[Silentarius]

Chapter 8 of Memories of Ice relates, rather briefly, the principal back-story of Quick Ben - in some ways, possibly the most powerful and certainly the the most capable character of the Malazan saga. But it makes little sense. Very briefly, during the Seven Cities campaign, Dassem Ultor's troops capture and destroy Quick Ben's home city and kill the Holy Falah'd whom he had been serving. The city's eleven surviving mages, along with Quick Ben, flee into the desert and are tracked by Whiskeyjack and the 7th company; one by one, the mages die and their souls are absorbed by Quick Ben, exponentially increasing his powers. Eventually his pursuers catch up with the lone survivor, and instead of annihilating them, on the spur of the moment and utterly inexplicably he decides to throw his lot in with the destroyers of his city and killers of his master and (indirectly) of his colleagues. Here is the complete description of his turning:

'The game we played, Whiskeyjack! Only one of survival. At first. We didn't think you'd make it, to be perfectly honest. We thought Raraku would come to claim you - I suppose she did, in a way, though not in a way I would have anticipated. What you and your soldiers have become...' He shook his head.
'What we have become', Whiskeyjack said, 'you have shared. You and Kalam.'
The wizard slowly nodded. 'Hence this fateful meeting. Sir, Kalam and I, we'll follow you, now. If you would have us.'

And that is it. The mightiest wizard of his time is turned from his original allegiance by... what? Admiration for the toughness of his pursuers? It's simply not believable.

This post has been edited by Silentarius: 15 July 2021 - 02:24 PM

[worry]

I dunno, I thought it was kinda sweet of him.

[Siergiej]

For all we know, Quick Ben has been playing a very long game. Possibly since the times of Kharkanas. And in either Dust of Dreams or The Crippled God Ruthan Gudd talks about everyone sitting at Quick's table or something along these lines (don't have the exact quote on hand). While we don't know his exact motivations at that moment, joining Malazan ranks put him on a path to be involved in major convergences that followed.

He doesn't much care whom he serves - he was a Shadow Priest, then a servant to the Falah'd, then a Malazan soldier, then a Malazan renegade - as long as it allows him to advance his plan.

[ContrarianMalazanReader]

A simple answer is that Quick Ben is not one to hold grudges, and with the Falah'd gone, he had no problem joining the Malazan Empire, and even when Laseen declared the Bonehunters outlaws, they are still loyal to the Malazan Empire.

[Silentarius]

ContrarianMalazanReader, on 16 July 2021 - 06:47 PM, said:

A simple answer is that Quick Ben is not one to hold grudges, and with the Falah'd gone, he had no problem joining the Malazan Empire, and even when Laseen declared the Bonehunters outlaws, they are still loyal to the Malazan Empire.

I reckon that if I had been chased out of my home and seen eleven of my colleagues die in our flight, I would bear more than a little old grudge against those hounding us. And I sure as hell would hang onto it. But then, I guess I have a less forgiving nature than QB...
Hang on - what am I saying? Quick Ben, forgiving?

[nacht]

Silentarius, on 18 July 2021 - 02:02 PM, said:

ContrarianMalazanReader, on 16 July 2021 - 06:47 PM, said:

A simple answer is that Quick Ben is not one to hold grudges, and with the Falah'd gone, he had no problem joining the Malazan Empire, and even when Laseen declared the Bonehunters outlaws, they are still loyal to the Malazan Empire.

I reckon that if I had been chased out of my home and seen eleven of my colleagues die in our flight, I would bear more than a little old grudge against those hounding us. And I sure as hell would hang onto it. But then, I guess I have a less forgiving nature than QB...
Hang on - what am I saying? Quick Ben, forgiving?

If you were immortal you would be thinking very differently. After all you would be having a lot of dead colleagues.
I wouldn't be surprised if this whole Raraku sojourn was test by QB of Malazan (Wu and Dancer) and WJ's mettle.

[Abyss]

Silentarius, on 15 July 2021 - 01:34 PM, said:

Chapter 8 of Memories of Ice relates, rather briefly, the principal back-story of Quick Ben - in some ways, possibly the most powerful and certainly the the most capable character of the Malazan saga. But it makes little sense. Very briefly, during the Seven Cities campaign, Dassem Ultor's troops capture and destroy Quick Ben's home city

What makes you think it was his home? Yes, he was living and serving there, but you assume some deeper loyalty.

Quote

and kill the Holy Falah'd whom he had been serving.

We've seen again and again that as much as some 7C individuals were fanatically loyal to their Falahd, as many were opportunistic or mercenary.

Quote

The city's eleven surviving mages, along with Quick Ben, flee into the desert and are tracked by Whiskeyjack and the 7th company; one by one, the mages die and their souls are absorbed by Quick Ben, exponentially increasing his powers.

His powers then and there were not what they would become. He had only just absorbed the souls.

Quote

Eventually his pursuers catch up with the lone survivor, and instead of annihilating them,

They had the drop on him, were accustomed to killing mages, and he was far from the height of his Jaghut blasting powers.

Quote

on the spur of the moment and utterly inexplicably he decides to throw his lot in with the destroyers of his city and killers of his master and (indirectly) of his colleagues.

Not spur of the moment and not inexplicably, as the quote you included shows....

Quote

Here is the complete description of his turning:

'The game we played, Whiskeyjack! Only one of survival. At first. We didn't think you'd make it, to be perfectly honest. We thought Raraku would come to claim you - I suppose she did, in a way, though not in a way I would have anticipated. What you and your soldiers have become...' He shook his head.
'What we have become', Whiskeyjack said, 'you have shared. You and Kalam.'
The wizard slowly nodded. 'Hence this fateful meeting. Sir, Kalam and I, we'll follow you, now. If you would have us.'

And that is it. The mightiest wizard of his time is turned from his original allegiance by... what? Admiration for the toughness of his pursuers? It's simply not believable.

No. More like a religious experience. The Holy Desert, which he seemed to place considerable faith in, had favored his pursuers over his allies.
And in a world where (assume i just said that in Morgan Freeman's voice) belief and experience can propel someone to godhood, that's saying a lot.

[Tsundoku]

We need Morgan Freeman and James Earl Jones narrating or even better - IN this when it becomes the next streaming behemoth.

[Adhara]

 Tsundoku, on 19 July 2021 - 07:14 AM, said:

We need Morgan Freeman and James Earl Jones narrating or even better - IN this when it becomes the next streaming behemoth.

We need Morgan Freeman playing Quick Ben.

[ContrarianMalazanReader]

Whenever I read the Malazan books, I always picture Quick Ben as looking like actor Peter Mensah.

[sigpig]

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em".