Healing

[Lazarus52980]

I'm sorry if this has been discussed before, but I'm really curious about something.  At the end of WoR, we see that Lopin is able to draw in stormlight and begins to have his arm healed.  However, why would that happen?  We know from other stories and WoB's that healing is based on how you see yourself and your "perfect self" from the spiritual relm (your soul).  THis is the reason that Kaladin can't heal his slaves brand (becuase he sees it as part of himself).  It seems VERY obvious that Lopin sees himself as having only one arm...  Why is he able to heal his arm?  What would have changed in him to make him see himself as having two arms??

[Stormgate]

Because he knows that having two arms is normal.

The real question is: Why don't Kaladin's brands heal?

My answer: because he believes that it's because of the world that he has the brands, and that unless the world has honor, he should be branded for his.

I'm not thinking clearly right now, sorry if it doesn't make sense.

[Cortez]

Lopen often refers to his missing arm as if it's still there - such as 'see that, that's my other arm making a rude gesture at you' or something like that during the Radiant training scene (I only have the audiobook so can't give a precise quote) which shows that he still views it as part of him. 

[Pathfinder]

Lopen often refers to his missing arm as if it's still there - such as 'see that, that's my other arm making a rude gesture at you' or something like that during the Radiant training scene (I only have the audiobook so can't give a precise quote) which shows that he still views it as part of him. 

I think there is a WoB that confirms this. 

[The Sovereign]

I think there is a WoB that confirms this. 

 

Relevant WoB:

 

Interview: Mar 22nd, 2014

WoR Signing Report - Argent (Verbatim)

Question

Why can Stormlight heal Lopen's arm, but can't heal Kaladin's scars?

Brandon Sanderson

Because a lot of the healing in the cosmere works on principles of expectation and how you envision yourself.

Question

So Kaladin has accepted the scars.

Brandon Sanderson

And Lopen never accepted the one arm. It's one of these ties when I built the magic systems that I wanted certain threads to run through them, so when I eventually have them being used in the same books, there will be consistency among them, so they won't feel like everything's just thrown together. So, the intention and expectation, for instance, in Warbreaker. What you want to have happen, the expectation, the way you are thinking about things, all that influences what actually happens. Very important for most of the cosmere magics.

 

 

 

It should be noted that Stormlight also healed Renarin's eyes. I think the logical leap can be made that his vision wasn't always impaired. If it were, he probably would have viewed wearing glasses as his normality and his vision likely would not have healed.