“Sabriel” Trilogy Response
By Lucas Peterka 804
Throughout the “Sabriel” Trilogy, we see three different Abhorsens in the span of “Sabriel”, “Lirael”, and “Abhorsen”. Abhorsens are an ancient family whose bloodline traces back to the creation of order. The Abhorsens have a very specific role to play in the ecosystem of the Old Kingdom. One member of the family is tasked to find servants of Death and destroy them, for good. Abhorsen and Death are mortal enemies and are polar opposites of each other. One experiences the Cycle of Death and the other a Cycle of Life. Garth Nix uses this point to drive home the fact that Abhorsen and Death are the exact opposite.
The Abhorsen’s Life Cycle starts off with the mature and current Abhorsen who uses the seven bells to fight off Death. The mature Abhorsen then mates and gives birth to a new child, passing down the Abhorsen blood. When the child has become ready to train, a brand new set of bells appear for the new apprentice. The mature Abhorsen then starts to train their heir/heiress in the Abhorsen ways. After the new Abhorsen has been sufficiently trained, the mature Abhorsen dies. Their offspring then become the mature Abhorsen and start the cycle anew. This cycle is important because it appears in many species in LIFE. It is seen everywhere in life and Garth Nix uses this to drive home the point that the Abhorsen is life.
The “Cycle of Death” that the dead monsters experience is the mirror image of the Cycle of Life. Unlike before in the Abhorsen life cycle when the older one got, the more mature they got, the longer a creature spends in Death the more it erodes its mind. Eventually, they become savage beasts who only seek to crawl their way back to Life and snuff out as much of it as possible. Death slowly makes its species more primitive, unlike the maturing process in Life. As humans in the Cycle of Life start off as primitive, one-thought creature and evolve into humans able to think in more complex ways, humans in the Cycle of Death start as complex thinking creatures to primitive, single-goal, monstrosities with a lust for the blood of Life.
As seen above, the Abhorsen’s Cycle of Life is the mirror image of Death’s Cycle of Death. The author does this on purpose to establish the Abhorsens as Death’s mortal enemy and polar opposite in every way, shape, and form. With it, we can see Abhorsen is Life and Death is...well, Death.
