Voidbringing woman

[Farnsworth]

On the back of Words of Radiance, there is this picture:

 

http://coppermind.net/wiki/File:TWoK_Rear_Endsheet.jpg

 

It's similar to the one on the front, which we know is the 10 types of surgebinding, the 10 orders, and the 10 heralds, so it's probably the parshendi's equivilant.

 

My questions are:

Who is the lady? She is where the heralds are on the front cover picture, but who is she? Is she Odium? Cultivation? A spren?

 

What is the gem in the center? It it similar to the gems that Parshendi have in their beard?

 

Could this be all of the Parshendi forms, and their spren?

Edited April 13, 2016 by Figberts

[Blightsong he/him]

Odium is a dude, so I would asume Cultivation.

[Jondesu he/him]

It's a cut gem, so not like the ones in the Parshendi's beards, probably just symbolic but it's hard to say. As for the lady, she's a Vorin woman (safehand is covered), so probably not Cultivation. Again, possibly just symbolic of scholars, who put these charts together, or perhaps some well known Vorin woman involved in this in some way.

jW

[shadowwisp]

unless there is a reason behind the tradition of covering safehands. Similar to why Lighteyes are "superior" due to the influences of the knights. 

[ChickenPlague he/him]

unless there is a reason behind the tradition of covering safehands. Similar to why Lighteyes are "superior" due to the influences of the knights.

The reason is that women were kept from using Shardblades this way. They would require 2 hands.

[Eagle of the Forest Path he/him]

Could the assumption that the chart is about voidbinding be wrong?

It might actually have something to do with fabrials, with the lady in the border being a fabrial scholar.

 

Note the hair color. She's blonde, so probably not Alethi, maybe Iriali, though they aren't generally Vorin IIRC.

 

(Finally, the two glyphs on top of the ruby are not linked to any surges (or surge equivalents).)

[Samaldin he/him]

The reason is that women were kept from using Shardblades this way. They would require 2 hands.

Is there a WoB for this? Also there are stances in which the blade is hold in only one hand (Smokestance, Flamestance)

[C. James-Mayer he/him]

(Finally, the two glyphs on top of the ruby are not linked to any surges (or surge equivalents).)

 

Yes, I noticed the same. This is the most important question here imo.

 

The two middle glyphs (which are equivalent to the Bondsmiths and Truthwatchers) are not linked to any of the surges.

 

Why? What is so special about them?

[Argent he/him]

The Vorin dress doesn't mean the woman is Vorin; it only means whoever was depicting her believed she should be. I don't know if there is a term for it, but we often assume people in the past were kind of like us, so while this lady could've had nothing to do with Vorinism, Vorin scholars could've assumed (or decided) she was Vorin, so they influenced her depictions.

[Nyali she/her]

Yes, I noticed the same. This is the most important question here imo.

 

The two middle glyphs (which are equivalent to the Bondsmiths and Truthwatchers) are not linked to any of the surges.

 

Why? What is so special about them?

 

Not only that, those two glyphs are octagons, not circles like the rest. If you consider the center region as a "river" and the two areas on either side as the "shore," then the other major glyphs are all carefully placed on "land." Not only that, if you see the lines on the "land" as elevation lines, then the glyphs are all either at the top of mountains or the bottom of valleys. These two octagons, however, are located on the ruby in the center. Maybe there's something there, some connection between them being octagons (a more "gem-like" shape than a circle) and being located on a gem. Or, maybe the circles represent uncut gems, and the octagons represent cut gems?

 

Another interesting thing about the smaller circles - not only are the top two and bottom two not attached to the central glyphs like they are in the Surgebinding diagram, the middle left and middle right sub circles are not linked to the sub-circles above and below them. On the Surgebinding diagram, Transportation is linked to Transformation and Cohesion, and Division is linked to Abrasion and Gravitation. But, that is not true for Anti-Division (which I shall name Multiplication!) and Anti-Transportation (maybe that's the power of Staying Home?).

 

Also, the background for the image reminds me a LOT of the map of Shadesmar.

 

(Sorry if there's another topic discussing the diagram itself!)

 

Regarding the woman, we know that the custom for hiding one hand came from somewhere. The woman could be Cultivation, who for whatever reason (even maybe just aesthetics) always hid one hand, and the memory of her is the source of the Vorin custom of women hiding one hand. Maybe this isn't a Voidbringing diagram, but a diagram of some magic that comes from Cultivation.

 

 

... or it could still be an image of Odium. Nothing says that person is female, the feminine features just strongly suggest it. Maybe Odium just happens to be a really pretty man? You guys can be pretty too! It's allowed! Especially if you happen to be a god.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Nyali

[Alfa he/him]

The Vorin dress doesn't mean the woman is Vorin; it only means whoever was depicting her believed she should be. I don't know if there is a term for it, but we often assume people in the past were kind of like us, so while this lady could've had nothing to do with Vorinism, Vorin scholars could've assumed (or decided) she was Vorin, so they influenced her depictions.

 

Or simply depictured a Non-Vorin woman with a covered safehand for the sake of modesty. Like leaves, that in the middle ages often had been add to cover the "unmodest" parts of antique statues.

[DreamEternal]

... or it could still be an image of Odium. Nothing says that person is female, the feminine features just strongly suggest it. Maybe Odium just happens to be a really pretty man? You guys can be pretty too! It's allowed! Especially if you happen to be a god.

I am not sure, the only blond guy in any piece of fiction that pretty that I know of is Lucius, from Fire Emblem, and I don't think even the shard of Odium could drive him evil.

[Nyali she/her]

I am not sure, the only blond guy in any piece of fiction that pretty that I know of is Lucius, from Fire Emblem, and I don't think even the shard of Odium could drive him evil.

 

You clearly don't watch much Anime xD

[The Invested Beard]

The Vorin dress doesn't mean the woman is Vorin; it only means whoever was depicting her believed she should be. I don't know if there is a term for it, but we often assume people in the past were kind of like us, so while this lady could've had nothing to do with Vorinism, Vorin scholars could've assumed (or decided) she was Vorin, so they influenced her depictions.

 

White Jesus is a good example of this.

[Farnsworth]

Other questions: What power do the circles represent? Voidbrining? Parshendi forms? Something else entirely? It's probably the opposite of the surges and knight radiant powers. Also, in WoK, there was a dull colored thing of Roshar, and on the back there was a more colorful picture of Shadesmar. If the Radiants exist in the physical realm, maybe whatever is represented on the back exists in Shadesmar? The Parshendi are closer to the cognitive realm.

[Oversleep]

The reason is that women were kept from using Shardblades this way. They would require 2 hands.

Actually all that feminine/masculine division was made based on the book a woman wrote. Writing and arts and science can be done one handed (as you mostly just write) and fighting requires two hands.

As Hoid put it, isn't it convenient that male activities consist of finding somebody who would stick a blade in your stomach but female activities are just sitting around and having fun?

[Nyali she/her]

Other questions: What power do the circles represent? Voidbrining? Parshendi forms? Something else entirely? It's probably the opposite of the surges and knight radiant powers. Also, in WoK, there was a dull colored thing of Roshar, and on the back there was a more colorful picture of Shadesmar. If the Radiants exist in the physical realm, maybe whatever is represented on the back exists in Shadesmar? The Parshendi are closer to the cognitive realm.

 

I'm thinking more and more that the diagram is actually about Fabrial Science, or whatever it's called, not Voidbringing. The lightning bolts connecting the glyphs suggest, to me, current flowing along a circuit. The background suggests Shadesmar, and Fabrial Science is all about trapping the right spren in the right gems. The middle two are mirrors of Truthwatcher and Bondsmith, and they are of special note. Maybe those two aspects of Fabrial Science are special, like metapowers that are not actually part of Fabrials. Maybe the Truthwatcher mirror has to do with observing spren, and the Bondsmith mirror has to do with trapping spren? And the other eight are different ways to tap into the energy of a spren (or they trap different spren)?

 

I don't think it's right to see these glyphs as representing "opposites" - the glyphs aren't inverted, upside down, colors reversed, etc. They are half flipped and half left alone, making them all more connected with more lines spanning the graph. It's like each one has a line through the middle from one end to the other, like the surge has been converted from something individual to something that can link with other surges, something you might see in a circuit diagram.

[Alfa he/him]

Does anybody else see faces in the "Order" circles? The face in the "Skybreaker" circle looks a bit like I see the stormfather, and the "Bondsmith"-face looks like some kind of an insectoid. Are this Spren-faces?

Edited April 13, 2016 by Alfa

[Farnsworth]

I think that the faces seen have more to do with most of the glyphs being symmetrical.

 

But why are not the small circles symmetrical?

[Cosmereverything]

What if the two octagons on the gem represent Honor and Cultivation?

[Lightspine]

Looking at the symbols for the surges, the symbols on the void binding diagram are derived from those on the surge binding one; if you take a symbol split it in half, and flip the left side upside down you change between the symbols. Symbols seem to have the same color too.

[C. James-Mayer he/him]

I'm thinking more and more that the diagram is actually about Fabrial Science, or whatever it's called, not Voidbringing. The lightning bolts connecting the glyphs suggest, to me, current flowing along a circuit. The background suggests Shadesmar, and Fabrial Science is all about trapping the right spren in the right gems. The middle two are mirrors of Truthwatcher and Bondsmith, and they are of special note. Maybe those two aspects of Fabrial Science are special, like metapowers that are not actually part of Fabrials. Maybe the Truthwatcher mirror has to do with observing spren, and the Bondsmith mirror has to do with trapping spren? And the other eight are different ways to tap into the energy of a spren (or they trap different spren)?

 

 

 

I have been thinking along the same lines yesterday. It makes sense to be about fabrials, since the gem in the middle basically screams it.

 

I am currently at work and I can't remember correctly or give any quotes, but take Navani PoV when she was testing the gravity tower as a reference. It makes sense the surges to be half-inverted in this table if you think about it. Navani said that she needed two platforms that are opposite to each other. When you raise one of the platforms the other goes down. It is possible that the spanreed is also working in a similar way. Navani said that gems must also be cut in the right way, otherwise the fabrials wont work.

 

Another thing to mention, a bit of a stretch, in Mistborn there were 8 metals at first and 2 god metals (lerasium and atium). In this table, Bondsmith and Truthwatcher are alone... two Orders, two Shards heavily invested in Roshar (Honor & Cultivation, Odium is not located on Roshar and we know he found a way to splinter himself somehow). So:

 

8 metals, 2 god metals ?= 8 orders, 2 special orders

 

I have some other thoughts on this, but I need to think about it for a while, maybe do some research.

[Argent he/him]

Looking at the symbols for the surges, the symbols on the void binding diagram are derived from those on the surge binding one; if you take a symbol split it in half, and flip the left side upside down you change between the symbols. Symbols seem to have the same color too.

 

These are some of reasons I thought the chart portrays Voidbinding.

[Nyali she/her]

Another thing to mention, a bit of a stretch, in Mistborn there were 8 metals at first and 2 god metals (lerasium and atium). In this table, Bondsmith and Truthwatcher are alone... two Orders, two Shards heavily invested in Roshar (Honor & Cultivation, Odium is not located on Roshar and we know he found a way to splinter himself somehow). So:

 

8 metals, 2 god metals ?= 8 orders, 2 special orders

 

But there aren't eight metals. There are sixteen. Well, unless you mean non-alloys only, but I still think that's just coincidence. There aren't ten types of breath on Nalthis or only ten Aons on Sel or anything like that.

[Pathfinder]

Actually all that feminine/masculine division was made based on the book a woman wrote. Writing and arts and science can be done one handed (as you mostly just write) and fighting requires two hands.

As Hoid put it, isn't it convenient that male activities consist of finding somebody who would stick a blade in your stomach but female activities are just sitting around and having fun?

I could have sworn the Vorin religion did the safe hand to first prevent women from using shardblades, and then a woman wrote the book that divided the masculine arts from the feminine.