Speculations for Horneater [Discuss]

[Lopens Tenth Cousin he/him]

Okay I know Horneater is a while off, but I wanted to hear speculations about it and I had a couple of thoughts.

• The Night of Sorrows brought a new, modified Everstorm. This Everstorm was (iirc) described as low(er) to the ground and stretched across the entire continent except for Azimir. I was wondering if this included the Horneater Peaks, as mountains often poke out of clouds... If so, what would this mean for the Horneaters that live on those peaks?

 

• Cultivation's Perpendicularity disappeared from the Peaks when she fled Roshar. Am I wrong in thinking that this was the main source of heat and air pressure of the Peaks? Would they have a completely different environment and be forced to adapt?

Also if I'm wrong about quotes or anything please tell me

Edit:

I probably posted this in the wrong place, and I am not sure how to move it, so if it can be moved that would be great, sorry!

Edited February 25, 2025 by Lopens Tenth Cousin

[#1 Taln Fan he/him]

4 hours ago, Lopens Tenth Cousin said:

I probably posted this in the wrong place, and I am not sure how to move it, so if it can be moved that would be great, sorry!

No worries! Since your post contains WaT content, it's better suited for the WaT spoiler board. I've moved it for you

[Lopens Tenth Cousin he/him]

5 hours ago, #1 Taln Fan said:

No worries! Since your post contains WaT content, it's better suited for the WaT spoiler board. I've moved it for you

Thank you for that. I realized as soon as I posted it it was in the wrong section

[alder24]

18 hours ago, Lopens Tenth Cousin said:

• The Night of Sorrows brought a new, modified Everstorm. This Everstorm was (iirc) described as low(er) to the ground and stretched across the entire continent except for Azimir. I was wondering if this included the Horneater Peaks, as mountains often poke out of clouds... If so, what would this mean for the Horneaters that live on those peaks?

Yes, it's possible that the Horneater Peaks are above the True Everstorm, thus they should be mostly unaffected by it. However, the lack of Highstorms and nutrients it carried will certainly affect them and travel between villages or outside of the peaks might be impossible as they would have to walk through the storm clouds, which would be very dangerous.

I don't remember if Urithiru peaks above the True Everstorm now. If it does then the Horneater peaks most likely do as well, if it doesn't then the Everstorm covers the peaks too.

18 hours ago, Lopens Tenth Cousin said:

• Cultivation's Perpendicularity disappeared from the Peaks when she fled Roshar. Am I wrong in thinking that this was the main source of heat and air pressure of the Peaks? Would they have a completely different environment and be forced to adapt?

No. Perpendicularities aren't a heat source. There was only one Cultivation's perpendicularity in the mountains, in one lake, there were many lakes on each mountain top, each of them generate their own heat. They seem to be not dependent on the perpendicularity, they're hot probably because of some geothermal activity. 

Also the air is much thinner up there than on the surface level, there isn't anything there that would maintain a higher pressure.

[dezaS Hᴇ/Hɪᴍ]

4 hours ago, alder24 said:

Also the air is much thinner up there than on the surface level, there isn't anything there that would maintain a higher pressure.

Please note that this is Roshar: the air is mostly oxygen (or a lot more oxygen than Earth) so pressure is likely not as much a concern as it would be in, say, the Himalayas, and the partial pressure of the Horneater Peaks is likely still at a very survivable level.

The lakes did not generate pressure as far as I remember.

[alder24]

20 hours ago, DezaS said:

Please note that this is Roshar: the air is mostly oxygen (or a lot more oxygen than Earth) so pressure is likely not as much a concern as it would be in, say, the Himalayas, and the partial pressure of the Horneater Peaks is likely still at a very survivable level.

The lakes did not generate pressure as far as I remember.

I didn't try to suggest that it's not survivable, just that the air is thinner in the Horneater Peaks. Rosharan gravity is 70% that of the Earth's gravity and the oxygen concentration in the atmosphere is higher than on Earth, but Brandon has never said that the majority of air is oxygen (it could be toxic if that was the case). On Earth, the highest oxygen level in history was 35% so I would expect Roshar to be comparable to that. Yes, the air in the Horneater peaks is thinner, but that's relative to the airsick lowlanders of course.

We don't know how high those mountains are so it's hard to find any comparison, but knowing that Urithiru itself is a 10 km tall tower build among high mountain peaks suggest that the Horneater Peaks are considerably higher than highest ranges on Earth - lower gravity helps with that, but it would also make the air even thinner than it is on the top of Mount Everest (unless the pressure at the sea level is much higher than on Earth). However, people on Earth do live on extreme heights, many climb Himalayas without oxygen tanks, it's obviously survivable and it indeed helps when the oxygen concentration is higher on Roshar.

Another big helping factor is that everyone on Roshar is invested and their body has access to ambient investiture in the form of Stormlight. This makes them healthier and would help them slightly in a lower pressure environment.

[Elegy he/him]

As far as we know, Horneater will be written as something that can be read between ROW and WAT, so the Night of Sorrows will probably be out of the equation. That said, the last time we heard about Azure (in the Kaladin vs. Zahel scene in ROW) she was allegedly still lost in Shadesmar, after trying to get to Cultivation's perpendicularity one year earlier. It's weird to me that we haven't heard anything about her in WAT, so I suspect that this will come up. Also, I believe Taravangian mentioned that Dai-Gonarthis was at the Horneater Peaks, so that could also play into it.

[Nitpicking]

I distinctly remember people looking down on the Everstorm from Urithuru.