How do we know about the Heralds?

[The Technovore]

So... I recently decided to check out the forums here, when I saw a post describing the actions of Naln and Shallash, and the whole "Law-breaker killing" and "Art smashing" thing. I did NOT know about this... so... spoiled I guess  I also checked the coppermind and saw that this information is pretty definitive on the 'fact' that those two are definitely heralds.

I have read through the series thrice, and never made the connection with the Art-Smashing lady and Shallash and the Radiant killing guy and Naln... So what I wanna know is, how DO we know this? Is it a couple of really through readers, who saw the connections with the heralds and the mysterious people, is it just really-solid conjecture based on similar names and motives? Similar descriptions depicting the same guy? What did I miss that I never connected this? 

 

(Also I never really understood the hype about Lift until the 3rd re-read where it really sunk in that she turns food into stormlight, and that she BEAT A FREAKING HERALD! I mean WOW!) 

Edited November 8, 2016 by The Technovore

[Pagerunner]

They're deep secrets, so don't feel bad about missing them. Brandon has been very generous with answering questions at signings and over the internet, so people have been able to slowly piece together information. A lot of Brandon's comments on the subject of Heralds have been compiled here, and there are many more categories with other topics that he's spoken on. It's a real treasure-trove of information, and I've wasted way too much time reading through it.

A big kickoff for the Herald search was one of Brandon's comments that there are more Heralds in Way of Kings than we would expect. So, people started turning over rocks, and found Shallash as a possible candidate, which Brandon later confirmed. After the release of Words of Radiance, we could identify Nale (IIRC, he was name-dropped at the end), and there are many more unconfirmed theories as to what background characters might be more than they appear. They started out as theories, and were confirmed by WoB (Word of Brandon) later.

[Blightsong]

Welcome!

Adding to what page runner said, the vast majority of this kind of Easter egg stuff has been either found or cemented as canon via the questions Brandon answers at events, so you will be pretty confused browsing the forums until browsing the wiki a bit.

[+hwiles]

There are some in-book hints about these character's identities but they weren't meant to be easy to find, so it's perfectly understandable to miss them.  For example, the epigraph of WoK chapter 55:

Quote

A woman sits and scratches out her own eyes. Daughter of kings and winds, the vandal

Describes Shallash going around destroying artwork that depicts her.

[junior]

Also worth noting that some of the Heralds - and quite possibly *all* of them (except, obviously, Talenelat'Elin) - were at the palace the night that Gavilar was assassinated.  For instance, during the opening segment in WoR, Jasnah passes two men, and the description of one of them is a dead ringer for Nale.

[+hwiles]

8 hours ago, junior said:

Also worth noting that some of the Heralds - and quite possibly *all* of them (except, obviously, Talenelat'Elin) - were at the palace the night that Gavilar was assassinated.  For instance, during the opening segment in WoR, Jasnah passes two men, and the description of one of them is a dead ringer for Nale.

More than just being present, from their overheard conversation, it sounds like they were aware that the assassination was going to take place and had deliberately chosen to not stop it, despite indications that doing so would have been well within their power.  IE: Gavilar wanted to bring back the voidbringers, and somehow was going to, and the Heralds were like: "...Naaahhhh...Let's go ahead and not do that, we like not being tortured..."

[The Technovore]

Thanks for the answers guys, I really appreciate it