Robert Lightwood is the patriarch of the Lightwood family, the former husband of Maryse Lightwood and the father of Alec, Isabelle, and Max Lightwood, as well as the adoptive father of Jace Herondale. He is the Clave's current Inquisitor. Once members of Valentine's Circle, he and Maryse were sent to New York where they ran the Institute until he became the Inquisitor.