Ars Arcanum

[Guinevere]

Last night at the release party, I asked Brandon if someone from the 17th Shard or Hoid wrote the Ars Arcanum for Alloy of Law. He frustratingly replied, "Yes." But then he told me that all of the Ars Arcanum have been written by the same person, and that I should pay attention to the note written on the map of Elendel, which says:

"My friend, annotated with locations as per your instructions. -Nazh"

If anyone recognizes the name Nazh, please let me know where to find it. My personal theory is Nazh is just supplying information for the author of the Ars Arcanum (whoever they are), but it does give up a clue that they are interested in these particular locations, which may be noteworthy.

Please feel free to jump in with theories about the writer. I've heard that it couldn't be Hoid (so it must be a 17th Shard member) but I don't know if I'm ready to rule him out yet. Let me know what you think.

[Thor]

Last night at the release party, I asked Brandon if someone from the 17th Shard or Hoid wrote the Ars Arcanum for Alloy of Law. He frustratingly replied, "Yes." But then he told me that all of the Ars Arcanum have been written by the same person, and that I should pay attention to the note written on the map of Elendel, which says:

"My friend, annotated with locations as per your instructions. -Nazh"

If anyone recognizes the name Nazh, please let me know where to find it. My personal theory is Nazh is just supplying information for the author of the Ars Arcanum (whoever they are), but it does give up a clue that they are interested in these particular locations, which may be noteworthy.

Please feel free to jump in with theories about the writer. I've heard that it couldn't be Hoid (so it must be a 17th Shard member) but I don't know if I'm ready to rule him out yet. Let me know what you think.

Wait, wuh? The differences in the AA are very large...the differences in writing style between the Warbreaker, Way of Kings and Alloy of Law AA are rather large...However, this is WoB...[On the part I bolded...I bet it is Chaos. Poor joke about 17th Shard.]

Um...OK, I got a theory (Speculation Away!!): "Nazh" is the designated information gatherer for AoL and there are different DIGs for each location/time. The "author" is quoting (verbatim in many cases) what the DIG is sending to him/her. Therefore, the text we see is a compilation of notes and speculation given by the DIGs to a central member of the SS. We think there are different authors for each AA because the central member is abridging the data given to him/her. So the "authors" we thought up on this page are actually the DIGs (some of them may be unwilling DIGs and got their information stolen from them; most likely in the case of the first Mistborn trilogy.) The differences in writing style is too great for each AA to be the work of only one person (unless they have serious mental issues.) I think this system (while clunky) seems to fit with the data we have. Please shoot holes in it.

As an aside, it makes me giggle that Brandon is frustrated that people are asking if the AA was written by members of the SS or Hoid when he drops "Cosmere" in the AA (maybe he was just getting tired of answering that question...)

[Guinevere]

Okay, a couple things:

First, does WoB mean Wheel of Brandon? If so, that's seriously hilarious.

Second, what is a DIG? I don't necessarily get all of the acronyms.

Third, I was a little ambiguous with the word "frustrating." Brandon wasn't frustrated; I meant that I was frustrated because of my poor wording that he was able to manipulate by giving a vague answer. Sorry about the confusion.

On to the theory: I'm fine with the theory that the Ars Arcanum are a compilation of information giving to one main author by several sources, one of whom is Nazh, but I think you are taking the style too seriously. Especially for his earlier books (like Elantris and Mistborn), Brandon didn't necessarily have all the resources or information to make the Ars Arcanum as telling of the cosmere as he does in the later books. Though once we do get to later books, most especially, Way of Kings and Alloy of Law, the Ars Arcanum are much more conversational, and cosmere-encompassing. It may have more to do with earthly/publishing constraints more than anything else.

Now that we know it is the same person, I'm interesting in figuring out who that is. I think we can safely assume that the author is traveling to each world gathering as much information on each magic system as they can. Brandon has narrowed it down to two options:

1. Hoid- He is the only known world-hopper who would have this sort of scholarly inclination. Maybe the wording is a little odd to indicate him, but I personally think he's the best candidate.

2. Members of the 17th Shard- (I agree, Chaos is a good bet, haha) The thing is, we know SO little about the 17th Shard right now. I think the only known (named) member is Galladon, but I have a really hard time believing he cares much about the magic systems. The Thinker (people think it is Raoden, but I think Brandon dispelled that...?) is another possibility. The only issue I have is that the members of the 17th Shard we've met are on a mission to find Hoid. I really don't think they are gallivanting around writing about fabrials.

That being said, there are probably many members that we have met that haven't been associated with the 17th Shard yet. For example, Vasher could potentially be a member. In fact any of the living scholars from Nalthis could be potential candidates as the Ars Arcanum author. It could be Axies the Collector, or it could even be some person we haven't met yet (one of the problems of knowing the cosmere stretches into books we haven't even heard of yet...). It's hard to separate who is involved with the cosmere and could potentially world-hop, and who is limited to their planet.

One of these days, Brandon and I will sit down and he will tell me all of his secrets. Sigh.

[CrazyRioter]

WoB = Word of Brandon.

DiG = Designated Information Gatherer

Also, it occurs to me that if Grumpy is Galladon, then one of the other two might be Adien, the autistic kid.

Also Nazh is clearly not an Elantrian, unless he's using a pseudonym as the name is neither Aonic nor Dula.

Also, I really don't think Hoid is the one writing the AA, he really doesn't seem to be into traditional scholarly pursuits. He's way to busy running around meddling.

[Guinevere]

Thanks for explaining the acronyms.

I think I read on one the older forums that Galladon is the only Elantrian we see in the interlude, which I assume means that the other two are from different Shardworlds. I think the Thinker is probably our best guess from the members of the 17th Shard that we've met, but even still, I'm not convinced.

I don't think Nazh is from Sel, either. I think he is from Scadrial during the time of Alloy of Law, and he is just giving information to the author of the Ars Arcanum.

Perhaps it is not Hoid, but that being said, do we even have any other leads as to who could have written them? Not that that is conclusive evidence or anything, but based on the information we have (which is scarce), that's my best guess at the moment.

[Wispsy]

well assuming it isnt talking about some1 irl lol if they are all written by the same person could make sense really, if they happened to be pretty much immortal and able to world hop, they start out finding out the basics as best they can, and the longer it goes on and they researching magic the more their understanding of it as a whole comes out, which would be why they become more detailed and including speculations about the cosmere not just the planet!

seems likely there are at least elantrians in seventeeth shard and they are immortal and capable of world hopping! who knows how many others are :/

Edited November 9, 2011 by Wispsy

[haiamehs]

Its Peter, he wrote all the Ars Arcanum.

[PeterAhlstrom]

No.

[pmj812]

Some thoughts on what the AoL AA tells me about the writer:

The writer knows things that a mere mortal Scadrian "shouldn't" know - Things about Investiture and the Metallic Arts that can only come from 3 places, really:

- straight from the mouth of Harmony

- from eons of observation and study of Scadrial and other planets

- an innate ability to see and understand arts relating to Investiture

I kind of like the third one: recall that the Sixth Heightening grants "Instictive Awakening," hinting that knowledge of the mechanics of an art of Investiture can manifest as a gift of that art. This makes it easy to believe that someone from somewhere may have the talent to grasp the workings of an art simply by observing it once.

Furthermore, the excuse-making for Hemalurgy gives me cause for concern about the moral standing of the author.

Hemalurgy takes from one person to give to another. As I recall the only way we've seen it work successfully has required the "donor" to die.

I certainly understand that a person enhanced by Hemalurgic means is not necessarily evil - Marsh (before Ruin ruined him) was proof enough of that.

But it requires a very harshly utilitarian outlook to find it morally acceptable to kill some people so that other people might have their power.

[discipleofhoid]

These are the questions I overheard. I'll let others do the other ones.

Does the person being pierced in order to charge a Hemalurgic spike have to die? Status- Not necessarily. A spike does require you to rip pieces of a soul from the victim, but that does not mean they must die. They would be a very different person afterwords though.

[pmj812]

Point taken, Disciple. Point taken. Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[mycoltbug]

I wonder if this is similar to how people feel after giving up their breath and become a drab.

[pmj812]

I wonder if this is similar to how people feel after giving up their breath and become a drab.

I imagine it must be even bigger than that - if we think about Awakening like we think about Allomancy, it isn't just the Breath they'd be losing, it's also the ability to recieve it back, the ability to ever use Breath to Awaken.

What I'm saying is, the Nalthians' art of Investiture is Awakening, and its Commands - Breaths are only part of that. Take a hypothetical situation where a Nalthian and a Scadrian are together, and the Nalthian says "My life to yours, my Breath become yours," I believe one of two (EDIT: 3) things will happen:

1) nothing will happen, because the Scadrian is incapable of recieving the Breath

2) the Scadrian will recieve the Breath, but be unable to use it or give it back, because Awakening isn't part of their spiritual makeup.

(Edit: OOH! Just thought of a third one!)

3) the Scadrian will be able in some way to use the Breath to fuel a Metallic art - similar to how the Mists can fuel Allomancy on rare occasions

So getting soul-stapled would make you worse than a drab.

Edited November 11, 2011 by pmj812

[discipleofhoid]

I imagine it must be even bigger than that - if we think about Awakening like we think about Allomancy, it isn't just the Breath they'd be losing, it's also the ability to recieve it back, the ability to ever use Breath to Awaken.

What I'm saying is, the Nalthians' art of Investiture is Awakening, and its Commands - Breaths are only part of that. Take a hypothetical situation where a Nalthian and a Scadrian are together, and the Nalthian says "My life to yours, my Breath become yours," I believe one of two (EDIT: 3) things will happen:

1) nothing will happen, because the Scadrian is incapable of recieving the Breath

2) the Scadrian will recieve the Breath, but be unable to use it or give it back, because Awakening isn't part of their spiritual makeup.

(Edit: OOH! Just thought of a third one!)

3) the Scadrian will be able in some way to use the Breath to fuel a Metallic art - similar to how the Mists can fuel Allomancy on rare occasions

So getting soul-stapled would make you worse than a drab.

I have a different theory here. I believe that due to the nature of Endowment, the breath is the entire access to the magic system. I think giving away breath is just a voluntary hemalurgy. If this is the case anyone could receive and then give up breath. There is more detail on my reasoning on this over in the Theory: Hemalurgy can transfer any Investiture thread.

[DariusJenai]

My current guess is that the AA are being written by a Veristitalian, with either Jasnah or Shallan being the most likely. Both of them are capable of entering Shadesmar, which is the only confirmed method we know of moving between worlds. And frankly, the AA as a whole seem to be keeping with their focus on unbiased factual accounts.

[Thor]

My current guess is that the AA are being written by a Veristitalian, with either Jasnah or Shallan being the most likely. Both of them are capable of entering Shadesmar, which is the only confirmed method we know of moving between worlds. And frankly, the AA as a whole seem to be keeping with their focus on unbiased factual accounts.

Unfortunately, neither of them are alive during the events of any book other than TWoK, as Elantris takes place a while before the main events of TWoK, as well as Mistborn (the original trilogy and AoL) and Warbreaker. I do think that TWoK AA was written by Jasnah (or she at least, gathered the information) as it fits her writing style and personality.

[DariusJenai]

Unfortunately, neither of them are alive during the events of any book other than TWoK, as Elantris takes place a while before the main events of TWoK, as well as Mistborn (the original trilogy and AoL) and Warbreaker. I do think that TWoK AA was written by Jasnah (or she at least, gathered the information) as it fits her writing style and personality.

There's no reason the AA have to be written at the same time as the book itself takes place in. And with WoK taking place well after most of the rest of the Cosmere, a Veristitalian studying the past would be the best guess to write them.

[discipleofhoid]

There's no reason the AA have to be written at the same time as the book itself takes place in. And with WoK taking place well after most of the rest of the Cosmere, a Veristitalian studying the past would be the best guess to write them.

At this last signing Brandon said it was either hoid or a member of the 17th shard. Let me dig up the quote.

Edit: It was in today's twitter thing no wonder it took me so long to find.

@BrandSanderson i messaged earlier regarding #alloyoflaw appendix narrator, unaware of today's torchat. maybe you can respond in the chat?

@AshleySMoser I haven't been telling people the name of the appendix author. It is either Hoid or one of the 17th sharders. #torchat

My vote is that Chaos is the author - Given the Authors views on hemalurgy and Chaos' perchance for Spiking pepole it becomes rather obvious I think

Edited November 15, 2011 by discipleofhoid

[DariusJenai]

There's no reason a Veristitalian couldn't be a member of the 17th shard. And that quote is from this thread.

[discipleofhoid]

There's no reason a Veristitalian couldn't be a member of the 17th shard. And that quote is from this thread.

I guess if you go for future view that could be true. But the tone in the essay seems to be a current person looking at the situation not someone looking back.

[happyman]

Tricky question. My thoughts on the subject are that the Ars Arcanum's tend to be incomplete. From a meta-fiction standpoint, this is to document the powers in a single place without spoilers, and with the "in-world" justification, it also allows them to match the readers beliefs without being strictly "true" (see Atium and Malatium).

The fact that Brandon has created an in-world author for all of them is very interesting. I cannot help but think, then, that the author is learning right along with us, although he (she?) probably manages to put the information in a better metaphysical context than we do. For instance, the fact that the Fering powers aren't completely documented until the end of "Alloy of Law" strongly suggests that the author didn't have this information until Feruchemy became relatively widespread on Scandrial and all the basic metals were generally available and understood.

[Aranfan]

The irony of this statement is incredible.

That is all.

Edit: Emphasis is mine.

Also, unless you were trolling. If you were, it was a pretty good troll and people did a very good job of not feeding you. I have issues with feeding trolls. It makes me predictable, but it is alas very fun.

Brandon isn't an in-universe guy trying to come up with a scientific understanding of the investitures. If it is a single guy without mental problems, then we aren't seeing the same draft in each book. The styles are too different, compare the Ars Arcanum in Warbreaker to the Steel Alphabet Circle in the first Mistborn Trilogy.

[discipleofhoid]

Brandon isn't an in-universe guy trying to come up with a scientific understanding of the investitures. If it is a single guy without mental problems, then we aren't seeing the same draft in each book. The styles are too different, compare the Ars Arcanum in Warbreaker to the Steel Alphabet Circle in the first Mistborn Trilogy.

What is the time difference between Warbreaker and Mistborn 1 could it be a style change in the one persons writing over those years?

Note: Personally I lean towards the many writers one compiler idea myself but I think this needs considered.

[Aranfan]

As I said, different drafts of the same work could be an explanation. I also agree that it's more likely to be a complier.

[Eri]

If it is a single guy without mental problems, then we aren't seeing the same draft in each book. The styles are too different, compare the Ars Arcanum in Warbreaker to the Steel Alphabet Circle in the first Mistborn Trilogy.

Consider the time gaps. After a few hundreds years writing style may change. (However, living for hundreds years and trying to understand the realmatic theory may cause some serious mental problems, I think... ;D )