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Chlorr

Chlorr of the Mask, by Sebastian Ciaffaglione.

Chlorr of the Mask, originally named Clariel, is a character of Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series. She was introduced at the beginning of Lirael as an ancient and powerful necromancer and Free Magic sorcerer, wearing a bronze mask and furs from "the barbarian North," with the goal of commanding Hedge as well as the power under the hill at the Red Lake (Orannis). She remains an antagonist until her death in Goldenhand. Her early life and fall to Free Magic sorcery was explored in the prequel Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen, which takes place six hundred years before the birth of Sabriel.

For centuries in the North, Chlorr demanded that the nomad clans there provide her with the body of a young woman every twelve years or so, once her old one had been corrupted beyond repair. (She may have also taught Kerrigor the secret to immortality during this time, i.e. keeping his original body hidden and in a suspended state, as he spent time in the North.) At the beginning of Lirael, she senses the power of Orannis and ventures back into the Old Kingdom, intent on binding it to her will. However, when she communes with Orannis, he binds her to his will instead. For the rest of Lirael and Abhorsen, she is a servant of Orannis via Hedge. While she was a necromancer "long ago," Hedge gives her his bells to become one again.

Chlorr necromancer Leona Floriánová

Chlorr of the Mask as a necromancer, wearing furs of the far North, by Leona Floriánová.

At an early confrontation, Sabriel slays Chlorr, binds her spirit, and sends it toward the Ninth Gate. However, Chlorr returns as a member of the Greater Dead. She later flees to parts unknown in order to evade the Final Death.

Chlorr returns as the main antagonist in Goldenhand. Chlorr, known as "The Witch With No Face" to the Northerners, secretly plans to amass the entire force of all the nomad clans, as well as many Dead and Free Magic creatures, in a surprise invasion of the Old Kingdom. Ultimately, it falls to Nicholas Sayre and Lirael to work together to defeat Chlorr for good.

Lirael, with Nick's help, finds Chlorr's original body and uses Astarael to bring the "Clariel" remnant of her spirit to the Ninth Gate. When Chlorr senses this and enters Death to slay Lirael, she accidentally sees the stars of the Gate. "Clariel" and "Chlorr" reunite and ascend to the Final Death, finally at peace.

Trivia/Theories[]

  • Chlorr got her eponymous bronze mask over six hundred years ago from Abhorsen's House, where it had originally been used as protection when handling Free Magic. She later wore it to hide her disfigured face, and kept wearing it ever after. (Presumably, as she used many different bodies over the centuries, it was used to indicate who she was.)
  • Sabriel thinks Chlorr, in addition to revealing the secret to immortality, may have been the factor to fully corrupt Prince Rogirek, aka Kerrigor, into himself becoming a Free Magic sorcerer and Dead adept.
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