Gothos

Gothos [GOTH-ōs]Gardens of the Moon - Chatting with Steven Erikson, part 2 - Claudia Iovanovici - As pronounced by Steven Erikson at 2:01:40 was a JaghutGardens of the Moon, Chapter 6, UK MMPB p.211 and the author of Gothos' Folly, his best known literary work, which was occasionally cited throughout the series.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 3, UK MMPB p.93 He was also the author of A Life in Mists.
He was over seven feet tall and gaunt, with greenish skin and long grey hair which he wore tied back. His huge tusks curled from his lower jaw on either side of a wide, thin slit mouth. A pronounced brow ridge hid his eyes, which were the colour of dirty ice with vertical, goat-like pupils. He spoke in a low, rumbling voice.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 23, US HC p.574Forge of Darkness, Chapter 16, UK HC p.517Toll the Hounds, Chapter 8, US SFBC p.325 
He was described as wearing hooded woolen robes and a broad-brimmed black felt hat.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 8, US SFBC p.318/326 He owned an enormous great-sword with a cross-hilt as long as a child's arm.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 8, US SFBC p.319
Mappo Runt argued that "Gothos's curse was in being too aware--of everything. Every permutation, every potential. Enough to poison every scan he cast on the world. It availed him naught, and worse, he was aware of even that."Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 3, US HC p.100
==In Gardens of the Moon==
Bellurdan stated that as a Thelomen he was of Jaghut descendant though he thought that, of course, Gothos would deny this.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 10, UK MMPB p.331
==In Deadhouse Gates==
Fiddler, Apsalar, Crokus Younghand, and Rellock traveled through the Azath warren from Tremorlor to the Deadhouse. There they met Gothos, who turned out to be the House's guardian. Gothos expressed his annoyance that the group had failed to orchestrate his son, Icarium's, imprisonment in Tremorlor before quickly apologizing. He explained that Icarium's problems with memory were a result of the Jhag's failed attempt to free his father from the Azath. His son did not understand that he enjoyed the peace and solitude of guardianship, and as a result of the attempt Icarium was forever scarred and no longer even remembered his father. Fiddler thought that Gothos' resemblance to Icarium was unmistakeable. Gothos offered the group a healing drink before asking them to vacate the house.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 23, US HC p.574-575
==In Memories of Ice==
It was hinted that Gothos had an estranged relationship from his brother Gethol. First, the Crippled God spoke of a time when Gethol had failed Gothos when his brother had called upon him. Gethol interrupted the god before he could go into further detail.Memories of Ice, Chapter 8, US SFBC p.295
Later, Kallor referred to Gothos as the smarter brother and said he must be laughing at Gethol's misfortune. Gethol countered by saying his brother never laughed, but Gethol did whenever he thought of the place where his brother languished.Memories of Ice, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.440
==In House of Chains==
It was revealed that the Azath House from which Icarium attempted to free his father was located in the Jhag Odhan. Icarium had mortally wounded the House before being struck unconscious by his Toblakai companion of the time. The site of this Azath House was the same place as where the Jaghut, Phyrlis, now resided.House of Chains, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.587
==In Midnight Tides==
Shortly after the sundering of Kurald Emurlahn, Gothos observed the invasion of the Malazan world through a violent rent by the combined armies of Silchas Ruin's Tiste Andii and Scabandari Bloodeye's Tiste Edur. After the invaders defeated the army and Skykeeps of the K'Chain Che'Malle and Scabandari betrayed Silchas, Gothos prepared to work a ritual of Omtose Phellack. He was interrupted by the Elder God, Mael, who bargained with the Jaghut to preserve the destruction within a layer of ice. In return Mael would owe Gothos a debt. Mael also made an alliance with Kilmandaros from the other side of the invaders' gate to bring down Scabandari and scatter his people. Gothos warned him to be quick about it as he sensed Anomander Rake awakening to the threat.Midnight Tides, Prologue, US SFBC p.24-25
Unexpectedly, Gothos' ritual had a severe and long lasting impact on the lands that would one day be known as western Lether. The ice sealed the pathways of the dead, freezing out the Death Hold so that it was unknown on Lether and causing the dead to loiter as ghosts, shades, and undead.Midnight Tides, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.602-604
==In The Bonehunters==
Icarium's new companion, Taralack Veed, informed the amnesiac Jhag of the true nature of his condition. Icarium had attacked an Azath House to free his father not realising his Gothos had chosen to become a Guardian of the Azath of his own free will. The Jhag's terrible rage had been born in the attack, which destroyed the House and shattered a wounded warren. Veed said the House's death freed a host of demonic entities.The Bonehunters, Chapter 12, US SFBC p.491-494
==In Reaper's Gale==
Millennia ago, as Gothos' ritual to seal northern Lether under the ice of Omtose Phellack settled in, the Jaghut followed the sounds of battle to where Mael and Kilmandaros had defeated and subdued Scabandari Bloodeye. The Jaghut mused on how he had once naively believed that "all of existence was under the benign control of a caring omnipotence". He warned the Elder Goddess that her children in this realm had lost their way and appeared thoughtful when the indifferent goddess suggested he do something about it. 
Before Kilmandaros could deliver a killing blow to Scabandari, Mael intervened, asking Gothos to place Scabandari's soul in a Finnest. Otherwise, with Gothos' ritual in place, Scabandari's soul would remain after death with nearly as much power as before. Gothos refused the request without first securing a debt from Mael and Kilmandaros, which he immediately invoked to acquire possession of the Finnest once it was occupied. The Jaghut was pleased to have tricked the gods even as Kilmandaros threatened to send her children after him. He promised to use the Finnest for something "curiously unpleasant".Reaper's Gale, Prologue, US HC p.20-23 The Jaghut brought the Finnest to the Refugium and gave it to Ulshun Pral in the form of a flint dagger. The Jaghut told him that Silchas Ruin would one day come to claim it--an idea Gothos found amusing.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 23, US HC p.729/739-740 
Thousands of years later, during the time of the Tiste Edur's rule of the Letherii Empire, Gothos' ritual lost its hold on the ice in Lether's north. A maelstrom of ice and bergs broke apart and moved south, devouring the coast of the Reach and filling the waters around Second Maiden Fort. Glaciers in the northern Bluerose Mountains began to rapidly shrink and move once more, threatening the destruction of Andara and releasing carcasses and artifacts kept trapped for millennia.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 8, US HC p.192-193/201-202Reaper's Gale, Chapter 10, US HC p.263Reaper's Gale, Chapter 12, US HC p.314
When the Errant saw Icarium disembark in Letheras, he referred to the Jhag as the "dear son of Gothos and that overgrown hag."Reaper's Gale, Chapter 7, US HC p.162 He wondered whatever became of the author of Gothos' Folly. Presumably the multi-volume suicide note had concluded at some point, though he suspected it contained a hidden message too obscure for anyone but a Jaghut to decipher.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 5, US HC p.126
==In Toll the Hounds==
Nimander Golit and his party of Tiste Andii kin traveled with Kallor to Bastion. On the way they came upon a ruined tower which Kallor stopped to investigate with Nimander and Skintick in tow. They were reluctantly welcomed inside by the resident Gothos and offered tea, although the Jaghut did not give them his name. During their conversation, Gothos told them he and other Jaghut had once allied with the Kron T'lan Imass to imprison the Jaghut Tyrant, Raest, who he identified as his own obnoxiously arrogant son. But once their work was done, the T'lan Imass turned on him sending him to flight. When Bek'athana Ilk's forty-three hunters and a Bonecaster finally found him, he killed them all.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 8, US SFBC p.317-320
Kallor and the Gothos began to argue when the Jaghut blamed him for terribly injuring Togg, the wolf god, during the High King's destruction of his own empire. Kallor threatened to kill Gothos before the Jaghut revealed the ruined tower had once been an Azath House and offered to reawaken it. Then Kallor finally recognised their host as Gothos and hastily exited the tower as Nimander and Skintick were overcome by a drug placed in their tea. Nimander collapsed and fell through a gate of Omtose Phellack that was set in one of tower's walls.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 8, US SFBC p.320-322
Skintick awoke on a dead world, contemplating the nature of the Dying God. Just as he concluded death was meaningless and he was free, he was slapped awake by Gothos who complained, "You are a bad choice for this. Answering despair with laughter like that." Nimander found himself in a world of ash with Elder, a prisoner of Gothos who built Azath Houses. The mason said each time one of his Houses neared completion, Gothos appeared to declare it "adequate". Then the Jaghut entered the House whereupon it disappeared, leaving Elder to start again. Nimander determined a way to circumvent this practice and send Elder home by having the mason build a House around himself. When the Tiste Andii inserted the final piece from the outside, both Elder and House disappeared.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 8, US SFBC p.324-334
Desra entered Gothos' tower looking for her lost kin. When the Jaghut claimed he could not retrieve Nimander, she reached through the portal herself and pulled him to safety. Gothos admitted his reasons for drugging the pair had failed and he would have to be more direct in his future actions. He also chastised Nimander for setting Elder free while mulling over the idea of a new Azath House built in the blood of dragons. He cryptically told the Andii that the Son of Darkness had chosen wisely and was the only person to ever earn his respect. Once the Tiste Andii left the tower, Aranatha returned to speak with Gothos.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 8, US SFBC p.322-326/329-335
Later, Kallor learned of the Jaghut armies' ancient and unwinnable War on Death. Even Kallor's eyes teared at the sacrifice of millions and he realised he owed Gothos an apology the next time they met.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 16, US SFBC p.628-632
==In Dust of Dreams==
(Information needed)
==In The Crippled God==
(Information needed)
==In Blood and Bone==
Gothos had occasion to be in residence as guardian in the Deadhouse in Malaz City when he was found there by Osserc - who had gone to the Azath House hoping to extract answers to questions that had been bothering him. Gothos, however, refused to give straight answers to Osserc's questions and the two Ascendants settled in to see which of them could out-wait the other. The resulting extended silences were periodically broken by philosophical exchanges between the two on a range of tangential topics. Gothos' unresponsiveness aggravated the Tiste Liosan but finally - after an extended period of time - resulted in Osserc realizing that he needed to cease trying to get answers out of Gothos but, instead, to look inside himself for the enlightenment he craved.Blood and Bone, Chapter 2, US HC p.97-99Blood and Bone, Chapter 4, US HC p.173-175Blood and Bone, Chapter 7, US HC p.278-282Blood and Bone, Chapter 13, US HC p.507-510Blood and Bone, Chapter 14, US HC p.540-541
== In Forge of Darkness==
Gothos was known as the Lord of Hate, living in a nondescript building below the Tower of Hate. On the Night of Dissension, he had convinced the Jaghut that their civilization was a "misapprehension of purpose" and "a belated recognition of economic suicide." It was destined to advance until it collapsed. So the Jaghut civilization walked away from its future and broke apart into solitary individuals leaving Gothos as nearly the only resident of the once great Jaghut city of Omtose Phellack.Forge of Darkness, Chapter 3, UK HC p.55 Gothos imprisoned Hood within his dungeon to prevent him from declaring war on the Azathanai after Errastas and Sechul Lath had killed Hood's wife, Karish.Forge of Darkness, Chapter 11, UK HC p.322 He allowed Draconus to free Hood, but warned that Hood would declare a war on death itself.Forge of Darkness, Chapter 16, UK HC p.521 Draconus left his son Arathan to help Gothos continue his work on his Folly.Forge of Darkness, Chapter 16, UK HC p.520
==In Fall of Light==
(Information needed)
== In Dancer's Lament==
Gothos was currently residing in a tomblike underground structure on the Seti Plains, near the Great Cliff and to the south of the Idryn.Dancer's Lament, Prologue, US TPB p.1 He called the structure his retreat. Pursuing Wu, Dorin Rav entered a small tunnel leading downwards into the structure, where they met Gothos, who was examining a casting of the Deck of Dragons which he had been unable to interpret for thousands of years, and a Nacht. A fit of annoyance threw Wu, Dorin, and the nacht to the walls with a burst of Gothos' power. Gothos released Dorin and Wu on the condition that they would take the nacht with them. After they left, Gothos briefly conversed with a Battered full helm, which accused Gothos of giving up too easily.Dancer's Lament, Prologue, US TPB p.3-10
==Quotes==
thumb|Gothos and Kallor by [https://www.instagram.com/shadaan_studios/?hl=de Shadaan]
==Trivia==
Gothos' name may be inspired by the Star Trek episode The Squire of Gothos as author Steven Erikson is a Star Trek fan. When asked directly by a fan if that was where the name came from, Erikson replied, "Possibly. The subconscious works in mysterious ways."Reddit Ask Me Anything session July 2022
==Notes and references==
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