Heboric Light Touch

Heboric Light Touch [heh-BOR-ick]Steven Erikson Gardens of the Moon 20th Anniversary Interview - Ten Very Big Books podcast - As pronounced by Steven Erikson at 01:17:49 was an exiled historian and ex-High Priest of Fener.Deadhouse Gates, Dramatis Personae, UK MMPB p.17 
He was described as resembling "a sunken-eyed toad". He was bald, his face webbed in tattooing, minute, black, square-etched symbols hidden within an overall pattern covering skin like a wrinkled scroll", and he had no hands. Of his tattoos, it was said that "the boar's face [overlay] his own, the intricate maze of script-threaded, curled fur [wound] down his arms, covering his exposed thighs and shins, and […] detailed hooves [were] etched into the skin of his feet."Deadhouse Gates, Prologue, US HC p.22-23
His tattoos were magical in nature, quickly healing his wounds.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 3, US HC p.84 When active, they became thicker, blacker, and more detailed, depicting each of the boar's hairs. Over his heart he bore the sacred mark of Fener, and his missing right hand had once been tattooed with a key.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 7, US HC p.184-185/187 
He walked with an odd, toad-like gait.The Bonehunters, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.159
== Works==
*Among the ConsignedThe Bonehunters, Book 3, Epigraph
*Conspiracies in the Imperium
*T'matha's Children
== In Deadhouse Gates==
Heboric's writings made him a victim of The Cull in Unta when they challenged the competency of Empress Laseen. Imperial Historian Duiker had defended him at trial to no avail and the ex-priest was placed on a slave ship bound for the Otataral mines in Seven Cities. Along the way, he fell in with fellow prisoners, Felisin Paran and Baudin.Deadhouse Gates, Prologue
The historian and his companions escaped the Skullcup camp when the native guards revolted as part of the Whirlwind uprising.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 6 Knowing Duiker had arranged transport, they traveled into the Otataral Desert in an effort to reach the coast. Along their journey, he came in contact with a "jade giant", one of many statues buried in the sands long ago. When he touched it, it burned the stump of his right wrist, which became saturated with the otataral-tinged other-worldly power of the jade.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 7, US HC p.183
Dying of hunger and thirst in the desert and desperate for aid, Baudin pushed the stump of the unconscious Heboric's hand against the seal tattoo on his chest. The "touch" of the poisoned hand opened the god's Warren and pushed Fener unwillingly into the mortal realm.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 7, US HC p.187-189 Afterwards, Heboric possessed two ghostly hands, invisible to normal sight but capable of interacting with the world with great strength. To those with the sensitivity to see them, the left was outlined by the tattoos of Fener while the right was shot through with veins of red otataral and jade.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 8, US HC p.205Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 12, US HC p.326-327 
The trio were rescued from the coast by Kulp, Gesler, Stormy, and Truth. But their ship fell through the Warrens, and Heboric, Felisin, Baudin, and Kulp were dropped in the Holy Desert of Raraku.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 11 There, Heboric was blinded by a sandstorm, but gained a supernatural vision that gave him extraordinary knowledge and insight.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 12 
After the deaths of Baudin and Kulp at the hands of Gryllen, Heboric and Felisin stumbled upon the corpse of Sha'ik and her bodyguards, Leoman and Toblakai.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 14, US HC p.385 Leoman brought them to the Whirlwind camp at the Raraku oasis where Felisin opened the Book of Dryjhna and took up the mantle of Sha'ik Reborn.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 18
==In Memories of Ice==
While standing amidst the destruction of Capustan, Ganoes Paran had a vision of a green stone monolith towering above the desert sand. Without realising it, he observed his sister Felisin, Baudin, and Heboric at the moment the historian touched the jade statue in Seven Cities. The result was a tear in the sky as Fener was dragged unwillingly into the mortal realm. Paran feared the god was as good as dead now that he was vulnerable to the same dangers as other mortals.Memories of Ice, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.578
Anomander Rake claimed the object Heboric touched brought him into contact with the Warren of Chaos, and had possibly been forged there. Heboric's contact with the stump of his hand had sent an uncontrolled surge of power to where the hands were safely sealed away in Fener's realm. The hands had then pushed Fener out of his realm to his inevitable doom.
Further, Rake revealed that Heboric's punishment had been politically motivated and not an act of purest judgement as required by Fener's Reve. If not for the god's fall, Heboric would have retrieved his hands in death and then become a weapon of Fener's vengeance against those who had wronged him. The Son of Darkness warned that the Empress, the Claw, and the Malazan Empire would then have faced a dark storm.
== In House of Chains==
thumb|307x307px|Heboric by [https://mdav.artstation.com/projects/48gG48 Max Davenport]
Living in the armed camp that was the Raraku Oasis, Heboric's sleep was unsettled by relentless dreams of a massive and alien face of jade. He came to the understanding that his hands had not been claimed by Fener, but by the giant buried in the desert. Heboric suspected the jade giant had come from another realm for a hidden purpose, and the historian drank Hen'bara tea given him by Sha'ik every night in an attempt to achieve oblivion.House of Chains, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.302-303
The historian, now known as Heboric Ghost HandsHouse of Chains, Dramatis Personae or Ghost Hands,House of Chains, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.280 kept many secrets from Sha'ik Reborn in order to spare her grief. He was aware of the true identity of the newly revealed Master of the Deck, but chose to keep this knowledge from Felisin.House of Chains, Chapter 10, US SFBC p.390 Made aware of Bidithal's perverse designs on Felisin Younger, he kept the knowledge to himself as Sha'ik needed the High Mage as a check against the others who conspired against her. Instead, Heboric confronted Bidithal and warned him of the consequences of acting against's Sha'ik's adopted daughter.House of Chains, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.287-295 Heboric also shared secrets with L'oric regarding the jade giants and L'oric's true nature.House of Chains, Chapter 10, US SFBC p.397-403
Sha'ik later admitted that the hen'bara tea she gave Heboric to quiet his dreams actually had the opposite effect. The giant of jade had the power to overcome and destroy otataral. As Sha'ik's Malazan enemies approached Raraku bearing an otataral sword that would neutralize the magic of her High Mages, Sha'ik desperately needed a counter. She entreated Heboric to use the tea to discover the answer.House of Chains, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.483-484
Heboric begrudgingly complied, ingesting a high dose of the drug. The historian soon found himself amidst a sea of stars in The Abyss observing scores of the giants tumbling towards an enormous wound in space. He discovered that the giants were related to the fall of the Crippled God and had fallen through the wound in his wake.House of Chains, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.491-496
When Heboric awoke, he discovered the otataral veins in his hands were gone, no longer obscuring that the new god of war, Treach, had claimed him as his Destriant.House of Chains, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.495-496 Heboric underwent a physical transformation at the revelation. No longer blind, his eyes became those of a cat. His tattoos became the barbs of a tiger. He found his hearing greatly increased and his nose able to follow scent trails. His aches and pains were replaced by a new physicality of feline grace and strength.House of Chains, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.496House of Chains, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.605-607 His ghost hands grew talons.House of Chains, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.701
The new Destriant soon discovered Bidithal's desecration of Felising Younger, but withheld his vengeance. He could not risk drawing the young god, Treach, into conflict with whatever power Bidithal served. Heboric chose to bide his time and remain a silent hunter.House of Chains, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.614
When Korbolo Dom finally turned on Sha'ik, he sent his assassins to slay his rivals. Heboric rescued Scillara from two guards before nearly falling to Dom's killers himself.House of Chains, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.699-702 He was rescued by a trio of Bridgeburner ghosts.House of Chains, Chapter 24, US SFBC p.765-766 L'oric convinced Heboric to take Felisin Younger to safety, along with Scillara and L'oric's familiar, Greyfrog.House of Chains, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.812 They escaped the Raraku oasis just before Karsa came looking for vengeance against the hated historian and before Sha'ik Reborn's death.House of Chains, Chapter 26, US SFBC p.819/828 They soon found their way to Tesem and the company of Iskaral Pust and Cutter.House of Chains, Chapter 26, US SFBC p.847-849
== In The Bonehunters==
Cutter, Scillara, Felisin Younger, and Greyfrog accompanied Heboric on a journey to return the former historian to Otataral Island. Referred to as Heboric Ghost Hands, the new Destriant saw ghosts wherever anyone fell in battle, something not in short supply in ancient Seven Cities. His taloned hands continually faded in and out of existence.The Bonehunters, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.87-89 The ghosts' silent, accusatory stares made him doubt his role as Destriant. His dreams were also beset by the whispers of the jade strangers, begging for him to return to their prison. Heboric was determined to reach Otataral Island and return their "cursed gift of jade".The Bonehunters, Chapter 9, US SFBC p.402
The Destriant eventually came to reject the traditional role of his title and vowed he would never take another life to deliver "justice" in the god's name.The Bonehunters, Chapter 11, US SFBC p.475 He vowed he would find a way to send Fener back to his realm, whether Treach liked it or not, and both gods could share the Throne of War.The Bonehunters, Chapter 11, US SFBC p.451
Before Heboric could make good on his promises, he was killed by The Unbound when the servants of the Crippled God ambushed the party to kidnap Felisin Younger. The T'lan Imass severed his arm and took special care to stab him over and over.The Bonehunters, Chapter 11, US SFBC p.476-480 When the surviving Cutter and Scillara recovered from their injuries, they disinterred Heboric's mummified corpse and noted that his hands now appeared as solid jade.The Bonehunters, Chapter 16, US SFBC p.642/645 Elsewhere, Fiddler noted that Treach's new card in the Deck of Dragons depicted a striped corpse with no hands laying at the god's feet.The Bonehunters, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.722
Barathol Mekhar and Chaur joined Cutter's diminished group as it continued to the coast and began the journey across the Otataral Sea aboard the carrack, Sanal's Grief.The Bonehunters, Chapter 19 As they crossed the water, the sky above lit up with the fire of a dozen suns plunging to the earth. A hail of firestones sank the carrack, sending Heboric's corpse into the depths. Realising the world was on the brink of annihilation, Ganoes Paran hastily attempted to summon Mael for aid, but instead found himself before Hood. Hood returned Heboric back to life and the Destriant immediately sensed the voices of the millions falling to their deaths. These same souls he had once encountered in the Abyss recognised him as their brother.The Bonehunters, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.781-782/784-785
As Heboric reached toward them with his hands, he realised he was not a Destriant, but a Shield Anvil and accepted the pain of those imprisoned by the jade statues. Dozens of jade hands reached up from the glowing Otataral Island to stop the falling suns and save the world. Meanwhile, the jade glow of Heboric's body lit the sea well enough for Barathol to find and rescue Chaur before he drowned.The Bonehunters, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.785-787/790
==In Reaper's Gale==
The Errant entered his walled-off and abandoned temple in the Old Palace of Letheras and discovered Fener taking refuge there. The god spoke of losing his place in the pantheon and referred to a mortal who might have been able to return him, along with other gifts. But that mortal had failed, as mortals were wont to do. Then Fener spoke of the coming of a final battle he knew would lead to his own death. After gaining the Errant's offer of sanctuary, Fener asked the god to block the cries of his followers who called on him still. They filled his skull and it was too much.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 9, US HC p.227-230 
==In Toll the Hounds==
Scillara and Cutter eventually found their way to Darujhistan where Scillara met Fisher kel Tath at K'rul's Bar. Hearing of her adventures in Seven Cities, the bard asked her to speak to another patron, Duiker. When the old historian heard that Heboric had died, the lights dimmed in his eyes and he complained that Hood meant to take all of his friends. He relented to listening to her tale as long as she started with the time she first met Heboric.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 9, US SFBC p.363-364/379
==In Dust of Dreams==
(Information needed)
== In The Crippled God==
Heboric's soul was rejected by Hood. He was shown to be still traumatized by the events that occurred in Deadhouse Gates, though he was consoled by K'rul and Mael.
In the finale, he chained Korabas to save her from T'iam, with the aid of the Crippled God.
==In Kellanved's Reach==
Heboric, in the early days of the formation of the Malazan Empire, was a committed priest of Fener. Heboric had been endowed by Fener with a tattoo of a "rampaging boar" - which covered the priest's entire body. Perhaps to better display the entirety of this tattoo, Heboric wore only a simple loincloth. Heboric was, at this time, squat but powerfully built. He was described as having heavy lips with which he would give good-natured "frog-like lopsided"Kellanved's Reach, Chapter 6, US TPB p.95 grins. Heboric had been a member of a temple devoted to Fener - whose priests, priestesses, and other faithful he had considered to be his adopted family.Kellanved's Reach, Chapter 4, US TPB p.66
However, Heboric began to notice disturbances among the Warrens. Strange manifestations were occurring due, apparently, to power from unknown sources. Because of this "peculiar restiveness among the pantheon" of the gods, Heboric left his home temple and began to travel widely to visit other cults and individuals looking for answers. For example, Heboric had not only met with devotees of such cults as the ones of the Queen of Dreams/Enchantress, of K'rul, and of Poliel; but had also met with hermits and ascetics who spoke for various "eldritch powers".Kellanved's Reach, Chapter 4, US TPB p.66-67
Heboric was in the process of travelling between a temple devoted to Poliel in Horan — eastward along the southern shore of Quon Tali — to the "Isle of the Cursed", aka Poliel's "Isle of the Blessed", when he was intercepted by a group of two priests and two priestesses of Fener from his home temple. The speakers for the group - mainly the eldest, Brother Eliac - who addressed him as "Heboric of Carasin" - and the youngest, a Napan priestess of Fener, told Heboric that they had been sent to urge him to return with them. Heboric refused, having his own agenda to which he felt "called". The four reluctantly accepted Heboric's decision and left Heboric with the words, "May the Great Boar watch over you".Kellanved's Reach, Chapter 4, US TPB p.66-68
==History==
Heboric had once been a cut-purse from the Mouse Quarter of Malaz City before becoming a priest and historian.Deadhouse Gates, Prologue, US HC p.26 His skill at his former profession had earned him the nickname Light Touch.House of Chains, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.613 In his scholarly writings he had criticized the works of Duiker as deliberate lies.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 6, US HC p.145 In Cotillion's memory, Heboric had been only a minor historian of Unta.The Bonehunters, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.122
At one point he seemed destined to take on the title of Fener's Destriant,Memories of Ice, Chapter 14, Epigraph, US SFBC p.448 but Heboric's name was stricken from the temple records, and his hands had been ritually severed as part of his excommunication. This meant that the tattoos he sported on his hand and chest as part of his priesthood could no longer be activated to open a Warren. The ritual should have been the expression of purest justice, but in this case, it was not. His hands had been sent to Fener's hooves to await his death and his elevation to a position of Fener's wrath. Because the ritual was flawed, however, his hands were as poison to the god and were sealed until his spirit could come and collect them.Memories of Ice, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.631-632
Likely, the reason for the ritual punishment of Fener's Reve was to reduce the the influence of Fener within the Empire as well as punish Heboric's particular avenue of historical analysis. His investigation had concluded that Laseen had failed in her attempt to assassinate Kellanved and Dancer and that they had instead ascended. This was knowledge that was dangerous for the Empress and so she called for the ritual and had him sent to the Otataral mines.
==Poetry==
==Notes and references==
Category:Destriants
Category:Humans
Category:Malazans
Category:Males
Category:Priests and acolytes
Category:Shield Anvils
de:Heboric
es:Heboric Toque de Luz