Bidithal

Bidithal [BID-ih-thal]Steven Erikson Conversation 4 - House of Chains - Ten Very Big Books podcast - As pronounced by Steven Erikson at 21:15 was a High MageHouse of Chains, Dramatis Personae with the Raraku ApocalypseDeadhouse Gates, Dramatis Personae, UK MMPB p.19House of Chains, Chapter 7 and the eldest of the three High Mages in the Army of the Whirlwind. He was described as ancient and withered, with filmy eyes.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 18, US HC p.480 He was known for stealing young girls and forcibly circumcising them.House of Chains, Chapter 7
He mistakenly thought himself subtle.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 21, US HC p.541
==In Deadhouse Gates==
When Felisin Paran journeyed to Raraku's heart to become the Sha'ik Reborn, she was met by her three high mages, Bidithal, Febryl, and L'oric. Felisin saw in Sha'ik's memories that Bidithal had forcibly circumcised the seer when she was a young girl. His intent was ostensibly to ensure the child would not be distracted by men or children of her own. Like the other high mages, he was forced to kneel before the Sha'ik Reborn.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 18, US HC p.480
He journeyed with the army of the Apocalypse to Balahn to visit Korbolo Dom near the site of his victory over the Malaz 7th Army. Like the other high mages, he was appalled by the scope of the horror.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 24, US HC p.585
== In House of Chains ==
Cast out from the Cult of Rashan, Bidithal sought vengeance against Shadowthrone and Cotillion, the foreign pretenders to the Throne of Shadow.House of Chains, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.606 He hoped to transform the Whirlwind fragment of Kurald Emurlahn into a full Warren under the Whirlwind Goddess to cleanse Shadow and become its new High Priest. Sha'ik was only a tool to be used to eliminate the hated Malazan Empire.House of Chains, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.482-483House of Chains, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.695-696
Within his version of the Whirlwind cult, there was no place for female pleasure in the mortal world. As a result, he preyed on the Raraku oasis' vulnerable girls, forcibly circumcising them and making them his servants and spies.House of Chains, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.497 It was unclear how aware Sha'ik Reborn was of his activities, but she needed his backing against Febryl and any who might conspire against her rule. Bidithal and his Shadow wraiths were given the task of rooting out the identities of the conspirators.House of Chains, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.288
Despite threats from Heboric, Bidithal seized Felisin Younger, Sha'ik's adopted daughter, and mutilated her when her protectors were away.House of Chains, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.485-486 The High Priest's plotting bore fruit when Scillara, his spy in Korbolo Dom's bed, was witness to meetings between Dom, Febryl, and Kamist Reloe.House of Chains, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.607-613
Bidithal ultimately realised he had been guided in his actions by the Crippled God. As archpriest of all that was broken and suffering, he would usurp the Whirlwind warren so that it would become the new heart of High House Chains, and the Deragoth would be summoned to the god's service.House of Chains, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.783 
Kalam Mekhar, with Cotillion's aid, attempted to stop Bidithal in his temple on the eve of the confrontation between Sha'ik Reborn and Adjunct Tavore. But the High Priest escaped while they were occupied with his shadow wraiths.House of Chains, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.780-785/787 Instead, Bidithal was killed by Karsa Orlong in revenge of Felisin Younger. As fitting punishment, the Teblor ripped off Bidithal's penis and testicles and stuffed them down the high mage's throat.House of Chains, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.795-796
==In The Bonehunters==
Scillara thought that Bidithal's cult succeeded in Raraku because it reached the dispossessed—those who had been harmed by the world's injustice. The world was divided into hierarchies in which only the bastards seemed to win. Heboric claimed Bidithal's ideas came from the Crippled God, a broken creature, much like a street beggar or an abandoned urchin. The god's cult promised a paradise beyond death in which there would be no more suffering—a central tenet that was unproveable.The Bonehunters, Chapter 11, US SFBC p.454-455/473-474 Bidithal sought numbness in the mortal world by removing the capacity for pleasure or by instilling pain.The Bonehunters, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.176The Bonehunters, Chapter 11, US SFBC p.473
After Felisin Younger was installed as the new Sha'ik Reborn by the Crippled God, she came to believe Bidithal had been mistaken about their faith. The cult was not a faith of abstinence, but of excess and gluttony. Humanity's soul was a bottomless cauldron.The Bonehunters, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.806
== History ==
Bidithal had formerly been known as "Rashan'ais", the archpriest of the cult of Rashan before Kellanved and Cotillion's ascension. According to Heboric, the cult had not taken well to this and torn itself apart, and only those who acknowledged this change on the Throne of Shadow remained. The rest had been banished, Bidithal being one of them.House of Chains, Chapter 7
According to Lostara Yil, Ben Adaephon Delat came to visit their temple in Ehrlitan (the temple of Rashan where Bidithal was the High Priest). In order to entertain him, a Shadow Dance was arranged, in which Lostara took part. Later that night after the dance, the cult members were assassinated by Delat and an accomplice, with only Lostara being left alive, as far as she knew. She only found out years later that Bidithal had also been spared by Delat.House of Chains, Chapter 8
He was related by blood to Bridthok, who used others' knowledge of the bloodline in an attempt to rise in the ranks of the Rashan cult.The Bonehunters, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.121
==Poems==
A poem titled Sha'ik:
==Closing Chant==
==Notes and references==
Category:Cult of Rashan
Category:High House Chains
Category:High Mages
Category:Humans
Category:Males
Category:Priests and acolytes
Category:Rashan mages
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