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EMPRESS LASEEN

'Empress Laseen' Interpretation by Shadaan
Depicted in the background clockwise from left:
Tayschrenn, Possum, Topper and Lorn

Adjunct Lorn was the Adjunct to Empress Laseen.[1] She was described as about twenty years old,[2] lithe,[3] with long auburn hair[4] which would dangle in tattered ropes down over her imperial cape when she took off her helmet.[5] She was an accomplished rider[3] capable of mastering a warhorse stallion bred of the finest lines of Seven Cities stock.[6]

Her residence in Unta was on the top floor of the West Tower of the Imperial palace. Her room featured stone tiles covered in ragged furs, faded tapestries lining the walls and a few items of old, Napan style furniture. There was also at least one wide, shuttered window.[7]

Lorn carried an Otataral sword, the designated weapon of the Empresses' personal Adjunct, making her an anathema to sorcery. It meant that she knew the patterns of sorcery and the pattern of the minds that used it.[5] Quick Ben described her as the Empress' personal mage-killer.[8]

In Gardens of the Moon

In 1161BS, Lorn was assigned to investigate the Itko Kan Massacre, where she recruited Ganoes Paran into her service.[9] She had been sent there because the Empress suspected sorcery, and as bearer of the Otataral sword, Lorn was well equipped to confront it.

By 1163BS, Lorn was given the task of freeing the Jaghut Tyrant Raest from his imprisonment near Darujhistan. The Tyrant was to be used against their enemy Anomander Rake, weakening the ancient High Mage enough for the Empire's mages to kill him.[10] She travelled to Genabackis where she was joined by the T'lan Imass, Onos T'oolan, whom she nicknamed "Tool". Tool and the Claw Toc the Younger saved her life when her travelling party was attacked by a band of Barghast.[11]

Coincidentally, her investigation of the massacre also led to Genabackis, and she was preceded to Pale by Captain Paran.[12] Lorn promised Paran command of the Bridgeburners as a reward for his service to date.[13] Shortly after his arrival to take command, Paran was murdered by their quarry, the Cotillion-possessed Sorry, as a direct provocation to Empress Laseen and Lorn.[14]

Once in Pale, she attended a meeting of the city's new Imperial leaders, including High Fist Dujek Onearm, High Mage Tayschrenn, and the mage Tattersail. Lorn was shocked to recognise Tattersail as one of the mages whose reckless actions during the Mouse Quarter riots had led to the deaths of Lorn's family. She determined to execute Tattersail for the offence, before being dissuaded by Dujek. Toc noted that for a moment the woman Lorn had once been had risen from the past to reclaim her life before finally being executed by the "thing known as the Adjunct."[15]

After Lorn and Tool departed Pale for Darujhistan, Tattersail and the revived Paran separately concluded that Lorn had actually been sent to Genabackis with the mission to eliminate the remaining Old Guard. They feared she intended to kill off Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his Bridgeburners.[16][17] Tattersail set out for Darujhistan to warn the sergeant and Paran soon followed. When Paran discovered the remains of Tattersail along the way, he vowed vengeance against Lorn.[18]

Lorn succeeded in freeing the Tyrant, and buried Raest's finnest as bait in Darujhistan in the garden of the Simtal/Coll Estate before setting off in pursuit of the Coin Bearer.[19] On her way, she released a soletaken demon Lord of Galayn into the city to confront a hopefully weakened Rake.[20]

As she made her move to kill the Coin Bearer, she was intercepted and engaged in combat by Corporal Blues of the Crimson Guard. She was stunned by his skill, since she did not think it was possible for anyone to overwhelm her in a sword fight without magery. Though she managed to break off the fight and escape, she was gravely wounded. Just as she thought she was safe, she encountered Meese and Irilta, who had been sent after her by the Eel. The two easily overwhelmed her, delivering killing blows, leaving her dazed and very nearly dead. She was then found by Paran. She wished he had found her earlier (not knowing about Paran's current disposition towards her, which was one of enmity towards her), so that things might perhaps have turned out differently. She then died in his arms. Paran took her Otataral sword, and after a short conversation with the Twins Oponn, picked her up and took her away.[21] He later buried her on the northern shore of Lake Azur.[22]

In Dust of Dreams

Lorn's successor, Tavore Paran, talked to Lostara Yil about Lorn's death and legacy. She commented that Lorn had apparently completed her task and that her death seemed to be 'little more than ill luck, a mugging or something similar... a victim of mischance. A death devoid of magic'. She told Lostara that Lorn had been buried in a pauper's grave.[23]

History

Lorn was originally from Malaz City. When she was eleven the then Clawmaster and Imperial regent Laseen issued an edict against the illegal use of magery by the city's numerous practitioners. The city's Mouse Quarter, where Lorn and her family lived, soon became swept up in riots against the edict. The Malazan Army was sent to quell the violence. The mage Tattersail, in her first command, had participated and her inexperienced mage cadre was excessive in their response.

The day after the riots, Lorn was given to the Claw. A week later, the Mouse Quarter was burned down and her family was among the survivors housed in the plague-ridden caverns of Mock's Hold. There her parents and brother succumbed to disease, although their deaths were kept from Lorn for years afterward. Lorn held Tattersail partially responsible for the death of her family.[24]

Essays

Lorn's personality development - Essay by Toctheyounger

Notes and references

  1. Gardens of the Moon, Dramatis Personae, UK MMPB p. xiii
  2. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 9, US HC p.219 Lorn was eleven during the Mouse Quarter riots of 1154BS
  3. 3.0 3.1 Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 1, UK MMPB p.20
  4. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 1, UK MMPB p.27
  5. 5.0 5.1 Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 1, UK MMPB p.28
  6. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 1, UK MMPB p.25
  7. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 1, UK MMPB p.43
  8. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 4, UK MMPB p.131
  9. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 1, UK MMPB p.22-29
  10. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 13, US HC p.315/319
  11. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 9, US HC p.198-205
  12. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 3, US HC p.94
  13. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 10, US HC p.234
  14. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 3, US HC p.101-102
  15. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 9, US HC p.219-221
  16. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 9, US HC p.228
  17. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 10, US HC p.234-235
  18. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 10, US HC p.243-245
  19. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 21, US HC p.420-421
  20. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 23, US HC p.465
  21. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 23
  22. Gardens of the Moon, Epilogue, US HC p.486-487
  23. Dust of Dreams, Chapter 11, UK HB p.382
  24. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 9, UK MMPB p.302/303
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