Source
r/Malazan•
cli0ve

What's the reason behind...

SpoilerSPOILERS ALL

The sections in The Crippled God that are in italics with Kalam and co. Why are they in italics and why does SE take his whole not giving away the names of the character in the scenes thing to the extreme of sometimes never even naming them, it just seemed a little strange I guess.

I can completely understand the italicised interludes with the discussion between Shadowthrone and Kaminsod, that felt like it needed to have a different feel to all the other sections of the book, similar to Gallan & Fisher's sections in The Kharkanas Trilogy.

Posted Apr 12, 2023, 5:54 PM UTC

1413
krimunism•

The unnamed characters bit is very much intentional and one of the themes of the series. There's an entire speech about it near the end, though i dont recall exactly where. Duiker touches on it as well in DG.

10
Flicker-kel-TathMockra’s Curse•

I’ve had a quick look, and I think the reason that the Kalam and Picker scenes are in italics at the start of Ch18 is either:

(1) They are occurring on a different continent to the main events of the novel and chapter.

(2) They are events that occurred in the past in relation to the rest of the scenes of the chapter.

4
Flicker-kel-TathMockra’s Curse•

The other option, after having more of look, is that:

(3) They are the gods moving pieces into place in the background of the main sequence of events. As the italicised sections are Kalam, Picker, Crippled God, Karsa, Mael and K’rul (not exhaustive list). The events that happen in the italicised sections are crucial to understanding what happens in the end game.

3
Aqua_Tot•

I always assumed those parts were ones that the Crippled God was sort of witnessing with his omniscient 3rd person rather than the normal 1st person that most of the story is told through.

3
kashmoraOpals gems diamonds shards•

That's what I've always assumed

3
AutoModeratorMOD•

Please note that this post has been flaired as Spoilers All. This means every published book in the Malazan Universe, including works by both authors are open to discussion.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1
Jave3636•

I despised when SE wouldn't reveal the name until half way through the chapter. For all that I think he's one of the best fantasy authors ever, that tendency is flat out annoying writing.

1
HisGodHand•

Hard disagree. Loved that aspect of his writing. Really forces the brain to pick up on context clues; cross-examining different characters' physical descriptions, attitudes, emotions, and thoughts. I feel like it really helps nail home his character writing, and usually involves some good landscape descriptions as well for context clues on where in the world they are.

Additionally, he usually deploys that style when the descriptions are a bit of a toss up between two different characters in very different situations or locations. Sometimes it becomes very obvious which character it is, but sometimes it's a purposeful bait and switch, where you are supposed to think it might be one character, but it's another character who has gotten themselves into some shit while off-page.

At that point, you get to have the fun of recontextualizing all you read with the different character in mind, which is usually quite a revealing process. It's a style that really rewards close reading.

To OP's question: No damn clue. I'm interested in the answer as well. Hopefully somebody has it.

22
cli0veOP•

No I love those sections honestly, especially when it was taken to the extreme, most memorably in TTH

3
Jave3636•

The instances where it's a misdirection is fine, but those are by far the minority. When Felisin was walking toward Leoman and Toblekai and you're meant to think it's Apsalar.

Most of the time there's no misdirection or bait and switch, it's just muddying the waters for the sake of confusion. Having an entire conversation where you only know one of the people isn't fun, it's just cheap enigma.

It's especially frustrating in audio, because it's a lot harder to pause and think who it might be. The conversation keeps right on going and you miss half of it because your brain is focused on trying to figure out who's speaking.

2
HisGodHand•

I don't think the instances where it is potential misdirection are a very small minority. You've called out the most obvious one in the series, but the books are seriously chock full of less obvious instances.

Sadly, I am not able to give concrete examples, as it has been a few years since I touched the Book of the Fallen, but I distinctly remember a lot of these instances describing physical traits that were shared between two people in the book who were usually at very different locations.

I vehemently disagree this is muddying the waters for the sake of confusion. There are many reasons an author would choose to employ this technique; the most obvious of which being to present information to the reader without their biases. This is a huge boon for character building.

Most of these sections last for half a page, and I don't remember any of them longer than 3 pages. Longer ones could definitely exist, however. I understand how people who really just want to know everything up front would get annoyed by this, but the whole series operates this way. These are just little half page mysteries, and they do have a benefit.

I will grant you that these could suck in audiobook format. I don't think Erikson writes with that format in mind, and I won't consider extra troubles arising with that format to be a fault of the books or the writer. Esslemont's less opaque style makes for great listening, however.

7
kashmoraOpals gems diamonds shards•

It's not always bait and switch. There are all these common themes and struggles among widely different people that it just reinforces this idea of universal human experiences. I can't get enough of these blind readings during my second read. That said, during my first read i was definitely in a hurry to get the story and kept skipping ahead to see a name.

2
HisGodHand•

That's an interesting perspective I hadn't considered before. Rather than being a technique to strengthen aspects of a specific character, this technique could also act as a strengthening of the similarities between disparate characters separated by great distances.

Thank you

2