that day.

### Creation

A thousand years ago, shortly after 1000 AD, the Earth was invaded by hordes of demons. During the times when the Crusades first began, particularly believed to be some time in the winter months, a crusader named Jonathan called on Raziel. Jonathan begged Raziel to help save humanity. Seeing the honesty and nobility of his wish, the angel obliged and mixed his blood with that of Jonathan in the Mortal Cup, a mixture he let Jonathan drink. Raziel then gave Jonathan the other two Mortal Instruments, the Gray Book, and the fitting name of Shadowhunter as a symbol of his transformation.

Soon, more men and women drank from the cup and became Nephilim warriors themselves. They soon became known as Shadowhunters, after Jonathan, the first of their kind. Their children, and their children's children, inherited their parents' angelic blood and became Nephilim themselves.

For some reason, undisclosed at this point, 1234 is a significant date among Shadowhunters: along with the Nephilim motto, the date is inscribed on the base of the statue by the entrance to the Silent City in New York. The 11th and 13th centuries are also cited by the Shadowhunter's Codex as the beginning and peak, respectively, of the promotion of the race of the Nephilim, when new members were being sought for and recruited after the death of the first Shadowhunters, and the two points in time pointed out as when the first edition of the Codex was written, the first being the time given in the presumption that the Codex was written by Jonathan Shadowhunter, and the second estimated based on modern research and dating techniques.

### Demon plague

At one point, a demonic plague almost wiped out the Shadowhunters. This topic is taught in History lessons at the Shadowhunter Academy.

### Victorian era

In 1872, the Shadowhunters signed the first of the Accords, becoming the first step in the peace negotiations with the Downworld populace.

In 1878, the Shadowhunters of the London Institute faced the Magister and his clockwork army, whose intent was to create a formidable new race of half-Nephilim, half-demon beings, with the first of their kind, Tessa Gray, capable of several unknowable abilities—one of which was the power to Change when the demon parent is an Eidolon. His plan was foiled, however, with the combined efforts of the few members of the London Enclave and the warlock Magnus Bane.

### 20th Century

There had been a time when some, if not most, of Nephilim women were not fighters; they were usually relegated to domestic duties such as cooking and fostering the current and future generations of young Shadowhunters at home. While there have been women fighters over the years, and it is recognized that there have always been women in the Clave—mastering the runes, creating weaponry, teaching the Killing Arts—but only a few were warriors, ones with exceptional abilities who had to fight to be trained. It was a generation in the late 1900s, which included Maryse Lightwood and Jocelyn Fray, that was the first where all women were trained to become Shadowhunter warriors along with the men.

In 1991, a great tragedy called the Uprising occurred during the signing of the Ninth Accords. A group of dissidents called the Circle and led by Valentine Morgenstern considered the Clave and Covenant outdated and in need of reform. They advocated and upheld their belief that they must increase their numbers by turning more mundanes with the Mortal Cup, and that they must once again be united and up in arms primarily against Downworlders.

During the signing, they planned to slaughter the attending unarmed Downworlders, as well as the Shadowhunters who would resist and defend the Downworlders. While they were stopped and countered by Downworlder reinforcements, all of whom were informed and prepared by Valentine's wife, Jocelyn, and former *parabatai*, Luke, there were still several casualties. Despite the Circle's efforts, the Accords was signed nonetheless.

### 21st Century

In 2007, Valentine returned and planned to wipe out the current Shadowhunter race, at least those who would resist his proposal for change, and finally refresh their numbers by calling upon the angel Raziel once again. He summoned a demon army and set them on Alicante and a great battle, referred to as the Mortal War, took place, once again ending in death on both sides. Valentine was ultimately defeated, brought down by Raziel himself.

After his death, however, his son, Sebastian Morgenstern, took up after him, albeit going down a different path. With the help of Lilith, Sebastian plotted to start a war to raise Hell and rule the human world with his army of Endarkened Shadowhunters, corrupted with Lilith's blood and the Infernal Cup. Sebastian Turned a large number of unwilling Nephilim, and killed even more during the invasion of Idris that became referred to as the Dark War. While Sebastian was ultimately defeated, it was too late as a large majority of the Shadowhunters gathered at Alicante had already been slaughtered. To salvage their population and ranks, the Clave decided to reopen the Academy and recruit more mundanes for Ascension.

Also, for the betrayal of the Fair Folk during the war, the Shadowhunters forced a treaty with the Seelie Court that the faeries pay reparations for damages dealt to the Nephilim and the Praetor Lupus, and that there no longer be fey warriors or armies, that any of them seen bearing weapons, without consent from the Clave, can and will be lawfully killed. The terms drew the ire of their kind, and fierce criticism and condemnation from the Council warlock representative Magnus Bane; nonetheless, the faeries begrudgingly accepted. Their agreement came to be known as the Cold Peace. The Scholomance was also reopened for this reason.

## Home

### Idris

*Main article: Idris*
Idris is the homeland of the Shadowhunters and is protected by the demon towers, forcing demons out and protecting the city, the only way to bring them down is to wipe demon blood on them from the inside—an almost impossible feat.

Idris is in Central Europe. It is a small country between Germany and France, with protective spells and wardings all around, all over the borders, preventing mundanes from entering. When they attempt to cross the border into Idris, they are simply transported into the next border without noticing.

Idris is mostly forest, littered with vampire nests and werewolf packs. There are mountains that can only be crossed in high summer without freezing to death. There is a small system of towns throughout Idris. These towns are not very big and are all sort of oriented around one city, Alicante, which is also known as the Glass City.

### Alicante

*Main article: Alicante*
Alicante is the only city and the capital of Idris. It is often called the Glass City because of the presence of the Demon Towers that guard the city against demon attacks, reflecting light and looking like glass. The entire city itself is lit and powered by witchlight. The houses throughout the city are built from all eras. The Gard, the meeting place for the Clave, sits atop a hill at the edge of the city. All around are residences of several Shadowhunter families and the Council. There are stores throughout the entire city that display and sell a wide array of objects from weapons to clothes.

## Government and Politics

**Madame Dorothea**: "*You would call them that. You're familiar with the motto of the Covenant?*"
**Jace Herondale**: "*Sed lex dura lex. The Law is hard, but it is the Law.*"
―, *City of Bones*
The Nephilim follow a strict set of rules set out in Codex and the Covenant. There are many rules and guidelines that must be followed.

### Clave, Consul, Council

*Main article: The Clave*
The Clave is the collective name for the political body of all active Nephilim. Shadowhunters become members of the Clave upon reaching adulthood at the age of eighteen when they decide to declare their allegiance to the Clave. Members of the Clave all have rights to contribute to any Clave issue under discussion. They keep and interpret the Law and have the right to help decide on important matters that affect the Nephilim.

The Clave's governing body is the Council, and the Consul is their highest appointed official. The Consul holds little executive power but presides over the Council. The Council may represent the larger Clave when making decisions that don't require a vote—matters of immediate import that are not large enough for the entire Clave to become involved in.

The Clave is divided into smaller groups in different countries and cities of the world: Enclaves in most of the world, and Conclaves in the Americas and Australia. These regional groups are then locally led by individual(s) put in charge of each Institute; the head is also the Enclave's representative on the Council, and every active Shadowhunter residing in the area under their jurisdiction answer to them. These local Enclaves coordinate their own local decision making and organizational structures as they see fit, though the Clave may still interfere in some cases.

Young Shadowhunters who are orphaned, or whose parents have left the Clave, are asked every six years if they would like to join the Clave and become a Shadowhunter. If the child answers no every time until they are eighteen, three times in total, they are left alone, free to live as a mundane forever. At any point during the eighteen years, the child can go to any Institute and ask for training.

### The Covenant

*Main article: The Covenant*
The Covenant is the Law upheld by the Clave. It provides the rules of conduct for Shadowhunters and Downworlders. The Covenant protects the rights of Shadowhunters to enforce civilized relations among the Clave, Downworld, and the mundane world, and also protects the rights of Downworlders so that they may not be maltreated by Shadowhunters. It is also the Covenant that guarantees that the Shadow World remains shadowed from the mundane world. The Covenant also elaborates on the legal system of the Shadowhunters.

### The Accords

*Main article: The Accords*
The Accords acts as amendments to the Covenant agreed to be taken as the law of the land by all of the Shadow World, a treaty that ordains how Shadowhunters and Downworlders interact with mundanes and one another, as well as each group's rights, responsibilities, and restrictions. With the Accords, groups of Downworlders also in peace with the Accords agree to the same oath to never reveal the truth of the Shadow World to mundanes. The Accords are revised and signed every fifteen years by representatives of these groups.

### World relations

While Shadowhunters living in Idris do not fall under any of the mundane authority surrounding them, they are still technically humans and citizens of the countries in other parts of the world outside of Idris and are subject to their laws. Aside from that, they do have alliances with different governments in the world. In London, monarchies through the ages have tithed to the Shadowhunters in secret to keep their kingdoms safe. In the USA, the Department of War and the Department of Justice have both affiliated with Shadowhunters.

## Mission

The goal of the Nephilim is to fight, and someday end, the plague of demons on Earth. They are dispatched to every place on Earth to fight against demon hordes. The fight even continues after death. Their bones and ashes are used, as the bones of demon hunters are powerful protection, to fortify important buildings, and to supply power to the Silent Brothers.

Aside from this, the Shadowhunters have also placed the responsibility of upholding the peace and secrecy of the Shadow World, as well as the protection of the mundanes and the world in general from the supernatural, upon themselves.

## Culture

As with all populations, the Nephilim have developed their own culture and traditions. They have traditions and habits that, though not official laws, are expected of them.

### Life

Most Shadowhunters spend their younger years as warriors. An exception would be when Shadowhunters join one of their two monastic orders: the Silent Brothers and the Iron Sisters. The Brothers serve as the keepers of their lore and knowledge; they serve as their librarians, researchers, and occasional medics. They reside in the Silent City. The Sisters design and forge their weapons; they are the keepers of *adamas*, the holy metal given to them by Raziel. They reside in the Adamant Citadel.

### Religion

The Nephilim do not conform to any mundane religion as they have allied themselves with every mundane belief system. Also, individual Shadowhunters are allowed to believe what they choose. Some Shadowhunters see their own lifestyle and beliefs as a separate religion. Mainly, they have their own beliefs about angels, demons, Heaven, and Hell, and they worship the Angel Raziel as their creator. Still, the Nephilim acknowledge the truths in mundane religions, mythologies, tales, and legends, and often integrate this into their real-world knowledge.

Every mundane religion is also partly aware of the ongoing battle against demons, having been affected by the Incursion themselves. However, since mundanes would not be capable of fighting demons, they merely incorporated their existence and the battle against them methodically into belief systems as different evil entities. Their leaders instead opted to help by assisting the Nephilim, who are equipped to battle the demons, in their mission, as long as Shadowhunters do not cleave to a single religion.

Contacts and relations were established between the Nephilim and the more mystical orders of the world's major religions, with a small group of chosen leaders acting as the representatives of each religion, signing secret treaties that promise the continued provision of havens and weapons for Shadowhunters in exchange for protection. Their end of the bargain is upheld by allowing the Nephilim access to their different religious communities, holy buildings, or places of worship as havens, or for their numerous hidden caches or reserves of holy tools and equipment for Shadowhunter use, the oldest of which is said to be in the Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio in Milan, dating to over five hundred years ago.

### Festivities

While most Shadowhunters typically do not participate in or observe mundane religious or cultural traditional celebrations or holidays such as Christmas or Thanksgiving, some have accepted it as a custom, though without the religious significance it has for mundanes.

However, historically they have observed a winter festival of the Angel — this is held on the day when Raziel is said to have appeared to Jonathan Shadowhunter and given him the Mortal Instruments. Traditionally the celebration involves setting lit paper lanterns out onto Lake Lyn while drinking spiced wine and putting notes of their wishes for the upcoming year into the cairn of stones at Jonathan Shadowhunter's tomb. The location has since been lost to time so instead, Shadowhunters now cast slips of paper with their wishes into a hearth where it will burn up overnight.

### Training

Shadowhunters may be trained at a very young age, by their parents or other mentors and guardians. Some Shadowhunters may train at an academy in Idris, or at Institutes in other parts of the world.

Typically, children of Shadowhunters, whether biological or adopted, can choose to train to be Shadowhunters when they're about ten. They can also refuse, and in a Shadowhunter family, that once meant the child was sent away, but the rules have since changed. Ascension would then be open to the non-Shadowhunter, adopted child.

Upon completion of their training, it is customary and traditionally expected that Shadowhunters travel to other Institutes to learn about other Nephilim cultures.

### Battle

There are varieties of weapons and gear used by Shadowhunters. Most of these weapons are made with materials capable of killing demons, some using *adamas* forged by the Iron Sisters.

Most used are the seraph blades, the primary weapons of the Nephilim, made of *adamas* and calls upon the power of an Angel's name to access the blade's power. In addition to seraph blades, some Shadowhunters choose to have a weapon of specialty, such as swords, bows and arrows, and many more.

The Nephilim also have devices, such as the Sensor and Portal, that make their tasks easier. Each species is weak to a certain element. Blessed iron is effective against fairies, silver powder, and bullets against lycanthropes, holy water, and other religious symbols against vampires, and demons are generally susceptible to damage from angelic weapons, etc.

### Ceremonies and Rituals

#### Birth

Newborn Shadowhunters have spells cast on them to protect their minds from demonic influences. These rituals protect the Shadowhunters from demon visions and possessions directed towards them. Technically, the ritual is mainly only necessary for those who are in danger of being targeted, so people with Shadowhunter blood but who are un-Marked and raised among mundanes, with no one knowing what they are, will remain unaffected, or minimally so, by the lack of the spell. The rituals are performed by a Silent Brother and an Iron Sister.

Since Nephilim blood is mostly dominant, if a Shadowhunter has children with any species, their children will still be Nephilim. A special case is when one parent is a faerie, wherein some of their kind's characteristics or attributes may manifest in the child, and a demon, such as Tessa Gray, though this is very rare as the child of Shadowhunters and demons are usually stillborn. When the half-breeds continue to have children, the trace of the other species will either slowly diminish through the generation or disappear entirely.

#### Runes

*Main article: Runes*
Shadowhunters were given runes by the Angel Raziel, all contained in the Book of the Covenant, and copied into the Gray Book. These runes, or Marks, are applied on the Shadowhunters' skin and gives different effects and abilities. Clary Fray, a Shadowhunter with an exceptional amount of angel blood, finds herself able to "create" new runes, or recall ones, not given to them by Raziel.

When a young Shadowhunter is set to begin his or her formal training, usually around the age of ten, they receive their first rune, typically the Voyance rune, in a formal ceremony done by Silent Brothers. In some cases, like when the child of former Nephilim chooses to join their ranks at a later age, they receive these runes years later; another special case is the reception of a different Mark than what is usually given first when the child is weak or sickly.

#### *Parabatai*

*Main article: Parabatai*
*Parabatai* is the term for two Shadowhunters who fight alongside each other. These Shadowhunters are partners and are particularly close to each other. Shadowhunters have the option to choose their *parabatai* before they turn 19, after which the option will no longer be available to them; in fact, having *parabatais* is quite uncommon among the Nephilim.

The runes drawn by one's *parabatai* are stronger than those used by another. Also, there are some runes that can only be used by *parabatai* for it draws on the *parabatai's* double strength. It is forbidden for two *parabatai* to fall in love with each other. If this happens, they will be separated. Most Shadowhunters don't have a *parabatai*, so they are not very common. In a Shadowhunter's life, they can only have one *parabatai*, even if their partner dies.

#### Marriages

The color of marriage is gold. Shadowhunter women generally wear gold dresses and black ceremonial gear marked with gold runes for men. Marriages are often done in the Accords Hall in Alicante. Upon marriage, the family ring given to the woman upon proposal and engagement is returned.

A tradition in Shadowhunter weddings involves a significant person to the bride and groom: having a *suggenes* who would "give away" the bride/groom to her/his partner—similar to the mundane tradition of "giving away the bride"—and welcome the other into the family. The *suggenes* would be a significant person—a father, mother, sibling, child, friend, *parabatai*, or an elder who symbolized the whole family—chosen by the bride/groom. It is not always necessary or even possible to have a *suggenes*.

The Shadowhunters mark each other with permanent runes of love and commitment over their heart and arm, signifying their love and devotion for one another.

Same-sex marriage is also recognized in Idris when it is done in a country where same-sex marriage is legal.

##### Intermarriage

Relationships with mundanes, and any other species other than fellow Nephilim, are generally looked down upon by the Clave. In fact, marriage to mundanes is forbidden. However, Shadowhunters can be with Downworlders; they simply cannot be wed in a Shadowhunter ceremony because the Downworlders cannot bear the rune that is a part of this ceremony. Other forms of marriage to Downworlders are allowed, such as church weddings, handfasting, faerie ceremonies, among others, though some of these are not generally recognized by other Shadowhunters.

To be able to marry a mundane, a Shadowhunter will have to leave the Clave and become a mundane, stripped of their Marks. There are three rules for those who leave the Clave. First, the Shadowhunter must sever contact with any and all Shadowhunters they have ever known, even their own family. Second, they cannot call upon the Clave for help. And third, the Clave can still lay claim to their children, wherein they can their children will be made aware of their lineage and will be offered to become Shadowhunters every six years until they are eighteen.

However, this can be avoided if the prospective mundane lover Ascends to become a Shadowhunter.

During the early days of the Nephilim, when recruitment and the strengthening of their numbers were a priority, marrying mundanes was encouraged. However, after the population of Shadowhunters became stable, the Clave of the 1400s revoked Institute heads' ability to create new Shadowhunters without approval; since no system for evaluating was provided, most requests after this were refused. The marriage to mundanes was completely outlawed by the Council in 1599, at the height of the Schism and the Hunts, during which the Nephilim became more isolated from the mundanes. This isolation remained and continued, and even shaped the relationship of the Nephilim with mundanes, even generations after. In 1804, the Law prohibiting intermarriage was revoked; however, while the marriage is still forbidden, the method of Ascension was at least developed.

##### Ascension

*Main article: Ascension*
Ascension is the process through which mundanes become Shadowhunters by drinking from the Mortal Cup. The option is open to lovers and adopted children of Shadowhunters, and, in some rare cases, other Sighted mundanes interested or selected to become a Shadowhunter. Though rare, the Cup has been used to create more Shadowhunters through the years, when their ranks and populations were depleted. Mundanes who Ascend to become a Shadowhunter may then choose and submit their own Shadowhunter last name for approval, or just pick from one of the old defunct Nephilim names (names which have no longer had living or active holders for some years).

However, drinking from the Mortal Cup is dangerous and does not always work. It takes special strength and resilience and they must be extensively tested, so most never survive the transition. Adults, particularly the "untrained and unworthy," could either be unaffected by the process entirely or killed outright, and it mostly works on children; at one point, the Council had considered lowering the age of agreement to Ascension to twelve or fourteen.

Because of the risks, one must be petitioned and appealed to the Clave, and they are required to evaluate and consider for at least three months before approval, during which the mundane should be studying to learn about Shadowhunter culture.

When the Cup was lost and believed to be destroyed in the late 20th Century, the Nephilim believed that Ascension will never happen again, until it was found and retrieved almost two decades later. After the Dark War of 2007, the Clave became desperate for new Shadowhunters after their numbers were depleted, and they reopened the Academy for new recruits, which include mundanes Turned into, or being trained to become, new Shadowhunters through Ascension.

#### Punishment

When proven guilty of a violation of their important laws, Shadowhunters may be stripped of their Marks. This is mostly done when a Shadowhunter chooses to leave the Clave to marry a mundane and become one in the process. Another act of treason to receive this punishment is by murdering another Shadowhunter; this grave act—particularly if accomplished through demonic means—will result in the forceful transformation of the violator into a Forsaken mundane, as well as the removal of the family's Marks and having their family name and records stricken from Nephilim history.

#### Death

Shadowhunters often die young as their fight against demons kills off many of them in battle. The traditional color of mourning among the Nephilim is white, contrary to the mundanes' typical black, which is their color of fighting, for their clothes, and red for runes.

To honor a Shadowhunter's death, most of them are burned, and their remains are later interred. Those who die in Idris are traditionally entombed in its necropolis outside Alicante's walls, where most old Shadowhunter families have not only grave plots but large family tombs and mausoleums. Those who die outside Idris are entombed in the ossuarium that makes up a level of the Silent City, though still smaller than the cemetery in Idris, wherein the desiccated bodies are burned and turned to ashes used to make and reinforce its marble arches. The Silent Brothers have responsibility for the dead in both locations. However, those whose deaths are not considered honorable, such as suicides, criminals, and monsters, are instead buried, whole and unburned, in other places, such as at the crossroads in Idris outside the Brocelind Forest.

During funerals, or when a Shadowhunter dies with another present, their name and the words *Ave Atque Vale*, taken from a poem by Catullus, which means "hail and farewell" in Latin, are spoken.

Before being set on the funeral pyre, the Shadowhunter's body is presented so that words of mourning can be spoken and those left behind can pay their last respects. The eyes of the dead Shadowhunter are bound with white silk, and he is laid to rest with his arms crossed over his chest, a seraph blade clutched in the right hand and resting over his heart. Funeral rites vary depending on the part of the world the Shadowhunter is from but traditionally conclude with a sentence from The Odes of Horace: Pulvis et umbra sumus.—"We are dust and shadows."

Nephilim burial ceremonies were generally for Nephilim only, but an exception could be made for those who died in the service of the Clave.

#### Honors

Some Shadowhunters leave behind legacies that become marked and included in Shadowhunter's history. Historical figures such as Jonathan Shadowhunter and the Angel Raziel are among the very well-known figures throughout their history.

Of course, over the course of centuries, events occur that shape the future of the Nephilim. Tapestries, illustrating passages from history, and monuments may be made in their honor or memory. Apparently, grand deeds, such as victory in a war, may warrant the creation of such tributes.

An example is the 2007 wars, the Mortal War and the Dark War. A tapestry was made for the events behind the Mortal War, depicting the image of Valentine summoning Raziel, and Clary Fray, who foiled his plans, on the sidelines. At the crossroads near Brocelind Forest, where criminals and suicides are typically buried, a necropolis was built for the Endarkened, as their final resting place, a sort of monument or reminder of the Shadowhunters' victory against Sebastian's plans, as well as a shrine for those who had once been Shadowhunters.

Other memorable parts of Nephilim history for which tapestries were made for include the signing of the First Accords, the Battle of Shanghai, and the Council of Buenos Aires.

### Motto

The Nephilim's motto is "Facilis descensus Averno," or "Descensus Averno facilis est," which means "The descent into Hell is easy" in Latin. It was taken from Virgil's poem, *The Aeneid*.

### Colors

Colors mean different things to Shadowhunters than they do to mundanes. Black is the color of their gear; white is for mourning; gold for weddings and red is ceremonial. According to Raphael Santiago, the demon towers also light up different colors depending on certain messages: gold for celebrations, red signifies magic, which can also be interpreted as danger, and blue as the color of the Accords. Red Marks are also used for mourning, and was the color used by the Endarkened.

## Known Nephilim families

Traditionally, most Shadowhunter family names (particularly the English ones) are compound, reflecting something about the family, or the first of the family who chose the name, but this is not always the case. Listed below are the known Shadowhunter family names:

* Aldertree
* Ashdown
* Balogh
* Baybrook
* Beausejours
* Beauvale
* Bellefleur
* Blackthorn
* Blackwell
* Branwell
* Breakspear
* Bridgestock
* Carstairs
* Cartwright
* Carvalho
* Casales
* Castel
* Chaudhury
* Coldridge
* Crosskill
* Dearborn
* Delgado
* di Angelo
* Dieudonné
* Fairchild
* Featherstone
* Freeman
* Gladstone
* Gonzales
* Graymark
* Greenmantle
* Grunwald
* Hardcastle
* Hayward
* Herondale
* Highsmith
* Hightower
* Jahanshah
* Joshi
* Kaidou
* Kanuni
* Ke
* Keo
* Kingsmill
* Kriegsmesser
* Larkspear
* Lieu
* Lightwood
* Lindquist
* Longford
* Maduabuchi
* Makepeace
* Malatesta
* Malhotra
* Mayburn
* Mayhew
* Mendoza
* Merryweather
* Midwinter
* Montclaire
* Monteverde
* Morgenstern
* Nightshade
* Nightwine
* Overbeck
* Pangborn
* Pedroso
* Penhallow
* Pontmercy
* Pounceby
* Ravenscar
* Rocio
* Rockford
* Romero
* Rosales
* Rosewain
* Safar
* Scarsbury
* Sedgewick
* Shimizu
* Silverhood
* Solcedo
* Starkweather
* Tefereel
* Thrushcross
* Tokugawa
* Townsend
* Trueblood
* Turan
* Velez
* Verlac
* Villalobos
* Vogelspritz
* von Mainz
* Wang
* Wayland
* Wentworth
* Whitelaw
* Wrayburn
* Youngblood

## Trivia

**In-universe notes:**

* Shadowhunters were not excited when automobiles were invented as they could not be glamoured like carriages—runes are not compatible with internal combustion engines. After many attempts resulted in blown up cars, the Nephilim gave up and decided to stick with carriages.
* The Shadowhunters of China are famous for having oxblood lacquered—dark, shiny burgundy colored—gear, rather than the standard black. However, this goes in and out of use every few generations.

**Real-world notes:**

* The term "Shadowhunter" was actually chosen by Cassandra Clare's editor.
* Early copies of *City of Bones* state that it had been a warlock who summoned Raziel instead of Jonathan Shadowhunter. This was corrected in later editions.