History Characters / MalazanBookOfTheFallen

* TheSmartGuy: For the Bridgeburners and the Malazan Army in general. It's been said that if [[TheChessmaster Kruppe]] is one of the smartest people in the world, than Quick Ben is only a step behind him.

* CanonSue: Many see him this way.

* TheScrappy: [[YourMileageMayVary Depends on who you ask]].

* NeutralEvil: Wavers between LawfulEvil and ChaoticEvil, usually levelling out at this.

* WhatAnIdiot: Pretty much sums up everyone's behaviour around him. First they let the psycho into their army, then they mock and belittle him. Brilliant move, people.
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Apparently how his people felt about him during his stint as TheEmperor.

* LawfulGood/ LawfulNeutral: Somewhere between the two of them. His loyalty to Rake is his primary characteristic.

* BadassDecay: Mild example. In ''Gardens of the Moon'' Tool was described as "without equal in this world" and capable of taking down Raest, a Jaghut Tyrant who could have challenged Annomander Rake, by himself. In ''Memories of Ice'' he's still ''very'' BadAss, but is repeatedly damaged, and [[spoiler: defeated by Mok, the BadassNormal Seguleh Third in a fair fight]].
** The important part of that phrase is "in this world". When the statement was made he was a dream avatar in the Tellann warren. The Tyrant had been drawn into that world expressly because he couldn't be challenged in physical reality.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Fighting five Dragons to a draw.
** Actually, he was definitely winning.

* ChaoticEvil

* CompleteMonster: Subverted. Anaster crosses every MoralEventHorizon possible, encourages torture, rape, and cannibalism, and seems to have no humanity whatsoever. [[spoiler: And then you find out that he's done it all in the hopes of becoming so irridemable that someone will be [[DeathSeeker forced to kill him]].]]

* {{Wangst}}: Debateably.

* [[spoiler: TearJerker: His death]]
* [[spoiler: TooCoolToLive]]

* JerkassWoobie: Yeah, he's technically an EvilOverlord and has done some inarguably bad things- but just ''look'' at the rest of this list. You've ''got'' to feel sorry for the poor guy. He needs a hug. And possibly, a therapist.

* BaseBreaker: One of the most divisive characters in the series.

* ChaoticGood[=/=]ChaoticNeutral[=/=]ChaoticEvil: Slides back and forth between Good, Neutral, and Evil, but is always Chaotic.

* GodModeSue: How some fans see him.

* TheScrappy: YourMileageMayVary

* TheWesley: Again, YourMileageMayVary.

* NeutralEvil: He wants revenge on [[spoiler: Laseen]]. How doesn't really matter, though his methods lean more towards ChaoticEvil than those of Cotillion.

* NeutralEvil: Leaning towards LawfulEvil, as demonstrated by his loyalty to Shadowthrone.

* {{Wangst}}: Not at first, but most of her problems since ''House of Chains'' have been more or less the results of her own decisions. As such, her self-pity can and does, get rather old for some.
* WhatAnIdiot: Multiple people have pointed out to her that [[spoiler: abandoning Cutter wasn't a great idea. Anyone who's moderately perceptive can spot either of their broken hearts pretty much immediately.]]

* TrueNeutral: Does what she wants, no matter what's going on in the world.

* MissedMomentOfAwesome: We're repeatedly told that even if Annomander Rake manages to defeat Raest, he will be left weakened, and vulnerable to assault, that if Raest regains his Finnest even Rake's survival isn't garunteed, and that Rake is the only person with a chance of opposing the Tyrant. ''[[DeusExMachina And then a House of Azath appears out of nowhere and swallows Raest and the Finnest before the two could fuse or the fight could occur]]!''

[[folder: ''''Letherii Empire''']]

* AwesomeMacCoolName

[[/folder]]

!!Trull Sengar

!!Tulas Shorn

[[folder: '''Unaligned Ascendants''']]

!!Krul

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: The lack of it is implied to be the reason he's so weak now.
** Elder Gods accept prayer in the form of blood sacrifice. Give generously...
* KarmicPunishment: Kallor's curse.
* TheMentor: To Kruppe.
* OlderAndWiser: To all the gods.

!!Burn

!!Icarium Lifestealer

* {{Badass}}
* TheBerserker
* GeniusBruiser: He's a mapmaker, inventor, scholar...and one of the most lethal fighters ever born.
* HalfHumanHybrid: He's a Jhag: half man, half Jaghut.
* ImplacableMan
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast
[[/folder]]

* TheEmperor: Of the Letherii Empire.

* JerkassWoobie: Yeah, he's technically an EvilOverlord and has done some inarguably bad things- but just ''look'' at the rest of this list. You've ''got'' to feel sorry for the poor guy.

* TheWoobie: This man needs a hug. And possibly a therapist.

* ChaoticGood/ ChaoticNeutral/ ChaoticEvil: Slides back and forth between Good, Neutral, and Evil, but is always Chaotic.

* [[spoiler:ShootTheShaggyDog: 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 UngratefulBastards as well.]]

* [[spoiler:TearJerker: His death scene. So, so much.]]

[[/folder]]

* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler: Her plan to fake a defection by Whiskeyjack and Dujek in order to take down the Pannion Domin likely cements her as this]].
** Not even her plan. Book six shows her to be a bloody idiot.

* LoveHurts/ LoveMartyr: 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.

* BladeOnAStick: His spear his his favourite weapon.

* BadassDecay: Mild example. In ''Gardens of the Moon'' Tool was described as "without equal in this world" and capable of taking down Raest, a Jaghut Tyrant who could have challenged Annomander Rake, by himself. In ''Memories of Ice'' he's still ''very'' BadAss, but is repeatedly damaged, and [[spoiler: defeated by Mok, the BadassNormal Seguleh Third in a fair fight]]

* ImplacableMan: Comes with being a T'lan Imass, although even by they're standards he's pretty damn hard to stop.

* [[spoiler: MaybeEverAfter: 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.]]

Dassem Ultor

** [[spoiler: well at least up until the point COtillion kills him with a surprise backstab.]]

** [[spoiler: well at least up until the point Dancer kills him with a surprise backstab.]]

* BigBad: About as close to one as the series gets

* FreudianExcuse: The Fall did not do good things to his sanity.

* OmnicidalManiac: 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.

* SealedEvilInACan: Chained in place, to the sleeping goddess Burn.

* ChaoticEvil

* PetTheDog: Has a minor one with Sorry right before he possesses her, reassuring her that the experience won't be that bad. [[spoiler: Has had many more since than; see ParentalSubstitue, above]].

!!Kallor

* TheEmperor: He called himself the High King, but he's much closer to this trope, specifically the EvilOverlord/ GeneralRipper variant.

* NotSoHarmless: ''Everybody'' mocked Kallor as a bullying braggart. Right up until [[spoiler: he [[FaceHeelTurn joins with the Cripple God]] and performs an epic backstab on Brood's forces.]] Averted [[spoiler: in ''Toll the Hounds'' where he approaches near HeroKiller status]].

* DeathSeeker

* SelfMadeOrphan: Not that this was his intention. He threw his mom and dad in prison. The jail promptly flooded.

* CharlesAtlasSuperpowers