Hood

Hood
Fan art by Shadaan
Biographical information
Pseudonyms	Hooded One The Dark Hoarder The Dark Hoarder of Souls The Shrouded One Lord of Grief The Grey One
Social information
Affiliation	High House Death
Title(s)	King of High House Death King of the Ice Hold
Warren(s)	Warren of Death Omtose Phellack

Hood was the God of Death and the King of High House Death. He was black-cloaked, cowled, and tall, and spoke with a mild, and only faintly rasping voice.

His was one of only seven religions allowed on Kartool Island prior to the Malazan conquest.

In Deadhouse Gates

During the Season of Rot, a priest of Hood covered in flies approached Heboric and Felisin Paran while they were chained together against a wall in Unta. The priest stopped before them and said "Secret...to show...now..." The flies suddenly scattered, revealing no man under the mass of flies and startling the guards and other prisoners. Felisin later wondered, "Was that Hood himself? Had the Lord of Death come to walk among mortals? And why stand before a once-priest of Fener — what was the message behind the revelation?"

In Memories of Ice

Hood was an enemy of the Crippled God and actively worked to subvert his schemes. After the Fallen One lashed Burn with chains of poison, the goddess gave Caladan Brood a hammer forged from her power to shatter her prison. Hood was among those Gods and Ascendants who agreed that Brood should not use the hammer, which would end all life on the planet in the process. The others in agreement were Anomander Rake and the Queen of Dreams.

As the Pannion Domin hordes descended on Capustan, Hood grew concerned and more actively opposed the Crippled God's machinations. He sent Gethol, his Herald, to the city to meet with Brukhalian, Mortal Sword of Fener and leader of the Grey Swords. Claiming brotherhood with the waning boar god, he offered the mercenaries protecting Capustan free passage by Warren to escape their inevitable doom. Additionally, he offered himself as their new patron. Brukhalian violently rejected the offer, striking Gethol with his sword. Afterwards, Hood discarded Gethol from his service.

Hood also made an unspecified bargain with Trake, who ascended to true godhood to assume the title of God of War from the fallen Fener. For his part of the bargain, Trake was to deliver souls to Hood's gate. The Tiger of Summer chose the caravan guard, Gruntle, to be his Mortal Sword and many Pannion soldiers were slain at the Siege of Capustan. What Trake received in return was unclear, although the First Hero somehow avoided his own journey to Hood's gate at his death shortly before attaining godhood.

Hood, King of High House Death by Mrakobulka

The Barghast gods offered the Quick Ben the use of their servant, Talamandas, to protect the Bridgeburner Mage from the infection of the Warrens. Suspecting a ruse, Quick Ben discovered that the Sticksnare's protection actually came from Hood. The mage forcibly summoned Hood and compelled him to confess his deal with the Barghast. Hood angrily demanded that Ganoes Paran, as the newly named Master of the Deck, deny the legitimacy of the House of Chains. He warned that Poliel, Mowri, and others flocked to take positions within the new House. Quick Ben eventually released him under the condition that the God relinquish his hold on Talamandas when the time came. As Hood departed, he threatened that Quick Ben would one day be his.

Silverfox reached an agreement with Hood to take care of her dying mother, the Mhybe. Hood agreed to send his Knight of Death to Capustan to inter the Mhybe within his temple. She would not pass on to Hood's gate but instead sleep eternally while living within a dream in the Warren of Tellann. K'rul was astonished by Hood's generosity.

Hood also "hit back hard" against the infection of the Warrens to clear a space and allow his magic to be used at the Siege of Coral. The Bridgeburner mage, Toes, used Hood's Warren in the battle which saw the Crippled God's servant, the Pannion Seer, defeated by the Malazan alliance.

In House of Chains

Hood by Dejan Delic

While searching for Felisin Paran, Pearl and Lostara Yil came upon the campsite where Gryllen had attacked Felisin, Heboric, and Kulp. The Claw found the body of Baudin nearby and noted it was only a burnt and empty shell. He claimed that the god himself had stood there personally to claim the man's flesh and soul, and that there had been a change in Hood's House in the Deck of Dragons.

Cotillion told Cutter that, given the right circumstances, Hood would look into a mortal's soul. Such an event happened with Baudin, whose sad death while attempting to protect Felisin had drawn Hood's attention. After looking into the mortal's soul, the god had made him his Knight of Death. Whatever Hood saw prompted him to make Baudin his Knight.

On the eve of the Battle of Raraku, Febryl sensed that Hood was present and close, perhaps readying for the coming slaughter.

In Midnight Tides

Hood and his warren were unknown in the Kingdom of Lether and the surrounding lands. Even knowledge of the Hold of Death became lost and the paths of the dead in Lether were obscured, making the region prone to loitering ghosts, shades, and the undead.

In The Bonehunters

Hood had his servants hunting for Skinner, the cheater of death. But as the Soldier of High House Death closed in on Skinner, Hood interrupted his travel through the Warrens, sending him to appear before Cutter and Heboric in a monastery of D'rek on Seven Cities. The frustrated soldier believed he had been sent to witness D'rek's choice to slaughter the priests of her own temple — a decision he already understood. But as the Soldier spoke to Cutter of the imminent return of the Tyrant King to Darujhistan, the Daru thief began to suspect Hood had a different intention. Cutter believed the Soldier's message was meant for himself, and he prepared to return to Darujhistan.

When Apsalar reunited with Quick Ben and Kalam Mekhar outside Y'Ghatan, she noted that Quick Ben had the aura of Hood about him. Kalam was startled by the revelation and angrily demanded answers. Quick Ben admitted to conversing with Hood in an attempt to better understand the two sides of the war between the gods. Apsalar warned that Quick Ben's long conversations with the god had left a residue that could influence his motives without his knowledge.

The Queen of Dreams revealed that Whiskeyjack's death had been an act of vengeance by Hood. Many years before, Whiskeyjack's stepmother had died during the delivery of his half-sister, Dunsparrow. Since the baby was removed from her mother's dead body and her father was already dead, the town elders gave the baby to Hood's temple. Whiskeyjack (and Fiddler) stole Dunsparrow from Hood's temple after she had already been consecrated and the god never forgave him. After Whiskeyjack injured his leg, Hood made sure to turn away any healer attempting to repair the injury. The Queen of Dreams believed Hood later regretted his actions.

After taking command of Dujek's Host at G'danisban, Ganoes Paran led the army east towards Hanar Ara. Before he could reach the City of the Fallen, the eastern sky lit up as a dozen suns began falling from the sky. Paran hurriedly called upon an unfinished Deck of Dragons, hoping to seek help from Mael. But Paran discovered the only completed card brought him before Hood at the gate to his realm. The gate was "a mass of twisted bones and pale, bruised flesh, dangling strands of hair, innumerable staring eyes, and beyond it was grey, murky oblivion" and a charnel stench. Paran struck a hurried bargain with the god to stop what was coming. What Paran had to offer in return was not revealed other than his incredulous vow to achieve what Hood asked of him.

Hood returned Heboric to life and the Destriant reached out as a Shield Anvil to the falling voices in pain. Dozens of jade hands reached up from Otataral Island to stop their fall from causing the cataclysmic destruction of the world. Later, Quick Ben confessed to Kalam that he had spied on the entire conversation between Hood and Paran while posing as one of the corpses decorating Hood's Gate and was shocked by what the god had demanded.

In Reaper's Gale

(Information needed)

In Toll the Hounds

Click here to reveal section for
Toll the Hounds.

Hood's appearance was that of an ancient Jaghut with yellow tusks and pitted eyes. One of his withered hands was missing two fingers.

Hood was killed by Anomander Rake with Dragnipur, cheating Traveller of his revenge against the God of Death.

Hood helped the prisoners in Dragnipur to battle the forces of Chaos by summoning all the dead from his realm. After Caladan Brood destroyed Dragnipur, Whiskeyjack and the Bridgeburners ascended and took on the role as Guardians of High House Death.

In Dust of Dreams

Hood by SunShyMoose

Hood returned to his frozen body, which was encased upon the Ice Throne, to find his band of fourteen undead Jaghut (from whom he had been long alienated) arrayed around him. Hood arose from the throne, knelt and told his silent audience that he sought "penance" for his ancient betrayal of them. The Jaghut warriors forgave Hood, and he rejoined them as their commander.

In The Crippled God

Hood was revealed as the force helping Felash wield Omtose Phellack aboard The Undying Gratitude - which had been shipwrecked upon the coast of the Pelasiar Sea in the far southeastern part of Lether. When he appeared before the shipwrecked Shurq Elalle and company as they faced the threat of Sister Equity, Hood bit the face off the pure blood Forkrul Assail, killing her. Hood then guided the repaired ship and its company to the Spire, in Kolanse, where they intended to meet up with the fleet of the Perish Grey Helms.

With his power over Omtose Phellack, Hood froze the harbor of the Spire and destroyed the Forkrul Assail, Kolansii and Perish warships anchored there. Hood then created a glacial path up to the top of the Spire to access the heart of the Crippled God, which had long been entombed there. Hood personally slew Sister Reverence, thus freeing the heart of the Crippled God.

In Return of the Crimson Guard

Hood spoke to Dessembrae in the aftermath of the Battle of the Plains through the skull of a battlefield casualty. Dessembrae was bearing witness to a fallen soldier, likely Ullen Khadeve, whose potential for greatness had been squandered in death. Dessembrae told Hood that he no longer had any expectations of death. To ask its purpose was to "impose expectations on mute existence--expectations it is in no way obliged to meet or even extend. And so I make no more, ask no more." A surprised Hood departed and Dessembrae promised he and Hood would speak again.

In Forge of Darkness

Many millennia in the past Hood had dwelt in a keep in the Jaghut Odhan of the Jaghut Realm - the ancient homeland of the Jaghut - an area which was located to the far west of Kurald Galain, the home of the Tiste and of the city of Kharkanas. Hood's brother, Haut, in his travels discovered the murdered body of Hood's wife, Karish, upon the Spar of Andii.

The extremely grief-stricken Hood was subsequently imprisoned in the keep of the Lord of Hate in the "Empty City" of Omtose Phellack, situated in the center of the Jaghut Odhan. This imprisonment of Hood was meant to be an "act of compassion" to prevent Hood from taking unwise vengeance upon the two Azathanai who had brutally slain his wife. The Lord of Hate allowed Draconus - who was visiting from Kurald Galain - to speak with and then to free Hood. However, Hood was not interested in avenging himself on the Azathanai, but instead declared his intention to wage war on death.

Hood's call for allies in his war on death resulted in tens of thousands of "lost souls, grieving souls, one and all" who gathered on the Jaghut Odhan. These "lost souls" included groups and individuals of the Jaghut, the Thel Akai, the Dog-Runners, and a number of other peoples and races - all of whom flocked to join Hood's army.

In Fall of Light

Subsequent to the events chronicled in Forge of Darkness, three Jaghut paid a visit to Gothos. The purpose of this meeting being to argue the pros and cons regarding the Jaghut joining the army of Hood, whose aim was to wage war on death. At the end of an extended discussion, the three Jaghut were not only sure that they had successfully met every argument Gothos might have had against Hood's goals, but were also sure that Jaghut were the obvious officers to serve in the army under the command of Hood.

Returning in triumph to the Jaghut Odhan encampment of Hood's army, the three shared with Hood these developments, assuring him that they, themselves, amongst other Jaghut - would march with Hood when the "time" arrived. Hood left to talk with Gothos, leaving the three to mind his burning but heatless campfire.

Members of Hood's army began to notice that although everything seemed normal outside the encampment, inside the camp temperatures were steadily falling as though something was "stealing the heat". Hood ritually invoked a Long Night over the encampment in the Jaghut Odhan, thus stopping time there and enabling the passage of his army through a gate into the realm of the dead - where the army would, at last, be able to wage war on their avowed enemy, Death.

Surrounding Hood when the Long Night began was the core of his army - the Jaghut who made up Hood's Fourteen. Hood's army, at some point in the Long Night, left - according to Korya Delath, they had stepped out of time and were as good as dead.

Ultimately, Hood's army against death had been composed of one thousand, or so, individuals - including the following:

• Jaghut - Hood's Fourteen
• Azathanai
• Dog-Runners - the majority of the army
• Forulkan
• Ilnap islanders - blue-skinned island dwellers
• Jheck
• Jhelarkan
• Thel Akai
• Tiste - mainly Deniers

Quotes

Draconus: "Hood, you cannot defeat death itself."

Hood: "You would know nothing of that...I shall call for companions. My enemy shall be the injustice of mortality. I am certain that I will gather a few to my cause. The grieving, the lost, we shall be a solemn handful--but none will doubt our resolve."

―remarks between Hood and Draconus

"Fourteen Jaghut gathered round Hood...waiting. At last and with a sigh, Hood withdrew his hands from [his campfire's] pale flames - none of which flickered, the thin tongues motionless, suspended above the embers--and looked up...[Hood] nodded. [The Long Night] begins."

―Hood's remark on initiating the Long Night over his army's encampment

Arathan: "I am going with [Hood's army]!"

Korya: "I felt them leave..."

Arathan: "Leave? Leave where? They left...everything!"

Korya: "They stepped outside time...They're dead...Or as good as."

―remarks made by Arathan and Korya Delath while looking over the now deserted camp of Hood's army

Hood's Realm

It was held that the souls of the dead would go to Hood's realm via Hood's Gate, also referred to as Death's Gate.

The area in front of Hood's Gate was described as a flat plain which was neither grass nor earth. The bright yellow glare of the sky did not originate from a sun, it was sourceless and the atmosphere was hot. The Gate itself was composed of naked human peat bog bodies with blackened flesh, animated and moaning.

Spoiler warning: The following section contains significant plot details about books through Dust of Dreams.

On rare occasions, the dead were accompanied to the gate by Hood in person, as was the case with Beak and Toc the Younger, whereas at other times, there was a Gatekeeper. Later in the series, the ascended Bridgeburners became Guardians of the Gate and their leader, the former Whiskeyjack, told Kalyth that they were, or would become, the new arbiters for as long as necessary.

Significant plot details end here.

Once through the Gate, Toc the Younger speculated it was up to Hood or one of his minions to decide what to do with the soul, if anything.

The land of Hood's Realm was ankle-deep in rotting, crumbling bones beneath a sickly grey sky.

Even if one was able to open the gate to Hood's Realm, the god had to open the gate from his side for any of the dead to leave.

Worship

"The dead do not sleep. While the living do not live."

―Words from Hood's temple

According to Lady Envy, Hood's host of holidays and celebrations were notable for their "swarming flies, blood-covered acolytes, cackling crows and faces stained with the ash from cremations". One such ceremony was the Dawn of Flies in which priests would paint themselves in honey or blood that would entrap flies and wasps against their skin.

One way of appealing to the God of Death was to let blood in Hood's bowl and call upon the shades of one's ancestors.

Capemoths were Hood's symbol in Seven Cities and carved on his temple in Aren.

Trivia

It was stated by Equity, shortly before her death, that Hood was extremely powerful, even before claiming the Throne of Death, that he could have been an Elder God. She also hinted that Hood might have betrayed his followers during the Jaghut war on death. This was hinted at several other times, though the exact nature of the betrayal was not made clear. It is possible that many felt he had betrayed his followers by taking the Throne of Death, however Equity's phrasing seems to point at something more active, and later Hood remarked that he cheated death by taking its throne.

Expressions

The Malazan series contained many exclamations which referred to Hood:

• "Hood's balls on a skillet"
• "Hood's Bones"
• "Hood's Breath"
• "Hood's Curse"
• "Hood's pecker"
• "Hood's litany"
• "In Hood's name"

Speculation

There is some speculation that Aimanan was Hood as the two names are listed in the Appendix of The Crippled God on one line. It is probable however, that that was a type-setting mistake as in the Dramatis Personae of The Crippled God, Aimanan and Hood are mentioned separately in the list of the Fourteen Jaghut. From a timeline point of view it seems unlikely as well as Hood climbed up to the Spire during the Battle of the Spire whilst the Fourteen were fighting far below. The final scene with the Jaghut also supports the notion that Hood was not with them during the fight. The maps of the Jaghut Odhan included with Forge of Darkness and Fall of Light seem to prove that Hood and Aimanan were indeed separate characters. The maps show the tower keeps of eight of the Fourteen Jaghut and Hood's and Aimanan's keeps are shown as occupying completely separate locations.

Notes and references

List of abbreviations • Paginations • How to reference an article