Duxredux he/him Posted May 3, 2023 Posted May 3, 2023 What would be the memories of a healed Lifeless? Is implied that they can be healed: Quote AndyGranny If you used a Lifeless body, would a Lifeless be able to access an untapped metalmind... Brandon Sanderson An unkeyed type of metalmind? AndyGranny Thank you, I could not think of that word. Would they be able to access an unkeyed metalmind if the intent when the Lifeless was created, if the intent was that they could... Brandon Sanderson Right, I see what you're getting at. Yes, they could. As they could access and use any tool that is appropriate for what they're Commanded to do, they could indeed access a metalmind in the same way. In fact, doing so may, depending on the metalmind, be dangerous for keeping your Lifeless a Lifeless. JordanCon 2021 (July 17, 2021) It occurred to me that there's a very good chance that Lifeless can learn and grow and change after being Awakened. For example, considering the Hallendren Army is 40,000 Lifeless, I assume that most were not originally soldiers or trained to follow military instruction or march in ranks. We also know that the skill of the deceased affects the skill of the Lifeless. So... if you gave a F-Gold Medallion to a Lifeless and they stopped being a Lifeless, what do they remember? Memories of the deceased, memories after being Awakened, memories from the who was first born with the Breath used to Awaken the Lifeless? If memories are retained, where are they kept? The brain? The Breath(s)? If a Lifeless stops functioning, gets repaired and another Breath added in, what is retained? As a side note is there a color change to a Lifeless that has to be Awakened a second time?
Quantus he/him Posted May 3, 2023 Posted May 3, 2023 Lifeless have somebody else's Investiture replacing their own so they may not have enough of the original Identity to have any Pre-Lifeless memories at all. But assuming they are able to get a copper medallion to work they should be able to access some amount of post-Lifeless memory (since training is possible). But they might also loose them over time the way Mistwraith that used to be a Kandra would. They barely have enough Investiture to be targets of Hemalurgy so there are going to be some things they are technically capable of but simply wont have the Investiture to support. Where memories are stored is a spicey question: Brain but also Spiritweb and feruchemcial Pure Investiture, since both Hemalurgy and Ferychemy can target them. Quote Oudeis16 If Bob the Awakener Awakened fifty straw men to dance around, then died, then Returned as FormerBob the Appropriately Named, would FormerBob be able to reclaim the Breath from the straw men in the normal fashion (once he learned the "Your Breath to Mine" Command)? Brandon Sanderson Yes. He has enough of his original Identity, and the spiritual connection would remain. sonofstannis What if he instead were reincarnated as a lifeless? Is there a way he could reclaim it then? Brandon Sanderson Lifeless have someone else's investiture replacing their own. (As opposed to Returned, who are augmented.) Depends on how much of them is left, and if they can achieve sapience again, but I'd say this is unlikely. WeiryWriter What if the Lifeless is Awakened with their own Breath? (i.e. they gave it away right before they died and the person they gave it to then used it in the Awakening) Brandon Sanderson This has happened already in the world, and it does help. -Nayrb Did this happen "on screen"? Brandon Sanderson RAFO. /r/books AMA 2015 (July 30, 2015) Quote Wyrmhero (paraphrased) Can you Hemalurgically spike a dead thing, similar to how Breath goes into dead things? Could you spike a Lifeless? Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) Yes, if there was enough of the soul left for the spike to take. London signing (Aug. 4, 2014)
alder24 Posted May 3, 2023 Posted May 3, 2023 50 minutes ago, Duxredux said: What would be the memories of a healed Lifeless? Is implied that they can be healed: It occurred to me that there's a very good chance that Lifeless can learn and grow and change after being Awakened. For example, considering the Hallendren Army is 40,000 Lifeless, I assume that most were not originally soldiers or trained to follow military instruction or march in ranks. We also know that the skill of the deceased affects the skill of the Lifeless. So... if you gave a F-Gold Medallion to a Lifeless and they stopped being a Lifeless, what do they remember? Memories of the deceased, memories after being Awakened, memories from the who was first born with the Breath used to Awaken the Lifeless? If memories are retained, where are they kept? The brain? The Breath(s)? If a Lifeless stops functioning, gets repaired and another Breath added in, what is retained? As a side note is there a color change to a Lifeless that has to be Awakened a second time? I see two possibilities. To make an important remark, the Breath in a Lifeless replaces a soul of the body. It doesn't have the same identity nor connections as the deceased person had, it has its own thing going on. So first, how would it get healed: First one is that because the Breath you're using was originally given to somebody else, it was a part of that person's soul, the healing would restore that person from the Breath up until you get his whole soul back. With it, you might have some memories back. So the person who would be back, would be the person that the Breath used to belong to originally (not the Awakener, but to whom this Breath was given by Endowment). The second one I think is more likely, and supported by WoBs below. The body itself is sticky, and still "remembers" being alive. It has a trace of soul left in it that sticks to the Breath given by Awakening. And from this trace of soul, the whole soul is healed back, soul of a person that used to live in this body. Well, now I think about it, there is a third option as well. What you get in the end is a mix of those two souls combined. A part of the body's soul merges with the Breath's creating something new, something unique, with unique identity, that isn't the person who died, nor the person to whom the Breath originally belonged to. It's important to note that an important part of them might be still missing after healing - Cognitive Aspect, which passed into the Beyond. This aspect might hold memories of the person, and after healing you might not get that back. A healed Lifeless might be much closer to Returned, but with far less investiture in them, too low to ever get those memories back. But that's unknown for now. Warbreaker sequel will focus on Lifeless and Returned more, and we might get those answers. Spoiler Brandon Sanderson And by the way, we don't see Tonk Fah, Jewels, or Clod again in the book. They'll come back in the sequel. Without Denth's control, Tonks is off to start murdering and killing wantonly; by the next book, he'll have changed quite dramatically. Jewels, on the other hand, is taking Arsteel (Clod) to his brother, who is a master of Lifeless Commands. (Yesteel invented ichor-alcohol.) She hopes to find a way to restore to Arsteel some of his memories and personality. Warbreaker Annotations (July 18, 2011) Spoiler Brandon Sanderson Chapter Thirty-Three Vivenna and the Mercenaries Wait in the Safe House after the Lifeless Attack on the Slumlords Why does Jewels bother sewing up Clod? Why fix Lifeless at all? Denth's answer is a fairly good one, but it could use some more explanation. You see, when one makes a Lifeless, the reason the Breath stays and won't come back is because the body of a recently deceased person is too "sticky" for Breaths. One Breath attaches to it, and because the body so clearly remembers being alive, it can use that Breath to power it. (Assuming you have the right Commands and can picture them correctly in your head when you make the Lifeless.) However, the more the Lifeless is damaged, the less like the shape of a living person it is, and the more difficult it is for the Breath to keep that body going. Powering a body with only one Breath is hard—it requires the body to work mostly on its own. When you power a cloak or something like that, the Breaths need to provide a lot of energy, since there's no real muscles to use or skeletal structure to rely on. So the more wounded a Lifeless becomes, the less well its Breath can keep it going. Eventually you'll need to stick a second Breath into it, then a third, all the way up until that Lifeless is nothing more than a bunch of bones you've Awakened. At that point, you might as well be using sticks or cloth. Warbreaker Annotations (Dec. 9, 2010) Spoiler Joeh42 In Warbreaker, is Clod the Lifeless body of Arsteel? I like this idea because Arsteel would have had some Breaths within him when he died, as this is how Vashir defeated him and Denth, and this could help explain why he seems to be a little more self-aware than most Lifeless. Could you respond to this idea? Brandon Sanderson I confirmed in the Warbreaker annotations that Clod is Arsteel. Clod is more self-aware than most Lifeless. There is something left of Arsteel within Clod. The Breaths that Vasher gave him when he killed him do have an effect on this. Tor.com Q&A with Brandon Sanderson (Jan. 10, 2011) Spoiler TurtletheFlsh What would happen if you created a Lifeless with more Breath then is necessary? Would they be more or completely human or just a Lifeless that's holding more Breath? Brandon Sanderson Lifeless with more Breath are an interesting situation. It's quite possible for the BREATH to start taking on a personality, much like a Cognitive Shadow, related to the individual. Whether or not it is actually them, though, is a big question. Note, this doesn't always happen. Often, dumping a lot of Breath in them is like sticking it in an inanimate object with no Command. /r/books AMA 2015 (June 24, 2015) Spoiler Oudeis16 If Bob the Awakener Awakened fifty straw men to dance around, then died, then Returned as FormerBob the Appropriately Named, would FormerBob be able to reclaim the Breath from the straw men in the normal fashion (once he learned the "Your Breath to Mine" Command)? Brandon Sanderson Yes. He has enough of his original Identity, and the spiritual connection would remain. sonofstannis What if he instead were reincarnated as a lifeless? Is there a way he could reclaim it then? Brandon Sanderson Lifeless have someone else's investiture replacing their own. (As opposed to Returned, who are augmented.) Depends on how much of them is left, and if they can achieve sapience again, but I'd say this is unlikely. WeiryWriter What if the Lifeless is Awakened with their own Breath? (i.e. they gave it away right before they died and the person they gave it to then used it in the Awakening) Brandon Sanderson This has happened already in the world, and it does help. -Nayrb Did this happen "on screen"? Brandon Sanderson RAFO. /r/books AMA 2015 (July 30, 2015)
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