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SPOILER WARNING: Plot details follow. Caution is advised!

There is so much wrong with the world. I want it to make sense. I want to put it right. I want to find the solutions that are overlooked by others.

– Christopher to Henry, Days Past: Christopher, a Chain of Gold extra

Christopher Lightwood was the second child and oldest son of Cecily Herondale and Gabriel Lightwood, brother to Anna and Alexander. He was a scientist and inventor under the mentorship of Henry Branwell.

History[]

Early life[]

Christopher Lightwood was born in 1887, after his older sister, Anna, and before his younger brother, Alexander.

Christopher was eccentric growing up. Luckily, his family was familiar with the similarly eccentric Henry Branwell—an inventor and old family friend of his parents—and thus his family and friends were able to adapt to him and be supportive of his experiments. Henry later mentored him in science and the pair even worked together to create a few inventions.[2]

Academy[]

Attending the Shadowhunter Academy at twelve in 1899, Christopher was accompanied by his cousin Thomas Lightwood and later by their family friend Matthew Fairchild. When his other cousin James Herondale arrived, their group tried to assimilate him into their group, though James kept distancing himself at first. Eventually, after James and Matthew resolved their issues, the four boys became good friends. Christopher was mostly oblivious to why the other students bullied or feared James, not thinking James was strange. Christopher was also constantly distracted and impressed by odd things, bothering even their professor Ragnor Fell.

A few weeks into the school year, Matthew gave Christopher materials that he could use to build explosives. They left the slow-acting bomb in the Academy's south wing, and it exploded minutes after.[3] Christopher was asked to leave the academy following the explosion, though that had not been Matthew's intent. As it turned out, Ragnor had threatened to leave the school forever if they allowed him to remain.[4]

After James and Matthew left the Academy to train instead at the London Institute, the four boys remained close friends and have since remained together, forming a group known as the Merry Thieves. They began renting a room at the Devil Tavern, where Christopher has his own experiment table, though he most often works in Henry's lab.

Finding a cure[]

In 1903, he and his family suffered a great loss when his cousin Barbara Lightwood died of a demonic poison after an attack at Regent's Park. He and his friends began working diligently to sort out and destroy the demon responsible for the attacks, while Christopher simultaneously worked on finding an antidote for the poison. Eventually Christopher was able to figure out the cure but couldn't find a way to make it work without a key illegal ingredient. James was able to locate where it may be found but before they could retrieve it, Christopher was attacked and poisoned himself.

While receiving treatment in the Silent City, James Herondale, Cordelia Carstairs, and Matthew Fairchild snuck in and talked with Christopher. Christopher, under the influence of the infection, grabbed James's wrist, infecting him, while trying to warn him that he was in danger and all the attacks were about him. During this time his cousin, Thomas Lightwood, used Henry's lab to finish Christopher's work and mix the elixir. He soon brought it to the Silent City to cure everyone, including Christopher. His creation of the antidote earned him the status of hero; much to his annoyance as he believed Thomas deserved the praise for being the one who mixed it.[5]

Stopping a killer[]

In December, a string of murders began to plague the Shadowhunters of London. He decided to return to his experimentation on developing a gun that could function with runes on it to be used against the killer and other demons. He even tried placing the protection spells placed on Shadowhunter children on it but he could not get it to work. While he was working in Henry's lab, he asked James to try the gun as he had used a gun before and Christopher was beginning to wonder if he was simply inexperienced in its workings. Surprisingly, it worked for James; though when Kit tried it again, it didn't ignite. Deciding it might only work for James because of his lineage, he asked James to hold on to it for safekeeping and report back any developments.

Some days later, Thomas was arrested and accused of being responsible for the murders happening across London. He and the Thieves managed to sneak in to speak with Thomas while he was being held in the Sanctuary and he handed them an object belonging to the actual killer he had found with the latest victim. Christopher and the others went to the London Shadow Market to investigate the object, but their search yielded little information. That night, while he was working on finding out the workings of the object—which he had named a pithos—he was interrupted by Grace Blackthorn. He gave her a tour of the lab and eventually told her of the pithos. Grace toyed with it a bit and managed to discover that it could transfer runes from one person to another by taking his Creation rune for herself. Later that night, after she left, a demon disguised as Matthew asked him for the pithos and Kit handed it over, inevitably returning it back to the killer.

The next day, he went to the Institute to wait while Thomas was interrogated. Immediately after Thomas was proven innocent, the Institute was attacked by the Prince of Hell Leviathan. He joined the ensuing battle and aided his father when the latter was captured by a tentacle. Eventually, the gateway Leviathan had snuck through was closed, expelling him from the world. Following the succeeding Enclave meeting to discuss the battle, he went with the others to James and Cordelia's house where he was told the full truth of the situation—that Belial had possessed Jesse Blackthorn's body, murdering Shadowhunters in an effort to release his brother. Afterward, he returned to the Institute to stay the night in the infirmary with his injured father.[6]

Inventing fire-messages[]

Christopher started working on inventing a method to send papers through runes and fire. When he found himself blocked, he gave his notes to Grace for an opinion. While the entire London Enclave was at the annual Christmas party at the London Institute, Christopher visited Grace instead. He later escorted Cordelia Carstairs to the Silent City to visit Grace and witnessed her confession about manipulating James Herondale into believing he was in love with her and her power to sway men to her will. Despite knowing what she did to his friend, Christopher was the only one to show kindness toward her afterward.

When the London Institute was attacked by Watchers, Christopher was injured by a poisonous dagger thrown by Tatiana Blackthorn. He died within minutes despite his sister's efforts, much to everyone's horror.

Post-mortem[]

His body was brought to Idris when the Shadowhunters retreated from London, which had fallen under Belial's control. Grace, who stayed behind, along with the rest of Christopher's friends, worked on perfecting the fire-messages. His ghost came to her aid when she found herself unable to make it work and encouraged her to believe in herself. This allowed Grace to finally see the answer in front of her and successfully complete the invention.[7]

Personality and traits[]

Christopher is a form of scientist, much like his godfather Henry Branwell, whom he is close to and gets along with.[8] He is quite eccentric and can be absent-minded and easily distracted.[3][2] He is also quite awkward, especially around women.[9] He sometimes disobeys instructions when he deems it necessary, following his own line of logic that he can give himself permission to do something, even when someone else has told him not to.[10] He is also somewhat of a peacemaker, as he dislikes conflict.[5]

Physical description[]

Christopher has lavender eyes and brown hair. He has a slender build and is often seen wearing spectacles.

Skills and abilities[]

  • Nephilim physiology: Being Nephilim, Christopher possesses a myriad of enhanced physical and mental abilities granted to him by the blood of Raziel in his veins and also by the angelic Marks of the Gray Book. This includes enhanced strength, agility, stamina, coordination, and many others which improve over time and practice.
    • Runic magic: Due to the angel Raziel's blood in their veins, all Shadowhunters are able to apply runes on their skin without any real danger. These Marks, in turn, give varied effects that serve to benefit the wearer.
    • The Sight: As a Shadowhunter, Christopher is able to easily see through most magical illusions and layers of glamour over reality.
    • Use of heavenly weapons: As a Nephilim, Christopher is also able to handle heavenly weapons with effect, since this would normally not work for other species. In particular, these are weapons made of adamas and forged by Iron Sisters, such as seraph blades.

Relationships[]

Christopher and Anna have always been very close. Anna is very protective over Christopher and tries to make sure he doesn't get into any trouble. At most functions, she is tasked with making sure he doesn't accidentally set something or someone on fire with his absent mindedness.

In turn, Christopher cares deeply for his sister and is also protective of her. When Anna had her heart broken by Ari, Christopher attempted to comfort her;[11] and when Alastair Carstairs was about to say something uncomplimentary of her, he stopped him angrily and warned him off of finishing his thought.[5]

MC Merry Thieves 01
  • Thomas and Christopher have a brother-like relationship and are almost always together. Thomas often assists him in the lab and, following Christopher being poisoned, Thomas was able to finish the antidote to the demon poison Christopher had developed.
  • Matthew Fairchild is a bit motherly towards Christopher. At the Academy, Matthew was given the responsibility of watching over Christopher to make sure he didn't blow anything up.
  • James Herondale is Christopher's cousin and one of his best friends. James occasionally picks up books for Christopher to read and is supportive of Christopher's experiments. After James and Cordelia's marriage, he occasionally visited their house with the other Merry Thieves, and gave James the gun that became his signature weapon.

Henry is Christopher's godfather and mentor. Both of them have a love of science and inventions and as such work together often. Some of their inventions include a steam-powered elevator to allow Henry to get to and from his lab in the basement and an ointment to repel demons (which failed).

Henry also allows Kit free access to his lab whenever he wants. There he was able to create the antidote for the Mandikhor poison, tinker with the pithos, and experiment on a gun Henry had acquired to try to make it work in the presence of runes; however, it only worked when wielded by James.

Appearances[]

Gallery[]

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Trivia[]

  • Christopher's favorite treat is lemon tarts.[12]
  • His favorite weapon is considered to be explosives.[1]
  • Christopher can speak Welsh, along with his mother, maternal uncle, siblings, and cousins.[13]
  • At one point, Christopher received love letters from an Iblis demon.[5]
  • Christopher supposedly figured out how to eat fire after seeing a man do so at Covent Garden.[14]
  • There is a hole in the floor at the Shadowhunter Academy that Ragnor Fell named the Christopher Lightwood Chasm, after him.[4]
  • Christopher's favorite book is Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne.[1]
  • His favorite animal is the otter.[1]
  • Christopher once had a pet rat named Marie Curie.[5]
  • While distracted on an experiment, he once accidentally agreed to marry a faerie. When she realized he was not going to follow through, she cast a spell on him that turned him blue. It took the Merry Thieves a couple days to figure out how to reverse it.[15]
  • Most of the mundane objects that he works on were given to Henry by another Shadowhunter scientist that tried to integrate them with runic magic. Henry was thankful for Christopher's interest in the crate as he had planned to get rid of them.[16]
  • A found family tree incorrectly states that Christopher went on to marry Grace Blackthorn, had a son named Isidore, and died some time in 1938 at the age of 50 or 51.
  • In present day, Christopher would be considered on the autism spectrum.[17]
  • He was initially intended to have the nickname "Chris" by Anna and Matthew[18] but this was seemingly changed to "Kit".

References[]

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