Bellybutton Conundrum

[EmmaLizRader]

Bellybuttons are scars.  Does this mean Stormlight would remove/heal someone’s bellybutton?  This feels like.  Not a stretch, considering all of the things. 

[Treamayne]

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42 minutes ago, EmmaLizRader said:

Bellybuttons are scars.  Does this mean Stormlight would remove/heal someone’s bellybutton?  This feels like.  Not a stretch, considering all of the things. 

Unlikely, but not impossible. Healing in the Cosmere (not just Stormlight - but other forms as well) Heal based on the Spiritual Ideal (such as why Kaladin's Slave Brands did not heal in WOR, but Lopen's arm did at the end of the same book). For Stormlight, or any other healing, ot heal a Bellybutton scar, the person would have to view themselves as not having such a scar (difficult, as it is part of Human's basic perception of being Human, but not impossible).

Healing WoBs (spoilers for Stormlight and other Cosmere works):

WoB:

Spoiler

Questioner

I notice that Stormlight seems to be a bit volatile in how well it heals or who it heals. Because it seems like Renarin's eyesight would have been a long term problem, kinda like Rysn's legs maybe and Lopen's arm. But Lopen's arm got healed, Rysn's legs didn't and Kaladin's scars didn't. So I didn't know if there was a reason for those things.

Brandon Sanderson

So Stormlight healing, there's a couple things that have to be considered. But in reference to what you're saying, the person's perception of themselves is a huge part of it.  The way healing works in the cosmere is, you've got the three versions of yourself. You've got your Physical version, your Cognitive version, and your Spiritual version, And a lot of Stormlight is taking your Physical version and matching it to the Spiritual version which is your ideal self.  But it has to be filtered through the lens of your mind, and things like this.

I almost always--probably should say always--am using it to reinforce some sort of character attribute. The fact that Lopen never saw himself, even though he only had one arm, as being disabled, as a big influence, versus whether Kaladin feels deserves his brands or not. Does that makes sense?  And those are two very different things that influence how the healing works. And you will see that as a metaphor and theme, if you watch what heals and what doesn't.

Orem signing (March 10, 2018)

Hope that helps

[Duxredux he/him]

My guess is that the belly button would not heal because certain injuries are normal and are not reverted to a previous state by Stormlight because of the Spiritual Ideal as mentioned by Treamayne - even when they are in the process of occurring. Shallan for example grumbles that becoming a super powerful mythic Radiant didn't exempt her from the discomforts of her period. The belly button of course is left over from the umbilical cord during gestation. To my knowledge at least there isn't a normal and natural way for the human body to have a perfectly smooth and flat stomach - there's either the umbilical cord or the belly button. In the same manner, a child Radiant like Lift will grow, lose baby teeeth, hit puberty, and basically develop as healthily as you could expect. You can imagine the issues that could occur if baby teeth refused to fall out and make room for adult teeth due to constant reinforcement from Stormlight or if the menstruation cycle just didn't happen. Because the umbilical is designed to be severed or otherwise fall off, I'd expect that a Radiant mother would not heal a cut on the umbilical cord after birth, and that a belly button would form as the normal process of the umbilical cord dries and falls off even if the child somehow gained Invested healing. Could be wrong though, but this seems likely to me.

It's worth noting that even though Lift believes that she is 6 10 years old and has very good reason to believe she will remain 6 10 years old, she continues to grow into a gangly teenager even while constantly using Investiture. Cognitive perception probably can only get you so far against the Spiritual Ideal. Granted, Lift is such an outlier I probably shouldn't draw any conclusions from her, considering the source of her Investiture.

As a side note, I learned that if the umbilical cord is not clamped and cut as is fairly standard practice, the umbilical cord will fall off normally after about 3-10 days. Leaving the umbilical on for this extended period is known as a "lotus birth". Learn something every day.

Edited December 27, 2024 by Duxredux
Corrected per Treamayne

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, Duxredux said:

Lift believes that she is 6 years old and has very good reason to believe she will remain 6 years old

FYSA, she believes she is 10 years old. WoR I-9:

Spoiler

Huqin looked up. “Why did we bring her along?”

“She’ll be useful,” Tigzikk said. “You’ll see.”

“She’s just a child!”

“She’s a youth. She’s at least twelve.”

“I ain’t twelve,” Lift snapped, looming over them.

They turned up toward her.

“I ain’t,” she said. “Twelve’s an unlucky number.” She held up her hands. “I’m only this many.”

“. . . Ten?” Tigzikk asked.

“Is that how many that is? Sure, then. Ten.” She lowered her hands. “If I can’t count it on my fingers, it’s unlucky.” And she’d been that many for three years now. So there.