The Ten Fools - a Whimsical theory

[Nightslug]

Hi all! 

Thought I would run this one by you, 

What if the Ten Fools (three of which we have names for) are real, and what if they are creations of Whimsy? 

Although we really know nothing at all about the Shard Whimsy, I feel that this is right up their alley- 

Honor creates his ten Heralds, and Whimsy sees their opportunity to parody these solemn and epically heroic individuals. Whimsy creates their own ten highly invested cognitive shadows, each of whom bears a comedic flaw in contrast to the mighty attributes of the Heralds. 

I am in love with the idea of these ten immortal, super invested, interstellar jesters. Spreading Whimsy, but not being all that helpful to the grand scheme of things. 

My ambition is to someday put this theory to Brandon to get his views on whether this has any merit. In the meantime, I really wanted to share it with you all!

Thanks gang, stay silly  

 

[Quantus he/him]

OK, I entirely think the Fools are a cultural construct born out of the Heralds going crazy while wandering Roshar, interacting with people and leaving them disappointed when compared to their mythic persona's.

But I like your version way better!

[Primeival Chaos he/him]

I always thought that it was Hoid just messing with people in 10 different disguises.

[Olmund]

In a more realistic setting, "the ten fools" would just be a saying invented by the populace as an extension of religious symbolism -- that later took on a life of its own as storytellers named and described each of the ten fools.

However, this is Brandon we're talking about, and it's hard to find a repeated string of words that doesn't have some extra significance. My bet is that one of the Heralds (Jezrien, perhaps) coined the expression when talking about heraldic madness, and it caught on.

That said, the TC's theory would be interesting -- the only issue I have with it is that there's little or no indication that Whimsy is interested enough in goings-on in Roshar to parody the heralds.

[The Bookwyrm he/him]

On 3/31/2022 at 9:11 AM, Primeval Chaos said:

I always thought that it was Hoid just messing with people in 10 different disguises.

Maybe Hoid just doesn't like the Heralds, so he pretended to be them doing dumb things, and poof! The Ten Fools now exist as part of Vorin Culture.

On the Whimsy theory, I do like it. However, it seems a little implausible that Whimsy would get involved in a multi-shardic conflict just to make a joke. But who knows! This is Whimsy, after all. They can do whatever they want, acting on every little Whim.

...I do like the idea of insane cognitive shadows wandering around the Cosmere causing chaos, though...

[Quantus he/him]

On 4/26/2022 at 4:48 PM, Olmund said:

In a more realistic setting, "the ten fools" would just be a saying invented by the populace as an extension of religious symbolism -- that later took on a life of its own as storytellers named and described each of the ten fools.

However, this is Brandon we're talking about, and it's hard to find a repeated string of words that doesn't have some extra significance. My bet is that one of the Heralds (Jezrien, perhaps) coined the expression when talking about heraldic madness, and it caught on.

That said, the TC's theory would be interesting -- the only issue I have with it is that there's little or no indication that Whimsy is interested enough in goings-on in Roshar to parody the heralds.

Im not sure his madness left that much coherence.  Ash certainly seems to have enough of the guilt and self-hate going on (see her destruction of her own images), and Nale has both acknowledged his own degradation and (very dryly) joked about Jezrien's madness so he might be self-aware enough for that sentiment.  

[Kvothe the Bloodless he/him]

I've always thought of the Ten Fools as stories or parables told by the Vorin Church to warn of their versions of the seven deadly sins, so to speak. 

I doubt the Ten Fools are some sort of incarnation of Whimsy, mainly because a.) we don't know enough about Whimsy and b.) I don't think that Whimsy wants anything to do with Roshar.

I also want to point out how ironic it would be if the Ten Fools were actually Heralds, then it means that the Vorin Church basically told stories of how the people they worshipped did stupid stuff.

[Halyo_Alex he/him]

6 hours ago, Kvothe the Bloodless said:

I also want to point out how ironic it would be if the Ten Fools were actually Heralds, then it means that the Vorin Church basically told stories of how the people they worshipped did stupid stuff.

Everyone does stupid stuff sometimes. Even immortal demigods can't be perfect.

If you try to make a lock that can't be opened, you won't make a lock.

[Storyspren]

Yeah I think the Heralds were the ten fools for agreeing to be tortured forever. And they each had their own foolish reasons for agreeing.

[Kvothe the Bloodless he/him]

On 4/28/2022 at 0:21 AM, Halyo_Alex said:

Everyone does stupid stuff sometimes. Even immortal demigods can't be perfect.

I'm not saying that the Heralds should have been perfect, we know that they aren't, and that's ok. I'm saying that Vorin church holds then in such high standards, so it would be ironic if the stories they told about the ten fools were actually stories of their demigods that the believe are perfect beings.

3 hours ago, Storyspren said:

Yeah I think the Heralds were the ten fools for agreeing to be tortured forever. And they each had their own foolish reasons for agreeing.

I mean sure, looking back, the Oathpact was probably not the best idea. But we don't really know how many other options the Heralds had, and they did not have the same blessing of hindsight that we do.