Coltaine

Character from Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson

Wickan commander who led the Chain of Dogs — the greatest and most terrible forced march in Malazan history, herding refugees across a continent while an army tried to annihilate them.

Coltaine's Chain of Dogs is the Malazan series' most devastating military narrative — a forced march across Seven Cities, protecting tens of thousands of refugees while being hunted by Korbolo Dom's rebel army. He sacrificed everything, including ultimately himself, to get those refugees to safety. His death at Aren, crucified within sight of the city whose garrison refused to open its gates, is the series' most visceral indictment of cowardice and institutional failure.

Appearance

Dark-skinned Wickan with black braided hair adorned with crow feathers and fetishes. Lean, hard, with the predatory bearing of the horse-warrior culture he comes from. His crow-feather cloak marks him as Wickan royalty and a leader of the Crow Clan.

Also known as: Coltaine, Coltaine of the Crow Clan

What They Know

• Knows the water sources and hidden oasis routes across the Seven Cities interior — Wickan rangeland knowledge that kept the Chain of Dogs alive when maps said there was nothing
• Commands Wickan horse warriors who communicate through crow-clan signals invisible to non-Wickan observers — a tactical communication network the enemy cannot intercept
• Aware that the Whirlwind rebellion has agents embedded in his own refugee column and knows which Malazan officers have been compromised
• Understands the fighting patterns of the Seven Cities war chiefs from his years of border skirmishes before the rebellion — knows which ones break and which ones die fighting
• Knows the Aren garrison's strength and defensive layout and planned the Chain of Dogs's route specifically to reach it before the army bled out

Connections

• serves — laseen
• commands — wickan_host
• rival_of — korbolo_dom
• slain_by — korbolo_dom
• ally_of — duiker

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