Jem Carstairs

Trivia

Because his parents were from different cultures, Jem received two names at birth, one Western with his father's surname (James Carstairs), and another Chinese with his mother's surname (Ke Jian Ming). It is unknown whether his descendants would also inherit an Asian name with the surname Ke. Her daughter, Mina Carstairs, born in 2013, has the full name Wilhelmina Yiqiang Ke Carstairs, but since she is so young it is not yet known whether she will use the eastern part of her name. It is possible that the phonetic similarity between the two names (Jian and James) is intentional, as it would be less confusing for Jem to grow up with two names that sounded similar. He really enjoys playing the violin and spending time with Will Herondale and Tessa Gray. She loves drinking tea and animals. He is very protective of Will and fears that something bad will happen to him; he loves him like a brother. He always seems happy or content because he's always smiling, but he only does it so that others don't worry and move on. She greatly appreciates Charlotte's work in taking care of them and the Institute. Take advantage and speak in Mandarin when you want to say something you don't want others to know. He never lies. He doesn't care about his own condition if his friends are in danger. He uses a jade staff that conceals a blade inside. Jem speaks fluent English and Mandarin, the languages ​​he grew up with. He has also learned Spanish. Jem is three months older than Will. After being exposed to the celestial fire, his eyes turned dark again, but with golden flecks, a kind of mark from exposure to this divine element. Even after leaving the Silent Brotherhood, he received an embroidered robe as a gift from several members of Shadowmarkets, with a note that read, "You will always be our favorite Silent Brother." Cassandra Jean identifies him with the prince from The Little Mermaid, one of Hans Christian Andersen's stories and with one of the Brothers Grimm. Her favorite ice cream flavor is maple and walnut.[2]

He is a kind and rather calm person, despite having a troubled past. His character is unlike that of other Shadowhunters, which is why his abilities as a protector are questioned. However, he is an excellent fighter and also possesses a sharp and rational intellect. He dislikes it when people take a special interest in him or approach him only out of pity, which is why he doesn't talk about his illness. He prefers that if he receives attention, it be because he has earned it, not because of his condition. He has a great sensitivity to music and is learning to play the violin. He clings to this wonderful instrument whenever he can to relax, and although he can't express himself with words like Will, he does so very well through music. He is also very good at dealing with and empathizing with people, always knowing how to reach an agreement without major discord, something that is very useful to his parabatai, Will.

No matter how bad things get, he always tries to see the bright side of things. He rarely gets angry and always remains positive and cheerful, even when he has no reason to be happy. His resilience, his constant struggle, and his inability to give up are just some of the many factors that define and characterize him. Although he doesn't have much to live for, he doesn't wallow in self-pity in front of others. He always holds his head high, doesn't just cry in every corner, and leans on those who truly love him and really know him. With all his flaws, he wants and strives to be important to others and, above all, to be helpful, though he always has been, and everyone around him has valued him for it.

Physical description

Before Yan Luo forced him to live on the yin fen drug, he possessed features that set him apart from all non-Asians: unruly black hair, pale skin, and dark, almond-shaped eyes. But that changed simply from living with the drug: his hair turned a brilliant silver, and his eyes mirrored it. Later, after being healed by celestial fire, his hair and eyes returned to their natural dark state. His face is characterized by soft, delicate features, an angular face, a slight curve under his eyes, and a genuine smile. He appears youthful, partly due to his lightness. He is also tall, with a slender build, but no less powerful for it. Like all Shadowhunters, his skin is covered in runes.

Jem allows Will to travel in his place on the search, as his lack of yin fen has severely affected his health, leaving him bedridden and knowing he doesn't have much time left. He also learns that his parabatai harbors romantic feelings for his fiancée. During the search, the parabatai rune shatters, and Will believes Jem has died, but soon discovers this is not the case. Jem decides to become a Silent Brother, as this is the only way he can survive. Jem must sever all ties that bind him to mortal life.

They manage to defeat Mortmain and his infernal machines. Jem fought alongside Will one last time, keeping his Silent Brother cloak lowered, revealing his silver hair. From then on, Brother Enoch insists that he be called Brother Zachariah. Tessa and Jem promise to meet once a year on Blackfriars Bridge.

His last appearance in the book was in 2008, when instead of presenting himself to Tessa as a Silent Brother, he dressed in modern clothes, looking normal and claiming that he had found "a cure".

Jem and Tessa decide to stay together now that he is no longer a Silent Brother and plan to explore new places together.

When they arrived, they were attacked by the Dark Sister. She used her powers to set the building they were in ablaze, but they managed to kill her. Jem took a cat that had been locked in a cage. Once they escaped, they realized that it might all have been a trap and that Tessa and the others could be in danger. Will rode ahead of Jem to the Institute, which was under attack by an army of mechanical beings. Jem arrived a little later and helped Will until the rest of the Shadowhunters arrived.

At the end of the book, Jem revealed that he had named the cat Church. Jem also comforted Tessa when she learned that, as a witch, she could not have children.[1] Racing Against Time

In Clockwork Prince, his role is larger, his feelings for Tessa grow stronger, and he

They kiss for the first time.

When the decision is being made about whether the Institute will remain in Charlotte's or Benedict Lightwood's hands, Tessa knows that if Benedict keeps it, she'll have to leave, and she has nowhere to go. Jem then proposes to her, giving her the Carstairs ring and a jade pendant that belonged to his mother, inscribed with the words, "When two people are one in the deepest part of their hearts, they break even the strength of iron or bronze." Tessa accepts, and the two become engaged, but they don't get married as soon as they had planned. In a ploy by Mortmain, Jem is stunned by the possibility of Tessa sacrificing herself to obtain more of the drug. And although he refuses to trade Tessa for the yin fen, his fiancée is captured by one of the Dark Sisters. This occurs in Clockwork Princess.

Jem showed Tessa the silver powder, yin fen, which satisfied his body's craving for demon blood. Will brought the drug to Jem since Jem didn't want to buy it himself, feeling guilty that he needed it in the first place. Without the drug, his natural Shadowhunter powers were weakened until he consumed more. Jem also said he used as little of the drug as possible. Tessa noticed that after taking the drug, Jem's face seemed to have a slight flush, his eyes appeared brighter, and the powder had a sweet scent. She accidentally knocked over the box where Jem kept the drug while they were kissing passionately. It's presumed that Jem snorted the drug rather than smoked it, since Will said the smell of burnt yin fen from a werewolf pack clashed with the drug's natural sweet aroma. Jem witnessed werewolves dying from overdosing on the drug, and he simply stood back and watched in horror. It is unknown how long it would take for the drug to take its lethal effect on Jem.

While the Shadowhunters were attacking Alexei de Quincey's clan, Axel Mortmain visited the Institute. Will and Jem went outside to hear what he had to say. He told them about the location of the remaining Dark Sister, the Dark Lady, who was supposedly going to help the Magister raise his mechanical army. They both left immediately, though Jem wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do.

Over the next few days, Jem worked with Will and Tessa on their research. He was particularly kind to Tessa, mostly to help correct Will's bad behavior. Jem tried to help Tessa understand Will and adjust to London. He also guided Tessa as she learned about the Shadow World, telling her about vampires after she met Camille Belcourt and had to Change her. He also tried to help her understand her own witch powers.

When Tessa left the London Institute after arguing with Will, Jem found her and took her for a walk. He led her to a bridge that wasn't often visited because it didn't offer much of a view. He told her it was his favorite place to go when he needed to escape. They were suddenly attacked by mechanical people, one of whom was the Dark Sisters' coachman. Jem fought them off, but he became ill and started coughing when they were suddenly attacked by an entire army of mechanical people. He and Tessa made their way back to the Institute. By the time they arrived, Jem was extremely ill and unable to respond to Tessa. Ressa couldn't open the Institute gates because she wasn't a Shadowhunter. Will and the other Shadowhunters arrived just in time and defeated the mechanical army, though some of them escaped. However, Jem was injured and was taken inside the Institute.

Jem was treated and had to rest in bed. However, he wanted to talk to Tessa and asked Will to call her. He told her not to blame herself and explained that he was addicted to yin fen, a drug that made him severely ill when he was physically exhausted.

Tessa and Mortmain

Jem was seventeen when he met Tessa Gray. He and Will were investigating the death of the mundane Emma Bayliss, which led them to the Dark Sisters, though Jem wasn't part of the raid on the Dark House because he was very ill. Instead, he met Tessa the afternoon after her rescue, when she entered his room while he was playing the violin. At first, he thought Will had entered his room, so he hadn't expected to find her there. They talked for a while, mostly about losing their parents, before a drunken Will arrived and Jem had a coughing fit.

The next day, Jem and Will were sent to the Dark House to investigate. There, they found the body of the Dark Sisters' mechanical servant, Miranda, who awoke under Jem's touch. The creature warned them of an unknown danger before shutting down again. They took the mechanical girl to the Institute to be studied by Henry.

When Jem arrived at the Institute, Will was also new, having arrived six months earlier. On his first day, Will didn't greet him along with the others, so Charlotte took Jem to the training room to meet him. When Will, in an attempt to discourage Jem from being his friend, mocked him by saying he looked weak and about to die, Jem told him about his short life. Then Jem told him not to pity him and instead let him train with him, to which Will agreed.

Jem was the only one at the Institute who could break through Will, who thought the curse on him wouldn't matter to Jem since he was already dying. Almost a year after they met, Will asked Jem to be his parabatai. Jem initially refused, thinking Will deserved someone who would be available to look after him for a long time. However, the persistent Will wagered that if he could take Jem's sword, they would be blood brothers forever. Jem agreed and lost the bet. A year later, when they were both fourteen, they took the parabatai ceremony and have been inseparable ever since.

When he was fifteen, the demon Yanluo was finally defeated. His uncle, Elias, invited Jem to move to Idris with him, but he refused so he could stay with Will. Around this time, Jem asked Will to stop searching for a cure for him.

Early life

Jem was born in Shanghai, China, to a British father, Jonah Carstairs, and a Chinese mother, Ke Wen Yu. He was raised at the Shanghai Institute, run by his parents. He lived there until he was twelve, when the Elder Demon Yanluo, in revenge for the destruction of his nest, murdered his parents and tortured him by poisoning him with yin fen, a demonic poison that could turn him into a drug addict. Jem drifted in and out of consciousness and suffered from delusions. By the time the Shanghai Enclave arrived to investigate, his parents were dead and he was already addicted to drugs.

Jem was rescued, though his drug addiction could not be cured. While Jem needed the drug to survive, the regular doses were slowly killing him, so it was known that Jem would not live much longer.

Shortly afterward, Jem was taken to the London Institute, where he was cared for by Charlotte Fairchild. There, Jem also met Charlotte's husband, her then-fiancé Henry Branwell, the sighted worldly servants Sophie Collins, Thomas Tanner, and Agatha, and the Institute's pupils, Will Herondale and Jessamine Lovelace.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION FULL NAME: James Carstairs Ke Jian Ming BIRTH: November 8, 1860 AGE: 18 (in 1878) 43 (in 1903) 152 (in 2012) ALIAS: Ke Jian Ming Brother Zachariah NICKNAMES: Jem Jemmy (by Charlotte) STATE STATE: Alive AFFILIATIONS PARABATAI: Will Herondale † (formerly) ALLIANCES: The Key Livia's Guard OCCUPATION: Shadowhunter (formerly) Silent Brother (formerly) RESIDENCE: Devon, England (currently) Los Angeles Silent City (formerly) London Institute (formerly) Shanghai Institute (formerly) RELATIONS COUPLE(S): Tessa Gray (wife) FATHER: Jonah Carstairs † MOTHER: Ke Wen Yu † CHILDREN): Mina Carstairs Kit Herondale (adopted) OTHER RELATIVES: Ke Yiwen † (maternal aunt) Elias Carstairs † (paternal uncle) Sona Turan † (paternal aunt) Alastair Carstairs † (cousin) Cordelia Carstairs † (cousin) Zachary Carstairs † (cousin) Ke Yun (second cousin) Emma Carstairs (distant relative) Jia Penhallow (distant relative) FAMILY: Carstairs family Ke Family Starkweather family (by marriage) Gray family (by marriage) PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION SPECIES: Nephilim GENDER: Male HAIR COLOR: Dark brown Platinum bleached (while I was sick) EYE COLOR: Dark brown Silver-plated (while I was sick) HEIGHT: 1.78 - 1.80 meters James "Jem" Carstairs, also known as Ke Jian Ming, is a former Shadowhunter and a former Silent Brother. He was once an orphan living at the London Institute in the 1870s, along with his parabatai, Will Herondale, and is now a mortal over one hundred years old, cured of his illness.