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Felisin [feh-LISS-in[1] pah-RAN][2] was the youngest[3] daughter of House Paran in Unta. She was very fond of her brother Ganoes. Her sister Tavore described her as too soft for this world.[4]

Felisin was described as the prettier of the two Paran sisters, with black hair,[5] a rounded figure, and full lips. Ganoes noted her wide smile and dancing eyes.[6]

During the events of Deadhouse Gates she was fifteen years old.[7]

In Deadhouse Gates[]

In 1162 BS, Felisin was arrested as a noble during the Cull. In 1163 BS, the fourteen year old girl was sent to the Otataral mines on Seven Cities by her sister Tavore, the Adjunct, as a demonstration of House Paran's loyalty to Empress Laseen. The House had become vulnerable not least because Ganoes Paran had become a renegade under Dujek Onearm.[8][9]

As the prisoners were gathered to be paraded past the crowds to the slave ships, Felisin met fellow prisoners Heboric Ghost Hands and Baudin. Baudin protected her from the worst of the jeering mob's violence. By the time they arrived at Skullcup, Felisin had already realized her only asset was her body, which she sold to the guards in return for more food for herself and her two companions. In the mining camp, Felisin attached herself to Beneth, the local crimelord, for protection and to gain favours, for example, getting Heboric transferred to lighter duties which probably saved his life. She became addicted to Durhang and alcohol, spending her days in a haze to dull the pain. A guard in the camp, Pella, tried to aid Felisin, but in her stupor, she missed his hints. Her only other outlet was her hatred for the sister responsible for her condition and daydreams of revenge.[10][11][12]

When the camp's native guards revolted as part of the Whirlwind uprising, Heboric and Baudin arranged the trio's escape into the desert.[13] It was on this journey that she discovered that Baudin was a Talon, sent by her sister to protect her, who had intended to remove her from Skullcup as soon as possible. They had remained in the camp for so long only because, in Baudin's words, "[you] can't pull out a person who don't want to go."[14] Baudin also revealed that he had murdered Beneth during their escape.[15]

Cover Deadhouse Gates by Marc Simonetti

Felisin, Heboric and Kulp by Marc Simonetti (Official image)

Even after being freed from the mines, Felisin remained resentful and hardened from her experiences and continued to vow vengeance for her treatment against Tavore and now Baudin. She and her companions were rescued from the desert shore by Kulp and the crew of the Ripath, but after a disastrous trip through the warrens they were left in the Holy Desert of Raraku. Felisin drove away Baudin and made the lives of Kulp and Heboric miserable.[16] When the D'ivers Gryllen slew Kulp, Baudin reappeared revealing that he had not given up his charge. He saved the lives of Felisin and Heboric at the cost of his own, and died in a repentant Felisin's arms.[17] Felisin and Heboric continued on, stumbling upon Leoman and Toblakai who guarded the Book of Dryjhna and the corpse of Sha'ik. Felisin was proclaimed 'Sha'ik Reborn' by Leoman[18] and began receiving preternatural knowledge from the Whirlwind Goddess. They traveled to the oasis at the heart of Raraku where she took command of the Whirlwind and demanded the obedience of the High Mages, Bidithal, Febryl, and L'oric. Rather than opening the book, she struck a deal with the Whirlwind Goddess, unleashing a towering sandstorm column visible from hundreds of leagues away.[19][20]

Whilst in Raraku, she adopted an orphan and named her "Felisin". Then she recalled Korbolo Dom and his army back from Aren, even as her sister Tavore arrived with an army to deliver the Malazan Empire's vengeance.[21]

In Memories of Ice[]

Felisin by Dejan Delic

Felisin by Dejan Delic

Ganoes was informed of his family's fate by Dujek Onearm. The renegade High Fist informed him that his parents had died and that Felisin had been shipped to an otataral mine. He noted that noble children too young to marry had all been slain by unofficial order and that Tavore's actions had likely spared her sister's life.[22]

Later, while standing amidst the destruction of Capustan, Ganoes had a vision of a green stone monolith towering above the desert sand. Without realizing it, he observed his sister Felisin and her companions, Baudin and Heboric, at the moment the historian touched the jade statue in Seven Cities.[23]

Ganoes knew in his heart that Tavore would find a way to rescue Felisin from the mine and likely had sent a guardian or two to protect her. But he was sure that the Felisin she rescued would no longer be the child they knew. He wished Tavore had found another way, and thought that the new Adjunct would someday pay dearly for her decisions.[6]

In House of Chains[]

Spoiler warning: The following section contains significant plot details about Felisin Paran.
Felisin paran by pixx 73

Felisin by Jirí Dvorský

After the Whirlwind's victory over Coltaine and Pormqual's forces at Aren, Sha'ik Reborn withdrew the Army of the Apocalypse back to the Raraku oasis. Her camp soon became a snake-pit of seething dissent between her High Mages, advisors, and military commanders.[24] As Adjunct Tavore led the Malaz 14th Army to Raraku to unknowingly confront her sister, Felisin concentrated on writing poetry with the Whirlwind Goddess whispering in her ear.[24] She also made an alliance of convenience with Bidithal while the High Mage attempted to root out conspiracies against her amongst the Whirlwind's leadership.[25][26]

Under the Whirlwind Goddess's influence, she became obsessed with punishing the sister who had betrayed her.[27] At the same time, her love and concern for her adopted daughter, Felisin Younger, was suppressed. Sha'ik did not notice Felisin Younger's disappearance when Bidithal abducted and mutilated the girl.[28]

The 14th Army arrived at Raraku and made preparations for the following day's battle. But overnight, the core of Sha'ik's army, Korbolo Dom's Dogslayers, was killed by the spirits of Raraku.[29][30]

Sha'ik Reborn & Felisin Younger by Matt Smith

Interpretation of Sha'ik Reborn and Felisin Younger by Matt Smith

The next morning, Felisin garbed herself in her predecessor's armour and challenged Adjunct Tavore to single combat. As she waited for her sister, the Whirlwind Goddess was slain by Korbolo Dom's assassins and consumed by forces from High House Chains, claiming the fragment of the Warren she was using as her own. Suddenly, Felisin was not the Goddess' avenging Chosen, but merely a noblewoman with no sword training.[31]

Tavore easily slapped aside Felisin's weapon and killed her with a single sword thrust, never realizing who she really was because Felisin (as Sha'ik) was clad head to toe in armour. This was witnessed by most of the army on both sides, and in particular by Leoman, Karsa Orlong, Pearl, and Lostara Yil.[32]

"I just wanted to know, Tavore, why you did it. And why you did not love me, when I loved you. I--I think that's what I wanted to know. Heavy. So very heavy...Oh, Mother, look at us now."
―Felisin's dying thoughts[src]

Felisin died without ever knowing that her sister had sent her to the mines to save her, that she had sent Baudin to protect her, or that she had sent Pearl and Lostara to discover her fate.

Pearl and Lostara had identified Felisin's role as Sha'ik but arrived too late to save her. They did, however, conspire to keep the fact that Tavore had killed her own sister from the Adjunct, and Pearl spirited her body away to be buried on a hillside while Lostara distracted Fist Tene Baralta, who was eager to claim the body as a trophy.[33]

After her death, Sha'ik's army scattered bearing the Book of Dryjhna and fled for Y'Ghatan with Tavore vowing to follow and destroy them.[34][35]

In The Bonehunters[]

The Whirlwind by Shadaan

Felisin by Shadaan

At the Last Siege of Y'Ghatan, Pearl was piqued when Adjunct Tavore refused to send him into the city alone to finish off Leoman and end the war. The Claw cruelly mulled the possibility of informing the Adjunct of Sha'ik's true identity in revenge. Lostara and Pearl argued over the matter resulting in a rift between them.[36]

Mathok, one of Felisin's commanders at Raraku, grew disillusioned by the rebellion and surrendered himself and his warriors to the nearest Malazan army. He had no idea that the army's High Fist was Ganoes Paran, brother of both Sha'ik Reborn and the Imperial Adjunct. During a conversation with Hurlochel, one of Ganoes' aides, Mathok commented that the Adjunct never knew she had cut down a Mezla woman when she killed Sha'ik. Hurlochel started to put the pieces together before he became preoccupied with reorganising Mathok's warriors to join Paran's Host. He never reported his conversations with Mathok to his commander.[37]

On the night the 14th Army returned to Malaz City, Fiddler, Gesler, and Stormy made their way to Braven Tooth's room in the Mouse Quarter. Fiddler played a sorrow-filled song for fallen friends and comrades. He included Felisin among them saying, "she had no luck at all, and when good things showed up, rare as as that was, well, she didn't know what to do or say...A person hurts enough inside, all they can do is hurt back."[38]

Significant plot details end here.

Poetry[]

Felisin was confirmed as the co-author of the Call to Shadow poem excerpts that appeared in the epigraphs of several chapters in Gardens of the Moon. Felisin Younger told Heboric that Felisin had rediscovered her hunger for writing poetry and worked on continuing the Call to Shadow poem begun by her own mother. The historian believed the Whirlwind Goddess used Felisin's creative efforts to whisper secrets containing truths into her ear.[39]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • The Call to Shadow poem attributed to Felisin in Gardens of the Moon listed the poet's birthdate as 1146 BS.[40] However, Felisin herself noted that she "entered my sixteenth year" in 1164 BS, putting her birthdate at 1149 BS.[41] Note: Entering your 16th year is not the same as being 16 years old. A baby is not 1 year old during its first year of life.
  • Steven Erikson calls Felisin "one of my favourite characters to write, so I don't know what that says about me."[42] Her storyline was his favourite in Deadhouse Gates.[43]
  • In a 2020 interview, Erikson revealed that Felisin was the one chosen by Oponn to die in Ganoes' place after the assassination attempt at Pale in Gardens of the Moon. At the time Oponn had told the Gatekeeper to Hood's Realm they would look for another in Ganoes' shadow to suffer a premature and meaningless death in his place.[44]
  • Erikson says:
"With respect to the House of Chains as a title, there is a kind of fractal thing going on, thematically. But the one at its most human scale, is that of the house of chains that is family, in this case, between two sisters. This is underscored by Felisin's thoughts on how such a chain breaks (its only means of breaking). The armour she dons, of course, calls back to the armour imagery in her thoughts at Baudin's death: and here facing Tavore, it is that armour's weight -- and the weight of the sword as symbol for violence, anger and revenge -- that betrays her. While internally, stripped from Shaik's influence, we finally see her most vulnerable thoughts, underscoring the useless burden of external armour. I have always believed that, if I am to guide readers to a place of deep emotion, I need to experience the fullness of that emotion first. That said, my reaching that state actually precedes the writing of the relevant scene. Although the last two sections with Felisin are short, they probably took as long to compose as the previous entire chapter. I would slow down for these crucial passages, weighing every word, balancing the sentences just right. There is something that happens in the writing of those scenes that, in a way, delivers the greatest personal reward for me as a writer. Not the big battles, the ferocious fights. Not even the most inventive settings. No, it's getting those handful of words just right, and while I have my own sense of whether it worked or not, that pales in comparison to when I hear a reader tell me that, for them, those few sentences and those handful of words, did the job."[45]

Quotes[]

"...though we leave the house of our birth, it never leaves us."
―Felisin Paran[src]

Notes and references[]

  1. Steven Erikson Gardens of the Moon 20th Anniversary Interview - Ten Very Big Books podcast - As pronounced by Steven Erikson at 1:17:40
  2. Steven Erikson Gardens of the Moon 20th Anniversary Interview - Ten Very Big Books podcast - As pronounced by Steven Erikson at 18:44
  3. Gardens of the Moon, Dramatis Personae, UK MMPB p.xii
  4. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 1, UK MMPB p.50
  5. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 14, US HC p.385
  6. 6.0 6.1 Memories of Ice, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.657-658
  7. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 3, US HC p.84
  8. Deadhouse Gates, Prologue
  9. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 11, UK MMPB p.449
  10. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 3, US HC p.79-80/84, 119/120
  11. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 4, UK MMPB p.153-155
  12. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 6, US HC p.148
  13. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 6
  14. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 11, UK MMPB p.448-449
  15. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 8, US HC p.202
  16. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 11, US HC p.288
  17. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 14, US HC p.374-381
  18. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 14, UK MMPB p.603
  19. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 18, UK MMPB p.750
  20. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 19, US HC p.492
  21. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 24
  22. Memories of Ice, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.133
  23. Memories of Ice, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.578
  24. 24.0 24.1 House of Chains, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.282
  25. House of Chains, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.288
  26. House of Chains, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.601
  27. House of Chains, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.594/600
  28. House of Chains, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.600/605
  29. House of Chains, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.801
  30. House of Chains, Chapter 26, US SFBC p.820
  31. House of Chains, Chapter 26, US SFBC p.822-828
  32. House of Chains, Chapter 26, US SFBC p.826-828
  33. House of Chains, Chapter 26, US SFBC p.829-831
  34. House of Chains, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.804
  35. House of Chains, Chapter 26, US SFBC p.829/834
  36. The Bonehunters, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.273
  37. The Bonehunters, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.809-812
  38. The Bonehunters, Chapter 23, US SFBC p.894-895/920
  39. House of Chains, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.282-283
  40. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 2, Epigraph
  41. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 3, US HC p.84
  42. Ten Very Big Books podcast - See 19:50
  43. Ten Very Big Books podcast - Deadhouse Gates - See 30:00
  44. Gardens of the Moon - Chatting with Steven Erikson, part 2 - See 37:45
  45. House of Chains - Malazan Book of the Fallen - Chapters 25, 26, and Epilogue - DLC Bookclub - See comment by @stevelundin5705 aka Steven Erikson
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