- "One of the greatest powers presently at play here in this world...Many name her a goddess but to me she is more, and I suppose less, than that. Not like Burn or Fanderay or Togg. Not some ancient entity or force that has come to represent what we choose to cast upon it. She remains a real living person whose influence transcends others' because she is here, now, and can intervene directly as she sees fit."
- ―Agayla
T'riss was a goddess and an Ascendant also known as the Queen of Dreams and the Enchantress.[2] She was the Queen of High House Life,[3] the Mistress of Thyr, and the greatest magus.[4] She likely had an association with the Mockra warren.[5]
Her appearance changed nearly every time she appeared. Once she was described as fair-skinned and delicately featured with long golden-hued hair drawn up and bound in an elaborate mass of braids.[6] Another time she was a slim and diminutive raven-haired beauty with motes of gold in her eyes.[7] At other times she seemed to be a heavy-set, short, middle-aged woman with unruly mousy hair, facial moles, and a dark dusting of a moustache.[8]
The symbol of the Queen of Dreams was an open hand.[9] It was suggested that the Queen of Dreams' priesthood was mostly female, and they made liberal use of mind altering substances such as Durhang about their person and in their services.[10] No one civilisation could claim her as its own as she cast a thousand reflections upon a thousand peoples.[11]
Pearl considered gods unfathomable by nature, and the Queen of Dreams more unfathomable than most.[12]
In Memories of Ice[]
Many thousands of years ago, the future Queen of Dreams was said by Tool to be a sorceress who wandered the land with Anomander Rake and Caladan Brood. When she ascended to become the Queen of Dreams, "drama ensued". Brood went off to pursue a "solitary path", eventually returning carrying the hammer of Burn.[13] Rake said he, Brood, the Queen of Dreams, and Hood agreed that the hammer should not be used. But each had become involved in their own pursuits and failed to help shoulder the burden as expected.[13]
During the Pannion War, the Crippled God poisoned the Warrens and infected Burn. Quick Ben was able make use of his Warrens with the assistance of Talamandas, who shielded him from the poison's ill effects. The Bridgeburner mage suspected the Sticksnare's immunity came from the Queen of Dreams.[14]
In House of Chains[]
After Ibra Gholan's band of T'lan Imass slew the demon familiar guarding Kurald Thyrllan in Osric's absence, L'oric considered which of his father's former companions could serve as the Elder Warren's protector. The High Mage settled on the Queen of Dreams whose true name he knew to be T'riss. When L'oric called upon her realm, he found the goddess seated on the edge of a pool of stars within a formal garden. She appeared to be no more than twenty years old with long, copper-gold hair, a pale, heart-shaped face, and grey eyes. T'riss warned that although she, Rake, Brood, Envy, and Osric had warred together with Chaos to shape all that would follow, they were all too powerful and their endeavours too fierce to be true friends. The only thing they shared was a deep bemusement with each others' unfathomable natures. Even so, she agreed to find Osric's realm a protector while advising L'oric that his own path was about to become fraught.[15][16]
It was also revealed that the Queen of Dreams had been among those who had attended the most recent Chaining of the Crippled God. Others in that company included Anomander Rake, Caladan Brood, Fener, Hood, Osserc, and Oponn.[17]
In The Bonehunters[]
After the Whirlwind rebellion had overtaken Seven Cities, the rebels had assailed the foreign Malazan temples, tearing down their statues and friezes and slaughtering hundreds of their priests. But they had battered futilely at the walls of the Temple of the Queen of Dreams in their attempt to drive out her cult. Unsuccessful after six days, they "concluded the Queen was not their enemy after all, and had thereafter left her in peace."[18] Karpolan Demesand and the Trygalle Trade Guild later made a delivery of altar stones for the temple's holy pool.[19][20]
When Adjunct Tavore Paran's Malaz 14th Army followed Leoman and the remnants of the Army of the Apocalypse to besiege Y'Ghatan, Leoman devised a scheme to escape. He made a bargain with the Queen of Dreams that would allow him to secretly escape even as the Malazans were drawn in to perish in battle with his own warriors in the burning city. Leoman summoned L'oric at the goddess' behest so he could open a gate into the Warren of D'riss under her protection. The High Mage chastised Leoman for involving him in a bargain with the goddess, saying she had long ago flung away her heart and lost interest in right and wrong. Corabb Bhilan Thenu'alas, Leoman's second, refused to abandon the Last Siege of Y'Ghatan so Leoman was accompanied only by Dunsparrow.[21]
Cutter later dreamt of Leoman and Dunsparrow's arrival before the Queen of Dreams in her own realm. The goddess was disappointed that Corabb, whom she named as the Chosen of Oponn, had not come with them, but informed Dunsparrow that she had been marked since birth by Hood and that her brother Whiskeyjack was dead. She said Hood regretted his part in the Bridgeburner's death. Leoman was eager to hash out what service she required of him to fulfill their bargain. He offered to kill someone on her command, but refused to be anyone's protector. The goddess said she valued his skepticism, but for now she required nothing of him. Cutter marveled at how he was able to witness the meeting without the goddess' knowledge until the dream froze, the goddess turned to look at him and smile, and he awoke.[22]
The Queen of Dreams sent L'oric in search of Felisin Younger who she had in mind to replace Sha'ik after Felisin Paran's death. Leaving the position open risked allowing something less desirable to assume the mantle. She asked L'oric to keep her chosen candidate safe until she could take on the title.[23] L'oric followed Felisin Younger's trail across Seven Cities, but was too late to stop the Crippled God's servants, The Unbound, from snatching her away. The exhausted mage said there was no point in pursuing the Unbound and the goddess' gambit had failed.[24]
In Return of the Crimson Guard[]
T'riss was the patron goddess of the Thel Akai, Ereko. When he was a prisoner on the Stormwall she informed him that a fellow prisoner, the Malazan Traveller, was his destiny. Ereko escaped and took the man with him, setting him on a path that brought him to face Kallor.[25]
She also appeared in the dreams of the Crimson Guardsman Kyle and interfered with the attempts of the Crippled God to seize the tulwar bearing Osserc's essence.[26]
In Stonewielder[]
T'riss responded to the call of her follower Agayla who claimed to "have an answer to that problem we have spoken of."[27] T'riss appeared before Agayla and her niece Kiska amidst a circle of standing stones outside Malaz City. She helped Kiska in the latter's search for Tayschrenn by assigning Jheval to accompany the young woman and opening the way to Shadow.[28]
The Queen of Dreams was a primary antagonist of the Lady, patron goddess of the Lands of Fist, who complained that the "Queen bitch has ever stood in my way." She interfered with the Lady's ability to divine the future and see visions of the Stormriders.[29] When Mockra mage Ussü used the Lady's blood sacrifice to access his warren, T'riss possessed the body of his victim to express her sense of disappointment and betrayal in the High Mage. Then the body attempted to strangle him and T'riss erased the minds of his apprentices.[30]
In Blood and Bone[]
T'riss travelled to Jacuruku to confer with Ardata.
The Queen of Dreams told her Seguleh guard Ina, who accompanied her through the Jungle of Himatan on Jacuruku, that she, i.e. T'riss, and Ardata might be considered sisters.[31]
In Dancer's Lament[]
In the period before the formation of the Malazan Empire, the primary religious festival of Li Heng on Quon Tali was a procession honoring the city's patron goddess, Burn. The procession was comprised of heavy platforms mainly carrying effigies of the sleeping Burn, but also including icons and shrines dedicated to other entities. These deities shared with Burn aspects related to "fate, futurity and the struggle of life and death", and included: the Enchantress/Queen of Dreams; D'rek; Mowri; and Poliel.[32]
In Forge of Darkness[]
T'riss by Coalhands
T'riss mysteriously emerged from the Vitr. She was an Azathanai with no memory of her past, nor even her name. "T'riss" simply meant "from the Vitr" in the language of the Azathanai and was the name given to her by Faror Hend. Faror offered to escort T'riss to Mother Dark in Kharkanas.[33] A chance meeting with Caplo Dreem and Warlock Resh of the Shake led to an audience with Mother Sheccanto Derran. In the Shake Monastery, T'riss chided the faith that had bound and murdered its god, Dorssan Ryl, before she resurrected the river god.[34]
T'riss arrived at Kharkanas as the newly revived river god flooded the city along the river banks. She was ushered into Mother Dark's presence where she bestowed a gift of Vitr to sanctify the temple and change the goddess queen's power. Now those worshippers of Mother Dark who exposed themselves to her presence were transformed into dark skinned Tiste Andii. At the same time T'riss spoke harshly to high priestess Syntara, bestowing upon her a gift that transformed her into the first Tiste Liosan. Afterwards T'riss vanished.[35]
T'riss by Dejan Delic
In the land of the Azathanai, Old Man warned Draconus that his usage of Night was without precedent, infuriating the "believers", like Ardata and the Sister of Dreams, who sought redress and healing in the Vitr.[36] The Azathanai Grizzin Farl, known as the Protector, came to Mother Dark and told her that T'riss was unknown to him and he warned that her actions were uncommonly careless and violated proscriptions against blatant Azathani interference.[37] When Draconus opened the Gate of Kurald Galain Grizzin Farl left Mother Dark explaining there was no longer anything for him to protect.[38]
In Fall of Light[]
Fall of Light.
Anomander Rake accused T'riss of deliberately inflaming divisions among the Tiste with her gifts of Light and Dark. However, Caladan Brood rejected this theory. He claimed instead that Draconus' gift of the terondai forced a response from T'riss. The lack of subtlety in her response might have been evidence that she was damaged by the Vitr.[39]
T'riss was revealed to have visited Hust Henarald before her audience with Mother Dark. She showed him the true nature of the "crimes" inherent in the forging of Hust iron. Then, with a caress upon his brow, she forgave him.[40]
After Threadbare's horse stumbled on her way to warn a Shake monastery of imminent assault, T'riss appeared on the road before her. T'riss touched the horse, momentarily draining it of all colour, and causing it to cease breathing. T'riss then invited Threadbare to a cave she had been using to help her recover from her injuries. The cave appeared to have been a crypt which she unsealed to repurpose as shelter. Some time later, the Horse "shimmers in every hue" before coughing, scrambling upright, and turning toward home.[41]
Telorast boasted to Ardata that the Eleint who came through the gate of Starvald Demelain set a snare for Ardata's lover, the Queen of Dreams. She ultimately evaded the snare by fleeing into the Vitr. Telorast also claimed that the Eleint "made use of" her before she escaped. Telorast eventually confirmed that T'riss was the Queen of Dreams returned from the Vitr, but she had lost her memory.[42]
K'rul explained to Ardata that the dragon in whose belly T'riss escaped the Vitr was Korabas. He also claimed that T'riss may have been trying to hide herself from other Azathanai.[43]Notes and references[]
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 6, US HC p.189
- ↑ Stonewielder, Glossary
- ↑ Gardens of the Moon, Glossary, UK MMPB p.706
- ↑ Stonewielder, Chapter 2, US HC p.116
- ↑ Stonewielder, Chapter 6, US HC p.320
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.562
- ↑ Stonewielder, Chapter 2, US HC p.116-117
- ↑ Blood and Bone, Chapter 3
- ↑ Stonewielder, Chapter 6, US HC p.320
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.272
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.230-231
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.328
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Memories of Ice, Chapter 5
- ↑ Memories of Ice/Chapter 4, US SFBC p.609
- ↑ House of Chains, Chapter 12, US SFBC p.476-477
- ↑ House of Chains, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.487-491
- ↑ House of Chains, Chapter 23, Epigraph
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.230-231
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.119
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.314
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.282/313-316/328
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.561-564
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.315
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 12, US SFBC p.497-501
- ↑ Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 1, Chapter 2
- ↑ Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 5, UK PB p.440
- ↑ Stonewielder, Chapter 2, US HC p.80
- ↑ Stonewielder, Chapter 2, US HC p.115
- ↑ Stonewielder, Chapter 4, US HC p.198
- ↑ Stonewielder, Chapter 6, US HC p.320
- ↑ Blood and Bone, Chapter 10, UK lg PB p.572
- ↑ Dancer's Lament, Chapter 11, US HC p.206-207
- ↑ Forge of Darkness, Chapter 4, UK HC p.102
- ↑ Forge of Darkness, Chapter 9, UK HC p.253
- ↑ Forge of Darkness, Chapter 9, UK HC p.270-271
- ↑ Forge of Darkness, Chapter 11, UK HC p.317
- ↑ Forge of Darkness, Chapter 20, UK HC p.636
- ↑ Forge of Darkness, Chapter 20, UK HC p.653
- ↑ Fall of Light, Chapter 10
- ↑ Fall of Light, Chapter 15
- ↑ Fall of Light, Chapter 17
- ↑ Fall of Light, Chapter 22
- ↑ Fall of Light, Chapter 22