Welcome to the Malazan Reread of the Fallen! Every post will start off with a summary of events, followed by reaction and commentary by your hosts Bill and Amanda (with Amanda, new to the series, going first), and finally comments from Tor.com readers. In this article, we’ll cover the end of chapter twenty-four, plus epilogues I and II of The Crippled God.
A fair warning before we get started: We’ll be discussing both novel and whole-series themes, narrative arcs that run across the entire series, and foreshadowing.
Note: The summary of events will be free of major spoilers and we’re going to try keeping the reader comments the same. A spoiler thread has been set up for outright Malazan spoiler discussion.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
SCENE ONE
The Crippled God’s chains shatter. He hears his “worshippers. My children,” calling him from above. Looking up, he sees hundreds of dragons forming “a more solid mass,” as T’iam manifests to kill Korabas. Fiddler comes to him but the Crippled God cannot hear him at first. He still hears his children, but thinks:
They are trapped in the heavens. If I call them down, all will be destroyed here. There were others once—they fell as I did, and so much was damaged, so much was lost. I see them still, trapped in jade, shaped to make a message to these mortal creatures—but that message was never understood, and the voices stayed trapped within.
Fiddler finally breaks through and tells him he has to chain Korabas, that “she will accept your chains.” The Crippled God wonders how he could do such a thing to another, having “known an eternity in chains,” saying her death would be a “release.” But Fiddler tells him again Korabas will accept it. The Crippled God agrees and releases his mind to find someone waiting for him.
SCENE TWO
Mael and K’rul take him by the hands and lead him to Heboric’s soul, temporarily in the body it had abandoned a ways back. Heboric asks, “Who is this nailed so cruelly to this tree… Is it him? He tried to save me. It cannot have come to this.” Mael tells Heboric he is trapped in a dream, but Heboric answers that, “All I have touched I have destroyed. Friends. Gods. Even the child… I lost them all.” K’rul tells him he must free his hands: “They have touched and taken the Jade and now within you reside a million lost souls—souls belonging to this foreign god.” Heboric moans he killed his own god, but Mael tells him, “Even gods of war will tire of war . . He [Fener] has absolved you of all blame. His blood has brought life to dead lands. He deems it a worthy sacrifice.” K’rul warns him that sacrifice will be for naught unless he wakes from his dream, and adds that he [K’rul] has “awakened all the warrens, and all now lead to one place. A cavern far beneath a barrow, made by the jaws of D’rek.” The Crippled God is stunned to see the two Elder gods weeping, even as Heboric pulls his hands free and asks if he will be alone in that cavern. They tell him “never again,” and that they go now to the one on the tree. In the cavern, K’rul tells the Crippled God it is time he returns home. When the CG says his human flesh cannot go to is children, nor can he call them down, K’rul says a way has been found, one that begins with Heboric but ends with another. They wait as Heboric reaches high with his otataral hand.
SCENE THREE
The hand closes over Korabas and pulls her down while the manifestation of T’iam begins to pull apart and it starts “fucking raining dragons.”
SCENE FOUR—SIX
Quick Ben thinks he did it, then that he had some help, but then he did it. Kalam knows exactly what Quick Ben, “the scrawny bastard,” is thinking. Apsal’ara plops down next to him and introduce herself. He flirts in his inimitable way, much to Quick Ben’s amusement.
SCENE SEVEN
Heboric tells the CG he has to leave before Korabas arrives and so takes his hand (the two other gods have already left).
SCENE EIGHT
Koryk stares at the Crippled God, feeling a “need inside him, unbearable, savage… It wanted to annihilate the world, the one he lived in, the one that had nothing but the thinnest skin between what hid inside and what lay outside. There was no answer. None but the obvious one—the one he dared not look at… He would see all the scars, the ones he bore, the others he had made on those closest to him.” He and the CG match gazes, and Koryk feels a “promise,” and then senses his own soul reaching out to touch the Crippled God, who “smiled at him, with such love, such knowing.” But then Cotillion appears behind the Crippled God and stabs him in the back: “Shock took that otherworldly face—as if the smile had never been—and the head rocked back…Green fire ignited, shot spiraling into the sky.” Fiddler, who had knocked Koryk down, tells him, “It was the only way Koryk. It’s for the best.” Koryk pushes him away and sobs, “like a child who lived in a world of broken promises.”
SCENE NINE
Hedge, Fiddler, Quick Ben, and Kalam gather. Fiddler asks Quick if what he saw was real, and Quick Ben points to Cotillion standing a ways away, alone, and asks Fiddler if he wants to check. Fiddler decides no, and Quick tells him he was right in what he’d said to Koryk. Hedge says they have to send the soldiers off the barrow because “what’s coming—it’s just for us.” Fiddler looks at his people, naming them all in his mind, then he asks where Nefarias Bredd is. Tarr tells him they soldiers just made him up. Fiddler sends them away, and then Whiskeyjack, Trotts, and Mallet appear. Whiskeyjack tells Hedge he’s done well and asks if he’s ready for them yet. Hedge says it depends on Fiddler, who tells him he’d rather Hedge sticks around until it’s Fiddler’s time. Hedge tells Whiskeyjack not yet, adding he’s thinking of buying Kellanved’s old bar (Smiley’s) back in Malaz city. Whiskeyjack says when the sun rises, he and the dead will have left this world for good. He gives Fiddler a fiddle which all of them helped make. Whiskeyjack adds that Fiddler was, “the best of us all. You still are.” Whiskeyjack stares off to the west and Hedge tells a confused Fiddler he’s looking where Korlat is, the woman he loves, and one for whom Whiskeyjack will have to wait a very long time. Fiddler tells Mallet and Trotts to take care of Whiskeyjack, and then the three ghosts depart.
SCENE TEN
Shadowthrone tells Cotillion he did well, to which Cotillion says “I don’t like failure.” Shadowthrone points out they’re not quite done then, and when Cotillion replies, “You knew then,” Shadowthrone answers, “Of course [and]… I approve.” Surprised, Cotillion accuses him of having a heart, but Shadowthrone scoffs, saying he just likes symmetry. Shadowthrone wonders which of the gods (those left) hate the two of them the most, and Cotillion responds, “The ones still alive.” Shadowthrone says they’re not done with the gods either. Looking at the four atop the barrow, they comment on how impressive the Malazans were and how they’d won an empire with them. But when Cotillion says he sometimes wonders if they should have stayed, Shadowthrone calls him an idealist, saying they needed to walk away. They leave.
SCENE ELEVEN
Toc is a Bridgeburner.
SCENE TWELVE
Gu’Rull flies above the plain, still “tast [ing] the echoes of [Korabas’] pain. What is it in a life that can prove so defiant, so resilient in the face of such willful rage? Korabas, do you crouch now in your cave… . closing about your wounds, your sorrow, as if in the folding of wings you could make the world beyond vanish? And with it all the hate and venom… Are you alone once more… If I could… I would join you now. To bring to an end your loneliness.” He thinks he does not understand these humans , but they have much to teach the K’Chain Che’Malle, and he is humbled by it all.
SCENE THIRTEEN
After burying Mappo, Icarium notes that Mappo had died defending him, even though Icarium doesn’t know who he was. Icarium tells Ublala “I feel close this time,” which means nothing to Ublala. As they leave with Ralata, Icarium pauses, looking at the pottery fragment Ublala is carrying. He tells Ublala he has remembered something.
EPILOGUE ONE
SCENE ONE
Nimander, Korlat, Ruin (still grieving over the loss of Tulas Shorn in the battle of dragons), Skintick, and Desra are with Fiddler and his soldiers at Stormy and Gesler’s barrow. Nimander, knowing Korlat’s interest, asks if she could represent the Andii at the ceremony. She goes happily, and Nimander tells Ruin she had fallen in love with a Malazan who had died. Ruin says the human must have been “formidable,” adding his own experience with Malazans has left him holding them in deep respect and feeling that he “would not willingly cross them again.” A statement that stuns Nimander.
SCENE TWO
Seeing the Malazans up close, Korlat feels her grief wash over her again. She recalls how distant they’d been back at the hilltop, and she wonders if they blame her for Whiskeyjack’s death. She has with her a stone from her collection—an Andii custom, “a stone to mark each gift of the owner’s heart.” She has one each for Rake, Orfantal, Spinnock Durav, and Whiskeyjack. Whiskeyjack makes her think:
These stones were not to be surrendered. To give one up was to set down a love, to walk away from it evermore. But it had been foolish, finding a stone for a man whose love she had known for so brief a time. He had never felt the way she had—he could not have—she had tone too far, had given up too much. They’d not possessed the time to forge something eternal. Then he had died, and it was as if he had been the one doing the walking away, leaving his own stone behind—the dull, lifeless thing that was her heart.
She thought she’d felt his presence on the hilltop, but thinks even if he’d been there, it was for his soldiers, not her. Kalyth arrives, and Korlat tells her she’s too nervous/afraid to go in. Kalyth takes her in, telling her of Stormy and Gesler, their wild stories (which she now knows to be true), the way they “did all that needed to be done. Each and every time.” Kalyth almost collapses in grief, but Korlat holds her up. At the barrow entrance, Kalyth says she will take Korlat’s gift in, but when Korlat holds up the stone it provokes a strong reaction from Whiskeyjack’s squad, even to the point of half drawing their swords. Tavore stops them and demands to know what they are doing. Fiddler asks if Korlat means to give that stone up, then asks if is Whiskeyjacks’s. She tells them “They were marines… I thought, a measure of respect.” Fiddler tells her, “If you give that up, you will destroy him.” She replies she thought that Whiskeyjack had left her, but Fiddler says no, and Hedge adds, “He only found love once, Korlat… If you give up that stone, we’ll cut you to pieces and leave your bones scattered across half this world.” Korlat asks how Fiddler knows this about him, and he tells her how Whiskeyjack couldn’t take his eyes off her back on the plain, how if she thought that because he’d died he’d forgotten her, she was wrong, that Whiskeyjack is waiting for her, and will do so for ever if need be. Korlat thinks she should leave now, since she has no gift for the fallen, but Tavore points out the chest of “gifts” is actually empty: “They were marines. Everything of value they’ve already left behind… in fact, Stormy and Gesler would be the first one to loot their own grave goods.
SCENE THREE
Nearby, the Jaghut face the barrow holding the dead Imass and offer a moment of silent respect “riotous with irony.” Roach urinates on Hood’s leg, much to the others’ enjoyment. Hood thinks, “This is why Jaghut chose to live alone.” Bill thinks, “This is why I love Jaghut scenes.”
SCENE FOUR
Hearing the laughter, Brys thinks it a bit inappropriate, but Aranict tells him the Jaghut have an “odd humour” and are not meaning to be disrespectful. Brys asks if Bent was a problem, but Tavore tells him the dog joined itself to Kalyth once Stormy and Gesler’s barrow was sealed. Aranict informs Brys that Tehol is on the Letherii fleet only a few days away. Brys tries to apologize to Tavore for doubting her at times, but she waves it off, saying she had her own, and that “A sword’s tip is nothing without the length of solid steel backing it.” When he points out her declaration that they would be “unwitnessed” proved to not be true, she reminds him that “We shall be forgotten. All of this, it will fade into the darkness, as all things will. I do not regret that.” Brys, though, tells her a statue of her will be raised in Letheras. She asks if she will be beautiful, then takes her leave, not hearing Brys say, “Of course you will.”
SCENE FIVE
Deadsmell and Throatslitter discuss Gesler dying for a dog and how he wouldn’t have wanted to stick around without Stormy anyway. Bottle thinks of their losses, and of Corabb, whom Limp has seen with “his face all lit with the glory of his last stand.” Sinter says rumor is Tavore is retiring them and Banaschar is paying them each a fortune. They join the regulars amidst a lot of heckling.
SCENE SIX
Fiddler sends Korlat to meet with Whiskeyjack on a nearby hill. He plays his new fiddle—“My Love Waits” by Fisher—as she runs.
EPILOGUE TWO
SCENE ONE
Onos, Hetan, Udinaas, the twins, Absi, Ryadd are in a new home, happy.
SCENE TWO
Crokus rides down the road toward Apsalar. After he passes, Cotillion and Shadowthrone manifest, with Shadowthrone asking Cotillion if he’s satisfied. Cotillion says yes, and when asked says yes again, he imagines only the best and yes, he still believes in both hope and faith. Shadowthrone toys with the idea of sending the Hounds out to “remind that fop on the throne who’s really running this game,” but Cotillion says not yet, let them alone. They leave.
SCENE THREE
Crokus and Apsalar are happy.
SCENE FOUR
A boy, who dreams of far off places and heroes and villains and who can’t wait to leave Malaz City, talks to the old man who fishes every day from the pier. The boy tells the old man, Fiddler, he sleeps in too late to catch anything, and Fiddler tells him he’s up late playing fiddle at Smiley’s. The boy replies Smiley’s is just a story, and a “haunting. People hearing things—voices in the air, tankards clunking, Laughing… fiddling. Music. Sad, awful sad.” Fiddler objects is isn’t all sad, “though maybe that’s what leaks out.” The boy complains Fiddler is like all the rest, “Making up stories and stuff. Lying . . wasting their lives. Just like you. You won’t catch any fish ever.” But Fiddler asks who said he was here for the fish, maybe he’s here for the Emperor’s demon down deep in the water. The boy says he’s going to be a soldier when he grows up and leave this place forever “and getting rich and fighting and saving people and all that.” Fiddler is about to reply, then changes his mind, telling him, “the world always needs more soldiers.”
SCENE FIVE
The old weathervane atop Mock Hold spins, then jams, “like a thing in chains.”
Amanda’s Reaction
I want to just take a moment as I open the last book of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. I want to remember the time four years ago now when I opened the first—with absolutely no knowledge or realisation of what my life would become or how far these books would accompany me on my journey.
And I know that this kind of thing should probably wait until next week… but I want to pay tribute to Bill. This is a guy whose sense of humour, whose compassion and whose patience has helped me along during the four years. Whose email messages make me smile. And who, with everything else going on in his life (and, man, that guy is busy!) has written up the bulk of these summaries that help us all along. Couldn’t have done a single part of this without you, Bill!
Right, let’s get going…
I think the last of our big screen moments happens almost immediately. I think I would give anything to see T’iam manifesting in a film, formed from the helpless bodies of hundreds of dragons. That is a real moment of menace and power.
I love how far the Crippled God has come. Thanks to the sacrifices he has witnessed from the Bonehunters, he is now unwilling to end this world in fire by joining with his own worshippers. Even just a few books ago, I don’t think he would have had that element of humanity to him; he wouldn’t have cared about this world, but only about his freedom. The actions of the marines protecting him has opened his eyes to what would be lost if this world ended, I think.
It is a horrible decision he must make, though—about whether to chain Korabas, after what he has experienced himself.
Once again I am left breathless at how deep these books go in the layers of storytelling. I remember back when I was confused about Heboric’s trippy visitation to the sky and how he fell amongst jade statues, and how his hands were of jade. And you re-readers all wisely said, ‘Ah, RAFO, all will become clear.’ I didn’t realise it would take another seven or so books to get to that point where all became clear, but here is happens as we see the Crippled God led to where Heboric and his jade hands are.
Heboric is such a tragic figure, he makes my heart ache. He has taken on the burdens of so much guilt and pain.
“Will I be alone there? In that cavern?”
“No,” replied Mael of the Seas. “Never again.”
Another epic moment as the ghostly Otataral hand of Heboric closes on Korabas and pulls her to the ground—suitably broken by first Fiddler: “It’s fucking raining dragons” and then Quick Ben. His arrogance knows no bounds, does it?
So I think Kalam’s thoughts then echo ours:
“Kalam saw the infernal pride burgeoning in the wizard’s face and knew precisely what the scrawny bastard was thinking. The assassin wanted to hit the man. At least ten times.”
Brilliant.
Wow. There was some light foreshadowing, but, damn, I was not expecting to see the Crippled God stabbed in the back like that. Gosh, stabbing in the back makes it so not like sacrifice, but something deeply cold-blooded and premeditated. I know the Crippled God had to go, and quickly, but releasing him from his body like this seemed a very dark way of doing it. I wonder if there was some residual bad feeling towards what he had done on this world in that action?
It gives me sheer delight that Fiddler, in naming all his soldiers, cannot find Nefarias Bredd.
What a perfect last moment with the Bridgeburners all together. I love that Hedge and Fiddler rather awkwardly decide to stay together a few more years. And then the gifting of the fiddle: “Fiddler, you were the best of us all. You still are.”
Here Erikson took eight short paragraphs to convey a world of heartbreak and, somehow, hope, as Hedge talks to Fiddler about Korlat, and Fiddler realises how long Whiskeyjack has to wait to see his love again. That is a level of storytelling that other authors fail, time and time again, to achieve.
Ah, great. We couldn’t have left this book without one last incomprehensible conversation between Cotillion and Shadowthrone: ‘we’re not quite finished’, ‘I don’t like failure’. I’m not quite sure what they’re saying, but their moments together have always been golden.
Oh Toc….
I don’t know whether we should be reading menace or hope into Icarium thinking that he has remembered something? I mean, him remembering himself in the past has led to utter destruction, so menace. But the fact that he is turning to face Mappo’s grave sort of suggests here that he is remembering his companion. I do hope it’s the latter.
There is something very poignant in the fact that the barrows of the dead hold Imass, Jaghut, K’Chain Che’Malle and Forkrul Assail. Finally linked together by death.
This time between Korlat and Kalyth is beautifully done, especially Kalyth’s tribute to the two irascible and argumentative Malazans who had forced her to realise respect for them. And I love Korlat’s little interlude here—especially how she thinks her gift of the stone is heartfelt, and the Malazans show her that they think she is letting go of their commander, that it will destroy Whiskeyjack if she gives up the stone. “Korlat, he’s waiting for you. And if he has to, he’ll wait for ever.”
Thank God for the Jaghut, is all I say. And for that bloody ‘ratty dog’!
And another perfect moment:
“Beloved,” she now said, “your brother is with that fleet.”
“Tehol hates the sea—are you certain of that?”
But Felash was coughing, her eyes wide on the prince. “Excuse me, King Tehol hates the sea? But—rather, I mean, forgive me. Bugg—his—Oh, never mind.”
Brilliant.
I think this is Erikson’s message to his readers: “There’s a point when there’s nothing left to say. When every word does nothing more than stir the ashes.”
I love how Fiddler requests the stump that Silchas Ruin is sat on, and this powerful dragon lord just rises and gestures for him to sit. All the respect that Silchas feels for the Malazans is evoked in that one moment.
And then the second epilogue, where everything comes full circle—Shadowthrone and Cotillion talking and this time not unleashing the Hounds, Apsalar and Crokus coming together, and that boy who wants to be a soldier. Another Ganoes Paran in the making? I love that Fiddler said that the world can always do with another soldier—even with everything he’s been through, he knows that it was the right choice. And, lastly, that weathervane in chains. Pitch perfect.
“We were never what people could be.
We were only what we were.
Remember us.”
Bill’s Reaction
What an agonizing decision for the Crippled God, he who had been bound in chains for so long and in such agony, to bind another, acceptance or not acceptance. A cruel moment upon his freedom.
And as he looks at Fiddler, a succinctly key line to the series: “There is no such thing as foreign love.” Talk about encapsulation.
We’ve talked obviously multiple times about compassion and empathy as themes throughout. But what has been a third leg on that thematic stool all the way through, and coming more explicitly clear at the end here (if that’s possible, I mean, Coltaine, for one example only, was pretty explicity) is the necessity of sacrifice as well. If we don’t get it from the actions (almost too many to name, but Mael, for instance, points specifically to Fener as one example), we get it from the iconic “figure on a tree” referenced by Heboric.
It’s a nice bit of foreshadowing of Cotillion’s act with the discussion of how the Crippled God’s flesh and blood is a barrier to his returning to his world/followers, and K’rul saying there will be a way that involves someone besides Heboric.
As for Cotillion’s act, I’m curious if there are differing views on it. I read it as Cotillion freeing the CG from his fleshly body so he can return. So this being a good thing both for this world and for the CG. That said, it still has to feel for Cotillion like, well, what it is, a “stab in the back” and having seen this god’s sensitivity, I imagine that took a lot from him. But that’s my take—others? I do like that even at this moment, which I take as a “good” moment, we get it in a tragic fashion thanks to the POV being from poor Koryk, who was just reaching out for some god love and faith and hope when Cotillion takes it all away. So even at a moment that in my mind is triumphant, we have a character wracked by grief and hollowness (if I read Koryk right there). Typical.
Love there’s no Nefarias Bred in this group.
Thank you for keeping Hedge around for a while with Fiddler—that would have been a painful, painful farewell.
Fiddler’s fiddle. Lovely moment. And Mallet and Trotts—so good to see them again.
Toc a Bridgeburner. About time that guy got something.
A humbled Shi’gal assassin. Who could have foreseen that?
And Icarium has a new companion. But, is something slightly different now, has he truly remembered something?
I love the entire Korlat storyline at the end here. Her wishing to show respect to Stormy and Gesler, her pain at the coolness of the Malazans earlier, her fear at getting closer and then being “rescued” by Kalyth, then the steely (literally) resolve of Whiskeyjack’s soldiers when they think she is “dumping” him, their realization that she had thought WJ had forgotten her on the other side, her learning he will wait for her forever, that oh-so-typical Bridgeburner “the hell with orders” set-up on the hill, Fiddler playing, and that image of her running. Love all of this.
Jaghut. Think of the journey we have made with Jaghut from the beginning of this series. God, how I love all their scenes. And Roach urinating on Hood. Priceless. Absolutely priceless.
Tavore tugging one last time at the heart—“will I be beautiful.” Oh, Tavore.
Then a pair of happy ever after endings—the Imass and Apsalar and Crokus (not Cutter). And a full circle with the two gods and their hounds on the road to Itko Kan and almost an exact replay, but no, things are different—the hounds are not released, and Apsalar is. And Cotillion can rest easier, assuage his guilt somewhat. And how much of a miracle is that—this god who still can feel like that?
Then talk about full circle. Fiddler. A boy talking of being a soldier. But again, a slight change—no attempt to talk him out of it (though I think that was his first thought). And yes, the world will always need soldiers, will always need someone willing to sacrifice.
And the circle continues with the weathervane. And what closing line, “like a thing in chains.” Speculation on that?
Looking forward to the series discussion next week!
Amanda Rutter is the editor of Strange Chemistry books, sister imprint to Angry Robot.
Bill Capossere writes short stories and essays, plays ultimate frisbee, teaches as an adjunct English instructor at several local colleges, and writes SF/F reviews for fantasyliterature.com.
I love this ending. All the pieces come together. Truly epic.
Cotillion stabbing the CG caught me by surprise the first time, but I agree that it had to be done both for the world and the CG.
I love that the last we see if Icarium is him remembering something although his forgetting Mappo was all so poignant.
Fiddler has his fishing spot and Crokus and Apsalar have a possibility of a new start.
Love it and this has been a great journey through these books.
The amount of symmetry in this last chapter and epilogues calling back to earlier events, GotM in particular, is insane.
For example, from the first chapter of GotM:
And here in the TCG epilogue:
Seriously, bloody turnips! SE, you leave me in awe, every time.
On another note, I really, really like the poem “Where Ravens Perch” that starts off the epilogues. The tone and story of it all is just so fitting at this juncture.
Plus, re-readers may note that it is authored by Avas Didion Flicker.
Icarium not recognizing Mappo nearly destroyed me.
That stone Korlat has for Spinnock…I believe it means he died at the First Shore battle. File.
So what, exactly, happened to TCG? Is he released from the world of Wu to rejoin his followers by his bodily death at the hands of the Rope?
Who is “the figure on the tree”? Is it an in-book reference to Coltaine or a general reference to Christ or some other reference?
Handshakes all around to everyone for completing this re-read, and again my thanks for all the insights this forum has provided to me.
Amanda and Bill… you two are heroes. Thank you for allowing us to go on this journey with you.
I have been spoiled by Erikson… these books are so powerful.
@5: YES!!! most awesome answer to a riddle.
@Wilbur:
The figure on the tree is, I’m sure, Duiker. Recall it was he that sent Kulp to rescue Heboric (after he escaped the mines) back in DG, and Duiker ended that book crucified on a tree on Aren Way. Why Heboric is stuck in a memory of Duiker’s crucifixion (which he never witnessed) is another question.
It was mentioned the the CG’s physical body was a barrier to him rejoining his followers in the Jade Strangers. So: kill the body, his spirit gets released to his followers, and the Strangers don’t crash into Wu. I have no idea what’s supposed to happen to the Jade Strangers next, though.
@Tufty: Holy crap, the turnips thing is amazing. Thanks!
@Wilbur
Yes, as far as we know, by “killing” Kaminsod’s mortal body, it frees his immortal soul to rejoin with his followers in the skies.
And it seems somewhat suitable that the only way Cotillion knows to do it is via a knife to the back – he is the patron of assassins after all.
The Figure on the Tree refers to Duiker, who was crucified outside of Aren, and not recognised by a blinded Heboric as he moved past with Felisin at the end of DG. Hence the “he came to rescue me”.
@Tufty
Nice catch!
(roll over for possible spoilers)
@5
Hmm, that explains Jethiss!
I remember the first time I read this, I was in shock when Cotillion freed Kaminsod. I just did not see that coming at all.
Smileys – the boy saying people hear music that is awful sad and Fiddlers saying it not all sad but thats what leaks out feels like a perfect desciption of this series.
All Tavores talk of history and how it will all be forgotten remind me of the last lines from the poem that started all this and a line from one at the end.
Now these ashes have grown cold, we open the old book.
These oil stained pages recount the tales of the Fallen,
a frayed empire, words without warmth. The hearth
has ebbed, its gleam and life’s sparks are but memories
against dimming eyes – what cast my mind, what hue my
thoughts as I open The Book of the Fallen
and breathe deep the scent of history?
Listen then, to these words carried on that breath.
These tales are the tales of us all, again yet again.
We are history relived and that is all, without end that is all.
And now the page before us blurs.
An age is done. The book must close.
We are abandoned to history.
Raise high one more time the tattered standard of
the Fallen. See through the drifting smoke
to the dark stains upon the fabric.
This is the blod of our lives, this is the
payment of our deeds, all soon to be
forgotten
We were never what people could be.
We were only what we were.
Remember us.
Did anyone else think of the child standard that Gruntle rasied back in MoI to rally the people during the siege reading the final poem?
Was it in this bit or the previous bit that a soldier reported that there was a dog standing over Gesler that wouldn’t let anybody near him? That was another of my most memorable moments, but it didn’t get mentioned in the summary or commentary, and I don’t remember exactly where it was.
I have a special definition of “memorable” apparently.
@tabby (14)
Kalyth mentions in this part (while walking with Korlat) that Bent stands guard at Gesler’s barrow and won’t let anyone but her enter.
—
re: Heboric and crucified figures on trees: there are two instances.
In Deadhouse Gates (ch. 24) Heboric is blind, but through whatever intuition stands before the tree that Duiker is crucified upon. He asks who is upon the tree and Mallick Rel replies “an old man. . . A soldier, no more than that.”, not revealing to Heboric it is Duiker (though Rel would know the significance). Heboric hears in his head a god laughing.
In the Dust of Dreams prologue, Heboric has a vision of a dragon crucified upon a tree, with a K’Chain Nah’ruk standing before it. While the exact descriptions don’t perfectly match between DoD and HoC, I think this is meant to be Korabas, too.
Then you get a great symmetry of Heboric asking about who is on the tree, thinking back to when he stood before Duiker { “Who is this nailed so cruelly to this tree… Is it him? He tried to save me. It cannot have come to this.” } but this leads into him saving Korabas, the other figure he saw crucified to a tree in his visions.
I got into book reading quite late, the only books I would read were text books for my studies. I was absorbed and continue to be absorbed by this series, not surte any otherseries could match. Thank you SE and thank you Bill and Amanda for this great re-read!
Cotlill, when I first read the back stab section I thought it was another betrayal, a power grab. Again digesting it, I could not be more wrong.
Thanks again!
I had the same reaction that Bill had to Cotillion. After everything we’ve seen from Cotillion, I don’t see how it could be anything other than a physical release from Wu.
No one mentioning the fact that Apsalar is all literally tending to the gardens of the moon?
Amazing ending
By the end of the book the TG learns compassion, and thankfully so has the author as he gives us happy endings for some of our favourite characters. SE won’t be dead to us Bill?
I liked the two epilogues and was reminded of the endless epilogues in Lord of the Rings. SE could so easily have fallen into this trap but did not. It must have been a huge temptation to SE to have more epilogues – so well done on just two.
Could anyone understand Nep Furrow? I thought I had him figured out but right at the end “G’han nered pah vreen” got the better of me when he shocks Sinter and Kisswhere. Didn’t spoil the moment for me though
I have been guilty of bleating on about loose ends being tied up in previous posts. Sorry, but here I go again…..
I assume my list below falls into one of three categories; 1) RAFO in ICs books or FOD, 2) The loose ends were tied up but I have forgotten or missed 3) There will be no tied up loose end – just a sub plot that has closed.
So the “where are they now file” version 2….
· Edgewalker – who is he? An enigma I had hoped to find out more of
· Ruthan Gudd – how did he get the ice powers and isn’t he an god undercover? Which god?
· Leoman and Kiska?
· Kallor?
· Sister Envy and the three seguleh?
· Infact the Seguleh as a whole – I was sure they would play a major role
Perhaps a re-read will help for this first time reader – just need a spare year or so
@18 Amharic – yeah! A lovely touch that went uncommented on
@19, All of those loose ends are addressed in ICE’s books.
I also really like the line from Mael here – it so epitomises his character.
‘Heboric Ghosthands,’ said Mael, ‘will you fill this ocean with your tears? If you believe this notion to be new, know this: these waters were so filled … long ago.’
@Gruntle
‘Heard she’s retiring us,’ ventured Sinter. ‘Priest’s paying us out – a damned fortune for each and every one of us.’
‘Where’en ne faareden? Eh? War bit ana dem?’
(What about the fallen? Eh? What about them?)
‘To the families if they got any, Nep. That’s how it’s done. Stand or fall, you still get paid.’
‘G’han nered pah vreem!’
(They never paid me!)
Sinter made a startled sound, and beside her Kisswhere leaned forward to shoot Nep Furrow a shocked look.
‘Really, Nep?’ Kisswhere asked.
‘Nepel!’
(Never!)
‘Gods below,’ Sinter whispered. ‘I never …’
Poor Nep, looks like the Army has been taking him for a ride all along.
Edgewalker … still no idea. Kharkanas trilogy if we’re lucky.
Ruthan Gudd – no idea, may turn up in trilogy but I think he was in an Azath during those events.
Leoman, Kiska, Envy, Kallor and the Seguleh all pop up in ICE’s books – most of them are in OST which runs parallel to DoD and the rest in B&B which runs parallel to TCG.
I know there are a lot on this and other boards that thought the Crokus/Cutter – Sorry/Apsalar storyline was weak, but the culmination in the second epilog confirms what I suspected all along: Their god-meddled and mixed- up relationship was the primary mechanism behind Cotillion regaining humanity (and an appreciation of human love). He now has faith and hope which is as far from the Cot we know in GotM. Another example of symmetry, which abounds in TMBOTF.
@22 Mayhem
You must have spent some time living there? Your Dal Honese is excellent
Bring on OST
@22 — Does Orb Scepter Throne run parallel to Crippled God? I believe there’s a character in Blood and Bone who talks at the end of the book about going to Genebackis, then shows up in OST, suggesting it happens after Blood and Bone. Someone correct me if I’m wrong here.
I’d like to say how much I loved the last page of the book, quoted up @13 already. I like the imagery of the story fading away, rather than ending. We’re just witness to parts of what happens in this world; just bystanders.
@21 — Edgewalker shows up, but I don’t think he’s explained much. And I don’t remember hearing anything about Ruthun Gudd, except maybe mentioned.
Quick post, might blow a few minds. Quote from Pg. 415 of HoC (tpb)
Kalam is thinking:
“Cycles indeed. And now this House of Chains. The damned Crippled God-
You damned fool, Cotillion. You were there at the last chaining, weren’t you? You should have stuck a knife in the bastard right there and then.”
It could be argued that Cotillion ascended to become Patron God of Assassins just for the task of releasing the Crippled God. He sure was the only one able to do it.
I loved QB’s little moment of thinking about Burn, and his inside ‘Yes, I did it!’ Shows QB has honour; remember MoI?. Then Kalam seeing him being smug and wanting to hit him is very in-character.
Oh Tavore. You will always be beautiful. Your level of compassion and empathy define the concept of real beauty.
The whole scene about Stormy and Gesler’s burial mound is very gripping. We all loved these two since DG, and they died heroically. They deserved a scene like this. And so did Korlat. Sister of Cold Nights, be saluted.
On a more humourous note, Every big mouth Jaghut needs a pet. Hood has Roach, Raest has Tufty.
I want to thank Bill and especially Amanda for doing this. Malazan is not your general fantasy reading. Happy ending lovers should read WoT. They cry at sending a man to travel through 4 countries to fight the Shadow there.
Malazan does have a happy ending of sorts, but at a great cost. Not simply by offing characters, but in offing each of them in a way that makes you cry. Again and again and again. Remember WhiskeyJack, Trull, Beak, Truth, Gesler, Stormy, Duiker (even if he got resurrected), Trotts, Detoran, Gruntle.
Steven Erikson, thank you for writing the best epic story ever.
Korabas is chained again, but alive. (And magic/the warrens live on)
Tiam failed to manifest becuase Korabas was rechained
Kamisod, relieved of his corporeal body (which he just acquired) is free to join his millions of followers in their jade ships as they return to their homeworld
Fiddler (and Ms. Paran)
knewhoped for all of this before handApsalar was there because she knew the way and could lead the Andii (although they were preceeded by the Great Ravens)
{each of the above should be punctuated with a question mark}
Oh, and I forgot …. Korlat has acquired the title of “Sister of Cold Night”? Recently given up by Nightchill (of cursing Kallor fame) as she assimilated into Silverfox?
Thanks (as always)!
Even completing these 10 books (once) guided with this re-Read, I’m still vastly confused by many storylines. Heboric, for example is still quite unclear to me, though I agree with Amanda about being “breathless at how deep these books go in the layers of storytelling.”
Still I was pleased with the ending mostly. (I love the Korlat scene). What bothered me, were not the painful deaths (though I admit to wish for happy-endings in my fantasy books), but the for me non-redemtion of two characters:
– Mallik Rel, I feel a keen sense of “lack of closure” on his story-arc.
– Why was it vital not to kill Blistig, why did he survive the last battle?
And I do wonder, why Grub didn’t get mentioned in the epiloge, did I miss, that he was killed?
Yep. This was an extraordinary epic fantasy with incredible depth. And it accompanied and was interwoven with life events, leading to “reciprocal illumination.”
There’s much to think about, but one quick thing I meant to raise: it seems to me that Felash’s handmaid is one of the pickled Seguleh (?)
@28
You seem to have the gist of it.
@29
A lot of ST and Cots plan became possible only after baudin and Heborics unwitting actions in the otataral desert, IMO. The fallout from fener being dragged down to the mortal plane was massive, leading to his eventual role at the spire.
Mallick rel will appear in future novels I’ll bet.
Couldn’t tell you why grub wasn’t in the epilogues but I’m glad blistig survived. Maybe he’ll apologize to pores.
@30
Felash handmaiden was a shipwrecked seguleh I thought. One of several. No reason to suspect she’s undead, seguleh are known to sail and are all extremely hardy.
One of my favorite aspects of the series ending is that SE’s been subverting tropes and upending reader expectations time and time again, and still manages to pull it off one last time, by giving readers the last thing they expected: a more-or-less neatly-tied-up happy ending. :D
You know, there are many points in the series when characters talk about the gods and how sometimes they’re created by their believers, simply by virtue of being believed in (and destroyed the same way).
Nefarias Bredd? God of the Bonehunter marines/heavies? Or is it more fun to believe that Fiddler is just insane?
Thank you again Bill and Amanda. You made a mamoth task endearingly brilliant with your input and comments.
Thank you for the commentators,regular and otherwise for your insights. I would have missed many small (and sometimes big) details. I am also delighted at those things that I could figure out by myself and I am intensely grateful for the lack of major spoilers throughout this re-read.
Lastly thanks to Steven and Ian for a brilliant universe, storytelling and more.
I still don’t know what Hood told/asked Paran back in the Bonehunters (missed either the comments or where it was explicitly stated. Thought it was a RAFO but clearly that ship has sailed for me. Can anyone remember?
And as an aside – Brilliant chapter and closing – Shed a few tears again when reading the summaries and comments. So glad Fiddler made it through to the end and brilliant way to take us back to the very start of GOTM.
I don’t think it is ever explicity stated; I’d like to know, too. I’ve always assumed it’s something to the effect of, “I want out. Being the god of death sucks and I don’t want to do it anymore.” Which he gets.
All I have to say is that I can’t wait for the SE question thread to open up :)
Most things have been brought up already on what was an amazing close, but I do want to highlight one scene which felt off the mark for me.
This is when Korlat goes to drop the stone off at the barrow, and the soldiers literally threaten her with death if she does so. I understand this was meant to illustrate their depth of feeling for Whiskeyjack, but it just seemed in poor taste to me. So, hypothetically speaking, if Korlat decides to move on and fall out of love with the memory of WJ, they will cut her to pieces? She has no say in this? No choice of her own about how she decides to deal with that time? What about respecting her decision, made on the limited knowledge she has? It seemed both out-of-character for the soldiers involved and out-of-tone.
This is a nitpick (albeit one that always stands out to me on rereads) in what was a hugely satisfying ending to the series.
@37: The way I understand it, leaving the stone behind doesn’t entail moving on (in fact, Hedge later tells her that they don’t expect her to be celibate), it would mean denying that the relationship ever meant anything to her at all.
Flagged 11, should we white out the name for spoilers?
Though… If anyone actually remembers that name and really feels spoiled by then, I will be impressed :-)
@38:
No, I understand that – but even in those circumstances, it should still be a right of hers (should she want to) to say the relationship did not mean all that much to her. She and WJ are the only judges of that.
Instead of reacting with over-the-top threats of violence, would it not have made more sense to just ask her her reasons for wishing to give up the stone, and then tell her straight off about WJ waiting for her/that she didn’t misunderstand their relationship, etc.?
I too was rather surprised by Cotillion’s actions, but looking back, yes, they make perfect sense.
and I am VERY impressed Tufty! that is quite the symmetry (obviously I am more impressed that SE actually wrote it that way)
@40 I still think it’s a beautiful scene. Fiddler and co had just seen WJ and KNOW, that he still loves her. So I think they are justified in their action. Korlat’s POV clearly shows, that she was going to give up the stone under the wrong pretext.
Fid was able to give her more info (by telling her and later summonig WJ). If afterwards she decides to leave the stone behind it’s her choice, but leaving it as a tribute at the Malazan’s grave proves (to me), that the stone did mean something for her, so yeah, Fid hat to “say something” although not really draw a sword on the issue.
@33 Kargul – actually I was wondering if Nefarias Bredd was Shadowthrone. I mean he could just be a mysterious soldier with a really low profile but I like thinking of him as 1) Shadowthrone always being present with the Malazans or 2) Shadowthrone taking an army myth and using at as cover to insert himself into the action (probably just for crazy fun).
I think “justification” is probably a bad framework to look at it. There’d be no suitable reason that’d justify cutting her down, by any humane standards. Nevertheless, these aren’t members of Doctors Without Borders, these are professional killers who’ve done much worse for WJ in the past. In this moment they are exhausted and acting impulsively, and it’s a good thing they were stopped by clearer heads.
i agree with Worrywort above, while the actions of WJ’s squad are in no way justifiable, they are actions taken under extreme emotional stress. i don’t pardon their bloodthirstiness, but i do feel a bit of understanding due to the deep in the bone loyalty to WJ they have. of course we’re all glad that tavore stands up for korlat, and it shows even more the strength of character tavore has. she’s also in the grips of some pretty extreme emotions i would guess, yet she never stops doing what is right.
@35 thanks Kargul. Glad to know I didn’t miss it somewhere and the explanation makes sense.
Does anyone know who Crone’s favourite sister was and what she was fetching?
When Mall and K’rull lead Heboric and TIG underwater towards the Barrow:
‘He thought he saw mounted warriors, glimmering green and blue, tracking them from a distance’
Storm Riders?
What an awesome ending! Loved all the references between GotM and tCG, coming full circle in the end (maybe a bit like a “certain” worm encircling a “certain” barrow? ;) )
Now I finally got what the gardens of the moon reference is all about. And glad it proves untrue for Crokus and Apsalar.
Could it be tha Felash’s handmaiden is the Seguleh woman that fought Karsa for the honour of facing Rhulad?
For me the whole “Marines threatning Korlat” scene at the end seemed a bit off because there is no way that they would be reacting like that. I mean Hedge, maybe, but Fiddler the compassionate? And certainly not the 20 remaining marines and heavies (Urb, Deadsmell,Masan Gilani,etc.) who knew WJ only from stories (never met him in reality).
And thanks to Tufty for the whole “turnips” quotes. That man (SE) is a genius!
You know, the last time I read Reaper’s Gale I did wonder what happened to the Seguleh, since she sort of disappeared before everything exploded, and I don’t think she was one of the personas that Icarium absorbed (on a side note, does anyone know who all those personas were? Were they all characters we had already met or were some of them new to Dust of Dreams?).
@48 I don’t think, at least I remember their physical descritions as very different. Karsa’s I remember as a slender, not very big woman (and masked, so who knows what else), she was mainly very fast I think.
The handmaiden is described as extremely tall and muscular, with a lovely beautiful face. It is also implied she’d been with Felash for a long time, (but that’s timeline thingies…) and that she didn’t arrive alone but was part of a group of seguleh.
@49, I don’t remember all the persons inside Icarium’s head, but at least 3 of them were known to us: Feather Witch, Taxilian and Rautos Hivanar (the dude that looked obsesively for Icarium’s amchienry buried in letheras). The other 3 were just some random dudes dead when the machinery went boom. And at he end there was also Taralack Veed.
@50, maybe she put on some weight? ;) I think I remember Karsa’s seguleh fighting with some strange weapons (axes?) just like the handmaiden…but not sure.
@27 Fiddler- I hear you on WOT. I was hoping for a Whiskeyjack ending for Rand but had to console myself thinking I couldn’t begrudge a dying man his happy ending.
@48 Tarash_bulba I must have missed the gardens of the moon reference and what it actually means in the end. Can you spell it out for me?
@14 Tabbyfl55 – At the end of the Spire battle sequence a chapter or so back you get the reference to Bent laying on Gesler. I think its in a Hood POV.
Re: what the heck was Cotillion doing? I had the same confusion on my first read. The viscious, surprising description, the shock to tCG, Koryk’s reaction all seemed to point to betrayal. Thanks to the re-read I realize it was just unexpected, for some of the characters, and difficult for those in the know, but as Fiddler pragmatically says … it was the only way. Also its implied tCG is not destroyed, just released.
Fantastic end to the greatest fantasy series!
So how does Fiddler know that Korabas will accept the CG’s chains?
Late… but still in time before the wrap up :-)
What an ending… I was very shocked about Cotillions what-I-saw-as-betrayal-the-first-time-I-read-it. On rereads you see it coming (more or less), but still. Wouldn’t like to be him, standing there afterwards, knowing that what you did was good, but feeling so bad at the same time.
The scene with Korlat and her stone made me cry (again – still helped by Gesler/Stormy which wasn’t that far ago). The idea that we know they still love each other so much, but her thinking it would have been her imagination… I liked it, and didn’t think it through whether all the marines would recognise it for what it was or whether they should react this strongly because they didn’t knew Whiskeyjack and/or Korlat personally (as Tarash_bulba states @48). Well, I’ll forget that part and go back in liking it :-).
I found the epilogues suitably sweet. Very happy to see some happy endings (oh, that violin and that run… more tears), but without it being to much rainbows and puppies.
Remember the discussion about whether Hetans resurrection was too much happy ending for this series? I thought that wasn’t neccessary to bring down the point of happy ending for Tool, but I had no problems with these scenes. All in-character. Glad to see Fiddler going fishing, just like he dreamed of earlier in this book, and at the same time being realistic enough not to warn the little boy of.
I’m of the opinion that some of the ghosts that got sucked into Icarium were already ghosts before his machine malfunctioned. I forget the details but at least one of them seemed to be from a more agrarian or pre-Lether-as-metropolis time, another (Sheb?) references a Xaranthos Hivanar (an ancestor of RG’s Hivanar?) and dying in prison and being thrown in a lime pit. Could be wrong, but that’s my take.
@53 Tabby
Fiddler’s an adept with the deck. a powerful one. another way to say it is that he’s a reader of the deck, and the reading from DoD, while pretty confusing to everyone outside of it, was probably pretty clear to fiddler who has such sensitivity to the deck.
15 years ago I was searching for a decent fantasy novel that didn’t have “Book X of the “XXXXXX” Trilogy ” in its title. I stumbled up the Malazan Books of the Fallen and have been disappointed ever since.
The first book Garden of the Moon disappointed because it was hard to read, I had to start over a few times; then Deadhouse Gates disappointed by not continuing in the same place as the first book. Odd. Memories of Ice disappointed because we changed location again and there was nothing about Duiker or Coltaine. Actually it wasn’t so disappointing… until Whiskyjack and Itkovian’s fate. What was this series doing? You can’t treat hero’s like that. House of Chains was disappointing by turning into a normal straight forward novel focused on a abrasive, unlikeable character and then not finishing with the epic scale battle I’d now been accustom to. Midnight Tides took disappointment to a new level! I didn’t know any of these people or where were they? Where were my friends, was this the same series? By the time Bonehunters arrived I didn’t know what to expect but it certainly wasn’t what I got! I figured Reaper’s Gale would start to makes sense of all these books now but once again, disappointment. How could you do that to Trull??? Toll the Hounds! At least back to an old haunt, something familiar, kind of, somewhere to get over the disappointing of Trull? Oh MY Goodness! Rake; Hood? Is Nothing sacred?!!! Disappointing! On to Dust of Dreams surely there could be no more disappointment, we’re wrapping up now, right? Wrong. More new characters and now the “Shake and Snake!” Disappointing. I’d been in this too long now not to know this series was going to find ways to disappoint me right to the end. So I braced myself. What have you got for me Crippled God? Oh, happy endings…? That’s just great!
This four-year essay, I think, has done this series absolute Justice. The insights, passion and dedication are a testament to the work. Congratulation, everyone, I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride as much as I have.
@29 – Grub becomes First Sword. I believe this is mentioned somewhere in a prologue in a previous book, blanking on which!
@57 What a brilliant synopsis!
@57 – lol, thanks.
@58 – See the discussion starting @9 in the CG, Chap. 23, Part One summary.
@56, well that’s a possible explanation, but if that’s it, I’d like it to be shown a little more. Is there any line in the DOD reading that you can look back at and say, “oh, that could mean that Korabas will accept the CG’s chains”?
I am enjoying how optimistic everyone is, believing that the CG was simply “released” and the backstabbing wasn’t anything nefarious.
Personally, I think the very fact that he was stabbed in the back instead of Cotillion just walking up to an accepting CG from the front, indicates it wasn’t what the CG was expecting. I think the CG was hoping for a “release” where he could go back to his own world still as himself, still with some sense of being alive… but they didn’t actually have the means to do that, they could only send him back by killing him. And now his soul is trapped in the Jade statues like all his followers. He’ll go back home, but he’ll be powerless and bodiless.
While I’m happy to see an Ask SE your CG questions thread up today I thought there was going to be a series wrap post. Is that still going to happen? If it’s still coming that’s fine, I understand it will take some time to compose thoughts on all 10 books. Just wondering.
@63 djk
Didn’t know that you were able to read my mind from this distance… ;-)
So now I’m thinking extra fast for my question(s)…
@52, darth.agilus.
For me this was the hardest title to understand. All the other titles, more or less, can be understood within the same book. But this one constantly baffled me as to it’s meaning.
The quote about the gardens of the moon is in the epilogue No.2:
“Crokus took her face in his hands, studied her dark eyes.
‘I never liked that story’,he said.
‘Which one?’she asked.
‘The lover…lost on the moon,tending her garden alone.’
It’s not quite like that, the story I mean….”
My take on the whole meaning of “Gardens of the moon” is this:
In the first book, Crokus meets Apsalar and falls in love with her,
but there is this barrier between them (from the whole possesion of Apsalar by Cotillion) that he cannot reach her and all he can do is look at her from far away. As if he looks up and sees the gardens (the loved one) on the moon (never in reach).
Luckily, as we find out, they managed to cross that barrier and finally be together.
“He shrugged.’It’s what I remember from it. That, and the look in your eyes when you told it to me. I was reminded of that look a moment ago.’
‘And now?’
‘I think,’he said,’the sadness just went away,Apsalar.’
‘I think,’she replied,’you are right.’
So, the title of book 1 from the MBotF explained in the epilogue of the last book. At least that’s when I got it. Maybe other readers understood it much earlier than me, heh.
P.S.: I hope this makes sense,english is not my main language so it’s hard to explain things :)
@62, djk1978, are you sure he’ll be going back to his world? I remember from Kaminsod’s discussion with Shadowthrone that he was most certain that even if he could go back home he will be emasculated and preyed upon by some of that world’s unscrupulous powermongers (I see here someone like Mallick Rel).
Maybe the surprise on Kaminsod’s face was of someone being stabbed in the back and not expecting it?
I’m interested in the option that it was an actual betrayal at the end. It is a possible reading , I think. They had to get Kaminsod in a happy mood, so he’d send his followers away. But they also had to kill him, to save the world. Remember the T’lan? Revived, then immediately slaughtered. Yet they still considered life a gift.
I don’t know, I read it as a murder first, and I can forgive that murder so I guess that’s why I accepted it. The positive reading somehow seems to have less impact, though it is strongly supported by the fact that the book has been written.
Thanks Bill and Amanda for the wonderful re-read. You guys have been absolutely amazing throughout. These weekly posts had become an integral part of the last 4 years.
Thanks to Steve and Ian for the most epic series ever. Nothing else that I have tried after the Malazan series has ever come close…
@48 – In a conversation between Felash and Shurq (in DoD or CG) it was strongly implied that the handmaiden was one of the pickled Seguleh. One thing I do remember is that she was one of several, and they were very reluctant to abandon their masks.
Is there any chance of getting the entire re-read in a single document?
(I can dream, right?)
I just finished The Crippled God for the second time, and with it the entire Malazan Book of the Fallen which I reread from the 5th book onwards in the last month, and I must say that of all the deaths of the surviving marines defending the CG, the one which saddened me most was the death of Corabb. He was a romantic hero, a soldier with an almost maniacal need for precision and definition, he had his own platonic ideal of glory and was a formidable combatant… and he found death in the very last battle. He died really far from home, in his adopted family (which he was included into because they found him protecting children; the Malazan always have a soft spot for children), but he never lamented that. He died a hero and will be missed.
Thank you for conducting the reread! I just finished the series for the second time and these posts have been a delightful accompaniment!
@22
I just want to return to this after many years to quote this post from SE.
Turns out even the author hasn’t a clue what he’s saying. LOL.
https://www.facebook.com/steveneriksonofficial/posts/1630285997123694
Six years late, but I’m sure there are other pandemic readers out there.
Just finished the series for the first time. Started back in May looking for a long read to keep me entertained during lockdown and managed to stumble upon one of the best series I’ve ever read. I’ve laughed, cried and been left dumbstruck by the skill shown by SE to somehow put this all together. I found this thread near the beginning of MoI and have been reading it in conjunction with the books ever since.
I don’t know if Amanda or Bill or any of the amazing people who commented along with this reread when it was being published will ever see this message, but thank you! You have helped me get so much more out of these books than I ever would have alone. Now to finish off ICE’s books and then maybe the reread can begin…
I have no idea if this was intentional, or just a connection I made in my head, but I found it interesting that a barrow was a pivotal point in both the end of Gardens of the Moon and in the Crippled God.
In Gardens of the Moon you have the awakening of the Jaghut Tyrant Raest.
In the Crippled God you have the awakening / manifestation of the Crippled God.
One who is a Tyrant that became more amenable once part of the Azath.
The other who started off somewhat as a Tyrant (Pannion, Rhulad) and ultimately became a symbol of compassion.
Obviously some differences, but some similarities…
Since nobody answered my question 10 years ago, I’ll do it myself. :-)
Crone’s favourite daughter was fetching Korlat and the rest of the Tiste Andii soletaken. Do you even read, for Hood’s sake!?