Yedan Derryg

Yedan Derryg was The Watch, the Prince and Watch of the Shake. His younger half-sister, Yan Tovis, or "Twilight", was the Queen of the Shake.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 12, US HC p.324/340Reaper's Gale, Chapter 14
He had a prominent, muscular jaw with a matted black beard, and was always chewing on something. He wore a visored helmet and a chain hauberk with glistening blackened rings, and carried a long-handled single-bladed axe.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 12, US HC p.340
Yedan "was not a loquacious man. He might well possess a hundred thousand words in his head...but that did not mean he laboured under the need to give them voice."Dust of Dreams, Chapter 2
==In Reaper's Gale==
Yedan Derryg was living in Boaral Keep as Master of Arms under the command of Dresh Boaral and in the service of the Letherii and the Tiste Edur. Responding to a "call" from the coast, he took three of his soldiers and raced to investigate. Coincidentally, his sister stopped at Boaral Keep in his absence as she and her company travelled north from Letheras to Fent Reach. The Shake witches, Pully and Skwish, resided at the keep and informed Yan Tovis her mother had died making her the new Queen of the Shake.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 12, US HC p.321-325
When Yan Tovis learned her brother was nearby, she took several of her own soldiers to ride after him, meeting him on the shore for the first time since her childhood. It was revealed that Derryg left his home when she was still a toddler due to certain disagreements with his step-father. Yedan called her "Queen" for the first time in front of his soldiers. The pair discovered an entire fleet of hundreds of burning ships on the coast south of Rennis. Yan Tovis revealed that she was familiar with the newcomers, identifying them as the Malazans, an empire from a distant continent come to seek revenge for the depredations of the Letherii Imperial Fleets. She then effectively deserted her position in the Letherii Army and commanded the Watch and his soldiers follow her to Second Maiden Fort where awaited Brullyg, her betrothed.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 12, US HC p.324/337-342
They travelled to Road's End where Pully and Skwish announced Yan Tovis' return to the gathered Shake witches and warlocks. But the headstrong queen earned Pully and Skwish's venom when she refused to submit to the will of the Coven, saying the old ways had failed them. The new queen would be her own master, the Rise would no longer be solely chosen by the Coven, and Yedan Derryg would have to watch her back from her own people. Yedan asked his sister not to send his people to the war against the Letherii as they prepared to take a ferry to Third Maiden Fort.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 14, US HC p.390-392 
Their ferry had trouble reaching Third Maiden Fort, and was ultimately saved by two Thrones of War, who transported them to their final destination, the Silent Isle.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16 Once there, they were brought into the presence of Adjunct Tavore Paran by Galt. After stripping Shake Brullyg of his title, Yan Tovis took command of the island and negotiated with the Adjunct for the departure of the invaders.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 17
According to Deadsmell, his name was rooted in the language of his Shake and Tiste Andii ancestry. The name "Yedan" was a degeneration of the original word "Yedanas" in the Tiste Andii language, which meant "Watch", both act and title. The meaning of Derryg was not revealed.
By the time the Malazans departed, the Shake witches had selected Pully and Skwish as their representatives and Yan Tovis concluded their sole purpose was to harry her at every turn. But Yan Tovis and Yedan Derryg agreed she would need the witches if she was to rule over the ex-prisoners who formed the population of the island.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 20, US HC p.608-610
==In Dust of Dreams==
Yedan slaughtered a hundred and more Shake witches and warlocks for plotting against his sister. Only two Shake witches, Pully and Skwish escaped the slaughter. Yedan was banished for his actions and the two surviving witches referred to him as 'Witchslayer'.
Though he was banished he did not stay away and ultimately led his troops to assist the Shake migration. During this time he slew a Forkrul Assail.Dust of Dreams, Chapter 10 Upon returning to Kharkanas, Yedan found an ancient Hust sword upon the strand, a weapon forged for killing dragons that laughed with every swing.
==In The Crippled God==
Yedan remembered memories not his own.Crippled God, Chapter 5, UK HB p.124 
Before the Defence of the First Shore Yedan told Withal that he never had been interested in women or marriage, revealing his homosexuality. He admitted he and his sister were a contrary lot. She defied sanctification as queen, while he would never produce an heir.Crippled God, Chapter 8, US HC p.222-224 
Yedan led the initial defence of the First Shore, killing over a thousand Tiste Liosan, the last Hounds of Light and several Soletaken dragons before being slain by Aparal Forge in Eleint form. Such was his skill with the blade that the Liosan on the other side of the gate whispered that a legion of Hust sword-wielding soldiers surely waited for them across the gate to Kharkanas.
After interrogating some soldiers, Aparal Forge found out from a dying troop who told him that there were only approximately a thousand of his enemies remaining, with only one Hust sword, so he called for the elite troops, of whom there were about seven thousand, to be readied by asking that Kadagar be informed. As he was the first into the breach, Aparal Forge was left in a vulnerable position when veering, with Yedan reaching him while he was still on the ground. They killed each other, Hust sword cutting into Forge's chest, neck and thrust through his snout from within, while Yedan was crushed by Forge's left foot's claws.
==Trivia==
Steven Erikson calls Yedan Derryg his "favourite bad-ass" in the Malazan Book of the Fallen. "The one character to my mind that no-one would want to clash with (and by no-one I do include Karsa), would be Yedan Derryg." Although, he says Stillwater from The God is Not Willing would "give him a run for the money...Of all the characters I've ever created, only she would meet Yedan Derryg eye to eye, and not blink."Bad@$$ Malazan Moments w/Ruthan Badd x Iskar Jarak - See pinned video comment by Steve Lundin (the author's real name)
== Gallery ==
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File:Twilight and the Watch by Corporal Nobbs.jpg|Twilight & The Watch by Corporal Nobbs
File:Yedan Derryg by Dejan Delic.jpg|Yedan Derryg by Dejan Delic
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File:I am the Watch 3 2.png|Yedan Derryg by Corporal Nobbs
File:Yedan derryg by dejan delic.jpg|Yedan Derryg at the First Shore by Dejan-delic
File:Dragonslayer by Efirende.jpg|Yedan Derryg by Efirende
File:Yedan Derryg by Daniel Knoblich.png|Yedan Derryg at Light Fall by Daniel Knoblich
<gallery navigation="true">
</tabber>
==Notes and references==
Category:Males
Category:Shake
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