+Oltux72 Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 6 hours ago, robardin said: Fascinating theory! A little too "deep" for it to seem likely, but I still like it. Though it doesn't really explain the use of the pendant - if the scenario were as you say, getting a tattoo would not have been a big deal. And it's not like Tyn, the only "Ghostblood wannabe" we've seen in direct contact with them and working for them (not counting Ishnah working for Veil/Shallan) had a pendant like this as a symbol of wannabe status... It still feels like the pendant may have been a plant by the assassin. A tattoo on a shapeshifter makes no sense. The tattoo is not intended for recognition or to prove one's status. The other secret societies must know it after ages of use. A secret hand shake or a pass word could be changed and would serve much better. It is basically a gang tattoo. Joining the ghostbloods is like becoming a member of the undead, that is, forever. That is why Mraize wanted to check it on Shallan. It was to be a sign of acceptance and capitulation. But you cannot permanently mark a shapeshifter. The pendant is unlikely to be a sign of low status, but one of high status or a mark of a field agent, who must not have a physical mark. You are unmarked, yet trusted. The very idea of a wannabe in a secret society is problematic. They know too much, but cannot be trusted. Failure during probation does not mean expulsion, but a knife in the back. 6 hours ago, Karger said: I don't thinks so. Remember (Scadrail spoiler) Reveal hidden contents Harmony is not the only one with faceless immortals. Why would they work for outsiders, if they indeed came from the source commonly suspected? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karger Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 2 minutes ago, Oltux72 said: Why would they work for outsiders, if they indeed came from the source commonly suspected? They do work for outsiders or at least with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+robardin Posted April 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 (edited) 30 minutes ago, Oltux72 said: A tattoo on a shapeshifter makes no sense. The tattoo is not intended for recognition or to prove one's status. The other secret societies must know it after ages of use. A secret hand shake or a pass word could be changed and would serve much better. It is basically a gang tattoo. Joining the ghostbloods is like becoming a member of the undead, that is, forever. That is why Mraize wanted to check it on Shallan. It was to be a sign of acceptance and capitulation. But you cannot permanently mark a shapeshifter. The pendant is unlikely to be a sign of low status, but one of high status or a mark of a field agent, who must not have a physical mark. You are unmarked, yet trusted. The very idea of a wannabe in a secret society is problematic. They know too much, but cannot be trusted. Failure during probation does not mean expulsion, but a knife in the back. Perhaps you misunderstand my point, or I yours...? I agree that getting a GB tattoo is intended to "prove recognition and status" as a full member to other GBs and any other who would recognize it, exactly as you say, "like a gang tattoo". That seems obvious. We have no evidence to think the pendant would be a "higher status" marker than a tattoo, as this pendant is the only one of its kind we've seen. Kabsal was also a "field agent" who had the tattoo on the inside of his arm (where it would be hidden in his clothing), so there's no reason to think a full GB operative would be exempt from the tattoo for that reason alone. (For that matter... Veil hasn't gotten one, has she?) Scadrial-related spoilers, Spoiler I hadn't thought about the angle that Luesh could be a kandra, and thus be faking his own death ultimately in service to Harmony while also leaving a clue pointing at the Ghostbloods, who he's been investigating... But that doesn't have anything to do with his having a pendant instead of a tattoo, unless you meant that "LuResh" had actually defected from Harmony to become a full Ghostblood, or that somehow he was balancing serving Harmony and being a Ghostblood, where they knew of his nature and said "eh, pointless to put a tattoo on a kandra" -- both of which seem very improbable (especially since Harmony could take over a kandra if he had to). As a kandra secretly in service to Harmony and posing as a Ghostblood (i.e., they have no idea what a kandra is, or at least that he is one), which is what I thought you meant, he certainly could have had a tattoo to show the GBs he was "in" with them that he could just melt away any time he wanted to. But then realizing he needed a bigger sign to seed the idea for later to Shallan's family who would not have known to look for the tattoo even if he had one, he donned the pendant. As for @Karger's suggestion that this is a non-kandra "Faceless Immortal" such as we see at the end of Bands of Mourning, i.e., something hemalurgically created or co-opted by "Trell" (Autonomy?), that is more plausible but seems very convoluted to stick in there, unless it's something that pops up again much further down the road to link up Stormlight Archives closer to what's happening on Scadrial. And being a red-eyed Trell-kandra still wouldn't explain what I find most suspicious/odd about the pendant. Edited April 13, 2020 by robardin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karger Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 1 minute ago, robardin said: that is more plausible but seems very convoluted to stick in there, unless it's something that pops up again much further down the road to link up Stormlight Archives closer to what's happening on Scadrial. Either that or it is another version of shapeshifter/illusion that we have not seen yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+robardin Posted April 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 Just now, Karger said: Either that or it is another version of shapeshifter/illusion that we have not seen yet. From a writerly perspective, I'd be very leery of overplaying the "shapeshifters are all around us serving unknown causes/masters!" angle, that's kind of terrible. IMHO. It is logically consistent with the Cosmere storylines we know of, I would just think it's bad storytelling. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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