Frustration Posted February 20, 2023 Posted February 20, 2023 So I recently found a video about a biological researcher named Ishii. And both his name and several story elements fit Ishar with remarkable accuracy. https://youtu.be/eMq-fApmzts Am I alone in this or does this look more like an unintentional connection?
Quantus he/him Posted February 20, 2023 Posted February 20, 2023 (edited) I kinda hope not, based purely on the deathcount associated with his experimentation. Also it would imply that Biological Warfar is on the horizon for Roshar, and since the Common Cold rocked a region that could be very bad indeed. But then, Weaponized germs are very much an Ashyn thing, so perhaps it's more on theme than it first appears. Edited February 20, 2023 by Quantus
+Invocation Posted February 20, 2023 Posted February 20, 2023 3 hours ago, Quantus said: Also it would imply that Biological Warfar is on the horizon for Roshar, and since the Common Cold rocked a region that could be very bad indeed. On the horizon? Roshar's already had its first encounter with biological warfare. 1
KaladinWorldsinger Posted February 20, 2023 Posted February 20, 2023 17 hours ago, Frustration said: So I recently found a video about a biological researcher named Ishii. And both his name and several story elements fit Ishar with remarkable accuracy. https://youtu.be/eMq-fApmzts Am I alone in this or does this look more like an unintentional connection? You have to clarify, what do you think particularly may have inspired ishar? I saw the whole video, but don't see any specific similarities.
Frustration Posted February 20, 2023 Author Posted February 20, 2023 2 minutes ago, KaladinWorldsinger said: You have to clarify, what do you think particularly may have inspired ishar? I saw the whole video, but don't see any specific similarities. I'm thinking about his Spren dissection tent.
KaladinWorldsinger Posted February 20, 2023 Posted February 20, 2023 (edited) 3 minutes ago, Frustration said: I'm thinking about his Spren dissection tent. eh, dissection is a very common trope for mad evil scientists in fiction. Ishar isn't a bio warfare-related even in a magical version. He is more like magical Oppenheimer- if dawnshards are nukes Edited February 20, 2023 by KaladinWorldsinger
Frustration Posted February 20, 2023 Author Posted February 20, 2023 (edited) 23 minutes ago, KaladinWorldsinger said: eh, dissection is a very common trope for mad evil scientists in fiction. Ishar isn't a bio warfare-related even in a magical version. He is more like magical Oppenheimer- if dawnshards are nukes Well, he experiments on spren, sees if they survive, and then cut them up to see what happened. Ishii experimented on people, saw if they survived, and then cut them up to see what happened. It's not exactly the same thing, but it has the same feel to it. Edited February 20, 2023 by Frustration
Elder Posted February 25, 2023 Posted February 25, 2023 Quote “The wisdom of the Heralds,” Lirin replied. “We should be careful.” Fragments of old manuscripts—translations of translations of translations—mentioned quick-spreading diseases that had killed tens of thousands. Such things hadn’t been recorded in any modern texts he’d been read, but he had heard rumors of something strange to the west—a new plague, they were calling it. Details were sparse. RoW has a few hints that bio-warfare is in the future:
alder24 Posted February 25, 2023 Posted February 25, 2023 19 minutes ago, Elder said: RoW has a few hints that bio-warfare is in the future: Likely, but weren't that quoted plague a cold brought by 17-Shard members to Purelake? Spoiler stormfather (paraphrased) Does the plague on the Purelake has anything to do with the fact that the magic fish form symbiotic bonds with spren? Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) No, worldhoppers brought a disease to Roshar that they didn't have before. It's the common cold. Rosharans' Investiture makes it so they're usually a healthy bunch so something like the cold is kind of frightening. "It's a plague of the sniffles." stormfather [Alternate wording from ZenBossanova's report] (paraphrased) Another person asked about the plague in the Purelake. Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) Turns out, that was a pathogen introduced by worldhoppers. People on Roshar normally have greater health than elsewhere in the cosmere because they are more Invested (Stormlight and all that). This plague was what we call… the common cold. Firefight Phoenix signing (Jan. 21, 2015)
Elder Posted February 25, 2023 Posted February 25, 2023 3 minutes ago, alder24 said: Likely, but weren't that quoted plague a cold brought by 17-Shard members to Purelake? Hide contents stormfather (paraphrased) Does the plague on the Purelake has anything to do with the fact that the magic fish form symbiotic bonds with spren? Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) No, worldhoppers brought a disease to Roshar that they didn't have before. It's the common cold. Rosharans' Investiture makes it so they're usually a healthy bunch so something like the cold is kind of frightening. "It's a plague of the sniffles." stormfather [Alternate wording from ZenBossanova's report] (paraphrased) Another person asked about the plague in the Purelake. Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) Turns out, that was a pathogen introduced by worldhoppers. People on Roshar normally have greater health than elsewhere in the cosmere because they are more Invested (Stormlight and all that). This plague was what we call… the common cold. Firefight Phoenix signing (Jan. 21, 2015) Huh….. well that’s somewhat anti-climactic. At first I thought it was something to do with Raboniel’s experiment.
SirNoSell Posted March 9, 2023 Posted March 9, 2023 I personally believe he's based off of the Hebrew Angel 'Ishim' See wikipedia excerpt: Quote The Ishim (Heb. אִישִׁים, ʾĪšīm; lit. Men by an unusual plural via Prov. 8:4, cf. אנשים) are the lowest tier of angels in the cosmology of Maimonides. "These", writes Maimonides, "are the angels which speak with the prophets and appear to them in visions. They are called Men because their tier is almost within reach of the human mind".[1] The Ishim later appear in the Zohar,[2] which copied this term from Maimonides.[3]
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