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I am a newbie in the Malazan series and i only read the first book (Gardens of The Moon) and just started the second one (DeadHouse Gates). During the events from the first book there are lots of manipulation by The Oppon (The Twin Jesters of Chance).

Now my question is Who is this Oppon? are the Twins both called Oppon collectively? or is there another entity who commands the Twins like the Shadowthrone commands Cotillion?

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  • oppon is the god of luck/chance, its a 2 part god, their parent is an elder god, i believe its kilmadaros. malazan.wikia.com/wiki/Oponn
    – Himarm
    Commented Mar 12, 2016 at 7:31
  • yeah, but is oppon himself an entity??
    – Proloy
    Commented Mar 12, 2016 at 7:38
  • The twins share the powers essentially of chance together they are oponn but they are still 2 individuals, and if they died a single entity could ascend to the "position" of oponm or god of chance, its all wishy washy but its badicly 2 gods working in 1 possition
    – Himarm
    Commented Mar 12, 2016 at 7:43
  • @Himarm Your answer/comment contains spoilers :)
    – Aventinus
    Commented Mar 12, 2016 at 9:16

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Oppon is the shared name for a pair of twin Ascendants (the Malazan universe's gods); we never learn their individual names.

The people of the Malazan world don't always identify the twins as separate people. Rather, they consider them to be two parts of the same entity, reflecting two "sides of a coin" (a metaphor which Oppon takes rather literally). Any time someone in the novels identifies Oppon by name, they almost always mean both twins.

(This actually fits very well with their behavior: on those rare occasions where the twins make an on-screen appearance, they are also cooperating with each other and working in tandem, acting as a single force.)

Whenever there was a distinction made between them, the only names they were ever given were Lord and Lady of Chance. They are also sometimes identified as "the male/brother" and "the female/sister". Their intervention in the world is also often described in terms of pushing and pulling (e.g. counterbalancing each other). In general, when someone was having bad luck, it was attributed to the Lord "pushing" luck away from them, while good luck was attributed to the Lady "pulling" luck towards them.

You're probably not far enough to really "understand" the Deck of Dragons (mostly because no one alive "understands" the Deck of Dragons), but as far as I can remember, Oppon was unaligned in the Deck, meaning they weren't part of one of the larger House structures, and thus didn't really have a "boss".

Very late in the series (Dust of Dreams, according to the Malazan wiki, though things in this series tend to blur together in my head) you will learn a bit more about them and where their Ascendant nature derives from:

They are the twin children of the Forkrul Asail Ascendant called Sechul Lath and the grandchildren of the Elder Goddess Kilmandaros, both of whom are tied to the power of Chance and Luck.

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