The Lighthouse

[+honorblades]

Puuli, the lighthouse keeper on the eastern Rosharan coast facing the Ocean of Origins, has a family tradition of awaiting the coming of a strangely-described people:

Quote

"They’ll come with Light in their pockets. They’ll come to destroy, but you should watch for them anyway. Because they’ll come from the Origin. The sailors lost on an infinite sea."

-- Oathbringer, Interlude I

 

His grandfather had told him legends of lost sailors who lived on a hidden island near the Origin. They were foretold to return to Roshar when night was darkest to reclaim the lost lands of Natanan. There are a number of as-of-yet unattributed Death Rattles that seem to refer to an endless night, an endless storm, and lights failing. I believe they may be related to Puuli's family prophecy. Emphasis mine. 

 

• The day was ours, but they took it. Stormfather! You cannot have it. The day is ours. They come, rasping, and the lights fail. Oh, Stormfather!
• Above silence, the illuminating storms—dying storms—illuminate the silence above.
• So the night will reign, for the choice of honor is life…

• Light grows so distant. The storm never stops. I am broken, and all around me have died. I weep for the end of all things. He has won. Oh, he has beaten us.
• I'm cold. Mother, I'm cold. Mother? Why can I still hear the rain? Will it stop?

 

• The darkness becomes a palace. Let it rule! Let it rule!

• They are aflame. They burn. They bring the darkness when they come, and so all you can see is that their skin is aflame. Burn, burn, burn…
  • The last two could instead refer to the Fused accepting Odium & the coming of the Ashynites to Roshar, respectively. However, Death Rattles typically (not always) refer to future events, not past ones.

source

 

So, to clarify: I believe there will be some sort of cataclysmic event on Roshar, probably during or after the end of Stormlight 5. This event will involve the death or otherwise removal of the Stormfather, which will render the highstorms impotent. They will no longer renew spheres with stormlight, and there will simply be an unceasing storm. Similar to the Weeping, but stronger. In addition to this or perhaps because of the chaos it will cause, Odium's forces will seize the majority of the Rosharan continent, leaving Urithiru as the sole bastion of the forces aligned with Honor. This, I believe, is the event prophesied elsewhere in the series as the Night of Sorrows. 

 

I believe that Puuli's family prophecy is related to this event. Puuli's prophecy is not directly in reference to it, but instead referencing another event that will happen concurrently to what I described above. Question is . . . 

 

Is this referring to human sailors from the Natanan area, long lost and coming with Stormlight when none else exists on the main continent? Perhaps with the Stormfather injured or dead, the Origin is the only place to retrieve Stormlight? However, if this is the case, why are these peoples described as "coming to destroy"?

Or…

Is this a prophecy about the Fused & Singers coming to reclaim their ancestral lands? It would certainly make sense for the Fused to have Voidlight even if the Radiants are somehow being denied Stormlight. The Singers reclaiming Natanan could certainly be described as "reclaiming ancestral lands". 

 

The confusing thing to me is the primary characterization of these mysterious invaders - "sailors lost on an infinite sea". This does not appear to refer to any culture on Roshar that we are familiar with, except perhaps the Uvara from the story of Wandersail, told to Kaladin by Hoid. Hoid is evasive on the historicity of this story. Furthermore, the Uvara are never said to have been great sailors or to have been originated from sailors, only that they live on a ring of islands far from the main continent of Roshar. 

 

Is this story apocryphal, or could it hint at another civilization on Roshar? 

 

Is there another solution that I haven't considered? Do you think either of these theories make sense, separately or together? Please let me know in the comments. 
Thank you for reading! 

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by honorblades
I am dumb & forgot part of my theory

[Olmund]

The "infinite sea" sounds a lot like Shadesmar in my opinion, and I think the Fused are the prime candidates for the "destroyers" mentioned there. The "come from the origin" thing is a little messy (since the Everstorm has the reverse direction), but the Listeners were in the Shattered plains when they called over the Everstorm -- and that's about as far East as you can get.

That said, while I think that specific prophecy is already fulfilled, I wouldn't be surprised if the Night of Sorrows plays out as you've outlined. I was convinced the Stormfather would die during Oathbringer when Dalinar was in his downward spiral, and now we've got even more methods/whereby whereby it could happen (Mad Ishar as an unchained bondsmith willing to steal the Nahel bond from Dalinar, Dalinar himself trying to reshape the Stormfather through the power of his will, and anti-stormlight as you've mentioned -- though I doubt they'd be able to manufacture enough anti-stormlight to destroy him completely).

[+honorblades]

12 hours ago, Olmund said:

That said, while I think that specific prophecy is already fulfilled, I wouldn't be surprised if the Night of Sorrows plays out as you've outlined. I was convinced the Stormfather would die during Oathbringer when Dalinar was in his downward spiral, and now we've got even more methods/whereby whereby it could happen (Mad Ishar as an unchained bondsmith willing to steal the Nahel bond from Dalinar, Dalinar himself trying to reshape the Stormfather through the power of his will, and anti-stormlight as you've mentioned -- though I doubt they'd be able to manufacture enough anti-stormlight to destroy him completely).

This part in particular intrigues me, and I think we agree on this. There seems to be heavy foreshadowing that SA5 will have a dark ending, sort of a cliffhanger, specifically with something being messed up with how the highstorms usually work. Given what we know of Dalinar + Odium's deal with the Battle of Champions, it seems to be a pretty safe bet that something will happen with the Stormfather & the highstorm.

Another possibility you didn't mention is Odium's promise to make Dalinar a Fused: that would have disastrous consequences on Roshar if Dalinar is still bonded to the Stormfather when that occurs. 

In other words, I am very anxious about the future of Roshar. Things are not looking positive at this point. 

Edited November 28, 2021 by honorblades

[Frustration]

There is one other possibility we haven't mentioned, The Death Rattle specifically states, dying storms, I think instead of having two storms we will end the book by having one, The Everstorm and the HIghstorm will fuse into a singular storm.

[+honorblades]

10 hours ago, Ookla the Frustrated said:

The Everstorm and the HIghstorm will fuse into a singular storm.

Wow!! What an idea! I have never thought of this before. This is very interesting indeed. 

 

It think this actually makes sense because personally, I view the ultimate ending of Stormlight to be some sort of reconciliation between the 3 Shards on Roshar as well as, broadly, the Singers & Humans. Having a single storm that fuels both magic systems would make sense in this regard. 

[bmcclure7]

On 11/26/2021 at 6:32 PM, honorblades said:

Puuli, the lighthouse keeper on the eastern Rosharan coast facing the Ocean of Origins, has a family tradition of awaiting the coming of a strangely-described people:

-- Oathbringer, Interlude I

 

His grandfather had told him legends of lost sailors who lived on a hidden island near the Origin. They were foretold to return to Roshar when night was darkest to reclaim the lost lands of Natanan. There are a number of as-of-yet unattributed Death Rattles that seem to refer to an endless night, an endless storm, and lights failing. I believe they may be related to Puuli's family prophecy. Emphasis mine. 

 

• The day was ours, but they took it. Stormfather! You cannot have it. The day is ours. They come, rasping, and the lights fail. Oh, Stormfather!
• Above silence, the illuminating storms—dying storms—illuminate the silence above.
• So the night will reign, for the choice of honor is life…

• Light grows so distant. The storm never stops. I am broken, and all around me have died. I weep for the end of all things. He has won. Oh, he has beaten us.
• I'm cold. Mother, I'm cold. Mother? Why can I still hear the rain? Will it stop?

 

• The darkness becomes a palace. Let it rule! Let it rule!

• They are aflame. They burn. They bring the darkness when they come, and so all you can see is that their skin is aflame. Burn, burn, burn…
  • The last two could instead refer to the Fused accepting Odium & the coming of the Ashynites to Roshar, respectfully. However, Death Rattles typically (not always) refer to future events, not past ones.

source

 

So, to clarify: I believe there will be some sort of cataclysmic event on Roshar, probably during or after the end of Stormlight 5. This event will involve the death or otherwise removal of the Stormfather, which will render the highstorms impotent. They will no longer renew spheres with stormlight, and there will simply be an unceasing storm. Similar to the Weeping, but stronger. In addition to this or perhaps because of the chaos it will cause, Odium's forces will seize the majority of the Rosharan continent, leaving Urithiru as the sole bastion of the forces aligned with Honor. This, I believe, is the event prophesied elsewhere in the series as the Night of Sorrows. 

 

I believe that Puuli's family prophecy is related to this event. Puuli's prophecy is not directly in reference to it, but instead referencing another event that will happen concurrently to what I described above. Question is . . . 

 

Is this referring to human sailors from the Natanan area, long lost and coming with Stormlight when none else exists on the main continent? Perhaps with the Stormfather injured or dead, the Origin is the only place to retrieve Stormlight? However, if this is the case, why are these peoples described as "coming to destroy"?

Or…

Is this a prophecy about the Fused & Singers coming to reclaim their ancestral lands? It would certainly make sense for the Fused to have Voidlight even if the Radiants are somehow being denied Stormlight. The Singers reclaiming Natanan could certainly be described as "reclaiming ancestral lands". 

 

The confusing thing to me is the primary characterization of these mysterious invaders - "sailors lost on an infinite sea". This does not appear to refer to any culture on Roshar that we are familiar with, except perhaps the Uvara from the story of Wandersail, told to Kaladin by Hoid. Hoid is evasive on the historicity of this story. Furthermore, the Uvara are never said to have been great sailors or to have been originated from sailors, only that they live on a ring of islands far from the main continent of Roshar. 

 

Is this story apocryphal, or could it hint at another civilization on Roshar? 

 

Is there another solution that I haven't considered? Do you think either of these theories make sense, separately or together? Please let me know in the comments. 
Thank you for reading! 

 

If there is some sort of disaster the tower could serve as a sort of ark. It has portals to all of the countries of the coalition and is not dependent on stormlight (Should some thing happen to the high storm) and the enemies powers wont work there and its completely self substantiating.  And could easily see a scenario were thr rest of roshar is concurred or destroyed so the coalition evacuated to the tower.

[+honorblades]

17 hours ago, bmcclure7 said:

If there is some sort of disaster the tower could serve as a sort of ark. It has portals to all of the countries of the coalition and is not dependent on stormlight (Should some thing happen to the high storm) and the enemies powers wont work there and its completely self substantiating.  And could easily see a scenario were thr rest of roshar is concurred or destroyed so the coalition evacuated to the tower.

Yeah this is exactly what I am thinking too. The Tower is uniquely equipped to handle this type of catastrophic event. And if the normal Radiants figure out how to make use of Towerlight / Lifelight as a way to fuel their powers ... well that would just be the cherry on top.