Clariel (AU)

Austrailian cover of Clariel

Chlorr of the Mask
is a character of Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series. She was an ancient and powerful necromancer and Free Magic sorcerer. At the beginning of Lirael, she approaches Hedge at the Red Lake, with the goal of commanding Hedge, as well as the power under the hill (Orannis). However, when she communes with Orannis, it binds Chlorr to its will instead. For the rest of the series, she is a servant of Hedge. She wears a bronze mask over her face, giving her the name. She and Sabriel came into conflict early in Lirael, but Chlorr was defeated, bound, and sent into Death. She returned as a member of the Greater Dead.

Towards the end of Abhorsen, Mogget speaks to Lirael about Chlorr, saying "...even when she was an A--alive." foreshadowing a deeper past. This past is discussed in greater depth in the fourth book in the series, which is entitled Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen. Chlorr, then referred to as Clariel, was the daughter of one of the Abhorsen's children, as well as being distantly related to the King. Her mother ran away from her home; she claims that her brother had been possessed by a Dead creature and that she had been forced to kill it, but her father refused to believe this. She later married and had Clariel in the city of Estwael in which she had a very distant connection to the Abhorsens and their duty, her grandfather Tyriel completely ignoring his duty as Abhorsen instead focusing on hunting. Both she and Clariel had the Fury, but unlike Touchstone, they had a much harder time controlling it. Ultimately she abandoned her duty and her cousin Belatiel became the next Abhorsen.

Like Kerrigor, Chlorr remained alive by remaining separate from her original body, which was kept in the North of the Old Kingdom. She finally passed beyond the Ninth Gate when her corporeal "Clariel" self assisted Lirael with the defeat of Chlorr, and with this Chlorr was finally at peace.