Something "holy" about Urithiru and Shinovar

[kari-no-sugata]

Something I just noticed - don't remember discussion on it before and found nothing with search.

 

Chapter 6, Jasnah:

And then, there are storeis - ones I dare to believe - claiming that Urithiru was holy and protected from the Voidbringers.

 

I-10, Szeth (in Urithiru):

The only place in the East where the stones were not cursed, where walking on them was allowed. This place was holy.

 

Two knowledgeable people think there's something inherently special about the land of Urithiru. I doubt this is a co-incidence.

 

Also, consider this: the Everstorm is due to hit Shinovar before Szeth can get there... but "everyone" thinks Shinovar is only protected from highstorms due to its location and mountains to the east of it, which would not apply to the Everstorm. If it has no "other" protection then the place is going to get wiped out by the Everstorm before Szeth can even get there. That would make for a poor story. But what if Shinovar is protected from Voidbringers like Urithiru? Also consider that the original working title for book 3 was "Stones Unhallowed".

 

There's something going on here that we know very little about, I suspect.

[Cromptj]

Urithiru was built st the place closest to Honour, so I would guess that either Urithiru is in Shinovar and they are both next to the physical representation of Honour or they are both near Shards, and Shinovar has Cultivation somewhere in or near it.

[Seloun]

WoB:

 

 

Q:  Why does Urithiru not have hallowed stones?
A:  That'll be answered eventually. It's cultural, not magical.

 

Regarding Shinovar and the Everstorm, there's probably a couple of weeks before it hits Shinovar from when Szeth is revived, possibly upto a month or so. It's Weeping, which appears to slow the highstorm frequency at least, and the Everstorm appears to move slower than the highstorms:

 

 

“This Everstorm will come again, for certain?”

 

REGULARLY, LIKE HIGHSTORMS, THOUGH LESS FREQUENT. YOU ARE DOOMED.

 

The other calculations in the books regarding when they're expecting the Everstorm assumes that the Everstorm moves just like a highstorm, and are likely more suspect than the Stormfather's statement.

 

From a narrative standpoint this is probably enough time for Szeth to do interesting stuff in Shinovar. Also, if there are no parshmen in Shinovar (seems likely) the damage the Everstorm will do is probably not immediately catastrophic (it will be bad, but probably not 'wipe everyone off the map' bad). Note Shinovar is partly protected on the west side by a mountain range as well. So there doesn't seem to be much reason to believe Shinovar won't be wrecked by the Everstorm when it hits.

[Falconite]

WoB:

 

 

 

 

Regarding the first bit - where Brandon says its cultural, not magical...  could Urithiru have been soulcast?  in tWoK - the traders would bargain anything for soulcast metal scraps...  if Urithiru was soulcast - the stones didn't come from the earth and therefore wouldn't be hallowed?

[kari-no-sugata]

Regarding Shinovar and the Everstorm, there's probably a couple of weeks before it hits Shinovar from when Szeth is revived, possibly upto a month or so. It's Weeping, which appears to slow the highstorm frequency at least, and the Everstorm appears to move slower than the highstorms:

 

Hmm. In the epilogue, Wit/Hoid says that the Everstorm "should hit Shinovar tonight". It doesn't appear to be the Weeping any more during that scene so I guess Szeth has 2 weeks at least.

 

Will be interesting to see what happens: if Shinovar doesn't have some special protection, it's basically toast. Oh, here's something I thought of the other day that forgot for a while: there's a whole bunch of Honorblades in Shinovar - I wonder if they have any kind of area effect even if not being used...?

[kari-no-sugata]

Urithiru was built st the place closest to Honour, so I would guess that either Urithiru is in Shinovar and they are both next to the physical representation of Honour or they are both near Shards, and Shinovar has Cultivation somewhere in or near it.

 

Urithiru is the highest place on Roshar - maybe that's how it's "closest" to Honour? It's definitely not in Shinovar - Szeth describes it as the "only place in the East where the stones were not cursed"

[Dalenthas]

I imagine when Szeth gets to Shinovar, there will be much destruction and death, but nowhere near 100% casualties. Indeed, I imagine that the Everstorm won't do nearly as much damage as everyone fears that it will, though where Everstorm and Highstorm meet will be in for a shock. In the East, where most of the buildings are built assuming that storms only come from one direction, the Everstorm will be weak, having travelled over so much of the continent already. In the West, where people aren't prepared at all for harsh storms... there'll be a ton of damage, but nothing outright catastrophic. The Everstorm marks the beginning of the Desolation, it'll be a while yet before things get quite Desolate.