Silanah

Silanah
Raest battling Silanah outside Darujhistan.Official art by Michael Kormack
Biographical information
Race	Eleint
Gender	Female
Social information
Affiliation	Anomander Rake

'Silanah vs Raest' Interpretation by Shadaan

Silanah Redwings was an Eleint, or dragon, who travelled with the Tiste Andii in Moon's Spawn and was a companion to Anomander Rake.

She had red pebbled skin, iridescent scales, a ridged back, and glowing, multi-faceted eyes.

In Gardens of the Moon

When the Malazan Empire freed the Jaghut Tyrant Raest from his barrow to challenge Anomander Rake, the Son of Darkness asked Silanah to help delay the Tyrant's march on Darujhistan. She was supported by four Tiste Andii Soletaken in the form of black dragons. Silanah was badly injured by Raest in the process, but he spared her life.

In Memories of Ice

Anomander Rake and Caladan Brood allied with renegade Malazan High Fist Dujek Onearm to battle the Pannion Domin. As the allied armies made their way east towards Capustan, Rake left Brood's camp, telling Korlat he felt the need for Silanah's comfort. He said he would return in a short while.

Later, after the Pannion Domin's defeat at the Battle of Black Coral, the Soletaken Eleint Orfantal mentioned that Silanah was in the air above the battlefield. She likely had been aboard Moon's Spawn as it lay in wait below the waters of Ortnal's Cut before the battle.

In Midnight Tides

Udinaas and Feather Witch accidentally travelled to the Refugium where they met the Imass, Ulshun Pral, and the boy, Rud Elalle. Ulshan Pral spoke of a Hold the two Letherii had never heard of called Starvald Demelain. In an attempt to explain, he listed the names of many of its notable denizens including Silanah. He finished by calling them "Eleint. Draconean. Dragons. The Pure Dragons."

In The Bonehunters

The imprisoned Eleint, Eloth, claimed that Silanah had been seduced to the side of the Soletaken Eleint against her own kind by the charms of Anomandaris.

In Reaper's Gale

After Silchas Ruin escaped from his Azath prison he encountered Clip, the Bluerose Tiste Andii whose people worshiped Anomander Rake. According to their histories, Silanah had emerged into the Malazan world at the side of Rake at the time of the sundering of Kurald Emurlahn. Once through, the gate was closed behind them.

In Toll the Hounds

Silanah at Black Coral by Shadaan

Black Coral became the home of the Tiste Andii after the destruction of Moon's Spawn. Silanah kept watch over the city and its surroundings from atop the New Andiian Palace. Unmoving for nearly a year, she was thought to be merely an ornamentation crafted by a master artisan by many in the city's human population.

"Sleepless, all-seeing protector and sentinel, beloved of the Son of Darkness, and possessed of absolute, obsidian-sharp judgement...terrible in wrath...Few mortals could even conceive the truth and the capacity of the implacably just."

―Description of Silanah in Black Coral

Spinnock Durav recalled a time during the Mott Campaign when Silanah had unleashed her fire on the enemy like an axe used against ants. Caught up in the destruction were a handful of their allies in the Crimson Guard and Mott Irregulars. The attack was halted by Cowl's sorcery, which sent the bleeding dragon back to Moon's Spawn. An enraged Rake hunted down Cowl and their sorcerous battle filled half the sky with mage-fire. It was not known who blinked first and yielded the field.

Silanah kept watch on the Pilgrim camp that came to surround the Barrow of the Redeemer, keeping Rake and the Andii abreast of Gradithan's depredations over Salind and the other pilgrims and weighing whether it was time to act. One of Gradithan's underlings, the former Bridgeburner Monkrat, recognised Silanah from his own time at Blackdog Forest and Mott Wood. He recalled the terror when she sailed overhead and unleashed her fire. He believed that if Gradithan succeeded and the Redeemer fell, Silanah would descend upon them and burn the entire camp to ash.

When Rake's plans for Dragnipur came to fruition and the Dying God appeared on the verge of success in Black Coral, Silanah unleashed a cry of grief, rage, and unleashed intent before flying out of the city. By the time Nimander Golit took his father's place as Lord of the Tiste Andii, Silanah was gone.

In The Crippled God

Silanah by Dejan Delic

Silanah returned with the Tiste Andii under Nimander Golit to Kharkanas and fought the Soletaken Eleint of the Tiste Liosan in the Defence of the First Shore.

In The God is Not Willing

Benger recalled once seeing a tapestry in Nathilog or Genabaris that depicted a battle somewhere near Mott during the Genabackis Campaign. Above the fighting were two flying dragons--one red and one black--with Moon's Spawn in the sky behind them. Benger had heard that the crimson dragon from the tapestry had lived in Black Coral. He thought it more likely that the dragon of Black Coral was a mere statue meant to represent a dragon who had once lived in the area. He thought about calling on an illusion of the red dragon to aid him in his deliverance of Sarlis from her Blood-oil curse, but instead accidentally summoned the black dragon, Anomander Dragnipurake.

Quotes

"Mercy in compassion, no dragon lives."

―Said regarding Silanah and other Eleint.

Fan art gallery

• Spoiler free images
• Spoiler images

Anomander and Silanah by Tida Kietsungden

Gabrobi hills by Corporal Nobbs

Raest vs. Silanah by Taylor Christensen

Silanah overlooks Black Coral by Efirende

Notes and references

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