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Brandon's Epic Foreshadowing


Lunu’anaki

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So I'm rereading Mistborn Era 1 and I'm just continually impressed by Brandon's forethought in his writing. One of my favorite examples of this: A connection between a conversation Vin and Sazed have in The Final Empire and The Epigraphs written by Sazed in The Hero of Ages.

In the Final Empire Vin tells Sazed  she'd like for him not to mention her in his recording of the events set in motion by Kelsier and his crew; he tells her that he may need to, but will do his best to respect her privacy.

I think this really shows itself in a subtle way in The Hero of Ages epigraphs by Sazed. Vin goes unmentioned in the epigraphs until the very end and even then, Sazed begins speaking about her without mentioning her by name. It isn't until the very last chapter's epigraph when she is named in his writing. The clever way Brandon used that in order to explain how Vin's earring was a spike ties directly into a fairly minor conversation in book one and to me that is just a fascinating writting style. It wasnt until rereading the series for a third time that I picked up on such a subtle thing... but it just goes to show how much gosh darn thought Brandon puts into his writing!!

 

So that's my favorite little foreshadowing tidbit from Brandon's books! What's yours?!

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All the epigraphs mentioning voidbringers in twok in retrospect are so obvious that on every terras you smack your head and go, how did I not see this?!!

I also like the mention of symbolheads by Elhokar and how it was foreshadowed way back in twok, then in wor he says they have gone so you think that he has lost there interest and then in OB, at the last moment, he just starts saying the first oath and dies before finishing it! It is the cruelest bit of foreshadowing by Brandon. A theory we all had, was finally proven true but still did not happen!!

I also like the foreshadowing of how Renarin is so uncomfortable with his blade and plate and he winces each time he summons his blade, I should have realised what was up especially after kaladin touches the blade at the duel and hears the scream!

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I do think WoK voidbringer reveal is the best one so far.  That being said.  Dalinar's Honor visions.  The entire, "you were not being vague you have prerecorded responses" reveal is fantastic.  Also Saze as the hero of ages.

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There's this one moment in TFE where Kelsier and Sazed are talking about religion and Kelsier's like "I should start one of those". The first time I read it I thought nothing of it, but in every re-read I think "I see that foreshadowing, you can't fool me Brandon".

There was also moment where Kelsier asks Sazed how religions had so much power even after their leader died, and Sazed tells him that the leader's death actually caused a rise in strength (is that the right word?) for many religions, and I don't know how I didn't pick up on that the first time. Brandon's foreshadowing is seriously so good. 

 

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The lack of grey lighteyes! The Skybreakers didn't break their oaths. But this can be excused as gemstone colours are not written in stone (and we still don't have canon answers for the exact shades: garnet and topaz have so many hues!) plus red eyes (Lightweavers and Dustbringers) were also missing and were instead associated with Voidbringers, and we already knew that. Come to think of it topaz eyes... (hazel?) were also missing... And of course there are a lot of missing Shardblades

God, this colour business on Roshar is very confusing!

Edited by Honorless
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3 hours ago, Honorless said:

The lack of grey lighteyes! The Skybreakers didn't break their oaths. But this can be excused as gemstone colours are not written in stone (and we still don't have canon answers for the exact shades: garnet and topaz have so many hues!) plus red eyes (Lightweavers and Dustbringers) were also missing and were instead associated with Voidbringers, and we already knew that. Come to think of it topaz eyes... (hazel?) were also missing... And of course there are a lot of missing Shardblades

God, this colour business on Roshar is very confusing!

It is also possible that Alethkar was a land predominantly of windrunners and other nations jah keved and theylen similarly belonged to other orders, therefore we find that certain eye colours like blue, green etc in light eyes are more common in Alethkar which we have seen more of. If we were to meet other light eyes of other nations, may be we will come across other eye colours too. 
One problem is also that other nations have not married only amongst light eyes and therefore they have less light eyes 
 

Edited by The traveller
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2 hours ago, The traveller said:

It is also possible that Alethkar was a land predominantly of windrunners and other nations jah keved and theylen similarly belonged to other orders, therefore we find that certain eye colours like blue, green etc in light eyes are more common in Alethkar which we have seen more of. If we were to meet other light eyes of other nations, may be we will come across other eye colours too. 
One problem is also that other nations have not married only amongst light eyes and therefore they have less light eyes 
 

How come there are so many yellow eyes? Isn't that the Bondsmiths'? Good god, Melishi!

Hmm, I would say that we haven't seen such domination of a certain eye colour in an area, aside from in general, in Alethkar and bordering it Vedenar and Thaylenah and Kharbranth. Alethkar was the centre for Windrunners, possibly also other Radiant Orders and the nation which headquartered the more martially inclined of Roshar's populace pre-Recreance. That is why the Vorin lighteyes darkeyes system is only viable in the east, the west probably had fewer Radiants.

Yes, they have blues, yellows, greens, violets, clear silver eyes from the Edgedancers are another missing colour though.

Edited by Honorless
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17 minutes ago, Honorless said:

How come there are so many yellow eyes? Isn't that the Bondsmiths'? Good god, Melishi!

 

I think it is because of the iriali’s and their inter breeding with humans that then caused yellow eyes. 
Violets is supposed to be rare in Alethkar too I think. I remember Navani has violet eyes. The other we know is Shalash. 

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On 04/12/2019 at 6:31 AM, The traveller said:

I also like the foreshadowing of how Renarin is so uncomfortable with his blade and plate and he winces each time he summons his blade, I should have realised what was up especially after kaladin touches the blade at the duel and hears the scream!

There is also that time were Adolin tell Renarin that as a Radiant, he is already doing the will of the Almighty and Renarin is not conviced.

(it's around the moment Renarin get his shardblade, also Renarin comment that "Glys was unsure they could do it")

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4 minutes ago, mathiau said:

There is also that time were Adolin tell Renarin that as a Radiant, he is already doing the will of the Almighty and Renarin is not conviced.

(it's around the moment Renarin get his shardblade, also Renarin comment that "Glys was unsure they could do it")

Yup an indication that something is wrong with Renarin’s bond. 
 

I also like the one where Shallan saw Jasnah get stabbed in the chest and thinks she is dead but later goes into her cabin to find no body. Later she tells Navani that Jasnah is for sure dead because she was stabbed through the chest! But much later, to dalinar shallan says she will remain on the shattered plains, she is quite sure that even a stab to the heart would not kill her! At this point, I was like then why do you think that Jasnah is dead!!!

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On 12/4/2019 at 8:23 PM, The traveller said:

Yes and dalinar’s introductory chapter in twok being named “unity”

Which I feel like we still aren't done learning the significance of. 

Quote

“A man stood on a cliffside and watched his homeland fall into dust. The waters surged beneath, so far beneath. And he heard a child crying. They were his own tears.” tWoK chapter 3 Epigraph

I think this will be Szeth in book 5 looking at Shinovar. It kind of fits Dalinar in the Vision watching a representation of Kolinar get destroyed, but not quite.

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Yes, just the other day I was looking at Way of Kings and saw Dalinar's chapter title as Unity... :blink:.
Plus, upon reading the epigraphs, I am so frustrated with myself I was never able to get what seem to be otherwise obvious things. This epigraph, for example, really got me:

Quote

"Victory! We stand atop the mount! We scatter them before us! Their homes become our dens, their lands are now our farms! And they shall burn, as we once did, in a place that is hollow and forlorn."

After finishing the book, I figured it was talking about the Voidbringers. Never realized what I held contained quite obviously the secret that destroyed the Knights Radiant.

Ever since then, I have found lots of foreshadowing done in the epigraphs, and because of it, I have an entire document on my computer listing nearly every one and my thoughts on each, what they could even mean. And to think when I first started the Way of Kings (my first Brandon Sanderson book) I just started skipping the epigraphs. Also:

On 12/4/2019 at 10:50 PM, Ookla the Silent said:

There was also moment where Kelsier asks Sazed how religions had so much power even after their leader died, and Sazed tells him that the leader's death actually caused a rise in strength (is that the right word?) for many religions, and I don't know how I didn't pick up on that the first time. Brandon's foreshadowing is seriously so good. 

I actually got this one! I didn't get the first one, but I did get a suspicion he would let himself die. I was proud of myself, for, like, a second before I realized that he was GONNA DIE.

Edited by Knight of Iron
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Brandon's foreshadowing is what I talk about when people ask me why I should read the books I am passive aggressively pushing on them.  His foreshadowing is almost cheeky.  It's casually dropped in conversations or hidden in a metaphor used as a physical description.  Makes the rereads fantastic, however.  It's pretty unusual to like a 2nd read through more than the first.

 

Dalinar having a vision of Odium's nine shadowed champion and thinking that there is something terribly familiar about him.  It's not subtle, but it's also so subtle.   It's like....foreshadowing misdirection. "Who could it be?  Well it's someone familiar to him that he knows really well.... HMMMM".  I didn't get it at all. XD

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12 hours ago, Knight of Iron said:

After finishing the book, I figured it was talking about the Voidbringers. Never realized what I held contained quite obviously the secret that destroyed the Knights Radiant.
 

 

Wait, how does that epigraph have the secret that destroyed the knights radiant? I don't get it and that sounds really fascinating!

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