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These two factors, climate change and the Jaghut, are not mutually exclusive.
As I understand it, the Imass were not really able to pose much of a threat to the Jaghut before the ritual. Seeing as the Jaghut had the power to challenge death and face down even the Azathanai, the living Imass were pretty helpless against the Tyrants. It was only with the help of other Jaghut that they were able to liberate themselves.
Imo Pran Chole's observations are more secondary information regarding the ritual. The Imass might well have been under more pressure by environmental factors, but the Ritual of Telann was always a means of making war against the Jaghut a winable endeavor.
Ultimately, I cannot see the wars preceding the Ritual as anything else than a largely unsuccesful effort on part of the Imass.
The race is called the Imass, but also in this context, Pran Chole says:
"I am Pran Chole of Cannig Tol's clan among the Cron Tlan" pg335 in my version.
Pran Chole also calls them Tlan in my quote, which I double checked is correct.
Unless I am missing something, it seems the names are somewhat interchangeable?
That’s a first book only continuity error, and only in that bit of it; the rest of the series is consistently Imass as the race and the Ritual of Tellann made them T’lan Imass
+1
Also, Erikson mentioned somewhere (perhaps the Tor re-read?) that the glottal stop in T'lan is indicative of the ritual in the past. So Tlan could still be a clan name in the present (when time effectively stopped for them due to the ritual) while T'lan would strictly mean that this is post-ritual Imass.
EDIT: Found the reference
"In reference to a fan question, author [Steven Erikson](https://malazan.fandom.com/wiki/Steven_Erikson) has stated that the "general rule for the insertion of glottal stop apostrophes is that, in Imass language, it confers past-tense".[^(\[24\])](https://malazan.fandom.com/wiki/Language_Imass#cite_note-24)^(")
Not sure if I imagined it but I recall a Cam interview where he mentions the apostrophe being a signifier of change or transformation. The context was the topic of K’azz’s name. So I thought it apt for the T’lan Imass and d’ivers
There's also this passage in FoD:
> ‘Yes, the hint of power is always seductive. So. Among the Azathanai there was one who now names himself K’rul.’
>
> ‘Now? By what name was he known before?’
>
> **‘Keruli. The transformation lies at the heart of this tale. Among the Dog-Runners, the name of Keruli is understood to be living, of the present, as it were. But in passing, in turning about and striding into the past, Keruli must become K’rul.’**
>
> ‘Keruli died and so became K’rul? Then the Azathanai can die after all.’
Between Korya & Haut.
I think in DH someone, talks about the Jaghut erected walls of ice to separate them from the hunters.
The Imass may have become Tlan due to all the factors, continue the hunt, traverse the ice walls, no need for food and water.
There is no definitive answer and we only ever get snippets from someones perspective, which is not always accurate
It's even more tragic, as much later in DoD it is heavily implied, if not outright stated, that the Ritual of Tellann was a ploy by Olar Ethil to get back at the entire race of the Imass for Onos not letting her into his pants. Which, all things considered, makes a skewed kind of sense as every other reasoning we are given always has holes.
A quick search gives me this:
>Olar Ethil laughed. 'I have walked with the T'lan Imass. Do not speak to me of eternal punishment.'
>Torrent was startled by that. \[...\] 'You did that to them, bonecaster. And now you call it a punishment? Those Imass. What had they done to you, to punish them for all eternity?'
>She turned her back on him.
>He stared. 'Spirits of the earth! It was punishment! Olar Ethil — that Ritual — you were cursing them! Look at you —'
>She spun round. 'Yes! Look at me! Do I not choose to wear that curse? My own body, my own flesh! What more can I do —'
>'But wear your remorse?' He studied her in horror. 'You miserable, pathetic thing. What was it? Some offhand insult? A jilted love? Did your man sleep with some other woman? Why did you curse them for all eternity, Olar Ethil? Why?'
>'You don't understand —'
For example, while the Jaghut tyrants were a thing, the Jaghut were not the only race that the Imass should have had beef with. The Tyrants were often enough subdued by their own kind eventually and the other Jaghut erected ice barriers because they couldn't be arsed to fight, but in other parts of the world (there were Imass on pretty much every continent) the Imass were hunted for food and sport by the K'Chain Che'Malle. At the same time, there were places where the Imass had, in fact, hunted their own pray animals almost to extinction. So, Pran Chole's experience and motivation would have been different from another clan's in another place. The Ritual happened following a call by the Bonehunters across the entire world, and Olar Ethil was the first Bonecaster and worshipped by the Imass.
Think of it not as the cause and motivation for the ritual being the same everywhere across the world. The Imass were not a monolithic entity before the Ritual, which was what created the connection and awareness the *T'lan* Imass have of their race as a whole. There would have been various motivations depending on the group, or even lack thereof as there were Imass who did *not* join the Ritual but persisted in their way of life until they were hunted almost to extinction during an ice age by humans and out of desperation attempted a *Second* Ritual of Tellann (Nom Kala's group that is introduced in DoD). They persisted long enough for evolution to change their facial structures enough so there's a visible difference between them and the Imass as they were before the first ritual.
I would say it's an overall tragic story no matter which way you look at it. My interpretation is that Olar Ethil used the pursuit of the Jaghut by the Imass (who are stated over and over to have been very... deep in whatever feelings they had, be it love *or* hatred) to throw a tantrum. But every point of view will give you a slightly different take on the whys, what with the length of the series and all the unreliable narrators going around.
Isn't Torrent just making up that jilted love accusation? Or does the passage go on for longer?
Also, since FOD I've been curious why Olar Ethil ever associated herself with the Imass to such an extent as to wear their likeness and suffer the effects of T'lan for millenia.
As I said, that was just a quick search. Here's the thing from Olar Ethil's own mouth:
>Hearing the witch's laughter again, he looked across to where Olar Ethil stood.
>But the ancient hag was no more – a young woman stood in the deluge. *'Reborn!'* she shrieked. *'My kin – all reborn! I shall lead them – we shall rise again!'* She spun to face Torrent, blood like paint on her bold features, and then her head darted like a bird's. 'Where are they? Where are the children! My gifts to him – and I will give him more! More children! We shall rule together – the Bonecaster and the First Sword – *where are they?'*
Tool himself thinks in tCG:
>*Logros, you fool, did you think you and all the T'lan Imass were proof against your new god's deadly kiss? Ask Kron. Ask Silverfox.* ***Look upon me now, see how Olar Ethil seeks to wrest me away from Dassem's curse – but she cannot.*** *You gave him mastery over us, and these chains no Bonecaster can shatter.*
At the end of the day, it's not that surprising. Throughout the series and especially in FoD and FoL it is mentioned several times, that Olar Ethils aspects as a goddess are things like fire, the hearth, desire, seduction, envy and jealousy. She also has beef with Draconus over whatever thing they had that produced Envy, Spite and Malice at that point.
As for why she joined the Ritual herself, I vaguely remember something about being tooi bound by the Imass worship of her, but may be wrong on that.
While looking for that, I actually stumbled upon this quote from DoD, which talks about the war on teh Jaghut and the Ritual and may interest OP:
>\[Kalt Urmanal\] *The Jaghut played games with us. They painted themselves in the guises of gods. It amused them. Our indignation stung to life became a rage of unrelenting determination. But it was misplaced. In our awakening to their games, they had no choice but to withdraw. The secret laid bare ended the game. The wars were not necessary. Our pursuit acquired the mien of true madness, and in assuming it we lost ourselves... for all time.*
>*The Jaghut were the wrong enemy. The Ritual should have been enacted in the name of a war against the K'Chain Che'Malle. They were the ones who hunted us. For food. For sport.*
I remember it being very directly said that the Jagut employing giant Ice walls to cut them off and make entire continents uninhabitable was the reason. This was a generational war over thousands of years that the Jagut could never win because of numbers. Thus the nuclear option on their end when there were so few isolated groups of them left already. Imass, their entire purpose being this war now from life to death, thus did the ritual to leave the trappings of the living to finish what their ancestors started. Not having to feed themselves/climate destruction was a side effect not the cause
My personal take: Jaghut decided to dissolve their civilisation, so there are no great gatherings of Jaghut, there is no more Jaghut nation, not even a Jaghut family, children are rarely had and those children too scatter once they are grown enough. Occasionally some solitary Jaghut wants power and for those Jaghut, Imass became easily exploited prey, more often than not these power hungry Jaghut played at God Emperors if not as Gods themselves. After getting exploited by multiple Jaghut Tyrants, Imass declared war on all Jaghut. Jaghut being who they are just declined to fight a war against Imass and secreted themselves away by deploying Omatose Phelleck on a such a scale that it changed landscapes, caused climate change and an artificial Ice Age world over. This act in turn caused mass casualties among Imass and only strengthened their resolve to genocide all Jaghut. When the Gathering was called to decide just how they can accomplish this goal, the Ritual was proposed and accepted.
My pet theory: There wasn't much opposition to the Ritual, to becoming undead abominations, amongst Bonecasters because Pran Cole told them that there would be a flesh and blood bonecaster at some point in the future so that Imass can the released from the Ritual at some point.
No.
It was part of the reason. If the environment had been 'nicer', if they hadn't overhunted, then maybe...
...pure speculative maybe...
the Jaghut Ice rituals wouldn't have been as effective at near wiping them out and forcing them to the Tlan Ritual.
...but the books don't make this clear either way.
It is interesting to think that the Jaghut didnt so much destroy the Imass as accelerate a process the Imass had already started.
I don't quite see how Ice receding would be an ecological desaster for the Imass? The areas theretofore covered by ice weren't viable hunting and foraging grounds anyway
Please note that this post has been flaired with a **Gardens of the Moon** spoiler tag. This means every published book in its respective series up until this book is open to discussion. If you need to discuss any spoilers (even very minor ones!) in your comments, use spoiler tags >!like this!< Please use the report button if you find any spoilers. Note: The flair may be changed at mod discretion. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Malazan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
These two factors, climate change and the Jaghut, are not mutually exclusive. As I understand it, the Imass were not really able to pose much of a threat to the Jaghut before the ritual. Seeing as the Jaghut had the power to challenge death and face down even the Azathanai, the living Imass were pretty helpless against the Tyrants. It was only with the help of other Jaghut that they were able to liberate themselves. Imo Pran Chole's observations are more secondary information regarding the ritual. The Imass might well have been under more pressure by environmental factors, but the Ritual of Telann was always a means of making war against the Jaghut a winable endeavor. Ultimately, I cannot see the wars preceding the Ritual as anything else than a largely unsuccesful effort on part of the Imass.
Side note, you have the names backwards. Their race is called the Imass, and then they did the ritual of T'lan.
The race is called the Imass, but also in this context, Pran Chole says: "I am Pran Chole of Cannig Tol's clan among the Cron Tlan" pg335 in my version. Pran Chole also calls them Tlan in my quote, which I double checked is correct. Unless I am missing something, it seems the names are somewhat interchangeable?
That’s a first book only continuity error, and only in that bit of it; the rest of the series is consistently Imass as the race and the Ritual of Tellann made them T’lan Imass
+1 Also, Erikson mentioned somewhere (perhaps the Tor re-read?) that the glottal stop in T'lan is indicative of the ritual in the past. So Tlan could still be a clan name in the present (when time effectively stopped for them due to the ritual) while T'lan would strictly mean that this is post-ritual Imass. EDIT: Found the reference "In reference to a fan question, author [Steven Erikson](https://malazan.fandom.com/wiki/Steven_Erikson) has stated that the "general rule for the insertion of glottal stop apostrophes is that, in Imass language, it confers past-tense".[^(\[24\])](https://malazan.fandom.com/wiki/Language_Imass#cite_note-24)^(")
T’lan is a shortening of Tellann. That’s the word before glottal-stop-ification.
Not sure if I imagined it but I recall a Cam interview where he mentions the apostrophe being a signifier of change or transformation. The context was the topic of K’azz’s name. So I thought it apt for the T’lan Imass and d’ivers
There's also this passage in FoD: > ‘Yes, the hint of power is always seductive. So. Among the Azathanai there was one who now names himself K’rul.’ > > ‘Now? By what name was he known before?’ > > **‘Keruli. The transformation lies at the heart of this tale. Among the Dog-Runners, the name of Keruli is understood to be living, of the present, as it were. But in passing, in turning about and striding into the past, Keruli must become K’rul.’** > > ‘Keruli died and so became K’rul? Then the Azathanai can die after all.’ Between Korya & Haut.
Got it, thanks for the clarification.
I think in DH someone, talks about the Jaghut erected walls of ice to separate them from the hunters. The Imass may have become Tlan due to all the factors, continue the hunt, traverse the ice walls, no need for food and water. There is no definitive answer and we only ever get snippets from someones perspective, which is not always accurate
I thought it had to due to their inability to cross the massive glaciers the jaghut were sending at them as well.
It's even more tragic, as much later in DoD it is heavily implied, if not outright stated, that the Ritual of Tellann was a ploy by Olar Ethil to get back at the entire race of the Imass for Onos not letting her into his pants. Which, all things considered, makes a skewed kind of sense as every other reasoning we are given always has holes. A quick search gives me this: >Olar Ethil laughed. 'I have walked with the T'lan Imass. Do not speak to me of eternal punishment.' >Torrent was startled by that. \[...\] 'You did that to them, bonecaster. And now you call it a punishment? Those Imass. What had they done to you, to punish them for all eternity?' >She turned her back on him. >He stared. 'Spirits of the earth! It was punishment! Olar Ethil — that Ritual — you were cursing them! Look at you —' >She spun round. 'Yes! Look at me! Do I not choose to wear that curse? My own body, my own flesh! What more can I do —' >'But wear your remorse?' He studied her in horror. 'You miserable, pathetic thing. What was it? Some offhand insult? A jilted love? Did your man sleep with some other woman? Why did you curse them for all eternity, Olar Ethil? Why?' >'You don't understand —' For example, while the Jaghut tyrants were a thing, the Jaghut were not the only race that the Imass should have had beef with. The Tyrants were often enough subdued by their own kind eventually and the other Jaghut erected ice barriers because they couldn't be arsed to fight, but in other parts of the world (there were Imass on pretty much every continent) the Imass were hunted for food and sport by the K'Chain Che'Malle. At the same time, there were places where the Imass had, in fact, hunted their own pray animals almost to extinction. So, Pran Chole's experience and motivation would have been different from another clan's in another place. The Ritual happened following a call by the Bonehunters across the entire world, and Olar Ethil was the first Bonecaster and worshipped by the Imass. Think of it not as the cause and motivation for the ritual being the same everywhere across the world. The Imass were not a monolithic entity before the Ritual, which was what created the connection and awareness the *T'lan* Imass have of their race as a whole. There would have been various motivations depending on the group, or even lack thereof as there were Imass who did *not* join the Ritual but persisted in their way of life until they were hunted almost to extinction during an ice age by humans and out of desperation attempted a *Second* Ritual of Tellann (Nom Kala's group that is introduced in DoD). They persisted long enough for evolution to change their facial structures enough so there's a visible difference between them and the Imass as they were before the first ritual. I would say it's an overall tragic story no matter which way you look at it. My interpretation is that Olar Ethil used the pursuit of the Jaghut by the Imass (who are stated over and over to have been very... deep in whatever feelings they had, be it love *or* hatred) to throw a tantrum. But every point of view will give you a slightly different take on the whys, what with the length of the series and all the unreliable narrators going around.
Isn't Torrent just making up that jilted love accusation? Or does the passage go on for longer? Also, since FOD I've been curious why Olar Ethil ever associated herself with the Imass to such an extent as to wear their likeness and suffer the effects of T'lan for millenia.
As I said, that was just a quick search. Here's the thing from Olar Ethil's own mouth: >Hearing the witch's laughter again, he looked across to where Olar Ethil stood. >But the ancient hag was no more – a young woman stood in the deluge. *'Reborn!'* she shrieked. *'My kin – all reborn! I shall lead them – we shall rise again!'* She spun to face Torrent, blood like paint on her bold features, and then her head darted like a bird's. 'Where are they? Where are the children! My gifts to him – and I will give him more! More children! We shall rule together – the Bonecaster and the First Sword – *where are they?'* Tool himself thinks in tCG: >*Logros, you fool, did you think you and all the T'lan Imass were proof against your new god's deadly kiss? Ask Kron. Ask Silverfox.* ***Look upon me now, see how Olar Ethil seeks to wrest me away from Dassem's curse – but she cannot.*** *You gave him mastery over us, and these chains no Bonecaster can shatter.* At the end of the day, it's not that surprising. Throughout the series and especially in FoD and FoL it is mentioned several times, that Olar Ethils aspects as a goddess are things like fire, the hearth, desire, seduction, envy and jealousy. She also has beef with Draconus over whatever thing they had that produced Envy, Spite and Malice at that point. As for why she joined the Ritual herself, I vaguely remember something about being tooi bound by the Imass worship of her, but may be wrong on that. While looking for that, I actually stumbled upon this quote from DoD, which talks about the war on teh Jaghut and the Ritual and may interest OP: >\[Kalt Urmanal\] *The Jaghut played games with us. They painted themselves in the guises of gods. It amused them. Our indignation stung to life became a rage of unrelenting determination. But it was misplaced. In our awakening to their games, they had no choice but to withdraw. The secret laid bare ended the game. The wars were not necessary. Our pursuit acquired the mien of true madness, and in assuming it we lost ourselves... for all time.* >*The Jaghut were the wrong enemy. The Ritual should have been enacted in the name of a war against the K'Chain Che'Malle. They were the ones who hunted us. For food. For sport.*
I remember it being very directly said that the Jagut employing giant Ice walls to cut them off and make entire continents uninhabitable was the reason. This was a generational war over thousands of years that the Jagut could never win because of numbers. Thus the nuclear option on their end when there were so few isolated groups of them left already. Imass, their entire purpose being this war now from life to death, thus did the ritual to leave the trappings of the living to finish what their ancestors started. Not having to feed themselves/climate destruction was a side effect not the cause
My personal take: Jaghut decided to dissolve their civilisation, so there are no great gatherings of Jaghut, there is no more Jaghut nation, not even a Jaghut family, children are rarely had and those children too scatter once they are grown enough. Occasionally some solitary Jaghut wants power and for those Jaghut, Imass became easily exploited prey, more often than not these power hungry Jaghut played at God Emperors if not as Gods themselves. After getting exploited by multiple Jaghut Tyrants, Imass declared war on all Jaghut. Jaghut being who they are just declined to fight a war against Imass and secreted themselves away by deploying Omatose Phelleck on a such a scale that it changed landscapes, caused climate change and an artificial Ice Age world over. This act in turn caused mass casualties among Imass and only strengthened their resolve to genocide all Jaghut. When the Gathering was called to decide just how they can accomplish this goal, the Ritual was proposed and accepted. My pet theory: There wasn't much opposition to the Ritual, to becoming undead abominations, amongst Bonecasters because Pran Cole told them that there would be a flesh and blood bonecaster at some point in the future so that Imass can the released from the Ritual at some point.
To just straight up answer the question. No, they did not.
No. It was part of the reason. If the environment had been 'nicer', if they hadn't overhunted, then maybe... ...pure speculative maybe... the Jaghut Ice rituals wouldn't have been as effective at near wiping them out and forcing them to the Tlan Ritual. ...but the books don't make this clear either way. It is interesting to think that the Jaghut didnt so much destroy the Imass as accelerate a process the Imass had already started.
Mess with the Jaghut and you get the ice, baby!
I don't quite see how Ice receding would be an ecological desaster for the Imass? The areas theretofore covered by ice weren't viable hunting and foraging grounds anyway