"I have no choice but to die... NO! I have jumped for a tree, jumped for a raven, jumped for a cougar. I shall jump for the sun!"
~Faolan in Lone Wolf, part 3
A malcadh is a dire wolf who has been born with
deformities, such as a missing eyes, tails, paws, ears, twisted legs, or
even three legs. Sometimes, pregnant she-wolves will go by-lang in fear they will birth a malcadh. If the Obea finds the pup, she will take it away to a tummfraw, where the pup is expected to die.
If they dosurvive, however, malcadhs will be accepted into a clan, and become a gnaw wolf.
A she-wolf of the MacDuncan clan, Morag, attempts to go by-lang, as she feared her third litter would not be the same as the others. She gives birth to three pups, two tawny females and a silver male. However, the silver pup has a splayed paw, with a spiral marking on the pad, thus making him a malcadh.
Within a few hours, the Obea, Shibaan, comes and takes the silver pup. She abandons him at an icy riverbank, and leaves. However, the pup is rescued by a female grizzly, and is named Faolan.
After Shibaan is killed in an aftershock, Lael is chosen as the new MacDuncan Obea. While on his Trail of Shame, Faolan sees her passing by with a malcadh pup in her mouth. Although not physically deformed, the pup was born early. Faolan sees Lael abandon the tawny pup on a moose trail.
Sometimes, she-wolves who are pregnant go by-lang. Others stay in the pack. Where ever the she-wolf chooses as a birthing den, the clan Obea will come to check for any malcadhs. If she does find a malcadh, she takes the cursed pup to a tummfraw, where the pup is expected to die of starvation or hypothermia and/or be eaten by another animal, such as an owl. The Obea
returns and the she and mother carry the surviving pups back to a pack,
where the surviving pups are nursed and raised by another she-wolf. The
annocenment of the malcadh is annoced, and if the mother and
father are to survive, they must seek seperate and new clans never to
mate with or see each other again.
But if the malcadh does survive, however, it may be allowed back into a clan and pack, and be named, It then however becomes a gnaw wolf.
But the life of a gnaw wolf is hard. They are the lowest-ranking and
most abused member, becoming a living symbol of bad blood. If they win a
gaddergnaw, their life is changed, and they become part of the Sacred Watch.
There are, of course consenquenses about the birth of a malcadh. If a malcadh
mother puts up a fight with the Obea trying to protect her pups, there
is immediate death to all pups. "No fuss, no muss. The mothers of a malcadh never put up a fight."
responsible for seeking malcadhs and taking then to tummfraws. They are all barren and in fact appointed because of that. Obeas are rankless, however and each wolf clan has one.
If the deformed and sick pups that they have abandoned survive, they can come back to the clan and become a gnaw wolf.
Obeas are the old, barren, rankless, and stertile she-wolves. They
are frowned upon and gossiped about by pregnant or nursing she-wolves,
believing that the Obea can look into their womb and curse a pup. Father
wolves seem to look right through them and not care.
In Lone Wolf, the Obea of the MacDuncan clan is a tawny she-wolf named Shibaan. But Shibaan was no ordinary wolf or Obea. She was able to track down any by-lang she-wolf.
Morag, a silver she-wolf, went by-lang
on her third litter of pups. Despite her tricks, such as urinating only
in ice-free parts of the river, Shibaan is able to track her down. She
takes the silver pup, who has a splayed paw, to an icy river bank. However, the pup is rescued by a grieving she-bear and Shibaan was an Obea.
named Faolan.
Later, Shibaan is seen taking a pup with a half hind paw to its tummfraw. Aftershocks from a previous earthquake kill her, and she imagines herself running to rescue the pup.
After Shibaan passes away, Lael is chosen as the new MacDuncan Obea. On his journey back to the Carreg Gaer, Faolan sees her carrying a tawny she-pup to a moose trail.
The MacHeath Obea was Airmead.
At the Carreg Gaer of the MacHeath clan, Airmead, along with many of the other of the pack wolves, appears watching how Edme talks to Dunbar about ripping out her eye. When she says "I was born a poor malcadh, was I not?", she turns to the MacHeath Obea, which no one seems to notice. Soon Airmead comes up to Dunbar and Edme, but Dunbar snarls and pushes her to the ground. Edme then says "No need to abuse the Obea" then headbutts Dunbar, saying,"Who was it who tore out my eye? You, Dunbar?"
Airmead was the MacHeath obea.
Later in the chapter "The Obea Speaks", Airmead finds Edme and tells her to follow her, so they can dig a snow pit. She tells Edme
about what happens to wolves who try to leave for the MacNamara clan,
how Dunbar MacHeath killed her mother and her own plans to leave for the
clan east of the HacHeaths.
In the chapter "Escape of the She-Wolves", Katria,
a she-wolf from the Carreg Gaer of the MacHeath clan, is leaving for
the MacNamaras. She finds Airmead, who says she knew about her leaving.
When Katria
asks how, Airmead said she was watching her, and that she herself was
leaving for the Namaras. She says she was afraid to go by herself and
tells Katria to cover her tracks, as she has done.
While traveling, Katria and Airmead meet Brangwen and Morag. They later appear at the war and stop Dunbar's slink melf from killing Grizz.
The meaning of this spiral is still unknown. Faolan
thinks this design is part of a bigger destiny, or a greater harmony.
It could also mean he is the chosen one, or maybe a cursed one. We may
never know.
Also, certain things (mainly in Watch Wolf) seem 'hauntingly
familiar'. For example, when Faolan recives his Watch necklace, it seems
"hauntingly familiar", also that he continues to say old wolf words, so
far unnoticed to him.
Faolan was born with an unknown mark on his left paw, which is also splayed, making him a malcadh. As he is exploring the northern part of the Beyond, coming back from the Outermost, searching for his adoptive mother, Thunderheart
(who, unknown to him at the time, is dead), he discovers a cave called
the Cave Before Time. He starts exploring the cave, and looks at the
markings on the walls of the cave that form pictures, and he keeps
coming across the same mark on his paw, the spiral mark.
In Shadow Wolf, when Faolan caused the byrrgis to collapse, he is to receive a punishment called the "Gnaw Bite". And to make it more humilitating, Heep is assigned to administer it, but he is too scared of the spiral print in the mud to do it.
Faolan's spiral in fire.
Faolan is then sent to the Carreg Gaer to visit Duncan MacDuncan. There is a fire in the cave. Duncan begins to wonder if Faolan
has the fire-sight, a rare ability to see through the flames. The
chieftain wonders if the young gnaw wolf sees the cold before the summer
moons, if the Long Cold would return. But all Faolan sees in the flames is his spiral mark.
In Watch Wolf, when Faolan and Banja begin to fight, Finbar the Fengo says to do Paw Right but Banja is too scared to touch Faolan's malformed paw. She touches it, finally, only to turn away and stumble back, with a shocked expression on her face.
Later in the second-to-last/last chapter, the Sark and Gwynneth take Faolan to see his first milkgiver, Morag, who is blind. When they both realize they are mother and son, Faolan lifts his splayed paw and Morag licks the spiral mark. Faolan likes how this felt. The Great Chain (also called "the Order") is what gn The great chain is in a way like the chains humans use. Every link serves a purpose.
The Great Chain is the center of all cultures, rules, and beliefs of
the wolves of the Beyond. Without it, the wolves would break apart and
become as savage as the outclanners. It is also called "the Order".
Faolan, Edme, Tearlach, the "Whistler", Creakle, and Heep are all required to carve the
reat Chain on bones. According to Faolan, the Great Chain has many different orders for gnaw wolves to gnaw. Faolan is up to the fourth order because of his amazing carving skills, making many wolves superstisous of him.
With it snowing in the summer moons, prey is scarce, and many wolves are dying. The Order is starting to break down.
Faolan, Edme, Mhairie, Dearlea, and the "Whistler" talk about how the Great Chain is breaking apart and shattering in the Beyond.
In Spirit Wolf, in order to rescue Edme, Faolan decides to make a Great Chain of wolves. Faolan thinks of it because being a gnaw wolf, along with the Whistler, they are very familiar with the Great Chain. Mhairie and Dearlea ask if that's blaphemous, but Faolan and the Whistler insist it isn't; for the Beyond had broken.
A tummfrawis the place where Obeas leave malcadh pups to die. There are several kinds of tummfraws, such as rivers to drown, open spaces, an area where the malcadh may be eaten, crushed by elk, deer, moose, or caribou, or simply die of starvation and/or hypothermia. Another tummfraw might be mountains, where avalaches can happen, which is where the late Fengo, Hamish, was left.
Tummfraws are where Obeas abandon malcadh pups to die. They are basically anywhere where it is hard to survive or any unlucky place. Like Faolan's: a cracking icey riverbank.
After winning a gaddergnaw and before joining the Sacred Watch, a gnaw wolf is told his or her tummfraws by the Fengo. It is said when they reach their place of abandonment, the gnaw wolf feels a connection. That is part of their Slaan Leat.
A silver she-wolf, Morag, is going to give birth to her third litter. But she sensed that this birth would not be same as the others, so Morag went by-lang. However, Shibaan, the obea, tracked her down and took the only silver pup, who had a splayed paw, to the tummfraw of a riverbank, where the ice could crack any minuteAn icy river is an example of a tummfraw. This was where Faolan was left to die by Shibaan.
. When the pup is about to drown, he is rescued by a female grizzly, who had lost her last new-born to a pair of cougers. She takes him in and names the pup Faolan. "Fao" meaning both wolf and river. And "lan" means gift. And The grizzly becomes known as Thunderheart to Faolan. He called her "Thunderheart" because the sound of her thunderous heart beating.
In Shadow Wolf, Duncan MacDuncan dies and climbs to the Cave of Souls. Lael, the new MacDucan Obea, used a clearing with a tree stump for the little pup she had. The pup, instead of being killed by owls or passing caribou, was killed by Heep, who later blamed it on Faolan.
After winning the gaddergnaw, the Fengo of the Watch, Finbar, tells Faolan and Edme where their tummfraws are. Faolan's is an icy riverbank he knew it was a riverbank because Thunderheart told him so, but he didn't know which one. Edme's was the northmost part on the Crooked Back Ridge. Faolan feels a sensation when he goes to his tummfraw and desides to make a drumlyn for Thunderheart at the cave they lived in, yet when Edme reached her's, she didn't feel anything when she reached her tummfraw. This is because she was a malcadh made, and she was never abandoned as a pup.
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