Clockwork Angel

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s treatment of substance addiction.

“With a frown he wiped the flat of the knife across the rough fabric of his sleeve, scraping it clean until a symbol, burned into the blade, became visible. Two serpents, each biting the other’s tail, for a perfect circle.”

This is the introduction of the ouroboros symbol, a historical symbol for eternity that Cassandra Clare uses to denote the Pandemonium Club and The Magister. The symbol is typically only one serpent eating its own tail, introducing the mystery of what the double ouroboros may mean in the context of the series.

“Nate had exclaimed in surprise that [the clockwork angel] was still working after so many years, and he had looked in vain for a knob or screw, or some other method by which the angel might be wound. But there had been nothing to find. With a shrug he’d given the angel to Tessa.”

Nate finds the clockwork angel while sifting through his and Tessa’s mother’s things and disregards the angel when he cannot understand its function. This shows that Nate does not care as deeply as Tessa does for his family, and foreshadows how Tessa will be connected to the Shadow World in a way Nate is not. The fact that the clockwork angel still functions after so many years also hints at its magical properties.

“The other woman was short and plump, with small eyes sunk deep into her head; the bright pink gloves stretched over her large hands made them look like colorful paws.”

The simile “like colorful paws” both describes Mrs. Black and alludes to her warlock nature by comparing her to a non-human creature. The diction the author chooses—“stretched” and “sunk deep”—suggests mystery and deception, foreshadowing how Mrs. Black is hiding her identity from Tessa.