Awakeners on Other Worlds

[The Grumpy Elantrian]

We know that awakeners effect the colours in the world around them. The more breath, the more of an effect.

However, we know Vasher is an awakener yet the colour around him whenever we see him in Roshar seems unchanged. Is this because the effect on colours is only observed on Nalthis? Or is Vasher doing something else here?

Thanks in advance for your input. 

[Scion of the Mists]

We're not sure what Heightening Vasher is currently at, so the effect may be too small for a non-Awakener to notice.  Also, as a Returned, he has the ability to modify his appearance and suppress his Breath, so he may be pulling some shenanigans with that.  

[+Oltux72]

1 hour ago, Scion of the Mists said:

We're not sure what Heightening Vasher is currently at, so the effect may be too small for a non-Awakener to notice.  Also, as a Returned, he has the ability to modify his appearance and suppress his Breath, so he may be pulling some shenanigans with that.  

Neither are they seen around Azure, who must have the breath needed to awaken several cloth figures she formed on the deck. And the watcher in the light house asked at which heightening Kaladin is. Nor does the effect show around Hoid, who has gotten perfect pitch back, hence at least second heightening

Do we have any indication the enhanced colors are visible to people without breath?

[Quantus]

In Warbreaker Vasher habitually stashed his Breaths in carried objects specifically to dampen the noticeable heightening effects around him.  I'd assume he's still doing the same general trick.

 

In the case of his Divine Breathe, if Im not mistaken he is able to dampen the typical 5th heightening effects of a Divine Breath by the same mechanisms that let him alter his physical form, in that he has learned how to consciously suppress it. 

[Calderis]

He could be stashing his breath in objects as said, or he could simply be surpressing his aura in the same way he does for his Divine Breath. 

We know that's possible, because Hoid does it. 

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mooglefrooglian

Why is Hoid’s color aura from his Breaths not noticed by anyone on Roshar? Are the characters just not used to noticing that sort of thing, or does he not have one?

Brandon Sanderson

There are a mixture of reasons. Not the least is Hoid's control over investiture.

uchoo786

Would someone with breath be able to notice his aura on Roshar? E.g. Vasher?

Brandon Sanderson

Various methods of detecting investiture would still work, depending on how good a job Hoid is doing of suppressing his.

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[+Oltux72]

9 hours ago, Calderis said:

He could be stashing his breath in objects as said, or he could simply be surpressing his aura in the same way he does for his Divine Breath. 

We know that's possible, because Hoid does it. 

 

That still leaves Azure, who would have had to surpress her aura in a serious fight against the palace guards.

[Quantus]

1 hour ago, Oltux72 said:

That still leaves Azure, who would have had to surpress her aura in a serious fight against the palace guards.

I suspect she'd have Awakened some of her gear for the fight the way she learned in Warbreaker, and without vashers issue of a divine breath to deal with that would be enough.

[Calderis]

3 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

That still leaves Azure, who would have had to surpress her aura in a serious fight against the palace guards.

 

2 hours ago, Quantus said:

I suspect she'd have Awakened some of her gear for the fight the way she learned in Warbreaker, and without vashers issue of a divine breath to deal with that would be enough.

Even if she hadn't, she maintained the alterations to her appearance, which briefly flickered (her hair changed colors, and her scars faded slightly), only upon being unexpectedly placed in Shadesmar. 

The Royal locks are a fragment of a Divine Breath, and the changes made through them are done in the same manner as Vasher altering his own appearance. If she can do that, I'm not going to discount her ability to disrupt her own breath aura.

Edit: and I didn't even realize we're in the Warbreaker forum. Flagged the thread for move to cosmere... Because we left Warbreaker behind at the start 

Edited November 2, 2018 by Calderis

[Quantus]

3 hours ago, Calderis said:

 

Even if she hadn't, she maintained the alterations to her appearance, which briefly flickered (her hair changed colors, and her scars faded slightly), only upon being unexpectedly placed in Shadesmar. 

The Royal locks are a fragment of a Divine Breath, and the changes made through them are done in the same manner as Vasher altering his own appearance. If she can do that, I'm not going to discount her ability to disrupt her own breath aura.
 

That's really interesting, I didnt catch that she'd manipulated her appearance outside of the normal scope of the royal locks. If they can be learned to change things beyond the normal hair manifestation, it makes me wonder if Denth had any unusually advanced capacity for that sort of change, being a member of the Royal line independent of his own returned Status. 

3 hours ago, Calderis said:

Edit: and I didn't even realize we're in the Warbreaker forum. Flagged the thread for move to cosmere... Because we left Warbreaker behind at the start 

 

Crap, I completely missed that too, being an Other Worlds topic.

 

[Calderis]

24 minutes ago, Quantus said:

That's really interesting, I didnt catch that she'd manipulated her appearance outside of the normal scope of the royal locks. If they can be learned to change things beyond the normal hair manifestation, it makes me wonder if Denth had any unusually advanced capacity for that sort of change, being a member of the Royal line independent of his own returned Status. 

Yep, the scars on her face are created, as they fade slightly in Shadesmar, as well as her orange eyes, which I doubt are natural to Nalthis. 

And then we have this from the Warbreaker annotations. 

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Brandon Sanderson

Vasher Explains Some Things, but Leaves Some Things Hidden

I'm worried about leaving Vivenna's two questions unanswered. One is pretty obvious—how Vasher can hide how he looks—but the other is unintuitive. I wish I could explain better in the book, as I said above, but I decided in the end to just leave it hanging. It's a bit of a violation of Sanderson's First Law, but not a big one. The reason I feel I can get away with it is because Vasher didn't use his nature as a Returned to solve any problems. It is more a flavoring for his character than it is important to him getting out of danger or fixing things. He could have done everything he needed to in this book without being Returned. So I feel it's okay not to explain why he can be Returned and not die when he gives away his Breaths.

Can Vivenna change her appearance more? She can indeed. She could actually stoke that fragment of a divine Breath inside of her and start glowing like a Returned. She can't change her physical features to look like someone else, but she can change her age, her height (within reason), and her body shape (to an extent). It takes practice.

And yes, the scraggly miscreant is how Vasher sees himself. Not noble and Returned, which is part of how he suppresses his divine Breath.

Events in the second book may change that.

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