Searching for the Terriswoman Worldhopper...

[Titan Arum]

I've been thinking a lot lately about who the Terriswoman Worldhopper may be in Warbreaker. In fact, this idea is what brought me from a lurker to a regular board member a few months back. However, I wanted to dig a little bit deeper and get some WOB on the subject before posting anything. Thus, I specifically ordered a personalized copy of Warbreaker just to ask Brandon a question to try and unearth information about the appearance of non-Nalthians on Nalthis.

 

There's been some speculation about who she may be in Warbreaker, but nothing confirmed. Kurkistan has hypothesized that she may be the Nurse, and got a really gleeful RAFO from Brandon. While I like this idea, I began to think that Jewels may be our Worldhopper, for many reasons:

 

1) She's a random Drab with a group that includes two of the five Scholars of Nalthis

2) She's in love with Arsteel, which implies that she probably has known him for quite a while. Also, Denth seems okay with the fact that she loved him, even if he thinks it's strange that she still sleeps with Arsteel.

3) She is often off-page gathering information, which seems to be a common strategy for worldhoppers on other planets.

4) What better way is there to look inconspicuous on Nalthis than being a Drab?

 

The first two points, for me, are closely related. According to WOB in the Warbreaker Annotation, Jewels joined the group because she was in love with Arsteel. How long ago did she fall in love with Arsteel? If someone is a Drab, they get sick more frequently (according to the same Annotation), and in this world without healing capabilities, I find it hard for them to have a terribly long lifespan. Thus, it's possible that she fell in love with Arsteel a long time ago, and really isn't Drab. Also, Denth seems okay with the fact that she was and still is in love with Arsteel/Clod. If she were some new recruit to the team, would he really be okay with this situation unless they've known each other for a long time? Would he be okay with the fact that she’s Clod’s primary keeper? My speculation is that she may have been a part of this team for a long time and knew the Five Scholars from times past when Arsteel probably reciprocated her love. As we know, Worldhoppers have ways to either be immortal or extend their lives. Could this explain how her relationship with Arsteel/Clod is acceptable to Denth? The question derived from this situation, however, is that if she’s not really Drab and can extend her life, does Denth know what she really is, but is okay with it?

 

The third point is mostly just speculation. We know that Worldhoppers seem to be big on information gathering, and Jewels is often off-page doing just this for Denth’s group. For example, Demoux and co. are gathering information to hunt down Hoid. Hoid seems to be extremely Cosmere aware (but not as aware as Khriss!), and to get that aware, you have to gain a lot of knowledge from information. Nazh goes worldhopping to Shardworlds to make sketches to share with some unknown party. Jewels skills seem to be along these lines as well. Additionally, if you were a Worldhopper, wouldn’t you want to collect information on the Five Scholars? This seems like the best opportunity to learn about the investiture of Nalthis. Thus, maybe Jewels fakes a relationship with Arsteel initially (only to really fall in love with him), and joins the group to gather information about Awakening, Returned, BioChromatic Breath, etc.

 

For the fourth point...if you’re a Worldhopper on a planet that isn’t your homeworld, wouldn’t you want to look drab or at least not stand out? Well, on Nalthis, a Drab is a good option to sink into the background unnoticed! They look…plain, drained of color. Nothing special about them and their characteristics. Yes, I know that Awakeners wouldn’t be able to sense them, and this would stand out, but Drab’s are common enough that that they probably aren’t as surprised by Drab’s as Vivenna was when she first realized Jewels was a Drab (page 226 of the first edition PDF). She was probably surprised because she only had just reached a Heightening to have life sense. 

 

To test my theory of if Jewels could be the potential Worldhopper, I wanted to ask Brandon a question, without directly asking him point blank if it’s Jewels; I wanted to avoid the RAFO. Before I reveal my question and Brandon’s answer, I want to highlight a comment that Kurkistan posted from Oct., 2013 that helped frame my question:

 

Kurkistan: There have been arguments on which I firmly fall on the "non-Nalthians are not drabs" side, but we do not have complete explicit confirmation to the effect that they would look "normal" to an Awakener.

 

 

This one statement made me think that if Jewels is our Terriswoman, maybe her investiture from Scadrial would make Awakeners perceive her as Drab, even though she’s not technically Drab. As Kurkistan mentions, we don’t have explicit confirmation on how they would appear. Thus, here’s the question that I ultimately asked Brandon (and the capitalized word was indeed capitalized in my question for emphasis):

 

 

Would a Worldhopper on Nalthis be PERCEIVED as Drab by Awakeners - even if they aren't Drab b/c of their own investiture?

 

Brandon's answer:

They would be seen as something new.

 

At first I didn't like this answer because it meant Jewels was not our Worldhopper. However, I believe that it answers Kurkistan's question: Non-Nalthians are NOT Drab, and are in fact seen differently. An Awakener would be able to potentially pinpoint a Worldhopper out because they look different, new even. 

 

Now that I think about it more, while Jewels is most likely not our Worldhopper, maybe Vivenna, who had never "seen" a Drab before, misidentified her? Probably not though...

[Unhinged]

One possible explanation is that she's a feruchemist (she is a Terriswoman so it's not impossible) and she's storing her innate investiture in Nicrosil metalminds this could cause the people of Nalthis to see her as a drab.

Edited December 8, 2014 by Unhinged

[Mimiddle04]

I think for Jewels to be a drab you'd have to ignore, in my opinion, one of the most emotional parts of the book.  When Jewels explains how she felt giving her breath up to an Awakened God.  She explains how honored she was to be able to do so and Makes Vivenna question her entire outlook on the religions of Nalthis.  I'm not saying this is proof she isn't the Worldhopper, but to me if her background story weren't true it'd really take something away from the book.  

 

Also I don't think a Worldhopping Terriswoman would be so unhinged that she'd be into necrophelia.  The annotations of Brandon's website says becoming a drab unhinges you and messes with your soul.  Still sleeping with a guy after he is dead indicates this level of...is mess-up-ness a word?

 

In conclusion I'd say her background story is true both because it's a big deal in the book as far as Vivenna realizing she shouldn't judge people as quickly as she does, and her mind seems appropriately warped like someone missing a soul.

 

On a side note but still somewhat on subject.  Hoid, the most obvious confirmed Worldhopper, doesn't seem to set off any alarms when he gives a story to an Awakened.  Is this because he's got breath so he hides how he is different?  Is it because Hoid is so old he predates Adonalsium's shattering and therefore has a little bit of each investiture in him?  Anyone have any other ideas why he wouldn't seem weird? (my guess is it's because he got breath so doesn't look different anymore.)

[Moogle]

Non-Nalthians are detected by lifesense. Vasher detects Kaladin no problem. If Jewels does in fact detect as a Drab, she's basically confirmed to be from Nalthis, since other people can't get rid of their innate Investiture as far as we've seen.

 

Also I don't think a Worldhopping Terriswoman would be so unhinged that she'd be into necrophelia.  The annotations of Brandon's website says becoming a drab unhinges you and messes with your soul.  Still sleeping with a guy after he is dead indicates this level of...is mess-up-ness a word?

 

Not to get into a deep discussion on the topic or anything, but Lifeless aren't quite dead (in fact, Brandon notes it is a terrible idea to leave Lifeless in the dark for extended periods). There's still a bit of Arsteel left in Clod, and Jewel seems to think his memories and personality can be brought back more fully. It's still creepy, but it's not quite necrophilia to me.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Ookla the Infinite

[Titan Arum]

Moogle, While they may be able to detect life sense, it seems, based upon Brandon's answer, they can be seen as something else too since he said they would be seen as something new. Maybe the picture is incomplete; however, I don't think Jewels is the Terriswoman anymore because of that answer...assuming Vivenna truly senses her as Drab.

[Blaze1616]

We're also ignoring the fact that Vivenna manages to "creep" up on Jewels without trying, something that should only happen on Nalthis with a Drab. Everyone has a little bit of life-sense (that feeling of being watched, etc.), and for Nalthians that is held within the Breath. On other planets it is just innate and un-removable. Though possible, I find it unlikely that the Terriswoman would pick a Drab to "impersonate" simply due to the possibility that she forgets this fact.

 

Also, why would a non-Nalthian worldhopper not acquire some super-awesome Breath once getting to Nalthis. Definitely the most fun magic system! Perfect Pitch and Perfect Color Recognition is too good to pass up. Perfect Life Sense would be cool, but by that point you might attract attention off-Nalthis.

[Kurkistan]

Thanks a lot for the WoB, Titan. I hadn't expected it, and it's always nice to see something new that way.

 

I agree that it likely strikes Jewels farther out of contention for being the Terriswoman.

 

P.S. Also it's a little odd to keep being cited/referenced like that. I suppose I'll tally up a point for intellectual honesty/karma, then, since I had initially not clarified that we weren't 100%.

 

P.P.S. Also, for everyone's edification, we've since gotten another confirmation that non-Nalthians aren't drab. That WoB didn't include the "newness", though.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Kurkistan

[Mimiddle04]

Not to get into a deep discussion on the topic or anything, but Lifeless aren't quite dead (in fact, Brandon notes it is a terrible idea to leave Lifeless in the dark for extended periods). There's still a bit of Arsteel left in Clod, and Jewel seems to think his memories and personality can be brought back more fully. It's still creepy, but it's not quite necrophilia to me.

 

 

The body was still dead at one point.  It'd be more like having sex with Frankenstein's monster.  You're having sex with a dead body that was given consciousness.  And not even full consciousness like a vampire.  Only partial like the creatures in I am Legend or maybe a zombie if you believe they can still feel something.

 

Plus to get Arsteel to do things she has to give it commands like any Awakened object.  While Arsteel was still alive he chose to sleep with her, but once he became a Lifeless it is no longer his choice.  If he ever wanted to stop he couldn't.  That not only means she's having sex with a zombie, she also isn't giving him a choice.

[hoidhunter]

This is a topic that I know very little about (defenseman worldhopper)...but I just finished reading war breaker so it is still pretty fresh in my memory. Are we certain that she makes an appearance in warbreaker?

[WeiryWriter]

This is a topic that I know very little about (defenseman worldhopper)...but I just finished reading war breaker so it is still pretty fresh in my memory. Are we certain that she makes an appearance in warbreaker?

 

Yes.