Crackpot Theory: Honor Will Be Repaired

[Adamir he/him]

Suit snorted. “And it’s said that the Roughs are the place where honor goes to be murdered.”

 

“It’s the place honor goes to be strung up, flayed within an inch of its life, then cut down and left in a desert. If it survives something like that, it’ll be stronger than hell. Certainly stronger than anything you have at your Elendel dinner parties.”

 

The Alloy of Law, Chapter 15. Thanks to Skiroy for pointing that out - go upvote him. Now.  http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/47033-was-kaladin-mentioned-in-the-alloy-of-law/

 

Does that line up with someone we know? Kaladin was strung up in a Highstorm, cut down when he survived - with "an inch of his life" - and then left on the Shattered Plains, the closest Roshar has to a desert. As he says to Syl before they string him up, his survival will ensure his status as a symbol for Bridge 4, giving them conviction. Any interesting parallels?

 

Allow me to give my two vaguely plausable theories - Jasnah and Hoid. Both of them are capable of Worldhopping, and both of them seem to have an interest in Shardworlds. Hoid has not been seen on non-Shardworlds, such as First of the Sun and Threnody, but has been sighted in every novel set on a major Shardworld. Jasnah has shown a scholarly fascination with Investiture, and therefore may make it her research goal to examine the sources of Investiture - Shards, therefore traveling to Shardworlds. With the Alloy of Law taking place three hundred years after the Stormlight Archive, it is possible that one of the two came to Scadrial and started the story, which eventually morphed into the saying. Out of the two of them, I would put my money on Hoid, for being the only one confirmed to have traveled to other Shardworlds, though both have a fascination with stories.

 

Now for my completely crackpot theory. Honor is not dead. Honor is alive - Honor is Invested in Kaladin in the same way Preservation was Invested in Vin. Why is Kaladin described, but the name Honor used in his place? It could just be because he is a Radiant, and lives by Honor's principles, but living by an ideology doesn't make  you that ideology. Sazed was not Harmony just because he tried to live a balanced lifestyle. Preservation and Honor are in similar situations; both have their power spread out over a massive area, spren and mists respectively, and both are still capable of coherent thought, planning and Investing.

 

My conclusion? Honor may be Splintered, but Tanavast is alive. Tanavast held Honor long enough to become a part of it, and thus his consciousness is still present, if fragmented. He is incapable of the same long-term planning as Preservation, due to being far less capable of seeing the future, but it is not impossible, as can be seen with his messages for Dalinar. Each time Kaladin speaks one of the Oaths, he aligns himself closer to Honor's mentality, and therefore is capable of channeling more of Honor's Investiture. My prediction is that, upon speaking the Fifth Oath, Kaladin will be able to re-absorb the various Honor Splinters into a single, cohesive whole like they were before his Splintering. Honor's Champion is not a mortal fighting for the Shard, but a mortal fighting with the Shard, just as Odium's Champion could be Rayse fighting with Odium.

[Grey Knight]

 

Sweet glory.

 

Although I doubt that will happen. Too much of a repeat.

Edited October 15, 2015 by The Potato

[Weltall]

Sanderson has called the Stormfather the cognitive shadow of Honor so I'm pretty certain that Tanavast is dead and not coming back and the visions Dalinar gets don't have any deeper meaning as far as Tanavast's survial is concerned.. Honor the Shard on the other hand could be reassembled. I'm not sure if one of the main characters taking up the mantle wouldn't be a bit on the nose since that happened in Mistborn (am I imagining things or did Brandon say something about that not being where he's going with Dalinar?) but I'm pretty certain that Honor will be reborn somehow. Clearly, it's going to be the Lopen who takes up the Shard.

[Soother he/him]

So I asked Brandon a few years ago what would happen if Odium were to splinter Harmony, and he said that we would not get Ruin and Preservation back. I feel like in a similar vein, if the splinters of Honor were reunited, we might not get Honor, but something similar but at the same time very different, permanently tweaked from being splintered.

[Jondesu he/him]

So I asked Brandon a few years ago what would happen if Odium were to splinter Harmony, and he said that we would not get Ruin and Preservation back. I feel like in a similar vein, if the splinters of Honor were reunited, we might not get Honor, but something similar but at the same time very different, permanently tweaked from being splintered.

That's more because they are now becoming one Shard, and wouldn't separate again.  That said, you're probably right that something fundamentally shifts when a Shard is splintered, and it would lose something in the reassembling.  If this wasn't so similar to what happened in Mistborn, I'd like the theory even more (and I love it), but I feel there's gotta be something more appropriate for a Brandontwist.

 

jW

[Yata he/him]

There is some errors in the first post.

- AoL is a little after of SA maybe some years not 300 years.

- Jasnah probably didn't worldhopp in any other Shardworld (until now) and if she did it, there is no sure proof (unless the bag).
- There is a WoB about the "Tanavast is dead".

- Preservation at the time of Mistborn was no Splintered, it just "lost" most of his Mind, the Shard was whole and Leras was its Holder. In Roshar we may see the Splinter of Honor and Therefore there are two different situation.

- The Stormfather thinks that Honor is dead (and He is his Cognitive Shadow).
-  The Stormfather tried to kill Kal and avoid his bond with Syl.

 

It may be a good idea, but there is too much strange things.

Edited October 16, 2015 by Yata

[Adamir he/him]

I agree that Tanavast is likely dead - my theory was based on the idea that he had put in a dead man's switch, seeing the future like he did with Dalinar's visions and marking someone to be Invested. I never said Preservation wasn't Splintered - I said that Preservation's situation was very similar to being Splintered, in that his Investiture was scattered and therefore unusable.

[Yata he/him]

I agree that Tanavast is likely dead - my theory was based on the idea that he had put in a dead man's switch, seeing the future like he did with Dalinar's visions and marking someone to be Invested. I never said Preservation wasn't Splintered - I said that Preservation's situation was very similar to being Splintered, in that his Investiture was scattered and therefore unusable.

There is an Huge difference.

 

Preservation was a whole Shard who follow the Leras's Orders also if Leras was quite mindless.

Honor was Splintered and it's Splinters developed an our mind. They are not under the "Tanavast's control". His cognitive's shadow may try to follow its orders but Honor had a very poorly futuresight and he probably can't see far in the future. He even didn't know who will recive his "visions".

This is the reason I really doubt that he made a plan for a "heir".