theory [OB] Theory: How Dalinar Healed

[Shadowfax]

I came up with this yesterday in Discord, and many people really seemed to like it, so I've been encouraged to post it here to share. I don't really post (or even come up with) theories, so I'm a bit nervous. I hope you guys like this one.

 

My theory is simple: Dalinar essentially healed himself. He used Navani's fabrial, unwittingly, to do so. 

Basically, the fabrial she created was both a TIME fabrial and a PAIN fabrial. Due to his unique abilities as a Bondsmith, he created a resonance between those to heal the missing memories of his past.

Fabrials are powered by stormlight-infused gemstones, much like surges are powered by stormlight. We've seen Dalinar unwittingly create resonance before in the situation room when he tugged Shallan and created the map. I believe that was a set-up to show what he's capable of, and that is what happened with the fabrial.

He does not need to have invested himself to do this; we have seen Shallan use her mnemonic abilities without being invested, and Kaladin has squires without having to constantly be invested, so it stands to reason he can create resonances without himself having to be invested as well. Simply wearing the fabrial on his person was enough for that resonance to occur. 

 

That's it. Pretty simple theory.

[Yata he/him]

Interesting Idea.  I could not really believe It as my First choice but It's really an interesting point...I didn't considerate this

[DiamondMind he/him]

This is neat, first time I've seen a good explanation of how the fabrial would have worked. I would want to see this happen with some other fabrial before I would accept this though. Also, what would happen if he took the watch-pain-rial off? I normal painrial only worked when pressed on the skin...would he forget Evi again?

[Shadowfax]

1 minute ago, DiamondMind said:

This is neat, first time I've seen a good explanation of how the fabrial would have worked. I would want to see this happen with some other fabrial before I would accept this though. Also, what would happen if he took the watch-pain-rial off? I normal painrial only worked when pressed on the skin...would he forget Evi again?

I think the explanation would be that the original painrial was both a new thing that was still in development and was not affected by resonance. In my theory it wasn't the time/painrial itself that healed him but the resonance of them combined that healed him.

[Irregular he/him]

I have a point from someone that doesn't know anything about how fabrials work so if there is some info on this feel free to correct me :
If this were true it would also provide some interesting info about time fabrials - they would need to be connected somehow to time itself vs time-keeping like normal wind-up clocks do ( though on perception of things can have quite an impact on their CR self so a wind-up clock might get connected to time after all).

[Shadowfax]

1 minute ago, Irregular said:

I have a point from someone that doesn't know anything about how fabrials work so if there is some info on this feel free to correct me :
If this were true it would also provide some interesting info about time fabrials - they would need to be connected somehow to time itself vs time-keeping like normal wind-up clocks do ( though on perception of things can have quite an impact on their CR self so a wind-up clock might get connected to time after all).

I think a time-keeping fabrial would be sufficient. In the latest Dalinar chapter the Stormfather includes the passage of time as a force, like gravitation. Gravitation is a surge. I do not see why the passage of time could not also be treated in the way we'd think of gravitation, adhesion, etc.

[Blacksmithki]

I thought Dalinar was only manipulating Shallan's light weaving with his resonance, not combining multiple powers like you suggest.

[Irregular he/him]

2 minutes ago, Shadowfax said:

I think a time-keeping fabrial would be sufficient. In the latest Dalinar chapter the Stormfather includes the passage of time as a force, like gravitation. Gravitation is a surge. I do not see why the passage of time could not also be treated in the way we'd think of gravitation, adhesion, etc.

I might have worded that wrong but this is what I meant, the time keeping fabrial using power like gravitation (as those surges are the physical forces themselves(?)), instead of reacting to some Spren-frequency

[Shadowfax]

4 minutes ago, Irregular said:

I might have worded that wrong but this is what I meant, the time keeping fabrial using power like gravitation (as those surges are the physical forces themselves(?)), instead of reacting to some Spren-frequency

Ah yes, then I think we're on the same page here

 

6 minutes ago, Blacksmithki said:

I thought Dalinar was only manipulating Shallan's light weaving with his resonance, not combining multiple powers like you suggest.

The way I understood the scene was that the resonance he created was a combination of Shallan's powers and his own Connection with the Stormfather. It's still the bringing together of 2 different things to create 1 output.

[Knabepicer]

I was under the impression that painrials don't actually heal, they just numb pain. WoK:

Quote

“This, for instance, is a diminishing fabrial—it decreases something, in this case pain. It doesn’t actually make the wound any better, but it might be a step in that direction.”

 

[+Wax he/him]

Great theory.

Do you have any idea on lifting up in the air by Dalinar?

Bondsmiths have adhesion and tension.  So, couldn’t work out if Dalinar used the honorblade power or something else?

[Shadowfax]

9 minutes ago, Knabepicer said:

I was under the impression that painrials don't actually heal, they just numb pain. WoK:

 

Perhaps heal isn't the right word here at all, but it is the one everyone is tossing around so I used it. Diminishing... that is an interesting word. It is possible the effect is similar though. Combined with the force "passage of time" in a resonance, it could still have the same result... diminishing the effects of the Old Magic from Dalinar's past.

 

10 minutes ago, axcellence said:

Great theory.

Do you have any idea on lifting up in the air by Dalinar?

Bondsmiths have adhesion and tension.  So, couldn’t work out if Dalinar used the honorblade power or something else?

Dalinar did not lift himself up into the air. He was previously holding Kadash down onto the ground, stuck Kadash there, and simply lifted himself up off the ground back into a standing position.

[Shadowfax]

16 minutes ago, Knabepicer said:

I was under the impression that painrials don't actually heal, they just numb pain. WoK:

 

Oh, I also wanted to add, that back in WoK, that was a very early incarnation of the fabrial. 2 books later, and in a new device, I would assume she's had her scholars working on improving the effects in some way. My theory builds on this assumption.

[Knabepicer]

1 minute ago, Shadowfax said:

Oh, I also wanted to add, that back in WoK, that was a very early incarnation of the fabrial. 2 books later, and in a new device, I would assume she's had her scholars working on improving the effects in some way. My theory builds on this assumption.

Eh, the entire reason the thing works is that it's a subclass of diminisher fabrials. For it to change to actual healing would be a major advance in technology and change in design philosophy, which I don't think could've occurred in the months? between the books, especially since it wasn't mentioned.

[Rasha]

I like it ! It is better than the weak Stormlight cop out (which has many inconvenients). And it would explain why Sanderson would spend so much time emphizing the watch on the start of the chapter (other than just cool world exposition).

[Shadowfax]

12 minutes ago, Knabepicer said:

Eh, the entire reason the thing works is that it's a subclass of diminisher fabrials. For it to change to actual healing would be a major advance in technology and change in design philosophy, which I don't think could've occurred in the months? between the books, especially since it wasn't mentioned.

That's why it's just a theory. To make one, I did have to make certain assumptions, and this was one of them. I'm not proposing this is permanent per se, as we haven't gotten far enough to know how much of his memory was restored or how long those effects will last. I am just proposing this theory as to how the memories we saw return (hearing her name, seeing her face) may have come to be.

 

7 minutes ago, Rasha said:

I like it ! It is better than the weak Stormlight cop out (which has many inconvenients). And it would explain why Sanderson would spend so much time emphizing the watch on the start of the chapter (other than just cool world exposition).

Also why passage of time was part of the SF's forces he talked about with Dalinar. It was such a sideways inclusion I couldn't ignore it. I, too, am not a fan of the stormlight healed him thing. It just seems too off to me.

[soulcastJam he/him]

I was thinking that it had to do with his boon / curse. If he rejected the boon, would it also remove the curse?

[Shadowfax]

1 minute ago, soulcastJam said:

I was thinking that it had to do with his boon / curse. If he rejected the boon, would it also remove the curse?

We don't know for certain yet what his boon & curse are. All we know is that one of the two has to do with him no longer being able to recall his wife.

This theory could cover a couple of options:

1. The resonance only diminished the effects of the pain involved in forgetting his wife, thus restoring some/all of his memories of her.

2. The resonance diminished the effects of the Old Magic, which included the lost memories of his wife as well as either his boon or curse, depending on which one the loss of his wife's memories are.

When I created this theory, I was thinking more in line with option 1. If forgetting his wife was the boon, we may see this slip into option 2 territory, depending on what his curse is.

[+Wax he/him]

If this theory works, I think Navani might turn Dalinar into a lab rat strapping different fabrials to him

[Calderis he/him]

As cool as I think this idea is, I'm far more interested in its implications for the future of Fabrial-Tech than I am for what it means for Dalinar. 

If resonances can effect fabrials, which I'd never considered but I don't see why they wouldn't, Fabrial-Tech just got a lot more complicated, and potentially a lot cooler. 

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, axcellence said:

If this theory works, I think Navani might turn Dalinar into a lab rat strapping different fabrials to him

Eh, why not. I don't kink shame.

[Shadowfax]

18 minutes ago, Calderis said:

As cool as I think this idea is, I'm far more interested in its implications for the future of Fabrial-Tech than I am for what it means for Dalinar. 

If resonances can effect fabrials, which I'd never considered but I don't see why they wouldn't, Fabrial-Tech just got a lot more complicated, and potentially a lot cooler. 

If this theory pans out, this is what I look forward to discovering. Just how far fabrial-tech can go!!!!

[Frostlander]

And if we're looking at this as diminishing, rather than reversing or curing, I think it's important that this particular "treatment" has, so far, let Dalinar hear Evi's name and see her face. Years of memories did not come crashing down on him. I do think this theory is onto something. 

[Salkara]

2 minutes ago, Frostlander said:

And if we're looking at this as diminishing, rather than reversing or curing, I think it's important that this particular "treatment" has, so far, let Dalinar hear Evi's name and see her face. Years of memories did not come crashing down on him. I do think this theory is onto something. 

Actually, we shouldn't jump to conclusions about the quantity of memories regained:

Quote

“Hum?” Navani said. “About… oh, right. You can’t hear her name.”

“Say it again,” Dalinar whispered.

“What?” Navani said. “Evi?”

Memories blossomed in Dalinar’s head. He staggered, then slumped against the writing table, feeling as if he’d been struck by a hammer to the head. Navani called for physicians, implying his dueling had overtaxed him.

What memories blossomed in Dalinar's head? Just Evi's name and face, or did he remember more?

[Shadowfax]

28 minutes ago, Frostlander said:

And if we're looking at this as diminishing, rather than reversing or curing, I think it's important that this particular "treatment" has, so far, let Dalinar hear Evi's name and see her face. Years of memories did not come crashing down on him. I do think this theory is onto something. 

Like @Salkara said, we just don't know quantity of memory yet, but if/when we do learn of it, it will be very telling.

I'm keeping this theory open to revision as more information comes to light