I’ll be honest: I’m one of the people who initially fell flat on my face the first time I tried to read Gardens of the Moon. The sheer number of new characters leaves many readers thumbing through the earlier chapters again and again, muttering all the while about maybe having missed something. Gods, assassins, soldiers, mages, immortals—Erikson’s debut is rife with all manner of colourful personalities.
But fear not, new readers! Your friendly Malazan holiday rep is here to save you from this fate. Just sit back, relax and enjoy this handy (non-spoiler) beginner’s guide to Erikson’s inimitable characters and the tangled web of factions that connects them…
THE MALAZANS
!["Hunger..." by Shadaan](https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Malazan-Empress.jpg)
The Malazan Empire assimilates each culture it conquers. Most of the books tend to concentrate mainly on its military—but before we begin, here’s a brief overview of those at the very top of the food chain:
Empress Laseen
Formerly known as Surly. Once a bog-standard barmaid… until the night she assassinated the previous Emperor, Kellanved, along with others belonging to the Emperor’s ‘Old Guard’—including his chief adviser, Dancer.
Clawmaster Topper
Unhealthily obsessed with the colour green. Commands a faction of elite assassins known as the Claw who, loyal to Empress Laseen, played an important role in her bloody coup.
Adjunct Lorn
If the Clawmaster is Laseen’s hidden left hand, the Adjunct is undoubtedly his counterpart. Adjunct Lorn is the public face, voice, and sword arm of the Empress, and is fiercely loyal to Laseen (like, Brienne of Tarth-scale loyalty). Lorn wears the Adjunct’s traditional rust-coloured, magic-deadening sword, so there’s no danger of not being recognised (and feared) wherever she goes. But beneath the chip on her shoulder and the trappings of authority, she’s just a woman doing her job.
So that’s the capital. But Gardens of the Moon takes place in the field, so here’s a quick rundown of the imperial army’s key players:
Onearm’s Host
The Malazan army is a motley conglomeration of races, cultures, genders and skillsets. From crossbow-wielding marines and heavyweight frontline fighters to ex-assassins and necromancers, its soldiers are both the heart and the backbone of this series.
Dujek Onearm
Commander (‘High Fist’) of the Malazan campaign on Genabackis (aka. the continent where GotM takes place). Has one arm.
Toc the Younger
Soldier, optimist and son of… Toc the Elder! (Bet you didn’t see that one coming.) Desperately needs someone to buy him a t-shirt that reads ‘Wrong place, wrong time.’ Has one eye.
Tayschrenn
High Mage (aka, top dog). Aloof, enigmatic and uber-powerful. Bit of a worm, though…
Tattersail
Big heart, big magic, big body. Not so much a cougar as a cradle-snatcher…but we all have our flaws.
The Bridgeburners
!["First ones in..." by Shadaan](https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Malazan-Bridgeburners-740x328.jpg)
Remember the “Old Guard” I mentioned above? The ones Empress Laseen is no longer a fan of? Well, most of these guys—now fighting in Onearm’s Host—were as good as part of it. We first meet the Bridgeburners in the aftermath of a sorcery enfilade outside the city of Pale, during which most of their company were “accidentally” decimated by their own side.
Ganoes Paran
Wet-behind-the-ears nobleborn with a habit of inadvertently paving the road to hell. Reluctant buddy of Adjunct Lorn. Recently handed a commission as Captain of the Bridgeburners. Veterans one and all, the Bridgeburners don’t take kindly to highborn officers: Paran is the latest in a long line of Captains, and the grunts are busy planning his “welcome” before he’s even arrived. Poor guy.
Whiskeyjack
Whiskeyjack is The Man: a tough-but-fair, salt-of-the-earth-type soldier. The most well-known Bridgeburner Sergeant, Whiskeyjack also happens to be Dujek Onearm’s BFF and leads his own eclectic squad of Bridgeburner soldiers. Including…
Quick Ben
MMGA (Makes Mages Great Again). Seriously, even if you despise mages you’ll hit it off with Quick Ben: he’s smart-mouthed, highly strung, and perhaps one of the cleverest characters in the whole damn series. Goes to extreme lengths to lurk beneath the high-command radar and appear less powerful than he really is. Certified badass.
Kalam
Also a certified badass. Huge and muscled, ex-Claw Kalam seems an unlikely assassin, though it’s true he can probably crush your skull with his bare hands. But he’s light on his feet and quick with his knives… and always has Quick Ben watching his back.
Hedge
Sapper. Loves playing with munitions more than he loves life itself. Slightly deranged. Invents card games using the Deck of Dragons (aka Tarot cards that most people are afraid to even share a room with).
Fiddler
Hedge’s best friend. Also a sapper/explosives expert/crazy card-game swindler. Surprisingly prescient. Carries a fiddle.
Sorry
You’ll come across a nameless dark-haired fishergirl in one of the earliest chapters. Keep your eye on her, because it isn’t long before she reappears as a creepy-ass recruit named Sorry. There’s something odd about her, alright…and her presence makes even her grizzled tough-as-old-boots squadmates nervous.
As of the opening of GotM, the city of Pale has fallen to the Malazans. This leaves Darujhistan as the last remaining free city on Genabackis… and the location of the story’s big climax.
THE DARU
Darujhistan’s social and political factions are many and varied, but can be loosely divided into four influential groups:
The Council
Nasty bastards. Ostensibly the rulers of Darujhistan, their political strategies consist mainly of bitching, backstabbing, and brown-nosing. Of all the fancy-arsed nobles’ names flung around here the only ones you need to pay attention to are Turban Orr, Lady Simtal and the D’Arle family (and of course, Challice; who the f*ck is Challice?!)
The T’orrud Cabal
Magic bastards. The real power within the city, these shadowy figures are more interested in peace than politics. Led by High Alchemist Baruk, their ranks also include an absent-minded old scholar…and his familiar, a flying monkey known as Moby.
The Guild of Assassins
A small but passionate community of banjo-playing dwarves.
No, not really.
The Phoenix Inn Crowd
A shifty bunch of thieves, cutthroats, beggars, scroungers and miscreants. Naturally, these are the guys we spend most of our time in Darujhistan with, so here’s a quick overview of some of the standouts:
Kruppe
Beneficent Kruppe refers to himself in the third person. But Kruppe’s new (and cheerfully unaware) friends should not let Kruppe’s cherubic appearance and rambling demeanour deceive them: oh, no! For affable Kruppe is a master of sleight of hand; and Kruppe assures dear readers that he is, indeed, far more cunning than they might think.
Crokus Younghand
Thief, but by choice rather than necessity. Astoundingly naïve. (Like, seriously. The dude is oblivious. Adorable, yes. But also facepalm-provokingly oblivious. Consider yourselves warned!)
Rallick Nom
Assassin. Member of the Guild of Assassins. Hates it when other assassins rely on magic instead of assassin-y skills. Enjoys assassinations and long walks up haunted towers (to lie in wait before assassinating someone).
Murillio
Fop. Dandy. Handsome layabout who offers his “services” as an escort to rich women. Also in cahoots with Assassin-y McAssassinface Rallick Nom in a super-secret plan involving their drunken mate, Coll.
Oh, and lastly: be sure to keep an eye out for the mysterious “Eel”. Slippery fellow, that one.
THE “WILD CARDS”
So there you have the Daru. But what about their allies? And what if the Malazans aren’t their only enemies? Finally, let’s meet a few of the free agents. These fantastical figures are some of the most powerful—and unpredictable!—players in Erikson’s long game.
Anomander Rake
!["Blacksword Visits" by Shadaan and thetinyshiloh](https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Malazan-Blacksword-740x402.jpg)
Rake is literally the Son of Darkness. As in, his mum is Mother Dark. This makes him sort of a cross between Ozzy Osbourne and Jesus: ageless, intelligent, and powerful beyond all measure, Rake is the brooding-but-badass leader of the Tiste Andii race.
(FYI: You know how the elves in Lord of the Rings are tall and majestic and distant and cold and also just a little bit depressing? Picture them with midnight skin and moon-white hair. Now imagine that some of them are also capable of shapeshifting into dragons, while others wield primeval magic and weapons with impossible skill. And then—just for kicks—place them all on a colossal flying mountain and name it “Moon’s Spawn”. Are you picturing it? Good. That’s the Tiste Andii.)
Caladan Brood
!["Hammer Time" by Shadaan](https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Malazan-Brood.jpg)
Aka the big bastard with the hammer. (No, not Thor. Different dude; different hammer.)
Caladan Brood doesn’t get all that much page time. Nonetheless, he’s a huge presence throughout the…which, let’s face it, isn’t all that surprising when you take into account the fact that he’s a not-quite-human warlord carrying the only weapon capable of waking the Sleeping Goddess, Burn. Did I mention he’s been carrying that bad boy around for more than a thousand years?
(FYI: Before the events of GotM, Brood and his BFF Rake started a kind of heavy-metal supergroup: Brood’s tribal armies and Rake’s Tiste Andii got together and swore to defend the Free Cities—like Pale and Darujhistan—against the Malazan Empire. They also recruited the legendary Crimson Guard mercenaries, along with other slightly more unsavoury allies. Such as…)
High King Kallor
The third wheel in the Brood/Rake (Brake?) bromance. This grouchy old git is the naysayer of the group…and yet strangely impressive. Ancient, bitter and universally hated, yes. But Kallor is also no slouch with the enormous sword he carries, and despite his age he’s more cunning than a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford. Too bad allies and foes alike mock his self-styled title; and too bad that, despite lugging his decrepit throne along with him everywhere he goes, in actuality he is—in the words of renowned bard H’etfield James– “King Nothing.”
Speaking of lost glory and immortality…
Tool
The first T’lan Imass (undead cavemen tenuously allied with the Malazans) we meet, Onos T’oolan is without doubt the most skilled swordsman among the thousands-strong ranks of walking dead. Don’t get the wrong impression, though, because shambling zombies the Imass ain’t.
Fun fact: a friend of mine once told me he imagines the T’lan Imass to look like Iron Maiden’s skeletal mascot, Eddie. To this day I can’t decide if that makes them more or less terrifying. Either way, Tool is metal AF.
!["Imass" by Shadaan](https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Malazan-Imass.jpg)
It’s all about the little guys
I could happily ramble on forever about ALL THE CHARACTERS in Gardens of the Moon, as well as the factions they represent and the profound motifs they introduce—epic motifs like power attracts power; war destroys the things you love; progress vs stagnation; and mega-shark vs giant octopus…
For now, though, I hope I’ve managed to give new readers a glimpse of what (for me) makes this book so special. Erikson’s tale is essentially about the nature of humanity, and he adopts a more intimate approach to character-building than any other epic fantasy author I’ve encountered. He delights in showing us that the gods are fallible just as much as he revels in portraying the quiet heroism of lowly soldiers. He creates characters who are physically alien or barbaric, but in whom we can nonetheless recognise something of ourselves; and he puts each and every one of his little guys through the wringer. Not because he’s cruel—though some would say that’s a matter for debate!—but because he knows full well that the surest way to evoke a visceral response from readers is to simply give us characters that we care about.
Laura M. Hughes was dragged up beneath the grey, pigeon-filled skies of northern England. When she isn’t reading The Malazan Book of the Fallen (or trying to persuade others to do so) she works as a high school classroom assistant—an occupation that grants her just enough spare time to write for Fantasy-Faction.com and to dream about finishing her work-in-progress. She encourages like-minded folk to seek her out on Twitter @halfstrungharp, Facebook @laura.hughes.0 and at lauramhughes.com.
This seems worse than Wheel of Time or the Stormlight Archives.
But I know a number of fans of those series love this one. I just haven’t taken the dive yet. Not sure that I’m ready for such darkness.
There are so many characters that it is hard to choose a favorite. I am a fan of Tattersail and Ganoes Paran. And yes, you called it right. I am unsure if it is right to call it a cougar relationship. But quite frankly, in SFF, this is the first time that I have seen a cougar relationship.
Can I be disappointed that there is no Dune reference for Caladan? I’m about a third through this book. It is very good, but very dense. I’m looking forward to continuing.
Ah, you left out Hairlock. I could have done with an artist depiction of Hairlock giving Paran the evil eye!
Braid_Tug @@@@@ 1- it is a hard read. It took me a long time to warm up to it. But once I got over the first few chapters, I began to understand why it is so popular. Now, I’m a fan. Only problem is I cannot find the time to continue reading it. :-(
“Worse than” Wheel of Time only in the sense that it’s more convoluted. But far better written. And finished….
Haven’t read any of the books, but Anomander Rake sounds like he was dreamed up by a bunch of teenage girls high on Tumblr slash and Silmarillion fanfic.
I love military fantasy, but I’m allergic to authors who go to extreme length emphasizing the hero/villain’s amazing raven-dark/silvery white bishounen hair streaming in the wind, eyes of a different colour but pale as moonlight, the bane of an ancient curse, extra-special and extra-phallic magical swords, dragon transformations and broooooooooding, I switch off. Please tell me Malazan books are not like that?
Quick Ben and Kruppe are my favorites in this one. I didn’t love Malazan the way some do but I love many of the characters.
@7: No, they are not. I don’t think you would be disappointed with Anomander Rake. He can dragon transform and he is associated with a sword or two and he might even brood at times, but none of those things are as fantasy trope as you might expect. In fact Erikson likes his trope inversions more than any other author I’ve read. And if you love military fantasy then Erikson along with Glen Cook are the two best that I have read.
I got midway through book 4 and gave up. I think it’s a stretch to call these creations ‘characters’. Some are only marked out by what weapons they carry. Some are interchangeable – the same cynical voice repeated. Another disillusioned soldier etc. Erikson’s style is anathema to great characterisation. He doesnt build sympathy, doesnt indulge his cardboard cut-outs. Everything is so distant, detached from emotion. Even when the most dramatic events are occurring I never felt anything. This is especially damaging when its combined with an extremely complex world. I think for a lot of readers there is nothing to cling onto: if you don’t know what’s going on, and don’t care about most of the ‘characters’ in it, then why continue?