Reread Thoughts and Theories

[Treamayne]

I recently finished my first reread of Rithmatist in a while, and a few things struck me this time:

• We know the Forgotten in Harding was "killed" with the acid after it was driven to reveal itself by the clockworks. We also know that Harding was not a rithmatist before being taken by a Forgotten (or after it was banished/destroyed).
• We "know" a Forgotten (or something similar) has Nalizar and was unaffected by the acid thrown on him because it was entirely inside Nalizar when Joel tossed the acid at him on the stairs. 
• We know that the Forgotten in Harding seemed "unintelligent," not capable of speech beyond grunts and screams. The Forgotten in Nalizar seems much more intelligent and cunning. 

Conclusion: The Forgotten in Nalizar is smarter/stronger because Nalizar already had a Shadowblaze bond (iow: Harding himself was corrupted by the Forgotten; but in Nalizar, it was his bonded Shadowblaze that was corrupted). 

Also, a bit of Fridge Horror:

They mentioned a number of times that the Northern Isles (what would become the United Isles) were depopulated before the Europeans arrived. 

Spoiler

Then you get to the reveal that the Scribbler's wild chalkings were turning people into chalkings. 

So, it seems likely that all (or a significant percentage) of the wild chalkings at Nebrask are really the populations of the natives of the northern isles from before the Europeans came (along with all of the people "taken" in the fight at Nebrask in the last century).

Which also implies that when the fighters at Nebrask finally destroy a wild chalking for good - they are killing somebody who might be recovered if they knew how to undo the change. 

 

Edited May 2 by Treamayne
SPAG