Sidi aka Leso Varen
Sidi also known as Leso Varen was a powerful necromancer who gave Pug and his allies much trouble over the years. He was the oldest of three sons of a mad witch. His brothers were Belasco and Amirantha.
History[]
Little is known about Sidi's early life. He was born in Satumbria on the continent of Novindus. His mother was a mad witch, his father was unknown. His brother Amirantha stated that Sidi was literally mad, he murdered his own mother and subsequently tried to murder both his brothers, though both escaped.
Sidi first appeared in the Kingdom of the Isles during the events of the Riftwar, and befriended William conDoin, the son of Pug. In reality Sidi was the architect behind several dark schemes to throw Midkemia into chaos. His plans were thwarted when William learned the truth and called upon the help of Ka-Hooli, the god of revenge to and defeat Sidi's servants. Sidi himself escaped.
Sidi resurfaced as Leso Varen, a magician in the service of Kaspar, duke of Olasko. Varen used his magic to influence Kaspar to desire the throne of Roldem. As Kaspar's plots to take over the kingdom of Roldem distracted the Kingdom´s attention Varen experimented with his death-magic. When the combined forces of the Kingdom of the Isles, the Empire of Kesh, and the Kingdom of Roldem defeated Kaspar's forces, Varen was killed in the ensuing battle. His soul, however, survived by means of his death-magic.
Leso Varen later reappeared in Kesh. Unknown to the Keshians, Sidi had taken over the body of the Emperor. Posing as the Emperor he influenced the politics of the empire throwing it into chaos. Eventually Pug discovered that Varen was behind the chaos and traveled there with the Conclave of Shadows to confront him. The conclave first discovered that Varen had survived his "death" in Olasko by using a "soul jar", a device of the foulest magic. Unknown to Varen, his soul jar was discovered and destroyed. Varen was confronted by the conclave, but his magic was no match for the combined power of Pug, Magnus, Nakor and Miranda, and he was killed again.
He used a contingency plan, his "Death Rift", to take over the body of a Great One on the world of Kelewan, where he helped the Dasati and their Dark God, a Dreadlord, cross over from the Second Realm into Kelewan. The death and destruction he witnessed on Kelewan drove him mad completely and he threw himself into the rift that lead to the Dasati homeworld, Omadrabar, in the Second Realm. Nakor then killed Varen once again and used the fragment of The Nameless One which was inside him to prevent him from returning to Omadrabar. Nakor subsequently used the fragment of the Nameless One to destroy the dreadlord. This time Leso Varen/Sidi had no means to escape death, so he died for the last time.
'Other possible aliases[]
Lyman Malachy
In the novel Jimmy the Hand, Lyman Malachy was the main adviser to Baron Bernarr. He appeared when Bernarr's wife was dying, offering to save her. The baron accepted and Lyman kept her alive in a coma-like state. Lyman requested resources to revive her and the baron accepted again. Lyman used these resources to study death-magic, and experiment on innocent people. His plans were thwarted by Jimmy the Hand who tried to save his friends. Lyman disappeared, but Jarvis Coe said he will resurface again as somebody else. (It is very strongly hinted at later in the book Wrath of a Mad God that he was in fact Malachy as Varen reminisces about his past experiences and being "hosted by dupes such as the Baron of Land's End or the Duke of Olasko. "The baron" likely referring to Baron Bernard) (This takes place before the events of Krondor the Assassins.