Previous
Miss Lupescu
The Sleer is a mysterious being that resides in the graveyard’s barrow grave. Bod only sees the Sleer once; it’s huge, with three heads featuring indigo designs and the body of a snake. It speaks in a hissing, slithery voice, and Bod can also hear its body slithering around the walls of the barrow grave’s chamber. According to the Sleer, a mysterious “master” left the Sleer in the grave to guard the treasures—a knife, a cup, and a brooch—though the Sleer never explains who the master is or where he or she went. Bod is afraid of the Sleer at first, but he realizes over the years that the Sleer gives good (if cryptic) advice and can’t hurt him, so long as Bod leaves the treasure alone. Since the Sleer is on the lookout for a new master to serve and protect, Bod uses this to his advantage when Jack pursues Bod and Scarlett into the barrow grave. Jack greedily thinks becoming the master will allow him to start a new order like the Jacks of All Trades and access the treasure in the barrow grave, so he agrees to be the master. But instead, the Sleer wraps itself around Jack, pulls Jack into the walls, and magically imprisons him in the grave.
The Sleer Quotes in The Graveyard Book
The The Graveyard Book quotes below are all either spoken by The Sleer or refer to The Sleer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 7 Quotes
“Look, it’s okay. I dealt with them.”
Scarlett took a step away from him. She said, “You aren’t a person. People don’t behave like you. You’re as bad as he was. You’re a monster.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Graveyard Book LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
The Sleer Character Timeline in The Graveyard Book
The timeline below shows where the character The Sleer appears in The Graveyard Book. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...and Scarlett hear something huge slithering around the room. The something says, “we are the Sleer.” Bod feels nervous, but Scarlett can’t hear it. She just hears the slithering noise.
(full context)
The Sleer says that they “guard and protect” “the resting place of the master.” When Bod points...
(full context)
...He tells Silas that they went into the barrow grave, but they only found “a Sleer who scares people.” Three weeks later, Scarlett and her parents return to the graveyard. Once...
(full context)
Chapter 4
...visit the Indigo Man’s tomb. He climbs down the steps into the stone chamber. The Sleer coils around the room, but Bod isn’t afraid. He informs the Sleer that he’s going...
(full context)
...of the card. Bod runs up to the barrow grave and returns the brooch. The Sleer says, “it always comes back.”
(full context)
Chapter 7
...mentions that they went into the barrow grave, saw the Indigo Man, and met the Sleer. At this, Scarlett remembers everything and wakes up.
(full context)
...Bod walks down into the barrow grave for the first time in six years. The Sleer doesn’t speak until Bod touches the knife. It seems perplexed that Bod wants advice. Bod...
(full context)
Then, the Sleer whispers that it’s supposed to guard the treasure until its master returns. It asks Bod...
(full context)
...Jack insists that this is all the more reason to kill Bod and Scarlett. The Sleer begins to wind around the room and says that it guards the treasure for its...
(full context)
...says that even if the Jacks are over, there can be a new Brotherhood. The Sleer says, “power” and Bod feels it grow more excited. Jack asks Bod to bring him...
(full context)
At this, the Sleer reveals itself: it has the body of an enormous snake and three heads with long-dead,...
(full context)
...brooch back on the altar stone. Aboveground again, Scarlett says that Bod told her the Sleer couldn’t hurt them. When she realizes that Bod knew the Sleer would take Jack, she...
(full context)
Bod shares that the Sleer has Jack, and he tells Silas the fate of the other four Jacks. After a...
(full context)
