[SOS SPOILERS!!!] Trell

[Young Bard]

Note: I haven't read White Sand. If someone who's read it considers it plausible / impossible, please mention it below.

 

Spoilers: Part for length, and part for SoS major spoilers (even though I don't have to).

At the end of the novel, Marasi goes looking for Trell.

 

Exhibit A: Trell lore (courtesy of the Coppermind)

 

 

Trelagism was a dualist religion named after the god Trell. Trell's opposite was Nalt, and the two were believed to be brothers.

Trelagists believed that night was sacred and daylight was profane.

 

Exhibit B: White Sand Comic Book Announcement

 

 

 

White Sand is split into two halves: on one side are the Daysiders, and on the other the Darksiders.  Daysiders have a unique ability to control and manipulate sand, bending it to their will to attack, or protect, as they wish.  Darksiders have their own unique abilities and culture, and must wear thick dark lenses while on the Dayside.  Generally speaking, Daysiders and Darksiders do not get along.

 

I think you can see where I'm going with this.

 

Trell / Nalt = Badavin / Badavin's hypothetical 'opposite' (in an unknown order).

 

Therefore, Trell is either Badavin or Badavin's opposite.

 

To work out which one, I'd take into account two things.

 

1. Badavin has recently been announced to have been holding the Shard of Autonomy.

2. Paalm was fanatical about 'freeing' everybody, especially Wax.

 

(Yes, I know that this argument has been said before. I'm just using it to supplement my argument.)

 

So Trell=Badavin.

 

Questions?

[Witborn]

There is a quote in AoL where Miles says the men of gold and red will come and will rule all of you. Then gets shot and he says worship Trell. If Trell is related to the men of gold and red, which isn't definitively said, then ruling over people does not equal autonomy.

[A Joe in the Bush]

Bavadin is the only shard on Taldain, world of White sand. So Nalt would also be Bavadin if this were correct.

[Young Bard]

Unless Nalt is 'the sun', in which case he wouldn't directly be on the planet. (For reference, I read the quote, and he didn't directly rule it out.

 

Original WoB:

 

 

QUESTION

Is Bavadin the only shard on Taldain?

BRANDON SANDERSON

He is the only shard on the planet.

QUESTION

Is he the sun?

BRANDON SANDERSON

RAFO

Edited October 14, 2015 by TheYoungBard

[teknopathetic]

The religion sounds like it is basedof the Ecology of Whitesand. We dont know much about their beliefs, but the night/day contrast in the story is obviously a reference in light of the SoS events. 

[Young Bard]

Okay.

 

So, Trell the 'Darksider', on behalf of Badavin, goes to Classical Scadrial and does... something. Nalt, a 'Daysider', and on behalf of the sun / Badavin's nemesis, attempts to stop him. They both use powers completely unfamiliar to the Scadrians, which makes them think of them as gods. Trell survives, and I have no idea what happens to Nalt.

 

Trell returns in the Alloy of Law Era, still on behalf of Badavin, converts Miles Dagouter, and gives the spike to Paalm. He also is probably going around now, trying to 'free' everybody in subtle ways. This will give Wax a Bigger Bad for the series, and an interesting plotline.

 

Does this make sense / are there any flaws?

[ParadoxicalZen]

I would agree...but the Nelazan of ancient Scadrial who worshipped Trell didn't really seem all that expansionistic. They revered learning, mathematics and studying the sky and also weren't a very advanced people

[Moogle]

Please don't discuss White Sand spoilers. Even if they're really, really minor, they don't go on the public forums. We have a PM thread where all that should go, or you can join us on IRC.

 

(Everyone here is mostly fine; I just hid a single post talking about a character from the book and wanted to remind everyone.)

[Zmann966]

I still think that there's something to the Nalt = Nalthis thing.

Perhaps not Nalt = the planet, but that the planet is possibly named after him/her, (and if Nalt = Endowment, her)

I know we think Edgli has some derivative name of Endowment, but that doesn't have to be true; conversely, though Endowment is the only shard on Nalthis, it might now always have been so.
Regardless, the name is too similar to overlook, Brandon is subtle, but he also puts a lot of importance on etymology, and evolution of names through time and distance.


Plus, if someone had to ask me to choose an opposite for a "Night" "Autonomy" Shard, I'd probably pick the Flamboyant Endowment.

 

Edited October 17, 2015 by Zmann966

[Ari]

On Bavadin's opposition: Too late, Rayse killed Skai and Splintered his Shard already, so Dominion, a shard dealing with strict heirarchies, is Autonomy's opposite, and given he's out of the picture, is probably not relevant to this discussion.

 

I'm with TheYoungBard on this:

 

Okay.

 

So, Trell the 'Darksider', on behalf of Badavin, goes to Classical Scadrial and does... something. Nalt, a 'Daysider', and on behalf of the sun / Badavin's nemesis, attempts to stop him. They both use powers completely unfamiliar to the Scadrians, which makes them think of them as gods. Trell survives, and I have no idea what happens to Nalt.

 

Trell returns in the Alloy of Law Era, still on behalf of Badavin, converts Miles Dagouter, and gives the spike to Paalm. He also is probably going around now, trying to 'free' everybody in subtle ways. This will give Wax a Bigger Bad for the series, and an interesting plotline.

 

Does this make sense / are there any flaws?

 

I think you're onto something regarding the influence on the religion. It doesn't even have to be two worldhoppers- it could simply be that ancient Trell had a similar philosophy to Taldain's, and they co-opted the religion and set up their Taldainian enemies as devils or negative forces within the theology. Now suddenly all of their friendly world-hoppers have a ready-made front group, and can refer to Bavadin as "Trell" out in the open.

[nikomis]

On Bavadin's opposition: Too late, Rayse killed Skai and Splintered his Shard already, so Dominion, a shard dealing with strict heirarchies, is Autonomy's opposite, and given he's out of the picture, is probably not relevant to this discussion.

 

I'm glad other people had the same thought as me, that Dominion and Autonomy would have been opposed. Which makes sense why they didn't go to the same world, they didn't want anything to do with eachother. The only reason Ruin and Preservation went together, as opposites, was that they needed to work together to create anything.

[DSC01]

I already said this in the "Classic Trell" thread, but I believe that the Trell from Trellism is indeed Bavadin (well, I didn't name him, but that's the Shard I was thinking of), and he intentionally distorted the Trell of classic Trelagism because he doesn't like the real Trell.

 

And Trell is just a worldhopper, not a Shardholder, but he seeded religions around the Cosmere based on the idea of two gods, with one who isn't worthy of worship. My idea is that he is motivated to do this because he is from Bavadin's planet and was disturbed when he discovered his god to be evil.