THEORY - Could Eelakin have made it to Lumar?

[Bousk]

Hoping the experts can weigh in on this. We know that Fort (from Tress) comes from a culture of "hunters" who live on the Islands of Lobu. They choose their hunt when they come of age, write down their exploits and hang them on the wall.

The obsession with hunting is what sparked this idea, because it instantly reminded me of the trappers. Even the idea that people realized not everyone can hunt draws similarity to Eelakin society. The whole thing reminds me of a diaspora community trying to stay true to their culture, losing the details and probably the reasons but maintaining essential traditions.

Imagine this: a group of pre-pre-industrial Eelakin somehow migrate to Lumar (we can discuss how below) - I believe these early Eelakin would still collectively see trapping as the ultimate pursuit in their society. They arrive and find islands - an environment they are familiar with and know how to survive. To these people, it goes without saying that "we Eelakin survive islands by trapping." You come of age and choose a hunting ground, have your successes passed down by the Loremothers, and put up signs/markers on the cave walls and trees where you hunt. Only these diaspora trappers can't behave like the ones of the Pantheon; here they have to build a society together and inhabit the islands they trap on!

With time, external influence, and adaptation to Lobu, the Lumar Eelakin traditions have warped from the original practices to something closer to what Fort describes. Unlike on First of the Sun where people care less and less about trapping, the Lumar Eelakin hold tight to the cultural identity of hunter - even when it means changing the meaning of the hunt itself. This change could even explain the shift from the specific term "trapper" to the more general "hunter." Instead of choosing an island when they come of age, they choose a hunt. Instead of designating an oral storyteller, they record their stories in writing - a practice that may have combined with the warning markers and lead to hanging them on the wall.

I'm sure there are holes in this theory and of course the biggest question is how Eelakin would've made their way to Lumar - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Edited August 6, 2025 by Bousk
grammar

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

Not very likely in my opinion, there would have to be a Perpendicualrity for the Eelakin to use, and there isn't one on Lumar.

Worldhoppers are on Lumar, but it's because of Spaceships like the Sorceress's one.

There is a Southern Scadrian group named 'the Hunters' as well, so the whole 'expert hunters society' is just a way some societies across the Cosmere develop, convergent evolution on a national scale.

[Jult]

9 hours ago, Bousk said:

I'm sure there are holes in this theory and of course the biggest question is how Eelakin would've made their way to Lumar - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Well, we know that the Eelakin had the means of traversing the Cognitive Realm. Crossing over from the Lumar sub-astral into the Physical Realm is the trickiest bit. Especially since Lumar doesn't have a perpendicularity. But we've seen various methods for crossing over without one. Such as:

• Elsecalling - I'd call this impossible based on our current knowledge. Unless it happened a loooong time ago. Like before the scouring of Ashyn.
• The odd hourglass device Wit used to send Sigzil into the CR at the end of WaT - we don't even know what this device is, but the circumstances for its activation make it seem an unlikely option. It also seems like a one-way trip. So, it probably shouldn't even be on this list.
• The 'Compass of Spirits' from TLM's broadsheets - we know very little of the origins of the Compass. And only know that it helps you enter the Cognitive Realm. It's unclear if it works in the other direction. Maybe it was an Eelakin artifact all along? Doubtful, but not impossible.
• The only other option that comes to mind right now is Skipping like Nomad does in The Sunlit Man. But that would require a Dawnshard.

There are presumably other methods that we don't know about or that I forgot about.

 

I don't know if I'm sold on the theory, but it doesn't sound impossible.

[Isilel]

On 8/6/2025 at 7:37 PM, Jult said:

The 'Compass of Spirits' from TLM's broadsheets - we know very little of the origins of the Compass. And only know that it helps you enter the Cognitive Realm. It's unclear if it works in the other direction. Maybe it was an Eelakin artifact all along? Doubtful, but not impossible.

 

Could it be an Iriali artefact instead? We now know that they send explorers into cosmere to find and research possible future homelands. And these have somehow scouted an empty, but habitable island on Lumar for the later mass migration. Yet, there is no perpendicularity on that planet, so how did they manage it?

Likewise, Iriali in Bilming. According to Kelsier, Harmony's Perpendicularly is far to the South and is heavily guarded, so how and why would they have ended up in Bilming, of all places? Unless they just walked over the ocean in Shadesmar and then transferred into the Physical once they reached land. 

[lacrossedeamon]

The two god aethers from the trunked Aether of Night novel had transportation/teleportation powers. The one that was the basis for the Midnight Aether seems to have lost that ability in the new canon version. I wonder if that means its counterpart, the Illuminous Aether (assuming a canon version of it exists), got a boosted transportation/teleportation ability. While the prime aethers on Dhatri might be able to form a full stable perpendicularity (but something happened to it in the struggle against the Dark Aether), maybe the strain on Lumar can only form perpendicularities on the scale of eslecalling.

[Jult]

11 hours ago, Isilel said:

 

Could it be an Iriali artefact instead? We now know that they send explorers into cosmere to find and research possible future homelands. And these have somehow scouted an empty, but habitable island on Lumar for the later mass migration. Yet, there is no perpendicularity on that planet, so how did they manage it?

Likewise, Iriali in Bilming. According to Kelsier, Harmony's Perpendicularly is far to the South and is heavily guarded, so how and why would they have ended up in Bilming, of all places? Unless they just walked over the ocean in Shadesmar and then transferred into the Physical once they reached land. 

That's the more likely option IMO. Plus, the compass was found on Scadrial. As far as we know, the Eelakin have never been to Scadrial and the Iriali have.

[Nitpicking]

On 8/6/2025 at 10:37 AM, Jult said:

Well, we know that the Eelakin had the means of traversing the Cognitive Realm. Crossing over from the Lumar sub-astral into the Physical Realm is the trickiest bit. Especially since Lumar doesn't have a perpendicularity. But we've seen various methods for crossing over without one ...

Why doesn't Lumar have a perpendicularity? It's literally coated with Aether spores. Maybe the perp is on one of the spore-launching moons? (Are they inspired by the FF8 monster-spewing moon? We know Brandon is a Final Fantasy fan.)

[Jult]

25 minutes ago, Nitpicking said:

Why doesn't Lumar have a perpendicularity? It's literally coated with Aether spores. Maybe the perp is on one of the spore-launching moons? (Are they inspired by the FF8 monster-spewing moon? We know Brandon is a Final Fantasy fan.)

I'm not sure that the spores carry much Investiture of their own. At least when dry. Check out this quote from Ulaam (TotES Chapter 28):

Spoiler

Quote

"This alone is dangerous, but your varieties are also highly unstable. The tiniest hint of a catalyst - water in this case - and they pull Investiture directly from the Spiritual Realm to explosively germinate..."

It sounds to me like Investiture doesn't enter the equation until water gets involved. And then it gets used up quite quickly. Maybe there just isn't enough Investiture around for a long enough time for a Perp to coalesce? That's a complete guess though. I think if there was a Perp somewhere, Xisis would have found it.

I've personally only played FF7, FF14, and FF15. So, I'm afraid I don't get the FF8 reference. Brandon has said that he's played them all though, so it probably had some influence. He did cite Anne McAffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books as a big inspiration for Lumar, but that doesn't mean it's the only one.