Oathbringer Questions it did and did not answer

[HoidsRock House Lord]

I have been rereading WOR to distract myself from, well, out there.  In doing so, I am once again struck by BWS' continuity and his ability to answer some questions and let others linger.  Here is one of each.

"I was off duty, sir," Teft said.  "Went to see what I could find in the market.  Do I need to report every little thing I do?"

"You went to the market to the market," Kaladin said, "in a highstorm?"

"Time may have gotten away from me for a breath or two..." Teft said, looking away.

Chapter 41 WOR

This question of where was Teft off to was answered was in OB.  Pretty clearly he was off abusing firemoss.

 

One question not answered in OB--a question I did not even notice until I reread WOR is that of Rock's great strength.  Sure he is big but he seems to have a strength that surprises even Kaladin.  While in the chasms sparring with Rock, Lopen and Sigzil, he notices that Rock is swinging a log at his head:

An entire log.  How had Rock lifted the that thing?

Chapter 12 WOR

This question is not answered in OB.  Rather, it was built upon when Rock kills Amaram with the shardbow:

Kaladin glanced toward Rock, who stood over Amaram’s body, looking down, the enormous bow held limply in one hand. How had he drawn it? Stormlight granted great endurance, but it didn’t vastly improve strength.

Sanderson, Brandon. Oathbringer: Book Three of the Stormlight Archive (p. 1189). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

So when will BWS answer it?  The Rock short story? ROW?  Any theories out there?

What other questions were answered?  Left pending for a later book?

 

 

Edited April 1, 2020 by HoidsRock

[Gilphon Originator]

I don't know that there's anything supernatural going on with Rock's strength- I think he's just a particularly strong guy. Though I'd expect us to find out in his Novella and not before if there is something going on there. 

But other questions... I mean, we're talking relatively minor details here, not major plot twists or anything, right? Things a reader could conceivably not notice on there first read though. 

Well, one thing of that sort that's been on my mind is 'why can Mrall control his emotions so well?' Which was a weird moment in WOR that didn't get touched on in OB. 

[Invocation Mistborn]

I can't wait to find out where Rlain went, and see how that intersects with the rogue listeners running around the Plains.

[HoidsRock House Lord]

4 minutes ago, Gilphon said:

But other questions... I mean, we're talking relatively minor details here, not major plot twists or anything, right? Things a reader could conceivably not notice on there first read though. 

Yes, kind of what I was thinking.  Just the threads here and there.  May and may not turn out to be something. 

Edited April 1, 2020 by HoidsRock

[HoidsRock House Lord]

3 minutes ago, Invocation said:

I can't wait to find out where Rlain went, and see how that intersects with the rogue listeners running around the Plains.

Totally!  Where is THUDE???!!!

[Karger Unmade]

2 hours ago, HoidsRock said:

So when will BWS answer it?  The Rock short story? ROW?  Any theories out there?

What other questions were answered?  Left pending for a later book?

Rock says that he has "special gifts and blessings" that presumably relate to his singer heritage and the fact that his home is a perpendicularity.  I personally think that Rock is the human equivalent of a ryshadium.  Basically he has some kind of spren bond that increases his strength and lets him see shadesmar.  This should be answered in Rock's novella which is a primary reason I was hopping for it earlier but we might get it sooner in WoR.

[HoidsRock House Lord]

2 minutes ago, Karger said:

I personally think that Rock is the human equivalent of a ryshadium.  Basically he has some kind of spren bond that increases his strength and lets him see shadesmar.

Okay, I love this idea.  Does he have some sort of a gemheart or just a general symbiotic relationship?  (And do we know the same answer about the Ryshadium?)

[Karger Unmade]

2 minutes ago, HoidsRock said:

Okay, I love this idea.  Does he have some sort of a gemheart or just a general symbiotic relationship?  (And do we know the same answer about the Ryshadium?)

Quote

Questioner

Do Ryshadium have gemhearts?

Brandon Sanderson

Um... I'll RAFO that for now. I'm just kind of staying really dodgy about Ryshadium, on purpose. I will dig into them later on.

Oathbringer London signing (Nov. 28, 2017)

Quote

Questioner #1 (in Mistborn cosplay) (paraphrased)

Do Ryshadium exist because of a spren bond, like greatshells?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yea, they evolved symbiotically with spren, unlike other horses. They can still mate will other horses, but they are genetically distinct.

OdysseyCon 2016 (April 8, 2016)

Quote

CCQ

You said that Ryshadium experience sentience through a spren. But I just didn't understand how that's possible. Most of them are through tension, gravitation, *inaudible*... nothing Cognitive.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, yes, yes. So all-- so non-sapient creatures that get Invested in don't gain powers until they gain *inaudible*.

CCQ

How does that fit into the larger picture?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, how does that fit? It's mostly-- you can start seeing that-- things that forces are adapting to the Roshar ecology. Does that make sense? Because a lot of Rosharan-- other creatures-- have bonds with spren. Very common. And so--

CCQ

I know. I noticed the chasmfiend *inaudible*, whatever you want to call it.  I don't know how that works.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You'll see the next book kind of explores it a little bit. But yes... but yeah. I'm just going to leave it at that.

Arcanum Unbounded Hoboken signing (Dec. 3, 2016)

I personally doubt a Gemheart.  Other then that these WoBs should help.

 

[Gilphon Originator]

I don't see how they could possibly have a gemheart- like they're horses descendant from normal horses brought from Ashyn. How the heck are they gonna evolve a gemheart. 

I also don't think that Rock is the human equivalent of a Ryshadium, because I'm pretty sure that the human equivalent of Ryshadium is a Knight Radiant. 

[AonEne Shard]

16 minutes ago, Gilphon said:

I also don't think that Rock is the human equivalent of a Ryshadium, because I'm pretty sure that the human equivalent of Ryshadium is a Knight Radiant. 

In that case, he might still be the equivalent eventually. 

[Goatbringer Truthless]

2 hours ago, Karger said:

I personally think that Rock is the human equivalent of a ryshadium.

I quite like this theory.

I think that these are just some tantalizing hints BrandoSando is dropping on us to signify that Rock, or at least the Unkalaki, are special. We already know from WOBs that they've got Singer/Human ancestry like the Herdazians. Actually, on that note, from the chapters that have been released it seems like the Herdazians may have a larger role in RoW than they've had as token comic relief through Lopen and his cousins in earlier books. Perhaps book 4 is where we delve into what makes the Singer/Human hybrids special?

[jamesbondsmith Vanisher]

I thought it was fairly clearly implied it's because he's a Horneater? From memory he's the only Horneater we see a lot of (I'm currently doing a re-read but only barely into WOR), and they are human/singer hybrids. We've seen Parshendi jump chasms with only their own strength that humans require Shardplate to do. It stands to reason he'd be stronger.

[Karger Unmade]

1 hour ago, jamesbondsmith said:

We've seen Parshendi jump chasms with only their own strength that humans require Shardplate to do. It stands to reason he'd be stronger.

Does it?  Normal unbonded parsh can't do that.  They need warform.  I also don't think he has a gemheart.