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Solomon Wreath
Solomon wreath
Character Information
Taken Name Solomon Wreath
Species Human
Gender Male
Birth March 1619 [1]
Age 398
Death 2014
Magic Necromancy
Weapons Cane
Location Deceased
Relations Nine unnamed brothers (deceased)[2]

Solomon Wreath is a Necromancer first introduced in Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones. He allowed Serpine into the Necromancer temple, and so Skulduggery greatly dislikes and mistrusts him. He places his Necromancy power inside his cane, much like the armour of Lord Vile, and is quite powerful, a senior cleric in the Irish Necromancer order. He also served the Necromancers' ambassador outside of the Temple, taking care of tasks including murder investigations, sanctuary assistance and general tasks that need to be performed for the order.

Biography[]

The War[]

Solomon wreath fought in the war until the necromancers declared neutrality and retreated. Little is known about his experiences.

Across a Dark Plain[]

In 1861 He along with other Necromancers prevent The Dead Men from arresting Nefarian Serpine. This is a major component of Skulduggery's distaste and hatred for Wreath.

The Faceless Ones[]

During the Diablerie's plot to bring back the Faceless Ones, he forms a "Necromancer contingent", consisting of him and two other necromancers, Baritone, who stores his power in a flintlock pistol, an unamed female necromancer who's power is stored in her cloak and the White Cleaver, who was brought under the Necromancer's control after he abandons Nefarian Serpine in the first book.

Wreath and his contingent served as reinforcements during the trade on Liffey Bridge as part of a double cross, in an attempt to recover Grand Mage Thurid Guild without having to give up the last Teleporter, Fletcher Renn.

In the battle of Aranmore Farm, Wreath and his contingent arrive midway through the battle, fighting with great skill against the Diablerie and their forces. However, they are powerless to stop the Diablerie from releasing the Faceless Ones. While trying to guide the final Faceless One back through the portal, after the other Faceless Ones are killed, Solomon is badly injured and is only just forced out of the fight by Skulduggery before he could be killed. He then throws his cane over to Valkyrie, who uses it to force the Faceless One back into the portal. The cane is broken by the Faceless One but it is still forced into the portal, taking Skulduggery with it. Wreath seems strangely apathetic about this, most likely because of his strained relationship with Skulduggery, whilst everyone else is horrified.

Later when Solomon meets with Valkyrie at the end of the book, it is shown he created another cane "identical to the first one", upon which Valkyrie remarks "How original of you". The book ends with Wreath telling Valkyrie that to get Skulduggery back from the realm of the Faceless Ones they will need Skulduggery's true head, which he lost, (he won the current one in a game of poker), as an Isthmus Anchor, and to gain the power needed Valkyrie would have to change her discipline from an Elemental to a Necromancer. He almost certainly does this to gain Valkyries trust, leading to her taking up necromancy to gain the power she would need and was the first of many actions that would lead to the events in The Death Bringer

Dark Days[]

In the fourth book, Solomon has started to teach Valkyrie Necromancy and (unwillingly) tells her about the passage when skulduggery forces his hand. When Valkyrie is attacked by Remus Crux, he rescues her. When Valkyrie informs Ghastly and Tanith of this, they are suspicous of Wreath, believing he staged the incident to curry favour with Valkyrie. However, no proof of this is ever found and shows the deep seated distrust and dislike of nercomancers in general by the sanctuary, but also Tanith, Ghastly and Skulduggery's dislike for Wreath.

After Skulduggery's rescue from the realm of the Faceless Ones, Skulduggery learns that Valkyrie is learning Necromancy from Wreath, in order to have a greater skill set for the arduous task for rescuing Skulduggery. Skulduggery and Valkyrie then visit Wreath, with Skulduggery (somewhat sarcastically) thanking him for giving Valkyrie advice on how to recover Skulduggery. It is then observed that Wreath's Necromancer comrades seem to be in a hurry. Wreath states that this is because something has been taken from them: a Soul Catcher, a device that allows a soul to be captured inside of it. The two detectives, upon studying the area where the Catcher was stolen from, realize that Billy Ray Sanguine has apprehended the Soul Catcher, evidenced by the cracks in the floor. Wreath then speculates on what Sanguine wants with a Soul-Catcher.

After the crisis of the fourth book has concluded, and Sanguine and his associates are defeated, Wreath is instructed by High Priest Tenebrae, his superior, to retrieve the Soul Catcher from Valkyrie whilst it still contains the Remnant, setting a pretense for the next book in the series, Mortal Coil.

Mortal Coil[]

Solomon Wreath

At the Temple, Wreath is told by the High Priest to use the Remnant they have on Finbar Wrong, a sensitive with psychic powers, to see if Valkyrie will become their death bringer in the future. Wreath is done as instructed, confronting Finbar. When Finbar refuses, as Valkyrie is his friend, Wreath decides to use the Remnant, which possesses Finbar. Wreath demands that the possessed Finbar give him answers. Finbar/Remnant is extremely vague and mostly rants on about Darquesse before seeing her face. By this stage, Finbar's mind has been permanently damaged, which Wreath ignores. When the Remnant mentions Valkyrie and Darquesse being linked, Wreath gets the wrong idea and thinks that Valkyrie will kill Darquesse. The Remnant discovers that Valkyrie is Darquesse but dosent tell Wreath, and instead attacks him, attempting to possess him. Wreath, however, manages to escape.

Wreath returns to Finbar's tattoo parlour a while after, intending to use the Soul Catcher to forcefully capture the Remnant. However, the Remnant had already found Anton Shudder, owner of the Midnight Hotel, attacking him and freeing the other Remnants. Upon entering Finbar's parlour, a Remnant attacks Wreath, possessing him.

The Remnant possessed Wreath would proceed to attack Skulduggery Pleasant, Ghastly Bespoke, and Erskine Ravel, alongside the also-possessed Anton Shudder and Corrival Deuce. Despite Ravel beating Wreath easily, he (Ravel) is still infected, though Skulduggery and Ghastly manage to escape.

Wreath then participates in an attack on the Hibernian Cinema, which was barricaded by the un-possessed survivors. He is mentioned to be attacking the shield protecting the cinema, though the exact nature of his participation in the rest of the conflict is uncertain.

His possessed form is the last scene at the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, site of a massive Soul Catcher, which the survivors hope to use against the Remnants. When Skulduggery threatens to kill Valkyrie, in order to stymie the Remnants, Wreath states that he believes Skulduggery would carry out the deed. The Remnant is then torn out of him by the Soul Catcher.

At the conclusion of the book, Wreath has gone into hiding to avoid both Skulduggery and the High Priest.

Death Bringer[]

At the beginning of the book, Wreath meets with Tenebrae, Craven and Quiver to notify them about Valkyrie's progress. Craven tries to convince the High Priest that Melancholia St Clair is better suited to becoming the Death Bringer, but is essentially ignored. When Melancholia gains incredible amounts of power and is decided to be the Death Bringer, Wreath is suspicious of her and the scars covering her body. However, his eagerness for the Passage to occur results in him refusing to act on his suspicions.

Solomon new

Solomon during the Death Bringer crisis.

A little later on, Wreath talks to Skulduggery and Valkyrie about the Death Bringer as well as giving them information on Bison Dragonclaw, who walks in on the three of them during the conversation, causing the detectives to chase after him.

When the Sanctuary begins their attack on the Temple, due to Melancholia's near-fatal assault on Valkryie, Wreath watches them on the cameras alongside Tenebrae. Despite wanting to evacuate immediately, he agrees to collapse the tunnels leading into and out of the Temple to buy Melancholia the time she needs to regain her power. It was hoped that a fully-powered Melancholia would be able to defeat the Sanctuary's forces. Despite his submission to Tenebrae's order to stand firm, Wreath visits Bertrand Solus to organise a back-up plan. He requests the use of Solus' covert supply tunnel, which the Necromancers can use as a last-ditch evacuation. When Valkyrie and Skulduggery infiltrate the temple during the battle, Wreath finds her. Valkyrie forces him to tell her about the Passage and how it will be achieved. Wreath reluctantly tells Valkyrie of his belief that killing three billion people will stop everyone else from dying. He then attacks her, knocking her unconscious, and locks her up, albeit reluctantly.

Wreath escapes with several other Necromancer's after the Sanctuary breaches the Temple. They are able to find sanctuary at Willow Hill, a retirement home turned safehouse. Wreath, however, has become disillusioned with Craven and Melancholia, as Melancholia killed several of his fellow Necromancers for no reason other than sport. His fears are heightened when Melancholia informs him that Craven was responsible for the death of High Priest Tenebrae and that he wishes to kill him too. He attempts to assassinate Craven but is stopped by the White Cleaver before he manages the task. He escapes the retirement home and drives to Roarhaven, where he meets Skulduggery and Valkyrie, promising to give them information in return for amnesty. They agreed to his terms, and Wreath exposes the location of the Necromancers, requesting that the Sanctuary forces do not kill too many of them.

After the Passage is stopped, he decides to leave Ireland to travel around the world, knowing that no Temple will be willing to take him in after his involvement in Craven's plans.

Last Stand Of Dead Men[]

He briefly met with Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain about two years after the Death Bringer incident. He remembered the latter's birthday, much to Skulduggery's chagrin. Wreath bestows Valkyrie with a gift of a new, more powerful, Necromancer ring, smashing the old one. Skulduggery questioned Wreath over why Bison Dragonclaw convinced the Warlock to kill Skulduggery and Valkyrie, back during the Death Bringer incident. Wreath revealed that Dragonclaw gave a name to the Warlock that Charivari yearned for. That name was Department X, a supposed covert mortal organization that kills mages. Skulduggery said that Department X didn't exist; It was just used as an excuse in case any mortals asked any questions over why creatures died. Wreath also said that five years ago Baritone, one of the Necromancers during the Battle of Aranmore Farm, noticed three mortals boasting about how they faced Warlocks. Baritone asked who hired them but they couldn't remember the man. Skulduggery stated that they have been hearing a lot about the mystery man; Davina Marr couldn't remember who hired her to blow up the Sanctuary and Sean Mackin was released from his cell by someone who he couldn't remember. Wreath then wished them farewell and left. After his brief appearance, he makes no further appearances in the book.

The Dying of the Light[]

He visits Valkyrie at the sanctuary and talks to her about her problems. He later is seen talking to Melancholia after she was awoken from her coma. He accompanies Fletcher and Skulduggery to Necropolis and watches from above with Fletcher when Skulduggery is being tested. When Darquesse arrives at Roarhaven City, he fights her but is killed when she sliced him into two with the God-Killer sword.

Seasons of War[]

Solomon appears in the Leibniz Universe in front of Skulduggery, Serpine, Tanith, Dexter and Saracen along with two other Necromancers, later calling on more. He, unlike most of the others, still had a normal conscience and could talk to them. He ordered for Serpine’s red right hand to be cut off in order for them to be left alive.

Personality[]

Solomon Wreath was different from other Necromancers since he did not spend most of his life inside a Temple but instead liked to live in the mortal world. He knew about computers and various other modern pieces of technology and couldn't understand why his "brothers and sisters" didn't use technology themselves. He also preferred not to wear Necromancer robes. Although he admitted that he didn't like all of his fellow Necromancers, Solomon was protective of any whom he considered innocent and asked Valkyrie and Skulduggery not to kill Necromancers unless necessary. He did consider it necessary to kill Craven however and would have killed him personally if not for the White Cleaver.

Solomon also had a soft spot for Valkyrie, believing that she was the Death Bringer because of her exceptional talent with Necromancy. He tried to get her to understand that the Death Bringer would save the world, but actually attacked her when she tried to escape. He was devoted to bringing about the rise of the Death Bringer but it is implied that Valkyrie might have managed to make him doubt that it was the right course of action as he decided not to join any other Temples, although this was sort of because he didn't think they would accept him. When Skulduggery questioned him about these possible doubts, however, Wreath denied them.

Magic[]

As a Necromancer, Solomon has control over shadows and darkness and is able to use them for many purposes such as waves, daggers, streams and whips of darkness. The object that Wreath used for containing his magic is his cane. He was a skilled and powerful Necromancer capable of overwhelming the powerful albeit inexperienced Valkyrie Cain easily in Death Bringer, whom he himself had stated had the potential to become the most powerful Necromancer in history. Solomon could also shadow walk, which was basically a more limited variant of teleportation.

Trivia[]

  • The name Solomon may have been chosen due to its similarity in sound to "solemn man," which aptly describes Soloman Wreaths' personality.
  • He once had a pet ferret,[3] and a pet gerbil.[4]

Appearances[]

Facelessones
Darkdays
MortalCoil
Death Bringer
KoTWMentioned
TMSMentioned
Last Stand of Dead Men Cover
Armageddon-Outta-Here Cover
The Dying of the Light Cover
ResurrectionMentioned
MidnightMentioned
Skul-13-final-cover

References[]

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