Hesina the author of Hessi’s Mythica?

[+En-priestess]

I’ve been rereading The Way of Kings and it stood out to me how Hesina in Kaladin’s flashbacks seems very scholarly, and she also seems to be interested in and to know a lot about spren, and now I can’t stop thinking that she is actually Hessi, the author of Hessi’s Mythica!

We know that Hesina’s past is shrouded in mystery but that she comes from a more high ranking family. As such, it makes sense to me that she would have been highly educated in the Alethi feminine arts and pursued scholarship. And there is of course the obvious connection with the name Hessi and Hesina being very similar.

It is said that she and Lirin met during Lirin’s travels, and we know that Lirin was training to be a surgeon in Kharbranth so my guess is that this is where they met. I believe that Hesina was in Kharbranth at that time studying the Unmade - 1) because the Palaneum would be the best place to research such a topic, and 2) because perhaps she figured out that Moelach was there and was studying the Death Rattles (which would have brought her into contact with Lirin if she was in the hospital to observe the Death Rattles herself). Hessi’s Mythica appears to be very certain about and familiar with the Death Rattles:

Quote

Many cultures speak of the so-called Death Rattles that sometimes overtake people as they die. Tradition ascribes them to the almighty, but I find too many of them to be seemingly prophetic. This will be my most contentious assertion I am sure but I think these are the effects of Moelach persisting in our current times. Proof is easy to provide: the effect is regionalized, and tends to move across Roshar, this is the roving of the Unmade.

- page 170 of Hessi’s Mythica.

Throughout Kaladin’s flashbacks we get a sense of Hesina’s intellectual nature. We know that she can read and write unlike other women in Hearthstone. Then there is the way she offhandedly corrects Kaladin’s use of words, and her use of wit and logic, for example:

Quote

“Why can’t I speak like everyone else?” 
“Because it isn’t proper.” 
“It’s proper enough for Nanha Terith.” 
“And what do you think of her?” 
Kal hesitated. “She’s ignorant. And she likes to gossip about things she doesn’t know anything about.” 
“Well, then. If you wish to emulate her, I can obviously find no objection to the practice.” 
Kal grimaced. You had to watch yourself when speaking with Hesina; she liked to twist words about.

- The Way of Kings, chapter 25.

When Kaladin is upset about the townspeople gossiping about his father, Hesina tells him:

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“They don’t hate him,” she said. However his calmly asked question got her to continue. “But he does make them uncomfortable.” 
“Why?” 
“Because some people are frightened of knowledge. Your father is a learned man; he knows things the others can’t understand. So those things must be dark and mysterious.”

- The Way of Kings, chapter 25.

The way she explains things to Kaladin in such a wise and level way reminds me of Jasnah, or rather it reminds me of a scholar. However this quote I think is even more significant. We know that Hessi’s Mythica was poorly received due its controversial arguments about the Unmade. So when Hesina says that people are “frightened of knowledge” and that things they don’t understand must be dark and mysterious, I think she is drawing on her own experience here too. 

Perhaps what stands out to me most of all is that the focus of one of the few interactions we see between Hesina and Kaladin is her knowledge of spren.

Quote

“Spren live in everything,” Hesina replied. 
“They can’t live in everything,” Kal said...
“They do,” Hesina said. “Spren appear when something changes—when fear appears, or when it begins to rain. They are the heart of change, and therefore the heart of all things.” 
“This longroot,” Kal said holding it up skeptically. 
“Has a spren.” 
“And if you slice it up?” 
“Each bit has a spren. Only smaller.” 
“So we eat spren,” Kal said flatly. 
“No,” she said, “we eat the roots.” 
“And the spren?” Kal pressed. 
“They are freed. To return to wherever it is that spren live.”

- The Way of Kings, chapter 37.

It does not seem to be a superstitious kind of knowledge, nor does it seem to be common knowledge. To me it comes across as a scholarly knowledge, and something Hesina is very confident about. If we turn to Hessi’s Mythica, Hessi too seems to have a deep knowledge of spren. Mythica makes a point of identifying the Unmade as types of spren. 

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My research into the Unmade has convinced me that these things were not simply "spirits of the void" or "nine shadows who moved in the night." They were each a specific kind of spren, endowed with vast powers.

- page 3 of Hessi's Mythica.

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I should point out that although many personalities and motives are ascribed to them, I'm convinced the Unmade were still spren. As such, they were as much manifestations of concepts or divine forces as they were individuals.

- page 7 of Hessi's Mythica.

The fact that Hessi makes reference to Jasnah shows that Hessi was writing in this current period, so Hesina is around the right age that Hessi would likely be. But it also means that in order for Hesina to actually be Hessi, she would have had to have published it while living in Hearthstone, not 19 years ago in Kharbranth when Jasnah would have been only about 15 years old. This isn't too big of an issue for me though. Hesina could have amassed her research and evidence and then finished writing it later on in Hearthstone, perhaps continuing her research in other ways that Kaladin wouldn't have been aware of as a child. 

These are my main thoughts, although I admit it is a bit of a crackpot theory!

Quote

Edited July 3, 2020 by Kahlani
couldn't add my last point after the quote on my phone for some reason so I had to post and log onto my computer to fix it

[Karger]

I do not think Hessina could have amassed that many books while at Harthstone.  Her location is too remote and books are too expensive(this is pre printing presses).

Edited July 2, 2020 by Karger

[ConfusedCow]

I like this theory it has relatively little evidence but it would fit nicely.  Maybe a 4 out of 10 on the chance that it's true.  Assuming you're right, what would be the next parts though? Why did Hesina leave her research and settle for a life of relative obscurity?  

[Honorless]

I don't think they're the same people.

I would love for Jasnah to recruit Hessi, after all her data has proved itself to be pretty accurate, and apologize to her for doubting her work.

[Karger]

1 minute ago, R J said:

I would love for Jasnah to recruit Hessi, after all her data has proved itself to be pretty accurate, and apologize to her for doubting her work.

Jasnah did not (as far as we know) doubt Hessi's work.  She doubted a specific quote that Hessi references historical accuracy.

[Honorless]

1 hour ago, Karger said:

Jasnah did not (as far as we know) doubt Hessi's work.  She doubted a specific quote that Hessi references historical accuracy.

I read that as Jasnah doubting Hessi's hypotheses regarding the Unmades' nature 

Edited July 2, 2020 by R J
word repetition

[Use the Falchion]

Cool theory! I really like it!

[Karger]

21 minutes ago, R J said:

I read that as Jasnah doubting doubting Hessi's hypotheses regarding the Unmades' nature 

Quote

"Taxil mentions Yelig-nar, named Blightwind, in an oft-cited quote. Though Jasnah Kholin has famously called its accuracy into question, I believe it."

 

[Honorless]

54 minutes ago, Karger said:

Quote

"Taxil mentions Yelig-nar, named Blightwind, in an oft-cited quote. Though Jasnah Kholin has famously called its accuracy into question, I believe it."

 

Yeah, as I said, I read that as her doubting the Unmade's nature. Plus, Shallan's thoughts on the book in OB.

[CosmicSieve]

I think Hesina and Hessi are relatives from the same learned family (maybe one was named after the other). Hesina does sound intelligent and well educated. However, her resources are too limited in Hearthstone to do any research or publish any writing. She couldn't even get a message out to her sons when they were in the army.

[18th Shard]

On 7/1/2020 at 9:39 PM, R J said:

Yeah, as I said, I read that as her doubting the Unmade's nature. Plus, Shallan's thoughts on the book in OB.

The quote means that Jasnah doubts Taxil's mention of Yelign-nar, while Hessi supports Taxil's statement. 

[RShara]

On 7/1/2020 at 3:49 PM, Kahlani said:

we know that Lirin was training to be a surgeon in Kharbranth

Actually Liring trained with a surgeon who had trained in Kharbranth. Lirin himself did not train in Kharbranth.

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Kal felt a spike of excitement. Kharbranth? That was in an entirely different kingdom! Kal’s father had traveled there as a courier, but he hadn’t trained there as a surgeon. He’d learned from old Vathe in Shorse broon, the nearest town of any size.

 

[+En-priestess]

4 hours ago, RShara said:

Actually Liring trained with a surgeon who had trained in Kharbranth. Lirin himself did not train in Kharbranth.

 

Oh I didn't remember this! But I still think they could have met in Kharbranth

[GriffinMaze]

I think the answer is "probably not" but it is a fun theory

[thejopen27]

On 7/1/2020 at 8:11 PM, Karger said:

I do not think Hessina could have amassed that many books while at Harthstone.  Her location is too remote and books are too expensive(this is pre printing presses).

 

On 7/3/2020 at 4:48 PM, CosmicSieve said:

I think Hesina and Hessi are relatives from the same learned family (maybe one was named after the other). Hesina does sound intelligent and well educated. However, her resources are too limited in Hearthstone to do any research or publish any writing. She couldn't even get a message out to her sons when they were in the army.

She obviously didn't write it in Hearthstone, but Kaladin is only 20 and Hesina is likely in her mid-40s. She could have been a prodigy and she wrote a book she was really proud of at a young age (Shallan is only 18). She publishes her book, it's widely scorned and viewed as heretical, she is not accepted with the other scholars because she's darkeyed, and she falls in love with an intense young, darkeyed surgeon. In love, not accepted in town, and disappointed by the reception to a book she was really proud of she abandons scholarship and leaves with the surgeon to his small hometown...

It could happen. I've wondered the same thing.

 

EDIT: Someone pointed out that Hessi references scholarship done by Jasnah in the book, so Hesina could only have done it from Hearthstone, or the family didn't move to hearthstone until after Kaladin was born.

Edited July 9, 2020 by thejopen27

[Honorless]

On 7/4/2020 at 2:25 AM, 18th Shard said:

The quote means that Jasnah doubts Taxil's mention of Yelign-nar, while Hessi supports Taxil's statement. 

I imagined it happening at a symposium for some reason

[thejopen27]

I'm very curious to see if/when Hesina makes it to Urithiru which of the major Lighteyes recognize her.

[GriffinMaze]

1 hour ago, thejopen27 said:

 

She obviously didn't write it in Hearthstone, but Kaladin is only 20 and Hesina is likely in her mid-40s. She could have been a prodigy and she wrote a book she was really proud of at a young age (Shallan is only 18). She publishes her book, it's widely scorned and viewed as heretical, she is not accepted with the other scholars because she's darkeyed, and she falls in love with an intense young, darkeyed surgeon. In love, not accepted in town, and disappointed by the reception to a book she was really proud of she abandons scholarship and leaves with the surgeon to his small hometown...

It could happen. I've wondered the same thing.

Nah. In Mythica she references Jasnah's personal opinions about various topics Jasnah is younger than Hessina, so if Hessina was a 20 year old prodigy, Jasnah was an 1-15 year old prodigy that also was already studying the unmade? 

So no Hessina writing Mythica in her early 20s is not possible 

[thejopen27]

18 minutes ago, GriffinMaze said:

Nah. In Mythica she references Jasnah's personal opinions about various topics Jasnah is younger than Hessina, so if Hessina was a 20 year old prodigy, Jasnah was an 1-15 year old prodigy that also was already studying the unmade? 

So no Hessina writing Mythica in her early 20s is not possible 

dang, you got me there...