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Found 4 results

  1. After mentioning the name Adonalsium to Dalinar Kholin, the King's Wit, aka Hoid, quickly plays it off, claiming he's speaking gibberish. He drops this quote. Interestingly, while he does use two 'real' nonsense words of Nonsense and Balderdash, the term Figgldygrak was apparently a wholly Brandon invention. It was an amusing word, nothing more. Then, a user by the name of Natans had an interesting idea. Balderdash could be anagramed into the word Shardblade. Perhaps, the same could be done to Figgldygrak, in turn revealing some deep truth about the Cosmere. You can find the thread here: Surprisingly, Peter Ahlstrom himself weighed in, calling the people in that thread "Very special people" Clearly, we were reading way too much into this. The theory was basically abandoned, and we moved on. However, the word reappeared in Rhythm of War, this time in Navani's inner dialogue. Specifically, it was used in the context of writing ciphers that meant absolutely nothing. It was literally meant to be a waste of time. I was surprised to see it reappear, but laughed it off as Brandon lightly poking fun at his fans reading too much into his words. Then the secret projects happened. In Tress of the Emerald Sea, Hoid once again uses the word in his narration. It was another callback to the same forgotten joke. It's clearly used as a synonym for mystical nonsense in all of its appearances, but it kept cropping up. Why keep the joke going? The word then reappears a fourth time in Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. At this point, I'm starting to get paranoid. While it does not show up in SP4, this nonsensical word has appeared in four separate places, uttered by three different characters. Some of you might guess that this is a word that Hoid has invented. However, this is tenuous at best. While he was the first to speak it, we have to consider that both Navani and Tojin used it in everyday speech. You could maybe stretch that perhaps Navani overheard Hoid make up the word, but that doesn't explain Tojin. Hoid is a statue for most of that book, and Design wasn't bonded to Hoid when he said that line. It's at least two degrees of separation. Even more interestingly, Hoid claims he doesn't make up words. Again, from Yumi, Admittedly, this is spoken with the indignation of someone who probably makes up words, but the point still stands. Hoid denies that he makes up words. Where, then, does the word figgldygrak come from in the Cosmere? Let's consider that three different characters of wildly different origins and planets have used this word. Therefore, I propose a theory. The word figgldygrak is Yolish in origin. It's the only root language all of these human characters would share. Is this wahoopli and figgldygrak? Probably. Is it fun to speculate about? Absolutely. Leave your own takes on this mysterious word down in the comments.
  2. Figgldygrak Welp. It showed up again. For those who aren't aware, Brandon blessed us with this term in the Way of Kings. Hoid, as Wit, was dropping some Cosmere wisdom on Dalinar, and used this funny looking nonsense word. While nonsense and balderdash are real words, that literally mean gibberish, Figgldygrak is a pure Brandon invention. Given Hoid's comment, fans began to suspect that perhaps Figgldygrak had some secret hidden meaning, and rapidly began to speculate. Curiously, Balderdash was found to be an anagram of Shardblade, which led many to suspect Figgldygrak could be one. However, those hopes were dashed by Peter Ahlstrom, who in reply to that thread, responded, That should have been the end of this. However, Brandon decided to troll his audience. The word made a triumphant comeback in Rhythm of War. As Navani narrates, This is specifically in regards to putting false ciphers in her own work to distract the Parshendi. Whether this is hinting at some deeper hidden meaning of the word, or if Peter was just having a laugh at our expense, again remains unclear. It was a fun callback, and I was ready to shelve it as a funny callback. However, Tress of The Emerald Sea has come out recently. Guess what word pops up in Hoid's narration? Once again, Hoid has deliberately used the word figgldygrak. Once was a turn of phrase, twice was a funny callback, but three times? Something is happening here. Where has this word come from? Could it be Yolish? Why do Cosmere characters keep using it? Is there some hidden meaning for us to discover? What if it's the sounds of some of the original shardbearers' names, chaotically shuffled? Could it be Hoid's true name, just chopped up and rearranged? Am I grasping at straws? Probably. I don't really think it has any hidden meaning. It's just a nice Easter egg for fans, who sometimes read way too much into what Brandon writes. Still, it's a fun coincidence. I wonder if it will show up in the other secret projects.
  3. Figgldygrak For those who aren't aware, this word was first used by Hoid in Way of Kings. According to Merriam-Webster, Nonsense and Balderdash are real English words that mean "words or language having no meaning or conveying no intelligible ideas." However, Figgldygrak is a Brandon invention, and has absolutely no meaning. This confused some people in the forums, but most passed it off as artistic license. However, @Natans uncovered something interesting. In this thread, he pointed out that Balderdash is actually an anagram for Shardblade. This led to speculation that perhaps Figgldygrak was also an anagram of something that might have plot relevance. Unfortunately, this was proving to be a tricky puzzle, and no anagram was found. The thread got popular, and we were blessed with words from @PeterAhlstrom, Brandon's editor. Undeterred, the thread continued to look for a solution, considering the phonetics of the word. Eventually, @PrncRny asked Brandon himself about this curious word. This doesn't appear to be in the Arcanum, but according to PrncRny, Brandon said: This led to a flurry of new activity in the thread. @discipleofhoid came up with this interesting idea. That doesn't seem all that accurate now, but it was the closest that thread ever got to making a sensible anagram. Fast forward six years, and Rhythm of War comes out. Lurking in Chapter 65, we have this lovely passage from Navani. Of all things, she uses the word figgldygrak. Specifically, she uses it in the context of making ciphers that mean absolutely nothing. I see three possibilites: This could be a rare occasion of Peter and Brandon trolling us. This would be a rather elaborate joke on their end. The thread was six years old by this point, so that would be one heck of a callback. However, let's consider wilder theories In universe, Hoid gave his speech to Dalinar, right before Sadeas revealed the results about the sabotage of Elhokar's saddle. Looking at the scene, it's unclear if Navani was present at that particular moment. We can't rule out that Navani overheard Hoid's speech, and appropriated his new meaningless word. Even if she didn't hear it directly from Hoid, Dalinar and Navani end up spending plenty of time together, so she could have heard it from him. This would be a nice in universe explanation, but let's get even crazier. Hoid's words always mean something. Perhaps the word Figgldygrak is of specific importance to the Cosmere. Perhaps Hoid coined the phrase during his early years, and it spread throughout the Cosmere. The word could even be Yolish in origin. I'm not sure what this would signify, but we know it's important enough for Brandon to bring back a second time. Honestly, I'm probably reading way too much into this word choice. Still, it's fun piece of trivia to speculate about. Let me know in the thread if you noticed this word choice. Do you think it has any deeper meaning, or is Brandon just doing a clever callback? I look forward to seeing your theories.
  4. Words of Radiance, Chapters 59, 60 and 61 Epigraphs, pages 725, 733, and 746 (emphasis mine). We know this to be Frost, the Dragon from Yolen, replying to Hoid's letter. Over the last few years, people have teased some answers out of Brandon here and there, and we now know that Hoid was actually the name of Hoid's master many years ago. And, obviously, the current alias is Wit, but what about that first part? Another quote somewhere (I couldn't find it, though) states that one of Hoid's old names was Topaz (correct me if I'm wrong), so it could be that Frost is asking after his aliases, after all, he opens without knowing to whom he should address his letter. I could be that "the gemstone" is simply a reference to his old name, and that that alias died, and Hoid did whatever regeneration thing he does, moved on, and picked a new name. I do not think that that is the case. The Way of Kings, Chapter 57, page 801 (emphasis mine) I hereby theorize that it is the gemstone itself that died, not the alias itself. Perhaps something Hoid did "killed" it, or him using it lead to its "death." More on this later. Now, I was reading through some WoBs, and I found this: Which relates to the section in WoR chapter 54 when Hoid name-drops Adonalsium, blows it off, talks about taking people apart and stitching them back together, and says his goodbyes to Dalinar. I would say that this subject was very important to Hoid, as Dalinar notes that he seems preoccupied, which is quite unusual. This WoB tells us a few things. 1. The secret society that Gavilar was part of knew, at the very least, the name "Adonalsium." 2. The secret society also knows more about the History of the Knights Radiant, Honor, and the Desolations, than the average Rosharan. 3. Hoid needs to know about them for some reason. What else do we know about Gavilar? Not much, except that he handed Szeth a black glowing sphere upon his death, saying "they must not get it." Another WoB I found: I theorize that this sphere is the gemstone after which Hoid was named, and it has since died, which is why it has gone black and weird. Hoid is looking for it, which is why he wanted to know if Dalinar knew anything about Gavilar's secret society. Frost asked if he has given up on it, now that it is dead. Perhaps he meant "given up on looking for it," rather than "given up on the alias." Source. Since Brandon didn't correct the questioner, this could confirm that the black sphere was at least a gemstone. So? Thoughts? Feel free to poke holes, theorize, and add to this as you will. Thank you for reading.
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