[Tempo]

So is Quick Ben dead or alive? What about this scenario.


Quick Ben is frying lizard big time, when he sees the lightening bolt of doom lancing towards him. Acting instantly he turns to that classic of the malazan world, the old "shaved knuckle in the hole".

And who is Bens shaved knuckle? None other than the high badass himself Tayschren, presumed missing.

As the lightening falls, Quick tugs one of his many strings, and is instantly pulled into wherever Tays may be. And where is Tays?

Tays is in chaos. Waiting. He always did take the long view. Ever since his accident in ROTCG, he has been waiting in Chaos for the right time to act.

So Quick is pulled to join him, and as all the disparate storylines converge upon Kolanse, Quick and Tays spend 200 pages reflecting on life, love and fruit of the loom as they wander the warren of chaos until...

...With a suitably portentious one-liner (eg: The time...has come) Tays claps his hands and they both pop out into the massive free for all we all know is coming. The remaining marines are chucking their newfound munitions at millions of stubby lizards. Cotillion and Apsalar are involved in a beautiful, intricate, brutal shadow dance against thousands of swaying, dancing, lethel Forkrul Assail. Gruntle stands by Mappo as they face Icarium who is about to replace the Crippled god. Pathos abounds. Paran watches all, 4 minutes and 30 seconds away from releasing the ritual that can fix all this, but he needs more time. Can Quick Ben help his old captain?



(Dont worry, I dont take this too seriously. It would be cool though. And no, I didnt read most other threads on the board )

[Gothos]

That sounds surprisingly malazan to me. Well, except for Apsalar and stubby lizards, these are I think out of play now.

[worry]

If Mappo has to slay Icarium to save the world I'm gonna leave society and become a hermit.

[T'renn]

One of the thousand possibilities.....

but I like it....

[Grief]

[Silannah]

Grief, on 09 June 2010 - 11:41 PM, said:

THIS IS AMAZING.

[Sinisdar Toste]

worrywort, on 09 June 2010 - 11:06 PM, said:

If Mappo has to slay Icarium to save the world I'm gonna leave society and become a hermit.

and i will move into the mountain next door to yours

[Aptorian]

Quick Ben was saved by the Crippled God. You heard it here first.

It would be a cool way of letting the story come full circle, the first meet in MOI and in the final book the CG saves Quick Ben and tasks him to save his ass from the big bad EGs.

[Ulrik]

Quick saved himself...by that strange shadow teleportation with raised hands Pearl showed before...you heard it before:)

But most funny and for me sad finish would be that Quick´s dead baby, Quick´s dead.

[Aptorian]

Bridgeburners don't die, they just regroup in Hoods Realm.

[beru]

but is QB a bridgeburner anymore or has he as Fiddler (or was it Hege) said; moved on? i dont think Fiddler is a BB anymore he is a damned Bonehunter, but is QB the same, and more importantly does it matter?

[T'renn]

Jou can't simply unbecome a bridgeburner. QB was one of the original ones hallowed in Raraku, the whole reason the company started(hunting him).

I like the Tay explanation best, but QB being saved by the CG runs a close second

[Ulrik]

Aptorian, on 10 June 2010 - 06:31 AM, said:

Bridgeburners don't die, they just regroup in Hoods Realm.

QB: "Hi, WJ, I´ve come to my ascendancy. Damn, I look even more mysterious with that empty eye sockets and sticking bones."
WJ: "Sorry, QB, you and your ex-adjunct bitch must find another realm to rule. BHs are not BBs, so frak off"
(and fourteen undead Jaghut laughs)

[foolio]

worrywort, on 09 June 2010 - 11:06 PM, said:

If Mappo has to slay Icarium to save the world I'm gonna leave society and become a hermit.

I will crap in my hand and throw it at people. Just like the angry monkey I am.

[Ulrik]

I would close the books like during hobbling, take a few hours of breathing, probably very manly cry in some corner (OK, two times it happend to me in intercity bus...damned Trull, damned Tool!) and I´ll look forward to reread.

[iRFNA]

Maybe quick finally tapped into whatever power he has been hiding, that supposedly is sufficient to defeat otataral and challenge draconis, to make his escape. Maybe he escaped into kurald galain. Maybe the source of his power is none other than andarist's, who relinquished it (part of his soul?) to some random or not-so-random tiste andii who maybe passed it down to other people to keep it safe, which would also require and explain the use of soul shifting into people. I mean, power like that probably doesn't just go away, right? What other unaccounted for power of darkness on par with draconis could QB be hiding? So maybe he used that to get away.

I like the teleporting to tayschrenn idea more, though... Unless tayschrenn is dust trapped in an all-consuming cloud of chaos

[worry]

Dude, if QB has a part of Andarist in him, that might explain Rake's curious interest in him. That's pretty crazy though.

[iRFNA]

worrywort, on 10 June 2010 - 08:21 PM, said:

Dude, if QB has a part of Andarist in him, that might explain Rake's curious interest in him. That's pretty crazy though.

And QB's extreme aversion to letting rake examine him when rake almost surely wouldn't have a problem with it if it was only 12 random souls.. the dude is even leaving kallor alone at the time.

I like to think all the times QB has gotten backed into a corner, he's still kept his poker face on and not played his trump card. Maybe that's why tavore is pissed and wants to talk to him after the giant illusion ritual at sea; he endangered all of the bonehunters by choosing an illusion when he could have tapped into his real power. Does he allude to being about to die when confronted by the hounds in a room with otataral or just that he'd been outsmarted? Was he really just playing opossum on the ground in front of icarium, as we know powerful beings can take bodily damage while not using their full power without it seemingly being a problem (such as the hounds getting covered in wounds from gryllen but later revealing their aura of lol on a stronger d'ivers)? If he really does have some kind of power hidden that could counter draconis, even if it isn't andarist's, he was certainly feigning weakness at these times, or perhaps he believed his body was too young/inexperienced to use whatever power he's hiding without destroying himself. Either way, it's pretty hilarious.

edit:
A quick check tells me that he did think he was going to die to the hounds in poliel's temple. Combined with his claims that his encounter with icarium "stretched" him, perhaps he pushed himself far enough that he is now capable of safely utilizing whatever greater power he has up his sleeve, where previously he was not (or simply lacked the confidence in his ability, not a physical limitation).

This post has been edited by iRFNA: 10 June 2010 - 08:52 PM

[Trull's son]

Sometimes characters die, ask G. Martin. Is it really so bad to have Quick Ben die the way it was suggested. Sure he didn't kill a god or destroy a world, but melting an entire phalanx of N'aruk is pretty badass.
As a side note, I had questioned a friend of mine after reading BH about the deal with Tay (He of course read MBotF, and he of course didn't have an answer for me!). IT would be awesome if tay pops up. But imagine his mental state, being trapped in chaos for an undetermined amount of time. Self-pity is always a possibility.

[Baronmad]

I myself would like to think like this.

All of the bridgeburners were promised ascension upon death by a tanno spiritwalker.


Quick ben is a bridgeburner, i assume he will be regrouping with iskar jarack (whiskyjack) at hoods gate