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What changed on screen
What changed on screen, title by title: 37 in total. Tap a cover to open it. Titles you haven't marked as read stay locked so nothing gets spoiled.
- Referencenod to comics or other movies
- Cameoa familiar face shows up
- Setupplanted now, pays off later
- Behind the scenesproduction trivia
- ReferenceMagnus and Camille in 1878
Magnus Bane and the vampire Camille Belcourt, from The Mortal Instruments, are already in London in 1878. Tessa meets Magnus at a vampire party.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA prequel written midway
Clockwork Angel came out in 2010, between City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels. The author says you can read in any order, but publication order is best.
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- ReferenceVictorian quotes
The book quotes Victorian writers such as Tennyson, Dickens and Coleridge.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesWill and the ducks
Will Herondale is terrified of ducks, a running joke across the trilogy.
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- Behind the scenesStraight to number one
It debuted at No. 1 on the Publishers Weekly list and sold more than 68,000 copies in its first US week.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesWaiting for a movie
Constantin Film, the studio behind the 2013 movie, optioned the trilogy. As of 2019 the project was still in early development.
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- ReferenceA Dickens title
The title comes from Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. Chapter titles are lines from Victorian and Edwardian poetry.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesLucie's novel
Lucie writes a novel about Cordelia and sends her a new installment every month. Between chapters, flashbacks called Days Past fill in the group's history.
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- Behind the scenesMoths on the cover
The death's-head moths on the cover stand for Lucie's powers over the dead.
source ↗ - ReferenceA London winter
The story covers about a month in December 1903, roughly four months after Chain of Gold.
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- Behind the scenesAlmost a year late
The book came out nearly a year late because of pandemic delays. Clare has said she planned a far more tragic ending but couldn't bring herself to write it then.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe writing soundtrack
The song Cassandra Clare played most while writing was Halsey's "Lilith."
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- ChangeClary got two years older
In the book, Clary is turning 16. The show opens on her 18th birthday, and the whole cast is aged up.
source ↗ - ChangeNo rat Simon in the movie
In the book, Simon gets turned into a rat at Magnus's party, and the group hunts for a rodent at the Hotel Dumort. In the movie he's in his own body, hanging from chains.
source ↗ - ChangeLuke became a cop
In the book, Luke owns a bookstore. On the show, he's an NYPD detective.
source ↗ - ChangeMadame Dorothea got younger
The elderly psychic downstairs becomes Dot, a young, upbeat warlock, on the show.
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- ChangeWho turns Simon
In the book, Raphael is the one who turns Simon into a vampire. On the show, it's Camille Belcourt.
source ↗ - ChangeShow-only characters
S2 introduces the warlock Iris Rouse and little Madzie, neither of whom is in the books.
source ↗ - ChangeWhat happens to the Soul-Sword
In the book, Valentine's plan for the Soul-Sword ends when Clary blows up his ship with a rune. On the show, Jace accidentally activates the Sword, and Valentine turns it on the Downworlders.
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- ChangeJocelyn lives in the book
In the book, Jocelyn wakes from her coma and survives. On the show she dies in S2, a change Cassandra Clare herself approved.
source ↗ - ChangeMax makes it on the show
In the book, Max Lightwood dies in the attack on Alicante. On the show, Sebastian hurts him, he falls into a coma and pulls through.
source ↗ - ChangeWho kills Valentine
In the book, Valentine summons Raziel at Lake Lyn, and the angel himself kills him. On the show, Clary is the one who kills Valentine.
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- ChangeJace becomes the Owl
In the book, Lilith controls Jace through a rune drawn in his blood. On the show, she turns him into the Owl, a killer who acts without remembering any of it.
source ↗ - ChangeWho takes down Lilith
In the book, Simon's Mark of Cain turns on Lilith at the climax. On the show, the final win over her goes to Isabelle, using heavenly fire.
source ↗ - ChangeMaureen exits early
In the book, Maureen, a fan of Simon's band, becomes a vampire and plays a big part. On the show, she drops out during S1.
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- ChangeThe bond switched hands
In the book, Sebastian binds Jace to himself with a rune. On the show, Clary is the one bound to Jonathan by a rune.
source ↗ - ChangeGlorious changes hands
In the book, Clary drives the sword Glorious into Jace, and heavenly fire ends up living inside him. On the show, Jace is the one who stabs Clary with Glorious to break the bond.
source ↗ - ChangeWhy they break up
In the book, Magnus leaves Alec because Alec considered Camille's offer to take away Magnus's immortality. On the show, something else weighs on them: Magnus gives his magic to his father, Asmodeus, to save Jace.
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- ChangeWho loses their memories
In the book, Simon gives Asmodeus his immortality and his memories of the Shadow World to get the group out of Edom. On the show, Clary is the one who loses her runes and memories.
source ↗ - ChangeLab-made heavenly fire
In the book, the heavenly fire has been inside Jace since the previous volume. On the show, it comes from Aldertree's secret project to turn Downworlders mundane, and it ends up in Isabelle.
source ↗ - ChangeA different wedding at the end
The book ends months later with Jocelyn and Luke's wedding. On the show, the finale wedding is Alec and Magnus's.
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- ReferenceLines from Annabel Lee
Every chapter title is a line from "Annabel Lee," the last poem Edgar Allan Poe wrote.
source ↗ - ReferenceEmma showed up before
Emma Carstairs first appears as a supporting character in City of Heavenly Fire, the last Mortal Instruments book.
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- ReferenceAnother Poe poem
The chapter titles come from Edgar Allan Poe's "Dreamland."
source ↗ - Behind the scenesSpike reads the audiobook
The audiobook is narrated by James Marsters, Spike from Buffy.
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- ReferenceThe City in the Sea
Chapter titles come from Poe's "The City in the Sea." The title nods to Queen Mab from Romeo and Juliet and to an A. E. Housman poem.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesIt jumped the line
The book was first slated for 2019, after Chain of Gold. In 2017 the two release slots were swapped.
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