Honestly, if you go into Garth Nix’s Clariel expecting another Sabriel—a heroic, bell-swinging badass who knows exactly what she’s doing—you’re going to be pretty disappointed. It’s a tragedy. Pure and simple. Most people call her Clariel the lost abhorsen like it's a title of honor, but the reality is much darker. She isn't "lost" because she went missing; she's lost because she completely fell apart.
She was never really an Abhorsen in the way we think of them. Not officially.
The Girl Who Just Wanted to be Left Alone
Clariel is probably the most relatable "villain" in the Old Kingdom series, mostly because her motivation is so aggressively normal. She doesn't want world domination. She doesn't want to raise the dead. She just wants to go home to the Great Forest of Estwael and be a Borderer. She’s sixteen, she’s grumpy, and she hates the city of Belisaere with a passion that borders on the physical.
Then her parents move her to the capital.
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It’s the classic "teenager forced to move" trope, but with high-stakes magic and a crumbling monarchy. Belisaere is a mess. The King, Orrikan, is tired and has basically checked out. The Abhorsen of the time is more interested in hunting actual foxes than hunting Free Magic creatures. There is a power vacuum, and Clariel—being a distant cousin to both the royal line and the Abhorsen—is the perfect pawn.
Why Clariel isn't your typical hero
- The Berserk Rage: Unlike Sabriel or Lirael, Clariel has "the fury." It’s a magical rage that gives her insane strength but connects her deeply to Free Magic.
- Aversion to the Charter: She's kind of rubbish at Charter Magic. She can't remember the marks. She finds it restrictive.
- Social Isolation: Nix writes her as explicitly asexual and aromantic (aroace), which makes her feel even more disconnected from the "political marriages" everyone is trying to force on her.
She is a girl who feels like she has zero agency. When you spend 300 pages watching someone get backed into a corner, you shouldn't be surprised when they finally bite. But Clariel doesn't just bite; she swallows a poison that changes her forever.
The Tragedy of the Mask
The big "oh no" moment for long-time fans comes when Clariel starts wearing a mask. If you’ve read Lirael or Abhorsen, you know exactly who she becomes: Chlorr of the Mask. She is the ancient, terrifying necromancer who serves the Destroyer.
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Seeing how she gets there is painful. It’s not a sudden "I’m evil now" switch. It’s a slow erosion. She makes a deal with Mogget—who is way more dangerous and less "helpful cat" 600 years before the main trilogy—and uses Free Magic to get revenge for her parents' murder.
She thinks she’s in control. She’s not.
"Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?"
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In Clariel’s case, she tried to blaze her own trail through the woods, but the world kept pushing her back onto a road she never wanted to travel. By the time she reaches the end of the book, she’s been corrupted. Her Charter marks are fading. She’s exiled to the North, where the Charter is weak, and we all know how that ends.
What we can learn from Clariel the lost abhorsen
If you’re looking for a takeaway, it’s that duty isn’t just a burden—it’s a safety net. The reason Sabriel succeeded where Clariel failed is that Sabriel had a support system and a clear sense of purpose. Clariel was surrounded by adults who either ignored her, used her, or tried to fix her.
If you're diving back into the Old Kingdom, read Clariel as a character study in resentment. It’s a cautionary tale about what happens when someone with immense power is given no choices.
Next Steps for Readers:
Check out the short story The Creature in the Case or the later book Goldenhand to see the final, chilling legacy of Clariel’s transformation. If you haven't read the original trilogy in a while, re-reading Sabriel immediately after Clariel makes the contrast between the two "Abhorsens" feel like a punch to the gut.