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Physical Colour is not the Fuel for Awakening *Mild WoR Spoilers*


Aonar

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That's actually a really good theory. We know that the fundamental power driving the magic is the same, with the actual magic varying from world to world; however, these two worlds do seem much closer linked than most others. Especially with those special appearances in WoR.... 

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Excellent theory. I fully support this, and remind me to espouse it later. I myself was trying to figure out how to properly compare the grayness of Lifeless with Shard-severing, but I think this'll do. :)

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Very good, have a +1.

I am occupied with other things (namely, translating the fracking Alethi glyphpairs), so I can't dedicate too much processing power to this, but it sounds sound. I too noticed the how both Shardblades and Awakening drain the color from their target / source, but didn't think about it hard enough to see the implications.

Perhaps the answer is something about life, and its components - physical, cognitive, and spiritual? The object you Awaken is the physical aspect, the Command you give it is the cognitive one (how it "sees" itself), and the drained color is reflection the spiritual... energy... you've transferred to it - its life force, so to speak.

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Hrm... I'm not trying to contradict, I'm simply throwing out some food for thought. To be clear, I'm not sold on your theory, but it's certainly worth considering.

Spoilers abound below for Warbreaker, obviously, and there are a few minor ones for Words of Radiance. To lazy to build the spoiler-cuts, so I'm letting this warning and the thread title justify why I can't be bothered.

1. Shard-severed limbs are useless, but the priest who held Nightblood and lost the color of his hand still seemed able to use it just fine. This isn't to say your theory doesn't still have merit, but like Marasi said, finding deviations in the pattern brings wisdom and knowledge.

2. Can color-drain, then, be healed? Let's say you've got a shirt with the color drained out of it. Could someone use Regrowth on it, or even just directly-infuse it with Stormlight, to restore the color?

3. Is there a Command that would give away even MORE of your breath, leaving your body color-less, perhaps even dead, in order to transfer more Breath-energy to someone? In a pinch, could someone learn this technique and Awaken something when they've no color to draw on beyond their own body? Perhaps it would require some specific Heightening...

That's all for now, I think.

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seems likely.

i'd say for sure that it is not the color by itself, because, well, magic drawing power from organic policonjugated molecules, or from transition metal ions? would seem pretty weird. too arbitrary. it's not like allomancy, where you needed a specific metal for a specific effect. so I fully agree that the pigmentation itself is unlikely to have any importance, and it has to be a spiritual/cognitive connection.

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I'm glad people are liking this. :)

@Outis: As to the differences between Shard-severed limbs and still living people who have lost their colour, I think it has to do with what is changed in the soul.

Lose of colour associated with BioChroma by my theory changes only a few very specific Spiritual Connections, while Shardblades cut all of the object's Spiritual Connections.

If my theory is true, it should be possible do most of the things you described. We know for a fact that there are things BioChroma can do that we're not aware of, and this might go towards explaining them.

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My only real concern with this theory is how do you explain what happens when someone of the I think 8th heightening or whatever one makes all the rainbowness and is able to create infinite energy for awakening. 

 

Because they don't? I'm fairly sure that even Susebron can't get any energy from pure-white objects.

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I don't think that's how it works. He makes light prismatic, not objects, and Awakening drains the color from objects.

I thought she was implying that he could use the color from the light but I could b wrong. In any event the god king is able to make objects white when he awakens and that also messes with this theory.

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Well, the question is what purpose colour serves. It doesn't necessarily act as the fuel itself, but it is related to Endowment. Now, take into consideration the theory that the flowers known as the Tears of Edgli are the physical "body" of Endowment in the same way atium and lerasium are the "bodies" of Ruin and Preservation. [Note: This has been RAFO'd but that doesn't make it invalid] These flowers make spectacular dyes, which in turn supply above-average fuel for Awakening which implies a strong tie to Endowment in the same way that lerasium serves to make a strong connection with Preservation.

 

If this is true, then colour isn't the fuel for Awakening, but rather the Spiritual connection to Endowment that colour provides.

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Thank-you. Now, to take this further we have to consider the purpose of Breath on Nalthis and how it relates to one's Spiritual connection. We know that Breath acts as a supplement for the immune system and boosts mental health, so Drabs are more sickly and irritable. They also are less vibrant, see less colour, and cannot Return. This somehow implies that Breath itself induces some kind of Spiritual/Invested connection with Endowment which can lead to the granting of a Divine Breath- a Splinter of Endowment.

 

If all these things are true, then that means colour, or rather the ability to percieve colour, is improved by greater Spiritual connection to Endowment in the same way that a Spiritual connection to Ruin or Preservation affects people on Scadrial and their ability to relate to and connect with the Allomantic/Feruchemical traits attached to the metal that the Misting/Fering or Mistborn/Feruchemist can use.

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Awakening turns an object grey, not white. Even Suse can't use grey for Awakening.

 

In the last bit of warbreaker Suse does in fact use colored objects for awakening and he makes them bone white.

 

"at least half of it had been turned white. not just the grey of normal awakening. They had been made bone white. And, becoming white, they now reacted to his incredible BioChroma, splitting back into colors. Like a circle, somehow, she thought. colorful, then white, then back to color." - Warbreaker ebook 547/679

 

My concern for this theory is that the connections being made are based of a change in the spiritual connection to something changing it to grey. Shardblade severed limbs and lifeless are also for all intents and purpose dead things so being grey could just be a representation of being without life. Also a lifeless does in fact have a breath. 

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I'd like to note that Shard-severed limbs seem to functionally be paralyzed, not "dead." They likely still have blood flowing through them and whatnot, otherwise they'd literally rot off.

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Yes, but why are they paralyzed? It doesn't kill the limb, but it does sever a connection. Both Nightblood an the Shardblades are said to "burn souls", which are a purely Spiritual thing- to me, that acts as further proof that the theory is correct.

 

With regards to Lifeless, they are a Type II Awakened object that originally needed something like 100 Breaths to power until the discovery of the One-Breath Command. And if memory serves, Nightblood cuts through them instead of burning them out; in other words, death through trauma and not a lack of "soul". The reason that the Lifeless are so Breath-Efficient is that they are, effectively, a perfect inanimate copy of a person, and Awakening is easier on anthropomorphic objects.

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From the coppermind

 

 Lifeless that it touches disappear in a puff of smoke and stone also disappears when struck. It is not shown whether living humans struck by Nightblood's blade would disappear like the Lifeless or would die in some other way, but one would assume even a minor cut by Nightblood would result in instant death.
So long as Nightblood is unsheathed, it drains the Breath from its wielder, drawing Breath faster the longer it is used. Vasher claims that if it drained all the Breath from him he would die; this would also happen to not-Returned wielding Nightblood unsheathed.

 

 

 

Night blood drains breath and possibly life. It does not sever anything and does not burn souls it consumes.

Edited by Arook
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Well, the question is what purpose colour serves. It doesn't necessarily act as the fuel itself, but it is related to Endowment. Now, take into consideration the theory that the flowers known as the Tears of Edgli are the physical "body" of Endowment in the same way atium and lerasium are the "bodies" of Ruin and Preservation. [Note: This has been RAFO'd but that doesn't make it invalid] These flowers make spectacular dyes, which in turn supply above-average fuel for Awakening which implies a strong tie to Endowment in the same way that lerasium serves to make a strong connection with Preservation.

 

Do we have confirmation that ToE-dyed fabrics are better fuel for Awakening? I was actually going to ask Brandon about this in the context of asking him about fiber arts in his worldbuilding in general (which I'm genuinely curious about) but if it's already been answered I'll skip that question.

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Do we have confirmation that ToE-dyed fabrics are better fuel for Awakening? I was actually going to ask Brandon about this in the context of asking him about fiber arts in his worldbuilding in general (which I'm genuinely curious about) but if it's already been answered I'll skip that question.

 

ToE dyed fabric is more vibrant and in turn better fuel for awakening. I don't think Brandon has said more at this time.

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When Breath is transferred for use in Awakening, it must first be broken off of the Spiritweb of the Awakener (since breath is literally a peice of a person's soul according to the Warbreaker annotations). Perhaps this is connected to why broken spiritual connections in the form of drained color are required for Awakening.

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