| By Rwtia64 | Part of the Silver Linings continuity. |
Joseph Herondale is a former Shadowhunter, the eldest son of Tessa and Will Herondale.
Biography[]
Early life[]
| “ | Well, that's one more thing to consider. It's never happened before, as far as we know: a child, touched by heavenly fire before birth, especially not one with demon blood. How he even survived that… I do not know. | ” |
–Magnus about Joseph's birth | ||
Joseph was born to former Shadowhunter Jem Carstairs and the half-Shadowhunter warlock Tessa Gray. A considerable miracle, Joseph was a child out of wedlock, conceived during his parents' engagement and shortly before his father's close encounter with death that forced him to join the Silent Brothers.
When his mother finally went into labor, much earlier than the Brothers had expected, she knew — much like her own mother knew almost two decades before — that something was wrong: her child was dying. Desperate, Tessa begged and prayed to the angels, clutching her necklace that once carried the spirit of Ithuriel in her hand hard enough that she bled, and Joseph was born, healthy, but with a mark too distinct to be quite normal.
Joseph grew up knowing that he was not Will's son, though they never made him feel like it. He was always told lightly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, words like: "Your father would be proud," "You are just like your father," or "Your father would have done the same thing."
- Joseph: "Who is his father?"
- Will: "I am."
- Joseph: "Well, then… is he still my brother, even if we do not have the same father?"
- Will: "Of course he is, Joseph. Tessa is your mother."
- Joseph: "Well then, who is my father?"
- ―Joseph finally asking about his parentage, Silver Linings
They only fully discussed it when he was six years old, when his parents told him that they were expecting another child. When Joseph asked about his father's identity, he could see that his parents had difficulty telling him the truth, recognizing the secrecy in their hushed tones. Hopeful and curious, he asked if his father was some sort of hero on a distant mission, already convincing himself to believe what he knew, even at such a young age, would only be a half-truth. His parents confirmed it for him, giving him some inkling of the truth: that his father's life was at constant risk, and coming home to him would risk it further.
Siblings[]
Joseph became very close to and protective of his little brother, James.
Physical description[]
Joseph has light brown hair, wavy and usually running down to the nape of his neck. His dark brown eyes is made more startling by the thick silver band surrounding his right pupil and left iris, considered his subtle warlock mark. Due to coming into contact with a small remnant of Ithuriel's heavenly fire while both in Tessa's womb and later when he was born, Joseph also has the trademark Herondale birthmark at the center of his back, just between his shoulder blades.
Trivia[]
- Joseph's eyes were initially described as having a thick silver line running halfway across his iris, ending in the deep gold of his pupil that spreads like a blot; a thin line of gold then continued outward from his pupil, in line with the silver before, ending in the white of his eye, just a bit outside the iris. This was changed after the story that revealed that James Herondale would also have gold eyes.