Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Grew up… in the mountains of the Clayr as an orphan. Gifted with the ability to see the future, the Clayr have joined there to focus their powers. Unfortunately, Lirael doesn’t seem to possess any of her fellow Clayrs' powers – she doesn’t even look like a Clayr.
Living… with the Clayr. Still. But Lirael has given up on ever become a seer. Her lack of her powers means Lirael is chosen to work in the Library — a job which is a lot more dangerous than it sounds.
Profession… Librarian. The Library of the Clayr holds books, yes – but it also is home to secrets, magical items of great power, dangerous animals, lost languages, and more. It’s here that Lirael begins to pick up magical skills and to investigate the Library’s mysteries with the help of her new companion, the Disreputable Dog.
Interests… knowledge. The one thing that Lirael has always been good at is spellcraft, and there’s no place like the Library to learn more about it. And while she’s at it, she’s happy to pick up history, languages, poetry, swordcraft, and whatever else she happens along. Maybe she’ll even find out why she’s different from the rest of the Clayr.
Relationship Status… single. And completely uninterested. Occasionally, people from the outside world visit, and it would be nice to think they liked her, but ultimately, Lirael prefers to hide behind her curtain of hair.
Challenge… to figure out her true purpose. Lirael isn’t like the other Clayr, and she doesn’t have their powers. However, she does have powers—strange, different ones that she’s just starting to discover. But can she understand them in time to defeat the darkness that the other Clayr have seen growing in the near future?
Personality… intelligent but depressive. Lirael never fit in, and it took a toll on her self-esteem. She prefers to not talk to anyone, and it only on her own in the Library that her true personality is revealed: inquisitive, bold, and capable. Lirael will enter even the Library's forbidden areas to find out what lays beyond—and deal with whatever she finds.
Get to Know her in...
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Before she went to join Sam and Mogget downstairs, Lirael paused for a moment to look at herself in the tall silver mirror that hung on the wall of her room. The image that faced her bore little resemblance to the Second Assistant Librarian of the Clayr. She saw a warlike and grim young woman, dark hair bound back with a silver cord rather than hanging free to disguise her face. She no longer wore her librarian's waistcoat, and she had a long Nehima at her side rather than a library-issue dagger. but she had kept her library whistle, tucking it into the small pouch at her belt. Though she was many, many leagues from any help the whistle might summon, she felt the need to cling to some small part of her past and her identity.
She had become an Abhorsen, Lirael thought, at least on the outside.
