The Lightwoods

Most runes are meant to be used on Shadowhunters, which may fade over time and affect the Shadowhunter in a variety of different ways.

However, there are many runes that are used on other things. Runes are placed on the weapons Shadowhunters use to prevent demons from healing when wounded by them. There are runes that can be used to lock and unlock doors, create fires, and a wide array of other abilities.

Though most runes have immense power, there are runes used by the Nephilim that are purely symbolic. The love rune, for example, is merely a symbol of two people's love and cannot create the actual feeling. The same can be said for the mourning rune; it cannot diminish the loss that its wearers feel and only symbolizes the pain of their loved ones' deaths.

• Acid: Burns away any surface like acid touched it.
• Alliance: allows Nephilim and Downworlders to share each other's abilites, such as the Shadowhunters' fighting skills and a werewolf's strength. It was created by Clary for the Battle of Brocelind Plain against Valentine's army of demons. It's shaped like a simple, yet complex tie of knot.
• Agility: Equips the wearer with agility to move deftly and with effortless grace.
• Angelic: frequently applied to weapons to imbue them with angelic properties as well as wipe them clean of any demonic traces.
• Binding: Creates a ring of fire-like handcuffs around someone's wrists and is used on criminals to bind their hands. Other binding runes can prevent one's legs from supporting their weight.
• Clairvoyant Sight: Gives those who wear it extrasensory perception, allowing them to see what is not visible; in the Shadowhunters' case, to see past glamours.
• Courage: Provides those who wear it with bravery above and beyond that of a typical demon killer.
• Deflect/Block: Fends off incoming blows.
• Destruction: Looks like an unfinished Opening Rune; it's obvious what it does.
• Dexteritas: Gives the Shadowhunter agility.
• Enkeli: a Rune of Angelic Power. They are placed on weapons Shadowhunters use to give them angelic power. This washes away all demonic power from the object and prevents demons stabbed by the weapons from healing.
• Fearless: Makes the user afraid of nothing.

• Fire: Used to create fire.
• Fortitude: Provides a warrior with unshakable resolve, will, and inner strength.
• Fortis: Gives the Shadowhunter strength.
• Insight/Foresight: Supports mental acuity and helps understand and interpret a situation or human being deeply. This would make it easier to understand a threat and coming up with a best way to fight the threat.
• Iratze (Heal Painless): The healing rune, often partially drawn by Shadowhunters before going to battle to allow them to quickly finish it and heal themselves. It enables healing without causing the injured person harm or distress. It has been noted that the healing effects are stronger when it is drawn on the injured Shadowhunter by their parabatai.
• The Mark of Cain: If someone tries to harm the person who bears the Mark of Cain, they will be harmed by a power seven times stronger than the one used to harm the bearer of the Mark of Cain. It is important to note that The Mark of Cain is not truly a Shadowhunder's rune, which is why some mundanes/Downworlders do not die when recieving the mark.
• Mendelin: the mendelin rune grants invisibility. It casts a glamour over the wearer and allows them to hide from mundanes and, in some cases, demons.
• Mnemosyne: The memory rune, granting the Shadowhunter perfect photographic memory.
• Necromancy: A rune, when placed on a deceased Shadowunter, brings them back to life. It is not permanent and will fade over time, but it allows them to talk for a short time. However, their soul had been forcefully pulled back to the world of the living. That combined with any pain their injuries would have caused them would cause them immense pain and would make it nearly impossible to speak. When the rune is destroyed, they die once again.
• Night-Vision: Allows the Shadowhunter to see in the dark.

• Open: a simple rune used to open various things.
• Parabatai: A rune that partners two Shadowhunters together, so they can draw on each other's strength.

• Permanant Loyalty: A rune that bound Nephilim to the person who marked them.
• Precision: A modified "X marks the spot," this symbol instills in its user extremely refined aim, typically of a weapon.
• Rune of Quietude: This rune is used by the Silent Brothers to silence themselves and placed on the back of the neck.
• Sangliers: it is used to transfer blood when the body needs it, but is extremely dangerous. (also known as Blood Transfer Runes)
• Soundless: Allows a Shadowhunter to move about silently and avoid detection.
• Speed: Enables the wearer to move very quickly in any environment or condition.
• Strength: Increases physical strength of a Shadowhunter.
• Thermis: Keeps the Shadowhunter warm.
• Tracking Runes: Allows someone to track a person's whereabouts and, in some cases, see what the person is seeing, if one has a possession of the person being tracked. Often used by the Clave to track down criminals.
• Voyance: A "permanent" rune given to a Shadowhunter at a young age on the back of the hand to aid in steadiness. However, it fades if Nephilim drink Lilith's blood from the Infernal Cup.