[KruppeTheGreat]

Okay, many things in this book left me baffled, but off the top of myhead these are first two that come up:

1. The Eres'Al: I don't know where to start with the things I don't understand about her/it, so I'll start with what I think I understood:
- she's a female
- she helped the malazans do their thing
- she likes Bottle
- she likes to make males ejaculate
And that's about it. Why did she decide to help the Fourteenth? Did she possess T'Amber, or was T'amber just a physical manifestation of her? Why and how did she get to the First Throne just in time to vause Icarium to pass out with ecstasy? If she can act in the world as her true form, why bother to possess a mortal at all? Was she just a plot device to avoid the Fourteenth taking months to get to Malaz city?

2. The Jade meteors. I wouldn't be as confused about this phenomenon were it not for the obvious connection with Heboric and the Jade giants. I have questions about then too, by the way. So let's start. I seem to remember the Giants were a sort of interdimensional police force sent after the Crippled God.
Were the meteors more of the jade giants coming after the Crippled God? Were they the reason Heboric wanted to go back to the Otataral Isle? Who stopped them? Was it Hood as part of his deal with Paran, or Heboric from the afterlife?

For now that's it, more questions will probably come up.

[Abyss]

 KruppeTheGreat, on 10 July 2017 - 11:08 AM, said:

Okay, many things in this book left me baffled, but off the top of myhead these are first two that come up:

1. The Eres'Al: I don't know where to start with the things I don't understand about her/it, so I'll start with what I think I understood:
- she's a female
- she helped the malazans do their thing
- she likes Bottle
- she likes to make males ejaculate

Yep. So far so good.

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And that's about it. Why did she decide to help the Fourteenth?

Best guess, she opposes the same things the 14th are trying to prevent. Also, likes Bottle.

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Did she possess T'Amber, or was T'amber just a physical manifestation of her?

Possessed her. It's unclear exactly how long, but likely she was there for a while, as T'Amber is not surprised when she doesn't die during the run back to the fleet.

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Why and how did she get to the First Throne just in time to vause Icarium to pass out with ecstasy?

Why - because someone had to stop Icarium and she elected herself. Possibly because Icarium wiping out Shadow's allies and destroying the Throne may have been a problem.
How - the same way she gets to everywhere else, magic!
But the point is that she couldnt just teleport in and knock Iccy out. By the time Eresal touches him, he's turned an army into cole slaw and faced two Tlan Imass blademasters, a Bonecaster, a demon matron, a High Mage, and an Edur weapons master. He's been worn down, frustrated, and lost in his own fury so much that she could get that close and not be instantly shredded.

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If she can act in the world as her true form, why bother to possess a mortal at all?

It's not clear that she can act in her true form or even isfshe has one. She appears in the warren where the Edur and co were fighting Shadow, but otherwise she's just a ghost or a presence.

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Was she just a plot device to avoid the Fourteenth taking months to get to Malaz city?

What do you mean? The Gray Helms opened the portal, not the Eresal, and they were sent by their gods.

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2. The Jade meteors. I wouldn't be as confused about this phenomenon were it not for the obvious connection with Heboric and the Jade giants. I have questions about then too, by the way. So let's start. I seem to remember the Giants were a sort of interdimensional police force sent after the Crippled God.

Note exactly. My best guess from what we know by the end of TB is that the Jade giants are repositories (vessels, or mhybes if you will) of the souls of the CG's worshippers, collected and sent after him into the gate he was pulled thru, to be with their god.

The police notion comes up because someone, Heboric i think, uses the term 'pursue' or 'pursuit', but i think it's in the sense that they are actively following him.

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Were the meteors more of the jade giants coming after the Crippled God?

Chunks of them, yes. The statues seem to break up at some point between being thrown into the gate and landing on Malazanland.

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Were they the reason Heboric wanted to go back to the Otataral Isle?

It was never entirely clear why Heboric wanted to return and he was killed before he could say, but it seems likely that the statues were a part of it.

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Who stopped them? Was it Hood as part of his deal with Paran, or Heboric from the afterlife?

All of the above - Paran contacted Hood, Hood woke up Heboric, and Heboric, as Shield Anvil, took in all the souls from the falling Jade chunks and removed most of the power, leaving just the physical impact that wrecked Cutter and co's boat.