Way of Kings - Interlude 7

[Silarn]

I'm currently reading the Way of Kings, which I last read shortly before becoming Cosmere-aware. As such, in interludes particularly, I'm now seeing the connections I'd missed before.

It struck me just now, reading this Interlude, that the 'employer' of Baxil and Av seems to match Khrissala's appearance. She is dark skinned, like a Makabaki, but tall and lean, like an Alethi, with pale violet - near white - eyes like a Shin, with long black hair to her waist, and wearing tight trousers and a thin sword.

More interestingly, she seems to be intently destroying artwork. Why? The first painting destroyed is apparently a depiction of "Epan, Lady of Dreams". Gouges the eyes out of a bust, destroys a pot, and finally a whole statue. They pointedly state that she's against actually stealing anything.

If this is indeed Khriss... Why?

My best guess is she may be destroying evidence of Bavadin's tampering on Roshar. But there's precious little to go on.

[+Extesian he/him]

The prevailing view is that it's (and I'll spoiler this in case)

Spoiler

Shalash, one of the Heralds. That said I can't find a definitive WoB, maybe Yata can help with that, but here's a few that might suggest it

Quote

TGANCHERO

Did the mistress from the interlude in book 1 destroy the Shalash statue on the night of Gavilar's death?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yes, and also all the other ones that we've seen, including the one in Shallan's vision in Words of Radiance. Q: Is the mistress Shalash? A: RAFO.

Quote

QUESTION (PARAPHRASED)

Have we seen all of the Heralds?

BRANDON SANDERSON (PARAPHRASED)

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned all of them, and you've seen a number of them, such as Shalash running around [I'm pretty sure he mentioned something that made it clear that it was the Mistress, or the person cutting off the faces]

Quote

QUESTION

Is Baxil's Mistress destroying statues of the Herald Shalashh?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yes. Actually in the prologue her statue is missing because Baxil's mistress came through.

 

QUESTION

Is Baxil's mistress Shalash?

BRANDON SANDERSON

I'm not going to answer that.

 

 

[Yata he/him]

I don't want to spoil things...But She is not Khriss ;-)

[+Extesian he/him]

5 hours ago, Yata said:

There is an explicit WoB about so it's not more a likely theory but a confirmed fact. As soon as I find the WoB I will post here

Right you are Yata, Here it is.

All that searching on theoryland and reddit, and I always forget to just check the Coppermind

[Silarn]

Okay, sure, but if that's in a published book I've probably read and forgotten. You can just point me in the right direction in that case.

[Yata he/him]

47 minutes ago, Extesian said:

The prevailing view is that it's (and I'll spoiler this in case)

  Reveal hidden contents

Shalash, one of the Heralds. That said I can't find a definitive WoB, maybe Yata can help with that, but here's a few that might suggest it

 

 

There is an explicit WoB about so it's not more a likely theory but a confirmed fact. As soon as I find the WoB I will post here

[Argent he/him]

Honestly, her identity as Shalash is pretty definitive at this point. 

[Weltall]

Just to add, Khriss has not (yet that we know of) appeared onscreen in Stormlight Archive but Nazh has. He's posing as an ardent early in Words of Radiance and his margin notes can be found in a number of the artwork pieces. So Khriss will probably show up eventually but at this point, the Mistress being Shalash is pretty solid fact.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Weltall

[Silarn]

On 4/26/2017 at 0:26 PM, Weltall said:

Just to add, Khriss has not (yet that we know of) appeared onscreen in Stormlight Archive but Nazh has. He's posing as an ardent early in Words of Radiance and his margin notes can be found in a number of the artwork pieces. So Khriss will probably show up eventually but at this point, the Mistress being Shalash is pretty solid fact.

Yes, I noticed that.

Interesting that she's destroying images of herself. But then I guess they're all a little mad at this point...