Malazan Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Malazan Wiki

"I wish he were here... So he could kill someone. Anyone. The man's a wonder at simplifying matters."
―Murillio, on Rallick Nom[src]

Rallick Nom, [RAL-lik NAHM][1] of House Nom, was an assassin in Ocelot's clan in the Assassins' Guild of Darujhistan. He was a regular of the Phoenix Inn, as were his associates Kruppe, Coll, Crokus, and Murillio.[2]

Rallick acted as a mentor to Crokus, regularly proffering advice regarding their similar professions and attempting to keep the boy safe from harm.[3]

Torvald Nom was Rallick's cousin[4] and he was an uncle of Bellam Nom.[5]

Rallick was described as tall and dark-skinned with long black hair, which was sometimes braided and oiled,[6] and a narrow, clean-shaven face. He wore a deep royal purple day cloak which was fastened at the neck by a silver clamshell broach.[7]

Murillio thought that everything about Rallick marked him a killer and that even his wardrobe had all the warmth and vitality of an executioner's uniform. He also described Rallick as having a rigidly geometric brain and on the whole, lacking subtlety.[8]

Rallick fought with a heavy Tjaluk knife in each hand.[9] Among his other weapons was an old-fashioned crossbow.[10]

In Gardens of the Moon[]

Rallick and Murillio plotted to restore their friend Coll to his noble position and wealth, which had been stolen by his wife Lady Simtal. Rallick was set to assassinate Simtal however at the last moment, Oponn interfered and nudged Rallick to kill Councilman Lim, who was on the balcony with her, instead.[11]

Later that night, Ocelot waylaid Rallick outside the Phoenix Inn to inform him that an unknown enemy had begun a war with the Guild killing several of their members. The two agreed that those attacking the Guild might be Malazan Empire Claw. Ocelot told Rallick that he was required to act as bait for a trap they were setting for the attackers.[12]

Rallick warned Crokus to stay away from the Orr Estate.[13]

Kruppe told Baruk that he had not seen Rallick in days.[14]

Rallick met up with Murillio in the grounds of Hinter's Tower. Rallick ambushed Murillio to test his friend's reflexes and was pleased that they were still good, despite good living. The two of them talked about Simtal's Fête, agreed to further Crokus' ambition to become a man of standing and exchanged suspicions about Kruppe.[15]

Rallick was followed from the Phoenix Inn by the Bridgeburners Kalam Mekhar and Quick Ben, who had been ordered to make contact with the Guild. The Guild's trap for the pair fell apart when a dozen Tiste Andii night-hunters attacked the assassins from above. After killing Dashtal, Rallick and Ocelot barely escaped with their lives.[16]

Rallick Nom II by zsoszy

Rallick Nom by Zsoszy

When Rallick discovered that Simtal's lover Turban Orr had contracted Ocelot to assassinate Coll, Rallick tracked his clan leader to K'rul's Belfry. He coated himself with Otataral powder to defeat Ocelot's magic before surprising and killing his superior.[17]

Although Rallick was severely injured by Ocelot, he and Murillio proceeded with the next stage of their plans against Lady Simtal. They attended her Gedderone Fête where Murillio seduced and drew away Simtal while Rallick challenged Turban Orr to a duel and killed him. With her lover and primary sponsor eliminated, Simtal was reduced to a frightened and powerless creature. Murillio left her with an ornamental dagger to end her own life.[18]

Before leaving the party, Rallick was approached by a disguised Vorcan Radok, Mistress of the Assassins' Guild. She informed Rallick that Ocelot's contract against Coll was unsanctioned and that Rallick would face no punishment for the clan leader's death. Vorcan brought Rallick with her to a meeting with the Bridgeburners who negotiated a Guild contract to assassinate the members of the T'orrud Cabal. While Vorcan left to fulfill her part, Rallick was left guarding the slowly expanding stump of the Finnest House because his otataral-infused skin impeded its growth. After the others had left, Rallick called to Crokus who was eavesdropping in the darkness. He tasked Crokus with warning their friend Baruk, a leader of the Cabal.[19]

Rallick was still at the site of the Finnest House when a gravely wounded Vorcan returned from her failed attack on Baruk and Derudan. With vengeful Tiste Andii on her heels, Rallick made the decision to carry her with him inside the Azath House to an uncertain fate.[20]

In Memories of Ice[]

Two months after the Gedderone Fête, Ganoes Paran unwillingly found himself visiting the Finnest House in spirit form. He discovered two people, seemingly peacefully asleep despite the woman's fresh wounds, just inside the House's front door. Paran recognised them as Rallick and Vorcan. Raest, the House's new guardian, said he found them in their current state and had made no attempt to wake them. He told Paran that the two had been chosen by the House to be servants of the Master of the Deck.[21]

After the Siege of Capustan, Rallick's friends Coll and Murillio discussed the possibility that Coll's former wife, Lady Simtal, had borne him a child. Murillio told Coll that during the two years the former Councilman had spent in a drunken stupor Rallick had spied on his ex-wife. Unfortunately, she had disappeared from the public eye for a few months when any signs of pregnancy would have been obvious.[22]

In House of Chains[]

When Cutter spoke of Rallick as if he had passed, Cotillion said he suspected there was no need for the use of past tense in Rallick or Vorcan's case. He did not go into further detail.[23]

In The Bonehunters[]

Ganoes Paran obliquely referred to Rallick Nom when he described once living in the Finnest House with two eternally sleeping houseguests and a Jaghut manservant.[24]

In Toll the Hounds[]

Rallick Nom by Corporal Nobbs

Rallick Nom by Corporal Nobbs

During Rallick's long absence, the Cult of Rallick Nom formed amongst the members of the Darujhistan Assassins' Guild. Some clans raised secret shrines and the majority of the cult's killers switched to using poison in their endeavours, believing Nom had proven its value over sorcery. The Guild's new master, Seba Krafar, sought to outlaw the cult and killed five of its leaders.[25]

Shortly after Vorcan awoke on her own in the Finnest House and escaped, Rallick was kicked awake by Raest. Rallick thought him a demon, but Raest said that appellation better belonged to the one calling itself Vorcan. The Jaghut had no idea how long the pair had lain there healing, but admitted their presence had given him a form of companionship. Rallick thanked the Jaghut when he grumbled over the assassin's lack of gratitude and left the House.[26] He made it all the way to the outside of Coll's estate before concluding such a public return was unwise.[27]

Instead he sought out Krute of Talient, who informed him of the Assassin's Guild's decimation during the infighting that had led to Seba Krafar's rise to power. Rallick also learned of the cult that had sprung up in his name. Krute gleefully anticipated Rallick's challenge to Krafar's reign, but was disappointed to learn Vorcan had returned as well. Rallick swore Krute to secrecy and inaction for now, but looked forward to what was to come.[28]

Approaching the Phoenix Inn, Rallick startled an unfamiliar Cutter lurking suspiciously outside. The two engaged in a quick and furious battle of knife versus knife before Cutter recognised his old friend. Cutter more than held his own, leaving Rallick bleeding with a knife in his shoulder. Rallick was displeased that the obviously skilled Crokus had failed to heed his advice regarding joining the Guild, but it soon became apparent that neither had been active in Darujhistan in some time.[29] Cutter guided the injured Rallick into the Phoenix Inn where Meese rushed to tend him.[30]

Krute soon grew tired of Rallick's lack of action on the Guild and accepted Seba Krafar's offer to return after the Guild was decimated by its attack on K'rul's Bar. Rallick tried to buy his retirement from the Guild with six months of coin, but Krute refused, annoyed at his continued secrecy. But he promised to keep Rallick's return secret from the Guild.[31]

After Gorlas Vidikas killed Murillio in a duel, he had the body sent to the Phoenix Inn to taunt Murillio's friends.[32] When Rallick learned Cutter had left to avenge their friend, his first thought was to stop him. But Kruppe convinced the assassin that Cutter was up to the task. Coll's efforts to get drunk saw him curse out Kruppe and come to blows with Rallick Nom until Meese shamed the men into honouring Murillio by attending his interment. Murillio was placed in Coll's family crypt.[33]

On the last night of the Gedderone Fête, Seba Krafar led a force of thirty-one assassins against the estate of the mysterious Lady Varada in an attempt to slay her. Rallick Nom assisted in the estate's defence, much to the surprise of Torvald Nom who served as the estate's guard captain. After the assassins were defeated, Lady Varada was revealed as Vorcan Radok. Not only had she anticipated the attack, but she had baited the Guild to draw them out and eliminate them once and for all.[34]

Torvald begged a bewildered Rallick for forgiveness. For twenty-five years Torvald had been under the impression that Rallick held grudge for stealing Tiserra away from him when they were seven years old. Rallick called him an idiot and insisted he only admired his cousin's relationship. For his part, Torvald Nom told a disbelieving Rallick that Vorcan might care for him much more than as just an employee.[35]

The next morning the two Noms found their young nephew, Bellam, stumbling home from his own eventful evening. They chastised the heir to House Nom for disappearing and forsaking his responsibilities to the family. As the two men escorted him home, they could barely keep straight faces when they swore they had never been so wayward in their own youths.[36]

In Orb Sceptre Throne[]

Vorcan, now Rallick's lover, made Rallick promise he would stay out of the mess that was to follow, foreshadowing the return of another Jaghut Tyrant and other elements such as Taya Radok.[37]

Rallick began his own investigation into what was happening in Darujhistan. He talked to Kruppe but got only confusing answers in response.[38] He then investigated Baruk's Estate and found it completely trashed by a slim but hefty female.[39] Rallick visited the Finnest House on Coll's estate to talk to the Jaghut Raest but the only thing Raest would tell him was that it was a game of bluffs on both sides.[40] Krute and the Assassins' Guild attacked him, thinking he and Vorcan had allied themselves with the Legate and were responsible for taking out guild assassins, but Rallick managed to escape with a bluff that was not his own.[41] He contacted Coll, asking him to keep an eye on the Council as he kept an eye on the Guild itself, resolving to counter the Legate and his activities, somehow with the help of Kruppe who was incognito at the moment.

Rallick had a talk with Topper, stonewalling him when Topper asked him questions looking for information regarding The Eel.[42]

As the Moranth assault on the protective dome surrounding Majesty Hill - i.e., the Orb of the Tyrants - began, Rallick was surprised and attacked by Taya who managed to injure him. However, Rallick more than held his own against her, eventually pushing her off the rooftop of the Great Hall that they had been fighting on.[43]

He witnessed Leff and Scorch hammer the Legate with bolts from their crossbows, fatally injuring him.[44] Rallick then took the mouthpiece of the Legate, Scholar Ebbin to the Azath house, where he entrusted Ebbin to Raest's care, since the Tyrant who had just died still existed as a voice in the scholar's mind.[45]

Rallick was re-united with Vorcan.[46]

History[]

According to Kruppe, he once saved Rallick's life. The 'boy' as Kruppe called him, severely wounded, was surrounded by several assassins at the back of All Eve's Street and Kruppe supposedly incinerated them into piles of ash. Given that the number of assassins changed from four to six in the telling, the story was likely at least in parts made up.[47]

Trivia[]

Rallick Nom was inspired by the character of Porthos from Alexandre Dumas' novel The Three Musketeers.[48]

Notes and references[]

  1. An Evening With Steven Erikson - Nerdaí Irish Nerds - As pronounced by Steven Erikson at 18:13
  2. Gardens of the Moon, Dramatis Personae, UK MMPB p.xiv
  3. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 13, US HC p.299-300
  4. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 23, UK HB p.844
  5. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 24, UK HB p.914
  6. Memories of Ice, Chapter 5
  7. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 6, UK MMPB p.216
  8. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 7, UK MMPB p.231
  9. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.186-187
  10. Memories of Ice, Chapter 5
  11. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 6, US HC p.155-156
  12. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 6, UK MMPB p.207/208
  13. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 7, UK MMPB p.236
  14. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 7, UK MMPB p.249
  15. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 7, UK MMPB p.243-246
  16. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 13, US HC p.288-294
  17. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 18, US HC p.377-379
  18. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 21, US HC p.428-437
  19. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 24, US HC p.446/450-451
  20. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 24, US HC p.482
  21. Memories of Ice, Chapter 5
  22. Memories of Ice, Chapter 22, US SFBC p.799-800
  23. House of Chains, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.267
  24. The Bonehunters, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.213
  25. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.35
  26. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 3, UK PB p.138-139
  27. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.113
  28. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.162-164
  29. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.185-188
  30. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.190-191
  31. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.702-704
  32. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.697-703/710-713
  33. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 19, US SFBC p.792-794
  34. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.840/854-858
  35. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.857-858
  36. Toll the Hounds, Chapter 24, US SFBC p.997-998
  37. Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 3
  38. Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 3
  39. Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 5
  40. Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 6
  41. Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 7
  42. Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 13
  43. Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 19
  44. Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 20
  45. Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 21
  46. Orb Sceptre Throne, Epilogue
  47. Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 6, UK MMPB p.215
  48. Discussing Inspiration and Imitation with Malazan Authors Esslemont and Erikson - A Critical Dragon - See 5:30
List of abbreviationsPaginationsHow to reference an article
Advertisement