What is inside Shallan's father's safe

[Humph]

A variety of theories/speculative discussion points here.

 

#1 -- Could it be a safe made of shardplate?  There are cracks in the front, leaking stormlight, similar to what can occur when shardplate cracks.  If so, perhaps the dead man had been attempting to smash into with a shardblade or Honorblade.  Shallan could have collected her blade from him after dispatching him with some other sword.  This would raise the question of what would be so valuable that it would need to be stored in a safe of shardplate.

 

#2 -- Do we know for certain that shardblades and/or Honorblades have the same effect on all living persons?  Can a shardblade cut the soul in one person (Shallan's mother) but act as a normal blade against someone else (a world hopper, or an incarnated Spren)?  In other words, was it one blade or two blades that caused the havoc?  If two, who were the separate killers?  Would they be the dead man and Shallan?  The dead man and Shallan's father?  Shallan and Shallan's father?  Or could the man have had a shardblade, and was killed by a normal blade, and then his shardblade was used to dispatch her mother?

 

#3 -- Shallan has admitted killing her father.  Could it be possible that the man lying dead on the floor is her actual father (her mother had an affair a decade prior and might be continuing it)?  And that Shallan only later discovered the fact?  If so, why would Shallan be killing anyone in the first place?  Would her putative father have told her to defend the safe at all costs?

 

#4 -- Shallan's father doesn't seem broken up too much by it.  It appears that his concern in the scene is directed only toward comforting and calming Shallan, which seems odd (even setting aside the odd lullaby with which he attempts to do so).  He isn't berating her for killing either the man or the mother.  He expresses no grief or remorse that I can detect for either of the deceased.  It is true there is a tear in his eye, but could that also be interpreted as a tear of joy or pride that his daughter passed the test or performed some heroic act?  More like, "Good girl, I know that was hard for you, but Daddy is so proud of you".  Perhaps the deaths were desired by, or directed by, or engineered by, Shallan's father.  It seems very much in his character to do so.  Eliminating conspirators or double-crossers perhaps.  Or illicit lovers.

 

#5 -- Building from #4, could perhaps her father's pride is due to the fact that this is what Shallan has been raised and trained for.  Could Shallan have been trained as an assasin or killer?  Her father seems to be ruthless.  Her brother shows evidence of callousness to the death and pain of other things.  Why would Shallan's upbringing been any different in this regard?  Could this explain why she has a blade, that she was given one in similar vein to how Szeth was given one?  And thus Shallan in her own way is 'truthless' and thus could attract liespren?

 

#6 -- Has anyone commented upon the anomaly of Shallan's fixation on Jasnah's soulcaster?  I don't mean the fixation on getting a working soulcaster.  I mean the dogged determination that it had to be Jasnah's soulcaster.  There would have to be other more easily-obtainable soulcasters to steal.  Was this single-mindedness due to the effect of Pattern, as Jasnah thought?  Or is there something else in the background of Shallan that led or drove her to that particular fabrial in all the world?

 

I'm not committed to any of these theories, but they popped into my head as interesting "what ifs".

[+Aletus he/him]

Ok firstly, before I lose my train of thought on the matter. The lullaby to me represents what happens in the warcamps and presumably everywhere else when you want to re-juice your currency. (money laundering ftw) aside from the chasm part - it fits, unless the chasm simply means the basket or whatever. 

 

Also, referencing shardblades - most of them are massive. Intended to kill thunderclasts and the like. Honorblades are similarly massive but have different behavioral quirks (like vanishing when holder dies) but we have been confirmed to see 3 types of blades so far, meaning in WoK. Presumably the 3rd is Szeth's, which is considerably smaller and therefor an interesting mystery - as it would not be effective in killing thunderclasts, IE it has a taste for people. (It could also be the Parshendi shardblade that is the third type, but IIRC aside from styling it was similar or unremarkable to Dalinar)

 

I can't imagine the safe being made of shardplate, because I sort of thought it shaped and sized itself to a living being, IE human and apparently parshendi. 

 

This is about as far out of the park as anything can ever be - but IIRC from somewhere, Odium isn't currently on Roshar proper. What if he WAS, and occupied a cramped safe that let his bling-rays out? (when I say was, i mean, at that time. we know he was there)

Edited February 10, 2014 by Blackwood

[Gloom he/him]

[edgedancermd]

 

I am going to have nightmares now, thanks.