History Headscratchers / OldKingdom

** This troper always assumed that the relative of the current Abhorsen who is most fit to hold the title becomes the Abhorsen-in-waiting rather than the one most closely related to them [[spoiler:for example as Lirael, Sabriel's half-sister, inheriting the bells rather than her son, who was meant to become the new Wallmaker]], so hopefully there is a built-in failsafe against something like this. Either that or there is some sort of "Abhorsen gene" that only manifests in two people at once for some reason. (Though all this does bring up the question of how they used to determine who the next Abhorsen would be...).
*** This is confirmed in ''Clariel'', when the current Abhorsen is not especially competent and mostly interested in hunting (because the kingdom has been at peace for ages and the Abhorsen hasn't really been required), the bells come to a more distant relative, [[spoiler: Belatiel]], who's far more competent and dedicated.

** The Bells are certainly seen to be able to move around on their own (turning up in Sam's pack, for example). Presumably in the old days they just waited to see which of the next generation woke up one morning with the Book and Bells in their room, and knew enough not to jump to conclusions (cf. Sameth).

* It just bugs me how it completely sucks to be an ordinary person in this world. You're pretty much guaranteed to get screwed over whatever happens. Everyone's 100% behind the monarchy, because last time the country went without one (for 200 years) everything went to hell. Pretty much the only function of people who aren't one of the five great bloodlines (or, rather, three, because only the Clayr, the Abhorsen and the Royal family are still around [[spoiler: and the Wallmakers, but not until right at the end of the third book]]) is to get killed to provide mooks for the Abhorsen to fight. It's hardly surprising that some of them become necromancers, since (though Free Magic may well give you cancer), there isn't much else you can do except be doomed to a stereotypical fantasy role for all eternity. Sorry, you can't become a kick-ass Abhorsen, you don't have the right blood. You'll have to be a farmer instead. Maybe an innkeeper if you're lucky. It looks like you could have some fun as a Charter Mage, until you realise that all the most powerful books check for the right Blood when you touch them and ''will asplode you if you don't have it''. By the time the King's forbidden a bunch of books, the Abhorsen's taken away all the books on Necromancy and associated dark magics because they're cool like that and the Clayr have stowed the rest in their magical library pretty much all that's going to be left is My Very First Book of Charter Magic. Isn't life in a world where your entire future is based on being born into the right family fun?

** To be fair the Old Kingdom is a country in decline and recovery. The reason why it sucks is because the kingdom's been falling apart for a few hundred years. Most of the publicly available knowledge, power and technology has been lost or destroyed. (like the Palace and Hillfair) Plus, powerful Charter Mages are specifically a target for necromancers and sorcerers not just because they don't want a powerful Charter Mage opposing them but also because the blood of a Charter Mage is necessary to break a Charter Stone. And centuries of decline has allowed necromancers and Free Magic to flourish which is why they keep popping out of the woodwork to destroy everything. We see the Old Kingdom in its heyday in ''Clariel'' and it's a fairly decent place to live. The Dead and Free Magic aren't that big of a deal, the Kingdom is at mostly peace and there are powerful Charter Mages not associated with the bloodlines.

*** Since the entire trilogy is something of a coming of age story for pretty much everyone involved, part of Lirael's desire to gain the Sight is completely explainable'. Getting the Sight would prove she is normal and allow her to become a part of the adult Clayr society, which she had basically been raised to expect to become a part of her whole life. Part of growing up is wanting to find your own niche in your community, so the idea of being a Sightless Clayr understandably nearly drove poor Lirael to suicide.

** As for how Sam specifically inherited the powers of the Wallmakers, Kibeth implies that Arielle wasn't the first-ever Clayr to shack up with an Abhorsen, or Touchstone the first Royal to do the same, noting that the bloodlines get a bit mixed. As a result, the bloodlines are all crisscrossed, which is why Sabriel refers to the Clayr as ''cousins'', as does her father to Arielle -- they literally are, though very, very distantly. Thus, it was a mere fluke of genetics that latent Wallmaker genes happened to manifest in Sam. Well, fluke or fate, take your pick.

* Since Sam, by fate or genetics, [[spoiler:is not to be an Abhorsen]], then why/how do the bells and book [[spoiler:follow him magically]] in ''Lirael''? Shouldn't they either jump into Lirael's possession or remain inert until she obtains them? And for that matter, how does Mogget find him? Does his service now extend to the entire royal family? It seems [[HandWave too easy and flawed]] to say that whoever the current Abhorsen ''thinks'' is the Abhorsen-in-waiting is recognized by the Charter magic, regardless of their actual abilities.
** Perhaps they were following him as a quick way to [[spoiler: get taken to Lirael]]?

*** Firstly Sabriel only unbound Mogget when there wasn't any innocents around. She was smart enough to not give him any chance to rampage around. Second by Sabriel, Mogget had ungone a millenia of character growth and started to realize that he liked Life. We see Mogget in Clariel where he took advantage of a mere weakening seal to destroy the Charter and thus the Old Kingdom. That's more than enough for the Abhorsens to keep him firmly chained.