At the time of Sabriel, the Abhorsen is her father, Terciel, who has the job of putting the dead to rest in the Old Kingdom, which is especially difficult since a new evil is rising as the protection of Charter Magic weakens.

Sabriel is at an Ancelstierre school for girls to remain out of reach of those who might try to strike at her father through her and end the Abhorsen bloodline.

She also meets Mogget, a Free Magic construct who takes the form of a small white cat, wearing a collar with a powerful binding spell on it and a miniature Saraneth hanging from it.

Sabriel performs a ritual to summon a flood of water and then flees the house by Paperwing (a magically propelled plane-like structure.)

Sabriel discovers that the figurehead on one of the boats is not a wooden carving but an actual man, who has been imprisoned in that form for two hundred years.

The man tells Sabriel that he was a Royal Guard before his imprisonment, and asks to be called Touchstone (a jester's name) for reasons that remain cryptic.

Sabriel, Touchstone, and Mogget continue their journey, stopping to help rid a seaside village of a Dead creature.

Sabriel and Touchstone use another Paperwing to bring them as close to the Wall as possible, and cross over to Ancelstierre to find Kerrigor's body, following the clairvoyant guidance of the Clayr twins Sanar and Ryelle.

She wakes up with Touchstone before her, and both Mogget and Kerrigor asleep, bound by Ranna (the first of seven necromantic bells that instills sleep and quiescence in those who hear it).

One of the most respected figures in the Old Kingdom, the Abhorsen uses both the dangerous Free Magic-based powers of a necromancer and the benevolent magic of the Charter to keep the gates of Death against the return of Dead spirits back into Life.

Saraneth, the "binder", is thought to be the original Abhorsen, and the bright shiner who invested her powers in this bloodline.

For centuries, the royalty justly ruled the Old Kingdom from their palace at the capital Belisaere as powerful upholders of the peace, until their fall by the hands of Kerrigor, or Prince Rogirek nicknamed Rogir, a rogue member of the royal family who killed his sisters and mother to use their blood to break the Great Charter Stones.

The largest family among the magical bloodlines, the Clayr are arbiters of justice and foresight who see all from their glacier in the northernmost parts of the Old Kingdom.

The Glacier of the Clayr is home to a great library, as well, which is a repository of magic and history, and is even used as "cold storage" for particularly dangerous, but immortal, creatures.

By the end of Lirael and for the whole of Abhorsen, we find out that the Wallmaker bloodline has been reconstituted in Prince Sameth, explaining his uncanny ability to create magical "toys" and enchant weaponry, which otherwise would 'take months' to do.

The most powerful of the Greater Dead is Kerrigor, who is the only undead creature to retain his full potential for Free magic after death.

Mordicant: A powerful Lesser Dead Free Magic creature which can easily pass through the Gates of Death and into Life where it has a strong hold.

It is created by a necromancer by molding bog-clay and human blood, infusing it with Free Magic, and placing a Dead spirit inside.

The Abhorsen's bridge leading to the house stopped the Mordicant as the undead cannot cross fast and deep running water.

The Mordicant then led a siege using Shadow hands and living human slaves who worked non-stop for days to fill the river with earth to allow him to cross.

To end the siege, Sabriel called on the Clayr's gift of water bringing forth a massive wave to wipe the Mordicant and his slaves away.

Sabriel sensed when the creature broke through her protection, and banished it to death with the Abhorsen's sword and the bell Kibeth.

Shadow Hands are difficult to destroy by mere force, but can be easily put to rest by the bells of the Abhorsen.

They attacked Wyverly College after the Dead Hands made it past the soldiers and while Sabriel was attempting to destroy Rogirrek (Rogir)/Kerrigor's body.

It cohabits a human body, controlling and hiding in it, and slowly saps the life from it in order to avoid Death.

Sabriel encountered a Mordaut on the tiny rocky islet of Nestowe, inhabiting the body of a fisherman named Patar.

Sabriel stabbed it with her sword and sent it deep into Death using the bells Saraneth (the Binder), Ranna (the Sleepbringer), and Kibeth (the Walker).

[4] According to Publishing News, Garth Nix was preparing to pitch a Sabriel film to studios in mid-2008 via Steve Fisher at Agency for the Performing Arts.

Nix co-wrote the screenplay with Dan Futterman, actor and Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Capote (2005), and Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner at Plan B Entertainment were to produce.

While the current status of any film is unknown, Nix is now represented by Matthew Snyder at Creative Artists Agency.