Nisall [NISS-all][1] was the First Concubine to King Ezgara Diskanar of the Kingdom of Lether. Although she had held the position for three years, the title carried no official power barring what the force of her personality could achieve.[2]
The two were aligned together in a faction with First Eunuch Nifadas, Ceda Kuru Qan, and Preda Unnutal Hebaz that opposed one headed by Queen Janall, Prince Quillas, and Chancellor Triban Gnol.[2][3]
Nisall well understood the shifting motivations and loyalties of palace politics and participated in strategy sessions aimed at furthering the king's desires. She was not averse to plotting violence to achieve her goals.[2]
She was attended by three handmaidens. The senior among them was Tissin, who Nisall considered as close to a mother as she ever had.[4]
In Midnight Tides[]
King's Champion Brys Beddict encountered Nisall in the office of the Preda. The three discussed the coming Great Meeting between the Letherii and the Tiste Edur Warlock King, Hannan Mosag. The First Concubine correctly anticipated the Queen's desire for war with the Edur and plotted ways to disrupt her schemes, including the elimination of the prince's bodyguard, Moroch Nevath. She also lightly chastised Brys for his fearing to speak out of turn, claiming that the King's Champion should feel free to speak his mind even to the king.[2]
The queen's plans bore fruit and war broke out between the Letherii and Tiste Edur. Nisall attended the king's war council to determine their strategy. She suggested the Letherii use sorcery to annihilate the sacred sites of the Edur to weaken their hold on their Shadow wraith servants. She noted something similar had been done when the Letherii subjugated the Nerek and the Tarthenal. Her suggestion ultimately led to the total destruction of the Edur villages across the Letherii frontier.[5]
The war went badly for the Letherii and the Edur armies approached Letheras. Nisall knelt at King Ezgara's feet during the Seventh Closure as he was named emperor in the Eternal Domicile.[6] The new emperor refused to leave his throne as the Edur entered the city, and the First Concubine exhausted herself holding an overnight vigil over him.[7]
After conquering the capital, Tiste Edur emperor, Rhulad Sengar, and his entourage entered the throne room. Brys engaged the Edur emperor in a duel while Ezgara and Nifadas drank wine. But even as Rhulad fell to Brys' sword it seemed that Nisall realised that Ezgara and the First Eunuch had died of poison. It was too late to stop Brys from unwittingly drinking from the same jug, and when Trull Sengar looked to the throne again, she was gone.[8]
In Reaper's Gale[]
After Letheras' fall to the Tisted Edur, Nisall became the advisor and lover of Rhulad. The Emperor had given her the choice to stay or go, and she had chosen to stay out of a mixture of pity and ambition. Unlike many of the other Letherii in the palace, she came to care for Rhulad, seeing him tormented by his dreams every night and witnessing his daily struggles to genuinely rule over his new empire. But she was alone, surrounded by spies and intrigue, and threatening the ambition of Chancellor Gnol.[9]
The Chancellor and Master Karos Invictad of the Patriotists secret police sought to isolate Rhulad from his fellow Edur and slowly take back control of the throne. Nisall looked for allies in the court, and saw that former queen Janall was well treated in her twisted and piteous state.[10] Eventually Nisall was approached by the Edur, Bruthen Trana, who reported that the Patriotists sought to remove her by charging her with treason. In return for her efforts to break the chancellor's wall around the emperor and gain him an audience with Rhulad, Bruthen placed an armed bodyguard at the door to her chambers.[11]
Her enemies made their move in the middle of the night sending Sirryn Kanar and a team of thugs to break down the doors to her rooms. They killed her Edur bodyguard, as well as two of her handmaidens, before dragging Nisall and Tissin off to the Patriotists' headquarters. Tissin was forced to "confess", then executed. Karos oversaw Nisall's own interrogation, promising to make her death quick. Nisall stalled for time by announcing she was pregnant with Rhulad's child. But when Bruthen Trana arrived at the Patriotists' door with sixteen warriors and the Edur warlock, K'ar Penath, to demand her release, Karos killed her by stabbing her three times in the chest. Bruthen ordered his warriors to take Nisall and her handmaiden's bodies before beating Karos into a quivering mess of blood and urine.[12]
Bruthen recovered Nisall's written "confession", a single line statement that made his heart flutter when he read it.[13] Hannan Mosag later found the note on Bruthen's body and wondered what mischief the Edur had planned on doing with it.[14] Alone with his thoughts, Chancellor Gnol revealed Nisall was meant to have drunk the poison alongside her king, not Brys.[15]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ DLC Bookclub Special: Interview with Steven Erikson, author of The Bonehunters - As pronounced by Steven Erikson at 1:23:00
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.140-143
- ↑ Midnight Tides, Chapter 10, US SFBC p.324
- ↑ Reaper's Gale, Chapter 9, US HC p.237/238
- ↑ Midnight Tides, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.429-433
- ↑ Midnight Tides, Chapter 22, US SFBC p.664
- ↑ Midnight Tides, Chapter 24, US SFBC p.691
- ↑ Midnight Tides, Chapter 25, UK MMPB p.897-902
- ↑ Reaper's Gale, Chapter 3, US HC p.74-79
- ↑ Reaper's Gale, Chapter 5, US HC p.129
- ↑ Reaper's Gale, Chapter 5, US HC p.132-134
- ↑ Reaper's Gale, Chapter 9, UK BCA edition p.248/251-254
- ↑ Reaper's Gale, Chapter 9, US HC p.241
- ↑ Reaper's Gale, Chapter 15, US HC p.442
- ↑ Reaper's Gale, Chapter 15, US HC p.447