Jhag horses were originally bred long ago by the Jaghut[1] as riding animals, but they had long since gone feral.[2] They were carnivorous,[3] travelled in packs, and their favoured prey was the common horse.[4] They were known to kill Bhederin calves on occasion.[5] They were usually grey as iron with black manes and tails.[6] Twice as large as a regular horse, they were larger even than the Teblor horses who were bred by the Teblor and similar in ancestry. The mares were broad-backed.[6] The horses were drawn to the smell of bloodwood and blood oil.[7]
Current populations of the breed could be found in Jhag Odhan and those bred by the Teblor in Northern Genabackis. They bred infrequently and only maintained their numbers because of their longevity, granted to them by Phyrlis' blood. However in the Odhan they were being hunted to extinction by the Trell, whose favoured technique was driving them off cliffs.[8][9]
Jhag horses were known as "bone-horses" by the Anibar people.[10]
Jhag horses were known as "Jhag'athend" by the last clan of the Kindaru people of the Lamatath Plain of central Genabackis.[11]
In House of Chains[]
Phyrlis summoned a herd of a dozen Jhag horses so that Karsa Orlong could select a worthy mount. Though thought close to extinction, nearly fifteen thousand horses arrived in answer to the summons. Phyrlis said the overwhelming number was not from her call alone, but due to the scent of blood-oil in Karsa's veins. The horses remembered when the oil could be found on the odhan tens of thousands of years ago. Karsa chose the stallion, Havok, from among their number.[12]
In The God is Not Willing[]
Pake Gild explained how her people's Teblor horses were not a natural animal, but were a gift of a half-blood Jaghut who had long ago come among the tribes. The Jhag had fused together two beasts--the Jhag horse and the common horse--into one, so the Teblor horse was both predator and prey. Even so, breeding Teblor horses required much skill to prevent them from growing too large to support their own weight, or from being too vicious because they possessed too much of the Jaghut strain.[4]
Notable Jhag horses[]
- Havok, Synyg's destrier given to Karsa Orlong
- Havok, (the second) of the Jhag Odhan
- Undead Seguleh Second's Horse
Notes and references[]
- ↑ House of Chains, Chapter 10, US SFBC p.392
- ↑ House of Chains, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.583
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.45/60
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The God is Not Willing, Chapter 19, US HC p.351-352
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 9, US SFBC p.407
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 House of Chains, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.584
- ↑ House of Chains, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.585
- ↑ House of Chains, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.583
- ↑ House of Chains, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.518
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 12, US SFBC p.487
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 6, US TPB p.189/191
- ↑ House of Chains, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.582-586