The Ke family is a Shadowhunter family originating from China.
History[]
The Ke family's ancestry can date back hundreds of years in Shanghai, China. The family's ancestral home there is even older than the Institute.
For many generations, the Ke family has run the Shanghai Institute and still do to this day.[1] Their hold on the Institute goes back before the 1860s, when Ke Wen Yu married Jonah Carstairs and later took over the Institute sometime after the birth of their son, Jem. In 1872, the couple was killed by the Greater Demon Yanluo in retaliation for her killing a nest of his demon offspring.[2] Ke Yiwen hunted down Yanluo for revenge and was eventually able to kill the demon alongside Jonah's brother, Elias Carstairs.[3]
Yiwen became the head of the Shanghai Institute[4] and went on to have children of her own and eventually grandchildren. One of her grandchildren, Ke Yun became a fierce and great warrior. She eventually was put in charge of training of the following generation, and even some of the generation after that.[1]
In the 1980s, Ke Jia was living in Beijing where she met Patrick Penhallow, whom she later married. Together, the couple ran the Beijing Institute and had a daughter, Aline Penhallow. In 2007, Jia was voted Consul,[5] and she stepped down in 2012.[6] Shortly after, Wen Yu's son Jem gave his daughter Mina the Ke surname.[7]
Known members[]
- Ke Lijing[8] (17th century)
- Ke Yiwen (1800s-?)
- Ke Wen Yu (1839-1872)
- Jonah Carstairs (by marriage) (1838-1872)
- Ke Jian Ming (Jem Carstairs) (1861-)
- Tessa Carstairs (née Gray) (1862~)
- Ke Yun (?-)
- Jia Penhallow (1967-)
- Patrick Penhallow (by marriage) (1900s-)
- Aline Penhallow (1990-)
- Ke Yi Tian (1990s-)
- Ke Liqin (1990s-)
- Wilhelmina Yiqiang Ke Carstairs (2013-)
Etymology[]
The surname Ke is of Chinese origin; it is a transliteration of a common Chinese surname, written 柯 (romanized as kē in Hanyu pinyin).[9] It means 'stem' or 'axe handle'.[10][11]
