[Urb]

I will now attempt to make a wild theory of mine foretell the near future of the series. This will be a bit long, so I'll try to make it clean and tidy.

To start, I want to remind you of a few things vital to the theory:

K'rul made the warrens with his own blood.

Memories of Ice Bantam paperback page 327 said:

Lady Envy staggered another step, suddenly released by the visions, disorientated, her heart thudding in her chest. She drew in a sharp breath. 'Who knows the... the truth, K'rul?' That, in striding through the warrens, we travel through your very flesh. That, when we draw upon the power of the warrens, we draw your very blood? 'Who knows?'

The Crippled God is chained to Burn with the power of K'rul's blood.
(Gods like Fener, Cotillion, Hood, etc., participated in the chaining.)

This connection between K'rul, Burn and the fallen god makes it possible to poison the warrens and Burn.
(This is speculation on my part.)

The chained one wants to get free.
(This is speculation on my part. Could be it is stated directly somewhere.)

The Crippled God needs to remove the power of the warrens in order to get out of his chains.
(This is speculation on my part.)

Through the Crippled God's influence, there have been at least four disparate attempts at human extinction.

Quote

1. The Panion Domin. A cult of canibals who devoured city after city, leaving behind them nothing but death.
2. Poleil's pleague in Seven Cities, killing (supposedly) millions of people.
3. The Empire of the Tiste Edur, who were sent out to slaughter in their search for Champions.
4. Karsa Orlong, who was "lead" by the Unbound to make an army of Teblor to destroy all "children".

Notice here that the Edur did not slaughter the Letherii. I believe this is because they (the Letherii) use Elder magic, and not the warrens.

The Elder gods do not want to destroy the Crippled God.

The Bonehunters Bantam paperback page 309 said:

'K'rul played a very active role against the Pannion Domin,' Paran went on. 'Since that time, I've grown less easy with his presence - the Elder Gods are back in the game-'
'Yes, you've already said something to that effect. They are opposing the Crippled God, and one cannot find fault in that.'
'Are they? Sometimes I'm convinced... other times,' he shook his head.

***I believe in destroying the chained one, they would also destroy K'rul and the Warrens. This is speculation on my part.***

Karsa Orlong will do something horrific some time in the near future.
(Shaik elder has seen into the Toblakai's future, and was appaled)

There will be a big turning point in Toll the Hounds.

The Bonehunters Bantam paperback page 926 said:

'I do not understand you,' he said. 'Why do you involve yourself with my purpose, my quest?'
'Because,' she said, 'I know where it shall lead.'
'The future unfolds before you, does it?'
'Never clearly, never completely. But I can well sense the convergence ahead - it shall be vast, Mappo, more terrible than this or any other realm has ever seen before. The Fall of the Crippled God, the Rage of Kallor, the Wounding at Morn, the Chainings - they all shall be dwarfed by what is coming.

Now consider this:
Why would the Crippled God want to wipe out humanity?
Who uses the warrens?
What is the big convergence in the upcomming installment of the Malazan book of the fallen?

This is where my crazy theory comes in:
If all humans are killed, all worship will cease and the power of the warrens will diminish into nothing, which will by default free the Crippled God. This is what he wants.
Now, we can't have humanity removed from the world (I just don't see it happening), so instead, Karsa Orlong will destroy K'rul, and in so doing, destroy the warrens and free the Crippled God from his chains, curing Burn.

-Now, to see the theory crash and burn at your mercy

[Aptorian]

Urb;239468 said:

The Crippled God is chained to Burn with the power of K'rul's blood.
(Gods like Fener, Cotillion, Hood, etc., participated in the chaining.)

This connection between K'rul, Burn and the fallen god makes it possible to poison the warrens and Burn.
(This is speculation on my part.)

This isn't speculation. Based on Iccy's thoughts in RG its obvious that Kru'lls power and the warrens are anchored in the earth. This explaines why magic doesn't exist in the areas where the Imass had their ritual or other bad things have happened.

This is also how the CG was channeling his poison into the warrens.

Urb;239468 said:

The chained one wants to get free.
(This is speculation on my part. Could be it is stated directly somewhere.)

The Crippled God needs to remove the power of the warrens in order to get out of his chains.
(This is speculation on my part.)

The chained one wants his situation to change. To be set free would be great but it's not very likely it seems. So according to MoI he has two obvious solutions. A burn wakes and flushes him down the toilet most likely killing him. B burn dies, his power flows through the warrens freely and the CG becomes the single last power and god.

Now, like Brood and Rake are searching for an option C, so, most likely, is the CG. The question is just what he can do. Is worship enough to give him freedom?

Urb;239468 said:

Through the Crippled God's influence, there have been at least four disparate attempts at human extinction.

The Elder gods do not want to destroy the Crippled God.

The CG isn't very fond of anyone or anything, but I don't think human extinction is high on his to do list. Allthough he claims that the enslave and shape him, they also give him power.

The edur was not out to kill humans. They slew the peoples they met that opposed them or had enslaved their blood. That'a not very different from, say, the spanish conquistadors.

Poliel wasn't even really on the CGs side. She wanted to kill all the living so that Broods choice would be easier. No civilizations, no qualms at destroying them.

Urb;239468 said:

There will be a big turning point in Toll the Hounds.

I think this is around the time I go "Doh". From what we've heard from the advanced readers, it's going to hell and fast from now on.

[Urb]

Aptorian;239472 said:

The CG isn't very fond of anyone or anything, but I don't think human extinction is high on his to do list. Allthough he claims that the enslave and shape him, they also give him power.

The edur was not out to kill humans. They slew the peoples they met that opposed them or had enslaved their blood. That'a not very different from, say, the spanish conquistadors.

If you read again, I say 'through the Crippled God's influence'.
The Edur did as their Emperor commanded. The Emperor's choices were for the most part influenced by the Crippled God. That being said:
-Callows was slaughtered
-Sepik was slaughtered
-The Anibar was slaughtered
So far only the Perish and the Malazans seemed to be able to fight them off. I stand by my statement. The Crippled God wants to destroy all (warren wielding) human life.

Aptorian;239472 said:

Poliel wasn't even really on the CGs side. She wanted to kill all the living so that Broods choice would be easier. No civilizations, no qualms at destroying them.

The Bonehunters Bantam paperback page 751 said:

'You understand, then,' the Grey Godess said, 'the truth beneath the veil. Blood was their path. And so we choose to poison it.'
...
Chaotic power, shredding into tatters and spinning away, waves of grey fire charging like unleashed creatures of rage, mosaic tiles exploding in their wake.
...page 762
Betrayals, too many betrayals - the Crippled God's power had fled, abandoning her -
...page 763
A broken goddess, who had sought to heal Burn. For such was the true purpose of fever, such was the cold arbiter of disease. Only humans, she reminded herself - her last thought - only humans centre salvation solely upon themselves.

I don't agree with you. I think the Crippled God and Poleil saw eye to eye on this. Humanity must be removed, to cure Burn (and incidentally free the chained one).

[Mentalist]

eh... My impression was that CG's not after extermination, he just causes as much suffering as humanly possible, because his fanbase are basically "the victims". So, everyhting up to now (esp. well portrayed by the cult of Felisin the Fat") that his minions did was to increase the suffering and produce broken, mangled individuals (such as Tene Baralta, for example), that could be made to serve him readily.

Now that you've made me think about it, I expect that in TtH we'll see the CG get some of his powers back from the Great Ravens.....

[Urb]

Like you, I'm not so sure the Crippled God just wants to bring suffering upon the world...

Memories of Ice Bantam paperback page 326 said:

The fuel for his rage, his hunger for vengeance-
'The fools who pulled him down are long dead, K'rul. Vengeance is just an excuse. The Crippled God is driven by ambition. Lust for power is the core of his rotten, shrivelled heart.'
Perhaps, perhaps not. Time will tell, as the mortals say.

But he needs to free himself nonetheless.

[Aptorian]

Urb;239512 said:

If you read again, I say 'through the Crippled God's influence'.
The Edur did as their Emperor commanded. The Emperor's choices were for the most part influenced by the Crippled God. That being said:
-Callows was slaughtered
-Sepik was slaughtered
-The Anibar was slaughtered
So far only the Perish and the Malazans seemed to be able to fight them off. I stand by my statement. The Crippled God wants to destroy all (warren wielding) human life.

The CG influences Rhulad solely. Rhulads reaction to the fait of the Sepik Edur, show that he knew nothing of what the Edur were up to on their trips. He did not give the order to slaughter the people on Sepik. He didn't order them to fight Malazans either.

The Edur were just being their natural babaric arrogant selves. See something that you don't like, you destroy it.

Urb;239512 said:

I don't agree with you. I think the Crippled God and Poleil saw eye to eye on this. Humanity must be removed, to cure Burn (and incidentally free the chained one).

The CG doesn't care about Burn. He is not a nice guy. I haven't read the book in over a year, but the quote you supply yourself, shows Poliels "good intentions". She may have been borrowing the CGs power but it certainly wasn't because they saw eye to eye.

[Urb]

Aptorian;239522 said:

The Edur were just being their natural babaric arrogant selves. See something that you don't like, you destroy it.

Too simple. Many of the Edur were disgusted by the slaughter.

Aptorian;239522 said:

The CG doesn't care about Burn. He is not a nice guy. I haven't read the book in over a year, but the quote you supply yourself, shows Poliels "good intentions". She may have been borrowing the CGs power but it certainly wasn't because they saw eye to eye.

I'll make myself more clear. They saw eye to eye that humanity must be removed.
I also don't think the Crippled God cares about Burn, but he does want to be unchained.
So, they have different ends, but agree on the means.

[Zorland]

This theory ties some ideas together nicely, but I think there are some things that can't be ignored.

There's the feeling that everything the CG has been doing up till now has been a feint. I know there's a moment in MoI where someone notes that Pannion Seer was just a feint in a larger scheme. Unless you think that scheme was Rhulad's sword, there must be something else.

Also, there's a basic weirdness to the CG that hasn't been accounted for yet. He has a negating effect on magic. The Great Ravens, that are pieces of his flesh, can feed on sorcery. And he has the Jade Giants following him, which create Otataral wherever they land. I think he wants something more than the extinction of humanity, or wide-scale suffering.

And remember, it's all about dragons. Is it a coincidence that the crucified dragon seen by Pearl and Yostara is also Otataral?

[Mentalist]

OtataralDragn's one of the mysteries yet to be resolved in the series. Some said that it was Tiam herself (insert Abyss's "Skanky ho" remark here)...

Imho, the CG is only one of the main tangles that has to be solved. There's also the matter of KE to un-shatter + the Malazan Empire that either has to fall or pull itself together from the "in between life and death" state that we left it in at the end of tBH.... luckily, we still got at least 6 books to put the pieces back together....

[Urb]

@Zorland
I'm not saying removing the human race is the Crippled God's main objective. I just think he is pursuing this in order to free himself. What he does afterwards is difficut to predict. So the Pannion Domin was only a part of the bigger scheme. That it was just a fient... I dont know, seems very excessive. A quote would be helpfull.

[ShadowOwl]

RG UK hardcover page 128: The Crippled God is talking to Janall, Queen of the House of Chains.
He says some interesting things about himself and what will come. Now is it the Crippled God and Janall talking or the CG and someone else?

My summary:
An army that turns totally around, a final war, sordid games that are almost done.
His pain gone, we’ll see the truth of him, a power was the sweetest kiss, a love that broke nothing.
That the gods truly fear freedom and they are what followers make them.
How human faith makes him find broken ones, but be indifferent to their prayers.
How humans do what they want in his name, that he is mad because they believe his is mad, and the real game is when he calls all humans on all their beliefs; this ‘knuckles of the soul’.
How humans are the cause of his pain and if he gives them what they are always asking for, everyone, including the gods will die.
So he will give them all what they are asking for, just don’t say they weren’t warned.

Some ideas to explore from the dialogue perhaps?

[Zorland]

During one of the discussions of all the big names about the Pannion Seer

Paperback, Bantam Books, pg 596:

Quote

(Silverfox) "A Matron lives. Flesh and blood. Should she find a male of her kind, a flesh and blood male...the tyranny of the Jaghut will be as nothing to that of K'Chain Che'Malle. This, then, will be our sacrifice"
Only wind filled the silence following her words.
Caladan Brood turned to Kallor, "And you find in this woman an abomination?"
"She lies," he rasped in reply. "This entire war is meaningless. Nothing more than a feint."

[Optimus Prime]

It may be that all the Crippled God's schemes have been in effort to hide his plot to bring back the K'Chain armies...thus giving him the most powerful force..I mean 60,000 Kell Hunters did kill almost 400,000 Tiste Andii in the MT prologue right?

Is this is main army, he has just been biding his time with all these other schemes and also weakening resistance with pannion domin/plagues/tiste edur etc?

[Urb]

@ShadowOwl
That is some interesting stuff. It goes a bit beyond my theory, but still. Cheers

@Zorland
Given Kallor's state of mind and relation to the Crippled God at the time, I choose to be a bit sceptical to his judgement. Also I kind of get the impression that he is exaggerating a little. Thanks for the quote

@Xander
A nice theory there. Makes sense

[Zorland]

Urb: I truncated the quote a little bit...

Quote

"A feint?" Dujek repeated in disbelief. "By whom?"
Kallor snapped his mouth shout, made no reply.

This always led me to believe that Kallor revealed too much here due to his rage at Silverfox. However, SE always reminds us that characters can be wrong or lie. And Kallor is not the most trustworthy of people. So perhaps I'm reading too much into it.

Also, as per Karsa killing K'rul, didn't Calm say she would meet Karsa again when the fate of the world rested on his decision? Killing K'rul would certainly fit this description along with the Shaik divination.

[Sinisdar Toste]

@Xander i've always believed that the CG and the KCCM had something to do with each other, something more than anyone has expected, dont ask me why just a feeling.

[Optimus Prime]

Yeah i get why you think that. To me, the KCCM seem to be the most feared of the races....and if not for Civil War...probably would rule unchallenged today....

[Urb]

Zorland;239526 said:

Also, there's a basic weirdness to the CG that hasn't been accounted for yet. He has a negating effect on magic. The Great Ravens, that are pieces of his flesh, can feed on sorcery. And he has the Jade Giants following him, which create Otataral wherever they land. I think he wants something more than the extinction of humanity, or wide-scale suffering.

Did you just explain what otataral is?

The Crippled God is linked to K'rul's blood and the warrens.
His "power" (now lost to him?) has a negating effect on these warrens (and only these - see Crone being bitchslapped by the puppet in the desert with his chaotic power).
Otataral has a negating effect on these warrens (and only these).
...interresting stuff there.

Zorland;239526 said:

And remember, it's all about dragons.

Who said that again? Reminds me of Cotillions' little chat with Panek.

The Bonehunters Bantam paperback page 850 said:

'The dragons. The foolish ones, the wise ones, the living ones and the dead ones. If every world were but a place on the board, they would be the game pieces. Yet no single hand directs them. Each is wild, a will unto itself. And then there are the shadows - Edgewalker explained about those - the ones you can't see.'
'He explained, did he? Well, clearly he the hoary bastard likes you more than he does me.'
'They all cast shadows, Uncle,' Panek said. 'Into your realm. Every one of them. That's why there's so many prisoners.'
Cotillion frowned, then, slowly, inexorably as comprehension dawned, the god's eyes widened.

[Aptorian]

Zorland;240147 said:

Also, as per Karsa killing K'rul, didn't Calm say she would meet Karsa again when the fate of the world rested on his decision? Killing K'rul would certainly fit this description along with the Shaik divination.

Where did this come from? Karsa Killing Kru'll? Why would he? Why not say Kru'll killing Karsa?

As for the Ottataral, there could be some connection to the CG seeing as the Statueimpacts make Ottataral. The ongoing theory on the board is still that Ottataral is the white bloodcells of Kru'lls heart. Protecting the world or something.

[Urb]

Aptorian;240345 said:

Where did this come from? Karsa Killing Kru'll? Why would he? Why not say Kru'll killing Karsa?

Urb;239468 said:

Now consider this:
Why would the Crippled God want to wipe out humanity?
Who uses the warrens?
What is the big convergence in the upcomming installment of the Malazan book of the fallen?

This is where my crazy theory comes in:
If all humans are killed, all worship will cease and the power of the warrens will diminish into nothing, which will by default free the Crippled God. This is what he wants.
Now, we can't have humanity removed from the world (I just don't see it happening), so instead, Karsa Orlong will destroy K'rul, and in so doing, destroy the warrens and free the Crippled God from his chains, curing Burn.

It is what my theory boils down to. Mostly because the Crippled God needs to be freed, but also, Karsa does not like chains. And it would explain this horrible thing he is predicted to do. Free the Crippled God and destroy the magic of the warrens. Think of it as a crazy theory if you want.