[OB] Is Shallan Davar really Shallan Davar?

[What's a Seawolf?]

Pure overly rampant speculation on my part, but during a reread of SA, one specific passage in WoR struck me:

Adolin stepped up to join them, the hum of conversation all around giving them some privacy within the crowd.  He had found a cup of orange win for her somewhere, which he held out.  "Shallan Davar?" he asked.

"Um..." Was she?  Oh, right.  She took the wine.  "Yes?"

Now before you say anything, I am fully aware I'm reaching and it's probably just Shallan being lovestruck.  But that brief internal monologue by Shallan is very reminiscent of her mental breakdowns in Oathbringer between Shallan, Veil and Radiant.  Could Brandon have hidden something big in that little line?

And as a tiny bit of not-evidence evidence, a few paragraphs later Shallan is reciting her knowledge of the high princes in her head and:

One was Aladar, a renowned duelist.  The short man was listed in Jasnah's notes as fond of taking risks, known to gamble in the type of games of random chance that the devotaries forbade.  He and Sadeas seemed to be on very friendly terms.  Weren't they enemies?  She'd read that they often squabbled over lands.  Well, that was obviously a broken stone, for they seemed united as they regarded Dalinar.

Turns out Aladar ended up on Dalinar's side.  Brandon laid in plain sight reason to be suspicious of Aladar's allegiances.

So, is it feasible Shallan is not Shallan, or at least not Shallan Davar?  Has Brandon ever said anything in regards to Shallan pre-Patternstabbing her mom?  Wouldn't she have had to progress somehow before getting her blade?

I really don't know where I'm going with this, just thought-if even remotely feasible- it would be fun to speculate just who Shallan really is if Shallan Davar is just another persona, and where she might have come from.

[Caevita]

I love trying theories like this out. With that said, bear in mind that one of her truths which advanced her bond with Pattern was that she had killed her father. It is unlikely that Pattern would have let her get away with that if Lin Davar had not been her real father. So now, we have to work in that she was, what? The product of an affair between Lin and another woman who we quite possibly haven't met yet? Seems untenable.

[RShara]

Sorry.

Quote

Questioner

Is Shallan's mother, the one that she kills, is that her birth mother?

Brandon Sanderson

It is.  Good question. Good question.  You had a theory there that I may have just killed.

Questioner

That's okay!

source

 

Quote

Questioner

Is Shallan's father her actual father?

Brandon Sanderson

Ah! People asked if her mother were her mother. No one's asked yet if her father were her father... Yes, it was her father. Yes, I will give you that, yes. Her mother and father as presented in the stories were actually her mother and father.

source

 

[kaellok]

I guess the only remaining question to ask is if Shallan is really Shallan

[Vissy]

Shallan is a very broken individual. I believe that this sentence is indicative of her internal struggle of figuring out who she is - it foreshadows that the mask of "Shallan Davar" is not all that she is, and that she has to actively tell herself (to the point of excluding all other sides of herself) in order to maintain the lie. 

[Jace21]

On 11/21/2018 at 1:31 PM, What's a Seawolf? said:

... and it's probably just Shallan being lovestruck.

I think you hit the nail in the head here. While Brandon could be forshadowing her personality issues or a case of mistaken identity, it seems more likely it is just the natural reaction of an inexperienced teenage girl being approached by a handsome, high ranking young man.

[Rainier]

Shallan broke herself into at least three different personae. One of them is Shallan Kholin, married to a highprince. One is Veil, member of the Ghostbloods. And one is Radiant, who is responsible for building her powers and using them to fight the Desolations. These three personae are in conflict, and I expect that conflict to continue in Book 4. I think what you're seeing is the first blush of that conflict. 

[Fanghur Rahl]

Are any of us truly the people we think we are? I kind of view the Lightweavers’ progression to full Radiant as being kind of equivalent to a person learning their True Names in the Inheritance Cycle. That is, it requires laying your identity completely bare and relinquishing all the comfortable delusions about yourself.

One thing I’ve noticed about discussions involving Shallan and her personas is that people tend to assume that the personas are lies, acting, or some combination thereof. But that’s not true. All of her personas are truly her, but just different aspects of her identity given priority. Arguably her ‘true’ persona is one of these as well, though I don’t think I personally buy that.

But regardless, is Shallan really Shallan? Are any of us truly the people we see ourselves as? And most importantly, is it even really a meaningful question to ask? I dunno.

[Mandrarin]

@Fanghur Rahl I really like your take on this. I notice for myself that my personality changes slightly, depending on who I am with. I always disliked how this would be seen as 'fake', because it is who I am, just different parts. Even my accent changes slightly, to match  the person I am talking to, unvoluntarily. Although Shallan goes a good step further, I very much see all her persona's as her, not acting or being fake, but more... adapting?  

[Fanghur Rahl]

Part of me wonders whether there might be some kind of parallel between Shallan and her personas and Adonalsium and the Shards. Each of Shallan’s personas is basically taking a single broad attribute of her identity and making that the core of that persona’s identity. In a way, the Shards are similar to this. Each of them is basically a single facet of Adonalsium’s identity. 

If I were to take that analogy seriously, I might say that Veil is essentially ‘Guile’ and Radiant is ‘Confidence’ or ‘Bravery’. 

Edited November 24, 2018 by Fanghur Rahl

[Lord of the Dark Lands]

After reading Oathbringer, I kind of consider Shallan and Veil to be truly different characters, not sure about Radiant yet, I think of her as a more confident, smarter and older version of Shallan.