[ShadowHall]

Forgive me if it has allready been asked but instead of chaining him to burn why didnt rake just hit him with his big sword and have him pullin wagons for ever ?

Can some one explain why he cant be killed or kicked into Dragnipur like Draconus ?

[HoosierDaddy]

To be very simple:

The Chaining's are poisoning Burn because of the CG's effect on "her." So, even if Rake did Dragnipur the CG, the Gate to MD would then be assaulted by the C.G. in the same way. Bad for the Tiste Andii and probably the Tiste Lioshan as well.

As for why he can't be killed: Your guess is as good as ours.

[ShadowHall]

Thanks was reading MOI again and thinking about it.

Since the sword has been shattered does that mean the gate to MD has stared its migration (i think thats what its called probably wrong ) again and helping restore the balance ?

[Sinisdar Toste]

nope rake moved the gate to black coral so apparently it'll stay there with mother dark and nimander

and about the CG, anywhere he goes he'll be an infection, in the dragnipur warren or on burn, he'll poison the warrens.

[Richard]

I think there are several reasons why they chained the crippled god although almost none are quite satisfactory.

He's an alien god and thus no-one's really sure of his nature or capabilities. We do know he won't just die and is one very powerful entity thus imprisonment fits. Burn is about the only way they could imprison him as if she goes they all go. I don't think any one party trusts the other enough to let them deal with it. Placing him in Rake's sword would be placing his fate in the hands of the Tiste Andii and mother Dark. Considering the rather tragic situation about the truth of the sword I doubt Rake would have considered the risk let alone offer it as it could kill Mother Dark and destroy the gate to Kurald Galain. The Crippled god is known to be aspected to chaos which is definately not a good idea for Rake and the Andii.

One of the things that has also come up is that many beings have absorbed or at least used the power of another making them instantly suspect if they attempt to deal with such a powerful but crippled entity. So anyone who makes a grab for such power has just stuck their neck out for everyone else to call temporary truce and get rid of a competitor. None of the really powerful guys seem to have many true friends or trust many others. A great many have known each other for so long they are intimately familiar with each other.

Lastly, imprisoned ancient threats and evils are a staple of the fantasy genre. Much as it is a diservice to his superb writing talent it does feel to me that this particular aspect was not the most well considered bit of background and ultimately is one he has been trying to satisfactory explore and justify. I'm still waiting for a proper explanation from any fantasy writer why something can or must be imprisoned instead of destroyed in the past but now and in the present can be gotten rid of.

I've babbled so may not have made as much sense as I would have liked.

[D'rek]

Well, look at other Elder Gods (the CG isn't the same definition of EG, but is certainly treated as one by people, Cotillion even calls him one). K'rul was gone for a while but then just magically reappeared the day his temple was resanctified. Nightchill was "killed" but continues to live as a seperate entity in Silverfox, one that can still reach out, affect stuff and remember all of herself.

It is apparently just damn hard to kill an EG, and in fact we don't really have any examples of one of the true EGs dying... whatever keeps them going could very well be the same thing keeping the CG going, and hence he can't be put down in the traditional way. Dragnipur would be an answer (sure works on Draconus for a while) but as said, he'd poison it or some crazy thing...

[Jumpy]

The Crippled God is a pansy.

Step one. Go to his island.
Step two. Knock his tent over.
Step three. Begin knifing.
Step four. Celebrate.

Wish it was that easy.

[flea]

Remember that just bringing the CG down destroyed a continent. What would happen to the planet if the CG was destroyed?

[Aptorian]

I'm very worried that Erikson will solve the problem with a super shield anvil or something like that. If this happens I will be sending him dead fish in the mail for a year.

[Abyss]

Consider that in the MT prologue Scabby jammed an invested knife into Silch's back, but decided that despite the fact that Silch was lying there on the ground wrapped in shadow chains and bleeding a lot, it was STILL easier to toss him in an Azath rather than kill him.

Now consider that the CG is MORE powerful than Silchas, among others. It's not like various parties who have been involved in the various Chainings, Rake's assassin Mage's, Gethol, Cotillion, etc... haven't shown themselves to be sufficiently cold-blooded when necessary. Someone would have killed him if they could have. It's telling that they couldn't.

I also wonder whether the very first Chaining wasn't intended to be an act of mercy - "...crazed uber powerful other dimensional god has to be restrained but it's not his fault he was yanked to Malazanland in the first place so let's just wrap him up in these nice comfy chains and maybe he'll calm down... oops. Sorry Burn."

Y'know what else is interesting - i think it was in MoI that it's mentioned that before he was jerked out of his home dimension, the CG was engaged in a war with other gods... which means there may be a bunch of seriously powerful CG-types out there somewhere who AREN'T chained or severely broken.


- Abyss, could say Burn got burned...

[Epiph]

Also consider that when the CG was brought down, he was DISMEMBERED, and still didn't die.

[Blend]

It was mentioned by Cotillion in BH I think that he is considered an Elemental Force, and according to the dragons he was talking to, you cannot destroy/kill an Elemental.

[HoosierDaddy]

Perhaps they are going to throw him back through the rift, the one that was created by the 7 or 13 enemies of Kalor, and which the Jade Statues are falling through.

How in the world it gets done? No idea, but I'm sure that with the intelligence of the God's involved in the Chainings, they've thought of this and discarded the notion.

[Theotendo]

I've said this before in another thread similar to this one:

I don't think there is any true consensus among the gods on whether the CG should be killed or even deserves such a fate. That they saw more mercy in chaining him, however, made me wonder at second glance. We have been shown time and again that the CG attracts more scarred and twisted souls than he actually creates and that the choices he gives his followers are not necessarily evil, but their decisions do tend to lead that way.

This is a god in PAIN. His suffering not his own doing. Maybe this was enough to shift the balance in favor of not killing him?
No facts here,just conjecture. But I'm inclined to think that it was enough. Perhaps still is.

[Grief]

A lot of people, iirc, feel pity for him. Think we learn this perhaps from silchas?

[HoosierDaddy]

There are different statements...

"A god in pain isn't the same as an insane god." Is said by someone in MT I think...

[beru]

and in RG sicas says that if the followers of the CG stoped thinking of the god as cripelded he would have healed a long time ago

[Aptorian]

Well, he says something in the lines of the CG not always acting out of his own malice, to say that he would have healed without the worship is stretching it. He is broken and he can't heal. Maybe this is because of the chains, maybe it's simply because his in an alien environment.

[Ain't_It_Just_]

HoosierDaddy, on Mar 13 2009, 08:58 AM, said:

There are different statements...

"A god in pain isn't the same as an insane god." Is said by someone in MT I think...

I love that quote...

I reckon the CG could have been killed, but you know what the gods are like. Always wanting this for that.

[Gem Windcaster]

I think maybe the reason why he's so hard to kill is because he's from another world - much more than other gods. The way I see it, Wu as a fictional world includes several worlds and dimensions and whatnot. And the CG comes from a place even further away, just like the jade giants doesn't really belong either. Maybe some sort of parallel universe? It's a mystery.