[Mentalist]

Alcohol may have been involved...

So as not to spam: is there a possibility that encyclopedia Malazika that will be published after the last books will include a complete timeline?
@ Kimloc; in GotM, Orphantal was female.

[VampireGoat]

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Sex change?? In the Malaz world? Oh, oh, I see now. Andarist must have used Vengeance on him. Is Orfantal Korlat's sister now? Or was he her sister?[

according to the character index at the front of gotm, Korlat is actually related to Serrat(sp?) who was Rakes current second in command so I assume she was originally korlat's sister. Orfantal was just some other andii female

[Called-by-the-Voices]

Stevie E likes Pink Floyd ! Yay
I love him even more now....

[pastures]

Oh my goodness. He actually has been reading the forums. Well, my hero worship just went up another notch. Many many thanks Steven and Hetan.

[Hume]

pastures;276055 said:

Oh my goodness. He actually has been reading the forums. Well, my hero worship just went up another notch. Many many thanks Steven and Hetan.

Take another look at who he acknowledge's at the front of Reapers Gale

[Lisheo]

Yeah that put a warm fuzzy glow in my heart when I read that acknowledgement

[Abyss]

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That section, with the two corpses, needs to be read through to a deeper level than what's on the surface.

Okay, ok, thinking, deeper, deeper...

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“I have no name for this town,� the ragged man said, hands plucking at the frayed hems of what had once been an opulent cloak.

So both ghosts are formerly rich... significant?

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Coiled and tucked into his braided belt was a length of leather leash, rotting and tattered. “It needs a name, I think,� he continued, voice raised to be heard above the vicious fighting of the dogs, ...

The two animals were now trying to kill each other in the middle of the street, their audience none but their presumed owners. Dust had given way to blood and tufts of hide.

I don't know what to make of the dog thing... there doesn't seem to be an obvious link to the Hounds / Deragoth conflict, or the Chain. Figurative, probably, but perhaps clearer further into the book.

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“There was a garrison, once, three soldiers who didn‘t know each other,� the man said. “But one by one they left.�

Suggesting other dead have passed through this same space.

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“We seem to repeat things here. Day after day.

Suggestion was made by the dead attacking the TTG carriage in TB that Hood neglects some of his realms. Maybe this is one such.

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"...But listen, you can have mine – I never use it, as you can see.�
She accepted the coiled leash. “Thank you.� She took it out to where her dead dog was lying, more or less torn to pieces. The victor was crawling back towards its master leaving a trail of blood.
Everything seemed knocked strangely askew, including, she realized, her own impulses. She crouched down and gently lifted her dead dog’s mangled head, working the loop over until it encircled the torn neck. Then she lowered the bloody, spit-lathered head back to the ground and straightened, holding the leash loose in her right hand.

So much symbolism here i'm not even sure where to begin. The Malazan Empire, broken but being held together by a woman who doesn't know it?
the Elder gods, who have lost the fight but refuse to accept it?
the Tiste?

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The clouds seemed to be raining tears of jade.

I particularly like the notion someone raised that the dealings with Heboric have tainted Hood's Realm with the Jade chunk power

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Approaching with a hitched gait was a tall figure, so desiccated that its limbs seemed little more than tree roots, its face naught but rotted, weathered skin stretched over bone. Long grey hair drifted out unbound from a pallid, peeling scalp.

Edgewalker is there, so the location has to be at least sideways connected with Shadow... And the dead are hanging out... so a connection with Hood's realm too.

We saw in RG that the warrens can overlap and touch, and that travel from one to another is possible.

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as the hooded one said, “Edgewalker.�
“You have called me here,� said the one named Edgewalker, “to … mitigate.�
“I have.�
“This has been a long time in coming.�
“You might think that way, Edgewalker.�
The grey-haired man -- who was clearly long dead -- cocked his head and asked, “Why now?�
The hooded figure turned slightly, and the woman thought he might be looking down on the dead dog. “Disgust,� he replied.
A soft rasping laugh from Edgewalker.

Hood, if Hood it is, called Edgewalker. And the phrasing is awkward, but i assume 'grey-haired man' means Edgewalker, since we wouldn't see the hooded person's hair and no one else is in that exchange.

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The Hounds wandered away, heads lowered as they sniffed the ground. None approached the carcass of the woman’s dog, nor the gasping beast at the feet of her newfound friend.

Proof the dogs aren't real?


- Abyss, notes it's too early on a Monday for straining thinkymeatz like this...

[Sindriss]

Great having Steve come help us a bit in all our speculation. Thanks for that mister

I'm looking forward to seeing that new stranger and getting to know him.

[greenteam]

Sindriss;276276 said:

Great having Steve come help us a bit in all our speculation. Thanks for that mister

I'm looking forward to seeing that new stranger and getting to know him.

he's not a stranger it's really whiskeyjack..................SE trying to throw us off course by saying he's not coming back but surprise

[Aptorian]

That would be quite a shock, I'd believe it if he came riding into Darujistan upon a Hound of Light...

[greenteam]

i love it:D

[Sinisdar Toste]

jason had a good post about the dog carcasses in the prologue thread.
the dogs represent mortals who always want to fight and the gods are the ones holding the leashes (the woman) but without any real control (the man). in reality the gods are indifferent to the quarrels of mortals, but get dragged along when they are too "hands-on" (the woman again), which is definitly a recurring theme of SE's work.

[Venerus]

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The two animals were now trying to kill each other in the middle of the street, their audience none but their presumed owners. Dust had given way to blood and tufts of hide.

Re: abyss: For some reason, this quote brought to mind images of the Imass. Dust, blood and tufts of hide -- very Imass-evocative. Two dogs fighting? Who fights on the bones of the Imass, or after the Imass? Hounds vs Deragoth, perhaps? And humans the presumed owners... presumed by whom? The humans themselves? Mortals in general?

There's also the nice way that HoC bookends the "mad dog" theme -- starts by killing a mad dog (literally), ends by killing a mad dog (whirlwind goddess). Could be, this passage can and will only make sense with the contents of TtH.

I thought it particularly interesting that "the hooded one" isn't named in this passage, but later K'rul is described in exactly those words.

Mysterious hooded figure, first mention, unnamed:

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The hooded figure turned slightly

Mysterious hooded figure, later mention, unnamed at first, then later named to be K'rul:

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A faint glitter from the darkness within the hood. “I am not in this war.”

[Ain't_It_Just_]

VampireGoat;275465 said:

according to the character index at the front of gotm, Korlat is actually related to Serrat(sp?) who was Rakes current second in command so I assume she was originally korlat's sister. Orfantal was just some other andii female

Speaking of Korlat and Orfy....

I recall at the end of MoI that Rake wanted the two to seek Kallor out, or something along those lines. it's possible that in TtT, or in DoD perhaps (depending on when Kallor reenters the story) we will see a Korlat/Orfantal storyline, like Mappo and Iccy. Travelling, looking for clues and shit. Like Pearl and the lovely Lostara Yil.

[Lisheo]

Altho i hope this one doesnt have a tragic ending. Pearl and Yil was my favourite storyline of tBH, actually.

[Sindriss]

No copy of the book with me, but Pearl died already so the ending is already tragic ?

[Lisheo]

Aye, I was just commenting on it lol, saying I hope this one aint as bad. I cried a bit for pearl lol, after many re-reads, he's managed to make it to my Fav Characters List.

[lobo the wolfman]

Just wanted to add my thanks not just to Steve (big thanks anyway!!) but to Hetan, Malaclypse and all the other people who i don't know but have worked to run this site, give us gifts like the prologue and made it possable for like minded folk to chat about a common interset.

Cheers

[mmdw45]

Imperial Historian;273701 said:

because as the timeline currently stands, ruin and co have been wandering through lether for at least 10 years, possibly more between the end of MT and RG, which is something of a problem, but one we decided to solve by simply ignoring it. Oh and if there's a quote putting a timeframe on silchas' wanderings, i've not found it, and I spent long enough looking.

Well, at least that makes it a little bit more understandable (?) that Kettle is accustomed to being raped by strange men, per the first few chapters of RG. (I feel icky just typing that.) "The usual way. With that thing between his legs." If they've been wandering for 10 years she's 18 or 20 instead of 8.

-Max

[Kalahinen]

But does she age? Or is she still an unageing undead? Can't remember this...