Cristina Rosales

Princess (by Kieran)

Diego Rosales (distant relative)

Jaime Rosales (distant relative)

Beatriz Mendoza (distant relative)

John Carstairs-Blackthorn (godson)

Lyssa Carstairs-Blackthorn (goddaughter)

Clarke Carstairs-Blackthorn (goddaughter)

Marcus Carstairs-Blackthorn (godson)

Cordelia Carstairs-Blackthorn (goddaughter)

Livia's Watch

*This article uses material from the “Cristina Rosales” article on the Shadowhunter wiki at FANDOM and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.*

**Cristina Mendoza Rosales** is a Shadowhunter from Mexico who came to the Los Angeles Institute and became fast friends with the Institute ward Emma Carstairs.

She currently lives at the New York Institute with the Herondales, Carstairs, and Lightwoods, as well as Mark. She is in a relationship with Mark Blackthorn and Kieran.

## Biography

### Early Life

Cristina underwent most of her training at the Mexico City Institute, which was run by her uncle, Tomas. Her father died when she was young, and she had a considerably close, yet sometimes resentful, relationship with her mother who seemed to have her whole life mapped out for her.

Cristina became particularly close with two fellow, but very distantly-related, Rosales: brothers Diego and Jaime. She became romantically involved with Diego—a relationship that her mother approved of because she deemed him "perfect"—and planned to be *parabatai* with Jaime.

Cristina loved to hang out in the Institute gardens. In her early teens, she would set up targets and practice throwing knives among the plants and shrubs—a habit she stopped after she and Jaime frightened several visiting Shadowhunters.

In December 2007, when the Clave called for the worldwide retreat of all Shadowhunters to Alicante in light of Sebastian Morgenstern's attacks, Cristina and her mother stayed in her mother's home in San Miguel de Allende to hide, as Tomas was convinced that Idris would not be safe. He proved to be right, as Tomas met his end during the war.

In May of 2012, Cristina was again staying at a Rosales home in San Miguel de Allende, where Diego and Jaime were also staying. She overheard a conversation between the brothers where Jaime heavily implied that they were going to use their influence on Cristina, with Jaime as her future *parabatai* and Diego as her future husband, to regain the Rosales empire for his branch of the family. He remarked that at least Diego could divorce Cristina sometime in the future while Jaime would be stuck with her; when Diego did not respond, Cristina believed that both brothers were only interested in her for political reasons. She left for the city that night without giving a reason to either of them.

Since she had just turned eighteen, Cristina decided to go to the Los Angeles Institute, under the guise of wanting to learn about a different Shadowhunter culture. Another, more private, reason that Cristina chose Los Angeles was because of the likes of Mark Blackthorn; Cristina hoped to broker a fairer truce than the Cold Peace.

### LA Institute

It did not take long for things to be set up and, soon, Cristina was at the Institute in Los Angeles. She arrived shortly after the Blackthorn children left for England, and she became fast friends with the only other Shadowhunter in the Institute at that time, the somewhat well-known Emma Carstairs.

In August, Cristina accompanied Emma on a stakeout of the Sepulchre Bar, at the end of which they stumbled upon a body that was left in a similar state as Emma's parents when they died five years prior. Though Diana—their tutor—and the Silent Brothers kept them away from the body, Cristina secretly took photos for Emma. Upon returning to the Institute later that night, Emma showed Cristina her "Wall of Crazy"—everything she'd gathered about her parents' murder. The Blackthorns also returned from England, a day early, and she met them officially the next morning.

During their lesson with Diana, Cristina noticed a delegation of faeries arrive at the Institute and alerted the others. When the faeries left Mark Blackthorn, she saw the conflict arising between the Blackthorns and the confused Mark and took charge, ordering everyone to give Mark some space. She spoke to him herself shortly afterward and got him to calm down and understand his new surroundings—that he was truly back at the Institute with his siblings. Despite being a recent addition to the Institute, Cristina quickly gained the trust of the Blackthorns and was trusted with the knowledge of Mark's return and the details of their illegal investigation into the murders plaguing mundanes, faeries, and Emma's past.

During the course of the investigation, she and Mark bonded further and shared several tender moments. At one point, she unexpectedly received a called from Diego. She wasn't given much time to ponder if she should call him back before they crossed paths while going after a person of interest. She eventually told him the real reason why she left Mexico, after which she learned that Diego did not agree with Jaime's views and was going to tell her. After the group rescued Tavvy from Malcolm Fade, Cristina took care of a gravely injured Diego, after which the pair made up and shared a kiss that was witnessed by Mark, who intended to come to Cristina for advice and instead left, devastated that he had seemingly misinterpreted their connection.

### Malcolm's Return

Cristina wanted to feel content with her renewed relationship with Diego but had her doubts, feeling that things were no longer the same between them. This relationship was cut short by the arrival of the Centurions at the Institute, amongst whom was Diego's fiancée Zara Dearborn. Cristina was hurt and shocked and immediately broke up with him. When Mark traveled to Faerie to rescue Kieran, he left Cristina a letter telling her about his trip, trusting her to show it to the right people.

Cristina then journeyed to Faerie with Emma and Julian, picking up Mark along the way, and the four of them made their way through the Faerielands to the Unseelie Court. During this journey, Cristina shared a few tender moments with Mark, with the two of them even attending a faerie revel together. While at the revel, Cristina revealed to Mark the fascination she had had with him since she was thirteen, and how she had cried when her father told her of the decision to let him remain with the Wild Hunt.

After drinking a beverage offered her by a faerie, Cristina then kissed Mark, believing that the drink was enchanted to affect her mind; once revealed it was not, Mark was hurt that Cristina would only kiss him if she thought she was not in control of herself. The pair was then accosted by two faeries who tied a ribbon around their wrists which Mark removed, only to find out later that though the ribbon was removed, a binding spell had been placed upon them.

Later, after Kieran had been rescued and the group had escaped to the Seelie Court, Cristina helped heal Kieran's wounds and acted as Mark's confidante while he struggled to come to terms with the fact that Kieran did not remember betraying him, and that he couldn't stop thinking about her. When the Shadowhunters had an audience with the Seelie Queen and discussed overthrowing the Unseelie King, Cristina was surprised when Kieran—told by Julian to not to do it for Mark—swore an oath of fealty to her as part of the bargain.

When Gwyn later arrived to escort the Shadowhunters to London with the Hunt, Cristina was overjoyed to have the opportunity to fly a faerie steed.

Cristina later accompanied Julian and Emma to the London train station, as part of their journey to Cornwall to investigate Malcolm's house, but was forced to return to the Institute owing to her bleeding arm. The bleeding was identified as a result of a faerie binding spell—received during her and Mark's time in the faerie revel—activated by being away from Mark.

*More coming soon*

### Herondales, Carstairs, Penhallows, Blackthorns, & Lightwoods

Cristina is currently in a relationship with Mark Blackthorn and Kieran. She adores the Blackthorn children, as well as the Herondales and Lightwoods.

She splits her time by doing two weeks in LA, two weeks in New York, then two weeks in Mexico, and then two weeks in New York. Mark comes along with her, and Emma usually stays in Mexico for a week while she is there.

## Personality

Cristina is a generally wise, kind, composed, and gentle person. She is principled and thoughtful, strong and unwavering in her loyalty and morals. She is sensitive and caring, and willing to help others.

Cristina is also somewhat religious, strong in her Shadowhunter faith and strongly believes in angels, which others of her kind do not believe in as there was little concrete evidence of their existence until recently, as well as in the Angel Raziel's presumed guidance over them as humans and Nephilim.

## Physical Appearance

Cristina has brown skin, dark brown eyes, and long, black hair, which she frequently wears in a braid or a bun. Cristina is also described to be curvy.

## Trivia

* Cristina is addicted to caffeine.
* She speaks seven languages besides her native Spanish, including English, Greek, and Latin; she can also read three demon languages.
* Her favorite weapon is the balisong.