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Talenelat'Elin, Bearer of All Agonies


Topaz

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I was rereading WoK and noticed that the leathery-faced man, the one that Kaladin gets his vest and sandels from, refers to Talenelat'Elin as the "bearer of all agonies." I'm sure people already have theories about this, ie he's probably part of that herald-cult or something similar. What do y'all think? How did someone who had access to that kind of knowledge end up in the bridge crews? 

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56 minutes ago, Honorless said:

I think there's a possibility that the title referred to Taln's tendency of self-sacrifice rather than The Self-Sacrifice™ (the Herald who didn't break the Oathpact & has been getting continuously tortured for millennia)

Something along this line is most likely. Its probably technically a curse too. Several of the Heralds pages on the coppermind have commonly used curses/sayings referencing whatever herald.

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It's one of his know Vorin titles, kind of like how Ishar is also know as popularly known as the Binder of Gods or Shallash is called the Lady of Dreams.  Bearing agonies would be thematically appropriate for the Stonewards even without knowing the specifics of his abandonment by the other Heralds.

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1 minute ago, Bearer of Agonies said:

Taln himself would fight, and win, difficult battles during the Desolations, but die in the process. He would continue to sacrifice himself, even before The Sacrifice.

Ya, it was very much part of the Stoneward shtick. 

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  • 8 months later...
On 1/30/2020 at 10:16 PM, Topaz said:

I was rereading WoK and noticed that the leathery-faced man, the one that Kaladin gets his vest and sandels from, refers to Talenelat'Elin as the "bearer of all agonies." I'm sure people already have theories about this, ie he's probably part of that herald-cult or something similar. What do y'all think? How did someone who had access to that kind of knowledge end up in the bridge crews? 

 

On 1/31/2020 at 10:59 AM, Toaster Retribution said:

If Stormlight was a computer game, Odium would want the devs to nerf Taln.

 

heh heh heh

I've got a pretty fun theory for exactly what Taln being the "bearer of all agonies" means(smirks)

 

OB Spoilers

Spoiler

Dalinar's vision of Odium's champion(paraphrased as a checklist)

1) red eyes, brilliant golden light

2) shardplate

3) 9 shadows

4) familiar to Dalinar somehow

 

So here's the theory:

Taln is going to become Odium's Champion. Red eyes is commonly acknowledged as a sign of Connection to a Shard Invested off-world. Odium loves the gold color and brightness, likely Odium's presence. The shardplate is Taln's. The nine shadows are believed by the Stormfather to be the Unmade, and while I don't necessarily think he's wrong... I think there could be more to them than just the Unmade. Nine Heralds, who betrayed Taln at Aharietam? 

RoW spoiler

Spoiler

The Nine leaders of the Fused?

I think that the nine shadows could be all three of these things. 

Moving on to the familiarity - Bondsmiths and Stonewards share a Surge, both Taln and Dalinar swore oaths heavily regarding their duty to others, both have been betrayed by those they least expected, both have Connection in Honor's direction, both have resisted Odium, and the list goes on.

Finally, and I'm sorry for putting everything into the spoiler,

UNLIKE most of the other Odium's Champion theories I've seen, Taln actually has a dead serious reason to switch to Odium. The man is crazy. The man is used to having Connection to a Shard. The man was storming betrayed by the people closest to him, who knew his pain.

Odium, in the end of OB, tells Dalinar to "give me(Odium) your pain". He elaborates, saying it's his(Odium's) own fault, that he understands.

Does anything not line up?

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