The Old Kingdom theory I have.
So while re-reading The Old Kingdom Trilogy I noticed something super peculiar!
So in Sabriel (the book), when Sabriel (the character) summons the Mother Sending she wonders if it’s the “very unusual dead spirit of her mother, which was unlikely, or some residual protective magic left by her”. Sabriel even calls the sending “Mother” and is very clearly feminine.
She is described as tall pale light, from far away. Closer up, a blurry glowing human shape with its arms outsretched. would answer her questions, protect her while her body was in life. The Mother Sending’s greeting is warm.
Key note that she is described as luminous, shining, bright, etc.
The sending’s last words to Sabriel were “Go with Love- and do not tarry, do not stop, no matter what happens.”
Sabriel also mentions that her father, Terciel, had taught her how to summon this spirit implying that this spirit is far older and more powerful than him.
Fast forward to Abhorsen, specifically when Sam, Dog, Mogget & Lirael are taking the well to bypass Chlorr.
We’re gonna look at symbolism.
Roses: Love
Rosemary: Rememberance/Remembering
Wells: Femininity/Motherhood/Mothering, Life, Water (also deeply connected with femininity, etc)
Amaranth: Immortality
So in order to open this well, at the Abhorsen’s home, the charter marks say “A breathe or kiss from my children”. This has two meanings.
First is Sam, being LITERALLY the Abhorsen’s child. Even though he is an inheritor of the Wallmakers.
Second, is being Astarael’s children. In Clariel, the Abhorsen’s are referred to as “Astarael’s Get”, or Astarael’s children.
Anyways, in the well we see that it has been eroded rather than made. Which is impossible since it would have to have been at different times in different directions. Which sounds eerily similar to the waters of Death. The closer they draw to Astarael’s manifestation, the more the tunnel feels of death. It’s cold, Lirael can sense the water at her ankles.
Astarael in the well is, duh, one of the nine bright shiners. She is described as an impossibly tall woman, head bowed, reaching out her arms to sweep [them] up”. Her domains are time & death.
I am also curious as to why her knowing self is outside of the charter (The Astarael in the Well) and her unknowing self is in Death as a manifestation to serve the Abhorsen and Charters. We know that even the 9 bright shiners are powerful but it is unconstrained power, as is the nature of free magic.
Anyways, my theory is that the Mother Sending is the Unknowing part of Astarael. The mother sending is docile, is described similarly to other free magic beings. Its voice is crackly, staticky much like Mogget’s.
Not to mention all the maternal implication of Astarael. Her arms are open, she’s referred to the abhorsen’s children, she has the symbol of love, etc.
but ya! thats my theory! i’d love to hear what yall have to say. I’m also sure this is not very well put together, considering I finished the latter half after taking my trazodone to help me sleep. so, keep this in mind.
and PLEASE! tag your spoilers!
This. Everything in this. I’ve read this series so MANY times (i have honestly lost count) and every single time I discover something about the world building that just makes the kind of sense that does.
There is some kind of connection between the Mother sending and Astarael. I just can’t buy into the idea that the sending is a Charter spell that any Charter Mage could cast. The Charter itself was made by the Nine Bright Shiners, the last of which being Astarael. And everything in this series has pointed to almost preordained destiny (things happen at very specific times; family lines are preserved by sheer coincidence; descendants of family lines long lost suddenly appear when needed most; etc.) I very much like the idea that this specific spell can only be cast by an Abhorsen, or one of those who carry the blood of the Charter (or the Five). Specifically because one of the questions the Mother Sending answers is how to get to Abhorsen’s House. A location created by the Wallmakers at the time of the Charter’s Creation (or, concurrently, the time when the Old Kingdom merged with the world Ancelstierre is a part of). Mind you, this location is also where Astarael chose to rest or reside after having chosen to preserve a part of herself. Surely this kind of knowledge can’t be accessible to everyone, otherwise the House wouldn’t still be standing. I simply have to believe that there’s a thread that ties the Mother sending to Astarael and all the similarities OP pointed out make me all but feral.
Stay tuned for my mad hatter theory that Astarael made the River of Death, or maybe even the physical (or quasi physical? As no one enters death corporeally) realm of Death that the Abhorsens and necromancer a traverse.
Accidentally posted on my main blog but YES. YES YES YES.
Abhorsen’s are “Astarael’s Get”. There’s also connection between night/death/menstrual cycles/maid/mother/crine/etc.
JUSSAYIN.
