Why is nobody commenting on this in Tress?

[Firesong she/her]

In Tress, we see what appears to be a new type of humanoid race. 

Quote

The desk rolled to the side at an offhand whim of the Sorceress. She now stood in the dead center of the room. The fake Charlie had walked up to the doorway, and the Lightweaving had fallen away, revealing a creature that only resembled a human—reptilian with golden eyes and a toothy grin.

What exactly is this? I assumed Sho Del, due to the eyes (Sho Del have reptilian eyes), but I feel Hoid would have mentioned the four arms, as that is a pretty distinguishing trait. If it was a Dragon, I don't see why they would have to use a Lightweaving as they could simply shapeshift. 

So, is it just a Sho Del and Hoid didn't mention the arms, is it a Sho Del with some deformity making it only have two arms, or is it some other creature entirely? I don't know why nobody else is talking about this or asking Brandon questions about it. 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Firesong

[Treamayne]

I can't find any WoBs on it (yet) but I don't think they've all been indexed until the Specret Projects are all out of spoiler period - so there are no tags to use. I would guess that any question would get a RAFO anyway. I took Fake Charlie to be a Lumar native she had cursed and pressed into service - mostly because Hoid didn't give more data on that individual. 

Edited February 20, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[alder24]

48 minutes ago, Firesong said:

In Tress, we see what appears to be a new type of humanoid race. 

What exactly is this? I assumed Sho Del, due to the eyes (Sho Del have reptilian eyes), but I feel Hoid would have mentioned the four arms, as that is a pretty distinguishing trait. If it was a Dragon, I don't see why they would have to use a Lightweaving as they could simply shapeshift. 

So, is it just a Sho Del and Hoid didn't mention the arms, is it a Sho Del with some deformity making it only have two arms, or is it some other creature entirely? I don't know why nobody else is talking about this or asking Brandon questions about it. 

Oh we did comment on that but we have no storming idea what it is. Sho Del is likely but missing arms makes it unlikely. Dragons are out of the question because Riina surely wants to avoid them. So I guess if there are sapient pancake-like beings, why not some lizard humanoids? There are no WoBs on that.

Not every dragon can shapeshift, Lesser Dragons can't but still Riina was very unhappy to know a dragon lived on Lumar, so I doubt she would employ one. But that being has to be powerful enough to kill or deal with Hoid. That's not just any species, I doubt regular Sho Del could do it. Maybe that's a mix of human and Sho Del? But that doesn’t sound strong enough to deal with Hoid.

[Firesong she/her]

6 hours ago, alder24 said:

Oh we did comment on that but we have no storming idea what it is. Sho Del is likely but missing arms makes it unlikely. Dragons are out of the question because Riina surely wants to avoid them. So I guess if there are sapient pancake-like beings, why not some lizard humanoids? There are no WoBs on that.

Not every dragon can shapeshift, Lesser Dragons can't but still Riina was very unhappy to know a dragon lived on Lumar, so I doubt she would employ one. But that being has to be powerful enough to kill or deal with Hoid. That's not just any species, I doubt regular Sho Del could do it. Maybe that's a mix of human and Sho Del? But that doesn’t sound strong enough to deal with Hoid.

I think the pancake one was just a joke Hoid made up to support his joke about the name Doug, he was just messing with people. I don't think that such creatures actually exist as they don't really fit in the cosmere. I always just saw it as a fictional anecdote. He described them as if the audience would never have heard of them, and I feel something that weird would have warranted a lot more attention and explanation if it was true. (I at least really hope it was a joke, as such creatures really wouldn't fit in the cosmere. Speaking with flatulence and all.)

But yeah, I felt dragon was unlikely, I even highlighted one reason in the original post for it not making sense like that. .

Edited August 25, 2023 by Firesong

[SwordNimiForPresident the sword/that sword]

Would a Singer look like a lizard to a non Rosharan? Form dependent obviously.

[Etedbert he/him]

On 7/25/2024 at 9:51 PM, SwordNimiForPresident said:

Would a Singer look like a lizard to a non Rosharan? Form dependent obviously.

It would definitely be close, but Singers notably have black sclera with no irises, so it’s unlikely to be a singer since Fake Charlie is described as having golden eyes

Edited August 30, 2024 by Etedbert

[Entr0pic He/him]

Perhaps it’s some kind of Kandra? Hoid mentioned how the kandra’s were getting weirder in the book, so maybe it’s one sort of kandra in Riina’s employ that likes their there body to look like that? The only problem is why wouldn’t she just have the kandra wear a body that looks like Charlie? 

[momadrac they/them]

On 2/19/2025 at 4:39 PM, Entr0pic said:

Perhaps it’s some kind of Kandra? Hoid mentioned how the kandra’s were getting weirder in the book, so maybe it’s one sort of kandra in Riina’s employ that likes their there body to look like that? The only problem is why wouldn’t she just have the kandra wear a body that looks like Charlie? 

If it was a Kandra, how would it take the form? Would it be a really odd True Body, or more of a Sho Del's form with the arms excluded? (Sorry said that really weirdly)

[Entr0pic He/him]

On 5/27/2025 at 10:38 AM, momadrac said:

If it was a Kandra, how would it take the form? Would it be a really odd True Body, or more of a Sho Del's form with the arms excluded? (Sorry said that really weirdly)

I was imagining it was some kind of modified true body

[Treamayne]

Unlikely to be Kandra, if for no other reason that Riina is so scared of Kandra she keeps acid on hand at all times to kill them if one came close to her.

Quote

Riina is paranoid to the extent that she keeps vats of acid nearby on the off chance that a Kandra will try to act against her in some way.^[4]
[4] Tress of the Emerald Sea chapter 60