The Mandikhor crisis was a series of demon attacks in London, orchestrated by the greater demon Belial.
Background
At some point after her son's death, Tatiana Blackthorn allied herself with the greater demon Belial, in the hopes that he could bring Jesse back. He agreed to help Tatiana, in exchange for turning James Herondale dark, wanting to possess his body so he could walk the earth again. Belial then began spreading word to the different kinds of demons ordering them not to go to London in order to make the Shadowhunters weak by lack of practice.
Attacks
In 1903, Belial hired a warlock Emmanuel Gast to raise a Mandikhor demon. Because it was raised partially in his world and partially in the mortal world, the Mandikhor was immune to sunlight. He tried to capture it in a Pyxis box but it broke out and he was killed.
The first attacks occurred at a picnic in Regent's Park. The Khora demons sprung from the trees and the lake and attacked. Rosamund Wentworth and Alastair Carstairs tried to pry a demon off of Piers Wentworth and by the time they did, Piers was deeply wounded. When Ariadne Bridgestock attempted to tend to him, more demons appeared. Charles Fairchild tried to protect her but was knocked out by one demon while another clamped onto her shoulder. Ariadne struggled to free herself from the demon as it dragged her across the grass but by the time Anna Lightwood was able to dispatch the demon, Ariadne had stopped moving. Oliver Hayward was knocked over by one of the demons as it attacked and bit Barbara Lightwood, who promptly collapsed. As quickly as they came, the demons vanished.
The injured were brought to the Institute's infirmary for recovery and were looked over by Silent Brothers. The Brothers decided on putting them to sleep, hoping it would slow the poison from killing them while they looked for a cure. Meanwhile Lucie Herondale and Cordelia Carstairs went to Chiswick house to look for a ghost that may have information on these daylight demons. James entered the shadow realm and collected some sand.
The next day,the meantime, Anna and Cordelia went to the Hell Ruelle to ask questions in Downworld about the attacks. Together they managed to get Hypatia Vex and Malcolm Fade to give them some information and even send for Ragnor Fell. Ragnor told the Merry Thieves and their allies about his concern over the lack of demons and the rumors he had heard of a warlock being behind it. He then told them his suspicion of Emmanuel Gast being that warlock as he was the only one powerful and corrupt enough he could think of to do so and contacted Magnus Bane about what was happening.
Tragically, Barbara eventually died from the demon poison. In her final moments, Barbara was delirious and clawed at Oliver in her agony, unknowingly spreading the infection.
During their research, the group came across the body of Emmanuel, and Lucie was able to pull the his spirit back from the brink in order to get information from him. The group was able to decipher the name of the demon written on Gast's image: the Mandikhor. With some research they discovered the Mandikhor could produce an unlimited amount of smaller demons known as Khora demons; the shadowy figures that had been attacking them. They also learned that it was difficult to kill and decided to capture the Mandikhor in a Pyxis. After stealing a Pyxis box from Hypatia, the group went to Tower Bridge to try to fight and capture it. During their fight against the Mandikhor, Cordelia was knocked into the river, but Lucie used her powers to command the ghosts to pull Cordelia out of the waters. The demon broke free of the Pyxis and departed, but not before speaking to James and trying to convince him to go to Belial's realm.
It was discovered that Oliver later fell ill with the same symptoms of those who had contracted the demon poison. When Oliver died of the poison, it shocked the entire Enclave as demon poison had never been contagious before, and London was placed immediately under quarantine.
Christopher Lightwood was able to figure out the cure but couldn't find a way to make it work without a key illegal ingredient. James was able to locate where it may be found but before they could retrieve it, Christopher was attacked and poisoned himself. Lucie and Thomas Lightwood went to retrieve a plant from Chiswick house to finish the antidote for the poison Christopher had developed. Thomas and Alastair used Henry's lab to create the elixir and went to the Silent City to distribute it, which was a huge success.
James eventually opened a Portal into the shadow realm to face his grandfather. There he offered James an end to the Mandikhor and a cure for all those who were ill from the demon poison, if James's allowed him to possess his body with him. When James refused, Belial sent the Mandikhor against him once again. In this realm he was much larger and more powerful than he had been. However James, due to his connection to Belial, was able to summon the strength to bend the realm into creating a tornado that vanquished the demon once and for all. [1]
Victims
- Piers Wentworth (recovered)
- Barbara Lightwood (died)
- Ariadne Bridgestock (recovered)
- Oliver Hayward (died)
- Tatiana Blackthorn (recovered)
- Christopher Lightwood (recovered)
- Randolph Townsend (died)
- Vespasia Greenmantle (recovered)