The Inhabitants of the Shadow World

In observation of the premiere of Shadowhunters season 2, I thought I should publish a post similar to that of the post I published shortly after Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them hit theaters. Like the Fantastic Beasts of the Wizarding World post, today I'll be listing and briefly discussing some of the creatures that exist in the Shadow World. Without further ado, the following creatures are a few of the inhabitants of the Shadow World:

WARNING: Some of the following images are quite graphic and gruesome, proceed with caution, if necessary.

1. Werewolves

The first on the list are werewolves, who are Downworlders. Downworlders are the result of some form of human-demon interaction. In the case of werewolves and vampires, Downworlders can also be the result of infectious demonic diseases caught by humans. Humans who have caught the disease of lycanthropy involuntarily change into wolves every full moon. They may change at will any other time. They have heightened senses of smell, sight, smell, and superhuman strength. Again, werewolves are what they are because of the disease spread by demons in the human world. So it's safe to assume that the first lycanthrope was made as such due to the disease. However, new werewolves are made when a werewolf bites a human or shadowhunter. There is a 50-50 chance that the bitten will actually contract the disease, and it's not usually apparent until the nearest full moon.

2. The Fair Folk

Faeries are the offspring of angels and demons. How that happens, I honestly do not know. They are beautiful, flawless, graceful creatures that cannot lie. However, majestic as they are, they can be cunning, deceitful, and downright evil. Which is understandable considering their parentage. With the exception of the Seelie Court, who signed the Accords- an agreement of peace among the different species that exist in the Shadow World, the Fair Folk never really involve themselves with any other race. They are a proud species that believe themselves to be superior to all others.

The politics of the Fair Folk is complicated, one even I don't completely understand (on the account of me being a fan of the Shadow World, not a political genius). They have what are called the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. The Seelie Court its own separate entity ruled by a Queen, while the Unseelie Court is another ruled by a King. We come across the Seelie Queen quite a few times in the books. The TMI gang must have interacted with her more times over the course of a few months than your average shadowhunter has in his/her life time. Not that she ever did them any good. The Unseelie King, on the other hand, has been notably absent from our readings, expectedly so. The Unseelie King and his court is sort of myth, sometimes even among his own people. No one really knows of his court's whereabouts. But apparently, the Unseelie Faeries are dangerous enough to warrant fear. Another subdivision of the Fae is the Wild Hunt. These faeries are neither living nor dead, but they exist forever. The Wild Hunt is in an everlasting hunt of new members. They choose battles to battles to overlook and eventually decide- after the conclusion of the battle- which of the dying to enlist in their eternal hunt.

3. Vampires

As customarily told of vampires in other fictional worlds, vampires as undead creatures that consume blood and cannot go out in daylight for they risk certain incineration. Vampires are thin and have unusually pale and sallow skin. They also don't have heartbeats, which is to be expected seeing as they're undead creatures. Vampires turn other humans into vampires by having the individual they are attempting to turn consume a copious amount of vampire blood. That alone, however, does not turn the target into a vampire, but a mere fledgling.

After feeding what is now a fledgling vampire blood, he/she has to be killed and buried to be reborn after tearing their way out of a grave. After being reborn, the newly made vampire must be fed a considerable amount of blood or else it will die.




4. Warlocks

Warlocks, or the Children of Lilith (not literally, but figuratively speaking), are Downworlders. They are the products of human-and-demon mating. The demons (usually male) that mate with the humans (most often female) obviously do not reveal their true forms when they interact with their potential mates. Instead, they shapeshift, a characteristic of Eidolon demons and present themselves as desirable humans. Like the Fae, warlocks are immortal. At some points in their lives-possibly their late teenage years, early twenties-they stop aging. Magnus Bane, for example, a prominent warlock in the Mortal Instruments series, stopped aging at nineteen, I believe. Each and every warlock has a distinguishing mark that sets them apart as warlocks. Magnus has cat eyes. Warlocks also possess the ability to conjure magic.

Unlike werewolves and vampires, warlocks do not have any established communities or at the very least congregational events for their kind. They mostly keep to themselves, and seem to prefer the company of other beings rather than their own kind. That's not to say that they are completely cut off from each other. They aren't, but they seem to keep their distance. A High Warlock is posted in all of the major cities worldwide, to aid members of the Shadow World.

5. Zombies (according to Jace in City of Bones, are more frequently seen further south-south of what exactly, is beyond me)

Like all Downworlders, zombies are partly human, partly demonic creatures. Not much is known about them. In fact, many shadowhunters are skeptical of their existence. There have been no documented sightings of zombies by The Clave, or any that I know of, at least.

6. Demons

In the Shadow World, demons are ranked by abilities/strengths and sometimes, size. There are Greater Demons and then there are mere Demons. Demons are creatures of varied shapes and sizes that participate in cross-dimensional travel. They have no real purpose but to suck worlds of their energy and vitality until dry. Some are believed to have once been angels who simultaneously fell and sided with Lucifer or Satan after he disobeyed God and fell from Heaven. 

Greater Demons, on the other hand, are beings of higher intelligence, probably even more so than humans (well...). Unlike their inferiors, Greater Demons are each tasked with specific jobs that will ultimately be the demise of all life on Earth. There are nine reigning Greater Demons, who are known among their kin and in the Shadow World- as Princes of Hell. The Princes of Hell were formerly fairly high-ranked angels who fell to join Satan. The Princes of Hell include Lucifer, of course, the most fearsome and powerful demon there is, the First Prince of Hell. Asmodeus- is the ruler of Edom, one of the many realms in Hell, alongside Lilith, the Mother of Demons (who causes a great deal of trouble for our heroes in City of Fallen Angels). Then there is Azazel, is the Corruptor of Humans and Forger of Weapons. Apparently, he is the reason all the warfare and weaponry exist in this world. Abbadon is the Demon of the Abyss, we encounter him in City of Bones when Clary's witch neighbor, Dorothea, opens the portal in her home and lets him in. And finally, Sammael was the former Archangel of Death, 

7. Angels

Little is known about angels in the Shadow World. There is no record of a shadowhunter having ever seen an angel. However, what is known is that a high-ranking angel named Raziel was summoned by a human and asked to aid in the fight against demons.

Angels are hardly fantastical creatures, depending on what you believe. They are subjects of Biblical, Islamic, and Jewish doctrine, and are believed to be- in both the Shadow World and mundane life- to be celestial being created to carry out God's orders. They serve as Messengers, Watchers, mediums, etc. The summoning of angels is considered by all- angels and shadowhunters- as a waste of time. Shadowhunters see the attempt as a waste of time because 1) the summonings are hardly as successful as that of demons, 2) if the summoning is successful, then it is still for naught because an angels are almost always vague with their responses. In other words, they're as helpful as your aunt's dust pan. 3) Summoning an angel requires the three Mortal Instruments, two of which has long since been lost. The Mortal Instruments include- the Mortal Sword, the Mortal Cup, and the Mortal Mirror.

On the end of the spectrum, angels are usually equally as frustrated, (if not more) by a human's summons because apparently, there are matters of much more import that they would rather be attending to than respond to a shadowhunter's trivial concerns. This was evident in City of Glass when Valentine Morgenstern summoned Angel Raziel and asked him to grant shadowhunters with access to varied and stronger capabilities than they already have. For wasting the angel's time, Valentine was struck through the heart by Raziel's arrow. But to be fair, Valentine also tortured one of Raziel's colleagues, Ithuriel.

8. Shadowhunters

Over a thousand years ago, a man named Jonathan Shadowhunter summoned the Angel Raziel-with the help of a warlock, because he did not have the Mortal Instruments at the time to summon Raziel-and asked the angel to equip him with the ability to fight off demons and keep from bringing death and destruction to the Earth and its inhabitants. Angel Raziel granted his request, provided him with a goblet filled with [Raziel's] blood and ordered him to drink. The blood enabled him to put to us unique abilities that man was previously unable to exercise. Shadowhunters are able to bear marks called Runes that equip their bearer with enhanced abilities such as Sight, hearing, sure-footedness, fearlessness, etc. Shadowhunters also have the ability to see what mundane humans can not- demons, the Fair Folk, and places hidden by glamour.

* Silent Brothers

Silent Brothers are male shadowhunters. The namesake of the Silent Brothers is that their lips are sewn shut. Their eyes are hallowed and they communicate with an individual or group of people telepathically. The Silent Brothers are archivists. They live away from their people in place that does not have a physical location, but as many entrances around the world for a shadowhunter's easy access (or relatively so).

Along with telepathy, the Silent Brothers have the power to psychologically torture or kill an individual. They also have to power to unravel or retrieve memories or information. In City of Bones, Brother Jeremiah helped Clary identify the warlock that repressed her memories of the Shadow World when she and Jace visited the Silent City.

   * Iron Sisters

Seeing as we haven't any pictures or stills of an Iron Sister in either the movie or the show, I used the image from the shadowhunters Wikipedia page. In the Shadow World, the Iron Sisters are tasked with forging weapons and instilling magic into the weapons. Like Silent Brothers, the Iron Sisters live in isolation from the rest of the population, live in the Adamant Citadel and solely dedicate themselves to their purpose.  After City of Lost Souls was published, many people theorized that Isabelle Lightwood would become an Iron Sister after she and Jocelyn went to the Citadel to find a weapon that could kill Sebastian Morgenstern.