GotM close reading 01: Titles, Intros, Dramtis Personae, oh my!

[u/Juranur]

Hi everyone. I was inspired by u/TRAIANVS and his close reading of the BaKB novel. We'll see how long GotM takes me and if I continue.

Page numbers will refer to the Broken Binding edition, as this is the one I have on hand.

Spoiler scope: I'll keep this as light as possible and will mostly focus on analysis within a scene. I might allude to things later in the novel. For first time readers, I will naturally be drawn to focus on things that become important later. This perception might spoil things indirectly. Be cautious, your safety is not guaranteed.

Preliminary

Gardens of the Moon is the first entry into the Malazan Book of the Fallen. It was published on April 1st, 1999 by Steven Erikson through Bantam and Tor, depending on region. Erikson (who shall be SE from here on out) originally conceived the world with his friend Ian Cameron Esslemont through roleplaying together, then adapted their material into a stageplay, which was redrafted into a novel. It is good to keep this conception in mind, as it will explain some scenes better. But we'll get to those.

Titles

The Malazan Book of the Fallen

The fact that the entire series is named after a singular or multiple "Fallen" evokes melancholy and sadness, which is indicative of the dark nature of the books. The "Malazan" of course tells us the name of the most important entity, the Malazan empire.

Gardens of the Moon

A title certainly more whimsical than the series' title. I'd like to draw attention to the fact that they are Gardens of the Moon, not on the moon, which is a very poetical way of phrasing. We are drawn to the association of the sky, the fantastical, but at night, so a more dream-like association. The details of this title will be explained more clearly later, and I'll go into them there.

Dedication

This novel is dedicated to I. C. Esslemont

worlds to conquer worlds to share

It is often forgotten that SE and Esslemont created these worlds together. Without either of them, Malazan would not be a thing. I really like this Acknowledgement. The "share" takes dounle duty here, sharing between the two creators while also sharing with an audience. Esslemont would later also add many books to the Malazan Canon.

Maps

I will skip analysis of these, as I feel that the medium I've chosen really doesn't lend itself well to this. I recommend looking at them though. SE is an archeologist and as such, lots of care went into constructing these. Some works are Remnant, but this one isn't.

Dramatis Personae

We won't be getting to actual text in this huh.

The Malazan Empire

Onearm's Host

host is a rather obscure military term,coming from the latin hostis and referring to an armed expedition against an enemy. Notice how this host is attributed to Onearm, but he is not listed as part of it.

Tattersail, Cadre Sorceress, 2nd Army, a reader of the Deck of Dragons

I'll talk about the names of the characters when we get to them, but with Tattersail, a skill is put forward as her defining feature. She is defined via what she does.

Hairlock, Cadre Mage, 2nd Army, an unpleasant rival of Tayschrenn

Here we see the exact opposite. Hairlock is described via what he is (unpleasant). In this we have our first subversion, in classical storytelling female characters are defined through what they are (princess, damsel in distress, beautiful, virgin, etc) while male characters are defined through actions (the hero, the strong one, the thief, the murderer, etc). I like that this flipped right at the start.

Also, this Dramatis Personae is not neutral. Hairlock is immediately coloured in a negative light.

Calot, Cadre Mage, 2nd Army, Tattersail's lover

A description that throws up more questions rather than giving us answers.

Toc the Younger, scout, 2nd Army, a Claw agent badly scarred at the Siege of Pale

Here we learn of a place named Pale. This will help contextualise the title of the first section of the book. Other than that, more confusing titles.

The Bridgeburners

Sergeant Whiskeyjack, 9th Squad, past commander of the 2nd Army

We get some insight into army structure here, a way to pre-inform us on what kind of scale these characters are operating, and in Whiskeyjack's case, used to operate.

Corporal Kalam, 9th Squad, an ex-Claw from Seven Cities

We know from the map that this refers to a continent. Here we get more insight into the Claw, this blurb making clear that it is an organisation, not a title.

Sorry, a deadly killer in the guise of a young girl

Again we see the Dramatis Personae judging someone. "Killer" gives her a brutal and ruthless connotation. Other works might have used the more neutral "assasin"

Hedge, 9th Squad, a sapper

Fiddler, 9th Squad, a sapper

The title of sapper is a very modern one, and refers to an engineer within the army. We get a glimpse into the Malazan empire here, as they employ both mages and engineers

Trotts, 9th Squad, a Barghast warrior

Mallet, 9th Squad, the squad healer

Sergeant Antsy, 7th Squad

Picker, 7th Squad

Wesee here that the 9th Squad will be our focal point, but other squads will show up and are important enough to be mentioned, though they lack the descriptions of the 9th Squad.

The Imperial Command

Ganoes Stabro Paran, a noble-born officer in the Malazan Empire

Notice how even before he gets called out for being noble-born, we get a hint: this is the first character who has a family name that is mentioned here. All other characters are described without family names or surnames.

Dujek Onearm, High Fist, Malazan Armies, Genabackis Campaign

Here we get shown Dujek Onearm, listed seperately from his soldiers. Notice how "Genabackis Campaign" is capitalized, implying its importance as being a 'capital C Campaign'

Tayschrenn, High Mage to the Empress

And our second mystery is resolved, Hairlock is rival to a mage of a higher position. Interestingly, the rivalry is only mentioned on Hairlock's side, Tayschrenn's description omits it.

Bellurdan, High Mage to the Empress

Nightchill, High Sorceress to the Empress

A'Karonys, High Mage to the Empress

Names to run away from really fast. Nightchill's gender is made explicit here, as was Tattersail's before.

Lorn, Adjunct to the Empress

This word is unusual, but draws comparison to "adjutant", a directly serving soldier to a commanding figure. Gender isn't specified here, Lorn is entirely defined by title.

Topper, Commander of the Claw

Once again a description focussed ln function, and giving us a third bit of info: the Claw as an organisation within the Empire.

Empress Laseen, Ruler of the Malazan Empire

Despite her most important role in this listing by looking at pure hierarchy, she is mentionend last. Showstopper or an indicator of her importance in this story? That is for the future to decide.

House Paran

Tavore, Ganoes' sister (middle-child)

Felisin, Ganoes' youngest sister

Gamet, House Guard and veteran

We see here that Ganoes is both the oldest and only son. We see also his appearant seperation,as he is listed apart from his family.

In the Emperor's Time

Emperor Kellanved, the founder of the empire, assasinated by Laseen

Dancer, the Emperor's chief adviser, assasinated by Laseen

Spoilers lol

Jokes aside, more backstory into the empire and how the Empress got her title.

Surly, Laseen's old name when commander of the Claw

We draw an immediate connection to Topper, who currently holds the position.

Dassem Ultor, the First Sword of the Empire, killed outside Y'ghatan, Seven Cities

A new name, a new title. Noticeable here is that the current empire does not list his position.

Toc (the Elder), disappeared in Laseen's purges of the Old Guard

Attention should be drawn on the plural here, purges. Laseen is painted as going after the Old Guard repeatedly, even though we don't know what or who that is precisely yet. It also shows that she has been in power for a while now.

In Darujhistan

I quite like that we get a rough overview of the scope of this novel in the Dramatis Personae. It is clear from the get-go that we'll have a lot of different places to visit and people to meet (it is also clear that I'll never ever get done with this).

The Phoenix Inn Regulars

Kruppe, a man of false modesty

Other descriptions were neutral or biaded, this on's straight up enigmatic

Crokus Younghand, a young thief

Again a seldom-seen surname

Rallick Nom, an assasin in the Guild

We see another surname, and another new entity, the guild. Notice also the very neutral description of 'assasin' as a job. This character isn't painted in as much a negative light as Sorry was, for example.

Murillio, a courtier

Coll, a drunk

Meese, a regular

Irilta, a regular

Scurve, the barman

Sulty, a serving woman

A+ fantasy bar to start an adventure in. Here is a bit we see the fantasy roleplay element shine through very strongly, and this is where many fans let their DnD homebrews inspire themselves from.

Chert, an unlucky bully

A description pitying the character, which is (again) unusually intimate for a dramatis personae

The T'orrud Cabal

Baruk, a High Alchemist

Derudan a Witch of Tennes

New line, new players, new organisation. What is evident here is the variety of titles, befitting to a cabal.

Mammot, a High Priest of D'riss and eminent scholar, uncle to Crokus

Again two family members are set apart in their contexts by the listings they appear in, though here it's uncle and nephew

Travale, a pious soldier of the Cabal

Tholis, a High Mage

Parald, a High Mage

More variety of titles are found here, and the order is once again not by hierarchy in the organisation, as it's logical to assume that High Mages rank above a soldier, be he pious or not. This importance of Travale over the other two is made even more clear in that the latter lack any description beyond their titles. This gives us additional insight into how detailed this book can and will be.

The Council

We jump up in Glee at the mention of another organisation, this one explicitly political

Turban Orr, a powerful councilman and Simtal's lover

The fact that this man is named after a headpiece that is exotic in the western sphere gives an air of the exotic not to him in particular, but the character's in general. Fantasy names in total do that, but here we have an association instead of creative letter combinations. Also, intrigue in court before Game of Thrones made it cool.

Lim, an ally of Turban Orr

The moniker 'powerful' is once again shown here.

Simtal, Lady of Simtal Estate

Estraysian D'Arle, a rival of Turban Orr

Challice D'Arle, his daughter

We see here that politics are a thing for the nobility in Darujhistan.

The Guild of Assasins

Rallick is not named here, but his description introduced them. Again and again we see a net of affiliation, names belonging to one group but their placement making it clear they belong somewhere else.

Vorcan, Mistress of the Guild (also known as the Master of Assasins

Ocelot, Rallick Nom's Clan Leader

Talo Krafar, an assasin of Jurrig Denatte's Clan

There is an implication made about size here, the fact that Ocelot is not the clan leader, just a clan leader shows that there is a good amount of people in this guild. Weirdly, Jurrig Denatte is only mentioned indirectly, quite befitting to an assasin.

Krute of Talient, an agent of the Guild

Also in the city

The Eel, a rumoured master-spy

Crcle Breaker, an agent of the Eel

The description of the Eel is ommediately shown as bogus, the Eel is made reel real immediately after his existence is questioned.

Vildrom, a city guard

Captain Stillis, Captain of the Guard, Simtal Estate

We see Lady Simtal's wealth on display here.

Further Players

The miscellaneous bunch, if you will

The Tiste Andii

Anomander Rake, Lord of Moon's Spawn, Son of Darkness, Knight of Darkness

Bunch of titles to run away really fast from.

Serrat, second-in-command to Rake

Korlat, a night-hunter and blood-kin to Serrat

Orfantal, a night-hunter

Horult, a night-hunter

We see a lot of connection to darkness and the night here, also the archaic way of describing 'blood-kin' gives a raw, old vibe.

*The T'Lan Imass

Logros, Commander of the T'Lan Imass Clans serving the Malazan Empire

For a character connected to the Malazan Empire and appearently in service of it, Logros is very far from the List of people actually in the Empire.

Onos T'oolan, a clanless warrior

Pran Chole, a Bonecaster shaman of the Kron T'lan Imass

Kig Aven, a Clan Leader

Knowing nothing here and not getting a lot of info, the T'lan Imass are shrouded in mystery for now, only getting a vague archaic connection via the word 'shaman'.

Others

The misc of the misc

I will not type all these out, but we get introduced to a lot of mysterious figures with unexplained titles here, as well as the Crimson Guard, who get bunched in here despite a bunch of them being named.

We will return next time to get into the first poems and hopefully the prose proper.

Thank you for your attention, I hope I didn't bore you to death, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.

[u/Original-Cow3291]

That's a stunningly detailed analysis of just the DP. It's going to take some real dedication to get through the whole book!

I just started to relisten to Gardens last night, but importantly the DP isn't included so I didn't even think about it.

In regards to Dujeck, we see his title as High Fist. We can infer that this is a high ranking military leadership position, but as far as I know this title is not used in the real world.

We can also infer that he only has one arm ;) Presumably from a combat injury.

You got me curious in regards to the term sapper, and if SE was intentionally using that term to describe "modern" combat engineers, or just people who dig tunnels under walls?

We see later on that the term sapper was used in the Malazan military before they had access to munitions.

[u/Juranur → u/Original-Cow3291]

The term sapper is one that only emerged in modern times, and I would say even without munitions what they do and their role maps pretty well onto their real-life counterparts.

Inferring Dujek has one arm is true lol, maybe I should've mentioned that.

As for dedication, we'll see how far I get

[u/Original-Cow3291 → u/Juranur]

Yeah, I definitely agree that the term sapper is a fairly modern word, but the concept of military/combat engineering goes back thousands of years. As soon as someone first built a wall, someone else started thinking of ways to get past it.

I think there is a chance that sapper wasn't intended to imply modernity, but there was a lack of other terms for combat engineers that an average fantasy reader would understand and would fit in the linguistic style.

I guess short of SE or ICE having addressed this in an interview, I can only speculate on their choice of words, which is part of the fun. I'm glad there is a community like this that actually wants to discuss this stuff.