[TSP]

When the identities of Shadowthrone and Cotillion are revealed midway through the book, Fiddler chastises himself for not putting two and two together based on the names Ammanas and Cotillion.

The connection between Cotillion's name is pretty clear, but I'm stumped by the significance of the name Ammanas. Have I missed some kind of connection to his original identity, or am I just reading too much into Fiddler's reaction and the name Ammanas has no significance? For that matter, where does the name Ammanas come from, given that Shadowthrone is the name he uses most of the time and seems to be the one he adopted upon ascension?

[Defiance]

It wasn't even the names so much as the sequence of events. Emperor and his right hand die, suddenly two new gods appear, and those two gods just happen to be focused on fucking over Laseen.

EDIT: To clarify, there's no connection between the name Ammanas and Kellanved.

This post has been edited by Defiance: 06 October 2014 - 12:58 AM

[worry]

Yah, it's a combo. Dancer/Cotillion is the name thing, but the name Ammanas probably has more connection to Meanas than to Kellanved, as far as we know, so it's not the name that does it there.

[Andorion]

I never really understood why people had to wait till DG to find out this "big reveal" Its pretty obvious in GotM. Here's a qoute from GotM prologue:

Quote

The Emperor is dead!
So too his right hand – now cold, now severed!
But mark these dying shadows,
twinned and flowing bloody and beaten,
down and away from mortal sight...
From sceptre's rule dismissed,
from gild candelabra the light now fled,
from a hearth ringed in hard jewels,
seven years this warmth has bled ...
The Emperor is dead.
So too his master'd companion, the rope cut clean.
But mark this burgeoning return –
faltering dark, the tattered shroud –
embracing children in Empire's dying light.
Hear now the dirge faint reprised,
before the sun's fall, this day spills red
on buckled earth, and in obsidian eyes
vengeance chimes seven times ...
Call to Shadow (I.i. 1-18)
Felisin(b.ll46)

Reference to the fall of Kellanved and Dancer and now a return and vengeance. Now, from the 1st chapter of GotM

Quote

Silently, the Hounds bolted down the road.
Their master turned and said to the man beside her, 'Something to gnaw on Laseen's mind.' He giggled again.

Quote

An amused note entered Ammanas's reply. 'And have we time? True vengeance needs the slow, careful stalking of the victim. Have you forgotten the pain she once delivered us? Laseen's back is against the wall already. She might fall without our help. Where would be the satisfaction in that?'
Cotillion's response was cool and dry. 'You've always underestimated the Empress. Hence our present circumstances ... No.' He gestured at the fishergirl. 'We'll need this one. Laseen's raised the ire of Moon's Spawn, and that's a hornet's nest if ever there was one. The timing is perfect.'

Couldn't be any clearer than that. Include the prologue scene with Laseen and thats it basically.

[worry]

It in fact can be clearer than that. Like the scene from DG cited above.

[Defiance]

Yes, it's extremely clear in GotM. However, a lot of people aren't paying attention to those details when they first read the book. There's so much to consume and try to pay attention to that even obvious foreshadowing/hints go right over your head.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

You forgot the most blatant passage of them all:

Quote

'It certainly seems,' Tattersail said, 'that since its arrival in the Deck and the opening of its Warren, Shadow's path crosses the Empire's far too often to be accidental. Why should the Warren between Light and Dark display such… obsession with the Malazan Empire?'
Kalam's gaze was veiled. 'Odd, isn't it? After all, the Warren only appeared following the Emperor's assassination at Laseen's hand. Shadowthrone and his companion the Patron of Assassins - Cotillion were unheard of before Kellanved and Dancer's deaths. It also seems that whatever… disagreement there is between House Shadow and Empress Laseen is, uhm, personal…'
Tattersail closed her eyes. Dammit, it's that obvious, isn't it?

Yes it is, Tattersail. Yes it is.

I'm kind of an attention-deficit reader, but even I put this puzzle together the first time through.

[theocean]

It was an easy thing to pick up with the dropped hints. I always thought ammananas was just the name of who ruled shadow.