Karsa Orlong
Encyclopedia
Karsa Orlong is a fictional character in Steven Erikson
's fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen
. He makes his first appearance in the novel Deadhouse Gates
as Toblakai, bodyguard to Sha'ik. His past is revealed in the subsequent novel House of Chains
.
Upon reaching the lowlands, Karsa and his party found a small, fortified town instead of the farm his grandfather had raided. During the attack on this town, Delum Thord was killed and Bairoth Gild and Karsa were both captured. Bairoth was slain and Karsa was soon after sold into slavery, and lost his faith in his gods. After weeks of being chained to a wagon bed for transport to the sea, Karsa and his companion, Torvald Nom, found freedom in the fragment of Kurald Emurlahn known as the Nascent. During their time in this realm, Karsa and Torvald boarded the Silanda, and slew the Tiste Edur on board. They met up with other survivors from the slaving ship that had been wrecked in the Nascent, and returned to the normal world with them, arriving just off the shore of Seven Cities, near Ehrlitan. Karsa and Torvald Nom left the slavers behind on the shore, and encountered the supposedly dead Napan Urko, who called himself Keeper and dabbled in archaeology. They left for Ehrlitan and were soon re-enslaved by the very same slaver, Silgar.
The group was captured by Malazan forces after arrival in Ehrlitan, Silgar claiming Karsa as a slave he had recaptured. Both Silgar and Karsa were imprisoned, and Karsa wound up with a tattoo on his face marking him as an escaped slave. Karsa and his cellmate later escaped, and fled into the Pan'potsun Odhan, whereupon Karsa was told of his true racial identity as a Thelomen Toblakai, from whom the Teblor people were descended. Karsa, known from this point on as Toblakai, goes with his cellmate, Leoman of the Flails, into the Holy Desert Raraku and becomes the loyal bodguard to Sha'ik.
, the Jhag known as the Slayer of the Ten Thousand, and Karsa's ironwood sword is destroyed. Neither Icarium nor Karsa is slain, as both are knocked unconscious in the clash.
Shortly thereafter, Karsa Orlong finally meets his gods in the Jhag Odhan, who prove to be T'lan Imass who were shattered in battle millennia earlier. They reveal to him that he was not just their pawn in their plans to gain power and become true ascendancts, but Karsa had also been made the Knight of Chains
, a title the warrior refuted in a personal audience with the Chained God later. In a Tellann-infused sacred cavern, the seven Unbound T'lan Imass tell Karsa Orlong he cannot create a weapon from the vast flint pillar, to which he sneers and does so anyway (a theme constant with his character), and into it the souls of Delum Thord and Bairoth Gild go, his first followers and ultimately his only regret. Karsa, now rearmed and his elder gods proven false, shrugged off the facade of doing as the Unbound told him, and drove six of them off, further destroying the seventh, 'Siballe the Unfound. Karsa ultimately grants her the mercy of oblivion by throwing her animate head into the ocean. On his way out of the Imass cave, he encounters the Tiste Edur warrior Trull Sengar and his T'lan Imass companion, Onrack. Karsa was impressed by the nobility of Trull, and so the pair luckily survived.
A short time later, Karsa meets a Jaghut and her sister, who help Karsa obtain the Jhag horse he had set out to collect in the first place. Karsa then turns around and rides back into the Holy Desert.
Upon arriving back in the oasis at the time of the final battle in which the Army of the Apocalypse was crushed, Karsa proceeded to kill several members of the camp with whom he had issues, though he could not find all of his targets. While scouring the camp, Karsa encounters two of the Hounds of Darkness, known as Deragoth, who had returned to life, and butchers them with frightening ease. Tying the Hounds' heads to his horse, Karsa speeds off into the desert at dawn, telling the Malazan forces they are no longer his sworn enemy.
At this time, Karsa vows to return home and claim the army the Unbound T'lan Imass had set aside for him, using this force to raise his people from the level to which they had sunk. Karsa, then on his way back to his people, encounters a human woman (the witch Samar Dev) in the desert who happens to be dying of thirst. He helps her and notes in passing that the reason that she is dying is because the self-powered carriage she built broke down.
He travels with her to her city, where people are immediately suspicious of him. Samar Dev persuades them to leave him alone. Learning of a castle into which people have disappeared, Karsa decides to find out what's inside. Here he finds a K'Chain Che'Malle (Nah'ruk) and kills it after a ferocious fight. However, the locals remain suspicious of him and Karsa decides to leave with Samar Dev.
After a long journey they meet a Tiste Edur fleet on a mission to collect champions for their Emperor, Rhulad Sengar, who is the King in Chains
. The Toblakai decides to go quietly for two reasons: To prove his might against the seemingly unkillable Emperor, and also because he discovers that Icarium Lifestealer is to challenge the Emperor as well.
Arriving in Lether (the continent which the Edur have conquered), Karsa proves himself the strongest champion by beating all other challengers except Icarium, who doesn't duel. Though he meets the Jhag in the city, he doesn't fight him because he discovers that Icarium has Toblakai blood in his veins.
Finally Karsa meets Rhulad Sengar and manages to create a blood ritual that creates a portal that brings him into The Crippled God
's realm. There he kills the Edur's spirit and refuses to take the cursed sword that made Rhulad immortal, and in doing so refuses to enter yet another gods service. He then leaves the realm thanks to a portal of fire that had suddenly appeared.
In Toll the Hounds
, we learn that the portal has brought him to Genabackis, where he meets again with Samar Dev, together with the man known as Traveler with whom he starts a friendship. Travelling together, they arrive in Darujhistan where Karsa witnesses the clash between Anomander Rake and Traveller, who is in truth Dassem Ultor, which ends with the former's death.
Despite being deeply humbled by the duel, the Toblakai once again proves his might by stopping the newly awakened Hounds of Light from taking Rake's sword, Dragnipur, helped by the Knight of Death and, lastly, by the daughters he bore, by the rape of a mother and her daughter, that he committed when setting out on his original quest.
At the end of Toll the Hounds, Karsa decides to stay in the City also because the former Bridgeburner Picker has sent him a message from Hood telling him that he is needed to help kill a God.
The Constants of Toblakai/Karsa Orlongs character is a fierce resistance to submitting to authority, and a murderous rage against those who do so, coupled with frightening martial ability.
Steven Erikson
Steven Erikson is the pseudonym of Steve Rune Lundin, a Canadian novelist, who was educated and trained as both an archaeologist and anthropologist....
's fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen
Malazan Book of the Fallen
The Malazan Book of the Fallen is an epic fantasy series written by Canadian author Steven Erikson, published in ten volumes beginning with the novel Gardens of the Moon, published in 1999. The series was completed with the publication of The Crippled God in February 2011...
. He makes his first appearance in the novel Deadhouse Gates
Deadhouse Gates
Deadhouse Gates is the second novel in Steven Erikson's epic fantasy series, the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Deadhouse Gates follows on from the first novel, Gardens of the Moon and takes place simultaneously with events in the third novel Memories of Ice...
as Toblakai, bodyguard to Sha'ik. His past is revealed in the subsequent novel House of Chains
House of Chains
House of Chains is the fourth volume of Canadian author Steven Erikson's epic fantasy series, the Malazan Book of the Fallen, and a direct sequel to the second volume in the series, Deadhouse Gates....
.
The Teblor Giant
Karsa Orlong is a Teblor warrior, of the Uryd tribe. His grandfather, Pahlk Orlong, was a famed warrior who had, centuries before, gone into the lowlands from the Laederon Plateau and slew many "children", as the Teblor call lowlanders. Karsa grew up on these stories, and believed that was how a true Teblor warrior was to behave. Karsa's father, Synyg, did not approve of this mindset, for he knew Pahlk's exploits to be lies and twistings of the truth. However, no one else knew this, and so Karsa organized a raid in honor of both his grandfather and his god, Urugal the Woven. As Warleader of his group, he and his comrades, Bairoth Gild and Delum Thord, raided through Sunyd and Rathyd lands to finally arrive at the same place where Pahlk had his escapades. Along the way, his group encountered and freed the Forkrul Assail known as Calm. Calm attacked Karsa, seeing the influence of the Teblor gods on him, but Karsa was barely injured, as Delum Thord defended him and received severe brain damage in the attempt, becoming reduced to a child-like state.Upon reaching the lowlands, Karsa and his party found a small, fortified town instead of the farm his grandfather had raided. During the attack on this town, Delum Thord was killed and Bairoth Gild and Karsa were both captured. Bairoth was slain and Karsa was soon after sold into slavery, and lost his faith in his gods. After weeks of being chained to a wagon bed for transport to the sea, Karsa and his companion, Torvald Nom, found freedom in the fragment of Kurald Emurlahn known as the Nascent. During their time in this realm, Karsa and Torvald boarded the Silanda, and slew the Tiste Edur on board. They met up with other survivors from the slaving ship that had been wrecked in the Nascent, and returned to the normal world with them, arriving just off the shore of Seven Cities, near Ehrlitan. Karsa and Torvald Nom left the slavers behind on the shore, and encountered the supposedly dead Napan Urko, who called himself Keeper and dabbled in archaeology. They left for Ehrlitan and were soon re-enslaved by the very same slaver, Silgar.
The group was captured by Malazan forces after arrival in Ehrlitan, Silgar claiming Karsa as a slave he had recaptured. Both Silgar and Karsa were imprisoned, and Karsa wound up with a tattoo on his face marking him as an escaped slave. Karsa and his cellmate later escaped, and fled into the Pan'potsun Odhan, whereupon Karsa was told of his true racial identity as a Thelomen Toblakai, from whom the Teblor people were descended. Karsa, known from this point on as Toblakai, goes with his cellmate, Leoman of the Flails, into the Holy Desert Raraku and becomes the loyal bodguard to Sha'ik.
A Destiny Glimmers
Eventually, Karsa Orlong leaves the Holy Desert Raraku. Having been persuaded to go in search of a Jhag horse, he proceeds west into the Jhag Odhan. This move was also one his false gods desired. Along his journey, he encounters and fights IcariumIcarium
Icarium is a fictional character from Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. He appears in Deadhouse Gates, House of Chains, The Bonehunters, Reaper's Gale, Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God.- Physiology :...
, the Jhag known as the Slayer of the Ten Thousand, and Karsa's ironwood sword is destroyed. Neither Icarium nor Karsa is slain, as both are knocked unconscious in the clash.
Shortly thereafter, Karsa Orlong finally meets his gods in the Jhag Odhan, who prove to be T'lan Imass who were shattered in battle millennia earlier. They reveal to him that he was not just their pawn in their plans to gain power and become true ascendancts, but Karsa had also been made the Knight of Chains
High House Chains
The High House Chains is a House of the Deck of Dragons in Steven Erikson's fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen. Membership and alliance with High House Chains is marked through the inclusion of a massive flaw in the individual, and the celebration of imperfection.-The Crippled God:Ruler of...
, a title the warrior refuted in a personal audience with the Chained God later. In a Tellann-infused sacred cavern, the seven Unbound T'lan Imass tell Karsa Orlong he cannot create a weapon from the vast flint pillar, to which he sneers and does so anyway (a theme constant with his character), and into it the souls of Delum Thord and Bairoth Gild go, his first followers and ultimately his only regret. Karsa, now rearmed and his elder gods proven false, shrugged off the facade of doing as the Unbound told him, and drove six of them off, further destroying the seventh, 'Siballe the Unfound. Karsa ultimately grants her the mercy of oblivion by throwing her animate head into the ocean. On his way out of the Imass cave, he encounters the Tiste Edur warrior Trull Sengar and his T'lan Imass companion, Onrack. Karsa was impressed by the nobility of Trull, and so the pair luckily survived.
A short time later, Karsa meets a Jaghut and her sister, who help Karsa obtain the Jhag horse he had set out to collect in the first place. Karsa then turns around and rides back into the Holy Desert.
Upon arriving back in the oasis at the time of the final battle in which the Army of the Apocalypse was crushed, Karsa proceeded to kill several members of the camp with whom he had issues, though he could not find all of his targets. While scouring the camp, Karsa encounters two of the Hounds of Darkness, known as Deragoth, who had returned to life, and butchers them with frightening ease. Tying the Hounds' heads to his horse, Karsa speeds off into the desert at dawn, telling the Malazan forces they are no longer his sworn enemy.
At this time, Karsa vows to return home and claim the army the Unbound T'lan Imass had set aside for him, using this force to raise his people from the level to which they had sunk. Karsa, then on his way back to his people, encounters a human woman (the witch Samar Dev) in the desert who happens to be dying of thirst. He helps her and notes in passing that the reason that she is dying is because the self-powered carriage she built broke down.
He travels with her to her city, where people are immediately suspicious of him. Samar Dev persuades them to leave him alone. Learning of a castle into which people have disappeared, Karsa decides to find out what's inside. Here he finds a K'Chain Che'Malle (Nah'ruk) and kills it after a ferocious fight. However, the locals remain suspicious of him and Karsa decides to leave with Samar Dev.
After a long journey they meet a Tiste Edur fleet on a mission to collect champions for their Emperor, Rhulad Sengar, who is the King in Chains
High House Chains
The High House Chains is a House of the Deck of Dragons in Steven Erikson's fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen. Membership and alliance with High House Chains is marked through the inclusion of a massive flaw in the individual, and the celebration of imperfection.-The Crippled God:Ruler of...
. The Toblakai decides to go quietly for two reasons: To prove his might against the seemingly unkillable Emperor, and also because he discovers that Icarium Lifestealer is to challenge the Emperor as well.
Arriving in Lether (the continent which the Edur have conquered), Karsa proves himself the strongest champion by beating all other challengers except Icarium, who doesn't duel. Though he meets the Jhag in the city, he doesn't fight him because he discovers that Icarium has Toblakai blood in his veins.
Finally Karsa meets Rhulad Sengar and manages to create a blood ritual that creates a portal that brings him into The Crippled God
The Crippled God
The Crippled God, also known as The Chained One and The Fallen One is the major antagonist in Steven Erikson's fictional series The Malazan Book of the Fallen. The Crippled God rules High House Chains and manipulates both its members and the rest of the world in an attempt to break free of his bonds...
's realm. There he kills the Edur's spirit and refuses to take the cursed sword that made Rhulad immortal, and in doing so refuses to enter yet another gods service. He then leaves the realm thanks to a portal of fire that had suddenly appeared.
In Toll the Hounds
Toll the Hounds
Toll the Hounds is the eighth volume of Canadian author Steven Erikson's epic fantasy series, the Malazan Book of the Fallen. The Bantam Press hardcover was published on June 30, 2008 and the Tor Books trade paperback on September 16, 2008....
, we learn that the portal has brought him to Genabackis, where he meets again with Samar Dev, together with the man known as Traveler with whom he starts a friendship. Travelling together, they arrive in Darujhistan where Karsa witnesses the clash between Anomander Rake and Traveller, who is in truth Dassem Ultor, which ends with the former's death.
Despite being deeply humbled by the duel, the Toblakai once again proves his might by stopping the newly awakened Hounds of Light from taking Rake's sword, Dragnipur, helped by the Knight of Death and, lastly, by the daughters he bore, by the rape of a mother and her daughter, that he committed when setting out on his original quest.
At the end of Toll the Hounds, Karsa decides to stay in the City also because the former Bridgeburner Picker has sent him a message from Hood telling him that he is needed to help kill a God.
The Constants of Toblakai/Karsa Orlongs character is a fierce resistance to submitting to authority, and a murderous rage against those who do so, coupled with frightening martial ability.