The Herondale family is an old Shadowhunter family. They have lived in a variety of places; notably in Wales, Yorkshire, London, Idris, and New York. The men of the family are known to be born with star shaped marks on their shoulders, originating from when Will Herondale's shoulder came into contact with the angel Ithuriel in the late 1870s. The symbol of the family is the heron. Their ring, in particular, has a pattern of the birds in flight. The name Herondale comes from the words "Heron" and "Dale". "Heron" is a bird and "dale" means broad one.
She…hoped. And hope was dangerous. Hope was the most vicious evil of them all, the thing that had managed to thrive in Pandora’s box among misery, and disease, and sadness—and what could endure alongside others with such teeth if it didn’t have ghastly claws of its own?