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First thing to note is that there is a wider gap than I imagined between the end of MT and this particular scene. Given Trull's knowledge of Edur history and that of T'lan Imass (which he does not at all possess by the end of MT), it seems likely to me that SE would surely tell the rest of the story, so we shouldn't worry
It's also weird how Trull thinks of humans ("they are as vermin, these humans of yours"), as though it was T'lan Imass and not humans he had known his entire life.
1) What's worrying me, though, is a certain sentence about the Edur being the shadows of the Tiste Andii. Admittedly, this is simply Onrack's suggestion that Trull neither confirms neither denies, but i seemed to have forgotten that part and it certainly sheds some more light (if true) on the creation process of the Edur. Perhaps in the presence of Light and the newborn concept of Shadow as embodiment of the balance in the eternal struggle (remember Trull's thoughts while chained that imbalance is Nature's greatest enemy and that's been the Edur credo for all eternity), the Edur were truly the torn off shadows of the Andii. However, this seems to practically contradict the newer information about the Edur, as Scabandari doesn't per example seem as a shadow of anyone or something. So, i am tempted to believe that the assumption of the shadows is simply meant as a metaphore or right out wrong on part of Onrack. Anyone have any other thoughts on this? Here is the relevant quote:
quote:Onrack: [..]Yet were not the Tiste Edur fashioned by Mother Dark? Did not your goddess create you?
Trull: [..] As for Mother Dark, it may be that in creating us, she but simply separated what was not separate before.
Onrack: Are you then the shadows of the Tiste Andii? Torn free by the mercy of your goddess mother?
Trull: But Onrack, we are all torn free.
2) Trull's recap on former Andii/Edur struggles somewhat baffled me as it seems to contradict MT prologue. By his words, the Edur were banished from Kurald Galain by the Tiste Andii and fled into Kurald Emurlahn. The Tiste Andii followed and shattered the warren, which led the Edur into another migration, this time on the Malazan world. Onrack recalls them coming in great numbers almost at the same time as the first Andii (which must have been Rake's Andii?). Then apparently the Andii and the Edur had another series of battles ("fought in darkness and shadows"). According to Trull's description of the Andii being "fanatical" it seems likely that these are Rake's Andii, because we should remember that Rake left Kurald Galain because he rejected MD's creation of the Liosan and the Edur. Now after the Edur manage to drive off these Andii (so what, not Rake after all, as his Andii are still up there???), another wave of Andii came, seeming "less interested". This fits the description of the settlers that Silchas Ruin brought. However Trull states that at this time, the Edur "had grown inward, no longer consumed by the hunger of expansion..".
Now, I am completely confused as to WHERE in this historical account falls the prologue of MT? The only possible conclusion that i can draw but hardly believe is that Scabandari actually came *after* all this happened (roughly together with those "less interested" Tiste Andii), because it is for certain the he at least was *definitely* consumed by the hunger of expansion. Perhaps his Edur only later (after killing off Ruin's Andii) discovered their kin and lived together. While somewhat covering up the gaps, this theory is still not very plausible -
a)If the Andii banished the Edur from Emurlahn, how did Scabandari come, let us say, centuries after the other Edur on the malazan world? Was he and his followers elsewhere? I doubt the Edur would venture a settlement anywhere, on a foreign world, witout their godlike leader being with them.
We used to live with the fact that it was Scabandari who caused the shattering of Kurald Emurlahn. However according to Trull, the Andii simply came, killed everyone they could and shattered the warren. Perhaps this can still be somehow attributed to Scabandari being an arrogant jerk and driving the Andii mad with the Edur?c) What of the first wave of fanatical killers? Had they been Rake's, what happened to them? Trull says they were all killed - so it cant be Rake's group. Perhaps they were an another group of Andii altogether, which means that they were either part of Rake's or came independently of him on the Malazan world, perhaps even before him?
The quote (p.329, PB):
quote:Onrack: The Tiste Edur were in my world, just after the coming of the Tiste Andii. Once numerous, leaving signs of passage in the snow, on the beaches, in deep forests.
Trull: There are far fewer of us now. We came here [Nascent] - to this place - from Mother Dark, whose children had banished us. We did not think they would pursue but they did. And upon the shattering of this warren, we fled yet again. To your world, Onrack - where we thrived...
Onrack: Until your enemies found you once more.
Trull: Yes. The first of those were... fanatical in their hatred. There were great wars - unwitnessed by anyone, fought as they were within darkness, in hidden places of shadow. In the end, we slew the last of those first Andii, but were ourselves broken with the effort. And so we retreated into remote places, into fastness. Then, more Andii came, only these seemed less.. interested. And we in turn had grown inward, no longer consumed by the hunger of expansion..
3)As a sidenote, how do you think Rake came in possession of the Throne of Shadow in the first place and why did he hide it from the Edur, and when?
4)Finally, on another topic altogether, can someone point me to a discussion as to why everyone thinks that Scabandari is prisoned beneath Drift Avalii?
