u/OrthodoxReporter

I just read the part where the Errant pays Menandore a visit, followed by the meeting between Menandore, Shadowthrone and Hood. And while Menandore and ST came to an agreement of mutual assistance, Hood despite attending the meeting didn't seem to be involved. So why was he there?

Gods of Death/the Dead often are also associated with the role of arbiter, is that why he was there, as a witness/to ratify the agreement? If yes, does that mean there is a kind of formal hierarchical structure between the (non-Elder) gods that hasn't been talked about yet? So far it seemed to me like the gods all do whatever they want without having to adhere to any kind of code or laws, as long as they have the power and influence to do so.

-Kalam makes his decision: I kinda had settled into the belief that the Kalam and QB Dynamic Duo would be a mainstay of the series (because they're so fun to read), but once Kalam started thinking about making a choice, I knew it was over for him. Getting dragged into the Deadhouse was a surprise, but I fully expect him to be isolated in there for the rest of the series (cmon Steven, prove me wrong again). I dread the effect his loss will have on QB. Fiddler already seemed to expect it when he played his dirge.

I think his final rampage through the Claw was badass, and in my mind the Mick Gordon Doom OST was playing the entire time, but the sequence overstayed it's welcome a little bit.

-Apsalar cleans the streets: the complete opposite of Kalam's protracted, visceral last stand. The brevity and detachment with which her obliteration of the Claw was described felt really fitting and made Shadowthrone's reveal of the ridiculous number of Claws she killed more shocking. That being said, it's pretty sad that Apsalar ends the book in the exact same miserable state she started it in.

-Her Imperial Majesty: at this point, barring any future additional information, I can't view Laseen as anything but an abject failure. She can hide behind her Realpolitik excuses all she wants, but getting in bed with Mallick Rel and Korbolo Dom and losing Tavore, the Fourteenth, the Perish, Kalam and Quick Ben over it is idiotic and a mistake, and as former Mistress of the Claw she should know that. Speaking of which, the fact that she lost her grip on the Claw, the one thing her power is built on, to the point that it could get infiltrated and turned by Mallick Rel's agents, further adds to her complete failure. And of course, besmirching the names of Coltaine, Duiker, the Wickans, the Seventh and the Khundryl is unforgivable.

-(Dis)Honoring the heroes: the Chain of Dogs has in my eyes quickly established itself as a literary event with only very few equals. The magnitude of heroism and tragedy Erikson managed to put on the page with it is staggering. And I absolutely love how central this event is to the story even four gigantic books later. A stroke of genius by Erikson, really.

-Anime battle: The defense of the First Throne was a stellar combat sequence, and Icarium was absolutely terrifying once he got going. The storm building around him, tearing apart combatants and the environment was something straight out of Dragon Ball. Trull's showcase of singular skill with the spear. Quick Ben finally unleashing the brute force of his warrens again. It was all so awesome to read, it almost made me forget that I just read about child soldiers getting slaughtered. No matter how bad Cotillion feels sitting on that piece of rock at the end, it's not bad enough. I guess it's something that he still has a conscience, at least, since Shadowthrone doesn't seem to have one.

Alright, so it took me almost six entire books to figure out that reading this series when already tired might not be such a great idea.

Anyway, just finished Chapter 20. I think I got the overall gist, but as always when these big events in Malazan go down, I have questions.

1. This is a yes/no question for my peace of mind. Please tell me if the whole Jade Statue/Souls in the Jade/Meteor strike thing will be explained in the future or not. In any other series I would not worry about this going unexplained, but in this one I do not put it past Erikson to just let it be an unexplained thing that just kinda happened.

2. In his inner monologue, Heboric goes on about how "everything he did could not be forgiven". I don't know if I just don't remember or missed it, but afaik Heboric has never done anything terrible, let alone unforgivable. Is he just blaming himself for things that aren't actually his fault, e.g. what happened to Felisin Elder from the mining camp onwards?

3. Heboric thinks about how Treach first had to die to ascend to full godhood, and connects this to himself having had to die first to be able to fulfill his role as Shield Anvil, thus mirroring his patron god. If this is actually how it works, why did Gruntle not have to die to become Treach's Mortal Sword? Actually, I'm not a big fan of the Heboric Destriant-to-Shield Anvil switcheroo.

4. This is not a Chapter 20 thing, but it's been gnawing at me ever since. The short-tail K'Chain Karsa kills early on in the book. I'm not sure if I got the order of events right. So the Malazan garrison holed up in that fortress dug through the fortress floor because they needed a latrine pit, discovered the short-tail imprisoned on that spiky platform, but continued to use the pit as latrine anyway, then at some point the K'Chain got loose and killed the entire garrison? Does that sound correct?

For the last week I've been experimenting with a Rake/Rapid Assault Bleed Gemling. I'm not using PoB, just trying out how various things feel. On the offensive side, I think the build is fine, Rake and Herald of Blood with the Poison Bleed prolif tech take care of clear and Rapid Assault spearhead detonations produce fairly big bleeds for ST thanks to the 40% MORE bleed magnitude from the alt quality. Also Constricting Command tech helps a lot. Currently running 4modded T15s with my gear still being fairly bad.

From early maps until T15 I was running a Brass Dome Runic Ward setup for defense, which went fairly smoothly. On reaching T15s, I switched to full EV/Deflection pieces I still had from a previous build. After conditional increases like the Surrounded nodes, Wind Dancer and Virtuous Barrier, the build currently has EV rating in the 20k range and 9k Deflection. 30% Block, 2.5k Life.

The first 6modded T15 I attempted, I walked into a Rare that immediately killed me with a oneshot. That scenario of course is the big weakness of EV builds, if one big hit gets through, you're toast. Which of course also is even worse for a melee build.

Now, obviously I could still get a lot better gear and see how that feels. But my instincts tell me to just pivot to full armour and armour applies to elemental. Or maybe AR/EV hybrid, but that just sounds like a worse half measure to me and I have no experience with that setup.

Does anyone have any experience/insight in similar scenarios to share?

From earlier questions on this sub I know that Erikson's timelines are intentionally vague and unreliable, but this case is starting to feel like it might be a plot device? I'm starting to get the sneaking suspicion that something is wrong with the flow of time on the continent of Lether.

Early on, Kuru Qan was telling Brys that he thinks one or more decimals were dropped in regards to the history of the Letherii and their First Empire origins. This was the first instance that drew my attention.

Then the book gave insights into Edur society, and I started to wonder. Like the Andii and Liosan, the Edur seem to be extremely long-lived (still unclear if they're functionally immortal). But in contrast to the Andii, they don't seem to have an issue with low birth rates caused by...racial depression would be a fitting description, I guess?

The Sengar family has 4 children, and there is a good number of young/unblooded warriors. If the Edur, according to the prologue, have been there for 300k years, live very long lives, and have decent birth rates, shouldn't their overall population be absolutely gargantuan by this point? Something feels off here.

Then there was the info given by Silchas Ruin to Kettle about how Gothos freezing a large portion of the continent has twisted the flow of the afterlife on Lether. Freezing is stasis, so it doesn't sound too far-fetched it might have twisted the flow of time as well.

Then we get to the most recent example that finally motivated me to make this post. When Seren Pedac is being philosophical in the Tarthenal sacred grove, we get insight into the history of the Letherii conquest of the Tarthenal. According to Seren, it's been "tens of centuries" since the grove had worshippers (presumably she doesn't know about the old Tarthenal we learn about after this). Right after this, she's thinking about how the Letherii almost genocided the Tarthenal "by then", the by then clearly being in reference to the tens of centuries. But we also know, and indeed Seren references this again here, that Hull Beddict was unwittingly instrumental in the destruction of the Tarthenal, Nerek and Faraed cultures. And Hull Beddict is still alive, as we well know. So what's going on here?

Am I just falling victim to Erikson's vague treatment of time and unreliable narrators, or am I genuinely on to something? Because to me, this starts feeling intentional.

I'm halfway through the book, Brys is currently attending the King's strategy meeting.

Every time the Azath Tower and Kettle have come up in the book, I've been wondering about this: According to Kettle, there is a conflict going on amongst the Azath's prisoners. The Azath Tower has been growing weaker, and eventually died, because trapping Silchas Ruin and Daughter Dusk (according to Osric) was too much even for an Azath. This weakening has allowed the prisoners some "freedom", and chiefly among them, a group of five Toblakai (which I suspect are the five deities of the Tarthenal tribe that have been mentioned once) have been at work killing the other inmates.

Where/how is this fighting happening? Are there catacombs beneath the Azath grounds? Are the prisoners... burrowing around? Is all of this happening in a pocket warren?

Also, was Kettle the Azath Tower's Keeper, like Gothos and Raest?

Talking about Hannan Mosag and basically the entire Hiroth/Edur nobility just accepting Rhulad as Emperor. I get it, someone returning from the dead is a special event, but I find it hard to believe that in a world where a lot of freaky magic is commonplace, this would be enough to dethrone the current ruler in favor of someone who basically was an unruly youth until recently and is now clearly unhinged.

Is it maybe because of the Edur culture? In HoC, Trull tells Onrack that the Edur essentially just do "mental gymnastics" to make anything fit what they see as their destiny. Not really sure if that is connected to what's going on with Rhulad.

Also, because of that "Look away to see." part at the start of the book, I've been absolutely paranoid while reading this one. I'm always looking for stuff happening that seems to be inconsequential but might turn out as important, or trying to read between the lines etc.