Blind Gallan

Blind Gallan [gah-LAN]^[1] was a Tiste Andii poet said to be born in the 1078^th year of Burn's Sleep.^[2]

He lived in the city of Kharkanas. When deeming that he had seen too much, he blinded himself by tearing out his own eyes which he then ate. He was the namesake of the Road to Gallan.^[3]

He was the author of The Conspiracy,^[2] Hail the Season of War,^[4] Trophies of Youth,^[5] and Incantation.^[6]

He also wrote a play or poem about a fictional character called Varanaxa. It was meant to be a snipe at those fawning over him and he was vilified for the epic farce but did not care.^[7]

In Dust of Dreams

(Information needed)

In The Crippled God

Sandalath Drukorlat thought of him as 'my brilliant, tortured court fool'.^[8]

In The Kharkanas Trilogy

Galan appeared in the framing sequence of these prequel novels which recalled events that took place tens of thousands of years before the events of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. In Forge of Darkness, he sat with the bard, Fisher kel Tath, to tell the tale of Anomander Rake and the early history of Kurald Galain.^[9] In Fall of Light the story continued. Presumably, Galan concluded the tale in the still to be published Walk in Shadow.

His works and sayings appeared to be well known by the people of Kurald Galain and were often quoted.^[10] This contradicted epigraphs in Gardens of the Moon which dated his birth to 1078 BS.

Author comments

Steven Erikson says the choice to tell the story of the Kharkanas Trilogy through Blind Gallan followed the precedent of the opening and closing poems of the Malazan Book of the Fallen which served as framing device for the story told within the novels. He says it is a signal to the reader to "pay attention to the framing because the framing is going to tell you a lot about the nature of the story being told. And in this case it is Blind Gallan, a poet, telling the story to another poet. The other poet we know as Fisher. And so there is a level of mutual awareness of the manipulative powers of narrative...and that's why Gallan tells you right at the start this is not a history, I'm going to drop things, I'm going to pay attention to some things, I'm going to ignore other things, I'm going to fit it to suit the theme that I'm going to discuss here. And Fisher, he's on board with that because he's also a poet. He's an artist. So there's that other level of intentionality going on in the narrative frame which, hopefully, helps guide the reader to an understanding that that which is presented here isn't just historical recount. That there is subtext to this stuff. And Gallan has reasons for what he does, and saying what he does. And even changing and manipulating the events to suit his purpose."^[11] Gallan "may pronounce that he doesn't pick sides, but he's definitely got a side going here. And the narration he creates is a self-conscious narration because he's looking across the table at Fisher and he knows he can't bullshit Fisher, alright, so there's a self-consciousness that both of them are aware of."^[12]

Quotes

Notes and references