On the Essence of Blood

[skaa]

For me, one of the best things about Words of Radiance is that we got to know a whole lot about Shallan's powers. I'd like to discuss an aspect of this that's not as showy as transforming a whole ship into water, or creating very realistic illusions to fool Cosmere-aware enemies, or even making perfect drawings from memory. I'm talking about Shallan's ability to "transform" the personalities of people around her.

 

She first does this with Bluth. That one started with a drawing:

Quote

What would Bluth look like if he weren't always scowling at her? If his clothing were neater, if he carried a proper weapon instead of that old cudgel?

...

A different composition-- idealized, perhaps, but somehow also right. He could actually look dashing, once you dressed him up properly. A uniform. A spear, planted to his side. Eyes toward the horizon.

 

And it ended with Bluth fighting bandits until he was killed.

Quote

There, stuffed in his pocket, was her picture of him. The one that depicted him not as he was, but as she imagined he might once have been. A soldier in an army, in a crisp uniform. Eyes forward, rather than looking down all the time. A hero.

...

"I was wrong," she whispered. "You were a fine way to restart my collection, Bluth. Fight well for the Almighty in your sleep, bold one."

 

 

At around the same time, she does it again with the Alethi deserters led by Vathah, who've been committing acts of banditry as they traveled. This time, Shallan didn't draw them, but merely spoke to them of what they could be:

Quote

"What would you do, Vathah," Shallan said in a loud voice, "to erase the past?"

...

"Would you protect instead of kill, if you had the choice?" Shallan asked. "Would you rescue instead of rob if you could do it over again? Good people are dying as we speak here. You can stop it."

 

Those dark eyes of his seemed dead. "We can't change the past."

 

"I can change your future."

 

 

Soon enough, the deserters were off fighting bandits.

 

Now, you'd think that all this had nothing to do with magic, that those people were simply inspired by Shallan's actions. But Pattern thought differently:

Quote

"They listened," Pattern said, buzzing from beside her. "You changed them."

...

"You spoke of one Surge, earlier," Pattern said. "Lightweaving, the power of light. But you have something else. The power of transformation."

 

"Soulcasting?" Shallan said. "I didn't Soulcast anyone."

 

"Mmmm. And yet, you transformed them. And yet. Mmmm."

 

 

Then there's this epigraph:

 

Quote

Yet, were the orders not disheartened by so great a defeat, for the Lightweavers provided spiritual sustenance; they were enticed by those glorious creations to venture on a second assault.

 

 

We could debate all day as to the real nature of this ability, but instead I would like to simply posit that this ability reflects what I believe the Order of Lightweavers was really about: They were all about changing temperament, whether of the people they fooled/inspired with Lightwoven illusions, or of the Shadesmar Identity beads that they convinced to transform during Soulcasting. It was their specialty to change others' minds, or more importantly, change their hearts.

 

...

 

So... what has all this got to do with the Essence of Blood?

 

 

*replaces Cosmere nerd hat with Wikipedia geek glasses*

 

 

As it turns out, people in the past (starting from as far back as the Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks) believed that blood was a very important thing when it came to understanding behavioral changes in people. Not only is it directly linked to the heart, which was believed to be the seat of all emotion, it was also a central part of humoral theory.

 

According to the ancient theory of humorism, the human body contains four different kinds of "humors", which are bodily fluids (not jokes ) that govern health and temperament: phlegm, yellow bile, black bile, and blood. An imbalance between these humors were said to result in sickness, or at least a change in personality. Each humor is associated with a certain type of temperament: calm/unemotional (for Phlegm), bad tempered (Yellow Bile), melancholic (Black Bile), or passionate (Blood). They were also associated with the four Classical Elements: Water for Phlegm, Fire for Yellow Bile, Earth for Black Bile, and Air for Blood.

 

Here's where it gets a bit more interesting (if you're a Cosmere nerd and a Wikipedia geek): Apparently blood has a special place among the humors. People who believe in humorism believe that since the other three humors travel through the body via the bloodstream, blood must also carry the Elements of Water, Fire, and Earth. So Blood has all four Elements.

 

It has also been suggested that the very origin of humoral theory might have something to do with blood, specifically how blood in a container looks like after it has been left to clot. After a while, the blood starts to separate into four layers: the bottom layer containing platelets (representing "black bile"), then a layer of red blood cells ("blood"), then the white blood cells ("phlegm"), then the blood plasma ("yellow bile").

 

Even when we look at "real" Science, we can still find links between blood and temperament. While we now know that the "seat of emotion" is actually in the brain, emotions are also influenced by certain endocrine glands, which produce hormones that travel via... you guessed it... the bloodstream.

 

 

*puts back Cosmere nerd hat*

 

 

After reading about all these little coincidences, I now believe Brandon used this concept of humorism, associating body fluids with temperament, when he designed the Investitures related to the Essence of Blood. This makes me wonder if Shallan is unconsciously changing the blood chemistry of people she "transforms", or if Jasnah's "eight kinds of blood" is actually just normal human blood with varying amounts of behavior-changing hormones mixed in.

 

As a final note, I'd just like to mention the Parshendi, whose Rhythms are related somewhat to their temperament. I theorize that these Rhythms actually originate from their heart, and are thus Blood-related as well.

Edited March 24, 2017 by skaa

[Fifth of Daybreak]

For me, one of the best things about Words of Radiance is that we got to know a whole lot about Shallan's powers. I'd like to discuss an aspect of this that's not as showy as transforming a whole ship into water, or creating very realistic illusions to fool Cosmere-aware enemies, or even making perfect drawings from memory. I'm talking about Shallan's ability to "transform" the personalities of people around her.

 

She first does this with Bluth. That one started with a drawing:

 

And it ended with Bluth fighting bandits until he was killed.

 

At around the same time, she does it again with the Alethi deserters led by Vathah, who've been committing acts of banditry as they traveled. This time, Shallan didn't draw them, but merely spoke to them of what they could be:

 

Soon enough, the deserters were off fighting other bandits.

 

Now, you'd think that all this had nothing to do with magic, that those people were simply inspired by Shallan's actions. But Pattern thought differently:

 

We could debate all day as to the real nature of this ability, but instead I would like to simply posit that this ability reflects what I believe the Order of Lightweavers was really about: They were all about changing temperament, whether of the people they fooled/inspired with Lightwoven illusions, or of the Shadesmar Identity beads that they convinced to transform during Soulcasting. It was their specialty to change others' minds, or more importantly, change their hearts.

 

...

 

So... what has all this got to do with the Essence of Blood?

 

 

*replaces Cosmere nerd hat with Wikipedia geek glasses*

 

 

As it turns out, people in the past (starting from as far back as the Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks) believed that blood was a very important thing when it came to understanding behavioral changes in people. Not only is it directly linked to the heart, which was believed to be the seat of all emotion, it was also a central part of humoral theory.

 

According to the ancient theory of humorism, the human body contains four different kinds of "humors", which are bodily fluids (not jokes ) that govern health and temperament: phlegm, yellow bile, black bile, and blood. An imbalance between these humors were said to result in sickness, or at least a change in personality. Each humor is associated with a certain type of temperament: calm/unemotional (for Phlegm), bad tempered (Yellow Bile), melancholic (Black Bile), or passionate (Blood). They were also associated with the four Classical Elements: Water for Phlegm, Fire for Yellow Bile, Earth for Black Bile, and Air for Blood.

 

Here's where it gets a bit more interesting (if you're a Cosmere nerd and a Wikipedia geek): Apparently blood has a special place among the humors. People who believe in humorism taught that not only does blood contain the Element of Air, it also has the Elements of Water, Fire, and Earth. So it's got all four Elements.

 

It has also been suggested that the very origin of humoral theory might have something to do with blood, specifically how blood in a container looks like after it has been left to clot. After a while, the blood starts to separate into four layers: the bottom layer containing platelets (representing "black bile"), then a layer of red blood cells ("blood"), then the white blood cells ("phlegm"), then the blood plasma ("yellow bile").

 

Even when we talk about "real" Science, we can still find links between blood and temperament. While we now know that the "seat of emotion" is actually in the brain, emotions are also influenced by certain endocrine glands, which produce hormones that travel via... you guessed it... the blood stream.

 

 

*puts back Cosmere nerd hat*

 

 

After reading about all these little coincidences, I now believe Brandon used this concept of humorism, associating body fluids with temperament, when he designed the Investitures related to the Essence of Blood. This makes me wonder if Shallan is unconsciously changing the blood chemistry of people she "transforms", or if Jasnah's "eight kinds of blood" is actually just normal human blood with varying amounts of behavior-changing hormones mixed in.

 

As a final note, I'd just like to mention the Parshendi, whose Rhythms are related somewhat to their temperament. I theorize that these Rhythms actually originate from their heart and are thus blood-related as well.

 

Well, I don't have anything to add about the humoral theories you posed, other than it's very fascinating and very well elaborated and thought out.

 

As for the rest of it, I think you hit the nail on the head. I've been throwing around the same kind of idea in my head for a while and I have a few things I can add to substantiate what you're saying. First is a quote from the Lahn interlude:

 

 

 "Does anyone among the Alethi elite care about the Almighty anymore? Sure they curse by his name. Sure they talk about the Heralds, burn glyphwards. But what do they do? Do they change their lives? Do they listen to the Arguments? Do they transform, recasting their souls into something greater, something better?"

 

The name of the surge is transformation, but the person and the fabrial are both called Soulcasters. Granted this could be referencing the "soul or the object." 

 

Also, if you've read The Emperor's Soul, then you can notice similarities between Forging and Soulcasting. Both are related to transformation, and if this theory is correct, then both magics also can have a profound effect on the person themselves. I want to go through it again to note more similarities, but the final one I can think of off the top of my head is when actually changing the objects, in both systems, whatever is affecting the object sinks into it, like Jasnah's hand on the boulder in Karbranth, or the stamps. 

[Shaggai]

For me, one of the best things about Words of Radiance is that we got to know a whole lot about Shallan's powers. I'd like to discuss an aspect of this that's not as showy as transforming a whole ship into water, or creating very realistic illusions to fool Cosmere-aware enemies, or even making perfect drawings from memory. I'm talking about Shallan's ability to "transform" the personalities of people around her.

 

She first does this with Bluth. That one started with a drawing:

 

And it ended with Bluth fighting bandits until he was killed.

 

At around the same time, she does it again with the Alethi deserters led by Vathah, who've been committing acts of banditry as they traveled. This time, Shallan didn't draw them, but merely spoke to them of what they could be:

 

Soon enough, the deserters were off fighting other bandits.

 

Now, you'd think that all this had nothing to do with magic, that those people were simply inspired by Shallan's actions. But Pattern thought differently:

 

We could debate all day as to the real nature of this ability, but instead I would like to simply posit that this ability reflects what I believe the Order of Lightweavers was really about: They were all about changing temperament, whether of the people they fooled/inspired with Lightwoven illusions, or of the Shadesmar Identity beads that they convinced to transform during Soulcasting. It was their specialty to change others' minds, or more importantly, change their hearts.

This much, at least, is pretty much confirmed by one of the WoR epigraphs.

[kari-no-sugata]

Before WoR came out, there was a couple of things I had noticed about Shallan: we only ever see things from her point of view but she seemed to get along with everyone and everyone who knew her seemed to like her. Granted, there weren't that many examples but I had wondered if she was doing something to make people like her, even if slightly. After WoR this option is even stronger but it's also made clear that Shallan's perspective is unreliable (like Mat's from The Wheel of Time) and in particular she often glosses over negative things (though that's a gross simplification).

 

It's interesting to note that Shallan has been changing people the whole time: the flashbacks indicate the positive influence she had on her brothers, at a time when her bond with Pattern (and ability to use Stormlight) would have been pretty much zero. Stormlight can enhance existing abilities to a high degree (like with Kaladin and fighting) but are her abilities at changing people quoted in the OP even beyond that? I think it's too early to say but if so then it would strongly hint that there's a more to the Transformation surge than entering Shadesmar and trying to persuade things to change.

 

One example of Shallan's effect on others that you didn't list was on Kaladin - she doesn't draw any pictures of him and and doesn't do a Lightweaving scene on him but she certainly had a big effect on him. That may have been down to her natural gifts and dumb luck but either way, she had a big impact on him - without that chasm mini-story I doubt Kaladin would ever have opened up his eyes enough to see that Elhokhar is "Dalinar's Tien".

 

Edit: It's minor but Shallan's also had a positive influence on Adolin - he credits her for giving him the idea of going underground to go around the Parshendi and this kind of strategic thinking is not something we've seen from Adolin before (that I remember). I would not be the least bit surprised if she does something to help Elhokhar in the next book...

 

Edited April 20, 2014 by kari-no-sugata

[skaa]

@EMTrevor and @kari-no-sugata: Good points!

 

@Shaggai: Indeed, one of the epigraphs does contain strong evidence for it:

 

Yet, were the orders not disheartened by so great a defeat, for the Lightweavers provided spiritual sustenance; they were enticed by those glorious creations to venture on a second assault.

 

 

That's the one you meant, right? I regret not including that quote in my original post, but oh well.

[Shaggai]

@EMTrevor and @kari-no-sugata: Good points!

 

@Shaggai: Indeed, one of the epigraphs does contain strong evidence for it:

 

 

That's the one you meant, right? I regret not including that quote in my original post, but oh well.

Yeah.

[woolhead]

It's interesting to note that Shallan has been changing people the whole time: the flashbacks indicate the positive influence she had on her brothers, at a time when her bond with Pattern (and ability to use Stormlight) would have been pretty much zero. 

 

Well she was able to use Pattern as a shardblade at the time of her mother's death, and seemed to have suppressed memories of lightweaving if I recall correctly. This implies a pretty strong Nahel bond, which adds plausibility to the idea that even then her transformative abilities are surge related. 

 

You mentioned that everyone seems to get along with her. While this seems harmless and charming with the ship's crew, I wonder if it extends deeper. Jasnah, notorious for not wanting a pupil, takes on Shallan - after Shallan betrays her. Kaladin, who hates lighteyes, warms up to her (with reason though). The grumpy brightlord takes her in and pays her. Adolin falls for her asap. Perhaps the creepiest one IMO is how her father, who hates everyone, beats his new wife, and watched Shallan kill his previous wife, can't bring himself to hurt her. 

[Argent]

Wasn't there an excerpt from the in-world Words of Radiance that referenced the Lightweavers' role in the Orders, something to do with... change? diplomacy? something like that?

[PorridgeBrick]

Chapter 47: "Yet, were the orders not disheartened by so great a defeat, for the Lightweavers provided spiritual sustenance; they were enticed by those glorious creations to venture on a second assault."

Here you go.