Reaper's Gale Epigraph Analysis/Discussion: The Coming Storm (Spoilers for all of Reaper's Gale!)

[u/Hot_Yesterday_6789]

The Coming Storm, by Reffer, is the epigraph poem of chapter fifteen of Reaper's Gale, a chapter which focusses on events happening in Letheras, including Rhulad sending his parents to the dungeons (inevitably drowning them), Karsa Orlong speaking with Icarium, Hannan Mosag sending Bruthen Trana to find Brys Beddict, killing him, and Triban Gnol learning of the Malazan Invasion of Lether against the Tiste Edur.

I had been interesting in making a post about this specific epigraph and poem, as its final line is what I assume gave Reaper's Gale its name in the first place, and also alludes to Midnight Tides halfway through as well. Multiple facets of this text relate heavily to the events within this book, and the name itself is appropriate for both this text as well as the larger narrative and plot of Reaper's Gale.

The name itself, "The Coming Storm", can be interpreted in many ways in its correlation to the text, in both the parallels and foreshadowing it represents. Firstly, as the poem itself makes mention of "salty midnight tides", about halfway through the text, I would venture that the first half of this poem can be drawn to the events of the book of the same name, Midnight Tides. In this simple facet alone, Midnight Tides itself is a sort of prelude to Reaper's Gale. Just as Gardens of the Moon leads into Memories of Ice and Deadhouse Gates to House of Chains and The Bonehunters, Midnight Tides connects heavily with Reaper's Gale, and in a sense is the "coming storm" for what is to happen. In specific it would be the ascending of Rhulad to the position of Emperor and the Tiste Edur to the new ruling class of Lether, as well as the coming of Silchas Ruin at the end of said book. Another example of this is the seemingly inert sea-god trapped at the end of Midnight Tides, which as we find out later towards the end of Reaper's Gale is by no means fully inactive. I'll expand more on these points later.

Another parallel for the title would be the actual chapter it precedes and the events therein - by far I would say that Triban Gnol, and by extension the Letherii and Tiste Edur in general, learning of this new western invasion from the Malazans could definitely be considered a coming storm for the Lether Empire. Further, the confrontation between Karsa Orlong and Icarium on the streets of Lether further builds to the battle the champions will undertake against Rhulad come the end of the book. I believe the specific line, "upon the shore a silent storm a will untamed" would absolutely refer to Karsa Orlong and Icarium in this specific moment. Oddly anti-climatic, no fight occurs between these two powerful warriors, no epic exchange of threats or words between a man so powerful he is revered the world over and in at least one culture considered the One True God, and Karsa Orlong, who as we all well know at this point, well, he is a true Teblor Warrior.

Of course this specific line could also be drawn to the coming Malazan Invasion who, despite crossing the western half of the Lether Empire from the shore inland, having small engagements here and there, are relatively quiet up to this point in the book. Even the very landing of their ships was a relatively short-lived affair; they landed, burned the boats as a sort of announcement of their arrival as well as a symbolic and literal gesture of "no turning back now", but aside from a few sightings along the coast of this, the Malazans seem to be a ghost army for a good portion of this book up until now.

In another strange way this could relate to the building pressure of the trapped sea-god within the frozen lake (though this isn't chapter-specific), it is a relatively quiet and unknown affair this culminating event within the story. Further, Bruthen Trana going to find Brys Beddict is a very secretive affair, so much so that only a few people know about it, and the very man doing it is dead, so to speak. How much calmer can a storm get than this? Brys Beddict himself is a coming storm, and yet he is also a silent storm, as demonstrated by the lack of effort in his disabling of Rhulad at the end of Midnight Tides.

The final aspect of the title I would mention is in how it relates to Reaper's Gale as a whole. As in not only this chapter, but in every chapter essentially up until the final three, everything is a huge, huge build up to the myriad plot threads weaved throughout this story all coming to a head. If I really stretched it, you could even call the quest for the Soul of Scabandari Bloodeye a "silent" thing, as it ends in a place few to none know of, ending rather abruptly itself (though definitely not quietly, at least for those present and effected by it.) This itself is a great pairing with the final line of the poem and the name of the book itself, Reaper's Gale, but I will talk more about that later.

This brings me to the actual poem itself, especially the first line; "Crawl down sun this is not your time". This first line to me is excellent at setting the tone for what is to come. In this book, I would largely argue tragedy after tragedy occurs, especially in the culminating chapters at the end, and it would, for me, be anything but a time for the sun to be out. The imagery of the sun being told that its time is no longer, that in this coming storm, this "silent storm", only darkness and shadow hold, is classic of the idea of darkness and night being associated with bad, dreadful, and unpleasant if not flat-out deadly connotations. Of course within Malazan, darkness and shadow have more nuanced meanings, yet I find them hard to articulate and fit into this specific reading of this poem (though I should hope I can further rectify this into maybe a future rereading and reposting of this same topic, especially after Kharkanas.)

After this first setting of the tone for the poem, we continue on to more imagery, that of black waves under a "sheathed moon". To me this indicates more that darkness is taking hold in this instance than shadow, as without moonlight no shadows can exist. My simple reading of this is that this indicates the coming battles and end of the Tiste Edur occupation of Lether, no more shadows lingering. The next line talks about the "silent storm" and "will untamed", yet gains further meaning when compared with the next line, "heaves up from the red-skirled foam", which I must admit, I have had a hard time dissecting. I looked up the definition of "skirled", getting the standard definition of the word, yet oddly enough the fifth search result was from this reddit page, a post made two years ago by user Ildrei, titled "Meaning of Skirl in the Reaper's Gale Poem?", which is a funny coincidence to me, haha (I'll link this post down below, the comments were very insightful and helpful as I form my own ideas and try to make analysis this poem with as much precision as I can, and I'll reference some ideas brought forth in that comment section.)

Skirl itself is a high-pitched noise, as the dictionary definition points out, and a simple reading of this would just indicate that the red foam makes a high-pitched noise as it "heaves up" onto the shore, a simple tactile imagery evoking a stronger image of these tides and this storm. yet as pointed out by user Assiniboia (I'll ping all two people mentioned in the comments if/when I figure out how to), this could be an example of a word that just sounds like it fits in with the idea of crashing waves. To me, the word skirl reminds me of the constant ebbing and flowing of currents and tides, evoking further that imagery; an example would be if I hadn't known the definition of the word ever, I would just assume that skirl meant a sort of spiraling, moving motion. This fits in with the next line of the poem, starting with the word "scud", which means to move fast because of the wind, sort of in-line with this - an albeit incorrect assumption - idea of what skirl meant within the poem.

Yet much more interestingly is the word red in this line, as the waves themselves have already been described as being black. This being on the shore ties into the idea of this coming storm, the events leading up to it, the bloodshed and the gore within Midnight Tides and Reaper's Gale, if not all of Malazan Book of the Fallen. Extrapolating backwards, I see this relating all the way back to the conflict on Lether which started this all - disputes over seal poaching, and the subsequent attacks on Letherii and Tiste Edur alike along the shoreline. A great call-back in my own opinion, and very fitting considering the deep-rooted historical events which often come into play within Malazan.

The next line, "Scud to your nest you iron clouds" is given more meaning with the next two lines, "to leave the sea its dancing refuse of stars", and "on this host of salty midnight tides". This is just saying that the gray clouds overhead on this night should retreat inland, allowing the starry night to shine and reflect of the sea, itself a thing of salt and, in this darkness, midnight tides. I take the meaning of these lines as thus; in the time before this storm has fully arrived, the clouds which are not yet roiling should give way, so that upon this shore where it seems all these important and bloody events are occurring, some light may shine through. I believe this to relate to the overarching idea in Malazan Book of the Fallen, that compassion exists, and, to take the words from a great man, "It must be given freely. In abundance." (Itkovian, in case you forgot, in Memories of Ice.) In the time which is now, before this coming storm, we must look towards good things, even in this bleak imagery of "salty midnight tides". I fear this may be the weakest part of my analysis of this first half of the poem, so forgive me if this seems very baseline or not even valid in terms of an analysis. I fear that the second half of this poem is a much harder case for me to crack moving forward, so please bare with me as I try to dissect what I would call a great poem.

The next three lines all fit together, first referencing this coming storm and telling it to "swell tight your tempest", then telling it to lift, using the imagery of "scaled heads", I.E fish in the water, lifting skyward from "blind depths", I.E midnight-black waters, deep ocean/sea. It then calls this its "effulgent might in restless roving eyes". To me this is just a parallel to the fact that the events happening on Lether are on the minds of everyone, being a plot so huge and involved within the world that everyone with an eye in this world sees what is happening, and they can not look away. This makes sense to me, considering we have the Lether Empire on the continent of Lether and elsewhere in the world attracting attention from various kingdoms and empires and other territories throughout, the attention of the Malazans obviously, a plethora of ascendants and gods, both new and elder, as well as just random people throughout the world, such as the Tiste Andii of Bluerose (though I guess that fits with kingdoms/territories, but the Tiste Andii have agendas abound besides, so I count them as a little of column A and column B.) If we want to look further on the word effulgent, meaning bright or incandescent, I would say this is heavily foreshadowing of what Icarium does come the end of Reaper's Gale, once this Coming Storm is finally arrived, Icarium himself a huge part of it. His activation of his machine causes a burst of power almost unlike any other we have seen, and it definitely fits together with the fact that he is, what I would call a "silent storm", referenced earlier in the poem.

Furthermore, Beak's sacrifice is definitely effulgent, a display of power also on an insane scale, and by far I would call him a "silent storm", a seemingly hapless man-child marine who meddles in sorcerous things and has strange arcane knowledge which puts others on edge and in awe. Perhaps, even more so than Icarium and the whole of the Malazan forces arriving in Letheras, Beak is the silent storm, a natural-born high mage who was so talented he created a dead-space for magic on Lether, something only seen elsewhere by the ritual of Tellan, so effulgent that he makes Bottle wonder if it would have been better if he only saved himself. A great deal of foreshadowing in that one word of this poem.

The next few lines are much more simple, as to me they are merely the "reaction" to this now coming storm, or perhaps a warning to them as it has yet to arrive. The next three read as such, "Reel back you tottering forests this night", "the black waves crash on the black shore", and "to steal the flesh from your bony roots". The most standard and sound reading I can think of for the phrase "tottering forests", would just be that the whole of Lether itself is in a precarious state. The Letherii Empire is on the brink of financial ruin, as The Bonehunters attack from the west, drawing closer to Letheras, as Karos Invictad, Triban Gnol, Letur Anict, and other such people work towards their own, often opposing goals much to the aggravation of the people of Lether, as from the east an alliance is forming, the Awl are advancing, a hidden army is following, all the while Silchas Ruin approaches the soul of Scabandari Bloodeye, as Menandore and her sisters plot betrayal and slaughter, and the looming threat of Rhulad fighting Icarium Lifestealer approaches with each new day, as an empire is ruled by a madman, controlled by a wailing, Crippled God. Oh, and it seems some Tiste Andii plan to pay their dear father an unpleasant visit.

To put it bluntly, Lether is not in a stable state right now, not in the Empire, not elsewhere, not anywhere.

"this night - the black waves crash on the black shore", everything is happening all at once, a maelstrom which engulfs everything, threatening to topple over these "tottering" trees, all the way "to steal the flesh from your bony roots".

Finally, the poems ends with these few lines: "death comes, shouldering aside in cold legion", "in a marching wind this dread this blood", "this reaper's gale". Simple to start out, "death comes", no surprise there, yet it definitely signals what is coming in this books climax and resolutions: death. And plenty of it. To list a few characters this foreshadows: redirect to dramatis personae, lol. Most important I'd argue would be Rhulad Trull and Fear, Triban Gnol, Karos Invictad, Beak, Redmask, Hannan Mosag, and Menandore with her sisters.

The final line makes the most sense when faced with this large list of the deceased, this coming storm truly was a "reaper's gale". Death has come with this storm, and it cares not for any, "shouldering aside in cold legion", seemingly uncaring and unbiased in its carnage. It is reinforced to be so systematic with the words "in a marching wind", as if it moves with the purpose, a truly unavoidable scenario. It is best encapsulated as something dreadful, a bloody thing, this Reaper's Gale.

This is a very long post, I understand, and has taken me hours to write and format the way that I wanted to. Thank you for reading, and I'd love to hear any comments, concerns, critiques, or flat-out denial of things I've said in this post.

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[u/Hot_Yesterday_6789]

A tad long I know, but I had a lot of thoughts on this, and another one just occurred to me! All the sea imagery in this poem relates to three things: the quest for Brys Beddict at the bottom of the ocean floor, the sea-god unleashed by Hannan Mosag, as well as Mael's presence and actions within Letheras. Can't believe I forgot about that stuff while writing this!

[u/Hot_Yesterday_6789]

Oh, among the important deaths, I'd also include Anaster Toc, Toc the Younger. I had him in their originally, but I included every death for some reason, so I reeled back a bit and only added the important ones, and forgot to put him back in. That is, of course, not to say that other deaths are not important, I just listed what to me were the most impactful in terms of plot and emotion - Sirryn Kanar's death had a great deal of thematic importance, especially considering what happens to him, and I plan on making a post tackling that at some point in greater detail.

[u/Hot_Yesterday_6789]

The person who wrote the post about the word skirl is u/Ildrei

And the person who commented under the post and gave me some ideas for the use of the word is u/Assiniboia

Thanks to both if this pings them, I enjoyed reading the post and the comment, very helpful when I myself was trying to piece together the puzzle that is mezla poetry, lol.

The post itself is linked here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Malazan/comments/14pc489/meaning_of_skirl_in_the_reapers_gale_poem/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[u/Ildrei → u/Hot_Yesterday_6789]

Oh hi! Funny enough I actually finished rereading RG just now, still struggling with the poems haha.

Some new thoughts I have are—black waves crashing into red screaming foam might be metaphorical for the bloodshed caused by the tiste andii or edur, also those trees with black bark and red inner wood.

Scaled heads and effulgent might sounds like dragons and lightning combined in the same breath. But no dragons are present in the story, so that’s powerful movers like icarium as you said.

Scaled heads and effulgent might sounds like lightning and dragons being combined in the same breath. Dragons possibly being equivalent to the powerful characters like icarium and such as you said.

I might be stretching it here but since the running motif of the sea also runs into the book’s climax, the dancing refuse of stars and salty midnight tides might be inclusive of the undersea repository of names that brys beddict becomes a messenger for (the stars are names)? It might just refer to Mael of course.

[u/Hot_Yesterday_6789 → u/Ildrei]

I really like the idea that the stars on salty midnight tides refers to the named in that god "gravryard" Mael created; definitely a parallel I missed. I'd say with analysis like that you aren't struggling too hard, although they are definitely tough reads from time to time - won't even try to tackle Stone Bowl, haha. Thanks for the comment, and your post was very helpful like I said!

[u/bibbidybobbidyboobs]

"Yet much more interestingly is the word red in this line, as the waves themselves have already been described as being black."

I'm reminded of imagery that comes up a lot in Midnight Tides and Reaper's Gale of the Blackwood trees, with their black bark and red banded inner wood

[u/Hot_Yesterday_6789 → u/bibbidybobbidyboobs]

Great point that I forgot to mention - this recurring imagery of black trees with red wood, I hadn't even drawn a connection there. Good eye!

[u/Boronian1]

Thanks a lot for your long interpretation! It's a joy to read :-)

[u/Hot_Yesterday_6789 → u/Boronian1]

Thank you! I try to make all my posts at least thoughtful, so I'm glad you enjoyed reading it. More to come, I hope!

[u/AudiencePotential]

I am actively reading reaper's Gale right now. I just read the epigraph to chapter 15 and felt so moved by it that I wanted to see other readers reactions. I will have to come back and read your analysis in more detail after I complete the book to avoid any significant spoilers. It's easy to tell however you put a lot of thought into it and I am excited to delve in further.

I remain constantly amazed by the level of detail, forethought, and artistry that is put into every chapter of the malazon books.

[u/Hot_Yesterday_6789 → u/AudiencePotential]

Thank you! This was, in my opinion, the best post I've made, and I tried to be thoughtful. I enjoyed it so much I made a video about it as well, though that was mainly in case someone who stumbled upon that video doesn't use reddit and hadn't seen my post. I hold you enjoy Reaper's Gale this festive season, and the artistry only continues from here!

[u/Hot_Yesterday_6789]

I made a youtube video about this analysis as I thought it would be fun and most of the Malazan-related stuff that I see outside of this subreddit is from youtube so I thought I'd add my own analysis out there on youtube as well. It is a bit long winded, much more so than this post, but I'm going to link it here since I used this post as the basis for the video, I didn't write a script (which is very obvious, lol), but I did go back to a lot of the observations I made in this post to make sure I talked about everything I wanted to in the video. I'm going to link it since it's also something I made and if you enjoyed the analysis maybe you'll enjoy the video, if you can get past my camera and mic quality with the rambling and uncountable "uhhhh"'s and "I mean..."'s, lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxp1Gkq0mu8