Beak

Beak was a mage and part of Sergeant Gripe's squad in the Bonehunters.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, UK BCA edition p.391 He was likely part of the 8th Legion, 9th Company. 
He was a simple soul whose thoughts and actions were guileless and almost childlike. His face normally had a gawking expression or a wide smile.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.747 Fiddler described him as a "runt of a mage".Reaper's Gale, Chapter 21, US HC p.629 He had very low self-esteem as a result of his upbringing and did not think of his magic abilities as being anything out of the ordinary. He told everyone he met he was stupid and had enlisted in the Malazan Military to be among his own kind, earning him few friends among his fellow soldiers. Even his fellow mages seemed discomfited by his nervous babbling about his love of magic. One mage burst into tears in his presence leaving him frightened and confused. Beak only understood he was not liked.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, US HC p.365/366
Sorcery was nearly the only thing he knew anything about and his knowledge was enormous. Beak's first tutor in magic had called it his "lone candle in the darkness". When his "brain had put out all the other candles" the candle of sorcery had grown brighter and brighter and he was accomplished in every Warren.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, US HC p.365/366/367
At the time of invasion of the Letherii Empire by the Bonehunters, he was probably thirty-six years of age. When asked his age, he knew only that it had been six years since he had turned thirty.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, UK BCA edition p.393 
As a result of his family trade in horses, he was a skilled rider.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, US HC p.367
==In Reaper's Gale==
Adjunct Tavore Paran clashed with Empress Laseen at Malaz City and took the Bonehunters rogue, following the Tiste Edur fleet that had ravaged Sepik back to Lether.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, US HC p.356 Tavore invaded the Letherii Empire, burning her transport vessels on the shoreline and spreading the marines in isolated pairs of squads across thirty leagues of coast. The marines moved forward into the Letherii countryside with orders to kill Edur by night and stir the occupied Letherii into rebellion. Each squad had a mage responsible for hiding their presence and confusing their enemies.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, US HC p.361-365
thumb|Beak and Faradan Sort by [https://www.instagram.com/p/CZFDslGqd7M/ Shadaan]
Captain Faradan Sort's role was to maintain communications with the scattered squads and Fist Keneb's main following force. After a short interview with Beak, during which she found out that he was able to access all of the Warrens, Sort chose Beak to accompany her during the invasion. He immediately showed his value by revealing an extraordinary knowledge of the potentially harmful sorcerous history of Keneb's proposed campsite, leading them to abandon it.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, UK BCA edition p.391-395
Captain Sort used Beak's extraordinary ability to sense magic to make contact with the various squads as the marines penetrated, guerrilla style, into Lether deep behind enemy lines. Beak identified marine mages at work by the "candles" (or warrens) they employed.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 22, UK BCA edition p.735 (example) At a Letherii stable, he used fire and illusion to secretly secure himself and the captain mounts for the remainder of the campaign.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 14, US HC p.404-406 Beak chose a gentle bay he named Lily.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 17, US HC p.482
Once the Edur response became more organised and effective, Beak and Sort were forced to remain with Fist Keneb's troops. Beak exhausted himself keeping the marines hidden, unused to keeping his candles lit for so long. Eventually he reached a point at which his candles could not be put out.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 21, US HC p.636/638
The squads eventually regrouped with Fist Keneb as they got closer to Letheras and on a plain outside the city near Kravos Hill faced a large force of Hanradi Khalag's Tiste Edur warriors on one side and the Letherii Imperial Brigade on the other. When the Letherii mages staged a massive sorcerous attack, Beak erected a dome shaped barrier around the 800 marines. The Edur found they had been betrayed by the Letherii and targeted by the same attack, but Fiddler waved them forward to take shelter within the dome and Beak extended its parameter to enclose the Edur as well. All were shielded from the sorcerous onslaught of the Letherii. Beak sacrificed himself to save his friends, opening all of his Warrens simultaneously in order to power the barrier. While his body was reduced to bone and ash, those he protected were cleansed and came out of the protective dome with white hair, healed scars, and polished weapons and armour. The only exceptions were Gesler and Stormy, whose appearances took on a golden aspect even more fiery than before. In the aftermath, the Imperial Brigade withdrew to confront the Adjunct's much larger force approaching the capital from the river.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 22, UK BCA edition p.735-742/749-759 
Hood himself met Beak at Hood's Gate, sending him through to be tearfully reunited with his brother.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 22, UK BCA edition p.759/760 Over Beak's remains, the Bonehunters erected a barrow consisting of buckles, clasps, fetishes, coins, broken weapons, and other personal belongings, including Hellian's flask. The barrow reached nearly the height of a man by the time the marines continued on for Letheras.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, UK BCA edition p.812/813Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.748 
Later, Bottle speculated whether Beak's sacrifice was truly worth it, as the lives of eight hundred marines could not possibly be enough to compensate for the life of a single natural High Mage. Quick Ben was the only mage with comparable abilities, but he was elsewhere. Sinn was available, but Bottle considered her insane.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, UK BCA edition p.816 Deadsmell reported that whatever had happened the area around Beak's barrow had been forever drained of magic.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.753
==History==
Beak had an unrevealed and "more boring" nameReaper's Gale, Chapter 22, US HC p.689 when he was born into a very rich Quon Talian noble family of horse breeders. Growing up, he had been beaten regularly by most of his tutors who also convinced him that he was stupid. Beak guilelessly recalled that his mother would crawl into his older brother's bed when their father was away and that he himself used to pretend to be asleep when that happened. On one occasion however, he had sat up, and she had beaten him to the extent that, according to the House healer, he had almost died.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, UK BCA edition p.392/393 On another night his mother had shown him all the places where she liked him to touch her.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 17, US HC p.482 Beak's father was little better, raping the household's nurse then sending her away.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 21, US HC p.637
He appeared to have been treated poorly by nearly everyone in the household but for his brother, a Seti witch who was in charge of the family stables, and the household's half-Fenn blacksmith. The witch recognised his talent for magic (see Magical talent below) and the blacksmith fashioned him a knife and urged him to enlist in the army to escape his regular beatings.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, US HC p.366-367 
Beak's brother was broken by their mother's sexual abuse and to Beak's dismay often retreated to cry in solitude. Beak witnessed his brother's suicide firsthand and tried to rescue him but was too young and/or too simple to understand what was happening and failed. He could only hold onto his brother's legs as he choked to death in the noose.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 22, UK BCA edition p.753-755
It was likely that he was responsible for the deaths of his parents and tutors. After the blacksmith had been whipped and driven off for giving him the knife, Beak recalled they had tried to take the weapon away. Instead, he had showed them the full light of his candle, they had died, and he still heard their screams. It was the same night he left to join the army and he had never been beaten again. Beak was probably twenty-nine years at the time.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, UK BCA edition p.394Reaper's Gale, Chapter 17, US HC p.483 In a 2021 interview, author Steven Erikson confirmed that "Beak probably destroyed his home, his estate, and his parents and probably his tutors and everyone else who was there. He...simply wiped them off the face of the earth."Critical Conversations 09: Beak, Emotional Vignettes in Epic Fantasy, and Reaper's Gale - A Critical Dragon - See 56:50
==Magical talent==
Beak called sorcery "poetry"--a word he picked up from his mother's use of the phrase "mystery and poetry" on the night she had nearly beaten Beak to death as he observed her sexually abuse his older brother. After his recovery, he claimed that was how he learned about poetry--possibly referring to his discovery of his magical talent.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, UK BCA edition p.392
Beak was initially taught magic by a Seti witch who was in charge of the stables at the family's country estate and who showed him the Seti ways of magic. Later, she also found other servants who taught him what they knew about other Warrens. According to the family's half-Fenn blacksmith, Beak eventually had gained access to every Warren there was.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, UK BCA edition p.393
Beak called the Warrens "candles" and each one had its own colour:
*Blue (various shades) for Kurald Emurlahn, Kurald Galain (deepest blue), Rashan (deep blue)Reaper's Gale, Chapter 14, UK BCA edition p.435
*Blue with 'skuzzy' foam for chaotic power/sick power
*Green for Ruse
*Grey for Mockra
*Orange for Tellann
*Purple - possibly for SercReaper's Gale, Chapter 14, UK BCA edition p.436
*White for Hood
*Yellow for Thyr
==Author comments==
In a discussion on Beak's character, Erikson commented on the question of "whether Beak was brain damaged versus psychologically damaged, you know, as sort of the dominant features of his personality. I don't even think I have an answer to that." The candles serve as "Beak's survival mechanism and they are the survival mechanism of everything that we're seeing being laid out here in his backstory. And so it only makes sense at least thematically, in the sense of character development, that he extends the survival mechanism to all the ones around him, even at the expense of his own life."Critical Conversations 09: Beak, Emotional Vignettes in Epic Fantasy, and Reaper's Gale - A Critical Dragon - See 40:20/44:43 He said Beak's story was "an unusual little exercise, to cram as much in there as I could in those few scenes where we get him. And you know, I think the writer always wants to challenge oneself in the process of writing. There was something about Beak that just sort of made all the emotions raw--completely raw--because, yeah there is nothing subtle. There's subtle stuff going on, but in his mind there is nothing subtle here."Critical Conversations 09: Beak, Emotional Vignettes in Epic Fantasy, and Reaper's Gale - A Critical Dragon - See 1:19:10
Erikson says he did not know the conclusion to Beak's story arc in Reaper's Gale "until maybe three pages before I got there." Although the books are plotted out before writing, he leaves "enough room for spontaneity and so stories will pick up that I did not expect, and then I have to think about how I can make sure it still stays part of the narrative, it did not pull us too far away." Beak's story was one of these instances of spontaneity which the author includes to entertain himself while writing.Ten Very Big Books podcast - Reaper's Gale - Conversation with Steven Erikson - See 26:45
==Speculations==
* It is unclear if Beak's reference about discovering poetry after the trauma of nearly dying led to him discovering magic or whether it led to him being sexually abused by his mother in the same way as his brother.
* Probably the area surrounding Beak's barrow was devoured by the energy of the unleashed sorcery, creating otataral.
==External links==
* Critical Conversations 09: Beak, Emotional Vignettes in Epic Fantasy, and Reaper's Gale - A Critical Dragon
==Notes and references==
Category:Bonehunters
Category:High Mages
Category:Males
Category:Nobles
Category:Quon Talians
Category:Soldiers
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es:Pico