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I've discussed this elsethread, but hey, why not once more...
WHY DID IT HAVE TO HAPPEN IN DARUJHISTAN?
Because it would have been fucking boring in the middle of the desert with no one around.
NO, REALLY, WHY DID IT HAVE TO HAPPEN IN DARUJHISTAN?
Couple of reasons...
Hood had to manifest fully. Due to whatever twists and turns of magic are involved, he can't just do a 'poof, here i am' thing, probably because thre is more power in the actions of human worshippers than in gods acting of their own accord. In other instances where Hood has manifested outside a temple, collecting Baudin or Apsalar's father, he may have been present, but that was for a purpose of collecting a soul, and probably linked to the death taking place and his role as gatekeeper. In MoI he manifests when QB follows the link thru Talamanadas, and at the end in his own temple, - both instances where his power is involved. TtH is different - for the overall plan to work, Hood has to die and yet carry the totality of his power into Dragnipur so he can bring in the armies of the dead. Even with Dragnipur weakening, that can't be easy, so something more complex is called for.
So Hood sets up this very elaborate scheme, investing power in that guy with no fingers, who becomes a (not 'the'... 'a') Soldier in HHDeath, and his wife who becomes Mason for the duration of the ritual, not permanently. Fingerless goes around killing people, basically gathering souls to power the ritual. His wife prepares the ritual itself and then kills him - there is power in souls and power in sacrifice and this was both - so Hood is pulled, entirely, into Darujhistan.
Think about that for a moment - in anything other than a big city, Soldier and Mason would not have been likely to accomplish this.
OKAY, WHY ELSE?
Shadowthrone and Cotillion were in on this from the start, and given Pallid and Lock's appearance, they knew other players would get involved. A massive city, with all the powers likely to be present in a convergence, offers more opportunity for distraction. Thus, the Hounds of Shadow could keep Pallid and Lock away. Thus Iskaral, ST's own High Priest, could be on the scene and try to seize the sword, and thus Baruk and Brood - arguably the only two ascendents Rake trusted - could be present. Plus other elements like Cutter - an agent of Cotillion - bringing the Second's spear to the scene to provide a link the Second, now Hood's Knight, could follow to arrive in time. And finally, Karsa was there. Look at Karsa's meeting with ST and Cot and consider whether by telling Karsa to stay away, they weren't making damn sure the toughest motherfucker on the planet wouldn't be right there watching Dassem's back when the shit went down hard.
Also, the city itself is loaded with power and history and that is another element that comes into play in convergence and ritual in these books.
SO DAS IS BETTER THAN RAKE, RIGHT?
No. Rake was fighting with the magical weight of more or less an entire mini-world in his sword, and he set up the hit so that Das struck Dragnipur into Rake and killed him. Rake wins.
LAME! RAKE SHOULD HAVE JUST GIVEN HIMSELF A PAPER CUT!!!
Wrong again. See above - power requires sacrifice. Rake was about to move the gate to the primal womb of the universe out of the sword warren it had been sitting in for a few thousand millenia and into a city on the other side of the continent which also sat in a transported chunk of elder warren. Cutting your finger isn't sacrifice. Killing the god of death and then tricking the god of sorrow into smashing your own sword into your own face and thus denying him the revenge he's spent the last hundred years or so chasing, and killing a few hundred innocent bystanders to set up the entire thing (fingerless' victims, people caught by the ripple in Hood's passage thru the city, and the others taken out in the Hounds' fights), and using up the post-death souls of several million or so... THAT is SACRIFICE.
WHY DID THEY NEED ALL THE DEAD SOULS TO DO THIS?
Because the wagon had to stop, and Chaos would have just jumped on it if someone wasn't in place to delay it, and the chained souls were too weak, AND had to be eliminated in case it all worked and the more dangerous ones would be released.
HOOD WAS DEAD - WHAT'S DASSEM'S PROBLEM?
He's spent a hundred years trying to get back at Hood for what happened to his daughter at the last Chaining. Now someone else - one of the few people Das actually respected - has killed Hood, and then used Das' fury to commit suicide. He's been denied, tricked out of the one thing that's been driving him for a century. He's a little messed up just then.
IS HOOD REALLY DEAD?
We don't really know for sure. Everyone seems pretty certain at the end of TtH that Draconus is going to re-emerge, and that means powerful souls chained in Dragnipur are coming back to the world, in some way. Logically that would include Hood, but then, Hood already 'died' once before when he ascended to take on the role of Hood (assuming that was his bodysicle Hedge found in RG). Draconus died for the first time when Rake took Dragnipur from him.
It does seem clear Hood is no longer 'Hood' - whatever comes next, he's given up his aspect of death which it seems he held since the Jaghut race's failed war against death that Kallor discussed with the undead dragon.
Basically, it could go either way. Trust in SE. SE is good. SE is great.
SO DASSEM CAN BEAT ICARIUM?
Shut up and die.
- Abyss, pro-crastinator.
WHY DID IT HAVE TO HAPPEN IN DARUJHISTAN?
Because it would have been fucking boring in the middle of the desert with no one around.
NO, REALLY, WHY DID IT HAVE TO HAPPEN IN DARUJHISTAN?
Couple of reasons...
Hood had to manifest fully. Due to whatever twists and turns of magic are involved, he can't just do a 'poof, here i am' thing, probably because thre is more power in the actions of human worshippers than in gods acting of their own accord. In other instances where Hood has manifested outside a temple, collecting Baudin or Apsalar's father, he may have been present, but that was for a purpose of collecting a soul, and probably linked to the death taking place and his role as gatekeeper. In MoI he manifests when QB follows the link thru Talamanadas, and at the end in his own temple, - both instances where his power is involved. TtH is different - for the overall plan to work, Hood has to die and yet carry the totality of his power into Dragnipur so he can bring in the armies of the dead. Even with Dragnipur weakening, that can't be easy, so something more complex is called for.
So Hood sets up this very elaborate scheme, investing power in that guy with no fingers, who becomes a (not 'the'... 'a') Soldier in HHDeath, and his wife who becomes Mason for the duration of the ritual, not permanently. Fingerless goes around killing people, basically gathering souls to power the ritual. His wife prepares the ritual itself and then kills him - there is power in souls and power in sacrifice and this was both - so Hood is pulled, entirely, into Darujhistan.
Think about that for a moment - in anything other than a big city, Soldier and Mason would not have been likely to accomplish this.
OKAY, WHY ELSE?
Shadowthrone and Cotillion were in on this from the start, and given Pallid and Lock's appearance, they knew other players would get involved. A massive city, with all the powers likely to be present in a convergence, offers more opportunity for distraction. Thus, the Hounds of Shadow could keep Pallid and Lock away. Thus Iskaral, ST's own High Priest, could be on the scene and try to seize the sword, and thus Baruk and Brood - arguably the only two ascendents Rake trusted - could be present. Plus other elements like Cutter - an agent of Cotillion - bringing the Second's spear to the scene to provide a link the Second, now Hood's Knight, could follow to arrive in time. And finally, Karsa was there. Look at Karsa's meeting with ST and Cot and consider whether by telling Karsa to stay away, they weren't making damn sure the toughest motherfucker on the planet wouldn't be right there watching Dassem's back when the shit went down hard.
Also, the city itself is loaded with power and history and that is another element that comes into play in convergence and ritual in these books.
SO DAS IS BETTER THAN RAKE, RIGHT?
No. Rake was fighting with the magical weight of more or less an entire mini-world in his sword, and he set up the hit so that Das struck Dragnipur into Rake and killed him. Rake wins.
LAME! RAKE SHOULD HAVE JUST GIVEN HIMSELF A PAPER CUT!!!
Wrong again. See above - power requires sacrifice. Rake was about to move the gate to the primal womb of the universe out of the sword warren it had been sitting in for a few thousand millenia and into a city on the other side of the continent which also sat in a transported chunk of elder warren. Cutting your finger isn't sacrifice. Killing the god of death and then tricking the god of sorrow into smashing your own sword into your own face and thus denying him the revenge he's spent the last hundred years or so chasing, and killing a few hundred innocent bystanders to set up the entire thing (fingerless' victims, people caught by the ripple in Hood's passage thru the city, and the others taken out in the Hounds' fights), and using up the post-death souls of several million or so... THAT is SACRIFICE.
WHY DID THEY NEED ALL THE DEAD SOULS TO DO THIS?
Because the wagon had to stop, and Chaos would have just jumped on it if someone wasn't in place to delay it, and the chained souls were too weak, AND had to be eliminated in case it all worked and the more dangerous ones would be released.
HOOD WAS DEAD - WHAT'S DASSEM'S PROBLEM?
He's spent a hundred years trying to get back at Hood for what happened to his daughter at the last Chaining. Now someone else - one of the few people Das actually respected - has killed Hood, and then used Das' fury to commit suicide. He's been denied, tricked out of the one thing that's been driving him for a century. He's a little messed up just then.
IS HOOD REALLY DEAD?
We don't really know for sure. Everyone seems pretty certain at the end of TtH that Draconus is going to re-emerge, and that means powerful souls chained in Dragnipur are coming back to the world, in some way. Logically that would include Hood, but then, Hood already 'died' once before when he ascended to take on the role of Hood (assuming that was his bodysicle Hedge found in RG). Draconus died for the first time when Rake took Dragnipur from him.
It does seem clear Hood is no longer 'Hood' - whatever comes next, he's given up his aspect of death which it seems he held since the Jaghut race's failed war against death that Kallor discussed with the undead dragon.
Basically, it could go either way. Trust in SE. SE is good. SE is great.
SO DASSEM CAN BEAT ICARIUM?
Shut up and die.
- Abyss, pro-crastinator.
- Abyss, at your service, except when he's not...
