T'amber

T'amber [TAM-ber]Critical Conversations 01: House of Chains Chap 26 with Steven Erikson - As pronounced by Steven Erikson at 1:24:00 was Adjunct Tavore Paran's aide and rumoured lover.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 24, US HC p.589 She was not very talkative and was described as beautiful and remote.House of Chains, Chapter 8, US SFBC p.323 Her origins were unclear. Her name apparently came from her "tawny mane"Deadhouse Gates, Prologue, US HC p.26 or her eyes, which had the colour of amber.The Bonehunters, Chapter 22, UK MMPB p.1022
She dressed in hard leathers and carried a long sword.House of Chains, Chapter 26, US SFBC p.823
==In Deadhouse Gates==
T'amber was by Tavore's side when the nobles chosen for The Cull in Unta were led from Judgment's Round to the slave ships outside the city. Amongst the slaves was Felisin Paran, Tavore's sister.Deadhouse Gates, Prologue, US HC p.26
She later accompanied the Adjunct and the Malaz 14th Army to Aren on Seven Cities as part of the punitive expedition against the Whirlwind uprising.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 24, US HC p.589
==In House of Chains==
T'amber was confirmed as Tavore's lover. According to Gamet she had been a concubine in the Grand Temple of the Queen of Dreams in Unta.House of Chains, Chapter 8, US SFBC p.321-323
She accompanied Tavore as the Malaz 14th Army marched from Aren to Raraku, staying in a modest tent near the Adjunct's own. She apparently conducted morning sword practice with the Adjunct. When Sha'ik Reborn challenged Tavore to a personal duel at the Battle of Raraku, Captain Keneb went to find T'amber to see if she would assist Tavore in donning her armour. T'amber declined, saying her help was not needed.
==In The Bonehunters==
After the Battle of Raraku, Leoman led the Army of the Apocalypse westward to Y'Ghatan and the 14th Army followed. T'amber continued to serve Tavore, but she was not held in respect by any of the Fists at the Adjunct's command.The Bonehunters, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.252 During the Last Siege of Y'Ghatan, she observed the battle at Tavore's side along with Nil and Nether.The Bonehunters, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.292
It was revealed that the decorations Tavore awarded to Faradan Sort and Sinn were crafted by T'amber. Her family had been jewelsmiths and she herself had been an apprentice. To Bottle her talent was like genius.The Bonehunters, Chapter 18
Along with Kalam Mekhar, T'amber helped Adjunct Paran escape the Claw agents sent to kill Tavore before she could escape Malaz City. After Kalam sent T'amber and Tavore on ahead of him, trying to buy them some time, T'amber was impaled and killed on the docks just before the sapper Fiddler reached the Adjunct. Fiddler dragged Tavore on to the jetty where the Froth Wolf was moored, helping her finally escape the trap set for her by Empress Laseen.
Afterwards, it was revealed that T'amber was actually the Elder Goddess the Eres'al in disguise as witnessed by Grub and Lostara Yil. Grub told Lostara Yil that she must not tell Tavore that the Eres'al used T'amber's body. Earlier on in the voyage, Tavore made a reference to T'amber being a lot more now than she once was, possibly indicating that Tavore was not as unaware as Grub believed.The Bonehunters, Chapter 22, UK MMPB p.1044
==In Reaper's Gale==
Tavore was stricken with grief by T'amber's death, although she tried to remain in tight control of her emotions so that it did not show. But Blistig, Withal, and the others aboard the Froth Wolf recognised her as a woman more dead than alive. By the time the fleet neared Theft to resupply, the 14th Army was demoralised and near mutiny with no home to return to. Lostara Yil stepped in to replace T'amber as Tavore's personal aide to manage the nearly eight thousand remaining miserable soldiers. She reawakened the Adjunct's spirit in a night-long argument in the Adjunct's cabin. Afterwards, Tavore called together the Fists and senior officers to deliver a speech defining the Bonehunters within the context of other storied Malazan armies and steeling them for the fight ahead. Despite being cast off by the Empress, they were still Malazan and Tavore held onto the title of Adjunct. It was at this point that the first hints of her plans were revealed and she finished her speech with T'amber's words: "What awaits you in the dusk of the old world's passing, shall go...unwitnessed."Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, US HC p.354-358/370
Despite Tavore's evident grief, there still existed suspicion about the events at Malaz City among some members of the Bonehunters. Even Keneb pondered whether Tavore and the Empress had planned yet another Malazan army "gone rogue", but he concluded the Adjunct would never have agreed to T'amber's murder.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, US HC p.364 Throatslitter put some of the blame of T'amber's death on Withal, the man the Bonehunters went to Malaz City to get.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 14, US HC p.409
==Author comments==
According to author Steven Erikson, T'amber's connection to the Eres'al did not develop until after Deadhouse Gates.Deadhouse Gates: A Chat with Steven Erikson, Part 1 - Claudia Iovanovici - See 9:20
==Notes and references==
Category:Bonehunters
Category:Females
Category:Soldiers
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