Ulaam
An ashen-skinned off-worlder in a tidy black suit who attends Hoid when he is between forms — physician of a sort, and one of Hoid's long-standing contacts across the Cosmere. Greets the newly regrown Hoid with affectionate dry formality, brings the latest reports from Roshar and other worlds, and counsels against returning through the bubble he has only just survived. SA:WaT:Ch 147
The Crow's Song's ship's surgeon and resident expert on things from beyond the twelve seas — a grey-skinned man with a rack of bottled organs, an ear grafted onto his forearm, and a sideline in collecting interesting faces. He speaks Klisian to Tress only through Connection, his thoughts being in a language she has never heard of; on the matter of which species he is, he allows that on some worlds his kind are the cause of the talking-animal stories. STD:Tress:Ch 27 superseded at SA:WaT:Ch 147
The Crow's Song's surgeon, and the chapter-fifteen "corpse" the narrator promised. A refined, excitable man in an unfamiliar suit of pressed black with no buttons, jet hair, ashen-grey skin and blood-red eyes; he keeps no heartbeat and his flesh is cold, which he calls efficient and the crew calls being a zombie. He freely volunteers that he eats the dead, collects body parts from those who pass through his surgery (your eyes for one of his, perhaps?), and is — bizarrely — the only real source of modern medicine on these seas, capable of healing what amounts to miracles for the price of an otherwise-useless corpse. STD:Tress:Ch 17 superseded at STD:Tress:Ch 27
A member of the Crow's Song's crew the narrator mentions as he is finishing the chapter's roster. He hardly counts, the narrator says, on the grounds that he is dead. STD:Tress:Ch 14 superseded at STD:Tress:Ch 17
Known facts
- collects-body-partsUlaam runs his cabinet of cabinets and drawers as part surgery and part curiosity shop: he keeps a private stock of eyes and other parts taken from corpses, and openly negotiates with his patients to buy organs they are no longer using — naturally, only once they are done with them. Haggling is expected; Ann tells Tress you can usually get double his first offer.STD:Tress:Ch 17
- virtually-unkillableUlaam belongs to a species, the narrator reports, that is virtually impossible to kill — Captain Crow shot him several times when he first came aboard the Crow's Song and he described the experience as invigorating. He has no heartbeat and his skin is cold, both of which he claims are deliberate adaptations to reduce his caloric intake.STD:Tress:Ch 17
- came-looking-for-hoidThe narrator lets slip that Ulaam is on the Crow's Song because he came looking for *him* — Hoid — found him in his cursed condition, made no move to break the curse (the curse's rules prevented direct explanations anyway), and instead settled in as ship's surgeon for the sense of adventure. He has also, apparently, been writing embarrassing accounts of Hoid's indisposition and posting them to mutual friends.STD:Tress:Ch 17
- salve-heals-instantlyThe salve Ulaam hands Tress for her zephyr-burnt cheek erases the pain on contact and, when she rubs it across the skin, leaves no redness or wound at all — medicine well beyond anything else available on the Verdant Sea.STD:Tress:Ch 17
- came-in-answer-to-hoids-letterDid not stumble into the Verdant Sea by accident. Came to this planet specifically in answer to a letter Hoid sent him — and arrived to find Hoid already in the state he is in now, with no clear way to undo it.STD:Tress:Ch 21
- offworlderIs, by his own casual admission, not from this planet at all but from another world entirely — one that orbits a different star. Sailors trade stories of "visitors from the stars" more and more these days; the doctor is one of them, and treats the fact as unremarkable.STD:Tress:Ch 21
- collects-and-grafts-body-partsUlaam keeps a rack of bottled organs in his exam room and offers to trade Tress one of her kidneys for a novelty replacement; he wears an ear grafted onto his forearm — having tried the inner thigh first and found it distracting against his clothes — has spare faces in a drawer, and casually mentions acquiring an eighth. He volunteers that his species is, on some worlds, the source of the talking-animal rumours.STD:Tress:Ch 27
- explains-how-to-take-crow-without-triggering-her-vinesUlaam confirms to Tress that a vine-flare is the right tool against Crow: the spores in her blood guard her against direct physical danger, but they don't care if she is merely immobilised. A shot fired at the deck near her, rather than at her body, reads as off-target and may not be intercepted; once she is wrapped, no threatening moves should keep the spores quiet. He also warns that ambushing her in her sleep would still trigger them — her spores cannot judge intent and will assume the worst.STD:Tress:Ch 46
- digests-himself-free-of-restraintsRather than wait to be cut out of the flare's vines, Ulaam simply digests himself loose in a few key places and steps out of the heap. He cheerfully reminds Tress that by definition he can do anything a human can and more, and his too-many-teeth smile is, he claims, designed to be extra reassuring to humans.STD:Tress:Ch 46
- declines-to-join-mutinyAsked outright to join the mutiny, Ulaam declines: he will offer medical attention if needed but anything further would not be proper for him. He also brushes aside Tress's warning that the ship may sink — Hoid is immortal and he is nearly so, and walking out across the bottom of the spore sea is, while unpleasant, within his abilities.STD:Tress:Ch 46
Events
- STD:Tress:Ch 17 Meets Tress for the first time in his cabinet-lined surgery, treats her zephyr burn with a salve that erases the wound, casually drops a spare blue eye into her free hand, and floats an offer to trade her green ones for it.
- STD:Tress:Ch 20 Saunters in while Tress is at her supper and haggles fondly with Fort over the gull-bones from dinner that Fort had set aside for him.
- STD:Tress:Ch 21 Drops by the cabin to brief the new sprouter, opens with his usual gag about offering a literal hand, pokes through Weev's drawers, recommends Tress practise with roseite for hull patches and verdant for emergency food — and then, almost in passing, mentions both that he came to this planet because Hoid wrote him for help and that Hoid had previously gone to the Sorceress himself.
- STD:Tress:Ch 27 Receives Tress in his exam room and walks her through what Crow actually is — host to the verdant aether, with weeks of life left at the outside. Offers her one of his bottled kidneys, displays the ear grafted onto his forearm, calls in the cabin boy to confirm where the midnight spores came from, and helps her arrive at familiar as the word for what Huck is. Finishes by cutting the ear off his arm just before she can leave.
- STD:Tress:Ch 32 Comes up on deck mid-conversation looking for the source of the rare sound of Crow laughing at full volume — the last time he had heard the like was the day a sailor managed to spear himself in the crotch with his own boarding hook.
- STD:Tress:Ch 33 Ushered into Tress's cabin, declares her *probably* alive, explains that the Luhel bond is a symbiosis rather than a spell and that broken Midnight Essence leaves no trace, then breaks the news that the dragon Xisis only ever takes one form of payment — a single supplicant indentured for life who can be led through a tunnel of spores without panicking.
- STD:Tress:Ch 37 Calls out, unprompted, from somewhere nearby on deck that he can help Tress wrap her mind around the Crimson.
- STD:Tress:Ch 46 In the cargo hold, volunteers to be shot with Tress's modified vine-flare and is wrapped to the neck. Pronounces the design adequate against Crow, digests his way out of the vines, and asks after Tress's brain, then her hands, before settling for the lecture on intent and spore-judgement. Declines to help with the mutiny — only medical care, should it be needed — and exits up the steps disconnecting his ears against Hoid's poetry.
- STD:Tress:Ch 49 At the back of the crowd of Dougs during the duel; perks up at Crow's passing use of the word *hand* with an offer of his own before being shouted down. Later remarks privately to the narrator that he was surprised Crow kept her spore vines suppressed for the whole fight.
- STD:Tress:Ch 52 Tends Fort and Salay's wounds at the rail with one of his rapid-healing salves while expounding cheerfully on the various noses he could provide.
- STD:Tress:Ch 55 Points out that Hoid is currently far too stupid to have planned the sabotage on his own — the jugs he was about to throw out are marked with chalk, the work of someone with more wits.
- STD:Tress:Ch 56 Receives Tress in his office while admiring a sixth finger he has grown for a new ring, brews tea, and cheerfully confirms that no, she cannot defeat the Sorceress — but Hoid can, and almost certainly arranged his own curse on purpose.
- SA:WaT:Ch 147 Steps into the room ashen-skinned and in his black suit to greet the newly-regrown Hoid — *Our little experiment worked, hmmmm?* — confirms the rumors from Roshar, reports on time dilation and the message from Taldain, and counsels him not to go back through the bubble.
Backreferences
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 12
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 14
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 17
- factUlaam
- factUlaam
- factUlaam
- factUlaam
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 19
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 20
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 21
- factHoid
- factTress
- factUlaam
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 24
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 27
- factHoid
- factCharlie
- factCaptain Crow
- factCaptain Crow
- factUlaam
- factMidnight Spores
- factAether
- factMidnight Aether
- factFamiliar
- factInvestiture
- factConnection
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 28
- factCharlie
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 29
- factTress
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 32
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 33
- factMidnight Aether
- factXisisrefliel
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 37
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 38
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 39
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 40
- factTress
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 41
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 44
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 45
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 46
- factHoid
- factTress
- factUlaam
- factUlaam
- factUlaam
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 49
- factCaptain Crow
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 52
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 55
- factCharlie
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 56
- factHoid
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 59
- factThe Sorceress
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 147
- factHoid
- factScadrial
- factTaldain