dantlee Posted December 5, 2016 Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 So, something that's been tickling my mind ever since AU came out... in the Roshar essay, Khriss notes that Spoiler Ashyn is the "burning planet" and Braize is "cold and inhospitable to men." I think it's fair to say that most of us had surmised that Braize was Odium's shardworld, colloquially referred to as "Damnation," where the Heralds were sent to be tortured for thousands of years between Desolations. We also know from the prelude and Taln's viewpoint chapters that one of the more prominent and lovely features of Damnation is being burned alive and having your charred flesh ripped/seared off repeatedly. So, while I still think that the Braize = Damnation theory is correct, perhaps it is not in the physical realm. Could it be that Damnation is actually the cognitive aspect of Braize, one that is particularly awful and risky to traverse? That would also explain why Khriss says that "research here is difficult and dangerous." If the Cognitive Realm of Braize is this horrible, burning hellscape occupied by evil voidspren who enjoy torturing people's souls, it would probably dissuade most curious worldhoppers from poking their noses around, I really don't think Ashyn is Damnation, by the way. I haven't read the Silence Divine, but we do know that no shard occupies Ashyn, and that there are still people living there in floating cities. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jofwu Posted December 5, 2016 Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 9 minutes ago, dantlee said: perhaps it is not in the physical realm. Could it be that Damnation is actually the cognitive aspect of Braize That would make a lot of sense, considering it represents Damnation to many Rosharans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoolofwhool Posted December 5, 2016 Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 Makes sense. I don't think the Heralds are physically on Braize, but only their cognitive shadows, since Brandon has said that they are reborn into a new body every Desolation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagerunner Posted December 5, 2016 Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 Hey wait a minute, doesn't using a lot of Stormlight create frost, and don't Shardblades come slick with condensation when they're summoned? I wonder if there's any connection to Braize being cold... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Hoodie Mistborn Posted December 5, 2016 Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 My thought was... if land/water are flipped in cognitive, perhaps temperature extremes are as well? I also think that the Heralds are tortured/caught in the cognitive before they pass on rather than the physical realm. If the land/sea flip corresponds to extremes of temperature then a frozen physical world would be a burning hellscape in the cognitive... at least in my mind. In the same way the planet of Ashyn would be frozen in the cognitive. Though temps are not as extreme in the Cognitive so I'm not sure if that thought works or not. I'd also think that it's dangerous because of the large # of Spren that are on Braize 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IAreNelson Posted December 6, 2016 Report Share Posted December 6, 2016 It could also be that the heralds are just kept indoors on Braize where they are burned alive. I never assumed that the torture they endured was because of the climate. I also feel like burning someone would be a more painful torture then just throwing them out in the cold and letting them freeze. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejopen27 Posted December 6, 2016 Report Share Posted December 6, 2016 On 12/5/2016 at 10:41 AM, dantlee said: So, something that's been tickling my mind ever since AU came out... in the Roshar essay, Khriss notes that Hide contents Ashyn is the "burning planet" and Braize is "cold and inhospitable to men." I think it's fair to say that most of us had surmised that Braize was Odium's shardworld, colloquially referred to as "Damnation," where the Heralds were sent to be tortured for thousands of years between Desolations. We also know from the prelude and Taln's viewpoint chapters that one of the more prominent and lovely features of Damnation is being burned alive and having your charred flesh ripped/seared off repeatedly. So, while I still think that the Braize = Damnation theory is correct, perhaps it is not in the physical realm. Could it be that Damnation is actually the cognitive aspect of Braize, one that is particularly awful and risky to traverse? That would also explain why Khriss says that "research here is difficult and dangerous." If the Cognitive Realm of Braize is this horrible, burning hellscape occupied by evil voidspren who enjoy torturing people's souls, it would probably dissuade most curious worldhoppers from poking their noses around, I really don't think Ashyn is Damnation, by the way. I haven't read the Silence Divine, but we do know that no shard occupies Ashyn, and that there are still people living there in floating cities. I think Ashyn is where HUMANS on Roshar came from. Before it became a world of fire and darkness I think it was an earthlike planet with humans and horses, and birds, and pigs, and cattle, and strawberries and all these Rosharan, earth-like anachronisms are things the humans brought with them from Ashyn that were cultivated in a sanctuary (Shinovar) by Cultivation. I think the humans on Roshar are refugees fleeing whatever Odium did to Ashyn and therefore Ashyn is the Tranquiline Halls in Vorin Mythology. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvoraen Posted December 7, 2016 Report Share Posted December 7, 2016 Well. That little tidbit about Braize corroborates something I've been working on. I really need to get those two threads done one of these days, but something says I should wait for AU to arrive. (Not having a local bookstore anymore SUCKS, by the way.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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