Yanluo, also known as Yama, was a Greater Demon who tormented Shanghai and ran the underworld of Diyu. He later went on to torture Jem Carstairs and kill his parents.
History[]
Yanluo once ran the Hell dimension of Diyu. Here, souls from China were brought after their deaths to be tortured for the pain they caused on Earth before being sent to be reincarnated.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Yanluo tormented China—and specifically Shanghai. He eventually banded with other powerful demons, including Baigujing, to fight against the mundanes, Shadowhunters, and Downworlders of East Asia. He became known to these mundanes as the "King of Hell."[1]
Around 1872, Yanluo became bent on revenge on Ke Wen Yu after she exterminated a nest of Yanluo's demon litter in Lijiang. When Yanluo found a weakness in the wards of the Shanghai Institute, he burrowed his way under the walls and killed all the guards so they couldn't alert the Clave. Yanluo tied up Jem's parents and made them watch while he tortured their twelve-year-old son by injecting demon poison into his veins, causing him immense pain and hallucinations, and eventually addiction to the yin fen. After a few days, Ke Wen Yu and her husband, Jonah, were dead, and Jem was in a very bad state. By the time the Shanghai Enclave decided to investigate the Institute's silence, Yanluo had left.[2]
In 1875, when Jem was fourteen, Yanluo was finally found by Elias Carstairs and Ke Yiwen and slain.[3] With his death, his Portal to Diyu was closed and all his minions were sealed off there.
Over a century later, in 2010, his realm was given to Sammael and the demons there briefly made a comeback to Shanghai before the Portal between the two realms was closed for good.[1]
Appearances[]
- Clockwork Angel (first mention)
- Clockwork Angel: Manga (mentioned only)
- Chain of Gold (mentioned only)
- Chain of Iron (mentioned only)
- The Lost Book of the White (mentioned only)