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[OB] a long thin silvery chain


StormingTexan

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I was reading through the interview questions and saw this WoB:

 

Quote

 

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

There is an expensive steel chain in the shops in Celebrant. Is there anything significant about that.

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

*Hands a RAFO card*

That is such a big RAFO. Super-big RAFO.

 
Footnote: OB chapter 102, described as "a long thin silvery chain", not steel

 

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/176-oathbringer-chicago-signing/#e8501

I remember reading this part and wondering what it was but then seeing that WoB has me a lot more curious.

Here is the scene from OB:

Quote

And sitting in a locked, glass-topped box, a long thin silvery chain. “You like?” the shopkeeper asked. She was made of vines—her face formed as if from green string—and wore a havah with a crystal safehand exposed. “Only a thousand broams of Stormlight.” “A thousand broams?” Kaladin asked. He looked down at the box, which was locked to the table and guarded by small orange spren that looked like people. “No thanks.” The pricing here really was bizarre.

I saw someone say in one of the part reaction threads that this could be Adolin’s mother’s chain but Adolin was there shopping with Kaladin I’d be surprised if he hadn’t seen it too. Do we know what this is? I’m guessing maybe an Easter egg from one of the unpublished books I either haven’t read or missed. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Penny Cyanide said:

I assumed it was the chain Shallan used to kill her father. Wasn't it in the weapons shop? 

As described in WoR

Quote

Shallan’s gift was a necklace of fat silvery links.

Seems almost opposite. But then again Kaladin could be mistaking a necklace for a chain somepeople call necklaces chains. 

 

32 minutes ago, Ymawgat said:

Soulcasters are made up of gems, gem settings, and chains, so maybe it's a chain that could become/was part of a soulcaster? Or one of those regrowth devices?

I assumed the chains on Soulcasters were more utilitarian as in only really meant to hold the fabrial on someone’s hand not in itself anything really magical or special but I may be offbased on this.  

Edited by StormingTexan
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53 minutes ago, StormingTexan said:

As described in WoR

Seems almost opposite. But then again Kaladin could be mistaking a necklace for a chain somepeople call necklaces chains. 

 

I assumed the chains on Soulcasters were more utilitarian as in only really meant to hold the fabrial on someone’s hand not in itself anything really magical or special but I may be offbased on this.  

There has to be something special about the chains in the soulcasters because when Shallan's gets cut, repairing the chain did not successfully repair the fabrial. 

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I've started to assume that most of the time when a metal is described as silvery but not given a name it's actually aluminum, so that's what I was thinking of when I read through this part, and it would make sense that aluminum is really expensive.

Though it being a "Super-big RAFO" makes it seem like it might be more than that.

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Yeah I had just assumed it was Aluminium which would explain the price since I imagine there isnt much of it about in the cognitive realm and it has so many potential uses. 

Maybe the RAFO is about how it got there?

Edited by Ookla the Fashionably Late
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1 hour ago, zpoly said:

There has to be something special about the chains in the soulcasters because when Shallan's gets cut, repairing the chain did not successfully repair the fabrial. 

Sorry not understanding your point. If they didnt serve a purpose beyond utilitarian wouldn’t repairing them also not fix the fabrial?

 

@Espella yep totally agree. It’s kinda what I assumed too but that super-big just seems like it’s more. Also as a side note kinda cool we got confirmation Nightblood’s sheath is aluminum.  

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Crackpot theory:

What if it's a Dawnshard? They are supposed to be able to bind anything, Voidish or Mortal. What do chains do? Bind.

Mind you, I think it's more likely that the Dawnshards are locked in Aimia, as they can also destroy worlds, and I don't think a spren would be just casually selling one.

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2 hours ago, zpoly said:

There has to be something special about the chains in the soulcasters because when Shallan's gets cut, repairing the chain did not successfully repair the fabrial. 

Part of the setting of one of the gems was also damaged, though.  I suspect that's more the problem than the chain.

That being said, I don't think the silvery chain in Shadesmar is part of a Soulcaster.

What other silvery metals do we know of?  Aluminum, definitely.  Maybe getting it into Shadesmar takes some hijinks that make it more valuable there?

Could it be silver from Threnody?  Does Threnodite silver have special properties?

So many questions, so few answers!

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15 hours ago, masaru said:

Theory: it’s made of Dragonsteel, hence it’s crazy value.

Yup that's my theory as well. There's a reason for everything Brandon does and I'm thinking the introduction of Dragonsteel in the sample chapters is Brandon subtley saying, "Hey you're going to start noticing this stuff soon even if you don't know what it is/understand it."

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Quote

“You ate chicken?” Renarin asked as Adolin took the helm. 

“For breakfast.” 

“And you talked to the sword?” 


“Had an entire conversation.” 



“Mother’s chain in your pocket?” 


“Checked three times.” 

Navani folded her arms. “You still hold to those foolish superstitions?” 
Quote

“Now, you ate chicken?” Renarin asked. 


“Two plates of the stuff, with curry.” 

“Mother’s chain?” 

Adolin felt in his pocket. 

Then he felt in his other one. 

“What?” Renarin asked, fingers tightening on Adolin’s shoulder. 

“I could havesworn I slipped it in.” 

Renarin cursed. 

“Might be back in my rooms,” Adolin said. “In the warcamps. On my end table.” 
Assuming he hadn’t grabbed it, then lost it on the way. Storms. 

Why wasn't it ever described as a necklace or jewelry? In both instances it is referred to as Evi's chain.

 

Ready...set...speculate!

 

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5 minutes ago, OathKeeper said:

Why wasn't it ever described as a necklace or jewelry? In both instances it is referred to as Evi's chain.

 

Ready...set...speculate!

 

Yep good call and good option except Adolin was shopping with Kaladin when he saw this. He didn’t like the price of the swords and bought the harpoons. Now I guess it’s possible Adolin didn’t see it but seems like he would the way it was displayed and had spren protecting it seems like a hard thing to overlook. Plus I kinda think Brandon wouldn’t have given such a big RAFO instead saying something like you’ve seen this before in the book. 

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4 hours ago, Ookla the Beardspren said:

the introduction of Dragonsteel in the sample chapters

Can you remind me where this is? I figured I'd remember at least vaguely something so cosmere-relevant, but I'm drawing a blank.

On 12/3/2017 at 1:14 PM, Ookla the Effervescent said:

What if it's a Dawnshard? They are supposed to be able to bind anything, Voidish or Mortal. What do chains do? Bind.

This might be plausible. I'm liking the idea of Dawnshards being all kinds of strange artifacts we wouldn't expect, like the Bands of Mourning. 

12 hours ago, echaozh said:

A silver chain, a metal to be worn on your body. It's definitely a metalmind. It's expensive because it's heavily invested. It may not be silver, just some silvery metal.

I also like this idea, although it's really annoying trying to figure out which silvery metal it could be. Silver is inert, Aluminum is some kinds of uber-metal, but nickel is silvery and who knows how many alloys you can get to a silvery color. 

Every time something silvery gets mentioned we start playing the aluminum-or-not game. 

 

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