What is Tezim's Role?

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

I was randomly browsing the Coppermind, and ended up on Tezims page. He is the god-priest of the Tukari, and their leader. 

Mraize mentions him at one point, and wonders if he is human.

He is also leading the Tukari in a war over the city of Sesemalex Dar, against the Emuli. So, this guy sounds like he might be important, probably as an antagonist. Lets get to the speculation! Who/what is he, what are his motives, what role might he play in the story?

[Erklitt she/her]

Not very creative, I know, but possibly Ishar? Setting himself up as God-King would fit the description of a 'pious / guiding' herald run rampant.

[What's a Seawolf?]

Tezim/Sesemalex Dar got a decent name drop in both tWoK and WoR, so it HAS to have some significance on the future.

It really could be anything, but I'd think the three most likely are: an Unmade, a Herald, a Worldhopper (possibly gone bad.)

Another option is that Tezim is not so important, but the location.  Maybe there's something there of critical importance to the story that we/the main character don't yet know about.  Dawnshards/Dawncities have to be somewhere, maybe these name drops are the beginning of that storyline.  (Which I kind of expect to be a second half of the Stormlight Archive plot point, but it wouldn't be Brandon if there weren't name drops and hints to it through the first half.)

[The Sovereign he/him]

1 hour ago, Erklitt said:

Not very creative, I know, but possibly Ishar? Setting himself up as God-King would fit the description of a 'pious / guiding' herald run rampant.

This was my thought as well while reading.

[Erklitt she/her]

@What's a Seawolf? Great idea about the city being important here. I never thought about it before, but Sesemalex Dar gets a surprising coverage for a city we've never even been to in the story. What with Kaladin seeing it in his dream, asking Sigzil about it and getting a ton of information in return - and then those mentions connected to its ruler.  There has to be something about it beyond its tourist sights.

[kenod]

6 hours ago, Chull #445 said:

He is also leading the Tukari in a war over the city of Sesemalex Dar, against the Emuli. So, this guy sounds like he might be important, probably as an antagonist. Lets get to the speculation! Who/what is he, what are his motives, what role might he play in the story?

I'm getting Wheel of Time flashbacks.

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

Dalinar takes part in a conversation about Sesemalex Dar in WoK with a Tukari, an ardent, and Hatham, as well. So yeah, city has got a bunch of mentions.

I like the Ishar theory, but Mraize was not sure about Tezim being human. As far as we know the Heralds are (I think). But of course, Mraize can be wrong.

[CaptainRyan he/him]

48 minutes ago, Chull #445 said:

Mraize was not sure about Tezim being human.

Depending on how you look at it, Heralds could be considered "not human". Living for thousands of years, enduring supernatural torture for long periods of time, having some amount of unknown magical abilities. In the same way that Brandon says that Hoid started as human but it is now "more complicated" Mraize might be implying that Tezim has reached the "more complicated" stage haha

[Argel he/him]

I think Brandon has RAFO'd if all of the heralds are from Roshar, so I don't think we can assume all of them are human. Likely, but apparently we have seen a dragon in humanoid form, so....

[Sam Script he/him]

3 hours ago, Argel said:

I think Brandon has RAFO'd if all of the heralds are from Roshar, so I don't think we can assume all of them are human. Likely, but apparently we have seen a dragon in humanoid form, so....

Seen in one TheoryLand Interview Database:

Quote

[...]

Brandon: The Heralds --- so you're wondering if the Heralds come from Nalthis?

Question: Yeah

Brandon: The Heralds do not come from Nalthis, but that is an excellent question.

So I guess that's it: at least we are sure that Heralds are not born Rosharan. They were brought.

If you think they're humanoid dragons... are you implying that they're Yolish? Yolen is my first candidate if Heralds were brought, tho.

[Jondesu he/him]

1 hour ago, Sam Script said:

Seen in one TheoryLand Interview Database:

So I guess that's it: at least we are sure that Heralds are not born Rosharan. They were brought.

If you think they're humanoid dragons... are you implying that they're Yolish? Yolen is my first candidate if Heralds were brought, tho.

Nope, the WoB doesn't confirm any such thing.  All he said is they're not from Nalthis.  That could mean they're from Roshar but there's something he found good about the purpose of the question, or that they're from another world, but it absolutely doesn't confirm that they're not from Roshar.

jW

[Rasarr she/her]

Perhaps that's a bit off topic, but considering the location of Sesemalex Dar, I wonder if we won't see the city from Lift's POV - she seems to be far closer to it than the rest of the POV characters. She started in Azir and, IIRC, the newsletter fragment places her in Tashikk (am I correct?), so she seems to be moving in this direction.

I like the idea that Tezim is Ishar, though I think the old man Axies has met in his first Interlude is pretty convincing as "corrupted" Ishar as well. My first idea for Tezim when I was reading the book was actually that he's somehow affiliated with the Voidbringers, or at least influenced by them, to create chaos around what's probably one of the Dawncities. If Sesemalex Dar has an Oathgate, it could be use to evacuate population quickly when Voidbringers come, so it stands to reason Odium would want to create - or at least perpetuate - chaos in the region.

As for Herald's off-worldness, my pet theory is that they (and the rest of humanity in Greater Roshar) are from Braize, and Odium's arrival forced them to jump planets, making Heralds Braizian and off-world while not bringing "deep Cosmere" into one of main aspects of the story.

Edited July 23, 2016 by Rasarr