The Aren Massacre
The Aren Massacre was the slaughter of civilians in Aren by the T'lan Imass during the Malazan war of conquest in the Seven Cities. Who ordered the T'lan Imass into the city is unknown but supposedly it was at the command of Surly.
"' What happened during the
Aren Rebellion was a mistake...No command was ever given to the Logros
T'lan Imass.'"
"
'Who ordered the
T'lan Imass into
Aren? I shall tell you.
Surly, the commander of the
Claw, the woman who took upon herself a new name-
Fiddler: '
Laseen...I have never before heard that assertion...There were no written orders - none found, in any case-'
Apsalar: 'I should have killed her there and then...these memories...they are so clear. I was...sent to
Aren...to see the slaughter. To find out what happened. I...I argued with
Surly. No-one else was in the room. Just
Surly and...and me.'"
"
...the
T’lan Imass slaughtering the citizens of
Aren. But, as even with that one, each disaster yields its truths.
Laseen didn’t give that order, but someone did. Someone returned to sit down in that
First Throne – and that someone was supposed to be dead – and he used the
T’lan Imass to wreak vengeance on
Laseen, to shake her grip on the Empire. Lo, the first hint that Emperor
Kellanved wasn’t quite as dead as we would have liked."
"Cone-shaped hills kept pace with them to the east, and would do so to within a thousand paces of Aren's north wall. The hills were not natural: they were mass graves, scores of them, from the misguided slaughter of the city's residents by the T'lan Imass in Kellanved's time. The hill nearest Aren was among the largest, and was home to the city's ruling families and the Holy Protector and Falah'dan."
DG, UK mmpb, p.831
"And yet Barathol, an officer in the Red Blades, had murdered the Fist of Aren. He’d been arrested and gaoled, stripped of his rank and beaten without mercy by his fellow Red Blades – the first and deepest stain upon their honour, fuelling their extreme acts of zealotry ever since.
Barathol was to have been crucified on Aren Way. Instead, the city had risen in rebellion, slaughtering the Malazan garrison and driving the Red Blades from the city.
And then the T’lan Imass had arrived, delivering the harsh, brutal lesson of imperial vengeance. And Barathol Mekhar had been seen, by scores of witnesses, flinging open the north gate...
But it is true. T’lan Imass need no opened gates.."
- L'oric
BH
"The slaughter of the inhabitants of Aren, when the Logros T'lan Imass rose from the dust of the streets and their weapons of stone began to rise and fall, rise and fall. If not for that ex-Red Blade driving open the gates and so opening a path of escape, there would have been no survivors at all. None."
- Gesler
RG, UK Trade, p.425
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