For Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen, the fourth book in the Old Kingdom series, click here.
For Chlorr of the Mask, click here.
Clariel is the protagonist of Clariel: the Lost Abhorsen, the fourth book in the Old Kingdom series and a prequel that takes place 600 years before the birth of Sabriel. Long after the book's events, she will become known as Chlorr of the Mask.
During Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen[]
Seventeen-year-old Clariel is a new implant to the Old Kingdom capital of Belisaere. Deeply unhappy with the city and its politics and a staunch loner, she longs to become a Borderer of the Great Forest near Estwael, where she grew up; however, her parents dismiss her desires. Clariel is also a "berserk," prone to episodes of near-superhuman rages which she struggles to control, and while uninterested in Charter Magic, her fury and strong willpower will soon reveal an affinity for Free Magic.
After Clariel's parents are murdered at a diplomatic event, Clariel escapes the city and is brought into the care and House of her grandfather, the Abhorsen Tyriel, who has essentially abandoned his duties (similarly to the King at the time). Determined to avenge her parents' deaths, Clariel frees two Free Magic creatures imprisoned at Abhorsen's House and takes control of them with the help of Mogget and her rage. (This is also where she gets her later-eponymous mask, which was originally used by Abhorsens as protection from the corrosive effects of Free Magic.)
Clariel orders her "servants" to take her and Mogget to Belisaere; they show her a necromancer's tomb along the way which contains a sword and necromantic bells. Clariel resists the temptation to take the bells at the time, but is haunted by their memory and a desire to enter Death. In Belisaere, she and her Free Magic creatures storm the palace and kill her parents' murderers. Clariel feels no satisfaction from their deaths.
Mogget and her "servants" then turn against her, revealing they wish to kill King Orrikan and use his blood to break the Great Charter Stones. Clariel is barely able to hold them off long enough for the new Abhorsen, Belatiel, to appear and bind all three Free Magic creatures anew. From this incident, Clariel's face is badly disfigured and her baptismal Charter Mark permanently corrupted, and she is exiled to the far North for her own safety.
After Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen[]
Clariel resists the temptation of new powers for years into her exile. However, eventually -- despite being bespelled against the lure of Free Magic and telling herself she would never do so again -- she opens another binding bottle holding another Free Magic creature, Azagrasir. Clariel again forces it into submission, but she is mortally wounded in the struggle. Azagrasir advises her to take over the body of a young Dnath serving-girl and live on, and though Clariel swears to herself she will not cross that line, she ultimately does so.[1]
She buries her original body in The Empty Lands and chains a part of her spirit to the riverbed of Death, so that she can never truly be killed. At this point, Clariel can truly be known as Chlorr.
At the end of Goldenhand, a scarred young woman found in the waters of Death introduces herself as "Clariel": the part of the sorceress's spirit that was put into stasis before she became a villain. Chlorr has kept this part of her chained to Death's riverbed for centuries. When Clariel learns what she has become, she is shocked and horrified and begs Lirael to send her to the Ninth Gate. However, since Clariel is chained in place, Lirael can only do so by ringing Astarael twice.
Chlorr arrives to try to slay Lirael and keep the "Clariel" fragment in stasis, but on rearing back to land the killing blow, accidentally sees the stars of the Gate. Clariel and Chlorr merge as one again and die the Final Death at last.
Armor/Battle Outfit[]
(Note: these were all Charter-spelled garments meant to protect from the corrosive power of Free Magic.)
- Long hooded robe
- Gauntlets that almost reach her elbows, tied to the robe
- Tall overshoes
- Heavy bronze mask, with the hood of the robe fastened to the side and throat
- A necromancer's old sword, which erodes the protective Charter magic incredibly quickly.
Trivia/Theories[]
It seems Chlorr was never an active Abhorsen, as her book's subtitle might suggest, just a member of the bloodline.
Clariel becoming Chlorr (studies for Australian cover) by Sebastian Ciaffaglione.
- ↑ Goldenhand, ch. 26.
