[Wry]

After seeing Merlkir's amazing painting i was inspired into a reread of MoI and i found something interesting, i'm not sure if this has been mentioned before... concerning mules!

Throughout the book there are many references to K'rull being sleep/dreams aspected...

Quote

Hetan suddenly rose, eyes flashing as she glared at Rath'K'rul. 'sleeping man, is your god's offer true?' (snip)...

Quote

I'm afraid not,' Keruli sighed. 'Only in your dreams, perhaps. But then you no longer dream do you, Kallor?...

...the warrior rasped 'It is an Elder God! K'rull himself.'

Also well established is his link/patronage to Kruppe. All that said, consider this snippet...

Quote

'Tell me Kruppe, who else will be witness to the gathering through you?'

'Through Kruppe? Why naught but Kruppe himself! He swears!'

'Not the mule surely?'

'Lass, the mule's capacity for sleep - in no matter what the circumstances - is boundless (snip)'

'Sleep, is it? No doubt, to dream...'

So it appears K'rull is watching through the eyes of a mule. A bad tempered, yet strangely effective mule. sound familiar?

Maybe our mule of shadow is in fact an Elder Mule?

I had wondered on many occasions whether K'rull attention was limited to Genabackis, maybe this shows that it is not?

[Aptorian]

There is something about the mules but what we don't know. Kruppe's mule seems mostly harmless, it's Pusts mule that has me wondering. I believe it was the mule that helped protect them on the ship when the meteors fell. It also seems to be able to make tea

[Mcflury]

don't forget that Pust's mule can also set up a complete camp with tents and everything while pust and his woman were arguing

Anyways, both mules are idd very weird beings... and I'm honoustly intrigued what the hell's wrong with those beings

[Coco with marshmallows]

haven't you heard of the Mules of Shadow and the Donkeygoth?

somebody give Abyss a shout, he can explain it better than me....

[cerveza_fiesta]

THe mules are FAs laying in wait for the big day.

[Zendog13]

The first rule of the forum is...we do not speak about the mules.

[Optimus Prime]

Perhaps the mules are drug smugglers?

I'm beginning to wonder if SE has a "thing" for sterile farm animals...

[Mentalist]

Dissembelackis, the Great Emperor of the first Empire veered into 7 mules. 2 of tham have been shown to us, the others remain unseen as of yet...

[Coco with marshmallows]

kud13;246764 said:

Dissembelackis, the Great Emperor of the first Empire veered into 7 mules. 2 of tham have been shown to us, the others remain unseen as of yet...

that's the Donkeygoth.

[Mentalist]

pretty much, that's the gist of it...

[Zendog13]

Bloody stupid thing to go changing into don;t you think? Or did he also take an oath of celibacy? Sexless pack of nitwits...

[Imperial Historian]

Yeah, where Pust got his second mule from (the first being Servant's soletaken form) is never really explained, but it doesn't seem to have any connection to k'rul as I can't find any reference to it being asleep, only to that "black-eyed mule" with "placid eyes".

The two forces it's likely to be connected to are eres, or an andii force as those are the two forces we know to have been operating on the ship crokus was travelling on, with little explanation.

[Coco with marshmallows]

the whole 'servant's soletaken form' thing is a guess on the part of the forum.
I always thought he had one amazing mule, and servant just took credit for his hard work.

[Aptorian]

Are you sure that Apsalars dad was soletaken? I thought there was just the one shadowmule.

I am interested in hearing how it protected them when Spite couldn't. It sounds like a powerfull creature.

[Imperial Historian]

pages 109-114 in the DhG mmpb are fairly conclusive as to servant being the mule, i'll give you the highlights... the mule is completely black then pusts statement about Servant 'He thinks carrying me is his only task.. ah, there!' addressing the mule, pust then frightens the mule back into the cave, then says 'Ah, here comes Servant', whereupon a man dressed in black appears from the cave, then icarium discusses the opening of a warren when the mule entered the cave, which presumably is due to servant changing shape.

Theres a later discussion about the mule and servant but I can't find that at the moment, and coupled with the fact that at no point do we see the mule and servant together I'd suggest they are one and the same.

[Aptorian]

Yeah, I guess you are right, I remember that aswell. Never wondered about a new Mule... this sort of implies that Pust is making these mules or getting them from somewhere. Pust could have made Apsalars father into a soletaken I guess.

What is the fathers name by the way, is it ever mentioned?

Maybe there's a special breed of magical mules, much like there are feral dragons and magically aspected ones. The Donkey Warren where the donkyelient live. Some times the ideas in Eriksons head confound me.

[Coco with marshmallows]

shapeshifters don't use warrens to change though do they.

and for a soletaken to die of old age like servant did is kind of lame.

[D'rek]

Apsalar's dad is Rellock. I'm looking now to see if there's a good description of Iskaral's second mule. The first one is described as being all black (what shade is rellock's skin?), but what strikes me odd is that the supposed mule form of rellock doesn't have one black hoof and one pink one, since Iskaral often mentions how rellock has one wrinkled dark hand and one pink one (the pink one of course grown on him by ST after the beginning of GotM).

Edit: Here's something from the end of HoC (page 1008 for me).
Iskaral finds Heboric, Felisin, Scillara and Greyfrog. He's riding on a mule, but unfortunately it's not described. However, right after we get Cutter's POV and it narrates "Iskaral Pust had conjured up a mule and ridden off earlier."
Though I'm sure it's not meant to be taken literally, there's something to be said for that choice of word...

[pastures]

all the nonsense in this thread has got me thinking. maybe Kruppe's mule is a warren/world in disguise! That's why no one knows which warren he uses. He doesn't "use" it per se, but the warren can "respond" to him...

ah phooey. i think that is just more nonsense...

[Ain't_It_Just_]

Mcflury;246538 said:

don't forget that Pust's mule can also set up a complete camp with tents and everything while pust and his woman were arguing

Anyways, both mules are idd very weird beings... and I'm honoustly intrigued what the hell's wrong with those beings

Someone made a theory, by discombobulating names and terms, that the donkeys and mules come from Assail, the home of magic jackasses.