#mamluks

Mozenrath's mamluks have a lot of dark implications behind them that I think about often, though many of those implications come from what are probably animation and/or continuity errors.

Like, what exactly are the mamluks? There's the real-life Mamluk class (more on them below) that existed throughout almost all of the 1000s, but most notable difference between them and the Mamluks here is that they're, well, undead. So were they living humans that were converted into undead Mamluks? Were they corpses that were given consciousness through reanimation? If they were ever living humans, do they still have their memories of life?

There's only one Mamluk that we know of that is very likely to have been a human before his conversion, and that's the former Lord of the Black Sands, Destane. If we take Mozenrath at his word (which is difficult because he is the first to admit that he's not one to tell the truth), then Destane was the previous ruler of the land before Mozenrath stole his power, throne, and most notably, humanity. All that we actually see of "Destane" though is him seeming to guard the front gates before kneeling at Mozenrath's feet. That gives me a lot of questions, not the least of which is if Destane seems to remember any of what he used to be.

We do see on occasion that the mamluks are at least aware enough to show fear towards Mozenrath and to respond to his words. There's no secret as to why they may be afraid of him, because, well, he's not a good boss.

Another odd bit of continuity stuff that's been on my mind is how easily they fall apart considering how strong they occasionally seem to be. Any of the Mamluks can be dangerous while wielding a sword, yeah, but the Mamluks have been shown of several occasions to be able to hold the heroes back or even hold them up. Consider Aladdin easily yanking the Mamluk's arm off when he thinks that he's holding Jasmine's arm, then put that against the Mamluks holding Aladdin back while disguised as the palace guards, or, most frighteningly, Genie.

There's something else interesting to get into here with exactly how powerful them simply being in disguise makes them, but I think Mozenrath's illusions is another rabbit hole that would take up too much of this page so I'll leave that for later.

These guys are literally just skin and bones, so what's holding them together apart from magic? Well, the answer seems to literally be threads, because we see multiple occasions of the Mamluks literally falling apart after Aladdin removed a single thread from their body. ...Not even touching the fact that the thread apparently keeps their mouths together as well, as when Genie removes his Mamluk disguise, the last thing to go is a thread that's keeping his mouth sewn shut.

...Except there are multiple occasions in The Lost City of the Sun where we see a mamluk that does open its mouth without any threading seeming to be attached to it, even though it still can only communicate with grunts, moans, and hand gestures.

Oh yeah, that's another thing. The undead Mamluks communicate in grunts, moans, and hand gestures, whether their mouths are sewn shut or wide open. Again, that is very likely just an error when it comes to the open mouth, but there are many implications to be taken from that.

Note: There’s some history stuff here, and I am absolutely not a historian, so take what I say with a grain of... black sand or something. Trust the experts, not me.

There's a rabbit hole to get into here wondering where the "shambling half-dead mamluks," as Mozenrath refers to them, came from. From doing a quick sweep of internet archives (Wikipedia), "translated as 'one who is owned', meaning 'slave,'" mamluks were slaves that were assigned high-ranking military roles in the Muslim world, spreading across multiple countries just under a millenia. This military class was extremely powerful, even holding political titles and controlling entire countries at times. I guess the term "Mamluk" applied to anyone who was at any point a powerful slave-soldier, whether they were still owned or had been freed. Interestingly, it sounds like they ranked higher than any regular citizen of their country, being held in high regard and respected for their status.

There's a lot more that I could get into there, but long story short, they were people who had been enslaved, were given weapons and titles and respect, ended the Crusades, and continued on as a class from about the 1100s A.D. to the 1800s A.D. ...A lot of implications for Aladdin there, but Imma ignore it for now.

Anyway, we could explain away them working under Mozenrath as saying that they're slaves that are owned by him, but why are the only Mamluks we see in the series undead? There's a lot of theorizing that could be done with that. Maybe they were killed by their masters, with said master potentially being the "hard case" Destane. Maybe Mozenrath killed and reanimated them himself. One specific theory that I saw (I think it was put forward by @dvdfairy but now I can't find it) suggests that maybe the Land of the Black Sand was once the site of volcanic activity, with the ash and sulfur being what created the black sands in the first place. If the Mamluks died suddenly due to volcanic activity, then that would definitely allow for a necromancer to raise a full army of them from the dead. Since black sand could also be created from ash and sulfur being carried by water, I'd also like to propose a probably less-likely headcanon that the Mamluks were killed off in a flood.

Steve Tibble on how Baybars dismantled the Syrian Assassins, turned them into Mamluk agents, and reshaped Nizari Ismailism in the thirteenth century.

Siege de Acre, 1291

Artist: Dominique Papety (French, 1815-1849)

Date: 1845

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Palace of Versailles, Paris, France

Description

How the Mamluks defended against the Mongols

Sure, I don't mind. As always, a proper historian is free to correct me if and where I've gotten something wrong.

The Mamluks and Janissaries were not eunuchs, were not given drugs, were not made to change their names every day, and were not forced to kill puppies or babies as part of their training

Over time, they grew so powerful that, like the Praetorian Guard of the Roman Empire, they became the power behind the throne and literal kingmakers, as more than one Ottoman sultan learned the hard way when he tried to rein in the Janissaries to give just one example

The Mamluks and Janissaries did not use tactics and equipment that were millennia behind the curve

Retired Janissaries were given positions of importance within the Ottoman bureaucracy

The Mamluks were the only ones allowed to openly carry weapons and the Janissaries were the first military unit in the world to have their own marching band

To be a Mamluk was prestigious enough for parents to sell their own children into slavery for a shot at being one

As part of their training, the Janissaries were given a formal education

(Its things like this that make me thankful GRRM doesn't have an equivalent of Arabs or Islam in his setting.)

Battle of the Pyramids

The Battle of the Pyramids (21 July 1798), or the Battle of Embabeh, was a significant battle fought during Napoleon's Campaign in Egypt and Syria. On a battlefield 15 km (9 mi) away from the Great Pyramid of Giza, Napoleon Bonaparte's French army won a major victory over a larger Mamluk force, allowing the French to occupy Cairo three days later.