Whats the connection of Earth and Roshar?

[FlatLine]

I noticed in the my second read through that there are a lot of small things that are of earth, but on roshar. 

 

Here's a WoB:

Q:  Why do they ride horses instead of fast insects of some sort?

A:  That is an excellent question that I am not going to answer.

 

All of the other animals are primarily species with shells on them, due to the high storms and extreme weather. 

 

​There are chickens in shinovar and grass that doesn't retract, both qualities of something on earth. Shinovar seems like a really private place that is different than everywhere else. High storms don't make it there, so I would have to think that their evolution pattern is different because of their environment. 

 

Also why are the Honorblades in Shinovar? It seems like this place has a lot more going on then we know. 

 

...Inspecting a faded painting on the wall. A fanciful picture, with animals from mythology. He recognized a few from children's stories, like the enormous, mink like creature with the mane of hair that burst out around and behind its head. What was it called again?

 

This is obviously a lion that Adolin is describing. 

 

So why does Roshar have mythology related to earth? 

[A Joe in the Bush]

I believe it was stated somewhere that Humans came to Rosahr from another planet, so their previous planet could have been Earth-like, like Scadrial is.

 

EDIT: Help me out here people, didn't Brandon say there was a Migration to Roshar? I can't find the WoB I'm thinking of.

 

Shinovar also evolved differently then the rest of Roshar, as it was protected from the Highstorms.

We don't know why Shinovar is Earth Like. The only time that Question was asked, Brandon RAFO'd it:

E. HYDE

Shinovar seems more earthlike than the rest of Roshar; does this occur naturally or was it somehow changed to be that way?

BRANDON SANDEROSN

RAFO

Edited May 7, 2015 by The Only Joe

[Mckeedee123]

​There are chickens in shinovar and grass that doesn't retract, both qualities of something on earth. Shinovar seems like a really private place that is different than everywhere else. High storms don't make it there, so I would have to think that their evolution pattern is different because of their environment. 

 

Someone pointed out, if I'm not mistaken, in the "Hidden things in the Map of Roshar" thread, that Shinovar doesn't actually belong in the 2-D Julia Set frame that the Roshar map is based on. I'm pretty sure that's a big hint that the continent of Shinovar wandered over from some other planet.

 

Also, by the way, the reason why Shin people are described as "big-eyed" is that they don't have epicanthic folds like other Rosharians, which is further evidence that, yeah, they aren't really from around there at all. I've always sort of wondered if Shinovar is even spiritually connected to the rest of the planet, since spren don't seem to appear there.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Mckeedee123

[Creecher]

To the post above me

 

http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/158326-ancient-aliens

Edited May 7, 2015 by TenzinKendrick

[Quiver]

I believe it was stated somewhere that Humans came to Rosahr from another planet, so their previous planet could have been Earth-like, like Scadrial is.

 

EDIT: Help me out here people, didn't Brandon say there was a Migration to Roshar? I can't find the WoB I'm thinking of.

 

Shinovar also evolved differently then the rest of Roshar, as it was protected from the Highstorms.

We don't know why Shinovar is Earth Like. The only time that Question was asked, Brandon RAFO'd it:

 

I don't keep up with WoB's, but at the very least, I know that the Great Rosharan Migration is a theory, based upon Roshar mythology. According to Vorinism (and the Coppermind), the Tranquiline Halls were the home of humanity, before the Voidbringers attacked and threw them down to Roshar. Part of the point of the Callings is to prepare humans for retaking the Tranquiline Halls in the afterlife.

 

So, according to Vorin mythology there was a forced migration to Roshar on the part of the humans (which incidently makes me wonder how Parshendi fit into their cosmology). I think a popular theory among fans is that "The Tranquiline Halls" were Yolen, and thats a metaphor for how humanity spread from there to Roshar, though thats not confirmed.

[king of nowhere]

BUt whatever the case, there is no connection between earth and roshar, because earth is not part of the cosmere. the connection is with the more earth-like planets, as scadrial sel, and maybe yolen before the skullmoss appeared.

[Relytdragon]

The reason is this: if it was completely unearth like, then the characters wouldn't be human, but then we wouldn't read it because we can't relate to the characters in any way.  The closer we the readers are to something in the book, the more interesting it is for us.  The animals are another way for us to relate to Roshar,but Authors make it another world because it means they can do whatever they want with it, and no one can criticize them for being inaccurate.  And we as readers find it interesting.  A story has to be close enough to the reader that they can relate, but far enough that it is a new experience.  

 

Notice that every story that takes place on a world that is not earth, they have earthly animals.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Rubix
Please don't double post. Use the edit button instead.

[Mckeedee123]

Notice that every story that takes place on a world that is not earth, they have earthly animals.

 

I don't know about that.   Roshar's got some pretty unique crustaceans.

 

Anyway, if you want a definitive reason, it's that most of the Cosmere is modeled after Yolen, which was(is?) apparently very Earth-like

[Iarwainiel I]

I have looked and looked on these boards for this - which I am almost certain I saw here - but can't find it now at all: Something about Shinovar being a "foreign land mass," which makes it sound like a chunk of another planet or moon crash landed on Roshar and was somehow absorbed into its ecosphere.

 

Do any of you know where this is, and whether it is WoB?

 

Like McKeedee123, I have wondered if that part of the continent is connected to the rest in the spiritual realm, and what it will mean if it isn't.

 

I also wonder if all native animal life on Roshar was crustacean or insectoid, or at least whether no mammals or birds are native to the planet, their places in the ecosystem being filled by animals from the other 2 classes until some kind of an invasion event.

 

This is part of what made me think that Roshar wasn't a planet at all - that maybe it had been assembled from various bits and set up as an arena where the battle against Odium would take place. But at a signing, Brandon said that Roshar is a real, honest-to-goodness planet, so that theory (at least in its pure form) is shot down.

 

I agree with Relytdragon that authors provide us with worlds we can relate to, to draw us in. I wonder if it isn't also just so they don't have to spend dozens of pages describing what bunches of weird animals look like, only to get criticized for inventing creatures that are scientifically impossible. Much easier to tweak the known than start from scratch.

[Elsecaller3414]

Well, it almost seems that the natives on Roshar would be the Parshendi, if there was a migration from Yolen.  The Parshendi can grow shells, just like the native crustaceans.  I think that horses and "chickens" were also part of the migration, if such a thing exists.

[FlatLine]

I just found this interesting tidbit on Tor.com 

 

"Shinovar

There is an exception to every ecological rule on this planet, and all of these are present in the isolated nation of Shinovar. In the far west of the continent, separated from the rest of the world by a high mountain range, there is a pocket ecosystem that has evolved without the influence of the highstorms. Here there is soil. There is grass that does not move. And there are also the strangest animals of all; horses, chickens, and pigs. Yes, that’s right: the classic fauna of European earth is alive and well in Roshar. These animals are incredibly rare, incredibly valuable, and incredibly out of place. What are chickens doing on the crab planet? Why have horses evolved in the same world as lobster-dogs?

These are questions we’re not yet equipped to answer. Shinovar is a mystery in the Stormlight Archive so far, but one that is sure to be explained in time. In the meantime, there is another article to be written on this subject, one that explores how humans fit into this harsh environment, how they are contrasted with the Parshendi, and whether, in an alien world, humans are actually the most out-of-place species."