[thoth]

Started reading Deadhouse Gates for the first time, and I just came across that same line ("Without another word the three began walking.") in the Canadian Bantam Books edition:


I was completely befuddled when I read that--only Mappo and Icarium are in the hallway, who's the third! After reading to the end of the section, it seems to be a fairly benign and unsupported error, but astonishing on first glance none-the-less.

[Wampyry]

Grey Worm;7202 said:

While reading DG last night I noticed something I had never noticed and was wondering if it was a typo. On pg 173 of the UK paperback as Mappo and Icarium are searching Pust's Temple they come to a hallway lined on either side by huge cedar trees. They discuss the warren used to bring the huge trunks down to this place. After they finish talking they move on. Here is the quote:
"Without another word the three began walking."

Why does it say three? Is this a typo or is Iskaral Pust sneaking around with them?

I have TOR US. Same problem. I have the word highlighted, but I never found
out why it was there - or I forgot. The same question was posted in this
forum Jan 2005. No satifactory answers. Seems unrealistic that editors in
UK, US and Can all missed this obivious error - so its probably not an error.
My choice would be Servant

[silentmaven]

As a very long time Stephen King reader you will come to realize that those errors are common. However, this series is very devoid of them. I caught this too on my first read through, and I am sure that I will catch it as i am re-reading the series now.

To answer how 3 different countries could publish without catching an error...it comes down to money. Why pay an editor to edit something that has already been edited? They just take the data and print it, slap a different art cover on it and sell it.

[Joe_Cool_75]

Aside from some of the very good questions raised by observant readers, this was the one I really looked forward to finding out the answer. Damn!! However, I don't think that this is a typo, for no other reason than that it is in so many different versions by publishers in different countries. If anyone knows anything about this after 2 years, could you post the info, or direct us to a thread that answers it? Thanks.

[worry]

It's Jesus. See, he was carrying them in times of trouble. That's why there's only one set of footprints in the sand.

[Aptorian]

Obviously it's Pust. Or more likely, his shadow.

[Abyss]

You're all idiots - it was OBVIOUSLY a Mule of Shadow.

- Abyss, ...clearly has to explain EVERYTHING around here...

[Beezulbubba]

I interpreted the 3rd to be either the spider D'ivers that Iskaral Pust was always going on about (his "hen pecking" wife, Mogora) OR the bhok'arala that kept hanging around when Mappo and Icarium were exploring Pust's abode.

[Eispeis]

It's the elephant in the room (i.e. Icarium's secret).

It can also, as others have mentioned, be a bokharal(sp?), Mogora (should be "and then the three thousand..." though), Servant, Pust, or a typo.

Edit: Just realized that my post contributed nothing apart from a bad joke. Sorry about that

This post has been edited by Eispeis: 15 June 2010 - 07:47 AM

[Illuyankas]

 Eispeis, on 15 June 2010 - 07:43 AM, said:

Edit: Just realized that my post contributed nothing apart from a bad joke. Sorry about that

Don't worry, the forum doesn't mind. They get enough of it from me.

This post has been edited by Illuyankas: 15 June 2010 - 08:03 AM

[Eispeis]

 Illuyankas, on 15 June 2010 - 08:03 AM, said:

Don't worry, the forum doesn't mind. They get enough of it from me.

Hehe. Well I try to do my part as well. I've got a feeling that I've got a skill in killing threads with a bad pun. Thing is I've only read through the series once, and I'm not planning a re-read immediately as I'm about to embark on a tiny little book called A Game of Thrones after the praise GRRM has gotten on these boards. I've got a hunch that it will lead to me picking up A Clash of Kings. Might be a while until I pick up Malazan again, but I'm def doing a re-read. In the meantime I try to contribute as much as I can here, but most often I must resort to the pun.

Wow, this post didn't help my credibility at all.


To try to steer the thread back on tracks:

I don't think it's a typo, but as I haven't got my copy of DG anywhere near here (about 100 miles away) I can't be sure. As long as the encyclopedic minds on here are unable to answer I vote that SE intended this to be a hint of something and just plum forgot it.
Or it's a bokharal spying on them for Pust.

[Tatterdemalion]

If it's not mentioned better than that, I'd say typo and agree with maven: this is how book editing works. It's a copyedit error and there's no reason to go over the book once it is copyedited because it's expensive. You can assume a lot of shadow characters could be there, but if there's no supporting doc. In no other circumstances is SE that vague.

[Aptorian]

Typing "three" instead of "two" is not a typo.

Seriously, it is Pust or Morgora.

[worry]

 Aptorian, on 20 June 2010 - 07:03 AM, said:

Typing "three" instead of "two" is not a typo.

Seriously, it is Pust or Morgora.

That's seven of the greatest points I've ever read.

[Tatterdemalion]

Okay, it's not a 'typo' it's an editorial error.

In a previous edit SE had a third character there, he since removed them, that word snuck through... least that's what I think.

[Tatterdemalion]

Just re-found it. It could have been the bhok'arala that came down the stairs... but it is written that the creature stops and doesn't follow them. That could be the source of the sentence - either intentionally implying the creature indeed followed, or the source of the mix-up.

[HoosierDaddy]

I'm prone to credit Pust with sneaking about and spying on Icarium and Mappo. He is quite interested in their travails in the Temple, you know. In a Shadow sanctified Temple, I'd believe Pust capable to doing so without being detected by Icarium or Mappo. Barely.

[Tatterdemalion]

But that's not the point.
That Pust is sneaky and would follow them isn't the point.
The point is that Erikson would never write it that way should that be what he was trying to imply. One random line with no other indication. It's not subtle-clever, it's subtle-pointless. The manner in which this line is delivered is way too unheralded as to be a reveal of some kind. I just can't see this as some secret hint at all. Madness! Madness, I say!

[Zanth13]

There have been plenty of errors in the books... they even spawned words GOTISM ect....and the catch phrase "the time line is not important"

most likely its a mistake of some sort but guess what


"It is not important" *cue Men In Black flashing memory erasing thingymajig