Navani/Hesina family

[EmTheElsecaller]

So I was rereading all the Stormlight books and realised we knew nothing about Navani’s family - not the Kholins, I mean before she married. I searched Arcanum and found this:

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Questioner

The violet eye color in The Way of Kings. We got to know that Dunny had violet eyes and Sigzil said the color wasn't native to Alethkar. Navani also has violet eyes, Jasnah too, and Tanalan from The Rift. So, is Navani or her family line not Alethi? And is there more to this specific eye color than we know so far?

Brandon Sanderson

There's a little bit more there that I will talk about eventually. You should not look at Navani and be like, "Oh, they're not native" in that I designed the Alethi as a race of conquerors who also--like I said before, one of the inspirations for the Alethi were the Mongols and particularly how the Mongols ruled after they had their empire. They were perfectly willing to incorporate anybody. The Romans did this too, "If you want to be part of our empire, great. If you're not gonna rebel, great. We will, to an extent, respect your religions and your ways and if you're willing to integrate then we're not gonna treat you terribly."

He kind of goes off what I’m talking about, but we get the idea that Navani’s family line isn’t originally Alethi. We’re told that a character from the Rift has violet eyes so we might be able to assume that violet eyes are native to the Rift - but that’s just guesswork, as he might not have been native to the Rift.

I also found this WoB:

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Dragon13

Hesina received a letter from her family talking about new fabrials. Is she related perhaps to someone like Navani?

Brandon Sanderson

See, there's too much wiggle room in that. Yes. But. Not probably as closely as your question is implying.

So that’s implying that Hesina and Navani’s bloodlines are tied together somewhere down the line - and we know a little more about Hesina’s family. Including that one of her parents was lighteyed:

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Questioner

Are both of Kaladin's maternal... grandparents darkeyes?

Brandon Sanderson

No. Good question. I think you're the first one to pull that out of me...

There's one question, or two questions in [the signing line], that I know are driving your brains crazy, that are not as clear-cut in my answers as you might assume they are. One is about Kaladin's mother.

There was a theory floating around about how there may have been a Herald in Hesina’s (and therefore Navani’s, if everything I’ve said is legit) lineage, which fits with one of her parents being lighteyed - and since she refers to her father as ‘stubborn as a lighteyes’ not an actual lighteyes, we can assume this is her mother.

This is more of a brain-dump than a theory, so I invite you to find the holes that are inevitably there, tear it apart, come up with your own theories based off it, or completely shoot it down with a well-aimed WoB. Do with it what you wish 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Elsecalling…
editing title

[Quantus he/him]

Devils Advocate statement on this, but I think why he said "Related" can give a lot of wriggle room in that context is because it can mean a lot of things besides blood relation, which I think is why he said the relationship is not as close as the questioner might have thought.

And from this WOB, I dont think Kaladin will have a secret Herald ancestor.  That doesnt prevent her from being a member of the same disgraced/exiled/Down-on-luck noble family as Navani that the Alethi conquered. 

 

 

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AlwaysTheNextOne

Does Kaladin have a mixed heritage. Like maybe Yolish and Rosharan?

Brandon Sanderson

One thing I wanted to be very careful about in writing the Stormlight books is to stray away from people needing some kind of past or heritage to be special—it's okay for this to be for some characters, but it becomes a crutch. So your answer is no, he doesn't have much secret to his heritage. (Though his mother grew up wealthy for a darkeyes, and that's a little odd.)

Footnote: Brandon has mentioned Hesina's comparatively wealthier background several times, including mentioning that one of her parents are not darkeyed.
General Reddit 2020 (Dec. 16, 2020)

 

 

[KaladinWorldsinger]

On 8/17/2022 at 1:39 PM, Elsecalling… said:

So that’s implying that Hesina and Navani’s bloodlines are tied together somewhere down the line - and we know a little more about Hesina’s family. Including that one of her parents was lighteyed:

Not actually. The wob comes from the fact that hesina and aesudan(elhokar's wife) are the ones that are actually related. WoB confirmation

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Stormlightning

Is Kaladin related to Aesudan?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, but it's not a close relation. A very complex system of things, but yes.

Stormlightning

I was just wondering why he knew her...the melody she was humming.

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, he did. That is not because they're related.

Stormlightning

So it's something else?

Brandon Sanderson

It's something else. I thought that was a sideways question about Kaladin's mom.

Stormlightning

It kinda was, I thought maybe she hummed that and so that's why he recognized it.

Brandon Sanderson

No, good question

I have absolutely no idea where Brandon is going with this minor  plot point. It's so wierd.

[cometaryorbit]

12 hours ago, Quantus said:

Devils Advocate statement on this, but I think why he said "Related" can give a lot of wriggle room in that context is because it can mean a lot of things besides blood relation, which I think is why he said the relationship is not as close as the questioner might have thought.

Also, everybody is related if you go far enough back. Basically everybody on Earth is like 50th cousins or something.

Also "someone like Navani" could mean 'an artifabrian' not an actual relative of Navani.

[EmTheElsecaller]

@Quantus @cometaryorbit @KaladinWorldsinger

I stand corrected, thank you for pointing those things out