Dropped A Bridge On Her: Murdered by two back alley thugs, Irilta and Meese. She says it to Paran herself: "Can't you see the irony? No glorious end for the Adjunct".
Reassignment Backfire: Laseen demoted him to Sergeant and put him in the front lines at Pale and Darujhistan in an attempt to get him killed. This leads to him and the entirety of Onearm's Host defecting to Brood's campaign against the Pannion Domin.
Blessed with Suck: How he sees the intervention of various gods in his life.
Can't Stay Normal: Whether it's falling for a mage, being used by the Adjunct, gaining a sword blessed by Oponn, absorbing the blood of a Hound of Shadow, or becoming Master of the Deck Paran cannot seem to stay away from the supernatural.
The Chosen One: Becomes Master of the Deck of Dragons in Memories of Ice, a position he'd really rather avoid.
Cool Sword: For a while. His sword, Chance was blessed/cursed by Oponn.
The Smart Guy: For the Bridgeburners and the Malazan Army in general. It's been said that if Kruppe is one of the smartest people in the world, than Quick Ben is only a step behind him. A short one, mind you.
The Trickster: Definitely has some aspects of this trope. He alters his plans easily, and plays with mortals, Ascendants and gods with equal ease.
Underestimating Badassery: People and gods do this to Quick Ben a lot. It doesn't usually end well for them.
"He was Quick Ben. He thought outwitting gods was fun." (Dust of Dreams)
Taking You with Me: Quick Ben goes out in a literal blaze of glory in Dust of Dreams unleashing all his magic at once to eliminate part of a attacking Nah-ruk invasion force. It doesn't help the Bridgeburners much...
It also doesn't stick.
Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: After Quick Ben unleashes half of his warrens (sources of magical power) to blast Korbal Broach through a wall, Bauchelain, partner of the aforementioned Korbal Broach, notes that Quick Ben's power is most impressive, but that, in retrospect, he ought to have saved at least half his warrens.
"But Bauchelain," replies Quick Ben, "I did."
He then blows Bauchelain through the wall too.
Voice of the Legion: Another character notices that he tends to mutter to himself in different voices.
Voodoo Doll: Plays with them. Hairlock might count as one as well.
General Ripper: Took Laseen's plan to marginalise the remaining Old Guard way, way too far.
Heel Face Turn: Joins Onearm's Host in the guise of Artanthos, the standard barer.
Person of Mass Destruction: When he unleashes his Warrens in full during a battle with the Pannion Domin, he takes out all of their wizards, knocks down a third of the walls of their capital city, and causes Korlat, who had only heard about his duel with Rake, to nearly pass out as she realises her lord tried to fight that.
Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Escorted 30,000 Malazan refugees across the worst desert in the world, under constant attack from dozens of different armies and in constant danger of starvation. His reward? To be abandoned by his superiors and crucified right outside the walls of Aren. Most of the refugees were Ungrateful Bastards as well.
Love Hurts/Love Martyr: His relationship with Apsalar, which was initially portrayed as kind of cute, is more or less poisoning his life. All attempts to move on have so far, failed.
Badass Normal: Unlike the various superpowered freaks present in the storey, Rallick relies entirely on his own skill (and a little magic-negating dust).
Informed Ability: We're often told that Murillio is extremely skilled with the rapier. Usually right before (or as) someone or something kicks his ass.
Stuffed in the Fridge: His death serves only to force Cutter to kill Gorlas Vidikas, which is in and of itself, completely irrelevant to the overall plot of both the entire series, and Toll the Hounds.
Coll
The Alcoholic: When the story begins he hasn't been sober since losing his land.
Drop the Hammer: His main weapon is a hammer that only he can lift. If swung, it can awaken Burn, the Sleeping Goddess of the Earth, though this will kill everything on the planet.
BFS: Not an extreme example, but Kallor's bastard sword is a two-hander and is repeatedly described as "huge", "enormous" and so on.
Commander Contrarian: Rarely agrees with the strategy suggested by the Alliance.
Cursed with Awesome: Subverted. Being cursed to live forever sounds great, but with the continuous aging, and Failure Is the Only Option subclause, it really, really appears to suck for him.
Determinator: Demonstrates some aspects of this in Toll The Hounds.
Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Three gods cursed Kallor to live forever and never Ascend. He cursed them back. And it worked.
Face Heel Turn: Betrays Brood to The Crippled God for a chance at killing Silverfox.
"If you call it a sudden reversal of strategy, the sting fades."
"Kallor Eiderann Tes'thesula each time you rise you shall than fall. All that you achieve shall turn to dust in your hands. As you have willfully done here, so shall it be visited upon you in all that you do."
Lone Dalek: In Toll the Hounds, where the degree that Kallor's life has sucked becomes apparent. It's almost entirely his own fault, but you can still feel a certain amount of pity for him.
Master Swordsman: In one hundred thousand years, Kallor has never been defeated. Caladan Brood notes that this is at least partly because he picks his opponents well.
Misanthrope Supreme: Kallor is fully aware that he is a spiteful, vicious minded bastard, who takes out his frustrations on everyone around him. He also believes that Humans Are Bastards, and that as such, his tyranny and brutality are not only justified, but the norm.
Precision F-Strike: Twice during his duel with Spinnock Durav in Toll the Hounds.
Pride: Kallor is arrogant, prone to overestepping his bounds, and very touchy about insults to his person. And then there's the whole, "allowing a continent to die rather than relinquishing control of it" thing, and the obsession with power and becoming an Ascendant.
Really 700 Years Old: He's older than most Ascendants, despite being completely mortal. He was cursed over 120 000 years ago and is still alive and kicking.
Sanity Slippage: Seems to have suffered some between Memories of Ice and Toll the Hounds.
Lord of Moon's Spawn, leader of the Tiste Andii, wielder of Dragnipur, eldest son of Mother Dark, Knight of High House Dark, and all-around badass, he initially opposes the Malazan Empire's invasion of Genabackis, before allying with Dujek Onearm to take on the Crippled God's forces. He has a long-standing alliance with Caladan Brood.
A Father to His Men: Several of the Tiste Andii are so tired of their own immortality they have more or less chosen to commit suicide. The only reason they are still alive is that Anomander Rake asks them to live.
Cool Sword: Not so much cool as terrifying. Anyone killed by it is trapped next to the Gates of the Warren of Darkness for all eternity. And it's black with smoking chains attached.
Who Wants to Live Forever??: The reason he sells the services of the Tiste Andii off as mercenaries is to pevent them from becoming suicidal over the boredom of their eternal life; in effect, he is trying to inspire them to fight and live for something bigger than themselves in defiance of this trope, though he fears it is a losing battle.
Your Soul Is Mine: Anyone killed by Dragnipur is sealed within the Warren inside it for all eternity.
Determinator: And a prime example at that. Despite being completely outmatched, he manages to duel Kallor for an entire night, lasting from dusk until dawn. He's cut to pieces in the attempt but never falls down. All because Rake asked him to stand between Kallor and Darujhistan.
Annomander Rake's brother, Silchas Ruin is the youngest of Mother Dark's children, and cruelest. Having been betrayed and sealed by Scabandari Bloodeye, one-time leader of the Tiste Edur, he has sworn to have his revenge on Bloodeye and his kin.
Eldest son of Father Light, and ruler of the Tiste Liosan, Osseric was the counterpart, rival, and former companion of Anomander Rake. The Champion of High House Light, worshipped as a god by the Tiste Liosan, and a famed figure within the Malazan mythos, Osseric has long since withdrawn from the world and has no desire to interact with it.
A God Am I: Worshipped as a god by the Liosan. Osseric himself notes wryly that the Liosan have always worshipped themselves, and he is just a convenient figurehead for their narcissism.
Osseric's son by an unnamed Ascendent, and a powerful mage in his own right. He becomes involved in the Apocalypse Army's plans, though prefers to avoid fighting.
One-time leader of the Tiste Edur, Scabandari led the Tiste exodus from Kurald Galain in the company of Silchas Ruin. Coming to a new world, Scabandari betrayed Silchas, and was himself slain by the Elder Gods Kilimandaros and Mael.
Deliberate Injury Gambit: As a T'lan Imass, Tool can surive anything short of beheading or total dismemberment. It's not surprising, therefore, that these kind of tactics feature prominently in his playbook.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: Averted. Onrack is one of the few T'lan Imass that doesn't see his condition as a curse.
Your Cheating Heart: Cheated on his wife, the Imass woman who would later become the Whirlwind Goddess.
Jaghut
Raest
A God Am I: Like many Jaghut Tyrants, Raest took perverse delight in being percieved as a god by the Imass.
Armour Is Useless: You don't even find out he was wearing it until several books after the fight. To be fair, he was fighting Dragons, so it probably didn't make all that much difference.
Badass: Hell yes. Possibly one the strongest characters introduced in the series, in terms of raw power (although that may have just been a GOTM thing.
Deadpan Snarker: Is evolving into one as the series progresses. His sense of humour is definitely an odd one though.
Morality Pet: Has several Malazan soldiers find him a dead cat. He brings it to life so that it can keep him company inside the House of Azath and names it Tufty.
My Species Doth Protest Too Much: The Jaghut loathed community and avoided it as though it were a disease, believing it led only to horror and violence. Raest is a tyrant, who gets his kicks out of enslaving weaker species.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Well, sealed in a barrow anyway, and by his own species no less. His Finnest, which contains most of his power, is also an example.
Soul Jar: The Finnest has most of Raest's power in it.
The Undead: He's not Undead like the Imass are, but it's clear that Raest and his body no longer share a particularly intimate connection, and the destruction of the latter causes him few difficulties. A straight example now that he's inside the Azath House.
Troll: Really enjoys jerking Kilmandaros and Mael around.
Pannion
See Pannion Domin
Pannion Domin
Pannion Seer
Break the Cutie: His backstory. His mother was killed by the T'Lan Imass and he was shoved through a rent and into the arms of the K'Chain Che'Malle Matron. This has had a rather negative impact on his sanity.
Big Bad: About as close to one as the series gets. Arguably subverted in that he's treated with considerable sympathy, particularly in the later books, and in the end the protagonists end up having to save him when his plots get Hijacked by the Forkrul Assail.
Black Cloak: Of sorts. He usually covers himself in dark-colored rags, rather than an actual cloak, but the look is very similar.
The Corrupter: The Crippled God specialises in bringing out the worst in people, typically offering them exactly what they want in exchange for their inclusion in his House of Chains. He seems to like driving his followers/victims mad.
Dysfunction Junction: His followers. It's entirely deliberate too. The Crippled God desires every member of his House to be as flawed, mentally and/or physically as he is.
Evil Cripple: Evil due to crippling. The Fall destroyed his mind.
Freudian Excuse: The Fall did not do good things to his sanity. The fact that most of the pantheon has periodically gotten together and chained him up for, from his perspective, no real reason didn't help either.
God of Evil: Deconstructed. He's more like a god of suffering, and that suffering includes his own. While he's initially presented as causing it, in the end after the Bonehunters risk everything to save him from the Assail and succeed, he ends up becoming the god who has sympathy for those who suffer.
Well, at least up until the point Cotillion kills him with a surprise backstab.
Omnicidal Maniac: He's slowly poisoning Burn. Whether he genuinely wants her dead, or is hoping that someone will free him in order to prevent this isn't known for most of the series. It's the latter.
Sadistic Choice: See Xanatos Gambit below. The best case scneario is his freedom, and the end of civilisation as they know it. The worst case scenario is the slow death of the entire world.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Chained in place, to the sleeping goddess Burn, though his spirit can move around inside a Warren and has appeared in several places around the world.
Start of Darkness: He was just a foreign god who fell to earth as the result of a trap meant for Kallor. And went stark raving mad as a result.
Vader Breath: Has to constantly inhale incense in order to keep his lungs clear. Even then, his breathing is still ragged and wheezing.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: The Fall left him crippled, agonised and totally insane. He seems to be out to destroy the world in order to make the pain go away. It's very hard not to feel bad for him on some level.
After his plans get taken over by the Forkrul Assail, who are basically using his heart as an Artifact of Doom, he turns into more of a straight-up Woobie.
Wound That Will Not Heal: None of the injuries from the Fall have healed. Not one in a hundred thousand years.
Xanatos Gambit: If they don't loose him, Burn dies and he gets his revenge. If they do, he's free to wreak havoc and get his revenge via other means. Kind of a win-win situation for him.
Blessed with Suck: He comes back every time he's killed, but only after having his soul tortured by the Crippled God.
Body Horror: Covered in half-melted gold coins from a Tiste Edur death rite. Some of them fall out, but that just leaves him with horrific burn scars instead.
The Caligula: Deconstructed. We're treated to a blow-by-blow account of his descent into madness, and it's treated as tragedy rather than menace.
I Have Many Names: Rhulad Sengar, The Emperor of a Thousand Deaths, The King in Chains.
Immortality Hurts: Between getting tortured by the Crippled God in the afterlife, the Body Horror from his funeral, his bride committing suicide rather than bearing his child, and his enroaching insanity, yeah.
Lust: Lusted after his brother Fear's wife, who toyed with his emotions as a game. This results in a very nasty Love Triangle once he becomes The Emperor.
Neck Snap: How he meets his second death at the hand of Letherii soldier Iron Bars. He gets over it.
Pet the Dog: His attempt at returning Mayen, his wife, to his brother, Fear, whom she genuinely loves. Also, his forcing Mayen to stop beating her slave, Feather Witch.
Pride: One of Rhulad's major sins before becoming The King In Chains. He was convinced he was far superior to everyone, including his brothers Fear and Trull.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Averted. He forces his brother's wife to marry him, and has his way with her, and somehow, it just makes him all the more pathetic and pitiable.
Sanity Slippage: Gradually loses his mind as each new resurrection takes its toll on him.
Small Name, Big Ego: Initially. His first death pretty much shatters his ego though.
Trauma Conga Line: His brother is murdered by Karsa, his bride kills herself, his parents are drowned in his dungeon, his people are scheming against him, he's slowly going mad, and that's without getting into the horror show that is his curse.
Wound That Will Not Heal: No matter how many times he dies, the wounds from his first death will not heal. And then there's those damn coins from his first funeral.
He-Man Woman Hater: Not a straight example as he doesn't hate women, but he does believe them to be inferior, and holds them in deep contempt, believing that rape is totally okay. His interactions with Samar Dev and various other women may be improving him for the better, although it's hard to tell.
Kill the God: In addition to Rhulad Sengar, who was more or less the vessel of the Crippled God, he also kills Fener, facilitating his Heroic Sacrifice.
Refusal of the Call: Sort of. He has no problem with going on adventures and raping and pillaging and whatnot. He just really resents doing it on the Crippled God's orders.
Tattooed Thug: The broken-glass tattoos on his face that denote his past as a slave.
Values Dissonance: Both in-universe (with the rest of the cast that is) and with the fans.
Parental Substitute: Seems to be trying to become one to Sorry/Apsalar, as a means of making up for what he put her through.
Pet the Dog: Has a minor one with Sorry right before he possesses her, reassuring her that the experience won't be that bad. Has had many more since than; see Parental Substitute, above.
Shipper on Deck: He seems to want Cutter and Apsalar to be happy. It's just that, well, try as he might to be a kind father figure, he's not the god of happy endings, he's the god of murdering people in the face. It's not working.
Sorry/Apsalar
Amnesiac Dissonance: Has been gradually remembering the things she did while controlled by The Rope.
Badass: She danced with the Claw. All of the Claw. When she was done, all of her dancing partners lay dead.
Break the Cutie: Twice. After Cotillion's posession she seemed to go back to normal...right up until she started recovering her skills and plunging into whole new depths of Wangst. She's now abandoned Cutter, the one person who really gives a damn about her in order to go off and do god knows what, excusing it by claiming that he'd only get hurt.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: Loses all her memories of The Rope's actions, post-posession.
Loss of Identity: She remembers quite a bit of her life pre-possession, but clearly isn't that girl anymore. Not to mention that she still doesn't know her name.
Maybe Ever After: One of the Epilogues of The Crippled God has Cutter finally tracking down Apsalar, at the ruins of the fishing town she originally came from.
Psycho for Hire:Poses as one while infiltrating the Malazan Army. She scares Quick Ben, Whiskeyjack, and Kalam she's so damn creepy.
Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: At times, Pust has been known to make comments like "she's falling for my clever scheme" to the person he is trying to manipulate.
Evil Genius: The only reason Shadowthrone keeps him around.
Obfuscating Insanity: Maybe. It's really hard to tell if Pust is faking it, or if he just happens to be both rather bright and totally nuts.
Smarter Than You Look: Despite his craziness, tendency towards accidentally stabbing himself in the foot, and an ego the size of some small countries, Pust is actually quite bright, and at times, suprisingly effective.
Talkative Loon: Trying to shut him up would likely take an act of god. Or several gods.
Action Survivor: Feels like one alongside Envy, Tool, Baaljaag, Gareth and the Seguleh.
Can't Stay Normal: Or dead. He's been attacked by Hairlock and thrown into a rent, accompanied Lady Envy, Body Snatched Anaster and become Mortal Sword of Togg and Fanderay, been killed again, and now serves Hood. Phew!
The Champion: Mortal Sword of Togg and Fanderay, then Knight of Death
Death Is Cheap: How many times has he come back from the dead now?
Asskicking Equals Authority: Seguleh hierarchy is modelled on combat ability. As the Third, Mok can and does kick a lot of ass.
Bad Ass: All three of them. To the point where their fellow Seguleh class them as a "punitive army" and expect them to carve their way through the Pannion Domin on their own. They don't dissapoint.
Badass Army: They're "the punative army of the Seguleh", themselves as Badass Army of the first order.
Mask Power: All Seguleh go masked, and the markings on their mask indicate their rank (Mok is the third-ranked Seguleh, his mask has two slashes on it).
The middle Beddict brother. When the Beddict family came dangerously close to becoming Indebted, Tehol took it on himself to keep the family afloat, something he did in secret while attending his instructors. Tehol is an economic savant, and was able to amass one of the largest fortunes in Letheras - a "peak", or one million "thirds", roughly one eighth of the city's combined currency - before going bankrupt literally overnight, nearly crashing the economy of the Empire. What happened to the money is unknown, and Tehol is now a largely forgotten figure living in poverty with his manservant Bugg.
The youngest of the three Beddict brothers. A Finadd (captain) of the Letherii army, he was recently raised to the position of King's Champion, the King's personal bodyguard for his superlative skills as a swordsman. Though he would like nothing more than to be left to do his duty, the intrigues of the Letherii court have a way of enveloping even the most tangential of players.
Badass Normal: Defeated Rhulad, without killing him.
Master Swordsman: Possibly the best non-Ascendant swordsman in the series.
Shurq Elalle
A burglar who got caught. Deciding to try her luck in the Drownings, she got tangled in detritus in the canals and drowned, only to discover that one of her victims had cursed her with undeath. Much to her frustration, her dead nerves prevent her from enjoying the pleasures of the living, most notably sex. She gives up stealing, not caring about much any longer, until Tehol Beddict contacts her for her services - and offering a way to enjoy carnal pleasures again.
Enfante Terrible: Played with. She's a creepy, Undead Child with a penchant towards murder, but she's also one of the few things standing between a dying Azath's denizens and the rest of Lether.
Pay Evil unto Evil: She tries to kill only evil people to feed the Azath.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Harlest comes off as rather goofy, with all his talk of "fangs and claws" and his desire to scare people. Then he actually uses said claws in an attack on five Toblakai Ascendents.
Body Horror: The warrens run through his veins, literally. So when the warrens are poisoned, opening them occasionally causes boatloads of blood to come pouring out.
An Elder God, the Suzerain of Night, Consort to Mother Dark, and brother of K'rul. He was killed with his own sword, Dragnipur, by Anomander Rake, and has been trapped in thereever since. Or at least until Rake's Heroic Sacrifice.
Parental Neglect: Doesn't pay much attention to his kids, and named his three daughters Envy, Spite, and Malice (if he had a fourth, she would apparently be named Venom). On the other hand, their mother, Olar Ethil, urges him to kill them, so...
Badass: Curbstomps Kilmandaros and Sechul Lath, both Elder Gods themselves. Also scares the crap out of everyone once they realize that he's been freed from Dragnipur.
Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: Naturally, he also turns into a giant black dragon. Although his particular Soletaken form is described as "darkness with wings" instead of a normal draconic form.
Damsel in Distress / Ill Girl: A rather bizarre example. Spends most of the series being slowly poisoned, and although she never actually shows up in person, other characters comment constantly on her deteriorating condition. Mostly because it's making the Crapsack Worldeven worse.
Icarium is an incredibly old being, forever wandering with a sole companion in tow. He is present in the mythology of many cultures, and is feared by most of them. While his companion varies - being often replaced due to the death of the previous one - they are always devoutly loyal, and act as friends, protectors and, above all, minders. Icarium is one of the most powerful beings to walk the planet, and he must always have someone nearby to check his temper. While an incredibly gentle person, should he ever grow angry the consequences for the world would be catastrophic, something he is only vaguely aware of. Fortunately, he suffers from frequent bouts of amnesia, especially when seriously injured, and his natural meekness makes him easy to to keep under control.
Made of Iron: It's unclear if he can be truly killed. Serious wounds only knock him out and trigger his amnesia. He seems to grow even tougher when angry.
