Felisin Tavore and the inevitability of her fate

So I recently started the Ten Very Big Books Podcast because I was missing the Malazan world and that prompted me to do another big reread and I just realised a few more things.

First, Gods below is Garden of the Moons so foreshadowing heavy. There is so much that that book tells you without telling you. From things like the looming threat of the Pannion to yhe Crippled God. From being a good to ok book on the first read through to being a fantastic one on all subsequent ones, its the book that i think changes the most on a re read.

Secondly, Felisin. It is only on the reread that i realised that Felisin was fated to die. Not because of some curse or god or anything of that sort. She was fated to die due to the world around her and all because of the actions of her siblings. She was always as a leaf being thrashed bu the passing of the storm that was both of her siblings. The house Paran was on the notice of Laseen due to the supposed revolt of Onearms host and problem is that unlike the others Paran was a noble. The Host's revolt was presented to yhe populace as a betrayal most fraught and they sought blood chief amongst them being that of the big names. Paran, by virtue of being the leader of the Bridgeburner's, was one of them. Laseen knew the truth but couldn't afford to tell those around her because their loyalty was suspect at best and she being the cynical pragmatist that she is would've easily killed both Paran sisters to slake the thirst of her court. Then comes Tavore, presenting herself as the true and loyal Paran who would cleanse thr name sullied by Ganoes. Laseen didn't know how true she was and lo and behold she can strike two birds with one stone. Tavore has to show how loyal she is. Show that she puts the Empire before anyone else. That she is the blind hand of the empress who will strike anyone that she is asked to without hesitation, doubt or question. Tavore knows this and she also knows that a cull is being announced. A cull of the nobility. The mob is hungry, always hungry for the blood of the nobles. This is the moment where the rich pompous fools are brought to the ground. She also knows another sickening fact. The mob has a name on its tongue. The propaganda machine has turned the name of Ganoes and that of House Paran into that of a traitors. Left to its own devices the mob shall decend upon the house and all of its scions shall be sacrificed to right the proclaimed wrong of treacherry commited. Pressured from both sides, from the aristocrats amongst the courts of the empire to the workers on the docks Tavore devises a plan. A plan that might give her sister and her a hope. She will give those who sought blood, blood to wet their appetites and then she will take her sister away from all of them. Take her away from everything and hide her away from everything and everyone.

Alas, we know how that went.

But, as is often with tragedy there is more. There is always more isn't it.

Let us assume that Tavore saved her in Unta. That she played the game to such an extent that she satisfied the empress and her court to such an extent that none sought blood. That she never let Felisin be taken from her house, what then?

Felisin is still dead.

The moment Tavore denies the Empress and sails away from Malaz harbour felisin would be dead. Tavore knows that she must go away, she must sail to an unknown land to free a god that none cared for. She must do that because if she doesn't then everything ends. All these games of petty mortals with their flickering empires end in a conflagration of jade. She must sail away. And the empress and especially the priest at her side are venomous vengeful creatures. The priest has though a few scribbles on a paper condemned the entirety of the Wickan people because they dared to humble him and his majestic plans. Felisin will be the target for his vengeance once Tavore does the same.

Felisin was dead the moment Paran survived his trip to the Gate of Hood. She was, through the cruel whims of fate and family, the one thing that she always hated to be, powerless to change her own fate. Just a casuality.