[OB] The Dustbringer

[Harbour]

So, why did Malata smile at Dalinar?

1)Is it because she knows what Taravangian gonna do to him and anticipates that?

2)Is it because she likes Dalinar as a woman? In a femme fatale way.

3)Is it because she is just a b....?

4)Is it because she killed (as she think) Jasnah?

5)Or its just a nature of Dustbringer to look like a bringer of destruction?

 

[Aleksiel]

May be Malata was just overly pleased with her newfound position. 

[frozndevl]

[deleted]

Edited October 17, 2017 by frozndevl
double post

[Toaster Retribution]

7 minutes ago, Harbour said:

So, why did Malata smile at Dalinar?

1)Is it because she knows what Taravangian gonna do to him and anticipates that?

2)Is it because she likes Dalinar as a woman? In a femme fatale way.

3)Is it because she is just a b....?

4)Is it because she killed (as she think) Jasnah?

5)Or its just a nature of Dustbringer to look like a bringer of destruction?

 

I think option 1&2 are the most likely. Why would she think that she has killed Jasnah?

[frozndevl]

56 minutes ago, Nymeros said:

A lighteyed person's eyes would not change color after becoming a Radiant. Only a naturally darkeyed person who became a Dustbringer or Lightweaver would experience a red eyed color shift.

So even then, not everyone in the orders would have matching light eyes colors....only the naturally darkeyed individuals would.

My statement was unclear, what I was inferring is that wouldn't a darkeyes, who bonded a Dustbringer spren, have his/her eyes turn reddish. 

Why would a Lightweaver darkeye's eyes turn red?

56 minutes ago, Nymeros said:

So even then, not everyone in the orders would have matching light eyes colors....only the naturally darkeyed individuals would.

Right, it only effects those that weren't already light eyes as the light eyes already have something that makes their eyes light. Shallan was already light eyes and her eyes didn't change.

[KidWayne]

Here's everything we have on our new alleged Radiant from Chapter 24:

Quote

Adrotagia touched Taravangian’s arm and nodded toward someone standing with the Kharbranthian guards: a middle-aged lighteyed woman wearing a skirt and blouse, after a Southern style, with the top buttons of the blouse undone. Her hair was short in a boyish cut, and she wore gloves on both hands.

The strange woman stretched her right hand over her head, and a Shardblade appeared in it. She rested it with the flat side against her shoulder.

“Ah yes,” Taravangian said. “Introductions! Blackthorn, this is the newest Knight Radiant. Malata of Jah Keved.”

Quote

Now the woman, Malata, leaned idly against the side of the balcony. She hadn’t spoken much during their tour of the first three levels, and when she looked at Dalinar, she always seemed to have a hint of a smile on her lips.

Quote

The new Radiant, Malata, lounged in a seat near the wall-mounted sigil of the Dustbringers, staring at it.

Quote

In the room, Teshav gestured to the various pillars, each representing an order of Knight Radiant. Dalinar and Navani waited in the doorway, separated from the rest.

“What of the Surgebinder?” Navani whispered.

“A Releaser. Dustbringer, though they don’t like the term. She claims her spren told her that.” He rubbed his chin. “I don’t like how she smiles.”

“If she’s truly a Radiant,” Navani said, “can she be anything but trustworthy? Would the spren pick someone who would act against the best interests of the orders?”

Another question he didn’t know the answer to. He’d need to see if he could determine whether her Shardblade was only that, or if it might be another Honorblade in disguise.

From all this we can see that Malata never introduced herself as a Dustbringer. I imagine that she probably introduced herself as a Releaser, then when Dalinar looked at her funny, she gave an exasperated sigh and explained that her order is commonly known as Dustbringers. Then when recognition dawned on his face, she probably explained that her spren told her that they don't like being called Dustbringers.

It's worth noting that Dalinar perceives her as "strange." Also, that she is from Jah Keved, but does not dress like a light-eyed Vorin woman; she is wearing a skirt and slightly open blouse with gloves on both hands. She doesn't behave like a Brightlady, either. She is described as idly leaning and wearing a slight smile when she looks at the de facto king of Alethkar and Urithiru.

What I noticed from the end of the chapter is that all of the members of the Karbranthian party expect Dalinar to conquer the holdouts by force (and that this is why they chose to come to Urithiru - to spare Jah Keved from Alethi attack). So, is there any way that Malata's almost smiles at Dalinar reflect an eagerness for battle, or an attempt at a challenge along the lines of "I just dare you to attack my homeland, Blackthorn..." ?

Alternatively, if Malata happens to be Chanarach/Chana in disguise (unlikely), then she might simply find Dalinar to be an amusing figure (that is, she finds it almost funny that the Blackthorn is trying to play politician and has gotten so over his head with bonding the Stormfather, finding Urithiru, and painting a target on himself for Ishar).

I'm inclined to think that she is not in the know about the Diagram since she is from Jah Keved. However, if she is a Diagram initiate, then that might be why she creeps Dalinar out as she is likely present in order to carry out his assassination. If this proves to be true, I like the speculation that she could be Liss.

[Subvisual Haze]

She could be an actual Dustbringer.  As Nohadon noted in Dalinar's flashback, "not all spren are as discerning as Honorspren".  The more Cultivation based spren orders (the bottom half of the Radiant diagram) seem to select their Knights based more on purely intellectual traits rather than moral ones.

Jasnah is a brilliant scholar and Shallan is a fantastic artist, and while neither is morally corrupt they also haven't exactly been paragons of any particular moral virtue either.

The Divine attributes associated with the dustbringer order are Bravery and Obedience.  Both seem compatible with an assassin.

[Michael Portz]

36 minutes ago, Harbour said:

So, why did Malata smile at Dalinar?

1)Is it because she knows what Taravangian gonna do to him and anticipates that?

...

4)Is it because she killed (as she think) Jasnah?

If either of these two, I would immediately FIRE her if she worked for me; giving away what one knows or did is NEVER a good idea. Moreover Dalinar is 100% the wrong person for being target of psychological warfare ...

[ChazBolt]

@Nymeros @frozndevl Where is this "red tinted" eye color thing coming from? I dont remember the source for this. If this is true does that mean there is some relation to the spren of the dustbringers and the storm spren?

 

[bo.montier]

2 minutes ago, ChazBolt said:

@Nymeros @frozndevl Where is this "red tinted" eye color thing coming from? I dont remember the source for this. If this is true does that mean there is some relation to the spren of the dustbringers and the storm spren?

 

There are some theories out there (I believe) that say the KR will take on the eye color of the gem-stone with which their order is associated. I don't know enough about this to argue it yay or nay, but that's my understanding.

[frozndevl]

14 minutes ago, ChazBolt said:

@Nymeros @frozndevl Where is this "red tinted" eye color thing coming from? I dont remember the source for this. If this is true does that mean there is some relation to the spren of the dustbringers and the storm spren?

 

Yeah, that's the theory I'm talking about. So far, we've only seen Kaladin's eyes go blue to support this theory directly, I believe. Extending this to why Dustbringers are considered similar to Voidbringers could be that their eyes go redish.

[The One Who Connects]

2 hours ago, Nymeros said:

What? I don't think this WoB exists......

You see @Wreith? People forgot this entry existed altogether.

Quote

Questioner: Have we--  I think you mentioned in a previous signing that we’d already met one member of every Order of the Knights Radiant.

Brandon: Yes, I think you have.

Questioner: Is one of the Dustbringers a viewpoint character?

Brandon: One of the Dustbringers is eventually a point-of-view character.

Questioner: Haven’t been yet?

Brandon: Nnnnoooo, not yet, I don’t think.  But it depends if you count the Heralds as members of their order.

Questioner: I don’t.

Brandon: Oh, see I would, because they’re kind of heads of their Order. If you don’t count them you have not met some from every Order.

Questioner:  [Have we met someone from the Dustbringers?] 

Brandon: Well… Dustbringers are really complicated. /Really/ complicated. So that’s the weird one. Okay? So let’s shelve that one. You’ll see why it’s really weird later on.

---

13 minutes ago, ChazBolt said:

@Nymeros @frozndevl Where is this "red tinted" eye color thing coming from? I don't remember the source for this. If this is true does that mean there is some relation to the spren of the dustbringers and the storm spren?

Windrunner Gemstone is a Sapphire, and Kaladin's Eyes turn Blue when using Stormlight(and I think having his Shardblade out too, but I may be wrong.)
Dustbringer Gemstone is a Ruby, which are indisputably Red. Also bear in mind that Red is not a color tied exclusively to one Shard in the Cosmere.

[Nymeros]

1 hour ago, frozndevl said:

Why would a Lightweaver darkeye's eyes turn red?

Words of Radiance is red. The Lightweaver symbol is red....Violets are blue.

1 hour ago, Harbour said:

So, why did Malata smile at Dalinar?

2)Is it because she likes Dalinar as a woman? In a femme fatale way.

She wants to get in Dalinars pants. Dalinar has no game though and misinterprets her.

31 minutes ago, The One Who Connects said:

You see @Wreith? People forgot this entry existed altogether.

 

Thank you.

[Ytsken]

Thank you for finding that reference, the one who connects. 

I also recall a theory that this implied that Shalash was turning into a Dustbringer. And I can totally see our crazy art destroying Herald coming to the ancient city in order to wreak havoc...

[WhiteLeeopard]

I'm also hoping to see Shalash soon. But I imagine we would get some bigger clues, if nothing else than to say she is dropdead gorgeous.

[The Invested Beard]

20 minutes ago, Ytsken said:

Thank you for finding that reference, the one who connects. 

I also recall a theory that this implied that Shalash was turning into a Dustbringer. And I can totally see our crazy art destroying Herald coming to the ancient city in order to wreak havoc...

Nothing to see here, move along.

Edited October 17, 2017 by The Invested Beard

[Wreith]

3 minutes ago, The Invested Beard said:

Shalash is actually the Releaser Herald, so yeah she doesn't need to turn into one.

Shalash is Lightweavers

Chanarach is Releasers

[The Invested Beard]

Just now, Wreith said:

Shalash is Lightweavers

Chanarach is Releasers

Crap you're right. Stupid similar Stormlight names.

[Steeldancer]

Speaking of Chana, wheres Lyss? 

[The One Who Connects]

36 minutes ago, Ytsken said:

I also recall a theory that this implied that Shalash was turning into a Dustbringer.

So... a few things to note. That WoB vanished from public memory until I hunted it down recently for Maxal. Almost every theory involving Shalash into Dustbringer has been created either through a vague recollection of another WoB, or was developed separately.

If you want the WoBs most likely to have led to the Shalash is Dustbringer theory, have the two of these:

Quote

INTERVIEW: Sep 4th, 2014

Salt Lake City Comic-Con 2014 (Verbatim)

QUESTION

What are the other books in The Stormlight Archive going to be about?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Well each book is going to cover a flashback sequence for one of the characters and each book will focus on a different order of the Knights Radiant. And that's not always the same, like the flashbacks for the first one were Kaladin and it was also Windrunners, but we won't always have them be the exact same.

Quote

Q: The plan to have each book focused on one order is still on, right? Does that mean Book 3 will focus on the Bondsmiths or the Skybreakers depending on whether Dalinar or Szeth are the flashback focus? And what about the book focused on Ash, since she was the Herald of Shallan's order? Am I right in assuming that book will focus on the Dustbringers?
 
A: RAFO

On a side-note, these WoB's provide us with several possibilities:

1. Shalash bonds a Spren and becomes a Dustbringer, allowing us to learn about the Dustbringers in her book.
2. Chana is indisposed(or dead) at the time of Shalash's book, so she takes command of the Dustbringers in the interim, allowing us to learn about Dustbringers in her book without her being a Dustbringer.
3. Shalash takes up Chana's Honorblade(for reasons), allowing us to learn different stuff about Dustbringer powers from her, and learning about the Order itself from some minor character like say.. Redin.

Additionally, under the first WoB, Eshonai doesn't even have to be a Radiant for us to learn about whichever Order in her book. She still might be, since Brandon always answers those questions with "in the past..."

[Dahak]

6 hours ago, frozndevl said:

I haven't followed threads that discuss how the other Orders might work, but the term Releaser is interesting to me. If she is a Releaser, why are they also called Dustbringers? Do they release the bonds that hold things together, kind of like the anti Bondsmith, but for physical manifestations? Division is one of their surges, rigt?

Is it established in our fandom that they are called Dustbringers because they destroy the f**k out of things and all they leave behind is dust? That sounds awfully like soulcasting.

More that they turn stone to dust and then ignite it as a thermobaric explosion using Friction, which is their other surge.

[Watchcry]

5 hours ago, frozndevl said:

My statement was unclear, what I was inferring is that wouldn't a darkeyes, who bonded a Dustbringer spren, have his/her eyes turn reddish. 

Why would a Lightweaver darkeye's eyes turn red?

Right, it only effects those that weren't already light eyes as the light eyes already have something that makes their eyes light. Shallan was already light eyes and her eyes didn't change.

Don’t even lighteyes’ eyes turn the color of their order until the effects of stormlight or use of their shardblade wear off?

[Watchcry]

Also, I totally called it in the UK cover thread that Taravangians Radiant would be a dustbringer and that she was the woman on that UK cover. 

[Subvisual Haze]

5 hours ago, Harbour said:

So, why did Malata smile at Dalinar?

1)Is it because she knows what Taravangian gonna do to him and anticipates that?

2)Is it because she likes Dalinar as a woman? In a femme fatale way.

3)Is it because she is just a b....?

4)Is it because she killed (as she think) Jasnah?

5)Or its just a nature of Dustbringer to look like a bringer of destruction?

 

6) She is Hoid in disguise, likes to give know-it-all smiles to people just to irritate them.

Honestly, I think she's just cocky/self-confident.  Or maybe a crazy murderer!  Much like real life it is difficult to judge a person solely based on their smile.

[frozndevl]

56 minutes ago, Watchcry said:

Don’t even lighteyes’ eyes turn the color of their order until the effects of stormlight or use of their shardblade wear off?

I don't think we have direct evidence of that, and I also think that a WoB says that once a light eyes, you won't get the eye color change. I emphasize think, as I have no clue about searching for WoB.