El’s ketek - death rattle?

[+En-priestess]

So there’s a Death Rattle in the form of a ketek from the Way of Kings that’s meaning is still unknown:

Quote

Above silence, the illuminating storms—dying storms—illuminate the silence above.

—Collected on Tanatanev 1173 by the Silent Gatherers. Subject was an illiterate Herdazian.

But after reading El’s ketek at the end of RoW, I think this Death Rattle could be a ketek that will be written by El, perhaps about the battle of champions/its aftermath... The word “silence” is important in the ketek and El was previously Vyre “he who quiets”.

See El’s ketek here:

Quote

Burdens, Our Calling. Songs of Home, a knowledge:
Knowing a Home of Songs, called our burden.

 

—Ketek written by El, Fused scholar of human art forms, to commemorate the restoration of the Sibling.

I think the Death Rattle fits the unique style we see in El’s ketek, with the emphasis being placed on the final line “illuminate the silence above”, but I’m not a literature expert so let me know if you would agree!
 

This is what is said of El’s ketek from Row:

Quote

Poem is curious in its intentional weighting of the last line, where Alethi poets traditionally weight the center word and build the poem around it. Singers, it can be seen, have a different interpretation of the art form.

So if this is a future El ketek, what does it mean? What could it perhaps tell us about the upcoming battle of champions? 

Edited May 21, 2021 by Kahlani
Title change

[Bejarden]

1 hour ago, Kahlani said:

So if this is a future El ketek, what does it mean? What could it perhaps tell us about the upcoming battle of champions? 

Who said it was from the future?

It’s written on the first of the ten days isn’t it?

[+En-priestess]

15 minutes ago, Bejardin1250 said:

Who said it was from the future?

It’s written on the first of the ten days isn’t it?

I’m theorising that the Death Rattle ketek will be a future El ketek, like the one he wrote at the end of RoW...

[Honorless]

It could be, I feel like the weight's at the last line in that ketek.

Another Death Rattle potentially bringing dark tidings for the Stormfather

[TheCruelSadist]

Ehh, I think it's weighted in the middle.  Look at it:   -dying storms-  literally stands out in the line

Doesn't mean he couldn't practice with the Alethi style in the future, though.

Edit: forgot to mention, Vyre's link to the ketek is interesting.  The horrifying things is that the ketek refers to silence all around, which would imply that They Who Quiet are quite successful in their future endeavors...

Edited May 30, 2021 by CruelSadist
whoopsie

[+En-priestess]

5 hours ago, CruelSadist said:

Ehh, I think it's weighted in the middle.  Look at it:   -dying storms-  literally stands out in the line

Yeah I totally get that. You’re probably right. I guess I was thinking of it differently. In the ketek we know was written by El, I think you could also place the weight in the middle with “a knowledge” if we think of weighting like that (but I could be totally wrong so tell me what you think). I was thinking perhaps weighting could instead mean the concept that is being conveyed, which comes from the part of the ketek that makes the most complete sense, and is then built as a ketek around it. In the case of the Death Rattle ketek I thought perhaps the concept is the silence above the storm. Kinda like the ending of El’s ketek is what makes the most complete sense in my opinion, “Knowing a Home of Songs, called our burden.”

[TheCruelSadist]

7 hours ago, Kahlani said:

Yeah I totally get that. You’re probably right. I guess I was thinking of it differently. In the ketek we know was written by El, I think you could also place the weight in the middle with “a knowledge” if we think of weighting like that (but I could be totally wrong so tell me what you think). I was thinking perhaps weighting could instead mean the concept that is being conveyed, which comes from the part of the ketek that makes the most complete sense, and is then built as a ketek around it. In the case of the Death Rattle ketek I thought perhaps the concept is the silence above the storm. Kinda like the ending of El’s ketek is what makes the most complete sense in my opinion, “Knowing a Home of Songs, called our burden.”

You made me convince myself you're right  "Called our burden" reminds me of a line from season 2 of Fargo where a character refers to duty by saying "we call it our burden, but really it's our privilege."  That season is heavily built around the philosophy of Albert Camus, and when you know the philosophy behind both, it's hard not to see parallels between the show and Stormlight: both are making a strong argument that, yes, life is absurdity - Bad Things happen and there's nothing you can do but keep moving forward - but if pain is unavoidable then every act of good, no matter how small, is an improvement.  As this is clearly a "Radiant opinion" on Roshar, it's safe to assume that the Fused would disagree: they see it as a burden, that they *have to* fight to protect their culture.  I wonder if El even cares about the songs - he seems to, calling them "a knowledge," but he also looks forward to leading humans Odium's War, so he's not just wearily fighting to end the war on Roshar [Chorus: WHAT DID RAYSE TELL HIM?!?].  If he's not doing this for the preservation of Singer culture, then the songs are nothing but a burden keeping the entrenched Fused from focusing on the humans' value as soldiers. 

Once I managed to scrape together that bit of insight, I realized something: to play Devil's Advocate (and try to convince myself), what if it's *supposed* to work either way?  I wouldn't put it past Brandon to realize that the "dying storms" and "the silence" could both be seen as the thematic axis, then craft Fused ketek structure so it works differently with the Death Rattle ketek than the Alethi style.

All that said, I think that El learns the Alethi style while studying their culture, and the death rattle ketek is the future result of an artist putting two styles together.  You inspired another section of my eventual "Philosophy of Stormlight" uber-post, though, so thank you very much.

[+En-priestess]

4 hours ago, CruelSadist said:

You made me convince myself you're right  "Called our burden" reminds me of a line from season 2 of Fargo where a character refers to duty by saying "we call it our burden, but really it's our privilege."  That season is heavily built around the philosophy of Albert Camus, and when you know the philosophy behind both, it's hard not to see parallels between the show and Stormlight: both are making a strong argument that, yes, life is absurdity - Bad Things happen and there's nothing you can do but keep moving forward - but if pain is unavoidable then every act of good, no matter how small, is an improvement.  As this is clearly a "Radiant opinion" on Roshar, it's safe to assume that the Fused would disagree: they see it as a burden, that they *have to* fight to protect their culture.  I wonder if El even cares about the songs - he seems to, calling them "a knowledge," but he also looks forward to leading humans Odium's War, so he's not just wearily fighting to end the war on Roshar [Chorus: WHAT DID RAYSE TELL HIM?!?].  If he's not doing this for the preservation of Singer culture, then the songs are nothing but a burden keeping the entrenched Fused from focusing on the humans' value as soldiers. 

Once I managed to scrape together that bit of insight, I realized something: to play Devil's Advocate (and try to convince myself), what if it's *supposed* to work either way?  I wouldn't put it past Brandon to realize that the "dying storms" and "the silence" could both be seen as the thematic axis, then craft Fused ketek structure so it works differently with the Death Rattle ketek than the Alethi style.

All that said, I think that El learns the Alethi style while studying their culture, and the death rattle ketek is the future result of an artist putting two styles together.  You inspired another section of my eventual "Philosophy of Stormlight" uber-post, though, so thank you very much.

This is so cool! I hope this is true and that we get to see some El scholarship in the next book! Either way, this is definitely my head canon now