The Madness of the Heralds

[Jondesu he/him]

So it's been a fairly common theory that the Heralds are going mad, or at least twisted in some way, acting in opposition to their traditional purposes. It's often been assumed that this is related to them giving up their Honorblades and/or abandoning the Oathpact, but it's been a very long time since then (I don't recall, but hasn't it been at least 1000 years?). 

What if the Heralds are going mad, but it hadn't begun until relatively recently, and it's not due to the act of abandoning the Oathpact itself, but by the pressure being placed on them to fulfill their duty of preparing mankind for the upcoming desolation? They're bound by Honor (literally) to defend mankind and prepare them for the desolations, and they've resolved not to do that; the strain of having some type of pressure from their bond fighting with their decision would be incredibly taxing, and could easily be creating a mental disorder. That would explain why the man we believe to be Kalak at the party to be so worried that they're getting worse: they had been fine until recently, and while he might not fully understand that it's because of an upcoming desolation, he would know that it's a recent development and dangerous to them. 

Nale might have mostly realized this as well, and be fighting to keep the desolation from coming not to protect humanity, but to regain his control over his mind.

[Blightsong he/him]

If they are all going mad, I doubt it's a natural process. I would think it's either from their old age (least likely), the hundreds of years of torture and following ptsd, or some kind of consequence of abandoning the Oathpact (which might have messed with their spirit webs, which can very easily cause madness).

[thegatorgirl00 she/her]

The use of the phrase getting worse implies to me that there was some pre-existing condition. I like the idea that the upcoming desolation is the reason for them getting worse, though. 

[Jondesu he/him]

1 hour ago, thegatorgirl00 said:

The use of the phrase getting worse implies to me that there was some pre-existing condition. I like the idea that the upcoming desolation is the reason for them getting worse, though. 

Yeah, I was thinking that they all noticed it beginning, maybe years prior (depending on how long before a desolation they'd usually return), and that they're worried because it's getting worse, as it grows closer. I doubt they're really aware of why it's happening though, or at least fully aware. Brandon has said the Oathpact isn't as broken as they thought, which was part of the inspiration for this theory.