We gonna talk about the new FanX reading?

[Necessary Eagle she/her]

Cause I was checking Arcanum to see if any juicy WoBs had dropped at FanX, and, well, looks like we have a whole new interlude. Or possibly half a new interlude. Haven't seen anyone talking about it.

 

Edited September 30, 2024 by Necessary Eagle

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

Baxil is one of the dudes who worked for Shalash, before she went off to find Taln.

He was considering going to the Nightwatcher to ask for courage, and it seems he's gotten something very interesting, as Axies seems to consider him to be a kind of Spren.

[alder24]

Interesting. It seems preparation for the incoming attack is still ongoing, so it probably will be an interlude between part 2 and 3. Baxil visited Nightwacther and got an awful curse - he became immaterial, like a spren. How does that even work for him? That's the worst curse ever, but on the other hand it's so cool. Nightwatcher has finally outdone herself. Or maybe that was Cultivation as that kind of curse seems too complicated? If that was Cultivation, why did she do that? Now I want a full Baxil novel as that would be fun to read.

I wonder what he asked for. In the WoK interlude he wasn't cursed yet, he was only thinking about visiting Nightwatcher and asking her for courage. I think he still asked for this - now he can be courageous because nobody can even see him. 

Axis is back and surprised, he somehow spoke with Ash when they were on the Emul offensive. Ash and Taln are also in Azir, which is not ok, they should be back in secure Urithiru. It's even worse that they seem to be forgotten. They may escape, be killed during the attack or maybe they will join the defense (I bet on this). I think there has to be some purpose behind their mention in this interlude.

Cosmere spoilers:

Spoiler

His current state seems a bit similar to Kelsier's state in SH. People can't see him, can't touch him, he can't taste food, he can only hold things that were manifested in CR from beads but even they can fade. It's also like Nikaro and Yumi states when they were ghosts. So this ghostly state without a body, unable to be seen by others is something more common.

If Baxil is exactly like them, I wonder what happened to his body and if he became invested enough to become a Cognitive Shadow, so he could resist the pull into the Beyond (he said that he "felt like he was one calm breeze away from dissipating. Like smoke from a dead fire," which sounds a lot like a Cognitive Shadow to me. 

 

[LewsTherinTelescope]

47 minutes ago, alder24 said:

I wonder what he asked for. In the WoK interlude he wasn't cursed yet, he was only thinking about visiting Nightwatcher and asking her for courage. I think he still asked for this - now he can be courageous because nobody can even see him. 

My guess at the logic: People can't see him unless they're looking for him, so he's forced to push himself out of his comfort zone and initiate (writing letters and stuff). His curse leaves him unable to touch anyone, but if they try to kill him then he can fight back as a way to show that gained courage.

[Necessary Eagle she/her]

In retrospect, I should have posted this in the Cosmere spoilers section, but did anyone else do a double take at

Spoiler

the name of the bouncer?

 

[alder24]

1 hour ago, Necessary Eagle said:

In retrospect, I should have posted this in the Cosmere spoilers section, but did anyone else do a double take at

  Hide contents

the name of the bouncer?

 

Oooo, good catch. I've completely skimmed over his name. Cosmere spoilers:

Spoiler

So he's the Kandra on Roshar we knew about, the one that's not under Harmony's orders: 

Spoiler

Nextorl

In The Lost Metal, MeLaan is said to be the first kandra Harmony sent off-world. Does that mean that the kandra on Roshar are not in Harmony's employment?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes! Good way to connect the dots. That is exactly what that means.

R'Shara

Brandon, you previously said the kandra on Roshar WAS an agent of Harmony.

Brandon Sanderson

Did I? *sounds uncertain* Well... I'm changing my mind. Yeah. No. I... uhh... Nope, not an agent of-

I know exactly who this kandra is and what they're doing and yeah. I'm going to say I don't know why I said that before, but now, no.

Footnote: R'Shara is referring to this WOB where Brandon says that the kandra is an agent of Sazed
YouTube Spoiler Stream 5 (Dec. 2, 2022)

 

[LewsTherinTelescope]

6 hours ago, alder24 said:

Oooo, good catch. I've completely skimmed over his name. Cosmere spoilers:

  Hide contents

So he's the Kandra on Roshar we knew about, the one that's not under Harmony's orders: 

  Reveal hidden contents

Nextorl

In The Lost Metal, MeLaan is said to be the first kandra Harmony sent off-world. Does that mean that the kandra on Roshar are not in Harmony's employment?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes! Good way to connect the dots. That is exactly what that means.

R'Shara

Brandon, you previously said the kandra on Roshar WAS an agent of Harmony.

Brandon Sanderson

Did I? *sounds uncertain* Well... I'm changing my mind. Yeah. No. I... uhh... Nope, not an agent of-

I know exactly who this kandra is and what they're doing and yeah. I'm going to say I don't know why I said that before, but now, no.

Footnote: R'Shara is referring to this WOB where Brandon says that the kandra is an agent of Sazed
YouTube Spoiler Stream 5 (Dec. 2, 2022)

[Mistborn]

Spoiler

MeLaan mentions Ulaam warning her against pursuing a relationship with Wayne, though.

[Taliax none (name only)]

I hope Baxil does end up joining back up with Ash. His whole deal seems so interesting, it would be a shame to only see him for this one interlude. Also nice to see a bit of Axies again! I wonder what kind of spren Baxil gave him?