Mini Theory: Shallan didn't kill her father

[askthepaperclip he/him]

Just a quick theory, based on what we have learned from Pattern:

What if Shallan didn't really kill her father? We assumed she was telling the truth, because we assumed she was talking to a truth spren. Now that we know they are more like half-truth/lie spren, saying "I killed my father" when she really maybe only bore some responsibility for his death sounds like something that pattern would describe as a "true lie".

Yes, I know the cryptic asked her for a truth, not a lie, but who knows what it meant by that? Maybe a full truth would work, but maybe when it said "the stronger the truth, the stronger the bond" (or something like that) it meant that the more "lie" you snuck in while still being "true", the better. It seems like it would be in the cryptics nature to say it wanted a truth when it really wanted a "true lie".

[Chlehrma]

She killed her father, she just did not murder him. She killed him to defend her brother Balat. It explains Balats crippling since they keep going on about the father's temper.

[Alice Rose she/her]

I think she killed her father and the following is from her remembering it. WOK pg 560 says "Shallan froze, realizing for the first time what she'd been drawing. Not another scene from the alleyway, but a lavish room with thick, ornamented rug and swords on the walls. A long dining table, set with a half-eaten meal.

And a dead man in fine clothing, lying face-first on the floor, blood pooling around him."

[Glaring at the Survivor he/him]

I think she killed her father and crippled Balat with the sword. Or whichever of her brothers was crippled.

[Alice Rose she/her]

It was Balat. But I do t think he could know Shallan has a shardblade. If he did they could've sold it and solved all their problems without so much worry. It's not like she uses it. But if she killed her Father and crippled Balat with a normal sword it makes sense in a way.

[Aminar]

She still gave a truth.  She feels like she killed her father.  Beyond that, we don't know more.  I'm inclined to think it had to have been her because the Soulcaster was also cut by a shardblade(or at least implied to be.)

[ReadingSpren]

"Shallan froze, realizing for the first time what she'd been drawing. Not another scene from the alleyway, but a lavish room with thick, ornamented rug and swords on the walls. A long dining table, set with a half-eaten meal. And a dead man in fine clothing, lying face-first on the floor, blood pooling around him."

 

Actually, when I reread this in WOK I thought it was referring to the Red Carpet Once While flashback we got in the excerpts.

 

In the room behind him, dark corpses stretched out on the floor. A red carpet once white.

...

Father carried Shallan over the body of a woman in white. Little blood there. It was the man who bled.

 

I think whatever happened with her father and Nan Balat involved the garden/greenery we see when Shallan starts to create an illusion on the ship

[Alice Rose she/her]

That could be. I thought the garden was where she killed her Father unttill I reread about the drawing. I think the lullaby gave me the mistaken impression they were in someone's bedroom in red carpet once white, not a dining room. I also picture that scene as very messy with signs of a fight, but I suppose that there is no real indication in the text that a half eaten dinner on the table would be necessarily disturbed.

[TomR]

She still gave a truth.  She feels like she killed her father.  Beyond that, we don't know more.  I'm inclined to think it had to have been her because the Soulcaster was also cut by a shardblade(or at least implied to be.)

If her father had blood pooling under him, it probably wasn't a Shardblade.  

[Aminar]

If her father had blood pooling under him, it probably wasn't a Shardblade.  

That depends.  how many times did she cut him?  He was an angry abusive man.  If he scared her enough she might have diced him up pretty bad even after killing him, which would have cut him up like slabs of meat and left blood everywhere.  If nothing else, the Soulcaster was cut in multiple spots, suggesting more than one cut.

[Mysty she/her]

I highly doubt that the drawing of the dead man from WoK is the same dead man in WoR. The chapter Red Carpet Once White had a safe in the wall. Who puts a safe in the dining room? usually safes are in much more private areas of a house, like a bedroom or study.

[Torian'Omil Stonespark]

I believe the request for "truth" would relate to the perspective of the person telling the truth, that she believes it is the truth and a secret was enough for the "strong" bond. I am also of the opinion she did in fact kill her father in the defense of her brother, but it is obvious from the subtext she may have already had a strong level of dislike for her father. Lastly, the scene from Shallan's flashback is obviously another murder scene...I say this because of the reference to her mother's body.

Edited February 8, 2014 by Torian'Omil Stonespark

[AerionBFII he/him]

I have a feeling Liespren can tell when somebody is lying to them and shallan admitted it, soooo i think she did but we don't know the hole back story yet

 

Kaladin defo killed her brother! The veden shardbearer who tried to kill Amaram will be her brother mark me on it!