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I have seen it used that way occasionally.

From what I remember of the quotes from the in-world Words of Radiance the book seems almost written in a format of recounting things people have told the author during the interviews they conducted for research. Essentially a record of words and information spoken regarding the Radiants, hence the title.

Which is why I doubt they would quote one of their validated sources of information just to imply they are wrong. It undermines the authority and trustworthiness of anything else this Invia person has probably said elsewhere in the surrounding text. You don't write a research paper recounting the information gathering process while sounding like you know the answers and making your sources look bad, that just looks unprofessional.

 

That...isn't true at all. The goal of a research paper is to have infallible sources. Upon discovering that that is likely not going to happen, you do point out flaws so the person reading understands you know what you're talking about. You are also expected to find and use sources with minimal flaws in them. This is even more true when it comes to "English" essays, which is what the wording of the text suggests to me Words of Radiance is.

 

To provide an example, when writing a paper about dinosaurs, unless I have intentional need to include it, I would never use a Creationist's article that claims the dinos never existed.

 

But if I were to write an article about Scrubs, my favorite television show, my dislike for Carla would likely bleed through. Anyone trying to use my article as a source would need to be aware of such a bias, and potentially need to point it out in their essay

Not to bump a dead horse but I think any source, from this "simulated" time period, would use third person accounts as sources almost exclusively. Since this book is our only window into the Radiants at the moment, we can't know if it's Roshar's only catalog of Radiant orders and powers. If it is who else would the author be quoting?

We are technically the 5th person to have this information repeated to us. The source the sourced author got their information from (if not first hand), the sourced author from the in world WoR, the author of the WoR, Shallan (I assume we're reading her notes, like we did with Jasnah's notes in WoK), and then us. Each person, like a game of telephone, is repeating what they 'think' is the context and the point being made. So, when the author of the WoR says that her source is using a phrase matter-of-factly assuming that everyone will agree, we don't know that author's context or the subsequent one's context for saying that.

I have a feeling at least one of the authors is dealing with the effects of a pre-heirocracy political climate, if not dead smack in the middle of those events. Which, I believe, might have been where the KR turned into the devoteries. Then the internal politics of each of those orders carried over to the people and the church.

Just think though, as people, we trust no one less than a conman or someone who we feel can mess with our minds. We might like them or be respectful to them but we don't trust them. So, if the Willshapers were given the ability to change people's minds. We can guess that people were put off by them. Sort of like how the devotery that formed from the Truthwatchers, who probably claimed to predict the future, was detrimental to mankind and the church. (That's obviously speculation on my part.)

So, take what's said in that chapter heading with a grain of salt. Even if Brandon pointed it out to us for a reason, he also pointed out the pointing out of it being pointed out. So, you get into this weird game-theoryesq situation with trying to read too deeply into it. "Does he point us to that statement because he wants us to know that people thought they were uncouth, or because this person thought they were and the other author does not, or do both of them think the same but the inherent bias need to be addressed." And so it goes, deeper and deeper. It won't really be clear until he chooses to make it clear. So speculation on it, in my opinion, is futile. Not that we should stop doing so. Speculating on these books is the spark of life in an otherwise dull grey life, for me. So, don't ever stop, God knows I won't! :P

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  • 3 months later...

But I do think that the fact that he's a good person hidden under all that snark and that he voluntarily shows up to go on the expedition with Dalinar....he's got a lot of positive things going for him.

 

A few chapters before they depart on the expedition onto the Shattered Plains, Shallan sends a message to Paloma saying Jasnah's notes hint at something out on the Shattered Plains, possibly some lost treasure (I forget the actual quote now).

 

I think that is why Sebarial agreed to go with Dalinar. He saw a chance for possible profit, without most of the other Highprinces taking their cut.

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