Malazan Reread of the Fallen SPOILER Thread

[TorChris]

Welcome to the Malazan Reread of the Fallen, by Bill Capossere and Amanda Rutter!

Since the Malazan Reread needs to walk a fine line between wanting to talk spoilers and respecting the pace of the reread, we thought we'd set up a separate thread here on the forums for Malazan fans to really dig into spoiler-heavy theories alongside Bill & Amanda's substantial analyses.

Non-spoiler discussion is also happening in the latest reread post, which you can reach at the above series index link.

[RobMRobM]

** sound of crickets chirping **

OK, someone's going to have to walk me through some of the Elder Gods. I don't get Krul or Burn.

[shalter]

Burn isn't actually an Elder God. She is the goddess representing the planet. At what time she becomes the planetary goddess isn't particularly clear.
Currently she is sleeping and dreaming rather than actively fighting the Crippled God. Fighting would basically involve destroying the surface of the planet. People see this as a bad thing :-)

K'rul was the Elder god who (in some fashion) 'created the warrens in their current form. He was essentially put to sleep by losing worshipers through Kallor's curse. When blood was spilled in his temple in GotM, he reawakened and we see him in Kruppe's dreams.

[HArai]

shalter covered the highlights, is there anything specific we can take a shot at clearing up for you?

[Tektonica]

Oh this is nice! Thanks for starting this HArai.

I just finished Toll the Hounds. Some heavy lifting there. I did enjoy it for the most part, but it was a bit overwrought, imho. Some significant info though, and much philosophizing.

Question: Could someone elaborate on the end in Dragnipur, please?
The crazy man painted tatoos on everyone in the wagon, which became some kind of net that Rake uses when he "enters?" the gate and he "disintegrates?" He goes to meet Mother Dark or merge with her? But she is already in the world in the form of Ananda, with Nimander, correct? Ap'salar gets freed and steals the eye of the child god thing/man in the wagon and gives it to Rake as a souvenier....is that just humor or is there significance to that? Is the wagon some kind of plug or door to Kurald Galain? Protecting it from chaos? (Nice to see Whiskeyjack). OK...I'm confused...help!

I did love the reverence shown to Rake by Brood and all. He is an amazing character. It did make me sad that Nimander, etal., didn't get to meet up with him. And I would've loved to have seen Clip humbled. Grrrrr.

It was fun having Spindle back. I found the whole fallen god/clip/Andii children wandering lost in the desert/kelyk/Salind/Seerdomin story line pretty tedious, but did enjoy being back in Darujhustan with Kruppe, The Noms, the Bridgeburners...sad story, Cutter/Challice....more sadness, Murillio/Stonny/Harllo. Lot's meat in there!

[HArai]

Oh, I can't take any credit for this Tektonica. I was actually just refering to RobMRobM's questions about Burn and K'rul: I thought Shalter did a good job explaining them, I was just expressing willingness to discuss

The wagon was a construct keeping the gate in motion. The gate had to be kept in motion because it was constantly followed by Chaos. The gate is apparently to Mother Dark's current location, which seems to be distinct from Kurald Galain. And the rest of your questions tells me I need to re-read Toll the Hounds again. This is not a bad thing but probably someone else can fill in some more. There's more Nimander and company by the way, and I suspect Rake would have just blown Clip off, judging from his comments in GotM.

[amphibian]

Question: Could someone elaborate on the end in Dragnipur, please?

The crazy man painted tatoos on everyone in the wagon, which became some kind of net that Rake uses when he "enters?" the gate and he "disintegrates?" He goes to meet Mother Dark or merge with her? But she is already in the world in the form of Ananda, with Nimander, correct? Ap'salar gets freed and steals the eye of the child god thing/man in the wagon and gives it to Rake as a souvenier....is that just humor or is there significance to that? Is the wagon some kind of plug or door to Kurald Galain? Protecting it from chaos? (Nice to see Whiskeyjack). OK...I'm confused...help!

The wagon was an armored truck holding the portal to Darkness within it. Mother Dark has been trapped on the other side of the portal for a very long time - but she can sort of leak her presence out a little bit. She is not the only person within Dragnipur who can project a tiny portion of themselves into the worlds beyond the sword.

Kadaspala (the crazy tattooer) was an Andii sorcerer. His origins aren't quite known, but he probably ended up in the sword some time after Anomander killed Draconus (which may have been before the Andii were broken apart by civil war).

The tattoos, written in blood, ink, dirt and whatever else Kadaspala used upon the flesh and the wagon, were triggered by the arrival of Rake to produce a map, a ward and a god, who is driven by a single purpose: to kill Anomander Rake.

Ditch's compassion let the child-god turn aside, kill its maker and give its power over to Rake's purpose, which was to crack asunder Dragnipur's power and free the gate to Darkness to wander once more (as was once the natural state of affairs). Apsalara stole his eye to give to Rake. The eye serves as a repository of power (see Feather Witch and the Errant).

Rake then allowed the gate to tear him into shreds and free itself from the wagon and from Dragnipur's constraints. This then freed Mother Dark to act in a way she hadn't been able to for eons.

Aranatha had been Mother Dark for a long time. She had some sort of mental problem in which she wasn't really there and Mother Dark sort of eased her aside to assume the reins from within the sword.

[HArai]

Oh, and I just wanted to say I fully agree with you Tektonica about what an amazing character Rake is. He's one of the few among the truly powerful ascendants we see that really tries to earn the respect he's given. Even those that violently oppose him know he walks the walk and respect that. He tries very hard to be a good leader to his people and he pulls off this amazing feat of sacrifice to try to make up for his own past mistakes and reconnect Mother Dark to the Tiste Andii. Plus extra bonus repercussions as you'll see when you finish the series

ETA: see I was sure someone could fill in the details! Thanks Amphibian

[lostinshadow]

yippiee! finally place for full on discussion - though I'm a bit scared since I still haven't read the crippled god

[Tektonica]

Thanks Amphibian and HArai! That really helps...although it seems terribly convoluted and complex. How did you figure all that out? Is there an encyclopedia somewhere with all these facts? LOL.

I've taken a bit of a pause in my reading before plunging into DoD, as we've been moving and renovating for a month. Hopefully I can find reading time again soon. My eyes close after 5 minutes at night now. Sigh. I love these books!