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A death banner is a banner depicting a dead Kencyr. They are woven by Kendar weavers from the clothes in which the deceased died. The weavers have license to depict the dead individual as they see fit.[1] The banners are generally hung in the Great Hall of the Kencyr house's keep.

Jame has discovered that at least some of those depicted in death banners are not truly gone, and appear to live on in some form sustained by or in the death banner itself. When she travels with Aerulan's death banner after leaving the Women's Halls, she interacts with Aerulan several times, and when she encounters Brenwyr, Aerulan's sister-kin Brenwyr perceives Aerulan's presence.

Jame also finds Kinzi's death banner in the soulscape, specifically the Moon Garden within it, and finds Bel-tairi comforting Death's-head there. Shortly afterward, she talks with Kinzi within Mother Ragga's house. Kinzi speaks of the Gray Land, where it appears that the dead walk; this concept is new to Jame.

Some Kendar are immortalized in this way: we are told in To Ride a Rathorn (describing the hall in Gothregor): "Also among their serried ranks were a few Kendar, mostly noted randon, scrollsmen, or artisans." Torisen tells his Kendar to take Mullen's clothes to the artisans to be made into a banner to hang in the Great Hall.[2]

References[]

  1. Seeker's Mask, "Part I", VI — "it being the privilege of the Kendar weavers to portray the dead as they saw fit,"
  2. To Ride a Rathorn, "Chapter VIII: A Forgotten Name", VI — " 'He deserves to be remembered, as he wished. Let his body be given to the pyre and his clothes to the artisans, that his banner may hang here forever with his peers.' "
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