| 1 | [[quoteright:283:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Sabriel.jpg]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:283:[[DeadlyRinger Bells have never looked so awesome.]]]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->''"Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?"'' |
| 5 | -->-- ''The Book of the Dead'' |
| 6 | |
| 7 | A young adult fantasy series by Creator/GarthNix. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | Set in a world sharply divided into the Old Kingdom, where magic rules, and the Southern Nations, where science is law, the Old Kingdom series revolves mostly around the conflict between two varieties of magic — Charter and Free, which correspond roughly to the traditional alignments of [[OrderVersusChaos Law and Chaos]]. Charter Magic is defined by the Charter, a runic language, which gives structure and purpose to sorcery to make it a beneficial and constructive force; Free Magic is wild, uncontrolled and given to corruption and wanton destruction. Poised between the two is the Abhorsen, who partakes of both to defend the people of the Charter from the Dead and other monsters that Free Magic and its servants spawn in order to work their wills. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | The first book tells the story of Sabriel, daughter of the Abhorsen, who discovers that since something bad has happened to her father, she must protect the world from the hordes of undead that threaten it. The second and third are set some years later and follow several protagonists — the eponymous Lirael, a librarian, and Sam, Sabriel's son — as they attempt to prevent [[SealedEvilInACan a great evil from escaping its prison]]. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | Although parts of the setting bear a superficial similarity to the "stock" medieval fantasy, Nix quickly heads off into new territory, bringing a unique and different flavor to what might have otherwise been yet another fantasy ClicheStorm. The magic systems used in the book are radically different from the expected and contribute significantly to its originality. One of the more interesting touches is the presence of the more advanced technological lands to the south of the Old Kingdom — in particular Ancelstierre, home to many of the characters, which comes across much like England circa 1910-1920. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | The series consists of: |
| 16 | * ''Sabriel'' |
| 17 | * ''Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr'' (forms a two-book arc with ''Abhorsen'') |
| 18 | * ''Abhorsen'' |
| 19 | ** "Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case" (novella, found in the collection ''Across the Wall'') |
| 20 | * ''Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen'' (a {{prequel}} set 600 years before Sabriel's birth) |
| 21 | ** "To Hold the Bridge" (short story set in the same time period as ''Clariel'' but a few years at most before it, found in the collection of the same name) |
| 22 | * ''Goldenhand'' (follows ''Abhorsen'' and overlaps with "The Creature in the Case") |
| 23 | * ''Terciel and Elinor'' (a {{prequel}} about Sabriel's parents) |
| 24 | |
| 25 | ---- |
| 26 | !!This series provides examples of: |
| 27 | |
| 28 | * TwentiesBobHaircut: Sabriel is described as having one during her very first appearance, though it's not reflected in the cover illustration. (The novel is set in a fantasy world, but Ancelstierre is a FantasyCounterpartCulture to 1920s England in technology level and culture.) |
| 29 | * AbdicateTheThrone: ''Clariel'' has a bit of this: |
| 30 | ** King Orrikan III was planning on abdicating before his heir Princess Tathiel disappeared. He still effectively abdicated all responsibilities and ignored his royal duties, becoming a shut-in in his palace. |
| 31 | ** [[spoiler:It turns out that Abhorsens can do this too: Ader/Maderael abdicated her post a century prior to her successor Kariniel, the Abhorsen who built Hillfair. According to Mogget, she came to the bells very young, so she was still relatively young when she abdicated her post and went to Belisaere to practice Charter Magic.]] |
| 32 | * AbsoluteXenophobe: [[spoiler:Orannis']] motivation seems to be a desire to be entirely alone and free from the noise of other beings: |
| 33 | -->[[spoiler:"So Hedge has failed me, as such servants do", said Orannis, Its voice low like a whisper but harsh and penetrating. "As all living things must fail, till silence rings me in eternal calm, across a sea of dust."]] |
| 34 | * AddictiveMagic: [[WildMagic Free Magic]] is all about ''dominating'' a source of power and wielding it through pure willpower, an addictive experience that quickly [[BlackMagic corrupts the user's mind]] and twists them into TheUnfettered. [[spoiler:Clariel]]'s first brush with Free Magic gives her uncharacteristic power fantasies, and using it twice imprints it on her so strongly that she's almost physically unable to prevent her body from grasping for more. |
| 35 | * AffablyEvil: Governor/Lord Protector Kilp, the BigBad of ''Clariel''. A would-be usurper who's raised a total sociopath for a son, but the man himself is usually polite, gracious, and accommodating to his enemies/prisoners as well as his peers. He prefers to weave his plots through discussion and politicking, and only resorts to violence when the mundane options fall through. Clariel reflects that had her mother been willing to compromise with Kilp, then [[spoiler:her parents' massacre]] would likely have been averted. |
| 36 | * AfterlifeAntechamber: Death is like a river running through a series of caves, called Precincts, the last of which opens out under what looks like, but isn't, a sky full of stars. That's as far as any character goes; anybody who goes on from there never comes back. Undead raised by necromancers are always souls from within the caves, either because they died recently and hadn't finished the journey or because they deliberately lingered in one of the caves in hope of finding a way back to the land of the living. |
| 37 | * AgentScully: Nicholas Sayre thinks his best friend's obvious magic is [[YoureJustJealous just showing off]], and other obvious signs of magic are [[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions superstition]]. In Nick's defense, his brain was operating rationally on the subject until [[spoiler:Hedge planted a shard of the Destroyer's [[SealedEvilInACan prison]] in his heart]]. Also, Nick admits to the existence of functional magic, having confronted and killed honest-to-god zombies, but he believes that there is a scientific explanation behind the usage of magic. Though when he is feverish, later on, he discounts many of the very real dangers of the Old Kingdom as superstition. |
| 38 | * AllAccessibleMagic: Free Magic is usable by anyone with a strong mind, though because most of the world's magic is now bound up in [[BackgroundMagicField the Charter]], most sorcerers look for a concentrated power source like [[{{Necromancer}} Death]] or a subservient [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent spirit]] to expand their capabilities. This is a problem, since practitioners either start out as {{Evil Sorcerer}}s looking for unfettered power or [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide turn into them]]. |
| 39 | * AllergicToEvil: Free Magic has this effect on people, and broken Charter Stones induce extreme nausea in Charter Mages. |
| 40 | * AllForNothing: At the end of ''Clariel'', [[spoiler:Clariel realizes that her self-destructive RoaringRampageOfRevenge was pointless -- the villain would have been defeated without her, and her use of Free Magic almost inflicted a catastrophe on the Kingdom. She leaves as a fugitive to pursue her TragicDream of becoming a solitary woodsman, but the reader knows she's doomed to succumb to Free Magic and become Chlorr.]] |
| 41 | * AlwaysChaoticEvil: |
| 42 | ** The Dead, who even when not affiliated under a necromancer will kill anything that moves, if only to eat their life force. Being a walking and animated sin against the cosmic order will do that to a person. Free-willed Dead are more selfish and cowardly than anything else, willing to eat life force and kill people rather than truly die. |
| 43 | *** This is mostly a self selection phenomenon: "natural" undead don't happen unless the spirit powering them was evil and determined enough to claw their way back to life in the first place, while the Free Magic of necromancy corrupts and damages souls that necromancers trap. |
| 44 | ** Free Magic sorcerers more just Always Chaotic, but fit the spirit of this trope as are twisted into TheUnfettered due to Wild Magic corrupting them into wanting power and control at any price. We see barbarian sorcerers who are so dangerous that they must be collared with a literal MoralityChain lest they turn on their own people. |
| 45 | * AnachronicOrder: ''Sabriel'' starts the series, and ''Lirael'' and ''Abhorsen'' are a two-book arc taking place a generation later. ''Clariel'' jumps back several centuries before ''Sabriel'', while ''Goldenhand'' then follows ''Abhorsen'' and ''Terciel and Elinor'' jumps back again, this time a couple of decades or so before ''Sabriel''. |
| 46 | * AnarchyIsChaos: Since the fall of the royal family, the Old Kingdom has been steadily sliding into chaos as the years go by, since the very existence of the family is necessary to the health of the kingdom. [[spoiler:It turns out that Kerrigor was actively ''managing'' the chaos in order to weaken the Charter and make himself more powerful — he may never have proclaimed himself King, but after the last regent died it's clear just who was the dominant force in the Old Kingdom.]] |
| 47 | * AndIMustScream: It's hinted in ''Sabriel'' that Touchstone was very vaguely aware while he was in magical suspension with his spirit in Death, but fortunately he seems to forget everything about the experience not long after being released (although he does panic briefly when he wakes up under a grey blanket). |
| 48 | -->''Grey mist coiling upwards, twining around him like a clinging vine, gripping arms and legs, immobilizing, strangling, merciless. So firmly grown about his body there was no possibility of escape, so tight his muscles couldn't even flex under skin, his eyelids couldn't blink. And nothing to see but patches of darker grey, crisscrossing his vision like windblown scum upon a fetid pool.'' |
| 49 | * AndThisIsFor: Clariel mentions [[spoiler:her mother and father]] when [[spoiler:killing Aronzo. Kilp still doesn't realize who she is, infuriating her that he can't even keep his victims straight.]] |
| 50 | * AntiMagic: The oubliette that Kilp puts Clariel in is enchanted so that Charter Magic cannot be used inside of it. Not that Clariel knows much Charter Magic, anyway. |
| 51 | * ApocalypseHow: |
| 52 | ** It's suggested that a Class 1 (Large-Scale Civilization Disruption) happened north of the Wall two hundred years before the story opens, in response to Kerrigor's assassination of the royal family, and his armies of Dead ravaging the land. By the time Sabriel arrives, civilization is ''sort'' of functioning, but only in isolated enclaves who can't really help each other, and things are clearly getting worse as Kerrigor's forces continue to break Charter stones. |
| 53 | ** In ''Lirael'', Class 5 (Planetary Extinction) is the SealedEvilInACan's goal. |
| 54 | ** A Class 6 (Planetary Scale, Total Extinction) is implied to have happened in the Empty Lands north of the Great Rift, which separates the Old Kingdom from the remnants of a destroyed world just as the Wall separates the Old Kingdom from Ancelstierre. |
| 55 | * ArcNumber: |
| 56 | ** There are seven bells, named after the Seven who made the Charter. |
| 57 | ** [[spoiler:Orranis is bound under seven layers of wards. And the world of the Old Kingdom was the seventh world he was going to destroy.]] |
| 58 | ** There are Nine Bright Shiners in all, and Nine Precincts and Gates in Death. Not to mention the Clayr's Nine Day Watch. |
| 59 | * ArcWords: "Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?" |
| 60 | * AnArmAndALeg: |
| 61 | ** At the climax of ''Abhorsen'', [[spoiler:the Disreputable Dog bites Lirael's right hand off so she doesn't have to make a HeroicSacrifice to re-bind Orannis. Sam makes her a golden prosthetic.]] |
| 62 | ** In ''Goldenhand'', [[spoiler:Ferin eventually loses her foot as a result of an injury sustained during her pursuit by barbarians serving Chlorr. She asks Sam to make her eventual prosthetic black, because she intends to show it off and gold is too shiny for sneaking about at night.]] |
| 63 | * ArmedLegs: Aziminil has blades for feet, which are her [[ExtremityExtremist primary means of combat]]. |
| 64 | * AssassinationAttempt: |
| 65 | ** In ''Lirael'', it's mentioned that the only time Sam has ever seen his father go into a berserker rage was after a false ambassador from a northern clan attempted to stab Sabriel at a banquet, prompting Touchstone to throw him the length of the banquet table. |
| 66 | ** ''Abhorsen'' opens with one on [[spoiler:Sabriel and Touchstone while they're in Corvere. They're not revealed to have survived until a third of the way in, and some DramaticIrony arises later as Lirael and Sam, among others, believe them to be dead until they turn up with Ellimere, Sanar and Ryelle at the climax.]] |
| 67 | * AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Sameth and Ellimere are almost always shown bickering throughout "Lirael", though Ellimere does express concern for Sam upon his return from his confrontation with Hedge, relaxing her schedule for him in order to give him time to recover. Additionally, in "Abhorsen," [[spoiler: Sam is implied to be upset by the idea of never seeing Ellimere again when he thinks of her after finding out he's a Wallmaker, and Ellimere immediately runs to hug him upon arriving at the scene of the New Seven's ultimate confrontation of Orannis]]. |
| 68 | * AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: |
| 69 | ** [[spoiler:Touchstone is revealed to be the last surviving member of the royal family, a bastard son of the Queen,]] and so in eighteen years, [[spoiler:not only are he and Sabriel happily married,]] they're king and queen as well. |
| 70 | ** Belatiel in ''Clariel'' comes back to find the Abhorsen's house in chaos. He calls for a sword and a set of bells and then all of the sendings slowly bow to him, acknowledging him as the new Abhorsen. It actually catches him by surprise, as up until then he and the other members of the family were under the impression that his cousin Yannael, his predecessor Tyriel's last living child, was the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, and he doesn't know if they're going to obey his orders or not. |
| 71 | * BackgroundMagicField: The Old Kingdom and the lands beyond it are steeped in one. The Charter Stones and the Wall generate one allowing access to Charter Magic, but in places beyond their reach north of the Wall, there is only Free Magic. The Charter also has deleterious effects on machine-made objects from Ancelstierre, causing them to break down. |
| 72 | * BadassBandolier: Used by Abhorsens and necromancers to carry their bells. |
| 73 | * BadassBookworm: |
| 74 | ** In the first book, Sabriel is at the top of her class in every subject, most notably Swordfighting and Magic (with Music close behind), and, while well-liked, certainly gives very little indication to her school friends of her real powers. |
| 75 | ** Lirael is a much more extreme example. Aside from being a Second Assistant Librarian, her secret after-hours activities regularly include awakening horrible Free Magic creatures locked in the deepest dungeons of the library, and destroying them with the help of the Disreputable Dog. |
| 76 | ** Hell, anyone working at the Clayr's Great Library pretty much has to be. Librarians are given magical daggers on first recruitment, and are instructed to attach whistles to their lapels so they can call for help if they can't use their arms. Or if their arms are no longer attached. It's later revealed that librarians along with the Rangers make up most of the Clayr's armed forces. |
| 77 | ** Magister Kargrin lives alone in a tower with a lot of books. He also happens to be a huge, muscle-bound man and a powerful Charter Mage. |
| 78 | * BadassFamily: The Abhorsens, the royal family, and the Clayr. |
| 79 | * BadPowersGoodPeople: The Abhorsens have the same abilities as necromancers, namely those of awakening and otherwise controlling dead bodies and spirits. The Abhorsens' bells, however, are fired through with Charter Magic, hence their commitment and ability to keep the Dead journeying down the river of death. |
| 80 | * BattleCouple: Sabriel and Touchstone, throughout all of the books. After the first book, [[spoiler:they also become a RulingCouple, fulfilling different but equal roles in partnership to rebuild and rule the Old Kingdom]]. They partially fulfill the SwordAndSorcerer trope as Touchstone was a Royal Guard and is a highly skilled warrior, while Sabriel is a Necromancer. In the first book, Touchstone pledges himself as Sabriel's swordsman and defends her body in Life when she is in Death, leading to a number of BackToBackBadasses moments both in this book and later in the series. However, their roles are not truly dichotomous as Sabriel is also a warrior and both are Charter Mages. |
| 81 | ** The trait runs in the family, in ''Terciel and Elinor'', the titular characters (Sabriel's parents) fight together, Terciel with his bells and Elinor with her circus knives and Charter Magic. |
| 82 | * BecauseDestinySaysSo: A number of plot-relevant events, such as Sabriel being sent to grow up in Ancelstierre and Lirael's conception, are only done because one of the Clayr had a vision of it happening and made sure it came to pass, not because anyone freely chose to do anything. |
| 83 | * TheBerserker: |
| 84 | ** Touchstone, when he's pushed to the edge. This is likely inherited through his mother, as berserkering seems to flow in the Royal blood. |
| 85 | ** This ability passes down to his son, Sameth. |
| 86 | ** Clariel also has this [[spoiler:as well as her mother Jaciel]]. It is said to be common among the royal bloodline. |
| 87 | * BigBad: Varies based on book or storyline: |
| 88 | ** For ''Sabriel'', [[OurLichesAreDifferent Kerrigor]] is the ultimate driving force behind the hordes of Dead threatening the Kingdom, as well as being responsible for whittling down the Abhorsen line over the centuries [[spoiler:and for overthrowing the royal family, of which he is a renegade prince]]. |
| 89 | ** For ''Lirael'' and ''Abhorsen'', [[EvilSorcerer Hedge]] is the controlling force behind the rising threat of the Dead and Free Magic [[spoiler: but he's ultimately revealed as a proxy for the true enemy -- Orannis the Destroyer, the Ninth Bright Shiner]]. |
| 90 | ** ''Clariel'' opts for more of a BigBadEnsemble, with no single person responsible for the troubles facing the Kingdom, but many who have their hands in it -- most obviously, [[CorruptPolitician Guildmaster Kilp]], [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Aziminil]], and [[spoiler: Mogget]]. |
| 91 | ** ''Goldenhand'' has [[EnigmaticMinion Chlorr]], who played a [[TheDragon subordinate role]] in her previous appearances, [[DragonAscendant step into this position]]. |
| 92 | ** ''Terciel and Elinor'', being a direct prequel to ''Sabriel'', has Kerrigor once again. |
| 93 | * BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:The arrival of Sabriel, Touchstone, Ellimere, Sanar, and Ryelle when Sam and the army are holding off the dead]] near the end of ''Abhorsen''. |
| 94 | * TheBigDamnKiss: "Think of Life!" from ''Sabriel''. [[spoiler:Set between the showdown in the reservoir and Touchstone's berserker rage, this is Sabriel and Touchstone's FirstKiss.]] Epic enough to resist the power of Astarael, the Weeper, which sends all who hear it into Death. Also an aversion of HollywoodKiss, because an accidental bite and a little blood is involved -- which probably actually helps in distracting from Astarael's call. |
| 95 | * BigFancyHouse: Abhorsen's House is a very comfortable manor which is fortified to withstand attacks from the Dead. |
| 96 | * BirthdayBeginning: Lirael's book opens on her fourteenth birthday, completely despondent because she has not yet received the Sight. |
| 97 | * BlackMagic: |
| 98 | ** Free Magic isn't intrinsically evil but can't be wielded by humans without mental harm; sorcerers inevitably turn into rampaging megalomaniacs over time. And the best source of power is to [[PoweredByAForsakenChild assimilate Free Magic spirits]] to claim their strength... |
| 99 | ** {{Necromanc|er}}y is the most feared use of Free Magic because it traps the spirits of the dead as servants, not merely their bodies -- which gives them plenty of motive to [[HumanSacrifice create more dead]]. |
| 100 | * BlessedWithSuck: Some of the major families' special abilities are a decidedly mixed-blessing: |
| 101 | ** The Royal Families' berserker rage often causes more problems than it solves, since they often lose reason and rationality at critical moments. It's also a wild ability close to Free Magic, as ''Clariel'' shows. |
| 102 | ** The Clayr's Seer abilities are diluted when they're not using their powers together in a large number (with a very few and highly powerful exceptions) leaving individual Clayr with an impossible to control ability that triggers randomly and shows useless flashes. All Clayr are also "gifted" with portents of their own death and the ability overwhelms them as they age, leaving them UnstuckInTime and lost in their visions. Furthermore as a StoryBreakerPower, the Clayr's ability is often blocked or impeded. |
| 103 | * BloodMagic: |
| 104 | ** Breaking or mending or making a Charter Stone requires Charter Mage blood. For the Great Stones, it needs royal, Abhorsen, or Clayr blood. The only exception to this is [[spoiler:when the Disreputable Dog grants Nicholas Sayre his Charter mark and pulls him out of Death, making him a type of Charter Stone never seen before]]. |
| 105 | ** Consuming blood strengthens the Dead, helping them to remain in Life for longer. |
| 106 | * BoardingSchool: Wyverley College, for "Young Ladies of Quality", is less than forty miles south of the Wall and considers Fighting Arts a mandatory subject for its students. They also teach Charter Magic to any girl who can get permission from her parents. It's for this very reason that Sabriel's father chooses it when he sends her to Ancelstierre to keep her safe. The climax of ''Sabriel'' returns to the school. In ''Abhorsen'', [[spoiler:the school serves as a safe haven for Sabriel and Touchstone to leave a chest with their things when they travel further south, and to return there after they're presumed dead in an assassination attempt and have to travel undercover.]] |
| 107 | * BrilliantButLazy: From the second book onward, Mogget, though very knowledgeable and powerful, spends most of his time snoozing, rousing only to snark his "companions" or in life-and-death (or Life-and-Death) situations. Supposedly, this is because his RestrainingBolt binds him with the power of ''Ranna'', "the Sleeper", though it's heavily implied numerous times that he chooses when to obey. In the first book, he has no such excuse, but is still a lazy, unhelpful git. After, when he appears in ''Goldenhand'', he's a free agent, and thus not actually obligated to help. Though, to his credit, he does always help out when the chips are down - even if, in the latter case, his motive seems to mostly relate to Chlorr's plan ruining the fish in one of his favourite rivers. |
| 108 | * BumblingDad: Clariel's father, Harven, to a degree. He has little skill as a goldsmith, is something of a BadLiar, and is generally ineffectual (although he does skillfully manage his wife's finances and household so she can concentrate on her art and politics). |
| 109 | * CallARabbitASmeerp: The "Hereditary Arbiter" appears to be Ancelstierre's equivalent to the King or Queen of the United Kingdom, with a side of the Speaker of the House of Commons (a neutral political figure who's supposed to keep things balanced), and likewise for the Moot taking the place of Parliament. Even "Ancelstierre" is something of a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calque calque]] of England ("Land of the Angles"), although the name is pronounced with a soft "c" rather than a hard "c". |
| 110 | * CallBack: |
| 111 | ** At the very start of the first book, Sabriel's father sees to it that his (apparently) dead newborn daughter is baptized in the Charter, to preserve her spirit. At the very end of ''Abhorsen'', [[spoiler:the Disreputable Dog does the same thing for Nick, and sends him back to life.]] |
| 112 | ** In the first book, Sabriel insists on being referred to by her name, rather than the title she feels is still her father's. In ''Abhorsen'', she does the same when Lirael refers to her as the Abhorsen. |
| 113 | * CallForward: |
| 114 | ** From ''Clariel'': [[spoiler:Mogget, Baazalanan and Aziminil have designs on trying to use royal blood to destroy the Great Charter Stones, which Kerrigor will succeed at 400 years later.]] |
| 115 | ** Also from ''Clariel'', [[spoiler:The Abhorsen-in-Waiting is not the individual who the Abhorsen and family assume them to be, but another character who has already been shown to have far more aptitude in the skills required for the post. Said character only finds out thanks to the sendings at Abhorsen's House.]] |
| 116 | ** In the epilogue of ''Terciel and Elinor'', Elinor sees a vision of herself dying while giving birth to Sabriel. |
| 117 | * CallToAdventure: |
| 118 | ** Sabriel gets hers when a messenger from her father delivers her the Abhorsen's sword and bells, a sign that something is wrong. |
| 119 | ** Lirael's comes from the Clayr, seeing her on the Red Lake sometime during the coming summer (and in a way, the Disreputable Dog is a walking, talking CallToAdventure). |
| 120 | * TheCallPutMeOnHold: Lirael. Usually by the time a Clayr is fourteen, she has gained the power of the Sight and is considered an adult. Lirael, however, reaches nineteen without even a glimmer of precognition. [[spoiler:She never does develop precognition; instead, she receives a different Call, from her father's side, and becomes the Abhorsen-in-Waiting.]] |
| 121 | * CannotCrossRunningWater: The Dead and most Free Magic creatures can't cross running water (unless it's bridged with boxes of grave dirt), and at least some of them are harmed by rain. They can't pass ''under'' it either; in ''Sabriel'', the centre of Belisaere is protected by the aqueducts circling it. |
| 122 | * CatchPhrase: "Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?" for pretty much anyone associated with the Abhorsens. |
| 123 | * CatsAreLazy: {{Invoked|Trope}}. A horrifically powerful Free Magic [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent spirit]] [[spoiler:Yrael, one of the [[PhysicalGod Nine Bright Shiners]],]] is bound by a RestrainingBolt in feline form as "Mogget", a BrilliantButLazy [[IntellectualAnimal sapient cat]] that spends most of his time in ''Lirael'' and ''Abhorsen'' asleep. This sleep is supposedly because of the enchantment that keeps him bound, but several characters correctly suspect that he only listens when he wants to. |
| 124 | * CatsAreMagic: Mogget, the sarcastic, fish-demanding, white feline servant of the Abhorsens [[spoiler:who is actually Yrael, one of the Nine Bright Shiners, and a Free Magic creature, bound by a ring. Kerrigor is bound along with Mogget by the same ring and becomes a sleeping black cat, though he is also imprisoned by additional means.]] |
| 125 | * CatsAreMean: Mogget, who qualifies for one of the [[DeadpanSnarker meanest]] beings in the Old Kingdom - which is not to say that he doesn't have his softer moments. |
| 126 | * CatsAreSnarkers: Mogget has a very dry wit. |
| 127 | * CatScare: There are at least two occasions when Sam hears something in the grass, freaks out, and draws his sword and it turns out to be Mogget. |
| 128 | * ChangingOfTheGuard: The main character of the first book is Sabriel, and the story focuses on her first quest as Abhorsen. In the second and third books, set 18 years later, Sabriel is offstage for most of the story; the story focuses in part on her son Sam who is in training to be the next Abhorsen himself. The trope is played with in that he is obviously desperately unqualified to be an Abhorsen [[spoiler:and then perhaps double-subverted, in that the ''other'' main character turns out to be Sabriel's long-lost half-sister, and ''she'' becomes the next Abhorsen.]] |
| 129 | * CharacterDevelopment: Lirael in particular gets this in spades, though Sabriel, Sam, and Nicholas Sayre aren't short of it. However, arguably the stand-out case is Mogget, who goes from [[spoiler: a leashed and completely homicidal EldritchAbomination with aspirations to bring down the Charter or, at the very least, take two millennia worth of revenge on the Abhorsen clan, to being willing to stand up against Orannis, go his own way thereafter, and form an OddFriendship with Sam.]] |
| 130 | * CharacterisationMarchesOn: In motives, rather than behaviour. In ''Sabriel'', Mogget is more of JerkWithAHeartOfGold when bound, with his unbound form [[spoiler: of Yrael, the eighth Bright Shiner]] being described as an alter-ego, being described as embarrassed and apologetic when [[spoiler: he's bound again after nearly killing Sabriel when unbound]]. He's also much more concerned with the stability of the Kingdom and Sabriel fulfilling the duties of the Abhorsen, being more of a grumpy mentor than anything else. However, in ''Clariel'', set 600 years earlier, [[spoiler: he tried to bring down the Kingdom and the Charter in more or less the exact same way that Kerrigor later would]]. However, it should also be noted that Sabriel theorises that form defines function and this could well be the first time he's been unbound in millennia (or as ''Clariel'' would reveal, roughly 600 years). |
| 131 | * CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase: "Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case". |
| 132 | * CharacterTitle: ''Sabriel'', ''Lirael'', ''Clariel'' and ''Goldenhand'' (the last being [[spoiler:Lirael's epithet after losing her hand and getting a golden prosthetic from Sam]]). |
| 133 | * TheChosenOne: The Abhorsen, responsible for making TheUndead DeaderThanDead. |
| 134 | * ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Charter marks glow golden, while Free Magic is white electrical fire, and necromancy often features red flames. Additionally, the Dead usually have blackened flesh. |
| 135 | * ColorCodedPatrician: The royal house has red and gold as their heraldic colors, the Clayr have green and silver, and the Abhorsen family uses blue and silver. |
| 136 | * ComingOfAgeStory: |
| 137 | ** For the title characters and for Sameth as well. |
| 138 | ** In ''Clariel'', [[spoiler: Belatiel's ascension as Abhorsen]]. |
| 139 | * CoolHouse: The Abhorsen's House. A heavily defensive mansion located on an island in the middle of a waterfall. It has secret passages, magic servants, dangerous books, areas and magical creatures and is filled to the brim with Charter Magic. |
| 140 | * TheCorruption: |
| 141 | ** This is what happens to dead spirits that either decide they don't want to travel up any farther past the River of Death, or are unwillingly pulled back into Life by a necromancer. Also an explicit consequence, even for the living, for tarrying in Death (only necromancers and the Abhorsen know how to avoid these pitfalls). |
| 142 | ** Free Magic will eventually corrupt its users, giving them a desire for power and turning them into TheUnfettered. |
| 143 | * CosmicKeystone: The Great Charter Stones under the royal palace in Belisaere are the physical anchor of all the Charter in the Old Kingdom. When Kerrigor broke some of them, it made things difficult for a while. |
| 144 | * CoughSnarkCough: In ''Clariel'', Aronzo does this, calling the Abhorsens "[[FantasticSlur rat-catchers]]". |
| 145 | * CrypticBackgroundReference: There are all these hints thrown in around the wider world around and in the Old Kingdom. |
| 146 | * DamselOutOfDistress: Clariel comes pretty close to getting out of Kilp's prison before Kargrin shows up to rescue her. |
| 147 | * DarkIsEvil ''and'' DarkIsNotEvil: The same magic is wielded by both the antagonists and the protagonists — the heroes just balance it with relatively good magic. |
| 148 | * DeaderThanDead: Spirits can be pulled back from the River of Death, but if they're far enough along, the current becomes too strong and recovery becomes impossible. In particular, ''nothing'' can resist the call of the Ninth Gate if it's their time to die. |
| 149 | * DeadGuyJunior: Princess Ellimere is named after one of her mother's best friends from school, who died during Kerrigor's attack on Wyverley College. |
| 150 | * DeadlyRinger: Necromantic bells can be wielded to produce any number of nasty effects, including ForcedSleep, erasing memories, or just hurling the listener into Death. |
| 151 | * DeadpanSnarker: Mogget, in spades, at the expense of whoever's around him - usually either Sabriel, Touchstone, or Sam. |
| 152 | * DeathByChildbirth: The first book opens with Sabriel's mother dying after giving birth to her. |
| 153 | * DerelictGraveyard: Sabriel, in the first book, lands her Paperwing in a very unique one: the underground and enchanted grotto full of the burial ships of kings. As such, there's nothing harmful lurking there, but she does find a HumanPopsicle that needs rescuing while she's there. |
| 154 | * TheDeterminator: |
| 155 | ** Frequently, it is Sabriel and Lirael's willpower that allows them to persevere against the forces of the Dead. |
| 156 | ** A less sympathetic example with Clariel. Her stubbornness and single-minded desire makes her easily manipulated and causes her to try to harness Free Magic to get what she wants. |
| 157 | * DeusExitMachina: |
| 158 | ** The Clayr's ability to see to future is a StoryBreakerPower which is why they're regularly subject to this trope. In Lirael and Abhorsen, [[spoiler: the Destroyer is actively blocking the Sight]], and in Goldenhand the Clayr are hit with a convenient, possibly magical plague of the flu before the plot starts. |
| 159 | ** Mogget and the Disreputable Dog are [[spoiler: Bright Shiners and thus the most powerful and knowledgeable creatures in the setting. The Dog "dies" saving Lirael from Orannis and Mogget is freed after making a definitive HeelFaceTurn which removes them from future stories outside of occasional appearances.]] |
| 160 | * DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:The end of ''Abhorsen'', for the Eight that bind the Destroyer again.]] |
| 161 | * DisneyDeath: The narration seems to go out of its way to state that the characters attacked in [[spoiler:the prologue to ''Abhorsen'']] have indeed been killed. Only 1/3 of the novel later is it revealed that those lines were from a [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat limited perspective]] and not an omniscient one. |
| 162 | * DistressedDude: Nick Sayre in ''Lirael'', ''Abhorsen'', and especially ''Goldenhand''. |
| 163 | * DividedForPublication: ''Lirael'' and ''Abhorsen'' are basically one story, having been written as one story, but after getting past the halfway point Garth Nix realised it was getting way, way too long for a single young-adult-aimed fantasy novel and split it in half. |
| 164 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: There are two metallic hemispheres, explicitly described as denser than gold. Even when divided, they emanate harmful energy. When forced together, [[spoiler:they explode in blinding light, flash-incinerating everything within 10 miles and raising a towering, mushroom-shaped cloud]]. |
| 165 | * DontFearTheReaper: "Everyone and everything has a time to die." |
| 166 | * {{Doorstopper}}: |
| 167 | ** ''Lirael'' is around 700 pages long. Since it was DividedForPublication, along with ''Abhorsen'', the full story is over 1000 pages. |
| 168 | ** There exists an omnibus of the first three books and "Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case", which is just as large and heavy as you'd expect despite being a paperback. |
| 169 | * DownerBeginning: In the prologue to ''Abhorsen'', [[spoiler:Touchstone and Sabriel's motorcade in Ancelstierre is blown up by ultra-nationalist terrorists. The narrator states the King and Queen were killed, although eventually a later chapter reveals they survived.]] Doubles as a mid-arc WhamEpisode since ''Abhorsen'' is the second half of the story begun in ''Lirael''. |
| 170 | * TheDragon: |
| 171 | ** Hedge in the third book. At first he appears to be the BigBad, but it turns out he's only a puppet of Orannis. Chlorr is pretty much ''his'' Dragon, though. |
| 172 | ** In ''Clariel'', Aronzo is this to his father. |
| 173 | * DrivenToSuicide: Lirael at the start of the second book. She's fourteen, and doesn't get the chance to go through with it. After a TimeSkip to age nineteen, her internal monologue mentions in passing that she came close to it on her seventeenth birthday as well. |
| 174 | * EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: The Abhorsen bloodline tend to be pale with black hair and eyes, plus their skin bleaches out from exposure to Death. Lirael is described with "white skin... dark eyes and even darker hair" before she learns of her ancestry, whereas Sabriel and Terciel have "deathly white" skin, even though Terciel had dark skin as a child. |
| 175 | * EldritchAbomination: Most of the Free Magic beasties, with some of the more powerful Dead shading into it as well. [[spoiler:Orannis is somewhere between this and PlanetEater.]] |
| 176 | * EldritchLocation: |
| 177 | ** The Nine Precincts of Death are an unsettling, unnatural location stalked by the Dead who refuse to move on. |
| 178 | ** In ''Goldenhand'', [[spoiler:the Great Rift and the world beyond, hinted to be the remnants of a world destroyed by Orannis. There's no air, and the land is charged with Free Magic.]] |
| 179 | * EmbarrassingNickname: Touchstone. Mogget gives him the name, and Touchstone finds it quite annoying ([[Theatre/AsYouLikeIt it's a fool's name]]) — yet [[MyGreatestFailure he can't argue with it]]. |
| 180 | * EntropyAndChaosMagic: Free Magic, which has no rules beyond the caster's will, but comes with [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity unpleasant side effects]]. |
| 181 | * EscapedFromHell: This is how really powerful undead are created. The farther down into the afterlife they fight their way back from, the stronger they are when they pop out and find a body to possess. |
| 182 | * EternalRecurrence: Lirael discovers in ''Abhorsen'' that the world has been destroyed and remade seven times in the past.[[note]]Well, that or the Destroyer annihilated seven or so other planets before it got to theirs. It's not totally clear. The Great Rift acting as a boundary between this world and the airless remnants of one of the destroyed ones tips things more to the latter.[[/note]] |
| 183 | * EtTuBrute: After Orranis' defeat, accomplished by Yrael finally getting off the fence and picking a side, It questions why Yrael sided against It. |
| 184 | --> "Why, Yrael? Why?" |
| 185 | * EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Sabriel was rather surprised to find out that Abhorsen was not actually her father's name, but instead his title.[[note]]His real name is Terciel.[[/note]] |
| 186 | * EvilGloating: |
| 187 | ** In ''Sabriel'', during Touchstone's story of what happened that night in the reservoir, [[spoiler:Rogir came over to gloat to his face after Touchstone [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks impaling him on a thrown sword]] did nothing. This prevented any more of the Great Stones from being broken, as during the gloating, the Abhorsen's arrival caused Rogir to drop the cup with the Queen's blood, and also saved Touchstone's life.]] |
| 188 | ** Played with (it's a case of EvilVersusEvil) in ''Abhorsen'' — after Yrael makes his choice, he proceeds to [[spoiler:tell the BigBad, an OmnicidalManiac who hates life, why. He does so in an incredibly poetic and smug way.]] |
| 189 | * EvilIsHammy: Kerrigor. Performed in the audio books in all his [[ChewingTheScenery scenery-chewing]] glory by Creator/TimCurry. |
| 190 | * EvilIsNotAToy: Chlorr. "Oh, I hear there's an ancient and mysterious force of evil near the Red Lake! I shall go grab it, since there's obviously no way it could outclass me!" |
| 191 | * EvilSorcerer: Almost every wielder of Free Magic or necromancy, as while Free Magic isn't "evil", exactly, it's a very chaotic and destructive power that tends to induce unpleasant effects such as madness in its wielders; the necromancer Hedge is the most prominent Free Magic sorcerer in the books (and perhaps incidentally, wielders of this kind of magic are almost always ''called'' sorcerers, in contrast to those who use [[BackgroundMagicField Charter Magic]], who are usually called mages). This trope also applies to the magic-using [[OurLichesAreDifferent Greater Dead]], such as [[BigBad Kerrigor]] or [[EnigmaticMinion Chlorr of the Mask]]. |
| 192 | * ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: ''Abhorsen'' reveals a strategy written in ''The Book of the Dead'' to handle Greater Dead encounters in the Sixth Precinct that involves using the bell Saraneth, the Binder, not on the Greater Dead themselves, but on the hordes of Lesser Dead also in the Sixth Precinct, as a distraction. While the Greater Dead are distracted dealing with the Lesser Dead, the Abhorsen can use a Charter-spell to discern the name of the Greater Dead and banish them. [[spoiler:Lirael uses this against Lathal the Abomination, causing its two fellows to retreat.]] |
| 193 | * ExtradimensionalShortcut: The first of Death's precincts is different to the others in that its outer edge touches Life, so lateral movement has meaning. Dead willing and able to resist the river can walk along the edge of the boundary to change where in Life they will emerge, sometimes voluntarily re-entering Death for this purpose. Necromancers are unable to make use of this as only their spirit enters Death and their return location is tied to their physical body. |
| 194 | * FallenHero: At the end of ''Abhorsen'', Mogget hints that [[spoiler:Chlorr of the Mask]] was once an Abhorsen. The prequel novel ''Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen'' portrays her StartOfDarkness a few hundred years before the events of the main trilogy: [[spoiler:she wasn't actually an official Abhorsen; her grandfather was the Abhorsen of her time, but she had good intentions before being corrupted by Free Magic.]] |
| 195 | * FantasticLightSource: One basic Charter mark produces a clean, long-lasting light when inscribed on a surface. Charter Magic is so ubiquitous in the Old Kingdom at the time of ''Clariel'' that some urban elites use mundane chandeliers instead as a form of ConspicuousConsumption. |
| 196 | * FantasticNamingConvention: All the Abhorsen's bloodline have names ending in "iel" or "ael", possibly in a nod to Astarael the Weeper. Jaciel split from her family under highly acrimonious circumstances but still maintained the tradition with her daughter Clariel. |
| 197 | * FantasticNuke: [[EldritchAbomination Orannis the Destroyer]] functionally ''is'' one. The first of his nine manifestations is a vast pillar of fire; the second through ninth are cataclysmic explosions that increase exponentially in power until they destroy the world. Even the weakest explosion can only be resisted by a triple diamond of protection. |
| 198 | * FantasyCounterpartCulture: |
| 199 | ** Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom are basically northern Britain — the map even resembles the border between England and Scotland, with Belisaere roughly in the equivalent position of Edinburgh, and the Wall a fantastical version of Hadrian's Wall. Ancelstierre's culture is equivalent to Britain in the 1910s or 20s. |
| 200 | ** The Nomads introduced in ''Goldenhand'' are also based on Asian Steppe tribes. |
| 201 | * FateWorseThanDeath: Dying and having your spirit controlled by a necromancer who will inflict such pleasant fates as splintering your spirit into pieces or using you to massacre your friends and family. Occasionally main characters will speak to death spirits or dying people who will beg to be sent through the [[DeaderThanDead Ninth Gate]] rather than be used in such a manner. |
| 202 | * FemaleFelineMaleMutt: Inverted. The Disreputable Dog is actually the "Disreputable Bitch, if you want to get technical". If she's a bitch, Mogget is certainly a [[MagnificentBastard bastard]].[[invoked]] |
| 203 | * FightsLikeANormal: Nick in the novella, where he acts almost entirely as a BadassNormal but [[spoiler:has absurd amounts of Free Magic left in his blood thanks to his little stint as Orannis' mouthpiece, which seems to interact with the Charter Mark the Dog gave him in very weird ways.]] |
| 204 | * {{Fingore}}: At the end of ''Abhorsen'', [[spoiler:when Lirael uses the reforged Nehima to break Orannis, the fingers of her right hand literally fuse into the molten hilt. And then the Dog bites her hand off.]] |
| 205 | * FireKeepsItDead: |
| 206 | ** Undead are so serious a problem for the Old Kingdom that the spell to burn dead bodies is one of the first ones every Charter Mage learns. |
| 207 | ** Subverted as fire is only useful against the lesser undead; Shadow Hands and Greater Dead no longer need their bodies to cause harm. |
| 208 | * FirstGirlWins: Sabriel to Touchstone. |
| 209 | * FisherKing: The health of the Old Kingdom is tied to the Royal Family (and all the great Charter families). Destroying a family plunges the kingdom into chaos. Justified in that every family serves a vital purpose due to powers inherent in their bloodline. |
| 210 | * FlamingSword: The [[spoiler:Free Magic]] sword that Clariel obtains is one of these. |
| 211 | * ForcedSleep: |
| 212 | ** Ringing the bell Ranna can put both the living and the Dead to sleep. |
| 213 | ** Kargrin puts Clariel to sleep using Charter Magic after she goes into a [[TheBerserker berserk rage]]. |
| 214 | * ForeseeingMyDeath: All Clayr are "gifted" with portents of their own death - though not the actual death itself. |
| 215 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 216 | ** There's some in ''Sabriel'' regarding Touchstone's [[spoiler:status as the last member of the royal family]]: |
| 217 | *** He is in stasis in ''Holehallow'', which as the burial place of the rulers of the Old Kingdom has ''very'' strong magical protections, notably ones against necromancy laid by the Abhorsens. On top of that, why would someone go to such lengths for an apparently ordinary member of the Royal Guard? |
| 218 | *** When cremating the healer's body in Nestowe, Sabriel is surprised when Touchstone turns out to have just as much strength in Charter Magic as she does, despite having been "only" a Royal Guardsman. |
| 219 | *** When he recounts what happened the night [[spoiler:the Great Charter Stones were broken,]] he starts off by stating that the Queen had [[spoiler:''four'' children]]. He then mentions Rogir and the two princesses, but [[spoiler:never mentions the fourth child again]], even though the story also makes it clear that the Queen trusted him enough for Rogir to be able to use that when luring the Queen down to the reservoir. He also calls Rogir [[spoiler:the Queen's ''oldest'' son]]. |
| 220 | ** When Sabriel is releasing Touchstone, after she puts his spirit back inside his body, Mogget tells her that all that's needed is a kiss to finish the job, or also a breath, but she has to start kissing someone sometime. She decides to breathe on him because she thinks a kiss is too forward... and yes, she does kiss him later on. |
| 221 | ** As Sabriel is hugged by Sanar and Ryelle, she thinks about how with her father's death she has no family, and wonders if she might find sisters among the Clayr. [[spoiler:Her half-sister Lirael grows up among the Clayr because her mother was one.]] |
| 222 | ** Quite a lot regarding TheReveal of [[spoiler:the Disreputable Dog's [[GodWasMyCopilot identity]] as Kibeth, the Walker, one of the Seven.]]: |
| 223 | *** [[spoiler:Lirael finds the statuette that summons the Dog on the third of seven small plinths in the room with the bound Stilken.]] |
| 224 | *** [[spoiler:Her first question after being summoned? "When are we going for a walk?" This continues to be her number one favorite activity thereafter.]] |
| 225 | *** [[spoiler:Where Mogget's collar is an incredibly powerful binding spell, the Dog's is more like a Charter Stone. She helped ''make'' the Charter, so her collar is a physical manifestation of her connection to it.]] |
| 226 | *** [[spoiler:When Lirael is cornered by Hedge, she manages to get away by blowing a pipe at random. The one she gets? Kibeth, because Kibeth a) likes her and wants to protect her and b) is ''right across the border with Life''. And when Lirael gets back, the Dog immediately knows something bad happened — she felt Lirael call on her power.]] |
| 227 | *** [[spoiler:When discussing how some Free Magic creatures don't mind running water, the Dog says that it's no barrier to "those of the Third Kindred, or anything bearing the essence of the Nine." She, a Free Magic creature, is on a boat in the middle of a huge river as she says this. (In the midst of a conversation with fellow Free Magic creature Mogget, who turns out to be the eighth of the Nine, at that.)]] |
| 228 | *** [[spoiler:After a man with a crossbow attempts to kill Sam and Lirael from a bridge, the Dog howls, and he jumps to his death. Her explanation? "I made him walk." What else do we know that can do that?]] |
| 229 | *** [[spoiler:After encountering the spirit of Astarael under Abhorsen's house, the Dog barks to get Lirael running.]] |
| 230 | *** [[spoiler:During the moments before the final confrontation with Chlorr, Lirael hesistates over which bell to wield in her off-hand. Kibeth feels more familiar to her, but she decides to go with Saraneth for its strength.]] |
| 231 | ** For [[spoiler:Lirael being the real Abhorsen-in-Waiting and Sam being a Wallmaker]], Sam being Sam''eth'', rather than something ending in -el. |
| 232 | ** When Sam is sneaking out of Belisaere to go rescue Nick, he thinks that maybe he should have packed lighter as his saddlebags are surprisingly heavy. [[spoiler:He later discovers that the bells his mother gave him and ''The Book of the Dead'' have magically come along for the ride.]] |
| 233 | ** After Lirael has left the Glacier, when she tells the Disreputable Dog about her quest, she starts off that she needs to find a man (Nick Sayre), prompting the Dog to interrupt [[YouNeedToGetLaid "Good! Time you were bred!"]] to Lirael's embarrassment, and she responds that it's not like that. Guess who Lirael ultimately ends up with? |
| 234 | * FormalFullArrayOfCutlery: When Sabriel enters the dining room at Abhorsen's House, she notes that the table is full of place settings and cutlery she'd only previously seen in her Etiquette textbook at boarding school, including a real golden straw for sucking out the insides of a pomegranate. |
| 235 | * FriendlessBackground: Lirael was both isolated and self-isolated - aside from The Disreputable Dog - throughout her life in the Glacier when she passes the age by which most Clayr gain The Sight. |
| 236 | * FunctionalMagic: Several varieties: Rule for Charter, Wild for Free, and a mixture of Theurgy and Device Magic for the Abhorsen. |
| 237 | * GeometricMagic: The Charter Marks are unique and named runes, each of which has its own power, which can be written with hand or sword, or even whistled or barked (if one is so inclined). |
| 238 | * GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: The Dog is prone to biting people who she feels [[{{Wangst}} deserve it]].[[invoked]] |
| 239 | * GiantWallOfWateryDoom: |
| 240 | ** The Third Precinct of Death has enormous waves which catch up and carry anyone, Dead or alive, caught up in them. The spells that allow entry and exit to the Third Precinct delay the waves temporarily, but there's a reason everyone crossing the Third Precinct does so at a dead run. |
| 241 | ** Sabriel, in the novel that bears her name, summons one at Abhorsen's House to sweep away the dead attempting to gain entry and keep her trapped. In this case it's a flood sent down the river which the house is built on by the Clayr, fueled by their glacier. |
| 242 | ** At the climax of ''Goldenhand'', [[spoiler:Chlorr's defeat and being made DeaderThanDead causes the spell-net she created to hold back the Greenwash River to collapse, resulting in this. Many of the participants in the battle raging on the riverbed, including large numbers of barbarians and an entire Trained Band, are washed away, and the Greenwash Bridge's deck is washed out.]] |
| 243 | * GildedCage: Clariel sees Belisaere and the Abhorsen's House as this. Even though she lives in luxury, she resents being controlled by other people and is constantly trying to find a way to escape to the forest. |
| 244 | * GivenNameReveal: |
| 245 | ** In ''Sabriel'', the protaganist's father is referred to only as "Abhorsen" and even his daughter assumes that his name, until Mogget points out that it is simply a title. In "Lirael", he off-handedly refers to Sabriel's father as Terciel. |
| 246 | ** In ''Abhorsen'', during the [[spoiler:binding of Orannis]], Touchstone finally mentions that his real name, which he couldn't initially remember upon revival in ''Sabriel'', is [[spoiler:Torrigan]]. |
| 247 | ** In ''Clariel'', it turns out that Mistress Ader is a nickname, and her real name is [[spoiler:Maderael, marking her as a former Abhorsen]]. |
| 248 | * GloomyGray: Death is shrouded in dim grey mist that inflicts a pervasive sense of grief and hopelessness on living visitors. However, the spirits of the dead don't suffer this effect and instead find it peaceful. |
| 249 | * GoAndSinNoMore: {{Justified|Trope}} at the end of the prequel ''Clariel''. [[spoiler:Clariel uses BlackMagic in desperation to avenge her parents, goes DrunkOnTheDarkSide, and becomes an UnwittingPawn of two malevolent spirits, yet pulls a near-HeroicSacrifice to stop them. Because of this, her friends help her escape into exile with [[BroughtDownToNormal her magic bound]] rather than let the Queen execute her. She genuinely means to live a simple life in the woods, but it's her StartOfDarkness as the legendary sorcerer Chlorr of the Mask.]] |
| 250 | * GodWasMyCopilot: [[spoiler:The Disreputable Dog (Kibeth) and Mogget (Yrael).]] |
| 251 | * GoMadFromTheRevelation: ''The Book of the Dead'' has a mechanism built in to prevent readers from remembering some of the less pleasant parts unless they need them, since otherwise they risk this. |
| 252 | * GoodCannotComprehendEvil: Mogget describes the Ahborsen who held the post at the beginning of the Interregnum as being a very powerful Charter Mage and a master of the Bells, but, unfortunately, "a little too good-hearted to deal with treachery", and that he had a hard time getting him to Belisaere, which is why they weren't in time to save the Queen and princesses. |
| 253 | * TheGrandHunt: In ''Clariel'', Great Hunts are all Tyriel really cares about, although Clariel doesn't much care for them. She is particularly aggrieved by the fact that he refuses to do anything about [[spoiler:her parents' deaths and Kilp's coup]] until after the Summer's End Hunt. |
| 254 | * GreatBigBookOfEverything: ''The Book of the Dead''. |
| 255 | * GreaterScopeVillain: After [[spoiler: Orannis]] is bound again at the end of ''Abhorsen'', it can no longer play a direct role in the story, but it still casts a long shadow over "The Creature in the Case" and ''Goldenhand''. |
| 256 | * GrenadeHotPotato: When Sabriel and Touchstone get ambushed in Corvere, Damed, one of their Royal Guard, attempts this, and [[spoiler:while he succeeds in saving the king and queen, he dies]]. |
| 257 | * HappilyMarried: Eighteen years after their escapades in the first book, [[spoiler:Sabriel and Touchstone]] are shown to be very satisfied together, while not verging into [[SickeninglySweethearts mushy territory]]. |
| 258 | * HellishHorse: Hedge rides a horse-shaped Free Magic construct because ordinary animals won't have anything to do with him. It is [[IncendiaryExponent on fire]]. |
| 259 | * HeroicBastard: |
| 260 | ** Touchstone was the bastard son of the Queen and a nobleman. |
| 261 | ** Lirael of the Clayr, although not technically illegitimate since the Clayr don't typically marry, has to deal with very similar social disapproval because her mother ran off mysteriously (against tradition) and returned pregnant with Lirael, and completely refused to speak of the identity of Lirael's father. The odd circumstances of Lirael's birth, combined with her non-Clayr looks and lack of Clayr gifts, all cause her to be treated by some as an awkward "love child" rather than a "true daughter of the Clayr". |
| 262 | * HeroicLineage: All the Charter Bloodlines, especially the Abhorsens. |
| 263 | * HeroicSacrifice: Plenty in the course of the series. |
| 264 | ** In ''Sabriel'', [[spoiler:Abhorsen Terciel sacrifices himself to drag Kerrigor deep into Death and help Sabriel and Touchstone escape.]] |
| 265 | ** In ''Abhorsen'', [[spoiler:the Disreputable Dog, a.k.a. Kibeth, absorbs the deadly backlash from Orannis' re-binding [[TakingTheBullet so it doesn't kill Lirael]]. Being a Bright Shiner, she's not ''gone'', just discorporated.]] |
| 266 | * HeroicSelfDeprecation: Lirael ''and'' Sam. Even Touchstone, to an extent. |
| 267 | * AHeroIsBorn: ''Sabriel'' is a type 2, with the prologue involving her nearly dying at birth and being rescued from Death and Kerrigor by her father. |
| 268 | * HiddenAgendaVillain |
| 269 | ** Aside from his stated desire to torture all the remaining carriers of the Abhorsen bloodline to death in vengeance for his millennia of servitude, when Mogget acts independently, his motives are never quite clear, until the end of ''Abhorsen'' - though CharacterDevelopment is also in play - [[spoiler: he mostly just wants to be free and left alone to enjoy life... and occasionally turn up to annoy Sam for fish.]] |
| 270 | ** Aziminil, Baazalanan, and Mogget keep their motives a secret from Clariel. It turns out they are trying to [[spoiler:use the king's blood to destroy the Great Charter Stones, so that the Charter can no longer bind them.]] |
| 271 | * HiddenBackupPrince: |
| 272 | ** [[spoiler:Touchstone was sealed into a wooden figurehead on a hidden ship to protect him from Kerrigor.]] |
| 273 | ** Sabriel, and later Ellimere and Sameth, live most of their younger years in Ancelstierre to protect them from the enemies of the Old Kingdom. |
| 274 | ** In ''Clariel'', King Orrikan had only one living heir in Princess Tathiel. Her disappearance years ago led to a SuccessionCrisis. [[spoiler:She shows up to take the throne at the end of the book.]] |
| 275 | * HufflepuffHouse: The (live) Southerlings in ''Abhorsen'', who border on being a [[MauveShirt Mauve Shirt Army]]. |
| 276 | * HumanMail: In ''Abhorsen'', [[spoiler:Sabriel and Touchstone]] make the last leg of their undercover journey through Ancelstierre hiding in mailbags on a mail truck which takes them to Wyverley College. |
| 277 | * HumanPopsicle: Touchstone has been sealed for 200 years as the wooden figurehead of a ship to [[spoiler:keep the last of the RoyalBlood safe from Kerrigor]]. |
| 278 | * HumanResources: Necromancers use deceased humans as weapons, not merely as zombies (or "Hands") but also binding their spirits in other ways, such as splintering them to put in Gore Crows, or creating a Mordicant out of bog-clay and human blood and a Dead spirit as a guiding force. |
| 279 | * HumanSacrifice: Breaking a Charter Stone requires sacrificing a Charter Mage on it. Breaking one of the ''Great'' Charter Stones requires the blood of a member of one of the Great Charter bloodlines (the Abhorsens, the Clayr and the royal family). To break two of the Great Stones, Kerrigor had [[spoiler:his sisters]] sacrificed on them, [[spoiler:before slitting his mother's throat and catching her blood in a cup to try and break a third. Had the Abhorsen not arrived, Kerrigor had the chance to break ''four'' of the six Great Stones with the blood of his family.]] |
| 280 | * HunterOfHisOwnKind: The Abhorsen has the powers of a necromancer and a duty to find and deal with necromancers and the trouble they cause. |
| 281 | * IHaveManyNames: |
| 282 | ** Mogget, aka [[spoiler:Yrael]], tells Sabriel that he has many other names, including Moregrim, which is the name Terciel knew him by. |
| 283 | ** Hedge is said to have acquired multiple names over his unnaturally long life, but again, we don't learn any of them. |
| 284 | * ILied: TheReveal that [[spoiler:the Disreputable Dog is [[GodWasMyCoPilot Kibeth]], or rather what remains of Kibeth,]] directly contradicts an earlier statement, when [[spoiler:she said she wasn't one of the Seven]]. This is the explanation: [[spoiler:"After all, I am the ''Disreputable'' Dog."]] |
| 285 | * ImprovisedWeapon: |
| 286 | ** In ''Lirael'', Sam and his classmates fend off zombies with cricket equipment. (Note: [[OlderThanTheyThink the book pre-dates]] ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'' by three years.) |
| 287 | ** Clariel uses an eel knife as a weapon at one point. |
| 288 | * InTheBlood: It is implied that being a berserker runs in the Royal blood. Also, Charter bloodlines seem to share certain personality trains, most prominently in the head figures of the bloodline (i.e. tendancy towards solitude and stoicism in the Abhorsens, charisma in the Royal line, a certain airiness in the Clayr). Admittedly, it is sometimes unclear whether these are in the Blood, or the result of familial culture. Certainly they're related to the Charter abilities that run in the Blood (Clairvoyance for the Clayr, the Death sense for the Abhorsen, innate talent with creating things for the Wallmakers, innate abilities to lead(?) for the Royals). |
| 289 | * IncendiaryExponent: Quite a few of the higher-level Dead are on fire. |
| 290 | * IntellectualAnimal: Several, particularly the Disreputable Dog and Mogget. |
| 291 | * IronLady: Sabriel in the later books, acting as Queen. |
| 292 | * ItIsNotYourTime: |
| 293 | ** Towards the end of ''Sabriel'', [[spoiler:Sabriel is killed, but when she enters Death she is greeted by the spirits of her ancestors, who tell her she cannot go with them until there is another to carry on the family line.]] |
| 294 | ** Towards the end of ''Abhorsen'', [[spoiler:Lirael reaches the Ninth Gate and begins to float upwards towards the stars, but floats back down to the ground before she can be brought beyond the Ninth Gate and made DeaderThanDead. The Dog explains that this is because it is not her time.]] |
| 295 | * ItRunsInTheFamily: Lirael's morbid personality and even her [[DrivenToSuicide idea to kill herself]] in ''Lirael'' make sense when one learns [[spoiler:she is the last Abhorsen's daughter.]] She also has a strong affinity to [[spoiler:Free Magic, the pipes and bells, and ''The Book of the Dead'',]] despite having no exposure at all in her upbringing. She's also the one of the most powerful Clayr ''ever'' in terms of Charter Magic, since, aside from the Sight, most Clayr tend to be rather weak with it by themselves. |
| 296 | * JeanneDArchetype: Sabriel is visually and thematically paralleled with Joan of Arc, even becoming something of a legendary figure by "Lirael", as noted by the eponymous character. She inspires fortitude in others as well, generally being seen as a pillar of strength by her children and other characters [[spoiler: and more explicitly, her words in the binding of Orannis in "Abhorsen" being described as lending hope to the others who must speak against the BigBad after her.]] |
| 297 | * JobTitle: ''Abhorsen''. |
| 298 | * TheJourneyThroughDeath: There are Nine Precincts and Nine Gates in Death, and only beyond the Ninth Gate can a dead be at rest. Of course, all manner of monsters and necromancers plague Death, and the Abhorsen's job is to enter Death to fight them. |
| 299 | * KidWithTheLeash: Played with with Mogget. The Abhorsen has his leash, all right, but there's a very good reason they keep him on it. |
| 300 | * KillItWithFire: One of the ways of dealing with the Dead, especially those who aren't fazed by running water. |
| 301 | * KillItWithWater: Nearly all of the Dead have trouble crossing running water; this is why the Abhorsen's House is built in the middle of a river, right above the edge of a waterfall, only reachable on foot by hopping across a series of rather precarious stepping stones. And if the Dead decide to lay siege... well, the river's fed by the Clayr's glacier, and the Abhorsens keep a block of ice in their basement for a reason. |
| 302 | * KingIncognito: |
| 303 | ** [[spoiler:Touchstone, due to guilt and feeling unworthy, does not reveal that he is the bastard son of the last Queen, so Sabriel doesn't find out until her father mentions a surviving royal prince in suspension to her.]] |
| 304 | ** Sam attempts to do this [[spoiler:when he goes out to save Nick, but it goes poorly]]. |
| 305 | * KissingCousins: |
| 306 | ** Belatiel makes no secret of having a crush on Clariel, his second cousin. No one seems to think that's odd; her rejection is because she's just not interested in that kind of thing due to being asexual, not because they're relatives. |
| 307 | ** Lirael's parents are technically distant cousins. There's a lot of this among the Abhorsen, Clayr and royal bloodlines. |
| 308 | * LadyOfWar: Sabriel in the later books. She is mentioned as being very intimidating, and has a natural authority even in the first book. She is outwardly TheStoic. Though she is certainly no stranger to getting dirty in her role as the kingdom's anti-necromancer (which does involve swamps much more than she would like), she retains an air of grace and power and always seems measured and controlled in her use of physical and magical force. In an interesting somewhat-subversion of the trope, she is never portrayed as the IceQueen and her internal monologue and interactions with most non-nefarious people, notably children and her family and friends, show a very kind, gentle, warm side of her. |
| 309 | * LaserGuidedAmnesia: |
| 310 | ** Most of the stuff written in ''The Book of the Dead'' is forgotten the moment it is read, and [[TheCallLeftAMessage the reader only remembers when it is required]]. |
| 311 | ** After Lirael is caught having eavesdropped on a brief visit by the King and the Abhorsen to the Clayr's Glacier, and the seven senior Clayr present agree to assign her a job, Sanar and Ryelle put a spell on her that makes her forget seeing Sabriel and Touchstone that day until she needs to remember. |
| 312 | * LastGirlWins: For Lirael. She first encountered a visitor in the Clayr's Glacier, but was too depressed (and fourteen years old) to notice he was trying to ask her out. Then she met Sam, while he was busy running away and she was undertaking a voyage to find out what Hedge was up to [[spoiler:and Sam turns out to be her ''[[SurpriseIncest nephew]]'', so yeah]]. Last guy she meets? Nick Sayre. The book ends with the two obviously attracted to each other, but not actually dating yet. |
| 313 | * LastOfHisKind: By ''Sabriel'', the massacre of the Royal Family and the ensuing conflict have reduced the Royal and Abhorsen lines from large sprawling clans to Sabriel and Touchstone. While [[spoiler:Kerrigor and Chlorr have royal and Abhorsen blood, they are not interested in preserving the safety of the kingdom]]. Later [[spoiler:Lirael is revealed to be Sabriel's half-sister]]. |
| 314 | * LeakingCanOfEvil: |
| 315 | ** Commonly goes with Nix's favored SealedEvilInACan. Kerrigor's sarcophagus, when unearthed, is so riddled with Free Magic that it makes most people who approach it feel nauseated and weak. And the evil that is buried at the Red Lake has an ability to resist the Clayr's scrying, even when they focus their wills there. [[spoiler: When unearthed, the hemispheres not only induce sickness, but they call down lightning — constant lightning.]] |
| 316 | ** Free Magic corrodes Charter Magic so every attempt to seal away evil will eventually fail. Often binding spells have to be renewed and the evil inside dealt with. |
| 317 | * LetThemDieHappy: Towards the end of ''Lirael'', Sam and Lirael fail to rescue a band of Southerling refugees from Dead Hands, led by Chlorr. The one man who got away dies of his injuries, but not before Sam lies to him, saying that the rest of his band all survived and escaped. |
| 318 | * LifeOrLimbDecision: With a dash of HeroicSacrifice and AmputationStopsSpread; also a rare case where someone else makes the decision. [[spoiler: The ritual to bind Orannis gives It an opening to [[TakingYouWithMe kill the person who makes the last step in Its imprisonment]]; Lirael is entirely willing to make that sacrifice, but the Disreputable Dog finds a loophole by biting off Lirael's hand before the Destroyer's curse can fully affect her, dying in Lirael's place.]] |
| 319 | * LightFireJuxtaposition: As part of the OrderVersusChaos duality of Charter and Free Magic. The Charter was created to support life and appears as InstantRunes made of light, whereas Free Magic is a corruptive, consumptive force that usually manifests as harsh white fire. |
| 320 | * LightIsNotGood: Free Magic creatures tend to be associated with light, with the most powerful glowing with a particularly baleful white fire from part or all of their bodies. And while they're not always ''evil'' per se, they are very, very dangerous. [[spoiler: Mogget's true form is bright white light, as one of the "Bright Shiners," and Orannis the Destroyer is basically a living nuclear device when made whole.]] |
| 321 | * LightningCanDoAnything: Nick Sayre is convinced that the "Lightning Farm" is going to be a great energy resource when he gets it to work. The way of the future! [[spoiler: What it ''actually'' does is crack open Orannis's can and set it briefly free]]. |
| 322 | * LikeFatherLikeSon: As well as "Like Mother, Like Daughter". Sam is described as being tall, with tightly curled dark brown hair and grey eyes, like his father. The only way he seems to look like his mother is that he inherited black eyebrows. Near the start of ''Lirael'', the Clayr mention that Ellimere looks a great deal like Sabriel, and in the text they are described almost identically, as is [[spoiler: Lirael, having mostly inherited her looks from her father, the Abhorsen Terciel]]. |
| 323 | * LineageComesFromTheFather: |
| 324 | ** For Sabriel, [[spoiler:Lirael]], and Ellimere. However, averted with Sabriel's father — his aunt trained him — and with Sam, who [[spoiler:inherits neither of his parents' [[HeroicLineage Heroic Lineages]]]], since Ellimere is the heiress to the throne [[spoiler:and Lirael is the Abhorsen-in-Waiting]]. [[spoiler:Luckily for Sam, he gets his own ability as a Wallmaker — the first in nearly a millennium.]] |
| 325 | ** Averted with Touchstone. The identity of his mother is what ultimately shapes his destiny, having inherited his Royal blood from her, as well as his berserkering (though it is not mentioned whether she herself was a Berserker). |
| 326 | ** Also played with: [[spoiler:Lirael's ability as a Remembrancer, that is, the ability to see into the past]], something which can only come from being a child of [[spoiler:''both'' the Abhorsen and the Clayr]]. |
| 327 | ** Also averted with Clariel. Both her Abhorsen and Royal bloodlines come through her mother. |
| 328 | * LongLostSibling: [[spoiler:Lirael is Sabriel's half-sister.]] |
| 329 | * LostCommonKnowledge: During the Interregnum, the destruction of repositories of knowledge and history and the decimation of the Royal and Abhorsen lines meant that a great deal of knowledge of magic and the Charter was lost. To demonstrate this, later Abhorsens struggle to control Mogget, not knowing that it requires nothing more than a verbal reaffirmation of his bindings something that a half trained Abhorsen apprentice knew how to do. |
| 330 | * LovedINotHonorMore: |
| 331 | ** In later books, it seems that Sabriel and Touchstone, as Abhorsen and [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething hands-on King]], have constantly put their callings above their marriage and their duties to their children [[BattleCouple (although they can always slay Dead together)]]. The first book showed in lavish detail what happens when the Abhorsen and King are ''not'' active in the Kingdom, so they're not shown as being selfish or mean — it's just a bad situation. Sabriel does look forward to her son Sam taking on the mantle of Abhorsen-in-Waiting, as that means they'll get to spend time together. |
| 332 | ** Sabriel's father, Terciel, sent his daughter to a boarding school in Ancelstierre, far from his home in the Old Kingdom, partially because the Clayr had a vision that one day an Abhorsen would be needed who knew this relatively foreign terrain, and partially because Terciel knew the only alternatives were risking Sabriel's life by taking her with him on his dangerous adventures or keeping her as a lonely prisoner in his isolated house while he was away, and that was no kind of life for a child. |
| 333 | ** Desire over duty and honor is a major theme in ''Clariel''. The main character's and the major bloodines' selfish desires and refusal to do their duty nearly allow a few Free Magic creatures and their human pawns to plunge the Old Kingdom into chaos. Even Belatiel's crush on Clariel is viewed in a very unsympathetic light as she's clearly uninterested, he's emotionally cheating on his current girlfriend and [[spoiler:it drives him to spare her which will lead to Chlorr of the Mask]]. |
| 334 | * MagicIsEvil: Free Magic is, but it wasn't always. [[FunctionalMagic The Charter]] was created from the [[WildMagic Free Magic]] that existed before, [[TheCorruption and all that remains of Free Magic are the evil parts]]. |
| 335 | * MagicHarmsTechnology: Upon crossing the border from Ancelstierre into the Old Kingdom, magic starts working, but anything produced by machines and technology will begin to deteriorate until it completely falls apart. Nicholas Sayre, who insists that magic isn't real, has been told repeatedly to use parchment when sending letters to the Old Kingdom, but he persists in using paper, which always ends up in shreds. |
| 336 | * MadOracle: The Clayr. An entire clan built of this. In most circumstances, their power of Sight is divided among the hundreds of Clayr, granting each of its members with random fragments of possible futures. This also gives them a rather incoherent sense of time and causality (which might help explain the number of one-night stands they have). |
| 337 | * MageTower: Kargrin lives and [[WizardingSchool teaches]] in a tower that used to be part of Belisaere's walls. |
| 338 | * MagicMirror: The Dark Mirror, a handheld portal into the past, only workable by Remembrancers. By walking into Death and reciting the incantation, the user can see into past events. The farther back one wants to look, the farther into Death she must walk. |
| 339 | * MagicMusic: |
| 340 | ** The necromancers' and Abhorsens' bells, as well as the panpipes. Each of the seven — named for the creators of the Charter — has a different effect. One of the bells casts the listeners deep into the realm of Death, but if you're appropriately skilled and/or powerful, you can just walk back. Whistling is also used when Sabriel brings a rabbit back to life at the very beginning of the first book. |
| 341 | ** Weather magic is another example of this, as it is done by whistling. |
| 342 | * MagicalGesture: Charter Magic is done by drawing the signs on the air, with hands or with sword-tip. A diamond of protection is drawn with one's sword. Using the magical bells requires gestures (different ways of ringing will produce different effects), so this all crosses over into RitualMagic. |
| 343 | * MagicalLibrary: The Library of the Clayr. It's carved out of a glacier and is the largest repository of magic books and monsters around. It's kept in order by CrazyPrepared [[MagicLibrarian Magic Librarians]]. |
| 344 | * MagicalSensoryEffect: The presence of Free Magic causes a telltale acrid odour like hot metal. In high concentrations, it's enough to weaken and nauseate people nearby. Broken Charter stones cause nausea, sweating, and cramps, the worse the more powerful the stone was. |
| 345 | * MagicalSociety: The group Kargrin is a part of in ''Clariel'', consisting of mages formerly employed by the King. |
| 346 | * MagicVersusScience: Magic tends to win. While it's unclear if the Wall is sealing in the magic, it's simply protecting a boundary, or it's the lack of Charter Stones in the south, it certainly marks where things get strange. In any place with a high BackgroundMagicField, any technology not made by hand either rapidly breaks down or simply doesn't work. |
| 347 | -->“Really, this is impossible!” the [[{{Muggles}} doctor]] began, till a cold glance from one of Touchstone's guards convinced him that his conversation was currently not required. |
| 348 | * {{Magitek}}: [[spoiler:Wallmaker]] abilities seem to include a talent both with Charter Magic and artifice. Ceramic armor much harder and lighter than steel, enchanted weapons, magic-powered clockwork things, and after the epilogue [[spoiler:a magical artificial hand]]. |
| 349 | * MaleFrontalNudity: |
| 350 | ** Touchstone is a nude [[TakenForGranite wooden statue]] when Sabriel first sees him. Being an eighteen-year-old, she [[EatingTheEyeCandy takes an embarrassed glance]] before focusing her attention on the puzzle he poses. |
| 351 | ** Lirael is [[{{Animorphism}} in the form of an owl]] when she first meets Nick, so Nick assumes he's dreaming and thinks nothing of getting out of bed in the nude. She politely suggests that he [[PleasePutSomeClothesOn put some clothes on]] before leaving with her. [[spoiler:In both cases, the pair end up a couple.]] |
| 352 | * {{Matricide}}: [[spoiler:The last Queen of the Old Kingdom before the Interregnum was murdered by her son [[TheEvilPrince Prince Rogir]], who had become a Greater Dead Adept and intended to use her blood to break one of the Great Charter Stones. Fortunately, the arrival of the Abhorsen caused Rogir to drop the cup of the Queen's blood.]] |
| 353 | * MeaningfulAppearance: When she's feeling particularly depressed and unsociable, Lirael is prone to hiding behind her hair so she doesn't have to look people in the eyes. |
| 354 | * MeaningfulName: |
| 355 | ** Clayr → clairvoyance. (And, more generally, to "clear"; "clairvoyant" literally means "clear-seeing" in French.) |
| 356 | ** [[spoiler:Orannis sounds like "Ouranos", the name of the primordial sky god in Greek mythology. It is an EldritchAbomination that destroys worlds.]] |
| 357 | ** Belatiel from ''Clariel'' is known as "Bel". [[spoiler:He finds out after Tyriel's death that he is the next Abhorsen, destined to wield the seven bells of necromancy. The sendings even summon him to Abhorsen's House after Clariel escapes with a message-hawk that draws him as a bell riding a horse.]] |
| 358 | * MedicalMonarch: In "To Hold the Bridge", it's mentioned that it was traditional to petition for the opportunity to be healed by the King on important feast days. Morghan considered it to have his bad arm healed, but by that time, it also depended on connections and large amounts of bribery money. |
| 359 | * TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: |
| 360 | ** Played With. While it's heavily implied that Mogget spending so much time as a cat while bound into the service of the Abhorsens has effects on his personality: he's always demanding fish, and is affected by catbalm growing in Holehallow, and in ''Goldenhand'', [[spoiler: even after regaining his freedom, he still chooses to take feline form]], it is revealed that one of his historically favoured forms was that of the great ''Athask'', an enormous big cat, the totem of Ferin's tribe, suggesting that he liked cat-like forms anyway. |
| 361 | ** Lirael can make skins that allow her to take on the form of an otter, or a bear, or an owl, but each one alters her temperament and perception for a while, even when she takes them off (the otter-skin gives her a great craving for fish, the bear-skin makes her extra irritable and hungry, and the owl-skin makes her more sensitive to light, for example). |
| 362 | * MissingMom: Sabriel's mother died giving birth to her, and Lirael's vanished when she was five (though she had reason for that). |
| 363 | * MrFanservice: Touchstone, and his kilt. Squee. |
| 364 | * MuggingTheMonster: In ''Abhorsen'', a trio of Greater Dead in the Sixth Precinct decide to attack someone who they assume to be an inexperienced necromancer, and the "necromancer's" apparent misuse of Saraneth on the hordes of Lesser Dead surrounding them instead of one of them only solidifies their impression. They only realize their mistake when [[spoiler:Lirael, having used Charter Magic to find out the name of the nearest of the Greater Dead, forces Lathal the Abomination to its [[DeaderThanDead final death]] beyond the Ninth Gate.]] |
| 365 | * MuggleBornOfMages: |
| 366 | ** What Lirael initially believes herself to be, as a teenage Clayr who has yet to receive the Sight. [[spoiler:She's not. She doesn't get the Sight only because she inherited her ''father's'' abilities as a future Abhorsen.]] |
| 367 | ** It seems at first like Sam is a version of this, as his sister is clearly the future Queen and he's pretty hopeless at his Abhorsen-in-Waiting training, despite being a more than adequate Charter Mage. However, it's subverted at the end when we find out that [[spoiler:Sam has his own abilities, as a Wallmaker]]. |
| 368 | * MundaneFantastic: Charter Magic is an everyday fact of life in the Old Kingdom; almost everyone is baptized into the Charter and has access to it. In the time period of ''Clariel'', magic is even denigrated as the work of servants. |
| 369 | * MutuallyExclusiveMagic: Charter Magic is an orderly and disciplined magic based on using [[RunicMagic Charter Marks]] to construct spells with specific effects and is tied to life, order, and creation; Free Magic is a much more destructive and chaotic power whose limits are defined primarily by the strength of the user's will and the amount of magic they have on hand. Gaining too much power in one magic will actively inhibit your ability to use the other, since their natures and the mindsets needed to control them are so opposed. The primary exception being the Abhorsens, who can use some Free Magic, particularly of the necromantic persuasion, despite being primarily Charter Mages. [[spoiler:Or Nick, whose Free Magic ''fuels'' his Charter ability.]] |
| 370 | * NakedOnArrival: Touchstone was naked when placed into stasis as a figurehead, and is thus still naked when Sabriel revives him. |
| 371 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: |
| 372 | ** Kerrigor, the Greater Dead Adept. |
| 373 | ** Astarael, the Sorrowful; also, the Weeper: If you hear it, you die. |
| 374 | ** Orannis, the Destroyer. |
| 375 | * NamedWeapons: Weapons made by the Wallmaker; also the Bells of Necromancy. |
| 376 | * {{Necromancer}}: |
| 377 | ** The Abhorsens are effectively counter-necromancers who work to make sure the Dead stay dead. |
| 378 | ** Of normal necromancers, the most prominent is Hedge, TheDragon of ''Lirael'' and ''Abhorsen''. Chlorr of the Mask ''was'' a necromancer, but spends more page-time as one of the Greater Dead. |
| 379 | * NecessaryEvil: Free Magic Sorcerers and Necromancers are viewed as this by the Northern Tribes. They are important to the military strength of a tribe but must be watched, collared and chained to stop them from turning on their own tribe. |
| 380 | * {{Nephewism}}: Lirael's closest relative in the Glacier after her mother left is her aunt Kirrith, who by the beginning of ''Lirael'' is also the Guardian of the Young, in charge of the Hall of Youth where all the orphaned Clayr children, including Lirael, live. Kirrith, however, is rather self-centred and judgemental, and Lirael doesn't like her very much. |
| 381 | * NeverAcceptedInHisHometown: Lirael in "Goldenhand", except by the other librarians. |
| 382 | * NeverGivenAName: In ''Goldenhand'', one girl in each of the barbarian tribes that swears fealty to Chlorr of the Mask is only ever called "The Offering", since she'll either be taken over by Chlorr as her new body or killed after she turns 17 to return the bit of Chlorr's power that she puts in each girl to her. When one such girl ends up being sent on an important mission to deliver a message she starts calling herself "Ferin", short for "Offering", so that people have something to call her. |
| 383 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: At the end of ''Clariel'', [[spoiler:Bel can't bear to kill Clariel, so he binds her from using Free Magic and sends her north, giving her the perfect opportunity to — eventually — become Chlorr of the Mask.]] |
| 384 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: Right at the start of ''Sabriel'', Kerrigor, having just made it back into the First Precinct of Death, grabs the spirit of baby Sabriel, who nearly died at birth, attempting to hold her hostage against her father. This prevents her from dying for real by going past the First Gate, allowing her to grow up and defeat him. |
| 385 | * NightOfTheLivingMooks: standard any time that Dead Hands are around. |
| 386 | * NoNameGiven: The Queen of the Old Kingdom whose death began the Interregnum, [[spoiler:Touchstone and Rogir's mother]], does not have a mentioned name. |
| 387 | * NonProtagonistResolver: At the end of ''Clariel'', [[spoiler:Belatiel and Ader (the latter having barely appeared in the book before this point) show up to bind Aziminil and Baazalanan and renew Mogget's constraints. They also save Clariel from a mortal wound.]] It's also mentioned that Clariel didn't need to do anything. [[spoiler:Tathiel was marching on Belisaere with the Clayr. Had Clariel stayed put for a few more days, Tathiel could have taken the palace.]] |
| 388 | * NoodleIncident: [[spoiler:[[ShrugOfGod Even Garth Nix]] isn't sure of the events that led Clariel to become Chlorr of the Mask.]][[invoked]] |
| 389 | * NoTechButHighTech: {{Justified|Trope}}: Ancelstierre's technology is near that of early 20th-century England, whereas the Background Magic Field of the Old Kingdom destroys anything that isn't hand-crafted, effectively leaving it in MedievalStasis - though magic makes up a lot of the gap as Nick notes in ''Goldenhand'', resulting in SchizoTech. |
| 390 | * NotTooDeadToSaveTheDay: [[spoiler:The entire line of Abhorsens, including her father]] for Sabriel, and [[spoiler:the Disreputable Dog]] for Nick and [[spoiler: Lirael in ''Goldenhand'']]. Both examples [[spoiler:send the recipient back to the world of Life.]] |
| 391 | * NotUsingTheZWord: "Zombie" and "lich" do not exist in the vocabulary of the Old Kingdom and Ancelstierre. They are simply Dead Hands and the Greater Dead. |
| 392 | * OffscreenTeleportation: Mogget and the Dog. Cassiel's bells, ''The Book of the Dead'', and ''The Book of Remembrance and Forgetting'', do this as well. |
| 393 | * OffWithHisHead: In ''Clariel'', [[spoiler:Jaciel]] is decapitated by [[spoiler:Kilp's guards]]. |
| 394 | * OhCrap: |
| 395 | ** Thralk, the Dead creature who attacks Sabriel on Cloven Crest, when it/he realizes that he's attacked the Abhorsen. |
| 396 | ** The Greater Dead known as Lathal the Abomination and its two fellows get this when they attack [[spoiler:Lirael]], who they presume to be an inexperienced necromancer, in the Sixth Precinct, only for her to banish Lathal beyond the Ninth Gate. |
| 397 | * OlderThanTheyLook: Nineteen year old Lirael claims she's thirty-five to keep teenager Sam from hitting on her shortly after they meet. She admits the lie once she discovers [[spoiler:she's actually Sam's half-aunt]]. |
| 398 | * OldMagic: The original form of magic is Free Magic, the manipulation of [[WildMagic raw power]]. Given its corrosive effect on the bodies and [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity minds]] of its users, the [[PhysicalGod Bright Shiners]] created the [[BackgroundMagicField Charter]] to filter magic through a safer system of runes, and Free Magic was [[BanOnMagic outlawed]]. |
| 399 | * OminousFog: Since sunlight is damaging to the Dead, fog is sometimes used instead of darkness as a cover for a large group of Dead. When Kerrigor crosses the Wall with an army of Dead, he brings fog with him. Also, [[spoiler:Chlorr creates a white fog while the Destroyer is being brought across the Wall]]. |
| 400 | * OmnicidalManiac: [[spoiler:Orannis]] and, by extension, Hedge. |
| 401 | * OneGenderRace: Though there are ''some'' male Clayr, seemingly all of the named ones are women - something noted in ''Lirael''. They're also all willowy dark-skinned blondes with blue or green eyes (except pale-skinned, dark-haired, and dark-eyed Lirael). |
| 402 | * OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: |
| 403 | ** Touchstone cannot remember his own name when revived by Sabriel, and only accepts the "fool's name" Mogget bestows upon him because of [[MyGreatestFailure guilt]]. His real name, [[spoiler:Torrigan]], is only mentioned during the [[spoiler:binding of Orannis]] in ''Abhorsen''. |
| 404 | ** Mistress Ader from ''Clariel'' goes by a shortened form of her full name to hide that [[spoiler:she is the former Abhorsen Maderael, and rather a bit older than she seems]]. |
| 405 | * TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: When Mogget is unleashed at the end of ''Sabriel'', he attacks Kerrigor to prevent a KillSteal. |
| 406 | * OnlyOneName: Residents of the Old Kingdom seen or mentioned who appear to have a second name that isn't an epithet of some kind can be counted on one hand, and none of them are main characters. This also applies to the Nine Bright Shiners and all named Greater Dead. |
| 407 | * OppositesAttract: |
| 408 | ** Nicholas Sayre is a mostly Muggle, outgoing, optimistic, ConstantlyCurious fellow from Ancelstierre. Lirael is a powerfully magical Abhorsen and Daughter of the Clayr who is painfully quiet, shy and with a tendency towards morbid thinking. |
| 409 | ** Ferin and Sam fill out the SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl dynamic. Sam is shy, introverted, a bit of a DeadpanSnarker and prefers to spend his time in his workshop. Ferin is a Northern Barbarian warrior ActionGirl. |
| 410 | * OrphansOrdeal: In ''Sabriel'', Sabriel's father has vanished and sent her the Abhorsen's tools of the trade. She heads up to the Old Kingdom to investigate, and must come to terms with how little she really knows him, and [[spoiler:how she cannot save him]]. |
| 411 | * OurZombiesAreDifferent: Even if your guns work, don't bother with headshots. You have to destroy the entire body. And that's just the [[{{Mooks}} Dead Hands]]; the "Shadow Hands" don't even have proper physical bodies. Also, lesser Dead have a hard time with running water, unless their bridge is made from earth taken from a grave. |
| 412 | * PatchworkMap: Ancelstierre has no magic at all and its weather and seasons are completely different from the Old Kingdom. The Old Kingdom is fairly temperate weather until you get to the Clayr's Glacier, where it's suddenly eternal winter. In the North, past the Great Rift, are either giant forests or an inhospitable plain devoid of anything but Free Magic. It's suggested that the world might be a mix of multiple realities that happen to overlap. |
| 413 | * PerceptionFilter: In ''Clariel'', Kargrin uses a spell that makes him and those standing next to him unnoticeable. |
| 414 | * ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: In ''Clariel'', Belatiel is frustrated by the fact that despite officially being the Abhorsen, his great uncle Tyriel does virtually nothing required of his post. He speculates that his cousin Yannael, the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, hasn't even read ''The Book of the Dead'' (more or less the manual on how to be an Abhorsen). [[spoiler:Bel is rather surprised when, after Tyriel's death, he discovers that ''he'' was the real Abhorsen-in-Waiting all along.]] |
| 415 | * PluckyGirl: Ferin from ''Goldenhand'' was raised to be a host body for "The Witch With No Face" (Chlorr) knowing she'd either be possessed by the age of 17 or be killed if Chlorr didn't choose her and wasn't even given a proper name, since "Ferin" is just a shortening of "Offering", what her people called her since she realized she needs something to call herself. Despite this she presses on with her mission despite all the obstacles in her path, and she even takes [[spoiler:needing to have her foot amputated]] surprisingly well. |
| 416 | * PossessingADeadBody: Less powerful Dead such as [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Hands]] are created by a Dead spirit possessing and reanimating a corpse — any corpse will do, so long as it's mostly intact, though it's implied there's a stronger connection to the spirit's original body. They also tend to reshape it thereafter to better fit their spirit's form in Death, or be more combat-effective, invariably resulting in BodyHorror. More powerful Dead entities ''can'' do this too, but are just as likely to use artificially created construct bodies or even exist as raw spirit with no body at all. |
| 417 | * PosthumousCharacter: Lirael's mother Arielle is long dead and past the Ninth Gate by the beginning of ''Lirael'', but the actions she took guided by her powerful visions are crucial, especially in ''Goldenhand''. |
| 418 | * ThePowerOfBlood: Blood from a Charter Mage — and especially one of the Charter bloodlines — has great powers, especially for destruction. |
| 419 | * PrecautionaryCorpseDisposal: Dead bodies are disposed of by cremation because any intact corpse is a risk to become an undead monster of some kind (either reoccupied by a dead spirit that refuses to go on to the afterlife, or reanimated as a servant by a necromancer). |
| 420 | * PrequelInTheLostAge: ''Clariel'' takes place 600 years before the original trilogy, and 400 years before the events that threw the Kingdom into chaos. "To Hold the Bridge" is set in the same time period, an unknown amount of time before the novel. |
| 421 | * PrescienceIsPredictable: The Clayr. At least, they like it when it is. |
| 422 | * ProtectiveCharm: The most prominent defensive Charter spell is the diamond of protection -- it takes some setup to draw the component Marks at each cardinal point, but encloses the area in a powerful protective field that repels both natural and magical harm. |
| 423 | * PunctuatedForEmphasis: "Dig faster, for I... must... be... whole... again!" |
| 424 | * PuppetKing: In ''Clariel'', it's revealed [[spoiler:that the ''real'' reason Jaciel was invited to join Belisaere's High Guild of Goldsmiths is because the Guildmaster, Kilp, also Governor of the city, is secretly a Free Magic sorcerer and has designs on making either her or her daughter Clariel into a puppet monarch, as they are cousins of the current King, who isn't doing much ruling.]] |
| 425 | * QuietingTheUnquietDead: The Abhorsens are sort of anti-necromancers: they use Charter Magic to return the Dead to Death. |
| 426 | * RaisedAsAHost: Ferin from ''Goldenhand'' was one of the many future bodies prepped for Chlorr by the barbarian tribes that swear fealty to her. "Ferin" isn't even a proper name since she was always just called "The Offering" and only came up with it when she realized she should give people something to call her. |
| 427 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: |
| 428 | ** Colonel Horyse in ''Sabriel'', who leads the soldiers to help when Sabriel and Touchstone arrive with news about Kerrigor's approach and that they need to destroy his body. |
| 429 | ** Major Greene in ''Abhorsen'' is rather eccentric, but he's immensely helpful to Lirael and Sam [[spoiler:when they're trying to warn people in Ancelstierre about Orannis]]. |
| 430 | * RefusalOfTheCall: |
| 431 | ** Sameth as the Abhorsen-in-Waiting. [[spoiler:The Call wasn't actually for him, though. He just happened to be standing closest to the phone. And when he does get his proper call, as a Wallmaker, he gladly accepts it.]] |
| 432 | ** Seems to be what brought about [[spoiler:Mogget's original imprisonment. Where Orannis chose to fight the Seven rather than ally with them, Yrael just ran away and hid until they tracked him down and bound him.]] |
| 433 | * ReluctantRuler: In ''Clariel'', [[spoiler:Princess Tathiel ran away and hid at the Clayr's Glacier because she absolutely did not want to be Queen. She returns and takes the throne at the end of the book after her grandfather's death, but it's said she is ''not'' happy about it.]] |
| 434 | * ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: This is actually after the survival has been revealed to the readers, but the Perimeter soldiers tell [[spoiler:Sam his parents have been killed in ''Abhorsen''. They]] return by the end to help save the day, of course. |
| 435 | * RestrainingBolt: Mogget's collar. Don't take it off if you value your life. |
| 436 | * RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: When Corolini's assistant arrives at the Wall with the papers permitting Hedge to cross, he asks for the last payment for destabilizing the Ancelstierran government, arranging for the arrival of the Southerling refugees, and assassinating the King and Queen. Hedge simply burns the papers and cuts the man's head off. |
| 437 | * RightfulKingReturns: In ''Sabriel'', the Old Kingdom has been without a monarch for 200 years, and the royal family is believed to be extinct. Only the Abhorsens know [[spoiler:that there ''is'' a surviving royal prince hidden in magical suspension in Holehallow, although he might be crazy, which is part of why he was put there in the first place. Sabriel winds up at the royal burial ground and releases Touchstone without knowing who he is or why he's there, and due to his HeroicSelfDeprecation he doesn't tell her about his royal blood; she finds out from her father. After the defeat of Kerrigor, he officially takes the throne.]] |
| 438 | * RightThroughTheWall: Sabriel is bathing in her room at the Sign of Three Lemons when she overhears a man and a woman starting to have sex in the room next door. She automatically assumes the man is Touchstone and feels upset, only for Mogget to arrive and tell her that actually, his room is the one in the other direction and he wanted to know if he could use the bathtub next. |
| 439 | * RitualMagic: Both Charter Magic and Free Magic have aspects of this, the former more than the latter. You can cast spells on the fly with both, but more complex and lasting effects tend to require rituals. |
| 440 | * RoyalBastard: [[spoiler:Touchstone is the bastard son of the Queen and a nobleman, and thus the last surviving heir of the royal family after all the legitimate members are extinguished.]] |
| 441 | * RoyalBlood: Not only the kingship, but the Abhorsen and the Clayr are also defined by bloodline. At the beginning of the story, the kingdom has gone to pot because there's no legitimate heir of royal blood to take the throne. |
| 442 | * RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Absolutely necessary since the magic that keeps the Dead down and the ability to repair the Charter Stones that keep the Kingdom safe is present in the royal bloodline. Averted by King Orrikan in ''Clariel'', and enforced by Sabriel and Touchstone in the second book — the prince and princess have time set apart every two weeks to do chores around the palace alongside the servants to give them a sense of perspective and appreciation. |
| 443 | * RoyaltySuperpower: Royals have stronger magic, are tied to the fate of the realm and the Charter, and have a magical link to those who serve them. Sameth finds this out when a guard isn't killed when he accidentally uses defensive magic on him. Kerrigor also managed to use this to strengthen himself and his servants, in a corruption of this protection. |
| 444 | * RulingFamilyMassacre: The Interregnum was kicked off when the Greater Dead Adept Kerrigor, a renegade member of the royal family, murdered his mother and sisters in order to break the Great Charter Stones, succeeding in breaking two of them. As [[spoiler:his illegitimate half-brother]] was apparently the only other member of the royal family besides him, he succeeded in throwing the Old Kingdom into a chaos from which it would not recover for 200 years, during which time the royals were believed to be extinct. |
| 445 | * RunicMagic: Charter Magic works by using Charter Marks, runic letters and pictograms, to manipulate [[BackgroundMagicField the Charter]] and cause specific effects to happen. Charter Marks can be written, spoken, sung or even whistled, though physical marks always [[InstantRunes appear]] as part of the spellcasting even if they haven't been literally written. [[EntropyAndChaosMagic Free Magic]] relies chiefly on raw willpower, but Free Magic sorcerers sometimes use written runes to help focus that power; they're described as resembling twisted or corrupted Charter Marks. |
| 446 | * SaveBothWorlds: Ancelstierre ends up at risk from both Kerrigor and [[spoiler:the Destroyer]], and as the Abhorsen will probably tell you, TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed in the Old Kingdom. |
| 447 | * SchizoTech: The Old Kingdom, thanks to its {{Magitek}}, something briefly discussed by Nick in ''Goldenhand'' -- on the one hand, it's all sword and sorcery, on the other, there are sophisticated plumbing and hot water systems, Sendings (magical constructs that function along the lines of semi-sentient robots), and magical lights that stand in for electrical lights. Additionally, ''Sabriel'' has Touchstone mention sophisticated pumping systems that helped reclaim a great deal of land from the seas. |
| 448 | * TheScottishTrope: Saying the name of the BigBad of ''Lirael'' and ''Abhorsen'' is made clear to be a ''bad idea'', especially for the good guys, as that will attract Its attention. The Disreputable Dog will write Its name down, but not speak it, and only calls It [[spoiler:"The Destroyer"]] aloud. Its name is [[spoiler:Orannis. Demonstrated when It is freed at the climax of ''Abhorsen''; saying Its name makes the huge pillar of fire It first manifested as visibly grow.]] |
| 449 | * SdrawkcabAlias: [[spoiler:Kerrigor = Rogirek. It was his old childhood nickname originally, made up by Touchstone.]] |
| 450 | * SealedEvilInACan: Lots, ranging from the seriously dangerous to all but the very skilled, to the World-Destroying God-Thing. The Clayr's Great Library, for starters, keeps sets of tools laid out centuries ago for precisely the main character, as well as various Free Magic monsters (eg [[spoiler:the Stilken that Lirael accidentally frees]]) and [[spoiler:an artifact capable of summoning one of the beings that shaped the world]]. |
| 451 | * SealedEvilInASixPack: A downplayed example. [[spoiler:Orannis the Destroyer]] was split into two pieces, which were set apart and buried under seven wards. Perhaps separating It into more bits would have been advisable - though that might might not have been possible. |
| 452 | * SealedEvilInATeddyBear: More Chaos than Evil, but [[spoiler:Mogget]]. |
| 453 | * SeekingUltimateStrength: Free Magic sorcerers inevitably get addicted to the experience of forcing magic and other creatures to obey their will. Best exemplified by Kerrigor, who, not content with being [[spoiler:[[TheEvilPrince Crown Prince]]]], mastered Free Magic, transformed himself into an UndeadAbomination, [[LoveSacrificedForPower made human sacrifices of his family]], and tried to tear apart the Kingdom so he could rule over a [[TheNecrocracy Necrocracy]] of his thralls. |
| 454 | * SelfFulfillingProphecy: The Clayr ''live'' on these. They initiate new members into their ranks when they See themselves initiating her! Although, presumably, their powers awake shortly after. And they do occasionally hand out jobs which haven't been forecast. |
| 455 | * SemiDivine: Three of the Nine poured most of their power into mortal bloodlines; the Clayr, the Abhorsen, the royal family and the Wallmakers. Consequently, although not directly related to a deity, they all do have powers inherited from a god (or close enough). |
| 456 | * ServileSnarker: Mogget, since he's basically an enslaved [[spoiler:EldritchAbomination of godlike power]] and does not appreciate the magic compelling him to always help the Abhorsens. Being [[DeadpanSnarker completely]] [[CatsAreMean insufferable]] is his only way around it. |
| 457 | * ShadowDictator: King Orrikan in ''Clariel'' had actually planned to abdicate before his granddaughter Tathiel disappeared, and has spent the last several years refusing to do any sort of governing, instead spending most of his time sitting on the balcony where the Clayr saw a vision of his granddaughter returning. The resulting machinations to fill the power gap left by him is a big subplot of the novel. |
| 458 | * {{Shibboleth}}: In ''Lirael'', the Abhorsen ArcWords mentioned above are spoken to Sam several times while he's trying to hide the fact that he hasn't been able to read the ''Book of the Dead'', which ends with those words. Sam misunderstands his mother's quotation as just a motivational phrase; Mogget on the other hand uses it more intentionally and immediately sees Sam's confusion as proof he is woefully unprepared to fight the Dead. |
| 459 | * ShootEverythingThatMoves: SOP on the Ancelsterrian side of the Wall, where everything not coming over from the Old Kingdom via the Crossing Point is assumed to be one of the Dead and fired on. |
| 460 | * ShoutOutToShakespeare: |
| 461 | ** The job of Sabriel's family, Abhorsen, shares a name with the executioner in ''Theatre/MeasureForMeasure''. |
| 462 | ** In order to hide his true identity, Mogget gives [[spoiler:Torrigan]] the name [[Theatre/AsYouLikeIt Touchstone]]. |
| 463 | ** An expy of Shakespeare, Charlotte Breakespear is mentioned in ''Terciel and Elenor'' |
| 464 | * SiblingMurder: |
| 465 | ** Rogir had his minions sacrifice his two sisters on two of the Great Charter Stones to break them, and only [[spoiler:the arrival of the Abhorsen prevents him from killing his half-brother. 200 years later, he gets another chance to try and kill his little half-brother, but is ultimately defeated instead.]] |
| 466 | ** In ''Clariel'', [[spoiler:this is why Jaciel is estranged from her family. Her older brother, Teriel, was the Abhorsen-in-Waiting and, unlike their father, actively studied necromancy and Free Magic and walked in Death. However, on his last such trip, he was killed and his body stolen by some manner of Dead creature. The Dead thing in Teriel's body walked into Jaciel's forge, where she immediately realized what had happened and killed it in self-defence by dousing it in molten gold. However, no one else at Hillfair believed her when she explained, and she was kicked out.]] |
| 467 | * SiblingTeam: In "Goldenhand", [[spoiler:Sabriel and Lirael, though as mentor and mentee, not as full equals.]] |
| 468 | * SketchySuccessor: In ''Clariel'', although the Abhorsen Tyriel, like his two immediate predecessors, is far more focused on hunting than doing his actual job due to how peaceful the Kingdom is at the time, his great-nephew Belatiel is of the impression that the current Abhorsen-in-Waiting, Tyriel's daughter Yannael, is going to be even worse at the job, suspecting her of never even having read ''The Book of the Dead'' or walked in Death. In fact, it's made clear that of Tyriel's three children, Yannael is clearly the most unsuited to be Abhorsen. [[spoiler:Fortunately, she's not the real Abhorsen-in-Waiting at all. Belatiel is.]] |
| 469 | * SlidingScaleOfGenderInequality: The Old Kingdom is right around a 5 — men and women serve in near-equal numbers as Abhorsens, royalty, and [[{{Redshirt}} guards]] (the only exception being the almost all-female Clayr bloodline). Lirael notes in "Goldenhand" that there is no distinction even between male and female clothing in the Old Kingdom, save for underclothes. South of the Wall, however, Ancelstierre seems to rate a 4 (as befits a land culturally and technologically similar to early 20th century England). Seeming to confirm this, Nicholas mentions tiresome "debs" or debutants in "The Creature in the Case", hinting at more traditional English norms. However, it is mentioned in "Abhorsen" that some of Sabriel's old school friends have become powerful in their own right and Sabriel, who herself grew up in Ancelstierre, is never shown to have qualms about gender roles. Furthermore, Nicholas, an Ancelstierran through and through does not dismiss or diminish the powerful women he meets in the Old Kingdom. Also, [[spoiler:the siege at the end of ''Sabriel'']] demonstrates that women there are not to be trifled with. That being said, all the Ancelstierran Perimeter troops and politicos we see are men. |
| 470 | ** However, it should also be noted that in ''Sabriel'', it's mentioned that in both Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom, Sabriel and Touchstone travelling together, being young and unmarried, would be assumed by many to be illicit lovers, lowering themselves in most people's eyes - something Touchstone avoids by announcing Sabriel as the Abhorsen and himself as her Sworn Swordsman. |
| 471 | * SociopathicHero: Mogget toes — or paws — the line between this and HiddenAgendaVillain, ultimately swinging more towards the former. |
| 472 | * SoleSurvivor: The night two of the Great Charter Stones were broken, [[spoiler:Touchstone]] was the only member of the royal bloodline to survive going into the reservoir. He still feels [[ItsAllMyFault guilty about this]] for some time afterwards. [[spoiler:Kerrigor, the one responsible for all the deaths that night, was a member of the royal family, but he was already Dead.]] |
| 473 | * SongsInTheKeyOfLock: A shortcut to Abhorsen's House in ''Sabriel'' will only open to the sound of Mosrael, a bell which is otherwise almost never used in the series by the protagonists (it sends the ringer into Death and the Dead into Life, rather inappropriate for the good guys). |
| 474 | * TheSoulsaver: Part of the Abhorsen's job description is to save the victims of the Dead -- including the Dead themselves, who invariably GoOutWithASmile when they finally cross the Ninth Gate. |
| 475 | * StarsAreSouls: It is eventually revealed that this is the nature of the Ninth Gate. |
| 476 | * StartOfDarkness: The prequel book ''Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen'' is the story of how the title character becomes corrupted by Free Magic and eventually becomes [[spoiler:Chlorr of the Mask.]] |
| 477 | * StrongFamilyResemblance: Thanks to SuperpowerfulGenetics, the Abhorsens are all Pale-Skinned Brunettes who get sunburned absurdly fast and the Clayr are all dark-skinned blondes with a severe shortage of men. |
| 478 | * SupernaturalSealing: The Seven Bright Shiners divided Orannis and bound It behind a sevenfold ward. [[spoiler:Lirael uses her Remembrancer powers to recreate the binding ritual at the climax of Abhorsen; it requires a stand-in for each of the Seven with their bell, a complicated Charter spell, a specially enchanted sword, [[WeOnlyHaveOneChance careful timing]]... and the strength of will to stand against It.]] |
| 479 | * SuperpowerfulGenetics: Several of the creators of the world invested their power in bloodlines. As a result, the Abhorsens, the royal family, the Clayr, and [[spoiler:the Wallmakers]] all tend to manifest special powers and traits. |
| 480 | * SurpriseIncest: [[spoiler:Sameth's]] hitting on [[spoiler:Lirael]] is less than welcome anyway, and then it turns out [[spoiler:he's her nephew]]. He drops the subject after that. |
| 481 | * SymmetricEffect: The last and largest of the seven bells is Astarael, the Weeper, which sends all hearers deep into Death -- ''including the one ringing it''. It's generally used by Abhorsens only as a final TakingYouWithMe gambit. [[spoiler:When used on Kerrigor, it doesn't stick, since his SoulJar lets him return, but it does delay him, and the ringer is [[ConvenientTerminalIllness on the verge of death]] anyway.]] |
| 482 | * TargetedHumanSacrifice: Charter Stones can only be broken by an exceptionally evil Free Magic ritual involving the sacrifice of a Charter Mage. The Great Charter Stones specifically require blood from one of the three magical bloodlines: [[RoyalBlood the royal family]], the Clayr or the Abhorsen. |
| 483 | * TelegraphGagStop: Some of the Old Kingdom characters have adopted "telegraphese" from Ancelstierre for message-hawks (birds that are able to store short voice recordings). While Sam's inclusion of "stop"s in ''Abhorsen'' is justified because he's actually dictating a telegram, Touchstone in ''Goldenhand'' has no such excuse. |
| 484 | * ThemeNaming: All named Abhorsens have names that end in -el. [[spoiler:Interestingly, Sameth, whom everyone thought to be Abhorsen-in-Waiting, does ''not'', while Lirael, who was the real but unknown Abhorsen-in-Waiting, does.]] |
| 485 | * ThereAreNoTherapists: |
| 486 | ** After Sameth goes into death alone and is mind-controlled by Hedge, he is taken back to the Old Kingdom, whereupon his mother decides leaving him in the care of his sister is a better idea than staying and ensuring he's in a sound state of mind. Jusitified, to an extent, as one of the smaller plot points is that everyone is too busy (his parents) or too self-assured (his sister) to notice his massive unsuitability for the position of Abhorsen-in-Waiting; also, until his traumatic encounter with Hedge, Sam probably didn't seem so massively unsuitable. His family knew he was traumatized but were too busy to realize the direction the trauma took. Especially since Sam was ashamed to reveal it. Given this, it is unsurprising that they did not spend the time or understanding required to counsel him after a traumatic experience in Death. |
| 487 | ** Lirael has been suffering from depression for years and when we first meet her she is about to attempt suicide, and none of the Clayr — who are seers, go figure — ever noticed or did anything to help until Sanar and Ryelle intervened. (The Clayr's Sight tends to make them somewhat distant, compounded by the fact that none of them had ''ever'' Seen Lirael in their visions, at all.) |
| 488 | * ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Played with. Just after the breaking of two of the Great Charter Stones, Touchstone threw his sword at Rogir to stop him from reaching a third stone with a cup of the Queen's blood. The sword hit him, all right, and it ''would'' have killed him... but Rogir was now one of the Greater Dead wearing a Free Magic construct as a body, so he instead taunted Touchstone about his inability to die. |
| 489 | * TomeOfEldritchLore: ''The Book of the Dead''. ''The Book of Remembrance and Forgetting'' also qualifies to a lesser extent. |
| 490 | * TongueTied: In ''Sabriel'', a spell tied to the corruption of the Charter and the two broken Great Charter Stones causes people to choke on their words if they try to talk about certain things, including the Great Charters. Mogget describes the corruption as widespread and the spell indiscriminate. Non-Charter Mages and children with the Charter mark can talk about it, which Sabriel uses to get a little girl among the survivors of Nestowe to tell her the rhyme about the Great Charters. Touchstone is only able to tell Sabriel about how the two Great Stones were broken when they're at sea, as the ocean can weaken even Charter Magic, but the moment their boat gets close enough to Belisaere, even though the land is still out of sight, they can't speak of it anymore. |
| 491 | * TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:In the novella, Nick]] fights an ancient Free Magic elemental and an army of evil shadow government agents with basically whatever's handy. [[spoiler:WordOfGod says that this story was intended to be something of a joke: Nick looks like a Badass by normal standards, but he faints during his failed attempt to poison the elemental, only to have Lirael (still a novice Abhorsen-in-Waiting) swoop in and defeat the creature with nothing but a thistle.]] |
| 492 | * TopHeavyGuy: Kerrigor. In ''Sabriel'', his construct body is described as being ridiculously tall and barrel-chested, as though he was trying to remake his old self, but "either his skills, memory, or taste were sadly lacking." (How un-fabulous.) |
| 493 | * TwoPartTrilogy: ''Lirael'' and ''Abhorsen'' were conceived of as one book. |
| 494 | * TheUndead: The Dead are a central element of the series (except in ''Clariel''); they come into being when a spirit returns to the living world from Death, whether of its own free will or forced by a necromancer, and have a number of vampire-like traits, including an aversion to fire, sunlight, and running water and a need to feed off the living. Otherwise, they come in numerous types, including: |
| 495 | ** [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Dead Hands]]: The basic sort — reanimated corpses with a Dead spirit inside. They're not very intelligent or powerful, but are often used as {{mooks}} by necromancers, and tend to come in [[ZergRush large numbers]], and as ''Goldenhand'' grimly demonstrates, even in relatively limited numbers they're dangerous to people without powerful Charter Magic. On occasion, independent Dead that are essentially free-willed Hands will show up; Sabriel is accosted by such a creature early in the first book. |
| 496 | ** [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Shadow Hands]]: Similar to Hands, but just the spirit rather than the body. They're usually smarter and, lacking a physical form to attack, near impossible to destroy or banish without catching them in bright sunlight or using enchanted bells/panpipes. They're usually encountered shepherding troops of regular Hands for a necromancer who is busy elsewhere. Like regular Hands, independent versions exist. |
| 497 | ** [[NonHumanUndead Gore Crows]]: The result of a single Dead spirit being splintered and used by a necromancer to animated a large group of dead crows. Not very powerful individually (or, it must be said, very bright), but they make good scouts and expendable forces for an aerial ZergRush. |
| 498 | ** [[DemonicPossession Mordauts]]: Similar to Shadow Hands, but instead of existing as pure spirit, they prefer to possess living people, masking their presence with person's lifeforce, sneaking away at night to drain the living, especially children. Clever, but not particularly powerful; Sabriel defeats such a creature during her first time doing proper Abhorsen duties in the first book. |
| 499 | ** [[ImplacableMan Mordicants]]: Essentially a golem of bog clay with a Dead spirit animating it. These are extremely powerful and hard to damage, and have a rare ability to pull their physical forms with them into Death and emerge intact somewhere else, allowing them to travel extremely quickly and bypass most obstacles. In ''Sabriel'', Kerrigor uses one as his [[TheDragon Dragon]]. |
| 500 | ** [[OurLichesAreDifferent Greater Dead]]: The strongest and most malign of all the Dead, a challenge even for an Abhorsen. They typically take the form of immense, roughly-humanoid shadows with GlowingEyesOfDoom and have formidable Free Magic powers, especially if, like Kerrigor and Chlorr, they were sorcerers in life. Unlike most other Dead, they retain their memories and mental faculties from life. They tend to surround themselves with Lesser Dead, Free Magic elementals, and the odd mortal necromancer as minions. |
| 501 | * UnderworldRiver: The afterlife in the wolrd of The Old Kingdom takes the form of a freezing river with a strong current, divided into nine precincts by nine different gates; the Abhorsen is responsible for banishing the undead past these gates, but those that don't end up going past the Ninth Gate can crawl their way back out into the Old Kingdom, with disastrous results. |
| 502 | * UnstuckInTime: The Clayr live like this. See MadOracle. |
| 503 | * UpgradeArtifact: ''The Book of the Dead'' helps in speeding [[spoiler:Lirael]] along in her Abhorsen training while avoiding a case of InstantExpert. [[spoiler:(She fumbles a lot and would probably not have survived many of her actions without the Disreputable Dog.)]] |
| 504 | * VillainOpeningScene: ''Lirael''[='s=] prologue involves Hedge first meeting Chlorr of the Mask and tricking her into his master's service. |
| 505 | * WarRefugees: The Southerlings are fleeing a civil war in their homeland only to be pushed out of Ancelstierre and used as sacrifices in the Old Kingdom. |
| 506 | * WeAllDieSomeday: Sabriel's father reminds her of this. It is an extremely important idea for Abhorsens to remember, so that they don't meet their own death with fear or denial, or seek to undo deaths that they find unfair. |
| 507 | * WeakenedByTheLight: Lesser Dead creatures aren't so keen on travelling by day. |
| 508 | * WeOnlyHaveOneChance: To defeat Orannis. [[spoiler:Once unbound, It's only vulnerable during the rest period between its second and third manifestations, so the [[SupernaturalSealing binding ritual]] needs to be performed in that time and has no room for error. Compounding the difficulty is the massive blast radius of Its second manifestation.]] |
| 509 | * WhamEpisode: The prologue to ''Abhorsen'' is an account of [[spoiler:the brutal assassination of Sabriel and Touchstone on foreign ground, using modern weaponry. They received very little screen time in ''Lirael'' and are only revealed to have survived a third of the way through ''Abhorsen'' (and the attack still killed all but one of the royal escort),]] making it especially shocking, particularly if reading the trilogy start to finish. [[spoiler:Their deaths are even more convincing due to a subtle perspective shift in the narration which falls just short of lying to the reader's face.]] |
| 510 | * WhenYouComingHomeDad: Sabriel's father, Sabriel herself, and even Lirael's mother, sort of. |
| 511 | -->"I have not been an ideal parent, I know. None of us ever is." |
| 512 | * WhoAreYou: At the climax of ''Clariel'', the BigBad asks [[spoiler:Clariel this when she storms into his attempted coup, [[AndThisIsFor vows vengeance for her parents]], kills his son, and sets her sights on him. True, she's [[CoolMask masked]] and armed for an HourOfPower that looks entirely unlike her, but she's furious that he doesn't make the connection.]] |
| 513 | -->''"Have you killed so many parents that you cannot remember their children?"'' |
| 514 | * WhoWantsToLiveForever: Zig-zagged. When the Disreputable Dog tells Lirael about the creation of the world and the Charter, she says that two of the Seven chose to retain their immortal and integrated selves. She says that perhaps they weren't tired of life, and were interested in how the world would develop, which implies that the other Five had wearied of their lives, which by then must have spanned millennia. |
| 515 | * WeakenedByTheLight: Some of the weaker Undead such as Shadow Hands are weakened and sometimes killed by sunlight. |
| 516 | * WildMagic: Free Magic. |
| 517 | * WilliamFakespeare: Elinor is a fan of the works of Charlotte Breakespear, and many of the titles of her plays appear to be modelled on Shakespeare's (such as "The Three Noble Kinswomen"). |
| 518 | * WizardsLiveLonger: For reasons not fully understood, Clayr tend to live for well over a century. In ''Clariel'', it turns out that [[spoiler:Mistress Ader, the headmistress of the school Clariel is sent to, is actually Maderael, a former Abhorsen who retired a century ago. Given that the book takes place in a period of relative peace and prosperity for the Old Kingdom, with magic known that has been lost by the time of the later books, it's possible that ''all'' of the Charter bloodlines have the potential to live as long as the Clayr, but don't due to living more dangerous lifestyles.]] |
| 519 | * WonderTwinPowers: Sanar and Ryelle (thought they can work apart). |
| 520 | * TheWorldIsJustAwesome: Basically the reason [[spoiler:Yrael sides with Sabriel and co. over Orannis: he's come to love Life and doesn't want to see it end.]] |
| 521 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Nicholas Sayre, once the Destroyer is unbound, dies from the trauma his body's been put through, rather than a direct wound.]] |
| 522 | * YouKnowTheOne: This exchange between Touchstone and Mogget in ''Sabriel''. [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed that the "family" is the thought-extinct royal bloodline, and the one who should be beyond the Final Gate but isn't is Kerrigor.]] |
| 523 | -->'''Touchstone:''' The family?\ |
| 524 | '''Mogget:''' All dead and past the Final Gate, save one, who should be. You know who I mean. |
| 525 | * YouNeedToGetLaid: After leaving the Clayr's Glacier on a critical mission, Lirael tries to explain their quest to the Disreputable Dog: |
| 526 | -->'''Lirael:''' I have to find a man–\ |
| 527 | '''Dog:''' Good! Time you were bred. |
| 528 | * ZombieApocalypse: Dead Hands, which are corpses reanimated and somehow deformed by Free Magic, are mindless, squishy, and very persistent. In ''Lirael'', Sabriel and Touchstone think that making enough of them to overrun the entire continent is Hedge's plan; unfortunately, it turns out [[ApocalypseHow they're rather]] [[OmnicidalManiac underestimating]] the damage he intends to cause. |
| 529 |
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