What's an ascendant, exactly?

#1 Guest_grrmfan100_*

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Posted 13 February 2006 - 12:26 AM

Here's another issue that puzzled me while reading MoI. It's not clear to me what "ascension" means.

In DhG, when it's revealed that the Emperor and Dancer have ascended to become Shadowthrone and Cotillion, one presumes this is achievement of immortality after death. Since they're now part of "the deck", they are to some extent, gods, or perhaps, demigods.

So, if you know the right people, I guess, you get to ascend after you die, rather than passing through Hood's Gate (and notice that no one in the Malazan world talks about a heaven, and everyone swears by Hood, the god of Death).

However, it's clear that Caladan Brood is an ascendant. So why is he still fighting mortal battles, with armor and a sword, where he can presumably be killed or injured? And what about Kallor? Clearly he's an immortal who has lived for thousands and thousands of years. Is he an ascendant? A god? And if so, why is he fighting mortal battles alongside Brood? I'd have to assume that both Kallor and Brood could not be killed by physical means... so what's at risk for them?

Paran is, apparently an exceptional case, having been made an ascendant (of sorts) while still alive in the conventional physical sense.

It gets harder to sort out what "alive" and "dead" means in this world; it gets to be somewhat like Marvel Comics, in which characters are routinely "killed" only to be brought back when convenient.

Presumably Erikson has some internal logic worked out for this, but it's far from clear to me.

#2 K'orladis

Corporal

Group: Malaz Regular
Posts: 55
Joined: 11-February 06

Posted 13 February 2006 - 12:59 AM

Iv'e been wondering about this to and all i know is that i think for sure there is the true gods like krul who were born gods if they were ever born but the point is they were always gods ( i think) whereas ascendants gain thier acsendicy from some sort of power obtained by themselves but i have no clue what this is but i think it ties in with the azath houses because of the whole dancer-emperor thing. but the thing that confuses me the most is that there are characters like Quick Ben that are more powerfull then some ascendants (in a way) but as far as i know they arn't ascendants. And then there is the other point to, that you made, which is how does immortality tie in with ascendantcy. So in total i really have no clue but i would like to find out.