[OB] Is Renarin the son of Dalinar and Sja-anat?

[LeglessHerdazian]

Following the most recent episode of Shardcast, I brain spewed forth this idea. As we have not yet seen Sja-anat in physical form, since we have not yet seen her features (her form is a black shadow iwith glowing white eyes), and since she seems to display not only sapience, but also independence of thought and action, is it possible that she is powerful among the unmade? If she has enough power, could she manifest a physical form? Since Odium was preparing Dalinar to fall, could Evi have been Sja-anat? Drawing from the podcast, if we assume that Sja-anat can resurrect dead spren, then it could be that Adolin's communication with his shard blade is inherited from his Unmade mother. This would also make Renarin a son of Sja-anat, and could potentially make him more susceptible to bonding to one of her corrupted spren. His sickness could also be a result of him possessing mixed DNA, or a mix of innate investiture. It also makes sense that Odium would use Sja-anat, posing as Evi, to push Dalinar further over the edge and make him more susceptible to The Thrill. She could do this by constantly challenging his values, or by acting completely out of character and doing something brash, like get captured by an enemy side. 

[Tesh]

That might work, although I doubt it's the case. And she rarely acted out of character, except on one or two occasions. And if Odium did send an Unmade to pose as Dalinar's wife, he most likely would have sent one more likely to obey, even if less intelligent. Except Odium thought Sja-anat was completely under his control, well, pretty much, until she transported Kaladin, Shall an and Adolin to the Cognitive realm, instead of killing them.

[WhiteLeeopard]

I very much doubt it, but it fits surprisingly well, so get an upvote for crazy theory. A fast problem with this theory is that if it were the case Odium would have been nuts to send Sja-anat to kill Adolin.

Edited March 2, 2018 by WhiteLeeopard

[Vissy]

Sja-anat is inhumanly intelligent. Evi was average. I don't see the resemblance, honestly. I think it's an interesting theory, though. I wouldn't be surprised if there was more to Odium's grooming of Dalinar that went under the radar for us.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Vissy

[Alderant]

3 hours ago, LeglessHerdazian said:

Following the most recent episode of Shardcast, I brain spewed forth this idea. As we have not yet seen Sja-anat in physical form, since we have not yet seen her features (her form is a black shadow iwith glowing white eyes), and since she seems to display not only sapience, but also independence of thought and action, is it possible that she is powerful among the unmade? If she has enough power, could she manifest a physical form? Since Odium was preparing Dalinar to fall, could Evi have been Sja-anat? Drawing from the podcast, if we assume that Sja-anat can resurrect dead spren, then it could be that Adolin's communication with his shard blade is inherited from his Unmade mother. This would also make Renarin a son of Sja-anat, and could potentially make him more susceptible to bonding to one of her corrupted spren. His sickness could also be a result of him possessing mixed DNA, or a mix of innate investiture. It also makes sense that Odium would use Sja-anat, posing as Evi, to push Dalinar further over the edge and make him more susceptible to The Thrill. She could do this by constantly challenging his values, or by acting completely out of character and doing something brash, like get captured by an enemy side. 

While it is an interesting idea, the fact that so much has to inferred just to make this work make this unlikely. Personally, I think that would rather undercut Dalinar's development in Oathbringer, since the revelation that, even when she disagreed so completely with his actions and ideology she still made him up to be the best of men to their sons was ultimately what broke Dalinar about her death. He realized the depths of just how much she loved him (and I think she really did) and just how undeserving of that love he really was.

With regards to Renarin, I think it's dangerous ground to attribute all struggles or successes of a character to the magic system at work (this includes things like the Unmade and lightweaving). In Words of Radiance, Renarin tells Kaladin that his "sickness" was a form of epilepsy. This is a very real-world disease (one I had growing up, actually), and can be caused by something as simple as an "electrical glitch," so to speak, within the brain during the growth/developmental process. There is no reason to assume that his epilepsy was the result of mixed DNA with one of the Unmade, especially since Adolin appears to suffer nothing from the same union.

With regards to Evi, I found her incredibly consistent within the book. Her running to the enemy was perfectly in character--she wanted desperately to keep Dalinar from becoming the monster she feared he was becoming, and she went to the city to beg them to accept the treaty. I didn't find that out of character in the slightest.