Jamber Bole

Jamber Bole
Interpretation of Jamber Bole by A Demon Llama!
Biographical information
Pseudonyms	Crump
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Family	Bole brothers
Social information
Affiliation	Mott Irregulars Malaz 14th Army
Occupation(s)	Sapper
Title(s)	High Marshal

"It weren't my fault. I ain't never used cussers afore!"

―Crump

Jamber Bole, known more commonly as "Crump" to the Malazans, was a sapper in Sergeant Cord's 7th Squad, 9th Company, 8th Legion of the 14th Army. He was described as having a long horsey face with strangely wide-spaced eyes, a long, scrawny neck, big ears, and a fist-sized Adam's apple. He was tall and had absurdly long legs with wild, knobby knees that came up to his ears when he ran. He had a broad, mindless smile with huge and gleaming teeth. He wore huge boots.

Crump was originally a High Marshal in the Mott Irregulars from Mott Wood. By his own admission, he had been arrested and been put in manacles by the Irregulars. He removed his restraints with the help of a fish spine and left when no-one was looking.

He was generally considered to be a halfwit, but did possess some skills.

In The Bonehunters

After the Battle of Raraku, Leoman led the Army of the Apocalypse westward to Y'Ghatan and the 14th Army followed. The Last Siege of Y'Ghatan was to begin with the Malazan sappers each placing a timed wall-breaker munition at the base of the city's wall. Ebron forewarned Bottle, who was to disguise the sappers' approach with his magic, to beware of Crump, saying he was dangerous. At the wall, Crump revealed he had amassed more than his share of munitions, placing three wall-breakers and setting their fuses off early. Cuttle called for an immediate and hasty retreat, but many soldiers caught up in the ensuing massive explosion died. Crump survived and returned to his squad.

First into the city were the Malazan marines, followed quickly by the Heavy infantry. Fist Keneb then ordered Cord to lead the 9th Company's seventh through twelfth medium infantry squads into Y'Ghatan. Once inside the city, the Malazans immediately came under heavy attack by hidden swordsmen and archers. Cord's squad linked up with Mosel's heavy infantry following Fiddler's marines.

When enough Malazans were engaged in street fighting inside the city, Leoman sprung his trap. The city's olive oil-soaked buildings were set alight and the streets quickly became an inferno. Cord's squad fled the flames along with a mixed group of survivors from Sobelone's, Balm's, Fiddler's, Hellian's, and Gesler's squads. The intense flames drove the soldiers to the Temple of the Queen of Dreams where Gesler thought to somehow make a bargain with the goddess. Their hopes were dashed when Crump urinated on the altar causing it to crack. Cuttle chose the moment to have words over the explosion at the wall, but Crump insisted it was not his fault because he had never used cussers before.

Crump was among the small group of soldiers who survived Y'Ghatan by tunneling their way out from under the city. They spent three days crawling on their hands and knees through the dark led by Bottle and his rat. During the ordeal, Crump crawled behind Gesler annoying him with his idiotic songs. When the group found and ingested an ancient cache of Carelbarra, Stump Flit appeared to Crump in a drug-induced dream. The Salamander God revealed that he was being pursued by his fellow Bole brothers and that his future would take a rather bleak turn if they caught up with him.

Unaware that any had survived, the 14th Army made haste for the Kokakal Sea to embark on Admiral Nok's ships and escape the Bluetongue Plague ravaging Seven Cities. Faradan Sort and Sinn remained behind and discovered the survivors as they crawled from the wreckage. Crump and the others made the long march west, finally catching up to the army on the coast.

After the encounter between Nok's Imperial Fleet and the Third Edur Imperial Fleet in the Kokakal Sea, Crump waved at the enemy Tiste Edur earning a fist to the head from Cord. As the sergeant cursed him out, Crump listened with a broad, mindless smile and an expression that twitched in "sheer delight every time Cord's tirade reached new heights of imagination." Nok's fleet returned to Malaz City where the Adjunct met with Empress Laseen.

In Reaper's Gale

Adjunct Tavore clashed with Empress Laseen at Malaz City and took the Bonehunters rogue, following the Tiste Edur fleet that had ravaged Sepik back to Lether to invade the Letherii Empire. Cord and Balm's squads took the Silanda to the island of Second Maiden Fort off the coast of Lether to establish a headquarters and resupply base for the Adjunct. They found the island on the verge of being destroyed under a mountain of ice released by the collapse of Gothos' ancient Omtose Phellack ritual, but Sinn was able to hold the ice back with her magic until its force was spent. The island's self-declared ruler, Brullyg, gratefully welcomed the Malazans as royal guests until they placed him under house arrest and secretly took control of the island.

Crump, Shard and Sinn by Shadaan

While Balm's squad kept Brullyg under guard and monitored the island from its only town, Cord's squad patrolled the island's coast and interior while awaiting Tavore's arrival. Cord kept Crump busy digging deep holes to keep him out of trouble and with the hopes that one would eventually collapse and bury him alive. The sapper sung endless mad swamp songs while he worked irritating the rest of the squad. When Crump excitedly found a hoard of infant skulls that stirred to life, Cord hurriedly ordered him to fill all the holes in.

Meanwhile Tavore sent Fist Keneb's marines to the mainland, spreading them in isolated pairs of squads across thirty leagues of coast and burning their transport vessels behind them. The marines moved forward into the Letherii countryside towards Letheras, the capital, with orders to kill Edur by night and stir the occupied Letherii into rebellion. Each squad had a mage responsible for hiding their presence and confusing their enemies.

Shurq Elalle and her ship, Undying Gratitude, were caught up in the Malazan blockade of Second Maiden Fort's port. When Adjunct Tavore arrived with the rest of the Malazan fleet, she hired the pirate to guide them to the mouth of the Lether River leading to Letheras. Cord and Balm's squads made the journey on the Silanda and Masan Gilani kept Cord company as he manned the ship's steering oar. She was trying to avoid the unwanted interest of Balm's squad and especially Crump, who had decided she was worthy of worship, claiming she had "the tail of some salamander god." When Gilani rejected Cord's own romantic advances, he suggested she take another look at Crump. Gilani was initially disgusted by the idea until Cord piqued her interest by saying "Crump's no whiskered shrew under those breeches." When she departed he excitedly began plotting a betting pool for how long it would be before she ran away screaming from the sapper.

Meanwhile, Ebron and the other squad members killed time on deck trying to cheat Crump in games of Bones. The mage complained that the sapper's luck was uncanny, defying even his attempts to sway the bones and scull with magic. He concluded Crump might really be a member of the legendary mage-hunting Bole brothers as he claimed. Ebron told Cord that Crump had already won more than three hundred imperial jakatas in the game that was rigged against him.

The Adjunct's fleet made landfall near Letheras and defeated the city's Imperial Brigade. During the fighting, Crump was seen rushing up the slope at the enemy carrying a cusser in each hand. The resulting avalanche of Letherii body parts buried him until the sapper could climb his way out with a great big grin on his face. Meanwhile, Keneb's marines secretly entered the city to secure its western gate to allow the rest of the army entrance. Soon the City Garrison surrendered and the city fell.

In Dust of Dreams

(Information needed)

In The Crippled God

(Information needed)

Crump's song excerpts

Excerpt 1

"and I says oh I says them marsh trees
got soft feet, and moss beards all the way down
and they sway in the smelly breeze
from that swamp water all yella'n'brown

oh we was in the froggy toady dawn
belly-down in the leeches and collectin' spawn
'cause when you give those worms a squeeze
the blue pinky ropes come slimin' down—

and don't they taste sweet!
and don't they taste sweet!
sweet as peat, oh yes
sweet as peat—'

and I says oh I says that ole bridge
got feeta stone, and mortar white as bone
and the badgers dangle from the ledge
swingin' alla day alla way home

oh we was pullin' vines from you know where
and stuffin' our ears with sweety sweet loam
jus t'get them badgers flyin' outa there
inta them cook pots in the hearthy home—

and don't they taste sweet!
and don't they taste sweet!
sweet as peat, oh yes
sweet as peat—

and I says oh I says that warlock's tower—"

―Crump

Excerpt 2

"Shillydan the dark-eyed man
Pokes his head up for a look round
Hillyman the black-clawed man
Came up the well for a look around

"Well and and!" says the twelve-toed man
And round down the hill he bound
Still-me-hand the dead-smile man
Went bounding bound down he did bound

Shillydan the red-water man
Croaks and kisses the lass's brow
Hillyman the blue-cocked man
Strokes and blessings t'thank 'er now!"

―Crump

Trivia

In response to a fan question, Steven Erikson stated that Crump likely saved Malazan lives at Y'Ghatan with his overzealous bombing of the walls. The resulting crater slowed the Malazan advance into the city preventing more from being caught up by the fires.

Notes and references

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