Revisitng the Akinah reference in the Gem Archive

[+mdross81]

When I got to the part near the end of Dawnshard where Nikli is monologuing about the Sleepless efforts to keep people away from Akinah, I was reminded of the reference to Akinah we'd seen in the Oathbringer epigraphs from the Urithiru Gem Archives. This was recorded by a Willshaper in an amethyst:

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I returned to the tower to find squabbling children, instead of proud knights. That's why I hate this place. I'm going to go chart the undersea caverns of Aimia; find my maps in Akinah.

 

And now, here's what Nikli says to Rysn about maps in Akinah:

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You were supposed to also locate a little stash of maps and writings from long ago; we would have made sure you found it before leaving. ... The writings would prove to be the remnants of an old pirate scheme, from the days before this place was surrounded with a storm. You'd have learned those pirates used legends of treasure to lure people to Akinah -- that they'd spread fake gemstones on the beaches to draw their marks in and distract them before attacking.

So what do we think about the old Willshaper? Did they just hear some of the fake rumors and take the bait? If so, did they ever make it to Akinah?

Another possibility is that the Willshaper was in league with the Sleepless in spreading the rumors. Which seems possible but not likely.

Least likely -- but fun to think about -- was the Willshaper actually a horde of Sleepless disguised as a Knight Radiant? This one seems unlikely to me given Urithiru's protections, the presence of some fairly knowledgeable KR and the fact that the older Sleepless hordes are said to have been unable to realistically imitate humans.

[Mason Wheeler]

Yeah, that one writing provoked a ton of speculation on Shardcast, including the wild, crazy crackpot theory that what the Sleepless were guarding on Akinah was the mysterious Dawnshards, hidden in an undersea cavern.

This is why I'm looking forward so much to hearing the Shardcast episode on this book, because the wild theory they clearly came up just to be silly turned out to actually be true!

[CaptainRyan]

1 hour ago, mdross81 said:

Least likely -- but fun to think about -- 

did the Willshaper become a pirate?*

*fixed that for you. 

[Argent]

I was wondering if the Plate could be theirs. My understanding is that the scouring came soon after the Recreance, so presumably when they sailed off to Akinah, the Radiants and the Sleepless were still on good (?) terms. So maybe they were the first protector of the Dawnshard - the role that Cord might grow into - and upon their death, left the Plate (but no Blade? that's a little weird). 

I do think that we saw a small, small portion of the undersea caverns, and I am still looking forward to exploring them much further in the future.

[agrabes]

50 minutes ago, CaptainRyan said:

did the Willshaper become a pirate?*

*fixed that for you. 

Doesn't that also play into comments Sanderson has made?  For example, a Skybreaker could swear to the Pirate Code?

I actually don't think it's that farfetched to say the Willshaper became a pirate.  It's a life of freedom and adventure after all.

[+mdross81]

21 minutes ago, Argent said:

I was wondering if the Plate could be theirs. My understanding is that the scouring came soon after the Recreance, so presumably when they sailed off to Akinah, the Radiants and the Sleepless were still on good (?) terms. So maybe they were the first protector of the Dawnshard - the role that Cord might grow into - and upon their death, left the Plate (but no Blade? that's a little weird). 

I do think that we saw a small, small portion of the undersea caverns, and I am still looking forward to exploring them much further in the future.

This has me thinking about the old knight waiting with the grail at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Just waiting for millennia for the person who’s supposed to relieve him.

[Algafix]

23 minutes ago, Argent said:

left the Plate (but no Blade? that's a little weird)

Do we know what happens to the Plate in a natural death? Like we know that the blade/spren can bond another person.

[Leuthie]

I don't think the maps and writings were made at the same time. The Willshaper actually did map the undersea caverns and leave maps in Akinah prior to the Scouring. The maps were probably stolen and used by the pirates who made the writings. It's a much simpler explanation (Occam's Razor style) and much more likely.

[ftl]

Aren't the "pirates" a fabrication of the sleepless? That's what I took out of it. That Rysn was supposed to find another misdirection.

[Argent]

On 11/6/2020 at 5:18 PM, Algafix said:

Do we know what happens to the Plate in a natural death? Like we know that the blade/spren can bond another person.

We don't, but I've been assuming that it - like the Blade - just goes back to being... whatever it is that makes it up.

[+Oltux72]

On 6.11.2020 at 10:04 PM, mdross81 said:

Least likely -- but fun to think about -- was the Willshaper actually a horde of Sleepless disguised as a Knight Radiant? This one seems unlikely to me given Urithiru's protections, the presence of some fairly knowledgeable KR and the fact that the older Sleepless hordes are said to have been unable to realistically imitate humans.

Why disgused? Is there any reason you needed to be or pretend to be human to become a Knight Radiant?

On 7.11.2020 at 0:18 AM, Algafix said:

Do we know what happens to the Plate in a natural death? Like we know that the blade/spren can bond another person.

If that were the case Plate would be common on Roshar. The Knights Radiant had at least hundreds of members and existend for thousands of years.

Edited November 9, 2020 by Oltux72
typo

[gremlin303]

The main issue with this is is the timelines are all wrong. The Scouring happened hundreds of years after the recreance