Questions to people who know more about DID

[KaladinWorldsinger]

So when I started reading stormlight archive, I had absolutely no idea that shallan had DID even during oathbringer simply because I did not understand the disease.. That probably affected my enjoyment of her arc more than anything. If I had somehow known that she had DID right from the beginning of OB, I would have really enjoyed it and understood her arc more.

But now, years later i understand a lot more about DID because of researching for shows and characters like Moon Knight and Two-Face. ROW read greatly for me and I think it is the best written Shallan arc  yet. But I am no expert on DID, so I am still confused about the previous books and get more confused when I read them.  Someone more knowledgeable l, please help me out

1) So DID is commonly caused by childhood trauma, right? A child's brain creates alters to create a safe space or disassociate from trauma. My question is, how usual is it to for people who become adults to create new alters? Like in Shallan's example, she creates alters long after her trauma right? Her adult life isn't as taxing as her younger life(generally), so is she (and anyone with DID) always in a slight danger of creating new alters no matter how old they are?

2) How does someone create an alter so consciously like Shallan? She is very hyper aware in exactly what alter she is creating all the time. Is this realistic?

The way I understood it was that the alters personality and traits are more subconsciously created. You have some control, but not exact control like Shallan right? Shallan knows exactly what she is going to get when creating veil and radiant. Is that possible?

3) Shouldn't there be more amnesia? I know the common cliche is that the 'violent evil atler' triggers and you lose time and wake up with blood over you but the truth is more nuanced than that. But shouldn't Shallan be losing time a little? At the beginning when her alters are newly created and she has less control over them?

4) is Veil in WoR a persona of Shallan or an alter? It reads like a persona to me and somewhere in OB it becomes a proper alter. Meanwhile Radiant seems like an alter from the get go. Am I wrong in this. Because the the name 'veil' is significant and seems to imply she was always a hidden alter.

 

Another question I have is, is Shallan allowed to shut down Veil's attraction towards Kaladin? I have heard that people with DID consider themselves to be many people in one body. But here, Shallan takes control of the decision even though Veil and even Radiant at the end preferred Kaladin. Is that ok?

 

I realise I have probably gotten a lot of things wrong, please feel free to correct me

Edited July 16, 2023 by KaladinWorldsinger

[Aeoryi she/her]

1. Unfortunately, DID is a disability that is induced by a trauma response. While it is nearly always triggered by long term childhood trauma, there are both ways to create a system consciously [PM me for more details] as a response to trauma as well as unconsiously creating a system and not realizing it until later [you have to be 18+ to be diagnosed for something that happens in childhood.]. considering shallen's family situation was fairly traumatic, I assume that the second option happened.

2. It is possible. [Again, PM me if you want to know details.] I would say that the possible way is likely not intended to be what is going on with shallen. Shallen more like accepted veil and radiant into her personsality rather than creating them for the purpose of gaining alters (or headmates as most systems call them). Considering viel was created to infiltrate the ghostbloods, Shallen more simply acepted them into her personality.

3. Shallen and the system (the group of multiple personalities) do not experience blackout switching [PM to ask details] and as such do not experience ammesia. Remember that not all DID affected suffer amnesia. as for the whole triggers thing, they are real and do exist, but they are very over dramatic in movies.

4. Viel is an alter. You cannot say that because people are similar, they are the same. The same is applied to alters. I suggest rereading RoW if you can't understand the difference. the reason why you think this way is probably because veil is portrayed as a personna more often than radient is. They are both altars.

5. It would depend on the system whether that is okay or not. Most systems set boundaries to prevent incidents like this from happening.

I can PM you about my relation to systems and how I know all this because unfortunately it is not for everyone to hear.

Any other questions? 

 

[alder24]

On 16.07.2023 at 10:33 AM, KaladinWorldsinger said:

3) Shouldn't there be more amnesia? I know the common cliche is that the 'violent evil atler' triggers and you lose time and wake up with blood over you but the truth is more nuanced than that. But shouldn't Shallan be losing time a little? At the beginning when her alters are newly created and she has less control over them?

3 hours ago, Exotwo said:

3. Shallen and the system (the group of multiple personalities) do not experience blackout switching [PM to ask details] and as such do not experience ammesia. Remember that not all DID affected suffer amnesia. as for the whole triggers thing, they are real and do exist, but they are very over dramatic in movies.

I know almost nothing about DID but I have to point out that Shallan did experience some memory loss - in OB she drifts off with thoughts (or without them, just staring blankly) without knowing for how long was she absent on multiple occasions, she's finding sketches in her sketchbook that she doesn't remember drawing, and RoW:

Spoiler

Radiant killed Ialai without Veil and Shallan knowing.

 

[KaladinWorldsinger]

6 hours ago, Exotwo said:

rather than creating them for the purpose of gaining alters (or headmates as most systems call them).

So could some people design their headmates in the exact way they want them? Like how authors create characters?

 

6 hours ago, Exotwo said:

The same is applied to alters. I suggest rereading RoW if you can't understand the difference.

Ah, my question was if Veil in Words of Radiance should be considered an alter or persona, not Rhythm of war. By then, she is definitely an alter in my mind.

Thank you for your answers. They were very enlightening 

[Aeoryi she/her]

20 hours ago, alder24 said:

I know almost nothing about DID but I have to point out that Shallan did experience some memory loss - in OB she drifts off with thoughts (or without them, just staring blankly) without knowing for how long was she absent on multiple occasions, she's finding sketches in her sketchbook that she doesn't remember drawing, and RoW:

  Reveal hidden contents

Radiant killed Ialai without Veil and Shallan knowing.

 

that was pattern who killed her.

Also, staring into space blankly or 'drifting off' isn't really amnesia. It's more dissociation (which is part of DID) and can happen to some neurodivergent people. Its like falling into a trance if you know what I mean. The sketches COULD be amnesia but I highly doubt it since characters that suddently get amnesia without the reader knowing are just real bad from the reader's perspective.

17 hours ago, KaladinWorldsinger said:

Ah, my question was if Veil in Words of Radiance should be considered an alter or persona, not Rhythm of war. By then, she is definitely an alter in my mind. 

 I would say she isn't until the events in OB or shallen isn't aware that she is a system yet. (very possible, most people don't actually realize they have DID until they are way older.)

17 hours ago, KaladinWorldsinger said:

So could some people design their headmates in the exact way they want them? Like how authors create characters? 

In theory, yes. However, it just isn't considered ethical. And it isn't as simple as creating characters.

Although it it possible, I would not recommend it. I have done it successfully, as has a friend of mine, who screwed their life over (is dealing with an absurd amount of problems because of it) since it is not very easy to get rid of a system. 

It takes an absurd amount of time. And yes, it is possible but since I don't want to ruin your life I will not tell you how.

 

[Underwater_Worldhopper he/him]

On 16/07/2023 at 9:33 AM, KaladinWorldsinger said:

So when I started reading stormlight archive, I had absolutely no idea that shallan had DID even during oathbringer simply because I did not understand the disease.. That probably affected my enjoyment of her arc more than anything. If I had somehow known that she had DID right from the beginning of OB, I would have really enjoyed it and understood her arc more.

But now, years later i understand a lot more about DID because of researching for shows and characters like Moon Knight and Two-Face. ROW read greatly for me and I think it is the best written Shallan arc  yet. But I am no expert on DID, so I am still confused about the previous books and get more confused when I read them.  Someone more knowledgeable l, please help me out

1) So DID is commonly caused by childhood trauma, right? A child's brain creates alters to create a safe space or disassociate from trauma. My question is, how usual is it to for people who become adults to create new alters? Like in Shallan's example, she creates alters long after her trauma right? Her adult life isn't as taxing as her younger life(generally), so is she (and anyone with DID) always in a slight danger of creating new alters no matter how old they are?

DID can manifest incredibly differently in different people, so it's hard to give broad umbrella statements. But yes, it's usually triggered by intense childhood trauma. The thing is, DID is a trauma response. Once your brain does it once and finds that it works, it can do so multiple times, in response to all sorts of stressful situations. It's not like a singular traumatic event triggers your personality to fracture, it's a coping mechanism, one that can be employed multiple times.

Quote

2) How does someone create an alter so consciously like Shallan? She is very hyper aware in exactly what alter she is creating all the time. Is this realistic?

The way I understood it was that the alters personality and traits are more subconsciously created. You have some control, but not exact control like Shallan right? Shallan knows exactly what she is going to get when creating veil and radiant. Is that possible?

Again, it differs from system to system, and even Alter to Alter. Some alters of some systems can consciously cause a new alter to form, but that isn't very common. There's also magic and Realmatics involved, so it may not be completely true to real cases.

Quote

3) Shouldn't there be more amnesia? I know the common cliche is that the 'violent evil atler' triggers and you lose time and wake up with blood over you but the truth is more nuanced than that. But shouldn't Shallan be losing time a little? At the beginning when her alters are newly created and she has less control over them?

There aren't always amnesia barriers. Some systems are entirely blocked off from one another, and in others there is only amnesia between certain alters. And again, Shallan has access to magic, so. And there is some amnesia in Shallan, when one of the alters isn't aware about what the others are doing, the most notable example being when Radiant kills Ialai.

Quote

4) is Veil in WoR a persona of Shallan or an alter? It reads like a persona to me and somewhere in OB it becomes a proper alter. Meanwhile Radiant seems like an alter from the get go. Am I wrong in this. Because the the name 'veil' is significant and seems to imply she was always a hidden alter.

Sometimes developing alters take after existing people, whether they be real or fictional, with varying degrees of accuracy, ranging from loosely inspired by to being an actual carbon copy recreation. I think Veil started off as a persona Shallan adopts while doing criminal or Ghostblood work, and then an alter formed around or adapted to that persona, one so accurate to the original idea that it makes it look like the persona itself split off from her and became an alter.

Quote

Another question I have is, is Shallan allowed to shut down Veil's attraction towards Kaladin? I have heard that people with DID consider themselves to be many people in one body. But here, Shallan takes control of the decision even though Veil and even Radiant at the end preferred Kaladin. Is that ok?

A LOT of the things Shallan does aren't healthy (and some are downright unethical).

Quote

I realise I have probably gotten a lot of things wrong, please feel free to correct me

It's largely fine, and @Exotwo did a good job of explaining it as well. Though it was Radiant who killed Ialai, not Pattern.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Underwater_Worldhopper

[alder24]

2 hours ago, Exotwo said:

that was pattern who killed her.

No. That was Radiant. She admitted it when Shallan tried to kill Kalak, starting Veil's integration. She took control for a little moment and stab Ialai, it was even said in that chapter, foreshadowing who it was, RoW ch 7:

Quote

Ialai didn’t deserve such a kindly face, nor did she deserve such a light treatment. Shallan felt an unexpected spike of disgust at touching Ialai; this creature and her husband had plotted and executed a terrible plan to betray Dalinar. Even after the move to Urithiru, Ialai had worked to undermine him at every opportunity. If this woman had gotten her way, Adolin would have died before Shallan met him. And now they were just going to take her in to play more games?
Shallan let go, hand going to her satchel. Radiant was the one who emerged, however. She grabbed Ialai by her arm and towed her over to Adolin’s soldiers, handing her off.

[...]

We didn’t do this, Veil thought. We decided not to kill her, right?
I… Shallan’s mind began to fuzz, everything feeling blurry. Had she done this? She’d wanted to. But she hadn’t, had she? She was… was more in control than that.
I didn’t do it, Shallan thought. She was reasonably certain.
So what happened? Radiant asked.

ch 93: 

Quote

I … Radiant said, her voice distant. I killed Ialai.
Formless froze in place.
I saw … Radiant whispered, that you were about to do it. That you had poison secreted in your satchel. So I stepped in. To protect you. So you … didn’t have to do it. To prevent … what is happening to you now … Shallan …

 

2 hours ago, Exotwo said:

The sketches COULD be amnesia but I highly doubt it since characters that suddently get amnesia without the reader knowing are just real bad from the reader's perspective.

I disagree. Those little amnesia moments with sketches are a clue for readers that Shallan isn't a reliable narrator, and tells us that there is something very wrong with Shallan and her different personalities, especially if you know nothing about DID.

And as said in RoW, she didn't just suddenly get amnesia, she always had it, Veil was part of her for years protecting her from memories of Testament:

Quote

"For we had to carry it all these years.”
“No,” Shallan said, her voice growing soft. “No. I can’t…”
“You can,” Veil whispered. “I’ve protected you all these years, but it’s time for me to leave. It’s time for me to be done."

[...]

I know what you are,” Shallan whispered. “You’re the blankness upon my memories. The part of me that looks away. The part of my mind that protects me from my past.”

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

I appreciate everyone's insights in this thread, super helpful for understanding more about Shallan!

On 7/17/2023 at 6:00 AM, KaladinWorldsinger said:

Ah, my question was if Veil in Words of Radiance should be considered an alter or persona, not Rhythm of war. By then, she is definitely an alter in my mind.

I could have sworn (don't have a copy handy right this second) that at some point in RoW Veil says

Spoiler

she's been around since the initial trauma incident?

I could be mis-remembering that, but I thought that was the case. 

[Treamayne]

2 hours ago, Green Hoodie Mistborn said:

I could have sworn (don't have a copy handy right this second) that at some point in RoW Veil says

I could be mis-remembering that, but I thought that was the case. 

@alder24 quoted it right above your post:

Spoiler

RoW Ch 93:

9 hours ago, alder24 said:

"For we had to carry it all these years.”
“No,” Shallan said, her voice growing soft. “No. I can’t…”
“You can,” Veil whispered. “I’ve protected you all these years, but it’s time for me to leave. It’s time for me to be done."

[...]

I know what you are,” Shallan whispered. “You’re the blankness upon my memories. The part of me that looks away. The part of my mind that protects me from my past.”

 

Edited July 18, 2023 by Treamayne

[Aeoryi she/her]

10 hours ago, alder24 said:

No. That was Radiant. She admitted it when Shallan tried to kill Kalak, starting Veil's integration. She took control for a little moment and stab Ialai, it was even said in that chapter, foreshadowing who it was, RoW ch 7:

ch 93: 

 

I disagree. Those little amnesia moments with sketches are a clue for readers that Shallan isn't a reliable narrator, and tells us that there is something very wrong with Shallan and her different personalities, especially if you know nothing about DID.

And as said in RoW, she didn't just suddenly get amnesia, she always had it, Veil was part of her for years protecting her from memories of Testament:

Alrighty. definately Amnesia then. Sorry, haven't read RoW in ages. I thought it was pattern for some reason. 

12 hours ago, Underwater_Worldhopper said:

DID can manifest incredibly differently in different people, so it's hard to give broad umbrella statements. But yes, it's usually triggered by intense childhood trauma. The thing is, DID is a trauma response. Once your brain does it once and finds that it works, it can do so multiple times, in response to all sorts of stressful situations. It's not like a singular traumatic event triggers your personality to fracture, it's a coping mechanism, one that can be employed multiple times.

Again, it differs from system to system, and even Alter to Alter. Some alters of some systems can consciously cause a new alter to form, but that isn't very common. There's also magic and Realmatics involved, so it may not be completely true to real cases.

There aren't always amnesia barriers. Some systems are entirely blocked off from one another, and in others there is only amnesia between certain alters. And again, Shallan has access to magic, so. And there is some amnesia in Shallan, when one of the alters isn't aware about what the others are doing, the most notable example being when Radiant kills Ialai.

Sometimes developing alters take after existing people, whether they be real or fictional, with varying degrees of accuracy, ranging from loosely inspired by to being an actual carbon copy recreation. I think Veil started off as a persona Shallan adopts while doing criminal or Ghostblood work, and then an alter formed around or adapted to that persona, one so accurate to the original idea that it makes it look like the persona itself split off from her and became an alter.

A LOT of the things Shallan does aren't healthy (and some are downright unethical).

It's largely fine, and @Exotwo did a good job of explaining it as well. Though it was Radiant who killed Ialai, not Pattern.

you have a good way of explaining how DID branches off. I do think that some aspects of Shallen's DID are somewhat abnormal since there is magic involved, but at the end of the day, most cases of DID vary hugely from eachother.

Whether shallen has been a system for a while or not isn't directly relevant. I would say that only shallen (or Brandon Sanderson) could answer this question. Most systems tend to just say that they became a system when they became aware that they were a system, because the process leading up to becoming a system is very gradual, not really a hard defined moment.

[Underwater_Worldhopper he/him]

 

22 minutes ago, Exotwo said:

Whether shallen has been a system for a while or not isn't directly relevant. I would say that only shallen (or Brandon Sanderson) could answer this question. Most systems tend to just say that they became a system when they became aware that they were a system, because the process leading up to becoming a system is very gradual, not really a hard defined moment.

Not to mention that DID as a disorder is hard to become aware of from the perspective of the patient. But there are mentions of "others" that Shallan stuffs away, so I think it's implied that there are more alters than just the core trio that we see, which, although it isn't direct proof, implies that she's been fracturing for some time now. I feel like the most telling thing about the existence of other alters is how easily she just dissociates from things she doesn't want to face. It isn't a direct indicator, but the level to which she does it could mean that someone else fronted. That's only speculation though.

[Aeoryi she/her]

1 hour ago, Underwater_Worldhopper said:

 

Not to mention that DID as a disorder is hard to become aware of from the perspective of the patient. But there are mentions of "others" that Shallan stuffs away, so I think it's implied that there are more alters than just the core trio that we see, which, although it isn't direct proof, implies that she's been fracturing for some time now. I feel like the most telling thing about the existence of other alters is how easily she just dissociates from things she doesn't want to face. It isn't a direct indicator, but the level to which she does it could mean that someone else fronted. That's only speculation though.

I think that once we learn 'the ultimate truth' we shall understand most of the reason behind shallen's running and why she has/had DID in the first place.

[Treamayne]

3 hours ago, Exotwo said:

Whether shallen has been a system for a while or not isn't directly relevant. I would say that only shallen (or Brandon Sanderson) could answer this question. Most systems tend to just say that they became a system when they became aware that they were a system, because the process leading up to becoming a system is very gradual, not really a hard defined moment.

1 hour ago, Underwater_Worldhopper said:

Not to mention that DID as a disorder is hard to become aware of from the perspective of the patient. But there are mentions of "others" that Shallan stuffs away, so I think it's implied that there are more alters than just the core trio that we see, which, although it isn't direct proof, implies that she's been fracturing for some time now. I feel like the most telling thing about the existence of other alters is how easily she just dissociates from things she doesn't want to face. It isn't a direct indicator, but the level to which she does it could mean that someone else fronted. That's only speculation though.

It's possible the the first on-screen appearance of a persona/alter (maybe even the "Shallan" one) was WoR Ch 19. The Flashback chapter when she killed her mother in self defense was "six years ago" (a/o WoR) and the next flashback chapter (at least one-half-Rosharan year later) has this:

Spoiler

Shallan caught mention of her name again. The maids apparently thought that because she didn’t speak, she didn’t hear either. At times, she wondered if she was invisible. Perhaps she wasn’t real. That would be nice. . . .

The door to the hall slammed open, and Nan Helaran entered. Tall, muscular, square-chinned. Her oldest brother was a man. The rest of them . . . they were children. Even Tet Balat, who had reached the age of adulthood. Helaran scanned the chamber, perhaps looking for their father. Then he approached Shallan, a small bundle under his arm. The maids made way with alacrity.

“Hello, Shallan,” Helaran said, squatting down beside her chair. “Here to supervise?”

It was a place to be. Father did not like her being where she could not be watched. He worried.

“I brought you something,” Helaran said, unwrapping his bundle. “I ordered it for you in Northgrip, and the merchant only just passed by.” He took out a leather satchel.

Shallan took it hesitantly. Helaran’s grin was so wide, it practically glowed. It was hard to frown in a room where he was smiling. When he was around, she could almost pretend . . . Almost pretend . . .

Her mind went blank.

“Shallan?” he asked, nudging her.

She undid the satchel. Inside was a sheaf of drawing paper, the thick kind—the expensive kind—and a set of charcoal pencils. She raised her covered safehand to her lips.

“I’ve missed your drawings,” Helaran said. “I think you could be very good, Shallan. You should practice more.”

She ran the fingers of her right hand across the paper, then picked up a pencil. She started to sketch. It had been too long.

“I need you to come back, Shallan,” Helaran said softly.

She hunched over, pencil scratching on paper.

“Shallan?”

No words. Just drawing.

So, possibly her first "interaction" post-trauma, right after she thinks it "would be nice to not be real," is her mind going blank then moving at Heleran's prompting. Possibly a proto-persona starting to emerge?

 

[Aeoryi she/her]

4 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

It's possible the the first on-screen appearance of a persona/alter (maybe even the "Shallan" one) was WoR Ch 19. The Flashback chapter when she killed her mother in self defense was "six years ago" (a/o WoR) and the next flashback chapter (at least one-half-Rosharan year later) has this:

  Reveal hidden contents

Shallan caught mention of her name again. The maids apparently thought that because she didn’t speak, she didn’t hear either. At times, she wondered if she was invisible. Perhaps she wasn’t real. That would be nice. . . .

The door to the hall slammed open, and Nan Helaran entered. Tall, muscular, square-chinned. Her oldest brother was a man. The rest of them . . . they were children. Even Tet Balat, who had reached the age of adulthood. Helaran scanned the chamber, perhaps looking for their father. Then he approached Shallan, a small bundle under his arm. The maids made way with alacrity.

“Hello, Shallan,” Helaran said, squatting down beside her chair. “Here to supervise?”

It was a place to be. Father did not like her being where she could not be watched. He worried.

“I brought you something,” Helaran said, unwrapping his bundle. “I ordered it for you in Northgrip, and the merchant only just passed by.” He took out a leather satchel.

Shallan took it hesitantly. Helaran’s grin was so wide, it practically glowed. It was hard to frown in a room where he was smiling. When he was around, she could almost pretend . . . Almost pretend . . .

Her mind went blank.

“Shallan?” he asked, nudging her.

She undid the satchel. Inside was a sheaf of drawing paper, the thick kind—the expensive kind—and a set of charcoal pencils. She raised her covered safehand to her lips.

“I’ve missed your drawings,” Helaran said. “I think you could be very good, Shallan. You should practice more.”

She ran the fingers of her right hand across the paper, then picked up a pencil. She started to sketch. It had been too long.

“I need you to come back, Shallan,” Helaran said softly.

She hunched over, pencil scratching on paper.

“Shallan?”

No words. Just drawing.

So, possibly her first "interaction" post-trauma, right after she thinks it "would be nice to not be real," is her mind going blank then moving at Heleran's prompting. Possibly a proto-persona starting to emerge?

 

Honestly, I would say no. It really isn't enough to be a true alter/personna. It could also be some narritive weird stuff, considering shallen is recalling this memory. 

Proto-alters/personnas don't really exist, its more like 'Oh yeah I was probably a system at that point.' or alternatively, 'Oh yeah that was probably <insert a person> back then.' People with systems tend to think that their past lines up well with system criteria, when in reality most peoples' (singlets and systems) pasts do anyways.

[Treamayne]

47 minutes ago, Exotwo said:

considering shallen is recalling this memory. 

What makes you think Shallan is remembering the flashback sequences in WoR? The only flashbacks that are specifically called out as memories are Dalinar's. Since Eshonai's flashbacks are after her death they can't be memories (unless explicitly stated otherwise) - just narrative background for us (the reader) to add context to the events "now."

That said, I just menat if we were looking for clues in Sanderson;s narritve (so far) on a timeline for when/how Shallan's coping mechanisms to trauma developed, this seems like an early stage (whatever noun or descriptor applies - if any).

[Aeoryi she/her]

1 hour ago, Treamayne said:

What makes you think Shallan is remembering the flashback sequences in WoR? The only flashbacks that are specifically called out as memories are Dalinar's. Since Eshonai's flashbacks are after her death they can't be memories (unless explicitly stated otherwise) - just narrative background for us (the reader) to add context to the events "now."

That said, I just menat if we were looking for clues in Sanderson;s narritve (so far) on a timeline for when/how Shallan's coping mechanisms to trauma developed, this seems like an early stage (whatever noun or descriptor applies - if any).

My bad. I meant we are reading this from shallen's point of view and therefore somethings might be a little cryptic because of that.

I will admit I didn't really read most of the flashback scenes in WoR and don't remember things that clearly because of that.

I would say something big is gonna happen to shallen that makes the trauma response more clear, although it could be in a book beyond SA5

[JohnnyKaizen he/him]

On 7/18/2023 at 3:05 AM, Aeoliae said:

that was pattern who killed her.

Also, staring into space blankly or 'drifting off' isn't really amnesia. It's more dissociation (which is part of DID) and can happen to some neurodivergent people. Its like falling into a trance if you know what I mean. The sketches COULD be amnesia but I highly doubt it since characters that suddently get amnesia without the reader knowing are just real bad from the reader's perspective.

 I would say she isn't until the events in OB or shallen isn't aware that she is a system yet. (very possible, most people don't actually realize they have DID until they are way older.)

In theory, yes. However, it just isn't considered ethical. And it isn't as simple as creating characters.

Although it it possible, I would not recommend it. I have done it successfully, as has a friend of mine, who screwed their life over (is dealing with an absurd amount of problems because of it) since it is not very easy to get rid of a system. 

It takes an absurd amount of time. And yes, it is possible but since I don't want to ruin your life I will not tell you how.

 

Having dealt with a lot of mental issues personally, and with others close to me, I feel a lot of what has happened/is happening to Shallan. In the last few years, I've learned more about how my own brain works (or sort of doesn't) and came to the assumption (when I recently reread TWOK) that the concept of Veil had long existed in Shallan's mind, but that it was in Kharbranth that her form probably first started to take shape. The Veil of the Palaneum is a significant place for Shallan, and the sturcture of it (the public place people can visit/see, but behind it hides all the knowledge) is, at the very least to me, an analogue of who and what Veil is for Shallan. A gateway and guardian to the knowledge that lies beyond, but also deceptive as to just how much knowledge there is to access and find. There are comments that Shallan makes about the Veil, and about just how much written knowledge there is and how she could never find it all..that lead me to this feeling in the first place.