Heralds getting worse: An attempt to systematize

[adbf]

Kalak looked into the immortal king’s eyes. Black smoke rose from a small patch to their left. Groans of the dying haunted them from behind. There, in Jezrien’s eyes, Kalak saw anguish and grief. Perhaps even cowardice. This was a man hanging from a cliff by a thread.

 

Almighty above, Kalak thought. You’re broken too, aren’t you? They all were.

 

If all the 9 Heralds feel it unbearable to fight more, if they surrender to their weakness, still haunted by the longing for what they cared earlier, but believing they are unable to care further, what is the logical development for everyone of them further up to the present moment in the Roshar’s story? It seems very much like the Wretch syndrome Kaladin is suffering during his darkest days in Bridge Four. The wretch who so much wanted to care, but failed and failed and failed again and now doesn’t believe to be able to care again, and actually resigns and agrees to stop caring.

 

We are told, that every order of Radiants matched it’s Herald patron in temperament. Every order has the obligation to care for the world, with variations in the mission matching the specifics of their Heralds. All those missions are extremely difficult, i.e. prone to repeating failures. Therefore wouldn’t the failures, the weaknesses, the manner of how different Radiants in making are broken correspond to the manner every Herald’s resignation and decline will manifest? That’s the main assumption of this attempt to systematize the ways the Heralds decline and to predict how different Heralds would likely behave now.

 

Whether the Heralds are influenced by Odium and twisted because of their betrayal, as I have read in other threads? Whether only some of them went dark, or possibly only Nin? It’s all worth to think about, but for Occam’s razor sake first it would be better to concentrate on the question: can all of their current state be explained as logical consequences of their weakness and resignation at the breaking of the Oathpact, as various variations of a Wretch syndrome? I think it can.

 

1. Jezrien.

We don’t see much of Jezrien directly, asides for Nalan’s comment about him not stopping drooling. But indirectly I believe that we can see lot about Jezrien’s current state in the character of … the Stormfather.

 

The Stormfather is definitely not Jezrien - there are no questions about that. But, 1. We are told, that the Stormfather was shaped by ages of human belief about the Almighty; 2. We know that the Stormfather is so often identified with Jezrien in popular beliefs, and sometimes (Emul) even completely with the Almighty. In those persistent popular beliefs, that shaped the Stormfather, right? Therefore it’s easy to draw the conclusion, that many of Jezrien’s traits are reflected in the Stormfather, no matter of the difference between the both.

 

And I’d say Stormfather’s attitude strikingly resembles the position of Kaladin’s inner wretch in it’s peak. All those Stormfather’s moaning about how he wanted to protect, but he cannot (as when he is speaking to Eshonai); all of those belligerent ravings, that all Radiants will inevitably kill his children and therefore he cannot allow them to bind again - this compared to Kaladin’s desperate belief that he inevitably will fail again and therefore he has not to attempt to save anybody again; and also compared to his firm “all lighteyes are traitors” position).

 

Unlike Kaladin Jezrien wouldn’t have anything to stop him surrendering to his inner wretch. I can easily see him suffering of a “There is no point to try protect anyone, it will only fail and add to my burden” kind of thinking. He might believe that by just walking by and non intervening he will no cause himself further hurt, but he hardly would be able to stop grieving. He could degrade into the mentality of a wretch literally, the beaten slave mentality - so the drooling.

 

2. Nalan.

We don’t know what weaknesses a skybreaker in making would experience, but we have very good information about the current state of mind of the Herald himself. And Darkness is so calm and efficient, as if there is nothing tormenting him at all. But what actually can be seen in him is the belligerent refusal to care for people. Under the pretext, that true judgment must be free of any “sentiment”. He looks so stable, nothing can disturb him, as Lift keeps to observe - he shows no frustration, no cursing even when he is bested. He is saying Szeth how he will teach him the path with no sentiments that “obfuscate judging”. But is he truly calm?

“That was poorly done,” Darkness said to the minion, tone emotionless. Lift barely heard him. So much blood. “You will be punished.”

 

“But . . .” the minion said. “I had to do as I threatened . . .”

 

“You have not done the proper paperwork in this kingdom to kill that child,” Darkness said.

 

“Aren’t we above their laws?”

 

Darkness actually let go of her, striding over to slap the minion across the face. “Without the law, there is nothing. You will subject yourself to their rules, and accept the dictates of justice. It is all we have, the only sure thing in this world.”

As emotionless as he is, and as sure he must be to be perfectly able to discipline his minion in due time, he goes out of his way and allows Lift to actually escape, i.e. he lets a sentiment to cloud his judgment. Because of how strongly he feels about ‘the only sure thing in this world”. There’s desperation and resignation in this declaration. Nalan obviously is longing to care about something. But he voluntarily and militantly restricts himself to “the only thing left”, because so it’s easy to not be hurt by failures to make something really just. If he cares only to be true to some written rules, no matter how just, he will not be hurt if he fails to bring justice. And so he can remain more sane than the other Heralds. Rationalizing away his shame, limiting himself into small agenda. Refusing to care. Even if the fragment about him in the $Words of Radiance” book inside book describe him as too stern, I don’t believe he was like this before the breaking of the Oathpact. Obviously he has to reintroduce law as such into society Desolation after Desolation, i.e. he couldn’t rely on already existing laws, as such were most likely usually nonexistent. And I don’t believe a “Just” as divine attribute could be felt as divine in the form of simple uncaring formal law. Nalan changed. His declaration of “Goodness is irrelevant” is looking too much as resignation to actually create good law, but only limiting himself to what is left.

 

3. Chana.

I cannon have anything definite about her. But most likely Chana’s and Releasers’ interpretation of honor was to never let wrong just pass, never be complacent, but always confront wrong with all passion and without fear. Brandon’s revelation that Dustbringers would love Adolin’s act of murdering Sadeas stays in line with this assumption. I guess that under such code (or if I’m wrong here, under whatever code of honor will go together with the divine attribute of “Braveness”) Chana will have tons of occasions to make painful errors. What would be the most likely form for her to surrender to the despair, that she can not effectively stand against wrong? I guess the best way for her to get rid of the burden of guilt is to refuse to think, but instead surrendering herself to unthinking impulses. So it would be easy for her - whatever the outcome of her actions, she could simply go to the next impulse, never stopping to reflect. If it’s true that Adolin and/or Eshonai have inclination to join this order, it would explain their way quite well, I think.

 

4. Vedel.

For the Healer to not feel the pain of her future failures, she in her desperation could believe to be sure, what could Vedel do? She can refuse to listen to pleas. Under some excuse. So she could retain a minimum illusion about her position, but just find some reason to explain away why she doesn’t need to engage in caring and healing. Maybe Lift’s utter ignoring of what Wyndle tries to tell her  on the excuse that he is a Voidbringer, is a lighter parallel to this. Probably even more deliberate attempt not to care, similar to Nalan’s can be in place, as Lift is saying to Darkness:

“Goodness is irrelevant,” Darkness said. His Shardblade dropped into his fingers.

“You don’t even care, do you?”

“No,” he said. “I don’t.”

“You should,” she said, exhausted. “You should . . . should try it, I mean. I wanted to be like you, once. Didn’t work out. Wasn’t . . . even like being alive . . .”

 

I’m not sure Vedel would be able to just make herself stop caring. But try she well can, and finding endless excuses is very viable too.

 

5. Pali.

If Truthwatchers’ calling is, as our truthwatcher puts it “to see”, than if Pali is despaired that giving the truth she sees is only for the worse, she could react by refusing to look. Also as “Giving” is one of the divine attributes, and as Renarin is especially sensitive about how useless son he is, i.e. not able to give what is presumably expected from him, I would guess Pali can degenerate into a “Nobody needs me” kind of whiner. Or probably she can convince herself, that it would be better for everybody to left what she know better unknown.

 

6. Ash.

We know how perfectly can be forgotten something that Shallan finds too painful in her past. How Shallan stayed sane by not allowing the memories. Let multiply this in grade and apply to Ash’s situation.

 

What is Ash? The Herald responsible for introducing art and craving for the ideals again and again into humankind after it’s forgotten each Desolation. As Desolations are apparently something very unfavorable for her trade, she had tons of reasons to despair, to regard all her past efforts a failure. So she broke the Oathpact and had her role forsaken. And now she sees, unlike in previous inter-desolation dark ages, beautiful art, and especially depiction of herself. What would mean that for her, the renegade? Art reminds her of what she was, of what she threw away. How dare it remind her! And if somebody is so unwilling to be reminded about the painful, isn’t the next logical step to destroy what reminds? So Ash’s refusal to remember.

 

Probably here is also another moment that plays very good with Shallan, but is driven to an extreme and stripped of any positive moment with Ash. Shallan’s wisecracks. She used this reducing to clever absurd of what she couldn’t affect directly to relieve the pressure over herself and her brothers. That is the very role in history of the art of grotesque at all - if the high ideals are refused to you, if you are suppressed by the order, you can render said order to absurdity, laugh and get relief of pressure on your sanity. The role of carnival and similar phenomena. But somehow vandalism is somehow a grotesque of the destroyed art too. Vandalism could even be felt as deconstruction in postmodernist terms, i.e. an illusion of kind of creativity by sort of physical wisecracking over other art. Ash couldn’t completely get rid of any “creativity” you see, and as all other eight ex-Heralds she is “hanging from a cliff by a thread”, getting worse and worse.

 

7. Battar.

If somebody is constantly revealing truths, and the population again and again is not listening (compare Jasna’s pain of how nobody listens to her), the explorer might get desperate and refuse to communicate. Our known Elsecaller already has some problems of making herself hard to communicate with. Also from the prologue when Gavilar chastises his daughter about isolating herself in a position of “brilliance” I guess there may be something of how the bearer of the divine attributes “Wise” and “Careful” may manifest her despair and her surrender to hopelessness. I suspect that for finding Battar we have to look for somebody painfully inaccessible.

 

8. Kalak.

Maybe it’s about a builder nightmare to find the building he built abandoned, the tools he produced discarded. Why else Kalak would come to the desperate resignation that there is no good for him to build more. Probably this just comes from my unfounded suggestion that Navani may belong to the Willshaper camp, and there’s her pain about being left alone. Or maybe Kalak could turn into a conformist. Still to think about this one.

 

9. Ishar.

His role is obviously that of the spiritual leader, the one who has to give advice, and to find the conditions people can willingly work together. After all he is the one who organized the first Radiants and forcefully brought them to have self-limitations, rules and ideals. Just as now the role of Dalinar is actually that of a spiritual leader. So as Dalinar’s burden now is to be a living example for everybody and guiding everybody to a suitable ideal. The instance of an ultimate advice. Not an easy burden for sure. What will happen when such a spiritual leader is himself broken? I think that the guideline here is Dalinar’s decision to abdicate. Because of not trusting his own judgment.

 

Well, I guess Ishar actually abdicated of sorts. Meaning he began to refuse taking responsibility. As if getting into a position “don’t bother me, I’m retired”. Making himself believe there is no need to guide. So he could be the beggar from the WoK prologue, or brother Lhan from the interlude about Pai or whatever. Somebody militantly limiting himself to a private life.

[Aminar]

I can see this, but it begs the question, what about the desolations with radiants and heralds before the heralds broke. I think that different orders have to be broken in specific psychological ways to allow the spren bonds, but I can't say that for sure... Depression for windrunners, cognitive denial/ptsd for lightweavers etc. I'm just not sure it can be tied to the heralds, especially given the fact becoming a radiant stems from beginning to cope with those issues. But I think mental health knowledge certainly enhances the series.

[hoser]

I see a lot of good thought here.  Given that we really only have information about 3 heralds, it is necessarily projected.  Taln seems pretty broken too, so it might make sense to include him.  I do have a few thoughts about the heralds mentioned below. 

If...

 

1. Jezrien.

We don’t see much of Jezrien directly, asides for Nalan’s comment about him not stopping drooling. But indirectly I believe that we can see lot about Jezrien’s current state in the character of … the Stormfather.

 

The Stormfather is definitely not Jezrien - there are no questions about that. But, 1. We are told, that the Stormfather was shaped by ages of human belief about the Almighty; 2. We know that the Stormfather is so often identified with Jezrien in popular beliefs, and sometimes (Emul) even completely with the Almighty. In those persistent popular beliefs, that shaped the Stormfather, right? Therefore it’s easy to draw the conclusion, that many of Jezrien’s traits are reflected in the Stormfather, no matter of the difference between the both.

 

And I’d say Stormfather’s attitude strikingly resembles the position of Kaladin’s inner wretch in it’s peak. All those Stormfather’s moaning about how he wanted to protect, but he cannot (as when he is speaking to Eshonai); all of those belligerent ravings, that all Radiants will inevitably kill his children and therefore he cannot allow them to bind again - this compared to Kaladin’s desperate belief that he inevitably will fail again and therefore he has not to attempt to save anybody again; and also compared to his firm “all lighteyes are traitors” position).

 

Unlike Kaladin Jezrien wouldn’t have anything to stop him surrendering to his inner wretch. I can easily see him suffering of a “There is no point to try protect anyone, it will only fail and add to my burden” kind of thinking. He might believe that by just walking by and non intervening he will no cause himself further hurt, but he hardly would be able to stop grieving. He could degrade into the mentality of a wretch literally, the beaten slave mentality - so the drooling.

...

 

The assessment of Jezrien seems questionable to me.  Kalak's assessment could be projection, as it pretty well describes Kalak also, but it might be accurate.  Kaladin is a depressive personality, per WoB, so I don't see his inner wretch necessarily applying to Jezrien or other Windrunners.  It pretty much runs counter to Kalak's description of him:

... Jezrien's voice was calm, deep, regal.  Though he hadn't worn a crown in centuries, his royal manner lingered.  He always seemed to know what to do. 

Nalan's comment about drooling definitely seems applicable to the new Azish prime.  Whether it could also be applied to Jezrien is unclear to me.  It bothers me to see it asserted as fact.  I believe that Brandon has said that the Heralds are definitely affected by the torture and then guilt over abandoning their duties with a sacrificial victim (Taln) and a dishonest accounting of the result (we won). 

 

Nalan seems to me that he may have been significantly corrupted and no description leaves out the crescent shaped scar.  I personally think the scar is a remainder of some Odious transformation beyond the torture and aftermath of desertion. 

 

Nalan does give a description of the Edgedancers that may well have described Vev before being broken.  He talks of them being distracted by minor irrelevent causes.  It seems her brokenness could accentuate that tendency, where she could be loving and healing within such a minor sphere of influence that she doesn't really help. 

Edited March 18, 2014 by hoser

[adbf]

@ Aminar

Becoming a Radiants goes together with coping with issues, but killing one’s spren and stopping been a Radiant would ruin all the mental health work again. The Radiants in the Recreance scene seen by Dalinar look pretty heavily depressed, even if they should have learned to cope with it during their process of becoming Knights in the first place. Nothing strange here, since Radiants’ way to cope with their soul-cracks was by finding the purpose to live for, and once they forsake said purpose, what is left for them. The same should be valid for the Heralds too, but in a greater measure. They all obviously heroically endured a torture after torture between Desolation, so they had the strength to cope with tremendous inner pain. But what gave them this strength? Once they threw away their purpose, what would they use to fight against their cracks next?

 

@hoser

Jezrien was regal, yes. But Kaladin the squadleader was also looking regal in Cenn’s eyes. I mean, after Jezrien broke the oathpact and chose to remove himself from further communicating with people as Herald, for whom will be needed to be regal? If he chose to stop protecting, then how would his protection-oriented skills survive. I guess for Jezrien and Ishar (the spiritual leader) the breaking of the Oathpact would the most profoundly destroy the possibilities to cling to their past purpose. All the others could strive to find a reduced form of their past role. But what is a reduced form of a supreme leader? For what reason, for what excuse could Jezrien regain his regal posture? If he have nobody to inspire, what are his regal manners needed for? I’d say they will inevitably rust. Whom would Jezrien want to rule after breaking the Oathpact, and why?

 

That Nalan’s comment about the drooling can be about the new Prime, is a valid point. It’s not necessary that Jezrien will come to literally drooling. Probably he could even find himself some odd group to patronize, who knows. But for him after the breaking of Oathpact, I’m too easily reminded of all the numerous dictators, who managed so energetically rule long long years, but after losing power suddenly succumb surprisingly fast to illness and depression.

 

Nalan is corrupted enough, that I also wouldn’t be surprised at all in finding in him Odium’s influence. But I’m more interested of how one of Honor’s own and most trusted could gradually come to the state we see him now. It couldn’t be for him to simply changing sides. I believe his process of despair could explain the long evolution to the state he becomes obviously evil now.

 

And it’s a good idea of Vedel being broken by distracting herself by a increasingly insignificant tasks. Up to doting on stuffed toys. That could be even one of the ways of what I tried above to define as finding excuses to not listen.