Bent

Bent was a tawny-haired Wickan cattle-dog and a participant in the Chain of Dogs.Deadhouse Gates, Dramatis Personae, UK MMPB p.18Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 15, US HC p.399 His name seems to have come mostly from his appearance:
:A hoof had connected with its head some time in its past, and the bones had healed lopsided, giving the animal a manic half-snarl that seemed well suited to the vicious gleam in its eyes.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 12, US HC p.320 
He was frequently found in the company of the Hengese lapdog, Roach.
==In Deadhouse Gates==
Bent was brought to Hissar as part of three clans of Wickan soldiers and their dogs who joined the Malaz 7th Army with Coltaine. During the Chain of Dogs he was first mentioned as pulling Nil to safety on a travois after the warlock's failure to defeat the Semk godling.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 12, US HC p.320
Some time after the Battle of Sekala Crossing, Bent snatched Roach from one of Lenestro's servants in the nobles' camp. Duiker saw the larger dog run off with Roach in its mouth and assumed it was destined to become a meal.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 13, US HC p.342-343 But Roach survived and was thereafter frequently found in the company of Bent and the other cattle-dogs. Roach had a confrontational attitude and tended to command the pack which had adopted it. Bent even carried the dog from place to place in its mouth.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 16, US HC p.421-422
Bent likely fought at the Battle of Gelor Ridge where the cattle-dogs were used to pull the enemy Sialk and Tepasi cavalry from their saddles.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 13, US HC p.360
Bent and Roach were with what was left of Coltaine's army when the soldiers were viciously massacred by Korbolo Dom's soldiers on Aren Way outside the city's gates. Bent was left a mass of red, torn flesh and bone with the dying Roach lying atop him. Both dogs were recovered by Truth who begged Mappo Runt to save them. Using his last few healing elixirs, the Trell obliged.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 24, US HC p.590-592/595
== In House of Chains==
Bent was with the Malaz 14th Army and Captain Keneb had taken to following him. The dog's mottled hide was literally seamed with countless scars,House of Chains, Chapter 15, UK MMPB p.638 
Consequently Bent seemed to consider Gesler his master. Bent, along with Roach, accompanied the Bonehunters to Raraku. After the destruction of Sha'ik's army by the avenging spirits of the Chain of Dogs, Nil and Nether told Adjunct Tavore that since Bent and Roach were, along with Duiker's mare, the only living creatures to survive the Chain of Dogs, their return march had brought the vengeful ghostly army.House of Chains, Chapter 26
== In The Bonehunters==
After the Battle of Raraku, Roach and Bent continued to accompany the Malaz 14th Army as it followed Leoman and the remnants of the Army of the Apocalypse to Y'Ghatan. Fist Keneb thought the beast "should have died with Coltaine", describing Bent as huge with a malformed head, dead sand-coloured eyes red-rimmed and set wide surrounded by scars, humped, uneven shoulder muscles with a very thick neck and his haunches muscle-knitted and misshapen. His tail and one ear were missing as well as skin missing so teeth were bared. He looked as if he was "pieced together from disparate unidentifiable parts".The Bonehunters, Chapter 6, UK MMPB p.284/285
While Roach proved an annoyance to the soldiers, viciously biting their ankles or urinating on their boots, Bent served as her protector. He growled dangerously whenever he suspected anyone meant to do violence against the lapdog.The Bonehunters, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.138The Bonehunters, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.235 Both dogs seemed to adopt Grub, Keneb's mysterious adopted son, walking at his side everywhere.The Bonehunters, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.198
Roach and Bent were with Grub during the Last Siege of Y'GhatanThe Bonehunters, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.321 as well as later stages of the march. At the battle's end, the 14th Army readied for a hasty march for the Kokakal Sea to embark on Admiral Nok's ships and escape the Bluetongue Plague ravaging Seven Cities.The Bonehunters, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.347 When Fiddler, Faradan Sort, and the other long thought dead soldiers finally made their way back to the 14th's camp, Roach, Bent, and the other cattle-dogs were the first to spot them and raced howling out of camp to meet them. Both ecstatic dogs flanked Grub as he talked with the returning Sinn.The Bonehunters, Chapter 16, US SFBC p.667-668/670
== In Dust of Dreams==
Captain Kindly tried to use Roach and Bent to find Grub and Sinn for the reading of the Deck of Dragons ordered by Adjunct Tavore. When they refused to comply, he threatened to kill them, at which point Grub and Sinn turned up.Dust of Dreams, Chapter 1
==In The Crippled God==
Bent joined Gesler in the Battle of the Spire. Bent attacked Sister Reverence when Gesler was down and Gesler sacrificed himself to wound the Forkrul Assail and save the dog from being strangled.The Crippled God, Chapter 23 Bent then howled (something which Wickan cattle-dogs were considered unable to do) and guarded Gesler's body allowing only Destriant Kalyth to approach. After Gesler had been entombed in a barrow he followed Kalyth around, presumably accompanying her until the end of his days.The Crippled God, Epilogue 1
==Trivia==
Bent was based on a male Red Heeler named Bisbee once owned by author Steven Erikson. Acquired as a puppy in Bisbee, Arizona, Erikson says the dog "wanted to be the most dominant creature on the planet and it was absolutely hell to handle." The dog once "chewed my right hand to a bloody mess" when Erikson tried to practice a dominance exercise with it. The dog ultimately went to live with a "rancher who absolutely loved the dog because he's the kind of dog that can get kicked in the head by a cow and not notice."Ten Very Big Books podcast - Deadhouse Gates (See 19:20)
==Notes and references==
de:Bent
Category:Canines
Category:Males