helaran

[Mckeedee123 he/him]

Secret Societies: 

 

1) New Radiants

2) Ghostbloods

3) The Diagram

4) Skybreakers

5) Sons of Honor

6) Worldsingers

7) Veristitalians

8) Stone Shamans

9) 17th Shard

10) Envisagers

11) Heralds

12) Oldbloods

 

 

 

All of the secret societies operating in Roshar... One of the main things that bugs me about the Stormlight Archives is that we still have basically no idea what the true conflicts are.

[Oudeis he/him]

Per chapter 58 of way of kings, Vamah's color is Brown. I grow increasingly convinced that the battle was between Sadeas's fiefdom and Vamah's.

[TheDarkDesperado he/him]

Okay, now we have to ask if Vamah is the reason Helaran was there (Reclaiming lands for their rightfully owner as they see it), or if his involvement is coincidental in which case we're back to whether Kaladin or Amaram is the target.

I feel that Amaram would be the target in which case justice for his crimes (likely many), or taking out a member of a rival faction could be the motive. The Diagram mentioned knowledge of Kaladin to a degree (in WoR in the chapter where he takes the 3rd Oath they mention that they needed to separate him from Dalinar), but even if that was in the original Diagram it's unlikely they knew specifically about Kaladin, Mr. T would have been smart not omniscient, so The Skybreakers knowing would be a stretch. If they did know, they could be targeting him to remove a powerful peace from the board, they seem less likely to the manipulation of the other factions so killing him would be the only option. The other reason could be to mess with The Diagram, giving them an edge in the multi-faction conflict. 

I could be wrong on a few counts, it's been a while since I've read WoK and WoR, I'm about to reread WoK, so I'll post anything I find. Also, feel free to tell me anything to look out for that I may have missed.

[Oudeis he/him]

A few thoughts: We know Vamah himself has no Shards, but in another chapter it's mentioned that some Highprinces appoint a champion to wield the Shards for them; not simply the loan of a Blade the bonded themselves, but to actually let them bond it. Still, I wonder if they every expressly say, "and Vamah was bitter that he didn't possess any Shards," or something similar. When you re-read, check that, it would prolly be early in Part 2.

 

Still, if he had a Shardbearer, such a person would be registered, and would almost for certain be at the Shattered Plains. If Helaran, a Veden, was actually working for an Alethi Highprince, it was something clandestine and under wraps. I will grant that we don't know enough and it's entirely possible that Vamah was willing to sacrifice the advantage of commanding an unknown Shardbearer over a spit of land, but my gut tells me this is unlikely.

 

I don't agree with the phrase "coincidental," I suspect this battle was the opportunity one of the cabals was looking for. Not a "coincidence" so much as a confluence of circumstance, but I confess that now I'm being a bit semantical.

 

Kaladin being the target seems unlikely to me. If they know about him, it's one of two ways. One, reputation and rumor has led them to suspect Kaladin Stormblessed is Surgebinding. In this case, it would not be difficult for literally any secret society to learn which man on he field was Kaladin, and we even specifically know he dresses in a certain way so his men can identify him. Or, a power like bronze allomancy, or perhaps one of those warning Fabrials set to detect Surges. In which case, if it could detect him ever, presumably it could narrow it down specifically.

 

And, finally, when Kaladin did stand up to Helaran, Helaran was shocked. Presumably, if he'd been sent to attack Amaram only to draw out a Surgebinding protector, he wouldn't be surprised to draw out the Surgebinding protector.

 

Yet... if Amaram was the target, it's been a year. Why no second attempt? Sure, now he's a Shardbearer. But he was suffering from multiple fractures of his leg, what would have put him at severe physical disadvantage for months. At an absolute minimum, a month or two before his leg was even strong enough to be supported by the Plate. Also, there's poison, assassination in the night, any number of other ways to kill a man that Shardplate couldn't stop.

 

Who on earth had access to a secret Shardblade no one has ever seen before, decided to reveal it to achieve some sort of goal, and then doesn't seem to follow up for a full year? One option is that they simply succeeded. Maybe Amaram's army retreated and Vamah's army held the land, which was the point all along. Maybe Kaladin confused them. They must've assumed that introducing a full Shardbearer would succeed, because any other guess would have been unreasonable. Perhaps their plans were simply sent into such disarray from the loss of such a powerful tool that even though they failed, they have been too busy recovering to try a second time?

 

This one binary question would answer quite a lot for us. Did whoever sent Helaran achieve his or her goal in that fight?

[kaellok he/him]

There's another possibility for why there has been no follow-up attempt on Amaram.  It is very possible Heleran was the leading (or even only) voice for taking direct action against him, and he failed miserably.  Worse than failed, really, as his failure gave Amaram tools that were considered as valuable as nations.

 

It's also possible that the goal all along was to have the Shardbearer lose to Amaram, although such a plan seems immensely ludicrous.  (If Amaram were to have a secret Shardblade he was already bonded to that no one else knew about, and he knew about the Shardbearer coming, then it becomes slightly more plausible.)  I only thought of this by following Outis's thought--did they achieve what they set out to achieve?  And then thinking about what actually happened as a result.  That's definitely an interesting way of looking at things, and one that I hadn't considered before (although it seems beneficial to do so).

[Twenty@20 he/him]

I have a feeling that if Heralan was working for Vamah, then he would have been fighting in the Shattered plains for gemhearts instead of border skirmishes.

I noticed on the map that Sadeas also has a border with Jah keved. So it can be that Heralan crossed the border there and therefore we saw him breaking through Amaram's ranks.

As to his motives I am not sure. Perhaps he was commissioned by one of the societies to kill Amaram. But I don't think it was the Skybreakers. It doesn't look like their MO. Maybe Heralan was promised an intro with the Skybreakers as payment by whoever gave him the job. Therefore Mraize knew that Heralan was seeking the Skybreakers.

Now that I think of it, perhaps Heralan too was being used by Ghostbloods. After he failed, Ghostbloods might have changes their tactics and were content to spy on Amaram.

Edit:inserted italics word

Edited November 11, 2014 by Twenty@20

[Unhinged he/him]

Secret Societies: 

 

1) New Radiants

2) Ghostbloods

3) The Diagram

4) Skybreakers

5) Sons of Honor

6) Worldsingers

7) Veristitalians

8) Stone Shamans

9) 17th Shard

10) Envisagers

11) Heralds

12) Oldbloods

 

Yeah, I know this is kind of a stretch.  The 17th Shard isn't strictly Rosharan, Oldbloods are more of an ethnicity, the Heralds are too few to be a society, the Envisagers are probably obsolete, and the Stone Shamans aren't exactly secret.  But hey, it's close enough.

 

There's two more groups that I'd like to add to your list.

1st Hoid he makes it clear that he is on nobodies side and if he has to burn Roshar to the ground to accomplish his goals he will.

2nd the Ring A faction of spreen, most likely whatever type Wyndle is. 

[Hari he/him]

lots of interesting points..  don't know whether this was already mentioned (didn't notice so far), but if Helaran was a true Skybreaker, wouldn't he have killed his own father first for the (supposed) murder of his mother, and for the torturing of numerous servants in the house? did Helaran summon the blade just to scare him off or really to kill him (that he can't, being his own father) which angered Nalan?

Edited November 11, 2014 by Hari

[Oudeis he/him]

Update, mostly tangential. When Tien died, the soldiers who did it wore Orange. So, prolly not the forces of Vamah. But, confirmed Alethi. So, almost certainly Aladar, then?

 

This added because in one of my initial posts, I mentioned Hallaw, a Lighteyes Kaladin was looking for, and I wondered if it was the person who killed Tien. Unlikely, in an army of Vamah's. So there's at least one other thing that was of paramount importance to Kaladin personally at the time. In all likelihood this is largely irrelevant to the central issue of Helaran, but I'm adding in case it grants context.

[Moogle]

lots of interesting points..  don't know whether this was already mentioned (didn't notice so far), but if Helaran was a true Skybreaker, wouldn't he have killed his own father first for the (supposed) murder of his mother, and for the torturing of numerous servants in the house? did Helaran summon the blade just to scare him off or really to kill him (that he can't, being his own father) which angered Nalan?

 

Helaran was not an officer of the law, so it would have been illegal for him to kill his father. Nalan appears to have gone through the effort of becoming an actual constable in Azir for that reason, anyways.

 

The best he could do is tell law enforcement about it and get them to investigate. Which they did, and they were unable to find anything because no one would speak up against Lin Davar.

Edited November 11, 2014 by Moogle

[Patrick Star]

Helaran was working for Nalan and the Skybreakers.  If Amaram's leg was broken as badly as Kaladin said it was, it's likely that he has not actually participated in a (human vs human) battle since then, especially since he's now a shardbearer and started fighting the Parshendi.

 

Since the Skybreakers are bound by the law, no subsequent attempt on Amaram's life could have been made lawfully.

 

That's why he's still alive.

[Oudeis he/him]

1. Why are you so positive Helaran had to be working with the Skybreakers? We've seen in text that one of Shallan's brothers sought out the Skybreakers, but it doesn't say that it was Helaran, or that he ever found them. Do you have additional supportive quotes?

 

2. How can you be so totally positive that there was no other legal way to condemn Amaram to death? Neither Lift nor Ym were in battle when Nale attacked them, yet you assume that by Alethi law, there's no method but war to kill someone?

 

Is killing someone in war even technically legal? By which I mean, is it actually written into a living code of law that you're allowed to kill people in the conditions of a battle, or is it simply de facto? Are de facto circumstances enough? Nale strikes me as the person who requires de jure laws.

[Patrick Star]

1) Until more evidence surfaces in book 3, I am operating under the assumption that Helaran found the skybreakers and was working with them.  Either way, it (almost) definitely wasn't the ghostbloods, as Amaram suspected.

 

2) If there was no evidence and no witnesses to what Amaram did, Nalan would not have had any legal proof (or possibly even known about it).  He caught Lift breaking into the palace during the selection phase for azir's leader, so he had plenty of reason to execute her (and was legally a constable).  Same idea for Ym.

 

I am saying that Nalan likely had no proof on Amaram, making war the only lawful way to quickly dispose of him.

 

As for the legality of warfare, I'm going to say that it was legal for Helaran to kill.  The Geneva Conventions state that the basic act of killing in war is legal, so it probably is on Roshar as well.

[Twenty@20 he/him]

@Patrick. I would like to raise a few points.

What is the basis of your assumption that Heralan was working for Skybreakers? Is it only the fact that Mraize mentioned about him searching the Skybreakers? Then a legitimate question will be - how did Mraize know? Did Heralan initially approach Mraize? If so it can't be a stretch to assume that Mraize convinced him to work for him, atleast temporarily.

If there was no evidence and no witnesses to what Amaram did, Nalan would not have had any legal proof (or possibly even known about it).

Are you referring to any particular crime of Amaram or are you speaking generally? Nalan during that period was specifically hunting for Surgebinders. And he was extremely proficient at finding them. So it is unlikely he couldn't have known that Amaram was no Surgebinder. So why would he target him? Nalan as we see in Lift interlude doesn't care about hunting murderers or crime bosses just for the sake of it. He targets just surgebinders on legal pretext. So Nalan would never target Amaram.

Another point. Amaram and his buddies, Sons of Honor, as we know are high on the Herald fanclub list. So why would they pick a fight with Skybreakers?(that's assuming they even know of the Skybreakers, the blundering idiots that they are)

[Oudeis he/him]

My friend raised an interesting point. We don't, in fact, know that there haven't been other attempts on Amaram's life in the meantime. For all we know he has survived many attempts on his life in this past year. It's plausible that if he assumed it dealt with his secret life as a Son of Honor, he wouldn't be open or forthcoming, even with Dalinar, about the assassination attempts.

 

Twenty's point is also an excellent one. There doesn't seem to be much point for the Skybreakers to want Amaram dead. From the fact that he doesn't seem concerned by the touch of a Shardblade, we the readers can guess that he's not actually a Surgebinder, so in order for them to attack him in the first place, Nale would have had to believe strongly enough Amaram was a Surgebinder to commit to revealing a hidden Shardbearer in order to kill him, and still be wrong. Possible? Yes. Certainly far from presumptive, and frankly it strikes me as unlikely. But I concede, that's just me.

 

You are free to assume anything you'd like about Helaran's affiliation, but you must concede that it doesn't seem to make that much sense. Why would the Skybreakers, who apparently exist for this one purpose, get this so dreadfully wrong, trying to kill an important Marshallord who isn't even a Surgebinder? Weighed against the fact that the only evidence is "Shallan's brother sought the Skybreakers," not saying if he ever found them or not, let alone thereafter decided to join them, let alone was allowed to...

 

I agree with you that the Ghostbloods seem unlikely. Given that, my eye is cast towards Restares. He was awfully quick to blame the Ghostbloods. I've heard it said that when a crime happens, suspect the helpful people. If someone is trying to direct you towards one specific conclusion, they are often really trying to draw your attention away from something else.

[Unhinged he/him]

My friend raised an interesting point. We don't, in fact, know that there haven't been other attempts on Amaram's life in the meantime. For all we know he has survived many attempts on his life in this past year. It's plausible that if he assumed it dealt with his secret life as a Son of Honor, he wouldn't be open or forthcoming, even with Dalinar, about the assassination attempts.

 

Twenty's point is also an excellent one. There doesn't seem to be much point for the Skybreakers to want Amaram dead. From the fact that he doesn't seem concerned by the touch of a Shardblade, we the readers can guess that he's not actually a Surgebinder, so in order for them to attack him in the first place, Nale would have had to believe strongly enough Amaram was a Surgebinder to commit to revealing a hidden Shardbearer in order to kill him, and still be wrong. Possible? Yes. Certainly far from presumptive, and frankly it strikes me as unlikely. But I concede, that's just me.

 

You are free to assume anything you'd like about Helaran's affiliation, but you must concede that it doesn't seem to make that much sense. Why would the Skybreakers, who apparently exist for this one purpose, get this so dreadfully wrong, trying to kill an important Marshallord who isn't even a Surgebinder? Weighed against the fact that the only evidence is "Shallan's brother sought the Skybreakers," not saying if he ever found them or not, let alone thereafter decided to join them, let alone was allowed to...

 

I agree with you that the Ghostbloods seem unlikely. Given that, my eye is cast towards Restares. He was awfully quick to blame the Ghostbloods. I've heard it said that when a crime happens, suspect the helpful people. If someone is trying to direct you towards one specific conclusion, they are often really trying to draw your attention away from something else.

 

Well someone gave him that shardblade, I agree we can't be sure it was the Skybreakers but they do seem the most likely faction. 

[Stormwalker]

What is the basis of your assumption that Heralan was working for Skybreakers? Is it only the fact that Mraize mentioned about him searching the Skybreakers? Then a legitimate question will be - how did Mraize know? Did Heralan initially approach Mraize? If so it can't be a stretch to assume that Mraize convinced him to work for him, atleast temporarily.

 

I don't think Helaran would have to have approached Mraize for him to know about it. He could have easily known from the informants that the Ghostbloods probably have (I'm guessing). He could have also found this out researching Shallan's family after figuring out Veil's identity.

 

 

Twenty's point is also an excellent one. There doesn't seem to be much point for the Skybreakers to want Amaram dead. From the fact that he doesn't seem concerned by the touch of a Shardblade, we the readers can guess that he's not actually a Surgebinder, so in order for them to attack him in the first place, Nale would have had to believe strongly enough Amaram was a Surgebinder to commit to revealing a hidden Shardbearer in order to kill him, and still be wrong. Possible? Yes. Certainly far from presumptive, and frankly it strikes me as unlikely. But I concede, that's just me.

 

You are free to assume anything you'd like about Helaran's affiliation, but you must concede that it doesn't seem to make that much sense. Why would the Skybreakers, who apparently exist for this one purpose, get this so dreadfully wrong, trying to kill an important Marshallord who isn't even a Surgebinder? Weighed against the fact that the only evidence is "Shallan's brother sought the Skybreakers," not saying if he ever found them or not, let alone thereafter decided to join them, let alone was allowed to...

Well, we have seen the Skybreakers target surgebinders, but the reason they are apparently doing it, is because (they believe) it causes desolations. If preventing desolations is the main purpose of the Skybreakers, then it does make sense for them to go after Amaram, who, as a Son of Honour, wanted/was trying to bring about a desolation. Perhaps Nale did not have enough on Amaram to kill him via the law (which makes sense, as he is a lighteyes, and so it would probably be hard to commit such a crime in Alethkar—an important distinction between him and Lift/Ym), and so the only means of eliminating him was through the battle. After the attempt failed, Amaram broke his leg and did not join any other battles, explaining why the Skybreakers never tried to kill him again.

 

In any case, the comment about Heleran seeking out the Skybreakers is just about the only information we have on the matter. I wouldn't say it is conclusive, but I would think it makes the Skybreaker theory a lot more likely than any other right now. (However, I must say I'm intrigued by your Restares idea—Gavilar was quick to think of Restares being behind his assassination, so you could be on to something).

[Twenty@20 he/him]

Well, we have seen the Skybreakers target surgebinders, but the reason they are apparently doing it, is because (they believe) it causes desolations. If preventing desolations is the main purpose of the Skybreakers, then it does make sense for them to go after Amaram, who, as a Son of Honour, wanted/was trying to bring about a desolation.

.

.

In any case, the comment about Heleran seeking out the Skybreakers is just about the only information we have on the matter. I wouldn't say it is conclusive, but I would think it makes the Skybreaker theory a lot more likely than any other right now. (However, I must say I'm intrigued by your Restares idea—Gavilar was quick to think of Restares being behind his assassination, so you could be on to something).

You have a point there. It makes me wonder how were Amaram and SoH trying to bring about a desolation. If that is why Nalan sent Heralan to kill him, that means Amaram and SoH knew something about the business of starting desolations and Nalan got wind of it.

Now I haven't seen evidence that suggests the SoH had anything to do with the onset of the Everstorm and coming of Voidbringers. Did the SoH recover the black sphere of Gavilar from Szeth's hiding place and hand it over to Venli? I think unlikely. They don't seem competent enough to pull that off. So why did Nalan seriously take them as a threat that could return the desolation? And once Heralan failed, why was there no further attack on not only Amaram but entire SoH.

A point regarding Restares. If we assume Heralan was Restares' secret weapon then he must have given Heralan a complete set of shards which was unknown to Amaram. It seems unlikely that SoH have a cache of shards considering Amaram, a high-ranking member was not provided one.

[Moogle]

One piece of evidence not brought up is that Shallan's mother was most likely a Skybreaker, or strongly affiliated with them. She did try to kill Shallan the moment she found out she was a Surgebinder, after all. Helaran was the only one old enough at the time of Shallan's siblings that his mother might have shared information regarding the Skybreakers with him.

 

All of Shallan's brother's have been homebound forever. There is never any indication they would leave their estates for anything. Helaran, on the other hand, was quite commonly away. Given this, I'd be surprised if it was anyone but Helaran who sought out the Skybreakers.

 

There's also the matter of Shards to consider. The secret societies generally have access to a few weapons:

• The Diagramists have at least one Soulcaster (Szeth sees one use one), and with the inclusion of Moash, a set of Shards at least.
• The Sons of Honor have a set of Shards, but nothing else shown on screen.
• The Skybreakers have multiple sets of Shards. Lift alone sees Darkness with one, and one of Darkness' minions has one. Nalan also has multiple Surgebinding fabrials by all indication.
• The Ghostbloods have at least one Soulcaster (lent to Lin Davar).

We don't have much evidence here, but given our current evidence, given that we know someone has a Shardblade, the probability of them belonging to the Skybreakers is highest. They seem to have the most available, and they actually give them out to their members - Amaram and Moash had to get theirs the old-fashioned way. This is weak evidence, however, but it becomes stronger if we do indeed accept that they have the most Shards and fabrials of all the secret societies (which would make sense because they were once Radiants).

 

Also: The chances of Helaran joining the Ghostbloods are zilch. His father was a part of that group, or at least affiliated with them (he got the Soulcaster from them). Helaran would not join the Ghostbloods given how much he hated the man.

 

And, as has been brought up, the Skybreakers have plenty of reason to oppose the Sons of Honor. The Sons want the return of the Desolation, which Nalan is vehemently opposed against. We know Helaran was the one who tried to kill Amaram, and we know that Amaram's assumption of it being the Ghostbloods was most likely wrong, given how unlikely it is that Helaran was one.

 

Overall, I find the evidence supporting Helaran to be a Skybreaker is extremely strong and the only real option for the moment.

 

@Restares idea:

I find it unlikely that Restares was involved. The only evidence is that he wanted to assassinate Gavilar, and from what we know of Gavilar, he changed immensely in the last years of his life. I find it very possible that Gavilar changed into an honorable man who was entirely incompatible with the Sons of Honor, so Restares wanted him dead. Amaram seems to be the ideal Son of Honor, however, and I see no reason why anyone in the organization would want him dead. He's obviously trusted enough to deal with an actual living Herald.

Edited November 12, 2014 by Moogle

[Twenty@20 he/him]

Shallan's mother's affiliations are definitely suspect. The fact she decided to kill Shallan soon after she manifested surgebinding is very similar to Nalan's philosophy. The only thing which doesn't fit is why Shallan was never attacked again. Nalan had a very good legal excuse to kill Shallan but strangely never came for her. If Heralan was a Skybreaker who followed Nalan's philosophy then he should have checked the facts of the double murder in his own house. I doubt he would have killed his sister but one never knows. Perhaps the fact that Shallan never surgebinded again after her mother's death save her.

Have we seen Nalan surgebinding with his Honorblade (assuming he got his back) or does he also follow his "no surgebinding" policy?

Edit: Good point Moogle regarding Shallan's father and Ghostblood connection. Heralan's chances of working for Ghostbloods seems dead and buried.

Edited November 12, 2014 by Twenty@20

[Moogle]

Have we seen Nalan surgebinding with his Honorblade (assuming he got his back) or does he also follow his "no surgebinding" policy?

 

Lift sees Nalan take in Stormlight, or at least claims he does:

“Lift!” Wyndle said. “Behind.”

She glanced down the hallway. She could swear he was glowing faintly, and he was certainly running too quickly.

Darkness was awesome too.

 

Regarding Shallan's mother, an obvious point that I overlooked was that Shallan was a child who probably didn't break any laws. Killing her would be hard to justify for Nalan. And who is this "Dreder" that she called over to help kill Shallan, I wonder? The only WoB I can think of says that Shallan's mother was someone of consequence, unlike her step-mother. Perhaps she was/is a Diagramist, though that doesn't match with their goals. Skybreaker seems the most likely choice, even with evidence against.

 

I also note that Mraize was being very open with everything he knew:

“You don’t know who we are. You don’t know what we’re trying to accomplish. You don’t know much of anything at all, Veil. Why did your father join us? Why did your brother seek out the Skybreakers? I have done some research, you see. I have answers for you.”

 

If Helaran didn't join the Skybreakers, then why didn't Mraize mention what society he belonged to? Shallan's other brothers have shown no signs of being anything other than they are.

Edited November 12, 2014 by Moogle

[Oudeis he/him]

 

Father sat down in a dining chair, face still pale. "How? A Shardblade. Where?" He glanced suddenly upward. "But no. It's different. Your new friends? They trust you with this wealth?"

 

Words of Radiance, Chapter 19, "Safe Things."

 

Bold mine. Italics from text.

 

Why glance upward? The simplest explanation is that it simply means the father was sitting down, so "upwards" was to look Helaran in the face. It seems... like a really awkward way to phrase that, though. Why, though, would he be looking actually upward? To the sky? To the second floor? Perhaps to the room where his wife tried to murder their daughter? Does he know that Helaran's 'new friends' are the same group his wife belonged to, is that why he's making the connection?

 

It's different. The Blade is? Different from what? Different from other Blades? We know that Amaram's Blade wasn't an officially recorded one. I have trouble accepting that Lin has simply memorized all 90 some odd Blades and can confidently rule out Helaran's as a known one. Does he simply mean, "I had assumed you won it on the field, as is the only way I know of to earn Shards, but no, it's different, you were given your Blade."

 

Basically what does any of this mean? Thoughts?

[Lumen]

To the second floor? Perhaps to the room where his wife tried to murder their daughter? 

 

I think this is it.  Heleran's blade is different from the Blade that Shallon had, the one he took away and locked in his safe.  

[Zea mays she/her]

Shallan later remembers that  her father took the blade (Pattern) from her and locked it in the safe behind the painting (yes, in that room, upstairs, where his wife tried to murder his daughter). Neither of them was thinking straight at the time - they both would know that it is pointless to try physically lock someone's shardblade away from them.

When Father looks at Helaran's sword he only recognizes that it is a different one from the blade Shallan had.

 

My wild utterly unsupported guess about Helaran's "new friends" - that hetero-chromatic-eyed bastard might have some connection to Nale's organization, and helped Helaran connect with the 'skybreakers'.

 

Edit: storming ninjas!

Edited November 17, 2014 by Zea mays

[Oudeis he/him]

From Taravangian's interlude in Words of Radiance. They are discussing who might be a Surgebinder, and consider Shallan.

 

"They had been startled when that one arrived on the Shattered Plains. Already they hypothesized that the girl had been trained. If not by Jasnah, then by the girl's brother, before his death."

 

Shallan's only dead brother is Helaran. Jasnah has no dead brothers that we know of. This line must refer to Helaran, yes? Even though the Diagram, and particularly the Diagramists, can be wrong, this sentence means that Taravangian strongly suspects that Helaran is a Surgebinder.

 

This seems not to scan. His Blade did not disappear with his death, so it was a typical deadblade. Did he, like Renarin, simply get used to bearing it? Was it his own Blade and he just Recreated? Was he actually a Skybreaker? He truthfully didn't seem to care much about laws. The only law we ever saw him care about was bringing his father in for his mother's murder... yet he abandoned that before bringing the heterochromatic guy the final proof. He seems to care more about his own personal vendetta which happened to coincide a little bit with the law.

 

He traveled. Maybe he was a Willshaper? They were said to be the "uncut gems" of the Orders. Could explain why he was able to attract a spren after abandoning his entire family. He certainly didn't seem to care about protecting his siblings, so I'd guess not Windrunner.

 

This really only raises more questions. I had been pretty certain Helaran was not a Surgebinder. If he had been, couldn't he have simply healed the knifewound, even if it meant sucking the Stormlight from his armor itself? So then why do the Diagrammers think he is one? I really, really wish they would explain why they believe this.

 

Do they think he could have trained her in Surgebinding without being a Surgebinder? Wouldn't they have trouble believing that someone workin with Nale would train a Surgebinder, even his own sister?

 

This muddles up a great deal of what I thought I knew.