Devaleth

Devaleth Omptol was a Ruse mage from Black City, in the kingdom of Mare. She was described as a dumpy, middle-aged woman with thick arms, a thick waist, a wide chest, and a mousy tangle of brown hair. She had a pale face, rounded shoulders, and thick lips.^[1][2][3]

She was educated at the Mare academy and her schooling included sitting at the side of ship's mage Parell, learning the trade through storms, battles, and becalmed seas.^[4]

In Return of the Crimson Guard

Devaleth was one of the newer prisoners in The Pit, a Malazan otataral mining prison for mages. She was among those rescued from the prison by Blues' Blade of the Crimson Guard. The prisoners made their way to a Seven Cities cargo ship, the Forlorn, and the mages conducted a ritual to transport them through the warren of Serc to Quon Tali. They arrived amidst the Battle of the Plains in an explosive crash. Devaleth was one of those who survived.^[5]

In Stonewielder

Devaleth, newly designated as a High Mage, accompanied the Malazan Expeditionary Force to the Lands of Fist to bring the renegade Malazan 6th Army to heel. She chose to join the fight against her own people because her eyes had been opened by her travels in the outside world. She had learned everything she had been taught about the superiority of her homeland was a lie and that the cult of the Lady gripped her lands like a sickness and needed to be expunged. Still, she was horrified when she discovered that the Expeditionary Force was led by Greymane, the man her people called the Great Betrayer.^[6][7]

Despite her initial misgivings, Devaleth grew to sympathize with Greymane during the course of the campaign. As they crossed Skolati protected by the power of Greymane's sword, he allowed the soldiers to believe it was her magic that spoiled the Lady's attacks.^[8] She observed how the man's own failings seemed to drive away loyal friends and followers like Adjunct Kyle and Fist Rillish Jal Keth.^[9]

During the final amphibious attack on the Overlord's forces on Korelri, Devaleth brought Greymane to the Stormwall by Warren then she tapped into a power within Ruse to clear the beaches of defenders.^[10] When the Stormwall fell sending a massive tidal wave across the land and sea, Devaleth used a Sea Witch technique called sea-soothing (which she had learned from Tattersail) and her Ruse powers to save the fleet. She also sent visions to all of the coastal cities of Korel warning of the wave's approach, saving countless lives.^[11]

On the Expeditionary Force's sea voyage back to Unta, Devaleth investigated the events behind Rillish's death and the destruction of the fragment of the Lady. She also made sure that the Fist's soldiers understood that Greymane had spoken well of Rillish before he himself had perished.^[12]

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