RoW summary question

[Argenti he/him]

So in the Row summary in chapter 113 it says 
 

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Taravangian wakes up on a dumb day, the dumbest he's ever been. He begins to cry contemplating it. He leaves his bed only when his hunger gets to be too much, and finds a note and two gemstones containing corrupted spren from Renarin in his food basket. The note reads, "I'm sorry." Taravangian begins to eat, but hides in the corner as a highstorm approaches. Szeth breaks into his prison, scaring the guards away. He's there to ask about Taravangian's knowledge of his father and Ishar. As Taravangian pleads, Szeth switches subjects to the murders he committed under Taravangian's orders. Taravangian attempts to run but falls, and Szeth pins him to the wall. Odium approaches. Szeth resolves out loud to kill Taravangian according to his own choice, and pulls out a knife. Odium pulls Taravangian's mind into his realm to interrogate him about his recent failures, and Nightblood is pulled along. Szeth kills Taravangian's body as Taravangian kills Rayse with Nightblood and picks up the power, becoming Odium.

I thought Szeth saw Rayse's body and thought he had killed Taravangian, but it wasn't really his? Is this a mistake?

[Starwatcher]

Szeth apparently does kill Taravangian shortly before he Ascends, which I think is what the summary is referring to here:

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The sword drank greedily of the god's essence, and as it did, Taravangian felt a snap. His body dying. Szeth finishing the job. He knew it immediately. Taravangian was dead. Anger rose in him like he had never known.

Szeth had killed him!

 

[Argenti he/him]

1 minute ago, Starwatcher said:

Szeth apparently does kill Taravangian shortly before he Ascends, which I think is what the summary is referring to here:

 

Honestly that timelines makes no sense, people don't just die that quickly?

His body vanishes right? Szeth sees Rayse's corpse?

[Starwatcher]

20 minutes ago, Argenti said:

Honestly that timelines makes no sense, people don't just die that quickly?

I will admit I'm not an expert on how quickly getting stabbed in the chest kills a person, but I don't really see a good reason for us to doubt the accuracy of the book here. If the timeline wouldn't make sense in the real world, then maybe things just work a little differently in the cosmere or there was some time dilation between the Physical Realm and wherever Rayse and Taravangian were.

34 minutes ago, Argenti said:

His body vanishes right? Szeth sees Rayse's corpse?

Yes, per chapter 114 (which is mentioned in the summary of that chapter):

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He was aware of what he'd left behind in the mortal realm. Szeth had long since climbed to his feet and sheathed Nightblood. Beside him, the assassin had found a burned-out corpse, mostly eaten by the sword’s attack. That was Rayse, Taravangian’s predecessor, but Szeth wasn’t able to tell. The sword had consumed clothing and most of the flesh, leaving bits of stone-grey bone.

They think that’s me, Taravangian thought, reading the possible futures. Szeth didn’t see what happened to me spiritually. He doesn’t know Odium was here.

Almost all possible futures agreed. Szeth would confess that he’d gone to kill Taravangian, but somehow Taravangian had drawn Nightblood—and the weapon had consumed him.

[Argenti he/him]

9 minutes ago, Starwatcher said:

I will admit I'm not an expert on how quickly getting stabbed in the chest kills a person, but I don't really see a good reason for us to doubt the accuracy of the book here. If the timeline wouldn't make sense in the real world, then maybe things just work a little differently in the cosmere or there was some time dilation between the Physical Realm and wherever Rayse and Taravangian were.

Yes, per chapter 114 (which is mentioned in the summary of that chapter):

I wonder, did Kelsier's body vanish when he ascended? If Taravangian's body was dead, he should have been a cognitive shadow when he killed Rayse, like Kel was when he ascended to Preservation.

[alder24]

51 minutes ago, Argenti said:

Honestly that timelines makes no sense, people don't just die that quickly?

His body vanishes right? Szeth sees Rayse's corpse?

Death is a two stage process in Cosmere. First a body dies, then its Cognitive Manifestation - the mind - fades into the Beyond (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/183/#e3910). Odium pulled Taravangian's mind into his vision. At the same time Szeth was killing Taravangian's body. But his mind was binded in the vision or didn't have enough time to fade, thus it was enough for him to Ascend in the meantime.

I see 3 options that might have happened to his body. It's possible that just as Taravangian was dying, he Ascended before his Connection to his body was fully severed, thus his body vanished at the same time as Rayse's corpse appeared. Second option, Szeth killed him, severed his Connection to his body, but because Taravangian's death was just so recent, Ascension kind of snapped back/healed his Connection to his body (I don't think that would work tbf), or lastly his connection might have been permanently severed and his body was consumed by Nightblood instead (so Taravangian would be like Kelsier holding Preservation). Because of the quote posted by Starwatcher, I think the first option is the one that happened - as Nightblood was feasting on Odium, Taravangian was dying, but didn't die yet, his Connection to his body wasn't severed yet  when he Ascended. Keep in mind, visions like this can cause time dilation (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/508/#e15849).

What Szeth saw was Taravangian grabbing Nightblood, Nightblood's smoke obstructing his sight, Taravangian's body disappearing and then he saw a skeleton under his feet which he assumed belonged to Taravangian. Szeth likely jumped away to avoid being stabbed by Nightblood, thus releasing him from his hands so he wouldn't be able to focus on his body clearly. The quote in RoW ch 114 implies that Szeth has fallen to the ground, thus supporting that he probably jumped away from Taravangian when he grabbed Nightblood, which is the most reasonable thing to do (Szeth killed Taravangian while holding him against the wall, not on the ground):

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He was aware of what he’d left behind in the mortal realm. Szeth had long since climbed to his feet and sheathed Nightblood. Beside him, the assassin had found a burned-out corpse, mostly eaten by the sword’s attack. That was Rayse, Taravangian’s predecessor, but Szeth wasn’t able to tell. The sword had consumed clothing and most of the flesh, leaving bits of stone-grey bone.

I don't see any mistakes in the summary. Szeth was killing Taravangain at the same time he was Ascending.

 

Edit: @Argenti 

1 minute ago, Argenti said:

I wonder, did Kelsier's body vanish when he ascended? 

They shouldn't. The Connection was severed.

Edited January 4 by alder24

[Argenti he/him]

Just now, alder24 said:

I see 3 options that might have happened to his body. It's possible that just as Taravangian was dying, he Ascended before his Connection to his body was fully severed, thus his body vanished at the same time as Rayse's corpse appeared. Second option, Szeth killed him, severed his Connection to his body, but because Taravangian's death was just so recent, Ascension kind of snapped back/healed his Connection to his body (I don't think that would work tbf), or lastly his connection might have been permanently severed and his body was consumed by Nightblood instead (so Taravangian would be like Kelsier holding Preservation). Because of the quote posted by Starwatcher, I think the first option is the one that happened - as Nightblood was feasting on Odium, Taravangian was dying, but didn't die yet, his Connection to his body wasn't severed yet  when he Ascended. Keep in mind, visions like this can cause time dilation (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/508/#e15849).

 

Yeah, ok, Taravangian was in the process of dying but hadn't died yet. That's what I thought happened. Thus, Szeth didn't kill his body, he hadn't died yet.
 

[alder24]

1 hour ago, Argenti said:

Yeah, ok, Taravangian was in the process of dying but hadn't died yet. That's what I thought happened. Thus, Szeth didn't kill his body, he hadn't died yet.

Kind of. It depends when the Connection to the body is severed. When the heart stops? When you lose consciousness? When your brain dies? Even later, after some time has passed? Which one of those things is the actual death of the body? It seems the Connection is severed at least when your brain dies, and your brain can survive a few minutes after your heart stops. So there is a considerable time window when your body is basically dead, but your connection to it is still not severed, thus Taravangian was killed and while still Connected to his dead body, he Ascended.

We saw this in SH with Goradel. Goradel was decapitated by Marsh, his body was massacred by his uncontrollable rage, then Marsh read the message on the metal plate and left, and only after all of this happened did Goradel's mind appear in the CR. His body even got slowly covered by ash in the meantime. That's a lot of time, several minutes after his body died.

SH ch 6-7:

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Below, Marsh struggled with—then finally slaughtered—the hapless Goradel. Kelsier winced as his brother didn’t just murder, but reveled in the death, driven to madness by Ruin’s taint. Strangely, Ruin worked to hold him back. As if in the moment, he’d lost control of Marsh.
Ruin was careful not to let Kelsier get too close. He couldn’t even draw near enough to hear his brother’s thoughts. Ruin laughed as, awash in the gore of the murder, Marsh finally retrieved the letter Spook had sent.
“You think,” Ruin said, “you’re so clever, Kelsier. Words in metal. I can’t read them, but my minion can.”
Kelsier sank down as Marsh felt at the plate Spook had ordered carved, reading the words out loud for Ruin to hear. Kelsier formed a body for himself and knelt in the ash, slumping forward, beaten.
Ruin formed beside him. “It’s all right, Kelsier. This is the way things were meant to be. The reason they were created! Do not mourn the deaths that come to us; celebrate the lives that have passed.”
He patted Kelsier, then evaporated. Marsh stumbled to his feet, ash sticking to the still-wet blood on his clothing and face. He then leaped after Ruin, following his master’s call. The end was approaching quickly now.
Kelsier knelt by the corpse of the fallen man, who was slowly being covered in ash. Vin had spared him, and Kelsier had gotten him killed after all. He reached into the Cognitive Realm, where the man’s spirit had stumbled in the place of mist and shadows, and was now looking skyward.
Kelsier approached and clasped the man’s hand. “Thank you,” he said. “And I’m sorry.”
“I’ve failed,” Goradel said as he stretched away

HoA ch 69:

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Marsh had a sudden and overpowering desire to grab that sheet of metal. The soldier struggled to crumple the thin sheet, to destroy its contents, but Marsh screamed and brought his axe down on the man's arm, shearing it off. Marsh raised the axe again, and this time took off the man's head.
He didn't stop, however, the blood fury driving him to slam his axe into the corpse over and over again. In the back of his head, he could feel Ruin exulting in the death—yet, he could also sense frustration. Ruin tried to pull him away from the killing, to make him grab that slip of metal, but in the grip of the bloodlust, Marsh couldn't be controlled. Just like koloss.
[...]
Marsh, again completely controlled by Ruin, crumpled the metal up until its scratchings were unreadable. Then, he tossed it into the ash and used it as an anchor to Push himself into the air. Toward Luthadel.
He left the corpses of horse, man, and message to lie dead in the ash, slowly being buried.