Lazlo Balogh is a Hungarian Shadowhunter, the former head of the Budapest Institute and a member of the Cohort.
History[]
Dark War[]
In December 2007, Balogh heeded the Clave's warning and evacuated to Idris to be safe from Sebastian Morgenstern and his Endarkened army, believing that the move was temporary and for brainstorming their next move.
At the Great Council meeting after the Downworld representatives were abducted and a message, written in angel ichor, was left in the Council Hall by Sebastian, Balogh guessed that the gesture was vengeance for Sebastian's failed attacks on the London Institute and the Adamant Citadel. When discussions of all Shadowhunters hiding out in Idris, where they can remain a group, was brought up, Balogh insisted that they needed to be out there, fulfilling their duties of protecting the world against demons.
During the meeting after the battle dubbed as the Dark War, Balogh was the first one who raised the issue of the half-faerie, half-Shadowhunters Helen and Mark Blackthorn, believing the rumors that they were in fact traitors and in league with the faeries, and that they helped Sebastian easily penetrate the Los Angeles Institute. He questioned their loyalties, despite the objections of the few who stood up for them. He also suggested that Mark would be left with the Wild Hunt and that Helen would be stripped of her Marks. Instead, Helen was merely exiled to Wrangel Island, though Balogh no longer challenged this and simply agreed.[1]
Academy[]
After the reopening of the Shadowhunter Academy, Balogh visited as a guest lecturer and told the students about Tobias Herondale, whom he and most Shadowhunters (due to the story passed down through their generations) believed to be the perfect example of the worst thing a Shadowhunter can do: betraying his comrades in the heat of battle and being a coward—which Tobias apparently did in 1828 when he disappeared. Balogh horrified the students when he revealed that Tobias's wife was the one who perished for him.[2]
The Cohort[]
In 2012, Lazlo attended the Council meeting where Annabel Blackthorn and Kieran were meant to testify. When Annabel began explaining that the Unseelie King had the power to cancel out Nephilim abilities through the Blight, Lazlo interrupted claiming that it was impossible and she had to be lying. He soon turned to Diana Wrayburn and told her she should recuse herself from the conversation as she had been observed fraternizing with faeries.[3]
While Lazlo was not an official member of the Cohort during this time, he was a large sympathizer. During the emergency Council meeting following the chaos caused by Annabel, he supported Horace Dearborn in his pursuit to become Inquisitor—believing Horace's rant that Raziel had made the Mortal Sword break because they proved themselves unworthy and asking only how they could become worthy again.
Following Horace's appointment to Inquisitor, Dearborn held a few meetings where he tried to push The Registry to be passed. Lazlo was at one of these and shot dirty looks at Diana and Kadir Safar for making comments about Dearborn's theatrics in revealing Dane Larkspear's body in front of the crowd without having told the family prior of his death to cause a scene. When his sister, Samantha Larkspear, was brought out after, clearly in a hysterical state, Lazlo called out sympathy for her and agreed the fault was on Downworlders. These displays had the desired effect and the Registry was passed.
Lazlo's support of Horace did not falter even after the truth of Horace's actions and lies were revealed during the projection of the Cohort's parley. When the Shadowhunters inside Alicante flooded to the gates, Lazlo stood guarding the gate along with Paige Ashdown. When Jia called for him to open it, he refused to do so claiming the true Consul was Horace and he would not disobey his orders. Upon more cries for the gates to open, he claimed he would die before allowing them through the gates. After Brother Shadrach informed him that the Silent Brothers had concluded that Jia is the true Consul and that he must open the gates, he began to get really angry and flustered, though he made no attempt to open them. Regardless, the brothers then opened the gate through their own abilities and the Shadowhunters went and joined their brethren in battle.
Despite his clear support of the Cohort, all they stood for, and what they had done, Lazlo was not arrested like the other members of the Cohort as he had remained in the city during the battle. This meant that when Jia announced she was stepping down as Consul at the Cohort's sentencing meeting, he was able to be nominated in the election. Once nominated, he tried to refute Alec Lightwood's nomination: claiming he wouldn't be able to do the job because he had never lived in Idris, that his parents being a part of the Circle should reflect poorly on him even though he had voted for Robert. Finally he tried to gain support by saying that Alec would end the Cold Peace and the Registry; to which Alec concurred and received a round of applause. After the vote and Alec was revealed as the new Consul, the Cohort were tossed weapons by the guards planted there by Cohort allies like Lazlo—who appeared unsurprised. They held the blades to their throats saying they refused to recognize Alec as their leader and demanded they all leave Idris, never to return, or they would kill themselves. Lazlo then began to speak: claiming that people were intimidated into voting for Alec but that their hearts lie with them. He continued to explain that once they left they would never be allowed back as they planned to remove the Portal in the Gard, lock the wards against them, and brick up entrances to the Silent City—as they believed the Silent Brothers were corrupted and they would be cut off until they saw the error of their ways and who the true Shadowhunters were.[4]
Lazlo is still barricaded in Idris as of 2013.[5]
Physical description[]
Lazlo is a tall and thin man with pale skin and dark hair.
Appearances[]
- City of Heavenly Fire (first appearance)
- The Lost Herondale
- Lord of Shadows
- Queen of Air and Darkness