Cognitive Shadow Parallels

[Trusk'our he/him]

I've been looking over the two big examples of Cognitive Shadows we know of- Returned and Heralds- and I'm finding a few trends with interesting implications. Most of this is taken through the lens of Shallan being the child of a CS like those with the Hallandren Royal Locks, but she has far more screen time than any true Herald and I think the correlations are still viable.

Shallan is seen using Fortune along with her Resonance to draw possibilities of how people could have been or could still be. Returned have dreams that seem to draw on Fortune, showing the future.

Shallan is shown manipulating her Identity enough to cancel Drhey's Lashing, and her multiple personalities have a "tenuous link" between Identity (probably another interaction like her Resonance and Fortune). Returned are able to change their appearance to a great degree, possibly by altering their Identities.

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Arcanum

Questioner

So, in Oathbringer, the way that Veil and others are treated as separate people themselves. Is there any similarity between that and Feruchemical Identity? 

Brandon Sanderson

Uh… Yes, but it's pretty tenuous. 

(It's also worth noting that Shallan's mental health seems to affect her Identity shenanigans)

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Oathbringer Edinburgh signing - Arcanum

Hoidonalsium

The resonance between various powers, specifically about Shallan... The way that she seems to be sort of Soulstamping herself, is that due to a resonance power? Or is that something external—or is it mental?

Brandon Sanderson

...It's a combination of the two, but it's not resonance. It's more mental health and her magic kind of interacting.

Shallan seems to have extra Connection-related advantages, like emotionally moving people to be better versions of themselves (though this is supposed to be a Lightweaver thing anyway, so may not be too reliable). Returned use a similar Realmatic mechanism to Soothing (and I suspect Connecting), making children and animals happier and more trusting around them. (Returned can also accurately interpret abstract pieces of art made by those "channeling the [Iridescent] Tones" with Breath, which I think may be Connection related)

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General Reddit 2016 - Arcanum

Commicommand

Does emotional Allomancy work on animals?

Brandon Sanderson

Emotional Allomancy requires a certain level of sapience.

Phantine

So dolphins, oragutans, mistwraiths and parrots might work?

Brandon Sanderson

I was intentionally vague. :)

A_Shadow

Huh, so that would mean that divine Breath (or just regular Breath?) works in a completely different underlying mechanism than emotional Allomancy in providing that calming effect for animals and children. I had previously thought it was just an overlap in abilities.

Brandon Sanderson

There is an overlap. But it involves playing with Spiritwebs and/or the Cognitive Realm.

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Warbreaker Annotations - Arcanum

Brandon Sanderson

Lightsong Sees the Painting of the Red Battle

This is our first major clue (though a subtle one at the same time) that there might be something to the religion of the Iridescent Tones. Lightsong does see something in this painting that an ordinary person wouldn't be able to. A well-crafted piece of art, made by a person channeling the Tones and connected to them via Breath, can speak to a Returned. Now, in this case, it doesn't work quite like Llarimar says it does—Lightsong doesn't actually prophesy about the black sword in the way the priest thinks. In other words, Lightsong isn't prophesying that he'll see the Black Sword (Nightblood) in the day's activities.

Instead, Lightsong is seeing an image of a previous war, which is prophetic in that another Manywar is brewing—and in both cases, Nightblood will be important to the outcome of the battle.

The person Lightsong sees in the abstract painting is Shashara, Denth's sister, one of the Five Scholars and a Returned also known as Glorysinger by the Cult of the Returned. She is seen here in Lightsong's vision as she's drawing Nightblood at the battle of Twilight Falls. It's the only time the sword was drawn in battle, and Vasher was horrified by the result.

It's because of her insistence on using the sword in battle, and on giving away the secret to creating more, that Vasher and she fought. He ended up killing her with Nightblood, which they'd created together during the days they were in love—he married her a short time before their falling out. That marriage ended with him slaying his own wife to keep her from creating more abominations like Nightblood and loosing them upon the world.

Nightblood is part of a much larger story in this world. He's dropped casually into this particular book, more as a side note than a real focus of what's going on, but his own role in the world is much, much larger than his supporting part here would indicate.

Investiture wise, Vasher says those with the Royal Locks have an advantage when learning Awakening. I think Shallan's own high skill with Lightweaving may be augmented by her status as a Herald's child.

 

 

Basically, it seems like Cognitive Shadows and half-Shadows have greater interaction/perks related to the Spiritual Realm. Identity, Connection, Fortune, and Investiture all seem either stronger or more mailable in some way for them.

I feel like this makes some sense, as the natural Realmatic ties Cognitive Shadows had are replaced by strong Investiture, which is primarily Spiritual in nature. Though honestly, I would have figured that their abilities would have been more Cognitive Realm specific given the name, but the evidence I've found doesn't support that.

It's also just weird to think about, that a half-Shadow has a Spiritweb shaped (same attributes for the most part) like any other person, but the one difference is their Realmatic Connections and Investiture, I think.

It also might be worth thinking about spiritual Feruchemy more, as these might be examples of those very mechanics at play.

Any contradicting opinions or additional supporting evidence?