the Ten Deaths

[cometaryorbit]

Way back in WOK in one of Dalinar's visions there's a mention of the Midnight Essence as one of "the Ten Deaths". What could that mean?

I used to think it implied ten kinds of monsters each linked to one of the Ten Essences, but we're well into the True Desolation now and haven't seen any sign of that.

Also, Midnight Essence seems to come from Re-Shephir, the Midnight Mother, and there aren't ten Unmade to each supply one "Death".

[Lament on the Wind she/her]

So far we have 10 Orders,10 Heralds,10 days,10 Oathgates Ten Essences  and Ten Deaths...Maybe they could all be linked somehow?

[+Harrycrapper]

15 minutes ago, WindjoggerTriggerhappy said:

So far we have 10 Orders,10 Heralds,10 days,10 Oathgates Ten Essences  and Ten Deaths...Maybe they could all be linked somehow?

Don't forget about the 10 pancakes as well.

[The Bookwyrm he/him]

I think it's safe to assume that each of the ten whatevers has some kind of connection. Each Order of Knights Radiant has a Herald patron, and the oaths of each order somewhat correspond to the personalities and values of that Herald. Maybe each of the Ten Fools is like...the opposite of what the Herald stands for, or something. What someone looks like if they aren't doing what the Herald represents.

The Ten Essences correspond with the Heralds and the Orders, as do the Polestones, as shown in the chart at the back of the Ars Arcanum. The Ten Surges fit a little bit less well into the connection, considering how each order has two and shares one with each of its neighbors...

I'm pretty sure the Ten Deaths probably also fit into this. Something that opposes each of the Essences, Radiants, or Heralds, maybe? With the Midnight Essence being the opposite of the Lightweavers?

I'm not sure, this is just something that I always thought. Maybe the Ten Pancakes fit the pattern, as well.

Edited June 29, 2022 by The Bookwyrm

[Lego Mistborn he/him]

They are linked, simply by virtue of being the number that appears frequently on Roshar as a unconscious byproduct of the specific shardic interference, like on Scadrial,

Spoiler

16, because preservation

 

[Treamayne]

3 hours ago, cometaryorbit said:

Way back in WOK in one of Dalinar's visions there's a mention of the Midnight Essence as one of "the Ten Deaths". What could that mean?

I used to think it implied ten kinds of monsters each linked to one of the Ten Essences, but we're well into the True Desolation now and haven't seen any sign of that.

Also, Midnight Essence seems to come from Re-Shephir, the Midnight Mother, and there aren't ten Unmade to each supply one "Death".

The Coppermind has what little is known about the reference.

Quote

Fighting, even this fighting against the Ten Deaths, changes a person. ”

—A Stoneward in the Starfalls vision, the only known reference to the Ten Deaths^[1]

Quote

Pagerunner

The Starfall vision. Ten Deaths, referring to the Midnight Essence. That's what the one Radiant said, they're the Ten Deaths. Is that the Unmade, the Ten Deaths.

Brandon Sanderson

Well, there's nine Unmade, so...

My guess is it can invlove the unmade, but is not exclusive to them. The comment about the Deaths occurring outside of a Desolation is important, I think, but it could also be much more esoteric than a "monster" - such as the Thrill driving men to kill one another or (which is tied to Nergaoul similar to how the Midnight Essence is tied to Re-Shephir).

[S. Stormy she/her]

4 hours ago, WindjoggerTriggerhappy said:

So far we have 10 Orders,10 Heralds,10 days,10 Oathgates Ten Essences  and Ten Deaths...Maybe they could all be linked somehow?

And the Ten Fools!

[Quantus he/him]

The way I see it, it's most likely a cultural perversion of old references to the UnMade, rather than some secret lore hidden in plain sight.  Rosharan pop culture is not particularly accurate in any other instance, so it seems likely that their lore about the UnMade simply got thematically revised to fit their overriding theme of Ten in everything (even if Braize/Odium's rosharan representation is actually Nine).

[cometaryorbit]

Possible, but I would have thought the old Radiants would have a more accurate idea than current Rosharan culture ~2000 years post Recreance. The spren, before the mass death of the Recreance, should have remembered the past clearly so the Radiants shouldn't have lost knowledge.