This is the least sure I’ve been about a magic system when making a video like this. You don’t get repeated straight forward explanations within Malazan like you do WoT, so if I made any mistakes please leave them here! Special thank you to Andy Smith for helping make this: kzfaq.info/love/w9jFR-Nd_PxHkwS9MQ1pIg

Daniel: "Malazan, magic system explained" Me: *impossible....*

What I learned from the books: the Jaghut dont need fridges

I think you did a good job using bubble universe/pocket dimension analogy. Even the practitioners themselves don’t totally know the limits and capabilities and are constantly surprising themselves and others with what they’re able to achieve. Thanks for continuing to shine a lot of the series-I really enjoyed the video!

Some notes I've made while reading the series. We're told that all life is magic. We're also told multiple times that warrens are K'rul's blood. The Errant tells us directly that holds are fed by spilled mortal blood, and is pissed that K'rul upset that system by offering humans this magic by making availble to them his own blood. Worship is also critical in becoming a god, and I think "worship" in a more nuanced personal way can also give access to certain types of magic depending on how a person is or what they may become, hence why some people are born with an affinity to something and why other people learn access later in life. As for the terminology of where elder warrens sit, I think it's just nuance based on language and knowledge. Outside of Lether the knowledge of holds is esoteric, but worship of the holds and some of the gods associated with them still allows access to them. I.E. Mael is still worshipped by some and the hold of water can still be accessed. The beast hold through the worship of Fener as a god of war by cults in the Malazan military, as well as the cult of Fener's Reve, is also still active, and is lost when Fener is taken from his seat. Warrens are refined magic and easy to use, and holds are raw and uncontrollable. Holds are not flexible in their use, and hold magic often gets out of control and causes mass destruction. This is directly related to some of the themes in the book when talking about cultures and how adaptable their social systems and beliefs are. I.E. Kurald Galain is described are more hold than warren, which directly relates to how their culture has remained stagnant for most of the life of their people, and they're still prone to self destruction and metaphorically consuming themselves. The T'lan Imass never bothered trying to learn to use Tellann to develop any sort of healing magic, which is consistent with their single mindedness when it comes to their commitment to war. Access to holds/elder warrens has to be granted by someone of great power, and it's my theory that K'rul's warrens are quite literally allowing people to use his blood/veins to act as a buffer to focus/filter raw magical power and quite literally slow down the transfer of energy from the realm to the magic user, to make it easier to use and shape. This also relates to others allowing access to race specific elder warrens. High house shadow, it being a fragment of Kurald Emurlahn, was not even accessible to humans until Shadowthrone ascended and took power over that fragment, either inadvertently or purposely allowing human access. I think genetics also play a part in how K'rul and others were able to give access to certain magic types, and also relates to the strength of those magics. Humans share a sizeable chunk of genetics with the Imass, and Telas, being the warren of fire, can exhibit some pretty stong powers among humans, so maybe this is due to Imass genes. It would also explain why some people are naturally attuned to some warrens, just based on lucky gentics. It would also explain why the warrens related to light, dark, and shadow aren't very blatantly destructive or powerful; humans don't generally have much in terms of genetics from the Tiste races. But some remnant hybrid populations like the Shake can directly access Kurald Galain, albeit at the great cost of spilling a lot of their own blood (I'm not sure if it was due to the original Shake being Edur/Andii, or being so diluted with human blood, but if they were true Edur it's probably due to being halfbloods that were subsequently heavuly diluted), which also reinforces the genetic factors when it comes to warren magic access.

Me, having never picked up one of the books in my life: Hell ye tell me everything

I've never read Malazan but if daddy goblin tells me to watch, imma watch!

Very interesting video, Daniel. Thanks for posting it. A minor point that might help to explain the magic better is that Esslemont and Erikson have compared the magic as similar to music in our world. Every one could possibly learn to play an instrument (Warren) but not everyone has the same natural ability. So if you want to learn magic you need to find a teacher. Humans typically only have access to other humans as teachers so they are unlikely to be taught how to access Elder Warren's. So, if you find a teacher willing to teach you the drums that doesn't mean that you will be able to play piano. As magic is so powerful it is not easy to find someone who is willing to teach you. You could become a rival or a tyrant, so why would they trust you enough to impart their hard won knowledge. Lastly for this analogy, while learning guitar could result in calluses and bloody fingers, a misstep learning magic could be fatal to you and everyone around you, so there is a risk reward aspect that helps limit the numbers of active magic users. The system becomes even more complicated when you add in the spiritual magics and pacts with supernatural entities that can confer magical power.

This literally just convinced me to start Malazan. Complex magic system? Count me in !!

I love the magic system. It feels so mysterious and original. I kind of like that I dont fully understand it

I know this is great breakdown when I can follow along without ever having read the source material.

I've been waiting for this video before deciding whether or not to read Malazan and now I think I'm gonna give it a shot. Great video!

Daniel : Chaois isn't evil. Me: Phone calling the Ordo Hereticus.

Finally the grate goblin has returned to the best of his videos in explaining magic systems. I hope he does a lot more of these in the future, thank you Daniel for the content.

I really like the Malazan magic system because it feels very grounded in sociology/anthropology. Like especially the way Holds relate to Warrens and the way gods ascend or get forgotten and the way power builds up around people, places, and ideas feels very much based in how belief grows and changes in human societies. Erikson really drives home how magical/divine power is created by layers and layers of belief over generations.

The physical drain is more of a guideline used for narrative convenience when it suits the story. Would like a video going into each Warren and talking about Ascendants. They are the coolest part of the series.

It took me 2 years to read all 10 books and I must say it's simply THE BEST fantasy saga ever written. At least compared to "Wheel of Time" and "Song of fire and ice". Some of the most memorable characters and most epic battles described in a book. Huge respect to Steven Erikson!

You're a mad man for even attempting to make this video. You did an amazing job!

This started sounding like the Warhammer 40k magic with the warp divided into elemental planes. However it became its own thing.

this video was great for making the incredibly complicated magic system easier to understand. I really appreciate it, also the visuals are great and your pronunciations are hilarious.

I've read the series 2 or 3 times and it is so great to see more people talking about it. You also do a good job explaining what took forever for me to grasp. Mainly I needed to re-read the first book to get a grasp of it.

Commenting for algorithm cause you put in so much effort for this amazing, incredible, awesome, great video!

hey Daniel, thank you for this! as a writer, super interesting to see how others are doing this. but on another note, as a disabled viewer, i'm hoping you'll add captions one day? this video was especially complicated for me because the music was too loud compared to your voice, and i had a very hard time understanding some of the things you were saying. i hope you'll consider having captions on your videos, be it from yourself or a third-party. thank you for your work!

Great overview Daniel ive read every book of malazan so far except assail (reading now) and kellanveds reach i think its great how u managed to give the overview with minimal spoilers please continue enlightening us rabble to the world's beyond our own

I'm so thankful for these explanatory videos on Malazan! I'm just a few hours into the Gardens of the Moon and already you managed to reduce my frustration with the book by half!

Let’s get it!

I hear the name Malizan and bet the shivers. It always feels like I need to re-read the whole series again before reading any newer book in the setting because the series is so huge with loads of charecters and details that by the time a new title is released, I have forgotten too much for the contents to make sense.

I just finished Memories of Ice a few weeks ago and I’ve really been enjoying the series. I’ll start House of Chains sometime in the next few weeks

Broooooo this was the most perfectly timed video release ever!!!!! I’m literally working on a magic system, and studying other series magic systems... THIS ONE was the one confusing me😂😅

Such a great book series I'm glad people are still talking about it

I'm 60% through Memories of ICE right now. Best tip I got to getting started was to just accept that you don't know everything and let the story happen

Excited to hear more Malazan discussion in the future!! 💙🔥

i have been waiting for this !!!! make it make sense !!

Yeeeeah shout out to my boy Quick Ben! Loved the video, you did a fine job here. The pocket dimension analogy works pretty well without getting spoilery. Also, looking forward to checking your book out when I have some spare cash.

Super excited for upcoming Malazan content. Thanks. 😊

What great visuals you've found to explain complex fantasy physics! This has made me want to read Malazan more then any other video so far - though Brittany made a great one recently - but I still feel I must work my way up to it, only got back into big fantasy reads (and reading in general) a year ago. First the Wheel of Time.

As I recently ventured into this series. I would like to thank you for providing a foundation without a considerable amount of spoilers. I will also forever think of K'rul as a Giant Green Lizard. Thank you for the excellent tip :)

This channel has made me really get into magic systems. Even going so far as to try and make up my own for fun :D

I'm almost caught up with the dresden files and plan to continue the wheel of time next, but hopefully start Malazan after that :)

I'm about to finish GotM.. So this helped a lot thanks!

I just thought to take a break from binging youtube vids, and moved to instagram where I saw you posted, so I had to return here😅😊

I absolutely love this magic system. It’s both original and yet the same time it feels very classical.

I’m actually about to finish Gardens of the Moon, and this is helpful. Thanks.

Great breakdown as always!

Nice summary, Daniel! Just started with Deadhouse Gates... I really hope to get a better understanding of all the stuff going on, magic included... 🤯

Just started Gardens of the Moon and this helps a lot to understand!

This has re-inspired me to start Malazan this year!

My favorite epic fantasy system of all time. thanks for this video

Never heard of Malazan till yesterday, when youtube decided it is the only content that will be in my feed. Legit 7 videos yesterday, +23 videos today

This reminds me a bit of 40k, the immaterium, the warp and psychers

I'm just a few chapters into Gardens. I like the story and the prose, but man is it hard to follow. I liked hearing that it's kind of supposed to be that way. I've already listened to several sections more than once. I'm now looking around for content like this to get some insight without spoilers. Good video. Thanks.

Started listening to the first Malazan book a couple of days ago. Definitely even more excited now.

Excellent job! This really helped me put it together. Also, next time you talk Malazan Magic I'd add: 1. How the world resists influences from warrens and the dynamics this can create between our reality and other warrens etc. 2. The deck of dragons which seem to be attuned to the warrens (and other things), and 3. Spirits which I think are personifications of forces of our natural world (I think).

I haven't started reading Malazan yet. It seems a daunting task. Thanks for the insight

Pretty good summary. One thing to remember is that no-one in Malazan knows exactly how the magic works, and what we get is always from the perspective of someone in the world. So of course we are not going to get full, consistent explanations. Magic is available to anyone in Malazan provided they are willing to apply themselves to it, and they can find a teacher. In that sense, it’s like any other trade or field of knowledge. And some people are much better at it than others. Also, there can be good reasons why someone does not want to get involved in it, just like with anything else. The Holds are an older system, which sort of combines what later becomes the Warrens and Houses. There are Warrens that don’t have Houses associated with them. Also, divination with the Holds is done with tiles, and not with the Deck of Dragons as it is with the Warren/Hold system. I like to think of this as Erikson and Esslemont’s joke about switching from the D&D system of gaming to GURPs, which allowed more flexibility and rounded the corners of the wheels.

nice production on this ep

Yes please do a video or videos explaining each Warren please and thank you.

I loved this. I really needed this. I am almost done with Gardens of the Moon. Hope to read Deadhouse Gates AND Memories of Ice in April.

Just picked up your novella from book depository and can't wait for it to arrive!

Do more videos like this, please. I like getting into specifics about books.

Good job this is acurate and really good explained,people will find it helpful and usefull coz i seen that even majority of fans don't understand warrens 👍

I love the magic system in the Malazan series It's strikes the perfect balance between a hard magic system with rules but blended with ambiguity and mystery as to how powerful the magic user can become

Oh please, a single video for each warren is what we actually need Daniel

Minor spoiler: You mention at the end that Chaos is the warren of Dragons, but I think it's actually Starvald Demelain. Otherwise, love the video! Malazan is my favorite series, and it's great to see it get some well-deserved attention

Now I want to read Malazan. THANKS DANIEL!

I would love to see a breakdown of the warrens, holds etc. Loved the video :)

Great explanation! Malazan is so complex.

I think the biggest thing that helped me understand Warrens is the idea they can also be locations trapped in time. I was looking at it like Timetravel when really some areas are a frozen segment of history.

This was really good for me. I started reading Malazan because i consistently see it mentioned in top 10 lists where I've already read most of the list. I got to book 4? I think, its very fuzzy, but I think that was the point? Anyway, I really appreciate the immensity of what the authors have created, and all the interviews ive seen with erikson leave me with the impression that he is a smoart dude. I will go back to this series for sure (after I finish my "pre-show" WoT reread and catch up on my sanderson, and maybe read broken earth haha, but eventually...) and I appreciate having this breakdown of the magic system - because not understanding the magic was one of my main holdups with the series (and the fact that everyone is a demi-god with absurd power levels). sorry for the long brick of text

Nice It sounds really interesting

On the third book and I’m loving it, a lot of remembering stuff and people and places but well worth the read

0:00 *Clap* *Clap* Magic System Review!

Something to keep in mind is that not all magic originates from the Warrens or the Holds. There are other paths to power, usually through making deals with local spirits of the land and drawing upon their strength. You see this with the Wickans and also with Samar Dev. Both make distinctions between what they do and magic stemming from Warrens and Holds, calling it "ancient magic."

Please make this a more frequent series 🙏

I started..garden of the moon twice but I promise to my self started a 3rd time and stick to it. Nice video.

Good breakdown👍😁👍

I’m interested in starting Malazan eventually but I can’t right now because I’m currently going through Wheel of Time for the very first time and I can’t read two massive series at once.

Interesting stuff. I haven't tackled the Malazan books yet. I started the 1st book years ago and was instantly confused and gave up. Tempted to dive back in again.

I am become 5000% smarter. the power of malazan is real

I’m a simple guy, I see a magic system explanation video, I click it instantly.

The video backdrops are gorgeous

I just wanted to post this on your most recent video sorry .I just wanted to leave a comment and say thank you for writing your book, I just finished the audiobook and will be completely honest I was shocked by how good it was. I should have known with all of the time and effort that you have put into studying writing styles and other authors that it would be good but it honestly blew me away. I can 100% say that it is the best first book that I have ever read(listened) from a new author and thank you so much for creating this world that I could immerse myself into for a couple hours. The only complaint that I have of the books is that it wasnt long enough so chop chop on the next one :). I am so glad to have purchased the audiobook and the physical book thank you once again for everything.

Damn, good job

Thank you. Thumbs up and comment for a job well done; always a fair exchange.

You should totally check out Ian Esslemont's Malazan books! Starting with Night of Knives, they get into interesting stuff with Thyr and explains his absence. And actually getting into the characters head and understanding him more than what the main 10 give you.

Did he.. did he say there might be a video on each one? Or even just the possibility of more in general? So you're telling me there is a chance that we won't just get a great general overview about this magic system but also a more in depth one?!? You Sir Gobbo are a blessing for us all.

after ive read gardens of the moon, i saw the system as "magic highways" that are specific to magic individuals. some users seem to only use one type of warren, but some mages like Quick Ben can use all of them(?). some people have extremely rare warrens to their disposal like Tattersail and Hairlock.

i have not read and may never read Malazan but Im still watching this video because i am a nerd for learning about magic systems

I've read the entire book of the fallen and Malazan empire series and I couldn't come close to explaining the magic system. Every time I felt like I was starting to understand it a new wrench would be thrown in works.

good explanation.

That was dope.

Finished later by stephen king and will start malazan when I get your book next week and read it first 😀

This definitely has intrigued me to read the series. I kind of want to wait for it to be out in paperback though (I don't like mass market paperback).

*MINOR SPOILERS MAYBE* One thing I would add to "The Magic System Explained" is the concept of ascension. I think the books make it clear that there are multiple pathways to godhood and power and the magic of the warrens is just one way. But, the act of ascension can bring power to an existing warren or can even carve away its own place separate from the warren or elder warren it originally came from. It seems just as possible that 'beings' have the power to pull additional power from chaos itself, to theoretically create infinite warrens. However, I expect this isn't being done because its dramatically easier to 'take your neighbor's hill' than to 'build a brand new mountain out of the sea'. Hence the struggle for power over the existing warrens. To find a path to ascension is to carve a new space for yourself in the pantheon or to take somebody else's. This is heightened by the notion that warrens can also be sundered, blockaded, or destroyed. One last thing I would add is that warrens and their worship and correlation to those magical practice is the influence on geography and culture. It seems very abundant throughout the 10 books that the local cultural practices and customs are linked to the practice and potency of specific magics and their prominence or absence in specific geographic places. A great example is the dichotomy of 'developed cultures' versus 'hunter gatherer' societies that are depicted. There is an obvious correlation between the "progress" of society and the need/development/creation of beliefs and therefore warrens that reflect these more diverse values in more complex socio-cultural places. These more "privative" societies often worship more based human needs and vales (and fears) like fire, water, earth, and beasts. Geographically, people also tend to value the lands they are home to and see more minor ascensions or partial ascensions related to the value of a place itself. Raraku, for example.

Am I the only finding this magic system super creepy? 😱 Thanks, Daniel, it was interesting to say the least!

One thing to add about the younger and elder warrens. It is hinted at that at least some of the younger warrens are somehow connected to the elder ones, making the younger warrens kind of the PG-13 version of the elder warrens. If a mage is willing to face the considerable risks and expend the necessary research and willpower, they CAN access an elder warren that is close to their younger warren. In most cases, it just isn't really worth it.

I’m just getting into fantasy. I had a goal to read 20 books this year and I’ve read 4 so far just finishing “to sleep in a sea of stars” and now I’m starting my first fantasy series “mistborn”. I’ll be ready for malazan after I read a couple smaller fantasy series.

high level magic use is always cool

Great video, is there a chance of a spoiler version? It's been so long since I've read the books it would be nice to get a bit of a refresher 😁

Yeah hard to wrap one's mind around Malazan. I do feel like the magic system evolved over the series, and there were some inconsistencies from the first book to the 10th, but I'm ok with that. I would be very interested you doing a video about ascendancy in Malazan. Ascendancy + gods + pantheons