Ezgara (insect)

Ezgara was the name that Tehol Beddict gave to a strange, brown, multi-legged insect, possessed of a swiveling head at both ends of its stick-like body. It sometimes appeared slow to act or move as if its two heads struggled to make up their minds.

In Midnight Tides

Interpretation of Rucket, Tehol/Ezgara and Bugg by Shadaan

The insect which became 'Ezgara' was found by Bugg on the grounds of the Azath Tower in Letheras. As the Azath House lay dying, its grounds began swarming with a wide assortment of odd insect-life not seen on Lether since the time of the tower's birth. Bugg collected the unusual creature thinking Tehol would be interested in seeing it.

Later, when Tehol met Rat Catchers' Guild Chief Investigator Rucket for dinner, he found that he had unintentionally brought Ezgara along with him and that the two-headed insect was riding on his shoulder, to Rucket's displeasure.

Tehol would continue to periodically discover Ezgara clinging to his clothes unexpectedly.

In Reaper's Gale

Tehol Beddict utilised Ezgara's unusual behavioural characteristics to devise a fiendishly difficult puzzle box for Karos Invictad. Placed inside a box whose insides were made of sixteen rearrangeable, coloured and reflective tiles, the insect walked endlessly in circles. The challenge was to halt the creature's motion, presumably through moving the tiles in the correct sequence, before it starved to death in four months' time. Sent anonymously, Tehol intended the box to deliver a degree of "comeuppance" to the head of the Patriotists, the sadistic secret police of the Letherii Empire. The box was designed to take advantage of Karos' avid obsession with solving puzzles and of his arrogant conviction that his great intelligence could solve any and all puzzles, solving them both more quickly and more easily than anyone else.

Karos struggled to solve the puzzle box to the point where it consumed his waking hours and tormented his sleep. His assistant, Tanal Yathvanar, suspected the Invigilator had been driven mad when he could focus on nothing else. Eventually, Tehol was arrested by the Patriotists for his scheme to bring down the Letherii economy, tortured, and brought to Karos' office for questioning. Spying the puzzle on the Invigilator's desk, he offered to solve it in return for his freedom. Karos scoffed at Tehol's obvious inferior intellect, but agreed to the deal. When Tehol stopped Ezgara's circling by breathing into the box to fog and obscure the tiles with his breath so it could no longer see its reflection, Karos erupted in a rage and destroyed the box with his sceptre. Tehol shouted for the insect to run as it clambered up the wall towards the ceiling. The insect reemerged to inspect Karos' entrails after Brys Beddict slew the Invigilator and freed his brother.

Quotes

"You're not fooling me, with...that idiotic insect on your shoulder...You've named him Ezgara? He doesn't look a thing like our king [i.e., Ezgara Diskanar]. Oh, maybe if our king had two heads, then I might see the resemblance, but as it stands, that's a stupid name."

―Rucket commenting negatively to Tehol Beddict about his choice of a pet and his choice of its name

"Oddest among the arcane bugs was a species of two-headed beetle. Four lizards spied one such creature and closed in, surrounding it. The insect noted threats from two directions and made a careful half-turn, only to find two additional threats, whereupon it crouched down and played dead."

―description of the characteristic behaviour of an Ezgara-like insect found in the grounds of the Azath Tower of Letheras

Fan art gallery

Ezgara by Corporal Nobbs

Ezgara the Beetle by Shadaan

Notes and references

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