Nedyah Drallid Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 (edited) Hello Fellow Theorists, I have noticed something I cannot explain and was hoping your vast collective knowledge would be able to help. On three separate worlds we see the same traits in three different people. Nalthis- Tonk Fah: Has a strange obsession with dissecting people, directed toward animals by Denth. Roshar- Nan Balat: Has a strange obsession with taking living creatures apart. Scadrial- Forch: Has a strange obsession with dissecting people. Assuming this is not just some coincidence, (I mean, it's Brandon Sanderson, coincidences don't exist) where is this from. I am fairly certain that it is not Odium, it doesn't seem to be driven by hate. It also doesn't seem to be Ruin, because Ruin is not around for any of them. Same for Dominion. In fact, I can't find any of the Shard's work here. I am extremely curious about this, so if anyone has any ideas, other instances of this happening, or WoB, please post in the comments. Edit:Changed name of Forch Edited May 30, 2016 by Nedyah Drallid 1
cloudjumper he/him Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 Hello Fellow Theorists, I have noticed something I cannot explain and was hoping your vast collective knowledge would be able to help. On three separate worlds we see the same traits in three different people. Nalthis- Tonk Fah: Has a strange obsession with dissecting people, directed toward animals by Denth. Roshar- Nan Balat: Has a strange obsession with taking living creatures apart. Scadrial- That Terris Kid (If anyone remembers his name I'll change it): Has a strange obsession with dissecting people. Assuming this is not just some coincidence, (I mean, it's Brandon Sanderson, coincidences don't exist) where is this from. I am fairly certain that it is not Odium, it doesn't seem to be driven by hate. It also doesn't seem to be Ruin, because Ruin is not around for any of them. Same for Dominion. In fact, I can't find any of the Shard's work here. I am extremely curious about this, so if anyone has any ideas, other instances of this happening, or WoB, please post in the comments. Emphasis mine You mean Forch? I don't remember him dissecting anyone. Could you remind me when he does this?
A Windspren he/him Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 Emphasis mine You mean Forch? I don't remember him dissecting anyone. Could you remind me when he does this? When he was in that barn, he was cutting some kid open and poking at his insides. Not sure if that counts as dissection, but still... 1
Nedyah Drallid Posted May 30, 2016 Author Posted May 30, 2016 When he was in that barn, he was cutting some kid open and poking at his insides. Not sure if that counts as dissection, but still... In what way does that not count as dissection?
A Windspren he/him Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 In what way does that not count as dissection? He was more just cutting him to torture him, not really to take him apart.
Nedyah Drallid Posted May 30, 2016 Author Posted May 30, 2016 He was more just cutting him to torture him, not really to take him apart. Could someone please provide the actual quote? I thought he cut them up to see what was inside or something of the sort. But besides that, all three seem to love taking living creatures apart.
Master_Moridin he/him Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 Hello Fellow Theorists, I have noticed something I cannot explain and was hoping your vast collective knowledge would be able to help. On three separate worlds we see the same traits in three different people. Nalthis- Tonk Fah: Has a strange obsession with dissecting people, directed toward animals by Denth. Roshar- Nan Balat: Has a strange obsession with taking living creatures apart. Scadrial- Forch: Has a strange obsession with dissecting people. Assuming this is not just some coincidence, (I mean, it's Brandon Sanderson, coincidences don't exist) where is this from. I am fairly certain that it is not Odium, it doesn't seem to be driven by hate. It also doesn't seem to be Ruin, because Ruin is not around for any of them. Same for Dominion. In fact, I can't find any of the Shard's work here. I am extremely curious about this, so if anyone has any ideas, other instances of this happening, or WoB, please post in the comments. Edit:Changed name of Forch Well, this kind of obsession is a thing that exists in our world too. Somewhat common considering the number of people in the world.
Eki Posted May 31, 2016 Posted May 31, 2016 Well, one is a sociopath, another is a sadist, and the third could be any or both. 'Normal' human behaviour, unfortunately. And yes, Forch did say something about needing to see what was inside, or something like that.
Nedyah Drallid Posted May 31, 2016 Author Posted May 31, 2016 Well, this kind of obsession is a thing that exists in our world too. Somewhat common considering the number of people in the world. But it just seems weird how this appears three separate times. It could just be a coincidence, but this is Brandon Sanderson here.
The Ninja Yodeler he/him Posted May 31, 2016 Posted May 31, 2016 (edited) I was wondering the same about Nan Balat yesterday. Didn't connect the others like Forch and Tonk Fah though. Good catch. Dont really have any insight into this atm. Well, this kind of obsession is a thing that exists in our world too. Somewhat common considering the number of people in the world. Yes, but the fact that he even added these scenes with Nan Balat, Tonk Fah and Forch says something. To me, especially with Balat, it says that something is going on, and that I should probably pay attention to it. Yes, it could be nothing. But I doubt it.Edited to add quote. Edited May 31, 2016 by The Ninja Yodeler
Evil_Reptile Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 I think that a Shard may be too large scale. Perhaps a Worldhopper of some kind? This is just spitballing, but there may be some kind of residual investiture that has some kind of strange Intent attached that these characters have all come in contact with.I would guess that a Worldhopper would be the most likely candidate for this.
hoidhunter he/him Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 (edited) I realize that this is far from super helpful...but I remember reading a WoB some time ago, where someone asked if the dark stuff going on with Shallan's family was somehow shard influenced...I don't remember the exact wording (and I'm not going to find it right now) but the answer was something like, "In a way...you are onto something." So, when comparing the seriously dark, sadistic behavior of other characters from around the cosmere to Nan Balat...I would guess...you are onto something there. But who knows...maybe I would even go so far as to add Bloody Tan to the list. He was a mortician before he turned serial killer and started embalming bodies for the sake of art...all the while ranting about how "someone moves us." Maybe he had been using his profession to mask something more sinister for some time before he finally went over the deep end. All that being said, torturing, murdering psychopaths just make good villains... Edited June 2, 2016 by hoidhunter 1
Stormwarden Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 (edited) Warning: Elantris Spoiler When you think about it Raodans(Elantris) father also got involved in dissections with that secret cult. Edited: ((Sorry, not sure how to add spolier tags.)) Edited June 2, 2016 by Stormwarden
Yata he/him Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 The case of Shallan's brother may be a "special case"... After all an Unmade play with Roshar people and their "dark impulses"
Jondesu he/him Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 (edited) Warning: Elantris Spoiler When you think about it Raodans(Elantris) father also got involved in dissections with that secret cult. Edited: ((Sorry, not sure how to add spolier tags.)) Do [ spoiler ] and then [/ spoiler ] at the end, except remove those spaces. EDIT: or just click the third button in the post window (it looks like a colorful square) and it'll let you do Special BBcode, so you can just choose Spoiler from the dropdown there. The Jesker religion involved sacrifices, but I don't know that they qualified as dissections. Do we have more detail on what they did exactly? jW Edited June 2, 2016 by Jondesu
Halinn Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 If it's not a shardic influence, perhaps it's a worldhopper who wants to figure out how people are different on the different shardworlds.
Edgedancer he/him Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 I sadly don't have anything useful to add to the discussion of what force in the Cosmere could be leading to an obsession with dissections. However, for the sake of providing the full picture, I feel the need to point out that this isn't something only happening in Cosmere books but that there is also a villain that regulary dissects people in the Reckoners books, namely Fortuity. Your choice to ignore this info as something not Cosmere related or something pointing towards this part of Brandon's writing not having a deeper Cosmere reason. 2
Landis963 he/him Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 They're all different motivations, though. Nan Balat was doing it to vent feelings of frustration regarding his (really, really shitty) home life. Tonk Fah was doing it for fun. Forch, however, is doing it for curiosity, to "see what's inside." Beyond the actions themselves, there's no real connection we could draw. Endowment certainly wasn't pushing on Tonk to cause pain, so unless Odium decided to go to Nalthis just to sow a crop of psychopaths, and then left directly after, there's no Shardic connection. (At least not for him. Balat would have been a prime target for Odium, and Forch might have been as well)
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