Jump to content

Bridge Four tattoos


robardin

Recommended Posts

I wasn't sure if I should put this in the general Stormlight Archive forum or the RoW Spoiler one; since I'd like to hear people's thoughts based on what we've seen/learned in the first 9 chapters (so far) of Rhythm of War, I put it here.

At the beginning of Words of Radiance, all the freed slave members of Bridge Four - the majority of them - prepare to get a glyph tattoo of "freedom" written over their brand of slavery, to indicate their freed status. First up is Hobber, who spontaneously insists on adding the glyphs for "Bridge" and "Four" under his freedom tattoo, and this idea is immediately seized upon by everybody in Bridge Four.

Quote

"...Freedom, Bridge Four."

"To imply you were freed from Bridge Four?"

"No, sir. I wasn't freed from Bridge Four. I was freed by it. I wouldn't trade my time there for anything."

All the former slaves get the "Freedom, Bridge Four" tattoo written over their slave brand, and to Kaladin's surprise, even the non-slave members like Teft, Rock, and (after some resistance from the tattooist) Shen/Rlain the parshman get the same tattoo on their forehead as well, even though they have no slave brand to cover, and even though that's what everybody else would assume (that a forehead tattoo of FREEDOM indicated former slavery).

Except for Moash. He gets the "Freedom, Bridge Four" tattoo, but on his upper arm instead of his forehead.

And of course except for Kaladin, who got the tattoo but whose Stormlight healing rejects the tattoo because at some level, he thinks of the version of himself without the Sadeas princedom slavery and shash brands as "dead".

As of the end of Oathbringer, nearly all the members of Bridge Four who got that tattoo (other than Dabbid and Rlain) can draw Stormlight as being at least squires (Moash by virtue of Jezrien's Honorblade).

One presumes they didn't lose their Bridge Four tattoos from drawing in Stormlight...

...Except for Moash? Does he still view himself as having the right to bear "Freedom, Bridge Four" on his arm?

Kaladin recalls with fury that Moash had given him the Bridge Four salute after killing Elhokar, "as if he in any way deserved to claim that privilege". And there was that filmy version of Windrunner Moash that came out of him "like an afterimage" when Renarin brought the Light into the burning room with them...

Is it just what I'd like to picture, or did that afterimage come out of his upper arm?

And I wonder, do the newer members of Bridge Four get the tattoo, like Lyn or Laran, or is that a special mark of the Original Crew who ever actually carried the physical bridge as opposed to being a member of it as a Windrunner division? Does it also say FREEDOM or just the "Bridge Four" part?

Edited by robardin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know, I was actually just thinking about if Moash still has his tatoo the other day as well. I don't think the new people will be getting the tattoo - they aren't joining bridge four, they're joining the Windrunners.

Edited by Gderu
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/9/2020 at 4:35 PM, Gderu said:

You know, I was actually just thinking about if Moash still has his tatoo the other day as well. I don't think the new people will be getting the tattoo - they aren't joining bridge four, they're joining the Windrunners.

Well they are adding Windrunners to Bridge Four, like Lyn or for that matter Renarin. They don't have the tattoo so it's a mark of the original actual bridge-carrying group. The designation of Bridge (Crew Number) X for a Windrunner squadron appears to have stuck, though.

Does that mean Rial of Bridge Thirteen was also an original bridge carrier? Do we know? He's often suspected to be a worldhopper, which would be interesting as at the end of OB they "all went up as squires to Teft" and so are good candidates for forming a large portion of the full Windrunners we see in the early chapters of RoW.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...