Back Cover Flaps

[Moogle]

Way of Kings:

 

I long for the days before the Last Desolation.

The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us. A time when there was still magic in the world and honor in the hearts of men.

The world became ours, and we lost it. Nothing, it appears, is more challenging to the souls of men than victory itself.

Or was that victory an illusion all along? Did our enemies realize that the harder they fought, the stronger we resisted? Perhaps they saw that the heat and the hammer only make for a better grade of sword. But ignore the steel long enough, and it will eventually rust away.

There are four whom we watch. The first is the surgeon, forced to put aside healing to become a soldier in the most brutal war of our time. The second is the assassin, a murderer who weeps as he kills. The third is the liar, a young woman who wears a scholar’s mantle over the heart of a thief. The last is the highprince, a warlord whose eyes have opened to the past as his thirst for battle wanes.

The world can change. Surgebinding and Shardwielding can return; the magics of ancient days can become ours again. These four people are key.

One of them may redeem us.

And one of them will destroy us.

 

Words of Radiance:

 

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

The ancient oaths have at last been spoken; the spren return. Men seek that which was lost. I fear the struggle will destroy them.

It is the nature of the magic. A broken soul has cracks into which something else can be fit.  Surgebindings, the powers of creation themselves.  They can brace a broken soul; but they can also widen its fissures.

The Windrunner, lost in a shattered land, balanced upon the boundary between  vengeance and honor. The Lightweaver, slowly being consumed by her past, searching for the lie that she must become. The Bondsmith, born in blood and death, striving to rebuild what was destroyed. The Explorer, straddling the fates of two peoples, forced to  choose between slow death and a terrible betrayal of all she believes.

It is past time for them to awaken, for the Everstorm looms.

And the Assassin has arrived.

 

This is clearly written from an in-world perspective (which we have WoB on). Anyone have any ideas on who is writing it? My current top candidates are Hoid and Mr. T, but neither work well.

 

Hoid

Given that the back covers mention Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Szeth, and Eshonai, and we know that Hoid has been keeping an eye on at least three of them (Shallan since early childhood), Hoid makes an excellent candidate. However, "I long for the days before the Final Desolation" seems to imply it's a Roshar native looking back at the past, or else looking at the future with precognition.

 

Taravangian

Taravangian's spy networks are expansive, and there are two interesting things. First, this quote:

 

“No. It’s more.” They had survived. Taravangian stood up. “Wake every Alethi sleeper we have; send every agent in the area. There will be stories told of one of these bridgemen. Miraculous survival. Favored of the winds. One is among them. He might not know yet exactly what he’s doing, but he has bonded a spren and sworn at least the First Ideal.”

 

Taravangian bases this on his Death Rattle which speaks of looking for someone who survives when they should not. He immediately thinks of the bridgemen, but what's curious is that he knows to look for a Windrunner. I don't know how the Diagram predicted that one.

 

Taravangian has had contact with Shallan, and suspects her of Surgebinding. He has spies everywhere, and he's obviously keeping a close eye on Dalinar. As for Eshonai... well, it's hard to see how she might have been spied on.

 

Neither of these people really work, though they come close. Anyone have other ideas?

Edited April 25, 2014 by Moogle

[Chaos]

Interestingly, at the Words of Radiance release, I asked Brandon to write in my book the name of who wrote these. He said it was too spoilery, so refused.

This seems like one of the deepest riddles of the books, to be honest. This is surely extremely important.

[Numb]

My initial thought was it's the writer of the AAA but the tone is far more storybook than that. The writer has a flare for the dramatic so I think it's not Mr. T and I also think these were written long after the events of SA which means it doesn't have to be someone that has access to the knowledge during the time. I feel it might be Sigzil since it's written like a storyteller and he seems to be a person that could survive.

 

I also didn't realize how well that Eshonai description leads into WIllshapers

[kaellok]

Echoing what Numb said about thinking that the back cover flaps are written post-SA (or at least after the First Five arc).  It is also deeply connected to Roshar, so I would assume it's a native of Roshar writing it, or someone who's lived their so long they consider it their homeland, rather than a worldhopper.  So, honestly, I very much doubt that Hoid wrote it, even though the story-aspect of it fits him; the personal-connection is what's missing, and makes me think it's someone else.

 

Really, the more I read the flaps (which I've now done a half dozen times in the past several minutes), it seems like the narrator of a play--setting the scene and the mood for the audience.  But, more than anything, I think that it's Honor speaking.  The wistfulness, the not-quite useful information, and the longing for the way things could have been but aren't all remind me of the times Honor speaks to Dalinar in his visions.  The cadence, the rhythm, is off, but that's still my best guess for now.

[twelfthrootoftwo]

But, more than anything, I think that it's Honor speaking.  The wistfulness, the not-quite useful information, and the longing for the way things could have been but aren't all remind me of the times Honor speaks to Dalinar in his visions.  The cadence, the rhythm, is off, but that's still my best guess for now.

The writer seems to have a good knowledge of current (past?) events, so unless Tanavast gets revived later on, I doubt it's him.

 

If it's written in the present, I think it might be Cultivation. A Shardholder seems to fit the apparent omniscience, and the overall pessimism ("may redeem us", "will destroy us") is in line with her turning her back on the people of Roshar. Further, there's precognition involved, at least in the first.

 

The problem with someone like Sigzil is that there's a strong implication that the writer was alive in "the days before the Last Desolation." If it's written in the future, it could be one of the Heralds. Or a member of the surviving KR order, if the theory that they don't age is correct.

[Moogle]

The problem with someone like Sigzil is that there's a strong implication that the writer was alive in "the days before the Last Desolation." If it's written in the future, it could be one of the Heralds. Or a member of the surviving KR order, if the theory that they don't age is correct.

 

I lean towards the same thing myself, but I don't think the implication is that strong. I think that both Gavilar and Amaram would say that they long for the days before the Last Desolation.

 

In support of Taravangian, there is a curious similarity in wording between the Diagram and these:

 

There is one you will watch. Though all of them have some relevance to precognition, Moelach is one of the most powerful in this regard. His touch seeps into a soul as it breaks apart from the body, creating manifestations powered by the spark of death itself. But no, this is a distraction. Deviation. Kingship. We must discuss the nature of kingship. —From the Diagram, Book of the 2nd Desk Drawer: paragraph 15

 

"There is one you will watch" is quite similar to "there are four we watch", in my opinion.

[Eri]

I think it may be some spren, maybe the BondsmithSpren (Stormfather + probably Nightwatcher + …). Or the Aimians. Or one of the secret societies. Those 3 options aren't exactly mutually exclusive.

[Morsk]

I think it may be some spren, maybe the BondsmithSpren (Stormfather + probably Nightwatcher + …). Or the Aimians. Or one of the secret societies. Those 3 options aren't exactly mutually exclusive.

I also think it's spren. The writer says the "Knights Radiant turned against us." Most humans mistakenly believe that, but the writer here seems to know a lot, and should know better. Unless it's a spren; the KRs really did turn against the spren.

In WoR, the Stormfather seemed to hate humans and not want Surgebinding to return, so I don't think it's him. Maybe the Nightwatcher, or maybe some spren in one of the Shadesmar cities we haven't met yet. The certainty that one of them "will destroy us," matches how Pattern feels about Shallan in the book; he helps her anyway, but expects her to kill him.

[Kobold King]

Could it be Nazh? Of all known worldhoppers, Nazh is the one who seems to be directly monitoring individuals we know as protagonists. He annotates a map with Wax and Wayne's locations in AoL, he sketches bridgeman glyphs and records Shallan's journey in WoR... could it be him, or perhaps Khriss?

[GreyPilgrim]

Spren seems like a viable enough option, based on what is said above.

Could it be Nazh? Of all known worldhoppers, Nazh is the one who seems to be directly monitoring individuals we know as protagonists. He annotates a map with Wax and Wayne's locations in AoL, he sketches bridgeman glyphs and records Shallan's journey in WoR... could it be him, or perhaps Khriss?

Kind of repeating what Moogle said in the OP, but I don't think that the writer is a Worldhopper, as he/she uses "us" to refer to Rosharans. Thus unless there is a Rosharan Worldhopper we don't know about, it is not a Worldhopper, and that wouldn't really matter because he/she would appear as a regular Rosharan to us.

I wonder if these are compilations of Death Rattles. If you take bits of them, they kind of have the same flavor as those do. Regardless, the Rattles are reflections of real things, so the "we" referred to would still have to be an actual group, such as spren or a secret society.

[Levian]

I long for the days before the Last Desolation.

The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us. A time when there was still magic in the world and honor in the hearts of men.

 

 

The way it's worded makes me think it is one of the secret societies  of Roshar. We don't know who is the leader of any of them, besides Mr. T being behind the followers of the Diagram. I doubt any of them are Heralds from what is said, but there are other possibilities of people who are very long lived, or somehow know the history well. The Sons of Honor were trying to start a Desolation to bring back the KR and Heralds, right? It could very well be them. Or the Evinsagers who were trying to bring back the KR as well

Edited April 25, 2014 by Levian

[Khyrindor]

I personally think it Sig.

[GreyPilgrim]

I personally think it Sig.

Why him?

[Kurkistan]

Some WoB that may be of interest.

 

Source:

 

Q: (This is CorwinofAmber's, I think) So one of the things I really like about this is that in the Ars Arcanum and the blurb on the back of the dust jacket, they’re not just Brandon Sanderson explaining the magic system, or Brandon Sanderson summarizing the book for casual perusing, they’re written in world by characters in the world, and I was wondering if you could tell us or give us a hint as to who wrote the dust jacket.

A: I can tell you it’s not the same person as who’s writing the Ars Arcanum, and neither of those are Hoid. How about that? That gives you something. I had to fight to get in world text on the back cover. I personally really don’t like summary blurbs. Those summary blurbs are either bland or they spoil too much, and they really get on my nerves. They’re marketing copy, not author copy. And so I fought and I fought and I fought. I won with Elantris, getting the prologue on the back of the hard cover, but then they didn’t do that for the paperback. But for the hardcovers of these I won, so I’m glad you appreciate that—I intend to keep doing that. But yes, they’re being written in world by a group of people on Roshar.

[twelfthrootoftwo]

...a group of people on Roshar.

Interesting. So there's more than one...but the first one has a singular "I". Does that mean it's one person per book, or at least that each blurb is an individual of this group?

If they have more in common than just being the blurb authors, maybe the collective pronouns "us" and "we" are referring to this group, rather than the more general interpretations of spren or humans.

[Numb]

Since we have confirmation it's not the writer of AAA I think the removes Khriss or Nazh as well as they are both possible candidates thought Khriss is more likely the author than Nazh.

[shawnhargreaves]

It's obviously Stick.   The mixing of "I' and "we" is a natural result of the whole tree/forest duality - I don't think Stick has a strong understanding of singular vs. plural.

 

When Brandon says its a "group of people" he's just being tricksy with us, as in the cognitive realm Stick considers itself to be people too.

[Tempus]

HEAVY SPOILERS FOR WORDS OF RADIANCE BELOW

 

I long for the days before the Last Desolation.

 

The author has some knowledge of the Last Desolation, and considering the state of historical knowledge on Roshar, must either be extremely well informed, have some outside source of knowledge (like Dalinar's visions), or be very old.

 

The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us.

 

The author is not a Herald, and is not a Knights Radiant.

 

A time when there was still magic in the world and honor in the hearts of men.

 

Implies the author may have some knowledge of Honor/the Almighty being killed.

 

The world became ours, and we lost it. Nothing, it appears, is more challenging to the souls of men than victory itself. 

Or was that victory an illusion all along? Did our enemies realize that the harder they fought, the stronger we resisted? Perhaps they saw that the heat and the hammer only make for a better grade of sword. But ignore the steel long enough, and it will eventually rust away.

 

Strongly implies a deep knowledge of the nature of the Desolations. Implies that they understand the conflict, and that they believed the conflict won. Implies that they knew who the 'enemy' of the Desolations was. Implies they suspected that the Desolations were abandoned on purpose, to allow for a more careful future assault. None of this is common knowledge, even for the most knowledgeable in world scholars we've seen such as Jasnah, or for people with direct visions of the past such as Dalinar. An unusually stratified amount of knowledge.

 

There are four whom we watch. The first is the surgeon, forced to put aside healing to become a soldier in the most brutal war of our time. The second is the assassin, a murderer who weeps as he kills. The third is the liar, a young woman who wears a scholar’s mantle over the heart of a thief. The last is the highprince, a warlord whose eyes have opened to the past as his thirst for battle wanes.

 

 

Implies that the speaker is in fact a part of an organization: "we watch". The organization is both resourceful enough to have four potential radiants identified and observed secretly, and to have done so prior to even the individuals themselves understanding their nature.

 

The world can change. Surgebinding and Shardwielding can return; the magics of ancient days can become ours again. These four people are key.

One of them may redeem us.

And one of them will destroy us.

 

 

 

Implies that the writer has a good understanding of the whole nature of the conflict; "The world can change". The writer clearly has a deep understanding of the lost and unknown magics of surgebinding and shardwielding (note the differentiation there). They also have knowledge enough to guess at outcomes. They also qualify that 'they' need to be redeemed, which may refer to the organization, or to the planet, but probably the former given the context. By extrapolation then, the latter us would refer to the same, suggesting that the organization will likely be destroyed should a Knight Radiant arise. 

 

Which is ominous - it suggests the organization is one of 'necessary evil'.

 

The Knights Radiant must stand again. The ancient oaths have at last been spoken; the spren return.

 

 

Again, in-depth knowledge of the Knights Radiant is implied through the casual reference to them. It is implied that the author knows of the Knights Radiant, has assessed the situation, and has determined they are required to ameliorate the situation. That's an extremely high level of knowledge for Roshar.

 

Men seek that which was lost. I fear the struggle will destroy them. It is the nature of the magic. A broken soul has cracks into which something else can be fit.  Surgebindings, the powers of creation themselves.  They can brace a broken soul; but they can also widen its fissures.

 

 

Again, an extremely high level of knowledge concerning the realmatics of surgebinding, and also an implication that the writer is aware of and has experience with surgebinders, broken souls, and things that have gone wrong. That's another point for the author being very old - surgebinders were last seen prior to the Recreance, and to be able to speak with the voice of experience concerning them is a little disconcerting.

 

The Windrunner, lost in a shattered land, balanced upon the boundary between  vengeance and honor. The Lightweaver, slowly being consumed by her past, searching for the lie that she must become. The Bondsmith, born in blood and death, striving to rebuild what was destroyed. The Explorer, straddling the fates of two peoples, forced to  choose between slow death and a terrible betrayal of all she believes.

 

 

 

More demonstration of unusually high knowledge of Rosharan activies. Notably, The Explorer is Eshonai, which means that the writer has intimate knowledge of the Parshendi, and of the character of a notable Parshendi. Considering how insular their society is, how human spies could not be integrated, and how the Parshendi were unknown even to their neighbours until a few years prior, that is extremely important.

 

It is past time for them to awaken, for the Everstorm looms.

And the Assassin has arrived.

 

 

Knowledge of the Everstorm is pretty important - it is very limited. Taravanigan knows the word Everstorm through the Death Rattles. Hoid knows of the Everstorm from unknown sources, and notes that it is different than any Desolation prior. Jasnah learned of the Everstorm from the spren sometime during the events of Words of Radiance.

 

 

 

---

 

Conclusions:

 

Cultivation - Unlikely, not part of an organization

Heralds - Not a Herald, not a Knight Radiant.

Hoid - Ruled out by Word of Brandon

17th Shard - Partially ruled out by Word of Brandon (Ars Arcanum author is 17th Shard member), also ruled out by intimate talk of mechanics of surgebinding that doesn't use the normal terms used by 17th Shard to describe investiture.

Taravanigan - Unlikely. While having an extremely high level of knowledge and abilities, would be very difficult for him to acquire intimate knowledge of Eshonai and the Parshendi. Also knows the Assassin personally, and thus is unlikely to refer to him so indirectly.

Darkness/Skybreakers - Very unlikely. Darkness does not want the Radiants to return. The skybreakers are presumed to be associated with Darkness by extension. Not enough knowledge of them is available to make a judgement regardless.

Sons of Honour - Possible but unlikely. They are slightly lacking in knowledge, but are aiming to bring back the Heralds, had diplomatic relations with the Parshendi through Gavilar. The agents we've seen don't seem to have the grasp of the wider situation that the author implies he has, or the experience with Radiants.

Ghostbloods - Possible but unlikely. They have an unknown scope of knowledge, abilities, and age, but at least have a few members with exceptional abilities and information as demonstrated by the worldhopping artifacts. However, they were not aware of Shallan's or Dalinar's impending Radiancy as the writer of this blurb was.

Spren - Possible. The spren seem to have a highly advanced knowledge, can go wherever they want, and have many factions that have been sending agents to the physical aspect of Roshar.

Envisagers - Unlikely. Teft is a minor member of the Envisagers, but seems to know at least a little of Radiants. He claims they have all been killed, but they may still be active. It is unlikely they have the knowledge of surgebinding to write the blurbs given their activities, and very unlikely they'd have inside knowledge of Parshendi individuals. Teft could be a plant to spy on Kaladin, however.

The Parshendi - Very Unlikely. While they have an extensive ability to spy, and knowledge of surgebinders, they lack the overall knowledge of the situation, as demonstrated by their folly of agreeing to summon the Everstorm. Also, they were not aware of the term, Everstorm.

The Vorins - Possible. There are hidden aspects of the Vorin religion that have not been revealed, and the Sons of Honour are a faction at least associated with Vorinism. All Brandon books have very important plot points involving religion, something that Stormlight has setup but hasn't developed on as of yet. 

The Worldsingers - Unlikely. Informed by Hoid, they may have the knowledge necessary to be aware of the required scope of the conflict, the background, etc. But our one connection to them in the form of Sizgil doesn't paint them as very knowledgeable about the human aspect of the various characters, or very good at spying. Sizgil may also be a plant to spy on Kaladin.

One of the Other Secret Societies - Possible. We know there are nine, but depending on how you count, we've identified five to seven. That leaves a minimum of two and possibly more societies which we may have seen on screen, that may be at large and able to write the back cover blurbs.

'Taln' - Possible. Taln may or may not be a Herald, but he has demonstrated superior knowledge of the situation, of the Radiants, and in general extra abilities. He is currently crazy, but as he will be a POV character in the later books, he can't stay crazy for long, or perhaps he is simply faking. He or someone associated with him could be the author. There is enough unexplained about Taln's appearance, and the situation surrounding him that it is likely there are resourceful players at play in his story.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Tempus

[Wherethewindgoes]

I don't think the man who calls himself Taln is the writer--he's hardly conscious, and doesn't even know what's going around around him. His interlude makes it sound like he isn't faking.  

 

The spren would likely have the knowledge required, but Brandon specifically said it was a group of people. 

 

Which leaves either some group high up in the Vorin religion or a group we haven't met yet.

[Swimmingly]

Spren are people too.

[Aether]

Just a minor point of clarification: how do we know that there are nine secret societies?

[Swimmingly]

WoB. Can't remember where from, unfortunately. But it's there. Take my word on it.

[Meg]

Just a minor point of clarification: how do we know that there are nine secret societies?

I haven't known this too, so I searched for that WoB:

 

So when at the signing, I asked Brandon just how many secret societies were on Roshar.

The answer: THERE ARE NINE CURRENTLY WORKING.

source

on topic:

The first "blurb" says:

The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us.

From how I understand Syl the spren were not abandoned by the Heralds. The Heralds were not bound to spren. Thus I think it has not been written by spren (or The Ring). My guess are the Envisagers so I can give no evidence (only the feeling that there are some of them alive yet).

Edited April 27, 2014 by Meg

[Eri]

Nine secret societies? And nine Heralds not counting Telanel. Coincidence?

[Bloodfalcon]

It seems to me like they are written where they stand - at the end of each book. I'd also like to believe that it could be one of the stone shamans in Shinovar. That area seems to be an exception to much of the way the world works, so perhaps it has been preserved and people have a better knowledge of the past enough to "long for the days before the Last Desolation" (paraphrase). We know that only a portion of the world survives each Desolation - maybe Shinovar was that portion. It would explain the difference in landscape and would allow them to have additional knowledge of things. They also have that whole Truth/Truthless business that is linked to the existence of Surgebinders somehow, and could all tie into the the "magic returning" and "redeem us" lines. 

 

Either way, if one of the stone shaman was writing these and they were written at some point right after each book, the line "The Assassin has arrived." could literally mean that Szeth appears in Shinovar and confronts them just after the end of WoR, which I think we suspect.

Is there a reason they haven't been suggested?