Dragnipur

"Forged in darkness, it chains souls to the world that existed before the coming of light."

―K'rul explaining Dragnipur to Kruppe

Dragnipur by Corporal Nobbs

Dragnipur [DRAG-nih-per] was the sword wielded by Anomander Rake.

In its first appearance it was described as a two-handed sword with a silver dragonskull pommel and an archaic crosshilt. Baruk estimated that the wooden scabbard was a full six and a half feet long. Another description spoke of a long, silver-hilted bastard sword, with an inky-black blade that absorbed all light.

When drawn from its sheath, the sword groaned awake, emitting chains of smoke and filling the air with the sounds of creaking wheels and a chorus of hopeless moaning. Even sheathed, it emanated terror. A normally non-fatal wound, caused by Dragnipur, could lead to death whilst blood on the blade boiled and turned to ash.

The sword was a Warren containing the Gate of Darkness. This gate was held within an immense wooden wagon, with wheels as tall as a man. It was drawn by chains linked to the souls of all individuals who have been slain with Dragnipur. The cart was endlessly pursued by the forces of Chaos.

In Gardens of the Moon

Paran inside Dragnipur by Zoe Badini

While visiting with Baruk in Darujhistan, Anomander Rake learned that two of the allied mages who had betrayed him and fled from Pale were hiding in the city. Rake demanded the two wizards be turned over to him to face his sword.

Quick Ben and Kalam Mekhar found themselves in a fight with a dozen Tiste Andii on the rooftops of Darujhistan. The mage attempted to stall their attackers by releasing the demon Pearl while he and Kalam escaped. When Rake appeared, both the demon and the mage knew the implication of the task at hand. When Pearl asked, "Ben Adaephon Delat, do you pity me", the mage answered, "Yes". Rake slew Pearl with Dragnipur and imprisoned his soul.

In one of his dreams, Kruppe was told by the Elder God K'rul that the sounds of a wagon, wheels, chains and slaves which he could hear were in fact those of the sword Dragnipur which was forged in Darkness and chained those it slew to the world which existed before the coming of light. K'rul warned that its wielder was now amongst them and Kruppe had a vision of his Deck of Dragons and the image of the Knight of High House Darkness. K'rul told Kruppe that when it was first forged, none could withstand Dragnipur but he did not know if that was still the case.

In the Gadrobi Hills, Rake used the sword to protect Ganoes Paran from the Hounds of Shadow, slaying Doan and Ganrod. Paran touched the blood of one of the slain Hounds and felt himself drawn into the sword's warren after them. Unlike the other prisoners of the sword, Paran was not chained to the wagon. With the reluctant help of Oponn, he freed Doan and Ganrod from their chains, then escaped himself.

The demon Lord of Galayn was killed with the sword.

In Memories of Ice

119,736 years before Burn's Sleep, Draconus, K'rul, and the Sister of Cold Nights punished Kallor for his evil deeds by laying a curse upon him. Kallor then in turn cursed the three of them. He told Draconus that "what you create shall be turned upon you". After they left Kallor, Draconus told the other two about a sword he was forging. He said he had been working on the weapon since the time of All Darkness and that his effort was finally nearing completion. He noted that the sword was invested with a power that possessed "a finality". A surprised K'rul counseled him to "make alterations in the final shaping" in light of Kallor's curse, and Draconus promised to think on it.

Tool mentioned to Toc the Younger that Dragnipur had been forged by Draconus who was later killed by its current wielder, Anomander Rake (thus fulfilling Kallor's curse).

The touching of the Hound's blood and his subsequent foray into Dragnipur left their mark on Paran. He felt that, although he had escaped the world of the sword, he could feel its chains about him, drawing ever tighter, an expectation for him to become something...

When Paran again entered the warren of the sword, Draconus told him about the origin and purpose of Dragnipur and explained the pressing need to shatter the sword. He said that when he made the sword, his understanding of the Gate of Darkness had been flawed.

"[…] Chaos approached the very Gate to Kurald Galain itself. A defense needed to be fashioned. Souls were…required… […] Mortal, I have had time to think. To recognize the grave error I have made. I had believed, Ganoes Paran, in those early times, that only in Darkness could the power that is order be manifested. I sought to help Mother Dark […] Before the Houses, there were Holds. Before Holds there was wandering. […] Not wandering, but migration. A seasonal round — predictable, cyclical. What seemed aimless, random, was in truth fixed, bound to its own laws. […] Dragnipur has bound the Gate of Darkness to flight, for eternity […] "

―Draconus

When souls in Dragnipur became too exhausted to pull the wagon, they were stacked on the wagon top in a pile. The result was an unsustainable demand for new souls to pull the ever-increasing load in the flight from Chaos. There were two options: taking new souls by killing with the sword, or shattering the sword to release the Gate of Darkness to its natural migration patterns.

At one point, Ganoes confided the details of his escape from the sword to Whiskeyjack. The Bridgeburner warned him to keep this knowledge from Anomander Rake. The sword's prison was meant to be inescapable. Ganoes' escape was an alarming precedent and Rake could be "an unpredictable bastard."

In the aftermath of the Siege of Capustan, the defeated Tenescowri and Women of the Dead Seed turned on their captors and threatened to overwhelm the Malazans. Rake's own magic served only to stun the women and he was forced to kill them directly with Dragnipur. Whiskeyjack intervened out of a sense of compassion and single-handedly executed the remaining women by more conventional methods.

In Toll the Hounds

The weight of Dragnipur was such that few but Anomander Rake could bear to carry it. Within a room of absolute darkness below the terondai of Black Coral was a basalt obelisk twice the height of a Tiste Andii with an indentation moulded to match the sword upon which Rake could relieve himself of the burden for a few moments at a time. When the sword was placed upon the obelisk, the stone sweat thick, glistening beads and the ground groaned with something like thunder. It was not an event Rake felt needed repeating often.

Draconus freed by SimiofDoom

Spoiler warning: The following section contains significant plot details about Dragnipur.

Anomander Rake killed Hood, drawing him into the sword. Rake then forced Traveller into a fight and contrived that the man kill him with Dragnipur. Thus Rake himself was drawn into the sword, where he confronted Chaos with Hood and the Legions of the Dead, sacrificing himself so that Mother Dark would return and take the Gate of Darkness back to where it belonged, with the Tiste Andii, thus ending the reason for Dragnipur's existence.

Inside Dragnipur by Marc Simonetti (Official Image)

With many, perhaps most, of the sword's prisoners now eradicated by Chaos, the sword itself was then destroyed by Caladan Brood. This released the surviving occupants of the warren within the sword out into the world. Some of the more notable included Draconus and Apsal'ara.

In Return of the Crimson Guard

In the Elder Age, Draconus pursued Liossercal and carried a weapon in the form of an "alarming darkness" at his side. He was eager to add the Bastard of Light's essence to the weapon's Void.

In Orb Sceptre Throne

(Information needed)

In Blood and Bone

Dragnipur was infamous enough that even the Thaumaturgs of the Kingdom of the Thaumaturgs of Jacuruku had heard of it and knew its history.

Jacinth: "There is nothing that walks this world that can defeat Skinner."

Golan: "So he fears nothing?"

Jacinth: "...he fears plenty. There was one blade he was wary of - but it has since been destroyed."

Golan: "Ah, well. All creation feared that sword."

―comments between Jacinth and the Thaumaturg, Golan, about Skinner and Dragnipur

Other names

• Prison of Souls

Slain by Dragnipur

A partial list of those slain by the sword:

Apsal'ara Byrys Doan Ditch Draconus

Galayn Ganrod Kadaspala Pearl Women of the Dead Seed

Significant plot details end here.

Author's comments

In a 2020 interview, author Steven Erikson said that the sword's theft of souls meant for Hood's Realm was a point of anger for Hood. Additionally, the sword's power was such that even a God risked imprisonment from its blade.

Gallery

Anomander Rake and Dragnipur as depicted by Michael Komarck (Official artwork)

Rake (with Dragnipur) and Envy by Shadaan

Notes and references

Notes

• Steven Erikson described the appearance of the sword during a 'Question and Answer' session: No inlay, no pattern welding, no watermarking, just a long straight-edged black blade with a tapering point, probably a single dorsal spine flanked by ferules. A couple inches above the plain cross-hilt, the blade tapers to a narrower base (typical for most long-swords). The grip allows for one or two hands, the pommel a silver weighted ball (if I recall correctly), not even polished. Your challenge would be getting the blade black enough, so that it seems to swallow light and make the eye fall into it. [1]

References

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