Bruthen Trana was a Tiste Edur of the Den-Ratha tribe, who served as Emperor Rhulad Sengar's liaison with the Patriotists.[1] He was one of the few Edur living in the Eternal Domicile.[2]
He was tall and grey-skinned[2] and wore a leather cloak. The coin purse on his sword belt contained a wave-eroded stone of obsidian and three Letherii docks.[3] He had spent his entire life as a warrior and had never found time to marry.[4]
In Reaper's Gale[]
Bruthen made weekly visits to the Patriotists' headquarters in Letheras to meet with Karos Invictad and learn details of the prisoners the secret police held as enemies of the state. The Invigilator deliberately attempted to frustrate the Tiste Edur by keeping him waiting for hours. In his mind, Bruthen seemed sullen and little interested in the process and he wondered why he kept returning. Karos deliberated opening an investigation into the man's loyalty.[1]
Bruthen became increasingly concerned that Emperor Rhulad was becoming isolated from his family and his people by Letherii court schemers.[2] His own reports about the Patriotists' activities were being intercepted by Chancellor Triban Gnol, who always said the Emperor was too busy to meet with him personally.[2][5] At the same time, Bruthen had been present in the throne room of the Eternal Domicile when Brys Beddict had temporarily incapacitated the mad Emperor before the King's Champion had himself perished. Bruthen prayed that Beddict would somehow return and deliver them.[5] He approached First Concubine Nisall as an ally who could gain him a private audience with the Emperor. He assigned two Edur to serve as her bodyguards.[2]
But when Karos made his move, it proved too much for Bruthen's precautions. A squad of Patriotist thugs led by Sirryn Kanar killed Nisall's Edur guard and two of her handmaidens before returning to Patriotist headquarters with the First Concubine and Tissin, her senior handmaiden. Bruthen investigated the aftermath with K'ar Penath and assaulted the gloating Chancellor before launching a bloody raid on Patriotists with the K'risnan and sixteen warriors. The Invigilator killed Nisall before she could be freed and only K'ar Penath's intervention kept Bruthen from beating Karos to death. He recovered a note bearing Nisall's supposed confession and returned to the palace ready to work with Hannan Mosag to destroy their Letherii enemies within the palace.[6]
Emphasizing Bruthen's demonstrated loyalty to the Edur, Hannan Mosag convinced him he was needed for a more important mission than war with the Letherii. Instead, he would be sent off to find someone important to the Tiste Edur, identified by the Warlock King only as "one who was dead...[b]ut not dead."[7] Bruthen was first sent to forcibly retrieve a severed finger kept by Feather Witch before undergoing a ritual that pulled his spirit free from his body so he could safely search the ocean floor.[8][9] After Bruthen left his body, Mosag searched his body for the finger, but it was gone. The angered Warlock King also found Nisall's note and wondered what deceit the warrior had planned for it. Then he betrayed Bruthen by stabbing him in the heart to kill his mortal flesh. This did not interfere with Bruthen's search but left him with no way to return.[10]
Unaware of Mosag's treachery, Bruthen came across Knuckles and Kilmandaros inhabiting an Azath House under the sea. Knuckles invited him inside and stopped time so they could enjoy a glass of wine together. Once Bruthen departed to take up his quest again, the House disappeared.[11] Eventually Bruthen came upon the pillars of the Forgotten Gods guarded by the Guardian of the Names. The armoured Guardian warned him to step no farther, calling Bruthen a ghost and revealing that the Warlock King had betrayed him--his body was now rotted away.[12]
The Guardian knew the one Bruthen sought and claimed he and the Forgotten Gods could stop Bruthen if they so desired--even despite the finger the Edur carried. But the Guardian said he understood Bruthen's need and pointed him to a pillar carved with only one name. Bruthen read the name--"Brys Beddict, Saviour of the Empty Hold"--and Brys' living body fell from the pillar into the silts. The Guardian gave Brys his sword and the man was immediately pulled away from the seabed by a rush of current. When the Guardian queried where the ghost would go now, Bruthen replied he would return to the Azath House, if he could find it. The Guardian assured him he would.[13]
In The Crippled God[]
(Information needed)
Notes and references[]
- ā 1.0 1.1 Reaper's Gale, Chapter 1, US HC p.32-34
- ā 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Reaper's Gale, Chapter 5, US HC p.132-134
- ā Reaper's Gale, Chapter 15, US HC p.441-442
- ā Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.781
- ā 5.0 5.1 Reaper's Gale, Chapter 3, US HC p.79-81
- ā Reaper's Gale, Chapter 9, US HC p.237-245
- ā Reaper's Gale, Chapter 11, US HC p.296
- ā Reaper's Gale, Chapter 11, US HC p.299
- ā Reaper's Gale, Chapter 15, US HC p.439-441
- ā Reaper's Gale, Chapter 15, US HC p.441-442
- ā Reaper's Gale, Chapter 20, US HC 584-590
- ā Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.780-781
- ā Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.781-782