Shallans mother?

[Commander Azure]

So I know that there have been a lot of discussions about Shallan's mother maybe being a herald and I was thinking about that a little bit. if so, she would have died 7 years or so before most of the action of the series takes place. My theory though comes when you combine that with Taln saying that he was "late" in his speech. Could it be that the Desolation, and what allowed Elim to escape Braize, was that Shallan's mother was sent back and almost immediately broke, allowing Odium's forces back onto Roshar? Then it could be that that Taln was late for, because I believe there's a WoB somewhere saying that Taln didn't actually break, he just eventually realized that he could leave.

[Treamayne]

43 minutes ago, Commander Azure said:

because I believe there's a WoB somewhere saying that Taln didn't actually break,

he just eventually realized that he could leave.

Yes to the first half, but the WoB does not say or imply the second half. WoB:

Spoiler

Questioner

Taln. Did he actually ever give up? Or was it... Did he just get released when...?

Brandon Sanderson

You will find out, but Taln did not break. You'll find out how it happened, but Taln did not break.

JordanCon 2021 (July 16, 2021)

Hope that helps.

[alder24]

1 hour ago, Commander Azure said:

So I know that there have been a lot of discussions about Shallan's mother maybe being a herald and I was thinking about that a little bit. if so, she would have died 7 years or so before most of the action of the series takes place. My theory though comes when you combine that with Taln saying that he was "late" in his speech. Could it be that the Desolation, and what allowed Elim to escape Braize, was that Shallan's mother was sent back and almost immediately broke, allowing Odium's forces back onto Roshar? Then it could be that that Taln was late for, because I believe there's a WoB somewhere saying that Taln didn't actually break, he just eventually realized that he could leave.

Yes, it's very possible that Chana was sent to Braize and broke there, starting the True Desolation. However we're unsure if she was sent immediately after she was killed, because there is the vault with "Shallan's mother soul" that Shallan kept remembering, the vault that Shallan's father accessed immediately after Chana was killed and put Testament there - it's possible he did something to Chana's soul and trapped it in the vault, which prevented her from going to Braize. It's also possible that Chana wasn't found immediately on Braize by Voidspren - the Stormfather in OB ch 38 said that Heralds spent some time hiding before being tortured, so it's possible that Chana's arrival was so unexpected, that they'd missed her for years. Anyway, we don't know when Chana arrived on Braize and when she broke, but once she broke all Heralds were sent back to Roshar by the Oathpact. Taln couldn't have stayed there longer than needed, so I don't think he was referring to this when he said he was too late. OB ch 38:

Quote

ONCE ONE BROKE, ALL TEN HERALDS RETURNED TO ROSHAR. THEY FOUGHT. THEY LED MEN. THEIR OATHPACT DELAYED THE FUSED FROM RETURNING IMMEDIATELY, BUT EACH TIME AFTER A DESOLATION, THE HERALDS RETURNED TO DAMNATION TO SEAL THE ENEMY AGAIN. TO HIDE, FIGHT, AND FINALLY WITHSTAND TOGETHER.

Interestingly Hoid also said in WoK epilogue that Taln was too late. The simplest answer is that they both thought that Taln arrived too late to prepare humanity for the True Desolation. But Taln was asking himself "how long had it been" before answering "too long" (WoR I-7) which I think refers to how long had he been on Braize since Aharietiam - which seems to be the case as when he recovered his sanity in OB ch 119, the first thing he said was "how long." That is what was on his mind this entire time. Maybe by saying "too long" and "he's too late" in WoR he meant that Heralds might not be needed anymore? 

Quote

“How long?”
“They say it’s been four millennia. I don’t always … note the passing of time.…”
[...]
“Four thousand years?” Taln asked again.
“Ash…” “We couldn’t continue— I … we thought…”
“Ash.” He took her hand again. “What a wonderful thing.”
Wonderful? “We left you, Taln.”
“What a gift you gave them! Time to recover, for once, between Desolations. Time to progress. They never had a chance before. But this time … yes, maybe they do.”