Librarians are an extremely rare group of peculiars that once collected, guarded, and lent out peculiar souls. These souls were stored in soul jars, which only they were able to touch and see.
History[]
The librarians of the past may have made the city of Abaton their home and primarily worked in the Library of Souls, where they handled peculiar souls. It is unknown how they were able to get a soul into a specific host, since there is no written account of what happened when a soul was lent out.
Although librarians are the only ones who can see and touch the soul jars, many powerful souls were somehow stolen by non-librarians, as said in the Tales of the Peculiar's story, The Legend of the Lost Loop. As a result of the thefts, war broke out as peculiars attempted to wrest control of the library and city around it from each other. Not much is known of the librarians' role during this time, and the loop was eventually sealed by twelve ymbrynes and lost.[1]
No known librarians were born for around a thousand years[1] until the twentieth century. It is possible that the ancient, tri-tongued peculiars that Jacob and Abraham Portman descend from were the original librarians, but this is not explicitly said. After the Experiment of 1908 created the hollowgasts, modern librarians' abilities manifested as being able to see, understand and control them.
Abilities[]
- Seeing and Handling Soul Jars- Librarians are the only ones who can see and touch the jars. According to ancient accounts, they can even "read" the souls.[2]
- Seeing and Controlling Hollowgasts- Librarians are known to have the ability to see and control hollowgasts, either by speaking the hollow’s language, willing the hollows to move, or feeling the hollow’s senses and consciousness.
- Hollowgast Sensing- In addition to seeing and controlling hollows, they can sense if they are near.
- Hollowgast Transformation- If a librarian consumes a soul from the Library of Souls, they transform into a hollowgast, but retain their minds and have full control of their bodies.[3] They can revert back to a human form if the soul is extracted by a light eater. However the longer the soul remains in their body, the higher the chance of the transformation becoming permanent.[4]
Some ymbrynes insist that the librarians' abilities fall under necrology, though Miss Peregrine believes their talents extend far beyond it and are poorly understood.[2]
Two of the members of Abraham Portman's hollow-hunting organization besides Abe and H could see hollows, but were unable to control them, which may mean they are not descendants of the tri-tongued peculiars, or they do not have enough of a remnant inside them. It is unknown if they were librarians as well.
Known Librarians[]
- Jacob Portman
- Abraham Portman
- H
- Myron Bentham (after consuming Abraham Portman's soul)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Library of Souls (Chapter 4)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (A Necessarily Incomplete Taxonomy of Peculiar Abilities)
- ↑ The Desolations of Devil's Acre (Chapter 23)
- ↑ The Desolations of Devil's Acre (Chapter 24)