Paladin Brewer he/him Posted May 1, 2017 Posted May 1, 2017 So I was listening to the audio book this time around, and I picked up on this minor statement in chapter 49: Quote It was odd. It fed his nagging worry that he was subject to some kind of supernatural curse of the type that were supposed to happen to people who sought the Old Magic. There were stories of evil men made immortal, then tortured over and over again—like Extes, who had his arms torn off each day for sacrificing his son to the Voidbringers in exchange for knowledge of the day of his death. It was just a tale, but tales came from somewhere. I assume this is in reference to the Heralds since they seem to be immortal and tortured again and again. Is it possible the Heralds are just perhaps men who sought the Nightwatcher and perhaps asked for immortality, and the torture/pact was their curse? Also.....in terms of the Cosmere, what is the Nightwatcher? Generally the magic systems are supposed to be derived from the Shards, but this seems a bit more out there?
+Extesian he/him Posted May 1, 2017 Posted May 1, 2017 Firstly I like this because it's where my profile name comes from Secondly I feel it's unlikely that the Heralds were evil, they seem to have taken an extraordinary level of punishment to hold off and stop desolations. It's not impossible but I would be very surprised. Thirdly we don't know what the Nightwatcher is though we should find out much more in Oathbringer. But we do know she is sentient investiture, what Rosharans would call a spren (which could include Shards). Quote QUESTION Talking about the Stormfather, are the Nightwatcher and the giant water spren, Cusicesh, are they on the same level? BRANDON SANDERSON The Nightwatcher, yes. Um...uh...there are...I would say, a level below the Stormfather and the Nightwatcher who are also a much bigger deal than something like one of the sapient spren, and that’s what Cusicesh is.` QUESTION So the Nightwatcher is a spren? BRANDON SANDERSON They call the Nightwatcher a spren. Everyone in the books thinks the Nightwatcher is a spren. That’s what they would call...that’s what they would call, if they knew what Honor was, they would call Honor a spren. A spren is Investiture that is alive. So they would call Nightblood a spren. That’s the word for what all of these things are. They would probably call Adonalsium a spren. [Laughter] If...Right...So. QUESTION What would Hoid call one of those? What would Hoid call the Nightwatcher? BRANDON SANDERSON Um…[long pause] QUESTION If Hoid were to use a non-proper noun? BRANDON SANDERSON Unpleasant names. [general laughter] Popular ideas are Cultivation, Cultivation's vessel, Cultivation's vessel's cognitive shadow merged with a previously existing epic-level spren (like the Stormfather now) or just a spren of Adonalsium.
Paladin Brewer he/him Posted May 1, 2017 Author Posted May 1, 2017 5 minutes ago, Extesian said: cognitive shadow merged with a previously existing epic-level spren (like the Stormfather now) Wait....new question, what epic-level spren is the Stormfather merged with?
+Extesian he/him Posted May 1, 2017 Posted May 1, 2017 Just now, Paladin Brewer said: Wait....new question, what epic-level spren is the Stormfather merged with? So the Stormfather was the spren of the highstorms, which occurred before Honor and Cultivation came. When Honor died, Tanavast (the vessel) left behind a Cognitive Shadow which then merged with the already-existing Stormfather. So its the Stormfather that is the epic-level spren, he just merged with Tanavast's cognitive shadow
Paladin Brewer he/him Posted May 1, 2017 Author Posted May 1, 2017 Is there a WoB on that? What does the Stormfather gain from Honor's cognitive shadow?
Yata he/him Posted May 1, 2017 Posted May 1, 2017 18 minutes ago, Extesian said: Popular ideas are Cultivation, Cultivation's vessel, Cultivation's vessel's cognitive shadow merged with a previously existing epic-level spren (like the Stormfather now) or just a spren of Adonalsium. The parallel with Stormfather ad merging Spren+CS is almost impossibile because Cultivation is alive and fine. 6 minutes ago, Paladin Brewer said: Is there a WoB on that? What does the Stormfather gain from Honor's cognitive shadow? Probably a Better Cognitive stability without a Bond and I think He ingerits some Tanavast's Connections to the world
+Extesian he/him Posted May 1, 2017 Posted May 1, 2017 27 minutes ago, Paladin Brewer said: Is there a WoB on that? What does the Stormfather gain from Honor's cognitive shadow? It's hinted at at the end of WoR but here are some WoBs you can find on theoryland Quote QUESTION (PARAPHRASED) So what happens when Shards die? BRANDON SANDERSON (PARAPHRASED) Well, it depends on how long the Shardholders have held the Shard. After they dies, the Shard is often able to continue acting, a kind of "Cognitive shadow". For example, the mists were able to continue doing what Preservation wished in helping out Vin and snapping people. With the Stormfather, he is that Cognitive shadow, and he's semi sentient. It's that power, but no one is actually holding it. We also see this on Threnody. Quote QUESTION Does the spren have to be present for a Surgebinder to have their abilities? Because with Dalinar, the Stormfather won’t be around all the time... BRANDON SANDERSON Good Question! Fortunately, the Stormfather is a little more omnipresent. Normally you’re gonna have to have your spren close, but the Stormfather absorbed... is basically Honor’s cognitive shadow, which means he’s got a connection to a lot of different things, so he’s not bound by a lot of the rules that others are. And @Yata I'm definitely not suggesting that explanation I was just saying they're theories I've seen. The Nightwatcher mystifies me as she's supposed to be analogous to the Stormfather in some ways, related to Cultivation somehow, Khriss thinks the Old Magic may be completely different to the other Shard magics on Roshar - there are too many conflicting indications (unless I've missed some very useful WoB). I don't think she's any of the options I gave, they're just theories I've seen that mostly don't work
Radiant_Jaeger he/him Posted May 1, 2017 Posted May 1, 2017 2 hours ago, Extesian said: It's hinted at at the end of WoR but here are some WoBs you can find on theoryland And @Yata I'm definitely not suggesting that explanation I was just saying they're theories I've seen. The Nightwatcher mystifies me as she's supposed to be analogous to the Stormfather in some ways, related to Cultivation somehow, Khriss thinks the Old Magic may be completely different to the other Shard magics on Roshar - there are too many conflicting indications (unless I've missed some very useful WoB). I don't think she's any of the options I gave, they're just theories I've seen that mostly don't work Wait, the stormfather is just Tanavast's spren isn't he? (Now he's gained Honor's cognitive shadow as well but that is because of his death.) So isn't the Nightwatcher Cultivation's spren? I like this more than the Nightwatcher actually BEING cultivation because we've had enough of that in Mistborn. I like the fact that she likes Lift so much too. (Although we still dont really know what her curse is or if she even received one)
Recommended Posts