It used its victims to gain knowledge of its surroundings, and eventually wreak havoc. It thought of itself as "the devil". According to the Fourth Doctor, though, it was just "a mimic, an entity that copies what it sees, repeats what it hears". Managra was an ancient enemy of Gallifrey whom Rassilon tossed into the time vortex. There he was thought to have been imprisoned forever. Since it depended upon finding a host through which to experience reality, Rassilon believed the time vortex was the one place it could never find a corporeal host.