Chaos Posted September 1, 2011 Report Share Posted September 1, 2011 http://brandonsanderson.com/blog/1012/THE-WAY-OF-KINGS-interior-illustrations-now-uploaded This is really cool, you guys should all check it out. A couple things I've noticed. The Alethi War Camps picture has the list of the Highprinces. Yay wiki stuff! More interesting for theorizing is the fact that the map of Kharbranth has the "evil" symbols from the rear bookend at its corners. I wonder what that's implying? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad_Scientist Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 More interesting for theorizing is the fact that the map of Kharbranth has the "evil" symbols from the rear bookend at its corners. I wonder what that's implying? Interesting. In this thread it was speculated that the doors to the Palanaeum might be the Surgebinding chart. But now I'm thinking it may actually be the "evil" symbols on the door instead, though I'm sure the colors are different than those on the book illustration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcanist Lupus Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 (edited) I just noticed the two creatures in the background of the Surgebinding chart. What could they be? Also, I'm referring to the picture as the Surgebinding chart because Mad Scientist referred to it as the Surgebinding chart. But why did Mad Scientist refer to it as the Surgebinding chart? Did Brandon say something about it, or is it just a theory? Edited September 2, 2011 by Sir_Read-a-Lot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos Posted September 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 Well, it's not like, explicitly known as the "Surgebinding chart", but Brandon said each order of Radiant (big circle) gets two Surges (smaller circles). So it is very much related to Surgebinding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eri Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 (edited) How do we know those symbols are evil? Sure, we know that the front ones are (related to) Heralds, so rear ones = not Heralds = evil, right? But the Heralds kinda betrayed their god and mankind, so... Anyway - it may have something to do with Taravangian and his Silent Watchers ('cause they are evil and work in this city). Or with Symbolheads - I imagine their heads to look like the rear-cover glyphs. Edited September 2, 2011 by eri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe ST Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 The Alethi War Camps picture has the list of the Highprinces. Yay wiki stuff! and the symbols down the side are of a similar nature to the surge symbols (and the 'evil' ones) Also; why, when the Honor map/chart/graph is surrounded by the Herald's faces, is the Evil one surrounded by a woman? Maybe its Cultivations graph? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eri Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 I doubt Cultivation wears a modesty sleeve. ;-) Looks a bit like Jasnah to me, or someone we don't know yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe ST Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 I doubt Cultivation wears a modesty sleeve. ;-) Looks a bit like Jasnah to me, or someone we don't know yet. it could represent the duality of the old-magic, boon-and-curse, as it is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyman Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 I doubt Cultivation wears a modesty sleeve. ;-) Looks a bit like Jasnah to me, or someone we don't know yet. Don't forget that it's probably an in-world document. Brandon takes Tolkein's conceit in the hobbit and really runs with it. This means that any of these pictures will be influenced by the fictional culture Brandon perceives it as having come from. Thus an image of Cultivation could well be wearing a modesty sleeve, just like Renaissance paintings of biblical scenes look like they happened it Italy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eri Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 Except that we haven't seen any in-world people knowing anything about Cultivation's existence (yet). Sure, she might be Nightwatcher or something... but she'd be ugly, I think. And not blonde-haired. Maybe one of the Heralds whose order had the power to enter Shadesmar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterAhlstrom Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 The rear endsheets are supposed to be parts of a stained-glass window somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dros Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 Anybody know what the symbol might be on the ship's sail in the Kharbranth drawing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe ST Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 Anybody know what the symbol might be on the ship's sail in the Kharbranth drawing? if you see, it's reproduced above the Palace (? or is it a temple?) at the top of the hill. It's also the middle icon on the stylized warcamps picture, which seems to have the regalia representing each of the camp's Highprince. Scrap that, the two symbols on the Battle of the Tower must represent Sadeas and Dalinar. Thus, I propose that these are modular hieroglyphs constructed to spell the word... *shrug* it'd be pretty awesome if that were the case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcanist Lupus Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 if you see, it's reproduced above the Palace (? or is it a temple?) at the top of the hill. It's also the middle icon on the stylized warcamps picture, which seems to have the regalia representing each of the camp's Highprince. Scrap that, the two symbols on the Battle of the Tower must represent Sadeas and Dalinar. Thus, I propose that these are modular hieroglyphs constructed to spell the word... *shrug* it'd be pretty awesome if that were the case I think the glyphs on the side of the warcamps pic represent the 10 Highprinces, and the King. Part of this is that there are 10 smaller glyphs, with the slightly larger one in the center. Also, I can't think of any other reason for them to be there. On the other hand, this means I have no idea what the glyphs are for the Tower battle. Maybe the warcamps glyphs represent the provinces, while the tower glyphs represent the Highprinces? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyman Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 Except that we haven't seen any in-world people knowing anything about Cultivation's existence (yet). Sure, she might be Nightwatcher or something... but she'd be ugly, I think. And not blonde-haired. Maybe one of the Heralds whose order had the power to enter Shadesmar? Technically there has been in-world evidence of knowledge of cultivation. Specifically, I refer to Dalinar's vision where he protects the woman and child from monsters. One of the oath's the woman uses is "Three Gods," which most likely refers to Honor, Cultivation and Odium. So at some point in history, they probably had a full knowledge of the Shards present. Modern Vorinism would obviously deny her existence, and we have seen no traditions about her from the viewpoints we have read. However, religious ideas like this can persist in art and culture well after the "official" version has changed. I'm not certain we can rule it out entirely. I am even more certain that even if she is a depiction of a historical figure (instead of being a generic statue), there is no reason to assume that the historical figure would have actually worn a modesty sleeve. But that's rather far afield. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted September 3, 2011 Report Share Posted September 3, 2011 The chart we refer to as "the evil one" could be the Voidbringing equivalent of the Surgebinding chart. It seems like a rather obvious idea, not sure why nobody has mentioned it in this thread =\ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyman Posted September 3, 2011 Report Share Posted September 3, 2011 The chart we refer to as "the evil one" could be the Voidbringing equivalent of the Surgebinding chart. It seems like a rather obvious idea, not sure why nobody has mentioned it in this thread =\ It hasn't been brought up? That it's a Voidbinding chart, in direct correspondence to the Surgebinging chart, seems like the obvious notion. Too obvious, maybe? It seems plausible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos Posted September 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2011 The chart we refer to as "the evil one" could be the Voidbringing equivalent of the Surgebinding chart. It seems like a rather obvious idea, not sure why nobody has mentioned it in this thread =\ I'm pretty sure it has been mentioned somewhere on the boards. I always thought it was the Voidbinding one, anyway, and I was not the first one to think it, I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted September 3, 2011 Report Share Posted September 3, 2011 Not in this thread is what I meant. Sorry for the confusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thucydides Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 On the subject of the Runes along the side of the Warcamps Map and the Tower Battle Map, two things: First, the runes on the Warcamp map could very easily represent the different houses, while the runes used in the Tower Battle are: Dalinar, and: Sadeas, not their respective house. Second, if you look closely the third Rune down from the top of the map looks very much like the rune used for Sadeas in the Battle except that it is upside down, but the closest correlation I could see for Dalinar's Rune is the bottommost one on the Warcamp map. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dros Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 Didn't BS say somewhere there are around 30 different types of magic on Roshar? And if magic is derived from the Shards, it would make sense to me that there are ten aspects of magic derived from each shard. Ten from honor, ten from Cultivation and ten from Odium. I thought the back cover is some type of illustration of Cultivation's or Odium's magic system, while the front was an illustration of Honor's magic system. There are ten large glyphs in each illustration. Also, there's an illustration that shows a device on a wrist with the same "design" as the illustrations on it. I imagine it must have something to do with that particular magic system. The placement of the gems are important in some way I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkthinker Posted September 7, 2011 Report Share Posted September 7, 2011 I think it might be worth noting as well (just 'cause I'm a rainy little stormcloud) that because every illustration represents an in-world work of one sort or another (whether it's a map, or a window, or a page from a book), they potentially also represent unreliable narration. That is to say, they might be wrong, or biased, or otherwise misleading. The person who created them may have been flawed, or working from a misconception, or be otherwise wrong. Probably not... but they could be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted September 7, 2011 Report Share Posted September 7, 2011 Are you describing WoK or the Bible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finallity Posted September 8, 2011 Report Share Posted September 8, 2011 I'll look for where I heard it, but I'm almost completely certain that the woman on the Voidbringing (back) chart, is the Nightwatcher. Also, I find it super super interesting that she has a safe hand sleeve. That's one of those things that will be written of as simply cultural and insignificant until it becomes super important by book 6 or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyman Posted September 8, 2011 Report Share Posted September 8, 2011 Are you describing WoK or the Bible? Bit off-topic, don't you think? Also, a loaded question if I've ever heard one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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