The Unoathed, Sunlit Man

[EnderW420]

So. Finished last night, and I'm losing it, but I think I might have a connection to Sunlit Man.

When Zellion goes into the Scadrian base on Canticle, he says he has shards, but no oaths. Later, after Zellion has been talking to himself, one of the researchers says "'Who were you talking to?' the woman asked him, narrowing her eyes. 'I thought you said you were unoathed. Do you have a spren?'"

There's no capitals, but I wonder if some understanding of the Unoathed has gotten off-world as a force fighting against Retribution? Either that, or some Unoathed are fighting for him in the big galactic smackdown. Either way, it's probably nothing, but I do think the Unoathed are what I'm most excited for going into Stormlight Part 2.

[Cocoa he/him]

I'd noticed that too, which was odd to me, because in retrospect there'd be nothing particularly strange about a capital-U Unoathed having a spren and talking to them. It's possible that this is just a cultural miscommunication however, with Scadrians not drawing a fine distinction between Unoathed and people using dead blades the more traditional way.

[Moirne she/her]

I guess the question is whether there are any more “traditional” shardbearers with deadeyes and no spren, or if all the deadeyes have been healed and there are just unoathed shardbearers and traditional radiants. Or if a Scadrian would know the difference.

[+robardin he/him]

10 hours ago, EnderW420 said:

So. Finished last night, and I'm losing it, but I think I might have a connection to Sunlit Man.

When Zellion goes into the Scadrian base on Canticle, he says he has shards, but no oaths. Later, after Zellion has been talking to himself, one of the researchers says "'Who were you talking to?' the woman asked him, narrowing her eyes. 'I thought you said you were unoathed. Do you have a spren?'"

There's no capitals, but I wonder if some understanding of the Unoathed has gotten off-world as a force fighting against Retribution? Either that, or some Unoathed are fighting for him in the big galactic smackdown. Either way, it's probably nothing, but I do think the Unoathed are what I'm most excited for going into Stormlight Part 2.

Well, talking aloud to a spren visible to the Shardbearer but invisible to others would be a sign of a true Nahel bond, as the spren would be in the Physical Realm but not in Blade form.

When Adolin and co. talk to their "unoathed" Shard-spren while in the Physical world, they do so mentally, right? Maya only spoke "aloud" (and to other people) in Shadesmar.

I mean, I guess Adolin could talk out loud while also thinking the same words to Maya, some people seem less capable than others of think-talking without mouth-talking IRL after all, LOL. And that's kind of how Zellion tried to play it off, as "just as old habit, it's nothing".

But the real question to ask about that scene from TSM is: why would the Scadrian be more worried about or interested in him as Oathed vs. Unoathed? And why was Zellion aware of this, and nervous about having let a clue slip?

I guess because it helped to identify him as the guy with the bounty on his head from the Night Brigade, because "oathed" Shardbearers are more rare in the Cosmere?

Especially after he revealed that he was also quite well educated in Realmatic Theory, and then had his armor start to appear around him as well as he stewed over their attitude over not sharing the secret to renewing their sunhearts without sacrificing people: "Oathed after all... Arcanist... Rosharan... Dark skin... Rusts, there's a bounty on his head big enough to buy a small planet!"

Edited December 11, 2024 by robardin