Importance of the Chapter Headings

[Borio Singaldi he/him]

I may not be the first person to mention this, but I suspect there might be a pattern of sorts going on in the chapter headings of each Stormlight book. We know from experience with multiple Sanderson books that the epigraphs before the start of the chapters play into the story, but in a very broad sense in that they don't make sense until either the book or even multiple books are completed. This occurred with Mistborn, and I believe that may be the case with the Stormlight Archive with the symbols of the Heralds in the arches at the head of each chapter. I believe there is a deeper meaning to them we have yet to understand, and I want to try to figure it out. Help with this theory would be very much appreciated.

What we know:

• The ten Heralds each have a number and a Soulcasting Essence dedicated to their name in Vorinism (i.e. the number Jes for Jezrien, which represents 1, or the number Nan for Nale, which represents 2).
• The Heralds all have known symbols of their faces associated with the symbol of the Knights Radiant, and those faces appear multiple times on each chapter heading. Each time, there are two sets of faces on the archways, sometimes the same face four times and sometimes two different faces occurring twice.
• There has been a previous example of a cryptic message being hidden in a series of numbers in the Stormlight Archive, that being Taravangian's Diagram message written in a series of numbers that translates into
  Spoiler

  a warning to hold the secret that broke the Knights Radiant.

   

What I'm wondering is: What if those Herald faces (and their associated numbers) are a long list of numbers written as a form of code that extends across either each book or the entire Archive? And if so, what could it translate into? What super important message could we get out of it?

Now, I did find a few flaws with this theory, originally. If the Heraldic numbers go from 1 to 10, wouldn't that be confusing as a code form, since the lettering in codes works in single digits, namely 0 through 9. So what I'm thinking is either we could mark down the implied numbers from each chapter headings as

1. Jes - 0
2. Nan - 1
3. Chach - 2
4. Vev - 3
5. Palah - 4
6. Shash - 5
7. Betab - 6
8. Kak - 7
9. Tanat - 8
10. Ishi - 9

or

1. Jes - 1
2. Nan - 2
3. Chach - 3
4. Vev - 4
5. Palah - 5
6. Shash - 6
7. Betab - 7
8. Kak - 8
9. Tanat - 9
10. Ishi - 0

 

Who knows? Maybe it leads to some grand, complicated message with monumental importance to the Stormlight Archive or even the Cosmere as a whole. Or maybe this is all a dud, and there's no secret meaning to the Herald faces in the chapter headings, and I've been wasting my time. Either way, I would love to have some help with figuring this all out, since I don't really have the requisite time to do so. Thanks!

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

I don't have the time to do it either... alone. It is an interesting idea though, and would take nerdiness to a new level. If you formed a group of people to team up on this, I would definitely be willing to join and help out.

That said, if you are true, we might spoil the entire SA? Is it worth it...?

[The One Who Connects he/him]

2 hours ago, Firerust said:

since the lettering in codes works in single digits, namely 0 through 9.

This brings up another issue. How are you gonna differentiate between individual and combo numbers in order to get K-Z?

I'm up for a codebreaker session, but if I can't differentiate between the halves(almost) of the alphabet, then we will just have an exorbitantly long string of meaningless numbers.

[Worldhopper he/him]

Very cool. Y'all have at it and let me know the results. 

I would offer assistance but I'm well aware that any interference on my part would only serve to cause confusion in an already confusing matter.

very cool idea though

[Steeldancer he/him]

I think the heralds have much to do with what is going on in the chapter. Look at my I found Chana and Ishar thread, to see how I found Ishar that way. 

[Borio Singaldi he/him]

1 hour ago, The One Who Connects said:

This brings up another issue. How are you gonna differentiate between individual and combo numbers in order to get K-Z?

I'm up for a codebreaker session, but if I can't differentiate between the halves(almost) of the alphabet, then we will just have an exorbitantly long string of meaningless numbers.

Well, to be honest, I don't really understand codebreaking, programming, etc., so I have no idea what "K-Z" means. Perhaps "pattern" would have been a better term for me to use than "code". I just think that with a series of ten one-digit numbers, there might be a pattern to it, but I'm too ignorant to know what.

[Tesh Any pronouns]

Ohhhh, I'm definitely going to go through both books and list what heralds appear at the beginning of each chapter. I'll put that on here when I do.

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

To clarify, what I am willing to help with is what @Tesh now volunteered to do by himself. Actual codecracking is something I lack experience and knowledge in, and I doubt anyone wants to waste time teaching me how to.

[The One Who Connects he/him]

19 hours ago, Firerust said:

I have no idea what "K-Z" means.

This one was literally the letters K through Z. We have 10 Heralds, and the first 10 letters of the Alphabet are A-J.

If A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.. then K=11. Jezrien=1=A. Nalan=2=B, etc..

If each Herald Face represents one letter, we'd need a way to combine them for.. the rest of the alphabet. The "K-Z"

[Killik he/him]

27 minutes ago, The One Who Connects said:

This one was literally the letters K through Z. We have 10 Heralds, and the first 10 letters of the Alphabet are A-J.

If A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.. then K=11. Jezrien=1=A. Nalan=2=B, etc..

If each Herald Face represents one letter, we'd need a way to combine them for.. the rest of the alphabet. The "K-Z"

He may have used the same coding scheme as he did for The Diagram code.  You can find a long and detailed discussion of that here:

They finally broke the code on page 17.

[Tesh Any pronouns]

Never mind then.

[King Cole he/him]

2 minutes ago, Tesh said:

Never mind then.

That is something different 

[Tesh Any pronouns]

3 minutes ago, King Cole said:

That is something different 

OK. That proves my ability of reading things and  not understanding. 

[King Cole he/him]

Just now, Tesh said:

OK. That proves my ability of reading things and  not understanding. 

I knew that already 

[Tesh Any pronouns]

Just now, King Cole said:

I knew that already 

*good natured glare*

Well, you should.

I really need to reread a lot of books.

And pay more attention during the RP...

[Tesh Any pronouns]

I just finished doing it for tWoK. I'll post my findings once I get on the computer. It's a really long list. And I have a theory... 

[I Am Witless she/her]

I'm half-wondering if the numbers associated with each Herald just corresponds to the chapter number.

Ex., Jezrien =Jes=1, Shalash =Shash+6. Chapter 1 and 6, or Sixteen. This would be funny, but more in the line of Alcatraz than Stormlight.

[King Cole he/him]

1 hour ago, Tesh said:

I just finished doing it for tWoK. I'll post my findings once I get on the computer. It's a really long list. And I have a theory... 

Im gonna do WoR tonight

[Tesh Any pronouns]

1 hour ago, King Cole said:

Im gonna do WoR tonight

Awww. I wanted to do it. Maybe I'll do it too, just because I can. I also need to make some other lists.

[Borio Singaldi he/him]

3 hours ago, Tesh said:

I just finished doing it for tWoK. I'll post my findings once I get on the computer. It's a really long list. And I have a theory... 

Gah, you beat me to it. Or maybe I could follow the other pattern and see which of us has better results. Which pattern did you use? 1-0 or 0-9? I've been doing 1-0.

[King Cole he/him]

If you can, pull out WoR and look at the heralds in the epilgue, one of them doesn't line up... Maybe thats our zero

Also, I just did WoR, but I didn't convert it to numbers, someone else can do that. I'm gonna post it once I convert it over

[King Cole he/him]

Some chapters had double heralds for some reason, don't know how thats gonna screw with the numbers

Also, The unknown isn't one of the heralds

Prologue-Battar/Battar

---

Part 1

Chapter 1-Paliah/Paliah

2-Talenel/Talenel

3-Shalash/Shalash

4-Ishar/Ishar

5-Chanarach/Chanarach

6-Shalash/Shalash

7-Chanarach/Chanarach

8-Jezrien/Jezrien

9-Nale/Nale

10-Vedel/Vedel

11-Battar/Battar

12-Jezrien/Jezrien

---

Interludes 1-4

Interlude 1-Shalash/Shalash

Interlude 2-Vedel/Vedel

Interlude 3-Chanarach/Chanarach

Interlude 4-Talenel/Talenel

---

Part 2

13-Shalash/Shalash

14-Kalak/Kalak

15-Chanarach/Chanarach

16- Ishar/Ishar

17-Shalash/Shalash

18-Jezrien/Jezrien

19-Nale/Shalash

20-Battar/Jezrien

21-Nale/Talenel

22-Nale/Chanarach

23-Jezrien/Jezrien

24-Shalash/Kalak

25-Jezrien/Chanarach

26-Paliah/Kalak

27-Shalash/Shalash

28-Talenel/Shalash

29-Shalash/Talenel

30-Shalash/Paliah

31-Ishar/Vedel

32-Jezrien/Chanarach

33-Jezrien/Nale

34-Nale/Shalash

---

Interludes 5-8

5-Talenel/Talenel

6-Ishar/Ishar

7-Unknown/ Shallan

8-Nale/Nale

---

Part 3

35-Kalak/Battar

36-Chanarach/Shalash

37-Paliah/Nale

38-Battar/Shallash

39-Nale/Chanarach

40-Vedel/Kalak

41-Vedel/Jezrien

42-Shalash/Shalash

43-Unknown/Paliah

44-Nale/Chanarach

45-Unkown/Vedel

46-Nale/Talenel

47-Shalash/Paliah

48-Chanarach/Vedel

49-Chanarach/Paliah

50-Paliah/Paliah

51-Ishar/Chanarach

52-Shalash/Jezrien

53-Battar/Battar

54-Ishar/Shalash

55-Shallash/Unknown

56-Chanarach/Chanarach

57-Jezrien/Jezrien

58-Nale/Nale

---

Interludes 9-11

9-Nale/Vedal

10-Vedal/Vedal

11-Ishar/Kalak

---

Part 5

59-Unknown/Nale

60-Chaanarach/Paliah

61-Nale/Chanarach

62-Nale/Nale

63-Talenel/Shalash

64-Shalash/Ishar

65-Vedel/Paliah

66-Nale/Talenel

67-Unknown/Ishar

68-Kalak/Paliah

69-Shalash/Jezrien

70-Kalak/Talenel

71-Vedel/Ishar

72-Kalak/Talenel

73-Nale/Nale

74-Paliah/Vedel

75-Vedel/Jezrien

---

Interludes 12-14

12-Ishar/Paliah

13-Battar/Battar

14-Jezrien/Paliah

---

Part 5

76-Shalash/Talenel

77-Chanarach/Paliah

78-Shalash/Ishar

79-Chanarach/Chanarach

80-Jezrien/Jezrien

81-Chanarach/Ishar

82-Nale/Chanarach

83-Shalash/Talenel

84-Jezrien/Jezrien

85-Paliah/Nale

86-Jezrien/Nale

87-Shalash/Jezrien

88-Nale/Shalash

89-Jezrien/Shalash

---

Epilogue

Epilogue-Battar/Unknown

Edited September 13, 2017 by King Cole

[Borio Singaldi he/him]

4 minutes ago, King Cole said:

If you can, pull out WoR and look at the heralds in the epilgue, one of them doesn't line up... Maybe thats our zero

Oh, that's right! I forgot to mention that! As I was looking through WoK I found a wild card the Ishikk interlude -- a totally unfamiliar face that's not associated with any Herald. It's some smiley guy who looks like he's wearing a mask and a tri-cornered hat. And he keeps on appearing throughout the headings. I honestly don't know what to do about that.

[King Cole he/him]

Maybe he is zero...

I'm sorry its taking me so long to post all of the heralds, but Im writing this witha broken aarm so I will be going super slow

Edited September 13, 2017 by King Cole

[King Cole he/him]

Ok, after 2 hours I finally finished it