Crocodiles, Bunnies, and Panthers

[ZotarDragonSlayer he/him]

As I was re-reading Warbreaker I noticed something very out of place for BS's writing. It's when Lightsong and Siri were talking about bringing in a storyteller to answer some of her questions about what was going on with the God King 

 

 Chapter 27

 

“Watch out for the rocks, Vessel,” the high priest noted. “They look rather insignificant, but have sharp edges under the surface.

“Bah,” Lightsong said. “It’s the crocodiles you have to watch for. They can bite. And . . . what exactly were we talking about, anyway?”

 

Sanderson in the past (cough cough WoK) goes to great lengths to make the world seem completely original as possible. The only animal that seems to cross over from time to time is the horse. However, a crocodile?

 

When I noticed that I thought of other examples.

 

Lightsong talking about a red panther in his dream.

 

Hoid talking to Kaladin in prison about bunnies and chicks before telling him the story of Fleet. 

 

There might me more. I cannot find them however.

 

The only thought I can have to  fathom this is that the shards were from Earth, and as they came to each world they brought the ideas or concepts of animals and plants to their worlds. I have read to many BS books to think that this means nothing.

 

This is my first post! So if I'm doing something terribly wrong please let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

[natc]

Earth is not cosmere.

Shinovar has an almost entirely Earth-like ecosystem, as does Scadrial after the Final Ascension (to be honest they had deer and dogs even during the World of Ash, didn't they? And boars, I think).

Presumably Scadrial is modeled after Yolen's life (in appearance if not genetics), as the Shattering apparently occurred at Yolen, and all 16 people who ascended then were presumably from there. Hoid is from there as well.

If anything, outside of invested species like kandra or whatever they have in those minor shardworlds, a lot of cosmere animals are vaguely earthlike. Roshar is kind of an outlier, being dominated by crustaceans and devoid of soil (except Shinovar, which is 100% normal).

Last note, remember that the characters aren't speaking English. What they say is presented to us as english, but it may not be entirely accurate, just similar. A hypothetical scadrian bunny might differ from Yolish or earth bunnies if dissected and analyzed. Human biology in the cosmere is different enough between planets.

[Moogle]

Hoid remarks on this during WoR, talking about the word "axehound". Something like, "you know what an axe is, but what is a hound?"

[blad3mast3r he/him]

As I was re-reading Warbreaker I noticed something very out of place for BS's writing. It's when Lightsong and Siri were talking about bringing in a storyteller to answer some of her questions about what was going on with the God King 

 

 Chapter 27

 

“Watch out for the rocks, Vessel,” the high priest noted. “They look rather insignificant, but have sharp edges under the surface.

“Bah,” Lightsong said. “It’s the crocodiles you have to watch for. They can bite. And . . . what exactly were we talking about, anyway?”

 

Sanderson in the past (cough cough WoK) goes to great lengths to make the world seem completely original as possible. The only animal that seems to cross over from time to time is the horse. However, a crocodile?

 

When I noticed that I thought of other examples.

 

Lightsong talking about a red panther in his dream.

 

Hoid talking to Kaladin in prison about bunnies and chicks before telling him the story of Fleet. 

 

There might me more. I cannot find them however.

 

The only thought I can have to  fathom this is that the shards were from Earth, and as they came to each world they brought the ideas or concepts of animals and plants to their worlds. I have read to many BS books to think that this means nothing.

 

This is my first post! So if I'm doing something terribly wrong please let me know.

 

BS books *cringe*

 

but yes, yolen and scadrial are fairly earthlike.

[Landis963 he/him]

When the Shards create life, they look to what their holders know. Their holders are all from Yolen, which we can infer is Earthlike from the fact that Hoid is (well, was) a human. Therefore, every world will have at least one region or organism which is Earthlike, even if it's just the humans.