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Is the Oathpact broken? And other questions


Alich

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some SPOILERS AHEAD

 

From what I understand, the True Desolation (the current one now) started because Talenelat finally broke.

1. Was it because of that event that the Everstorm could be created? And before Taln broke and returned to Roshar it could not have happened?

2. I thought every Fused killed returns to Braize until the Desolation is over, at which point the Heralds also go to Braize. But now the Fused just take another singer's body. It seems to me that for the humans to win this Desolation they need to kill all of the singers, so that there are no more host bodies for the Fused.
That doesn't make sense to me - is this Desolation somehow different to the previous ones? If the previous ones were the same as the current one, then how come there are still singers around? Wouldn't humans have killed them all to stop the Fused reincarnating and as such win the war? Or is it only during THIS Desolation that the Fused can take any (willing?) singer's body after death? Hmm I'm confused :wacko:

3. The Oathpact was somewhat weaker? weakened? because only one Herald returned to Braize the last time, is that right? Is it now completely broken? Or is everything fine? :) 

 

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1) We dont know.  There are lots of theories, and we keep getting new tidbits of the timeline.  Turns out (in RoW) that

Spoiler

the Everstorm was brewing in Shadesmar long before the Singers summoned it to the Physical Realm.

We still dont know the details of how Taln fits into these events, how/when he got back, or what the deal with his honorblade and the other shardblade he was carrying.  

2) Before the Everstorm, each fused was resurrected once per Desolation (they still/always used Singer bodies to do it), and was returned and trapped on Braize when killed.  Coming back was entirely managed and mediated by Odium in those days.  The desolation changed that, and now it's a more "natural" process that happens without Odium's intervention or control.

3)It's weakened, but not as broken as the Heralds think it is.  It's not fine, but the Heralds did not escape it as much as they thought, and the obviously active Connection between them we saw at the end of Oathbringer is a part of that. The implication/theory is that the Oathpact itself it what is keeping them alive, so at least some bit of it is still active so long as they are around.  

 

 

Quote

 

luke.spence (paraphrased)

What caused a Desolation to end? Was it just the defeat of Odium's forces? Because the Desolations start when the Heralds break under torture.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Because the Heralds can no longer be in existence. There is a certain period of time that they can be there, and after that, if they're there, they will start a new one. So the Heralds do need to leave for a Desolation to end

darkanimereal1 (paraphrased)

Oh. So they've got a time limit.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

They do. Otherwise the Desolation will start again. What they discovered is not all of them have to. As long as one remains, the Desolation will not start again.

luke.spence (paraphrased)

So, by the nine leaving, did that actually break the Oathpact for them? Did it change the cycle of Desolations?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

They have not completely broken the Oathpact, despite what they may think.

Words of Radiance Dayton signing (March 19, 2014)

 

 

Quote

 

Questioner

With the Heralds we know that there's only one left... one Herald that's still bound to the Oathpact--

Brandon Sanderson

OK, only one Herald was about, was abandoned-- You'll find out the mechanics of that in the next book.

Questioner

So are we going to see more of Taln...

Brandon Sanderson

You will see more of-- the Oathpact is not completely broken, the others are still bound to the Oathpact.

Questioner

Even though they kind of sort of said they were abandoning it?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, so there's still connection there, so you'll find out more about all of this and how it works.

Salt Lake City ComicCon 2017 (Sept. 23, 2017)

 

 

      

 

Quote

 

Questioner

Are all of the Heralds still alive?

Brandon Sanderson

The Oathpact has not been broken, so yes.

Calamity release party (Feb. 16, 2016)

 

 
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Thanks!

 

Looking at the Q&A, it seems that when 9 of the Heralds decided not to go back to Braize (only Taln went as he'd died), that kept the Connection somewhat open, which may explain why the Voidspren Ulim managed to escape Braize for Roshar?

 

Sorry I need to ask about point 2. Are you saying that when Odium managed the Fused returns it was only possible for them to return once per Desolation, but now - as you say, during a more 'natural' process - they can return (be reincarnated) as many times as they want, because Odium is not personally dealing with the process...?
Do we know what exactly, the ins and outs, it is that allows the Fused to come back as many times as they want this time around? It seems like a powerful ability, which was hampered before by Odium... The Fused are the most powerful soldiers of Odium, so why would he have stopped them from coming back infinitely before...?

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Without getting into Rhythm of war Spoilers, it's not that he was previously "stopping" them from coming back indefinitely, he didnt have the capability before now because the Everstorm didnt exist and it's the mechanism that allows it.  Back in the day,  Odium was the gateway that returned the Fused back to Roshar, just like he was the only one that could grant Voidlight and/or Forms of Power.  Somewhere along the line the UnMade Ba-Ado-Mishram became able to Connect with the Singer and grant them Voidlight as well as those Forms of Power, sort of automating and/or delegating the process.  Similarly, it seems that the Everstorm was only recently (ie. this desolation) created to similarly Automate those processes.  Now the Fused can come through the Everstorm instead of needing direct intervention of Odium (which was, I assume, previously limited by the Oathpact).  A popular but unconfirmed theory is that what we witnessed with the Everstorm was the birth of a new UnMade, a voidspren equivalent to the Stormfather.   

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