Sabriel Loss Quotes

When Sabriel first finds out that her father is missing, she finds it really difficult to talk about him. She's trying to believe he's still alive, but a part of her fears for the worst, and she's trying to come to terms with the possible loss of the only parent she's ever known.

The loss of the enchanted Paperwing affects Sabriel profoundly, because it's partly due to Sabriel's inexperience that the Paperwing crashes. Sabriel can tell that the Paperwing was a labor of love for another Abhorsen long ago, and likens it to the child of that unknown Abhorsen. She also mourns its loss because it reminds her that she's been forced into a situation where she's very unprepared.

Here Touchstone gets the news that the world that he has known no longer exists because he's been frozen for two hundred years. It's a huge loss to mourn, and it takes him some time to absorb it.

Touchstone's past comes back to haunt him, gripping him with feelings of guilt and loss.

Touchstone's loss is made all the more powerful by the fact that he feels responsible for what happened. Is his guilt justified?

For some unexplained reason, Touchstone goes berserk under stressful conditions. He's no longer in control of his actions or behavior, and yet he still feels responsible for them. He feels a particularly bitter sense of loss over Rogir's two guards, whom he killed without knowing it.

Can you imagine what it would be like to lose not only your family, but the city and land that you knew as well? Touchstone returns to Belisaere, only to find it completely changed. When he reminisces about the city he knew, we get a sense of how much he misses it.

Here Touchstone talks about what he needs to do in order to cope with his loss: he wants to make new memories and seek redemption. By the story's end, do you think he's been able to do one or both of these things?

Going back to the scene of Touchstone's original loss is painful for Touchstone, and he's forced to relive his trauma.

Sabriel both accepts and mourns her father's death, at last, after she frees her father's spirit when he is trapped in one of Death's gates. She's spent so much time both anticipating this loss and denying that it will happen, but reuniting with her father for one final time helps her to accept it.