[Qlberts]

I don't think Mappo was ever clearly described. For that matter, what does a Barghast look like? I don't think that has been described very clearly either. I tend to picture them human-like, although a little more savage.

[Grimjust Bearegular]

hetan: White paint smeared on face, shoulder length red ochre-staned braids, muscled arms, body covered in thick and rancid grease, she is a "brutal beauty" (MoI, US HB, p. 274), with "Toblakai traits" (MoI, US HB, p. 284)

Mappo:

'Mappo, a name ever chained to another's. And enough rumours to fill a tome.'(DG, UK MMPB, p.343)

'...eyes the colour of sand, eyes set deep in a robustly boned, pallid face...bristle-backed hand...' (DG, UK MMPB, p.41)

'-big even for a Trell - the shoulders broad and maned in black hair, the sinewy muscles of his long arms, and the thousand years that capered like a gleeful goat behind Mappo's eyes.' (DG, UK MMPB, p.43)

'Short and wide as a siege engine, his skin a deep, warm brown, his black hair braided and studded with fetishes. If anything, his canines were bigger than his companion's (Icarium), and looking much sharper. A Trell.' (DG, UK MMPB, p.302)

[OtataralDragon]

Also, Mappo says:

"Flat head, long neck, black and hairy all over. If just that, I might be describing one of my uncles." (P. 42, same edition as above.)

He's actually talking about an aptorian, and obviously there's more than a trace of sarcasm in there, but it still offers something about the way a Trell looks.

[Kulp Diet]

Trell Polamalu.

[Qlberts]

Thanks, guys. I don't really understand how I could have overlooked those descriptions, the only one that sounds familiar is the one about the canines. But, seeing as how Erikson doesn't do infodumps...

Quote

hetan: White paint smeared on face, shoulder length red ochre-staned braids, muscled arms, body covered in thick and rancid grease, she is a "brutal beauty" (MoI, US HB, p. 274), with "Toblakai traits" (MoI, US HB, p. 284)

The only thing I really remember about Toblakai is that they're really tall...

It's all a little weird. I have crystal clear pictures of Tiste Andii, T'lan Imass, Jaghut and K'Chain Che'Malle in my mind's eye, but not of Trells, Barghast and Toblakai...

[OtataralDragon]

Qlberts;321506 said:

The only thing I really remember about Toblakai is that they're really tall...

It's all a little weird. I have crystal clear pictures of Tiste Andii, T'lan Imass, Jaghut and K'Chain Che'Malle in my mind's eye, but not of Trells, Barghast and Toblakai...

Well, Barghast and Imass apparently look enough alike that when Hetan first sees un-undead Tool, she takes him for a Barghast.

As for Toblakai, there's the very first time we meet Karsa (when he was called Toblakai) in DHG (p. 200-05 pb):

A giant of a man [....] He was over seven feet tall, yet muscled enough to seem wide, and his flat, broad face gazed down without expression. [....] Impossibly lithe for one of such bulk...

Of course, in those same scenes, Leoman describes Toblakai as being 17, which we know he's not. But maybe Leoman (or Karsa) was simply "translating" his actual age to the nearest human equivalent...

[cerveza_fiesta]

Briar King;321005 said:

I pictured Mappo as looking like the creatures that were in The Time Machine movie with Guy Pirece.

Exactly. That's exactly how I pictured them. Dang...good one.

I knew my mind was dredging up some kind of bad guy from a movie but couldn't remember the title.

I think I half-liked that movie at the time.

[Cougar]

I have trouble not picturing Mappo with a stoop, like a proto-human, which I know is wrong.

As for Toblakai, I always think of Juggernaut from the X-men (comics not film and without the silly hat), massively tall but broad and bulky, yet still lean. Ubala Pung I think of as being somewhat slimer since he is not as pure as Karsa, maybe like Xerses in 300.

Karsa, Mappo and the Fokrul Assail are the only characters I'm confident of having a really acurate picture of in my mind except quick ben. With other characters and creatures I sort of default to an image which is often wrong when I look back at the descriptions, in particular I really struggle to imagine what a Jaghut looks like. I'm not sure why but I have trouble imagining individual chacters appearance when they are described as looking East Asian (like Sorry) I guess I must be a racist!

[acesn8s]

Cougar;322472 said:

I have trouble not picturing Mappo with a stoop, like a proto-human, which I know is wrong.

As for Toblakai, I always think of Juggernaut from the X-men (comics not film and without the silly hat), massively tall but broad and bulky, yet still lean. Ubala Pung I think of as being somewhat slimer since he is not as pure as Karsa, maybe like Xerses in 300.

Interesting . . . I never thought of Karsa or Ubala as lean. I always pictured them as barrel-chested, as they have extra internal organs (compared with humans).

[Bauchelain the Evil]

Cougar;322472 said:

As for Toblakai, I always think of Juggernaut from the X-men (comics not film and without the silly hat), massively tall but broad and bulky, yet still lean.

Ehm I think you're talking about Sabretooth;)

[Aptorian]

Sabretooth is hairy, Karsa is not

[Bauchelain the Evil]

I know! I just pointed out that maybe Cougar confused between Sabretooth and Juggernaut

[Cougar]

No, definitley meant Juggernaut: like it says over 7 feet tall but muscular enough to seem wide. When I say lean I mean very little fat, rather than very little flesh. A better word might be 'ripped' or 'cut'. As opposed to being huge and strong but bulky.

[Salt-Man Z]

I can never picture Toblakai as being bulky. Tall and muscular, but never unusually wide. Mappo, though, I picture fairly broad and bestial; scruff on the back of his hands and a bit of a mane.

Actually, I find the Jaghut easiest to picture: tall, greyish-green skin, and tusked. Kind of like a Warcraft orc, but leaner.

In fact, it's occurred to me that you could easily fill in the races from Warcraft with SE's own: humans=humans (duh), night elves=Tiste Andii, orcs=Jaghut, and undead hordes=T'lan Imass.

[Salamander Cake]

I've always pictured Mappo to look like Beast from X-men only with bigger teeth and not blue.

[Ganymed]

I always pictured him like some sort of giant walking hedgehog.

Yeah, i know, kinda weird.

[fluteboy]

Quote

I've always pictured Mappo to look like Beast from X-men only with bigger teeth and not blue.

Same for me! Even down to the little spectacles!