[FULL SPOILERS]"Unite Them"- Cosmere Themantics?

[Quiver he/him]

UNITE THEM.

 

They are pretty important as the Arc Words of the Stormlight Archive, with Dalinar's charge to unite the Knights Radiant to oppose Odium. But the more I think about the other books in the Cosmere cycle, the more I wonder if this isn't a sort of meta-theme Brandon is trying to espouse.

 

It kind of begins with the Shattering (the opposite of unification), but the idea of peoples uniting as a way(or, more often, the only way) to solve a problem seems to be a prevalent theme in the books.

 

Sel

..will not be mentioned, since I haven't finished the books there yet.

 

Scadrial

The propehcy of the Hero of Ages implies the necessity for Unity. All quotes from the coppermind, sicne I don't have my copy to check them:

 

 

“The Hero of Ages shall be not a man, but a force. No nation may claim him, no woman shall keep him, and no king may slay him. He shall belong to none, not even himself.”

 

The Propehcy identifies the hero as being "beyond" parochial squabbles and individuals, existing in a state moe to benefit humanity as a whole, rather than one agenda over another.

 

 

“That which has been sundered must again begin to find its whole”

Kind of self-explanatory for the unity theme.

 

When Alendi was identified as the Hero, he began by spending a decade conquering and uniting other kingdoms (a point we later see reflected in Gavilar and Dalinar). Upon discovering the diary, Vin describes Alendi is positive terms, unable to understand how the man portrayed in the journal- vulnerable, worried, human- could become the decidedly anti-human Lord Ruler.

 

Because The Lord Ruler took the opposite route to unifying people. He melded the cultures together, somewhat, but the people themselves he divided them, and the entire world ended up stagnating.

 

And, when Kelsier begins planning his uprising, it's significant to note that it wasn't just skaa who turned out to be vital for it's success. Kelsier's team brought together all the disparate members of society; the skaa obviously, also Sazed for the Terrismen, and the kandra to impersonate him.

But Kelsiers plan would still have failed if the nobility (Elend) hadn't chosen to become involved. Dockson expresses surprise at them crowning Elend king, and thinks that Kelsier wouldn't have liked it... but he comes tor ealsie that they did the right thing after all, not just in making Elend ruler, but in not executing the nobles and instead integrating them into society.

 

In the Hero of Ages, Elend re-enacts what Alendi did, travelling the Dominances and offering protection for those who swear allegiance to them... and at the end of the novel, it is an army of mistings of skaa and nobles, led by a full-blooded noble who fight against the koloss.

 

Sazeds combining Preservation and Ruin into Harmony (and seemingly leading Scadreil into a golden age) is an indication of how important unity, rather than division, actually is, and we see that point again in Alloy of Law- because, like Harmony, Wax is a unity of both the Roughs and the gentility of Elendel.

 

Nalthis

Despite sharing a similar royal bloodline, Idris and Hallandren begin the novel divided. In fact, it goes as far as Vivenna being fairly racist towards them, automatically assuming them to be heathens(priests) or at the very least misguided and unfortunate victuims of the system (like Jewel), who would clearly be better off in Idris. 

 

Vivenna is one of Brandons most interesting protagonists to me, because she is so... politically incorrect. She comes to a sort of realisation of it towards the end, whenever she drops her Idrian skirts for Hallandrean pants, and begins Awakening. Warbreaker ends with Idris and Hallandren unified in the forms of Siri and Susebron, while Vivenna (Idrian) and Vasher("Hallandren") go off in search of adventure.

 

Roshar

Obviously, the "Unite them" theme is kind of obvious here; it's a moral imperative from "God". But it's also maybe the most interesting, since Roshar is a society which is the most stratified and divided, but it's also one which seems to have an implicit desire for forming unions between things.

 

The unification of the kingdoms under Gavilar; he sought to unify ten disparate kingdoms into one united Alethkar. The interesting thing, however, is that this isn't a new plan he concocted; he was inspired by the Sunmaker, who previously attempted to same. 

 

The spren need humans to form bonds with, and the symbiotic union between Kal and Syl is a very direct opposition to the domination-relationship of Eshonai and Stormform.

 

Further, the union between spren and humans seems to transcend Rosharin gender roles. Any woman with a spren can advance their bond far enough to get a shardblade. The Truthwatchers seem to be a study-based order, given Renarin's ability to "See", which makes the fact we've only seen male members of that order interesting.

[Delightful]

i won't disregard that this could be an intentional theme of Brandon's, and it is definitely prevalent, but I think it probably comes down more to a human nature thing. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't overcoming differences and banding together one of the great aspects of the fantasy good/evil struggle? The band of disparate personalities and backgrounds working together to achieve something more than the sum of their parts etc..

And as humanity in general, we achieve more when we co-operate and communicate with each other. It's also just a normal part of life - in relation to the spren, I see that generally as a form of friendship (discounting Shallan and Pattern because they have issues, though I may be wrong to do so). With Vivenna/Vasher you could go with the 'opposites attract' cliche, and Warbreaker I would say is definitely a novel about stepping outside your comfort zone and becoming used to (uniting with, if you will) unfamiliar ideas and perspectives.

 

I also don't think it's entirely fair to say "The fact we've only seen male members of that order interesting." since we've also only seen one Elsecaller, one Lightweaver and one Bondsmith so far. It is interesting that we have an example of a studious male, and a sword-bearing female so far, but I don't think we can draw conclusions about the Radiant orders based on that yet.

 

Basically, I see your point, and I think it's just one of those very human, good vs evil, love conquers all, united we stand divided we fall type tropes. I am also prepared to be proven wrong, I think this is a really interesting topic of discussion.

[Khyrindor he/him]

It's Adonalsium trying to put itself back together again! 0.0