Mandrake

To conjure the Mandrake, hang thee in a lightless room a mirror upon which thine dark desires are scribed in blood. When out of shadow thou bring thine looking glass, their reply shall have scratched into its inward face with the tip of a talon blade

~ The Dark Treatise of Xathukh the Occulist.^[11a]

Dark Eldar Portal

A Mandrake is a type of Drukhari Aeldari which usher forth from the region of Commorragh known as Aelindrach,^[5] arriving there from the Midnight Dimension which overlaps with the sub-realm.^[13] Mandrakes are often cannibalistic and wild, living separate from other Drukhari.^[1a]

Overview

A Mandrake^[7]

A Mandrake's physique has adapted to make themselves camouflaged almost anywhere. They have evolved so-called shadow-skin, which makes them nigh-invisible out of direct light. They also exist within a different reality itself and are capable of entering into reality straight out of another person's shadow. No-one knows how this dramatic change has occurred, not even their Drukhari kin. While the shadowskin could be just the result of warp exposure, other theories exist. Some consider them to be the very shadows brought to life, while others claim that Mandrakes are the descendants of a forbidden cult that found a way to pass into shadow to avoid the Fall^[3], yet other rumours tell of a union between Eldar and Unholy Entities^[3] created when the Eldar Empire was at it's most decadent.^[3] Other rumours hold that the first Mandrakes were created by Haemonculi employed by the Wych Cult of Grief.^[6] Others still tell that Mandrakes predate Commorragh and it was they who taught the Drukhari to sate The Thirst through the pain of others.^[11b] Truthfully, Mandrakes are native to the Midnight Dimension, a shadowy realm of tenebreous monsters which, during the Dysjunction caused by the apotheosis of Yvraine, Kheradruakh used his pyramid of a thousand perfect skulls to open the gate to.^[13]

One thing that is known about the Mandrakes is their lethality. Even the brutal denizens of Commorragh fear these creatures, and they are known for their ability to hunt down any quarry. Younger Drukhari call Mandrakes "creepers", whispering that they can slink from one shadow and to another. They strike from the shadows, surprising and rending their enemies apart with Glimmersteel Blades, with strength more often associated with Orks, rather than the Eldar.^[1c][3] These weapons, and an assortment of other hooked blades wielded by Mandrakes, are used to extract the maximum amount of pain from their foes.^[8] Mandrakes can then channel these stolen energies into a blast of cold fire that roars out of their claws to freeze victims in place, which are then rendered perfect for capture.^[10]

A Mandrake^[4]

Mandrakes are often deployed by Kabalite Archons for assassination, hunting, realspace raiding, or sometimes even as guardians. Like all the denizens of Commorragh, they thrive on pain and torment, so slaves are often the price for their services. However, sometimes Mandrakes will demand more unusual payments, such as a treasured memory, a heartbeat, a true and secret name, or other odd esoteric ephemera;^[8] humans in very specific circumstances have also been noted to be able to enter heretical pacts with mandrakes.^[12] Few Kabalite lords know the real price that they are paying, yet such requests are rarely denied, for mandrakes wear the skins of those who have betrayed them.^[10]

Even Asdrubael Vect was not safe from the reach of the Mandrakes, who were able to penetrate the Supreme Overlord's inner sanctum to butcher him at the dawn of M42. When Vect once more appeared and declared himself the Living Muse, he enacted swift retribution upon all who had shown disloyalty during his supposed death. Yet his wrath was not visited upon the Mandrakes. Perhaps it was because they were players in his grand plan, or perhaps because they strike fear in even Vect's heart.^[10]

Types of Mandrakes

Mandrakes have a unique hierarchy that only they understand^[8] :

• Nightfiend, the leader of a Mandrake unit, a being whose presence can cause its enemies’ blood to curdle.
• Abyssals, living conduits of the malign energy that resides in the tenebrous dimension of Aelindrach.^[8]
• The Chooser of the Flesh uses its baleblades to collect limbs in service of some arcane ritual.
• Dirgemaws haunt their foes with pareidolic projections in shadows and reflections, their wailing scream the last thing their target ever hears. ^[8]
• Shadeweavers, Mandrakes that weaponise darkness, drowning areas in suffocating darkness and using their penumbral manipulation to bore tunnels through the very fabric of reality.^[8]

• 

  Nightfiend^[8]
• 

  Abyssal^[8]
• 

  Chooser of the Flesh^[8]
• 

  Dirgemaw^[8]
• 

  Shadeweaver^[8]

Notable Mandrakes

• Blightsoul^[9]
• Dreameater^[9]
• Heart Thief^[9]
• Kheradruakh^[1b]
• Shadowcreeper^[9]
• Xhakoruakh

Images

• 

  Mandrakes (10th Edition)

• 

  A group of Mandrakes (5th Edition)^[2]

• 

  Mandrakes (3rd Edition)

• 

  A Drukhari Mandrake.^[1a]

• 

  Drukhari Mandrake^[3]

Sources

• 1: Codex: Dark Eldar (3rd Edition):
  • 1a: pg. 8
  • 1b: pg. 41
  • 1c: pg. 45
• 2: GW Website Mandrakes
• 3: Codex: Dark Eldar (5th Edition), pg. 33
• 4: Warhammer 40,000 6th Edition Rulebook, pg. 209
• 5: Codex: Dark Eldar (7th Edition) - Blades for Hire
• 6: Eldar & Dark Eldar Collectors' Guide, pg. 73
• 7: Codex: Drukhari (9th Edition), pg. 31
• 8: Warhammer Community: Manipulate Shadows, Throw Balefire, and Terrorise Foes With the Murderous Mandrake Kill Team (posted 02/04/2024) (last accessed 02/04/2024)
• 9: Warhammer Combat Cards, Card Description
• 10: Codex: Drukhari (8th Edition), pg. 59
• 11: Codex: Drukhari (10th Edition):
  • 11a: pg. 27
  • 11b: pg. 53
• 12: The Oubliette (Novel), Chapter 6
• 13: Gathering Storm: Fracture of Biel-Tan, pg. 79