Antsy

Antsy
Fan art by Corporal Nobbs
Biographical information
Race	Human (Falari)
Gender	Male
Appearance	Enormous handlebar moustache
Social information
Affiliation	Malazan Empire Bridgeburners
Occupation(s)	Soldier
Rank	Sergeant

"Happy? Antsy don't know the meaning of the word."

―Mallet

Antsy was a Falari and sergeant of the 7th Squad of the Bridgeburners. He was one of those Bridgeburners whose names had become legendary in the Malazan army on Genabackis as well as beyond.

In appearance he was short, but large of build with blue eyes beneath bushy brows, a weathered red face, a bulbous nose, bushy brows, and oversized adam's apple, and a distinctive handlebar moustache.

Antsy was known as "a card-player, [...] only not a good one". His squadmates originally included Blend, Detoran, Picker, and Spindle, and later Hedge, Mallet, Quick Ben, and Trotts.

Antsy was morose, constantly grumbling and complaining, and always looking for somewhere to place the blame. His fellow squad members amused themselves by goading him on. He had a tendency to tug on his moustache when stressed.

In Gardens of the Moon

The Bridgeburners - Sorry, Hedge, Detoran, Fiddler, Quick Ben, WhiskeyJack, Mallet, Antsy, Kalam - Interpretation by Shadaan

Antsy was one of the Bridgeburners who escaped the collapse of the tunnels at the end of the Siege of Pale. When Captain Ganoes Paran arrived in the city, looking for the 9th squad, he only found Corporal Picker from the 7th squad, who told him that her Sergeant, Antsy, was to be found at Knobb's Inn, losing to Hedge from the 9th. Before Paran was able to make his way there, Antsy appeared, immediately having a go at Picker for having encouraged him to gamble with Hedge which had resulted in Antsy getting cleaned out. Picker introduced Paran and for a moment it seemed Antsy was going to ignore the Captain, however, something in the man's voice made him reconsider and he told him where to find members of the 9th squad. Once Paran had left, he told Picker that something told him that it would be a shame if, as Picker suggested, the Captain should get killed within a couple of days by someone.

Antsy and Picker stumbled upon the body of Paran after Sorry attempted to assassinate him. Antsy commented that he didn't think it had been anyone from the 9th who had done it. He then went to get Hedge and Mallet and they apparently reappeared just as Paran regained consciousness, shocking Picker.

In Deadhouse Gates

When Kalam Mekhar was asked to name some Bridgeburner sergeants to prove his identity as one, he said that there were not many left and listed Whiskeyjack, Antsy and Tormin.

In Memories of Ice

After the events of the Gedderone Fête in Darujhistan, Antsy was stationed with the rest of the now renegade Bridgeburners in Pale. Captain Paran reorganised the Bridgeburners by dissolving the 9th Squad and placing its remaining members (including Hedge, Mallet, and Trotts) under Antsy's command.

When Dujek allied with Anomander Rake and Caladan Brood to fight the Pannion Domin at Capustan the Bridgeburners were sent ahead by Quorl in two groups. Antsy's group was assigned to wait for Quick Ben on the Vision Plain while Captain Paran took the rest to secure an alliance with the White Face Barghast of the Barghast Range. Antsy spent the time waiting becoming increasingly paranoid and pessimistic. Once both adjectives were achieved the Bridgeburners reunited.

By this time, Capustan had fallen and Captain Paran was eager for a fight. Antsy and the Bridgeburners used Moranth munitions to punch their way through 200 Betaklites and over a thousand Tenescowri blocking the way inside the city. Advancing through the devastated city, they stumbled upon a tenement defended by Gruntle, the Mortal Sword of Treach. Temporarily safe, Antsy unleashed his pent up paranoia and anger on Captain Paran for keeping his troops ignorant of the army's strategy. The sergeant nearly drew his sword on Paran before Mallet intervened.

The Barghast attack, coupled with the arrival of Dujek and the army, soon delivered Capustan from its occupiers. Antsy and Spindle discovered Prince Arard exiting the tunnels below the city and appointed themselves official representatives of Onearm's Host to speak with him.

The Bridgeburners were secretly sent ahead to Coral to reconnoiter the Pannion Seer's city. They established their camp among the network of unmanned trenches and tunnels the Pannion Domin had built on the forested slopes north of the city. When Septarch Ultentha sent a company of Beklites and Urdomen to man the trenches, Antsy estimated they faced twenty-five to thirty thousand opponents. The Bridgeburners held their position until Dujek arrived.

During the Siege of Coral, Dujek sent the Bridgeburners into the city by Quorl under the cover of darkness. Their mission was to attack the keep of the Pannion Seer while the High Fist led the rest of the army into the city itself. He assisted with driving away the Seer's demonic Condors while the squad sappers blasted a breach in the keep's wall. Then he joined the others inside the keep to fight the enemy Seerdomin. Antsy was severely wounded in the battle. Mallet tripped over what he thought to be a corpse before realising it was a dying Antsy. The sergeant's life was saved only by the magic healing of Lady Envy.

Antsy was among the few Bridgeburners to survive the battle in the keep. After the city was taken, Dujek allowed him and the remaining Bridgeburners to secretly retire as had been Whiskeyjack's wish. The sergeant went to Darujhistan where he convinced several of his comrades to use their accumulated back pay to establish K'rul's Bar.

In House of Chains

L'oric was questioned by Sha'ik Reborn's staff about events in Coral and when asked to name survivors mentioned Sergeant Antsy amongst others.

In The Bonehunters

Quick Ben told Fiddler and Kalam that contrary to reports there had been some survivors in Coral and named Antsy as one of those now living in Darujhistan.

Paran also mentioned Antsy as one of the survivors when he came across Apsalar and told her that those survivors had bought K'rul's bar in Darujhistan and that he had been treated well enough amongst them.

In Toll the Hounds

Picker, Blend and Antsy by Shadaan

Antsy was a regular at K'rul's Bar in Darujhistan, which was now owned by the surviving Bridgeburners. On the night of the Gedderone Fête, he and Bluepearl survived an attack in the streets by the Assassins' Guild who had been contracted to kill all the Bridgeburners by Humble Measure. While out shopping for wine, they spotted a suspicious pair following them, so Bluepearl created a drunken illusion of himself and Antsy some distance away from their true location. When the assassins sprang on the decoys, Antsy stabbed one through the neck, while Bluepearl grabbed the other and drowned him with magic. Returning to K'rul's Bar they learned an assassin had also attacked Picker, and the Bridgeburners launched an investigation to learn who had purchased a Guild contract against them.

Later, Antsy, Picker, and Blend spotted Barathol Mekhar, Scillara, and Chaur while enjoying a meal at another restaurant. Recognising Barathol's resemblance to Kalam Mekhar, they feared the Claw had sent someone to finish off the Bridgeburners once and for all. A drinking contest between the two groups alleviated the Bridgeburners' concerns and defused the situation. The encounter ended back at K'rul's Bar where all but Chaur spent the evening sharing beds.

After failing to take individual Bridgeburners in the streets unaware, the Assassins' Guild launched a major attack on the bar itself. Nine assassins entered the bar's front entrance, a dozen tried to enter the back kitchen, and eleven more infiltrated the bar's upper level through a window. Antsy was near the cellar pursuing a two-headed rat when the attack began. Fetching five sharpers the sergeant used them to dispatch a dozen attackers who were busy killing the kitchen staff. Then he grabbed a cauldron lid to use as a shield and coordinated an attack with Picker on the assassins descending from upstairs. Finally, he joined the newly arrived Barathol and Chaur to kill more assassins coming from the front door. When it was all over, Bluepearl and Mallet were dead. An anguished Antsy railed over Bluepearl's body for having been so foolish as to have died. Picker had to pull him away before he could kick the corpse.

At a loss at how to respond to the attack, Antsy suggested they contact Ganoes Paran via the Finnest House for guidance. Raest reluctantly agreed to help, taking them to a room that allowed Picker to reach out to Paran through the Deck of Dragons. But the Jaghut warned that if her willpower was not strong enough, the Deck would leave her a drooling wreck. Ganoes was incapable of much assistance as he was under duress, apart from telling her to contact Kruppe and Baruk. Picker was indeed left comatose when a presence within the Deck attempted to consume her soul. While Antsy worried over his friend, Raest revealed the price for his help to the incredulous Bridgeburner--a dead white cat. Antsy brought Picker's body back to K'rul's Bar where a healer pronounced her spirit had been torn loose and now wandered adrift.

After Barathol was arrested for running an illegal smithy, Antsy, Scillara, and Blend went to visit him at the gaol. Antsy's jokes with the constables about breaking Barathol out and their discovery that he carried a sharper led to a scuffle that saw Antsy receive his own three-day sentence.

On the last night of the Gedderone Fête, powerful forces converged on Darujhistan. The dueling Hounds of Light and Shadow, Pallid and Baran, crashed into the gaol, freeing Antsy and pinning Barathol in the rubble. Chaur came to Barathol's rescue but was badly injured before the Hounds' battle took them elsewhere. Barathol put Chaur's dying body in an ox-cart and enlisted Antsy to help him find a healer. They were first turned away by Baruk, who was too busy with the night's greater events. Antsy finally succeeded in placing Chaur with Raest at the Finnest House, where time would stop until they found someone who could help. The sergeant gave Raest a dead white cat he found in the street to cover his previous debt.

Leaving the Finnest House, Antsy and Barathol stumbled upon Karsa Orlong, the Seguleh Second, Tulas Shorn, De nek okral and Cutter defending the fallen Anomander Rake's sword Dragnipur from the Hounds of Light. Barathol pulled the overmatched Cutter from the fight and handed him off to Antsy before joining in against Pallid. At least six of the Hounds were killed before the surviving Hounds of Light were forced to flee without their prize. Caladan Brood commandeered Antsy and Barathol's ox-cart to remove Rake's body.

In The Crippled God

Picker was having a dream and in this dream recalled Antsy naming the kegs in the cellar of Krul's bar which contained dead Seguleh, 'Sours'. She also came to realise that Antsy and Blend really had found a dead cat called Tufty for Raest.

In Orb Sceptre Throne

Antsy traveled to the remains of Moon's Spawn. He decided to go by the name Red on the trip. While visiting an inn in Hurly, a group of thieves led by Jallin attempted to rob and murder him. Jallin was almost successful in backstabbing Antsy, but he was saved by a timely warning from Corien Lim.

After spending the night sleeping on the shoreline, Antsy went to buy passage to the remnants of Moon's Spawn from the Confederate fleet. While in line he met Orchid, a young woman who claimed to Tiste Andii. Neither one of them had enough money to buy passage, but, along with Corien, they were hired by the treasure hunter Malakai.

Antsy almost drowned on the passage to Moon's Spawn, but was saved by Malakai. He could not see in the darkness of Moon's Spawn, and was led by Malakai and Orchid, both of whom could see in the dark. Their party came upon Pearl Town, a group of treasure hunters stranded in Moon's Spawn. They were attacked, as the residents had resorted to cannibalism to survive. Malakai captured their leader, Panar Legothen, who told them that there was a demon in Moon's Spawn, and that there was no way out.

(some information still missing)

History

Antsy's memories of his childhood were a confusing "scatter of images stitched together by invented shit." He grew up as "a scrawny bow-legged runt" in Falar where even his own mental image of his ten-year-old face had a moustache. His miserable, bitter tyrant of father owned a fishing boat.

Quotes

"If this is what I want, then I don't want it."

―Antsy

"The truth is that the goal of existence is to kill you."

―Antsy

"Why would I tell Antsy? The answer should be obvious, Healer. I love watching him panic."

―Picker

"It ain't our job to react [to the enemy]--it's our job to hit first and make them do the reacting."

―Antsy, quoting Marine doctrine

"Because I don't believe in the Twins, that's why. Luck – it's all bad. Oponn only pulls now to push later. If you've been pulled, it don't end there. Never does. No, you can expect the push to come any time and all you know for sure is it's gonna come, that push. Every time. In fact, we're all as good as dead."

―Antsy

Notes and references

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