Luka Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 "I wish to sleep. I know now why you do what you do, and I hate you for it. I will not speak of the truths I see." - Chapter 63 of Way of The Kings This death rattle seems to be referring to a Truthwatcher. Could it be Renarin's reaction to what Adolin did at the end of WoR? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calderis Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 I always took this to be someone being bled by the diagriamists, and remaining coherent enough despite their vision to both understand the purpose of their death, and spiteful enough to outright deny them the payoff of his/her glimpse into the future. I'd hate them for killing me too. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvoraen Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) Personally, I've interpreted this as Moelach being the actual speaker, as it seems strange that the individual physically giving these words would say "truths I see", as if knowing what was being witnessed. Thus, it didn't make sense to me that it was a Death Rattle. Edited March 12, 2017 by dvoraen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxal Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) 8 hours ago, Luka said: "I wish to sleep. I know now why you do what you do, and I hate you for it. I will not speak of the truths I see." - Chapter 63 of Way of The Kings This death rattle seems to be referring to a Truthwatcher. Could it be Renarin's reaction to what Adolin did at the end of WoR? Why would Renarin hate Adolin for murdering Sadeas? If anything, the youngest Kholin seems more "blood-thirsty" than his brother, isn't he the one asking for Adolin to "beat bloody" his opponent? He might hate knowing, but hating Adolin for it? Edited March 12, 2017 by maxal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weltall Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) I'm firmly in the camp that the speaker knew he was being killed to provide a death rattle; either he intuited it or something he saw in his last moment gave him the idea. Remember that the people they kill deliberately are in a room with everyone else and someone who remained completly lucid at the end could probably have figured out that the seeming nonsense others sometimes say when they die is the reason they're all down there. In other words, this speaker was telling the silent gatherers they could storm off. The fact that the comment notes that the 'sample' is considered useless is key too. If they thought it was Moelach speaking I think they'd be very interested and anything they considered a genuine death rattle would probably not get that kind of comment. Edited March 12, 2017 by Weltall 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krandacth Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 This feels to me, too, like a non-rattle; a man aware that he is being killed, and to what purpose, and intentionally defying that purpose. This is presumably the conclusion that led the recorder of the quote to state that the sample is largely useless. However, if this conclusion proves true, this is a further hint to the greater awareness of the Shin to such widely-ununderstood phenomena (in addition to the hints we have from Szeth regarding Stone Shamanism). Why? The man understands their purpose to a surprisingly high degree: not only has he deduced that they are killing people to record death rattles, but death rattles are, by his phrasing, understood by him to be responses to "truths seen" by the dying. This makes the sample noteworthy to real-life readers, if not directly to the in-book Diagram. On the other hand, this is a perfect opportunity for... Whatever the opposite of a red herring is :-P This could, in fact, be a death rattle of the kind described by the OP (though I don't believe it fits with what we know of Renarin's character, regarding the events at the end of WoR), dismissed both in world and IRL but, perhaps, the key to the entirety of the SA. Nevertheless, my bet is that it is not a rattle, I'm afraid. Just a garden variety surprisingly knowledgeable Shin sailor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zea mays Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 Did anyone else misread the thread title as Truthwatcher Death Battle? No? Just me then sounds like the ultimate staring contest of doom. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theuntaintedchild Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 On 3/12/2017 at 3:35 AM, dvoraen said: Personally, I've interpreted this as Moelach being the actual speaker, as it seems strange that the individual physically giving these words would say "truths I see", as if knowing what was being witnessed. Thus, it didn't make sense to me that it was a Death Rattle. This is my favorite interpretation of this death rattle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krandacth Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 On 12/03/2017 at 8:35 AM, dvoraen said: Personally, I've interpreted this as Moelach being the actual speaker, as it seems strange that the individual physically giving these words would say "truths I see", as if knowing what was being witnessed. Thus, it didn't make sense to me that it was a Death Rattle. Is this the last recorded death rattle? I'm pretty sure it isn't, though don't have the books with me. If it is, indeed, not the last recorded rattle, why would Moelach say this through one person, then continue providing rattles to other "patients" in the same ward? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weltall Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 It's not the last one, or at least not the last one we read in the epigraphs. I haven't paid enough attention to the given dates to know where they fit chronologically in-universe. But even if it was the last recorded it wouldn't be the last actual death rattle because we see they're still happening in Words of Radiance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krandacth Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 @Weltall While we do see them in WoR, we don't necessarily see them in Taravangian's rattle-harvesting-factory (in fact, I believe he mentions there being less of them recently...). Nevertheless, my point is that it doesn't make sense for the "rattle" to be a quote from Moelach if there are any further rattles from Taravangian's factory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weltall Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 Yeah, I know what's what you meant. And I did go back to look at the dates again because I was curious and there are definitely rattles that were recorded after this one. The epigraphs are given to us in chronological order so for example the one in question was recorded on Kakashah 1173 (8th month, 6th week, 5th day) and a couple rattles later we have the one that mentions Dai-gonarthis, recorded on Tanatesach 1173 (9th month, 1st week, 3rd day) so we know that was recorded about twenty days after our Shin sailor told off the silent gatherers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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