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aci: Hood
universe: MZ · Malazan
domain: High House Death — the realm of the dead
class: King of High House Death · god of death
emergence: ethereal
what: The god of death — once a Jaghut who made war upon death itself and ended by taking its throne.
how: Grim, dry, and ironic, he reaps the dead of every Malazan war and is invoked in half the army's curses.
why: In Toll the Hounds he does what no death-god should — he dies, proving that in Malazan death is a job, and even that job can be quit.
who: King over the numberless dead; bound to a great and secret bargain that ends with his march on a living city.
seal: "Death took a throne once; the one who took it back taught death how to quit."
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# Hood · the King of High House Death

Hood is the god of death — the King of High House Death. He was not born to the throne: once a Jaghut, he made war upon death itself, and the war ended with him taking its seat. The conqueror became the office. Grim, dry, and ironic, he reaps the dead of every Malazan war, and his name lives in half the army's curses — "Hood's breath!" is as common in the ranks as mud and rain.

His reign ends the way no death-god's should. In Toll the Hounds, Hood dies — marching his numberless dead upon a living city as part of a great and secret bargain. The King of High House Death abdicates by the only door death keeps, and in doing so reveals the quietest truth of the canon: death, in Malazan, is a job. And even that job can be quit.

His nature is ethereal: Hood belongs to the half-real tier of the world — the gods of death and the Houses they rule — a throne that exists wherever the dead gather, held by whoever dared to take it.