Dearman 1

Marissa Dearman

ERWC, Period 4

May 1, 2017

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy is a collection of short stories written by

Cassandra Clare and various authors which is set directly after the events of Cassandra

Clares The Mortal Instruments. The series follows Simon Lewis, a former vampire who

has lost all of his memories of the Shadow World due to a demon and, with the help of

the warlock Magnus Bane, is trying to regain them. In order to regain his memories,

Simon Lewis must renounce his mundane (human) life and attend the Shadowhunter

Academy to Ascend to a Shadowhunter, a half human half angel charged with

protecting the mundanes from demons.

The Shadowhunter Academy was reopened after the Dark War to replenish the

ranks of the Shadowhunters. Both mundanes who had the potential of ascending and

the younger Shadowhunters who have not completed their training were attending. The

Shadowhunter Academy had to streams -- the Elites and the Dregs. The Elite stream

was for the Shadowhunters while the Dregs stream was for the mundanes. However,

despite being a mundane and because of Simon Lewis part in ending the war, he was

allowed into the Elite stream because he was a hero. After a few weeks of witnessing

the horrible treatment the Dregs were getting because the Shadowhunters thought

themselves better, Simon, in front of everyone, told the Dean that he wanted to be

moved to the Dregs stream. It was a shock to the Shadowhunters to see someone who

they considered a hero, switch to something they saw as lesser than them. Inspired by
 Dearman 2

this, Simons roommate George told Dean Penhallow that even though he has a

Shadowhunters last name and his parents are Shadowhunters, he is in fact mundane

as he was adopted and moved to the Dregs stream with Simon.

During Simons entire first year at the Academy, he worked to show that the

Shadowhunters were no better than the mundanes or the downworlders (vampires,

werewolves, and warlocks). By their second year, despite still being in different streams,

the mundanes and Shadowhunters all started working together without prejudice as if

they werent in different groups. At the end of the year, they all graduated from the

Academy and the mundanes went through Ascension, which can kill a mundane. When

Simon Lewis ascended, he regained all his memories. His good mood was tempered

when his roommate, George Lovelace did not survive the ascension and died.

When mundanes ascend to Shadowhunter status, they must choose a

Shadowhunter last name. After several months, Simon decided to choose the name of

Lovelace to honor his dead friend, whom he had seen as a brother.