The End of Stormlight Archive theory

[NamelessThirteenth]

Spoiler alert

 

 

 

So I made this theory ( I am not sure if it has been mentioned before) and this is based off  WoB in which he says to the readers "You already know how the Storlight Archive will end" (I will source the WoB eventually). The theory is that the end is a parody of the beginning, ie: the Final Desolation. I think the characters become Heralds of a sort, and then they all leave or die, keeping on eof them behind. This really fits, is thematically appropriate, and fits with the way that the Knight Radiant are being reborn with only one Knight each, not more than one.

However some problems include that some heralds (like Nale) are alive, so how does it fit?

Please support or disprove. 

[the_archduke]

Way of Kings Chapter 9 chapter heading

 

“Ten people, with Shardblades alight, standing before a wall of black and white and red.” 

 

I think Brandon snuck this in as a scene from the end of the series.  Hiding it in plain sight.

 

And I do not believe that we are only getting one radiant of each order.  Have you read the end of Edgedancer?

Edited April 7, 2017 by the_archduke

[Tsidqiyah he/him]

3 hours ago, NamelessThirteenth said:

However some problems include that some heralds (like Nale) are alive, so how does it fit?

WoB indicates ALL the Heralds are still around, and that we have already seen them all.

[The One Who Connects he/him]

Have to agree with Archduke, we are not only getting one Radiant per Order.

Without even bringing in Edgedancers spoilers (that straight up prove "one per order" wrong) Consider Ym. He has the Progression surge. That makes him either an Edgedancer or a Truthwatcher. We later learned which, but that doesn't matter. We have an Edgedancer already(Lift) and a Truthwatcher(Renarin). And he was a second Truthwatcher. 

Brandon has told us that we would see another Windrunner at some point, to showcase how the Oatha convey an idea, not exact wording. So that's 2 there as well.

[dvoraen]

If we want to go down the speculation path of the hints to the end of the series, I think it's been given in a much more obvious manner: a Death Rattle.  A ketek Death Rattle, to be more precise.  I feel it has answers in it, but I haven't really set about putting my inner rambling to cohesive thought (forum posts) yet.

[NamelessThirteenth]

Hmm, I totally forgot about the end of Edgedancer, with Szeth and that other lady. Did not think that through. The Death Rattles are also very intuitive. They predicted the coming of Odium, and also the Everstorm by the Parshendi. If they are to go by in everything, I think the Rosharan system will eventually collapse, as supproted by one of the first Death Rattles in TWoK: 

"You've killed me. Bastards, you've killed me! While the sun is still hot, I die! ”

— Collected on Chachabah 1171, 10 seconds pre-death, by the Silent Gatherers. Subject was a darkeyed soldier thirty-one years of age. Sample is considered questionable.

When I think about it, thgis could be a metaphor, but this idea is something that's been circulating for a long time, and I figured I'd put it to paper.

 

WAIT WHAT!!!! WE SAW ALL THE HERALDS???

That makes no sense to me. All I know we've seen is Nale and Shalash (Who I think is Baxil's mistress), but where are all the others?

[Ciridae]

34 minutes ago, NamelessThirteenth said:

WAIT WHAT!!!! WE SAW ALL THE HERALDS???

That makes no sense to me. All I know we've seen is Nale and Shalash (Who I think is Baxil's mistress), but where are all the others?

I don't think we've seen all the heralds, I think the WoB said that they have all been mentioned, but I'm not exactly sure. It's been proposed that the old and seemingly drunk man who asks Szeth at the beginning of WoK "have you seen me?" is a Herald, maybe Jezrien, based on the statues of heralds behind him and Nales comment on Jezrien "if he ever stops drooling". Another common theory is that the ardent in the Palanaeum is Paliah, I think Shallan describes her as she would imagine a herald to look like. The last one I can remember is the nervous man Nale was talking to in the prologue, who many believe to be Kalak.

[The One Who Connects he/him]

6 hours ago, NamelessThirteenth said:

WAIT WHAT!!!! WE SAW ALL THE HERALDS???

That makes no sense to me. All I know we've seen is Nale and Shalash (Who I think is Baxil's mistress), but where are all the others?

Brandon has said that all of the Heralds were in WoK, in some form or fashion. (Even if it was just a mention, if I remember his wording right)

Baxil's Mistress is Shalash, we got that confirmed. Nalan is Nalan, the person next to him in the prologue says things that make the most sense from a Herald's perspective: "We aren't supposed to get worse. Am I getting worse?" among other things. Kalak and Jezrien were in the prelude. Taln in the epilogue(as far as we know). We believe that the person next to Nalan is Kalak, rather than Ishar, so that's either 5 or 6 on screen for sure. 

Ishar was mentioned by Jezrien in the prelude, there was a "Vedeledev's golden keys" said at some point, and I've got nothing for Chana, Paliah, or Battar.

[NamelessThirteenth]

Ohhh now I get it. So seen here means mentioned not actually met.

Tanks for the clarification.

[Farnsworth]

There's that whole thing in vorinism about palindromes, so a symmetrical ending would make a lot of sense.

[NamelessThirteenth]

haha that makes so much sense

[Steeldancer he/him]

On 4/8/2017 at 5:42 PM, Figberts said:

There's that whole thing in vorinism about palindromes, so a symmetrical ending would make a lot of sense.

Nice, that's actually a really good point... I never thought of that! A symmetrical ending would be perfect

[The Sovereign]

On 4/8/2017 at 11:33 AM, The One Who Connects said:

Ishar was mentioned by Jezrien in the prelude, there was a "Vedeledev's golden keys" said at some point, and I've got nothing for Chana, Paliah, or Battar.

There is a scene in WoK where Shallan comments on seeing someone wandering the stacks of the Palanaeum, Brandon has confirmed this is indeed Paliah.

WoB referencing this from 2013; Brandon confirmed this theory was actually correct in person for me last year at a signing when I brought it up to him:

 

Quote

 

INTERVIEW: Oct 14th, 2013

Steelheart Signing Report - Shardlet (Verbatim)

QUESTION

Is the Palanaeum named for Palah?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yes. In fact, it was named based on—it was Greek in our world—the Athenaeum? It was based off of that.

WETLANDER

Did we see Palah?

BRANDON SANDERSON

I believe every one of the Heralds is mentioned or shown somewhere in the first book.

WETLANDER

Someone was wondering whether the old woman who was wandering around the Palanaeum was her.

BRANDON SANDERSON

That is a very good guess. I won't say specifically, because some of them are intended to be more obvious and some of them are intended to be red herrings. So, that was a very good guess.

TAGS

heralds,

 

 

Edited April 10, 2017 by Iron Eyes

[Pagerunner he/him]

4 minutes ago, Iron Eyes said:

There is a scene in WoK where Shallan comments on seeing someone wandering the stacks of the Palanaeum, Brandon has confirmed this is indeed Paliah.

Woah, woah, woah. Source? I've seen it as a theory, never any confirmation though.

[The Sovereign]

14 minutes ago, Pagerunner said:

Woah, woah, woah. Source? I've seen it as a theory, never any confirmation though.

The inside cover of my Bands of Mourning Copy <3. A friend is borrowing my Era 2 books at the moment but I'll take a picture of it when I get it back.

[Pagerunner he/him]

2 minutes ago, Iron Eyes said:

The inside cover of my Bands of Mourning Copy <3. A friend is borrowing my Era 2 books at the moment but I'll take a picture of it when I get it back.

Nice. Carry on, then.

[Nicrosil he/him]

I believe there were theories that the crazy man in the Axies interlude was one of the Heralds, if there are some unaccounted for. 

[CalaCrisp88]

On 4/10/2017 at 10:19 AM, Iron Eyes said:

The inside cover of my Bands of Mourning Copy <3. A friend is borrowing my Era 2 books at the moment but I'll take a picture of it when I get it back.

Sooo...... did you get back?

[+Wax he/him]

Great... now I don't have to buy the rest of the books, coz really, I know the end, eh? 

[The Sovereign]

10 hours ago, 8giraffe8 said:

Sooo...... did you get back?

Alas, I have not. She just started it about 2 weeks ago and she isn't the fastest reader.

[Jofwu he/him]

@The Sovereign How about now?

[red032 he/him]

On 20/04/2017 at 0:48 AM, axcellence said:

Great... now I don't have to buy the rest of the books, coz really, I know the end, eh? 

Journey before destination, padawan young Radiant, journey before destination...

[What's a Seawolf?]

“Ten people, with Shardblades alight, standing before a wall of black and white and red.” 

C'mon guys, you all remember Elementary School!  What's black and white and red all over?

A bloody penguin!

Clearly Stormlight 10 will involve 10 million bloody penguins leaving Ashyn to kick the humans off Roshar for good.  The quote is the culmination of the final battle, where only 10 radiants remain alive.

[RShara she/her]

On 4/20/2017 at 5:21 AM, The Sovereign said:

Alas, I have not. She just started it about 2 weeks ago and she isn't the fastest reader.

Did you ever get that back and can you take a pic of it?

[Unlicensed Hemalurgist he/him]

On 4/8/2017 at 4:29 AM, NamelessThirteenth said:

 If they are to go by in everything, I think the Rosharan system will eventually collapse, as supproted by one of the first Death Rattles in TWoK: 

"You've killed me. Bastards, you've killed me! While the sun is still hot, I die! ”

— Collected on Chachabah 1171, 10 seconds pre-death, by the Silent Gatherers. Subject was a darkeyed soldier thirty-one years of age. Sample is considered questionable.

Interesting you'd even bring that up. When I read that I assumed that this was the soldier laying into the Gatherers themselves rather than an actual Death Rattle, like the Shin guy who refused to tell the Gatherers what he was seeing, or the "Healer-why-do-you-take-my-blood" guy. I mean, even the Gatherers thought it was iffy.

Edited July 17, 2018 by Unlicensed Hemalurgist