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Is the Wyrn position hereditary


Arcoss

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Something I couldn't find anything, at first it seems like its hereditary based on how most empires work but it doens't make sense to me here

 

considering how the Hierarchical system of Fjorden works it seems to me everyone could potentialy be a Wyrn. any WOB on this matter?

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Based on what we're told in Elantris, Wyrn was originally the name of a famous Fjordell king but seems to have turned into the title for the joint position of ruler of Fjorden/Derethi high priest at some point later on, as the current Wyrn's real name is Wulfden IV (who is also described as being fairly young for the position, IIRC). That said, like Calderis I'm of the opinion that there's something very fishy going on with Wyrn, which Brandon has already hinted at in the book itself and the annotations. My personal theory is that there's something similar to the classic fantasy novel The Worm Ouroboros going on - in that book, Gorice the Witch-King of Carce is one immortal dude who pretends to be a dynasty by incarnating in a new body every time he's killed, so that Gorices I-XI have all been different incarnations of the same man. So back to the Cosmere, if this is true that would make Wulfden merely the latest incarnation of Wyrn, who has possibly been the same person going back to the first Derethi priest-emperor or even to the pre-Derethi king who got an epic named after him. How he might do this I'm less sure about, considering all we know about Wyrn's magic is that he can apparently see the future fairly well - my guesses would be that he's either a body-hopping cognitive shadow, who possesses each "new" Wyrn in turn, or just uses something like the Dakhor ability to alter someone's appearance (like was used on Dilaf) to periodically allow himself to "die" and be succeeded by a "new" Wyrn. If true, the Skaze are probably involved in this process somewhere.

 

As for the original question, my assumption has always been that if Wyrn is a position and not an immortal individual, that when the old Wyrn dies he either names a successor or the gyorns elect one of their own for the job, a bit like how the Pope is selected. Wyrn directly naming a successor seems a bit more Derethi. But none of the other Derethi positions are hereditary, so my gut says Wyrn isn't either, but I don't think we have enough info to say for sure.

Edited by Pagerunner
Removed OB Spoilers
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