Outbreak111

Sorry for bringing this thread back up again but I just reread the Rithmatist again and then read this thread and thought I would add my two cents. I believe that what gives someone the ability to bind a shadow blaze would actually make someone a subpar Rithmatist. I am not entirely sure how to phrase it, but let's look at the differences between Joel and other Rithmatists. Joel is very analytical, he must understand things, he does not understand chalklings because there is no "number". He demands that things be understandable and ordered much like how time is an alien concept to them, the order of his mind would also be an alien concept which is actually intriguing to them. However Joel cannot accept the shadowblaze because it is just as alien to him, he cannot understand it so he rejects it. Melody is a terrible Rithmatist by societies standards because she is the opposite, however she has a keen understanding of chalklings and to me chalklings seem to be "lesser" shadowblazes. Perhaps her ability to accept that the chalklings understand her and she can understand them makes her a more acceptable vessel than Joel. I believe the bindingagent is acceptance or belief or wonder, the ability to see something and just accept it as it is. It seems important to me that the two cases we know of where someone was older than 8 and binds a shadowblaze are a 9 year old (not much different than an 8 year old in their ability to accept that which is unnatural) and the head of a church. Who could be more accepting of something not of this world than the head of a religious order. Perhaps he thought of it as an angel or a vision from God but he would have accepted it as it. Everyone says Joel should be a Rithmatist because he embodies what Rithmatists become after years of training, not because he embodies what a Rithmatist is at the start of their journey. I believe Joel did not become a Rithmatist because he could not accept it. I believe Melody believed he would because of their previous conversation. She had explained chalklings to him and from her point of view he accepted her explanation even though he could not understand it. He rejection of her explanation was internalized. Perhaps the Mun family grasps this and teaches acceptance to their children. Their may still be a set number of Rithmatists but by being completely open to the possibility they would be more likely to be chosen. So what seems to be a statistical impossibility becomes slightly more probable. We also know that the church has little or nothing to do with someone becoming a Rithmatist. It states that sunjeong become Rithmatists despite being Buddhist. I believe that is telling that Mr. Sanderson specifically mentions Buddhists as they absolutely accept things that are even things very difficult or impossible to accept by others. Suffering is a natural symptom of being unable to accept what is. If you desire what is not then you suffer. Accepting what is and not desiring what isn't will lead to enlightenment. TLDR: kids become Rithmatists because they accept a shadowblaze as it is. Kids spend 10 years learning to understand, becoming analytical, more reserved in their acceptance because the wonder is gone because of understanding to become "good" Rithmatists. To become a Rithmatist you must see a shadowblaze and be able to accept it as it is for what it is without understanding it.