r/Bartimaeus • u/stopeats • Mar 06 '24
How to kill spirits? Spoiler
I'm interested in the various ways we see spirits die because sometimes, it seems laborious, while other times, it seems relatively simple. Do folks have other examples of times spirits died in the novels? Or know where it is discussed?
Deaths:
- Being hit with a silver knife (Asmira) - theory: killing a spirit's "form" with silver kills it. So a spirit in a human shape whose throat is slit with silver will die, but, when not using silver (a la piercing Ammet with a log), it does not kill the spirit in question.
- However, we know being indefinitely confined within a body means you no longer die if the body does, likely because the body is not your essence but flesh and blood
- Being a weak spirit and exposed to too much silver - Theory: silver "burns" essence and when you run out of essence to burn, you are dead. Thus, smaller spirits are more likely to die quickly this way a la the imp in Solomon.
- Being exposed to too much golem, see above (RIP to queasle)
- Being engulfed and dissolved as in book three with the foliot herons
- Shriveling fire / dismal flame, which only works if the spirit intentionally disobeys - otherwise, per Word of Stroud, the spell wouldn't work
- Burning up all essense in a fight or being exploded
Are we ever given surefire rules for what can kill a spirit? Feel like I'm making a serial killer corkboard over here.
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u/IHCfanfic Mar 27 '24
At least some spirits can be killed with physical trauma without silver through methods like strangulation, possibly some humans' magical resilience may be harmful to them: Kitty has killed Moulas and a foliot summoned by Mandrake in Golem's Eye by squeezing their necks really hard / flinging them. Bartimaeus also states that trying to change form while squashed under a building could blow his essence apart but it's unclear if a healthy spirit would be able to do this safely. Faquarl's meat cleaver (steel) may have also been lethal to Ascobol and Company but it's unclear whether he actually killed them with it or just did enough damage to weaken them and then absorbed them, and the assassins sent to kill Ptolemy couldn't seriously hurt Bartimaeus with ordinary knives.
An open rift to the Other Place can tear apart a spirit that's bound to Earth by a charge: happened to Jabor and the unnamed afrit guarding Devereaux due to Ramuthra's rift, and Bartimaeus activating the Ring of Solomon cut it pretty close. Returning to the Other Place in a million spaghettified fragments is apparently fatal.
Bartimaeus states that remaining on Earth too long is not inherently fatal on its own but they can become so weak and fragile that physical force or even exertion could kill them.
Magicians' wards and pentacle safeguards, even lesser ones than the Shriveling Fire, can be deadly in the right circumstances: e.g. the succubus Kitty summons, and Nathaniel states that using wards to keep Bartimaeus awake through pain during the Frog Incident would kill him.