Malazan Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Malazan Wiki

"He finally saw the newcomer. Newcomers. Like a seething, lumpy black carpet, the D'ivers rolled over the cobbles. Rats, hundreds. Yet one. Hundreds? Thousands. Oh, Hood, I know of this one."
Fiddler's first encounter with Gryllen[src]

Gryllen, also known as the Tide of Madness, was a D'ivers[1] of unstated gender who could veer into a horde of rats.[2] According to Fiddler, Gryllen had once tormented Y'Ghatan before the Malazans flushed him out of the city by fire.[3]

In Deadhouse Gates

Gryllen pursued the Path of Hands in Raraku seeking Ascendancy and mastery over the other D'ivers and Soletaken.[4] In the desert he tried to murder Fiddler, Apsalar and Crokus before being driven off by Icarium and Mappo Runt.[5]

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

Later, he assumed the form of a wealthy merchant named Nawahl Ebur, and traveled upon a palanquin carried by four undead servants. Gryllen met and entertained Heboric, Felisin Paran, and Kulp, who were also passing through the desert. All the while, Nawahl's gnaw-marked servants hinted to the guests about having died horribly at their master's hands. Fearing exposure by a suspicious Kulp, Gryllen suddenly veered and devoured the mage. Before he could kill the other two, he was attacked by the Soletaken Messremb and by Baudin, who set the D'ivers' rats on fire. Baudin died protecting the others, but Gryllen was driven off.[6]

Gryllen reappeared in the maze surrounding Tremorlor, the supposed goal of the Path of Hands. As each rival D'ivers and Soletaken fell, he seemed vastly stronger and his rats numbered in the tens of thousands. He nearly triggered the rage of Icarium before Fiddler defeated him using the enchanted conch shell given to him by Kimloc, the Tanno Spiritwalker.[7]

Significant plot details end here.

Notes and references

Advertisement