Clariel

-[Clariel]-
(clah-ree-el)

Willful-Furious-Powerful

Sexuality: Asexual

The Old Kingdom is ruled by an absent King, Orrikan, who refuses to rule, or abdicate to someone who will, until his granddaughter returns to take the crown. In his place, the mercantile Guilds have taken power, led by the powerful Kilp, the Guildmaster of the Goldsmiths, who rules as governor in Belisaere. Clariel is the seventeen-year-old daughter of Jaciel, a talented goldsmith, the estranged daughter of the current Abhorsen and a cousin of the King. A descendant of two of the ancient bloodlines that bind the Kingdom to the Charter, Clariel is a berserk, uninterested in Charter Magic but whose rage and strong will gives her a latent affinity to Free Magic. Clariel's reluctant admission to an academy for the young elite and an encounter with a Free Magic creature leaves her curious about its forbidden power. After a meeting with the King ends badly, Clariel is taken to dine at the Governor's manor, where a chance encounter uncovers that Kilp's son (Clariel's unwanted fiancé) has consorted with a Free Magic creature to cheat his way up the Guild. Clariel's family is killed in the fighting that follows, Clariel briefly escapes, only to be captured. On the verge of escaping once more she is rescued and is spirited away to the Abhorsen's estates in the south, only to be locked away by the Abhorsen for her own safety. Fearing that her parents will not be avenged, Clariel conspires with Mogget to free two of the Free Magic entities imprisoned in the House and to bind them to do her bidding. In the process of doing so, Clariel corrupts her Charter Mark, weakening her link with the Charter and her ability to perform Charter Magic, but at the same time allowing her to perform feats of magic using her own raw willpower to shape and control Free Magic. When she reaches the city, she kills Kilp and his son and rescues the King, only to nearly be killed by the creatures she has bound. She is saved by Belatiel, the new Abhorsen, but is disfigured and badly injured. Belatiel assists her to the forests of the far north, and gives her a bronze mask she earlier used to protect herself from Free Magic. Clariel is destined to later become Chlorr of the Mask.

(c) Garth Nix (Wikipedia)