The Receptacle is, in essence, a giant Soul Catcher built in the MacGillycuddy's Reeks. It was built in 1892 to contain a Remnant outbreak that happened in County Kerry. It has the appearance of a giant glass sphere, approximately 100m in diameter, set in a large wooden support structure. Despite looking like glass though, the sphere is formed of an field of energy which is able to allow remnants in but not out. When activated, the sphere begins rotating, capable of pulling remnants from their human hosts as well as attracting remnants in their natural form with a much greater force.
In Books[]
Mortal Coil[]
In the fifth book the Remnants are loose again and it's up to Skulduggery and the others to contain them. Gordon Edgley was the only person with the knowledge of the whereabouts of the key. The key comprises of two flat pieces of gold, one in a church in Drogheda and the other in the hands of Burgundy Dalrymple.
The group teleports to Gordon's house, where Valkyrie uses the Echo Stone and finds the whereabout of the Receptacle. Herself and Tanith go to Drogheda while Skulduggery and China go to Dalrymple. Ghastly and Fletcher go down to Kerry as Fletcher can't teleport somewhere he has never been.
When the group are under siege in the Hibernian, they herd all the Remnant possesed mages and mortals into the lobby in an attempt to teleport them to The Receptacle. The plan backfires when Fletcher is possessed and attacks everyone.
On the drive down to Kerry, the gang are attacked by a possesed China who then kidnaps Valkyrie and takes her to where all the Remnants are.
Skulduggery, Tanith and Sanguine, a late addition to the team, go in search of the Receptacle and activate it. All the Remnants are successfully contained in the Receptacle except one. The Remnant possessing Tesseract lunges for Valkyrie but Tanith blocks and is possessed herself. Skulduggery and Valkyrie try but fail to remove the Remnant from Tanith.
The Receptacle is once again visited by Darquesse and Tanith in The Dying of the Light as the former intends to set the Remnants loose once again. The Receptacle is not mentioned for the rest of the book.