Non-human sapient species

[+Oltux72]

Are the Gol still canon? Viglix? And frankly, why did Brandon include them at all? Do they have a major function? I could understand one species. It would continue the Cosmere pattern of oppressed natives. But two? Why?

[Honorless]

On 6/24/2021 at 3:39 AM, Oltux72 said:

Are the Gol still canon? Viglix? And frankly, why did Brandon include them at all? Do they have a major function? I could understand one species. It would continue the Cosmere pattern of oppressed natives. But two? Why?

The Gol reminded me more of Ix from Mythwalker and Human the Koloss from Mistborn than the Singers of Roshar or the Skaa of Mistborn. The Shentis as well.

Viglix was the Shenti dude's name? I actually thought he was Hoid

The two did serve a narrative purpose in the book, showing the escalating conflict between the Fell Twins, Slaughter and Despair. An attempt at creating an army of non human creatures, foiled and an attempt at a plague, also foiled.

[+Oltux72]

3 hours ago, Honorless said:

The Gol reminded me more of Ix from Mythwalker and Human the Koloss from Mistborn than the Singers of Roshar or the Skaa of Mistborn. The Shentis as well.

The Shentis play a role in te story.

3 hours ago, Honorless said:

Viglix was the Shenti dude's name? I actually thought he was Hoid

Nope, a gratitious alien species, name-dropped and never mentioned again.

3 hours ago, Honorless said:

The two did serve a narrative purpose in the book, showing the escalating conflict between the Fell Twins, Slaughter and Despair. An attempt at creating an army of non human creatures, foiled and an attempt at a plague, also foiled.

Could you explain?

[Honorless]

Aether of Night was meant to have a sequel, we might've gotten to see the other race there, and more of the ones we already saw.

I just meant that the Gol and Shenti did have a role in the story, to showcase the conflict between the Fell Twins.

Also now that I think about it, I think the empire itself and its tributary states were meant to show systemic oppression, not the magically created races.

[Weltall]

Yeah, I opined in one of the older topics that the Gol and especially the Viglix were likely mentioned to establish their existence (particularly the latter who have no onscreen appearance or further mention) so that Brandon could use them in future books that never got written. We also get mention of human cultures who play no direct role in the story and might have been set up for later, particularly the Seaborn; About the only things we know of them are that they live on islands south of Mahallen, have dark skin and apparently make nice rugs. There is a mention that they commonly raid the southern shores of Mahallen in the spring, which sounds like a setup especially since the Imperium is being run out of there at the end of the book. The Harrmen are similarly a background element (though the impact their raiding has on Kavir makes them an important one) and would probably have been explored more in the obviously set up sequel had it ever been written.

On 6/25/2021 at 2:24 PM, Oltux72 said:

Could you explain?

When the Former is giving everyone a history lesson, he mentions how his sons tried to create weapons to fight each other and each time, the one twisted the other's creation in some way to neutralize the danger it posed. The Gol were created by Makkal to be super-soldiers, then Agaris twisted them by giving them the minds they had originally lacked and a love of beauty, ruining their effectiveness as soldiers. Later Agaris created a virus that sterilized anyone infected (with no other effects or outward signs) and Makkal twisted it to also cause visible discoloration of the skin which made it obvious who was infected. The descendants of those people became the Shentis. Well, not literally descendants but you know what I mean.

The Viglix aren't mentioned here so it's possible they existed before Makkal and Agaris started competing for control of Vaeria, or they might have been another of one brother's creations and the Former simply didn't think he needed to list all of them. They were kind of pressed for time after all.

Edited June 28, 2021 by Weltall