Hidden Worldhopper?

[Sand Master]

Ah, thanks, I'll fix that then.

[Blainejstephenson he/him]

On September 12, 2016 at 7:59 AM, Argent said:

Hmm, no, this is definitely interesting. 

I did a search for the word "soil" in The Way of Kings, and there are only a few places where the word appears - and some of those places are ones where it makes sense (e.g. when Vstim is talking about the actual soil in Shinnovar). So let's go over those.

So this is coming from Tukks, Kaladin's... I don't remember, some kind of mentor?, from the army. Perhaps it's worth looking into him a little more?

Interlude 4: Rysn has three references to "soil," but all of them are proper - e.g. Vstim telling Rysn that the soft ground under her feet is called soil, Rysn musing about its strangeness, and Vstim instructing her to get plenty of soil for her grass. So we'll skip those.

Interlude 6: Szeth has Szeth thinking about his time back in Shinnovar, with buildings "built with clay and soil." He also wonders how the people in the East could avoid walking on stone, since they have no soil here. So nothing odd here.

This is the passage @Sand Master was referring to, obviously. The ardent in question is not thoroughly described, so here's what we know about him from the previous couple of pages:

• He is "short white-robed ardent Dalinar didn't know"
• He takes offense in Au-nak's (the Natan man Hatham was talking with) comment that "religion is but an excuse. Or perhaps a justification."
• He has some knowledge of Sesemalex Dar and the Emuli. In his words:
  “The city’s pattern is central to the Emuli religion,” the ardent said. “They claim it is their ancestral homeland, a gift to them from the Heralds. And the Tukari are led by that god-priest of theirs, Tezim. So the conflict is religious in nature.”
• He mocks and/or insults Au-Nak, referring to him as an "insufferable bore." Dalinar calls him bold for insulting "a man Hatham wants to do business with." It turns out the ardent belongs to Hatham and was playing a political game when insulting the Natan.
• And this is where something interesting happens...

  It is very possible that we are overthinking things here, but I think it's certainly possible that that the ardent here is not referring to the ardentia when he talks about "our goodwill" or that "we will speak with you again"

This is a great post. It reminded me of when Wit was asked if he was on their side and he said he wasn't, that he was on the side of someone else. Could this person be referring to the other 'side?' (Sorry for the lack of quotes, I do not yet have easy access to them) 

 

I wonder if there is going to be something larger than Roshar going on in the next books....

[Blainejstephenson he/him]

3 minutes ago, Blainejstephenson said:

This is a great post. It reminded me of when Wit was asked if he was on their side and he said he wasn't, that he was on the side of someone else. Could this person be referring to the other 'side?' (Sorry for the lack of quotes, I do not yet have easy access to them) 

 

I wonder if there is going to be something larger than Roshar going on in the next books....

Wow... I just found out how little I know. Disregard my last post xD 

[Argel he/him]

2 hours ago, Sand Master said:

and I didn't know where else to look

From MB:SH:

Spoiler

The man wore skaa clothing— suspenders, shirt with sleeves rolled up— and tended a small dinner fire. He had short hair and a narrow, almost pinched face.

 

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

5 hours ago, Argel said:

Nazh does most of the grunt/dirty work though, so Nazh will be much more likely to be seen by others than Khriss. Though she shows up as well:

Misborn BoM Spoilers:

  Reveal hidden contents

Such as asking Wax questions at a party.

 

Yeah but that's what I mean by hiding in plain sight. They don't interfere/actively assist in Shardworld shenanigans, especially on Roshar, as it is home to more cognitively aware beings who can recognise when something is different ( a lá Syl and Hoid). Granted this is all must supposition on my part

 

[nervousnerd he/him]

Quote

Of Hatham’s four companions, two were lesser lighteyes and one was a short white-robed ardent Dalinar didn’t know.

This is pretty much the only bit of description that we get about him. It doesn't even mention his eye color. I agree though that Khriss and Nazh have always stayed out of the politics from what we have seen. Brandon from what I have read has said that they take no sides and generally work with everyone towards the pursuit of knowledge.

 

[theuntaintedchild he/him]

8 hours ago, Spoolofwhool said:

Shinovar has chickens and doves. The main thing about shell creatures is that they are adapted to survive in highstorms, like the plants. Once again, we can see in Shinovar that there are more earthlike creatures as they do not have to have evolved to survive highstorms. Horses probably originated there and were spread across Roshar by the other kingdoms. I don't see any reason why they would have to be kandra, not to mention that if every single horse were a kandra, chances are someone would've figured it out ages ago. 

You would also need some reasonable explanation as to why a bunch of kandra decided to go to Roshar and be horses, instead of people, once you've gone over why they've gone to Roshar in the first place.

 

I forgot about the chickens. And frankly don't remember the doves. If anyone figures it out they can just eat them.LOL.  I guess it is a bit of a stretch though. There's just this word of Brandon out there that there are Kandra on Roshar and I've been suspecting everybody. 

 

[Spoolofwhool]

Just now, theuntaintedchild said:

I forgot about the chickens. And frankly don't remember the doves. If anyone figures it out they can just eat them.LOL.  I guess it is a bit of a stretch though. There's just this word of Brandon out there that there are Kandra on Roshar and I've been suspecting everybody. 

There's a Shin proverb about doves, so I'm assuming they have doves there. 

[theuntaintedchild he/him]

1 minute ago, Spoolofwhool said:

There's a Shin proverb about doves, so I'm assuming they have doves there. 

It's becoming increasingly clear that I need to read these novels somewhere less distracting than work...and with a much keener eye. I tend to miss little worldbuilding details like this. Thanks for the education.

 

[Spoolofwhool]

13 hours ago, theuntaintedchild said:

It's becoming increasingly clear that I need to read these novels somewhere less distracting than work...and with a much keener eye. I tend to miss little worldbuilding details like this. Thanks for the education.

Don't worry, I'm just talented at remembering useless details really well and forgetting the important ones which let me pass university. 

Edited September 21, 2016 by Spoolofwhool

[Sand Master]

11 minutes ago, Spoolofwhool said:

Don't worry, I'm just talented remembering useless details really well and forgetting the important ones which let me pass university. 

LOL. Take my upvote, good sir.

Edited September 21, 2016 by Sand Master

[Argel he/him]

15 hours ago, nervousnerd said:

This is pretty much the only bit of description that we get about him. It doesn't even mention his eye color. I agree though that Khriss and Nazh have always stayed out of the politics from what we have seen. Brandon from what I have read has said that they take no sides and generally work with everyone towards the pursuit of knowledge.

 

Yeah, the main thing beyond pursuit of and sharing knowledge is protecting the Cosmere. So there is some knowledge she may not share, or someone people she may not share it with. She presumably is opposed to Odium's plans.

Also worth noting that Branddon wants the SA to stand on it's own so will be keeping worldhoppers to cameo type roles, so there's only so if they were interfering more, it would probably be off-page.

[nervousnerd he/him]

I think protecting the cosmere is something that they do seemingly tangentially though (that is technically the 17th Shards job, maybe?). I mean, I doubt they would work with Odium or anyone that is actively hurting the cosmere but I don't think they would discriminate against for example Hoid or the Shard despite their differing views of what is good for the cosmere. I thought I read a WoB (can't find it again) comparing them to something like mercenaries in that they would work with anyone as long as it was to increase their cosmere awareness.

Spoiler

Also, if Secret History is anything to go by they do seem to have some sort of non-interference policy.

Speaking of Hoid, do we know of any meetings between Hoid and Khriss? I mean, I love the guy but an awful lot of people with knowledge of the cosmere seem to not agree with my opinion on him.

[Argel he/him]

He compared her to Ed Snowden, as in freedom of information. Mercenary makes no sense, since she's not out for hire. I think a fan asking a question may havew mentioned that, or Brandon may have started to say that then switched to the Ed Snowden comparison.

Regarding Hoid, they clearly know who he is in MB:SH, but no idea of they have met or if they avoid each other. Seems hard to imagine them not saying "hi" at some point though.

[Yata he/him]

11 minutes ago, Argel said:

He compared her to Ed Snowden, as in freedom of information. Mercenary makes no sense, since she's not out for hire. I think a fan asking a question may havew mentioned that, or Brandon may have started to say that then switched to the Ed Snowden comparison.

Regarding Hoid, they clearly know who he is in MB:SH, but no idea of they have met or if they avoid each other. Seems hard to imagine them not saying "hi" at some point though.

There is a WoB somewhere about the Khriss's role in the Cosmere as Information Broker. In this WoB Brandon said "If the 17th Shard has need of Information, they go to her to recive then if Hoid need other informations, He will go to her too" It may be a simple example of her role, but suggest that Khriss and Hoid had direct interactions

[SightlessLightWeaver]

Spoiler

 

As of Oathbringer, we know that all humans are known to have originally inhabited Shinovar upon arrival from the world they destroyed.  Shinovar is a land with soil. We also know that Shinovar was given to humans because it presumably matched the world they originally destroyed. For these reasons, I would guess that "soil" has just become part of the language and probably spread when the humans did.

[Elsecaller_17.5 he/him]

I’d like to add a synopsis to the comparison between the ardent and Nazh.

the only thing we for sure now about the ardent is that he is short, though I would argue that there is a strong implication that he is darkeyed due to the way Brandon describes him.

as far as Nazh goes all we have is “lanky”

but

the rosharian gravity is .7 standard leading to taller individuals. As far as I know we don’t have a gravity for therondy (nazh’s home world) but if we assume it’s a standard 1.0 it would imply Nazh is shorter than the rosharian average

Edited July 17, 2019 by Truthwatcher_17.5