[Mist]

Hi,

RG has been an intense journey and the title of the series hits you real hard in this book. Beak, Toc & Trull were all characters I was hoping to have with me untill the end of the series, but who knows... anyway, some quick comments (most surely RAFO):

- Quick Ben power: has been discussed on many topics and generally everyone agrees that he manages to defeat the 3 sisters and silchas due to his luck, wits and many other arguments that suggest he is not that powerfull. But Imho the hints given throughout the books make me belive the opposite. In MOI Rake looks at him and seems to detect there is more to him than shows (I think he even mentiones this to WJ). He also gives Kallor a nudge. He has has outwitted ST on ocasion, has dealt with Hood, has clashed directly with Icariums rage, has beaten down 3 ascendant dragons and given silchas a hard time. The only weak moment he seams to have is on the shipa when confronting the Edur magic, but he still faces it directly!! I have built up the idea that he is more than just a human mage with super witts, luck and many warrens. I think he could be o have to do with an elemental being, probably earth aspected (his only weakness was on a ship...).

- the drunk couple in the lake that deal with the demon god... They got me totally unbalanced... I can't remember anything about them in MT... Any theories? Or just keep reading?

- the ritual of the Thelomen, I assume it has to do with Karsa turning in to a God?

Well, I better get back to reading now...

[Abyss]

Mist, on 25 November 2015 - 05:21 PM, said:

...- Quick Ben power: has been discussed on many topics and generally everyone agrees that he manages to defeat the 3 sisters and silchas due to his luck, wits and many other arguments that suggest he is not that powerfull. But Imho the hints given throughout the books make me belive the opposite. In MOI Rake looks at him and seems to detect there is more to him than shows (I think he even mentiones this to WJ). He also gives Kallor a nudge. He has has outwitted ST on ocasion, has dealt with Hood, has clashed directly with Icariums rage, has beaten down 3 ascendant dragons and given silchas a hard time. The only weak moment he seams to have is on the shipa when confronting the Edur magic, but he still faces it directly!! I have built up the idea that he is more than just a human mage with super witts, luck and many warrens. I think he could be o have to do with an elemental being, probably earth aspected (his only weakness was on a ship...).

Oh e's powerful, but there's an element of brains over brawn, even after the apparent power-up he gets in RG post TB fight with Iccy.

With the dragons, note that he knocked them down but didn't actually kill any of them. Sheltana took out Menandore and then Sukul bailed. With Icarium same thing, knocked him around but didn't actually harm him.
Actually that goes for every example... you raise... he's smart enough to trip them up, and powerful enough for that to slow them down, but not to actually take them out.

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- the drunk couple in the lake that deal with the demon god... They got me totally unbalanced... I can't remember anything about them in MT... Any theories? Or just keep reading?

MT didn't reveal them as gods iirc, that was just a thing in RG. As with most things Malazan the answer is always keep reading, but i always took those two as an example of a background element added for flavor more than anything central to the story.

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- the ritual of the Thelomen, I assume it has to do with Karsa turning in to a God?

If you mean Ublala and the old pee/poo collector, no, that was to send Karsa after Rhulad's soul to the CG's sanctuary.

[Mist]

Thanks for the comments Abyss.

I'm sure you are talking with the power of knowlege and I will not discuss you argument with Quick Ben. What gets me thinking is the fact that he knows so much about what is going on with everything and he confronts the 3 Eleint with such confidence that he knows he will succed that he even tells Hedge he will not be needed... It may be more my own expectations, but he really seems much more than he shows.

And now that I think, I forgot to mention about the CG luck or charm or whatever... I mean, Mael beats him up in MT, with no effect on his dark schemes and now Karsa Orlong meets him face to face with a unique chance to bring him down and he just turns away. I know this has been discussed many times, but (knowing that he will be around until the very end) it makes me think that maybe he is not as bad as we think he is. Maybe he is acting like this for a deeper reson than just the typical "I'm the dark god/character" and that is enough for me to go doing the dark things I do. Maybe he has been forced to ise these methods because he has no other way of coming back and show us he is not the bad guy at all...

[James Hutton]

Mist, on 25 November 2015 - 05:21 PM, said:

- Quick Ben power: has been discussed on many topics and generally everyone agrees that he manages to defeat the 3 sisters and silchas due to his luck, wits and many other arguments that suggest he is not that powerfull. But Imho the hints given throughout the books make me belive the opposite. In MOI Rake looks at him and seems to detect there is more to him than shows (I think he even mentiones this to WJ). He also gives Kallor a nudge. He has has outwitted ST on ocasion, has dealt with Hood, has clashed directly with Icariums rage, has beaten down 3 ascendant dragons and given silchas a hard time. The only weak moment he seams to have is on the shipa when confronting the Edur magic, but he still faces it directly!! I have built up the idea that he is more than just a human mage with super witts, luck and many warrens. I think he could be o have to do with an elemental being, probably earth aspected (his only weakness was on a ship...).

You mean the encounter with the Edur fleet in the Bonehunters? That's a good example of QB's power: the whole thing he conjured was an illusion. And it seemed so real it scared the Edur off because he had help, first from Bottle and then from the Eres'al. So not just QB's personal power at work there.

[Abyss]

Mist, on 25 November 2015 - 06:12 PM, said:

...What gets me thinking is the fact that he knows so much about what is going on with everything and he confronts the 3 Eleint with such confidence that he knows he will succed that he even tells Hedge he will not be needed... It may be more my own expectations, but he really seems much more than he shows.

Sure he says that... he probably even means it, but that doesn't make it true.

James Hutton, on 25 November 2015 - 06:25 PM, said:

You mean the encounter with the Edur fleet in the Bonehunters? That's a good example of QB's power: the whole thing he conjured was an illusion. And it seemed so real it scared the Edur off because he had help, first from Bottle and then from the Eres'al. So not just QB's personal power at work there.

Iirc, once the Eres'al kicked in, it wasn't an illusion. But QB was stretching himself to even project that big an illusion.
...of course, that was before his post TB power up .

[Mist]

[/quote]

If you mean Ublala and the old pee/poo collector, no, that was to send Karsa after Rhulad's soul to the CG's sanctuary.
[/quote]

Abyss, this makes me think... How did the poo man know when Karsa was fighting Rhuald and that he will need to go back to the CG? Is this another RAFO?

[Siergiej]

Well, who is Quick Ben is one of the most interesting Malazan debates. There's a lot of hints spread throughout the whole series (including Forge of Darkness) and many of them still lie ahead, so RAFO. The Memories of Ice scene with Bauchelain and Korbal Broach speaks volumes about QB. His soulshifting and sheer power aside, he is extremely curious and has explored every possible corner of the magic system, but is always on a hunt for more. This experience gives him an upper hand... well, always, which is kind of reinforced later in the series with the mechanics of 'let's advance the plot through Quick Ben's arcane knowledge'