Yan Tovis

Yan Tovis, whose name meant Twilight, was an Atri-Preda in the Letherii Army at Fent Reach.^[2] Some considered her the best commander of the Letherii armies since Preda Unnutal Hebaz.^[3]

Her eyes were the colour of weathered granite.^[4]

In Midnight Tides

When war broke out between the Kingdom of Lether and the Tiste Edur, three Edur fleets made for the Reach peninsula. One quickly took the abandoned First Maiden Fort to the west of Fent Reach. Twilight observed a second fleet of three hundred thousand Edur preparing to land at North Coast Tower. With news of a third fleet cutting off escape to Trate in the south, Twilight surrendered her city.^[5]

In The Bonehunters

Yan Tovis was attached to the Third Edur Imperial Fleet under Preda Tomad Sengar^[6] with Varat Taun as her second.^[7] For more than six months they harried the coast of northern Seven Cities murdering its inhabitants and seeking out champions to face Emperor Rhulad Sengar in mortal combat.^[8] The fleet also "liberated" slaves of mixed-Edur descent from Sepik, although liberation meant exchanging their Seven Cities masters for full-blooded Edur.^[6] The entire human populations of Sepik and neighbouring Monkan were sadistically tortured and murdered.^[9]

During the voyage, Yan Tovis learned enough of the local language to communicate with the region's inhabitants.^[6] She served as liaison to the champion, Icarium, and his companion, Taralack Veed. She brought the Gral a drink to cure his seasickness and informed the pair that the Preda required a test of Icarium's ability as the distressed and miserable Jhag's prowess did not seem to match the Gral's claims. If Icarium did not pass the test, both would be thrown to the sharks. Icarium sensed that the Atri-Preda's soul was dying from within.^[6]

After the Edur fleet failed to destroy the Malazan Imperial Fleet transporting Adjunct Tavore Paran' 14th Army through the Kokakal Sea, Taralack Veed asked her why Tomad Sengar appeared so stricken. She revealed that the Preda had spotted the Silanda among the Malazan ships. The ship had been a gift to one of his sons, and he believed its capture meant two of his sons were dead. She introduced Veed to Ahlrada Ahn and the Gral noticed the two seemed to share some secret between them.^[10]

In Reaper's Gale

The Edur fleet brought Yan Tovis and her decimated marines back to Letheras where she prepared to return to Fent Reach with her elite company.^[11] As she stepped off the gangplank, the observing Errant sensed something fated about her.^[12] Her second-in-command, Varat Taun, had been driven mad by his experience with Icarium at the First Throne so she brought him to Senior Assessor, a healer and one of the champions the Edur had collected. The monk's magic returned Taun to his senses and the captain's eyewitness account of Icarium's power finally convinced her Taralack Veed had not been exaggerating the disaster to come once the Jhag met Emperor Rhulad in combat.^[13]

To protect Taun, she insisted on sending him back home to Bluerose to be with his family and take up new duties on the staff of Bluerose's Factor. He was to join her company on the first leg of their trip back to Fent Reach. Knowing Senior Assessor faced no chance against Rhulad, she brought the monk along as well.^[14] But by the time they reached the town of Almas a few days later, both men decided to return to Letheras.^[15] Yan Tovis and her company continued on, meeting Old Hunch Arbat on the road, and asking for directions to safe lodging.^[16]

Arriving at Boaral Keep she found it largely deserted but for Skwish and Pully cleaning up after the ill Dresh Boaral. The two let slip that the Dresh-Preda had murdered his wife, so Yan Tovis placed him under house arrest and sent a rider to Rennis to request adjudication from the ruling Tiste Edur. Under Yan Tovis' further questioning, Skwish and Pully admitted they were Shake witches who had punished generations of Boarals with a curse for their murder and oppression of the Shake. The Atri-Preda commanded they remove the curse, revealing she was princess of the Shake. The two witches sadly told her that her mother had died, which meant she had inherited the title of Queen. They also told her the coven had selected Brullyg as her betrothed, and he awaited her on Second Maiden Fort.^[17]

When she learned her older half-brother, Yedan Derryg, was Boaral Keep's Master at Arms and had been called away to investigate an incident at the shore, she took three riders with her to follow after him. The two siblings had not seen each other since her brother had argued with his step-father and left home when Yan Tovis was a toddler. Since then he had taken on the position of the Watch among the Shake. Their reunion on the coast was short lived as they discovered a fleet of ships burning across the water's entire horizon. Yan Tovis identified them as Malazan ships who had followed the Edur fleet home and come to shore to seek revenge. She effectively deserted her position in the Letherii army, taking her company deliberately chosen for their Shake heritage, the two witches, and the Watch with her.^[18]

Yan Tovis travelled to Road's End where Pully and Skwish announced her return to the gathered Shake witches and warlocks. But the headstrong queen earned Pully and Skwish's venom when she refused to submit to the will of the Coven, saying the old ways had failed them. The new queen would be her own master, the Rise would no longer be solely chosen by the Coven, and Yedan Derryg would have to watch her back from her own people.^[19]

Next they made for the Isle of Second Maiden Fort. Their ferry got into trouble in the waters near Third Maiden Fort, but they were rescued by two Perish Thrones of War who safely conveyed them to their destination. Finding the place occupied by Adjunct Tavore Paran and her Bonehunters, Yan Tovis denounced Brullyg as a pretender and claimed her right as Queen of the Last Blood. Through negotiation with the Adjunct, Yan Tovis was convinced not to have Brullyg thrown out a window and the Malazans were encouraged to depart and support Shake sovereignty over the Isle. According to Deadsmell, her name was rooted in the language of her Shake and Tiste Andii ancestry. The name "Yan Tovis" was a degeneration of the original words "Yenander" in the Tiste Andii language, which meant "Twilight", and "Antovis" which meant "night" or "dark". Without her knowledge, this made her own name her title.^[20]

By the time the Malazans departed, the Shake witches had selected Pully and Skwish as their representatives and Yan Tovis concluded their sole purpose was to harry her at every turn. But Yan Tovis also knew she would need the witches if she was to rule over the ex-prisoners who formed the population of the island.^[21]

In Dust of Dreams

Yan Tovis led the Shake and inhabitants of Second Maiden Fort out of Lether on the Road to Gallan, back to Kharkanas.

In The Crippled God

Sandalath Drukorlat tried to persuade Yan Tovis to take on the role of Queen of Kharkanas however, Yan Tovis refused, stating that the realm of the Shake was and is the Shore,^[22] thus jeopardizing the budding friendship between them.^[23]

Yan Tovis felt compelled on all sides to kneel to the Shore but put off to doing so.^[24]

Notes and references