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Orannis is the ninth and last of the Nine Bright Shiners.

OrannisCorecrop

Orannis's core and true form.

Description[]

Orannis, a non-humanoid sphere and the strongest Free Magic creature ever known, is also called the Destroyer, for he has only one desire: to destroy all Life everywhere, leaving only the Dead. He has done so, six times to six planets, through his manifestations, of which there are nine: the first is a massive pillar of fire, but the second and the rest are a series of cataclysmic, thermonuclear-esque explosions, which increase exponentially until they presumably encompass the entire world. All that remains is an empty, barren wasteland, with no life, water, landmarks, or even air. The only sign anything once existed is an occasional shard of spirit-glass, which is the remnant of a hugely powerful Free Magic entity that had been strong enough to endure Orannis's armageddon, now only a tiny fragment of what it had been.[1]

Crackedworld

Orannis has annihilated all Life on six previous worlds, leaving only dust.

Orannis loathes Life, comparing it to the crawling of insects, and considers annihilation peaceful and the proper state of the world. He has no other thoughts or desires beyond destruction.

Orannis's core, and true form, is as a sphere of dark energy with licks of fire. This is the only time in which he's vulnerable, and it occurs directly after his second form. If he is not bound here, in the few minutes before his third manifestation, he will rise into a pillar of flame again, at which point he is unstoppable.

First Binding[]

See Orannis's Binding

In The Beginning, after Orannis had turned a sixth world to an eternal desert, the Seven -- Ranna, Mosrael, Kibeth, Dyrim, Belgaer, Saraneth, and Astarael -- finally made a stand in the world of the Old Kingdom. They confronted Orannis and joined their power together in what became the Charter. The combined strengths in the Charter managed to overpower Orannis. He was still far too strong to destroy, so the Seven bound him in a large metal sphere, which was then split in two, with the two halves strongly repulsing each other, unable to ever join. These were then buried hundreds of feet below the earth, with seven wards of metal (lead, silver, and gold), traditionally protective runic woods (rowan, ash, and oak), and last of all, bone.

The splitting of Orannis, necessary to weaken him enough to be bound, either killed whichever Bright Shiner performed the act or was destructive enough to kill any mortal who might have tried.

Aftermath[]

Orannis is the first to tell the reader of what happened to the Nine Bright Shiners at the end of Lirael, using Nicholas Sayre as a mouthpiece. He tells what happened in the Beginning via the presumable lost folk song, Song of the Charter.

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 woof, to make and mend.

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

What of the two that 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.

Second Binding[]

Thousands of years later, there has been a minuscule erosion of Orannis's wards. However, it is enough for him to attract servants in the form of the necromancer Hedge and the Free Magic sorcerer Chlorr of the Mask to work to free him. Only a tiny splinter of Orannis can escape; Hedge mistakenly implants it in Nicholas Sayre when he meant for it to possess Prince Sameth. Orannis is still able to work through Nick to become unearthed, then to attract enough lightning bolts that the repulsive effects of his binding are negated. The two hemispheres are rejoined, with the splinter that had begun the process, at Forwin Mill in Ancelstierre, making Orannis whole again.

Orannis by lauratolton

Orannis bound anew by (clockwise from center) Lirael, the Disreputable Dog, Ellimere, Sameth, Yrael, Sanar and Ryelle, Touchstone, and Sabriel. By Laura Tolton.

Through the Dark Mirror, Lirael of the Clayr has Seen Orannis's past and the first binding. King Touchstone, Sanar and Rayelle of the Clayr, the Disreputable Dog, Princess Ellimere, Prince Sameth, the Abhorsen Sabriel, and Lirael each take a bell and stand in for one of the original Seven, respectively (twins Sanar and Rayelle have an intertwined soul and thus can only wield a single bell together; the Dog is actually what remains of Kibeth and so needs no bell). They survive Orannis's second manifestation by three nested diamonds of protection, then attempt to bind him; however, even though they are all of the Blood and carry some power of the Seven, it is not strong enough to contain Orannis. All seems lost until Sameth frees Mogget, revealed as Yrael, the Eighth Bright Shiner. Though he had taken no side in the original binding, this time he stands against Orannis, and his added power enables them to force Orannis back into a metal sphere.

Lirael splits the sphere using her modified sword Nehima, reforged through Sameth's Wallmaker skills, and prepares to die. However, the Disreputable Dog bites off Lirael's swordhand and takes the full force of Orannis's killing power in Lirael's place.

Orannis is currently bound anew.

Bell Sound[]

Orannis has no bell named after him that contains a fragment of his power.

Trivia/Theories[]

  • The explosion Orannis causes at the end of the chapter "Nine Bright Shiners" is apparently equal to twenty thousand tons of nitrocelluose, according to "Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case." This is equivalent to approximately 0.01 kilotons of TNT, or 1500 times less than the Little Boy nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
  • It is stated more than once that Orannis will leave only the Dead among him as company; however, as the Dead require the force of living creatures to remain out of Death, it is unclear how they could exist in a worldwide wasteland, as Hedge presumes. Possibly, it means only Death and its Precincts will exist until all spirits there pass beyond the Ninth Gate and it, too, becomes deserted; or possibly, it means some broken bonds of nature would allow the Dead to walk the world under the sun without fear of "leaking" back into Death.
  • The original binding of Orannis occurred before the Old Kingdom was joined to Ancelstierre, as Mogget remarked that he would have to have discovered that there was another world intersected to incorporate it into his plans for escape.
  • Orannis's two hemispheres were buried more than twenty fathoms deep, which is 120 feet or 36.5 meters.
  • It's unknown which of the Seven cleaved Orannis in two, and thus died, at the first binding (uncited sources think it was Astarael, as Lirael was standing in for her). It's unlikely this Shiner was fully destroyed, however, as the Nine are essentially immortal. Possibly, Lirael Saw the destructive power she would have to endure and knew she would not survive, though the Shiner probably did in some form.
  • Orannis and Yrael are the only Bright Shiners referred to as male.


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