Vasher's Status and His Use of Breath

[KnightRadiant]

Hey Sharders!

 

In Warbreaker there is a scene where Vasher is without Breath completely, making him a Drab. As we learn later, Vasher is Returned, so wouldn't being without Breath kill him?

Returned need a Breath a week to survive, but what happened to Vasher's one Returned Breath? I know Vasher can change how he appears and all that, but how does that hide his aura?

[natc]

Apparently, he and Denth possessed some sort of technique, involving a lot of mental gymnastics, that allowed them to thoroughly view themselves as non-gods, and suppressing the divine breath completely without killing them.

And a different one that allows you to withhold breath from being transferred in bulk by the normal command. Basically just take everything Denth told us about awakening with a grain of salt, he is one hell of a liar.

[Nyali]

As we learn later, Vasher is Returned, so wouldn't being without Breath kill him?

 

Apparently, he and Denth possessed some sort of technique, involving a lot of mental gymnastics, that allowed them to thoroughly view themselves as non-gods, and suppressing the divine breath completely without killing them.

 

natc's post could be the right answer, but there's another possibility. Vasher has spent quite some time on Roshar, even long before the events of Warbreaker. Nightblood was inspired by Rosharan Shardblades, after all (there's a WoB on that). Vasher could, in theory, have a stash of Stormlight to feed off of instead of Breath, even on Nalthis. Of course, he couldn't replenish the Stormlight except by going back to Roshar, and, as far as we know, you can't store it for any length of time (it degrades over time as it spends its Investiture to give off light when not otherwise employed). Vasher, being the Investiture scientist he is, could have figured out a way to preserve Stormlight, like food in a fridge.

 

natc's post is probably the right answer though. It's the simplest, and the events of Warbreaker last far longer than spheres full of Stormlight would without being renewed (unless they were huuuuge gemstones, I suppose), and I doubt Vasher took a detour to Roshar for takeout between his scenes in Warbreaker. We don't know how hard Worldhopping is or how long it takes, but I'd guess it's not THAT easy OR quick.

 

 

EDIT: Err, wait, ignore me, I'm being stupid. Even if Vasher was sustaining himself on Stormlight, giving away his Divine Breath would kill him. So, nothing I said above has anything to do with your question, and natc's answer is the right one definitely. I was accidentally answering the similar question, "How can Vasher survive without any breaths other than his Divine Breath for an extended period of time?"

Edited May 16, 2016 by Nyali