Sablier (サブリエ, Saburie) is a location in Jun Mochizuki's Pandora Hearts. It is the former capital city of the country wherein the characters dwell, and the site of the incident which defined the trajectory of the entire story since inception, the Tragedy of Sablier. Thus, it is the most important location above all else.
Sablier had been utterly destroyed and dragged into the Abyss one hundred years ago at the apex of the Tragedy. In the current day, all that remains of it are the abandoned outskirts of the city which surround an enormous, empty, and immeasurable hole. The landscape teems with dark, twisted, and warped Abyssal power, like a wound unhealed and left to fester. Thus in its darkest depths, Sablier acts as a home base for the Baskerville Clan.
This article contains plot and/or ending details for Pandora Hearts.
Read at your own risk.
Sablier, being the former capital, was the largest and most powerful city before its destruction. Of all noble families who used to dwell within it, the Baskervilles held the most influential power and thus dwelled in the city's largest castle for eons. Sablier was where that endless cycle of the Baskervilles, their master Glen, the Child of Ill Omen who opposed him, and the centerpiece the Abyss continued for an unfathomable amount of time. Until the Tragedy of Sablier brought it all to ruin.
Jack Vessalius used the Chain the B-Rabbit to attempt to cast the material world into the Abyss. Glen managed to stop him, but it came at the cost of his life and the city of Sablier falling into the Abyss. Over the course of the following century, the surviving Baskervilles would escape from the Abyss and recuperate in the remains of their former home. They slowly gathered their strength to fulfill three goals: regain all they'd lost in the Doors to the Abyss and the soul of their master Glen, restore the Abyss to its true state, and eliminate all who stood in their way such as Pandora and Oz.
Description[]
Coming soon!
Notable Locations[]
Hole[]
The Hole (
The deeper and more center the area, the more potent the Abyssal energy that seeps into the air. Occasional there will be humans who are either too curious for their own good, or have been forced to go in (usually by Pandora), and have their bodies become grotesquely warped and dwell in the darkness of the Hole. And just as those unfortunate bodies become warped beyond recognition, reality itself starts warping heavily upon crossing a certain threshold into the Hole. The powers of the Abyss will create illusions based off memories from the past, turning its dark and ruined landscape into a phantom of the city that used to live there. If the person experiencing these "memories" has history with Sablier, the things they see will reflect that.
In the very center of the Hole at its darkest, deepest, and lowest point, sits the Baskervilles' Door to the Abyss. Only Baskervilles, attuned to the Abyss's power as they are, can access the Door; though there is one notable exception who has managed to reach the site anyways. Oz Vessalius and his anomalous power, one that could be called cursed and sinful and disastrous, which lead him to the singular place where the Abyss was strongest.
House of Fianna[]
The House of Fianna (
The House of Fianna houses children orphaned by Chains and Illegal Contractors, and is run by the Nightray Dukedom. However in truth, its true purpose is not an orphanage but a human experimentation facility. As the Nightrays cannot use their Black Winged Chain or access their Door to the Abyss, they stand at a natural disadvantage compared to the other Great Dukedoms. They conduct experiments on Chains in secret to give them an extra edge against their peers. The Nightrays have even begun to collude with Isla Yura and his cult to experiment on the children as test subjects. It is because of their shared efforts that the Illegal Contract for Humpty Dumpty is spread among the orphans, with Duke Bernard Nightray's own son Elliot as the nucleus. Eventually the children become no more than pawns in Yura's plans to reenact the Tragedy of Sablier.
Baskerville Estate[]
The Baskerville Estate was the residence of the Baskerville Clan from before the Tragedy of Sablier destroyed the city and their home. The estate was the largest castle in the whole former capital, and the largest of the numerous properties owned by the Baskervilles. The main building was a large manor which housed all Baskerville members, and the grounds the property stood upon was expansive enough to encapsulate an entire small forest, its natural landscape mainly untouched. Within the depths of these woods stood a tall Tower that many of the Baskervilles did not even know existed. And the most important area in the estate—the hall harboring the Door to the Abyss.
The Baskervilles' estate at the top of Sablier was where their ranks lived for an unknown amount of generations. New inducted Baskervilles would be instinctively lead to the estate by the Droplets of Golden Light. It was where each new incarnation of Glen Baskerville ascended into his role during the Succession Ceremonies held in the hall of the Door to the Abyss. And where each corresponding Child of Ill Omen was confined, isolated in that tower until their eventual execution by Glen's hands. That was the cycle which continued to spin for eons, until the Tragedy upended everything. The Baskerville estate was completely and utterly destroyed, not a trace of it left aside from the snapshots of memory induced by the depths of the Hole. Despite that, the surviving Baskervilles persisted to gain back all they'd lost on that day, dwelling in the empty remains of their former home until it was time to strike back.
Tower[]
The Tower (
Most Baskervilles were completely unaware of the tower's existence much less its purpose, which was to isolate the Children of Ill Omen who were confined to it for their entire lives. Only a handful within the Baskervilles' ranks knew, namely Glen Baskerville and Jury who were both key in enforcing the persecution of Children of Ill Omen. It is unknown how many other Children of Ill Omen lived in the tower before Lacie, but it can be assumed there were as many as however long that cycle had lasted. The next designated to live there until execution was Vincent, but this pattern was disrupted with the birth of Lacie's daughters. Thus Alice—and the Intention of the Abyss when she occasionally came over by sharing her sister's body—would live there for their entire childhoods, completely isolated from the outside world due to their blasphemous births. This lasted until the apex of the Tragedy of Sablier, when Alice killed herself. And the tower, the site of her death, was dragged into the Abyss along with the rest of Sablier.
Residents[]
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History[]
When Sablier stood in full glory 100 years ago, it was a beautiful city where many noble families lived, including the Nightrays , the Vessaliuses and a new foreign nobility, the Barmas. The Baskerville Clan also lived in Sablier, residing in a mansion that oversaw the entire city, as the Baskervilles were very powerful and very influential members of society. Sablier was also where one of the five Doors to the Abyss was located, in the basement of the Baskerville mansion.
Although the Vessaliuses then, were still a noble family, led by Viscount Vessalius, they were considered to be a low-ranking third rate nobility by other noble families. This changed after the third son of the family, Jack Vessalius met a young Baskerville girl named Lacie, who was a Child of Ill Omen. After their encounter, Jack took up many things, prostitution being an implied example, to rise up in society. He received help from Miranda Barma, and when the time came, Miranda told her brother, Arthur Barma, who was trying to gain favor with the Glen Baskerville of the time, Levi, that she had a musician that she could send to an event planned by Glen to allow the Baskervilles to experience the culture of the Barma family. Arthur didn't refuse and showed up with a man in costume who could play a traditional instrument from the Barmas' home country, the morin khuur. During the event, the musician threw off his costume and morin khuur, and ran to embrace Lacie. This man was Jack Vessalius, returned to reunite with his beloved Lacie after eight years. The Baskervilles knocked him unconscious and dragged him off to be interrogated. When Jack awoke, Glen and his assistant, Oswald, unearthed Jack's reason for embracing Lacie out of the blue. As things cleared up, Glen simply laughed when Lacie came to retrieve Jack, and soon Jack was allowed to come and go through the Baskerville estate as he pleased.
After another four months, Lacie was sacrificed to the Abyss by her brother Oswald, who had replaced Levi as Glen Baskerville, and Jack sinks into depression. A month later the Levi, letting himself into the Vessalius mansion, came to seek out Jack. Jack travelled with Levi back to the Baskerville estate, and Levi explained the concept of Children of Ill Omen and the chains that prevent the world from falling into the Abyss on the way. At the estate, Levi tells Jack that he'd impregnated Lacie so that she'd give birth in the Abyss. She gave birth to twins however, and while one fused with The Core of the Abyss, the other simply left the Abyss of her own accord. Levi gave Jack permission to use Alice to fulfill his wish before disappearing into the shadows.
Eventually, Jack caused the Tragedy of Sablier when he used his Chain, Oz the B-Rabbit, to sever the chains that stabalized the world. Oswald used his own Black Winged Chains to stop the chains from breaking further, and had his subordinates slaughter everyone on the Baskerville estate to save them from becoming Chains when power of the Abyss engulfed the city. Sablier did fall into the Abyss, and the rippling effect from this caused what was left of Sablier to be destroyed.
Plot[]
Sablier is now a rundown, waste of what was once a great city. Crime occurs daily and the people living in Sablier do so in extreme poverty. Sablier is now run by Pandora, an organization formed by the Four Great Dukedoms, who had obtained the other Four Doors to the Abyss, in order to investigate the area, which was teaming with Abyssal power and Chains that emerge from the Hole. The Hole is a great maw in the centre of Sablier where a large part of the city once stood. Those who venture too deep into The Hole mutate from the exposure to the power of the Abyss that flows outwards into Sablier, a power which also creates illusions, allowing people to experience their memories.
An orphanage, the House of Fianna, was built by the Nightray family right next to The Hole, where orphans who had lost their partents as Illegal Contractors or those whose parents were devoured by Chains end up because of their connection to the power of the Abyss. These orphans' real purpose is to be bait for Chains, as they're attracted to the children, thus letting the Nightray family investigate more Chains from the Abyss. Other operations similar to this one are being done by the Barma and Rainsworth Dukedoms, although it is unknown whether or not these facilities are also within Sablier.
As the existance of the Abyss is meant to be kept from the general populace, who are lead to believe that it's all a part of an urban legend, Pandora, the King and those permitted by Pandora or the King are the only ones allowed to enter Sablier.
Appearances[]
- Retrace XVII: Odds and Ends
- Retrace XVIII: Hollow eye socket
- Retrace XIX: Detestably
- Retrace XX: Who killed poor Alice?
- Retrace XXII: His name is...
- Retrace XXVII: Get out of the pool
- Retrace XXX: Snow White Chaos (Mentioned only)
- Retrace XXXI: Countervalue of Loss
- Retrace XXXIV: Noise of Echo
- Retrace XXXV: Madness of lost memory
- Retrace XXXVI: Sablier
- Retrace XXXVII: Glen Baskerville
- Retrace XXXVIII: Scapegoat
- Retrace XXXIX: Gate of Blackness
- Retrace XL: Blindness
- Retrace XLI: Where am I?
- Retrace XLII: Stray
- Retrace XLIII: Crown of Clown
- Retrace L: Reverse Corte
- Retrace LI: Lily&Reim
- Retrace LII: Bloody Rites (Mentioned only)
- Retrace LVII: Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
- Retrace LVIII: Puddle of blood
- Retrace LXVII: Lacie
- Retrace LXVIII: Glen
- Retrace LXIX: Alice
- Retrace LXX: Oz
- Retrace LXXI: Black Rabbit
- Retrace LXXII: Bloody Rabbit
- Retrace LXXIII: A note
- Retrace LXXIV: Broken Rabbit
- Retrace LXXVI: Alice&Oz
- Retrace LXXVII: Vacant
- Retrace LXXVIII: Decision
- Retrace LXXXI: CHILDREN
- Retrace LXXXIII: After the Rain
- Retrace LXXXIV: Trickster
- Retrace LXXXVI: Wager
- Retrace LXXXVII: Starting Point
- Retrace LXXXVIII: Answer (Mentioned only)
- Retrace LXXXIX: Staccato Drop
- Retrace XC: Clock Tower
- Retrace XCI: Juror
- Intermission: The present
- Retrace XCII: A Story
- Retrace XCIII: Abyss
- Retrace XCIV: Blaze
- Retrace XCV: Vincent
- Retrace XCVI: Disagree
- Retrace XCVII: I am
- Retrace XCVIII: Reverberate
- Retrace XCIX: Shade
- Retrace C: Ossia
- Retrace CI: Oswald
- Retrace CII: The Nursery
- Retrace CIV: Will
Coming soon!
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Sablier is literally translated as "hourglass" from French.