Steven Erikson: Kruppe couldn't be anything but central, at least in his own mind. He's great fun to write, because his game is with language. The opening scene where he encounters his vices and virtues did indeed come out of nowhere, but it certainly set the stage in my mind for how he was going to be from then on. In Gardens, he was certainly my foremost vehicle for taking the piss with fantasy cliches (him and the whole Crokus/Challice thing). In a sense, Kruppe became a kind of narrator/orator in a Greek play, always ready to comment on the goings on with a sly wink. Sure I love him, and revel in how irritating he can be (just like Iskaral Pust).(Interview with wotmania (2003))
'Power had a habit of triggering his own talents; already he felt the urgings of the Deck of Dragons within his head.' (GotM UKTpb, p.265)