The Malazan Fallen discussion
This topic is about
Memories of Ice
Group Read - Memories of Ice
>
MOI - Chapter Twenty - NO SPOILERS
date
newest »
newest »
The end of this chapter sent me scurrying to the map to see how far away Assail is. Answer, much too close. What kind of human can kill tens of thousands of T'lan Imass? Not good. I guess the current threat wasn't enough :(
Mod
And it turns out that Baaljaag is Fanderay, Togg's lost mate and she's coming for Tog/Toc
Baaljagg would not be discouraged. A goddess hid within her, driving ever onward, ever onward, to find her mate.
The irony that the two gods had walked side by side unknowingly is not lost on Toc
The mate who hides within me. We’d travelled, side by side, all unknowing of the secrets within each other. Ah, such brutal irony . . ..
We learn that the two lovers were separated when the Crippled god fell.
But what drove them apart? How goes the tale? Then one day horror visited the land. Horror from the dark sky. Descending to shatter the world. And so the lovers were thrown apart, never again to embrace.
And their kin are the T'lan Ay
Two ancient gods, once mere spirits, the first to run with mortals – those T’lan Imass of flesh and blood of so long ago – the most ancient of companions. And their kin, who followed in kind, and run still with the T’lan Imass.
And they want Silverfox to release those kin back to them - or else
The Shield Anvil spoke again, ‘Bonecaster, Summoner of the Second Gathering of the T’lan Imass, I formally ask that you yield the T’lan Ay – the children of our gods.’
‘Yet they were joined in the Ritual of Tellann, the First Gathering—’
‘They were ... encompassed. In ignorance. Bound by loyalty and love to the flesh and blood Imass. As a result, they lost their souls. Sir, my gods are coming, and in their cries – which now visit me each night in my dreams – they demand . . . reparation.’
And it turns out that Keruli is in fact K'rul himslef - or at least a limited physical manifestation of
‘This is no priest sitting before you, Warlord!’ the warrior rasped. ‘It is an Elder God! K’rul himself....’
...‘A limited manifestation,’ Keruli said, then, ‘to be more precise.’
And Rath'Burn is put in her place. She's insisting that Burn gave Brood the Hammer to break her chains and that he should do do. That he had no choice - either he breaks the chains and sees all life destroyed but able to restart - or wait till burn dies in which case all life is destroyed but with no restart. It turns out Burn gave Brood the Hammer because she trusted him to find another way altogether
"...She gave to me the weapon, and gave to me the freedom to choose. It has taken a long while for me to understand what else she gave to me...."
‘...Burn’s faith,’ K’rul said. ‘That you would find a third choice.’
Mod
So Erikson continues to surprise me with the depth of his writing, in reading this much slower than I did last time I find myseld enjoying the little bits that have so much meaning.
'You are welcome, Malazan. These winds were once warm. Come, lean on me while we walk – your weight is as nothing.'
They slowly made their way towards the building. 'Easily borne, you mean.'
'I did not say that, Malazan. I did not say that.'
Humanity in the Seerdomin! Take the story of the Seerdomin as a youth and this comment in the bigger picture of the story and it really does give a great insight into how much knowledge SE has of his characters. That last line was so unexpected, that when I read it, I sat back and thought wow!
Anaster and now the Seerdomin, even the truly evil guys seem to keep a shred of their humanity and empathy, even when they are at their foulest deeds, there is a part of them reaching out.
Considering the size and scope of the story, I am over awed that SE takes the time to write this type of stuff in.
Yeah. That part really stood out for me too and yet I wondered how the Seer has power over him.
Mod
Mod
I love how Erikson brings the pettyness out in people. Rath'Shadow is really showing his colours with this exchange and Stonny is tearing him apart with each comment. I wonder if your god knows how small your brain is?
Baaljagg. I did think briefly of her, but couldn't remember whether she was male or female, and when I checked her first appearance in chapter 1 I found: Garath, go join your brother in greeting our desiccated guest. Of course, if I'd paid attention to her telepathy with Toc in chapter 7, it would have been obvious she was the beast-goddess.
Mod
Mod
It will be interesting to find out exactly what happened there. I can't remember off the top of my head.
Mod
I had a feeling there was something previous to when I first remembered seeing one!
I'm also dying to find out - well, a bit scared to find out, really - what's happening on Assail, and whether it has anything to do with the Forkrul Assail, who are supposed to have vanished, though we never found the need to fight them, according to Pran Chole in GotM 11.Looking at that passage, I also see the K'chain Che'Malle are no more - the ice spoke to them with words of death, which sounds possibly at odds with Kallor's story of their destruction by the Short-tails.
Mod
That's an interesting quote from the first book. I'd forgotten all about it.
If you took both accounts as true then it would possibly mean the survivors of the K'chain Che'Malle catastrophe could not survive the rise of the Jaghut. Pran Chloe's original statement is a little sparse though.
Kallor on the other hand is going off the conclusions of his scholars after archaeological digs on Jacuruku when he still ruled there. So he doesn't have first hand knowledge - but then neither would P'ran Chloe. I would be inclined to think the Imass may have encountered K'Chain remains in Ice as they pursued the Jaghut and drew there own conclusions?
Mod
David Sven wrote: "And it turns out that Keruli is in fact K'rul himslef - or at least a limited physical manifestation."
Yeah. Too bad you kind of spoiled this at the begining. :-D
Hopefully I scolded you fast enough so that I was the only one spoiled. Though initially I was thinking it might be Kruppe since he's got ties to K'rul, but I was pretty confident that it was K'rul for most of the book.
Oh and the part with Rath'Burn and the hammer was HILARIOUS.
Mod
I find it funny that Quick Ben went all badass with his warrens to take them out. Meanwhile, Picker and Blend just knock them out for talking down to Picker. lol.
Mod
Yes
Rob wrote: "I find it funny that Quick Ben went all badass with his warrens to take them out. Meanwhile, Picker and Blend just knock them out for talking down to Picker. lol. "
I just like how they always end up horizontal the whole book - like when Korbal Broach goes flying after being backhanded by Pran Chloe. It doesn't appear the Imass appreciated Korbal's fascination with their undead ritual.
Mod
I remember in my first read coming out of this book completely confused with the whole Treach/Trake Fandaray/Togg scene. This time round I am only somewhat confused.
Mod
That all went over my head on my first read
Mod
Mod
I wasn't at all confused about Tog/Fanderay and was gobsmacked by that. I'm still confused by Toc and for some reason can't retain the myriad of things that happen to him, ex when he lost his eye, the exchanges with Tog. This time I'm getting the Fener/Treach stuff.
Mod
Finally catching up! You guys got all the interesting scenes covered so i'll go for a few that made me smile.Blend & Picker
"No doubt there's a tale there"
"Indeed, but it's not relevant."
"Meaning, you don't know it."
"Precisely"
Kruppe (still love him!)
"A moment please, while Kruppe's formidable yet sadly short legs propel self hastily into your company"
(This is kind of a metaphor for me constantly in catching-up mode! :D)
And then there's Lady Envy,
"Oh my, how shall we follow Tool across... this? And why is he not a T'lan Elephant or a T'lan Whale, so he could carry us on his back?"
Mod
She is! I really like her and i was very glad to see her name pop up in this chapter. I hope that she will be very present in the next 4 chapters?!
Mod
I liked her the first time around, this time I'm getting a huge kick out of her! I love that even after hundreds of thousands of years, her personality is still all there, plucky, flirtatious, tempestuous.
Hanne wrote: "And then there's Lady Envy,"Oh my, how shall we follow Tool across... this? And why is he not a T'lan Elephant or a T'lan Whale, so he could carry us on his back?" "
Glad you quoted that part, it really cracked me up. Lady Envy doesn't allow anyone their dignity, does she, not even the First Sword of the T'lan Imass!
I loved this chapter! Especially the imagery in the last part. I find this conversation hilarious -
'And I would gossip!' Hetan shouted. 'Shield Anvil! Itkovian holds to vows no longer, true? I can bed him—'
'If you can catch him,' the Grey Sword replied, one brow arching. 'If he had fifty legs I could still catch him! Silverfox! What of Kruppe, hey?'
The Bonecaster blinked. 'What of him?'
'You're a big woman. You could trap him under you! Leave him squealing!'
'What a horrifying image.'
The last part with the T'lan Imass - Lanas Tog - has me wondering. He describes a battle on the Assail continent, which is kind of to the south/southeast.
And earlier, we had this conversation between Itkovian and Cafal, which mentions a continent to the south-east -
'Aye. The Founding Spirits drove the T'isten'ur from the Blue Wastes, drove the
demons back into their underworld, the Forest of Shadows - a realm said to lie far to the
southeast...'
'Another continent, perhaps.'
'Perhaps.'
'You are discovering the truth behind your oldest legends, Cafal. In my home of Elingarth, far to the south of here, there are stories of a distant continent in the direction
you have indicated. A land, sir, of giant firs and redwoods and spruce - a forest
unbroken, its feet hidden in shadows and peopled with deadly wraiths.
This is obviously pure guesswork, but I just feel they might be referring to Assail.
I'm really liking Lady Envy atm. She provides some great lines and her interactions with the Seguleh are really amusing. I hope we get to see behind the façade of irreverence to get an insight into her character. Presumably there's a lot more to her than we've seen given that she's hundreds of thousands of years old and the daughter of an elder god. The Picker/Blend beat-down on the necromancers was great. In addition to being funny it opened up a really interesting dynamic that I hope will be explored more in this world. Powerful sorcerers who are used to being involved with gods and demons were jumped by a couple of unimportant 'grunts'. With all of the uber-powerful beings Erikson crams into his story at every chance I'd really like to see more of lowly mortals exploiting their vulnerabilities.
More humanity from the bad-guys which is awesome. Really fleshes out the conflict. I'm also now really interested to find out what's going on over at 'Assail'.
Do we ever find out what humans fought the Imass in Assail? I have zero memory of that. I don't recall visiting Assail at all in the series.
Assail is not visited, only referred to in the series. Haven't read "Assail," yet, but assuming that to be rather enlightening. So, we do not know with certainty which humans were fighting the Imass.
There's also a little bit of reference to Assail in Return of the Crimson Guard but I'm a bit sketchy on the details.
A tale of mores, told with the purpose of no resolution. Its meaning, gentle readers, lies not in a soul-warming conclusion, but in all that is unattainable in this world.
Who then could have imagined such closure?
Winter's Love
Silbaratha