Talk:House of Chains

message: (I'm putting this here for now, since I want both input on other themes I may have missed, or more examples for the one I found, or even just "Hey, tard-boy. It works better if you say it this way..")
===Chains===
An overwhelmingly overt theme in this book is that of chains, and all that is associated with them; ie slavery, confinement.
The true antagonist in the novel, indeed the Malazan series of novels, is the Chained One. This book marks the first in which he is not only physically chained, but is now chained to the Deck of Dragons and must abide by the rules of conduct which that entails. His House of Chains is based around imperfection. This Chained One is also known as the Crippled God.
Karsa Orlong is the most obvious example of this theme, however, as he is repeatedly enslaved and reshackled throughout the book. He is a slave to his culture, his gods, and his own sense of righteousness. He is said to been chained to the souls of everyone he has killed. The false gods which haunt his shadow are in fact servants of the Chained One, and belong to his House of Chains. Karsa is also the unwilling Knight of Chains. While he is chained to a wagonbed on a boat in the Nascent, the boat is destroyed by chains formed of lightning. He casts off a number of shackles through his journey, however. Ignorance. Dependance. Arrogance.
The thief Crokus accepts the chains of being Cutter, an assassin. Later, he begins to question the slavery he bought for himself.
Fiddler, a soldier formerly of the Bridgeburners, realizes that he is still chained to that unit, even after it has been annihilated.
Kalam, another Bridgeburner, finds he cannot escape the chains of his past.
The maddened slavemaster Silgar, the Leper of Chains, is seen at one point drawing an endless pattern of chains around himself, though shortly after he has departed, a figure that represents Heboric Ghost Hands is seen within the pattern.
Bidithal, the Magi of Chains, has a cult of little female children he has bound to himself through mutilation.
Heboric, at one point, thinks to himself that Sha'ik is building for him nothing more than a house of chains.
Darist, the brother to Anomander Rake (who is himself asociated with chains in the Fatid), guards the Throne of Shadow on Drift Avalii. After his death, the Traveller shoulders the chains of that position.
The Adjunct Tavore must deal with the legacy of the Chain of Dogs.
===Family===
Another theme is family, and the love and conflict within them.
The Adjunct Tavore leads the Malazan army to crush the Apocalypse, unknowing that it is led by her younger sister, Felisin.  To preserve Felisin's life in an earlier book, she had her sent off to the otataral mines, which ultimately led Felisin to the Army of the Apocalypse. Eventually, Tavore kills Felisin in single combat.
The Bridgeburners are a family formed through trial. It can be easily said that the Bridgeburners featured in this book are brothers.
Toblakai has a bad relationship with his own family. He thinks of his father as weak, but comes to understand later this is not so, and that his father loved him very much.
Trull Sengar, a Tiste Edur, is introduced to us as being cast out of his family by his brothers. His companion, Onrack the Broken, is much the same after his Vow is sundered. They form a sort of family unit, as well.
Onrack's Imass wife is the spirit behind the Whirlwind Goddess, who is still angry at him, after millennia, for cheating on her.
The priest L'oric finds and confronts his father, the god Osric. They don't get along so well, but Osric is not totally uncaring. He helps his son a few times, and helps to find a new guardian for the Liosan realm, Thyrllan.
The three Tiste races are referred to as one family. The Andii come from "Mother Dark", the Liosan from "Father Light" and the Edur as the miscegenated offspring of both.
The conflict between Light, Dark and Shadow is defined as a family struggle. With the warrens of Tellann, Thyr, Meanas, and Rashan all running about now, too, it is said that the old family struggle now has grandchildren and in-laws joining in.
The original founding group of the Malazan Empire is described as a family, as well.
Themes tend to be kinda iffy as additions to entries on books, and the ones above, though they are themes in the books, are very specific.  If you want to include them, try reducing them to 2-4 sentences overall, with perhaps one example of each.  Also, I'd suggest putting these on the Malazan Book of the Fallen page rather than on specific book pages - they'll get more traffic and input, plus if you are including themes they should be ones that span the entire series rather than single books.  
Incidentally, in the Bonehunters, the whole interactions between Tavore and Laseen struck me as kinda 'family-ish', almost like a child separating and choosing their own identity apart from their parent.  But that's pretty close to original research.  WLU 23:49, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Themes

message: Another theme is family, and the love and conflict within them.
The Adjunct Tavore leads the Malazan army to crush the Apocalypse, unknowing that it is led by her younger sister, Felisin.  To preserve Felisin's life in an earlier book, she had her sent off to the otataral mines, which ultimately led Felisin to the Army of the Apocalypse. Eventually, Tavore kills Felisin in single combat.
The Bridgeburners are a family formed through trial. It can be easily said that the Bridgeburners featured in this book are brothers.
Toblakai has a bad relationship with his own family. He thinks of his father as weak, but comes to understand later this is not so, and that his father loved him very much.
Trull Sengar, a Tiste Edur, is introduced to us as being cast out of his family by his brothers. His companion, Onrack the Broken, is much the same after his Vow is sundered. They form a sort of family unit, as well.
Onrack's Imass wife is the spirit behind the Whirlwind Goddess, who is still angry at him, after millennia, for cheating on her.
The priest L'oric finds and confronts his father, the god Osric. They don't get along so well, but Osric is not totally uncaring. He helps his son a few times, and helps to find a new guardian for the Liosan realm, Thyrllan.
The three Tiste races are referred to as one family. The Andii come from "Mother Dark", the Liosan from "Father Light" and the Edur as the miscegenated offspring of both.
The conflict between Light, Dark and Shadow is defined as a family struggle. With the warrens of Tellann, Thyr, Meanas, and Rashan all running about now, too, it is said that the old family struggle now has grandchildren and in-laws joining in.
The original founding group of the Malazan Empire is described as a family, as well.
Themes tend to be kinda iffy as additions to entries on books, and the ones above, though they are themes in the books, are very specific.  If you want to include them, try reducing them to 2-4 sentences overall, with perhaps one example of each.  Also, I'd suggest putting these on the Malazan Book of the Fallen page rather than on specific book pages - they'll get more traffic and input, plus if you are including themes they should be ones that span the entire series rather than single books.  
Incidentally, in the Bonehunters, the whole interactions between Tavore and Laseen struck me as kinda 'family-ish', almost like a child separating and choosing their own identity apart from their parent.  But that's pretty close to original research.  WLU 23:49, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Family