Wax as a Skybreaker

[Elias]

I'm putting this here 'cause the other thread I found about it was closed to new comments.

I reread Rhythm of War recently, and I was reading on the Coppermind about Nale, and there's a section of his abilities titled "Lawman". As I've always been interested seeing what Radiant order other cosmere characters would belong to if they could (Wayne being an odd Edgedancer, Rashek being an okay but not great Skybreaker, Spensa likely being a Dustbringer, etc.), I started thinking about Wax.

Wax's chosen calling is to uphold the law, especially in the Roughs, where he tells Granite Joe "You might not need Elendel's laws, but that doesn't mean you don't need any laws at all." Later on in Shadows of Self, he breaks up a protest blocking Tindwyl Promenade, and when one of the beleaguered constables expresses empathy with the strikers, Wax says, "Whatever their grievances, it doesn't give them the right to block an important thoroughfare."

The more I read, the more certain I become that Wax is most definitely a Skybreaker. The final thing that pushed it over the top is when he's contemplating the differences between lawkeeping in the Roughs and lawkeeping in Elendel, and he thinks to himself, "Out in the Roughs he hadn't just enforced the law; he'd interpreted it, revised it when needed. He had been the law." That more than anything struck me once I thought about the oaths of the Skybreakers. The Fifth Ideal of the Skybreakers is to become the law.

Now that I think about it, It seems that Wax's Second Ideal would've been the standard "I swear to seek justice", his Third Ideal might've been reached when he decided to begin his career as a lawman with "I swear to bring to justice those that break the law", his Fourth Ideal might be "I swear to hunt down my uncle Edwarn and thwart his plot to take over the Basin", and finally reach the Fifth Ideal, where he becomes the law, which he seems to have achieved out in the Roughs but not in Elendel.

In the other thread about this, there were people saying that Wax is too willing to bend the rules to qualify as a Skybreakers, and to that I say, Nale and his Skybreakers in modern times are not the be all and end all of Skybreakers. The Skybreakers in modern times follow the law unquestioningly, but that's largely a result of Nale having his empathy tortured out of him on Braize, and not being sure of his own morality, so he seeks morality in the legal codes of others. But we're given a glimpse in RoW of a time when Nale says, "The law cannot be moral, but you can be moral as you create the law." This seems to align much more with Wax's philosophy, and Nale's insistence on Skybreakers following an external code might be why no Skybreaker has achieved the Fifth Ideal in centuries, as the Fifth Ideal seems to about recognizing the mistakes the law can make and being willing to change it to uphold justice.

Wax seeks to do good in the world by enforcing the law, but he's willing to change the law or bend the rules when the rules are unjust, and remember that Nale, and also the Skybreakers, in the old days was associated with the attributes just and confident, and Szeth, when he swears the Second Ideal, swears to seek justice, not follow the law. Windrunners, meanwhile, are associated with the attributes protecting and leading, which don't fit Wax quite as well as the attributes of the Skybreakers. And if you think about it, Wax is feared and held in awe by most people, similar to how Nale is by Ulim, Venli, Lift, and so many others on Roshar, but Wax isn't looked up to as a protector and inspiration in the same way Kaladin is. Wax isn't a person who inspires you to follow him, but is very much a person who will hunt you down if you break the law.

While I do think Windrunners and Skybreakers are very similar in motivation and both good fits for Wax, I think the main difference is that Skybreakers seek to do good within the law, while the Windrunners aren't as concerned with the law and would prefer to do what they think is right. As such, given that Wax tries to better the world by upholding the law and bringing justice to those that break it, I think he is most solidly a Skybreaker, likely one able to achieve the Fifth Ideal.

[Fezzik]

1 minute ago, Elias said:

Spensa likely being a Dustbringer,

 

1 minute ago, Elias said:

As I've always been interested seeing what Radiant order other cosmere characters would belong to

Spensa is not cosmere, no version of earth is part of the cosmere.

[Elias]

13 minutes ago, Fezzik said:

 

Spensa is not cosmere, no version of earth is part of the cosmere.

I'm aware, but I just saw that on Spensa's page on the Coppermind under Trivia and felt I should probably include it so I don't look like I'm just doing Mistborn characters.

[CatgirlTheCrazy]

I agree. The official Knight Radiant quiz specifically says that the Skybreakers weren't always so rigid as they are currently, and I've often thought that Wax is probably our best model for what they used to be like. Sam Vimes, from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, is another example of what I think Skybreakers can be a their best.

[+Harrycrapper]

On 5/1/2021 at 10:17 AM, Fezzik said:

 

Spensa is not cosmere, no version of earth is part of the cosmere.

I think this post and other like it where people try to fit characters from other Cosmere worlds aren't actually proposing this happen in a book. It's just speculation about how a character would fit into the various Knights Radiant orders, like people speculating which Hogwarts house people would fit into. Obviously Spensa has no way of becoming a Dustbringer, but her personality fits the order.