Kettle

Kettle was an undead, human girl, forever nine or ten years old, who inhabited the grounds of the Azath Tower in Letheras.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.153 She was pale-skinned and naked, with long hair clotted by blood framing her heart-shaped face. Her black eyes were covered with a dull film.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.153-154 She had no memory of her life before her death.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.145
She served as Guardian of the Azath House by killing "bad people" in Letheras and feeding their bodies to the House's grounds.Midnight Tides, Chapter 12, US SFBC p.385 She preferred dispatching her victims by biting out their throats because she enjoyed the smell of blood, and when it coagulated it kept her hair out of her face.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.152-155 The House's choice to make her Guardian was a sign of its advanced age and faltering power as she was unready for what the role fully entailed.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.155 The House communicated with her using thoughts and feelings.Midnight Tides, Chapter 10, US SFBC p.308 She could see in the dark.Midnight Tides, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.444
She was given the name Kettle by the undead thief, Shurq Elalle, who Kettle desperately wished would be her mother.Midnight Tides, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.201Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.153 Shurq had no interest in being anyone's mother, but regularly visited the girl and attempted to discover the origin of her curse.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.145/153-154
==In Midnight Tides==
Kettle aided the Azath Tower in Letheras while it slowly weakened and died. Despite her efforts, the Azath continued to decline and several of its prisoners began communicating with her. While some like Sheltatha Lore promised rewards, others like the Seregahl promised that they would tear her to pieces when they escaped.Midnight Tides, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.429Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.152-155
The House knew the girl would not be ready to defend herself against the hundreds of creatures that would be released upon its death, so it made a bargain to free one of its most powerful prisoners, Silchas Ruin, for his aid.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.155-156 As Silchas slowly worked his way free, he spoke with Kettle regularly and showed her visions of other places. The man who she referred to as uncle told her that she bore the soul of a Forkrul Assail which was not entirely awake. Kettle also recalled that she had once been an adult priestess of the Nameless Ones from Seven Cities. She had journeyed to Letheras with five Nerek witches who prepared her and the body of a dead girl to accept the Nameless One's soul. She recalled her child body being wrapped for burial and her 'other body' observing. The witches told her that she had been prepared from birth and that she was a true child of the Eres. She was also told that she was the answer to the Seventh Closure because she had the blood of kin.Midnight Tides, Chapter 14, UK MMPB p.539-542 In effect, she bore two souls, neither of which was the child's original. Ruin promised to one day find her a body of her own.Midnight Tides, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.448
Kettle found herself drawn into the plans of Shurq's friends who she named Father Tehol, Uncle Bugg, and Uncle Ublala.Midnight Tides, Chapter 12, US SFBC p.379 Bugg visited her regularly and discovered she was slowly returning to life. Her heart began to beat several times a day and she began to feel aches and twinges where she had only been numb before.Midnight Tides, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.428 Bugg sought out additional help in case Ruin was unable to free himself in time.Midnight Tides, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.428-429
The girl was also visited by Brys Beddict and later Ceda Kuru Qan. Kettle introduced Uncle Brys to Ruin, who asked for two swords to assist him in defending the Tower grounds. After the House's death, Kettle provided the Ceda with a new tile for the Cedance representing the Hold of Death which had begun manifesting in the House's place.Midnight Tides, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.534-536 Kettle's skin began to repair itself with new pink skin and she once again knew thirst.Midnight Tides, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.534 She helped Shurq recruit thousands of ghost volunteers gathering around the new Hold's grounds for the thief's raid on the Tolls Repository.Midnight Tides, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.532-533
When the five Seregahl finally did break free, Ruin was still struggling to free himself from his barrow. Fortunately for Kettle, Bugg returned with the Crimson Guard Avowed, Iron Bars, to challenge the Tarthenal gods.Midnight Tides, Chapter 24, US SFBC p.704-705Midnight Tides, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.716 They were soon joined by Udinaas, the human host for a Wyval and Wither, the Shadow wraith. The Wyval burst from Udinaas' body to burrow into the earth to rescue its master, Silchas Ruin, while Wither convinced Kettle to save the dying Udinaas with a drop of her blood.Midnight Tides, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.727-728 With his servants' help, Ruin was able to escape and slay the Seregahl. His task complete, Ruin readied to leave the House's grounds and Kettle asked to join him. Ruin promised Shurq he would keep the girl safe, and they found their way to the home of Seren Pedac. The Acquitor accepted their request to guide them out of the city which had just fallen to Emperor Rhulad Sengar and his Tiste Edur. Their party was joined by Fear Sengar, Wither, and a still unconscious Udinaas.Midnight Tides, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.756-757/765
==In Reaper's Gale==
After escaping Letheras, Kettle travelled eastward with Silchas Ruin, Seren Pedac, Fear Sengar, Udinaas, and Wither for months with Edur and Letherii hunters in pursuit. Silchas sought the Finnest of Scabandari Bloodeye to destroy his betrayer, while Fear sought the Finnest to redeem the Tiste Edur people and reclaim Kurald Emurlahn.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 23, US HC p.723 The journey taught Kettle that being alive was hard--she was always hungry, her feet hurt, and she was not used to feeling small. Also, she missed tearing people's throats out with her bare hands. 
She and Udinaas were briefly captured by Edur and Letherii slave-trackers near the Bluerose Mountains when trying to steal food from a farm. Their captors planned to bring the escaped slave back to Letheras before Silchas Ruin violently intervened. While the Tiste Andii dispatched most of their captors, Udinaas used his chains to strangle a Letherii guard who had raped Kettle during their captivity. When Ruin learned that the other Letherii guards had watched the attack in amusement, he killed them.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 1, US HC p.40-46
The girl unnerved Seren Pedac and Fear by relaying information given to her by the dead and those trapped by the Azath. They told her the Crippled God was the true power behind Rhulad Sengar's throne and that the vast wheel was about to turn once again.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 2, US HC p.71-72 But as the days passed, she became more and more like an innocent young girl who could not understand why her friends were always fighting.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 23, US HC p.722Reaper's Gale, Chapter 4, US HC p.101
When they entered the Refugium where the Finnest awaited, she walked beside Udinaas, holding his hand. Fear made his move to protect Scabandari by attacking Ruin, only to be killed by Clip. Wither attempted to strangle Udinaas as Kettle ineffectually beat the wraith with her fists. Ruin seized the Finnest, which was in the form of a stone dagger, from Ulshun Pral, its Imass guardian, and plunged it into Kettle's chest. It was then revealed that Kettle was the seed of an Azath in the guise of a child, and that Ruin had secured his freedom from the Azath Tower by promising to bring it the power of the Finnest. Kettle's body took root, killing the human aspect of her and anchoring the dying illusion of the Refugium into reality. Scabandari's soul became its first prisoner and the House eventually took control of the Refugium's Gates of Starvald Demelain. Udinaas wept over her death.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 23, US HC p.721-725/732-742
==In Dust of Dreams==
(Information needed)
==Speculations==
*There is some debate about Kettle's parentage:
**Kettle recalls travelling with five Nerek witches who tell her she is "a true child of the Eres," seemingly implying that her mother is the Eres'al.Midnight Tides, Chapter 14, UK MMPB p.539-542
**Kettle's father may have been Trull Sengar, who was raped for his seed by the time traveling Eres'al long after Kettle's birth.House of Chains, Chapter 23, US SFBC p.747-748 This seems to be confirmed when the pregnant Eres'al visits Bottle, and he senses the child's father was a Tiste Edur.The Bonehunters, Chapter 6, US MMPB p.300
**Alternately, it has been speculated that Bottle may be the father of Kettle as a result of the time travelling Eres'al raping him for his seed, though she is already pregnant the first time he meets her and there is no indication of intercourse, beyond his erection after she leaves.The Bonehunters, Chapter 6, US MMPB p.300-301 In 2020 a fan asked if "Bottle is Kettle's father via the Eres'al" and Erikson replied, "Yes, I think so."Amalgam Podcast - See 1:08:25 The resemblance of the names "Bottle" and "Kettle"--both in appearance and in function (something that holds water)--may be another clue that they were related. (Though perhaps it merely references the altercation between the pregnant Eres'al and Bottle, in which she seems strangely awed by/enamored with him, if also seemingly angry. It's possible she named the child to honor him. And perhaps "kettle" is the closest analog to "bottle" in her language.)The Bonehunters, Chapter 6, US MMPB p.301
**When asked who Kettle's father was, on the "Not A TSACast" podcast in May of 2020, author Steven Erikson said, "I probably [knew] at the time. I can't remember now."Not A TSACast: Fireside Conversations with Steven Erikson Ep#3 podcast - See 1:46:50 
 
*Udinaas traveled to a tower buried beneath the ice fields of Lether in one of his visions. Inside he found the frozen form of a Forkrul Assail standing over the murdered bodies of a Jaghut family. The back of the killer's head had recently been stoved in by a fist and a set of bloody child-sized footprints led from the body to the tower's doorway. The child may have been Kettle and the Forkrul Assail may have been the source of one of her souls.Midnight Tides, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.171-172
==Notes and references==
es:Tetera
Category:Females
Category:Letherii