The Crippled God, also known as The Chained One and The Fallen One is the major antagonist in Steven Erikson's fictional series The Malazan Book of the Fallen. The Crippled God rules High House Chains and manipulates both its members and the rest of the world in an attempt to break free of his bonds. He is unique in that he is not King of his own House in the deck (that role is filled by Skinner, King of the House of Chains), but is instead the Deathslayer, an Unaligned card. The Crippled God manifests himself in the form of a broken old man, continuously coughing, with mis-set bones and mangled hands, whose face is ever enshrouded by a hood and body by a shapeless blanket. His domain is a tiny, wandering Warren in the shape of a small tent (possibly a fragment of Kurald Emurlahn), which can isolate the area of a small island from the rest of the world. The Crippled God has a long and uncertain history of conflict and imprisonment with the Ascendants of the Malazan world, though they are apparently unable to kill him.
As of Dust of Dreams, however, it becomes questionable whether or not The Crippled God is actually the major antagonist, or just another pawn in the war among the gods. This would be fitting, considering Erikson's habit of overturning the conventional standards of fantasy. The final book in the series, The Crippled God, revolves around the revelation that, though he causes immense suffering in the world, The Crippled God is the only deity who feels what his followers, and all mortals, feel themselves: extreme pain, sorrow, and loss. Thus, though he was considered an enemy of the protagonists for most of the series, The Crippled God is the only deity with any real sympathy for his worshippers. This has massive ramifications for the plot of the book, particularly given that The Crippled God's heart is being used as a source of power for the genocidal Forkrul Assail ruling Kolanse.
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The Crippled God takes the form of a broken old man, whose bones give the appearance of being shattered, then badly set. He is always seated, wrapped in a blanket with his face obscured by a hood. His home is a tent, constantly filled with the smoke of unidentified seeds thrown upon a brazier. The Crippled God coughs sporadically, but endlessly, breathes loudly and laboriously, and speaks with a raspy, raw voice. Despite his weakened appearance, the Crippled God is extremely powerful, with control over immense magical forces.
The origins of the Crippled God are mostly lost in the history of the Malazan world. In a flashback in Memories of Ice, he was called down from an alien realm to destroy the High King Kallor by a group of mages; however, causing mass destruction leading to the death of the cadre of mages. After his fall, The Crippled God was driven mad with pain - as the realm from which he was called is so alien that existence itself in the world of the Malazans is poison to him - and his power was torn apart, with parts of him landing in many places. One part of him landed in Fist, or Korel, and, masquerading as the Blessed Lady, he gave the inhabitants a relic with which to build a wall (the Stormwall, which is destroyed as of "Stonewielder", to allow the Stormriders to continue - not to conquer the land, but to complete a religious pilgrimage millennia in the waiting) to defend against the encroachments of the unknown Stormriders. As of Dust of Dreams, he is given a personal name, known to at least the Elder Gods Errastas (the Errant), Mael (Bugg), Kilmandaros, Olar Ethil (Burn, the Sleeping Goddess), and Sechul Lath (Knuckles, a Forkrul Assail), and likely also known to the Elder God Edgewalker of Shadow. It is known where either two or four parts of him (out of a speculated seven) fell upon the Earth. Either one part or three (the three Holy Relics of the Blessed Lady) fell upon Korel, on the subcontinent of Fist on the continent of Quon Tali, and his heart fell upon Kolanse, on the continent of Lether. He wishes his pain and torment to be shared upon everyone, including - if not especially - his followers. He speaks: "At one time my power was so beautiful that it caused everything I touched to thrive." During a session of spirit wandering, or what we would know as "astral projection", High Mage Adaephon "Quick" Ben Delat glimpses the Realm from which the Crippled God was called down from: he said it was amazingly similar to that of the Malazans, and the inhabitants appeared to be human beings.
The Crippled God has repeatedly been 'chained', an uncertain event which worked to restrict his powers. This has happened multiple times in the past, though the history of this has been lost and merged over time.[1] Currently, The Crippled God is chained to the flesh of Burn, the Sleeping Goddess, whose flesh represents the earth itself. The last chaining involved the participation of multiple Ascendants, including Hood, Anomander Rake, Caladan Brood, Osserc, Oponn, Fener, the Queen of Dreams and others, and seems to have involved the sacrifice of Dassem Ultor's daughter, by Hood. There were six other Tiste Andii, in addition to Anomander Rake, possibly Korlat and Orfantal, and a full unveiling of Kurald Galain was involved. Dancer and Kellanved were also present.
The Crippled God currently lives in a tiny Warren in the shape of a small tent. The Warren can move about, and has manifested itself on Genabackis and near Lether. The Crippled God is not helpless, and has succeeded in poisoning both the flesh of Burn, and the blood of K'rul, God of the Warrens, rendering magic temporarily inoperable.
The Crippled God's most effective and obvious actions to date have taken place on the continents of the Seven Cities and Lether. In the former, he indirectly assisted the Army of the Apocalypse in the book House of Chains, and in the collapse of the army at Raraku, re-invented the Apocalypse in the form of a plague, with the assistance of Poliel in the book The Bonehunters.
On Genabackis in the book Memories of Ice, he was initially successful in using the cannibalistic Pannion Domin to conquer parts of the southern continent. Upon moving north to lay siege to Capustan, his forces ran into opposition in the form of the Grey Swords, a company of mercenary priests dedicated to Fener, the God of War. Ultimately, a rebel army of the Malazan Empire, in conjunction with the forces of the Tiste Andii and Barghast, were successful in defeating the Pannion Domin at Capustan and also succeeded in conquering the Domin's seat of power, Coral.
At Lether in the book Midnight Tides, he was the source of magic behind the armies of the Tiste Edur, and following their conquest of the Letherii, the voyages across the globe.
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