Forge of Darkness; Prelude and Part One: In these Gifts the shape of Adoration, chpaters 1-5

[Cameron]

Hello all! I don't know if anyone is still following this thread, but if you are I need some help... Erikson is making my brain hurt per usual.

So, Menandore and Sukul Ankhadu are daughters of Tiam & Osserc and Shelthara Lore is the Daughter of Tiam and Scabandari right?

In FOD I am coming across a younger Osserc and Scabandari and three eerily similar names to Menandore, Sukul Ankhadu, and Sheltatha Lore.

Who are these new ladies in FOD? They can't be the mothers of M/SL/SA because they are daughters of Tiam... and it seems like Osserc/Scabandari are around the same age as these 3 ladies (or younger) with similar names to Menandore, Sukul Ankhadu, and Sheltatha Lore.

Am I missing something? Is this a RAFO? If so, I will be happy to be confused for a later reveal :)

I am good for spoilers for any other Erikson or ICE book as this is my last one.

Thanks for your help!

[Lee]

I have always believed that daughters of Tiam mean that they are sole taken, have taken the blood of Tiam. Rather than a physical birthed by.
Gods I am looking forward to reading this book again.

[David Sven]

I agree with Lee - the text makes more sense if you take Tiam's "motherhood" as figurative. She is the mother of all Elient and all soletaken Elient who have drunk her blood. The confusion comes in that confrontation in MT where we learn Osserc and Tiam were lovers, Menandore and Sukul are Osserc's daughters, and then Tiam is said to be their mother. So it's natural to conclude that the sisters were Tiam's natural children by Osserc and Tiam - but it's a very roundabout way of saying it. But if Tiam's motherhood is figurative then it makes sense why the sisters seemed antagonistic towards Osserc for consorting with Tiam, - as though he were betraying their biological mother - and the whole passage in MT makes more sense in general, because I think at one point they assert that they are all Tiam's children including Osserc.

[Cameron]

Ahhh that makes sense. I guess I can take it the same way as Anomander is the "son" of Mother Dark.

Age is another thing that is tripping me up. Osserc is portrayed as an adolescent and itt seems to me in FoD that Sukul seems around the same age. The whole these Tiste live for hundreds of years makes it tough to gauge how old they are though.

This book is great so far though... Nice change after reading all of ICE's books. The world just feels right again.