Sukul Ankhadu

Sukul Ankhadu was a Soletaken Eleint goddess of the Tiste Edur. She was known as 'Dapple', the fickle sister, by the Tiste Edur who left carved statues of her fearful visage in the forests around their villages.
She had piebald grey and black skin and a hard face that resembled a war mask. She wore chain and leather vambraces and greaves along with a full-length sealskin cloak. She carried a cuirass of dulled, patchy iron.Midnight Tides, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.229
She had epicanthic Tiste eyes.Midnight Tides, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.230 In her Soletaken form, her skin was also dappled.Midnight Tides, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.232
==Family ties==
Sukul was described as being a daughter of Tiam and Osserc, however the former was likely to have been mother only in the sense of birthing Sukul's Soletaken aspect. (Blood ties were difficult to establish with certainty as female Soletaken descendants of Tiam seemed to customarily describe each other as sisters/half-sisters).
Sukul was sister to Menandore and cousin to Sheltatha Lore.Midnight Tides, Chapter 7, UK MMPB p.277 The three had a history of allying, betraying, and assaulting each other.
Steven Erikson has said, "As for the sibling references used by the (ancient) Edur and others, give little credence. There is a consequence to drinking draconic blood that shatters the very notion of family, not to mention bloodlines."DLC Bookclub - Midnight Tides - Chapters 6 & 7 - Malazan Book of the Fallen - See YouTube comment by @stevelundin5705 aka Steven Erikson
==In Midnight Tides==
Udinaas had a vision to a time shortly after the Tiste invasion of the Malazan world when Scabandari had betrayed Silchas Ruin and his Tiste Andii. Udinaas observed Sukul Ankhadu and her sister, Menandore, dragging their unconscious cousin, Sheltatha Lore, when they were challenged by their father, Osserc. Menandore claimed Sheltatha deserved her fate, and the two planned to inter her in the same Azath Tower that Scabandari had imprisoned Ruin. Sukul snarled that their dear uncle had not come to aid Sheltatha despite her screams. Osserc wished to wash his hands of the dread mess.Midnight Tides, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.229-230
The two castigated their father before Osserc startled them by warning that Scabandari was in turn defeated by the gods of this world (known to be Mael and Kilmandaros). After Osserc had left, the two women veered into dragons, and Sukul carried Sheltatha away with them.Midnight Tides, Chapter 7, UK MMPB p.276-280
Later, 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, home of the pure dragons. He noted that a group of mixed bloods, which included Sukul Ankhadu, had closed the road to the Hold long ago.Midnight Tides, Chapter 15, US SFBC p.485
==In Reaper's Gale==
The Azath Tower where Silchas Ruin and Sheltatha Lore were imprisoned stood in modern day Letheras. When it died, releasing those it held captive, Ruin departed but used rituals of Kurald Galain to continue binding Sheltatha within her barrow.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 5, US HC p.118 Sukul Ankhadu heard Sheltatha's cries and travelled to Letheras to free her cousin, thinking she had always worked better with Sheltatha than Menandore.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 5, US HC p.134-136 While Sukul's magic slowly unravelled the bindings, the goddess preyed upon the population of the city. She dressed in close-wrapped, black linen leggings, with shimmering red silk on her arms, elegant calf-leather gloves, and a hood to disguise her unusual features, and wandered the streets with the appearance of a lost woman of high birth. When human predators took the bait, she lured them to a secluded alley to tear out their hearts and feast on their lungs. 
When Sheltatha's freedom neared, Sukul found Hannan Mosag investigating the grave and she made a bargain with the former Warlock King. Silchas Ruin was even then seeking out Scabandari the Betrayer. Mosag would guide the two women to Ruin and the Crippled God would help them destroy him. In return the God would make use of Scabandari's Finnest and destroy it. She brought Sheltatha to a ruin outside the city to complete her recover. Sheltatha was not appreciative of Sukul's efforts, accusing her of being complicit with Menandore's betrayal. But their shared hatred of Menandore allowed them to temporarily overlook their own enmities, and Sukul acceded to Sheltatha's demands they find an Azath so Menandore could suffer as she suffered. Sheltatha also revealed that she had tasted Silchas Ruin's dreams during their captivity. Ruin had allowed himself to be betrayed by Scabandari knowing that the world's powers were closing in on them. Millenia within a barrow was preferable to Scabandari's fate in Ruin's cold-blooded draconean calculations. Sheltatha was ready to move against him with Sukul, but warned their plans had to be foolproof against such an alien nature.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 9, US HC p.215-216
Sukul and Sheltatha travelled to the Refugium where they joined Menandore in a temporary truce to protect the Finnest from the soon-to-be-arriving Silchas Ruin. Sukul dressed in a Letherii night-cloak fashionable amongst the Edur women of the Letherii Empire. But first, Menandore suggested they kill two "pathetic mortals seek[ing] to stand in our way"--Quick Ben and Hedge. All three Soletaken veered into their dragon forms, with Sukul's described as mottle-skinned, and swept low towards the two Bridgeburners. Just as they were about to breathe out their killing sorcery, Quick Ben unleashed his own magic, exploding the ground beneath them and sending them tumbling. Sheltatha used the chaotic moment to turn on Menandore, biting into her neck and severing her head. As she died, Menandore's claws ripped open Sheltatha's underbelly. Hedge finished off the wounded dragon by launching a cusser into her open wound.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 23, US HC p.719-721/725-729
Sukul fled to hunt down and slay Menandore's son, Rud Elalle, and his beloved Imass as one final act of vengeance and betrayal against her sister. She veered back to her Edur form to enter the narrow defile where they fled and found clan chief Hostille Rator guarding the way forward. She crushed his throat before he could harm her, but the Bonecasters, Til'Aras Benok and Gr'istanas Ish'ilm veered into their bear forms and began tearing her apart. The goddess exploded Gr'istanas Ish'ilm's head with her magic before Til'Aras Benik finally killed her. But the Bonecaster quickly succumbed to his own wounds.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 23, US HC p.730-732
Ursto Hoobutt later claimed Sukul Ankhadu, Menandore, and Hannan Mosag had been involved in weakening the ritual that held Ay'edenan of the Spring imprisoned within Settle Lake.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.790
==In Toll the Hounds==
Endest Silann was invited to meet with Anomander Rake in a room of pure darkness within the New Palace of Black Coral. The room drew the old castellan's thoughts to memories of ancient Kharkanas and the triumvirate of powers that arose there after Mother Dark embraced the Light. He listed Sukul Ankhadu, Sheltatha Lore, and Brevith Dreda amongst the "mess of mixed bloods" that followed.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.571-572
== In Forge of Darkness==
thumb|200x200px|Sukul Ankhadu by [https://www.instagram.com/p/BognX7FgZh_/ Corporal Nobbs]
Sukul was a young Hostage at Tulla Hold. She felt pity for the boy Orfantal when his caravan stopped at the hold and offered him advice on how to survive in Kharkanas.Forge of Darkness, Chapter 9, UK HC p.236 When Orfantal's caravan was attacked by soldiers of Urusander's Legion, Sukul took Tulla castellan Rancept with her to investigate. Along the way, Rancept guided them through a tunnel that housed the wounded sleeping body of Burn. A chance burst of laughter from Sukul healed Burn who responded by blessing her with the Breath of the Sleeping Goddess.Forge of Darkness, Chapter 10, UK HC p.299
==In Fall of Light==
(Information needed)
==Notes and references==
Category:Females
Category:Gods
Category:Hostage
Category:Soletaken Eleint
Category:Tiste
Category:Tiste Edur
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Category:Ascendants