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Lirael (b. ~ May 1910 AW) is the central protagonist of Lirael, Abhorsen, and Goldenhand. She also appears at the end of The Creature in the Case. Born into the Clayr, she was raised as an orphan from an early age, with little memory of her mother and no knowledge of her father.

Liraelclayr

Lirael standing out among the Clayr, by Amita Sevellaraja.

An outsider because of her unusual looks (dark hair and pale skin, the opposite of most Clayr), she is the only known daughter of the Clayr to not have the Sight, though she later realizes her destiny is to become a Remembrancer and, eventually, Abhorsen.

In Lirael[]

Lirael is raised as a Clayr. As she lacks the Clayr's precognitive Sight, she considers herself not a true Clayr and prefers solitude. On her fourteenth birthday, following a failed attempt at suicide, she becomes a Third Assistant Librarian in the Clayr's Library. She later discovers a small dog statuette, and attempts to turn it into a Charter sending of a dog, but instead summons the Disreputable Dog. With the help of the Dog, she secretly binds a Stilken that is loose in the library.

Liraelstilken

Lirael hunts and binds the Stilken, by Amita Sevellaraja.

Five years later, Lirael has been promoted to Second Assistant Librarian. She discovers a hidden path under the glacier and at the end of the path finds a room containing the Dark mirror, a set of panpipes and The Book of Remembrance and Forgetting.

Lirael is identified as a Remembrancer and sent (with the Dog) to the Red Lake to rescue Nicholas Sayre. En route, Lirael joins Sameth and Mogget, and they continue to the Red Lake, but are nearly vanquished by Chlorr of the Mask and her followers, and recover at the Abhorsen's House. There, Lirael is identified as Sabriel's half-sister and the true Abhorsen-in-Waiting.

In Abhorsen[]

Lirael, Sam, Mogget and the Dog escape Abhorsen's House and depart for the Red Lake, where the Destroyer is being unearthed, to rescue Sam's friend Nick, and prevent the Destroyer from consuming the world. Lirael uses her Rembrancing powers to determine the means of binding Orannis, and later defeats Hedge.

During the second binding of Orannis, Lirael represents Astarael and wields Nehima to cut the sphere in two again. As Lirael delivers the final blow, the Disreputable Dog bites through her arm, sacrificing herself to prevent Lirael being consumed entirely.

In The Creature in the Case[]

Abhorsen-in-Waiting Lirael arrives at the Wall just in time to save Nick and defeat the Hrule. Sam has made her a new hand, one of gilded steel and Charter Magic.

In Goldenhand[]

Lirael and Nicholas Sayre return to her childhood home, the Clayr’s Glacier, to learn that Nick is essentially a source of the Charter itself. There, they admit their growing feelings for each other.

Lirael learns she must find Chlorr of the Mask's original body in the airless "Empty Lands." She and Nick make a Charter-bubble and find Chlorr's original sarcophagus. Lirael finally slays Chlorr in Death, and is then shocked when the Disreputable Dog appears there, encouraging her to return to Life.

While the Dog disappears once Lirael returns, she is joyous at having seen her dearest friend one more time, and about excited her new romantic future with Nick.

Trivia[]

  • Perhaps because of her beloved red waistcoat of a Second Assistant Librarian, Lirael is almost always dressed in a red surcoat on official merchandise, even though her surcoat is quartered blue and green with the Abhorsen's silver key motif and the Clayr's golden star motif, respectively.
Lirael studies

Studies of Lirael and the Disreputable Dog, by Sebastian Ciaffaglione.

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