Sirce Luckwielder Posted June 6, 2015 Report Share Posted June 6, 2015 This has been stewing in me for a while, so I have been rereading Warbreaker to look for evidence. Correct me if I have missed something and this is already something confirmed or denied. I believe that the way a Returned dies is by consuming their Divine Breath. You look at that and say "well duh," but I'm not finished. I think that for a Returned to be a Returned, with the dreams, the perfect body, etc, they need the Divine Breath. We know that they can Awaken if they have more Breaths than they need to survive, just as the God King did. So what if they stored their Divine Breath somewhere and moved on? They aren't consuming it, but they still don't hold it. Would they turn back into a normal person again? We know that Peacegiver/Vasher was Returned. The book said it a few times, such as when Siri is asking where the God King's wealth of Breath came from or on Page 99 of the hardcover when Vivenna comments on the D'Denir statues. We also know that he doesn't hold his Divine Breath, as he needs Vahr's Breath when he comes back to Hallandren. Speaking of that scene (page 22 of the hardcover), Vasher comments as such: Vasher could, of course, have up to the Fifth Heightening at any time if he wished. That would require certain sacrifices he wasn't willing to make. From the Ars Arcanum, we learn that the Fifth Heightening comes at 2000 Breaths, or one Divine Breath. If Vasher can draw forth that Divine Breath again as implied by the quote, he stored it at some point. Now he is mortal and can die, but he still has lived for a very long time, perhaps due to having other Breath, perhaps something different. My questions are thus: -What happens to a Returned when their Divine Breath is stored away? -Do they still gain any powers from having a Divine Breath? -What "sacrifices" would need to be made for Vasher to take back his Divine Breath? -Did Vasher use his Divine Breath to create Nightblood? -Vivenna notices that Vasher's beard never seems to grow more but he never is seen trimming it. Is this just Vasher being secretive or does it connect to him being a Returned? This may be a bit disjointed, but I hope that my point is seen. If anybody has insight or evidence to contradict or support these questions I would love to hear them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 6, 2015 Report Share Posted June 6, 2015 A returned loses the abilities of the Fifth Heightening, but otherwise remains a Returned. They have powers from being a Returned, unrelated to the Divine Breath (ability to alter their appearance, for example) The "Sacrifice", as I understand it, would be him being recognized as a Returned/Extremely wealthy individual who was completely unknown. Using his Divine Breath would kill him. Nightblood was made using the normal method of collecting Breath. As stated, Vasher can alter his appearance at will, so his beard would only grow if he told it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sirce Luckwielder Posted June 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2015 (edited) A returned loses the abilities of the Fifth Heightening, but otherwise remains a Returned. They have powers from being a Returned, unrelated to the Divine Breath (ability to alter their appearance, for example) The "Sacrifice", as I understand it, would be him being recognized as a Returned/Extremely wealthy individual who was completely unknown. Using his Divine Breath would kill him. Nightblood was made using the normal method of collecting Breath. As stated, Vasher can alter his appearance at will, so his beard would only grow if he told it to. Thanks LabRat! I appreciate it. Where did we find out these things? I'm guessing that the second point is how he looks bigger and scarier when he helps rescue Nanrovah's daughter. A lot of this makes a ton of sense. I couldn't really tell how this was all working exactly, so I really appreciate the information. Edited June 6, 2015 by Sirce Luckwielder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 6, 2015 Report Share Posted June 6, 2015 Most of it is from several rereads, but there's a few WoBs about the Royal Locks/Divine Breath Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 7, 2015 Report Share Posted June 7, 2015 You might find this worth reading. Note that if you're planning to read any of Brandon's other Cosmere books, be warned there are spoilers all over Theoryland. http://www.theoryland.com/intvsresults.php?kwt='breath' #16 is non-spoilery, and very interesting to note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curiosity Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 Plus, there's always the annotations, a favorite resource of mine. There's quite a bit there, but not as much in Theoryland because Brandon was holding back spoilers for Nightblood. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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