[caladanbrood]

What is the general "gud"?

I don't think Rake will give up his life like that. Sure, he's a good guy, but he's not an idiot. He'll only do that if it's to kill the CG, or something equally momentus.

[Ain't_It_Just_]

If Rake dies, he'll probably save his people while doing it. But then where are they gonna go? Drift Avalii?

I prefer the modern rake myself. Seems easier to understand, more up-to-date.

[Aptorian]

Unless something REALLY catastrophic takes place in TtH, Black Coral is the Andiis new home. The City has been made a permanent part of the warren of darkness. No better place to live for an Andii outside KG itself.

[Silencer]

Dancer;293146 said:

I think Brys will be involved in DoD and/or TCG. I think Tavore's army and some Letherii have some part to play still.

We still don't know how prolific Brys Beddict is, he was the best Letheras had to offer but that doesn't mean much in the scope of the vast world. (The Letherii empire was a third or fourth of the size of the Malazan Empire)

Well, Brys seemed to be relatively good against Rhulad. Admittedly, R isn't the best swordsman we have ever seen, but to cut the tendons in a person's body without doing enough damage for them to bleed out?
That's pretty good. I don't think Mok could do that. Still, it remains to be seen how he would do against someone like Karsa/Rake, who have incredibly long swords and arms, and more skill than most people.
Or Icarium, who would probably have blasted Brys backwards into a wall or something with his rage.
I think he's up there in terms of skill, but whether he would stack up to being in the top 3, not so sure.

Sorry, that was off-topic. Other than that I don't think he would necessarily beat Rake.

It seems that Rake could survive most forms of attack, be it magical, treacherous, or frontal. Which makes me doubt his death will occur save by some special means.

[chthonian]

its been my belief for a while that karsa and anomander are destined to clash, and with karsa heading back to genebackis, this seems quite likely. also with the seguleh link to TtH i think we could see some epic bout's of swordsmanship... this being said though i somehow think that anomander rake still has a part to play, the sword merely needs to be passed on somehow, to someone less merciful. who that someone is i have no idea, but as you peeps are saying, this is SE, he's amazing, and always surprises!

[Sindriss]

SiriusL;293281 said:

MoI definitely gave me the impression that Rake is a "good guy" that has a strict sense of justice. He's compassionate, but not sentimental (hence why he was ready to kill Silverfox when she was but a child). Both Rake and Brood discussed their motives, which seem to be the common good, freedom, all that good stuff.

I guess I haven't really noticed a strong foreshadowing of Rake's death. Yes, he will come "face to face with his vengeance," but that doesn't mean he'll lose. With Whiskeyjack, his death was pretty well foreshadowed throughout the book, so I would expect to see something similar if that's true for Rake.

**ETA**
Then again, Trull's death was a surprise.

You saw WJ dead coming? It is funny, I had it the other way around, WJ dead was just total surprise, I had to read it several times before I started to believe what I read. Trull's was a minor surprise, I did suspect it a little bit.

[Cougar]

I can't really see that Rake dying is any more likely than him not dying if we just look at relevant factors. All the conjecture relates to our concept of him as readers and of SE as an author reacting to Rakes polularity. In terms of foreshadowing or likliehood 'in-world' I can't see any evidence either way. It seems we are trying to second guess and author who:

a) defies convention at every turn

has presumably known the fate of Rake since before the start of the series (maybe Mal knows whether the story arc has been mapped in that kind of detail from the start) and won't be influenced by our ravings??

[lorddarkflare]

Sindriss;294311 said:

You saw WJ dead coming? It is funny, I had it the other way around, WJ dead was just total surprise, I had to read it several times before I started to believe what I read. Trull's was a minor surprise, I did suspect it a little bit.

How could you not see WJ death? SE had like absolutely 0 subtlety with that. I mean every scene with him, every time some one spoke about him, it was all dripping with happiness and good times. UGH!

Probably the two biggest indicators were as follows: 1)He got himself a girlfriend, from what we have seen so far, NONE of the main characters have been able to start and maintain a successful relationship before a disaster tears them apart.

2)Dujek was CONVINCED that he would die and WJ would live; i missed this during my first read, but by the time i re read MOI, i had to bang my head against the wall for missing this part.

[SonOfDarkness]

I see alot of doubt actually of rakes death.

Hes too powerfull to be killed outright. Hes just an awesome character and it would be a loss to stop reading about him. Not only to the fans and readers, but SE himself wouldnt want to deprive his readers of a charachter soo built up.

Another point I want to make is, there hasnt been much Screen time for Rake in the series soo far. Hes been built up by a few pages of conversation between him and WJ and him and Brood. Also his name being mentioned between others conversations has made our interest in him that much more. To kill off Rake would be a catastrophe in my eyes. To me it would also make little sense. Hes just too powerful, hes mother darks favoured son, the Knight of Darkness. He wields Dragnipur and hes just a bad ass.

I just dont want him to be killed off. I would throw a fit and burn the book down then go and buy a new one 5 mins later

If Rake is to be killed. He will be killed by a mass of other powers. No 1 person can kill Rake. Even if its betrayel, that would be quite impossible. Rake seems to be quite aware of his surroundings and people plotting. He has way too much experience to just sit around for a knife to stab him in his back. It will take a gathering of powers, perhaps a few elder gods to take revenge on mother dark. Maybe even his own kind will turn on him, that I see more fitting actually. Some minipulation and his own Tiste or Eleint Soletaken, turn on him, even then I dont see them taking him down. Hes too damn cool for that.

All in all. I dont see rake dying. More likely he will be imprisonned in Dragnipur. Then he will break out because he is Rake, and then he will gather Vengance somehow by killing traveller ( Dasseem ) or just asking him politely, then he will have that cold vengance in his heart in order to wield Vengance then it will be pay back time baby!! Rake delivering cold vengance on his betrayers.

Now that I wrote that, I can soo see that happening.

[Ain't_It_Just_]

If Rake survives an attempt on his life, you can bet he'll be ready next time.... with huge KG death-cannons.

[Cougar]

SonOfDarkness;294446 said:

I see alot of doubt actually of rakes death.

...Hes just an awesome character and it would be a loss to stop reading about him. Not only to the fans and readers, but SE himself wouldnt want to deprive his readers of a charachter soo built up.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with your contention, but as I said in my previous post I doubt SE and ICE think like this. They have a story arc which will have been pre-planned to a certain degree. remember SE was surprised how much people took to Rake, I doubt our fanboy love of Rake will stay his hand (pen) if he has his death as a function of the plot.

[Sindriss]

Actually SonOfDarkness, just because the character is so build up and fans love him is reason enough, just because his death would be so pointless and tragic. Was the same with WJ and Trull imo.

[Mentalist]

the numerous points that were brought up here are valid.
However, I must point out that with SE, there is ALWAYS doubt...

[SonOfDarkness]

Cougar;294759 said:

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with your contention, but as I said in my previous post I doubt SE and ICE think like this. They have a story arc which will have been pre-planned to a certain degree. remember SE was surprised how much people took to Rake, I doubt our fanboy love of Rake will stay his hand (pen) if he has his death as a function of the plot.

With that logic I would say the odds are Rake wont die. Since SE him self as you say was suprised by the love of Rake. WJ we loved, Trull we loved, Kalam we loved.They died ( sorta ) Apparently we werent meant to love Rake. So according to that logic he shouldnt die.

Im not saying he only kills off people we love, just a pattern of built up characters.

Hopefully Rake doesnt die. If he does. He better take a continent with him.

[SiriusL]

There's another possibility that I just thought of. What if SE decides to make Rake embrace the brutality he needs to keep the chaos in Dragnipur at bay? Instead of killing off a character everyone loves, he makes that character turn into someone we all hate.

That would be devious.

[SonOfDarkness]

Id still love Rake even if he was bad.

[blackzoid]

What if Rake started killing fluffy bunnies with Dragnipur? And so they were forced to pull the wagon for eternity. Would you love that too? Cos I would!

[Sindriss]

Rake is badass enough to get away with almost anything!

Worst would be if he was made into some fluffy cuddly dragon ala the mule and the dragon's children from shrek.

[Ain't_It_Just_]

blackzoid;294948 said:

What if Rake started killing fluffy bunnies with Dragnipur? And so they were forced to pull the wagon for eternity. Would you love that too? Cos I would!

Or what if he Dragnipured Paris Hilton? Woot!

[Gem Windcaster]

Ain said:

Or what if he Dragnipured Paris Hilton? Woot!

Err...that's not a bad thing...