Necromancer

A necromancer with her Dead Hands, by Nicole Cardiff.

A Necromancer is the most feared type of Free Magic sorcerer, and the enemy of the Abhorsen. They use the necromantic bells like an Abhorsen, but theirs are Free Magic unrestrained by the Charter. Necromancers specialise in raising the Dead to serve them, from Dead Hands and Shadow Hands, to powerful Mordicants. They are all also necessarily versed in Free Magic, and can use the power of Free Magic creatures such as a Dwirllin or Hish to make them even more formidable opponents. However, their connection to the Charter, if it ever existed, is completely severed and they cannot use Charter Magic. This is a weakness in certain situations. For example, they can't create a diamond of protection to guard their vulnerable bodies when walking in Death.

Necromancers fear dying and will do anything to survive longer than their allotted time. For example, Hedge was over one hundred years old when he died, and Chlorr of the Mask close to 650. Chlorr used the same method Kerrigor would use centuries later: anchoring her true, physical body in Life (in this case, in the Empty Lands) so that if she were slain, "the True Death" would be impossible and she would always return, albeit in Shadow form, no matter how many times she was banished to Death. Before Sabriel killed her, however, Chlorr survived for centuries by demanding new bodies every dozen years or so from the clans of the North, as hers wore out quickly from corrosive Free Magic; while Kerrigor merely used Free Magic to create a body that gradually became warped and unnatural.

In the North, necromancers are considered a type of shaman. They are forced into choke collars of silver and iron and tasked with a keeper, who uses a spirit-glass arrow to keep the necromancer from gaining too much power or turning on the clan. In Goldenhand, a shaman necromancer was able to incapacitate his keeper with the bell Ranna; he killed her and went into Death, planning retrieve her spirit, restore her with Belgaer, and torture her for the slavery he suffered. However, he was killed by Royal Guards before his plan could be put into action.

All necromancers avoid the Ninth Precinct whenever possible, because the allure of the stars there only strengthens the longer someone lives past their time.

In Abhorsen, Hedge notes that the bells "dislike" serving necromancers and must be handled especially carefully for this reason.

Members

These are all the necromancers who have been mentioned.

• Kerrigor
• Hedge
• Chlorr of the Mask
• Idrach
• Unnamed Northern necromancer in Goldenhand

Trivia/Theories

• It's highly ironic that the bells of a necromancer are where an individual is most likely to hear the name of the first Seven Bright Shiners, as they were the ones to create the Five Great Charters, the Abhorsen bloodline, and the Charter itself -- the antithesis of everything that Free-magic-using, Dead-raising necromancers stand for. This is most likely an effect of employing a "retcon" ("retroactive continuity"), where the bells and their names came first and their history was only created afterward.