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"A little kneeling never hurt anyone."
— Abyssinia, Skulduggery Pleasant: Midnight
Princess of The Darklands
AbyssiniaNoText
Character Information
Taken Name Abyssinia
Species Human
Gender Female
Birth Unknown
Age over 400
Death 2019
Magic Neoteric - absorbs life force / Sensitive / abilities of The Unnamed
Faction The Anti-Sanctuary (Leader)
Titles Princess of the Darklands
Location Deceased
Relations The Unnamed (father)

Caisson (son) Mevolent (affair) Angelina shang (sister) Skulduggery Pleasant (as Lord Vile)

Abyssinia is the Princess of the Darklands, and Skulduggery Pleasant's ex-girlfriend/lover turned into his enemy. During the War, she was part of Mevolent's Forces along with Lord Vile so she could get close to killing Mevolent to take over his army.

Biography[]

Abyssinia was the daughter of the Unnamed, who was the master of Mevolent, as a result it is likely she was a key player for the entirety of the War. Though a member of the Diablerie, she was seldom mentioned.

She appeared to Skulduggery Pleasant after he had returned to the fray, following his demise, and gifted him with a suit of black armor. How she forged this is unknown, as she does not seem to have had access to the Shadow Furnace. She became romantically involved with Pleasant and was likely a key part of his transition to becoming Lord Vile. During the War, they often went on sorties together, slaughtering whole villages with their powers. After the War, Skulduggery never mentioned her: likely ashamed of having been unfaithful to his dead wife.

She became romantically involved with Mevolent and had a son, who she claimed to be Vile's child: Caisson. Mevolent perhaps sought to have a son with Faceless Blood, to become possessed as a Child of the Faceless. He could also have been in on the plot to create a vessel for his former master to use after his return. However, Mevolent's implied involvement in the death of her father makes this idea less credible.

She was born to the title of Princess of the Darklands, which she claimed to be so after Lord Vile stabbed her and threw her out of a window when she made an attempt on Mevolent's life, trying to earn the respect and loyalty of his army. Mevolent saw her as a threat to his war effort and declared a truce: the Diablerie and the Dead Men joined forces to hunt her down. China Sorrows succeeded in subduing her, having promised to adopt her son, Caisson, for his own security (though this later turned out to be a ploy in order to maintain the vessel for her father). Abyssinia's remains were given to the Sanctuaries, who deposited them in Cold-heart Prison.

Her first appearance was in Resurrection when Valkyrie attempted to have a vision of the future where she sees Abyssinia after she made an attack on Roarhaven. She was accompanied by Auger and Omen Darkly and Skulduggery Pleasant. She looks directly at Valkyrie as she's having the vision and says that she's "coming for them all". She was resurrected at Coldheart Prison using the life force of Collup and Tanner Rut (killing them), and some of Valkyrie Cain's (she survives). Abyssinia is seen laughing before Never teleports the group away. In Bedlam she is embarrassingly stabbed in front of a gloating Flanery by Crepuscular Vies, which kills her after she stupidly reincarnated her father in her dead son's body, The Unnamed, who took her power from her. After that, she was finally killed by Crepuscular Vies.

Personality[]

It has been said that she enjoys killing and is good at it. She has been shown to be ambitious, and it's also implied that she's insane. Abyssinia is completely devoted to her son, Caisson, to whom she was willing to sacrifice her own life to protect. She and Nero are stabbed and presumably killed by Crepuscular Vies in Bedlam after she tried to assassinate Flanery.

Abilities and Powers:[]

Due to her family heritage as a supposed direct descendant of The Faceless Ones, Abyssinia was shown, up until her death, to be one of the most powerful mages to have ever lived. Primarily a Neoteric with the ability to absorb her opponents' life force, her father, with his dying breath, gifted Abyssinia his vast and potent power augmenting her already formidable magic. From this she gained near-instantaneous regeneration, super strength, apparent immortality the ability to fly, and much more, becoming practically unstoppable. With her newfound might, she laid waste to villages and carved her way through entire battalions of sorcerers. Absorbing the lifeforce of her foes, she seemed to only be getting stronger and stronger. Eventually, the threat Abyssinia posed was so great that it took a temporary alliance of both The Dead Men and The Diablerie to match her but even then she proved more than capable of matching their combined efforts. It's highly likely she would've won the fight and it was only when China Sorrows held a knife to Caisson's throat did she then agree to let herself be killed. After the dinner with Mevolent, Lord Vile had stabbed her and thrown her out of the window. It was then when she met her father that he gave her his magic and told her to kill her son and let his soul be put in his body. Now that she was powerful again, not on the brink of death, she returned, stronger than ever. It was only after her father took back the powers that he had granted her so long ago. Without her powerful magic, she was finally able to truly be killed.

Abyssinia

The Abyssinia character card from the Skulduggery Pleasant website.

Life Force Absorption: Abyssinia possesses the ability to absorb her opponent's life force. She is only able to drain a single person at a time but can control the intensity and rate at which she drains her target. This can range from brief incapacitation to complete absorption of her targets life-force. If not interrupted this ability appears to be irresistible as not even Mevolent, one of the strongest sorcerers in the world, could prevent himself from being drained to death. Primarily, she uses her power to heal her wounds or make herself stronger. Normally, she seems to require physical contact to drain a person but with the powers gifted to her by her father the ability was enhanced, allowing her to drain her targets over a short distance. This conclusion is drawn due to her most noticeably trying to drain Crepuscular Vies by attempting to make physical contact during their fatal confrontation. This is despite the fact that a few chapters back she stopped Skulduggery from moving by draining his life-force from the other side of the room while preparing to trap him in the Infinity Gate.

Sensitive: Abyssinia has the power to look inside one’s mind, and is capable of searching their memories. She can communicate telepathically over vast distances and even from the confines of Coldheart Prison. She has the ability to alter memories to a degree, described by Valkyrie as both precise and elegant. She's able to sense others watching her through visions and converse with them. She can establish telepathic links with a person and can use clairvoyance to search for a person as she did when attempting to find Cassion after she sensed him dying.

Enhanced Regeneration: Abyssinia has been shown to possess immense regenerative abilities. Her healing factor is potent enough to allow her to recover from injuries like broken bones, gunshot wounds, and internal injuries within mere moments or seconds. Her regeneration appears to be uniquely tied in with her ability to absorb her opponent's life-force. If the right conditions are fulfilled she's shown the ability to regenerate from near-complete bodily destruction. Rebuilding herself a fully functional body from nothing but her heart. Her regeneration however was not an ability she learned herself but an ability that came with the powers her father bestowed her.

Immortality: Abyssinia, with the powers bestowed upon her by her father, is functionally immortal. The Unnamed was stated to be impossible to kill without the use of The Obsidian Blade and had he not been slain by it was certain he would've lived forever. Given that Abyssinia had been gifted all of his power, it is strongly implied that the same rules apply to her. This theory is further supported by the fact that her heart proved to be indestructible. Theoretically, if her father had not taken back the power he had bestowed upon her she could've continually resurrected herself if the right conditions were fulfilled and proved to be an opponent truly unable to die.

Enhanced Strength: Abyssinia is able to pick people up and throw them around without effort. She was able to handily pummel and damage Valkyrie through her Necronaut Suit during their final battle.

Flying: Abyssinia demonstrates this ability in her final battle with Valkyrie.

Powers of The Unnamed: Willingly given to her by The Unnamed while on the verge of death Abyssinia gained his extraordinary regenerative abilities as well as his inability to truly die from anything less than The Obsidian Blade. Evident when her heart proved to be impossible to destroy and could only be sealed away. It's hinted that Abyssinia possessed many more powers gifted to her by her father as Abyssinia shocked Valkyrie by her ability to fly in their final battle only for Abyssinia to state that her father possessed many powers including the ability to fly and so, by extension, so did she. Her whole style of fighting after she obtained her father's powers based itself around her regeneration allowing her to ignore enemies while she drained their life force or ripped them apart. After her father reclaimed his powers near the end of the book, her unfamiliarity of fighting without her enhanced powers or regeneration proved to be her downfall in her fatal confrontation with Crepuscular Vies. Without her enhanced healing or her father's immortality, she ended up finally dying for good.

Relationships[]

Skulduggery Pleasant[]

Abyssinia is a former lover of Skulduggery/Vile. It is said that she was the one who pushed him to become Lord Vile but he did it out of his own free will. She claimed Vile was Caisson's father for her son's safety.

Valkyrie Cain[]

Valkyrie had very estranged thoughts towards Abyssinia but the latter generally was quite playful whenever regarding Valkyrie. While they were enemies, both seemed somewhat saddened to fight.

The Unnamed[]

Abyssinia is the daughter of The Unnamed. It is clear that she looks up to him and has great respect for him. More can be read about their relationship and history here.

Caisson[]

Caisson is the son of Abyssinia. She went through many lengths to get him back and almost abandoned all other projects for him.

Anti-Sanctuary[]

Abyssinia is the leader of the Anti-Sanctuary. Before she is resurrected she can be heard as a voice in many of their heads, urging them to continue their task. As a voice she acted like the people who could hear her were her "children" and that she was their "mother."

Notes[]

  • Abyssinia does have a last name, despite The Unnamed seemingly not having one.[1]

References[]

Appearances[]

Skulduggery Pleasant Resurrection
Midnight Cover
Bedlamcover
SeasonsofwarMentioned

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