Laseen was the Empress of the Malazan Empire beginning in 1154 Burn's Sleep.[1] Laseen was Napan and had the dusky blue skin of her race.[2] Prior to her taking on the role of Empress, Laseen was known as Surly.[3] She was the creator of the Claw,[2] and held the rank of Clawmaster for some time before becoming Imperial Regent during the absence of Emperor Kellanved and his companion, Dancer.
Descriptions:
- A small woman with thin and unmemorable features, mousy hair kept short[2] who preferred to go bare-foot.
- Hair short and fair above the blue tint of unmemorable features and brown eyes.[4]
- Signature plain slippers, straight trousers, and green silk tunic with no symbol to indicate her rank or stature.[5]
Empress Laseen Interpretation by Shadaan
Depicted in the background clockwise from left:
Tayschrenn, Possum, Topper and Lorn
In Gardens of the Moon
Interpretation of Laseen by dejan-delic
In 1154 BS, a young Ganoes Paran encountered Whiskeyjack and Imperial Regent Surly in Mock's Hold after she had issued an edict against unsanctioned sorcery, leading to riots in the city.[6]
Ganoes met her again in 1161 BS, after returning from a posting in Itko Kan. The Empress surprised him by revealing that she remembered him from that day in Mock's Hold, noting he ignored that commander's (i.e. Whiskeyjack's) advice about not joining the military.[4]
In 1163 BS, just prior to the final battle of Pale, Topper told Paran that Laseen wanted Darujhistan. He also told Paran that Laseen wanted Dujek to be disarmed due to him having a following and because many believed him to be Emperor Kellanved's rightful heir. Paran dismissed the latter as Laseen being paranoid.[7]
From an agent's thoughts it became clear that there had been more than one assassination attempt on Laseen.[8]
In Deadhouse Gates
Kalam Mekhar traveled to Malaz City to make the Empress pay for a list of crimes which included her betrayal of Dujek and the Bridgeburners. When he finally confronted her in Mock's Hold, the Empress informed the Bridgeburner assassin that the revolt of the 2nd Army had been a ruse orchestrated by Dujek himself. The Fist recognized the growing threat of the Pannion Domin but knew his troops could not handle the problem alone. So the outlawing of Dujek provide him an opportunity to make allies of his enemies in order to fight the common foe. The Empress admitted that Tayschrenn's efforts in Genabackis had been misguided, but he was a participant in the greater plan, serving as Dujek's "Shaved Knuckle in the Hole". The decimation of the Bridgeburners had not been part of her intentions.
The Empress admitted to having Dassem Ultor killed, but justified her actions as having prevented a civil war led by an ambitious man sworn to Hood, the god of death. She had no regrets on that account, but did confess that the deaths of Kellanved and Dancer had been committed with reluctance and anguish. But "an empire enforces its own necessities, makes demands in the name of duty", and she had "answered a necessity I could not avoid."
Kalam's reasons for wanting to assassinate her were not altogether assuaged, but they were swallowed up as she showed him the problems in the context of the empire as a whole. Moreover, Kalam realized that she was not physically present and he had been speaking to her through the medium of an animated corpse. By the time he left, he had decided not to kill her.[9]
In The Bonehunters
The Claw by this time was severely infiltrated by Mallick Rel's agents and Laseen was powerless to stop the organization from being subverted by them. Very few remained loyal to her, and she was forced to declare the Wickans as enemies of the empire, presumably to assuage Mallick Rel, who held an inexplicable vendetta against them. Laseen offered Kalam the position of Clawmaster after the disappearance of Topper, when Kalam, Tavore, and T'amber came to see her in Mock's Hold. When Kalam refused, not by words but by deeds by siding with T'amber and Tavore and facilitating their escape, she offered the position to Pearl, who accepted it.
In Night of Knives
During the Siege of Y'Ghatan, on Surly's orders, the Claw tried to assassinate Dassem Ultor by injuring him in the back with a javelin at a critical juncture, when he was dueling with the champion of Y'Ghatan. Four of Dassem's bodyguards died protecting him in the engagement. As he lay recuperating, she ordered Possum, Jade, and two other Claws to kill him and his two remaining guards Temper and Ferrule. The Claws failed and the three managed to escape. In the process Dassem killed Jade and the other two Claws, leaving Possum seriously injured. Dassem was declared dead, leaving Surly as next in the line of succession.[10]
When Kellanved and Dancer returned in the same year, she organized a trap for the two at Mock's Hold using otataral powder and they were both assassinated, or so it was generally reported.[11]
In Return of the Crimson Guard
Several long thought dead members of the Old Guard, including Amaron, Toc the Elder, Ullen Khadeve, and Urko Crust, returned to Quon Tali to lead the Talian League in rebellion against Empress Laseen. Urko claimed that Laseen was letting the Empire they built slip away and that she did not "understand how the machine we built must run."[12] Meanwhile, the Empress seemed to suspect some trouble was on the horizon, eliminating Old Guard members Janul and Janelle and closing the Imperial Warren.[13]
When the Crimson Guard invaded Unta, the Imperial capital, she dressed as an anonymous Claw and faced off against one of the Guard's original Avowed. As witnessed by Possum, she used her bare hands and feet to incapacitate the Guardsman by breaking his elbow and knee, before crushing his windpipe and killing him.[14]
Afterwards, Laseen led the Malaz 4th Army to Li Heng to face the Talian League and the Crimson Guard. On the first day of the Battle of the Plains her soldiers narrowly defeated the League and captured their commanders. Laseen used threats to the safety of their troops to turn Urko and the other League leaders to her side.[15] Then the combined armies faced the Guard on the following day.
Laseen made a big show of her Imperial command tent, but this was an otataral-laced trap designed to murder enemy mages and demons.[16] In reality, Laseen walked the field in disguise killing at least five of the Avowed.[17] The Guard was ultimately defeated by a combination of Malazan soldiery, unexpected arrivals, and their own internal division. In addition, most of Laseen's Old Guard rivals lay dead at the battle's end.
In that moment of triumph, Laseen faced two assassination attempts. The Crimson Guard mage Cowl's attempt was first interrupted by Possum then thwarted by Topper, but Taya Radok managed to get through during the distraction and kill Laseen from behind.[18] Mallick Rel took her place as the new Emperor.[19]
History
Surly was a Napan refugee who arrived on Malaz Island. She found employment as a serving-wench in the Old Quarter[2], and was later employed by Emperor Kellanved as an assassin.
Surly ruled the Empire as Imperial Regent and Master of the Claw[20] whilst Kellanved and Dancer explored the Azath houses. According to Dancer's recollection (as spoken through Apsalar), she ordered Logros T'lan Imass to put down a revolt in Aren, leading to the slaughter of many citizens.
After the deaths of Kellanved and Dancer, Surly changed her name to Laseen, a Napan word meaning "Thronemaster" and assumed the Imperial Throne.[21]
The T'lan Imass refused to acknowledge Laseen as the new Empress and disappeared into the Jhag Odhan.[22]
Quotes
- Laseen: "You appear to hold to the childish notion that some truths are intransigent and undeniable. Alas, the adult world is never so simple. All truths are malleable. Subject, by necessity, to revision. Have you not yet observed, Tavore, that in the minds of the people in this empire, truth is without relevance? It has lost its power. It no longer effects change and indeed, the very will of the people – born of fear and ignorance, granted – the very will, as I said, can in turn revise those truths, can transform, if you like, the lies of convenience into faith, and that faith in turn is not open to challenge."
- Tavore: "In challenging, one commits treason."
- Laseen: "I see you grow older with every heartbeat, Tavore."
- ―Empress Laseen explaining her version of 'truth' to Adjunct Tavore Paran[src]
- "Your silence tells me all I need to know, Possum. You stand distant, close by the door. Am I that terrifying a tyrant?"
- ―Laseen, as Possum prepared to deliver bad news
Notes and references
- ↑ Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 1, UK MMPB p.12
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Gardens of the Moon, Prologue, UK MMPB p.7
- ↑ Gardens of the Moon, Dramatis Personae, UK MMPB p. xiii
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 1, UK MMPB p.42
- ↑ Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 1 Chapter 4, US HC p.173
- ↑ Gardens of the Moon, Prologue, UK MMPB p.6-8
- ↑ Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 3, UK MMPB p.96
- ↑ Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 3, UK MMPB p.98
- ↑ Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 23, US HC p.578-580
- ↑ Night of Knives, Chapter 3, UK HB p.90
- ↑ Night of Knives, Chapter 5, US TPB p.203-209
- ↑ Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 3, Chapter 4, US HC p.58
- ↑ Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 1 Chapter 2, UK MMPB p.31-36
- ↑ Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 2, US HC p.300-302
- ↑ Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 6, US HC p.520-522/528-531
- ↑ Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 3 Chapter 2, US HC p.582-583
- ↑ Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 3 Chapter 4, US HC p.661
- ↑ Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 3, Chapter 4, UK MMPB p.662-664
- ↑ Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 3 Chapter 4
- ↑ Night of Knives, Chapter 1, UK HB p.38/39
- ↑ Gardens of the Moon, Prologue, UK MMPB p.6
- ↑ Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 2, UK MMPB p.73
| Members of Kellanved's Family | |
|---|---|
| The Originals | Kellanved • Dancer • Dujek • Amaron • Hawl • Nok |
| Expanded Family | Cartharon Crust • Dassem Ultor • Duiker • Surly (Laseen) • Tayschrenn • Toc the Elder • Urko Crust |