Tongueless is an Obsidian introduced in the Darrow chapters of Iron Gold.
Description[]
Tongueless is described as thin, past 50 years old, with a deep receding hairline and filthy beard. It is later found out that the hairline is because he was scalped. The name comes from the fact that his tongue has been cut out, so Darrow refers to him only as Tongueless. His body is covered in "more tattoo ink than [Darrow’s] ever seen on a man," including tattoo spirit eyes on his eyelids. He seems to have intelligent, curious eyes and holds himself like “a sinister mathematician studying string theory.”[1]
Involvement[]
In Iron Gold, Tongueless is found in cell O-2983, where Darrow expects to find Apollonius au Valii-Rath. He cannot speak, so they know little about him, but he offers to take them to the warden. He mimes being stabbed in the back, implying that the warden is the one who took his tongue. [2]He also gets along with the warden's dog, perhaps because he is familiar with it, or just as a characterization of his kindness (in comparison to the warden, who kicks the dog.)
In Dark Age, Tongueless was killed by Aja’s only son, Ajax.
Trivia[]
- Before Dark Age, Tongueless was often thought to be a character returned from previous books. Theories include that he could be Ragnar Volarus's father (which was disproved by the return of Volsung Fá) or even a carved version of the Jackal, based on his stylus spinning and missing tongue (which was effectively annulled by The Abomination).
- Pierce confirmed that Tongueless was meant to have a bigger part in the story - he was a Syndicate leader and Lilath had beat him out to become Queen - but when he needed Ajax to kill someone to show his level of power and character, he did a hat trick, and pulled out Tongueless as the one to die.[3]
References[]