[Dawndeath]

SE mentioned once that Dessimbelackis is a major plot-thread.
He also said that there's only going to be one resurrection in the rest of the books, and it's what all the other ones have been leading up to.

Do you guys think this may be related? Dassem Ultor is one of the most intriguing characters in the books, and one we have almost no information about. He could be Traveller. But other options are viable too. And the similarity in the names of man/god/emperor doesn't look like coincidence to me.

This particular plot thread is the one I'm most curious about (well, perhaps together with the Azath. And the Dragons. And... oh well, never mind).

[Dolorous Menhir]

I think if you browse the Q&A section in the forum you will find SE stating that Dassem Ultor is Dessembrae, but NOT Dessimbelackis, in response to a question.

You can find it here,
http://www.malazanempire.com/forums/showth...=dessimbelackis
about 8 paragraphs down.

I'm pretty sure Traveller is Dassem too, not 100% though, and Dessimbelackis' current status is unknown. There are still First Human Empire-vintage D'ivers & Soletaken kicking around, and we've got no idea what happened to Dessimbelackis when his Empire was destroyed by the Ritual and the Imass. He could still be alive, and I'm pretty sure there was relevant info in DG or HoC (from Icarium & Mappo) about his D'ivers form and other things. But it escapes me at the moment.

Hope that helps.

[Dinivan]

I don't remember something from Icarium/Mappo, but from Onrack, when he and Trull were at the statues of the dogs. Onrack tells Trull that Dessimbelackis veered into seven creatures...i always thought some connection between him and the Deragoth

But afaik Dessimbelackis simply vanished...he could still be around after all;)
so he wouldn't be the one big resurection mentioned above. Wild (not serious) guess: Dessimbelackis = Kellanved LOL

But the Traveller=Dassem question...i've never had a doubt about that, and after reading TBH i'm totally convinced

[Murrin]

The connection between Dessimbelackis and the Deragoth was mentioned in BH: He wanted to use the Deragoth to make himself immortal, perhaps by putting his soul into them. It seemed implied that Dessimbelackis failed to do this.

[Illuyankas]

As far as I could see, Dessimbelackis split his soul into seven parts and put them in the last seven Deragoth, trying to become immortal. But, the Deragoth were too powerful, he lost cohesion and lost himself in them.

[Dinivan]

I'll buy it...so do you reckon we see him somewhat restored or is his small presence in the deragoth his only participation?

[Illuyankas]

I think you mean Dessembrae

[Dolorous Menhir]

It was first stated in a chapter heading in DG, quoting from a book, was it not? So if people are writing books about how Dassem Ultor and Dessembrae are one and the same then it's probably well known. (Kruppe said it first, of course, but Kruppe's knowledge certainly isn't common)

And it would be a bit weird for the Malazan armies to have cults dedicated to Dessembrae without them knowing it was actually their supreme commander, the First Sword. Right?

[Murrin]

Yeah, the cult of Dessembrae started while Dassem was still 'alive', and it was one of the reasons Hood began to think he was becoming too powerful. Of course, what happened in the end probably only turned out to push him over into godhood.

[Blind]

Why did Dassem become the lord of Tragedy, exactly? Hood taking his daughter is tragedy enough, but if the cult of Dessembrae started before that?

[Whelp]

I think the cult was originally 'the cult of Dassem', simply - no 'Lord of Tragedy' part. That came after Hood took Dassem's daughter - but that's just my opinion.

[Dinivan]

Whelp said:

I think the cult was originally 'the cult of Dassem', simply - no 'Lord of Tragedy' part. That came after Hood took Dassem's daughter - but that's just my opinion.

i thought the same...

[Shryval]

Jusy a hunch for me, but Dessimbelackisalways reminds me of the word "Disassemble" and I recall reading (I'm currently half-way through Bonehunters) previously that the ability to become D'Ivers was discovered during the First Empire - that in fact it led to the chaos that was a large part in the Empires downfall.

The gist being that Dessimbelackis seems to have been among the original "inventors" of the D'Ivers state, being inspired by the Soletaken, and reasoning that if one could veer into many copies of an alternative form mortality could be cheated.

The continuing occurence of the number '7' when considering Dessimbelackis is too much a coincidence where the Deragoth are concerned. I think this "splitting his souls into seven parts" refers to the process of becoming D'Ivers, and the name given to his D'Ivers form was the Deragoth - unfortunately for him, he was unable to maintain his collective mind.

[Orfantal]

What's interesting from Bonhunters is that it implies that the Eres'al played a part in Dessimbelackis' dissolution. Ganath states that the surviving (7) Deragoth were used as a convenient vessel for Dessimbelackis to fragment his soul as a D'ivers. But paran and she agree that this was a mistake as the Deragoth had their own history and story and this was not told in isolation, at which point the Eres'al gets a significant mention.

The impression from earlier books is that the Soletaken ritual in the First Empire turned a lot of people into Soletaken and I think also implied that this was when the first D'ivers were created...presumably apart from Dessimbelackis, as he had disappeareed by then.

I am assuming that the master of the Deragoth mentioned by Dejim Nebrahl would have been Dess .. before attempting to merge with them.

[Shryval]

Ah, my first post lies in a smoking ruin at the feet of the Mistress of Delusion...

Note to self: Pay more attention.

But it's also bugging me that there's originally seven T'rolbarahl too, and at the point of reading, 2 less T'rolbarahl to match the 2 less Hounds of Shadow and 2 less Deragoth. Surely significant, he muses as he looks up for the descending boot of said Mistress.

[Orfantal]

The reduction from 7 to 5 is an interesting coincidence, but that's probably all.... After all there were originally more than 7 Deragoth, and it's clear that Dejim has the capacity to generate more D'ivers bodies in the right situation.

What is intriguing is the idea that the T'rolbarahl was somehow formed from two different parts..one the bloodthirsting part..the other the strong urge for pure justice.....that just sounded very much like Forkruhl Assail to me.