Why wasn't she blue?

[+Oltux72 he/him]

In Dalinar's vision where he fights Midnight Essence he is married. The episode is supposed to take place in Natanatan. His imaginary wife isn't blue. Why? Does this give us a data for when the admixture of Aimians happened?

[alder24]

1 hour ago, Oltux72 said:

In Dalinar's vision where he fights Midnight Essence he is married. The episode is supposed to take place in Natanatan. His imaginary wife isn't blue. Why? Does this give us a data for when the admixture of Aimians happened?

This vision takes place in the 8th Epoch, year 337 - that's thousands of years ago, before 9th Desolation, which was far in the past. We don't know when humans started to mix with Aimians but that didn't happen overnight. It started with one person and over millennia it slowly spread across the entire Natanatan. Because this vision takes place so far in the past, this intermixing either hadn't started yet or it wasn't so widespread to be present in the countryside. We have no dates for when the first blue-skinned Natanatans appeared.

[Treamayne]

3 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

In Dalinar's vision where he fights Midnight Essence he is married. The episode is supposed to take place in Natanatan. His imaginary wife isn't blue. Why? Does this give us a data for when the admixture of Aimians happened?

1 hour ago, alder24 said:

This vision takes place in the 8th Epoch, year 337 - that's thousands of years ago, before 9th Desolation, which was far in the past. We don't know when humans started to mix with Aimians but that didn't happen overnight. It started with one person and over millennia it slowly spread across the entire Natanatan. Because this vision takes place so far in the past, this intermixing either hadn't started yet or it wasn't so widespread to be present in the countryside. We have no dates for when the first blue-skinned Natanatans appeared.

The Mishim Story (OB Ch 67), assuming any real facts can be gleamed from one of Hoid's "tales", implies (to me) that the racial intermixture spread late in the Epochs, but before the fall of the Natanatan Silver Kingdom:

Spoiler

Wit tossed something into the brazier, producing a bright green puff of smoke the color of Mishim, the third and slowest of the moons.

“This story takes place during the days of Tsa,” Wit continued. “The grandest queen of Natanatan, before that kingdom’s fall. Blessed with grand poise and beauty, the Natan people were famous across all of Roshar. Why, if you’d lived back then, you’d have viewed the east as a place of great culture, not an empty wasteland!

“Queen Tsa, as you’ve doubtless heard, was an architect. She designed high towers for her city, built to reach ever upward, grasping toward the sky. One night, Tsa rested in her greatest tower, enjoying the view.

So, it seems that it needs to be late enough in the cycles for humanity to cover the continent, and for Natanatan to have crafted a reputation for culture and elegance. I wonder if the notional Queen Tsa was a Stoneward, using Tension and Cohesion to "design" the towers, since by then the level of technology had fallen fairly far, but time to learn and master the Surges would have been high.

Alternatively, it could be after Aharietiam (if Natanatan fell in the Era of Solitude) but I find it unlikely to be too early in the Epochs, since Humanity would have needed time to spread that far. . . Starfalls Village may imply that Humans were fairly new to that region in the Eighth Epoch.