Character · from book 1
Odette
Host of Dungeon Crawler After Hours with Odette, the most-tunnelled private program in the galaxy. On camera a crab-taur in a mantis helmet; off camera a legless human woman on a floating disc who was once a crawler, once Mordecai's trainer, and now makes money from Carl and Donut staying alive.
Race and class, since book 1: Human
First appears: Book 1
Series arc
As of book 4. The series' most useful and least trustworthy adult: a former crawler who took a deal, Mordecai's trainer, a broadcaster paid in access, whose book-2 warning about Hekla is why Carl is alive and whose part in Hekla's crab-ranch sponsorship she admitted on her own couch. Book 4's teleport ban cancels Carl's next appearance on her show and moves her outside the dungeon: in the epilogue she runs Lexis and a second illegal tracker in Seattle's rain — a pirate killed and his partner framed, a null's warrant to be bought, a cat to be sold to Borant, and Bea, recognised in a tent and taken in a bounty cube, 'a much better use for her.' What she was going to say about Chris, book 4 answers; what she wants with Bea, it does not.
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Mordecai's contract, and his history with Odette and his brother | B1 ch. 29 | open · B4 ch. 19 — A liaison hold takes him for five days without explanation. |
| The tenth floor's rules, and Odette's deal | B1 ch. 29 | open · B4 ch. 19 — Carl's next appearance on Odette's show cancelled by the teleport ban; the deal untouched. |
| Mordecai's 'unfortunate' experience with gods | B2 ch. 26 | open · B4 ch. 32 — Mordecai explains withering spirits, feral gods and the Ascendency; the conversation about his own history is still deferred. |
| What Chaco did to Mordecai, on his manager's orders | B3 ch. 7 | open · B4 ch. 24 — Not raised; Mordecai's history with Odette still unspoken. |
| Why Odette sponsored Hekla | B3 ch. 35 | open · B4 ch. 35 — No explanation yet; Odette is busy in Seattle. |
| Bea, alive, in Odette's hands | B4 ch. 35 | open — Cubed in Seattle, 'I don't think she's all there.'; 'we have a much better use for her.' |
| Odette's unnamed class choice | B1 ch. 48 | resolved · B2 ch. 1 — Former Child Actor; the Manager benefit binds Mordecai to Donut's saferooms. |
| Loita in Zev's place | B3 ch. 35 | resolved · B4 ch. 18 — Loita dead in a shielded trailer; Zev back as a temporary PR agent (ch. 19). |
| What Odette was about to say about Chris | B3 ch. 35 | resolved · B4 ch. 14 — Chris was Maggie My; Odette's warning is explained by a rock body with three skulls. |
All threads: Open threads.
Through book 1
The series' most useful and least trustworthy adult, by her own account. Book 1 gives her two interviews, a history (a crawler who reached the thirteenth floor's stairs and took a deal; Mordecai's trainer, who pushed him too hard), and a motive she states plainly — money. She holds first refusal on every floor opening (B1 ch. 36). Her unnamed class choice at the end of the epilogue is the book's cliffhanger.
Through book 2
Her book-1 advice is followed to the letter in book 2's first chapter, and it costs Mordecai his freedom of movement (B2 ch. 1). She is the one who was with him on the sixth floor (B2 ch. 13). On the couch in the epilogue she is at her most useful — the Celestials, the leaderboard, the deity sponsorship, Hekla — and admits she paid almost nothing for them. 'Not as long as you're still alive.'
Through book 3
Off-page until the epilogue, but her warning about Hekla is why Carl is alive (B3 ch. 24) and Chaco's confession is about her (B3 ch. 7). On the couch: the Death Challenge explained and money made on it; Hekla's crab-ranch sponsor was hers — 'It wasn't my husband. It was me […] I hope one day to explain it further'; muted by Loita at Eva and at Chris (B3 ch. 35).
Through book 4
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl | 11/48 | 27–31, 35–36, 42, 44, 47–48 · the book's own page |
| 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario | 13/26 | 1, 4, 6–8, 12–13, 15, 19–20, 23, 25–26 · the book's own page |
| 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook | 13/35 | 1–3, 6–8, 18, 21, 24–25, 29, 34–35 · the book's own page |
| 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods | 10/35 | 1–2, 10, 12, 14, 18–19, 24, 34–35 · the book's own page |
By book
Odette in book 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl
Two Odettes. On air (ch. 28) she is a naked crab-taur in a praying-mantis helmet with breasts on the desk, host of the most-tunnelled private program in the galaxy, who makes Carl say his catchphrase and gives Donut a stage. Off air (ch. 29) she pulls the helmet off: sixty, human, legless, floating, a crawler who reached the thirteenth-floor stairwell and took a deal, Mordecai's trainer, and a woman who drugs the cat treats for a better interview and says so.
Her advice is the best in the book and she charges for it in attention: loot is not random, so stop complaining about pants; Donut must stay a cute cat; never trust anyone whose motivations aren't clear — hers being money. In the epilogue she supplies the Valtay warning, the class advice (pathfinding, let Donut go first, ignore the AI on race), the word 'velociraptor', and a last suggestion she does not name, a class hidden among Donut's choices that will make someone very angry. Mordecai would rather eat his children than work for her; she admits she pushed him too hard.
Odette in book 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario
Present before she appears: her instructions for stealing Mordecai as a manager are followed to the letter (ch. 1), and her fingerprints are on Mordecai's sixth floor (ch. 13). On the couch in the epilogue she explains Celestial boxes and Borant's veto, unveils the leaderboard, warns of King Rust's deity sponsorship and Grull, says she watches Mordecai all day, admits she paid almost nothing for their season, tells Carl that Hekla wants Donut for the manager, agrees that Donut will not leave him 'as long as you're still alive,' and identifies the last number on each line as a bounty.
Odette in book 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
Off-page until the epilogue, but present: her warning about Hekla is the reason Carl is alive (ch. 24); her contract now has a Katia option (ch. 25). On the couch she explains the Death Challenge and her winnings, is called out for sponsoring Hekla — 'That was my husband,' then off air, 'I hope one day to explain it further' — is muted twice by Loita, once at Eva and once at Chris, and screams at the kua-tin between segments before they both laugh (epilogue). Chaco's confession is about her: 'We’d have lost Odette.' (ch. 7).
Odette in book 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods
Off the floor entirely — her show is cancelled by the teleport ban and she appeals (ch. 19) — but the warning about Chris she tried to send (ch. 10) comes true when Maggie speaks through him (ch. 14), and Orren clears her as Carl's source (ch. 19). The epilogue puts her behind Lexis in Seattle: a sac pirate killed and his partner, a null, framed for it, a null's warrant to be bought, a cat to Borant for the walk-on bounty, and Beatrice in a bounty cube: 'we have a much better use for her […] We can't all have happy endings' (epilogue).