Samar Dev

Samar Dev
Fan art by Corporal Nobbs
Biographical information
Race	Human
Gender	Female
Social information
Occupation(s)	Inventor Scholar Witch

"I have invented countless things that would prove of great value to many people. And that presents me with a dilemma. I must ask myself, with each invention, what possible abuses await such an object? More often than not, I conclude that those abuses outweigh the value of the invention. I call this Dev's First Law of Invention."

―Samar Dev

Samar Dev [SAM-ar DEV] was a scholar, inventor, and witch from Ugarat in Seven Cities. She was familiar with a wide array of disciplines including chemistry, anatomy, geography, sociology, cartography, linguistics, and astronomy. However, she distrusted philosophy and did not consider herself a particularly eloquent writer. Although primarily an inventor, she would not release an invention, however valuable, unless she determined that it could not be used abusively. Consequently, she shelved most of her inventions. At the same time, she was powerful in "the old arts", capable of bargaining with spirits and casting curses. She preferred not to bind spirits as "one who binds risks getting bound in return."

Samar Dev was self-described as "a woman with ample womanly charms" and likely in her early thirties.

Her rooms in Ugarat were crowded with work benches and shelves displaying various mechanisms she had invented or the scientific paraphernalia of experiments in progress. Some experiments served to create useful tools such as a spyglass, a self-powered wagon, or an ointment "for the suppurating wounds that sometimes arise on the lining of the anus." Other experiments served no practical purpose other than to establish interesting technical effects. She sat at a scriber's desk to record her thoughts and observations with a stylus and wax tablet. She owned a leather satchel containing surgical instruments as well as an extensive collection of rare maps.

In The Bonehunters

Samar Dev by Meonika

Samar Dev met Karsa Orlong when she was left stranded in the Ugarat Odhan after the self-powered carriage she built broke down. The potential investor who had accompanied her took them too far out into the desert and dropped dead, while Samar Dev was hobbled by a broken foot after kicking one of the wagon's wheels in frustration. Karsa placed her behind him on Havok's saddle and brought her back to Ugarat in exchange for her help entering the city. Her intercession proved necessary when the Teblor pummeled the city guard who attempted to confiscate the Deragoth heads he carried as trophies. Captain Inashan recognised the scholar and prevented further bloodshed and sent one of his healer's to tend to her foot.

Karsa volunteered to enter Moraval Keep, where Ugarat's Malazan Garrison had fled during the Whirlwind rebellion, in order to secure peace now that the rebellion was effectively over. Samar Dev remained outside with the Falah'd of Ugarat, Inashan, and a few hundred soldiers while the Teblor went in alone. Karsa discovered that the entire garrison had been massacred by a Demon—actually a K'Chain Nah'ruk—which he was forced to kill with his bare hands. Samar Dev was asked to examine the unrecognised creature by the Falah'd and conducted an extensive study of its remains.

Studying the maps in her collection, Karsa determined to travel to Sepik when Samar Dev told him the island practised slavery. Intrigued by the Teblor and expecting a journey of exploration and discovery, she accompanied him on horseback through the Jhag Odhan. She found the culture of the fringe tribes dwelling in the waste fascinating. Near the Olphara Peninsula they were approached by Boatfinder and the Anibar people who wanted Karsa to deliver them from the mysterious invaders who were killing and terrorising them. Karsa tracked the Tiste Edur killers to their camp and began slaughtering them. Samar Dev intervened, convincing the Teblor to parley in an attempt to frighten off the Edur forever rather than just slay the few who were there at present. In the negotiations with Preda Hanradi Khalag of the Letherii Empire, she was shocked to discover the Letherii language was cleary derived from that of the ancient First Empire. Karsa accepted the Preda's offer to return with the Edur to Letheras as a champion to face Emperor Rhulad Sengar in mortal combat, and Samar Dev chose to accompany him.

She soon came to regret her decision. Essentially imprisoned aboard the ships of the Third Edur Imperial Fleet, she became familiar with Taxilian, a kidnapped resident of Seven Cities used by the Edur as an interpreter, and Feather Witch, an enslaved Letherii mage. The scholar earned Feather Witch's enmity when she refused to instruct her in the Seven Cities common language. The Letherii threatened Samar Dev's life, but the scholar dismissed her magical skill as inferior. When the Edur fleet faced off in the Kokakal Sea against the Malazan Imperial Fleet carrying Adjunct Tavore Paran's 14th Army, she was pleased to see the arrogant Edur knocked on their heels.

On the long voyage back to Letheras, she was terrified to discover that the fleet bore a second champion—Icarium the Slayer. She quickly advised Karsa that they abandon ship the next time the fleet came within sight of land, but the Teblor was heartened by the news, relishing the opportunity to face the Jhag again after their first unsatisfying confrontation.

In Reaper's Gale

Samar Dev by Max Davenport

The Edur fleet brought Samar Dev and Karsa to Letheras where the Teblor was to face Emperor Rhulad Sengar in mortal combat. The spirits trapped in her knife shrieked in warning that the Letherii capital city was home to several gods in residence. After another argument, she once again wondered why she stayed with Karsa instead of returning home. The pair were escorted to the champions compound where they stayed with all of the Emperor's other challengers.

She quickly grew to understand the grip the Patriotists secret police had on the city and was careful not to bring attention to herself. She enjoyed spending time with Taxilian, who became fixated with a mystical pattern he perceived in the ancient layout of the city. As guests of the emperor, they were allowed to explore the city. The two went to investigate the collapsed Scale House that Taxilian deemed important to the pattern's design. Samar Dev noted that the area was filled with too many spirits of rats to count. Taxilian warned that the emperor was unkillable and when Karsa perished his companions would be executed. He recommended that she escape while she could, but Samar Dev declined, admitting she felt loyalty to the Teblor.

While in her room she was approached by the spirit of Kuru Qan. But when she learned the Ceda was begging for help to heal Feather Witch, the witch laughed in his face. She despised the slave and instead trapped the Ceda within her knife.

Samar Dev and Karsa continued to regularly bicker in their quarters at the champion compound. He railed against the corruption and hypocrisy of civilisation and challenged her capture and enslavement of souls within her knife. She no longer seemed to bargain with the trapped spirits, but compelled them. In response, she claimed being in his presence stifled her privilege of choice, so she needed all the power she could get. She was frustrated and terrified by his arrogance and brutality, his effectiveness at succeeding by his own rules, and his ability to break through her wards like cobwebs. Karsa invited her into his bed, but she refused. She knew he continued to bait him and was not the thick-skulled savage he had once appeared to be.

On the night Ublala Pung broke into the compound to find Karsa, he first awoke Samar Dev. She brought him to Karsa's room, identifying him as a mixed-blood of Toblakai descent. Karsa soon pronounced that the Tarthenal and his people would join his army. Ublala had a message for Karsa about the emperor he wished to keep secret, so the Teblor made the indignant witch depart.

While walking in the city with Senior Assessor she witnessed Karsa confront Icarium and grab him by the arm. The Teblor ignored her attempts to get him to release the Jhag, but Icarium welcomed her warmly. Ultimately, Icarium defused the situation by agreeing that Karsa should face Rhulad in the arena first. Afterwards, Samar Dev reevaluated her interest in Senior Assessor when the Cabalhii fanatic refused to approach the Jhag he considered his people's god.

She was filled with dread as the champions began to face Rhulad in the arena. After Gadalanak's death, she mourned his loss and argued with Karsa at his seeming indifference over the battle to come. Karsa warned her she would need to be ready to draw her knife and release their captured spirits, but refused to be more specific. He said she would know when it was time. Then he drove her off in a rage by asking her to remove her clothes so that they could remind themselves what it meant to live.

On the final day, Icarium slipped away leaving Karsa as the last to face the Emperor. Samar Dev made one final plea for them to make their escape as well, but Karsa refused. He made the witch promise she would witness the contest, saying he needed her "to do what needs doing when the time comes" before cryptically adding that the Emperor "is not the one he wants." As Adjunct Tavore's Bonehunters invaded the city, Rhulad faced off against Karsa Orlong in the arena. The emperor ineffectively hacked and slashed at the Teblor, while Karsa coolly defended himself. Watching him, Samar Dev realised she had never truly known Karsa, and reconsidered refusing his previous sexual gestures. It was only when Rhulad's sword lunged of its own accord and speared Karsa through the leg that the Teblor went on the offense, severing Rhulad's sword arm at the shoulder. Once the sword was out of Rhulad's hands, Samar Dev released the spirits from her knife. They enveloped the sword and created a portal through Chaos into the Warren of the Crippled God. The spirits' sacrifice was joined by the legion of the slain chained to Karsa as well as centuries of Tarthenal ghosts released by Old Hunch Arbat. As Karsa stepped through the portal, Rhulad's body collapsed and died on the floor of the arena.

Chancellor Triban Gnol ordered Samar Dev arrested and commanded his guard to bring them back to the throne room of the Eternal Domicile. While passing through the palace's halls, they were spotted and attacked by Fiddler's squad. The Chancellor and several of his guards were killed before Samar Dev stunned the Malazans by shouting out her surrender in their own language.

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

In Toll the Hounds

Samar Dev rode Havok through the Warrens, following Karsa's trail to Genabackis. She believed he had somehow spoken to the Crippled God in order to defeat Rhulad Sengar and needed to know whether the Teblor now carried the Emperor's cursed sword. Arriving on the Lamatath Plain, she heard tales of a demon killing everything in its path and knew she was on the right track. She met Traveller at a Kindaru camp and the swordsman joined her, determined that the cursed sword be destroyed.

Karsa and Samar Dev by Dejan Delic

Soon after, they found the smoldering wreckage of The Captain's enormous wagon, which Karsa had destroyed while setting the Skathandi leader's slaves free. When they finally found Karsa the laughing Teblor pulled the complaining witch into a crushing embrace. He was amazed that Havok had suffered her to ride for so long. Karsa took Traveller for Samar Dev's husband, assuming she must have had one to resist his advances and offered to fight for her. There was a moment of weighing up between the two men, but as Karsa had not kept the Crippled God's sword, there was no fight. Samar Dev wished to return home to Seven Cities, so the three agreed to travel together to Darujhistan where she could catch a ship. Karsa already planned to return north to his homeland to raise an army, but was interested in seeing the city that had defied the Malazans.

Karsa and Traveller quickly grew to enjoy each other's company as they crossed the Dwelling Plain, irritating Samar Dev with their shared stories and easy camaraderie. She noted the mass of souls who had once followed in Karsa's wake were gone since his clash with the Emperor. Only Bairoth Gild and Delum Thord remained in their place in his sword.

An undead Soletaken Eleint landed near their campfire, sembling into a Tiste Edur who warily introduced himself as Tulas Shorn. He spoke in Samar Dev's native Ugari and bowed before her naming her a priestess of Burn despite her protestations. Tulas Shorn claimed he had escaped Hood's realm and only wanted company after too long a period of solitude. The witch had to calm Karsa (whose first instinct was to kill Tiste Edur) and Traveller (who had no love for servants of Hood) before welcoming the stranger as her guest. Traveller warned the dead man that Hood would reclaim him sooner or later. He defended his claim, saying witches held congress with the earth, the sky, water, and stone as opposed to bringing alien powers into the world from the warrens like other mages. Further, Samar Dev was among those few Burn chose to dream about, and even more rarely, dreamt of often. Then Tulas Shorn asked Samar Dev if she would fight for Burn to expunge the sickness of the Crippled God's pain that poisoned the goddess' body lest she die. He said he did not have the courage required to take on the God's pain himself. When they awoke the next morning, they discovered Tulas Shorn had stolen Samar Dev and Traveller's horses. Samar Dev was hurt by their guest's betrayal and Karsa tried assuaging her feelings. But Traveller saw it as a sign the Soletaken remained Hood's creature--they would be delayed in reaching Darujhistan.

Another evening, their campfire was briefly investigated by a massive plains bear who seemed to have come to see Samar Dev. The words "De nek okral", came to her intuitively, though she did not know what they meant. After the bear lumbered off, Traveller identified them as Imass words meaning roughly "short nose plains bear". He recognised the bear as an ancient god of war and indicated the old gods of war were returning. The witch worried over why a god of war had sought her out. Karsa eventually convinced Samar Dev to ride behind him on Havok to hasten their travel.

By the time they reached Darujhistan, it was clear Traveller had brought them to a place where something terrible was happening. The city flashed and rumbled, the Moon appeared to be shattered, citizens fled from the city gates, and even Havok began to shy and startle. Samar Dev was seized with dread and pleaded with Karsa to leave with her. But the Teblor insisted on following Traveller to guard his back. When the witch asked who would guard their backs, Karsa pointed to the approaching De nek okral.

The two could barely keep up to Traveller and Karsa held Samar Dev back when the anguished Traveller argued with Cotillion ahead of them. Whatever they discussed was for Traveller's ears alone, but the Teblor drew his sword as Hounds of Shadow began to appear. His decision made, Traveller continued on to confront Anomander Rake, and Karsa and Samar Dev served as witnesses to the clash that ended with Rake's death. Even Karsa was shaken.

Afterwards, powerful forces converged on Rake's body to claim his sword, Dragnipur. While the Hounds of Shadow defended the sword from Envy and Spite, Karsa was joined by Cutter to stand against ten Hounds of Light who physically manifested in the city to claim the sword for their unnamed master. Samar Dev tended the man they now knew to be Dassem Ultor, who collapsed in torment nearby. Hood's Knight of Death, the Seguleh Second, appeared at Karsa's side and the two allied to kill as many as three of the Hounds. Three others were carried away when Tulas Shorn swept down from above. Barathol Mekhar sent another Hound fleeing after shattering its jaw with his axe. When one of the Hounds came after Samar Dev and Dassem Ultor, De nek okral defended them and killed it, but was left mortally wounded. Samar Dev took the god's soul into her knife so, as the last of its kind, it would not be forgotten.

The last two Hounds nearly secured the sword before Karsa and the Seguleh Second drove them away badly wounded with the aid of two newly arrived Teblor girls accompanied by Karsa's onetime war dog, Gnaw. The two girls were Delas Fana and Tonith Agra, the result of the rape of a mother and her daughter which Karsa had committed when setting out as a very young warrior on his original quest. Karsa decided to remain in Darujhistan after Picker relayed a message to him from Hood. Karsa was told that he needed to stay in the city if he was to fulfill the vow he had once made to kill a god. Samar Dev did not wish to hear any more of their conversation and took Picker's suggestion to go to K'rul's Bar for breakfast and a bath.

In The Crippled God

Samar Dev finally invited Karsa Orlong to share her bed.

Significant plot details end here.

In Orb Sceptre Throne

Karsa returned to live anonymously with his two children in a steep gorge to the east of Darujhistan for a nearly year before the events of Orb Sceptre Throne. Rumours spoke of a sullen giant from the north who was best to avoid. Samar Dev, who sometimes lived with him and whose name was unknown to the local clans, paid for any animals he took. The scholar scornfully laughed off the attempts of local tribes to scapegoat Karsa for unexplained pregnancies or mysteriously spoiled milk.

In The God is Not Willing

After returning to the Teblor homeland in the Laederon Plateau, Delas Fana, one of Karsa's daughters, recalled her time in Darujhistan. While researching the history of her people, Delas Fana had forged a friendship with the scholar who she thought "either was or wasn't Karsa Orlong's lover."

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