Analyzing the Death Rattles

[Leuthie]

That ones a bit ambiguous. Could be the Alethi coming for the Parshendi (breaking the land through ecological disaster of depopulating Chasmfiends) or the new Parshendi forms, or an antagonist we don't know about yet.

[Sphinx]

Death is my Life, my Strength becomes my Weakness, the Journey has ended. If these things predict the future, which radiant is going to fall apart here? Probably not Kaladin, not with how far and how strongly he's built up. Shallan has a level of self-awareness that makes shattering really difficult for her, so I'm betting on a Kholin here.

 

I honestly think this one is genuinely not a death rattle. This is appropriation of a famous literary quote is exactly the kind of thing that someone would attribute to the final words of a famous scholar. Or that said famous scholar might deliberately say on his deathbed. That not all the epigraphs, or all the death rattles, should be treated with the same weight just makes the world feel more real.

[Observer]

DAMNTATION

Ten people, with Shardblades alight, standing before a wall of black and white and red.

-Collected: Jesachev, 1173, 12 seconds pre-death. Subject: one of our own ardents, overheard during his last moments

I once thought that this referenced the Heralds, but now that I think of it, Honorblades do not glow, even when the Heralds use them. In this instance, I'm thinking this refers to a final Radiants vs Voidbringer showdown, once all the orders have been gathered.

[happyman]

DAMNTATION Ten people, with Shardblades alight, standing before a wall of black and white and red. -Collected: Jesachev, 1173, 12 seconds pre-death. Subject: one of our own ardents, overheard during his last moments I once thought that this referenced the Heralds, but now that I think of it, Honorblades do not glow, even when the Heralds use them. In this instance, I'm thinking this refers to a final Radiants vs Voidbringer showdown, once all the orders have been gathered.

 

I think I just caught something.  Aren't black, white and red the standard colors for the different forms of Listeners?  And it does sound like Surgebinders standing against them.  A representative of every order would seem appropriate.  Maybe during a seriously important fight, protecting humanity or something?

[Delightful]

I think I just caught something.  Aren't black, white and red the standard colors for the different forms of Listeners?  And it does sound like Surgebinders standing against them.  A representative of every order would seem appropriate.  Maybe during a seriously important fight, protecting humanity or something?

Honestly, that's what I've always presumed it to mean. Although

since Dalinar doesn't get a Shardblade, and I presume neither do other Bondsmiths, since their spren are particular, we can't have a representative from every order.

 

 

“I wish to sleep. I know now why you do what you do, and I hate you for it. I will not speak of the truths I see.”

Kakashah 1173, 142 seconds pre-death. A Shin sailor, left behind by his crew, reportedly for bringing them ill luck. Sample largely useless.

Could be the Shin sailor, but if that's a red herring, I'm thinking

Renarin - a reaction to understanding why Adolin killed Sadeas, perhaps.

“A man stood on a cliffside and watched his homeland fall into dust. The waters surged beneath, so far beneath. And he heard a child crying. They were his own tears.”

Collected on the 4th of Tanates, year 1171, thirty seconds before death. Subject was a cobbler of some renown.

 

This reminds me of one of Dalinar's visions, when he sees Kholinar destroyed. It's also are relatively similar to

. "Two blind men waited at the end of an era, contemplating beauty. They sat atop the world's highest cliff, overlooking the land and seeing nothing."  

 

[Observer]

Alright, so I added in a Confirmed section, for us to stick Rattles as chapter titles and events all but guarantee a fit. But that's not too important, so I did something else as well.

I decided to organize the Rattles in terms of how far before death they were screamed. The results are in the OP, but what I noticed as a put it together were that 8 and 18 seconds pre-death seem to be very prominent numbers. I have no idea how exactly they decide when a target is dead, or what causes the time lag. I'm privately hoping that the time taken relates directly to how long it takes to be fulfilled, but I haven't looked yet and I highly doubt it. What do you people think?

[RShara]

AN EMERALD BROAM

A woman sits and scratches out her own eyes. Daughter of kings and winds, the vandal.

-Dated Palahevan, 1173, 73 seconds pre-death. Subject: a beggar of some renown, known for his elegant songs

.

Isn't this one confirmed to be Shalash destroying things that depict her?

[Observer]

I myself am about 100% sure of it, but since I don't have a total confirmation on hand, I didn't feel right putting it in there.

[Sphinx]

I think we have confirmation that

Q: Is Baxil's Mistress destroying statues of the Herald Shallash?

A: Yes. Actually in the prologe her statue is missing because Baxil's mistress came through

WoB

 

and

Is Shallash the daughter of Jezrien?

Umm… Oh, yes, she is his daughter.

WoB

 

and

 

Q: Did the mistress from the interlude in book 1 destroy the Shalash statue on the night of Gavilar's death?A: Yes, and also all the other ones that we've seen, including the one in Shallan's vision in Words of Radiance.

 

Which is all strongly, strongly suggestive. But I don't think we have direct confirmation.

[RShara]

Shalash, with one L!  (sorry that is driving me nuts!)

 

I think we have as much confirmation that the death rattle refers to Shalash as we do the others that have come true, imo.

Edited April 8, 2014 by RShara

[Sphinx]

I know it's Shalash. Sadly the originals of my quotes all spelled it wrong, and when copy/pasting WoB I prefer to leave it unedited, however painful it is. Go yell at the keepers of the WoB archives and get them to fix it!

 

I'd hesitate to assert it's confirmed, but I think it does qualify for recognized.

Edited April 8, 2014 by Sphinx

[RShara]

*sobs*  It's really twinging my OCD lol

 

Recognized I think is fair enough.

[Observer]

Glad you were able to find the WoB I was looking for. i'm hopeless with the things.

Added to the confirmed section.

[Senor Feesh]

Could be the Shin sailor, but if that's a red herring, I'm thinking

 

I don't think the Shin sailor's quote IS a death rattle. I always read it as him being aware of his pre-death vision but not subsumed by it (perhaps this is something to do with Stone Shamanism?) and refusing to give the information to Taravangian's nurses out of disgust at what they're doing in the 'hospitals' ("I wish to sleep. I know now why you do what you do, and I hate you for it. I will not speak of the truths I see".)

[Aleksiel]

It's curious how Brandon has chosen his wording about Baxil's mistress. He didn't say she was Shalash, and he refers to Taln as 'the person who calls himself Taln'. So may be she is not the real Shalash or something?

 

Anyway, how can Shalash/Baxil's mistress possibly be daughter of kingS? Brandon is always careful with words and this one seems a bit off.

[Sphinx]

Daughter/son/descendant/child of kings just means that someone is descended from kings, plural in that the title is hereditary.  Jezrien was a king, presumably his ancestors were also kings. Jezrien was Shalash's father, therefore Shalash is the daughter of kings. Jezrien is associated with winds and storms, so Shalash is also the daughter of winds.

 

Nothing Brandon has said indicates that there is a fake Shalash running around, and we know that the real Shalash is in the Way of Kings. The fact that he's RAFOd everyone who has asked if Baxil's mistress is Shalash means very little in the way of denial or confirmation. He refers to her as Baxil's mistress because Baxil's mistress is the one that we know smashes up art.

[Horatio Spifflewicket]

I always thought that the "person who calls himself Taln" and refusal to call her Shalash was because they had become corrupted versions of themselves.  Sort of like Dissociative identity disorder.  Or something.

 

So It's not really Shalash, because Shalash is a herald and WOULDN'T deface art of herself.  So the person doing the defacing is both Shalash and NOT SHALASH at the same time.

 

I think I just broke my brain.

[Observer]

Now, I'm looking through the ones that Vargo found worth noting, and we see these.

 

THE SHATTERED PLAINS

I’m dying aren’t I? Healer, why do you take my blood? Who is that beside you, with his head of lines? I can see a distant sun, dark and cold, shining in a black sky.
-Collected on the 3rd day of Jesnan, 1172, 11 seconds pre-death. Subject was a Reshi chull trainer. Sample is of particular note.
--This shows us that Vargo knows about Shadesmar, otherwise this one wouldn't really stand out to him much. Maybe they Cryptic was hanging around as a result of Shallan being nearby, maybe it's just hanging out, who knows? Still, useful info on him, and it lets us further understand how the Diagram can be so complex.
WANDERSAIL
I hold the suckling child in my hands, a knife at his throat, and know that all who live wish me to let the blade slip. Spill its blood upon the ground, over my hands, and with it give us further breath to draw
-Dated Shashanan, 1173, 23 seconds pre-death. Subject: A darkeyes youth of sixteen years. Sample is of particular note.
--I almost want to say that this is the "secret that broke the Knights Radiant". He seems to see this one as notable above a whole lot of others, and it likely has a lot to do with the survival nature of the quote. It sounds a lot like Nalan's stuff, but unlike all the other rattles it doesn't really 'click'. I'm guessing Vargo is looking for a way to survive in this one.
ESHONAI
They named it the Final Desolation, but they lied. Our gods lied. Oh, how they lied. The Everstorm comes. I hear its whispers, see its stormwall, know its heart.
-Tanatenes 1173, 8 seconds pre-death. An Azish itinerant worker. Sample of particular note.
--This seems to tie into Vargo knowing that Vorinism is a 'sham'. Gavilar would have told him that Honor was dead, but his opinion seemed to be more all-encompassing. I mark this as the main reason for its notability, because the only other thing it says is about the Everstorm, of which there are many other quotes.
 

[WeiryWriter]

Now, I'm looking through the ones that Vargo found worth noting, and we see these.

 

THE SHATTERED PLAINS

I’m dying aren’t I? Healer, why do you take my blood? Who is that beside you, with his head of lines? I can see a distant sun, dark and cold, shining in a black sky.

-Collected on the 3rd day of Jesnan, 1172, 11 seconds pre-death. Subject was a Reshi chull trainer. Sample is of particular note.

--This shows us that Vargo knows about Shadesmar, otherwise this one wouldn't really stand out to him much. Maybe they Cryptic was hanging around as a result of Shallan being nearby, maybe it's just hanging out, who knows? Still, useful info on him, and it lets us further understand how the Diagram can be so complex.

 

 

Actually Shallan would have no where near Kharbranth at that point.  That death rattle is from the first month of the year 1172.  Shallan arrives in Kharbranth around halfway through the year 1173.

[Arin]

I dont know if this has been said or not. sorry if it has.

Some of the death rattle don't appear to be from the "good guys" point of view.

Chapter 8 - Victory, we stand atop the mount. We scatter them before us. Their homes become our dens. their lands are now our farms. and they shall burn as we once did on a place that is hollow and forlorned.

--- That almost sounds like the future fall of Urithiru and the defeat of the Rosharins. Whoever is speaking calls his/her home a den.

Another one--

They named it the Final Desolation, but they lied. Our gods lied. Oh, how they lied. The Everstorm comes. I hear its whispers, see its stormwall, know its heart.

-- Our gods. Not our God.

[Aether]

They named it the Final Desolation, but they lied. Our gods lied. Oh, how they lied. The Everstorm comes. I hear its whispers, see its stormwall, know its heart.

-- Our gods. Not our God.

The plural might refer to the Heralds, who are seen as gods some places in Roshar. I do not see why the Parshendi gods (as it seems that this is how you interpret it) would lie about the end of Desolations.

[Observer]

The only "gods" we know of that fit that quote are the Heralds. They said that humanity won the war of the Desolations, but they lied, and now the Everstorm has come. I agree that the victory on the mount sounds like a Parshendi perspective though, or possibly something else as well. Brandon has mentioned that the endings to the two parts of the SA are in the Rattles, so I'm guessing that one is the end of section one.

[RShara]

Actually, he said that the ending to SA is scattered between the two books

[Observer]

Eh, should have known the WoB-master would come in with Dawshards and steal all my thunder. I'm going to stubbornly pretend he exclusively means the rattles and the diagram now...

[Vessyr]

DAMNTATION

Ten people, with Shardblades alight, standing before a wall of black and white and red.

-Collected: Jesachev, 1173, 12 seconds pre-death. Subject: one of our own ardents, overheard during his last moments

---The Heralds are mentioned, though he says Shardblades, not Honorblades. Could be a mistake. References the Voidbringers

 

Everyone seems to think this is about the Heralds or one Radiant from each order... What if it is just referring to the battle with the Parshendi? The rattle doesn't say that they are alone. I haven't done a shard count to confirm what I am thinking, but they probably had around 10 blades there.

 

Adolin, Renarin, Dalinar (Taln's), Shallan (Even if she didn't fight), Then Adolin won 3 blades in duels? Not counting the one Moash has that would put us at 6. I think the armies that joined Dalinar had at least 2. Then Kaladin joined the fight with one... That puts the count at an uncertain 9. We will need a final tally to really have a say, but that is what I am thinking.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Vessyr