History Literature / HouseOfChains

* GroinAttack: [[spoiler:Karma kills Bidithal by tearing off the latter's genitals with his bare hands, then shoving them into his mouth.]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Karsa Orlong's culture uses rape as a social reward, considers people of other species fair game -- calling them "children" -- and sees weakness as something to be exploited.

* PedophilePriest: [[spoiler:Bidithal]]. Even [[EvenEvilHasStandards Karsa]] is appalled, which leads to one of the most satisfying cases of KickTheSonOfABitch in the series.

* EverybodyKnewAlready: It is completely obvious to both the reader and the characters what Sergeant Strings' real identity is. Halfway through the book the rest of the cast tells him to knock it off. Fiddler -- after a brief moment of indignation when he realises how poor his disguise is -- reluctantly drops the act, at least around his closer comrades.

* VillainProtagonist: Karsa Orlong, whose PointOfView is used exclusively during the first quarter of the book, comes from a culture that glorifies rape, murder and violence in general, and his adherence to their customs is considered extreme even by his friends. His perspective starts out as unambiguously villainous, which, as mentioned above, was done delibrately. However, Karsa does undergo a certain amount of CharacterDevelopment throughout the course of the novel and eventually becomes something of an AntiVillain (though this may just be due to a case of being ALighterShadeOfBlack).

* PedophilePriest: [[spoiler:Bidithal]]. Even [[EvenEvilHasStandards Karsa]] is appalled, which leads to one of the most satisfying cases of KickTheSonOfTheBitch in the series.

* VillainProtagonist: Karsa Orlong, whose PointOfView is used exclusively during the first quarter of the book, comes from a culture that glorifies rape, murder and violence in general, and his adherence to their customs is considered extreme even by his friends.

!!''House of Chains'' contains examples of the following tropes:

->'''Trull:''' I will preface my tale with an admittedly cautionary observation.
->'''Monok:''' Tell me this observation.
->'''Trull:''' I shall, bonecaster. It concerns nature... and the exigency of maintaining balance. Pressures and forces are ever in opposition. And the striving is ever towards a balance. This is beyond the gods, of course -- it is a current of existence -- but no, beyond even that, for existence itself is opposed by oblivion. It is a struggle that encompasses all, that defines every island in the Abyss. Or so I now believe. Life is answered by death. Dark by light. Overwhelming success by catastrophic failure. Horrific curse by breathtaking blessing. It seems the inclination of all people to lose sight of that truth, particularly when blinded by triumph upon triumph. See before me, if you will, this small fire. A modest victory. But if I feed it, my own eager delight is answered, until this entire plain is aflame, then the forest, then the world itself. Thus, an assertion of wisdom here... in the quenching of these flames once this meat is cooked. After all, igniting this entire world wil also kill everything in it, if not in flames then in subsequent starvation. Do you see my point, Monok Ochem?
->'''Monok:''' I do not, Trull Sengar. This prefaces nothing.
->'''Onrack:''' You are wrong, Monok Ochem. It prefaces... Everything.

-->'''Trull:''' I will preface my tale with an admittedly cautionary observation.
-->'''Monok:''' Tell me this observation.
-->'''Trull:''' I shall, bonecaster. It concerns nature... and the exigency of maintaining balance. Pressures and forces are ever in opposition. And the striving is ever towards a balance. This is beyond the gods, of course -- it is a current of existence -- but no, beyond even that, for existence itself is opposed by oblivion. It is a struggle that encompasses all, that defines every island in the Abyss. Or so I now believe. Life is answered by death. Dark by light. Overwhelming success by catastrophic failure. Horrific curse by breathtaking blessing. It seems the inclination of all people to lose sight of that truth, particularly when blinded by triumph upon triumph. See before me, if you will, this small fire. A modest victory. But if I feed it, my own eager delight is answered, until this entire plain is aflame, then the forest, then the world itself. Thus, an assertion of wisdom here... in the quenching of these flames once this meat is cooked. After all, igniting this entire world wil also kill everything in it, if not in flames then in subsequent starvation. Do you see my point, Monok Ochem?
-->'''Monok:''' I do not, Trull Sengar. This prefaces nothing.
-->'''Onrack:''' You are wrong, Monok Ochem. It prefaces... Everything.

--->'''Trull:''' I will preface my tale with an admittedly cautionary observation.
--->'''Monok:''' Tell me this observation.
--->'''Trull:''' I shall, bonecaster. It concerns nature... and the exigency of maintaining balance. Pressures and forces are ever in opposition. And the striving is ever towards a balance. This is beyolnd the gods, of course--it is a current of existence--but no, beyond even that, for existence itself is opposed by oblivion. It is a struggle that encompases all, that defines every island in the Abyss. Or so I now believe. Life is answered by death. Dark by light. Overwhelming success by catastrophic failure. Horrific curse by breathtaking blessing. It seems the inclination of all people to lose sight of that truth, particularly when blinded by triumph upon triumph. See before me, if you will, this small fire. A modest victory. But if I feed it, my own eager delight is answered, until this entire plain is aflame, then the forest, then the world itself. Thus, an assertion of wisdom here... in the quenching of these flames once this meat is cooked. After all, igniting this entire world wil also kill everything in it, if not in flames then in subsequent starvation. Do you see my point, Monok Ochem?
--->'''Monok:''' I do not, Trull Sengar. This prefaces nothing.
--->'''Onrack:''' You are wrong, Monok Ochem. It prefaces... [[CentralTheme Everything]].

''House of Chains'' is the fourth book of ten in ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', and the second in the Seven Cities arc. It was released in 2002, and is preceded by ''Literature/MemoriesOfIce''. This volume is an oddity in the series as the first book (act) is told completely from one PointOfView, as compared to the rapid jumping otherwise used.

Karsa Orlong is a proud young Teblor, and has grown up listening to the tales of his grandfather. He has heard of daring raids on other villages, where the menfolk were slain and the women raped, as is right of the strong. He has heard of how the tiny children of the lowlands are weak and deserve only to be attacked, for such is the duty and right of the strong, and he has heard of the plunder and glory one such raid might bring him. Against his foolish father's wishes, he sets out on such a raid with his two closest companions, a bloodwood sword and a supply of blood-oil to keep it sharp with--but while the Teblor Karsa is a mere pup at eighty years of age, to civilization such a period of time is enough for mighty empires to rise.

On Genabackis, Ganoes Paran, now Master of the Deck, realises that the Crippled God is seeking to gain recognition as a god in the Deck of Dragons--as the Master, it is Ganoes' decision whether such a terrible god may gain entry and legitimacy; north of Quon Tali a young man named Cutter is sailing on a small skiff to a legendary island to do the bidding of Shadowthrone; and on a distant shore on the edge of a broken realm, an oddly solitary T'lan Imass comes upon a strange man who was ritually shorn, exiled, chained and left to die by a people thought myth.

* DramaticIrony: Possibly the greatest example in the entire series. Adjunct Tavore sends agents to track down her sister, Felisin, who was supposed to be smuggled away from the Otataral Mines by a member of the Talon. The reader knows that Felisin is now known as Sha'ik Reborn, and stands in direct opposition to Tavore and the 14th army. [[spoiler:In the end, Tavore kills Sha'ik Reborn in a duel, and the agents, having realised the truth, decide against telling her, with Tavore never suspecting.]]
* EverybodyKnewAlready: It is completely obvious to both the reader and the characters what Sergeant Strings' real identity is. Halfway through the book the rest of the cast tells him to knock it off. Fiddler -- after a brief moment of indignation when he realises how poor his disguise was -- reluctantly drops the act, at least around his closer comrades.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: As with the rest of the series, certain parts of the book were played out as roleplaying game campaigns first. In this book, per WordOfGod, most of the Karsa Orlong segment in the first part was taken from such a section, where Steven Erikson deliberately distorted the descriptions to the detriment of the person playing as Karsa. Eventually, the player got fed up and, in a moment of frustration, decided to attack an important character who just got introduced. Thus, the scene where [[spoiler:the Tiste Edur on ''Silanda'' are killed]] was created, setting the stage for the latter's appearance in ''Literature/DeadhouseGates''.
* VillainProtagonist: Karsa Orlong, whose PointOfView is used exclusively during the first quarter of the book; despite growing up in a culture that glorifies rape, murder and violence in general, even his friends find him extreme.

* EverybodyKnewAlready: It is completely obvious to both the reader and the characters what Sergeant Strings' real identity is. Halfway through the book the rest of the cast tells him to knock it off. Fiddler -- after a brief moment of indignation when he realises how poor his disguise was -- reluctantly drops the act.
* OriginsEpisode: The first quarter of the novel[[note]]each of the first nine books in series are divided internally into four "books"[[/note]] gives the background story of [[spoiler:Toblakai]], a minor character from ''Literature/DeadhouseGates''.

--->'''Trull:''' I shall, bonecaster. It concerns nature... and the exigency of maintaining balance. Pressures and forces are ever in opposition. And the striving is ever towards a balance. This is beyolnd the gods, of course--it is a current of existence--but no, beyond even that, for existence itself is opposed by oblivion. It is a struggle that encompases all, that defines every island in the Abyss. Or so I now believe. Life is answered by death. Dark by light. Overwhelming success by catastrophic failure. Horrific curse by breathtaking blessing. It seems the inclination of all people to lose sight of that truth, particularly when blinded by triumph upon triumph. See before me, if you will, this small fire. A modest victory. But if I feed it, my own eagerdelight is answered, until this entire plain is aflame, then the forest, then the world itself. Thus, an assertion of wisdom here... in the quenching of these flames once this meat is cooked. After all, igniting this entire world wil also kill everything in it, if not in flames then in subsequent starvation. Do you see my point, Monok Ochem?

--->'''Trull:''' I shall, bonecaster.It concerns nature... and the exigency of maintaining balance. Pressures and forces are ever in opposition. And the striving is ever towards a balance. This is beyolnd the gods, of course--it is a current of existence--but no, beyond even that, for existence itself is opposed by oblivion. It is a struggle that encompases all, that defines every island in the Abyss. Or so I now believe. Life is answered by death. Dark by light. Overwhelming success by catastrophic failure. Horrific curse by breathtaking blessing. It seems the inclination of all people to lose sight of that truth, particularly when blinded by triumph upon triumph. See before me, if you will, this small fire. A modest victory. But if I feed it, my own eagerdelight is answered, until this entire plain is aflame, then the forest, then the world itself. Thus, an assertion of wisdom here... in the quenching of these flames once this meat is cooked. After all, igniting this entire world wil also kill everything in it, if not in flames then in subsequent starvation. Do you see my point, Monok Ochem?

'''''House of Chains''''' is the fourth book of ten in ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', and the second in the Seven Cities arc. It was released in 2002, and is preceded by ''Literature/MemoriesOfIce''. This volume is an oddity in the series as the first book (act) is told completely from one PointOfView, as compared to the rapid jumping otherwise used.

!!This book contains examples of the following tropes:

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Karsa Orlong's culture uses rape as a social reward, considers people of other species fair game--calling them "children"--and sees weakness as something to be exploited.

* EarlyBirdCameo / ChekhovsGunman: An unnamed Tiste Edur, who was seen dead in ''Literature/DeadhouseGates'', is encountered briefly here. His identity is elaborated on in later books, but here we only get a few lines out of him before the manner of his death is shown.
* EverybodyKnewAlready: It is completely obvious to both the reader and the characters who Sergeant "Strings" actually is. Halfway through the book the rest of the cast tells him to knock it off. Fiddler--after a brief moment of indignation when he realises how poor his disguise was--reluctantly drops the act.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: As with the rest of the series, certain parts of the book were played out as roleplaying game campaigns first. In this book, per WordOfGod, most of the Karsa Orlong segment in the first part was taken from such a section, where Steven Erikson deliberately distorted the descriptions to the detriment of the person playing as Karsa. Eventually, the player got fed up and, in a moment of frustration, decided to attack an important character who just got introduced. Thus, we get the scene where [[spoiler:the Tiste Edur on ''Silanda'' are killed,]] setting the stage for it to be found in ''Literature/DeadhouseGates''.

* TheNotSecret: It is completely obvious to both the reader and the characters who Sergeant "Strings" actually is. Halfway through the book the rest of the cast tells him to knock it off. Fiddler--after a brief moment of indignation when he realises how poor his disguise was--reluctantly drops the act.

Years later, the newly-appointed Adjunct to the Empress, Tavore Paran, arrives in the Seven Cities with the 14th Malazan Army. Following the Chain of Dogs, the Army of the Apocalypse has withdrawn to the center of Holy Desert Raraku, where Sha'ik Reborn is gathering her forces in the ancient city at the center of the Whirlwind. Despite consisting almost entirely of fresh recruits, the Adjunct orders the 14th to march in pursuit of the veteran Dogslayers and toward the center of Raraku.

On Genabackis, Ganoes Paran, now Master of the Deck, realises that the Crippled God is seeking to gain recognition as a god in the Deck of Dragons--as the Master, it is Ganoes' decision whether such a terrible god may gain entry and legitimacy; north of Quon Tali a young man named Cutter is sailing on a small skiff to a legendary island to do the bidding of Shadowthrone; and on a distant shore on the edge of a broken realm, a strange man is ritually shorn, exiled, chained and left to die by a people thought myth, where by chance an oddly solitary T'lan Imass comes upon him.

* OriginsEpisode: The first quarter of the book gives the background story of [[spoiler:Toblakai]], a minor character from ''Literature/DeadhouseGates''.

* BarbarianHero: {{Deconstructed}}. Karsa Orlong is, per WordOfGod, a deliberate deconstruction of the "barbarian fantasy", and his viewpoints are not heroic in any sense of the word.

* EarlyBirdCameo / ChekovsGunman: An unnamed Tiste Edur, who was seen dead in ''Literature/DeadhouseGates'', is encountered briefly here. His identity is elaborated on in later books, but here we only get a few lines out of him before the manner of his death is shown.

'''''House of Chains''''' is the fourth book of ten in ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', and the second in the Seven Cities arc. It was released in 2002, and is preceded by ''Literature/MemoriesOfIce''. This volume is an oddity in the series as the first "book" is told completely from one PointOfView, as compared to the rapid jumping otherwise used.

On Genabackis, Ganoes Paran, now Master of the Deck, realises that the Crippled God is seeking to gain recognition as a god in the Deck of Dragons; as the Master, it is Ganoes' decision whether such a terrible god may gain entry and legitimacy.

On a distant shore on the edge of a broken realm, a strange man is ritually shorn, exiled, chained and left to die by a people thought myth. By chance, an oddly solitary T'lan Imass comes upon him, and the two attempt to find a way out of there.