PallonianFire he/him Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 So I'm in the midst of a Book of the New Sun reread, and for anyone who's read this, you know what kind of vocabulary Wolfe uses. The chapter I was going over today had the following line: A patch of color caught my eye, purple-black in the strong spring sunshine. It was such a bouquet of threnodic roses as a mute might carry at a funeral. Emphasis mine. With my dictionary handy, since that's kind of a necessity with BotNS, I immediately jumped at looking that one up. It comes from the noun "threnody", meaning "a lament." Now, this makes plenty of sense, considering what sort of life people on Threnody are living. But seeing the word used in the context of a funeral, I immediately started thinking about what kind of further meaning it might have for the history of Threnody. The intuitive one is that a Shard was splintered there, but perhaps the civilization of Threnody established itself there and named it after the death of a Shard. If God has divine hatred, might God not also have divine sorrow? 7
Shardbearer he/him Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 Interesting catch. Just to clear something up, are you saying that you think Threnody might have a "sorrow" shard?
PallonianFire he/him Posted February 11, 2016 Author Posted February 11, 2016 I'm saying that I think there once was a Sorrow Shard, perhaps just called Threnody, and it was splintered, after which some people who followed/worshipped/whatever named the place after it.
Rasarr she/her Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 I never knew "threnody" existed as a regular word in English language... But then again, I didn't know "odium" existed either, so I guess I learn something new every day... Anyway, interesting theory, and makes a lot of sense. Knowing the meaning of it now, Threnody does indeed sound like a name for a Shard.
The Invested Beard Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 Interesting. I wonder if Threnody shares some linguistic root with melody. A lament is usually a funeral song. Lament as a verb is to mourn.
Oversleep Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 (edited) That could be the fourth Shard Odium Splintered...@The Invested Beard A threnody is a song,hymn or poem of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. The term originates from the Greek word threnoidia, from threnos "wailing" and oide "ode", the latter ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *wed- ("to speak") that is also the precursor of such words as "ode", "tragedy", "comedy", "parody", "melody" and "rhapsody". It's a form of poem written in somebody's memory. Edited February 11, 2016 by Oversleep 3
PallonianFire he/him Posted February 11, 2016 Author Posted February 11, 2016 That could be the fourth Shard Odium Splintered... That's what I'm thinking.
The Invested Beard Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 That could be the fourth Shard Odium Splintered... @The Invested Beard It's a form of poem written in somebody's memory. Well there you go. Cheers my good sir!
PallonianFire he/him Posted February 11, 2016 Author Posted February 11, 2016 So it really does come down to the question of what Threnody is named after, whether it's an homage to a Shard called Threnody or if it's simply a memorial to the death of someone/splintering of a Shard named something other than Threnody.
Jondesu he/him Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 If there is indeed a Threnody Shard (Sorrow), which could be really interesting, I'm actually going to guess the Shard and Shardholder left Threnody, or was never invested directly there but maybe in a nearby planet, rather than having been Splintered. While the shades remind me of the spren from Roshar, it doesn't strike me overall as a place where Splintered Shard power resides, with what seems to be overall low levels of investiture to me (the shades are the only thing we see that has a magical component, as far as we can tell, and they don't really do anything beyond hurt people if they come in contact, no other magical effects). jW
PallonianFire he/him Posted February 11, 2016 Author Posted February 11, 2016 I don't necessarily think it was splintered ON Threnody. It could have happened somewhere else, and the people who lived there/worshiped it left due to the cataclysm of the splintering and founded a new world named after it. Of course, this is all baseless conjecture on my part. But I really like the idea of the world being named after a Shard.
Jondesu he/him Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 I don't necessarily think it was splintered ON Threnody. It could have happened somewhere else, and the people who lived there/worshiped it left due to the cataclysm of the splintering and founded a new world named after it. Of course, this is all baseless conjecture on my part. But I really like the idea of the world being named after a Shard. Ah, that does make sense. It's possible, but I'd still like to think of Threnody/Sorrow being a Shard still together so we can see some magic from him/her/it. :-) Either way, though, would be very cool to see that confirmed in a future book or through a WoB. jW
PallonianFire he/him Posted February 11, 2016 Author Posted February 11, 2016 I'm gonna have to come up with a delicate way to ask about this at the Denver signing. Maybe see if I can lead him into a non-RAFO answer. Cuz I really want to know, now.
Oversleep Posted February 12, 2016 Posted February 12, 2016 (edited) I'm gonna have to come up with a delicate way to ask about this at the Denver signing. Maybe see if I can lead him into a non-RAFO answer. Cuz I really want to know, now. Maybe try to ask him a question as if the Threnody being a Shard was already confirmed Like "Was it Odium who killed Threnody?" If you're lucky and Brandon doesn't catch on, we have three outcomes: it's a Shard and you get an answer to your question it isn't a Shard and you get a "why did you think that's a Shard?" he will answer, catch on and then immediately you will be hunted down for asking tricky questions I am not sure about the last one, like 50-50 chances. Edited February 12, 2016 by Oversleep 4
Observer Posted February 14, 2016 Posted February 14, 2016 Could ask why he chose the name Threnody for that world, or if the name of the planet had any relevance. If you get a RAFO, it's probably because it's a Shard. If anything else, it'll probably be him saying he named it after an awesome word or the name wasn't relevant and that's that.
Young Bard he/him Posted February 14, 2016 Posted February 14, 2016 That could be the fourth Shard Odium Splintered... Do we have confirmation he did splinter a fourth shard?
Oversleep Posted February 14, 2016 Posted February 14, 2016 Do we have confirmation he did splinter a fourth shard? Can you write in one of my books about something we don;t know about the Shards, or at least one of the Shards? Brandon Sanderson Odium has killed at least one more Shard than the ones we know about. source We know about Dominion, Devotion and Honor.
Popular Post PallonianFire he/him Posted February 20, 2016 Author Popular Post Posted February 20, 2016 WOOOO! Asked if Threnody was named in memorial for someone at the Denver signing tonight. Brandon, with a big grin on his face: "Yes it is." 21
Lindel he/him Posted February 20, 2016 Posted February 20, 2016 Wow, nice catch! All this time of reading the name Threnody, and I never even considered it might be a word. I'm jumping on the Threnody as a Splintered Shard bandwagon. What else would have enough influence to name an entire planet after it?
Three1415 Posted February 20, 2016 Posted February 20, 2016 (edited) WOOOO! Asked if Threnody was named in memorial for someone at the Denver signing tonight. Brandon, with a big grin on his face: "Yes it is." Awesome. While that's not necessarily direct proof that Threnody was the 4th Splintered Shard, it's certainly pretty convincing evidence. Plus, shades of your relatives/the dead definitely seem like something a Sorrow/Mourning shard would be responsible for, although I imagine that since Threnody's splintering they might have been corrupted by Odium. Edited February 20, 2016 by Three1415
Kelek's Breath he/him Posted February 20, 2016 Posted February 20, 2016 WOOOO! Asked if Threnody was named in memorial for someone at the Denver signing tonight. Brandon, with a big grin on his face: "Yes it is." Nice one. Have an upvote. You may want to post this in the relevant Events post so that the moderators can save this in the Archives or Theoryland. 2
WeiryWriter he/him Posted February 20, 2016 Posted February 20, 2016 Nice one. Have an upvote. You may want to post this in the relevant Events post so that the moderators can save this in the Archives or Theoryland. You are officially me favorite forum member for today. Anyway, here's a link to the Denver signing thread.
ParadoxicalZen he/him Posted February 22, 2016 Posted February 22, 2016 Perhaps their Ancestral land was destroyed (a la Alderaan hahaha) and they were part of an Exodus, or perhaps it was named to mourn a Shard's death? Hmmm
PallonianFire he/him Posted February 22, 2016 Author Posted February 22, 2016 I think I may have to gather my thoughts and the WoB and make a proper theory post for this (and learn how to do the little espoused theories thing in my sig). I'm pretty sure this whole Threnody thing is my first real contribution to this site haha.
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