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Taldain's Perpendicularity


.X Caliber

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I have looked in many places for an answer to this question but haven't found it so I'll ask it myself.

We know that Taldain is currently unaccessable:

Questioner

This is about certain people from Nalthis... living on Roshar and how they are living on Roshar. Could they also do that on Scadrial?

Brandon Sanderson

Scadrial would be a lot harder because getting the Investiture out of things on Scadrial is tough, there are ways you could do it but it would be much more difficult.

Questioner

Does that have to do with the Investiture being more directed?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, it's more the genetic component is a big part of it. The directed component-- In Roshar its just flowing around all over the place. For instance, if he could get to a Shardpool he could feed off that, but then he's at the Shardpool and that's kind of dangerous and things. Roshar is really the easiest place in the cosmere for him to consistently get this sort of stuff. Taldain would not be bad either, that's the White Sand world but it is inaccessible currently in the cosmere

Salt Lake ComicCon FanX 2016 (March 26, 2016)

So how long has Taldain been inaccessible? And how did Khriss leave Taldain and become a worldhopper if it is supposedly inaccessible? I didn't think that perpendicularities could be one way, but I could be misinformed.  

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It seems to be that Khriss left while there was still a functional perpendicularity on Taldain. Thus, what she says in the Arcanum Unbounded Taldain essay:

Quote

Autonomy's policy of isolationism in recent times (in direct contrast to her interference with other planets, I might add) has prevent travel to and from Taldain for many, many years.

A fact of which I am all too aware.

This is a "recent" change, something that must have happened after Khriss left. The earliest we see her offworld is in Secret History; even though she has an Ars Arcanum in the latest version of Elantris, she doesn't specifically reference the events of the book in any way, so it may have been written well afterwards. Since we don't have a firm timeline for the books (we know what order they happened in, but no estimates on many of the intervals between), we can't really narrow it down much more than 'between White Sand and Mistborn Era 1.' If I was gonna put money down on it, I'd lean earlier rather than later, something that would happen during potential White Sand sequels (and could thus occur on-screen) and instigate Autonomy's change in plans.

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There is also evidence that Taldain is no longer inaccessible. 

Stormlight and Warbreaker spoilers 

Spoiler

Questioner

Nightblood. He just showed up at the end of The Stormlight Archive--

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

--the last one. So, is there a place that's a connection between all of the universes?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, there is.

Questioner

And it's been reached in The Stormlight Archive?

Brandon Sanderson

Okay, so I'm guessing you don't know about all of this but there are characters from Elantris that are in Mistborn--

Questioner

Yes. Like Hoid.

Brandon Sanderson

--and all of this stuff. I would say one of the things is that Roshar is a little bit easier to get to than some of the others, but it's not that it has been breached there so much as it's a little bit easier to get to.

Questioner

Yes, I'm assuming it has something to do with the Cognitive Realm but then objects going through the Cognitive Realm is kind of tripping me.

Brandon Sanderson

Hehe… *long pause* There are places in the Cognitive Realm that are somewhat nexus-like, like you're talking about. Yes there are places like that. ...So Roshar might actually be the easiest place to get to in the cosmere, like from planet to planet. Sel is probably the hardest, right now. For a long time Taldain was very hard, but not anymore.

Shadows of Self release party (Oct. 5, 2015)

 

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It is very interesting that in Oct. 5, 2015 he said, "For a long time Taldain was very hard, but not anymore."  But in March 26, 2016 he said, "but it is inaccessible currently in the cosmere."  I can't find an explanation for why this is, but I want to say that it wasn't simply an accident.  Could he maybe be speaking specifically about the physical realm?  There are two suns you would have to worry about near Taldain, but I can't imagine that would be that big of a problem for interstellar travelers.

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1 hour ago, .X Caliber said:

It is very interesting that in Oct. 5, 2015 he said, "For a long time Taldain was very hard, but not anymore."  But in March 26, 2016 he said, "but it is inaccessible currently in the cosmere."  I can't find an explanation for why this is, but I want to say that it wasn't simply an accident.  Could he maybe be speaking specifically about the physical realm?  There are two suns you would have to worry about near Taldain, but I can't imagine that would be that big of a problem for interstellar travelers.

I think it's because he's talking about two different time periods. Stormlight 1-5 precede Era 2 by up to a couple of decades. So talking about the first half of SA, Taldain is still sealed away. Talking about Era 2, SoS, Taldain is no longer sealed away

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I'd previously thought the OB letters also implied that Hoid managed to get there, but that was based on the assumptions that A) the world in question was indeed Taldain, and B)that when Autonomy said they thought "it" was well hidden they were talking about the world and not the avatar itself.  But if that is the case, it would imply that Taldain was difficult to get to because it had been hidden/obscured rather than that it had it's perpendicularity disabled.

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On 3/25/2019 at 3:41 PM, Quantus said:

I'd previously thought the OB letters also implied that Hoid managed to get there, but that was based on the assumptions that A) the world in question was indeed Taldain, and B)that when Autonomy said they thought "it" was well hidden they were talking about the world and not the avatar itself.  But if that is the case, it would imply that Taldain was difficult to get to because it had been hidden/obscured rather than that it had it's perpendicularity disabled.

On 3/26/2019 at 3:13 PM, Karger said:

Perhaps Autonomy closes it off and opens it up again depending on geopolitics or shardpolitics?  Godpolitics?

Sounds like Autonomy intentionally blocks or hides it.

I was playing with the idea that the perpendicularity was dissipating because too much of Autonomy/Autonomy's attention had left Taldain and it wasn't as "in residence" for a while. I can't tie it to events in any other series where Autonomy may be showing up. MB Spoilers:

Spoiler

It is difficult to travel before MB Era 2, but easy to travel during Era 2.  If Trell is part of Autonomy I would expect it to be the inverse:

Autonomy spending a lot of effort and attention on Scadrial (the Red Haze) during Era 2 + who knows how many other Avatars running around Cosmere = not enough of Autonomy "in residence" on Taldain to maintain the perpendicularity properly. 

If Autonomy is Trell it may have opened up travel to send its minions to Scadrial. Or for other Cosmere events we aren't aware of. 

 

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