Malazan Book of the Fallen/Characters

Empress Laseen

 * Bad Boss: Purging the nobility whenever things go wrong is a favourite tactic.
 * Bastard Understudy: To Emperor Kellanved
 * Career Killers: Created the Claw, and served as their leader.
 * The Chessmaster: Has a not entirely deserved reputation as one.
 * The Empress
 * God Save Us From the Queen

Adjunct Lorn

 * Break the Cutie: Her backstory.
 * Broken Bird
 * Cool Sword: Her Otataral blade negates magic.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Saw her family die when the mages scoured the quarter of the city where she lived.
 * Dark Action Girl: Is she ever.
 * The Dragon: Is one of Laseen's, alongside Topper.
 * Empty Shell: Comes to see herself as one.
 * Hot Chick With a Sword
 * Hot Chick With a Sword

Whiskeyjack

 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Reassignment Backfire: Laseen demoted him to Sergeant and put him in the front lines at Pale and Darujhistan in an attempt to get him killed. This leads to him and.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Reassignment Backfire: Laseen demoted him to Sergeant and put him in the front lines at Pale and Darujhistan in an attempt to get him killed. This leads to him and.

Dujek One-Arm

 * A Father to His Men
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Handicapped Badass
 * Reasonable Authority Figure

Captain Ganoes Paran

 * Blessed With Suck: How he sees the intervention of various gods in his life.
 * Can't Stay Normal: Whether it's falling for a mage, being used by the Adjunct, absorbing the blood of a Hound of Shadow, or  Paran cannot seem to stay away from the supernatural.
 * The Chosen One:.
 * Cool Sword: For a while. His sword, Chance was blessed/cursed by Oponn.
 * It Sucks to Be The Chosen One

Quick Ben
""But Bauchelain," replies Quick Ben, "I did."
 * Defector From Decadence: A.
 * Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu: Shadowthrone, Hood, the Crippled God, Quick Ben's made a very long list of powerful enemies, and doesn't seem to mind in the least.
 * The Smart Guy: For the Bridgeburners and the Malazan Army in general. It's been said that if Kruppe is one of the smartest people in the world, than Quick Ben is only a step behind him. A short one, mind you.
 * The Trickster: Definitely has some aspects of this trope. He alters his plans easily, and plays with mortals, Ascendants and gods with equal ease.
 * Underestimating Badassery: People and gods do this to Quick Ben a lot. It doesn't usually end well for them.
 * "He was Quick Ben. He thought outwitting gods was fun." (Dust of Dreams)
 * Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: After Quick Ben unleashes half of his warrens (sources of magical power) to blast Korbal Broach through a wall, Bauchelain, partner of the aforementioned Korbal Broach, notes that Quick Ben's power is most impressive, but that, in retrospect, he ought to have saved at least half his warrens.
 * Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: After Quick Ben unleashes half of his warrens (sources of magical power) to blast Korbal Broach through a wall, Bauchelain, partner of the aforementioned Korbal Broach, notes that Quick Ben's power is most impressive, but that, in retrospect, he ought to have saved at least half his warrens.

He then blows Bauchelain through the wall too."

Corporal Kalam

 * Badass
 * Badass Normal: He's a former Claw. That's it. And yet he's pulled off stunts to rival those of Ascendants.
 * Career Killers: A former Claw assassin.
 * Hitman With a Heart: Not as obvious a one as Rallick Nom, but it's definitely there.
 * Knife Nut
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * Scary Black Man: If you're on the other side from him, he definitely looks like one of these.

Tattersail

 * BBW: Described as such.
 * Genki Girl: Possibly the only remotely upbeat character in the Malazan Empire.

High Mage Tayschrenn

 * General Ripper: Took Laseen's plan to way, way too far.

Dassem Ultor

 * Badass
 * Posthumous Character
 * Posthumous Character

Coltaine

 * Badass
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy: The leader of the Wickan tribes in service to the empire.
 * The Stoic
 * The Stoic
 * The Stoic

Crokus Younghand/Cutter

 * Badass Normal: Becomes one.
 * Gentleman Thief: How he sees himself.
 * Knife Nut
 * Love Hurts/Love Martyr: His relationship with Apsalar, which was initially portrayed as kind of cute, is more or less poisoning his life. All attempts to move on have so far, failed.
 * Overshadowed By Awesome: Frequently. Against opponents in his own weight class, he's very capable. Against Ascendants and monsters, not so much.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Has he ever!

Rallick Nom

 * Badass
 * Badass Normal: Unlike the various superpowered freaks present in the storey, Rallick relies entirely on his own skill (and a little magic-negating dust).
 * Career Killers: A member of Darujhistan's Guild of Assassins.
 * Dual Wielding: Knives.
 * Hitman With a Heart
 * Knife Nut

Kruppe

 * Author Avatar: In Toll the Hounds.
 * The Chessmaster
 * Insufferable Genius: Oh, the man's ego.
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Kruppe is way, way, way smarter than he looks. Underestimating him has had unfortunate results for many characters.
 * Third Person Person

Murillio

 * The Casanova
 * Informed Ability: We're often told that Murillio is extremely skilled with the rapier. Usually right before (or as) someone or something kicks his ass.

Coll

 * The Alcoholic: When the story begins he hasn't been sober since.
 * Character Development:
 * Crouching Moron Hidden Badass: Hands up, anyone who expected Coll to show anything approaching competence or sobriety let alone fighting skills.
 * Drowning My Sorrows: And he has a lot of sorrows.
 * Love Makes You Dumb: Somehow he didn't notice that his (now) ex-wife,  was a psychotic (and none-too subtle) bitch.

Lady Simtal

 * Gold Digger: A particularly evil version.
 * Really Gets Around
 * Rich Bitch
 * Too Dumb to Live: Commented on by everyone who knows her, including her Smug Snake accomplice Turban Orr. Who's
 * The Vamp
 * The Vamp

Snell

 * Cain and Abel: Tries to sell his handicapped sisters into slavery.
 * Enfante Terrible
 * Evil Is Petty
 * Kids Are Cruel: Kids are snivelling monsters.
 * Smug Snake
 * The Sociopath

Bellam Nom

 * Teens Are Monsters: Fakes it incredibley well.

Warlord Caladan Brood

 * Asskicking Equals Authority
 * Badass: Very, very Badass.
 * Four Star Badass: And in command of a Badass Army to boot.
 * Drop the Hammer: His main weapon is a hammer that only he can lift. If swung, it can awaken Burn, the Sleeping Goddess of the Earth, though this will kill everything on the planet.
 * Famed in Story
 * Genius Bruiser
 * Guile Hero
 * Healing Hands: Ironically, despite his well-deserved title of "Warlord" and being a Four Star Badass who has the ability to bring about The End of the World As We Know It, his principal magical abilities are his healing powers.
 * Large and In Charge
 * Lightning Bruiser: Heavily implied.
 * Magic Knight
 * Physical God
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: As an Ascendant, Brood no longer ages.
 * The Strategist

Kallor, The High King
""If you call it a sudden reversal of strategy, the sting fades.""
 * Zero Percent Approval Rating: Apparently how his people felt about him during his stint as The Emperor.
 * Age Without Youth: Were it not for his use of Century Candles, Kallor would be too decrepit to move.
 * Ambition Is Evil: He wants power, no matter what the price.
 * Badass
 * Badass Beard: In Toll the Hounds.
 * Badass Grandpa: He's over a hundred thousand, looks to be around one hundred, and can still fight like a madman.
 * Badass Longcoat: Justified as it's a chainmail longcoat.
 * Beard of Evil
 * BFS: Not an extreme example, but Kallor's bastard sword is a two-hander and is repeatedly described as "huge", "enormous" and so on.
 * Commander Contrarian: Rarely agrees with the strategy suggested by the Alliance.
 * Cursed With Awesome: Subverted. Being cursed to live forever sounds great, but with the continuous aging, and Failure Is the Only Option subclause, it really, really appears to suck for him.
 * Determinator: Demonstrates some aspects of this in Toll The Hounds.
 * Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu: Three gods cursed Kallor to live forever and never Ascend. He cursed them back. And it worked.
 * Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu: Three gods cursed Kallor to live forever and never Ascend. He cursed them back. And it worked.

""Kallor Eiderann Tes'thesula each time you rise you shall than fall. All that you achieve shall turn to dust in your hands. As you have willfully done here, so shall it be visited upon you in all that you do.""
 * Elderly Immortal
 * The Emperor: He called himself The High King, but he's much closer to this trope, specifically the Evil Overlord/ General Ripper variant.
 * Failure Is the Only Option: A part of his curse.


 * Famed in Story
 * Fridge Horror: Kallor was so evil that his people dropped the Crippled God on him to try and get rid of him. This means that he is indirectly responsible for every bad thing that happens in the series.
 * Gone Horribly Right: Kallor's curse did exactly what it was supposed to do. It made him an even bigger SOB.
 * Hero Killer: Clearly has this status by Toll the Hounds.
 * Immortality: Type VI. And he hates it. He's still around though, which says a lot about him.
 * Immortality Hurts: Although he'll deny it to the end.
 * Jerkass
 * Lone Dalek: In Toll the Hounds, where the degree that Kallor's life has sucked becomes apparent. It's almost entirely his own fault, but you can still feel a certain amount of pity for him.
 * Misanthrope Supreme: Kallor is fully aware that he is a spiteful, vicious minded bastard, who takes out his frustrations on everyone around him. He also believes that Humans Are Bastards, and that as such, his tyranny and brutality are not only justified, but the norm.
 * Not So Harmless: Everybody mocked Kallor as a bullying braggart. Right up until  Averted.
 * Number Two: Serves as Brood's second-in-command.
 * Precision F Strike: Twice during his duel with Spinnock Durav in Toll the Hounds.
 * Pride: Kallor is arrogant, prone to overestepping his bounds, and very touchy about insults to his person. And then there's the whole, "allowing a continent to die rather than relinquishing control of it" thing, and the obsession with power and becoming an Ascendant.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: He's older than most Ascendants, despite being completely mortal. He was cursed over 120 000 years ago and is still alive and kicking.
 * Time Abyss
 * Time Abyss

Annomander Rake

 * A Father to His Men: Several of the Tiste Andii are so tired of their own immortality they have more or less chosen to commit suicide. The only reason they are still alive is that Anomander Rake asks them to live.
 * Anti Villain-->Anti Hero
 * Badass: So. Very. Much.
 * Badass Abnormal
 * Badass Long Hair
 * Four Star Badass
 * BFS
 * Cool Sword: Not so much cool as terrifying. Anyone killed by it is trapped next to the Gates of the Warren of Darkness for all eternity. And it's black with smoking chains attached.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: One of the best examples in modern lit.
 * Famed in Story: There are entire poems about him.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: What those slain by Dragnipur (his sword) suffer.
 * Genius Bruiser
 * Immortality Type 1, due to both being a Tiste Andii, and his Ascendant status.
 * Immortality Begins At Twenty: Or somewhere in his thirties or forties anyway.
 * Instant Awesome Just Add Dragons: Shapeshifts into a giant, black dragon.
 * Large and In Charge
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * Long Haired Pretty Boy
 * Magic Knight
 * Master Swordsman
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Known as "The Son of Darkness".
 * Justified: Exactly What It Says On the Tin.
 * Physical God
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: At least 20,000 at last count.
 * Scary Black Man: How his opponents see him.
 * Sorcerous Overlord
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting: As a Soletaken, Rake becomes a black dragon.
 * Warrior Prince
 * White Haired Pretty Boy: A rare, black example.
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?: The reason he sells the services of the Tiste Andii off as mercenaries is to pevent them from becoming suicidal over the boredom of their eternal life; in effect, he is trying to inspire them to fight and live for something bigger than themselves in defiance of this trope, though he fears it is a losing battle.
 * Your Soul Is Mine: Anyone killed by Dragnipur is sealed within the Warren inside it for all eternity.
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?: The reason he sells the services of the Tiste Andii off as mercenaries is to pevent them from becoming suicidal over the boredom of their eternal life; in effect, he is trying to inspire them to fight and live for something bigger than themselves in defiance of this trope, though he fears it is a losing battle.
 * Your Soul Is Mine: Anyone killed by Dragnipur is sealed within the Warren inside it for all eternity.

Korlat

 * Immortality: Type 1.
 * Instant Awesome Just Add Dragons: A Soletaken, like Rake and her brother.
 * Interspecies Romance: With Whiskeyjack.
 * May December Romance: With Whiskeyjack.
 * Mayfly December Romance: Made even more inevitably shorter by
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Par for the course with Tiste Andii.
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting
 * White Haired Pretty Girl

Orfantal

 * Immortality: Type 1.
 * Instant Awesome Just Add Dragons: Shapeshifts into a big, black dragon, same as Rake.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting: Another Tiste Andii Soletaken.
 * White Haired Pretty Boy
 * White Haired Pretty Boy

Spinnock Durav

 * Badass
 * Determinator: And a prime example at that. Despite being completely outmatched, he manages to duel Kallor for an entire night, lasting from dusk until dawn. He's cut to pieces in the attempt but never falls down. All because Rake asked him to stand between Kallor and Darujhistan.
 * Interspecies Romance: With a teenage girl.
 * Mayfly December Romance
 * White Haired Pretty Boy

Silchas Ruin

 * Awesome McCoolname
 * Badass
 * Dual Wielding
 * Heroic Albino
 * Instant Awesome Just Add Dragons
 * Red Eyes Take Warning: If you happen to be a villain.
 * Sealed Good in A Can
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting: Another Tiste Andii Soletaken. He becomse a giant white dragon.

Fear Sengar

 * The Stoic

Trull Sengar

 * Badass: The first person to ever successfully hold off Icarium Lifestealer.
 * Blade On a Stick: His spear is his favourite weapon.

Ruhlad Sengar
See High House Chains

Hannan Mosag, The Warlock King

 * Ambition Is Evil: Only Kallor would make a better poster boy for the trope.
 * Deal With the Devil: Cut a deal with the Crippled God, exchanging alleigance for use of the Chaos Warren.
 * Evil Chancellor: To Rhulad, following his ascension to the throne.
 * Evil Cripple: Courtesy of his deal with the Crippled God.
 * Sanity Slippage
 * Sorcerous Overlord
 * Vader Breath: Courtesy of his crippling overuse of the Chaos Warren.

Tulas Shorn

 * Back From the Dead: Escaped Hood's realm while Death was otherwise occupied.
 * Instant Awesome Just Add Dragons: Transforms into a gigantic, undead grey dragon.
 * Shape Shifter
 * The Undead
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting: An undead Soletaken dragon.

Onos Too'lan

 * Badass: Yes he's undead. Yes he has a host of advantages related to being undead. And yet, Tool is still incredibley Badass.
 * Berserk Button: Tool doesn't have a lot of friends. Don't hurt the ones he has.
 * Cool Sword: A huge, enchanted flint sword.
 * Deliberate Injury Gambit: As a T'lan Imass, Tool can surive anything short of beheading or total dismemberment. It's not surprising, therefore, that these kind of tactics feature prominently in his playbook.
 * Good Thing You Can Heal: Like most of the T'lan Imass, Tool regularly shrugs off crippling injuries, just to remind us that, yes, he is undead.
 * Implacable Man: Comes with being a T'lan Imass, although even by their standards he's pretty damn hard to stop.
 * Loners Are Freaks: Tool is unbound, and unconnected to any clan. Other T'lan Imass tend to view him with a mix of suspicion and awe because of this.
 * The Undead: Naturally.
 * The Unfettered

Silverfox

 * BBW: Apparently.
 * Composite Character: In-universe.
 * Creepy Child: For a while.
 * Reincarnation: Of Tattersail, Nightchill, and Bellurdan.
 * Vampiric Draining: Is stealing her mother's life energy without even knowing it.
 * Younger Than They Look: She's only a few years old, but has aged herself to her early twenties.

Raest

 * A God Am I: Like many Jaghut Tyrants, Raest took perverse delight in being percieved as a god by the Imass.
 * Armour Is Useless: You don't even find out he was wearing it until several books after the fight. To be fair, he was fighting Dragons, so it probably didn't make all that much difference.
 * My Species Doth Protest Too Much: The Jaghut loathed community and avoided it as though it were a disease, believing it led only to horror and violence. Raest is a tyrant, who gets his kicks out of enslaving weaker species.
 * Sealed Evil in A Can: Well, sealed in a barrow anyway, and by his own species no less. His Finnest, which contains most of his power, is also an example.
 * Soul Jar: The Finnest has most of Raest's power in it.
 * The Undead: He's not Undead like the Imass are, but it's clear that Raest and his body no longer share a particularly intimate connection, and the destruction of the latter causes him few difficulties..
 * Soul Jar: The Finnest has most of Raest's power in it.
 * The Undead: He's not Undead like the Imass are, but it's clear that Raest and his body no longer share a particularly intimate connection, and the destruction of the latter causes him few difficulties..

Gothos

 * Famed in Story
 * Nietzsche Wannabe: Oh yeah.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old

Pannion
See Pannion Domin

Pannion Seer

 * Dark Messiah: As dark as they come.
 * Evil Overlord
 * Mordor: Is deliberately transforming his realm into one.
 * Religion of Evil: Runs one.
 * The Reveal:.
 * Sorcerous Overlord
 * Unwitting Pawn:.
 * Unwitting Pawn:.

Anasater, First Child of the Dead Seed

 * Empty Shell: There's literally nothing left inside Anaster. All he has is his despair.
 * Freak Out: When Itkovian offers to take his despair from him. It's all he has.
 * Grand Theft Me:.
 * I'm A Humanitarian: Encourages cannibalism among his followers and practises it himself.
 * Improbable Age: He's in his late teens and leading an army. Justified by his Tyke Bomb status.
 * Please Kill Me If It Satisfies You: Tries this on Rake and Whiskeyjack, appearing to be a Type 2, before revealing that he really does want to die.
 * Poisonous Person: Briefly demonstrates this sort of ability when Annomander Rake grabs him.
 * Shell Shocked Veteran: Taken to the extreme.
 * Sociopathic Soldier
 * Tyke Bomb: Raised since birth to lead the cannibalistic Tenescowri horde.
 * Tyke Bomb: Raised since birth to lead the cannibalistic Tenescowri horde.

Gruntle

 * Badass
 * Badass Normal--> Badass Abnormal:.
 * Dual Wielding: Cutlasses.
 * Hired Guns: Worked as a caravan guard for hire.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Big, strong and fast. Becomes stronger, and lethally quick and agile when.
 * Panthera Awesome: As.
 * Power Makeover:.
 * Power Tattoo:.
 * Technicolor Eyes:.

Stonny Menackis

 * Lipstick Lesbian/ Bi the Way: Not sure which she really is.
 * Rape As Drama

Itkovian

 * Badass
 * Celibate Hero
 * The Empath: Can detect and absorb others' grief. Given the nature of the series there's a lot of it to go around.
 * The Messiah: "You are in pain. I will embrace you now."
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * The Messiah: "You are in pain. I will embrace you now."
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Reasonable Authority Figure

The Crippled God

 * Big Bad: About as close to one as the series gets.
 * Black Cloak: Of sorts. He usually covers himself in dark-colored rags, rather than an actual cloak, but the look is very similar.
 * The Corrupter: The Crippled God specialises in bringing out the worst in people, typically offering them exactly what they want in exchange for their inclusion in his House of Chains. He seems to like driving his followers/victims mad.
 * Deal With the Devil: Munug,  and many others have made them with him.
 * Dysfunction Junction: His followers. It's entirely deliberate too. The Crippled God desires every member of his House to be as flawed, mentally and/or physically as he is.
 * Evil Cripple: Evil due to crippling. The Fall destroyed his mind.
 * Freudian Excuse: The Fall did not do good things to his sanity. The fact that most of the pantheon has periodically gotten together and chained him up for, from his perspective, no real reason didn't help either.
 * God of Evil: Deconstructed. He's more like a god of suffering, and that suffering includes his own. While he's initially presented as causing it, in the end.
 * Hidden Villain: For the first two and a half books.
 * I Have Many Names: The Crippled God, the Fallen God, the Chained One..
 * Kick the Dog: His treatment of Ruhlad Sengar. See below.
 * Mad God
 * The Man Behind the Man: To so many different villains, with the.
 * Omnicidal Maniac: He's slowly poisoning Burn. Whether he genuinely wants her dead, or is hoping that someone will free him in order to prevent this isn't known for most of the series..
 * Pillar of Light: When.
 * Physical God
 * Red Right Hand: The evil god is the crippled one. Go figure.
 * Sadistic Choice: See Xanatos Gambit below. The best case scneario is his freedom, and the end of civilisation as they know it. The worst case scenario is the slow death of the entire world.
 * Sealed Evil in A Can: Chained in place, to the sleeping goddess Burn, though his spirit can move around inside a Warren and has appeared in several places around the world.
 * Start of Darkness: He was just a foreign god who fell to earth as the result of a trap meant for Kallor. And went stark raving mad as a result.
 * Vader Breath: Has to constantly inhale incense in order to keep his lungs clear. Even then, his breathing is still ragged and wheezing.
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The fate of many of those who choose to follow him.
 * Woobie Destroyer of Worlds: The Fall left him crippled, agonised and totally insane. He seems to be out to destroy the world in order to make the pain go away. It's very hard not to feel bad for him on some level.
 * Wound That Will Not Heal: None of the injuries from the Fall have healed. Not one in a hundred thousand years.
 * Xanatos Gambit: If they don't loose him, Burn dies and he gets his revenge. If they do, he's free to wreak havoc and get his revenge via other means. Kind of a win-win situation for him.
 * Woobie Destroyer of Worlds: The Fall left him crippled, agonised and totally insane. He seems to be out to destroy the world in order to make the pain go away. It's very hard not to feel bad for him on some level.
 * Wound That Will Not Heal: None of the injuries from the Fall have healed. Not one in a hundred thousand years.
 * Xanatos Gambit: If they don't loose him, Burn dies and he gets his revenge. If they do, he's free to wreak havoc and get his revenge via other means. Kind of a win-win situation for him.
 * Xanatos Gambit: If they don't loose him, Burn dies and he gets his revenge. If they do, he's free to wreak havoc and get his revenge via other means. Kind of a win-win situation for him.

Rhulad Sengar

 * Annoying Younger Sibling: Before the horror show began.
 * Artifact of Doom: Mystically linked to one.
 * Back From the Dead
 * BFS: The aforementioned Artifact of Doom.
 * Blessed With Suck: He comes back every time he's killed, but only after having his soul tortured by the Crippled God.
 * Body Horror: Covered in half-melted gold coins from a Tiste Edur death rite.
 * The Caligula: Deconstructed. We're treated to a blow-by-blow account of his descent into madness, and it's treated as tragedy rather than menace.
 * Cool Sword: Subverted. It's the Artifact of Doom that keeps bringing him back.
 * Death Seeker: Gee, I wonder why?
 * The Dragon: As The King in Chains, he fullfills this role with regards to the Crippled God.
 * The Emperor: Of the Letherii Empire and the Tiste Edur.
 * Evil Overlord
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Which got him linked to the Artifact of Doom in the first place.
 * Immortality: Type IV.
 * Immortality Hurts: Between getting tortured by the Crippled God in the afterlife, the Body Horror from his funeral, his bride committing suicide rather than bear his child, and his enroaching insanity, yeah.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The Emperor of a Thousand Deaths.
 * Pet the Dog: His attempt at returning Mayen, his wife, to his brother, Fear, whom she genuinely loves. Also, his forcing Mayen to stop beating her slave, Feather Witch.
 * Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Averted. He forces his brother's wife to marry him, and has his way with her, and somehow, it just makes him all the more pathetic and pitiable.
 * Sanity Slippage: Gradually loses his mind as each new resurrection takes its toll on him.
 * Self Made Orphan: Not that this was his intention. He threw his mom and dad in prison. The jail promptly flooded.
 * Trauma Conga Line: His brother is murdered by Karsa, his bride kills herself, his parents are drowned in his dungeon, his people are scheming against him, he's slowly going mad, and that's without getting into the horror show that is his curse.
 * Who Wants to Live Forever: Not Rhulad.
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity
 * Wound That Will Not Heal: No matter how many times he dies, the wounds from his first death will not heal. And then there's those damn coins from his first funeral.
 * Wound That Will Not Heal: No matter how many times he dies, the wounds from his first death will not heal. And then there's those damn coins from his first funeral.

Karsa Orlong

 * Anti Hero: Type V. Type IV on a good day.
 * Badass: How his fans view him.
 * Barbarian Hero: Sort of. How heroic he is, is really up for debate. It's possible that Erikson meant him to be a subversion or a deconstruction.
 * Blood Knight
 * Boisterous Bruiser
 * Defeating the Undefeatable: Or more accurately, killing  who was supposed to be unkillable.
 * The Dragon: The Crippled God wants him to be his Knight Of Chains. So far, Karsa has been doing his best to refuse.
 * Fish Out of Water: Anytime he approaches a remotely civilised location.
 * The Giant: Karsa's immense size is almost always noted.
 * Hellish Horse
 * He Man Woman Hater: Not a straight example as he doesn't hate women, but he does believe them to be inferior, and holds them in deep contempt, believing that rape is totally okay. His interactions with Samar Dev and various other women may be improving him for the better, although it's hard to tell.
 * Heroic Sociopath: And the "heroic" part is sort of questionable.
 * Inherent in The System: Karsa believes slavery and exploitation are inherent in society. His solution? Burn it down.
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy
 * Psychopathic Manchild: On occasion.
 * Refusal of the Call: Sort of. He has no problem with going on adventures and raping and pillaging and whatnot. He just really resents doing it on the Crippled God's orders.
 * Tattooed Thug: The broken-glass tattoos on his face that denote his past as a slave.
 * Values Dissonance: Both in-universe (with the rest of the cast that is) and with the fans.

Shadowthrone/Ammanas

 * Black Cloak
 * The Chessmaster: sets in motion much of the series
 * Deal With the Devil: "Shadowthrone loves deals."
 * Evilly Affable
 * Evil Sounds Deep: Inverted. Ammanas' voice is very high-pitched and cold.
 * Giggling Villain
 * Hellhounds: Commands seven of them.
 * In the Hood
 * Laughably Evil
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Would you mess with a guy named "Shadowthrone"?
 * Physical God
 * The Reveal:.
 * Revenge: Wants to pay back.
 * The Reveal:.
 * Revenge: Wants to pay back.

Cotillion The Rope
""It's not such a bad thing girl, to be the pawn of a god.""


 * Anti Villain
 * Badass: If the stories are to be belived, . He's definitely one now.
 * Career Killers: Cotillion is the Patron of Assassins.
 * Demonic Possession: Takes over Apsalar/Sorry during Gardens of the Moon.
 * The Dragon: To Shadowthrone.
 * Knife Nut
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The Rope, Patron of Assassins.
 * Pet the Dog: Has a minor one with Sorry right before he possesses her, reassuring her that the experience won't be that bad..
 * Physical God
 * The Reveal:.
 * Revenge: For the same reasons as Ammanas.
 * Shipper On Deck:
 * Shipper On Deck:

Sorry/Apsalar

 * Amnesiac Dissonance: Has been gradually remembering the things she did while controlled by The Rope.
 * Badass:
 * Break the Cutie: Twice. After Cotillion's posession she seemed to go back to normal...right up until she started recovering her skills and plunging into whole new depths of Wangst..
 * Creepy Child
 * Dance Battler
 * Dark Action Girl: Though much more sympathetic than most (she's one of the main protagonists).
 * Dark Magical Girl: Her personality is closer to this, even if her abilities are those of a Dark Action Girl.
 * Demonic Possession: Posessed by Cotillion, though whether it's in full or in part isn't entirely clear.
 * Knife Nut: Inherited from The Rope.
 * Laser Guided Amnesia: Loses all her memories of The Rope's actions, post-posession.
 * Loss of Identity: She remembers quite a bit of her life pre-possession, but clearly isn't that girl anymore. Not to mention that she still doesn't know her name.
 * Psycho for Hire: Poses as one while infiltrating the Malazan Army. She scares Quick Ben, Whiskeyjack, and Kalam she's so damn creepy.
 * Waif Fu
 * Waif Fu

Iskaral Pust

 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Somewhere between an extreme example of this, and Crazy Awesome.
 * Did I Just Say That Out Loud: At times, Pust has been known to make comments like "she's falling for my clever scheme" to the person he is trying to manipulate.
 * Evil Genius: The only reason Shadowthrone keeps him around.
 * Obfuscating Insanity: Maybe. It's really hard to tell if Pust is faking it, or if he just happens to be both rather bright and totally nuts.
 * Smarter Than You Look: Despite his craziness, tendency towards accidentally stabbing himself in the foot, and an ego the size of some small countries, Pust is actually quite bright, and at times, suprisingly effective.
 * Talkative Loon: Trying to shut him up would likely take an act of god. Or several gods.
 * Thinking Out Loud: Often.

Lady Envy

 * Cain and Abel: With Spite.
 * Green Eyed Monster: Towards her sister, Spite.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast
 * Upperclass Twit: Does an amazing impression of one. She's actually quite bright, if a little ditzy.

Toc The Younger

 * Achey Scars: His eye still hurts.
 * Action Survivor: Feels like one alongside Envy, Tool, Baaljaag, Gareth and the Seguleh.
 * The Archer: Although his missing eye has seriously screwed with his aim.
 * Eyepatch of Power
 * : Following.
 * Eyepatch of Power
 * : Following.

Mok, Thurule, and Senu

 * Asskicking Equals Authority: Seguleh hierarchy is modelled on combat ability. As the Third, Mok can and does kick a lot of ass.
 * Badass: All three of them. To the point where their fellow Seguleh class them as a "punitive army" and expect them to carve their way through the Pannion Domin on their own. They don't dissapoint.
 * Badass Army: They're "the punative army of the Seguleh", themselves as Badass Army of the first order.
 * Badass Normal
 * Blood Knight: Three representatives from an entire nation of them.
 * Charles Atlas Superpowers
 * Dual Wielding: All three Seguleh.
 * The Fettered: Courtesy of Lady Envy's magic.
 * Honour Before Reason: If the Seguleh think you might be tough, they will challenge you, no matter where or when. And they'll make it a fair fight too.
 * Implausible Fencing Powers
 * Improbable Age: Senu's just turned twenty.
 * Mask Power: All Seguleh go masked, and the markings on their mask indicate their rank (Mok is the third-ranked Seguleh, his mask has two slashes on it).
 * Proud Warrior Race Trio
 * The Quiet One: All three of them, but especially Mok.
 * The Stoic
 * The Stoic

Baaljaag

 * Amnesiac God: The wolf-goddess Fanderay is trapped inside her.
 * Big Badass Wolf
 * Canine Companion
 * Sizeshifter: Can greatly alter her size, though not to the extent Gareth can.
 * Star Crossed Lovers: Is searching for the spirit of her mate, the wolf-god Togg..

Gareth

 * Hell Hound: Has the potential to be a Hound of Shadow.
 * Canine Companion
 * Sizeshifter: Can grow to tremendous size.

Tehol Beddict

 * The Chessmaster
 * Guile Hero

Bugg

 * Battle Butler: To Tehol

Brys Beddict

 * Badass Normal: Defeated Rhulad, without killing him.

Shurq Elalle

 * Classy Cat Burglar
 * Cool Big Sis: To Kettle
 * I Love the Dead: Inverted--she's a walking dead woman, who enjoys sex with the living.
 * The Undead

Kettle

 * Creepy Child
 * Enfante Terrible: Played with. She's a creepy, Undead Child with a penchant towards murder, but she's also one of the few things standing between a dying Azath's denizens and the rest of Lether.
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil: She tries to kill only evil people to feed the Azath.
 * Undead Child
 * Vigilante Man: A truly bizarre example. She targets criminals, spies, etc.

Gerun Eberict

 * The Sociopath
 * The Unfettered

Harlest Eberict

 * Catch Phrase: "Fangs and claws".
 * Crouching Moron Hidden Badass: Harlest comes off as rather goofy, with all his talk of "fangs and claws" and his desire to scare people. Then he actually uses said claws in an attack on five Toblakai Ascendents.
 * Psychopathic Manchild
 * Sibling Yin Yang: With his sociopathic (and living) brother Gerun.
 * Talkative Loon
 * The Undead
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Shurq.

Krul

 * Gods Need Prayer Badly: The lack of it is implied to be the reason he's so weak now.
 * Elder Gods accept prayer in the form of blood sacrifice. Give generously...
 * Karmic Punishment: Kallor's curse.
 * The Mentor: To Kruppe.
 * Older and Wiser: To all the gods.

Icarium Lifestealer

 * Badass
 * The Berserker
 * Genius Bruiser: He's a mapmaker, inventor, scholar...and one of the most lethal fighters ever born.
 * Half Human Hybrid: He's a Jhag: half man, half Jaghut.
 * Implacable Man
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast