Dates

[Zas678]

EDIT- Look at this thread instead. It's much better.

So now I think I am going to attempt to understand the dating system of the Rosharians.

So, we have one through ten.

1= Jes

2= Nan

3= Chach

4= Vev

5= Palah

6= Shash

7= Betab

8= Kak

9= Tanat

10= Ishi

So according to the epigraphs, the dating system goes like this:

Collected on the first day of the week Palah of the month Shash of the year 1171

Day/Week/Month

This would mean that a Rosharian year is about three of our years.

Vevishes,

Palahishev

Ishashan

Chachanan

Vevanev

Vevahach

Palaheses

Palahevan

Palahakev

Shashanan

Shashabev,

Betabanan

Betabanes

Kakanev

Kakevah

Kakashah”

Kakashah

Kakakes

Kaktach

Tanatesach

Tanatanes

Tanatanev

So I misunderstood this. Now that I'm looking at it, I think I got it wrong. I think it's month/week/day.

So Tanatesach is 9th month, first week, third day.

This means you can figure out a day in our times by figuring out how many days away it is from the beginning of the year.

Add 110 to the day you get so you receive an accurate number (because there is no number 0). The first day of their year is JesJesJes (111), or perhaps just Jes.

So Christmas (258 days from Jan 1st, add 110 to become 358) would be Chachpalahkak, or Chalakak. Today (March 28th, 86 days away, add 110 to become 196) would be Jestanash.

There seems to be a tendency to shorten wherever possible, to make it less cumbersome on the mouth.

What do you guys think? Any comments? Mistakes?

Lets

[CrazyRioter]

I believe the first day of the year is called Lightday, the term was mentioned in one of the backstory chapters and I suspect it refers to the end of the Weeping and the beginning of the new year.

Also, a week is 5 days long, so there are 500 days in a year, and Brandon has said that the days on Roshar are somewhat shorter then our days. Apparently Roshar is smaller then Earth, as gravity is also only 0.7 of Earth's. So a year on Roshar is only maybe 10 percent longer then ours.

[Zas678]

You're right, I didn't notice that there were only 5 numbers for the Day. I'm gonna have to come up with a new way to calculate it. Maybe divide the number by 5? I'll figure it out.

[SOM1else]

Remember the first chapter blurb thingy mentioned "it is but a thousand days and the Everstorm comes" well when would those thousand days be up, the blurb was from 1171 and the books is during 1173 and the years are 500 days, so those thousand days ended somewhere in the middle of the book. I wonder if anything happened on the 1000th day that we would be able to pick out

[ZeldaDad]

Remember the first chapter blurb thingy mentioned "it is but a thousand days and the Everstorm comes" well when would those thousand days be up, the blurb was from 1171 and the books is during 1173 and the years are 500 days, so those thousand days ended somewhere in the middle of the book. I wonder if anything happened on the 1000th day that we would be able to pick out

Hm. Very interesting. Someone should find out.

[SOM1else]

I have been trying to figure it out but I need to get some more info on how the dates work

OH DUH! If the years are 500 days then it would be the First day of the week Palah of the month Shash 1173, now what was going on right then?

[Zas678]

I have been trying to figure it out but I need to get some more info on how the dates work

OH DUH! If the years are 500 days then it would be the First day of the week Palah of the month Shash 1173, now what was going on right then

So Shalahes (651)? That's only a week before Shashanan (662). That is on page 789, when Maps dies, which is after Dalinar and Sadeas come togehter.

Do we know if the dates on the epigraphs correlate to the dates that are going on?

[SOM1else]

I don't think they connect but it would make things so much simpler.

[Morderkaine]

Remember the first chapter blurb thingy mentioned "it is but a thousand days and the Everstorm comes" well when would those thousand days be up, the blurb was from 1171 and the books is during 1173 and the years are 500 days, so those thousand days ended somewhere in the middle of the book. I wonder if anything happened on the 1000th day that we would be able to pick out

Taln showing up seems like a pretty good candidate to me.

[CrazyRioter]

that'd be my guess too. Unfortunately there are no precise dates in the story itself.

[Link Von Kelsier Harvey]

I have been trying to figure it out but I need to get some more info on how the dates work

OH DUH! If the years are 500 days then it would be the First day of the week Palah of the month Shash 1173, now what was going on right then?

Just add this as a question on Chaos's giant list. I'm too lazy to do it.

[Cheese Ninja]

Harakeke, who translated the Navani's notebook pages, also made a timeline for the series: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Al9mpDUN_8rSdGZIcU1DbFJ1amRLb2l6UVZwRWtEQ3c&hl=en&authkey=CPyvzssM#gid=0

Peter Ahlstrom said: "20 hours per day, and their hour is like a minute or two shorter than our hour."

Which would make their Roshar year about 1.10 Earth years, which is what CrazyRioter wrote too.

We do have a few vague dates, during the story, where we are given just the year. The Battle of the Tower takes place in 1173, according to the drawing by Navani.

I think the dates in the years would be more readable here if we converted them to just numbers 1-500 to correspond to the sequential day of the year. So it would be (month's #-1)*50 + (week #-1)*5 + (day #). I'll put the some examples in parentheses. Edit 2: I'll grudgingly add Peter's method of dates in, since he's an authority on the series. Also, since there's no math involved I'm less likely to mess it up.

1. “The love of men is a frigid thing, a mountain stream only three steps from the ice. We are his. Oh Stormfather…we are his. It is but a thousand days, and the Everstorm comes.”—Collected on the first day of the week Palah of the month Shash of the year 1171, thirty-one seconds before death. Subject was a darkeyed pregnant woman of middle years. The child did not survive. (271) [6-5-1]

2. “You’ve killed me. Bastards, you’ve killed me! While the sun is still hot, I die!”—Collected on the fifth day of the week Chach of the month Betab of the year 1171, ten seconds before death. Subject was a darkeyed soldier thirty-one years of age. Sample is considered questionable. (315) [7-3-5]

3.“Ten orders. We were loved, once. Why have you forsaken us, Almighty! Shard of my soul, where have you gone?”—Collected on the second day of Kakash, year 1171, five seconds before death. Subject was a lighteyed woman in her third decade. (377) [8-6-2]

4.“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. (404) [9-1-4]

5.“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 of Jesnan, 1172, 11 seconds pre-death. Subject was a Reshi chull trainer. Sample is of particular note. (8) [1-2-3]

6.“I have seen the end, and have heard it named. The Night of Sorrows, the True Desolation. The Everstorm.”—Collected on the 1st of Nanes, 1172, 15 seconds pre-death. Subject was a darkeyed youth of unknown origin. (51) [2-1-1]

7.“I’m cold. Mother, I’m cold. Mother? Why can I still hear the rain? Will it stop?”—Collected on Vevishes, 1172, 32 seconds pre-death. Subject was a lighteyed female child, approximately six years old. (196) [4-10-1]

8.“They are aflame. They burn. They bring the darkness when they come, and so all you can see is that their skin is aflame. Burn, burn, burn….”—Collected on Palahishev, 1172, 21 seconds pre-death. Subject was a baker’s apprentice. (249) [5-10-4]

9.“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, in a place that is hollow and forlorn.”—Collected on Ishashan, 1172, 18 seconds pre-death. Subject was a lighteyed spinster of the eighth dahn. (477) [10-6-2]

10.“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. (14) [1-3-4]

11.“Three of sixteen ruled, but now the Broken One reigns.”—Collected: Chachanan, 1173, 84 seconds pre-death. Subject: a cutpurse with the wasting sickness, of partial Iriali descent. (107) [3-2-2]

13.“I’m standing over the body of a brother. I’m weeping. Is that his blood or mine? What have we done?”—Dated Vevanev, 1173, 107 seconds pre-death. Subject: an out-of-work Veden sailor. (159) [4-2-4]

14.“He must pick it up, the fallen title! The tower, the crown, and the spear!”—Dated Vevahach, 1173, 8 seconds pre-death. Subject: a prostitute. Back ground unknown. (173) [4-5-3]

15.“The burdens of nine become mine. Why must I carry the madness of them all? Oh, Almighty, release me.”—Dated Palaheses, 1173, unknown seconds pre-death. Subject: a wealthy lighteyes. Sample collected secondhand. (201) [5-1-1]

16.“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. (217) [5-4-2]

17.“Light grows so distant. The storm never stops. I am broken, and all around me have died. I weep for the end of all things. He has won. Oh, he has beaten us.”—Dated Palahakev, 1173, 16 seconds pre-death. Subject: a Thaylen sailor. (239) [5-8-4]

18.“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 gain us further breath to draw.”—Dated Shashanan, 1173, 23 seconds pre-death. Subject: a darkeyed youth of sixteen years. Sample is of particular note. (257) [6-2-2]

(19)“And all the world was shattered!” Maps yelled, back arching, eyes wide, flecks of red spittle on his cheeks. “The rocks trembled with their steps, and the stones reached toward the heavens. We die! We die!” (No Date)

20.“ReShephir, the Midnight Mother, giving birth to abominations with her essence so dark, so terrible, so consuming. She is here! She watches me die!”—Dated Shashabev, 1173, 8 seconds pre-death. Subject: a darkeyed dock-worker in his forties, father of three. (284) [6-7-4]

21.“Above the final void I hang, friends behind, friends before. The feast I must drink clings to their faces, and the words I must speak spark in my mind. The old oaths will be spoken anew.”—Dated Betabanan, 1173, 45 seconds pre-death. Subject: a lighteyed child of five years. Diction improved remarkably when giving sample.(307) [7-2-2]

22.“The death is my life, the strength becomes my weakness, the journey has ended.”—Dated Betabanes, 1173, 95 seconds pre-death. Subject: a scholar of some minor renown. Sample collected secondhand. Considered questionable.(306) [7-2-1]

23.“In the storm I awaken, falling, spinning, grieving.”—Dated Kakanev, 1173, 13 seconds pre-death. Subject was a city guardsman. (359) [8-2-4]

24.“The darkness becomes a palace. Let it rule! Let it rule!”—Kakevah 1173, 22 seconds pre-death. A darkeyed Selay man of unknown profession. (370) [8-4-5]

25.“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. (380) [8-6-5]

26.“They come from the pit, two dead men, a heart in their hands, and I know that I have seen true glory.”—Kakashah 1173, 13 seconds pre-death. A rickshaw puller. (380) [8-6-5]

27.“I see them. They are the rocks. They are the vengeful spirits. Eyes of red.”—Kakakes 1173, 8 seconds pre-death. A darkeyed young woman of fifteen. Subject was reportedly mentally unstable since childhood. (386) [8-8-1]

28.“That chanting, that singing, those rasping voices.”—Kaktach 1173, 16 seconds pre-death. A middle-aged potter. Reported seeing strange dreams during highstorms during the last two years. (393) [8-9-3]

29.“Let me no longer hurt! Let me no longer weep! Daigonarthis! The Black Fisher holds my sorrow and consumes it!”—Tanatesach 1173, 28 seconds pre-death. A darkeyed female street juggler. Note similarity to sample 1172-89. (403) [9-1-3]

30.“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.”—Tanatanes 1173, 8 seconds pre-death. An Azish itinerant worker. Sample of particular note. (406) [9-2-1]

31.“All is withdrawn for me. I stand against the one who saved my life. I protect the one who killed my promises. I raise my hand. The storm responds.”—Tanatanev 1173, 18 seconds pre-death. A darkeyed mother of four in her sixty-second year. (409) [9-2-4]

I probably screwed at least 1 or 2 up, but I don't feel like double checking all 30. 21 is the only one we can be sure we see happening in the book, and oddly it's the only one out of chronological order compared to the rest of the death quotes. Edit 2: Fixed some wrong dates. 4-5, I think.

So Shalahes (651)? That's only a week before Shashanan (662). That is on page 789, when Maps dies, which is after Dalinar and Sadeas come togehter.

Do we know if the dates on the epigraphs correlate to the dates that are going on?

Not including the prologues and the flashbacks, I think only 2-3 months pass in the book, so it's safe to say they don't correlate. Shashanan is the 2nd of week Nan of month Shash, not week Shash of month Shash, it would be 622 by your numbering method (257 by mine). Also, Shashahes seems to be the correct abbreviation of the 1st day of week Palah of month Shash. Still, good job pointing out the closeness of the two.

This is odd, these date abbreviations didn't make any sense to me a few months ago, but now they're a bit more straightforward.

Edited June 9, 2011 by Cheese Ninja

[PeterAhlstrom]

In my timeline I use a system like YEAR/MONTH/WEEK/DAY. With numbers like 1173/05/10/3. Or with dashes or periods or something. I don't remember.

[Silus - Shard of Flame]

Soo...like a normal date, yeah?