User:Apoorv020/List of major characters in Malazan Universe

This is a list of major characters in the fictional series Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Humans

Kellanved

A magician of Dal Honese, he was the leader of one of the factions opposing the rule of Mock in Malaz City. He gained an unassailable base of operations in the Deadhouse, the Azath House of Malaz City. With a small amount of followers, Kellanved overthrew Mock and his criminal organization and established himself as the supreme ruler of Malaz Island. Using the refugee Napans, hungry for vengeance against Unta, as the core of his military and magical forces, Kellanved led Malaz in a war against the mainland, against the odds seizing Unta and expanding across the continent of Quon Tali.

Over the next century, the Malazan Empire sprawled across Quon Tali, eventually seizing control of the entire continent. During this time Emperor Kellanved discovered the former First Throne and took seat upon it, gaining control of the clans of the undead T'lan Imass. Despite the vast and formidable power of the undead army, Kellanved used the undead warriors sparingly. During one incident the Imass - apparently acting on the orders of Clawmaster Surly - believing the orders to come from Kellanved - brutally sacked the Holy City of Aren, slaughtering the inhabitants en masse. After this incident, Kellanved apparently did not use the overwhelming military might of the Imass again.

Kellanved and Dancer often disappeared for long periods in search of more tools and knowledge for gaining power. During one of these absences, Surly ordered the assassination of Dassem. Some time later, during a convergence in Malaz City, Surly ordered an assassination of Kellanved and Dancer, while they attempted to become Ascendants. The assassination failed and Kellanved became Shadowthrone, ruler of the realm of shadows. However, Surly let out that the assassination was succesful and soon after usurped the throne.

Though Malazans normally viewed Kellanved with awe, they were usually not very loyal to him personally. Several characters have said that they considered Kellanved mad.

Dancer

Dancer was the close companion of Kallanved, the emperor of the Malazan Empire. He was an assassin by profession. He was a member of the group that Kallanved used to overthrow Mock and establish the Malazan empire. After the establishment of the Empire, he founded an organization called the Talon, which was in charge of information collection and assassination. Dancer ascended at the same time as Kallanved, to become Cotillion ( or the Rope), patron of assassins and Assassin of House Shadow.

Dujek

Dujek Onearm joined Kallanved as a child and was part of the group that overthrew Mock's rule under Kellanved to establish the Malazan Empire. His origins are unknown, as is his position during the rule of Kellanved. He was placed in charge of the 2nd army by Laseen after she became Empress, and led the 2nd, 5th and 6th Armies in the conquest of the Free Cities. After the battle of Pale, he led a rebellion against the Empress and allied with Annomander Rake and Caladan Brood.

He was killed in Seven Cities, by a plague spread by the goddess Poliel.

Amaron

Shift to minor.

Hawl

Shift to minor.

Nok

Shift to minor.

Surly

1. Napan princess in exile, joined Kellanved's group.
2. Top assassin, founded the Claw.
3. Ordered assassination of Dassem, failed. Ordered assassination of Kellanved and Dancer, failed.
4. Took over the throne and a new name Laseen, meaning thronemaster in Napan

Ganoes Stabro Paran

1. Family/Early Life
2. Conversation with Whiskeyjack
3. Lieutenant, Slaughter at Ikto Kan, Meeting Adjunct
4. Spends 3 years in army
5. Assigned to bridgeburners
6. Killed by Sorry, bargains with Oponn, granted life again, rescued by Tattersail
7. Tattersail and Paran fall in love
8. Battle with Hairlock, confrontation with Rake and time in Dragnipur
9. Travel to Darujhistan, rebellion
10. Captain in assault on ??? and official death
11. Travel to seven cities, assumes command of 2nd Army, unofficial High Fist,Kills Poliel, threatens Soliel.

Ganoes Stabro Paran was the eldest son in the house of Paran. As a boy, he once met Whiskeyjack in Malaz City. Whiskeyjack gave him two points of advice - to lead a life unnoticed by the gods and to not become a solier. However, he joined the military against the wishes of his father (who wanted him to run the family affairs).

He started off as a Lieutenant in Itko Kan and was reassigned to Adjunct Lorn after the massacre of the Nineteenth Regiment of the Itko Kanese Eighth Cavalry by the Hounds of Shadow. She gives him to a secret assignment of finding the unknown recruit who joined during the massacre. Just before the battle of Pale, he is told that the recruit was assigned to Whiskeyjack's squad and thus he is to take command of Whiskeyjack's squad. He starts having doubts about supporting the Empress.

At Pale, Paran was slain by Sorry while she was possessed by Cotillion, and revived by Oponn, the Twin Gods of Chance, with the consequence of his soon to be lover, Tattersail, dying in his place afterwards. He was then pursued by the insane animated puppet Hairlock, who was eventually slain by the Hounds of Shadow. The Hounds would have killed Paran next were it not for the intervention of Anomander Rake, who slew two Hounds. Paran tasted the blood of the dead Hounds and was drawn into the Warren within Dragnipur. Through these actions, Paran became the Master of the Deck of Dragons, Jen'isand Rul (translates from Rhivi as "the Wanderer within the Sword"), and something akin to a Soletaken assuming the form of a Hound - although perhaps larger than the Hounds of Shadow - and assumed a variety of magical abilities of which even he is uncertain of, but include travel through temporarily created cards which only need be drawn (on any surface), the ability to traverse the Houses of the Azath, and the power to summon gods. Paran has since been active on a variety of continents and Warrens, working to oppose the Crippled God and support the Malazan Empire. His most notable action to date as Master of the Deck was to bless High House Chains, forcing it into the role of a one of many Houses in the pantheon rather than allowing it to exist outside of it,and awakening the Deragoth, the Hounds of Darkness. He deserts along with the remaining bridge burners after the battle of Pale, and is officially declared dead in the official records by Dujek.

He became an unofficial High Fist after first impersonating another captain becoming the only officer fit for duty in the remnants of the Malazan 2nd Army decimated by disease. Elected as High Fist by the surviving officers and Fists after instigating the removal of the disease by causing the death of Poliel, Goddess of Disease, and after the Fists read reports that Dujek had written about him.

Ben Adaephon Delat

See also: Magic of the Malazan Book of the Fallen

1. Early life, family, some intro.
2. Joining bridgeburners
3. Battle in Pale
4. Role in Darujhistan
5. Battle for first throne (of the Tlan Imass)
6. Battle for the seed of the Azath
7. (Death in?) Battle with the K'chain Mealle

The thin, black-skinned mage is a former priest of Shadow from the Seven Cities. He encountered the Bridgeburners in the Holy Desert Raraku when in the employ of one of the Seven Holy Protectors during a rebellion originating in Aren. He and eleven other mages made up the Protector’s cadre. The eleven throughout the flight in the desert gave their souls and power to Quick Ben rather than dying. At the end of Quick Ben's flight, Whiskeyjack uncovers Quick Ben and Kalam's scheme, but instead of fighting, Quick Ben and Kalam join the Bridgeburners. This left him with access to 12 warrens, of which he could use 7 simultaneously . One of the mages was also noted as a Soletaken and other characters in the books have suggested at times that there was a "whiff" of soletaken about him.

Kalam

1. Origin, joining bridgeburners.
2. Darujhistan
3. whirlwind, romance
4. Failed Assassination of Laseen

Kalam was once an assassin for the Holy Falah'dan's, a religious leader in the Seven Cities. He was recruited by the Malazan Empire's assassin sect and secret police, the Claw, who gave him command of one of their units. The recruitment is a testament to Kalam's skill as an assassin, as the Claw normally eliminates, rather than recruits its competition, and prefers to train children to be members from birth. Further proof of his skills was that he was allowed to leave the Claw. He is black-skinned and has a northern Seven Cities accent.

Kalam's first appearance in the series is in the beginning of Gardens of the Moon outside the city of Pale, where he assists the remainder of the Bridgeburners in shifting the soul of the mage Hairlock. Afterwards, he attempts to assassinate Laseen and fails. While escaping afterwards, he is wounded heavily but is taken to safety inside the Azath deadhouse.

Whiskeyjack

Once the commander of the second and the third army, then demoted when Empress Laseen inverted the command structure.

In the 96th year of the Malazan Empire, during the final year of the Emperor Kellanved, Whiskeyjack speaks to the young Ganoes Paran. Paran tells Whiskeyjack that he wants to be a soldier, to Whiskeyjack's disapproval. In the book Memories of Ice, Whiskeyjack was promoted to High Fist Dujek's second-in-command. He befriends the Tiste Andii Anomander Rake, and becomes lovers with another Tiste Andii named Korlat, a Soletaken Eleint, which is the Elder name for a Soletaken Dragon. And at the end of the book, he is slain by the High King Kallor (while defending Silverfox), Caladan Brood's second in command. In response to this, Korlat and her brother Orfantal vow to avenge the death of Whiskeyjack.

In Toll the Hounds, Whiskeyjack is revealed as the leader of Hood's army (going by his Seven Cities moniker, Iskar Jarak) to save the warren of darkness travelling within the sword Dragnipur from Chaos.

Whiskeyjack has a sister named Dunsparrow, who was last seen involved with Leoman of the Flails and the Queen of Dreams.

Apsalar

Apsalar was also known as Sorry during her possession by Cotillion, the patron of assassins.

Her story begins in the Gardens of the Moon with her possession on Itko Kan, with the goal of assassinating the Malazan Empress Laseen. Following her possession the Nineteenth Regiment of the Itko Kanese Eighth Cavalry was massacred by the Hounds of Shadow, thus bringing in the young Lieutenant Ganoes Paran.

On Genabackis, Anomander Rake confronts Shadowthrone, which ends with Shadowthrone ordering Cotillion to release her. Wandering lost on the plains, she has forgotten her real name. She meets Crokus Younghand, a young Daru thief, who gifts her with the name Apsalar from the patron Goddess of thieves. The two fall in love. In Deadhouse Gates, Apsalar rediscovers the God's mortal memories as Dancer, right-hand man to the departed Emperor Kellanved, and all the deadly assassin's tricks that come from him. In order to protect Crokus, Apsalar decides to leave him and work for the Shadow gods. In The Bonehunters, Apsalar is depressed and upset for leaving Crokus. She is working on a list of assassinations for the Shadow gods which brings her back into the fold of the 14th Army. In the ensuing events, Crokus (now called Cutter) is thought dead by Apsalar and Cotillion, which causes her to break down en route to Malaz City. In Malaz, she unleashes her shadow dancing talents, enabling her to obliterate a full gauntlet of Claw assassins (the Empire's Assassin cult) without getting a scratch, this is at the same time of Adjunct Tavore Paran, Kalam, and T'amber's retreat from Mock's Hold.

Invading races

Tistu Andii

Annomander Rake

See [Rake]