Character from Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson
Twelve souls bound in one body, access to a dozen warrens, and the audacity to bluff gods — the Bridgeburners' high mage who survives by being smarter and more terrifying than anyone realizes.
Quick Ben operates on a principle most mages never grasp: power is less important than the appearance of power, and the appearance of power is less important than making your enemies believe you're holding back. He has twelve souls crammed into one body — remnants of a desperate ritual in Seven Cities — and each grants access to a different warren. This makes him arguably the most versatile mage alive, but he'd rather you didn't know that. He bluffs. Constantly. He'll face down an Ascendant with nothing but posture and implication, and the terrifying thing is that sometimes the bluff is real and sometimes it isn't, and nobody — not even Kalam — can tell which. His loyalty to Whiskeyjack and the Bridgeburners is the one thing about him that isn't a feint. He plays the long game in every other arena: against gods, against empires, against the fundamental laws of magic. He has survived situations that should have atomized him by being the person in the room thinking three layers deeper than everyone else.
Dark-skinned, lean and wiry, with a face built for the clever grin he wears like a mask. Dal Honese features — sharp cheekbones, quick dark eyes that never stop calculating. Carries himself with the loose-limbed ease of someone who knows he has twelve contingency plans and is already working on the thirteenth. His hands move when he talks, tracing invisible patterns in the air — habit of a mage whose fingers remember warrens the way a musician remembers chords.
Also known as: Quick Ben, Ben Adaag Delat, Adaephon Delat, Quick, Bridgeburner Mage