On a Strong Day *Spoilers*

[Link Von Kelsier Harvey he/him]

So.  Taravangian.  When we meet him he appears to be a well-meaning, if somewhat slow-minded, King.  He shows nothing but courtesy to Shallan and Jasnah, but has some trouble following the subtext of their conversation.  At the end, however, he is revealed to be considerably cleverer than he first appears, and is the one responsible for Szeth's assassinating world leaders.  He has killed innocent people with his own hands.  He is planning to kill our favorite High-Prince.  These all seem to be small parts of a larger plan.  The reader may conclude, not unreasonably, that he has, in fact, been using (and nourishing) his reputation for stupidity to prevent people from investigating him if any of his plans go awry.  I'm not sure this is true though. What I have noticed is on the very last page of the book.  The Endnote.  The Ketek was recorded from the lips of one who Taravangian ordered killed for that purpose.  The writer of the endnote takes notice of the fact that while the poem is well written, its contents are somewhat cryptic.  Then he says, (Paraphrasing) "We leave it to the King's mind on a strong day to determine the significance of silence both above and below the storms." (Emphasis mine)  Could it be, that Taravangian is not merely acting slow-witted, but on some days actually is slow-witted?  That on some days he is the brilliant monster with big plans for the world, and on others merely a slower than average person?  I wonder...do his motives and methods change with his intelligence?

Edited December 6, 2011 by Link Von Kelsier Harvey

[neverearth she/her]

Taravingian is a rather old man. As is common with most people as they get older, his strength comes and goes. At times, he might lose focus, forget what he was thinking or saying, all that natural stuff that happens as you age.

[Andrew the Great he/him]

Perhaps something similar to the Ferochemical ability to store mental quickness? I think that's one of the things you can store....

It would obviously have to be slightly different, but Brandon's magic is all based off of one unified Theory of Magic. It would make sense for there to be similarities.

[Emeralis00 she/her]

maybe he is being partially possessed by something.

Normally he is stupid, but when the "something" possesses him he gains a lot of intelligence.

[Zas678 he/him]

Evilspren! Bwahaha!

Or, more seriously, maybe he uses the Stormlight to boost his intelligence, but the more he does it, the less his actual intelligence gets (a sort of drug if you will).

[Oath Breaker]

Or perhaps he's effected by high storms like Dalinar but in a different manner. The closer or farther (in number of days) a high storm he is, the clearer or diluted his mind is. Just throwing it out there.

[CrazyRioter she/her]

lol Brandon has actually explained this, he went to the Old Magic at some point and now his IQ fluctuates randomly each day.

[Bri-Y]

Nice call. Didn't even consider this.

[happyman he/him]

This is a curious case. Did he perhaps ask for intelligence, and the curse was that it would be balanced by stupidity?

That sounds like a seriously scary curse. It'd frighten me to death.

[Orome he/him]

to be honest, i have read the book 3 times before i heard about the recent revelation about taravangian.

How the hell did you notice this?! i mean, i kinda remember noticing 'on a strong day' at some point,

but i thought it was meant like 'god willing' or such.. salute to you for being ultimately lateral! great job!

[Link Von Kelsier Harvey he/him]

Reading Brandon's work has taught me to never ignore inconsequential details.

[Zas678 he/him]

AKA "Hold the fate of the world on his arms syndrome."

[Captain.Kaulu]

AKA "Anything not written in metal cannot be trusted" syndrome.

[FeatherWriter she/her]

Wow. Mad props to you! Excellent catch!

[Link Von Kelsier Harvey he/him]

I just realized that I misspelled Taravangian about five times in the OP. Don't worry, I fixed it.

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

That was an amazing catch, you have my respect. I had thought that "on a strong day" line was of no significance.

For added significance this means that the two explicit curses (Upside vision and no feeling in the hands) and the two likely curses (Dalinar's incapability of remembering or interpreting information about his wife and Taravangian's intelligence) all came about as a result of Nightwatcher messing with their neurons. I sense a theme there.

Brandon's background as a one time Biology major has affected his writing in several interesting ways. That's my take at least.

[happyman he/him]

That was an amazing catch, you have my respect. I had thought that "on a strong day" line was of no significance.

For added significance this means that the two explicit curses (Upside vision and no feeling in the hands) and the two likely curses (Dalinar's incapability of remembering or interpreting information about his wife and Taravangian's intelligence) all came about as a result of Nightwatcher messing with their neurons. I sense a theme there.

Brandon's background as a one time Biology major has affected his writing in several interesting ways. That's my take at least.

Unfortunately, we don't know enough about the boons to see if there are any similar patterns there. This is especially interesting given than in Dalinar and Taragavinian's case, the boon could be the same as (or intimately tied into) the curse.

[Shardlet he/him]

So.  Taravangian.  When we meet him he appears to be a well-meaning, if somewhat slow-minded, King.  He shows nothing but courtesy to Shallan and Jasnah, but has some trouble following the subtext of their conversation.  At the end, however, he is revealed to be considerably cleverer than he first appears, and is the one responsible for Szeth's assassinating world leaders.  He has killed innocent people with his own hands.  He is planning to kill our favorite High-Prince.  These all seem to be small parts of a larger plan.  The reader may conclude, not unreasonably, that he has, in fact, been using (and nourishing) his reputation for stupidity to prevent people from investigating him if any of his plans go awry.  I'm not sure this is true though. What I have noticed is on the very last page of the book.  The Endnote.  The Ketek was recorded from the lips of one who Taravangian ordered killed for that purpose.  The writer of the endnote takes notice of the fact that while the poem is well written, its contents are somewhat cryptic.  Then he says, (Paraphrasing) "We leave it to the King's mind on a strong day to determine the significance of silence both above and below the storms." (Emphasis mine)  Could it be, that Taravangian is not merely acting slow-witted, but on some days actually is slow-witted?  That on some days he is the brilliant monster with big plans for the world, and on others merely a slower than average person?  I wonder...do his motives and methods change with his intelligence?

 

 

Nice grab!  This was just confirmed in the WoR reading of a Taravangian interlude at PhoenixCon.  Excellent conclusion.

[Galavantes]

Nice grab!  This was just confirmed in the WoR reading of a Taravangian interlude at PhoenixCon.  Excellent conclusion.

I missed this, where can I find that reading?

[Shardlet he/him]

 

I missed this, where can I find that reading?

 

I haven't figured out yet how to do the tricky link where I have a word or a phrase you click on, but here is the link to a Google Doc transcript from Phoenixcon:

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_sTZkZ0Irdf3haauT5PnX94yYQSyQGlCqUAcOBafTMs/edit?usp=sharing

[Binnut he/him]

I haven't figured out yet how to do the tricky link where I have a word or a phrase you click on, but here is the link to a Google Doc transcript from Phoenixcon:

 

You can use the following, just remove the ' ...

'['url=link_here']'text'['/url']'

[Phantom Monstrosity]

We actually first heard about this back in 2011

http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=705#6

Tortellini

This is a big one and I hadn't heard any of this before. A girl asked what was up with Taravangian, since it seemed a rough break between the tottering old man and the scheming mastermind that Szeth meets at the end.

Brandon Sanderson

The answer is quite surprising. Brandon said that Taravangian used the Old Magic, and that he wakes up each day with a different IQ. Sometimes he's a genius, sometimes he's an idiot. So what he does is he writes up math puzzles for himself in the evening, and if he cannot get a certain score in the morning the guards have orders to just take care of him and keep him away from important decisions for that day. That way he keeps his effect (personal speculation, it could be his curse, but also his boon if e.g. he asked for intelligence and only got it part-time) under control.

[Yados]

We actually first heard about this back in 2011

 

This thread is from 2010.

[Phantom Monstrosity]

This thread is from 2010.

Yep.  But the necro is from 2013.

 

I'd offer props to Link, but I honestly don't remember seeing him on the fora. 

Edited May 31, 2013 by Phantom Monstrosity