Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'glys'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Categories

  • Brandon and Book News
  • Events, Signings, & Giveaways
  • Columns and Features
  • Site News
  • Shardcast

Forums

  • 17th Shard
    • Introduce Yourself!
    • 17th Shard Discussion
    • The Coppermind Wiki
    • Arcanum Discussion
  • Brandon Sanderson
    • General Brandon Discussion
    • Events and Signings
    • Sanderson Fan Works
    • Arcanum, the Brandon Sanderson Archive
  • Spoiler Zone
    • The Sunlit Man (No Cosmere Spoilers)
    • The Sunlit Man (Cosmere Spoilers)
  • The Cosmere
    • Cosmere Q&A
    • Cosmere Discussion
    • Stormlight Archive
    • Mistborn
    • Other Cosmere
  • Non-Cosmere Works
    • Cytoverse
    • Other Non-Cosmere
    • The Wheel of Time
  • Related Works
    • Writing Excuses and Intentionally Blank
    • Reading Excuses
    • Sanderson Curiosities & Unpublished Works
    • TWG Archive
  • Community
    • General Discussion
    • Entertainment Discussion
    • Forum Games & Random Stuff
    • Creator's Corner
    • Role-Playing
    • Social Groups, Clans, and Guilds

Blogs

  • Chaos' Blog
  • Leinton's Blog
  • 17th Shard Blog
  • KChan's Blog
  • Puck's Blag
  • Brandon's Blog
  • The Name of your Blog
  • Darth Squirrely's Blog
  • Tales of a Firebug
  • borborygmus' Blog
  • Zeadman's Blog
  • zas678's Blog
  • The Basement
  • Addy's Avocations
  • Seshperankh's Blog
  • First time reading The Well Of Ascension
  • Zarepath's Blog
  • "I Have Opinions About Books"
  • Test
  • Which actors would you like to see playing the characters of Mistborn?
  • Drifted Mists
  • Jaron's Realm
  • Roshar Speculative Theories
  • ChrisHamatake's Blog
  • Paradox Flint's Blog
  • Deoradhan's Blog
  • Storm Blessed's Blog
  • Elwynn's Blog
  • firstRainbowRose's Blog
  • Rotabush ShardBlog
  • Hoid's Compendium
  • InterContinental Adventures
  • Claincy Creates
  • Theories, quotes, and details to keep it all straight.
  • WoR Thoughts and Questions
  • Blogfalcon
  • David Coppercloud's Blog
  • yurisses' notes and theories
  • Lark Adventures
  • LUNA's Poetry
  • Inspiration Board
  • Trying to be Useful for a Change
  • Cosmere Nerd Things
  • The Way of Toasters
  • An Elephant's Blog
  • Shhh Spoilers for Ronald.
  • Wyn's Adventures in Geekiness
  • Words With Ene
  • Dapper's Blog
  • Things to talk about, stuff to do
  • Zelly's Healthy-Accountability Blog
  • Dapper's Music Blog
  • GM Test Blog
  • Rhythm of War Liveblog
  • Zephy’s Art Blog
  • Axioms Idioms & Adages
  • Weather Reports
  • Unnecessarily Overcomplicated
  • 5
  • The Blog of Dubious Copyright Legality
  • Trutharchivist's Rambles
  • Xino's corner of insanity
  • The Perfect Space Opera
  • My Journey Through Roshar (A Liveblog)
  • Lost Metal Liveblog by ccstat
  • D&D campaign design.
  • My Depression Log
  • Story Ideas and Whatnot
  • deltarune AU concept.
  • How I Relate to Every Character in The Stormlight Archive
  • A thing
  • random jank and jabber.
  • FNF crem

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


Website URL


AIM


MSN


ICQ


Yahoo


Jabber


Skype


Member Title


Location


Interests

Found 21 results

  1. Truth Will Be by BlindRadiant (shared with permission) Rated General, 10K words What if the reasons why Glys needed to become enlightened, and how Szeth became Truthless, were the same? Keep reading
  2. From the album: Aismeen’s Stormlight Art

    I just finished a reread of Oathbringer and here’s some art of the Jasnah and Renarin scene at the end!
  3. Introduction Well, this is one of the most incoherent theories I've ever cobbled together. But I think I have something, at the very least. Regardless, here we go. I will first state the theory, for the sake of retaining reader attention, then explain the evidence I have to prove it. Whatever the case, I believe I have found the nature of whatever resonance the Truthwatchers possess, or at the very least an ability they somehow employ. I will delay no further; I believe the Truthwatchers had the ability glimpse the future. Please understand, I have not taken temporary leave of my sanity. I know Renarin is not a true Truthwatcher, and I understand the Surges as well as any Cosmerenaut. Allow me to present my evidence, such as it is. Evidence 1: The Urithiru Gem Archive I think everyone who's closely read the epigraphs has flirted with this theory at one time or another. I quote below an entry made by an unknown Truthwatcher, detailing their plan to deny Voidlight to the parsh armies. See below: It has already been established that the gem type corresponds with the Order of Knight who recorded the message. I invite all to look at the final message, recorded in "a particularly small emerald." Obviously, whoever recorded it must have felt a need to record their foresight. Now, this can be taken two ways. The Truthwatcher had an uncannily acute sense of foresight, and very accurately judged the eventual findings and conclusions of a group of scholars, tacticians, and warriors. The word "foresaw" was used in a more literal sense. I'm inclined to believe the latter, for the fact that the gem was "particularly small" as well as the Truthwatcher's evident need for secrecy. Evidence 2: The Surgebinding Chart It is interesting to note how specifically the Truthwatchers are placed. Directly below the Bondsmiths. Not only this, but a strange line connects the two, completely unrelated to the surrounding art. I am not the first to note this; indeed, another user asked a question concerning it. Brandon admits that there is some significance to this placement, and that Truthwatchers are different from other Orders in much the same way a Bondsmith is. How interesting, especially in light of Evidence 1. Evidence 3: The Nature of Resonances We have some details concerning the nature of resonances. Kaladin and Shallan---and to a certain extent, Jasnah and Lift---have all demonstrated abilities that occur from their two Surges interacting. Kaladin can adopt far more squires, and those of far more power, than any other order. Shallan has uncanny mnemonic abilities that Brandon attributes to her order. The same goes for Kaladin. Jasnah is noted by Wit as having an uncanny sense of direction, leading to some speculation among the fanbase. Then Lift, who displayed a very keen sense of comprehension in the face of street slang worse than that of Spook's. What's interesting is how all these resonances seem have certain common characteristics. These are the ones I have noted. The resonances we do have, and some suspected ones, are at least tangentially related to the Surges that produce them. The resonances, at least in the case of Knights Radiant, seem to follow their order's underlying themes. There seems to be an almost thematic connection between the Surges and the resonance. Evidence 4: Renarin Fear not, intrepid readers, for I yet retain my sanity. I bring up Renarin only to point out the connection between this theory and one of Renarin's main abilities. As a Cosmerenaut, I do not believe much in coincidences, and find it very convenient that a Truthwatcher of old "foresaw" something, and Renarin, a corrupted Truthwatcher, sees the future in intermittent fits. Putting It All Together From all these pieces of evidence, I believe enough data has been gathered to draw conclusions. So, diving right in, we start with the very high likelihood that a Truthwatcher past somehow saw the future. This was something he fear, or was ashamed of, but regardless felt necessary to maintain secrecy over. Evidence 2 introduces the thought that Truthwatchers have some abilities that almost resemble those of a Bondsmith. At the very least, they have something Cognitively and Spiritually related. We know that seeing the future involves the Spiritual Realm, where time has no meaning. The conclusions drawn from Evidence 3 are the shakiest I have to offer, but I'll do my best to be clear. Truthwatchers of Ideals surrounding the nature of truth, and seeking it out. Thus, they are commonly scholars and scientists. They seek to banish lies and understand the world better. More than that, the Surges exclusive to Truthwatchers are those of Progression and Illumination. What an interesting combination. Looking at these purely thematically, a combination of the two might illuminate a future path, a way of progressing forwards. Finally, Renarin. Again, I find it far too coincidental how he can see the future. And perhaps this provides some insight as to the nature of Sja-anat's Enlightening. Maybe Enlightened spren almost lean into the resonance, and that is the pattern of affected Orders. Conclusion None of these pieces of evidence alone serve to help prove this theory. When taken together, however, the connections drawn follow some common paths. If you have any thoughts over this, please comment so. Any and all criticism are welcome. Many thanks for reading, Longshot97
  4. So Rhythm of War gave us quite a few interesting tidbits about Mistspren. I'll start with the most startling observation: at the end of the book there are only 4 known bonds, and 2 of these have chosen to be corrupted by Sja-Anat. Considering that only a handful of higher spren have chosen this, it's rather interesting that the only 2 confirmed ones are Mistspren. But after consideration, I realized that it actually makes sense that if any type spren would volunteer, it's them. First, look at the humans the uncorrupted ones bonded or, in Ym's case, wanted to bond: misfits who try to help those even less fortunate than them, and have accepted 2 things: 1) no one is going to praise them for their work, 2) an imperfect world requires imperfect solutions. Hence why Ym tries to find the best type of shoes for the orphans he has in stock and why the Stump is willing to engage in money laundering. Secondly, the ancient Truthwatchers were 'scientists, scholars, and tinkers', and 'concerned with abuse of power, as well as finding out the truth'. Thirdly, the ancient Truthwatchers were involved in the binding of Ba-Ado-Mishram, and they may thus be aware of the links Kelek mentions between the Unmade, spren, and all of Roshar. Some residue of this knowledge may still be known among their (surviving) spren. Fourthly, according to Kelek several spren were considering joining Odium's forces. And fifthly: the 2 corrupted Mistspren have chosen candidates with the same criteria as the uncorrupted ones. Now imagine a type of spren which is inquisitive, interested in esoteric truths, and willing to use unorthodox methods. Wouldn't this type of spren be interested in exploring the phenonom of Sja-Anat's corruption as an alternative means to end the conflict? So my theory is that the Mistspren (or else: a group of them) deliberately agreed to let Sja-Anat corrupt a handful of them in order to study the effects of this corruption on them and on the Radiant bond.
  5. So I just had a thought when I was thinking back to the Windrunner sticker sheet for the Kickstarter and how it showed Syl: What is the Truthwatcher sticker sheet going to look like, and how close will that be to the order's spren, or will it just be Glys?
  6. Something, i realized on a reread recently. Renarin had to learn to read AFTER he gained the ability to see the future. Soooo. WHO was writting the words under the images? IIRC, I think there was some question along this line about Dalinars visions as well. Any ideas?
  7. Wow! My first big theory! Feels good! I can't wait to see how Book 4 disproves all of this with a single paragraph. So, let's get into things. Some Background Most of this speculation comes from a small argument I had on our lovely Discord about magic systems and methods of access. Yknow, stuff like Bonds and Oaths and breathing in Stormlight. So, at the tail end of this discussion, I had a thought. What is Voidbinding's method of access? Well, you might say Voidlight, but I don't believe the Fused are Voidbinding (yet). But even if that's the case, I assume Voidlight would only be a key, similarly to Stormlight. Not everyone can Surgebind, you need to have a Nahel bond with a Radiant Spren, and you need to say Oaths. So that's what I'm going to call a "method of access" for this theory. With that, let's begin! The Nightwatcher, the Unmade, and providing external powers So, two big parts of my theory are these two nuggets of information. First up is the information that Voidbinding usually originates with the Unmade. The second nugget is that Voidbinding and the Old Magic are "cousins", as stated by Khriss in the Ars Arcanum: So, how does the Old Magic work? As far as we know, it's just the Nightwatcher chucking Investiture at people to facilitate a change. So, if Voidbinding and the Old Magic can be considered "cousins", perhaps the similarities lie here. The Unmade provide an external form of Investiture, either in the form the ability to use Voids/Surges/Voidsurges (terminology unclear), Voidlight, or both. But unlike the Old Magic, Voidbinding seems to be a much more rigid magic system standard of Brandon. It was used (at least in some form, since we can assume that Voidbinding has not been fully explored) frequently enough that the Vorins were able to make a (probably incorrect) chart for it. So, if it's a rigid, Sanderson-brand magic system, how's it work? What's the key? The focus? The method of access? Well... The empty pit that sucks in emotion I can't fully confirm what Voidbinding does once it's activated, whether it's Surges used in a crazy new light, to simply corrupted Surgebinding, to something entirely out of left field. But I can ask you a question: why does Surgebinding love bonds so much? I'd think it's because Honor likes bonds and oaths. It's his "thing". Gravitation even works the way it does in Surgebinding because Honor loves bonds. He likes to make them, he sticks by them, and he uses them for all his crazy magic (sealing away Odium, establishing the Oathpact, etc). So what's Odium's "thing"? What does he do? From what we've seen in Oathbringer, and that ominous quote from the Eila Stele I put before this paragraph, Odium "takes away pain". His followers (this is especially apparent in Moash) throw the blame on someone else. They relieve themselves of their pain, and as a result they feel a depressive void. When Dalinar abuses the Thrill, he becomes unable to be sated by anything but Thrill-infused carnage. There is no emotion unless he is accessing Odium's power. While this is obviously a metaphor for drug/alcohol abuse, I do think it still relates to Odium magically. So, how does this relate to Voidbinding? Well, if we go forward with the idea that the method of access for magic systems is related to the Modus Operandi of their Shard of origin, than perhaps in order to use Voidbinding, you have to drain yourself. Possibly of emotion, possibly of a variety of things that the Unmade ask of you, maybe both, but I believe that Voidbinding requires the user to drain themselves of something. Once they give up their "pain", the Unmade can step in, and provide that internal Investiture source, whatever that may be. I'm not quite sure how it works, but one possible way might be like this: Some person has Voidlight. They breathe in the Voidlight, and focus on their "pain". The Voidlight gets to work and takes the person's pain. Some Unmade steps in, and forges a quick connection with the person, filling them up with Voidy Juice. Ta-da! You've got yourself a Voidbinder! This might not be exactly how things work, and it might not even need Voidlight at all, but that remains to be seen. I will give you my sorrow There's still a chasmfiend in the room: Renarin. He's obviously related in some way to the Void, due to Brandon's chart-pointing and the fact that his Spren is "Enlightened" by Sja-Anat. Since he seems unable to produce illusions (this remains to be seen, but he does seem to have an abnormally difficult time producing them, even accidentally), many people have considered the idea that his Surge of Illumination has been coopted and replaced with the Void/Voidsurge of Illumination. But Voidbinding originates with the Unmade, right? Well, only usually, whatever that means. So, Renarin bonding a corrupted spren. That might be one of the less common methods of obtaining Voidbinding. Now, according to Brandon, Renarin is "weird' and not really fully Voidbinding. What does he mean by this? Well, there are a lot of theories, but one I think works is that Renarin isn't really doing much - Glys is facilitating everything. It's definitely possible for spren to access Surges. Syl does a bit of it, and Fabrials obviously work that way in some form. And now, this might be a stretch, but consider, Right before Renarin sees his final vision in OB, this little line shows up : "I will give you my sorrow". And then the next time we see Renarin, boom. Vision time. I might be completely reading too far into this, but if Voidbinding does require giving up "pain" or emotions, than perhaps to use Voidish Illumination, one must give up their sorrow. And since Renarin either doesn't want to or doesn't know how, Glys has been facilitating it for the time being? Can Renarin Voidbind on his own? Does he need an Unmade, or will his strange bond suffice? That remains to be seen. Ending And with that, all my weird speculation comes to a wrap! Thanks for reading, and feel free to tear into this in the replies. I think it holds some water, and even if I'm mostly wrong, this might be a piece to a larger puzzle. See you all soon!
  8. This quote, one of the OB epigraphs, obviously indicates the Radiant who used this gemstone had some ability to see into the future. From looking at other epigraphs (that will not be cited here for convenience), I can assume that the gemstone indicates the order of Radiant. Those claiming to be Stonewards always use topaz, for instance. Emerald is the gemstone associated with Truthwatcher. Glys is the only Truthwatcher spren we know of that has been corrupted to grant the Knight the ability to see the future. I believe this message was from one of Glys' former Radiants.
  9. I am wondering if Renarin is the first person that Glys bonded or if there were others? For example that other truthwatcher in the epigraph that forsaw things, is it possible he didn’t bond a different corrupted truthwatcher spren, but was a different person who bonded with Glys a long time ago? I posit that what makes Renarin special isn’t the bond with Glys peesay as that has been done before. But that because of the corruption and potential Odium there has always been a risk of someone who bonded with Glys breaking under the influence of visions and potential corruption of Odium. What makes Renarin special is that he did NOT break. And when he failed to break, when he ACCEPTED what he saw, is when he changed the future and became invisible to Odium. If this sounds crazy, remember that as much as Oathbringer has been about people taking responsibility. It’s also been about people who refused to break vs people who did. Kaladin to Amaram: “Did thebear forge the spear? No. It simply identified the spear that did not break.” Dalinar to Odium: “You cannot have my pain.” etc
  10. From the album: Spren

    My take on Glys who is is quite unusual for a spren . . .
  11. 1. I am, like, 99% certain Cultivation inspired the Diagram "It sure is suspicious" that Taravangian managed to figure out all those secret things about Roshar just from being really smart. The primary candidates for giving Mr. T a helping hand have been Odium and Cultivation. Odium's reaction to the Diagram at the end of OB implies that it's the first time he's seen it- and more importantly, there are parts that he can't perceive. It seems reasonable to me that the only being that can hide things from a Shard would be another Shard. And which bits can't Odium see? Something about Renarin Kholin. (Who, it may or may not be relevant, was the one who wrote the Diagram in WoK Prime). 2. Renarin the sorta-Radiant and Glys the sorta-voidspren The most unique thing about Renarin, of course, is that he bonded a corrupted spren. Whatever that means. As far as I can can tell from Renarin's PoVs, Glys is solidly on Team Kick Odium's Chull Back To Braize. This despite the fact that he was remade by an Unmade, and (as per Argent's Secret Hint) gives access to Voidbinding. I think Glys used to be a normal Truthwatcher spren, because he does give regular Progression, and because Renarin's visions sound like a corrupted version of normal Truthwatcher resonance. There's a very popular theory around here that the top of the Surgebinding diagram is the orders and spren closest to Honor, and the bottom is the closest to Cultivation. Truthwatchers are right in the double eye, smack in the middle of the presumed Cultivation-centric spren. 3. Sja-Anat Sja-anat, despite being an Unmade, wants to defect. I think this must be a recent development, or Odium would have noticed. If the epigraphs are to be believed, her ability to corrupt bondspren is a recent thing, too. 4. Theorycrafting: Cultivation's long game Renarin might just be a central piece in Cultivation's long game. What if Cultivation is working with Sja-anat to help her break free from Odium? Subtly, at first, so that at the right moment S-a can switch sides without getting squished by her former boss. What if Cultivation deliberately sent Glys to Sja-anat, to be corrupted in a very specific way which would further Cultivation's plans? Maybe she even helped S-a with the corruption process, which is why S-a was able to "enlighten" a bondspren in the first place. Thus, Odium eventually loses one of his nine strongest minions. And Team Honor-Cultivation gains a new type of Radiant, one that, for some reason, is in Odium's blind spot.
  12. I haven't seen this posted anywhere else, yet, so if it has been, please let me know. So I've been thinking a lot about this recently, and I'm not sure if I've stumbled across something incredibly mundane, or perhaps game-changing when it comes to Roshar, Shardblades, Spren, and the Cosmere at large. I am, of course, speaking about Glys. More specifically his form as a shardblade. When Renarin shows Adolin his Glysblade for the first time, it is described as having a rippled look to the metal, and it's shape is similar to that of a katana. "He took a deep breath, then stretched his hand to the side and summoned a long glowing Shardblade. Thin, with almost no crossguard, it had waving folds to the metal, like it had been forged." In real life, those ripples come from the forging process of folding and re-folding the metal multiple times. I'm wondering if Glys's nature as being Sja-Anat's "son", the fact that he is a corrupted Truthwatcher Spren, is why his blade looks like it was forged, instead of the typical smooth look most Shardblades have. I could be on to nothing with this, but it seems to me that Glys would be considered "co-opted investiture", and that perhaps in metallic form, corrupted investiture would appear like two different metals forged into one, i.e. the ripple effect. ETA - Quote from the book
  13. This month’s Shardcast concludes Sja-Anat “corrupts” a Truthwatcher spren, Glys. The Shardcasters believe Renarin both Voidbinds (foresees) and Surgebinds (heals). Many posters agree. I see another possibility: Maybe Cultivation transforms a Sja-Anat splinter, Glys, into a Nahel-bondable Radiant spren? Sja-Anat says to Shallan during their Oathgate encounter (OB, Chapter 84, Kindle p. 817), In the next chapter, Sja-Anat sadly tells Shallan (OB, Chapter 85, Kindle p. 822), IMO, Sja-Anat juxtaposes her corruption of the Oathgate spren – which she was “compelled to touch” – with her “son” and other “children.” This suggests Sja-Anat’s children are not corrupted spren like “the spren of this device” (a cold description, I think). She doesn’t claim the Oathgate spren as her children or ask Shallan to check with them. Other Kholinar spren Sja-Anat corrupts appear to be pre-Shattering Adonalsium spren – exhaustionspren, painspren, and shamespren. Spren “create” children. Their children share their Investiture. Syl is the Stormfather’s daughter. After the Recreance, the Stormfather “created only ten more” honorspren. (OB, Chapter 108, Kindle p. 1015.) Notum’s great-grandmother was one, who in turn “created” his grandfather, who then “created” his father, who “created” Notum. Ico’s father was a Radiant spren. Though it’s possible, I don’t believe spren “adopt” other spren’s children by injecting alien Investiture into them. The injected Investiture instead “corrupts” them (IMO). Here’s my theory: I think Cultivation transforms Sja-Anat, freeing her from Odium’s influence – “I am of me. Now, only of me.” Sja-Anat remains Odium’s Investiture, but her mind now is her own. IOW, I believe Cultivation gives Sja-Anat free will. Sja-Anat then creates her “son,” the voidspren Glys. I believe Cultivation transforms Glys to make him Nahel-bondable. Glys gives Renarin his powers through the Nahel bond. IMO, that makes Renarin a Surgebinder. A Nahel-bonded voidspren can process Stormlight to Focus any power Cultivation wants it to, including foresight and healing. My “Pathways to Power” post concludes all Shards use the same powers. Brandon says Shards differ only in ”the means of getting powers,” the “WAY the magic is obtained.” Surgebinders IMO gain magic through the Cognitive Connection of the Nahel bond, which Renarin and Glys share. I believe Cultivation wanted Renarin to have foresight. Renarin’s name implies his uniqueness: “Like one who was born unto himself.” (OB, Chapter 52, Kindle p. 515.) Cultivation needs a voidspren to provide foresight because humans personify foresight as “of Odium.” In presenting my interpretation of Glys and Renarin, I don’t mean to impugn other interpretations. All are valid, but none rise to the level of “cosmere fact.” @Calderis, if you look again at my last post in our prior conversation, you’ll see I do account for your “context” when I disagree with you about Renarin’s Voidbinding. As I said there, you may be right, but there is ample room for other views. I do think Sja-Anat is capable of corrupting Radiant spren, and she may have corrupted them in the past. It’s possible, though, Cultivation caused the earlier “corruption.” I believe Glys may be part of a far-reaching plan Cultivation’s long-considered.
  14. Following the most recent episode of Shardcast, I brain spewed forth this idea. As we have not yet seen Sja-anat in physical form, since we have not yet seen her features (her form is a black shadow iwith glowing white eyes), and since she seems to display not only sapience, but also independence of thought and action, is it possible that she is powerful among the unmade? If she has enough power, could she manifest a physical form? Since Odium was preparing Dalinar to fall, could Evi have been Sja-anat? Drawing from the podcast, if we assume that Sja-anat can resurrect dead spren, then it could be that Adolin's communication with his shard blade is inherited from his Unmade mother. This would also make Renarin a son of Sja-anat, and could potentially make him more susceptible to bonding to one of her corrupted spren. His sickness could also be a result of him possessing mixed DNA, or a mix of innate investiture. It also makes sense that Odium would use Sja-anat, posing as Evi, to push Dalinar further over the edge and make him more susceptible to The Thrill. She could do this by constantly challenging his values, or by acting completely out of character and doing something brash, like get captured by an enemy side.
  15. Just wondering. I mean, Syl is friendly enough (except to Pattern). This could be my imagination, but...she did she meet with Ivory or Glys already? Yeah, but I think would create an interesting dynamic. If a spren were friends with another spren, and they're Radiants didn't like each other. Or best friend Radiants have spren who refuse to talk to each other. Does the Storm father have friends? He seems too...ethereal. (And let's be honest, he's a priss.)
  16. So let’s talk Renarin, shall we? Now, if you fine folks are anything like myself, you might have found yourself confused by some of the reveals that Oathbringer brought about regarding Renarin and his powers. This was a twist that I saw coming a long way off, and so I was more than ready when we found out that Renarin had been affected by a voidish corruption and that this was the reason for his strange and ominous visions. If you’d like to see how WoR foreshadowed this moment, you can check out my theory Renarin’s Visions and Truthwatching and see all the reasoning for this twist. However, what I want to do here today is get into the nitty gritty of what’s really going on. Is Renarin a Voidbinder or a Surgebinder or both? Is Glys a Voidspren? How do the visions work? How did this happen? All those good questions are the ones that I’d like to try to tackle here. Theory Disclaimer: Most of these things have not been confirmed in canon and Brandon has been cagey about answering or confirming. However, this explanation is the one which seems most plausible to me based on the evidence at hand. So let me do a bullet point run-down of what I think is happening: Glys is actually a valid Truthwatcher spren, not a voidspren. Renarin is a valid Truthwatcher Radiant and therefore a Surgebinder with access to the surges of Progression and Illumination. Renarin uses Stormlight to power his surges, just like other Radiants. Glys has been corrupted by the Unmade Sja-anat. As a result of this corruption, in addition to his normal Truthwatcher powers, Renarin is afflicted by involuntary visions of the future which neither he nor Glys can control. The points above are those that I feel are fairly concrete, and I’ll go into the reasoning behind those ideas later below. However, upon this assumed situation, I believe that the following ideas are viable possibilities. The following points are less certain than those above, but these are the ideas that seem the most plausible to me, given the circumstances: The powers that the Fused display are expressions of Voidbinding. Renarin’s future visions are possibly also an expression of Voidbinding, but his other powers are not. If Renarin’s Voidbinding and Fused Voidbinding work in the same way, it is possible that all Voidbinding powers come from the influence of the Unmade, in that Sja-anat can grant Voidish future visions while other Unmade grant different powers, like illusions, frictionlessness, or gravity, as we see other Fused use. And upon these assumptions, we find several questions arise regarding the nature of the situation: If both Renarin and the Fused are Voidbinders, is a spren involved in the granting of Voidbinding powers to the Fused in the same way they were granted to Renarin? If Voidish powers are each affiliated with an Unmade, why are there seemingly 10 powers on the Voidbinding chart if there are only 9 Unmade? Does Odium grant a Bondsmith equivalent himself? If Voidbinding powers are not granted by the Unmade, how are they gained? In what way are Renarin and the Fused similar in situation that grants them the same powers? What caused the hypergraphia that accompanied the visions of the Everstorm, and why does that no longer happen when Renarin gets visions? All of which are fascinating, but unfortunately, more likely to get a RAFO than an answer in a signing line. The first I have already asked and been RAFO’d and I believe the others are going to be answered similarly, if attempted. If I had to guess, these are reveals that will happen in Renarin’s flashback book. Considering that book is in the back five, we’ve probably got a while to wait. Alas. Regardless, no use fretting over the information we don’t have when it’s so much more fun to dissect the information we do have. And Oathbringer certainly gave us plenty to dissect. So, let’s take the situation that I’ve outlined above and break it down with some textual evidence to help explain where these ideas come from. Glys the Truthwatcher spren and Renarin the Radiant This is one of the easiest points to guess, considering the wealth of information we have on the topic. A lot of this is due to the Renarin point of view chapters in Part 5. (Thank you, Brandon, I owe you my soul for those.) Renarin’s surges seem to work perfectly normally. He heals people with Regrowth at several points in the novel, fairly naturally. I believe we see a slight, unconscious use of Illumination in the scene with Adolin and Gallant, when Renarin makes a perfected vision of Adolin appear. Renarin also mentions trying to train with Shallan in using Illumination, but he has difficulty with it. Now, it could be assumed that Renarin’s failure to grasp Illumination is a sign that his surges are wrong, and yet I think this is simply another example of a Radiant finding one surge more easy to pick up than another. Shallan is naturally better at Illumination than Transformation. Lift is better at Abrasion than Progression. It seems common enough that Radiants have an affinity for one of their surges over the other. For Renarin, I believe this is that Progression is easier than Illumination. In addition to his surges, Renarin’s other expressions of Radiant abilities seem normal. Glys is able to form as a Shardblade, which no one deems as looking out of the ordinary. It also functions to open Oathgates. His healing factor works as the other Radiants’, albeit augmented by his power of Progression to make healing extremely rapid. Most tellingly, his powers use Stormlight, just as all the others do. Ivory says that there is a rightness to the bond between Renarin and Glys and that spren of Odium should not be able to bond with humans under normal circumstances. Through all of these things, one can assume that Renarin and Glys have a valid Nahel bond and are bonded as Radiant and spren, just as the others are. Sja-anat’s Corruption However, in addition to the normal suite of a Truthwatcher’s powers and the Nahel bond, there is another factor in the mix: Sja-anat. When Sja-anat speaks with Shallan she speaks of her son when telling Shallan that she is not an enemy, as though he would vouch for her. This is undoubtedly Glys. It’s interesting to note that this seems to indicate that Glys is working with Sja-anat, possibly willingly. Perhaps she approached a Radiant spren hoping that by giving changing one of them, she would have an ally who would help the Radiants trust her. Or perhaps it’s something else. Hard to say at this point. Regardless, it is because of this that Renarin can see the future, and why he is consumed with visions. Though it is possible that other Truthwatchers have a manner of foresight, I don’t believe it would manifest as Renarin’s does. Ivory states that future sight is a power of Odium, as the Vorins believe. I believe Sja-anat has been hoping to swap sides and is using Glys as a way to do it, as well as helping Shallan instead of killing them when they went through the Oathgate. Voidbinding So in the end, what is Voidbinding? Hard to say with certainty, since despite how often we see Voidbinders, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of answers about it. Working under the assumption that the Fused’s powers are Voidbinding we can see a few things, at least: Voidbinding seems to line up with surges in many cases, as we see Fused manipulating gravity and friction, just like Kaladin and Lift. It’s hard to tell if this means that Renarin’s corrupted sight is also a form of Voidbinding as well, since it doesn’t seem to line up with a Surge the way the others are. The Listener Song of Secrets speaks of Nightform, a form of power which can see the future, which seems as though it might be more similar to what Renarin can do than anything else we’ve seen. The question is, Renarin is getting his void-powers from a corrupted spren, but I don’t believe that the Fused have a corrupted spren giving them powers, which initially made me think that Renarin’s visions were not Voidbinding like the Fused. Now, I’m not so sure. For the moment, I think I will lean toward the idea that Renarin’s visions and the powers of the Fused are both Voidbinding somehow, even if we don’t have details to confirm anything either way. There’s just not enough answers for the moment. Time will tell. If anyone can get answers out of Brandon regarding this topic, I’d be greatly appreciative but I doubt he’s going to answer things. Conclusion There’s a lot that we just don’t know yet, but I’m excited to see where this goes in the future. For now, this is my best guess at what’s really going on until we get some more information on all of it. One thing that hasn’t changed is that I adore Renarin with all of my heart and somehow Brandon continues to write his plotline and character arc in ways which are intensely fascinating to me. Oathbringer has been a triumph and I can’t wait to see what’s in store!
  17. sheep

    Secret Keeper

    What does a Truthwatcher spren look like? Glys is designed to be somewhere in between Pattern and Wyndle, fitting the description of Ym's spren from the interlude chapter. For that matter, what does Renarin's toy thing look like? Another picture of Renarin, this time wearing Shardplate:
  18. Should I have known this already? I kinda recall Sansderson indicating that Radiant spren are generally of the opposit sex from the bonded Radiant. I don't think Renarin is homosexual but I'm surprised we got a same sex nahel bond so early. Naturally, Renarin is the one dude whose head we aren't in....
  19. Before I start this topic let me make a few things clear. I love Renarin. I have several people in my life with both Autism Spectrum Disorder and Epilepsy. So I will be rooting for any character with such traits. Also, I Brandon doesn't write purely evil characters. He writes selfish, misguided, cruel, foolish, rude, prideful, wrathful, greedy, and jealous characters, but can anyone say they are pure evil? Ati who became Ruin was corrupted by his shard. Sadeas followed Vorism as he understood it. Vorism considers soldiers to be this highest male calling. It is a violent religion when you think of it that way. Hrathen started as an antagonist who realized he had followed the wrong people and, if you think about it, Dilaf was no more evil than Moash. Even Roshone is now showing a more human side. So suggesting that Renarin might be influenced by Odium is not saying he will turn evil or that he will be an antagonist. Shallan has a better chance of becoming an antagonist than Renarin at this point. Something is going on with Renarin that is worrisome. We have been told repeatedly that to see the future is of the voidbringers. Maybe it is a power of Cultivations as well, but other than Honor suggesting that Cultivation is better at seeing the future than him, we have no suggestion this is one of her common powers. Just because she is better than him, does not mean she is as good as Odium. She might be but we simply do not know. So Odium seems to be the primary shard for seeing the future on Roshar. Now we have only Renarin's word that a Truthwatcher sees. And to be honest, even Renarin has not explained what that means. We gather from his actions in WoR, such as scratching glyphs on walls predicting the Everstorm and his actions when the Everstorm comes, what seeing implies. That's also in WoR we read from Navani's memoir that the scratches on the wall suggest something bad and seeing the future is of the voidbringers. She knew when she wrote that memoir who had written those glyphs and why it was a bad thing. However, Renarin is not the only Truthwatcher we have read about. There is Ym, who doesn't seem to be getting visions before Nale kills him. But that was such a short interlude, so we can't be sure he wasn't scratching glyphs warning about Nale or the Everstorm. However, the is another Truthwatcher. The Stump from Edgedancer. Now we get a bit more time with her and with people who know her. I think someone would have said, not only is she mean to kids and laundering spheres, she has fits where she writes about the future. With all those kids there, one of them would have seen that and said something to Lift. So why is Renarin the only Truthwatcher having visions? Also, consider the surges of the Truthwatchers: Lightweaving and Progression. We have not seen Renarin use these surges, but we have seen these surges used. Lightweaving creates, for lack of a better word, holograms. Progression grows plants and heals people. Where in either of these surges is the ability to see the future? It's not Progression. Progression is a pretty straightforward surge. So maybe Lightweaving has the ability to see the future some how? Except, why can't Shallan do it? She did draw events that could have been in the past or present, but she has yet to draw the future. If Lightweaving has the ability to see the future, Brandon is going to have to do some great plotweaving to make it believable. Nonetheless, we have no solid evidence currently that the Truthwatchers surges give the ability to see the future. So why can Renarin see the future? And why is he so worried about Odium's champion? And why did Brandon hang this lamp on Renarin's abilities near the end of chapter 2 of Oathbringer? When an author points out something but does not explain it, that means pay attention this is important. He did this in Mistborn with Kelsier's real plan. He did this in Shadows of Self when hinting what Bleeder's real problem was. He did it with Kaladin's reason for becoming a slave for over half of TWoKs. This passage, especially the last sentence is a huge red flag that something is up with Renarin's powers. I don't think he has killed anyone at this point, nor do I think he will be Odium's champion and go evil. However, something is going on and we need to pay attention. I do hope Renarin gets past whatever it is in this book and is stronger for it. I'm rooting for him and he has his own book in the back half of the SA. I will be very disappointed if he goes evil-ish. Of course, he can't go truly evil, because Brandon doesn't write truly evil characters.
  20. I'm new here so this may have been discussed before, but one of the things I am most curious about is how the different Spren in the book will get along. Will they become friends, rivals, something more...? Here are some of my thoughts. Syl Pattern Glys Ivory Wyndle Stormfather Nightwatcher How do you think these Spren will respond to each other? Do you think we will have a Spren POV in the next book?
×
×
  • Create New...