Nightblood's Memory of Shashara

[Duxredux]

I read this WoB and got thinking:

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

Lightsong Sees the Painting of the Red Battle

This is our first major clue (though a subtle one at the same time) that there might be something to the religion of the Iridescent Tones. Lightsong does see something in this painting that an ordinary person wouldn't be able to. A well-crafted piece of art, made by a person channeling the Tones and connected to them via Breath, can speak to a Returned. Now, in this case, it doesn't work quite like Llarimar says it does—Lightsong doesn't actually prophesy about the black sword in the way the priest thinks. In other words, Lightsong isn't prophesying that he'll see the Black Sword (Nightblood) in the day's activities.

Instead, Lightsong is seeing an image of a previous war, which is prophetic in that another Manywar is brewing—and in both cases, Nightblood will be important to the outcome of the battle.

The person Lightsong sees in the abstract painting is Shashara, Denth's sister, one of the Five Scholars and a Returned also known as Glorysinger by the Cult of the Returned. She is seen here in Lightsong's vision as she's drawing Nightblood at the battle of Twilight Falls. It's the only time the sword was drawn in battle, and Vasher was horrified by the result.

It's because of her insistence on using the sword in battle, and on giving away the secret to creating more, that Vasher and she fought. He ended up killing her with Nightblood, which they'd created together during the days they were in love—he married her a short time before their falling out. That marriage ended with him slaying his own wife to keep her from creating more abominations like Nightblood and loosing them upon the world.

Nightblood is part of a much larger story in this world. He's dropped casually into this particular book, more as a side note than a real focus of what's going on, but his own role in the world is much, much larger than his supporting part here would indicate.

Warbreaker Annotations (Nov. 16, 2010)

Why does Nightblood not remember killing Shashara? I have three guesses:

1. Nightblood was possibly drawn at the time, and he doesn't seem to remember well when he is drawn. He may have just blanked it.
2. Nightblood ate Shashara's soul and she has never left him (a lot creepier than most cases of this trope)
3. Nightblood's Command, given in Shashara's own native tongue, is repeated/reinforced whenever he is drawn. He hears her voice often, Commanding him to Destroy Evil. She's still talking with him, at least in a limited way.

Thoughts? All of the above?

[Treamayne]

1 minute ago, Duxredux said:

Nightblood was possibly drawn at the time, and he doesn't seem to remember well when he is drawn. He may have just blanked it.

This has always been the most likely, especially since these WoBs:

 

Spoiler

 

Brandon Sanderson

Nightblood was interesting to write in this book as he makes a very nice contrast to Vasher. Vasher doesn't want to say anything about his past; he's so tight-lipped about it that he rarely even spends any time thinking about it. Nightblood, however, dwells quite heavily on the past. Though in some ways his mind is very capable, he has the quirk of being an Awakened object. The first hours of his life—during which time he met Shashara, Denth, and Vasher—imprinted heavily on him. It's like . . . a part of his mind is hard forged in that moment with read-only memory that cannot be changed. Much of him can learn and grow, despite what Vasher says, but he cannot overwrite those initial concepts, states, and understandings that were burned into him during his birth. Shashara was alive then, so he will always think of her as alive, even if thousands of years have passed. Denth will always be pleased with him. Vasher will always be friends with the other two. Those things were some of Nightblood's first impressions.

Brandon Sanderson

Anyway, a lot of important things happen here. Note that Nightblood doesn't remember being drawn. When he was created, the Breaths gave him sentience as planned. (That was a big part of the goal in making him—to prove the existence of Type Four BioChromatic entities.) However, once he is drawn, his Command takes force and he acts much more like a regular Awakened object—but one with very strange abilities and powers. During this time, his Breath is diverted to creating the powers, and his mind goes fuzzy.

 

 

 

 

[Duxredux]

36 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

This has always been the most likely, especially since these WoBs:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Brandon Sanderson

Nightblood was interesting to write in this book as he makes a very nice contrast to Vasher. Vasher doesn't want to say anything about his past; he's so tight-lipped about it that he rarely even spends any time thinking about it. Nightblood, however, dwells quite heavily on the past. Though in some ways his mind is very capable, he has the quirk of being an Awakened object. The first hours of his life—during which time he met Shashara, Denth, and Vasher—imprinted heavily on him. It's like . . . a part of his mind is hard forged in that moment with read-only memory that cannot be changed. Much of him can learn and grow, despite what Vasher says, but he cannot overwrite those initial concepts, states, and understandings that were burned into him during his birth. Shashara was alive then, so he will always think of her as alive, even if thousands of years have passed. Denth will always be pleased with him. Vasher will always be friends with the other two. Those things were some of Nightblood's first impressions.

Brandon Sanderson

Anyway, a lot of important things happen here. Note that Nightblood doesn't remember being drawn. When he was created, the Breaths gave him sentience as planned. (That was a big part of the goal in making him—to prove the existence of Type Four BioChromatic entities.) However, once he is drawn, his Command takes force and he acts much more like a regular Awakened object—but one with very strange abilities and powers. During this time, his Breath is diverted to creating the powers, and his mind goes fuzzy.

 

 

 

 

Thanks! Has anyone considered going through and tagging those Warbreaker annotations in the WoB Coppermind? I routinely miss things like this as I usually don't have time to read every entry. Most of the time these days I end up listening to the audiobooks, and have to scramble to get other things down on paper.

[Treamayne]

12 minutes ago, Duxredux said:

Thanks! Has anyone considered going through and tagging those Warbreaker annotations in the WoB Coppermind? I routinely miss things like this as I usually don't have time to read every entry. Most of the time these days I end up listening to the audiobooks, and have to scramble to get other things down on paper.

They are all in the Arcanum (follow the link in my post); what they reference is also linked in the Coppermind, if you follow the citation numbers in relevant pages.

Example