Tamora Pierce Wiki

Welcome to the Tamora Pierce Wiki! Want to edit and see fewer ads cluttering your screen? Consider creating an account and participating in our small community! Registered users will be able to edit pages, will only see ads on the community's main page, and more.

READ MORE

Tamora Pierce Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Kyprioth, (pronounced KIP-ree-oth) also known as The Trickster or the Crooked God, is the main trickster god of the Tortallan Universe. He is the patron god of the Copper Isles and is also the god of thievery and wagers.

Influence[]

Territorial designations[]

During the reigns of the raka Haiming queens, Kyprioth was the patron god of the Copper Isles. After the Luarin Conquest, he was beaten down so much by Mithros and the Great Mother Goddess, that it took centuries for him to heal and to recuperate, although he did continue his trickster-like ways. While the raka were still not victorious, he was considered the local sea god of the Azure Sea and the Sea of Kypriang. After the success of the raka rebellion, headed by him and the raka conspiracy, Kyprioth was restored to power in the Isles, and was once again considered their patron god.

Sacred animals, objects, people, and magic[]

The crows are considered sacred to Kyprioth, as they are tricksters like he is. The crows and the raka are also considered to be cousins to the divine. Like a crow, he prizes shiny objects, and often takes shiny possessions of the people he visits. After his defeat at the hands of Mithros and the Great Mother Goddess, Kyprioth circulated a prophecy that later would be known as the Kyprish Prophecy, and the driving force behind the rebellion that heralded the coming of a twice-royal queen.

Kyprioth is credited for transgender people in Tortallan society. Some transgender people, such as Okha Soyan, believed that Kyprioth touched them in the womb and placed a man or woman's mind into the opposite-gendered body. Others believe that they were blessed by the Trickster, who himself is transgender and blesses them so he can have company.[1] (Tamora Pierce has confirmed that Kyprioth has no fixed gender)[2]

Kyprioth was the patron god for many human mortals, especially those who shared his trickster-like ways. This was true for George Cooper, who was the King of Thieves in Tortall in his youth, as well as for Cooper's daughter, Alianne of Pirate's Swoop, who had that same shifty mind as her father did.

Wagers are considered sacred to Kyprioth as well, and he takes them very seriously. He does not care if people cheat, as he thinks of that as being appropriate. He also always repays if he loses the wager, or if he knows he must repay someone in general.

Worship[]

Unlike many other gods of the main pantheon, Kyprioth does not have a designated priesthood. A few raka have described that being a raka under the rule of the luarin is to be a priest of the trickster. It is also unorthodox for statues or temples to be built in his honor, and it is up to the follower to worship or pray to him themselves. The queens of the Haiming Dynasty are not crowned by a follower or priest of the trickster, but by themselves. It is said that it would be offensive to the god for there to be an official priesthood.

Like Oinomi Wavewalker, Kyprioth is notified and even comes whenever his name is called, which was one of the many reasons Okha did not name Kyprioth for fear that he would come to her again and create more mischief in her life. Alianne Crow claimed that he always listened whenever people named him as he was "vain as a cat". He does seem to appear whenever his name is mentioned, and does this throughout the Trickster Series.

Physical description[]

As a god Kyprioth can adopt different appearances. His preferred form seems to be that of a lean and wiry man with a beard. He wears his shoulders erect and has large brown eyes. His salt-and-pepper hair—with more salt than pepper—is short and his nose is short and broad. He has eyebrows shaped in pointed arches. His clothes resemble those worn by the raka of the Copper Isles. In addition to this he wears jewellery, chains and rings made of different metals.[3] These he even wears in other guises, like when he chose the form of a crow.

Divine war[]

As the patron god of the Copper Isles, Kyprioth was considered a Great God, even by other gods' standards. As the patron, he was not so effective. The clans of the Haiming Dynasty were at war, with family killing family and new power shooting up in different branches. Many people viewed this to be the fault of the trickster, as it seemed so outlandish that they thought the trickster god must've been running it all and orchestrating it. As most of the myths spread by the priests are true, it is quite possible that Kyprioth orchestrated the chaos surrounding the Haiming dynasty.

Because of its weak position, the luarin people of the mainland decided to come and take the Isles for themselves, as they were lesser nobility or merchants. The Great Mother Goddess and Mithros came with them, and had a great divine war with Kyprioth, Gunapi the Sunrose, and the Jaguar Goddess. Mithros and the Great Mother defeated them, locked Gunapi and the Jaguar Goddess away, and forced Kyprioth to step down from his place as patron god. Kyprioth was so beaten down and injured that it took years for him to heal, although he did set about a prophecy for a twice-royal queen in order to keep spirits up for his people. It could have also been a motive to make them believe that change would be possible so that they would organize a conspiracy to make it happen—which they did.

It took centuries of work to get his eminence back in the Copper Isles and to oust his brother and sister from their throne. He did accomplish it, and ascended again to the patron god of the Copper Isles following the raka rebellion in the summer of 463 HE. His queen, Dovasary Balitang, was crowned on Midwinter of 464, with the start of the new year.[4]

Meddling[]

As a trickster god, Kyprioth loves meddling in the affairs of humans and even the other gods:

  • He tapped Okha Soyan and many other people in the womb in order to make them transgender[5]
  • He became the patron god of the King of Thieves, George Cooper.[6]
  • He played tricks and pranks on the other gods, namely the Graveyard Hag, another trickster goddess. This prompted her to mess up his plan in order to pay him back.
  • He made a wager with Alianne of Pirate's Swoop to keep the Balitang family alive until the end of the summer. If she succeeded, he promised to return her home, but he knew that she'd become so invested by the end of the summer that she wouldn't want to go home.[6]
  • He possessed Oron Rittevon on the man's deathbed and made a prophecy for a great ruler who was to come.[7]
  • He had someone steal Mithros's shield and hide it.
  • He whispered in Princess Imajane's ear while she was sleeping that maybe it would be easier for her and Prince Rubinyan to get rid of King Dunevon and Duke Elsren to claim the throne for themselves.

Appearances[]

Trivia[]

Tamora Pierce based Kyprioth on her good friend Bruce Coville.[8] She made the mistake of telling him this, and he got angry at her when he read that Kyprioth was responsible for the deaths of two little boys. This has prompted her to say that a writer should be very careful about telling someone if they've based a character off of them.(Citation needed)

Notes and references[]

  1. Bloodhound, (pg.262; Random House hardcover)
  2. Tumblr (March 31 2017)
  3. Trickster's Choice, Ch. 5 (pg. 111; Random House paperback)
  4. Trickster's Queen, final chapter
  5. Bloodhound
  6. 6.0 6.1 Trickster's Choice, Ch. 16 (pg. 398—403; Random House paperback)
  7. Trickster's Choice, Ch. 11 (pg. 276; Random House paperback)
  8. Drawing Characters from Real People
Advertisement