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Midnight Tides
Group Read - Midnight Tides
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MT - Chapter Twenty - NO SPOILERS
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Lee, High Priest of Shadow
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Jul 14, 2013 02:13AM
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The king had made his wishes known. If he would die on his throne, then his Champion would of necessity already be dead. There was no other path to Ezgara Diskanar, after all.
And Gerun Ebberict is back in town to discover he has been robbed blind and his undead brother gone – and he knows exactly who to blame
‘Have you any clues regarding the brazen thief?’
Gerun Eberict’s eyes flicked to Brys, then away again. ‘I have, sire. I believe I shall recover my losses shortly.’
Look out Tehol!
Again, Bugg displays some remarkable knowledge for a mere manservant. Some we already know
Their new emperor is in possession of terrible power, but the sorcery the Edur are using does not come from their traditional sources. Not Kurald Emurlahn
We know they are accessing the Crippled god’s power
What kind of pathways are you talking about?’
‘Into what could be called the Hold of the Dead.’
‘There is no Hold of the Dead.’
‘Which is what has been so ... unusual.
How does Bugg know about the Hold of the Dead.
We also learn that the Letherii were a colony of the First Empire – and when Gothos wielded his Ice magic they were cut off
In the earliest texts – those that came with the Letherii from the First Empire
The point I am making, master, is that, long ago, a Jaghut did something to this land. Sealed it, in a manner of speaking. Using its aspected sorcery. The effect was profound.’
‘Making the pathways of the dead snowbound, like a mountain pass in winter?’
And according to Bugg the Jaghut sorcery is thawing and the Hold of Death is re-establishing itself
The sorcery is ... thawing. A Hold of the Dead is manifesting itself. The situation is unravelling. Quickly.’
And Bugg is not the only one displaying special knowledge about the past. The First consort has a few things to say. Regarding the ritual the First Empire performed to become soletaken
...our colonies here were not immune to the effects of that unfettered ritual. Although we succeeded in driving away the threat, as far as we could, into the ice wastes. Where, we hoped, the bastards would die out. Alas, they didn’t. And now, Brys Beddict, they’re coming back.’
... I am speaking of their allies, the savages from the ice wastes, the Jheck.’
So if I’m getting this right, even though the Letherii were cut off from the First Empire, the ritual still affected some of them – turning them into soletaken wolves – the Jheck.
The First consort (I’m assuming here that the stranger who later talks to Bugg is in fact the First consort as Silvio guessed earlier) also relates that the First Empire disaster was mopped up by the T’lan Imass. But now the Jheck have returned – the danger is that the T’lan Imass might show up again to clean up – and the T’lan aren’t too discriminating in their clean up operations
So. T’lan Imass, the Pack, and the coming of the Jheck. Soletaken worshippers of their ancient lord, and, from the potential resurrection of that ancient cult, a possible return of the T’lan Imass, to expunge the madness.
So that makes the ancient lord of the Jheck Dissembalickis (who may be the Degaroth or very closely linked to the Degaroth and may hold the “Pack” tile) – But the Jheck also worship the sword. Maybe the Crippled god has promised to bring back their ancient Emperor of the First Empire if they serve his purposes?
And accouding to the First consort – the god of the Jheck is in the city
‘Finadd, I want you to kill a god.’
Moroch sneered, said nothing.
Turudal Brizad smiled, then said, ‘The god of the Jheck. And where can you find this god? Why, here in the city. Waiting for the arrival of its savage worshippers.’
‘How do you know all this?’
‘Kill the god, Moroch Nevath, and the Tiste Edur will lose their allies.’
Who exactly is this First Consort? How does he know so much stuff?
And who is the Jheck's god?
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That's who I figured, but he's alive? As a man or the Pack? I'm asking rhetorical questions, I don't remember this at all!
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Me neither - but there is still that Divers Bugg encountered earlier still hiding out in that temple and he refers to that as the Pack in CH14.
He wondered how many more creatures were escaping the barrows. From the Pack’s words, not many. Which was a relief.
The most unsettling thing about this to me is that Bugg and Turudal know each other, and have for a long time. And Bugg thinks Turudal (if I understand right) is intervening because he feels guilty about something - I really, really wonder what.
Heehee can't wait for the reveal!David - you are so good at recalling this stuff! So helpful! From what I remember the creature was fairly timid and miserable although powerful????
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David - you are so good at recalling this stuff! So helpful! From what I remember the creature was fairly timid and miserable although powerful????"
Well Bugg did say they would need the Ceda's help to take it out.
Finally caught up!!I feel like this book could have been read at any point after Gardens of the Moon and still make sense as it barley contains any characters from past books.
I am enjoying this a lot so far. I really want to know who Bugg is as there must be more to him!
My favorite part here was Bugg talking about Jaghut to Tehol, and then finally admitting that the Letheri texts only mentioned the Jaghut once, and then not by name.For everyone who is puzzled, I have to admit that this book is much less confusing the second time around. And I agree with Paul about reading order. There's only one strong reason for this book to be where it is in the series: in the last book, Trull promised his companions to tell his story, and this book is that story. If I were going to recommend a reading order for these books, I would probably go with GotM, then MoI. That ends with the appearance of Duiker in the bar, who promises to tell the tale of the Chain of Dogs. So follow that with Deadhouse Gates, which is Duiker's story, then House of Chains, which in turn ends with a promised story, leading to this book.
I also like it in this order as the middle book since now we move towards convergence in the next book. We're pretty much established finally on the other continents so we can shift gears to this as it joins the big picture. Plus we are also finally acquainted with warrens with some hints as to what they evolved from and I know I was starting to ask questions about the Elders and the holds.
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I enjoyed that as well. There banter is always really enjoyable. Tehol seems to be pretty smart. I'm sure he suspects there is more to Bugg than he appears, but I wonder if he really knows who Bugg is. Lord knows I don't...
First I thought Bugg was the one Teridal was asking Moroth to kill but thanks for clarifying that there is someone named pack.Voww been reading today for long guess i missed that due to exhaustion :P, hopefully will finish the book today :D.
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You certainly are moving at a good pace. You'll be caught up in no time.
You certainly are moving at a good pace. You'll be caught up in no time. Ya i have just finished the 5th book pheww it was loads of action, and 6 hours of non stop reading....
The way Tehol talks, I wonder if he has some memory loss thing similar to Icarium. He doesn't remember what he does or what Bugg is up to. Unless he's making jokes and I'm not getting it.The Edur are using Chaos for their sorcery, correct?
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yes
