How much does Hoid know?

[Trizee]

OK,so here's a little discrepancy I noticed a while ago which I think might be significant.

In the WOK epilogue from Wit/Hoid's POV, the Herald Talenel shows up, dragging a weapon Hoid describes as a Shardblade:

To his side, he carried a massive Shardblade

However,in the prelude to the SA, Kalak clearly states that the Heralds' weapons are not Shardblades:

These Blades were weapons of power beyond even Shardblades

So, my question is, how come Hoid doesn't know that Talenel's weapon is a Shardblade. I'm fairly certain he was alive when the Herald's were at large- so why doesn't he know?

This led me to wonder how much Hoid actually knows? If he is ignorant of this, what else does he not know? And what would the repercussions be? I thought that in this case, it might lead to misunderstanding in any future dealings Hoid has with the Heralds.

Discuss

[dyring]

Check the description of the honorblade.

It looks like a big shardblade. Its not a POV from Hoid there. I think its the honorblade. Its just described as a shardblade by those who does not know the difference.

[Trizee]

Check the description of the honorblade.

It looks like a big shardblade. Its not a POV from Hoid there. I think its the honorblade. Its just described as a shardblade by those who does not know the difference.

Firts of all, it is Hoid's POV. The epiloge is from Wit's Pov, and Wit identifies himself as Hoid when he meets Kaladin:

You, however, may call me Hoid

That's from pg. 801 of the hardcover WOK.

I also know that Talenel's weapon is an honorblade, but Hoid clearly doesn't, as he calls it a Shardblade- as you said, they look similair.

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

1. It doesn't seem unreasonable to consider Honorblades a specialized subset of Shardblades, even considering the wording of the Prelude.

2. It's alright not to show everything a PoV character knows, regardless of whether it is 1st person or 3rd person limited (as in the SA). Even in 3rd person omniscient, it's not like everything is revealed from the beginning.

[dyring]

I know Wit is hoid, I still don´t think it seems quite like a real pov.

More like a description of the scene from above. at some point its from the guards wiewpoint, sometimes from Hoid.

(take for example this section

The gates were closed , and these men were of the night watch, a somewhat inappropriate title. They didnt spend much time "watching" so much as chatting, yawning, gambling or - in tonights case - standing uncomfortably and listening to a crazy man

The crazy man happened to have blue eye´s, wich let him get away with all kinds of trouble.

That don´t sound like its from Wit´s/Hoids pov, describing himself as a crazy man. Later, it starts sounding as if it was, but overall, I read it as a more... general description of a scene, not really by ways of someone´´s thoughts.

But suppose I might be wrong. Parts of it sound like a pov I agree.

Edited October 23, 2012 by dyring

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

It's definitely Hoid's PoV, we're privy to his thoughts and opinions after all. He knows that the guards think of him as a "crazy man" and the other things are his educated guesses as a long-lived being that's seen a whole lot of humanity in its varied states and forms. Hoid also mentions that he knows why the Darkeyes defer to Lighteyes, and that it's a pretty good reason, but he doesn't bother to tell the reader what it is.

It doesn't matter how much a PoV character knows if the author doesn't want to reveal something quite yet. Pratchett's Discworld books are actually a mix of 3rd person limited and 3rd person omniscient. He'll often talk about the consequences of a character's actions in much greater detail than the PoV character could ever know. There's still plenty of room for mystery in the storyline.

[FlashWrogan he/him]

It's definitely Hoid's PoV, we're privy to his thoughts and opinions after all. He knows that the guards think of him as a "crazy man" and the other things are his educated guesses as a long-lived being that's seen a whole lot of humanity in its varied states and forms. Hoid also mentions that he knows why the Darkeyes defer to Lighteyes, and that it's a pretty good reason, but he doesn't bother to tell the reader what it is.

It doesn't matter how much a PoV character knows if the author doesn't want to reveal something quite yet. Pratchett's Discworld books are actually a mix of 3rd person limited and 3rd person omniscient. He'll often talk about the consequences of a character's actions in much greater detail than the PoV character could ever know. There's still plenty of room for mystery in the storyline.

I agree that he is just limiting what he is revealing to us, but as a point of note, there is nothing that specifically indicates that this is from Wit's point of view. It suggests that it might be from his POV, but it never shows what he is thinking. It could be from the POV of an astute outside observer

[happyman he/him]

The perspective in the epilogue is not easily pegged. It's third person, and it dips into the thoughts of different characters at different times. I'd say that the description of the blade as being a Shardblade is from the guards point of view, which at the least tells us nothing about Hoid's knowledge.

[CrazyRioter she/her]

yeah it's only sort of from Hoid's POV, it's a bit more distant then the other POVs.

It's Brandon being cagey as usual.