Havoc Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 Given the distinct polarity in how Szeth and Darkness dress, do you think it is possible that the Parshendi deliberately chose the all-white dress to be distinct from Darkness? Both Szeth and Darkness are going around killing, Szeth sticking to those currently in power, and Darkness those who might rise to power (potential Knights Radiant?) One weak link is that the Parshendi that decided Szeth's attire, while his current master has a completely different agenda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shardlet Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 Ah, but note that Szeth only wears white on his assassinations directed by the Parshendi and Taravangian. It seems clear that Taravangian wants everyone to connect Gavilar's assassination with Szeth's more current handiwork. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 I strongly doubt it. Not only is it too... disconnected from any evidence we've seen in the Stormlight Archive, there is also the fact that being Truthless doesn't imply that you are an assassin. Szeth happens to be very good at it, but a few of his masters kept him around for slave labor, not murder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shardlet Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 Right, but Havoc's idea really has nothing to do with Szeth's status as a truthless or with the Shin at all. As Havoc said, it was the Parshendi who chose his outfit and therefore it would be them setting up the contrast. Taravangian could be making the same play; But I think it more likely that he is just piggybacking with Szeth's outfit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 Sure, that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meg Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 But it is interesting that Darkness was in the palace when Szeth killed Gavilar (though I don't think there is a connection). The Parshendi told Szeth that The white clothing was a Parshendi tradition, foreign to him. But he did as his masters required and did not ask for an explanation. ... White clothing for a killer was a tradition among the Parshendi. Although Szeth had not asked, his masters had explained why.White to be bold. White to not blend into the night. White to give warning.For if you were going to assassinate a man, he was entitled to see you coming. From the TWoK, Prologue Darkness by contrast seems to use (at least sometimes) the shadows to be unseen until it's to late for his victim (I get this from the (not yet confirmed or repeated addition to Ym's Interlude). That's not helpful in any way but I thought it's worth mentioning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightReader Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 I don't think the Parshendi's motivation for dressing Szeth in white had anything to do with Darkness, but your idea did get me thinking. If Darkness is going around killing Surgebinders, then why hasn't he tried to kill Szeth? He's pretty much the most famous Surgebinder out there, and I'm sure there are plenty of rumors about his powers to let Darkness know that he is one. So maybe Darkness will be the one who stops Szeth from killing Dalinar. Or maybe Darkness knows that Szeth doesn't get his powers in the normal way, and recognizes that he will never be a Knight Radiant, and so he doesn't care to kill him. Anyway, a fight between Szeth and Darkness (especially if he really is the Herald Nalan) would probably make for a totally awesome scene. Ooh, maybe Adolin and Kaladin will be fighting Szeth, barely holding him off, then Darkness shows up, and he's trying to kill Szeth, but gets distracted because he notices that Kaladin is also surgebinding, so Szeth runs cuz he realizes he's no match for a Herald, and so Adolin and Kaladin have to fight Darkness instead, although how they would handle that, I have no idea. Wild speculation, yay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 Your "wild speculation" might be the grandest understatement in this entire topic But in all seriousness, I think I addressed a similar problem (why doesn't Darkness come after Szeth?) some days ago. Three (well, four) possible answers come to mind: Darkness doesn't know about him. Probably not the case. Szeth is a little difficult to locate. He moves around a lot, and the only people we have seen Darkness pursue have been ones who are pretty location-locked. Darkness' twisted sense of justice doesn't make him see Szeth as guilty. He might consider Szeth absolved of all legal consequences on the account of him being a Truthless. Stone Shamanism kind of suggests that Szeth is free of guilt, those he himself doesn't believe that. Szeth's Surgebinding - if that's what he is doing - does not affect the Desolations. This is your idea, and I agree that it's possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodfalcon Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 If Darkness is able to find Ym, a shoemaker, I'm sure Szeth has set off one or two alarms. However, Szeth is like the Black Pearl of Stormlight Archive - he leaves nobody alive to tell the tale! .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moogle Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 Szeth is a little difficult to locate. He moves around a lot, and the only people we have seen Darkness pursue have been ones who are pretty location-locked. This I doubt. Darkness almost definitely has a supernatural way to track Surgebinders. He was able to track Lift across a few cities, and then went directly into the room where she was stealing food, at just about the same time as she started doing it. Ym was somewhat clever with hiding his healing, and I doubt Darkness spends his time listening to tales from little orphans. I am quite confident he could track Szeth if he felt like it, though Szeth has the advantage of being able to fly with amazing speed. Could be his cute little Stormlight sucking larkin? I favor the idea that what Szeth does does not have the potential to "bring Desolation". What he does is certainly illegal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 But you have to keep in mind, Darkness doesn't see legality and law traditionally. He killed Ym because he delivered a bottle of poisoned wine, which was never intended to be consumed. That's like giving somebody a letter opener for their birthday, and then being executed because they committed suicide with said letter opener. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloom Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 First, Darkness knows about Szeth. He has known about Szeth for over five years. Darkness was there the night Galivar was killed. Szeth was seen. What he did, required magic. I agree that the Darkness either has a way of tracking Surgebinders, or he has a very well connected network of informants. Probably both. Ym didn't know the wine was poisoned. He thought the wine was the message. I doubt he thought no one would drink it. If he knew it was poisoned he wouldn't have delivered it. If My Lords own Blade is an Honorblade, this would explain why Darkness doesn't consider Szeth a target worthy of his attention. If it isn't, then Darkness has other reasons for not tracking and facing Szeth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoser Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 Remember Kaladin's stormriding dream. Apparently Kaladin could detect Szeth's use of magic. Presumably Darkness can do something similar. Is the detection being done by larkin? fabrial? surge? innate? If the larkin is doing it, then it must have a way to communicate, because they won't set the thing free and it would be painful to find surgebinders across a continent by looking at the direction an animal turns it's head. (Of course, if Darkness had the powers of a Skybreaker, he could free it and fly after it to recapture it. That still doesn't seem like a good procedure though.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meg Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 Remember Kaladin's stormriding dream. Apparently Kaladin could detect Szeth's use of magic. Presumably Darkness can do something similar. Is the detection being done by larkin? fabrial? surge? innate? If the larkin is doing it, then it must have a way to communicate, because they won't set the thing free and it would be painful to find surgebinders across a continent by looking at the direction an animal turns it's head. (Of course, if Darkness had the powers of a Skybreaker, he could free it and fly after it to recapture it. That still doesn't seem like a good procedure though.) As far as I understand it not Kaladin is riding the storm but his mind. And he didn't choose to do so but was carried away by the storm. His part was a passive one so if anybody (anything?) was able to find Szeth through him surgebinding, it was the force that carried Kaladin's mind away in that dream. (Hopefully this is understandable.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoser Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 As far as I understand it not Kaladin is riding the storm but his mind. And he didn't choose to do so but was carried away by the storm. His part was a passive one so if anybody (anything?) was able to find Szeth through him surgebinding, it was the force that carried Kaladin's mind away in that dream. (Hopefully this is understandable.) Good point. However, my main point was that the use of magic is apparently detectable. Either Kaladin's mind or the force projecting the dream to Kaladin can see Szeth doing his thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodfalcon Posted November 2, 2013 Report Share Posted November 2, 2013 As far as I understand it not Kaladin is riding the storm but his mind. And he didn't choose to do so but was carried away by the storm. His part was a passive one so if anybody (anything?) was able to find Szeth through him surgebinding, it was the force that carried Kaladin's mind away in that dream. (Hopefully this is understandable.) I give Kaladin 45 chapters before he attempts to embrace another storm and see the same way purposefully, and he'll succeed once before the end of WoR. He didn't choose that time, but he will. He was totally hyped for it afterward. It will be another tool in no time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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