Pallid

Pallid was a 'new Hound of Shadow'.

Pallid was described as bone white, with onyx eyes and covered in scars which revealed dark blue skin beneath the short white hair. Pallid was leaner and longer-necked than the Shadow Hounds. Sometimes Pallid's eyes glowed red like hot coals.

In Toll the Hounds

Pallid and Lock were two new Hounds running with the Hounds of Shadow when Shadowthrone and Cotillion appeared before Traveller near Morn. While the older Hounds gathered around Traveller, the two newcomers kept their distance. When Traveller asked about them, Cotillion admitted they had "just sort've...showed up" while Shadowthrone claimed he had summoned them as seven was the desired number of Hounds. However, both Traveller and Cotillion doubted that statement and Traveller suggested they were likely two of the fabled Hounds of Light. The two newcomers seemed to be accepted by the other Hounds of Shadow and, acting as rearguard, accompanied Traveller when Shadowthrone sent them to guide Traveller in his initial journey across the Lamatath Plain to Darujhistan.

Shan was unhappy with the two new Hounds, more so with Lock than with Pallid as the latter largely kept out of her way. Lock, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy irritating her with his constant presence at her side.

While flying over the Lamatath Plain, Kagamandra Tulas caught the scent of the Hounds of Shadow. As their first master, he was pleased to fly down to greet them, although he found Shadowthrone and Cotillion unworthy of their company. But he was horrified to see Pallid and Lock among them. The two Hounds in turn regarded Tulas with hate. He called all of the Hounds conjurations – manifestations who would turn on their masters eventually.

On the last night of the Gedderone Fête, powerful forces converged on Darujhistan. The Hounds trampled the farm of Grisp Falaunt before destroying the Cutter Road Gate on their way into the city. Once inside, Pallid split off from the pack to race to another part of the city with 'untoward' designs not realising that Baran was following. After the white Hound killed a dozen city guards, Baran crashed into its side. Both beasts skidded and crushed into the walls of the local Warden Barracks and goal. The continued fight of the two Hounds saw most of the building demolished and scores of guards and prisoners killed by falling masonry. Now again outside the building, Pallid bit into Baran's shoulder and sent him into one of the remaining walls which crumbled under the impact. One prisoner, Barathol Mekhar, began to clamber free of the rubble and Pallid turned towards him. The Hound charged but was attacked by Chaur, who barged into the beast from the side, beneath its right shoulder, hard enough to twist Pallid round as it flew in mid-air. Chaur then threw an axe to Barathol and himself picked up a stone with which he hit the charging beast's snout dead-on. The Hound's momentum sent Chaur flying into a wall opposite where he remained motionless. Pallid was distracted by the arrival of Baran who had managed to free himself and took off, pursuit by the Shadow Hound. The pair's battle seemed to signal the peace between the two groups of Hounds was over.

Later in the evening, Pallid had rejoined Lock, both their hides now sprayed with blood, their skin hanging in strips in places and showing terrible puncture wounds in their necks and elsewhere. They padded side by side down the main avenue running parallel to the lakeshore. After Anomander Rake's death, light flashed onto Darujhistan from the shattered moon above and eight more Hounds of Light manifested in the city to join Pallid and Lock. The pack of now ten Hounds had come to seize Dragnipur, a sword of perfect justice, for their unnamed "master".

The Hounds were met with heavy resistance from Karsa Orlong, the Seguleh Second, Tulas Shorn, De nek okral, and Barathol Mekhar, who had gathered to protect the sword or fight the Hounds for their own ends. Barathol spotted Pallid and sang out with joy to face the beast that had nearly killed Chaur. He shattered the beast's lower jaw with his axe before being flung back unconscious after colliding with Pallid's chest. At least six of the Hounds were killed in the complex and confused fight that followed, and the surviving Hounds of Light, including Pallid, were forced to flee without their prize.

In The God is Not Willing

(Information needed)

Quotes

"They will turn – they are telling you that! That is why they exist! The fangs, the fury – all that is implacable in nature– each aspect but a variation, a hue in the maelstrom of destruction!"

―Tulas Shorn about Hounds

Notes and references

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