Line #43 Headscratchers/OldKingdom


1	* Okay. You have the bells and all. What if you're deaf? And if you wanted to use Astarael, couldn't you just plug your ears really, really well?
2	** I imagine you can feel the vibrations, just as you would if you stood next to a loud bass. Also, it seems like the sort of Phlebotinum that can be heard by more than one's ears. After all, most of the dead things don't even have proper form, let alone functioning ears.
3	** I believe the books mentioned that that the bells affect people, even if they can't hear them.
4	** Yes; the music ''activates'' magic (the powers of the Seven), the music isn't the magic itself. You don't have to aurally hear it.
5	** The books also specifically state that a necromancer, Abhorsen or not, is ''required'' to have rudimentary music skills. Because if they get caught in Death without their bells, like Sam did in the beginning of his adventure in ''"Lirael"'', whistles and claps can be used in lieu of the bells.
6	** Being unable to hear with your ears wouldn't stop you from dying. As Mogget said when they neared the remnant of Astarael under the well: "if she speaks, we ''will'' hear." And it'll probably reverberate in your bones.
7	* I just wonder what would happen to an Abhorsen who had something like pinched-nerve syndrome or cerebral palsy, where they're shaking all the time...
8	** Probably they die in some sort of messy way and the bells go on to the next candidate. Sometimes even Charter magic is not especially nice or friendly.
9	** 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…).
10	*** 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.
11	** [[EpilepticTrees Maybe Saraneth or Astarael still retains some form of consciousness or subconsciousness]]
12	*** That's not EpilepticTrees. They ''see'' Astarael in ''Abhorsen''.
13	** 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).
14	** This seems the most likely; the paraphernalia of the Abhorsen are drawn to the person most capable of wielding them. Sam had some affinity for them, but Lirael had much more, so they went to him first but ended up sticking with her. I also figured that yes, the "Abhorsen gene" (or rather, the magical potential to be an Abhorsen) only manifests in a few people each generation, and the same with the royal magic- that's why the Abhorsen and royal lines follow specific bloodlines, while the Clayr talent lets itself get spread out a lot more (presumably because it doesn't make a lot of difference to have one powerful seer or a bunch of weaker seers working together, while the Abhorsen needs to be powerful enough individually to handle the nastiest Dead and Free Magic beings and if you had a couple thousand potential royal heirs, it would be anarchy).
15	*** The Disreputable Dog explicitly states in ''Lirael'' that the bloodlines get a little intermixed, noting that some Clayr wind up with a degree of death sense. Granted, she might have been working FromACertainPointOfView and probably already knew that Lirael's death sense wasn't anything so simple, but it seems fairly plausible.
16	*** Additionally, ''Clariel'' shows an entire clan of Abhorsens, back in the old days, though only a couple at a time wield the bells.
17	** Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?
18	* 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?
19	** Yeah... welcome to [[RealLife medieval society]]. It's pretty lame.
20	** 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.
21	* The Clayr, being as they are sort of BlessedWithSuck. Because they are so numerous, their powers have been extremely diluted to the point at which few Clayr will experience a full vision in an entire lifetime. Even when they all band together, their powers are limited. Despite supposedly being very clever and organised, it took them years to notice that they couldn't See anything near the Red Lake. It bugs me how much importance Lirael places on getting the Sight - sure, it's a sign of normality in the Glacier, but it doesn't really do much and doesn't impact much on most Clayr's day-to-day lives.
22	** I got the impression that the Red Lake thing had grown with time as the SealedEvilInACan was unearthed, but maybe that's just me. Also, part of Lirael's problem is that because the way the Clayr's society is structured, she is officially considered a child until her Sight awakens. Imagine being trapped in third grade until high school. That's why they arranged for her to get the Librarian job; it gave her something to do other than be around children and people who treated her as such.
23	** Their Sight may not have a lot of direct impact on the Clayr's day-to-day lives, but it's definitely deeply ingrained in their culture. Lirael, though an adult by non-Clayr standards since she was fourteen, was technically living in the children's quarters with a group of pre-teen (and possibly younger) children up until she left the Glacier when she was eighteen. There are two or three places where it's stated that Lirael has been the butt of gossip and teasing and that the younger, un-Sighted Clayr gawk at her because they're mortally afraid they're going to end up like her. It's also said that the Clayr never go very long without turning the conversation to their Sight (which is why Lirael finds it painful to talk to them) and that their clairvoyance makes them rather indifferent toward individual people's problems (which Filris states as a reason for her absence from Lirael's life). It's made pretty clear that Lirael only places undue importance on it because everyone else in the Glacier does, as well.
24	*** 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.
25	* How was Sam born a Wallmaker? I mean, I'm not suggesting his mother was humping the Wall or anything, but you do wonder... If it's an at-times-of-need kind of thing, why didn't one turn up in the 200-year Interim, when hundreds of Charter Stones were broken and the land was plagued by zombies?
26	** Because a Wallmaker wouldn't have helped? I mean, the problem was that two of the fundamental pillars that kept the world sane had been corrupted and nearly destroyed. Thanks to the weakening of the Charter, presumably no amount of awesome MagePunk gadgetry could have held together civilization without the restoration of the royal family. Alternately, perhaps it's more related to the royal bloodline than the Clayr or Abhorsens?
27	** 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.
28	** [[AWizardDidIt The Charter Did It]]. That seems to be the explanation for a lot of seemingly random things in the Old Kingdom. Bells appearing when a new Abhorsen awakens. Sabriel getting pushed back into life at the end of the first book. I would guess that the Charter realized it would need a human avatar of the Wallmakers, both to represent them at the binding of Orannis, and to forge the sword needed to break It. Since Sam is a part of the Charter due to having two of the bloodlines as parents, it just altered him into a Wallmaker.
29	** I think it was also heavily implied in the first book that Touchstone had Wallmaker-like abilities.
30	** Supported by the fact that during the binding of Orannis, Sam stood for Belgaer and Touchstone for Ranna, the two bright shiners who ended up in the Wallmakers, and it was Ellimere who represented the royal line.
31	** Yeah. One in the people who wear the crown, two in the folk who keep the dead down, and five for the warp, that would be the great charters.
32	*** Ranna poured its power into the Wallmakers/Wall? How do you figure? Ranna is the least powerful of the Seven, yes, but its power seems to fit with the royal line, whose purpose is to maintain peace and tranquility in the Kingdom.
33	** I figured it had something to do with Touchstone spending all that time and blood mending the great charter stones. Maybe some of the Wallmakers power leaked into him and was passed to his son from the stone?
34	** Presumably whatever cosmic force that decides such things wanted to wait until Kerrigor was dealt with. It seems unlikely that Kerrigor would have sat by and let a Wallmaker undo his work.
35	* Um, also, dropped mysteries much? Who is Chlorr of the Mask, really? Mogget lets it slip that she was an Abhorsen, but nothing beyond that. And Hedge is never anything but a generic villain; who is he, what's his story, how'd he get to be the way he is? What about the Our Country Party and the whole mess in the south? The Old Kingdom is saved, so screw Ancelstierre? And the most glaring drop of all -- why did Arielle abandon Lirael? Again, Mogget, relaying her final message to her daughter, tells that it wasn't her choice to leave, but that's all we get. Is she still alive? Is she dead? Why, exactly, did she have to leave her daughter?
36	** To answer one of your questions, at least, there's apparently a prequel in the works called something like "Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen", about Chlorr. Dunno about Hedge, tho.
37	** There's also supposed to be a book set chronologically ''after'' ''Abhorsen'', which might clear some of the other stuff up. As for Hedge, I believe the beginning of ''Lirael'' establishes him as a necromancer who worked for Kerrigor, then transferred his allegiance to the Destroyer when Kerrigor went down- he's probably not that different than most of the Old Kingdom's petty necromancers, save being a fair bit more powerful and having more blatant supernatural support.
38	*** Going back over ''Lirael'' and ''Abhorsen'', there are enough references to work out a rough biography for Hedge: he was an Ancelstierran Crossing Point Scout who was seduced by the lure of power, deserted, moved to the Old Kingdom and learned Free Magic and necromancy. He became a Servant of Kerrigor, presumably attaching himself to him as part of his quest for power and immortality, and when Kerrigor fell he went looking for a new source of power and found the Destroyer. Of course, in the long term Hedge doesn't ''need'' that much elaboration on his backstory to fill the narrative role he does - as a proxy for Orannis up until It has the freedom to act more directly. He's not like Kerrigor, whose backstory is absolutely essential to understanding both how he does the things he does and the world situation as a whole.
39	** If you read some of Nix's other works he's pretty fond of CrypticBackgroundReference and we don't always get full explanations for things that the characters wouldn't find out in the actual story or only find out in passing. As for Ancelstierre it's mentioned in passing at the beginning of the novella but since it's not something that the main characters would be involved in we don't get to find out much.
40	** ''The Creature in the Case'', ''Clariel'', and ''Goldenhand'' answer those questions:
41	*** Hedge was a Crossing Point Scout, a Sergeant, who Major Greene vaguely remembered as having been in his 50s when Greene was first learning, 35 years before. He got seduced by the temptations of power and joined Kerrigor, before being drawn to the Destroyer. Hedge himself tacitly confirms this in his first appearance, admitting to and repudiating his Ancelstierran heritage, and later uses his original identity as a cover to deal with Nick.
42	*** The Our Country coup is largely undiscussed simply because they were pawns of Hedge, and the real fight is with Hedge and the Destroyer - which is also a neat conclusion to the story, though it's made clear that there's a lot of clean-up work to be done. ''The Creature in the Case'', set shortly after, confirms that the coup was defeated, though no further details are given.
43	*** Basically, Arielle was an unusually powerful Clayr who got led around by the nose by her visions (which Filris, her ancestress, indicated to Lirael was a regular problem with the Clayr in general). Her choice to go north was critical to the resolution of ''Goldenhand'', as it gave her crucial information on how to destroy Chlorr of the Mask and secured the cooperation of the Athask people.
44	* 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.
45	** Perhaps they were following him as a quick way to [[spoiler: get taken to Lirael]]?
46	*** The book '''says so'''.
47	*** Presumably the bells can't just jump to where ever they want, so they went with Sam in an attempt to get back to the House? As for Mogget, even if Sam's not the Abhorsen he still has Abhorsen blood.
48	*** Also, Mogget serves the Abhorsens only because there are no Wallmakers. In the first book he's described as the Relict of the Wallmakers, and the Wallmakers made his collar. Mogget serves the Wallmakers first, then Abhorsens, which is why he sticks close to Sam.
49	*** Actually, Sabriel's father only describes Mogget as 'a relict of the Wallmakers' because he doesn't understand or know that Mogget is [[spoiler:one of the Nine Bright Shiners]]. It is likely that he was given to the Abhorsens so that he could both serve them, and so that they could keep an eye on him, as it is their job to bind and subdue free magic creatures.
50	* Okay, so at the end of ''Sabriel'' all the past Abhorsens bring Sabriel back because she needs to provide a successor before she can die, since she's the last of her kind. Alright. I buy it. OH WAIT WHAT ABOUT LIRAEL!? Sure Lirael was a baby at the time and it would have taken a while for her to grow into it, but ancestors of charter blooded people didn't really care all that much when Touchstone was imprisoned for much longer than it would take for one girl to grow into her power. I buy Nick's resurrection a lot more, if only because it's completely within the Dog's personality. I understand the climactic need for her to have a brush with death that close in a book where the actual line of when you're DEAD is quite blurred, but JUSTIFY IT BETTER!
51	** These are both a bit of a stretch, but pick from one of these
52	*** They can somehow see into the future and knew that Sabriel would give birth to a Wallmaker, which would be important enough to send her back into life
53	*** As a reverse, their knowledge at the time was limited, thus they didn't even know Lirael existed. After all, Sabriel's Dad only met Lirael's Mum once, so it's entirely possible he never even knew of Lirael's existence.
54	** I always saw this as Lirael needing an Abhorsen around to be able to find her true calling. The Clayr had no idea what to do with her. Lirael was about to commit suicide without ever knowing her heritage, and it was only Sabriel's imminent arrival that stopped her
55	** At the time, Lirael was 1. There's no way in hell she could have stopped Kerrigor, and that would have meant the end of the world, pretty much.
56	*** Lirael was not even 1. She was conceived right before Terciel met his fate and the story ends about 2 months after that.
57	*** Yeah, at the end of ''Sabriel'', Lirael was '''''at most''''' a four-week-old ''fetus''. It's pretty clear from what Lirael sees in the Dark Mirror that she was conceived literally the night before Terciel started the trip to Belisaere that left him trapped in Death until Sabriel rescued him. Near the beginning of ''Sabriel'', when Sabriel is talking to Colonel Horyse before entering the Old Kingdom, Colonel Horyse says that the full moon will occur in fourteen days. Then, when Sabriel and Touchstone arrive back in Ancelstierre near the end of the book, Colonel Horyse tells them that the full moon is ''that night''. Sabriel does say after that that she's certain that she was in the Old Kingdom for at least sixteen days, but Colonel Horyse explains that there's often a small time discrepancy between Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom. It's highly unlikely that it took Terciel more than a week to reach Belisaere from Abhorsen's House, so even if Sabriel was in the Old Kingdom for twenty days, that's still less than a month after Lirael's conception.
58	** I figured that there needed to be someone that could actually become the Abhorsen right then, not someone who just had the blood and could become the Abhorsen once she'd grown up and been trained.
59	** Yeah, keep in mind that if Sabriel dies, then the Old Kingdom has a King but no Abhorsen until Lirael comes of age. That gives Hedge a ''much'' bigger opportunity to do his thing than he ever had in canon, and I imagine that would mean the end of the world well before Lirael would come into her powers. Of course, how much of that Sabriel's ancestors knew (rather than just sensing vaguely she was needed) and how much they would have been able to communicate is a lot more iffy.
60	** How about this: If Sabriel dies there is no one to train Lirael.
61	** If Sabriel dies, ''Lirael'' dies before ever finding the Dog, much less becoming the Abhorsen in waiting. She still would have grown up a Sightless Clayr, and the only reason she didn't commit suicide at fourteen was that the Papaerwing bearing Sabriel and Touchstone interrupts her attempt.
62	** One, as pointed out, Lirael is a newly conceived fetus. Without Sabriel, the Kingdom is effectively doomed, and probably Ancelstierre too, as Kerrigor probably wouldn't be too stretched to get hold of a couple of Clayr to finish off the Breaking of the Charter. Even if he was somehow defeated, the Kingdom is still not entirely stable after two decades of Touchstone and Sabriel's best efforts - without an Abhorsen, it would be far worse. Two, the Charter bloodlines have the essence of at least one of the great Charters in them, and death is a bit more mutable where they're concerned - the Disreputable Dog a.k.a. [[spoiler: Kibeth]] is perfectly capable of both keeping Nick from going on and sending him back, even when she cheerfully admits that it's not allowed. My interpretation is that the remaining essence of Saraneth (or possibly Astarael) intervened.
63	* At the end of ''Sabriel'', Mogget and Kerrigor were both turned into cats. Mogget shows up again in the later ones, but what happened to Kerrigor?
64	** This one is actually answered in ''Lirael''. He is at Abhorsen's House, in the deepest cellar, and will sleep there "till the end of time", according to Mogget.
65	** I've always been rather fond of the idea that if the sequel to ''Abhorsen'' ever gets written, a threat will emerge that will require someone of the Abhorsen bloodline to awaken Kerrigor and force info out of him. The whole setup seems tailor-made for it.
66	* I got one; how the heck does a Charter-Mark become corrupted? It clearly isn't due to Free-Magic; the Abhorsens have a tendency of spamming the stuff while in Death, and, hell, [[spoiler: Nick, due to being heavily affected by Orannis' shard,]] would likely be stabbed as soon as someone tested his Charter-Mark, so that can't be it. So, what creates a corrupted Charter-Mark?
67	** My guess is that it all depends on intent. If you use Free Magic with the intent of perverting the Charter, bam, corrupted mark. The Abhorsen uses Free Magic to keep the Dead bound, and take care of nasty Free Magic constructs, so the Charter would approve it. It's also possible that the Abhorsen's bloodline has an innate resistance to corruption. As for [[spoiler: Nick]], he wasn't exactly a willing host, was he? And let's not forget that [[spoiler: Kibeth herself]] gave him his mark.
68	** I would imagine we'll get more info on how this works when ''Clariel'' finally comes out, as [[spoiler: it's Chlorr's StartOfDarkness]].
69	** This is explained in ''Clariel''. [[spoiler: "The Charter and Free Magic are antithetical. When you use one, you cannot use the other. Binding Free Magic creatures, drawing on their power...it weakens the Charter within you." It is possible, although difficult and dangerous, to be cleansed of the Free Magic taint with the assistance of a powerful Charter mage, healing spells, and even the Great Charter Stones.]]
70	* How does no one understand the ArcWords? It's obviously a question of fate: Is everything predestined, or do you choose your own? The fact that NO ONE in the books understands it kinda makes them look a bit dumb.
71	** Remember that the line is written on the very last page of the Book of the Dead, and it seems to carry the weight of scripture. Like "In the beginning was the Word," the idea isn't to quickly understand and be done. The line requires meditation, resting in uncertainty without looking for answers.
72	** In short, it's an open-ended question which serves more as a foundation for the moral code of whoever reads it, depending on their personality. Sabriel was an example of someone who chose her path by looking for her father when everyone told her not to. Even though Terciel died right afterwards, Sabriel did finish her own quest before she went to save the kingdom, so she's more proactive. Lirael was a more tragic example of being chosen. While she acknowledges that being the Abhorsen-in-Waiting is better than being a failed Clayr, it still wasn't what she really wanted for herself. Then there's how Lirael wasn't even born from love (which is free will), but because Arielle Saw it was supposed to happen.
73	* Mogget is the second greatest of the Nine Bright Shiners. Kerrigor is a powerful prince who manages to defeat him. How?
74	** Mogget was fresh out of prison. Spend a millennium or two chained in cat form and see how warmed-up ''you'' are.
75	** More seriously, Kerrigor, as the closest thing that the Old Kingdom has to a King, has access to the power of one of the Charter Bloodlines. Considering the Charter Stones he's broken, and the fact that there are only two people with that bloodline left alive, he might in power be closer to a Bright Shiner than any mortal. And as I recall, the battle was far from over -- Kerrigor temporarily overcame Mogget, but if Sabriel hadn't thrown the ring over both of them Mogget was going to destroy Kerrigor from the inside out (she saw a "white flame" flickering in Kerrigor's eyes.)
76	** Kerrigor was also basically a NinjaPirateZombieRobot of the most dangerous possible magic-user under Old Kingdom rules - a Royal prince ''and'' a Greater Dead ''and'' a necromancer ''and'' a Free Magic Adept who'd worked out tricks to both increase his power by getting people to swear allegiance to him and keep himself from being permanently destroyed so long as his body continued to exist. Guy was a boss. Besides, do we know for sure that [[spoiler: Yrael]] was the second-greatest Shiner? We know [[spoiler: Orannis]] was number one, seemingly by a fair margin, and presumably we can tell how the others were ranked based on the size/power of their corresponding Bell, but I don't think it's ever established where [[spoiler: Yrael]] fits. Certainly the bindings on [[spoiler: Yrael]] are much less exhaustive, and the song at the end of ''Lirael'' treats his binding as almost an afterthought while it indicates binding [[spoiler: Orannis]] took a lot more effort. Also, I always got the impression from her brief appearance in ''Abhorsen'' that Astarael was a lot more powerful than Mogget even in her diminished state, and Lirael and Sam both seemed to believe that she had destroyed Mogget up until he reappeared and said that she'd decided to give him another chance.
77	** Perhaps Mogget conceded to Kerrigor, allowing himself to be subsumed? Ultimately it means that he can be bound by the collar.
78	** Eh, seems unlikely. Mogget was in full Yrael mode at the time, and in that state the absolute nicest thing he seems willing to do for the Abhorsens is "kill them quickly". Letting himself get eaten - even temporarily - on Sabriel's behalf seems fairly out of character, especially since he'd already discharged Terciel's final command and therefore wasn't bound to do ''anything'' for her until she collared him again.
79	** Also remember that nineteen years later, in ''Abhorsen,'' Mogget can resist the binding and Ranna's bell (Sam suspects that he only 'obeys' when he chooses, to irritate Sam &co.), while Kerrigor, under the same binding, has not woken up once. Clearly, Kerrigor had chops, but his overcoming Mogget was, from his POV, just a HopeSpot.
80	** Also in Clariel it's revealed Mogget was attempting to break the Charter long ago. Maybe after getting over his innate desire to kill the Abhorsen he thought, hey wait a second, this guy has the same goal as me and decided to (literally) join him. And then kept up the Kerrigor personality in case something went wrong, or Kerrigor really had a more dominate character while Mogget had more power.
81	** As someone else noted above, Kerrigor was ''insanely'' powerful. He's the strongest Dead spirit, and perhaps the strongest magic-user, in the history of the Old Kingdom, and there's little reason to doubt that he could overpower even a being as strong as Mogget. As to the notion that we was still fighting inside Kerrigor as proved by the "white flame" in Kerrigor's eyes? No. Kerrigor's eyes are ''always'' white flames, and are described as such from his first appearance. Kerrigor won the fight. I don't think that needs further justification; it's not as if the concept of a lich besting a god is unheard of (looking at ''you'' [[TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}} Tar-Baphon]]).
82	** Mogget's fire is a purer white than Kerrigor's regular eyes. Sabriel specifically thought she saw it, but we don't know if that means Mogget just wasn't entirely beaten yet or was revving up for a second wind or what, since she gets the ring on.
83	** ''Abhorsen'' also clarifies that Mogget has lost much of his power as it faded through simple time and he's weaker than he was at his height during the war against Orannis. He implies that even unbound he's not that much stronger than Kibeth or Astarel who poured their power into making the Charter and are only a shadow of themselves. He's powerful but not at EldritchAbomination levels anymore.
84	* Mogget drops the hint that Chlorr was an Abhorsen, which turns out to be true but only by relation. However his line is "she was always cautious even when she was an a-". I get that the story was far from even confirmed when Abhorsen was released, but still, what about Clariel's character is cautious? The closest I can think of is that she decided to wear the robes before diving headfirst into free magic, and indeed Mogget didn't even know her that long but still it would be more clear that she's an impatient and even rash person more than cautious. More an it just bugs me than a headscratcher but I'd still like it if someone can provide an explanation as to why Mogget might think so.
85	** I took it as being one part that Nix didn't have Clariel's personality as fleshed out when she wrote that line and one part reference to how she was still reluctant to totally embrace Free Magic at the end of her prequel despite Mogget and the other Free Magic creature's goading. And don't forget that he was trying to manipulate her into releasing him but she stopped herself from doing it.
86	* Everything and everyone has a time to die... unless they're a cute bunny rabbit at the start of the book, I guess? But don't resurrect dead humans, for whatever reason, no matter who they were, even though Sabriel's narration tells us that if a corpse still has its head it can be brought back to true life! [[InformedWrongness Because that would be wrong.]]
87	** With regards to the rabbit's resurrection, Sabriel ''does'' admit to herself that she really ''should not'' have brought it back and, in fact, broke a promise she made to both herself and her father in doing so.
88	*** But why? As the post below points out, nothing bad comes of it, and if you can genuinely resurrect animals or people as opposed to creating homicidal undead, why is it such a terrible thing?
89	*** Because it's a fundamental warping of the laws of nature, and that sort of thing always has a price. Additionally, Sabriel is repeatedly indicated early on in her titular book to have a less than complete understanding of her duties as Abhorsen beyond the basic binding and banishing of the Dead (which, to be fair, she's very good at). It's possible she simply misunderstood part of the Book of the Dead. The rabbit was probably a case of, essentially, being like resuscitating someone who'd just died.
90	** The narration makes this out to potentially be Sabriel's StartOfDarkness, but nothing whatsoever comes of it at any point in the series. WhatHappenedToTheMouse, er, bunny?
91	** Keep in mind that the rabbit died literally seconds before Sabriel got to it (it's soul probably not even past the first gate), and I would imagine that had it been dead any longer, its resurrection would not have gone so smoothly or produced a cute little bunny. As for bringing back the soldiers, I'd chalk that up to one part EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, one part Sabriel's wishful thinking, as nowhere else in the series is it implied that such would be possible.
92	*** Also possibly Sabriel's ignorance, as she's indicated to still have a lot to learn in her titular book - for one thing, she can only read from the Book of the Dead when her father visits in person, bringing it with him.
93	* Did any Abhorsens ever have qualms about the fact that Mogget was a slave? Regardless of whether or not he'd try to kill them if released (and really, given that generation after generation had kept him trapped in cat from and bound to obey their commands, it's hard to blame him), these people spend much of their time freeing the souls of the dead from slavery to evil necromancers - did none of them look at Mogget and think "wait a minute"? Or is it a case of "slavery is okay if we do it"?
94	** Mogget, at least as characterized in ''Sabriel'', is an insane Free Magic construct that will cheerfully murder anybody who crosses his path. Keeping him chained up is in the best interests of everybody.
95	*** Mogget isn't characterized as insane in any of the books. In ''Sabriel'' he's extraordinarily vengeful in his unbound form, and will promptly seek out the the nearest Abhorsen to torture and kill, but that's neither an example of insanity, nor of some more general lust for killing everything he encounters.
96	*** 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.
97	** It's not a case of "slavery is okay if we do it", it's a case of "Free Magic is inherently evil. Mogget is a creature of Free Magic and therefore ''must'' be either destroyed or bound."
98	*** Except that the Seven Bright Shiners who created the world were Free Magic creatures. All we know about Yrael back then is that he didn't want to fight a god called the Destroyer - which seems fairly understandable, if cowardly. Keeping him bound (and there's a difference between "bound" and "enslaved") is a sensible injustice, but his insanity looks a lot like a product of being bound into cat form and slavery for thousands of years. Again, by the time of the books, keeping him bound is by far the safest decision, but again, there's a difference between "bound" and "enslaved" - no Abhorsen (of all people) we see thinks about this?
99	*** But how much of that do the contemporary Abhorsens ''know''? Terciel can only speculate as to Mogget's origins in ''Sabriel'', and his guess (that Mogget was the "child" of the Wallmakers) proves to have been entirely incorrect. And barely anybody in the present story knows anything about the Shiners and their story. (It's worth noting that we the readers know next to nothing about what actually went down back then either, but the way the Disreputable Dog/[[spoiler: Kibeth]] talks about and to Mogget, one gets the impression she'd have killed him had the decision been up to her, which implies something rather worse on his end than just cowardice). Presumably, the knowledge of Mogget's true nature was lost long ago, and all that Sabriel, Terciel, and their immediate predecessors knew was that Mogget was a useful if frustrating advisor when bound, and a raving lunatic who'd try to murder anyone in reach when unbound, and that was all they needed to know to make sure that collar stays tightly affixed save in dire need.
100	** Most likely, they would generally assume that whoever bound Mogget had a Damn Good Reason[[TradeSnark ™]] to do so and their job is to keep the dead down, not to question the designs of the Wallmakers/the Seven/whoever.
101	* The Book of the Dead can only be opened by "a person with an innate talent for Free Magic and necromancy" and closed by "a person with an unsullied Charter Mark." Shouldn't it be the other way around? Any old necromancer can open the Abhorsen's secret book, but just can't close it again... why even bother with the restrictions if that is the case?
102	** Probably because Free Magic is, as the name implies, about releasing things and opening, while Charter Magic is more concerned with order and binding. I took it as an implication that without Character Magic the Book simply ''can't'' be closed again because the magic in it is too powerful. And keeping it open is probably not something you want, so if someone who wasn't an Abhorsen did manage to get it opened they would regret it since it's explicitly stated the Book has a will of its own.
103	* Why did Arielle fail to tell anyone in the Clayr’s Glacier that Lirael had been sired by the recently-deceased Abhorsen? It would have made Lirael’s life much easier (to say nothing of Sam’s, and possibly Sabriel’s as well), and it’s not as though any of the Clayr would have disapproved of the liaison. (You could chalk it up to Arielle living too much in her visions to care about something so mundanely practical, but without explication in the novels, that feels like a cheap handwave.)
104	** Arielle mentions it. She assumed that Lirael would have been fine. Clayr have children all the time with random men (it's implied that they See themselves siring a child with a guy and do so and leave it at that). Lirael's conception wasn't unique except for the mingling of the bloodlines - and that seems to have not been that uncommon either since Sabriel is also the child of a Clayr and Abhorsen. Had Lirael had taken after Arielle, no one would have cared. She's only treated differently because she was different. But Arielle never saw Lirael in her visions until the end of her life and by then it was too late to do much. Arielle could have asked why she had a vision of her having a child with the Abhorsen and taken the logical leap but it seems to be a weakness of the Clayr that they tend to blindly accept their visions without question.
105	* When exactly did Mogget have time to adopt his Athask form and interact with his eponymous northern tribe of worshippers? He was bound by the Seven before the age of humans, and can't have had much chance to pop up to the north in the intervening millennia before his liberation, seeing as he was rather rigorously enslaved to the Abhorsens.
106	** The Abhorsens do travel up that far, with Sabriel being explicitly familiar with the northern tribes thanks to her experiences - after all, they have necromancers and free magic sorcerers of their own. It's entirely reasonable to suggest that Mogget accompanied an Abhorsen up north on at least one occasion, things got hairy, and he persuaded them to grant him the ability to take a more combat effective form than a small cat. Why don't we see it at any other time? Because it was probably then forbidden to him, like the human form, for the probably very sensible reason that Mogget is quite dangerous enough when he isn't the size of a Siberian Tiger.

Context Headscratchers / OldKingdom