The Mortal Cup is one of the Mortal Instruments given by the Angel Raziel to the first Shadowhunter.
Description[]
The Mortal Cup looks like a heavy golden chalice. It is primarily used to create more Shadowhunters; drinking from the Cup turns mundanes into Shadowhunters.[1]
However, drinking from the Cup has its risks. Only certain mundanes—typically strong fighters—would survive the conversion.[2] Others may die shortly after drinking from the Cup.[3]
The Cup can also provide control over demons.[1]
History[]
The Angel Raziel gave the Mortal Cup, with a bit of his angel blood in it, to a mundane who became the first Shadowhunter. Because of this, all Shadowhunters have a touch of Raziel's blood in their veins. Despite this, it became forbidden to use the Cup again to rebuild their forces.[4]
In the 1990s, Valentine Morgenstern advocated for the use of the Cup to create more Shadowhunters. When the Clave refused, the Circle, led by Valentine, stole the Cup—which had been put on display for the signing of the Accords as a show of power. Though he succeeded, his plan was foiled when his wife Jocelyn and his former parabatai Luke confronted him. Jocelyn took the Cup with her and went into hiding.[4] Jocelyn, with her unique angelic power, placed the Cup into an Ace of Cups tarot card and gave it to her warlock assistant Dot.[5] Valentine scoured the world in search of Jocelyn and the Cup, and his men only caught up eighteen years later in New York.[6]
What followed was a wild-goose chase for the Cup as the leaders of the vampires and werewolves began vying for possession of the Cup themselves: Camille Belcourt because she wanted to control the Cup and those who want it,[7] and Theo, because he didn't trust the Shadowhunters to safeguard the Cup and was tired of their superiority over them.[8] Jocelyn's daughter Clary eventually figured out her shared power with Jocelyn and realized where the Cup was. They took the card, which had been in police custody during the investigation into Luke, and Clary was able to take the Cup out of the card after she was cornered by a Shax demon; she then used it to control the demon.[5] The Cup was surrendered to the Clave and hidden in Lydia Branwell's office at the New York Institute, only to be stolen by Hodge Starkweather for Valentine.[9]
Valentine used the Cup create his own Shadowhunter army with his followers and other willing recruits.[10] When many of his men who drank from the Cup began to die,[3] they abducted fighters from dojos to turn.[2]
Trivia[]
- A replica of the Cup can be found as part of a statue of an angel in the City of Bones.[1]
See also[]
- Mortal Cup on the Shadowhunters' wiki
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1x02: The Descent Into Hell Isn't Easy
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2x02: A Door Into the Dark
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 2x01: This Guilty Blood
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 1x06: Of Men and Angels
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 1x07: Major Arcana
- ↑ 1x01: The Mortal Cup
- ↑ 1x03: Dead Man's Party
- ↑ 1x05: Moo Shu to Go
- ↑ 1x12: Malec
- ↑ 1x13: Morning Star