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The Nine Bright Shiners are incredibly powerful Free Magic beings who were the first to develop conscious thought. This rare sentience gave them dominion over other Free Magic creatures, who refer to them as "highest of the high."[1]

The Nine Bright Shiners are:

  1. Ranna
  2. Mosrael
  3. Kibeth
  4. Dyrim
  5. Belgaer
  6. Saraneth
  7. Astarael
  8. Yrael
  9. Orannis

The first Seven of the Bright Shiners sought to use their strength to create Life independently capable of existing. However, they were opposed by Orannis, The Destroyer, the strongest of the Nine Bright Shiners. He sought to counter all creation with destruction, and annihilated the Life that had begun on six previous worlds. Finally, the Seven Shiners stood together and bound him to stop him once and for all[2], but their binding starts to fail at the beginning of Lirael.

When Lirael uses the Dark Mirror to see how the original binding was performed, she sees the Seven confront Orannis on the seventh planet he intended to annihilate (that of the Old Kingdom). Upon the standoff between the two forces, the Eighth Bright Shiner Yrael hid rather than take sides, but he was captured and made a servant of the Abhorsens: Mogget

After the binding of Orannis, during which the Seven made the Charter, they transformed themselves into physical objects and flesh-and-blood: two are in The Great Charter Stones and the Wall, while five are in various bloodlines (the Wallmakers, the Clayr, the Royal line, and the Abhorsens, not necessarily one each).[3]

Kibeth and Astarael are known to have lost only some power to the Charter and lived on as the Disreputable Dog and in the well beneath Abhorsen's House respectively; their forms (a female dog and an impossibly tall, weeping woman) suggest both Shiners were female. Mogget/Yrael is male and refers to Ranna as "she,"[4] while Orannis is called "he" throughout the books. The genders of the other Shiners are not known.

Currently, Orannis remains bound in two metal hemispheres buried beneath the earth. His second binding nearly failed, and was only possible with the last-moment power of Mogget/Yrael (freed by Sameth), who chose to oppose him this time. As such, he was given his freedom and the entirety of his identity was restored by Sabriel wielding Belgaer the end of Abhorsen. No longer bound, he still occasionally visits (usually Sameth) in his cat shape.

The Disreputable Dog/Kibeth was "killed" in some capacity when she severed Lirael's hand to absorb Orannis's final destructive power in her stead. While she is no longer Lirael's constant companion in Life, at the end of Goldenhand she assisted Lirael and Nicholas Sayre in finally defeating Chlorr of the Mask/Clariel in Death.

The power of the Seven exists in the necromantic bells and panpipes, which carry their names. In addition, they were (and perhaps still are) used to name the days of the week, although only four are mentioned in Clariel: Bethday (Kibeth), Dyrmday (Dyrim), Belday (Belgaer), and Starday (Astarael).

"I’ll sing you a song of the long ago --

Seven shine the shiners, oh!

What did the Seven do way back when?

Why, they wove the Charter then!

Five for the warp, from beginning to end.

Two for the wall, to make and mend.

That’s the Seven, but what of the Nine --

What of the two who chose not to shine?

The Eighth did hide, hide all away,

But the Seven caught him and made him pay.

The Ninth was strong and fought with might,

But lone Orannis was put out of the light,

Broken in two and buried under hill,

Forever to lie there, wishing us ill."[5]

Trivia/Theories[]

  • While some fans have speculated which Shiners are in which bloodlines and why (e.g., Dyrim is in the Royal line, for their power of diplomacy; Mosrael is in the Clayr, as their Sight is said to "awaken"), only Astarael has a known canonical connection: the Abhorsens, called "Astarael's get.[6]"
  1. "Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case"
  2. Abhorsen, pp. 351-352
  3. Sabriel, p. 216
  4. Mogget, Lirael, p. 320 (American First Edition): "Ranna holds him tighter than she does me."
  5. Lirael, pp. 525-526.
  6. The Hrule, "Nicholas Sayre and The Creature in the Case." "Get" is an archaic term for "offspring."
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